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Lifetime Membership Option (IDEA)


dwaine

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Since the game is gonna make the transition to the f2p option very soon i've been keeping my eyes and ears out for an option such as this.

 

Unlike most of the children that dont understand the concepts of gaming,patches,updates, etc and expect the game to have everything they want (or used to have if comparing to WoW) I actually physically enjoy the game. The customer support is top notch, i actually enjoy the crafting aspect of it, Overall the game is young it has its issues but itll all be hardened out and i have high expectations for this game in the future.

 

For people who see what i see and are here to enjoy the game Bioware worked their assess off to make i wouldnt mind shelling out a couple hundred bucks for the game.

 

Lifetime Memberships i dont see very often and i'm not an active gamer enough to know all the top-notch games that have it. Star Trek online offers this and i was hoping bioware would take the same intiative. Why?

1.) Over-all if i know i'm gonna be here with you guys for a while i'd like my spot secured.

2.) Its just the over-all idea if its gonna be like this for a while.

 

Basing off the example now:

 

Star trek Online offers a Lifetime Subscription for $299.99. ( I dont know how much that is in other forms of currency). For that you get:

- No subscription fee: Play without a monthly fee forever!

-Forum goodies - Change the color of your username and show off a special title.

-Exclusive costume option - An insignia available only to lifetime subscribers. Just visit a tailor in-game to add it to your current captain.

-The Captain's Table - A special area restricted to lifetime subscribers and longtime STO veterans.

-The Liberated Borg character species: Play as an escaped member of the Hivemind.

 

As you can clearly see by the example above theres nothing game breaking. Nothing that would imbalance the game and nothing that puts you ahead. Besides a free weird species most of it is cosmetic with the major not being a monthly subscription.

 

I for one would like the monthly Subscription option taken because i'm currently with a crappy bank and long story short i've paid for 2 months was denied. i now have to pay for 1 month recurring.

 

The one-time payment along with special ingame goodies would be an Amazing toss-up especially if you have money to throw around and enjoy the game.

 

Some Ideas concerning the goodies would be the following (note): Most are just repeats of above

-No subscription fee: Play without a monthly fee forever!

-Exclusive costume/Crystal option: (In-game let people know youre that devoted)

-Fourm Goodies: Change your name color/special title for the fourms

-In-game Title

-Species unlock of your choice/Free new species(or something like that.)

-Extra stipend of cartel coins (or a free item from the shop of your choosing etc)

 

Please note this is an idea to toss around.

 

 

 

The reason why I'm bringing this up is because i know some of you are excited about the transition. While some of you are not.

 

For those of us that are i believe that the option to be a lifetime member would be nice

 

 

I think this is a valid discussion and it is not advertising (to those that only scan the post and would like to rant on and on refrain from doing so)

 

 

Tell me what you guys think i'd like to know. But like i said i see a very long future for SWTOR and i want to be apart of that every step of the way. The lifetime subscription would allow that to be possible

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I personally think its a great idea especially for those that claim to support SWTOR. I honestly think if youre gonna be here and want Bioware to know that youre here to stay Lifetime sub is the way to go. Hope Bioware comes with that option
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Let me ask you something. How long of a life do you think SWTOR has? I ask not because I think it's going to get shut down any time soon, and I certainly hope it doesn't. But for a Lifetime membership, while it could spike revenue for the game for a bit, over time they'll end up loosing money.

 

Since you used STO as a reference, I'll use their price point. $299. Currently the subscription fee for SWTOR is $14.99, and two years worth of subscription is $359.76. So for less than two years worth of subscription, I could play for the rest of the time the game is running without spending another penny. If SWTOR is still running for 5 more years, I basically got 3 years free. Great for my wallet, but not for the game.

 

Now lets look at it from a more pessimistic view point. Lets say SWTOR is not going to be long lived. Maybe I wait until I get my income tax refund to buy the lifetime membership at $299, and I get that in March of 2013, but then in April we find out the game is dead, and servers will be taken down permanently by the end of June. Bioware/EA then either keeps my money and I get screwed over, of they have to issue a refund of some amount, meaning they hemorrhage money. Because lets face it, I would not be the only person in that situation.

 

So best case scenario, the game looses out, and worst case scenario, I loose out, or the game looses out.

 

Don't get me wrong, I love the game and hope it stays for years to come, but lifetime memberships are not something I think BW/EA would consider if they intend to keep the money rolling in. But then again... I don't work for either company, and have zero ability to predict what they will actually do.

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Let me ask you something. How long of a life do you think SWTOR has? I ask not because I think it's going to get shut down any time soon, and I certainly hope it doesn't. But for a Lifetime membership, while it could spike revenue for the game for a bit, over time they'll end up loosing money.

