City of heroes Marketing.

[Joshex]

Alright I know we have a few marketing experts here. Well, I think the time has come to put together a marketing pitch to send google if they should buy the game.


A few things I came up with;

we all know CoH was just getting started with it's new F2P market. the first things that stood out to me were the monthly subscriber point bonuses. 2000 points just for being a veteran subscriber... and if you're a 3 year vet, you get free subscriptions. so you get free points.... to me that was a terrible marketing ploy, it made me feel guilty for being given free gifts when the game needs money to survive.

I suggest maybe give veterans a free subscription and maybe 100 or 200 points per month, enough to buy some one nice thing. rather than giving them enough points to slot or enhancement boost thier entire main character and then some.

Enhancement boosters; my tank was awesome on it's own when I slotted it with the build I made in mids, it was utterly perfect for me. yeah in incarnate trials like the magisterium I still had a rough time without decent support. but thats what leaguework is for!

so yeah.. enhancement boosters kinda god mode a character.. it's excessive, it's unnecesary. and as such I think they should not only be a bit cheaper (not by much) but definitely Temporary. like maybe they'll last 3 months or something. or maybe 1 year. or maybe give people the option to add extra enhancement boosters to an enhancement to boost it's usage time.

just 2 thoughts about the paragon market.

feel free to leave your ideas and 2 cents here.

[Kyriani]

Uh what are you going on about? I'm fairly sure half of what you think we got as veterans is inaccurate in some way as well as:

There is no marketing to be done...

no subscriptions to be had...

no points to be given...

Even if the super coders manage to get the client working there is no marketing to do, no money to be made, no freebies to give in return for loyalty. The very idea of it is what's going to bring NCSofts lawyers down on the heads of anyone and everyone trying to get the client working again.

What you're proposing is a big neon "go to jail" sign pointing to the people we want to protect. It's ludicrous to even think about it!

Or are you trying to start a topic about "what ifs" and "should have dones"? cause the tone of your post doesn't feel like it indicates that. Your post makes it sound like you want to brainstorm monetizing the client once someone gets it running and thats just something we cannot do.

[Captain Electric]

2000 points just for being a veteran subscriber... and if you're a 3 year vet, you get free subscriptions. so you get free points....

wut

[JaguarX]

Uh what are you going on about? I'm fairly sure half of what you think we got as veterans is inaccurate in some way as well as:

There is no marketing to be done...

no subscriptions to be had...

no points to be given...

Even if the super coders manage to get the client working there is no marketing to do, no money to be made, no freebies to give in return for loyalty. The very idea of it is what's going to bring NCSofts lawyers down on the heads of anyone and everyone trying to get the client working again.

What you're proposing is a big neon "go to jail" sign pointing to the people we want to protect. It's ludicrous to even think about it!

Or are you trying to start a topic about "what ifs" and "should have dones"? cause the tone of your post doesn't feel like it indicates that. Your post makes it sound like you want to brainstorm monetizing the client once someone gets it running and thats just something we cannot do.

I think he is talking about if google buys and an idea to market the game if they buy the rights to it and not so much for those that is working on something in gray areas "but are not working on anything"



But I dont recall any free subscription for vets and if there was a supposed to be, then I never got any or found a way to use it. 2000 points didnt go far at all from the looks of it. Dont think I ever used any personally and 100-200 points per month would be a mere slap in the face, like someone giving a nickel for a tip these days. In the days when things were cheap and even 10-20 million inf. was big money, 100-200 points would be good stuff. But in the land where you can spend 1 billion inf on one item and a slew of items in the 250-500 million inf range, 100-200 points is measely and just a relatively too slow.


To make money, the kill safe way is to just sell items. That way for a person that dont get lucky with the good stuff and or dont find trying to farm for days and come up empty as being a definition of enjoyable can have option of buying it instead of depending on luck to get a powerful character on the level of one person that the RNG spirits seemed to favor more.

In CO they have lockboxes. For all the gripe and complaints about it ironically, it seems that lockboxes are a big seller according to inside soiurces of devs and PWE people. People say one thing and go buy it and spend killer money on it anyways just for a chance or getting lucky but eventually luck become less issue because the items can be sold and or get drifter salvage and buy it. So either way luck or not it's working towards the goal of getting what they want while spending money. Like Bieber everyone swears the yhate his music and guts but he still sell out at concerts and music CDs sale like hot cakes. Someone is fibbing.

I like the idea of selling items. It dont gate out the people who may not be so lucky while making money for the game.

