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Dark Space as a free to play MMO(premium membership based) |
Iwancoppa
Fleet Admiral
Joined: November 15, 2008
Posts: 709
|  Posted: 2009-10-02 22:53
W00T! now all we need to wait for is tiered subbing! 
EVERYBODY's HAPPY NOW, WOOOOHOOO
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Enterprise
Chief Marshal
Joined: May 19, 2002
Posts: 2576
From: Hawthorne, Nevada
| Posted: 2009-10-03 01:02
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On 2009-10-02 15:57, Pakhos wrote:
Now, the question, what would happen if unsubbed players would come together and over come 20 dreads fleet? Wouldnt we be crying to devs how come unsubbed destroyed a fleet of 20 dreads with cruisers?
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That would take roughly 40 cruisers.
And I would be amazed.
-Ent
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Julian Delphiki
Admiral
Joined: June 19, 2002
Posts: 171
| Posted: 2009-10-03 01:37
I must say, I am VERY pleasantly surprised that this has taken off like this. I would like to thank everyone that has contributed to this idea, as its helped refine it as much as it has to become realistic and all the pros/cons(or at least most).
Sorry to Mith for accusing of shooting down ideas, not really used to the devils advocate role in DS, since it usually ends up turning everyone against an idea even if it has merit(except this one, it seems).
Also to F- We are all very greatful for all the time and money you put into this, and the fact that you listen to the ideas of the community, something that most game developers dont do very often.
To devs- Most people dont realize how much time you put into the game despite having to live real lives separate from DS, im sure everyone that does know is very greatful  ...
Sorry, I am just really happy to see this idea going somewhere.. As to the naysayers about cruisers overpowering dreads- Remember that with more players on one faction, there are more players on the other factions(except maybe ICC atm..) this means that if you have 15 cruisers on one team you have to remember that the other probably wont still have the 3-5 or so it has now.. There will be cruisers to support the dreads, which is how its meant to be.
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Supertrooper
Marshal
Pitch Black
Joined: March 18, 2004
Posts: 1895
From: Maryland, U.S.A
| Posted: 2009-10-03 03:36
Who wants to bet that free play won't do anything to help bring in subscriptions?
Honestly, it's all happy and nice in laladurpweareretards land. But look at it right now. There is already a free trial going on right now and it has brought no one back to play, and basicaly no one is playing right now. What makes you think people are going to come back and play because there is a tiered subscription plan? Oh yeah, sure, they may come and play.. But they won't subscribe. It's going to end up being like an asian MMO. Where there are a good bit of free players (Which is 30 in Darkspace) and maybe six with the 'premium' subscription. Those six will kick everyone's asses, and the thirty that don't subscribe will complain and plead for a nerf. We're going to be in the same boat we're in now.
Don't get your hopes up.
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*COMMANDERHAWK*
Chief Marshal
*Renegade Space Marines*
Joined: February 03, 2006
Posts: 260
From: Denver Colorado
| Posted: 2009-10-03 03:47
what about a life time subscription lets say you pay like $100 and your subed for life ? or somthing
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Sliverine
1st Rear Admiral
Joined: November 23, 2006
Posts: 29
From: Singapore
| Posted: 2009-10-03 04:26
yea a lifetime sub sounds great to peeps like me but not to the devs. lifetime sub = end of constant income stream.
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Azreal
Chief Marshal
Joined: March 14, 2004
Posts: 2816
From: United State of Texas, Houston
| Posted: 2009-10-03 05:19
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On 2009-10-03 03:36, Captain Crim wrote:
There is already a free trial going on right now and it has brought no one back to play, and basicaly no one is playing right now.
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Have had upwards of 30 people in the servers over the last two weeks. Before the trial we averaged 5. Have averaged more people in game than in lobby. FOR A NICE CHANGE. Have seen ALOT of older players and new tryouts coming thru.
And all that from an unadvertised, seemingly spur of the moment free trial.
And now I see :
Beta 1.521: - Free play now enabled - All players can rank up to 1st rear admiral. In order to gain higher ranks, players will need to subscribe
Will it resurrect the game? Who knows. I don't. You don't either. I know it will have more people coming thru than have been, and that alone will make the game more alive.
