Pay for subscription with credits

[nimmerstil]

No. It kills a revenue stream for them. Never happen.

 

No, it doesn't. Think again.

 

 

Heck, I've probably already got enough credits across my characters to give me a couple of years of subscription.

 

The person that sells those tokens to you for your in-game gold would still buy those tokens from Bioware for real money. Would be a win situation for Bioware (and EA).

Edited November 1, 2015 by nimmerstil

[nimmerstil]

Wrong. Say bob has 15 refer a friend grants a month. Bob then uses the refer a friend cc geants to buy that sub token, bob then cancels his sub and uses the token. Bob spent 0 real money for a months sub.

 

Now imagine there are 3456 bobs...

 

And each of them has 15 actual subs 'attached', or about $250 each month, against the one $15 sub.

[ButtTheRipper]

And each of them has 15 actual subs 'attached', or about $250 each month, against the one $15 sub.

Not actual subs attached. They are referrals. Bob still gets the bonus. The people/bots that did the referral wait and do again.

[JattaGin]

Wrong. Say bob has 15 refer a friend grants a month. Bob then uses the refer a friend cc geants to buy that sub token, bob then cancels his sub and uses the token. Bob spent 0 real money for a months sub.

 

Now imagine there are 3456 bobs...

 

That's why it was suggested to not allow CC for buying those tokens, but instead only real moolah purchases. Like pay 15 Euros for a token via credit card.

[xxNurkxx]

The system in place by blizzard is not very good at all. The token itself is more expensive then a month sub and then the gold return is set in place by blizzard and laughable at best. The price of the token in game changes based on the amount on the server and is set by blizzard. You also can not directly purchase one or gift it to someone else. Once purchased with real money it gets put on the auction house for someone else to buy and if you need it for yourself you must purchase it from the auction house. There is no guarantee how much these tokens cost in game at any given point. So if bioware was to put something like this forward I would hope for a much better system and a price equal to that of a normal sub otherwise the sells of said token will decline on low pop realms just like it did in wow (based on own observations with no data numbers).

 

TL;DR: I'm for the system if its done better then in wow. (Statement based on my own experiences with token in wow awhile ago, if something's changed correct me)

[dscount]

The WOW model I think is the way to go. If not price gouging would happen.

 

It's controlled price that adjusted with supply/demand.

 

At the start the tokens had been fairly cheap to buy in game.. like 20k and stuck around 25k.. now less people in that game are buying subs (Likely waiting on next Xpac or have plenty already). That price is like 35k roughly.

 

SWTOR needs to follow a model that also allows them to recoup financial costs to implement said system as well balance out the loss of sub revenue. Charging slightly higher than monthly sub is the best approach (IMHO). This allows for them to get cost of SUB plus the money to handle this system. Only folks buying these tokens would be folks that don't have time to grind for credits. Folks in game with TONS of credits already just buy them up.

 

What should NOT happen is vendor setup on fleet and people just take credits and purchase directly. Nor should the token be a GTN item (Again price gouging).

[Jerqa]

Wrong. Say bob has 15 refer a friend grants a month. Bob then uses the refer a friend cc geants to buy that sub token, bob then cancels his sub and uses the token. Bob spent 0 real money for a months sub.

 

Now imagine there are 3456 bobs...

 

Simple. Do not sell them for Cartel Coins. Sell them as a credit card purchase like other games do, just like buying an actual subscription from your account page and have the token delivered to you via in-game mail, or claimable from the store after the purchase.

 

EverQuest II has done it this way for years now with their Krono. It is also $2.00 more than a normal 30 day subscription and the broker is constantly filled with them, all able to be bought for in-game platinum.

Edited November 1, 2015 by Jerqa

[Sardorim]

This could help take a lot of creds off the market. I support that.

 

Swtor needs more ways to cut down on creds so that prices will lower due to less cress circulating around.

[Theeko]

Atleast you would still receive the 100 a month with the security key rather than the 500 per month as a real $ sub. I could agree with that if they added game tokens

[xxNurkxx]

Only folks buying these tokens would be folks that don't have time to grind for credits. Folks in game with TONS of credits already just buy them up.

 

See you can't use that in this game though with 3 different lvls of accounts. The target for these items is to increase sub numbers so bioware would need to set price for these items at or below f2p accounts credit cap because they want that account to be a sub. When taking that into view the credit return would still be low and not give the buyers of the token a reason to purchase them so the amount available declines.

[RogerApple]

I actually like the idea. It is creative. It would encourage people in game for example to buy their sub with credits only. We buy and sell literally almost everything in game. It wouldn't hurt some free to play players by actively turning them to a sub for a month or two. Who knows they might like subbing so much. They buy it with actual money. I don't see the harm in doing it.

[WingsofCrystal]

So I've recently been looking at going back to Warcraft due to the disgust I have at Bio not fixing their router issues (another topic)...

