[Replacement Poll] What do you think of the new VIP Membership system?

245

Comments

  • wereotter
    wereotter Posts: 2,070 Chairperson of the Boards
    I am against this and it will affect my engagement in the game. (Please explain.)
    starfall said:
    wereotter said:
    madwren said:
    I don't mind the existence of a subscription model. It largely won't affect me.
    What I do mind is the removal of RT.  Subscription models should augment an already equitable reward pool.  They shouldn't replace it. 
    The combination of the two creates very poor optics and is yet another marketing failure.


    I must have missed this. Did they announce/confirm that the event is dead? I thought it was just missing the last two days. 
    It's all spelled out in here:

    https://forums.d3go.com/discussion/78305/no-rising-tensions/p1

    Not 'dead', but certainly played a lot less, looks like the frequency will drop to about 30%.
    Hmmm

    joining other events in rotation likely also means drastically reduced rewards when it is run, meaning the only reason to play the event will he gone. Here’s hoping War of the Spark releases a comparable event, though with the subscription model being introduced.... I’m not holding my breath on that one. 
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  • Gabrosin
    Gabrosin Posts: 259 Mover and Shaker
    I don't have a problem with it, but I won't be participating.
    I'm not averse to a subscription model.  The game needs to pay for itself somehow.  I'm probably the subscription's target audience: I play the game daily, and I'm willing and able to pay a reasonable amount of money for my entertainment.

    But the prices in this game have rarely seemed to match the value acquired for them.  $40 to get a planeswalker for three weeks before you can get it for crystals?  $20 for a single mythic and a few extra resources on the side?  This new model feels like more of the same.  I could see myself investing something like $5 a month for the game, but $15 or $30 a month makes me feel my cash would be better spent elsewhere.

    Doing this on top of neutering the primary pathway for accumulating resources through play (daily events like RT) doesn't inspire confidence.

  • TheDude1
    TheDude1 Posts: 194 Tile Toppler
    I don't have a problem with it, but I won't be participating.
    The VIP does not change my experience with the game whatsoever, and I venture that it will not for 99% of the population who were never going to buy it anyway.  The price seems high, but not unheard-of for pricing strategies: create one basic package for trial entry, one super premium package to soak the whales, and one mid-tier that seems like the best "value" that you expect most people to purchase anyway.

    Losing RT as a regular event seems like a separate question.  It was going to go away just as Across Ixalan did after many months (AI was in place for 8 months, this month marks 6 for RT).  The complaints seem to primarily circle around the idea that we're losing the richest rewards basis (when factoring in ease of acquisition) in the history of the game, but the change was inevitable.

    I'm also noticing a thread that seems very well-linked:
    • We enjoy having events with very rich rewards, because that gives us access to more cards
    • We have a lot of cards and want more events to use them (which conveniently also give us more rewards)
    • The events are stale because we have full collections and use the same powerful cards repeatedly (to win the highest-level rewards)
    • Rarity should not be a factor in card power because people have fairly good access to even the most rare cards ("rarity" is more pseudo-rarity in this game)

    Power creep in the cards is real, but so is reward creep/value inflation.  Content churn is the mortal enemy of developer resources.  One of them has to give.
  • stikxs
    stikxs Posts: 533 Critical Contributor
    I'm not a fan, but I'll see how it plays out.
    They should have waited until they fixed the game first. Not introduce a monthly plan to get into beta testing.
  • jtwood
    jtwood Posts: 1,285 Chairperson of the Boards
    I'm not a fan, but I'll see how it plays out.
    Magic123 said:
    jtwood said:
    At the risk of flaming, this seems like a silly perspective:
    I am against this and will be seriously ramping down my playing because of it
    Why would you play less because someone else is offering to pay for a game?
    If you want to play less, do it because they remove features, functionality, or enjoyment.
    But just putting in a subscription system alone doesn't seem like a reason to change your gaming habit.
    Removing the best event in the whole game, and then saying you can get back 1/3 of what that event gave you every month IF you payed $30/mo... Yes, thats why you would stop playing.
    I consider those changes as unrelated and poorly timed happenstance. 