I give credit to Faustus. He could just cut the servers off and say screw it. Instead he's trying some new things.
Why is it always the same two or three "vets" always pissing on the parade?
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Darksworde
Marshal
Pitch Black
Joined: September 06, 2002
Posts: 806
From: The Zoo
| Posted: 2009-10-03 06:13
Firstly, how about also a second subscription method? Maybe pay for the amount of game time you can play?
This would aid the type of occasional player who also has to hold a job down and therefore doesnt have 4 hours every night to spend playing games.
More thoughts. If the drive is toward the Metaverse as opposed to scenario server, something must be done to balance the factions. Not ship balancing, but player balancing.
Maybe you could consider only allowing subbed players to form / remain in fleets with non-subbed players being fleet-less. Then change the MV player allocation so that it allocates players to teams based on the scenario method. This would then ensure that the sides are balanced.
Finally, subbed players would of course gain access to enhancements and all ships, whilst non-subbed players max out at cruiser level, with a further restriction in that they can only select one variety in each class of ship.
At the end of the day, the game is probably not making money for Faustus, so the two questions he has to answer are
How do I increase the total player base
How do I increase the subscription base
These are two separate questions which need to be answered in two different ways. All other questions should remain secondary.
[ This Message was edited by: Darksworde on 2009-10-03 06:17 ]
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Darksworde
Marshal
Pitch Black
Joined: September 06, 2002
Posts: 806
From: The Zoo
| Posted: 2009-10-03 07:09
Hrm, another thought.
What about if players have a different profile for each faction. Subbed players can play any of their profiles whilst non-subbed players can only used the profile with the lowest prestige.
This might solve the issue where players who are loyal to their fleet no longer have the choice of playing as a different faction.
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Supertrooper
Marshal
Pitch Black
Joined: March 18, 2004
Posts: 1895
From: Maryland, U.S.A
| Posted: 2009-10-03 12:43
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On 2009-10-03 05:19, Azreal wrote:
Quote:
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On 2009-10-03 03:36, Captain Crim wrote:
There is already a free trial going on right now and it has brought no one back to play, and basicaly no one is playing right now.
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Have had upwards of 30 people in the servers over the last two weeks. Before the trial we averaged 5. Have averaged more people in game than in lobby. FOR A NICE CHANGE. Have seen ALOT of older players and new tryouts coming thru.
And all that from an unadvertised, seemingly spur of the moment free trial |
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How many of the 30 people in the last two weeks are subscribed? Probably two. And more people in the lobby doesn't mean subscriptions either. And the free trial has been advertised, check your emails. I got six or seven for just one account.
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Will it resurrect the game? Who knows. I don't. You don't either. I know it will have more people coming thru than have been, and that alone will make the game more alive.
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Yeah, I don't know if it'll actually save the game this time. But I do know the past six years of "This will save the game, everyone will come back and play" haven't done anything. I'm making an educated guess on what will happen after being here for every thing in the past.
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Why is it always the same two or three "vets" always pissing on the parade?
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It's usually the two or three that aren't disillusioned by the happy ideas and thoughts. Yeah, I'd be thrilled to see Darkspace alive and well again, but I know we're past our days of that, and the chance of it happening now after all of these years is alittle slim.
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0stego
Fleet Admiral
United Armed Corps
Joined: October 04, 2008
Posts: 153
From: Sol System, Earth, Canada, AB.
| Posted: 2009-10-03 13:02
I like this idea, but then again any idea to get DS more active and 'out there' I'm all for.
Like many others (I'm sure) I stopped sub'ing because of lack of players in the community and frankly lack of anything to do...I would find my self flying around looking for pirates, MI or even players for that matter to battle. And usually when I did find another human to battle with it was an 'older' player or players with dreads or what not and I would quickly find myself outmatched and then dead which made me lose interest further because I had to then find a way to gain my pres back...which led me back to flying around looking for NPC's to attack or decimated planets to re-build or bomb further.
