Subscription Model Questions

So before anyone tells me “no one’s forcing you to buy it”, I would like to point out that I have been following this game for years and do feel kinda forced by all the horrible RPG games that have come out.

However, I have not bought a bundle yet, because I am bothered by the claims of being a subscription model for pricing. As well as micro-transactions, regardless if it’s Pay-to-Win or not.

Why exactly is it a subscription model? Also, 15$ a month is not an insignificant amount of money. For example, a monthly ad-free Netflix subscription is about 15.50 USD iirc, and that provided a lot of different movies and such. While this is not a streaming platform, I can’t help but wonder the reasoning behind the similar costs.

Also, it’s not something you usually see so I was curious.

What are everyone’s thoughts?

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Comments

Azherae

I'd assume that most people who enjoy MMORPGs enough to spend about equal time playing them as they would watching NetFlix would consider it an equivalent value.

It's probably true that subscription model games aren't really 'a super good investment' for people with only low interest in them, but many MMORPGs have the potential to be at least as engaging for their target audiences as things like NetFlix.

The Subscription model is generally a method to somewhat enforce 'fairness' in various ways as well. When combined with stricter restraints on multi-boxing and minimal P2W, or for console MMORPGs (I'm only aware of a few that ever used this seriously, but there are probably at least 7) it allows the developers to continue to focus on content that draws more people into the game instead of content that draws more big spenders.

Many games have learned to be 'Free to Play' with a hidden Subscription cost of some kind that limits the player who does not pay the sub cost from certain aspirational content. In the end, it comes down to the game quality. As an entertainment service, for many people, it lives up to its price, particularly in the North American market.

Caeryl

Mandatory subs provide a barrier of entry that keeps the more obnoxious sorts out. It also makes an equal playing field because there is no sub experience vs an always-worse non-sub experience. I'm not a fan of cash shops, I think they're a rip off 9 times out of 10 and make the game worse, but Steven's promised to have better things earnable in-game, and as long as they keep the eye-searing ugly light shows out of the cash shop, I don't mind it so much.

devmage

I think all the MMOs that are not pay to win have subscription fee. WoW has shown that a game can be run successfully with a subscription fee for nearly 20 years. I am relieved they are doing a subscription fee and selling only cosmetics. Their subscription fee is in line with ESO, WoW, FFXIV, Everquest, etc.

nanfoodle

The cash shop is 100% optional so put that aside. It's just cosmetics. As for the monthly sub. Most games like this don't give you access to the entire game without paying small amounts of money again and again.

Also games are also designed specifically for inconvenience. Bag slots that just won't fit the content, but you can buy bag slots. Limited fast travel but you can buy fast travel shards.

Or in game cosmetics look terrible that drives you to the cash shop to buy with RL money cosmetics. Ashes cash shop cosmetics are 100% optional. There will be bucket loads of great looking items in the game to be earned.

In the end, F2P seems like a deal till you walk away and realized you have spent more then the monthly sub. Unlimited access to the whole game for just one price. That's fair.

Flanker

nanfoodle wrote: »

In the end, F2P seems like a deal till you walk away and realized you have spent more then the monthly sub. Unlimited access to the whole game for just one price. That's fair.

Not even mentioning that it's much cheaper to use bots in a F2P game

nanfoodle

Flanker wrote: »

nanfoodle wrote: »

In the end, F2P seems like a deal till you walk away and realized you have spent more then the monthly sub. Unlimited access to the whole game for just one price. That's fair.

Not even mentioning that it's much cheaper to use bots in a F2P game

Great videos btw

Sengarden

HallowedFenrir wrote: »

So before anyone tells me “no one’s forcing you to buy it”, I would like to point out that I have been following this game for years and do feel kinda forced by all the horrible RPG games that have come out.

However, I have not bought a bundle yet, because I am bothered by the claims of being a subscription model for pricing. As well as micro-transactions, regardless if it’s Pay-to-Win or not.

Why exactly is it a subscription model? Also, 15$ a month is not an insignificant amount of money. For example, a monthly ad-free Netflix subscription is about 15.50 USD iirc, and that provided a lot of different movies and such. While this is not a streaming platform, I can’t help but wonder the reasoning behind the similar costs.

Also, it’s not something you usually see so I was curious.

What are everyone’s thoughts?

