New Feature: VIP Membership *Updated (6/17/19)

ZW2007-

bken1234 said:

In MtGPQ; skill trumps collection 100% of the time. Some of the biggest spenders are horrible deck builders and players, and I’ve seen many F2P players do amazing things with almost nothing. 

Most non-mods would probably get flagged, or at least receive a lot of flack, for a comment like this...

DragonSorcerer

Far too expensive. I only pay £10/m for top (4k) netflix package, £79/year for Amazon Prime 
, £50/year for Playstation plus and you want $30 per month!

Unknown

This content has been removed.

Drogo

LOL.   An absolutely ludicrous price structure.    This is so far beyond gouging I don't even know what you'd call it.  

Abracadavers

I'm not against this type of thing in a "pay to win" type of game like this.  The "free to play" players have the possibility to be competitive against the P2W decks.  So far I have been a F2P player, and it isn't because I don't want to support this game or it's developers.  It is because I really don't like the idea of P2W in the first place. 

Now, if there was a reasonably affordable package that allowed you to support without gaining any real in-game advantage, I would consider purchasing that.  Something like a custom avatar and title or something like that?  Maybe a couple deck slots?  Just an idea. 

But I would rather quit this game than be forced to purchase the advantage the VIP package would bring me.  And after it is implemented, if I can no longer be competitive with the P2W decks, I'm out.  It doesn't sound like that would be the case; I'm just giving my point of view.

KageTora

wereotter said:

BigSwifty said:

I don't mind the Free to pay, Pay to Win mentality. It is what it is. Only real problem I have here is the price point. This is in line with what you would pay for most MMORPGs, tv streaming services and more. I think this is more than I pay for HBO.

I think 5-10 dollars a month would be better. As it is, I can't see myself dropping the money on this on an annual basis. Maybe one month at the most. If the cost came down I would reconsider.

Just my 2 cents.

Not sure which mmorpg you’re thinking of.... but I can say this price point is twice what I pay for Final Fantasy XIV. Comparing it like that, I have to agree, it’s way too high when you compare what you get in an mmo versus a mobile game. 

Specially Final Fantasy XIV. That game is amazing and easily the best MMO I've ever played. Too bad I barely have time for it these days. 

Gideon

It’s a bold strategy Cotton. Let’s see if it pays off for them!

stikxs

bken1234 said:

In MtGPQ; skill trumps collection 100% of the time. Some of the biggest spenders are horrible deck builders and players, and I’ve seen many F2P players do amazing things with almost nothing.

100% of the time? Nope. At similar collection levels, sure "almost 100%" (RNG will forever have a hand in MTG), but the farther you get from even the more that percentage is going to drop.

ElfNeedsFood

stikxs said:

bken1234 said:

In MtGPQ; skill trumps collection 100% of the time. Some of the biggest spenders are horrible deck builders and players, and I’ve seen many F2P players do amazing things with almost nothing.

100% of the time? Nope. At similar collection levels, sure "almost 100%" (RNG will forever have a hand in MTG), but the farther you get from even the more that percentage is going to drop.

Given Gerg's skills, I can pauper his BSZ 90+% of the time. Super Greg was cool until they lobotomized him many moons ago...

Azerack

Did I read this right, @Brigby ?...

--------
How do I increase my Tier?
Tiers are increased when you renew an existing Pro / Master Membership plan or whenever you upgrade to a higher plan. Basic plan does not increase your Tier.
--------

So, if I get Pro and then immediately upgrade to Master, I'm already at T2...
But then I'm guessing "Upgrading" is not paying $15 extra it's actually paying $45, $15 for the Pro and then $30 for Master, correct?

Brakkis

The proverbial final nail in the coffin folks.

Bil

  Did someone up there considered the fact that such a bad annoucement, for such a bad deal with such a bad timing ... Could even disgust the actual paying players faster than it would gather fresh money? 

  1)New players won't pay that much and could almost flee from such a cashgrab. In patricular if they only have access to training grounds (don't mention totp ... Please).

