Just a quick question about the F2P feature matrix

Discussion in 'Gotham City (General Gameplay)' started by InvisibleInk, May 21, 2014.

  1. InvisibleInk Active Player

    I'm well aware of the property rights involved. Its not the ownership but the sense of ownership that is the important thing there. Would you rather have a sense of ownership that is false or a false dilemma between renting and owning?

    But on one side of it you have people that have said "Hey, do something about these F2P mechanics, they suck" and on the other side, you have Poo and a few other community members saying "Hey, do something about these F2P mechanics, they suck". So both sides agree that doing nothing is not the preferable outcome here. Both sides have completely different motivations, both sides want slightly different outcomes, but they both agree that the current model sucks for all parties involved.

    All I'm saying is that the devs should have a meeting to discuss the topic and draw their own conclusions. If they do want to change it, then I look forward to the new developments of their model. If they put as much thought into it as they do with most of the game updates and DLC then we'll be in for a treat. If they decide to do nothing, yea, I'll be disappointed, but so will you because they decided to do nothing with it.
  2. Drakonicus New Player


    What a wonderfull idea ! I am sure that never crossed their minds !
    • Like x 2
  3. InvisibleInk Active Player

    And now I see why they removed the forums from the community section.
  4. Redscreen5 New Player

    The problem is premium is too easily obtainable. The only time I think I'd agree to more perks is if it required more investment. So for example spend 50-100 cash and you become premium instead of the just the 5.

    I think it's more ideal because there are prems out there who invest a lot more money in game (dlc plus micro purchases) but still are within the same category as those who have made one transaction.
    • Like x 4
  5. Ice Lantern New Player

    This has got to be one of the asinine things people say on the forums. It keeps coming up because a subset of the players want it. It doesn't mean it's good for the game.

    - Who ever puts out seat belt commercials has very little to gain from people wearing seat belts.
    - Wearing seat belts is law in a lot of places.
    - Wearing seat belts can save lives.
    - The upside of wearing seat belts overwhelmingly outweigh the downsides.

    But yeah, aside from all of that the analogy is decent. :rolleyes:
    • Like x 3
  6. Archangel Rafael New Player

    The currency cap doesn't increase by buying DLCs because premium is not intended as a long-term plan. SOE wants you to sub. The free and premium is only there to try to get new players interested. Premium exists to bridge players into a sub.

    It really is a waste of time to talk about this stuff here. It's unlikely that the game devs control the sub structure. Forum topics about this probably don't get seen by the people who make price-structure decisions.
    This statement evidences a poor understanding of what the marketing of DCUO is all about.

    In the years previous to DUCO, MMO games would have a 2-week or 30-day free trial. You could play the whole game but only for a limited time. The goal was to get players interested so they would pay a monthly sub.

    F2P is the new version of this. F2P is the new free trial. The goal is still to get players to subscribe.

    SOE is not going to say "we don't really expect/want/support you playing for years as a premium." , but really what is supposed to happen is a guy plays as F2P for 2-3 weeks. Then they like the game so they buy the current DLC and they play on for a few months. Then they decide that they really like DCUO and start a sub.

    There is no ownership. It's a service model, not like a retail purchase.

    They're not going to change the premium model to encourage more people to stay at the premium level. Premium is not something they're trying to sell. It's an extended trial offer.
    • Like x 7
  7. tukuan Devoted Player

    Since DLCs are always getting added that wouldn't work too well. I would like to see Premiums get some sort of cumulative increase in rewards per DLC they've bought but this is not a new idea and I can guarantee you that the devs, marketing and management have probably had this conversation ad nauseum as well. Why no changes? I guess we'll never know.
    • Like x 1
  8. blazeing fire111 Devoted Player

    No with number 2.
    • Like x 1
  9. Rhinosus13 Loyal Player

    I highly doubt that its the devs that set the price, restrictions etc ingame and more likely the corporate SOE 'advising' them what it should be
    • Like x 2
  10. InvisibleInk Active Player

    Then why do they sell DLC for $10 each?