    The reason for RT being pulled had nothing to do with VIP, and was consistent with what they’ve done with prior events, like Across Ixalan. 
  • wickedwitch74
    wickedwitch74 Posts: 267 Mover and Shaker
    I am against this and it will affect my engagement in the game. (Please explain.)
    I am not entirely opposed to a subscription.

    This company needs to make money (imagine how much the MtG license must cost them...), and I understand why they have tried different approaches to monetize the game, like Legacy Mythic bundles, or $10 Guild Bundles.

    It is entirely possible that a subscription-based approach is the only way for this game to survive.

    Sure, it's FTP... that's how they hook you... but there is no such thing as a free lunch.

    That said...

    1. This needed to be communicated in advance, and in a much better way. The promises of Planeswalker/Card rebalances, and new content are constantly being ignored in favor of changes that no one has asked for like LPS, and Player Levels/Tiers. This additional nugget was bound to enrage the community.

    2. It appears to me that Rising Tensions (and Across Ixalan), coupled with Booster Crafting, has had a major impact on one's ability to acquire the most powerful cards in the game. I see it in the games I play (I'm a three year veteran), and my losses are a lot more frequent over the last few months as BSZ, etc... become more widespread. Monetizing the crafting of Masterpieces with 3.4 tells me this is exactly the case.

    To pull back on this event, and take something away from players, something they really like, is also a mistake, and is bound to draw further resentment.

    3. The subscription fees are enormous. $360 a year for the top tier. If you are going to introduce a subscription fee, and restrict content based on tiers, please make the cost more palatable, say $5/$10/$15 a month. As a long-time player, I regularly make purchases (once per set release) to support the game, and would find such a pricing scheme acceptable.
  • LordDorwin
    LordDorwin Posts: 78 Match Maker
    I am against this and it will affect my engagement in the game. (Please explain.)
    I will keep it brief.

    I voted as I did because:

    1.  This is crassly stupid, and creates two categories of player, with the lower category detesting the upper.  Those of us from the Third World will be automatically relegated to the lower category unless we are very fortunate.  This is a basic economic fact.

    2.  There are games where the player has to shell out to access the full version.  This does not seem a tenable model - the game either becomes a pay-to-play item, or quietly dies.  This change seems a step in this direction.

    3.  Total daily gameplay will be automatically cut due to the removal of RT.  The reduction in play is therefore not spite, but reduction in opportunity.

    4.  Said removal seems an attempt to strong-arm players into getting out the credit card.  Why support a company that treats it's customers as marks in a confidence trick?  This reeks of contempt.

    I said I would be brief.  Following the proposed course will lead the players to other, maybe better, games.  Is that the desired outcome? 

    Maybe this issue should have been approached more creatively.


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  • BATMAN1
    BATMAN1 Posts: 146 Tile Toppler
    We are not getting bacK RT weekly. Haha, they built up a way of life for the player base and given it to us for a year or so. Now that’s the standard, that’s what we as playerbase are dependent upon to grow our collections and play the game. Now they have taken it away and have offered us the option to pay to play for a fraction of the rewards. 

    Do i I think a subscription fee is inherently bad, No not at all. It’s only a shame because the product here is pretty bad as of late. Why would someone pay a premium price on a sub optimal product. 

    If they want to charge a premium like they want to do, give us a premium product. Free flowing bug free games, new GOOD events, new interesting and fun cards and sets, NEW story mode, better customer care, a way to communicate better in game, internal coalition play. 

    Listen, if they want us to pay to play that’s fine. But lets make them work for it, they want us to support them, then let them support us. Give us 100% and we’ll pay to play. 


  • Bil
    Bil Posts: 831 Critical Contributor
    edited May 2019
     VIP is not a problem as is, as none is forced to pay for it, however I'm pretty shocked about different things around it. The following list is non-exhaustive.

     1) The price is too high to make it realistic. It's insane to ask players to spend that much ... monthly ... on a game in such an instable state and with so less variety in the content.

     2) The benefit is underwhelming ... The players should at least be granted Latest set boosters, latest set cards, or be able to choose what they wanna pick.