  2)Old players (as far as we can see on the forum) are already starved from fresh coalition content, then see the weekly content reduced to ... Peanuts ... And look very far from a 30bucks ... Or even a 5bucks suscription...

I'd hate to see this game sink definitely because of this surrealistic VIP plan ....
  You guys can do anything : sell masterpieces bundles, do short term discounts on different currencies to create urge to invest, apply decent prices to actual bundles... Just do something realistic.

   Also ... Sell appealing cards ...
  Just a quick look at RNA bundles and you realize 90% of the mythics would see no play in a competitive deck... Why paying 25 for them if they don't enhance your decks ?
   
  

ManekiNeko

Abracadavers said:

[...]
Now, if there was a reasonably affordable package that allowed you to support without gaining any real in-game advantage, I would consider purchasing that.  Something like a custom avatar and title or something like that?  Maybe a couple deck slots?  Just an idea. 

But I would rather quit this game than be forced to purchase the advantage the VIP package would bring me.  And after it is implemented, if I can no longer be competitive with the P2W decks, I'm out.  It doesn't sound like that would be the case; I'm just giving my point of view.

This times 1000. 

I feel forced to pay if I wanna be competing (Just to be able to craft MPs for a ridiculous price... smh). Thats just sad, man.
Other games force you to pay money upfront, like normal games usually do, but the developers of those games receive a lot of flak aswell when they release something with major bugs. Idea is great for the game, but its way too unpolished to ask for so much money. 

//Removed Profanity -Brigby

Kimotep

In MtGPQ; skill trumps collection 100% of the time. Some of the biggest spenders are horrible deck builders and players, and I’ve seen many F2P players do amazing things with almost nothing. 

You got to be kidding. The whole premise for the game is progress through acquiring new cards, which your current bid for business model supports one hundred percent. You know this and you are ignoring this fact. 

There might be a big part of your users that are not capable of understanding the business model and the way you are moving ahead - and it might be enough for you to survive. But you will dumb down the game and take away the most fanatic users who are driving the community. 

Really appalling moves with the VIP introduction. Why not just go for many small microtransactions. I am sure you would make a lot of money just taunting mythics for small amounts.

hm....

[Deleted User]

I would just like to inquire about your thoughts of exclusive cards.

There are two different kinds of exclusive cards - paid set exclusives (Momir Vig, etc) and free event completion exclusives (Experiment Kraj, etc). Under the "Early exclusive content and extra one-time offers," I speculate free event completion exclusive cards (i.e. Experiment Kraj) might be exclusive to the VIP system; is this the case?

If this is the case, then there is potential for events like RT to be technically placed behind a VIP pay-wall until an allotted amount of time has passed for those cards to be considered non-exclusive. Based off of the past, these cards have been reverted from exclusive to non-exclusive when a new set drops (approx. 3+ months); is this also the case (asking both certain events being "VIP pay-walled" and the timeframes)?

@Brigby

Unknown

This content has been removed.

Malcrof

ZW2007- said:

bken1234 said:

In MtGPQ; skill trumps collection 100% of the time. Some of the biggest spenders are horrible deck builders and players, and I’ve seen many F2P players do amazing things with almost nothing. 

Most non-mods would probably get flagged, or at least receive a lot of flack, for a comment like this...

Just wanted to address this. As long as no-one is called out by name, and it is not a targeted attack, generalizations are fine, within the rules of the forum. 

[Deleted User]

starfall said:

Bil said:

  Did someone up there considered the fact that such a bad annoucement, for such a bad deal with such a bad timing ... Could even disgust the actual paying players faster than it would gather fresh money? 
  

Then gets you twenty that this whole scheme is their "solution" to players leaving the game.

They noticed an uptick of announcements on the forum of long time spenders leaving and/or a drop in revenue and player numbers, had a brainstorm about what could be done to stop it, and a subscription service was the first thing they thought of.

Not "make the game worth playing"... but "try and lock more players in".

