Why you should make broker avail to f2p

Eh...if you have a mercenary you can run around naked picking mushrooms (ingesting for fun) and still make it to 90+ More so if you are a summoner.

Just saying...

Let me rephrase, since you don't seem to understand, despite quotation:

I'm suggesting they add a 3rd level in between F2P and member, essentially with none of the annoyances and none of the bonuses (no double currency, no xp bonus, no access to xp events, no prestige gear, no easy gear swap, no global access to the broker). The cost is 5$ per month. That's every month, not once.

You're acting as if you have NO ability at all to gain access to the broker, and I have NO idea WTF a harvest box has to do with anything, but particularly this discussion. This might come as a surprise to you, but harvest boxes are a fairly new addition to the game, and when I first started playing, I didn't have the coin to buy anything off the broker, so I did it all myself. I leveled the crafters I needed, I kept harvestables in my bank, and I didn't whine about how there was no one to give me plat to buy everything I needed instead of making it for myself. Then I changed servers, because I started on the Bazaar when I was new and I didn't know there was a difference. I couldn't move the toons I'd worked so hard to level, so I went to AB and started again, with no coin, no ability to buy anything off the broker, and nothing but myself and my husband to get us going. More recently, I started on TLE, where - you guessed it - I had no coin and thus, no ability to buy anything from the broker. I had to actually work to get to where I am now. I bartered for the things I couldn't make myself starting out, and busted my butt to get to where I am now.

Your argument is invalid. If I can level without the use of a broker and a harvest box (I mean, really??) I'm pretty sure others can do it too. I wore some crappy looted/quested gear for a while, but I did it. You CAN buy broker tokens and a harvest box off the marketplace if you need them, but even now I probably don't use the broker for 100 transactions a month, so I can't see why it is such a big deal to buy the tokens you need to sell what you want to sell. I'd bet half the stuff that people put on the broker doesn't sell, so maybe you have to be a little more selective in what you put out there so as not to waste the tokens, but I fail to see how having a harvest box and unlimited broker access makes that much of a difference.

you don't seem to understand. full broker access separate of the ability to call up the broker UI anywhere is valuable and one of the major draws of having a subscription. if they let anyone use the broker fully and gave full access to chat functions there would be temptation for subscribers like myself to drop down to $5/month over $15/month or $120/year deals.

the only remaining feature that would hold some back would be send and receive mail.

i have silver on this account if they changed things so anyone could fully use the broker i could easily invest in 3 character slots and keep playing while DBG looses money because i ether stopped subscribing or am only paying them 1/3 of what i would usually give them.

DBG will no go for easing broker restrictions, the most i would expect is ether a silver v2 with less features or a subscription for $5 letting you send mail and buy from the broker.

they removed sale of silver for a reason, they wanted more restrictions to enocurage people to sub without actually adding more restrictions.

Apparently the only way to talk to Skratchie is to agree with everything he says. I was expecting him to say "challenge accepted." But I guess he's too busy deciding who's invalid to pay attention. Skratchie, what you've been waiting to hear is: "you're smart, we should all play like you. " Ok now you've heard it.

Lucus said...

And how do you know that? It seems to bother you that people would even ask. It's a perfectly natural thing to talk about. Your absolute stance on this subject doesn't make sense. Or are you saying you can predict the future?

I don't care if you play like me or not, dude, and I don't care if you think I'm smart. But the comments that you can't level without broker access or a harvest box (again, wtf?) are incorrect. Please explain to me why you cannot level without these things. What makes you so special that you need broker access to level, when others have done it many, many times? And I already said - I've done it. Would it make you feel special if I took the time to do it all over again? I don't have that much playing time to begin with; I'm not going to waste it to prove you wrong.

Why would any business want to make their f2p section more enticing? WOW....

Actually, I have a list of suggestions on how to make Membership more lucrative...

--Free to play members should be limited to 3 bag slots on their character, 4 Bank, and 1 Shared Bank slot(s).
--Free to play members should be limited to their level*5 in platinum. Any excess platinum will be forced into your shared bank.
--Free to play members should be unable to wear gear over Legendary tier, and are unable to have spells above Expert.

Those three should actually sound pretty familiar to people, actually.

