Suggestion : Collectors Club (subscription)

No.

 

Here's one more.

I hate monthly payments, therefore I am against the proposal.
If there would be a lifetime subscription, I would probably buy it .

 

$10 a month for an item though is much cheaper than buying from the add-on store. I can imagine a lot of people having sticker shock looking at the Sota add-on store. I know I do. Most of the items I buy, I kind of shake my head in disbelief I'm buying it, close my eyes and click the buy button. It's never a pleasant impulse buy, or a feeling of "hey what a great deal". Lately I just don't buy much unless it's something I can see that won't be re-skinned from something else. I've spent so much on pledges already I just can't justify buying much with the current prices of most of the items in the add-on store. This is an extremely expensive game to play if you like housing and shinies.

Having said all that though and having thought some more on the subject of should sota have a subscription. Sota was said to be a buy to play game when we were all sold on it, and even though I'm more fond of subscription based games, I don't think Sota should have a subscription at all. The cost of pledges many of us have paid has already been expensive. I think we've paid our dues already. At a subscription rate of $15 a month it would take a little more than 22 years for me to get my moneys worth already if it were subscription base from the beginning.

 

Lord Fauntleroy approves this thread

iiiiiiks...a ton? You send the 11,90$ Centurion or 23,80$ Imperator in 1 cent pieces?

Nevermind my humor, thank you for your $ helping make the game and the whole shows that get realised through your contribution.

 

We don't know how much damage and to how many. But I'm not optimistic.

 

I suggested something similar over a year ago, and would still be in favor of it. Unless they are already planning to add a large number of items to the Store every month, I'd prefer to see this done by giving Add-On Store credits at possibly higher than normal return (i.e., you get a 10% bonus after 6 months, and 20% bonus after 12 months, so for $10/mo you get $12 in credit). Then, when items ARE added to the store, we can spend those credits as we want.

This means less developer time is required each month, but can instead be used when they have the time to spare. And if all we want to do is replenish our supply of black dye every month, we are covered.

 

The Photographer's Club

A monthly subscription gives you access to a library of pictures taken in game using a Kobold Kamera Obskura.
These pictures are the only ones that can be included in books that are printed in game.
The number of pictures that can be taken from the library each month is limited, so people can't sign up for one month and grab them all.
A year's subscription (optionally paid for in advance) buys you your own Kamera that allows you to take in game pictures that you can use directly and/or add to the library.
To encourage submissions to the library, store credit could be awarded to the player who provides the most popular new picture each month.
Individual pictures can also be purchased from the library by non-members.

 

Nice idea, BUT dangerously close to P2W... and that is something I do not want to see this game become.. people complain enough about not having enough time to play or other 'unfair' advantages (rhymes with lust-call), that this would add to the problems.

 

I think its a bit late for that. :/

 

I stand corrected.

I wouldn't love to FURTHER split the playerbase in rich have's and poor havenot's. I find it unpleasant.

 

Sounds like real life, doesn't it?

But serious:
I can't see the Problem.
This will always happen. If it's because of cash or because of power gaming (time=cash) seems unimportant to me.
I didn't Support this game to get the next casual one like WoW where everybody is the same.

 

I don't think so.

My understanding is that, coming Episode 1, there won't be any pledge tier besides $45 Adventurer. Because, well, there's nothing to pledge for anymore, once we go in full production: only a finished product to purchase for everybody. So, for all intents and purposes, after the development phase where players with deep pockets are encouraged to pour inordinate (LOTM/Metropolis) amounts of cash into Portalarium coffers, everyone starts the same - exactly like the other MMO you cite; and the add-ons store - if kept! - will have mostly cosmetic and not-critically better (I'm looking at you, Prosperity!) items.

I can and did accept the tiered wealth system during kickstarter, development, early access because, hey, setup costs are higher than maintenance.

But I still hope that further down the road, the field will start more leveled, not less.

 

The starting point here is that Portalarium will need a constant, reliable, predictable source of income post-launch. Staff must be employed, bills paid, etc. Without that they'll have to close their office and shut down the servers. Sales of the game will carry them for a while, but will drop off after the initial publicity.

So, since there is no subscription, and probably only enough funds to take them to release, I do not see them closing down the add-on store. If anything I see it being expanded, and I'm more than happy with that because I don't want to see my initial investment wasted. Anything that provides Portalarium with a reliable source of income, provided it is not pay to win, is fine by me. (By "win" I mean gaining an advantage in areas where there is genuine competition - as far as I can tell that should only prohibit sales of items that affect PVP combat.)

 

Respectfully, this implies that you don't think Portalarium has a business plan.
I can only assume from Richard's response that this idea kind of lines up with something they have planned anyway.
Observing this community over the past three years, it is my opinion that giving out a special rare items for a subscription will create more division in the community. On the other hand, I like Browncoat Jayson's idea.

 

I'm on the fence with this idea because SotA is a by-to-play game and I feel monetization like this would be seen as double dipping by many people. Once companies get branded like this its hard to educate potential customers otherwise.