Dead Horse Beating Time Regarding Cost

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max|pic
Posts: 152
Joined: Thu May 27, 2004 1:44 pm

Dead Horse Beating Time Regarding Cost

Post by max|pic »

Brad,
I would like to start off by saying that I would love to be playing drak, but with the boosts that platinum gives over other subscriptions and the need to run multiple accounts, I cannot see myself paying/playing due to the simple cost. However, I recently heard (rumor or truth, I do not know) that you swapped over to AMS web servers and it has cut your overhead costs down. So, my question is, is it possible to revisit the pricing that your game uses?
A change that I could see that would actually not cost you much money, if at all, due to giving people that miss the game a chance to come back is by removing silver subscription and placing gold with lower guild hall at $5 a month while having platinum be at $10 a month per account. This may lower your overall profit in the short term, but it would also make your player base more stable because of more players. You can also offset this with adding in micro transactions such as -
A vendor in steel flower that sells potions: 40 stack of youth potions, 15 stack of strength, 15 stack of agility, 15 stack of intelligence, 15 stack of wisdom, 20 stack of constitution, 5 stack of luck, 5 stack of charisma, 5 stack of willpower potions each for $1.50 to be charged to your account. Other mini transactions could be increased belt, pouch, and sack size for $3 each. Another might be quirk reset to make all quirks unspent for re-spending for $5. Increase of 100 quirks for $5 for that character. Buy a level 85 quirked and moderately geared character for $15. These are literally just scratching the surface.
These micro transactions would be niceties that do not actually increase the power level of the character/account, but would still make you money regardless.
I do not know how many paying platinum subscriptions you currently have, but I feel that if you lowered the price to the $5 and $10 while removing the guild hall stand alone prices, it would make it more in line with many other games that people can choose from to get their MMO fix. It would let people come back to the game and actually make your player base more flexible. Right now, if you lose a platinum player paying 3 accounts, you lose $75 a month. And that player might never return, but if you lowered it to $10 a month for platinum, the increased people would help offset if someone took a break from the game. And on top of that, with the lower price, the more stable player base would make a better environment for people that happen upon the game, but get easily frustrated and leave due to there is hardly any player base to actually group with currently.
A change like this would also provide word of mouth, because all of us still have old drakkar friends that we still talk to even to this day. That could foreseeably bring people back to the game with it being affordable for people to play and compete while resurrecting guilds that have been dead for years, possibly decades. This would also help provide a higher selection pool for testing when you release new content.
I know I am not alone in this request, and if anyone else has anything else to add, please comment as well and we can hope that Brad will take a look at this as a possible solution to reinvigorate the game and bring back not only myself, but other players and friends that have passed through the game over the years.
A good number of players would return if the price was not so much higher than everything else out there, because many grew up playing this game and it has always held a special place in their hearts.
Brad, I can tell you that if it was changed tomorrow, I would be playing the day after. So anyone else wanting to add in their two cents, please feel free.

Lucky2
Posts: 19
Joined: Thu Feb 11, 2016 1:39 am

Re: Dead Horse Beating Time Regarding Cost

Post by Lucky2 »

I know this has been discussed time and time again and I understand completely that it was not doable in the past. It does seem like time to revisit this though. I have been back for about 6 months now and have seen what seemed like a good amount of people logging in but it's mostly just the same 6 of us that all multi-box accounts due to not enough player base and no soloable content. I can't say what would or would not bring back old timers that have moved on but I know most of the ones I talk to still it comes down to a price issue. With the price of other online games being what they are they don't feel paying 25$ a month per account is worth it. I won't belittle or try to devalue drak as it is a long time favorite of mine and I always come back but I will say if the price for platinum was 10$ a month instead of 25$ I would pay up all my accounts instead of picking and choosing what I enjoy the most. I do not think that price is the only issue as many including myself are willing to pay it so that we can continue to play we do understand it is not only a love of yours but also a but a business.

The idea of some in game purchases is a huge one most games do it these days and it is just an increase to the money already coming in and the players view it as a gain for themselves. Perhaps a creation of a steel flower type place possibly in more than just nork where items such as max suggested can be purchased but also expand to add special items that don't drop in normal combat for purchase (nothing too over powered) just a little something different.

I know content is always something people ask for but during times of programming and implementation while we await new content seeing special events or lairs from the sysops is always a huge plus. Content doesn't have to be rushed as it can cause more problems than it's worth but even seeing something as simple as a new npc in a current scenario that is linked to a new quest or new ability in game is a pleasant sight too.

I think the main thing is curiosity on our end what is the vision moving forward brad? Will solo content be added? Will new scenarios be introduced? New quests? New lairs? Give us an idea of what you're thinking!
Darge: I mean, it's not really my style, but I'm sure I can find someone to bend you over real nice like if it's what youre looking for

Lucky______RIP, Randall___RIP, Anxiety___RIP, Spectre_____RIP

dragonmage
Posts: 47
Joined: Mon May 31, 2004 1:58 am
Title: Arg!

Re: Dead Horse Beating Time Regarding Cost

Post by dragonmage »

Yes. Please. All of the above.

I have nothing else constructive to add that Max and Lucky haven't said.

Even if you are completely against it and it will never happen - tell us that, please.

BlackmooreEDGE
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Jun 09, 2014 3:21 am

Re: Dead Horse Beating Time Regarding Cost

Post by BlackmooreEDGE »

I agree with all that has been said. A cheaper priced platinum with micro transactions sounds like a great idea and I am sure would bring back a number of players like myself. Too few accounts to solo top end but with guild mates help make it possible to enjoy this game again. I would love to see this game makes changes to get back to the glory days of old.

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Hawk409
Posts: 57
Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2003 12:06 pm

Re: Dead Horse Beating Time Regarding Cost

Post by Hawk409 »

Micro transactions are a terrible game design and a terrible idea in general, designed to milk players and should be avoided

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