Forums » General Pantheon Discussion

Subscription & You

    • 201 posts
    September 11, 2016 10:05 AM PDT

    I would pay 15 like normal.  I would pay 20 for something like an RP server with guaranteed staff...not enforced like you must run around RPing all day, but with guaranteed staffing that are always on and enforce things like out of character names like d00dz0rz, gold farming, botting etc aggresively.

    • 70 posts
    September 11, 2016 7:54 PM PDT

    I prefer the standard subscription fee.  If they can think of some really appealing things to charge more for a premium server, I'd be up for it.  Not sure how you do that without falling into the haves/have nots mentality that could divide a community and split it, so they probably should just stick with the going rate with discounts the longer you subscribe.

     

    • 7 posts
    September 13, 2016 6:15 AM PDT

    $15/


    This post was edited by Dragonite at September 13, 2016 6:41 AM PDT
    • 49 posts
    September 13, 2016 7:28 AM PDT

    I'd definitely prefer subscription over any form of cash shop, even if it was $20 to $30 per month.

    • 38 posts
    September 13, 2016 8:37 AM PDT

    Definitely don't want to see a cash shop of any kind. I much prefer the classic $15/month subscription; it keeps everyone on a level playing field. 

    • 15 posts
    September 13, 2016 1:10 PM PDT

    I think VR is on the right track with a standard MMO subscription price. 

    I won't ever convince my friends to come and try this game if they have to shell out 25 US$ per month for it.

    Diehard fans may want to pay that much, but you also need to draw in the kind of player that hasn't necessarily played Everquest, has no clue who Aradune is, but would fit right in this playerbase anyway.


    This post was edited by piellar at September 13, 2016 1:11 PM PDT
    • 58 posts
    September 16, 2016 2:39 PM PDT
    I don't know if this was mentioned but what if you have multiple accounts could there be discounts on more than one accounts of the monthly plan?
    • 178 posts
    September 17, 2016 8:14 AM PDT

    I think most people are of the mind of a $15 range subscription plus the purchase of the original game and expansions.

    I would like to weigh in as others have done that perhaps the way to go is to up the subscription fee a bit - say, for argument's sake - up it to $20 per month subscription. That extra $5 essentially goes towards the next expansion or release and every current subscriber automatically gets the expansion or release instead of having to make a unique purchase. So after acquiring the game all expansions afterwards are automatic and not another purchasable entity. The advantages of this are two-fold: First, all players have the exact same content all the time - there won't be some that have some content that others don't have. Second, this makes it easier for zone content, future zone planning, and zone upgrades. If there are long term aspirations for zone development as the game expands then there won't need to be the contention of upgrading a dungeon or a zone and somehow having to take into account those that have the latest expansion and those that don't.

    Most of us are willing to subscribe and purchase expansions so long as we are interested in playing. I am simply suggesting that raising the subscription cost to offset the purchase price of expansions may be a better form for development and expansion of the game.

    • 36 posts
    January 15, 2017 12:50 PM PST

    Personally I don't care what they charge to play as I've already thrown a lump at these guys and if I want to play I'll pay and thanks to having a passive income I will be playing and paying for two accounts to overcome any issues that may effect my gaming style shall we say. That said I'm fortunate and can pay whatever price but the dearer you make it the harder it becomes for people with families on lower incomes so imo that needs to be taken into ccount...We need more people buying and playing than not to keep it a going concern for 10 years + so for their sakes I hope they don't go to silly.

    • 3016 posts
    January 15, 2017 1:40 PM PST

    Kilsin said:

    Evoras said:

    1. Is there likely to be a 'Box + 1 month sub' entry to the game?

    If the game is likely to be 'free until level 10' it seems unlikely that they will charge for the 'box'.

    so, NO

    2. How much will a monthly Sub be?

    I would imagine it will be between:

    20-25 USD                 (US dollars)

    15-20 GBP                 (Pounds Sterling)

    20,000-25,000 AUD    (thats right isnt it?)

    200-250 CAD             (will need a Canuck to check that)

    3. I imagine a '3-month block', '6-month block' or '1 year monthsly Direct-Debit' option willl be available.

    Also imagine 'pay for whole year in advance' for less $$$ than if you pay monthly will be available.