[Joshex]

I was indeed referring to if google buys it.

As a veteran of 3 years or more I was entitled to a Free VIP Subscription, with that came either 1200 or 2000 paragon market points per month. if i remeber correctly. it was waaaay too gracious.

[adarict]

I was indeed referring to if google buys it.

As a veteran of 3 years or more I was entitled to a Free VIP Subscription, with that came either 1200 or 2000 paragon market points per month. if i remeber correctly. it was waaaay too gracious.

You are confused, or come from some alternate reality.  You did not get a free VIP subscription for being a 3 year veteran, and I don't believe the monthly stipend was anywhere near that many points, although that part I could be mistaken about.  the only "free" subscription you got, was being a premium member even if you stopped paying, rather than dropping all the way to Free member.  And that wasn't linked to veteran status, it was for anyone who had a paying subscription at some point.  If you were a paying customer, as in, were paying for a subscription as opposed to buying single things piecemeal, THEN you got the monthly stipend of points.  They were part of your VIP  status, which you got simply by paying the monthly fee.

[LadyShin]

First...Why Google? They have their own markets to be concerned about. Why would they want to invest in a game originally sourced out of Korea, that no longer runs?

Nevermind stipends or veteran status. Google's execs deal in reality, not Purple IO sets or paragon market points.

The first thing would be trying to convince a search engine and telecommunications giant that it wants to shift industries to Superhero MMORPG's.... No small task, you'd be lucky to even be given the chance for an interview with a company rep.

[Joshex]

First...Why Google? They have their own markets to be concerned about. Why would they want to invest in a game originally sourced out of Korea, that no longer runs?

Nevermind stipends or veteran status. Google's execs deal in reality, not Purple IO sets or paragon market points.

The first thing would be trying to convince a search engine and telecommunications giant that it wants to shift industries to Superhero MMORPG's.... No small task, you'd be lucky to even be given the chance for an interview with a company rep.

people please relax, Google is the current TFHM target and has already made some promising effort (they asked to see the pitch package which was sent to them already). Disney was the first target but has only made visible efforts to stop our letters from reaching them, and firing the people we sent stuff to (a possible sign they want nothing to do with this).

this topic is in regard to IF google does like the pitch which was already sent to them and buys the game, maybe we should make some suggestions of paragon market changes they can make to make the whole thing more profitable

You are confused, or come from some alternate reality.  You did not get a free VIP subscription for being a 3 year veteran, and I don't believe the monthly stipend was anywhere near that many points, although that part I could be mistaken about.  the only "free" subscription you got, was being a premium member even if you stopped paying, rather than dropping all the way to Free member.  And that wasn't linked to veteran status, it was for anyone who had a paying subscription at some point.  If you were a paying customer, as in, were paying for a subscription as opposed to buying single things piecemeal, THEN you got the monthly stipend of points.  They were part of your VIP  status, which you got simply by paying the monthly fee.

Officially the 3 year veteran reward does not state that you get free VIP time. - that cannot be more true.

However I am just mentioning my own personal experience that seems to be backed up by others, being a 3 year + vet I had stopped playeing for a little under 1 year while I was in china (because I didn't have the means to play for that time period) when I returned it had gone F2P and I was pleasantly surprised that my account was VIP even though I had cancelled my subscription while I was away (I managed to restart it in late september with some finess with the billing department)

In that time however I was surprised that not only was my account a permanent VIP, but I was getting at least 1200 free paragon market points a month for being a VIP.

this is what I am remarking about. to me yes it was a very nice gesture, however I feel bad that I wasn't paying for it.

the point of this comment regarding it is for the sake of profits Google should be inclinated to charge even 3 Year vets for VIP priviledges. OR at least don't give the 3 year vets more than 100 to 200 free points a month, if they want the full 1200 market point bonus; they have to buy a subscription or buy the points separately.

An F2P game Must continuously rake in profits. typically the winning model is to sell niceities in the paragon market not available in the game in any other way. typically the best model is to sell consumables in this manner, hence my notion on making enhancement boosters 'temporary'.

[Blondeshell]

There was no "permanent" VIP status, and the most free Paragon Points you could get per month was 550 if you reached Tier 8 on the Paragon Rewards tree.

http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Account

http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Paragon_Rewards_Program

[Kyriani]

people please relax, Google is the current TFHM target and has already made some promising effort (they asked to see the pitch package which was sent to them already). Disney was the first target but has only made visible efforts to stop our letters from reaching them, and firing the people we sent stuff to (a possible sign they want nothing to do with this).

this topic is in regard to IF google does like the pitch which was already sent to them and buys the game, maybe we should make some suggestions of paragon market changes they can make to make the whole thing more profitable


Officially the 3 year veteran reward does not state that you get free VIP time. - that cannot be more true.

