Effects of new free HP max on Pay players

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aldor
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Joined: Sun Apr 04, 2004 5:02 pm
Location: Germania

Effects of new free HP max on Pay players

Post by aldor »

I know it’s been a while since brad changed the HP-maxxes for free accounts. The reason why I post this now is: I took some time to experience the effect of this change before I speak up in this forum.

About me: I am playing this game free but I have built up a ment to 15/12 fully maxxed and fated which I consider a good size to go to Aleria. I was planning to get on some pay plan for the winter, because that’s when I feel like I don’t miss out as bad spending hours infront of the computer.
Now that I know that there will be no possibility in the future to max a free account crit, I decided to keep that account free. I will have to start another pay-attempt as soon as I find time to do so. (I might join you on next winter’s events)
A good side-effect is that I finally gave up gathering coin and gear for my secondary account and now I enjoy playing my free main account more intense.

A social thing I experienced is that now free players have a hard time:
To join partys on N-6
To go on their first RD hunt
To get answers to questions like: “What is my free Ment’s max”

I can imagine that this might slow down integration of new players into the community.

As I read through old posts in the forum, it came to me, that it’s not only newb players that used to benefit from the full HP max at level 13 on free accounts.
Many of us used to grow secondary crits on free accounts to some reasonable size before changing those accounts to pay.
Nowadays it would be inconvenient to rest past lvl 13 on free.

I don’t like whining about old days or to complain about things that just are the way they are.
The point of this post is to discuss the actual effects in a productive way. I want to know how the community is being changed. Also I want to know from paying people or potential pay players: Do you feel like this change has taken some of the gaming fun you used to have?

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Morgar
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Replying to Topic 'Effects of new free HP max on Pay players

Post by Morgar »

Originally posted by aldor

Do you feel like this change has taken some of the gaming fun you used to have?
Not at all. I believe Brads motivation was a simple one, capture paying players earlier. Prior to the change many players waited til they were cob ready before making the purchase decision to pay. Now there is an earlier incentive.

I don't think having a lower hit doc max for non paying players detracts from the gaming experience in anyway, except of course if you're a non paying player. The cost of a silver account is not really all that much. Drak pricing only becomes unrealistic and outrageous when you start factoring in guild hall costs.

To be honest, and I'm not trying to appear snobbish here, but I don't think the non paying players have room to complain. Other games give them a limited amount of time to play before getting kicked off the system. Drak doesn't do that. Few other games allow unlimited free play like drak does and if Brad wants to impose additional limitations to convince people to become paying members, hes doing it for a reason.
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Useful Drakkar files for Heros and Cowards: http://www.northernwebs.com/drakkar

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Anarion
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Replying to Topic 'Effects of new free HP max on Pay players

Post by Anarion »

I personally switched to pay plan at lvl 13 before this free hp max cap was introduced. I did this because its easier to get gp and xp in aleria and so i feel that if someone hits this free pay hp cap, they should seriousely be considering going to aleria anyway especially because those last few hp cost a fortune (in the eyes of a person with a lvl 13 as their biggest).

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PieterPost
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Joined: Sun Jan 12, 2003 3:52 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Replying to Topic 'Effects of new free HP max on Pay players

Post by PieterPost »

The only thing I've noticed from the change is that I bump into people in Aleria more often. The occasional scry usually shows these people to be in the lvl 12-17 range. As people decide to get a paid plan earlier, they have access to Aleria at a time when it's still a useful scenario for them, skill/xp and coinwise. I think before the cap on free lvl 13 hp doc was put in, people mostly got to lvl 18 before they paid, and then immediately moved from Nork to Cob, skipping a really fun and exciting scenario in the process. Probably not intended, but a nice side-effect nevertheless (even for us longtime paying players, I love seeing new people in Aleria!)

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King
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Joined: Thu Jul 18, 2002 1:00 am

Replying to Topic 'Effects of new free HP max on Pay players

Post by King »

im gonna throw my 2 cents in here and say that his maxes are incredibly lenient compared to what previous maxes were. try being 13/7 and 200 some hp with free plan :D. As well its a good idea because he is still allowing u to play forever as free account just lower hp's which isnt TO bad seeing as u can still lvl up

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