Payment Types and Info/idea

[StryiderShaun]

I have head many ppl. talking about the type of payment that STO, will be using, and most say a Pay-to-play monthly. What I don't seem to understand, is why not have it the way Guild Wars does it. Buy the game and play .. The ppl over at Guild Wars, must be on to something right. If not the game would not have and still be making ad-ons.. To me Guild wars is a great game., and the ppl that run/made the game are making tons of money.. yes they don't call it a true MMO, but that's not the point, it shouldn't matter what type of online game it may be, the fact that the game is a big hit, and doing well. I don't see any good reason why not do the same with that type of payment system.. Also, if they would set it this way, I bet STO would bring even more players in!! Also, this is a idea that came to mind, that's say they give use more then one way to pay:

1) you can pick to pay ,buy month by month (using a Credit Card/pre.paid card or a Game Card)

2) you can pick to pay buy months at a time {2,3,4 and so on} (using a Cred Card/pre. paid card or Game cards)

3) You can pick to play for free
Now what they could do on this type of payment, is have it set you START out with a lower amount of things/items or what so. or you are limited to what you can use, Like say some type of part for a ship, you wont be able to use it, UNLESS you find it, or have to work harder to be able to use that item.(Cant have it giving/traded to you). I'm not saying to have it that a player that has picked to have the "play for free" account, not to be able to use that item, unless they pay. (like if some one gave you the item, you would not be able to use it,unless you pay something) that I don't like at all.. (seen this in allot of Free to play online game) What, I'm trying to say is you would start out with less items/skills or what so, to start out. and it would take you longer to be able to get/use that item.. It might be a bit harder to get that item, you may even have to do more steps.. the reason why some would "not' pick this option, is because some players want to start out having all the skills and be able to use all type of item's and so on at start.. (what you would have if you payed by month(s)) Anyway, I think you guys get the basic,idea, let me know what you all think
Thanks

Shaun

[Arkantos117]

Sorry i don't like your idea of free play, you will just get a huge gap between those who pay and those who don't. They whole game should be pay to play, if you hadn't noticed the most popular PC game at the moment (WoW) is one of those, so free play wont help at all.

[mckee123]

Akantos is right, there would be a big difference between pay and free accounts. And it would also result in guys making free accounts to spam and advertise. A free trial maybe but no free accounts please.

[VGer]

Free? No. So what if you started with less items.skills? If someone was playing for free they would just grind all day to get the stuff paying costumers have.

Is it really that hard paying $15 bucks a month for what i hope to be a satisfying experience?

Free MMO's are usually free cause they are ****.

[VGer]

Akantos is right, there would be a big difference between pay and free accounts. And it would also result in guys making free accounts to spam and advertise. A free trial maybe but no free accounts please.

Good point! Not to mention the amount of gold farmers who would exploit free play!

[ScouseSandwich]

I doubt we will find out any time soon, that info isn't even out for champions online yet and that is much further along in the development process than STO. I imagine the cost breakdown for the game will be similar for STO and CO, so maybe you should keep an eye on CO for a guide.

[Captain.Hunter]

Free to play?

I think I have to agree with others on this subject for the reasons they have stated.

However I am for a lifetime subscrption offer - so eventually I would be playing for free. ;)

[Tranyaholic]

OP. That is a horrible idea. Why do you feel entitled to play for free?

[Kinjiru]

What's wrong with a regular subscription model?

Frankly, the idea of microtransactions and fees annoys me, and in the end, to get what you want (the best ships, weapons, etc.) you'd end up having to pay more. Just let me hand 'em my credit card.

[overlordthor]

What's wrong with a regular subscription model?

Frankly, the idea of microtransactions and fees annoys me, and in the end, to get what you want (the best ships, weapons, etc.) you'd end up having to pay more. Just let me hand 'em my credit card.

yeah, I'm for regular subscription fees or the buy the game and play for free afterward but then you have to buy expansions, like guild wars.

[dahakahacker2000]

ok, I slightly agree that there should be pay to play, but I would prefer it be a lifetime subscription then pay per month, can't garenty that there will be money to pay. :(

[Loekii]

What's wrong with a regular subscription model?

Frankly, the idea of microtransactions and fees annoys me, and in the end, to get what you want (the best ships, weapons, etc.) you'd end up having to pay more. Just let me hand 'em my credit card.

I agree.

I would rather they use the regular subscription model, and increase the price by $1/mo, to eliminate any need for MTs.

I also hope that they find a way to limit 'Trial' accounts, so that Spammers cannot exploit them to spam solicitations to players.

[Prospero]

As long as they take paypal, I'm happy.

[VGer]

ok, I slightly agree that there should be pay to play, but I would prefer it be a lifetime subscription then pay per month, can't garenty that there will be money to pay. :(

In your opinion how much should a lifetime sub cost?

[Evi1Genius]

I have head many ppl. talking about the type of payment that STO, will be using, and most say a Pay-to-play monthly. What I don't seem to understand, is why not have it the way Guild Wars does it. Buy the game and play .. The ppl over at Guild Wars, must be on to something right. If not the game would not have and still be making ad-ons.. To me Guild wars is a great game., and the ppl that run/made the game are making tons of money.. yes they don't call it a true MMO, but that's not the point, it shouldn't matter what type of online game it may be, the fact that the game is a big hit, and doing well. I don't see any good reason why not do the same with that type of payment system.. Also, if they would set it this way, I bet STO would bring even more players in!!

