Is greed over shadowing hardwork by devs

I just want to say the devs been doing a great job trying to improve this game. Love the Earth3 content. BUT I feel the greed is over shadowing you guys hard work.

It's like you guys come up with a good idea and water it down with greed. I don't play as much like I use to. I gave it a break due to life, and came back to see if the burnt out feeling from DCUO will go away.

I came back and enjoy the content but for some reason it doesn't feel consumer friendly to me in my personal opinion.

TC tied with sp, raising prices on seasonal etc.. does not make me feel like a member. I don't care what ppl say TC is loot boxes tied with cool gear to get sp. (gambling)

At 1st I didn't mind replay badges. But for some reason I feel like I'm locked from content as a paying member unless I give you guys more money as a member.

I feel like the membership feel like a facade. In a mobile game or a complete free game with out membership you play content for a certain amount a time b4 you have to actually pay for the content to ignore the timer. I feel like DCUO use this to implement Rb's.

I get it my fellow DCUO members they need to make money. But to play a game where you feel restricted as a member doesn't feel good.

I don't like paying for TC that may or or may not give me gear that is tied to sp with a limit of time. I really wanted to give more money to DCUO other than a monthly membership for Black Friday but I couldn't doit.

I gave $200 on warfame. Ppl may say that's too much on a game. But they don't restrict game play and I can buy what I actually want which is important to me. And to be honest I have 5,000 plat and love sharing it with friends who can't afford spending money like me.

DCUO is a fun game but I feel like I need to support a game that's more consumer friendly.I don't want to not play DCUO anymore( if that make sense) Paying for a monthly membership on and off is good for right now but I wish I could support the game more other than membership but it just doesn't feel right if I try to

I agree. Membership should have been scrapped years ago. If it has to exist, it should only exist as a loyalty card and feature exclusive styles, marketplace rebates, and additional slots. It shouldn't be as intrusive as "access to more than $2,000", "the ability to trade cash" etc.

Yes!!! I know members will hate this idea. But RB's, TC's should be for premium players. And members should be able to play content over and over again without restrictions

Well, no, that's not really what I'm saying.

I'm saying there should be no membership at all. The base game for everyone is what membership is today (minus the gifts). No restrictions on things like in-game currency. All content and systems are free for everyone etc.

I'd then set up a special "membership" option if people are so desperate to give a monthly fee to Daybreak. It gives you your monthly grants, marketplace discount, bonus inventory, bank, broker and character slots and free style/vanity items, which are also made available at the same time on the Marketplace for non-"members" to purchase. Maybe introduce a ladder rewards scheme, with exclusive vanity items for each month you're subscribed, too.

That would be as far as membership went.

I was trying to find a very short video explaining how millennial's are being lured into gambling by adding loot boxes to video games. It's actually a very lucrative business, especially for it not to be regulated by any government agency. This will more than likely never stop with DCUO, it's too big of a cash cow. Only the players can make it go away by not buying into the products if they're tied to skill progression.

I've certainly taken this stance, and would encourage others to do so. It's a sad day when a 1 star feat is tied to RnG boxes that can only be obtained through TC's, and it costs nearly $100M for all the pieces because of the drop rate being so low.

I knew what you meant. I was just giving my in popular opinion. Always love your ideas

Thats like saying only Learner Drivers should pay Tax on their vehicle. Although I wouldnt say no to your idea, its not realistic so its not going to happen. Ever. This game to us is a business and a job to others. Businesses require profits to continue. Ive no insider details but I think everyone knows that RBs and Stabilisers are clearly the best selling products on the MP. The only possible way your suggestion there would be put in place is if it was a temporary measure to draw in Subs. And historically temp measures like that are not worth the time nor the cost to implement.

Think about it this way:
Lets say right now 30% of DCUO was subbed and 70% weren't. Out of the full 100%, 70% were buying RBs and Stabs.
Now they make RBs and Stabs free for Members. And it works and flips the stats. 70% now subbed, 30% not. Thats all well and good but it means that 70% of the game no longer buy RBs/Stabs. Meaning the sales of which drop to between 0%-30%. And lets not get silly and pretend the extra subs would make up for the declining RBs/Stabs. The only possible way to recoup this loss then would be to raise Membership price. And we're not talking about a small amount here.

