119745-a-credd-to-play-path

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Hello Carbine,
 
I realize that the subscription model is not the #1 reason for the mass exodus of players, but I think enough players that it's probably worth considering an approach to make playing via CREDD a more integral part of the newbie player experience (as well as the recent level 50s).  
 
Here's some concrete independent suggestions:
1) The first time an account's reaches level 20 (or 30?), gift them a CREDD.  Put in a couple of quests explaining the CREDD market in-game, perhaps
 
2) Upon getting to level 50, have the GA attunement conclude with another CREDD.  Again, one per account.
 
3) Do a better job explaining the use of the /advice channel.  Institute a "helper of the month"-type thing whereby players can get rewarded for helping out new players.  This would take some Community Management time, perhaps, but probably worth it.
 
4) Ressurect the World of Warcraft's "scroll of ressurection" concept and allow players to get their buddies to come back, and have a CREDD get attached to that ressurection so they don't have to start paying day 1.
 
I realize this kind of thing may disturb the CREDD market a little, but I don't think by much.  On the front end we'll have more CREDD flooding the market, but hopefully long term we could have more demand from people playing the game via CREDD.
 
Thanks for reading/listening,
-Zarrek	
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			You want Carbine to gift you a credd for reaching level 20?!!	
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			My intention was that it'd be only for newbie accounts.  It would be crazy to do that for all existing players.  You're right that raises fairness issues.  Maybe not the best of the suggestions above.	
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No, don't call it Credd in this context. What you're asking for is a free 1 month subscription. Now try and convince the players in a game such as WoW, which doesn't have the luxury of credd that you should get free monthly subscription for your in-game accomplishments such as completing attunement, reaching lvl 20, recruiting your friends etc. 
Mate, Carbine isn't going to hand out free subscription because you accomplished something in the game, whether minor or great. Why can't we just pretend like Credd is an alternative way of getting your monthly subscription going if you're determined enough to farm the plats for it. 
 
How is credd even a slight issue. How can the word issue and credd be used in same sentence. It's a freaking god send for Subscription based games. I've been able to keep my subscription purely Credd based since day 1 and I'm beyond thankful for it. Credd is nothing else but an alternative way of getting your subscription by simply playing the game, no need to treat it otherwise or demonize it. 	
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Calm down, you're overreacting.  I never said CREDD is bad; on the contrary it's great.  My mention of WoW was strictly regarding it's ressurection scroll setup to get players back -- not regarding its subscription-only model (which is bad).
 
Like I said, my intention is to draw attention to new players that you can CREDD-to-play rather than subscription fees.  And to give former players a way back in without having to pay a 1st-month fee.  Go back, calm down, and re-read what I wrote.  Not that this should be about me -- but if you must know:  I play on the subscription fee.  I've yet to use CREDD to pay for game time.  Quite the contrary -- I've bought CREDD with money.
 
You did make a good point, though -- 
 
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I've been able to keep my subscription purely Credd based since day 1 and I'm beyond thankful for it. Credd is nothing else but an alternative way of getting your subscription by simply playing the game. 
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Maybe we can swing this topic to something a bit more manageable?  Why not institute a rewards program which rewards players who recruit new (or lapsed) players into the game with lower subscription fees for as long as those players are in the game?  I made a similar suggestion in another topic some time ago.
 
Let's say two dollars per player, up to a maximum of five players as an example (I gave a different and more complex one earlier that allowed for permanent subscription reduction if someone subscribed for several months, then left, so they wouldn't lose that bonus).  That means that if you invite five people to play the game and they are all currently subscribed, you will pay five dollars a month.  There really isn't a reason to limit it at that point, either, if you're judging them by existing accounts they invited to play so that they can lose their bonus if they leave.  At that rate, if you invited eight people to play and they were all subscribed/used CREDD the next month, then that person would pay nothing as long as that kept happening.  And NCSoft would make more money because that player would essentially account for 120 dollars of incoming revenue (15 dollars a month eight people).
 
My original example was to cut it off at some point, where if someone was subscribed for three straight months after you invited them, you and they both could receive a permanent reduction to your subscription.  In this example, let's say it's two dollars a person to a maximum of five people again.  If someone managed to max it out and invited five people, that person would pay five dollars a month.  Should they continue to subscribe for, as an example, three months, that price becomes permanent, and they will pay five dollars a month for the remainder of their subscription time.  If none of those other people that were invited leave the game or invite anyone of their own, they will all pay just twelve dollars (I assume, in this case, that all current players would drop to twelve dollars since we can't retroactively say that you accepted an invitation).  The math works out this way, that means that for those three months, in addition to the five dollars the original player still pays, NCSoft collects twelve for all five players he invites, totaling up to 600 dollars of revenue for all of them.  Let's say that, right then, all those players quit except the original player, who is therefore going to pay five dollars a month even though his friends left.  That means that to become a net loss in terms of subscription revenue, the player would have to play for 60 months (10 dollars a month of lost subscription money until the 600 dollars of revenue is gone).  That's five years before that player, at maximum invitation and at minimum of time, becomes a cost to the company he didn't recoup in revenue.
 
This ignores money that could potentially be made from box sales, and assumes that the minimum subscription cost would be kept at or above the minimum service cost.  If the rewards can be permanent, it should at least still, at minimum, be a sub that pays the electric bill.
 
These are ways that rewards programs could be structured that affect subscription prices, but directly reward people for getting their friends involved (and sometimes rewards those friends for staying involved).  It's better than giving a whole free month for hitting level 20, at least.  Don't reward people just for hitting game milestones; that's actually the point of the game.  Reward people for enticing their friends to play and keep playing; that's how the parent company makes money while the player saves some.  Reward the revenue stream.	
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Nice, VicVanMeter!  
 