 

Since you used STO as a reference, I'll use their price point. $299. Currently the subscription fee for SWTOR is $14.99, and two years worth of subscription is $359.76. So for less than two years worth of subscription, I could play for the rest of the time the game is running without spending another penny. If SWTOR is still running for 5 more years, I basically got 3 years free. Great for my wallet, but not for the game.

 

Now lets look at it from a more pessimistic view point. Lets say SWTOR is not going to be long lived. Maybe I wait until I get my income tax refund to buy the lifetime membership at $299, and I get that in March of 2013, but then in April we find out the game is dead, and servers will be taken down permanently by the end of June. Bioware/EA then either keeps my money and I get screwed over, of they have to issue a refund of some amount, meaning they hemorrhage money. Because lets face it, I would not be the only person in that situation.

 

So best case scenario, the game looses out, and worst case scenario, I loose out, or the game looses out.

 

Don't get me wrong, I love the game and hope it stays for years to come, but lifetime memberships are not something I think BW/EA would consider if they intend to keep the money rolling in. But then again... I don't work for either company, and have zero ability to predict what they will actually do.

 

They only lose out if those players buying the lifetime sub are the same players willing to pay $15 for the next 5 years. Many of those players would be playing the game as free-to-play if they couldn't get the lifetime sub. That's where BioWare hedges their bets. They bet that they will get more "free to play" players buying lifetime subscriptions, enough to make up for potential money loss from those customers who buy the lifetime sub who would have subbed anyway.

 

Generally, lifetimes subs are best offered when a company is running out of money, since lifetime subs offer an immediate spike in revenue. BioWare isn't one of those companies. That said, I can tell you that I won't be paying for this game when it goes F2P, and I won't be spending money in the cash shop, ever (especially if BioWare sets their prices high, which they might have to with EA pulling the strings.) But, I might be interested in a lifetime sub, if it came with the right stuff. It's nice knowing you can log into the game at any time, for any reason, without the hassle of subbing for a month, or buying temporary content unlocks from the cash shop, etc.

 

Obviously, I'd want full access to the game, same as any other subscriber. And perhaps a discount at their cash shop, a large enough discount to make spending a bit of money there worth my time. I might get a lifetime sub, then. And since I plan to spend exactly zero dollars on this game when it goes F2P (just play through the stories I haven't finished, then leave, basically) they'd be getting a lot more money from me by offering a lifetime sub.

 

-Macheath.

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While i admit i do have the life time membership on STO it would be nice to see them do it here but i doubt they will they are not tring to drum up support also STO uses there store to offer alot goodies to get money flowing into there pocket books how good it works i do not know since i have what i want from the store for now namely ships. Unlike WOW or even Starwars there less way for them to make money the store will not offer anything that i know off that will make me want to pay and spend money there alot but that a wait and see thing. I would admit i would like to see them do a lifetime maybe make it a speical offer only done from time to time.
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Since the game is gonna make the transition to the f2p option very soon i've been keeping my eyes and ears out for an option such as this.

 

Unlike most of the children that dont understand the concepts of gaming,patches,updates, etc and expect the game to have everything they want (or used to have if comparing to WoW) I actually physically enjoy the game. The customer support is top notch, i actually enjoy the crafting aspect of it, Overall the game is young it has its issues but itll all be hardened out and i have high expectations for this game in the future.

 

For people who see what i see and are here to enjoy the game Bioware worked their assess off to make i wouldnt mind shelling out a couple hundred bucks for the game.

 

You should work for EA. You can weave some great marketing ideas and you even have that "I've got a 'great' deal for you, it'll just cost you your soul" line of thinking down pat. :D

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While i admire your dedication to the game, i have been burned by Bioware/Ea for the last time and will never invest money into another one of their products again. Don't get me wrong I loved the game, but this latest fubar was the last straw for me. As my subscription is coming due i just simply can not justify the cost for something i no longer enjoy because I can't remember my character names after i am forced to change them every few months. All of my RP story lines have been destroyed. I really wish i could say best of luck and hope the game survives for a life time, but i don't i hope they go bankrupt and out of business.
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Well, LOTRO offered lifetime subs before or right at launch. Same $250 or $299 price I believe. That was certainly an offer that people jumped all over and I don't think Turbine ever recovered as much money as they would have if they hadn't offered it. However, we have no way of knowing which price plan would have worked better for them, since there are numerous variables at play.

 

Honestly, I think the only way a company can be sure a lifetime sub offer is good for them is when they know they are about to drastically cut back on new development for the game and just milk it for what it has left. Thus, I don't want to see a lifetime offer anytime soon :D:D

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  • 4 weeks later...

