Subscription system and other important announcements
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Subscription system and other important announcements
I will start by announcing the other important things first.
As there is now a limit of 10 players per team - so that streaming wouldn't be abused, the teams who have more players than that have to start getting rid of their players so they would have maximum of 10 players.
During the daily update that starts 2.07.2016 20:00 the teams who have more than 10 players will have random players removed (not fired just disconnected as if contract ended) until they have 10 players left.
Bankruptcy system is planned to take effect while the daily update on 6.07.2016
Subscription system
The current idea is to provide a subscriber feature for $4.99 per month. The benefits that the subscriber would receive would be about cosmetic, comfortability effects or in some other way make the game more fun. The idea is that the game would not be pay to win and that the gameplay would stay fair for the non-paying player. This is probably the best way to monetize the game so we could keep developing and make this game as good as it potentially can be as there is so much more that could and should be done. The system is supposed to take effect once the testing phase is over and we start the game officially.
Current ideas
Possible to do now
1. Unlimited match history - Non subscriber last 10 matches 2. Unlimited player match history - Non subscriber last 10 solo matches 3. Unlimited team and player report history - Non subscriber last 7 reports 4. Special subforum for supporters 5. No advertisements
Possible in the future
1. Forum 'Supporter badge' when forum redesign comes 2. For any reports, graphs, statistics the non subsubscriber will be revealed only 7-10 last days, while subscriber unlimited 3. 10 strategy pages - Non subscriber 3 strategy pages 4. Ability to create private tournaments / leagues and invite friends to join those tournaments / leagues. 5. Other cosmetic features - such as ability to choose a custom minimap, custom icon for players, custom teampage background etc.
Things that might seem too harsh for non subscribers, but would give a lot of benefits for a subscriber - possible right now
1. 2d replay system only available for subscribers. Non-subscribers would only see stats/commentary. Or maybe just have a limit here on how many replays can a non-subscriber watch per day? 2. Subscriber access to dev environment where all the new features would be released before making them available publicly. Might be too unfair because of the advantage of seeing the new features earlier and being able to test more.
So I would appreciate any discussion on the matter, but here are the main questions that need answering:
1. What do you think about the subscription system? 2. Which features do you think are fair and which not? 3. Do you have any other feature suggestions / ideas?
Thank you for your feedback!
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Looks good. I think replays should always be available to everyone though. They are such a huge part of the game.
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First of all, thank you for another update in place. I think the premium features listed are great and logical. Although being able to receive updated contents first is kind of harsh, I love your mentality of avoiding pay-to-win features and thinking for the freemium players.
Keep it up! Really love to see how this game will evolve.
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yep, replays should not be part of the sub.
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I will give jaegybomb Right. Replays need to be for all. Now when that is sayed, i love the rest
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other real time strategies offer subscription a easier and more detailed user interface to work with, so i'd say the perks are definitely in line with the norm.
one thing maybe, 4,99/month may be a little steep for a lot of people, considering a lot of people here are probably underaged, and heck, even the ones that have some form of income might find that price to be a little much. maybe should look into it how much people would be willing to pay and for how long they would keep that up to get the most out of your subs.
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Well I like it.
I just think only 3 strategy is a bit.. too less since LoL is a strategy game gives you a big disadvantage. I dont think replays should be a problem if we have direct commentary but maybe I am wrong.
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I know I wouldn't pay $5/mo for an online manager game that I tinker with a few minutes a day. :'( #PoorCollegeKid While the idea of a premium membership is all fine and good, I think we need to look at just WHO is coming to this game. These are League players, people who play a free-to-play game. Even those who would want to support and give up a few bucks are in an environment where they don't have to pay money. As such, it would need to be relatively cheap since your clientele isn't spending money in the first place (except the occasional $10 RP card). Now, I wouldn't be AGAINST it being $5/mo, but I definitely would not subscribe. Is there a different way to support the game on a regular basis without paying a subscription? Perhaps you could also have a tier-system of subscription to coerce people into paying an extra dollar a month here or there. A dollar gets you <this>. A dollar gets you <this>. And, finally, we have this bundled subscription for the cheaper $5.
I know this is a lot to propose, but I'm looking at it from the perspective of my no-fund accounts. A huge reason I got into League in the first place was because it was free, and it continues to be free for me.
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Those are some good ideas. And yes, those things that seem too harsh are too harsh. But just the fact that you admit it makes me confident that you guys will handle the subscription system well.
The only thing that is slightly off, as others have pointed out, is the price. Might want to think about reducing it but perhaps allowing people to pay more if they want to. Some might want to support the game but have limited funds, others might not have this problem and would be willing to give more.
Anyway, great to see more and more features in the game ^^
EDIT: another subscription-limited feature idea: more sandbox games!
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To be fairly honest none of this would make me buy a sub because it is not necessary. I´d suppose you look at this method:
Gold-Membership for X-Amount of money. You get: - Access to special Gold Leagues (maybe a bigger, more complex ? Various tournaments like MSI, Allstars etc.) - Unique player Icon/banner so everyone can see they are a gold member. - Some sort of special scouting, where you can scout X amount of players and see their game stats, how they improved etc. Same for staff maybe ?
I do not know how your engine works, but maybe in the future we can play on multiple leagues at once ? Managing more teams than one ? If so give gold members more teams than normal users. Let them create their own league with their own rules etc.
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I don't think they want to give people who buy subscriptions any real advantage in form of extra skill, better scout etc. Just more statistic and that type of features
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1 day early access to patches (in devmode) plus a private subforum would be pretty enticing and I don't think it would be completely unfair.
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or what about adding a little more transparency for subscribers? Like your current facility upgrades saying how much energy they give back per day and what % they increase streaming revenue? or making sortable tables subscriber only :)
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Subscribing is a very difficult thing to do without actual benefits to players. I know I personally never do monthly subscriptions for games so I may not be a reliable source on saying that list of stuff wouldn't entice me into doing it.
Another way to go about this perhaps, instead of subscribing, is more like league of legends itself. You could possibly have different features purchasable, be it a one time purchase, or a smaller, monthly fee for different little dealios instead?
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I'm not sure too many would be willing to subscribe for 5 a month for something they only really visit once a day. Far as the feature list, glad to see you're planning on keeping most of the things as cosmetics and quality of life improvements.
Something I might suggest is a system similar to how epicmafia.com/boardgame-online.com does it? A token based system, buying small cosmetic things. While people might not be willing to shell out 5 a month, people would probably be happy to drop a small amount one time to get some cosmetic things, a little badge, et cetera.
Giving things like a shiny border, donation leaderboards, maybe a purchasable token to make a player "gold" and giving them a fancy portrait/profile. Pay a certain amount to remove ads, use a few points for some extra sandbox games if you don't want to wait for the daily reset, custom minimaps could also go in. Tiered supporter badges based on how much you donate, getting a coach named after you, as suggestions?
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Could maybe offer more stats and performance graphics after games, and show stats that are useful, but don't make such a big difference. Giving the possibility to assign strategies to the planned games (non subs would have default one).