    Your conversion rates look accurate to me lol ;)

     

    Canadian dollars probably $30 to $35 as our dollar likes to play the yo yo game..lol

    • 60 posts
    January 15, 2017 3:00 PM PST

    I would be willing to be upto £50 per month if that meant no cash shops. Every game I have ever played in the past decade that was free-to-play or buy-to-play has always eventually went pay-to-win with cash shops. I also don't want them to make sub tokens in-game either because then the rich can just buy 50 tokens and sell them in game for gold which in the end makes it pay-to-win aswell. WoW has been doing this for a while and it just stinks, you can buy tokens on the website and sell them on the auction house for loads of easy gold. Please for the love of god just charge us a little bit more than the usual $15/mo if it keeps this horrible stuff out the game.

    • 2130 posts
    January 15, 2017 3:11 PM PST

    I'd personally like to pay $15/mo and have a service-based cash shop for server transfers, account transfers, more character slots, race changes, etc.

    • 114 posts
    January 15, 2017 4:56 PM PST

    How about a appropriate monthly fee (Kilsin explained)

     

    and then a voluntary donation to support the game.  You could donate another $1 one month, nothing the next (bills), and $5 some other month. I've always wondered about a system like this.  Guess you could just buy another box copy off the "shelf" and support that way also.

    • 2130 posts
    January 15, 2017 5:33 PM PST

    I don't like the idea of donating at all. This isn't a charity.

    The developers should charge as much as they need to pay their employees and keep developing new content. If they need more money, they have options. Donating to a for-profit company makes me want to gag, though.

    • 32 posts
    January 15, 2017 7:44 PM PST

    I'd pay $50/mo for a good game and feel like I was getting value if the quality is anywhere near where I think it will be.

    • 801 posts
    January 16, 2017 1:39 AM PST

    With the exchange rates, it can get very expensive for some of us. A normal MMO fee has been 14-18, any more would require a much more built mmo then anything else we played.

    Only if it was required would half of us spend over 20 per month, and the other half would ***** about it.

    Nature of the beast.

    • 2130 posts
    January 16, 2017 2:51 AM PST

    MMOs are still just about the cheapest form of entertainment around, even if the price was higher than usual. Complaining about the subscription cost is just unwarranted imo. Even if it was $50/mo, that's still cheaper than many other common forms of entertainment. That's like going to the movies once with two people and gettings concessions.

    • 3016 posts
    January 16, 2017 11:32 AM PST

    Keep it to $14.99 that will bring more people in than just those that can afford $50 to $60 a month.   We do after all want to encourage people to join in and have a look around,  if they like what they see and $15.00 doesn't kill their wallet they'll stick around.    There are other ways ..such as dlc (downloadable content) or expansions..or a shop where you can order decals, monster models, coffee cups, bumper stickers,  Pantheon limited art, etc  where we can support the game more if we like.

    • 9115 posts
    January 16, 2017 4:17 PM PST

    For those who are new to this thread, this has already been answered on the first page which I will quote below for convenience.

    https://www.pantheonmmo.com/content/forums/topic/3880/subscription-amp-you/view/post_id/61393

    "As
    much as I love the reasons behind this discussion, we have had it before and our answer has not changed, we will be opting for somewhere around the regular subscription fee price that you would typically expect with any AAA MMORPG for many reasons, but one of the most important is, what could we reasonably charge over another AAA game that has spent $500,000,000 on their title?

    Fictional Example: If ESO spends half a billion dollars on their MMORPG and we spend 10 million (for arguments sake a made up number) how can we justify charging our community and anyone that plays our game more money than the industry standard, what can we offer over ESO that would allow us to charge more?

    The answer is more complicated than you think but it is not something we are considering at this time, we have publicly stated that we will be sticking to a relatively normal and expected monthly subscription fee for Pantheon, there has been talk within the community of charging for a premium server(s) but this is something we are not completely sold on either as it splits the community up and again, there would need to be a reason to charge more for certain servers. :)

    I just wanted to jump in and let you know this before the thread became as long as the last one! You are free to discuss this as much as you like but keeping in mind what our answer is on the subject. ;)"


    This post was edited by VR-Mod1 at January 16, 2017 4:17 PM PST
    • 6 posts
    January 17, 2017 6:20 AM PST

    Kilsin has all the right answers :)

    I'm sure budgets/breakeven analyses were done with standard subscription fees to see if a game like Pantheon can be profitable. As long as VR focuses on making a quality game and stays on budget then there's no reason they cant be profitable with a standard subscription fee. Improper pricing isn't going to make Pantheon a success.