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Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
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Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Subscription done differently. (did I delete it by accident?)
Sorry if im spamming but this forum is kinda confusing to me lol. I donno whether I accidentaly deleted my post or if the moderator deleted it? Who knows. Anyways reposting this:
"Hello guys.
Since there is no category called "suggestions" Im gonna try it here. I have a suggestion about the monthly subscription. In my opinion monthly subscription is very unfair to casual players and players that are occupied with work, family life etc. You simply rent the game for 1 month for 15 dollars during a fixed period of time. (for example 14th april to 14-may). Im suggesting that this game, as revolutionary is it claims to be, could come up with a new subscription system. My idea is that for for example 15-20 dollars you buy 200 gameplay hours which you need to use during a 5 month period. As i roughly calculated "casual" mmo player plays around 3-4-5 hours a day. So that makes 90-120-150 hours a month (if you consider he plays daily). But classical monthly subscription does not consider that sometimes a man cant play during a month at all. We have all been there. You buy subscription, you are happy as a bee, then suddenly something comes up and you get just few hours of gameplay from your 15 dollars :(. Or you get bored with the game because monthly subscription forces you to make use of every single hour and people stop playing for several months, making the world less populated. And in my opinion this subscription im suggesting would bring even more players to the game so the company would make even more profit thus more content, more fun and then again even more players and profit.
I hope I explained what I meant, you have to excuse my english, it is a second language after all."
"Hello guys.
Since there is no category called "suggestions" Im gonna try it here. I have a suggestion about the monthly subscription. In my opinion monthly subscription is very unfair to casual players and players that are occupied with work, family life etc. You simply rent the game for 1 month for 15 dollars during a fixed period of time. (for example 14th april to 14-may). Im suggesting that this game, as revolutionary is it claims to be, could come up with a new subscription system. My idea is that for for example 15-20 dollars you buy 200 gameplay hours which you need to use during a 5 month period. As i roughly calculated "casual" mmo player plays around 3-4-5 hours a day. So that makes 90-120-150 hours a month (if you consider he plays daily). But classical monthly subscription does not consider that sometimes a man cant play during a month at all. We have all been there. You buy subscription, you are happy as a bee, then suddenly something comes up and you get just few hours of gameplay from your 15 dollars :(. Or you get bored with the game because monthly subscription forces you to make use of every single hour and people stop playing for several months, making the world less populated. And in my opinion this subscription im suggesting would bring even more players to the game so the company would make even more profit thus more content, more fun and then again even more players and profit.
I hope I explained what I meant, you have to excuse my english, it is a second language after all."
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Thanks ^^
More casual players can opt for the time card, more regular to hard core players can opt for the monthly sub. Granted, $15/month isn't a lot, but I can understand someone wanting to get the most out of their money, if they feel like they can't log in as much as others.
Seems like a good deal to me ;)
Also what I do NOT enjoy in playing MMO's is the feeling like it's your work. "I payed for it so now I HAVE to play it for this month" and its starting to feel like obligation rather than like a pleasure.
Paying for "hours" could eliminate that feeling :).
</blockquote>I don't know. Personally I feel like if I saw an actual countdown timer of my hours left I would feel more compelled to 'use them all up' before it was too late. Whereas a monthly sub is just a cost to unlock a service you can use whenever you want. I've never felt the need to play a ton to get my money's worth. $15/month is about the cheapest hobby you'll ever find. I'm not bashing against the idea, it just doesn't seem really necessary to me.
I actually think this is a great idea as me and friends have had times where we debated subbing for something because we weren't going to have much time to play that month but still wanted to hop in every now and then.
Actually, it would cost more for spammers to go the time card route, than the monthly subscription. Spammers usually stay on as long, or longer, than your average, to hard core, player. Thus, if they purchased a time card, used all the allotted hours up before a month is over, they'd have to shell out more money to buy more time. This would make it more expensive, for the hypothetical spammer, than just opting for the subscription.
Well, freespiryt&McStackerson has already said it but yeah, bot spammers are on 24/7, so they would not opt for a time card. There's a reason why they are called bots, they are not manually run by humans.
Back to the topic though, I love this idea. I bought the lifestime subscription so it doesn't effect me personally, but I know all my friends are full time workers. And honestly, we gravitated to MOBAs because of short quick games without the time investment. We have busy lives and can only play maybe 4-10 hrs a week.
My friends are looking at the 15/month model and most of them are turned off by it. I only manage to convince 1 friend to play and we both bought lifetime subs. Having this model would help bring in new players that are casual. I would enjoy this game 1000% more if I could play with my friends.
Well, freespiryt&McStackerson has already said it but yeah, bot spammers are on 24/7, so they would not opt for a time card. There's a reason why they are called bots, they are not manually run by humans.
Back to the topic though, I love this idea. I bought the lifestime subscription so it doesn't effect me personally, but I know all my friends are full time workers. And honestly, we gravitated to MOBAs because of short quick games without the time investment. We have busy lives and can only play maybe 4-10 hrs a week.
My friends are looking at the 15/month model and most of them are turned off by it. I only manage to convince 1 friend to play and we both bought lifetime subs. Having this model would help bring in new players that are casual. I would enjoy this game 1000% more if I could play with my friends.