Shaun

I completely agree with Cpt.Shaun. I play Guild wars also, it is a proven method, Guild Wars 2 will prove it further.
Pay-to-play does not suit STO, simply cuz the way they are developing it as its not really sounding like a "true" MMO either. Subscribers can counter what I just said without involving the word 'instances', but you will be lying.

If pay monthly was the case then the way I see it is the same point of view as the critics in the following url:

http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/startrekonline/news.html?sid=6209583&tag=topslot;title;2

I'm goin to guess that there will be at least 200 dedicated subscribers paying monthly for this game (mostly ppl posting on these forums). That don't sound Massive so I'd call it a SmallMO game for now.

If I calculate that - $15 a month per subscriber....
comes to $3000 a month...(hey not bad)
and that in a year is...$36,000 ah ok...well that will pay for at least a junior level artist but thats cutting it.
The game is designed to target all the ST fans yet I doubt that every one can afford it....pay monthly method seems so risky. Subscribers are willing to pay monthly for it just to keep their playground alive yet although they don't see it coming, they are ironically killing the game (and its not even out yet!).

Well if the game were to be sold like GuildWars, that could appeal to more broader audiences as they will just buy it at the store for like $50 straight or so like any other PC game and no hassle with forms. Now GuildWars has sold about 6million games now in the past 4 years. I'l let you do the math....

[thefrayl]

99.9% of F2P MMOs are garbage. Thats why its free. And Guild Wars isn't a real MMO. It's a 3D Diablo with a glorified chat room. I for one, am expecting a quality Trek experience with this game :)

[thefrayl]

I'm goin to guess that there will be at least 200 dedicated subscribers paying monthly for this game (mostly ppl posting on these forums). That don't sound Massive so I'd call it a SmallMO game for now.


I haven't had a laugh like that since I was a school girl. :D Please tell me you are joking...

[Prospero]

I'm goin to guess that there will be at least 200 dedicated subscribers paying monthly for this game

I would say at the VERY LEAST 25,000

[Stryklone]

One of the reasons Infogrames cited when they bought Cryptic was Cryptic's "microtransaction business model." Beyond that, what info we know about what we pay for gaming in this universe will be one of the last things we find out ... but rest assured Cryptic knows.

Stryklone
========

[Evi1Genius]

I haven't had a laugh like that since I was a school girl. :D Please tell me you are joking...

Nope I aint joking thats a serious guess. If a poll were to be set up right now: pay monthly / non-suscription
I would predict that the pay monthly side of the poll would reach at least 200.

[Rahyuht]

This game will have more than 200 people playing It.

[overlordthor]

I'll be the 201st

[Dominick-Kane]

If its pay to play then be rest assured they will have a continued cash flow to keep support and resources devoted to the game.

[Rupedogg86]

WoW hypothetical example 11,000,000 subsribers x $15 per month x 12 months = approx. 1.98 billion sales revenue. It's just too lucrative not to have pay to play and regardless the developers have expenses to cover to keep the servers up and monitoring content and upkeep.

As for your three examples, any payment plan I have ever experienced already has a monthly or multi-month option.

[TechDragon]

Just to give some actual solid numbers, there are around 100,000 people currently registered on these forums. Keep in mind these are people who found out about the game BEFORE it has been released and BEFORE there has even been much advertising for it. I'd say a safe bet is 75% of the people currently here are going to get the game, at least to try out. These numbers are a fraction of those who will actually buy the game at launch, as the population will dramatically swell upwards at that time.

So as a rough ballpark figure, rather then 200 I would estimate that around 200,000 - 300,000 people will be purchasing and paying for this game at launch.

[Kavryn]

I don't think I would mind the Pay to Play so much if it wasn't as high as WoW, I don't see a problem with something like Xbox Live, I pay 50 bucks for a year, and that I can justify, but I think it will be hard for, if not most, at least a good portion of people to play the game. Either way, I'll probably get this game, but I just hope its not an expensive P2P.

[doh123]

they would have to totally restructure the game to make it like Guild Wars... it would have to be little zones that are nothing but a 3D chatroom, and leave the areas with people to go to a "real" place where you can do more than talk... that would not have to have a server to run it. Guild Wars is free cuz they have little need for expensive servers or bandwidth. I want a STO universe where I don't have to load into a area where people are to run into anyone... thats one of the main things I hate about Guild Wars.

[Jenaside]

Free to play?

I think I have to agree with others on this subject for the reasons they have stated.

However I am for a lifetime subscrption offer - so eventually I would be playing for free. ;)


Yes! A lifetime subscription would rock.

[overlordthor]

Yes! A lifetime subscription would rock.


Would be quite expensive, but a problem could be that once you pay for it, we find out they really didnt do as great a job with the game as they might have, a pay to play incentive makes them want to work to keep the game fun and interesting for a longer period of time.