Comments on: MMOs: Get Value First

By: Alik Steel

Alik Steel — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 11:39:24 +0000

I would love to have the lifetime subscriptions on the table as long as we had all the othere payments on there as well. I don’t see why you could not have all of them.
I pay $30 a month for SOE, but that gives me all there games. So with SOE I am loving that. When it comes to any nonSOE game I would like to see lifetime subscriptions, but not just for a prepay thing before the game goes live. Put it as something you can buy even after the game goes live. That way your core players can buy it when thay feel the time is right.
I see no reason why would could not have all the ways to injoy our games on the table at the same time. Lifetime, Monthly, or even RMT.

Alik Steel

By: Openedge1

Openedge1 — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 01:44:55 +0000

I am so glad I did not buy into the crap that was LOTRO. I would have been out 400 bucks (myself and the wife). My pocket book found better things to do..

Personally, I would like to see Time Limit plans myself. Lets say I only play 10-20 hours a month or something, then pay one price for those hours, or say another plan for less.
How about use an RMT system (bet that will be popular with some people…I am one of the guys that think RMT can work if done properly) where you can buy tokens for “Days”. Lets say a buck a day…i.e: I can play as much as I want for that day, and from the time I purchase to 24 hours after…
Lets say I only play the game 3 days, then I paid 3 bucks. Play 12 days, 12 bucks. Think of how much MORE money they could make from the addicts.
Yet, us casual players would be good with say…5 – 7 days a month, and feel the better staying with multiple games.
As a matter of fact, I could subscribe to quite a few different games, and STILL pay less than buying a game a month or having 4 MMO’s a month that I only play for 5 – 7 days…

Cheers

By: Scott

Scott — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:54:33 +0000

On the other hand, Smaken, would WoW be a *risky* proposition for a Lifetime sub since it’s already 4 years old? Is there any guarantee it can continue holding your attention to make the Lifetime worthwhile in your view? It could very well be that ’09 and the WotLK content could be your final time in WoW and you’ll retire forever. Seems to me either new game or old, it’s still a gamble…

By: herc

herc — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:52:22 +0000

Lifetime subscription with the chance to get a refund in 6 months would work =P where if you chose to do that they’ll just deduct the monthly fee from your money.

That would work for me.

By: SmakenDahed

SmakenDahed — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:22:38 +0000

I agree with Darren, it’s too risky for my liking. I’d consider getting it for a game like WoW which is stable and long standing, but I wouldn’t be comfortable with forking out that sort of cash for something that doesn’t have its feet on the ground.

By: Darren

Darren — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 12:24:40 +0000

@Wilhelm: never said I “hated them”, I just said that they are a riskier choice than others so I would rather not see them. Out of all of the pricing choices out there, the lifetime sub is a lower value proposition.

By: wilhelm2451

wilhelm2451 — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 23:00:33 +0000

Hrmm… So you say “No, I don’t want another choice” then go on to say that you want more choices. I might have chosen to say yes, I would like to see lifetime subscriptions as well as other options made available… which I think is in fact what I did say in my comment to that very post on Massively.

So don’t be hatin’ on the lifetime subs just because they’re not for you.

And you can still get the $199 lifetime subscription every so often from Turbine. They had an option for it when you bought Moria and another holiday special that had that as an option as well.

By: Exeter

Exeter — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 17:39:09 +0000

Depending on the company involved, users can subscribe month-to-month, or buy 4 months, 6 months or even 12 months at a time in order to reap the benefits of the discount. So, it begs the question: why not offer a once-and-forever ‘lifetime’ payment option? More choice in payment options is never a bad thing. Lifetime subs, family plans and even game-time cards are all ways to differentiate price and/or product and grab a thicker slice of the pie in a more or less saturated market.

Lifetime subs can be a gamble if you’re not sure if the game will appeal to you (or even survive) long enough for it to pay for itself, but that’s a good reason to jump on open betas, 14-day trials, etc. They’re marketing tools after all, designed to allow you to ‘try before you buy’. So, I’d suggest to anyone that they take advantage of freebies, do some research and make an informed choice before throwing down those Benjamins.

By: Scott

Scott — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:09:18 +0000

I’d be in favor of them just because it’s offering another payment option. I like having options. Yeah with LOTRO I jumped on the Lifetime at launch and it was a gamble but I did get some time in during beta and I liked the direction they were headed in. Also at launch it was $100 cheaper than it is now so it’s already paid for itself in my case. If Hellgate had been my first encounter with a lifetime sub I’d be pissed, but pissed at my choice not because they offered it to me. Either way it’s a gamble with money.

On the other hand, look at all the money we stupid MMO Hoppers spend on every new shiny that comes out. All of us who bought AoC and quit before the first month was up? Same with WAR, TR, VG, PotBS… How much money do we keep spending on boxes for games we don’t even play and never get *any* of our money’s worth? At least the lifetime Hellgaters got a year out of it, that was the game’s “lifetime.”

Buying a lifetime sub on a game you’ve never even played though? Now that’s silly… and a lot of Hellgaters got suckered into that one.

By: Viktory

Viktory — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:06:04 +0000

I’m with the more family plans…like Wizard 101 has.

We have more family members playing now, us “old” gamers have all grown up and have families now!