First of all I want to state I have subscribed. I also want to point out that I'm a former BSG player, Dark Orbit player, EVE player, and many many other online games. When I find a game I like I always subscribe.

I would like to suggest to the devs of VO in the strongest possible terms that the 8 hour ultimatum for pc players needs to be abolished. It is extremely counter productive and is keeping the VO player base at a bare minimum.

A much better idea would be to simply implement a f2p model with a level 2 skill cap. This would give pc gamers more time to become familiar with the game and also enamored with the game. Many more first time VO players would stick around and actually wind up becoming subscribers in the future. And for those who just continue to play at the level 2 cap...more fun for everyone. Higher level players would have more easy targets and in general VO would have a much larger player base.

I most ardently urge the VO devs to take this post into serious consideration. When it comes to online mmorpg games facets such as player base are critically important.

I would not bother to point this out if I did not love the game myself and genuinely want to see it thrive and succeed. Once more I'll point out I am a subscriber.

Thank you kindly for your consideration.

+1 lol

At the very least, the 8 hours needs to be revised to something like 14 calendar days as other subscription games do.

We're not losing anything by having people that aren't subscribed if we would have lost them anyway.

I would set the license cap at 4, as it is with all other non-premium subscription options.

If there is minimal impact on dev resources (server management, etc) by allowing an extended PC trial -- why the hell not do this?

I always had assumed that the devs arrived at the 8hour thing because of various testing of how long it takes to get a proper taste. Perhaps that period of time has changed since the 8 hour limit was last assessed?

Welcome to VO, Dragonnfire.

The 8 hour number has been maintained, because the last time we doubled it to 16 hours (granted, a number of years ago), we saw a drop-off in revenue. We've never been affluent enough to make business model changes without, well, risking the existence of the company, which is why we're testing F2P on mobile (an area we've never monetized that well anyway, and one very culturally oriented towards a F2P experience).

I'm all for expanding the trial length, in theory. But I am cautious in practice.

Anyway, I understand and agree with the fundamental suggestions, and we will revisit this during 2015.

After a person runs their PC 8hr trial it would be good if that person could log into the same account on an android and be f2p. If I'm not mistaken f2p only works if the account was created on an android?

Why don't you offer some sort of Promo or something for a short period of time that gives keys to a free week or two or maybe month of the game. I feel like this was done on mmorpg.com some time ago but there was too many keys up for grabs (5000 if i remember correctly) maybe limit it to a couple hundred this time? Little giveaway events like this can definitely help pull more people to the game

give people who sub for a year in advance an uninsured bonus trident

-1 for uninsured bonus tridents. It might be better to allow dent owners to rent their tridents out from m7 if the renter has enough level and is on the key. Owner could set a per hour price and set a deposit in case it gets destroyed. When you return the dent you get the deposit back.

No! Rather give people who buy a 1 year Sub directly (without pledge) acess to the Anniversary Corvult. I want that. I can't be blamed not knowing about VO back in '08! ;)

How about a means of purchasing time in-game. We have friend keys but most noobs run away when ya asks for an email address. If a player with a full sub could buy time, say 1 week for $1.99, 2 weeks for $4.99 and the month for the full $9:99 and sell it to a lite or f2p player in exchange for a fixed amount of in-game currency via a micro transaction would that help the revenue stream? Just an idea..and if its been suggested before I'll shut up.

Thoth's idea is good, but I think a better idea might be to allow the friend key to be applied in-game, and allow regular subscribers to just "gift" these keys to lite sub members or free members without the "one time per user" limitation.

This would allow us to reward the free/lite users that are mature and a benefit to the game. This doesn't add revenue to the game, but might increase adoption of a full sub if the free/lite users can get a taste of it before they have to fork over the money.

I like rewarding mature users who benefit the game. Nice suggestion.

+1 to Savets idea

Ah, yes, now we're getting somewhere! Thanks for taking a good hard look at this issue, Incarnate.

I'll also go ahead and add this suggestion. You might want to emulate EVE and Arche Age -- and I'm sure there are a few others out there now -- an ingame item that is equivalent to a one month subscription which can be purchased and sold on the open market. This will raise your revenue substantially. Players buy them in an ingame stock market and then turn around and sell them on the open market to raise quick cash. Newer players or players who just have alot of ingame credits stacked up buy them. The price of these ingame subscription "tokens" is determined by natural market supply and demand forces. EVE has the "PLEX" and ARCHE AGE has the "APEX."

This is most definitely worth investigating.

Looking forward to many fun days in VO watching progress happen! Thanks for listening!

I'm mixed on the idea F2P but depends on how it's configured I guess. I like it in general to attract more players which in itself could also attract more subscribers due to the volume of traffic. Just like any other business. (no traffic no customers) same thing.

I'm mixed too because of what incarnate suggested that 16hours did not increase revenue, but the question is why ?

Curious to know the actual psychological reason why 16 would create less subs vs 8

Also curious, if a limited time offer only, of 14 days trial, might create any higher volume of subscribers and why.

Without trying variations of this test, there is no real way to know if there is any threshold where subscription might increase.

I don't think the point of F2P should be traffic and subscriptions only. However, I believe that even old subscribers may resubscribe if there were simply more players.

I think the limited tier F2P could also create more structured PVP on it's own as well. More people to plan events and/or battles.

I have offered to pay VO subscription costs in exchange for services and thus far I have had zero takers...just saying

I think it might be more meaningful to look at the conversion rate of the friend keys into full subs.

I suspect 8 hours is enough to pique one's curiosity for a month, at 16 hours they start to see the grind, and at 2 weeks they're hooked if they're going to be.

I have offered to pay VO subscription costs in exchange for services and thus far I have had zero takers

There is a big difference between consuming a virtual item that grants one month Premium access, and coordinating payment details with another player through unofficial channels. I don't think many players would have a problem with the former, but many might hesitate at the latter.

the actual psychological reason why 16 would create less subs vs 8

A variation on #1 from here:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/hide-and-seek/201303/top-10-zen-jokes

I've heard this told as "If you meditate for 4 hours a day, you may be enlightened in 5 years. If you meditate for 8 hours a day, you may be enlightened in 10."

To wit, sometimes less is better.

Bump

Please don't forget to abolish the 8 hour ultimatum. It is an oppression to the growth of this game. Please get rid of it.