...But I had a thought earlier when talking with some friends. The main reason that F2P players end up drifting off, or not sticking around is AA's. No, I'm not talking about the grind for them -- that grind, and the loot grind, are essential parts of having fun with this game. I'm talking specifically about F2P peeps having an AA cap, especially now that we can't even store more than 250 AAs. If someone's trying to convince a group of 4~5 players to come over with them, or try the game out, the AA cap is an instant turn off when it comes up in conversation because you can't hide the fact that AAs are absolutely necessary after a certain point in the game (And arguably before that point, really). One thing I feel might work to help F2P players out is an AA Cap expansion item bought with loyalty. Loyalty accrues relatively slowly unless you're a subscribed member, so it wouldn't be a guarantee that you would be able to explosively raise the cap either. Each purchase could be something like a 500~750 AA cap increase. Instead of being available only to members like the Plat bags or Character slots, it could be made only available to F2P instead -- seeing as P2P members don't have a cap.
Making a new FTP account now is a great learning experience if someone wants to learn the game. I'm good with the restrictions. I do not want to play with a free to play player. New to FTP players are not even silver, so even more crippled than letting an account lapse
Nobody should worry too much about F2P players "drifting off" in my opinion, if the game doesn't appeal to them enough to actually sub they aren't a loss, F2P is really just a free trial. We want players to enjoy the game, but I think the F2P "deal" is pretty generous as is, it serves as an introduction to the game it shouldn't ever become a viable way to experience the majority of the game, they can sub or buy a krono to access more AA already, if they aren't prepared to even put that much money in then they can jog on.
The main reason new players leave the game is because they never get into general chat. They are ostracized to a small group of players in the "new player chat" and have no idea of what help there is unless they use tells or if they are lucky enough to get into a guild who helps them or if veteran players are also in "new player chat" to answer questions. Imagine being alone in a strange land and no one talks to you. Your going to leave soon no matter how many goodies you get. If after 100 some levels you don't know if you want to pay for the game or not then its not a lack of AA that is stopping you. Its you being cheap and wanting stuff free. Help us support DBG - pay up buttercup. EDIT: The loyalty idea won't really work since free accounts only accrue tokens at a rate of 30 a week and that is after one full year. And they max at 1440 total. (except for some bugs on some accounts) So the player would need to stick around for a year to get max loyalty on a free account. Even if they switch to paying it then resets the time and the year count starts over before they can earn the 120/week that Silver and Gold do.
In general, I don't think that EQ has any interest in getting or retaining new players. The impression I get is that they're more interested in milking the players that drop in once per year for a month or two at a time. I know I play about a month off and on every other year or so. Now, I will freely tell you that the AA cap has caused me to just grow annoyed and stop playing on plenty of occasions. But more so that that, I usually stop playing because of the Prestige tag. I think if you buy the newest expansion, you shouldn't be hit with a prestige penalty for not being a sub. Also, if you're going to give away everything but the last two expansion - prestige tags should only be on gear from the exp. you don't own. Also, let's be honest, 15$ a month? Game doesn't really merit 15$ a month per account. I'd say a much more realistic market price would be 4 or 5$ a month.
That's your opinion, most I think would strongly disagree with you, I know I definitely do. What EverQuest needs are players who pay to support the game, that can be by way of a sub or by way of a Krono, the AA cap is lifted while you are subbed or for 30 days after consuming a Krono. Players who pay nothing are welcome to try the game in a limited fashion. You are capped as a free player, if you get annoyed & stopped playing what did the game lose? Nothing. You play for free & want even more free stuff, I hear ya. The Free to play offer is already generous enough, if you want more, pay up. Plenty of free to play games around if you don't want to pay, this one has limitations on its Free to Play, you can choose to play within those limitations, you can remove those limitations by way of a sub or krono purchase or you can vote with your feet & go play something else. I personally sub on 5 accounts so I clearly do think that the sub price is worth it, I think that because I consider EverQuest to provide very good value for money, I play the game for 5-8 hours a night 5-6 days a week & to get that much entertainment from any other medium would be more expensive. MMO gaming is pretty cheap. Playing for free is fine, I don't mind you playing for free with the current limitations in place, I don't want the game to allow free players to have everything that the players who pay to support the game get, without paying players the game would close down. Free to Play EverQuest is NOT the real EverQuest, it's a free trial without a time limit.
Erm, $15 is lunch. Once. You can't even get into the strip club for $15. But drop $15 in EQ and you've got 720 hours of gametime available with no restrictions? Seems more than fair to me. So my 6 All Access accounts still costs me less per month than a night out at the club. Conq
The AA cap for bronze and silver accounts should be raised with each new expansion. 250 and 1000 AA points does not mean much today. Suggested this years ago already. The price for the marketplace AA packages (100 AAs per package) are definetly way to expensive and should be more like the 500~750 AAs (per package) that you suggested... at the same price. For characters that rarely get played this is the only interesting "investment" option as the user is forced to play alot when he does use Kronos and does buy All Access memberships which does cause psychological stress to the players. The hybrid business model of FTP/PayTP never was a lucky choice and had lacked consistency from the beginning. It sure was and still is there to reduce business risk but it does make DBG look weak in making decisions and does challenge their leadership skills. IMO (All Access) memberships are a business model relict of the past and with AA packages and the ingame marketplace (consistent micropayment !) this could be made obsolete for a more sustainable future of EQ easily. Expansions that have to be bought and locked general chat channel for bronze players ? Another two bullocks relicts. Now with a new leadership I hope that EQ will be revitalized a bit and some cobwebs be removed.
I assume that the reason why they don't allow FTP to talk in General is due to plat sale spamming. Before potentially annoying the paying customers, DB wants you to have some skin in the game by having paid actual money to play.
Silver had a 1000 aa cap. Probably wouldn't be a bad idea to make FTP go to 1000 to try and hook a few more subs. I mean, if someone is "gaming" the system, its irrelevant anyway, as they are using a krono then using autogrant anyway.
I'd be all for bumping silver to 5k, F2P to 1k Edit: I cant stand the limitations so I pay for my accounts (even with the bumps to 5k/1k respectively, i'd still pay)
I have always thought that they made a huge mistake when they discontinued the Silver tier. I would be perfectly fine if they would bring it back something like a one time $20 cost and as an extra perk for the 3, 6, and 12 month subscription packages.
I don't know. Being exposed to general chat could easily make one leave the game too if they think that is how other players generally behave.
The NewPlayers chat channels are pretty dead so its like not having a chat at all. General chat is weird sometimes but its still better than a dead game experience.
you can transfer to test server and if you have the latest expansion you can enjoy all the content including free subs.
The whole purpose of the free trial is to get people to like the game enough to subscribe. More AA's isn't going to change that, if anything it would provide less incentive for subscribing.
You have to be 51 to get any AA at all, correct? If you have played 50 levels and don't like this wonderful game, then it probably wasn't really for you anyway. Maybe stick with GTA or some other twitch game. Sorry.