I Personally think the idea of a Lifetime sub is a good idea. After playing Star Trek Online for the first year, I broke down and bought myself the lifetime sub plan. I am still an avid player of STO (As well as TOR here). I love both games equally. Since I became a lifetime player, I have spent more money in what they call the C-Store than I had before becoming a lifer. As it stands right now, I don't plan on spending any money in the Cartel store, mainly because I myself just can't afford to pay for both the subscription AND buy coins. That's just my opinion.

 

Long story short, Bioware and EA, please oh please make a lifetime sub.

 

 

and back to the op's topic starter, I believe he's got a good idea going there. I am gonna offer my 2 cents on that as well.

 

-No subscription fee: well, with lifetime that goes without say.

-Exclusive costume/Crystal option: I really can't come up with any costume ideas, but I think a black/white color crystal where you get a white core and black glow would be a nice unique item for lifers.

-Fourm Goodies: give us a title of grand master or something along those lines

-In-game Title: again, with the grand master idea.

-Species unlock of your choice/Free new species(or something like that.): I think instead of giving a species unlock, make it more like you create a specific species for both factions, that you can only play IF you get the lifer's...make it a species that everybody talks about on the forums. Make it (for example) a Rodian, or Togruta, or even a Mon Calamari .

-Extra stipend of cartel coins (or a free item from the shop of your choosing etc): Star trek online offers the same dilithium stipend for both regular subscribers and lifetime subbers....i feel that at least a 10% or 15% increase on the stipend should be available.

 

 

 

I'm not 100% sure if this is accurate, but i believe star wars galaxies had a lifetime sub offer, and that game lasted a good 8 years. Lord of the Rings online, around for 5 years, and offers a lifetime. Dungeons and Dragons Online...6 years and still going with lifetime subs.

 

:ph_thank_you:

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  • 3 weeks later...
While i admit i do have the life time membership on STO it would be nice to see them do it here but i doubt they will they are not tring to drum up support also STO uses there store to offer alot goodies to get money flowing into there pocket books how good it works i do not know since i have what i want from the store for now namely ships. Unlike WOW or even Starwars there less way for them to make money the store will not offer anything that i know off that will make me want to pay and spend money there alot but that a wait and see thing. I would admit i would like to see them do a lifetime maybe make it a speical offer only done from time to time.

 

I also have a life time membership to STO, and I for one spend more then $15 a month in thee store.

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Let me ask you something. How long of a life do you think SWTOR has? I ask not because I think it's going to get shut down any time soon, and I certainly hope it doesn't. But for a Lifetime membership, while it could spike revenue for the game for a bit, over time they'll end up loosing money.

 

Since you used STO as a reference, I'll use their price point. $299. Currently the subscription fee for SWTOR is $14.99, and two years worth of subscription is $359.76. So for less than two years worth of subscription, I could play for the rest of the time the game is running without spending another penny. If SWTOR is still running for 5 more years, I basically got 3 years free. Great for my wallet, but not for the game.

 

Now lets look at it from a more pessimistic view point. Lets say SWTOR is not going to be long lived. Maybe I wait until I get my income tax refund to buy the lifetime membership at $299, and I get that in March of 2013, but then in April we find out the game is dead, and servers will be taken down permanently by the end of June. Bioware/EA then either keeps my money and I get screwed over, of they have to issue a refund of some amount, meaning they hemorrhage money. Because lets face it, I would not be the only person in that situation.

 

So best case scenario, the game looses out, and worst case scenario, I loose out, or the game looses out.

 

Don't get me wrong, I love the game and hope it stays for years to come, but lifetime memberships are not something I think BW/EA would consider if they intend to keep the money rolling in. But then again... I don't work for either company, and have zero ability to predict what they will actually do.

 

Dude you are so wrong, I have a life time membership to STO and I spend close to $15 a month every month in there store. 2nd most people will not pay for a monthly subscription for two years, they move on to other games.

 

So I can Not TELL you how wrong you are. Bioware, EA and Lucasarts would make a hell of a lot of money off a Life Time Subscription.

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Well, LOTRO offered lifetime subs before or right at launch. Same $250 or $299 price I believe. That was certainly an offer that people jumped all over and I don't think Turbine ever recovered as much money as they would have if they hadn't offered it. However, we have no way of knowing which price plan would have worked better for them, since there are numerous variables at play.

 

Honestly, I think the only way a company can be sure a lifetime sub offer is good for them is when they know they are about to drastically cut back on new development for the game and just milk it for what it has left. Thus, I don't want to see a lifetime offer anytime soon :D:D

 

They offer it again on LOTRO.

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