This was something i speculated as well. Its not good when these are the thoughts that run through our minds..  Lol. 

Aeroplane

All these new updates containing the LP, Card Mastery, VIP...etc by themselves are very superficial and usually a harmless add on in most games. However , with the increasing problems with the bugs over the last 2 years since I started and the time it takes to fix a known bug and then add the extreme lack of creative content, I smell smoke.

I stopped putting money into this game when I noticed the instability increase, events becoming stale(NOP), no variety with content update( no creativity) and with no fault to Brigby, but the odd explanations and reasons why things have happened or not happened yet.

To the topic of VIP. Usually these are implemented to give a boost to beginners or whales. It looks muddled and very poorly designed. Beginners will have hard time really knowing what they're getting and will back off and whales will do the math and see if they are being funneled to P2W which would be fair if they had a clean product.

Think of all the resources already made for them. They could choose any challenge from any event or story mode and throw it us daily with very little reward. The challenge would suffice. " Use Vraska1 in Story mode 3-10 using only pirates and uncommon spells and supports for 5 crystals" Oh well...

GoldenWyvern

I'm sure this is a "done deal" and all we're doing at this point is shooting the messenger.  That being said, there is a huge issue that I would like removed with all haste.

Let me go ahead and point out one thing first: If you think this is too expensive, don't look at the existing prices.  Puzzle Quest has always had horribly overpriced DLC.  If we use the base jewel package of 100 jewels for $4.99, an Origins booster with no guarantees of a rare or even one new card is $3.00.  That is honestly disgusting, and I've brought that up every time I've done a review or a survey.  The base price for a 5 card booster should NOT be the same as a paper, 15 card booster with a GUARANTEED RARE.  You can't play the game and then wave torches because they're suddenly doing things that are overpriced; this game is, and has always been, overpriced.  The base cost for a booster should be $1.00.

(Side note: Wizards of the Coast may be to blame for this.  As seen in similar games, their theory is that an online game should cost the same as the paper version in all cases, so as not to "dilute the experience".  That's a rant for another time.)

Let's look purely at value.  I, personally, would never buy the Master, so I'm ignoring that.  If we look at what's currently on the store, I can pick up ~200 crystals for $9.99.  The four boosters would be $12 for the reason listed above, and let's be fair and call the four bonus cards a fifth booster at $3.  So, it's $10 cheaper than the listed values.  Yay.  From that perspective, it's worth it to me, ten out of ten, would buy monthly.

Except.

I wish I honestly thought that someone would take the time to address some of these things because what I'm about to say is so very, very important, as in D3 is making a decision which is, at this time, a political hot button, and is trying to get their game banned.  Belgium has already banned another game I play (Kingdom Hearts Union X, and if you think I'm an **** for **** about MTG:PQ's prices and still paying for things, woo, you have no idea.)

In the US, there is a law in the senate called "The Protecting Children from Abusive Games Act."  It's not likely that it's going to pass in it's current form, but part of the bill is preventing "pay to win" type attitudes that resemble gambling.

Look at the VIP tiers.  "Unlocks one-time offers."  Now, it's possible that these one time offers are paid with mana crystals in which case, eh, creepy but not actually bad.  However, what it reads as to me is, "In order to buy a deal with real money, you must unlock a deal by spending real money."  In other words, the Sunk Cost Fallacy as a business model.

If you're not familiar with the Sunk Cost Fallacy, it's the idea that, if you've already spent money, you should continue spending money rather than cut your losses.  In Gambling, this is the slot machine problem - I've spent $20 and gotten nothing in return, so rather than chalking it up as a loss, I'm going to keep playing until I win that $20 back.

Offering special deals to VIP members is literally trying to squeeze out more money from gamblers.  Currently it's technically in a legal grey area, but that could change quickly.  And MTG:PQ is not Hunie Pop - it's definately aimed at children.

Take off the one-time deals if they cost money.  It's bad for the players, and with any luck, it'll get your game banned and you in legal trouble in the current political climate.