Cash limit to 10 gold?

[Kurt2013]

15 Euros a month...with a percentual reduction at 3, 6 and 12 months. If i remember 600 points cost 5 Euros.

And i agree, but all the more reason to focus on rather easy or delegateable things. And as i said...we are talking about products with almost zero production cost, not "real" goods like apples and oranges or cars I see f2p players exactly as these players who COULD help...not just a waste of resources.

One day of thinking can do the trick here already...and if you make mistakes you can always adjust the prices to lower, if you don't start to low.

You don't need a big marketing budget even. Update the website, forum and launcher...and this alone will be a lot better than doing nothing or ninjaing things.

If they wait too long or plan to do too much things at once again (because of a movie, an anniversary), i see problems...

One i admit they could already have is, if they outsourced the shop to a third party and have to pay for every minimal change there...a lot This would explain a lot though.

[Treras]

15 Euros a month...with a percentual reduction at 3, 6 and 12 months.

Thanks, so same number, but a different value as the US prices. (Oceanics pay US prices as well) I'm guessing you're seeing a similar scale towards the longer subs then too.

I checked the cost of vanity items in TSW. About 960 for a standard outfit. The most expensive one is over 9000 though!

They do sell regular story add ons there though which is a good way to keep extending the game in small increments while keeping the shop going.

And as i said...we are talking about products with almost zero production cost, not "real" goods like apples and oranges or cars

That is a very interesting statement. I'd always considered the development team, the art team, the sound team, the old lady that makes the coffee and crumpets, their office rental, power bills and all the CS staff and whatnot a reasonably large part of the production cost.

Count up expected staffing level, salaries and double that for overhead costs and related and work out what you expect the monthly cost to be. How many F2P purchases do you need to cover that and how many subscriptions?

I'm glad I'm not in that business

Out of curiosity, what do you consider a good F2P model for a game?

[ckirmser]

Except then they get into a position where (a) they don't have the capacity to offer anything of value, (b) they don't have the revenue to build anything of value and (c) they end up with a volume of players that are not paying a cent, but costing them money.

Doesn't seem like a viable option for them at the moment. Hopefully, if they manage to dig their way out of this hole, they can build something and create something where F2P is more F2P than an extended trial

Being a business enterprise, I suspect that, if AoC is a moneymaker, Funcom will invest.

If not, they won't.

Very simple equation, it seems to me.

[Kurt2013]

...

That is a very interesting statement. I'd always considered the development team, the art team, the sound team, the old lady that makes the coffee and crumpets, their office rental, power bills and all the CS staff and whatnot a reasonably large part of the production cost.

Count up expected staffing level, salaries and double that for overhead costs and related and work out what you expect the monthly cost to be. How many F2P purchases do you need to cover that and how many subscriptions?

I'm glad I'm not in that business

Out of curiosity, what do you consider a good F2P model for a game?

Yes, but these are fixed costs, not "per product". And this whole staff is not needed to offer the products i described. It is not like in a supermarket where you have to retag each product, if you change the price or have to refill the boards or can get sold out. Copy & paste. Some manual typing might be involved too...and reading and deciding. In worst case with the third party involved, this involves some more time and money for preparing the instructions and changes as agreed (but i did that during work myself and know it can be done). But this would explain the slow changes and reluctancy on funcoms side.

As i said already, this (your calculation and example) makes it all the more important to have more potential customers and not focus on sub only. Else you will end up soon with an even higher sub price to cover these costs (or more layoffs).

For actual calculations en masse you would need numbers from funcom, which i do not have. But i can assume (from experience) or calculate the cost it would take "someone" to add these products to the shop. And again, i see no drawback in broadening the product palette, if the infrastructure and similar products are already there (as it is in this case).

My approach is, that they already have the costs you described. Assuming again, that they cover most of them through subs. So it would only be bad, if they would loose subs through more products targetting f2p. If that is not the case (most likely imo) it would be extra money for low and easy investment. If the alternatives are a higher sub price, more layoffs, risky business ventures elsewhere, getting credit loan or expanding the shop and hope for more revenue, than i would prefer the latter.

Mmmh, i think i explained a model i would be fine with already. First you could have subs as convenience bundle, a bunch of products and items targetting both subs and f2p and (what is missing or not working properly atm in aoc) products targetted at the f2p crowd. These can range from "snacks" to lure into a sub (like demos) to permanent unlocks. Only that the customers can customize his/her "lifetime" access, instead of forced access by the company. You could even start out pretty restrictive, but all those should be "buyoff"-able. Should work against trolls as well, since once you have a real business transaction and account data, you will have a complete different toolset available than if you just deal with a complete "free" product you would have to finance through advertising. Differences between sub and f2p should be convenience and progression factor. E.g. cheaper prices and special offers for subs, different progression curves etc.. The problem with such a model is the transition phase and pricing. If you are too greedy, it will not work...same with too low prices (that is why i would not scrap the sub model altogether...it works for some people at least fine). But on the positive side, you have a lot of things you can think upfront through and variables you can adjust (more than for example than in a game with just DLC). In such a model you can still have events, special offers, adventure packs, bundles etc.. Just the basic system would be more structured.
If i could explain in person or with a pen and paper it might only take a few minutes...such a forum might not be the best place But if you have specific questions, feel free to PM me.

[Treras]

My approach is, that they already have the costs you described. Assuming again, that they cover most of them through subs.

Like a one-time payment that unlocks the differences between subs and F2P?

[Kurt2013]

In certain areas, yes.