    The entire mentality behind it, as well as the two tier model, as it currently stands... make about as much sense as hitting yourself in the head with a hammer.
  11. MetalMario Loyal Player

    Think of it like membership to a club. You can pay annually (or whatever) and go as often as you want or you can pay each time you go, but as a higher rate. It should be obvious to you that you don't own anything though, since it's online only and doesn't exist if the server goes down.
    • Like x 1
  12. Black House New Player

    Joined today, with a complete understanding of the devlopment, marketing and fiscal stratagy of DCUO and a complex plan for moving forward?

    I'm going to go right ahead and call shenanigans on this one.


    Sounds like a solution in search of a problem,
    One word starts with N ends in D.. express a viable or pressing one.
  13. Sbel Devoted Player


    No.

    There are a lot of 'First 30 days free' games. I haven't tried any of them. I tried DCUO and stuck with it because there was no fixed time limit on the free trial. Also, no level limit that you reach in 10 hours or less.
  14. Bast10n Committed Player

    The problem is people look at purchasing a DLC like purchasing on song on Itunes.

    The truth is, its more like "buying" a movie or TV show on Amazon Instant Video.
  15. myselfdestruct New Player

    I pay 119.00 a year base not counting all the replays, etc. and that doesnt make me better than any other player in the game but my benefits should be the same as a F2P player? I just can't care about F2P issues, if they havent hooked you in enough to throw some cash down, I am not concerned. Sorry, not sorry :D
    • Like x 3
  16. Archangel Rafael New Player

    If you look at it from SOE's p.o.v. , where they are trying to sell subscriptions and the F2P model is the new 3-day free trial, everything about this makes perfect sense.

    The DLCs are kinda like being able to purchase an extension of your free trial. If you're on the fence, just not sure you want to commit to a subscription, you can buy a dlc and keep the trial version running a bit longer to help you make up your mind. SOE hopes that you will decide to sub. If you don't sub they expect you will quit but at least they got a tiny bit of revenue to offset the costs of offering free trials.

    Premium players keep coming to the forums complaining that the game becomes more and more unplayable at the higher tiers with a premium sub. They don't understand because they are looking at it like SOE should be supporting the premium sub as a permanent subscription. From SOE's p.o.v. this is working as intended.
  17. InvisibleInk Active Player



    So the consensus so far is that the DLCs are like a vestigial limb, and the devs need to make a choice between cutting them off or cybernetically enhancing them.
  18. Black House New Player

    No the consensus appears to be that this is a pointles thread full of solutions to a problem that only exists in the mind of the OP.
    • Like x 1
  19. Archangel Rafael New Player

    we do know. Some people just refuse to accept the answer.

    They're not going to change the premium model to encourage more people to stay at the premium level because premium is not something they're trying to sell. It's an extended trial offer intended to entice players to sub. It's not intended to be a good long-term option to play at the highest level. SOE wants to encourage people to sub, not encourage people to play forever as a premium.

    It's an answer with obvious truth that is proved out by the fact that they haven't done anything to make premium more playable or more desirable since F2P launched.

    Some players are stubbornly determined to demand/expect/request/want a viable permanent avenue of play through premium status. It's not going to happen but because people want the unreasonable to be true we will keep seeing these threads with regularity.

    Furthermore, it is unlikely that the dev team has any hand or say in the subscription model so these topics on the forums are misdirected.
    • Like x 2
  20. InvisibleInk Active Player

    And this is why it needs work. You have the DLC schema as it stands now which is primarily a red herring and does nothing but confuse players, at the very least they should only be available to legendary members as a form of legacy support for the content they enjoy and the characters they've created, this would prevent players from thinking, as you say, that premium would be a viable option in the long-term.

    Also, getting rid of those DLCs for premium members would probably help, not hurt, player attrition and conversion rates.