What kind of VIP package would make the price worth it?

BATMAN1

here’s the deal they’re probably gonna throw the VIP package at us without our consent like usually. So let me ask the player base what they expect for a VIP program. What do you expect to get for what you’re probably gonna be paying? What should be included in every option?

For 4.99 a week

15.99 a month 

29.99 a month 

//Edited Title To Provide Clarity Of Topic -Brigby

Unknown

This content has been removed.

Gabrosin

This is an outstanding question, one that would have been an ideal topic of discussion... while the feature was still under consideration, not after it was announced.

What is so tinykitty hard about someone coming on the forums and saying "we're planning to implement a new feature/subscription plan/mechanic/event into the game, here are our initial ideas, what do you think?"

Tremayne

@Gabrosin - my guess is that “someone” stays away from the forum, because when they have tried soliciting for feedback, they get burned, flamed, incinerated and shouted at - on a good day. 

I’m not saying that justifies their poor communication plan, just that I expect that is why they are staying underground.

Laeuftbeidir

Tremayne said:

@Gabrosin - my guess is that “someone” stays away from the forum, because when they have tried soliciting for feedback, they get burned, flamed, incinerated and shouted at - on a good day. 

I’m not saying that justifies their poor communication plan, just that I expect that is why they are staying underground.

Well, they worked on that negativity for quite some time. But.. I think you're wrong. Think about back when they asked openly about the community's point of view about the implémentation of legendary cards and how we thought about the options they had in mind. They received quite some productive feedback, used it and the implementation never received a backslash. Also, the thought through QAs and Blog posts mostly received positive feedback. Everything since then was just one sided, or very relayed reactive communication.

FindingHeart8

I'm against a VIP system, but if they needed extra cash, making and selling new avatars, or planeswalker skins, or extra deck slots would be an easy way to accomplish this.

Heck before pulling RT and this VIP-m ok moneygrab, they probably couldve just ASKED the community for donations with some positive results if they promised in return to fix the bugs the player-base addressed.

madwren

I certainly have levied my share of criticism at Oktagon, but with all due respect, I honestly can't imagine any company saying, "Ok, we want to implement a subscription plan, let's talk to the playerbase first."  The feedback from the playerbase comes from whether or not we actually purchase them.

FindingHeart8

madwren said:

I certainly have levied my share of criticism at Oktagon, but with all due respect, I honestly can't imagine any company saying, "Ok, we want to implement a subscription plan, let's talk to the playerbase first."  The feedback from the playerbase comes from whether or not we actually purchase them.

A fair point, but communication has been a longstanding issue between the player base and Octagon.  It's easy to add this to the pile of already existing issues

Boogeyman

madwren said:

I certainly have levied my share of criticism at Oktagon, but with all due respect, I honestly can't imagine any company saying, "Ok, we want to implement a subscription plan, let's talk to the playerbase first."  The feedback from the playerbase comes from whether or not we actually purchase them.

I am playing a f2p game right now where the devs are active, responsive, and listen to the player base.

A story from that other game:  They implemented a change and it was a horrible change.  The community of course flamed and threatened (way worse than here).  Within a week, the devs communicated (with the playerbase) that they recognized something was wrong, were going to try a fix, and thanked the community for their "feedback" lol.  Kudos to them, the devs took the feedback and made a positive change.   Then they communicated the change via a news update. 

This instilled a loyalty in the community like I have never seen.  It is very fulfilling to see that a company takes the time to listen to YOU.  This is very much a relationship.  Unfortunately, it seems to be a very one-sided relationship at the moment.  

Dropspot

If VIP granted access to TotP for free and costed 15 I think it would sell pretty well.

TheDude1

madwren said:

I certainly have levied my share of criticism at Oktagon, but with all due respect, I honestly can't imagine any company saying, "Ok, we want to implement a subscription plan, let's talk to the playerbase first."  The feedback from the playerbase comes from whether or not we actually purchase them.

No customer base ever is in favor of paying more for things they got cheaper/for free in the past.

If people don't like the package, they won't buy it.  Oktagon/D3 will feel the results in their wallet.

If they still feel that a VIP package should have an influence on the game, they will adjust the rewards or the price to entice more users to buy it.

Supply/Demand and all that.

WiLDRAGE

Flat 60$ and give me the entire set.  That's the only circumstance in which I will put money into this game ever again.

Magnumson

madwren said:

I certainly have levied my share of criticism at Oktagon, but with all due respect, I honestly can't imagine any company saying, "Ok, we want to implement a subscription plan, let's talk to the playerbase first."  The feedback from the playerbase comes from whether or not we actually purchase them.

Why not actually? What would have been wrong about it? Choosing the other way apparently lets them experience a disaster. That’s what you see now. As mentioned in another thread: ignoring the community wishes and upforcing a system / new design / new whatsoever the community doesn’t want ultimately will lead to a massive loss of customers (as seen on memrise). They are trying to make more money but the opposite is gonna happen: I predict that only a a few people will buy their overpriced subscription plan and on the other side players that used to buy stuff in the vault will be so annoyed that they simply stop investing any more penny in that game (me for example) resulting in a massive loss. Is there any name for this effect yet? If not they shall call it the MTGPQ-Effect from today on. Already legendary yet. 

Unknown

This content has been removed.

Stalker

BATMAN1 said: What should be included in every option?

For 4.99 a month(week is an insult) :half of what was proposed for the 29.99 a month. 

