Either side has valid points.
I still think SL being free wouldn't be too bad of a thing, especially for Steam. To me, that feels like a really good leveling and gaming experience. You start RK for a bit, do some leveling at Tiigs, play around in the Reck, kill some hecklers, do some quests, do some inf and you're 220. It's seems nicely laid out to me.
Froob content now just seems so... meh. Besides, at the top end, SL only toons don't really seem to have any good options to a current paid standard anyway. Anyone have a plausible endgame SL only setup we can all get a laugh out of handy? :P
I don't really care either way. SL being free or paid content won't have any bearing on my subs at all.
Vinkera - Soli NT - 426k DPM - Setup
Robbey - Soli Crat
Lone anarchists - Tower of Babil
Celez - Soli Doc
Loaloa - Soli Enf
Wondershot - Nano Soldier
Robzor - Soli Engi
Proserpexa - Opi Agent
Trying out civilization - Storm
Oh yeeee, gonna see T3 armor make a comeback!! And regular beast armor, prolly some Kergens/Jathos, and all of the random cata drops. And the bauble armor!! It's like mini-AI armor. There's also good Adventurer/Enforcer and Soldier armor that drops from bosses in SL, Pernicious and Sanguisent armor? I forget the name of the second one, but those would be dope setups, people would actually have to think and mix armor again!
Vinkera - Soli NT - 426k DPM - Setup
Robbey - Soli Crat
Lone anarchists - Tower of Babil
Celez - Soli Doc
Loaloa - Soli Enf
Wondershot - Nano Soldier
Robzor - Soli Engi
Proserpexa - Opi Agent
Trying out civilization - Storm
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cause salt makes m'steaks taste great!
Beornin - The original Shotgun Adv
Obsessive - First 220 Trox Engi
Euthanizer - Reanimated NT
I suppose my aversion to this is that in my opinion the dedicated froob community is so loyal and strong probably because they dont have access to SL. So they are either all dancing at GSP parties, hanging out chatting, or doing scheduled raids together. Im just not convinced SL would keep that tight knit community from dissipating or getting watered down. Would more people be in SL to team, sure. But would that make it easier for them to get teamed by the elite players that dual log or have org mates to do ado brain, alappa, or albratum? I doubt it.
Then the ultimate screw up to my mind is still the lost subscriptions from players that might have 2 paid accounts 50% of the time would drop to 2 paid accounts 25% of the time or zero. It just seems like profit suicide to me.
I have 4 paid accounts only 1 is up 100% time, the other 3 would never get reactivated if SL were free. Im just being honest.
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I get what you're saying, but the reason I'd lean toward SL being free is simply because beyond like level 40, it really feels like 2 different games in one. It's not only paids get all this awesome stuff that froobs don't, but paids get access to so much more which splits up the dwindling crowd. If a reasonable middle ground could be determined which gave froobs physical access to other areas, but not necessarily the ability to use the gear or do the quests, that might be ideal.
Let's pretend there simply wasn't "you must have shadowlands expansion" to go to the shadowlands, and the SL requirement for scuba gear, pen glasses, lava boots and HHAB were removed. The reasons for froobs to play just got a heck of a lot better simply because there's more people to do things with and way more stuff to do, but the reason to pay didn't really diminish at all either. In that case, froobs still couldn't use the gear, get garden keys, or do quests, but instead participate in leveling and such. I'd say that gives them enough of a taste, while still allowing for a little more unity.
TL;DR - Maybe less restrictions on where froobs can go while keeping everything they can't use the same is a good alternative.
Vinkera - Soli NT - 426k DPM - Setup
Robbey - Soli Crat
Lone anarchists - Tower of Babil
Celez - Soli Doc
Loaloa - Soli Enf
Wondershot - Nano Soldier
Robzor - Soli Engi
Proserpexa - Opi Agent
Trying out civilization - Storm
+1
Making SL free is a wonderful idea which would make a lot of new players coming from Steam, subscribe.
I strongly support this idea.
How about to make subscription based on charater slots ? All exp are free or you buy them once for 20$ but subscription plan is:
1 character slot - 3$
3 character slots - 5$
6 character slots - 9$
12 character slots - 11,99$
While discount on 3/6/12 months recurring stays as is...That way veterans with more accounts wont close their twink/buff accounts ?
Last edited by Xamofne; Feb 27th, 2017 at 14:33:33.
Neutralizers
Enfomax01
Cratishe
Maxone
Leetkilluh
Moltenfury
Enfomax
Onemax
pirates. with lasers.
Are you having an argument on the internet, again?
Gene13 - on a space odyssey since 2001
XXX - N
Some day your ship will come in, but you will be at the airport.
Surely I can't be the only one who still hasn't fully recovered from making RK froob All along watching my favourite cyberpunk/sci-fi mmo wither away into a stinking hot ratatouille of goblins and dragons like hundreds of other worlds out there :~((( I continued to pay my accounts for 2 years after SL was launched, but refused to step into it, because dragons killed my immersion. Fifteen years later Science Fiction has never been more relevant today, after the dust has settled on the goblins and dragons of everywhere else. However, I cannot (begrudgingly) deny you all make some valid points.
Shadow Ops
Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see.
They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war.
Tired of little elves with bows? Fed up with spell-flinging goblins? Bored to death by the solitary world of linear games? Despair not. Freedom is on its way, and its name is Anarchy Online.
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I'd love to see an the expansions cut down into episodes and sold as one time purchases like in TSW.
Here a completely inaccurate example :
* Shadowlands 1 : Nascence to Scheol -> 20$
* Shadowlands 2 : Adonis to Inferno -> 20$
* Pandemonium -> 10$
* Alien invasion -> 20$
* The outzone -> 10$
* Lost Eden -> 15$
* Legends of the Xan -> 10$
Last edited by Boltgun; Mar 1st, 2017 at 17:45:20.
Server first !!! Neutral Solitus Male Soldier named Boltgun to wear a short with pink spotson RK1!!!
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Wont see any of this, noone is thinking at the FC about how to attract new players. I dont even know why they launched AO on steam, when there is no attractive offer to new players. There is so many good ideas from community that can bring new players and make AO profitable again. But seems FC is ruining AO on purpose so the they can shut it down...
Neutralizers
Enfomax01
Cratishe
Maxone
Leetkilluh
Moltenfury
Enfomax
Onemax
They're not 'ruining it' they just decided to stop working on it because it isn't profitable enough to justify any further investment. I'm sure that the age of the code and the difficulty associated with maintaining ancient build environments and tools so out of sync with what they're using on their new games that people have to be specially trained to work on AO, had a lot to do with that decision as well.
As for the reason for the Steam launch, I think that the newly revamped item shop speaks for itself.
The best idea I have seen is the 30 bucks for SL with no sub. Also, 30 bucks for SL and then $5 a month wouldn't be bad. Have each additional expansion/booster pack cost $15 and add a little bit per month. This method makes it seem less risky to new players and gives them more control over what content they want.
I've always preferred rk to sl, and I've been waiting for a way to ONLY buy AI on my froob accounts for a more in-depth rk-only experience. I would love the option to buy each expansion pack individually.