At the moment those people that play 12 hours days vs those people that only play 1 hour per day have a problem.
If everyone plays $15 a month, nobodies time can be used as an excuse for preferential treatment.
Because although you arent playing 24/7 you still paid the same $15 for the right to be playing 24/7 and commensurate and fair access.
If you want to change that for a time card.....I dont think you can argue for that right, in anyway, anymore.
There would be no excuse to hold the grinders or time rich back.
There would be no argument to limit the player progress gap.
Example: I buy 1 month sub. pause it at 20 days, step away from the game for a few weeks, then be able to return and use up the 10 days left over.
Limiting this function to one or two times would make sure that players aren't pausing the time when they log off to sleep, etc.
The set monthly sub also allow for easier financial projections for the Devs.
I hear what you're saying about $15/month not being a big deal, for most people. Though, to be fair, everyone's finances are different, so I'm not trying to judge anyone. It's more about people feeling like their getting the full $15/month worth of enjoyment, with the benefit of flexibility.
For example, I did the same thing with WoW. I didn't have a monthly recurring sub. I bought 1-month time cards, used them, and if I needed another, I would get it. When I would take a break from WoW, I didn't have to worry about losing $15 a month, for no reason. I would just stop buying time cards, until I was ready to play again.
Was $15/month laborious for me? No. But, at the same time, I considered it wasteful to be paying for something I wasn't using. The same applies to this scenario, imo.
Granted, the financial peeps at Intrepid would know best if this proposed model (or something like it) would work for them, but I don't see it as being a problem. Players who prefer the subscription model, would still be able to subscribe. While those who may have been turned off by the idea of monthly subs (for whatever reason) would be offered a very viable option to pay for their time playing the game, as time permits for them.
People who play games do have real life to attend to , differing from person to person. Intrepid still gets a cash inflow, either way, for either option.
The sub model has been dying with only a hand full of games being able to be successful with it. Adding a extra payment option that makes people feel like they are getting more value for there money would keep more people around longer. You don't want someone having to worry about how much time they are going to put into a game when they are buying their time. If people are dropping there sub because they can't play as much then you are losing people. Even some of those who intended to come back wont.
You don't want players playing other games casually because they don't think they can get enough value out of a monthly sub.
I have HBO and it costs me $15/per month, as that's the business model they need to provide the quality of programming and service that they offer. I never think that "I really need to sit down and watch more HBO because I'm paying for it" - it just slips into my entertainment menu wherever it fits!
That's how I also view subscription games, which like premium cable is a "luxury" item.
I think simply being able to cancel and restart a subscription without penalty is flexible enough in the case of a game. It effectively gives what the OP is asking for, unless I am missing something?
So... Another way to do it would be to make it where $15 gets you 30 days.
Log into the game itself any number of times, at any time, for any duration from 0:00 and 23:59 on any day and it counts as a day of usage. Don't log in at all from 0:00 and 23:59 on any given day and no usage is processed.
There is no need for different price points as you would never lose any unused days and would not get charged again until attempting to log in or being logged in after all previously purchased days are used.
Some people cannot afford to be as frivolous with their money as others. It doesn't mean they cannot afford to subscribe, but if the price is for 30 days, and they know good and well they will not be able to use the service for that many days, they see it as money wasted. And in the strictest sense of the math involved, they are. This leads many people to decide to not subscribe at all.
However, if what they pay for guarantees them a specific number of days or hours and the price is acceptable, then they will be more likely to purchase it, as they would not lose any time paid for.
I like to slack sometimes in games, just stand around, chat with people.
If I had X hours credit, I would feel all the time burden of "my money running out" and would feel forced to play my X hours "effectively" thus loosing all relax atmosphere in game.
For me "X hours time card" would be an awful option.
Now I'm not against it being an option for people who want that. I'm just saying that I myself wouldn't play like that. I'll take my X eur per month sub, and then slack away relax mode. :D
I have HBO and it costs me $15/per month, as that’s the business model they need to provide the quality of programming and service that they offer. I never think that “I really need to sit down and watch more HBO because I’m paying for it” – it just slips into my entertainment menu wherever it fits!
That’s how I also view subscription games, which like premium cable is a “luxury” item.
I think simply being able to cancel and restart a subscription without penalty is flexible enough in the case of a game. It effectively gives what the OP is asking for, unless I am missing something?
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Yes... this is true... However some people cannot afford to be as frivolous with their money. It doesn't mean they cannot afford to subscribe, but if the price is for 30 days, and they know good and well they will not be able to use the service for that many days, they see it as money wasted. And in the strictest sense of the math involved, they are. This leads many people to decide to not subscribe at all.
However, if what they pay for guarantees them a specific number of days or hours and the price is acceptable, then they will be more likely to purchase it, as they would not lose any time paid for.
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I don't care if they have a cash shop with cosmetic fluff. Just as long as there is not a single item EVER sold on the shop with stats that can affect gameplay associated with it. The day that happens is the day you can start counting down to Free to Play and Pay to Win.
So far they are swearing up and down that this will not happen. But they are not the only developers saying their cash shop will offer only cosmetic or convenience items and then turn around and go the other way.