Jump to content
  • Sign Up

Why no voluntary sub?


Joote.4081

Recommended Posts

I would like to see a voluntary sub similar to ESO,s eso+.
Of course if subbed you would get access to everything double bag/bank/crafting space . No transmute or makeover charges either. I'm sure they could add even more incentives to sub.It works for ESO, it works for FFXIV and would be a nice steady income for the dev's so that they wouldn't have to hammer those who can't afford gems so hard.If the sub was reasonable I would sub. I would rather sub than this daft gem system.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Because ArenaNet promised that there would be no timely fees for GW/GW2. Ever.

When the timely fees become voluntary, the risk exists that more and more quality of life features will become subscription-only. This will reduce the gaming experience of the current player base that may have chosen for Guild Wars 2 because they like a one-time payment instead of a recurring one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Because Guild Wars has been advertised since the first game came out as not having a subscription, even a "voluntary" subscription would be seen as going back on that.

On top of that if you spend any time on the Elder Scrolls Online forum you'll see numerous people complaining about how they feel stuck paying the subscription whether they want to or not because so many things are tied to it (mainly crafting material storage and bank space) that it's difficult to stop using it...at which point it ceases to be truly voluntary. And yet people are also constantly asking for more and more features to be added to it, even sometimes asking for existing things to be removed from the base game and made subscriber exclusives so they can feel like theyr'e getting their moneys worth...but no matter how much gets added it never seems to be enough.

I much prefer the system we have now, where if you want a 'voluntary subscription' you can simply buy whatever amount of gems you think is reasonable each month and then spend them on whatever you think you should get for your subscription. Even better that way you get to keep all your 'subscription benefits' even if you don't pay one month.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@"Danikat.8537" said:Because Guild Wars has been advertised since the first game came out as not having a subscription, even a "voluntary" subscription would be seen as going back on that.

On top of that if you spend any time on the Elder Scrolls Online forum you'll see numerous people complaining about how they feel stuck paying the subscription whether they want to or not because so many things are tied to it (mainly crafting material storage and bank space) that it's difficult to stop using it...at which point it ceases to be truly voluntary. And yet people are also constantly asking for more and more features to be added to it, even sometimes asking for existing things to be removed from the base game and made subscriber exclusives so they can feel like theyr'e getting their moneys worth...but no matter how much gets added it never seems to be enough.

I much prefer the system we have now, where if you want a 'voluntary subscription' you can simply buy whatever amount of gems you think is reasonable each month and then spend them on whatever you think you should get for your subscription. Even better that way you get to keep all your 'subscription benefits' even if you don't pay one month.

For me the ESO+ is more than worth it. I get a great return on my money. And as people say, you can't expect the dev's to work and expand for free. They too have family's to feed .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I guess they could make the voluntary subscription count for cosmetics ony. That way no convenience items would be tied to a subscription so no one would feel forced to continue it, and the subscribers get access to all rotating costumes, skins and free transmutation charges for the duration of the subscription. Maybe buy them at a discount if they want one permanently.

That way if someone is really high into fashion wars and can't stick with one look, they can play the fashion game that way.

Would at least silence all the "a paid subscription game letsme change my look whenever and how many times i want - i want free armor skin changes in this non subscription based game!" threads. Want free changes like in WoW? Here - pay the monthly subscription like WoW has. :wink:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@"Joote.4081" said:For me the ESO+ is more than worth it. I get a great return on my money.For me, the GW2 is more than worth it. I get a great return on my money as well.

And as people say, you can't expect the dev's to work and expand for free. They too have family's to feed .If the game did not bring in enough revenue with the current model to satisfy the shareholders, then either the model would change or the game would close.

As has been said in the many threads on this topic already: if you want to have a subscription, then there is nothing preventing you from paying $15 or more per month for gems and then getting the things that this "subscription" would make available to you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Mungo Zen.9364 said:Bad ideas need more bad ideas, and what I propose is a bad idea.

An optional monthly sub that provides you with gems. That’s it. They bill your CC and you get gems every month without having to think ‘did I spend enough on GW2 this month???’

Terrible idea, would anyone want a recurring Gem sub?

This is not a new idea. You can do this now. The only difference is putting Anet on the hook to do the monthly transaction. I'd wager that there are many other things that Anet would prefer to spend their resources on when players can simply be responsible on their own and make their own monthly transaction. With so much technology (computers, cell phones) it shouldn't be too difficult to set a monthly reminder.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are two types of "voluntary" subs. Either useless ones noone's likely to pay, or those that are far less voluntary than they seem. Or, to be precise, only the latter ones, because the former ones are, as i said, useless, so noone is going to use them, except as a shortterm mistake to be corrected fast.

Basically, if you want players to pay a sub, it either has to be obligatory, offer advantages significant enough to persuade a lot of players to pay it, or remove some significant disadvantages that are big enough people would be willing to pay to get rid of. Generally, the idea is that the subless experience needs to be significantly worse, or players won;t feel motivated to pay the sub.

