So, I definitely think it would be beneficial to Guild Software and the game in general if the trial limit was raise from its current 8 hour limit either to 12 hours (half a day has a nice ring to it) or to the 16 hour limit (if i remember correctly) it was at before. I heard in the past that this didn't work out because not as many people subscribed but I honestly think that with so many people playing on tablets/phones now the learning curve is much higher and it takes much more time for people to be able to get used to the controls.

There are a few reasons why I think this will be beneficial:

-People on tablets and phones would be able to get a better feel for the game

-It would increase the userbase (even if it is with more free trial people) and hopefully that would transfer over into more subscribers

- More players equals more people to pirate as well as more people to participate in events, join guilds, play the game, etc

-It will help VO compete with all the other games on the market, most of which offer much longer trials (usually time sensitive like a free week or two).

Anything to spur the amount of people in the game will be a benefit to everyone else playing. Either directly or indirectly. Thoughts?

I'm inclined to agree on the point regarding android.

With the addition/condition that players on a trial account should not be permitted to join guilds. I think it's a reasonable restriction to have people wait until they finish their evaluation of the game for them to make implicit commitments to at least log on once in a blue moon. It also gives a good reason for people to subscribe afterwards if they find a guild that takes them under their wing.

it would also help asshats be more of a pest in their freeloading Hive guild of freeloaders, who freeload

@CS HUH?? a@op -1 if they want to get more of a feel, then pay $10usd for 1 month, You really only get a decent feel of the game in a month anyway, so pay for 1 month and if you dont like it o well

Minen +1

$10 USD

Pretty much ONE meal at BK et al.

Heck, spend $20

That's less expensive than some games you can walk into Staples and buy, and here you're getting a couple months worth of quality online gaming experience. Interesting to note that 8 hours is roughly 72,000 cognitive cycles, even if you're on the languid side.

That's probably enough to make an informed decision.

P.S. in the time it took you to read that article, you could have been up to Combat license 1

and +9999999999 * Pi to trial accounts SHOULD NOT be able to join guild till they sub

Oddly I was pondering a related suggestion just last night, having listened to so many tablet and phone users flailing: what if the trial time didn't start ticking until they leave the training sector? Or to avoid annoying trial account 'sploiters trolling chat indefinitely from the training sector, allow each account a few hours (2? 4?) of training sector time before the 8-hr trial starts ticking?

The other option is to have an offline training sector, but I realize that is hella complicated with vo's server-side way of, well, serving up vo. Maybe it could work as an optional download? Remembering the old X-wing games, I always liked their "mission simulator" approach to training that didn't affect your stats in the "real" game.

+1 to trial accounts (even extended friend key ones) being unable to join guilds.

@CD i believe there is a "Demo" environment in android that would meet your description of an "offline training sector"

Well, as I just completed (expired) my 8h trial period I am sure to stick to VO for at least one month. The 10 bucks are not that much of a burden for extended testing.

But, I think that the 8h are quite short for getting a good (extensive) impression for a complex game as VO. Therefor I second "Conflict Diamond"s suggestion about unlimited training sector time. And e.g. do not allow communication to other sectors or even sandbox it (offline mode?).

---(Section of utter blabla)---
On the other hand a short trial period can emphasize the players effort in getting to now the game. I already often registered for games with trials of 14 to 31 days and I actually didn't care a lot about trying them ... "now" ... as there was something more important to do and there were stil a few days left. And when I hit the trial end for about 2 days I told myself to not try it as I wasted all the "precious" time (as soon as something is "free" in huge amounts, the people _don't value_ it anymore).
---(End of Section of utter blabla)---

Now, with VO I tried to get everything out of the trial hours and I really did.

And then there is a german VO review on youtube where the poster and the commenting people prejudge the game by the hast experience he made with knowing that "within 8 hours you cannot try anything".

Suggestion:
Time limit is ok, as it can force people to take the game/the exploring more serious and efficient.
Give a reward of x hours as people leave training sector, and _again_ as people fulfil certain criteria outside the training sector (e.g. reaching licence level 1/1/?/?/?, fulfilling a certain mission, ...).

That way you have a) limited time and b) extended trials for people taking it serious but may not have decided to stay.

what if the trial time didn't start ticking until they leave the training sector?

This. Disable their access to 100 while they're there -- few of us want to listen to their inane questions and they need to be focusing on the tutorials anyway. If they must ask questions, they may use ch. 1 for its intended purpose.

Interesting points. The prospect of not starting the trial until they leave the training sector is a good one. Giving out additional "hours" based on progress is also intriguing. And yes, we need to at least default the training-sector people to channel 1 and not 100.

We'll probably need to implement our plan for instanced training sectors before we try something like this. To reduce the problems with a whole population of "F2P" people who just hang out together in the training sector.

+1 to time not starting until you leave the training sector.

I think that would actually solve a lot of the other issues of newb's that have been mentioned.

I know that I rushed out of the training sector the second I was allowed to, due to not wanting to 'waste any time'.

Cheers!

That's good feedback, mojoflow. Thanks.

I like the idea of only starting the 8 hours when you leave the training sector, but I think it needs some additional constraints, otherwise we might start seeing a lot of chatty troll alt accounts, bots, or newbs who really like talking, who stay indefinitely without subscribing. I do think they should still be allowed access to at least channel 1 while there though, because realistically some training sector newbs will need help that only other players can offer.

To avoid that problem there could be two timers. In the training sector you're given X amount of trial hours, and when you leave, your time is reset to the regular 8 hour trial.

Actually the idea of having the training sectors off line with unlimited use is a good one.
On line training sector people should be limited to channel 1 only.

+1 to limit Guild membership to only subscribers. So important that deserve own topic.

+1 to make /1 the default channel for starting PCs.

+2 to extend trial... but
Give at most 8h inside Training sector, and another 12h after leaving kindergarten.