Anyway I logged into Blizzard and discover they have a Pay for game time system now using gold...

https://us.battle.net/shop/en/product/world-of-warcraft-token

Wouldn't it be good if Bio could do something like this fro Swtor

 

I just did that.

 

It is neat and I have 30 days free play now.

 

Not sure if WOW is the answer for me, lot of reasons why I left it a few months after Cata, but it is worth giving it a free try.

 

At the very least, I am much enjoying having abilities fire off (within my ability to perceive) the moment I hit a key.

 

One thing I am getting a kick out of is that my SI is actually a clone of the WOW Priest class. I am even using the same rotation and key binds.

 

I think the constant and often put advice to unsub from SWTOR if you do not care for the expansion is excellent.

[WingsofCrystal]

So essentially I buy subscription time in the form of some token with real money and exchange that on the gtn for in-game gold? I have no issue if they put something like this in-game. Tho, I'd be charging exorbitant amounts of gold for actual sub time.

 

Don't know what the heck you are talking about (do you). I had an old sub that had plenty of gold when I unsubbed years ago. At the loading screen it asked me if I would like to come back and use the gold in my account to get 30 days.

 

No real money passed hands and no one sold anything at the auction house. I was not even in game when the transaction occurred.

 

I don't know if this is recurring. But it seems like a good way to bring old players back for a "trial" 30 day sub. I have no illusions that if I want to continue my sub, I will be able to do so by trading more gold. Rather, I likely will have to renew my sub in the traditional way.

 

PS - The cost for the 30 days was a little over 37K gold which is not that much; especially when compared to the amount of gold I had when I left WOW.

 

I had well over 300M credits when I unsubbed last week from SWTOR. Charging credits for 30 days would not bother me that much at all although I dislike 4.0 so much, I have no intention of coming back. You never know do you.

 

PPS - No you cannot have my stuffz or creditz.

Edited November 1, 2015 by WingsofCrystal

[LadyVix]

Don't know what the heck you are talking about (do you). I had an old sub that had plenty of gold when I unsubbed years ago. At the loading screen it asked me if I would like to come back and use the gold in my account to get 30 days.

 

No real money passed hands and no one sold anything at the auction house. I was not even in game when the transaction occurred.

 

I don't know if this is recurring. But it seems like a good way to bring old players back for a "trial" 30 day sub. I have no illusions that if I want to continue my sub, I will be able to do so by trading more gold. Rather, I likely will have to renew my sub in the traditional way.

 

It's also a good way for gold sellers to upgrade their accounts from F2P to subscriber, causing even bigger problems in game.

 

No thanks.

[xxNurkxx]

Don't know what the heck you are talking about (do you). I had an old sub that had plenty of gold when I unsubbed years ago. At the loading screen it asked me if I would like to come back and use the gold in my account to get 30 days.

 

No real money passed hands and no one sold anything at the auction house. I was not even in game when the transaction occurred.

 

I don't know if this is recurring. But it seems like a good way to bring old players back for a "trial" 30 day sub. I have no illusions that if I want to continue my sub, I will be able to do so by trading more gold. Rather, I likely will have to renew my sub in the traditional way.

 

PS - The cost for the 30 days was a little over 37K gold which is not that much; especially when compared to the amount of gold I had when I left WOW.

 

I had well over 300M credits when I unsubbed last week from SWTOR. Charging credits for 30 days would not bother me that much at all although I dislike 4.0 so much, I have no intention of coming back. You never know do you.

 

PPS - No you cannot have my stuffz or creditz.

 

This is how it works: Bob buys a wow token for 20$, it then gets put on the auction house for others to buy. Jane comes along wanting to resub so she does what you did and buys the token from the login screen. You are still getting the token from the auction house source and Bob basically paid for Jane's sub. You may not directly trade these tokens but nevertheless it's the same source.

[WingsofCrystal]

It's also a good way for gold sellers to upgrade their accounts from F2P to subscriber, causing even bigger problems in game.

 

No thanks.

 

Over play from early access at game start to last week, I never noticed gold sellers having a problem jamming my mail and continually soliciting in chat.

[WingsofCrystal]

This is how it works: Bob buys a wow token for 20$, it then gets put on the auction house for others to buy. Jane comes along wanting to resub so she does what you did and buys the token from the login screen. You are still getting the token from the auction house source and Bob basically paid for Jane's sub. You may not directly trade these tokens but nevertheless it's the same source.

 

Interesting. I just checked the auction house and indeed I could buy a token.

 

I am not sure how it worked with me since I was not able to get in game (no sub), but you may be correct.

 

It looks like the buying of CM items for CCs and then putting them up on the GTN for credits.

