Wildstar

[derMeister]

I'm in total agreement. GW2 content does have the habit of being cosmetic and 'grindy' with almost no meat to its bones.

I have no problem with the subscription in itself, but $15 a month? Translating to average R150p/m. Kinda steep for me.
If the price drops to a more reasonable level in my opinion, then I'll definitely sub for Wildstar.

Oh, and not a smoker b.t.w.

[Patches]

Ok, I've been keeping an eye on this thread because I haven't really decided how I feel about this game and especially it's payment model. DerMesiter I feel you bro, and in a lot of ways I also agree with you. But I can also understand why they went the monthly subscription route, it means they have happy well paid employees that work in a less stressful environment to churn out content for players to enjoy.

Marz, I agree with everything you said except this:

The prices these games charge for monthly subs is cheaper than a night out of drinks or than 2 boxes of cigarettes

Now I don't want to start anything here and this is purely my personal opinion on this. Although I do agree that it is cheaper, I don't like the comparison you drew because it makes me feel that I'm paying for an addiction and not a hobby. Sure you can argue that people get addicted to MMO's and in that case "cigarettes = MMO", but that is not the case with most people.

I would also like to add my 2 cents on what I think could work as an awesome subscription model. Why not a Pay What You Want (PWYW) model like humble bundle? They can even go as far as giving you some nice stuff for paying $15 or more for instance. Set a minimum of $5 and you can decide how much you are willing to pay for playing the game each month. Personally I wouldn't mind paying more after a certain content release if I feel it was awesome and they deserve it. I know there will be people who always pay the minimum amount, but there will also be a lot of people who pay 5 or 6 times the minimum amount.

What do you guys think?

[derMeister]

Kinda like that idea.

[Munch]

Sub games, pffft, yes i have a job, blame valve for taking all my money and giving me dota 2 cosmetics

[Vale]

It's a game aimed at hardcore mmo raiders, they need to keep proper game content coming else raiders get bored. You need constant money for constant new content... There is no other way to keep this kind of game alive without subscriptions. There are plenty of other shit free to play mmo's for the guys that spend all their money on Dota 2 items

[Munch]

True story, like Defiance and Neverwinter, not that ive logged into those for weeks.
Dota is pretty much it for me, if they have a free trial and it tickles my tastebuds, might still be swayed.

[Specktor]

Firstly even though that $15 is worth a lot more to us here then to your americans and europeans, if the exchange rate was better then most people wouldn't mind. R150 is R5 per day, assuming you play every day which really isn't much at all.

And at least you have an option to buy time with in game money, i know i would have used that option with WoW if they had it due to having a tonn of cash and nothing to spend it on.

[Marz]

Look I may have exaggerated on the figures but my point still stands, there are plenty who complain about subs yet still like their vices.
I am not saying MMO is like a drug nor would I counter argue it. I am just saying that there are things we as human beings spend on that may not be necessary. Some folks pay R900 to DSTV and then don't use 50% of the channels.

Before any emo comes of this I want to stipulate something. If you cannot afford it, I am not saying its because you are spending your money in the wrong places. I am saying there are plenty who cant put mmo subs in to perspective to their other hobby spenditure

Also Patches that idea is possible, but then would you discriminate against those who pay less? Give them less raid time? Less gold cap?
What if everyone found a loophole to only pay $5 and do what they want each week? It would slow down the content updates.
I think What specktor has said here is relevant. Its the exchange that makes this look crap.

[Patches]

Ok we are 100% on the same page then Marz, I just read too much into your statement My bad

After I made the post about PWYW me and DerMeister starting throwing around some ideas and came up with a few 'incentives' for paying subs. Why not have a model where you pay a $5 base fee and then decide what account bonuses you want to pay for that month?
A few examples could be:

• $2 - 25% crafting boost
• $2 - Repair discount
• $5 - 25% increased XP Gain
• $5 - 0.05% money growth rate per day in personal bank
• $10 - 50% extra MF
• $10 - 1 Gold per day
• $10 - Shop discount (not Trade Post/Auction House)

Obviously these are just examples of costs and bonuses and I know some of them are probably not very realistic. I'm trying to paint a bigger picture of the trend these bonuses can set rather than list specific ones that are feasible. So the idea will just be that if you know you'll be levelling this month, add $5 to that months payment to get a XP buff for the month. Next Month you know you'll be farming for something so why not drop another $5 to gain some interest on the money just laying there in your bank? So basically you can buy as many 'bonuses' as you want each month. Want all of them? Buy all of them. A bit low on cash? Pay $5...

I'm not saying this is "The Perfect payment model", I'm just trying to think outside of the box with regards to payment models and online gaming in general.

[Marz]

Well then wildstar may be the place for both of you, head over to their forums and put in your suggestion. The devs there are probably the only ones in the world that actually LISTEN to their community.

[Zoe]

R150 rand a month doesn't sound that steep to me. IF THE CONTENT IS NOT FUCKING DAILIES then I can totally see this as being ok. If they have content where I can play with friends and it actually be social then awesome. If its a you can totally play on your own and we will put all the rewards in front of the solo player apart from slightly better gear if you are dedicated to group play (where you need better gear) then I may as well be playing skyrim. I want an MMO to be social and group oriented. Its the only thing that really frustrates me about wow in its current state (I was totally ok with having to talk in a chat channel to form a group because I actually had a rep that made it easy to group back in vanilla). If wildstar gives me group play then R150 a month is well worth it. Its R 50 a week for the first 3 weeks to hang out with mates (btw I stay in the eastern cape so I have no gaming friends here for rl interaction and my rl friends don't game).

Zoe

[Specktor]

Wildstar dungeon preview with boss mechanics

\

Looks decent, I like the telegraph system, it reduces the need for things liek DBM and learning how it works from lvl 1 means dont stand in the red should be drilled into everyone at somepoint.

[Phoenix]

R150 is nothing if you translate it into "money vs entertainment gain". Going to the movies these days cost more than that (2 hours entertainment). Going out for drinks easily ramps up to R400+ for one night. I think I spend more money on car-guards in a month compared to a sub. So 150 bucks for 30+ hours (60+ hours for hardcore) of entertainment with friends.. really isn't that much at all.

P.S. If you can't afford it, become a car-guard

[Marz]

Specktor that's a great find, I love the mechanics there and that's only a dungeon

[Munch]

Not a matter of affording it, its a matter of whether or not ill have enough time to invest into it to make it worth my while, pointless playing an MMO when u cant keep up specially one thats so raiding orientated like wow