    3) It shouldn't be implemented at the expense of non-paying players (removing generous content to create currencies and boosters starvation is a terrible move).

    4) it won't solve cash problems ... If you want cash incomes, you need to create seductive offers. Mtgpq prices have always been so high that paying for them is almost a profession of faith.

    5)The timing is awful... The communication too.




  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0 Just Dropped In
    I'm not a fan, but I'll see how it plays out.
    Bil said:
     VIP is not a problem as is, as none is forced to pay for it, however I'm pretty shocked about different things around it. The following list is non-exhaustive.

     1) The price is too high to make it realistic. It's insane to ask players to spend that much ... monthly ... on a game in such an instable state and with so less variety in the content.

     2) The benefit is underwhelming ... The players should at least be granted Latest set boosters, latest set cards, or be able to choose what they wanna pick.

    3) It shouldn't be implemented at the expense of non-paying players (removing generous content to create currencies and boosters starvation is a terrible move).

    4) it won't solve cash problems ... If you want cash incomes, you need to create seductive offers. Mtgpq prices have always been so high that paying for them is almost a profession of faith.

    5)The timing is awful... The communication too.




    I like you. Because this.
  • bobby_2613
    bobby_2613 Posts: 83 Match Maker
    edited May 2019
    I don't have a problem with it, but I won't be participating.
    Cost is way too high 30 USD for top one.  You gotta be kidding. I wouldn't pay higher than 15$ CAD for it. 
  • bk1234
    bk1234 Posts: 2,924 Chairperson of the Boards
    I'm not a fan, but I'll see how it plays out.
    bobby_2613 said:
    Cost is way too high 30 USD for top one.  You gotta be kidding. I wouldn't pay higher than 15$ CAD for it. 
    If I had $15 CAD and I was in Canada --I could find better things to spend on (Like something relieve headaches, anxiety and upset stomach at the same time).  I'm not a fan of the program -- I think it offers little value much less advantage to any level of play. I believe it will have very little impact or competitive edge. 

    I sincerely hope, however that the reaction will have a huge impact on how projects are prioritized and communicated going toward. 
  • Julie71
    Julie71 MTGPQ Mod Posts: 707 Critical Contributor
    I'm not a fan, but I'll see how it plays out.
    My husband will be happier with me,. No rt during the week means I won't play as often.   Buying a VP status.  Personally I think a VP status is earned.  With hard work and dedication. This will not cause me to leave the game because I love the community I am in and I love my fellow blackvise family. So no it's not going to make me walk away.  I won't be buying a VP status. Just my humble opinion.
  • Gilesclone
    Gilesclone Posts: 735 Critical Contributor
    Completely, totally and utterly apathetic and neutral to the entire concept.
    I did some comparison calculations and the cards, jewels, crystals and boosters from the Master plan come up roughly equivalent to what you get from buying crystals on sale.

    If you add in the runes, MP crafting, and cosmetic stuff, it seems like a reasonable alternative.
  • Mburn7
    Mburn7 Posts: 3,427 Chairperson of the Boards
    I am against this and it will affect my engagement in the game. (Please explain.)
    Yay censorship! 

    The poll getting modded dropped about 40 votes (can't tell the exact number, but there were 60 votes last I checked and now there are 20).  The majority of dropped votes are for the "probably not playing anymore" option too.  Now it looks like the "wait and see" option is by far the favorite when it definitely was not before.  Hmmmmm.
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  • Firinmahlazer
    Firinmahlazer Posts: 417 Mover and Shaker
    edited May 2019
    I am against this and it will affect my engagement in the game. (Please explain.)
    From a player standpoint I'm against it. From a business standpoint I totally understand. I've been a fairly casual player for a while now and the VIP system gives me no incentive to try harder knowing that someone can just buy their way to the top. 

    It may not end up being as bad as I think it will be but I fully agree that the pricing is absurd for a mobile game. I'll hold full judgement until after the release but right now I don't feel good about it.

    My biggest fear is that this is the beginning of a sharp decline for the game.

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