 

I wonder if BW will start doing this since as you say, someone pays for the sub. I can't see doing this again because if I want to play the game I have no problem paying for it (very lucky unlike some). I also probably would not get into the grind of subbing to earn gold so I can sub.

 

It's funny to me how the economic model has eclipsed the quality of the game in importance.

[Trevalon]

I cannot get over how there are so many people who do not know what this post is talking about.

 

 

Pretty much every other MMO out there has a system in place like the OP talked about. This isn't something new or revolutionary, it just means SWTOR is, as always, late to the party.

 

The system is a good system when done correctly. I, personally, prefer WoW's way of doing it because the token itself isn't actually in game and you do it through a locked marketplace (Though price is not a negotiable). Sony (Daybreak now) has it where the item is actually in game, which is fine, except items start being sold not for actual game currency but for the token instead, and the token's rule the marketplace not in game currency.

 

Either way though, the system works. It lets people pay for the subs by playing the game and it combats the gold sellers with a more legit way of buying/selling gold.

 

SWTOR should have done it a year ago.

[dscount]

Either way though, the system works. It lets people pay for the subs by playing the game and it combats the gold sellers with a more legit way of buying/selling gold.

 

SWTOR should have done it a year ago.

 

BINGO! That's is my biggest support button. Drive down the gold farming and give legit means to get credits in game via real money. (NB4 "Pay to win") You still have market means today to buy pretty much anything end game (Even a full set of 220 gear will run you I think 30 million to have a guild run you thru.

 

So long at it's controlled, makes BW money and doesn't get put on GTN with option to change prices it should work.

[Jeweledleah]

Can you really see it happening?

Credits are not just easy to get in this game - they are ridiculously easy to get in this game.

They introduce this, a quick bit of maths will tell you how many credits you need to earn a day to cover the monthly cost - this game will never get another penny in subscription from me again.

Heck, I've probably already got enough credits across my characters to give me a couple of years of subscription.

 

believe it or not, gold is actualy far easier to get in WoW nowadays. you literally log in, send pick up mission results, send your followers back on missions and log out. in SWTOR, you still have to make some effort, whether its dailies, or crafting - figuring out what sells and what not. I've actualy kept subscription to WoW active solely through tokens well.. pretty much since they introduced it and planning on continuing this way.

 

the way they control people's exorbitant desires is by controlling the cost themselves. and still tokens cost more then month of subscription ($20 to buy one for sale) - even when there are people like you (and me) bioware still makes money. becasue someone is still buying those tokens, and they pay extra for them. it would be pretty close to what we have with reselling cartel packs and various account consumables on GTN right now.

 

in other words. you never paying another penny of money to bioware, personally? will not be a problem anymore than me never buying cartel packs with real life money is a problem since someone, somewhere STILL paid for them.

[Lucyfer_Infinity]

More subs for bioware, more people to play with, more people actually having fun without being extremely limited by restrictions. I fully support it.

[nimmerstil]

Not actual subs attached. They are referrals. Bob still gets the bonus. The people/bots that did the referral wait and do again.

You get nothing when the refs do not subscribe, or so I am told, so they do bring in $15 each month or Bob gets nothing. If Bob gets CC for non-subscribing refs, then ... the problem is with the CC grants in the first place, not with allowing subscription tokens on the GTN.

Edited November 1, 2015 by nimmerstil

[nimmerstil]

See you can't use that in this game though with 3 different lvls of accounts. The target for these items is to increase sub numbers so bioware would need to set price for these items at or below f2p accounts credit cap because they want that account to be a sub. When taking that into view the credit return would still be low and not give the buyers of the token a reason to purchase them so the amount available declines.

Not necessarily, subscribers could easily buy them, store them and renew their subscription with the token at a time of their choosing.

[-Spc]

So I've recently been looking at going back to Warcraft due to the disgust I have at Bio not fixing their router issues (another topic)...

Anyway I logged into Blizzard and discover they have a Pay for game time system now using gold...

https://us.battle.net/shop/en/product/world-of-warcraft-token

Wouldn't it be good if Bio could do something like this fro Swtor

This was first done by eve online.

You can pay isk to get 30 day plex on market.

 

Which means someone buys 30 days of time, puts it on in-game market for 5milion and someone buys that for 5 milion.

 

This existed in eve online since it was created.

But i agree it would be awesome if we can get the same "idea" in swtor.

[xxNurkxx]

Not necessarily, subscribers could easily buy them, store them and renew their subscription with the token at a time of their choosing.

 

So you would limit tokens to only the subscriber base? That just seems beyond silly. The point of a token is to be a secondary payment source for all players. Swtor has 3 different lvl of players due to credit cap so to bring in tokens they either need to place the price of the token to what an f2p can afford or do away with the credit caps. Putting the tokens behind a brick wall for subs only in an advertised f2p game would only cause more anger/frustration to the community as a whole.