As you can guess, introducing any of those options in a game that so far worked on b2p model might cause the players not willing to start paying sub to get at least a bit annoyed (to put it mildly).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Joote.4081 said:I would like to see a voluntary sub similar to ESO,s eso+.

Of course if subbed you would get access to everything double bag/bank/crafting space . No transmute or makeover charges either. I'm sure they could add even more incentives to sub.It works for ESO, it works for FFXIV and would be a nice steady income for the dev's so that they wouldn't have to hammer those who can't afford gems so hard.If the sub was reasonable I would sub. I would rather sub than this daft gem system.

Please G-d no.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Mungo Zen.9364 said:Bad ideas need more bad ideas, and what I propose is a bad idea.

An optional monthly sub that provides you with gems. That’s it. They bill your CC and you get gems every month without having to think ‘did I spend enough on GW2 this month???’

Terrible idea, would anyone want a recurring Gem sub?

Not actually all that bad depending on the details.

@"Sigmoid.7082" said:Part of me feel people want a sub so they can add "I am a subscriber so / and..." to their complaints/arguments for extra validity.

If they need that then the argument was too weak anyway. One more reason not to have a sub! Don't need more stuff to prop up bad arguments.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I played ESO for a while and the "optional" sub was anything but. It was like playing GW2 on a free to play account. Sure, it's possible, but you are barred from so much convenience and especially inventory management becomes so bothersome, that it's really not fun to play. Hiding all that convenience behind an optional sub was really the main reason I quit ESO after a while.

I like spending my time and money on things that I get to keep and I loathe buying temporary things. In that sense I'm like a dragon sitting on his hoard, lol. Subs offer temporary bonuses that expire as soon as the sub runs out and to me it always feels like something is taken away from me. I hate it.

Should GW2 ever introduce a subscription model, even an optional one, I would likely quit the game.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

GW2's business model is actually very fair, no--> it's really good for it's playerbase. it doesnt demand much of your money (you just really have to buy the expansion get the "full" version of the game and that's it), you get every DLC (living world season) for free provided you login once on the weeks/months it is relevant -- if you miss a DLC/season you can farm gold and use that to pay for it via gems or buy the whole pack for full or discounted (on anniversary or just random sales) price some other time when you've recovered from spending your budget for gaming.

regularly recurring sales for bag slots, bank tabs, and material storage which you can then pay for with converted gold or gems you bought directly and once purchased are yours/unlocked for as long as the servers are live. no subscription required.

there's just no other mmorpg right now that offers the same business model with all the QoL/convenience, decent~really good combat system and horizontal progression all while not periodically reminding or giving you subtle hints to open your wallet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@"BunjiKugashira.9754" said:I played ESO for a while and the "optional" sub was anything but. It was like playing GW2 on a free to play account. Sure, it's possible, but you are barred from so much convenience and especially inventory management becomes so bothersome, that it's really not fun to play. Hiding all that convenience behind an optional sub was really the main reason I quit ESO after a while.

I like spending my time and money on things that I get to keep and I loathe buying temporary things. In that sense I'm like a dragon sitting on his hoard, lol. Subs offer temporary bonuses that expire as soon as the sub runs out and to me it always feels like something is taken away from me. I hate it.

Should GW2 ever introduce a subscription model, even an optional one, I would likely quit the game.

I play ESO without subscribing and for me it works, but it's definitely more hassle than I'd like it to be. It helps that I'm a fairly casual player, I never wanted or expected to have best-in-slot equipment so I don't feel the need to save lots of drops just in case they're useful, which leaves me plenty of storage space for materials. I also don't want to do daily writs on multiple characters (I don't even do them once every day) so I can have a dedicated crafter who holds a lot of materials in his inventory. I'm also willing to wait for a free trial to do things like dying costumes or adding items to my house. I make it work because I love the Elder Scrolls series and I think this is still my best chance to see all of Tamriel (and maybe Akavir one day), but I don't like that it feels like a compromise, or like I'm fighting the developers to be able to play the game.

Like you I prefer to buy things and then have them ready for whenever I want them rather than having a time limit before they're taken away or I have to pay again. I buy all the story DLC and the expansions in ESO and I much prefer doing that to getting it through a subscription because then I don't feel rushed to complete it. I can take my time, or do little bits whenever I feel like. With a subscription I always feel like since I've paid for it I have to do it now or I'm wasting the money, and then I don't enjoy it as much because I feel like I'm forcing myself.

I don't think it's a coincidence at all that GW2 has remained my main MMO and the one I spend the most time and money on. It's not entirely because of the lack of subscription, there's other differences too, but it's a big part of it. It feels much more like the game is willing to accommodate me - I can buy things when it's convenient for me and then they're ready to use whenever rather than running out before I'm ready.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...