Its a balance. Cause and effect. Unless someone goes and finds a billionaire who wants to fund the games development without any strings attached simply because they like the game, then the only resolution is simple: You are not getting anything for free, you want 1, we'll take 1, you want 10, we take 10.

I've put a little thought into this recently because of my recent experiences in Warframe.

What would happen if DCUO were to eliminate membership? One would assume that the game would then shift to a wholly microtransaction supported game with revenues coming from the purchase of character slots, inventory space, etc along with the gambling boxes and replays. With no membership option, everyone would have to buy that stuff a la carte instead of subscribing. It works in Warframe (minus the loot boxes because they don't have them at all) but what about DCUO?

One way they could do it would be to let current members keep everything they have right now - all character slots, all bank/inventory space, all broker slots, etc. Every current perk of membership would have to be granted for free to players who are members when they convert. The only things they lose are the monthly grants and the subscription fee. Of course, they are now free to spend that fee however they want on whatever they want in the marketplace should they choose to do so. These players would already have a bunch of slots, a fairly sizable inventory and bank, can post plenty of stuff on the broker, etc so probably wouldn't buy much if any of those products. Many of those players already spend on replays and stabilizers and the ones who don't might not decide to buy them just because they no longer pay monthly. I wouldn't since I barely ever use replays at all for anything. This would be a net loss for Daybreak, IMO.

Another way to handle it is to do what SWTOR did and award an amount of DBC to each current member based on the number of months they had subscribed when they transition to a fully f2p game. Those players would then spend that award to regain the character slots, inventory space, etc that they lost when the game implements the new f2p model. Some of them would have plenty of currency to do just that. Some would have a surplus due to being a subscriber for many years. More recent subscribers may not be awarded enough to get back what they lost and would have to purchase additional DBC to get it back. Lifetime members might get a set amount plus a unique aura or something akin to the Founder title from SWTOR. I feel that this would be the fairest option for both Daybreak and the players.

Premiums would keep their 6 slots and whatever else comes with that status. I'm not sure what all they have because I never play this game without paying my fee.

As far as login rewards and such, Warframe has those. They range from exclusive mods and weapons to various boosters and discounts on Platinum, their in-game marketplace currency. PSO2 has daily rewards, too. WildStar has daily rewards but also has something they call Cosmic Rewards. It is a tiered reward system based on money spent in their cash shop or on subscription. Players unlock various things like cosmetics, titles, skins and access to in-game systems (the ability to make a guild, for example) as they gain Cosmic Points. When they transitioned, purchasers of the game were given a number of points along with being awarded some for each month they had subscribed. Subscribers also continue to gain points each month they pay their fee, unlocking more and more stuff as they progress up the tiers. Players who purchase Protobucks gain points based on the amount they spend. There is nothing game-breaking in the rewards and you unlock all of the social systems by spending a rather low amount. It works.

Everything above assumes that they change the game to a completely f2p game. Basically, I envision the current free status (2 slots, limited inventory, etc) but with full access to content/systems, no trading restrictions and no cash cap. I believe this would make the game far more attractive to new players and the transition plans above would ensure that current premium and "legendary" players would not be pushed away.

Either way, I think you are correct. Membership in this game is outdated and either needs to be removed completely or they need to update it to actually reward members instead of punishing non-members. As it stands right now, I don't feel valued as a member at all. I keep it because it is far too punishing to not have it. Sure, I have fun and that's why I haven't cancelled again (yet) but it's going to happen sooner or later. My wallet can only handle so much molestation before I draw the line.

I wouldn't even say the game "would shift" to an entirely micro-transactions supported game. I'd say we're already there.

Nobody here knows what kind of revenues the game is making, so nobody can say for sure, one way or another, but you can get a pretty good idea of what's selling and what isn't from the response of Daybreak to certain things. Quarterly/Bi-Monthly updates to the Time Capsules versus the "... oh yeah, and members" approach to Membership.

I think if the game did get rid of membership, the best option would be to just give everyone the same level of access that Subscribers get right now. No need to make it more complicated than that. The changes would be unnoticeable if you're currently a subscriber, apart from the fact you don't have to pay a monthly fee, any more.

Some of the pay walls that are in place, right now, like hiding content behind a pay wall, and powers, and systems, shouldn't exist. So I wouldn't like to see everyone devolved down to this restrictive game and forcing everyone to pay for access to basic features that should be included by default. The goal should be to keep things as they are, but open up the entire game to everyone, so that people aren't discouraged from checking it out or even returning if you're a former player.