I try from time to time when there's free trials to get back into DS but I find it hard to find anything to do...
Maybe more missions? I really don't know.
More players in the community would defiantly be a bonus tho and would bring word of mouth between players to further expand the DS community.
Yours;
0stego
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Enterprise
Chief Marshal
Joined: May 19, 2002
Posts: 2576
From: Hawthorne, Nevada
| Posted: 2009-10-03 13:03
Firstly - without this new system, very few people play. This is because to play for free is to be useless. And there are plenty of people who feel the game isn't worth paying for in its current state.
If up to 1RA, you get at least some oldies playing again, who enjoy cruisers mostly and like to have fun.
Secondly, in this system, it has a more important side effect.
New players get the opportunity to experience the game up to 1RA without any pressure that this might be taken away. They might get up to this rank and feel that they are comfortable with this and keep playing without subscribing. Or perhaps they can't subscribe, but then they are still enjoying the game and glad they wont have to pay.
Or they really enjoy the game at this point, and they do subscribe.
In either three of these scenarios, the average player count in the MV on a daily basis increases. Even five or ten more people is a good thing.
Why? Because its one of the reasons we don't keep people now. People come in and see a game that is nearly empty. Who wants to play a team based game with no one to play with? So they leave.
With this, the player count increasess. There are people to play with. And that gives some incentive to stay. This has a snowball effect.
In the end you may not get everyone to subscribe, but thats only important to F if he wants to make a ton of cash. But if this works out correctly, some people will and that is better than what we already have. 10 more people in the MV is better. In the end, anything is.
So why complain, if nothing but good can come of it? If nothing but improvement? Exactly. There is no reason, which is why its such a great idea. At this point, DS can do no worse.
-Ent
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Lark of Serenity
Grand Admiral
Raven Warriors
Joined: June 02, 2002
Posts: 2516
| Posted: 2009-10-03 19:36
for all those naysayers:
http://www.instantaction.com/
funded by ads and people buying helmets for their characters.
HELMETS!!!!
people buy damn near anything. we could probably make alternate skins for ships and sell them and make tons of money off it. i think its disgusting and a blow to the standard of intelligence of humanity.
then again it works, so why not?
in any case, *I* would personally start by only making SOME cruisers free to play, not all of them - give people a taste of cruiser class so they feel the need to sub to get more out of the game. whether you want to tier that subscription i dont know, but it would potentially mean that some people who couldnt afford 10 bucks a month will sub because they can afford 5 bucks a month, which is nice too.
in any case, give the instantaction model a looksie and see what you think. it seems to be the way most indie developers are going nowadays, barring steam, and it seems to be working VERY well.
anyways, someone else mentioned battlefield heroes too? what do you pay for there, fancy leggings?
i want my soldier to wear a pink dress damnit =( can i get a pink dress for my AD?
[ This Message was edited by: Lark of Serenity on 2009-10-03 19:46 ]
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Don't play with fire, play with Larky.
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Iwancoppa
Fleet Admiral
Joined: November 15, 2008
Posts: 709
| Posted: 2009-10-03 19:38
I think F- is doing a great job at making this game. i dont think anything should be changed at this point, we should wait till the "snowball" effect kicks in. All i'd now like to see is tiered subbing.
but anyway ......
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Enterprise
Chief Marshal
Joined: May 19, 2002
Posts: 2576
From: Hawthorne, Nevada
| Posted: 2009-10-04 01:22
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On 2009-10-03 19:36, Lark of Serenity wrote:
in any case, *I* would personally start by only making SOME cruisers free to play, not all of them - give people a taste of cruiser class so they feel the need to sub to get more out of the game.
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In actual fact, 1RA allows access to all cruisers but the assault versions (Torpedo Cruiser, Assault Cruiser, Scale). So I suppose in effect you already get that wish.
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i want my soldier to wear a pink dress damnit =( can i get a pink dress for my AD?
[ This Message was edited by: Lark of Serenity on 2009-10-03 19:46 ]
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Somehow I could never imagine this of you.
-Ent
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