better payment model brainstorm

[Kaios]

man, future does not seen any bright right now...
whatever comes i just hope there will be a chance for me and my people to have a chance to become a superpower as well as others

I don't agree with him at all, I'd totally pay for a recipe that I could give to a character for discovery that allows me to build an alternative looking tower or other cool shit like that. If it's fairly priced it doesn't matter to me if it carries over after a reset or not.

[DDDsDD999]

A one time payment that equates me to every other player is what I'd like. I know the logistics are bad for an MMO, but there's just something about saying I bought the game versus I'm paying a subscription.

[Sevenless]

man, future does not seen any bright right now...
whatever comes i just hope there will be a chance for me and my people to have a chance to become a superpower as well as others

I don't agree with him at all, I'd totally pay for a recipe that I could give to a character for discovery that allows me to build an alternative looking tower or other cool shit like that. If it's fairly priced it doesn't matter to me if it carries over after a reset or not.

I've bought several cosmetics myself. But I payed 15$ for cosmetics, and 30$ on subs. I'm basing my answer off Jorb's mention that cosmetics bring in peanuts compared to what subs are bringing in.

I'd be great if everyone could play for free, but I just don't see how it's possible.

[Redlaw]

Nothing can happen thought till the world resets, and its in are hands., We cant improve anything till someone has the bright idea to end it all.

[loftar]

It seems this should be reposted in here:

0-80 100% growth rate for all.
80-150 70% growth rate for free, 100% for verified and subs
150-FOREVERRRR 30% growth rate for free accounts, 60% for verified and 100% for subs.

That's not bad. I actually like the idea of simply buffing study speeds for verified and subscribed accounts. 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, quite simply, perhaps, with 2.0 obviously being today's speeds. That might be a bit P2W, #devssuck, but you could both play as much as you wanted, and you could theoretically get to the same stats as anyone else.

I realize that 200 is very low. It's just that if we set it to, say, 500, it might, on the other hand, be a while before we see any output.

The speed bonus is, on the other hand, relevant from day one, and then we could also set the level cap higher.

So that could perhaps be a thought.

[bitza]

tiered study rates aren't really any better than tiered caps, you're still doing a pay2win scenario that essentially equates to "pay for more LP". $10/month is practically nothing for someone in the US but in many other parts of the world, it's a pretty good chunk of change, and you'd be shutting those players out of top contention simply based on their countries' economies.

while the online time system wasn't perfect, if it were tweaked a bit, it is probably your best bet. however, 7 hours a week of playtime for a free player is ridiculous.

limit 1 character per account. any subscription purchased for that account goes only towards that character.

wanna bot? pay up, or do it on your main
want a crime alt, or garbageman alt to level the ground or whatever? pay up for a new account and character.

[xTrainx]

tiered study rates aren't really any better than tiered caps, you're still doing a pay2win scenario that essentially equates to "pay for more LP". $10/month is practically nothing for someone in the US but in many other parts of the world, it's a pretty good chunk of change, and you'd be shutting those players out of top contention simply based on their countries' economies.

while the online time system wasn't perfect, if it were tweaked a bit, it is probably your best bet. however, 7 hours a week of playtime for a free player is ridiculous.

limit 1 character per account. any subscription purchased for that account goes only towards that character.

wanna bot? pay up, or do it on your main
want a crime alt, or garbageman alt to level the ground or whatever? pay up for a new account and character.

you cannot limit players to 1 account without making the game pay to play

[loftar]

tiered study rates aren't really any better than tiered caps, you're still doing a pay2win scenario that essentially equates to "pay for more LP".

Let's not go overboard, though. There's a vast and unbridgeable gulf between any of these suggestions and paying an arbitrary amount for a proportional amount of instant LP, as the latter eliminates the need to play, whereas the former simply gives you more output for the same kind of grind.

Also, perhaps more importantly, the current system is arguably even worse in that respect. There's no way a free or verified player can seriously compete with a subbed account.

[springyb]

It seems this should be reposted in here:

0-80 100% growth rate for all.
80-150 70% growth rate for free, 100% for verified and subs
150-FOREVERRRR 30% growth rate for free accounts, 60% for verified and 100% for subs.

That's not bad. I actually like the idea of simply buffing study speeds for verified and subscribed accounts. 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, quite simply, perhaps, with 2.0 obviously being today's speeds. That might be a bit P2W, #devssuck, but you could both play as much as you wanted, and you could theoretically get to the same stats as anyone else.

I realize that 200 is very low. It's just that if we set it to, say, 500, it might, on the other hand, be a while before we see any output.

The speed bonus is, on the other hand, relevant from day one, and then we could also set the level cap higher.

So that could perhaps be a thought.

If this ends up being the case then there should be a group of starter curios that always study at x2. Newbie stuff like dandelions, ladybugs and cow cones, as well as all of the fated curios. Genuine new players already have to fight a steep learning curve while they discover the game mechanics and doing it at half the LP rate seems like it would be terribly off putting.

Or alternatively, give everybody a pool of x2 study time that refills weekly. Like the first 5 hours of studied items or something.

[Shrapnelx]

There's no way a free or verified player can seriously compete with a subbed account.

Boom, its been said by a dev, no takebacks.

So Loftar, lets be frank here, the new payment model is lacking, to put it gently, what exactly are you looking to get out of the game in terms of payment?

We need to come up with a payment model that supports the game itself, pays you and Jorb, and lets players be happy with as little friction as possible.

The current system is a 3 step payment model, free players live off a limited amount of time per week, no stat or level caps. Verified live off twice as much time, no stat or level caps. Subbed play unlimited as long as they keep paying, no stat or level caps.

New system is all players get unlimited time, instead of time, the 3 tiers are capped in terms of level. Free get up to 50, verfied get up to 125, sub get 200. So, in laymans terms, you swapped play time for level caps. You made it so player can play unlimited time, but they cant progress past a certain point, even subs now have a cap of 200.. that puts a hard cap on progression, you expect non-PvPers to suddenly become interested in PvP and go running around? No.. they will just go "Welp, i reached my limit" and leave.

Also, if you want the new system to work, you will have to go back over a LOT of other mechanics and change them in accordance with the level cap, such as the 5th level minehole, my miner is over 200 STR and there are still rocks he cant mine, Palibashing will be nonexistent, and many others.