I hope DBG doesn't listen to these whiners cause it would cause the paying subscriber to get pist off. If that should happen, you might see them shutting this game down due to low income coming in. I repeat I for one will quit subscribing myself if that happens. Possibly a few other too. If that happens, what are you gaining then? Nothing to play. Oh I forgot you just go to another F2P game and leave us with nothing.

I don't care who hates me for saying this.

Been there, did that. Had to purchase extra bag slots, too (was early in EQ2Extended, and not all bag slots came unlocked). Leveled to 90 without any problems.

Hoo, boy, that plat limit was nasty. Used pristine repair material as a currency for trade until SoE caught on and made it heirloom. Fun times.

Edit: I believe the plat limit was lifted to allow F2P to be able to purchase krono...there wasn't a hope of being able to buy one from the broker with the small amount of plat even a max level toon could carry.

the reason to make f2p more enticing is because if you hook people they will eventually want to pay, basic business

You're putting words in my mouth now, Skratchie? You must really be annoyed with me if you're resorting to such low measures. I never said you can't level, if you think I did, why don't you quote the exact place where I said it.

You seem to have plenty of time to argue. Why is this a life or death struggle to you?

For me, the broker has little value. It's nice if something actually sells, but I've been pretty self-sufficient for a very long time and so are many others out there.

I think you're taking things like the currency bonus for granted, because items sold for the adventure currency of the year are clearly balanced towards those that are members. You need only look at items like the blank runes for something that truly favors the members.

The reason they did away with silver was it wasn't making any kind of money and it was also a little confusing to people. My idea might have some shift towards the lower end, but I think it will have enough of an appeal to actually turn a profit with those that are more casual. Meanwhile, more plat can change hands.

... That's basically, what I'm proposing. I didn't even include mail. Why are you arguing with me?

With all other factors being the same, an increase in supply almost invariably causes a drop in demand (as the demand is satiated by the increase in supply). Conversely, with all other factors being the same, an increase in demand (again, almost invariably) causes a drop in supply (as the supply is diminished to fill the demand).

They're almost like two sides of a see-saw (aka a teeter-totter), as one rises, the other sinks (as long as the fulcrum remains in the same position). So please elucidate about the mechanism by which you could cause both the supply and the demand to increase - because it isn't clear how that could be accomplished.

Note: I'm not an economist, so there may very well be a mechanism that my Associate of Applied Science in Accounting didn't cover. (It wouldn't have been covered by my Bachelor's or Master's degrees, either, since both of those were related to Computer Science.)

Please clarify the mechanism that would allow both supply and demand to increase simultaneously. Once you've clarified that, please indicate the manner in which you believe increasing the already generous benefits (by giving free broker access)
for free-to-play players will incentivize purchasing subscriptions for any new or returning player, while still disincentivizing the discontinuance of existing subscriptions. Because it isn't clear how that is to be accomplished, either.

Wait, wait, wait. You want supply, demand, and price to increase? As far as I am aware, there is no mechanism in economics that would allow the simultaneous increase of all three. An increase in price causes a decrease in demand (with supply remaining stable). An increase in price and supply causes a more rapid decrease in demand.

Okay. How? One free stack of attuners every month? A random guide collectible every month? Free gear? How, exactly would you, if you were given the power to do so, incentivize subscriptions?

Free to play is for kiddie games that only hold someones attention for a couple months. EQ2 should be pay to play. The TLE server has NO problem have a good population with a required sub. It's tiresome hearing people complain that they don't get enough stuff for free. If you can't afford to play a game maybe you shouldn't be playing a game.

LOL @ baiting attempts. Have a nice day, dude!

Gingham is right about at least one thing. Everyone should be able to buy from the broker. I have no idea how accounts get the silver perks anymore. I thought they had instituted it as a state that formerly premium accounts revert to, but all of my accounts are old, so I have no idea. Since there is no longer a product in the cash shop that is silver membership, it makes no sense to prevent a new account from buying from the broker. It's arbitrarily punitive.

Allowing free accounts to sell on the broker would absolutely destroy the value of a subscription and the value of Krono. Destroying the value of your paid product is not good business.

Only people that were silver before it went away revert to silver. People who have always been gold or premium (now all access) drop all the way down to the bottom. There is no way to get silver now if you weren't silver at some point before it went away.