This is thoughtful and on point.  If we go down this path, I'd be nice to have more 7-day trials to hand out.  I gave mine away months ago :/.  Easier to convince my friends to come play if they don't have to front the cash to start playing.
 
-Zarrek.	
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Credd is incredibly cheap. I have a years worth of credd and I work a full time job in real life and I don't even farm in game... I just buy base materials on the AH, craft it into something then resell it on the AH.
 
Still don't understand what everyone is talking about in regards to subscription costs... It's a non issue for anyone who has a grade 5 level of understanding in economics	
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Hello Carbine,
 
I realize that the subscription model is not the #1 reason for the mass exodus of players, but I think enough players that it's probably worth considering an approach to make playing via CREDD a more integral part of the newbie player experience (as well as the recent level 50s). 
 
Here's some concrete independent suggestions:
1) The first time an account's reaches level 20 (or 30?), gift them a CREDD. Put in a couple of quests explaining the CREDD market in-game, perhaps
 
2) Upon getting to level 50, have the GA attunement conclude with another CREDD. Again, one per account.
 
3) Do a better job explaining the use of the /advice channel. Institute a "helper of the month"-type thing whereby players can get rewarded for helping out new players. This would take some Community Management time, perhaps, but probably worth it.
 
4) Ressurect the World of Warcraft's "scroll of ressurection" concept and allow players to get their buddies to come back, and have a CREDD get attached to that ressurection so they don't have to start paying day 1.
 
I realize this kind of thing may disturb the CREDD market a little, but I don't think by much. On the front end we'll have more CREDD flooding the market, but hopefully long term we could have more demand from people playing the game via CREDD.
 
Thanks for reading/listening,
-Zarrek
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Giving out a free month for hitting 20 would make them lose money hand over foot.
 
An "invite a friend" or something like that and give specific rewards like a mount or something would be better imho
 
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Your "Day 1" when the game was heavily populated is quite different than a newbie's "day 1" today. It's not as easy to get people to want to run dungeons with you, some adventure LFG queues just never pop. It is my opinion that new players need a better carrot to stay in the game. Allowing them to play for free as long as they are working toward attunement and getting themselves situated (again, not me) would be beneficial.
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Giving out a free month for hitting 20 would make them lose money hand over foot.
 
An "invite a friend" or something like that and give specific rewards like a mount or something would be better imho
 
 
I believe there is something in the PTR currently catered in getting people to run dungeons/adventures in looking for group. I think it's giving you additional exp and a loot bag once its complete if i remember rightly. (correct me if im wrong)
 
 
 
I probably dreamnt this so sorry if i'm wrong.
 
Didnt blizzard give 10days free or something to the player that recruited someone?
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Why not institute a rewards program which rewards players who recruit new (or lapsed) players into the game with lower subscription fees for as long as those players are in the game?  I made a similar suggestion in another topic some time ago.
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			I'm confident the legality of this won't be a problem.  This is pretty far abreast of managing one client's money to pay another in a financial services Ponzi scheme.  There's "bring a new client and win a prize" setups in every major industry.	
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Credd is nothing else but an alternative way of getting your subscription by simply playing the game, no need to treat it otherwise or demonize it. 
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VicVanMeter, I like your idea, but it kind of sounds like a headache to implement.
 
I like WoW's system. It's so simple:
 
Send your friend a Recruit-A-Friend link, they make an account with the link, download the game and log in. (7 day trial?)
They buy the game = 30 day of free gametime for the recruiter
They purchase 1 month of gametime = A mount for the recruiter 
 
I also liked how your account would be linked: extra XP while leveling together, etc.	
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... Maybe from the perspective of the person farming plat to buy CREDD, but that's not the only person involved.
 
There's someone else who spends cash to get the CREDD to sell for plat. That's not "getting your subscription by playing the game". That's an officially endorsed form of RMT.
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... Maybe from the perspective of the person farming plat to buy CREDD, but that's not the only person involved.
There's someone else who spends cash to get the CREDD to sell for plat. That's not "getting your subscription by playing the game". That's an officially endorsed form of RMT.
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Yaslan & Razhork,
 
For what it's worth, you're both taking pretty extreme positions.  There's pros and cons to both sides.  Personally I think CREDD does much more good than bad.  We are not seeing top end guilds buying tons of plat (via CREDD) to give them a significant advantage over other guilds.  Clearing GA & DS provide more than enough EG & cash to finance high-end raiding.  
 
But once again that's besides the point.  I meant this post to be about dangling more/better carrots for getting new/returning players and keeping them.  Could we please focus on that over a "CREDD is or isn't good" argument?  Thanks,
-Zarrek.	
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The moment you make it so that platinum can't be used to excersise market power (or plain gameplay power by buying the best stuff), that's the moment CREDD offers will dry up, me thinks.
On one hand, I don't want that to happen because I'm one of those whose whole game time is based on buying CREDD. So of course I'm in favor of the current system.
On the other hand, it makes me wonder how many of the design decisions of this game are tied to the CREDD system. Because there's a whole bunch of them that zap at my enjoyment of the game. Like how hilariously expensive some things are and the alt hostility.
 
But that's a topic for another...uh...topic.
 
 
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I meant this post to be about dangling more/better carrots for getting new/returning players and keeping them.  Could we please focus on that over a "CREDD is or isn't good" argument?  Thanks,
 
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