Like I said earlier, too, if you really want to offer a subscription, then do so. But strip it way back down to non-essentials:

• Bonus inventory, bank, broker, character slots
• Marketplace discount/s, maybe with one scaling to 15-20% depending on your tenure as a member
• Monthly vanity rewards which are then made available to Premiums on the Marketplace
• Bonus Stabilizer Fragments
• Exclusive tenure rewards

It's a proven business model that works, evidently from your experiences in Warframe. Free games don't need to be as restrictive as they are in DCUO. Restrictions leads to isolation, which discourages people from playing. When a player isn't playing your game, then it's impossible to monetise them. We're 7 years old, almost. You can't afford to **** around and expect people to pay a premium price for such an old game.

Agreed.

Granting everyone 16 character slots and the rest of the QOL perks (besides the removal of the cash cap) wouldn't be viable IMO. Those are easy sales to players who are interested in playing the game long term. The same goes for inventory, bank and shared bank space. I've purchased quite a few weapon and frame slots in Warframe already and will purchase more as I obtain more frames and weapons.

However, powers, systems and content should all be freely available if any transition were to take place.

There is no subscription option in Warframe or I'd be paying for it. Instead, I buy platinum every time I get a 50%+ discount from my daily reward. Don't tell my wife but that works out to over the $15/mo I spend here on my membership and I don't regret it one bit. Under their model, I've tried coming up with something they could offer that would make up a "subscription" and have failed. What they do works and it shows. When Plains of Eidolon dropped, they hit 26 million registered users.

I used to feel very strongly that a game needed a full-access subscription model to get my business. Warframe changed that. To get my business now, there must be zero p2win, no gambling boxes and you have to give me what I pay for and make sure there is value in the purchase. I think I may have talked myself into cancelling this game again...

Agreed.

end of the day I do feel like membership need 2 go away. But the question is are the paying members ready for this? A good amount of them want better membership perks ( which I thinks isn't going to happen) Can they handle being on a equal playing field with other players?

As long as they don't lose anything they currently have in the process, why would anyone complain?

Micro-transactions are only fueled by the impulse of the players to keep chasing the carrots on the stick. From a business standpoint, I get it, but I'd focus more on the membership model. I'd take guaranteed income over the sporadic micro-transactions any day, one is certainly more stable than the other.

As Harlequinn says, there shouldn't be a noticeable difference, so there would be no reason to complain. There are probably some people out there who would tear up and threaten to quit or whatever, but people do that all the time, for all sorts of reasons, anyway. They usually come back, too.

Getting rid of membership takes away the burden of paying a mandatory fee in a game which is now dominated by micro-transactions. It should be one or the other. But not both. I think the amount of revenue the game generates from micro-transactions basically prevents the game from ever being a membership only experience (I wouldn't want it to be that, anyway. It'd kill player numbers) so get rid of membership and focus entirely on the micro-transactions, as is being done anyway.

I talked about it a while ago and I got hammered for it. I had a similar idea that Torikumu if he remember. Their response was making membership better. This was around the anniversary event

This is why. Things have changed and everyone wants a piece of the action.

I remember. I was one of the pro-membership people. Since it seems that Daybreak has gone all-in on the loot box thing and has thrown members basically nothing in return, my opinion has changed.

My handle predates Harley. I've been using it since Telnet and dialing in to BBSes were things.

It was an edgy teen thing back then.

Sorry for the off-topic post.

Umm, ditch membership!

I wouldn't even say that's necessarily accurate. They've done quite a lot for the benefit of members since Time Capsules went live, including giving best access to free Stabilizers, to members. They gave us access to the Flash helmet and made non-members pay for it. They've given us free, exclusive auras like the Will o' the Wisp aura and Seafoam aura.

Yet, as you demonstrated from your comment, there, it hasn't made a significant impact on the perception of the membership's value

That's it... I'm telling your wife how much you spent on Platinum in Warframe :O

Yea I remember this. When Madden came out with pokemon like cards that you have to buy I stop buying madden. I played and bought madden from 1992-2007. I was addicted to drafts and creating players. Forward a couple years latter about madden microtransaction I was livid.

Last EA game I bought was UFC2. That game literally feels like you don't own the game. You have to buy skills to do well in the game it is p2w. I never thought in my younger years that games can go so low.