I don't mind a sub at all. How many hours does the typical MMO player spend logged in? 50-100 hours a month? So they're charging you 15-30 cents an hour. To me, that's a crazy good deal.

Honestly, I hate microtransactions, even cosmetic ones, way more than paying a sub fee. Hell, I'd pay $25/month if it allowed them to trash the whole cash shop and focus on making all those cosmetic items in-game rewards with actual content to earn them through. But I know a $25 sub would sound ridiculous to most people, especially newcomers, even if it actually isn't when you break down the cost by hours played, so whatever. I just hate seeing good content wasted as cash-4-cosmetics because it just leaves me imagining how cool it would've been to have earned those items myself through a questline, dungeon, profession-grind, or treasure hunt, and given them real meaning.

Caww

Subscriptions are a two-way street, if AoC can not keep the gameplay interesting then subs will decline until improvements are made, if players like what they get then they need to financially support the company so their enjoyment can continue. F2P depends on a few whales to keep things going and I'm sure AoC could survive using that model but steady monthly subs allows better budgeting which a small company like AoC needs to avoid problems. The monthly cost is common enough for a successful game, lets hope they achieve that status.

Flanker

nanfoodle wrote: »

Great videos btw

Thank you!

Cadac

$15 in 2010, when subscription mmos were the norm, would cost you $21.60 in todays debased Dollar. My point is $15/mo. is a discount if we get the quality game we all hope for.

$21.60 was derived from gov CPI data, so this value is probably low.

RocketFarmer

You get what you pay for or you don’t pay for it. At least you don’t have to shell out a box cost on it. $15 bucks and a month to determine if you want to keep playing or not. Assuming you’re playing at least a few short sessions per week (~2 hours per session) or one long session (~6 hours) per week, it’s a pretty good deal for entertainment. And while subscriptions like Netflix have movies and TV shows I’ve found most of it isn’t worth the time to the point I question whether that subscription is even worth it. Netflix isn’t the service it once was. But to each his own.

daveywavey

HallowedFenrir wrote: »

So before anyone tells me “no one’s forcing you to buy it”, I would like to point out that I have been following this game for years and do feel kinda forced by all the horrible RPG games that have come out.

However, I have not bought a bundle yet, because I am bothered by the claims of being a subscription model for pricing. As well as micro-transactions, regardless if it’s Pay-to-Win or not.

Why exactly is it a subscription model? Also, 15$ a month is not an insignificant amount of money. For example, a monthly ad-free Netflix subscription is about 15.50 USD iirc, and that provided a lot of different movies and such. While this is not a streaming platform, I can’t help but wonder the reasoning behind the similar costs.

Also, it’s not something you usually see so I was curious.

What are everyone’s thoughts?

Depends how much use you'll get out of it, I suppose. If you're planning on making it your main game, then it's going to be better value than if you're actually spending all your time watching your netflix at the same sub cost. People tend to spend more than that on a night out, where they're just drinking their money instead of enjoying it.

If you're planning on playing a couple of hours per week, then yeah it might not suit you. But, if you're planning on playing a couple of hours multiple days a week, then it's worth the money spent. Especially since there's no box-cost and no cost for DLCs/updates.

xiedd13ix

HallowedFenrir wrote: »

So before anyone tells me “no one’s forcing you to buy it”, I would like to point out that I have been following this game for years and do feel kinda forced by all the horrible RPG games that have come out.

However, I have not bought a bundle yet, because I am bothered by the claims of being a subscription model for pricing. As well as micro-transactions, regardless if it’s Pay-to-Win or not.

Why exactly is it a subscription model? Also, 15$ a month is not an insignificant amount of money. For example, a monthly ad-free Netflix subscription is about 15.50 USD iirc, and that provided a lot of different movies and such. While this is not a streaming platform, I can’t help but wonder the reasoning behind the similar costs.

Also, it’s not something you usually see so I was curious.

What are everyone’s thoughts?

My opinion and hopes are a sub model will be like netflix for example. you pay monthly and they want to keep you paying so that cash flow makes them create more consistant content so more people roll on the sub. so the game is forever evloving and being added to.

personally I play games way more then netflix and still have that so I'd prefer the sub fee espically if I can sink many hours per month into it with potential content being released often

unknownsystemerror

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