9.99 a month: everything proposed for 29.99 a month, but should expect many to say their netflix or amazon prime is still worth more to the them or its time to move on from this game all together. 

29.99 a month: the top 1% to jump in without looking. Everything proposed at this original price, but quadrupled, which probably wouldn’t work out to well in the long run.



I already feel PW’s and exclusives are way over priced in the store. A sold PW should come with all needed runes ti max. Their 29.99 goodies seem to reflect this value pack which is not enticing and pretty concerning to me for what I get in the real world, or worse; from an EA AAA title. 

I feel many of the same concerns, ie, RT’s new schedule in relation to a new subscriber package. 

On the flip side, there is a danger to letting a completionist   Actually get all the cards. The income from that person then only appears during new releases. But for how often those are, not doom and gloom either.

dont have all the answers but feel this update is a feeler for how much they can get away with in such a subscription. But there are better ways to get his info prior without creating such a negative backlash. (Such as surveys, and other formal/informal research)

TheDude1

Suggesting that the package have more rewards or be cheaper means it will have more of an impact on the collection dynamic versus the F2P path.  It's by definition saying that cash transactions should have a bigger impact on the game, pushing it further to a pay-to-win model.  That seems counter to the general sentiment that the game should be more F2P-oriented, since more people buying the VIP package will by necessity create a different experience than what F2P can achieve.

(Unless the argument is that F2P should be able to achieve a mostly-full collection as well.  In that case we end up in the situation we're in, with reward creep leading to nothing but an ever-increasing appetite for new content since everyone effectively has the same card base.  I'm also acknowledging you can price the cosmetic side on things that have no bearing on gameplay, such as skins and avatars, but that's not been the general conversation here.)

As I mentioned elsewhere, I don't think the pricing is worthwhile, and I won't be buying it.  But it can't be criticized for being too expensive/stingy on rewards while also being criticized for making the game pay-to-win.  It's either going to have a pay-to-win impact because enough people will benefit within the game, or it won't because not enough people buy it or because they don't get much for it.

dwinn7038

IMO, none.  It's something I do when I take a dump, and no kind of added value to that experience could be worth $30 a month.

BigSwifty

The packages as described in the announcement are fine with me, but the price point is about one and a half to twice as high as I would think fair or would consider expending. I'm not spending 150-200 dollars a year to subscribe to a mobile 3-gem game....

Unknown

This content has been removed.

Stormcrow

I think the mistake they're making is tying it to handouts of in-game resources that can (and should!) be obtained through playing the game or just paying money directly.

VIP Benefits (all levels include all the lower-level benefits as well):

Level 1 Benefits ($5/month):
Pity Timer on getting Rares/Mythics from opening packs: after 10x packs from one set with nothing above Uncommon, your next pack from that set contains a guaranteed Rare or better; after 20x packs with no Mythics, your next pack contains a guaranteed Mythic or better.
Exclusive Avatars and Titles
1 additional crystal-purchaseable deck slot for each level 60 Planeswalker
Max health potions capped at 6 instead of 3.
Ability to set a "Favorite" Planeswalker that always appears at the start of the list of Planeswalkers if the Favorited one is a possible choice for a battle.

Level 2 Benefits ($10/month)
Pity Timer reduced to guaranteed Rare after 8x packs, guaranteed Mythic after 16x packs
Even more Avatars/Titles
1 additional rune-purchaseable deck slot for every level 60 Planeswalker
Max health potions capped at 10
Rune gains on Training Grounds are doubled (for both wins and losses)
Player-level XP gains from card mastery are doubled (just the rate at which they're gained; total XP possible remains the same)
Ability to "Favorite" up to 3 Planeswalkers

Level 3 Benefits ($20/month)
Pity Timer reduced to Rare after 5 packs, Mythic after 10.
A couple reeeeally exclusive Avatars/Titles, maybe with art that isn't based on cards in the game but other older M:tG art (gimme dat old-school Anson Maddocks art).
No health potions (or really, infinite health potions): you can just click "Heal" after/before battles with any injured planeswalker (not having it heal automatically, though, because you might want to start at low hp for "win at low hp" objectives)
1 additional free deck slot for every level 60 planeswalker
Ability to Favorite up to 5 Planeswalkers
increased (and/or possibly re-set, periodically?) rewards for Story Mode completion
Masterpiece crafting (should cost orbs *and* also some small amount of crystals or jewels though; or as an alternative, just make the 120-crystal Elite Packs also be non-dupe packs for players with this VIP level)

Some of the other VIP-plan benefits are fine - special offers/discounts, bonus mana jewels per purchase - just tie them to a specific level of VIP plan instead of some convoluted month-by-month increasing/decreasing thing.

But the core problem is that handing out stuff like runes. jewels, cards - stuff that is ordinarily rewards for playing the game - is backwards. The target market for VIP tiers is people who are already super-engaged with the game, and want to be able to play/engage with the game more. Handing out free stuff so that they can finish their collection faster, with less playing, is backwards. Instead you want to help the people who want to spend hours a day on the game to spend hours a day on the game, by giving them more space to build decks, fewer restrictions on how much they can play, more to do. Spending money on direct purchases of runes/jewels/cards/what-have-you can remain a shortcut for people who want to have everything while spending less time in-game to get it all.

As a side benefit to this approach, the devs won't be tempted to reduce the rewards for actual play time in an effort to push people in the direction of getting a VIP membership.

BATMAN1

I’ll pay $25 a month for all exclusive content. Plus access to plentiful resources. That’s the compromise I give to you.