However I am just mentioning my own personal experience that seems to be backed up by others, being a 3 year + vet I had stopped playeing for a little under 1 year while I was in china (because I didn't have the means to play for that time period) when I returned it had gone F2P and I was pleasantly surprised that my account was VIP even though I had cancelled my subscription while I was away (I managed to restart it in late september with some finess with the billing department)

In that time however I was surprised that not only was my account a permanent VIP, but I was getting at least 1200 free paragon market points a month for being a VIP.

this is what I am remarking about. to me yes it was a very nice gesture, however I feel bad that I wasn't paying for it.

the point of this comment regarding it is for the sake of profits Google should be inclinated to charge even 3 Year vets for VIP priviledges. OR at least don't give the 3 year vets more than 100 to 200 free points a month, if they want the full 1200 market point bonus; they have to buy a subscription or buy the points separately.

An F2P game Must continuously rake in profits. typically the winning model is to sell niceities in the paragon market not available in the game in any other way. typically the best model is to sell consumables in this manner, hence my notion on making enhancement boosters 'temporary'.

I think you are confusing VIP status (subscription) with all the unlocks that came with a long veteran status as part of the veteran rewards program. As a long time vet you could indeed play the game without a subscription almost exactly as you could with it. About the only thing you'd be locked out of would be incarnate content, future new zones/content like Night Ward and the Signature Story Arcs if I am not mistaken.

Veteran rewards gave you access to so much, moreso if you had previously purchased things like COV, Going Rogue, etc (which as a long time vet you probably did). A long time vet could play virtually the entire game for free... which was kind of the point. A nod to those who stuck with the game for ages before Freedom. But those rewards did not give you everything a sub did. If you weren't subscribed you didnt get any points each month for being a vet for example.

[Shenku]

There was no "permanent" VIP status, and the most free Paragon Points you could get per month was 550 if you reached Tier 8 on the Paragon Rewards tree.

http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Account

http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Paragon_Rewards_Program

Indeed. Whatever you experienced, Joshex, was likely a glitch in their system. It definitely was not something that was suppose to occur, no matter how many years of veteran status you had. I was a 7ish year vet(unsure on the exact figure after accounting for downtime between various subscription lapses), and I didn't get any free VIP status or Paragon Points, so what ever your claim is was not an intended scenario...

[doc7924]

I think you are confusing VIP status (subscription) with all the unlocks that came with a long veteran status as part of the veteran rewards program. As a long time vet you could indeed play the game without a subscription almost exactly as you could with it. About the only thing you'd be locked out of would be incarnate content, future new zones/content like Night Ward and the Signature Story Arcs if I am not mistaken.

Veteran rewards gave you access to so much, moreso if you had previously purchased things like COV, Going Rogue, etc (which as a long time vet you probably did). A long time vet could play virtually the entire game for free... which was kind of the point. A nod to those who stuck with the game for ages before Freedom. But those rewards did not give you everything a sub did. If you weren't subscribed you didnt get any points each month for being a vet for example.

Exactly. I was an 8 year vet and a few times I had to stop my subscription and go free. I was only able to use 2 chars on a server, and no incarnates or signature arcs or access to VIP powers. If I had a toon that had a VIP powerset - it would not let me log in that toon.

But other that I had access to everything I earned over the years as far as perks, vet rewards, etc.

[Kyriani]

Exactly. I was an 8 year vet and a few times I had to stop my subscription and go free. I was only able to use 2 chars on a server, and no incarnates or signature arcs or access to VIP powers. If I had a toon that had a VIP powerset - it would not let me log in that toon.

But other that I had access to everything I earned over the years as far as perks, vet rewards, etc.

You should have been able to have more than 2 characters unlocked as a veteran freebie player. We got several extra character slots as vet rewards over the years and those translated in to Freedom if you had them. Vet rewards ensured you had access to all archetypes and, so long as you bought the individual games (coh, cov, gr), you had access to the EATS and every power set and costume piece included in those boxes along with any costume packs you purchased from the store. Characters made after freedom that had power sets that were free for subscribers would be locked until you spent points to unlock that power set as a freebie. Any power sets not included in the sub but purchased were still available as a non subber.

[doc7924]

You should have been able to have more than 2 characters unlocked as a veteran freebie player. We got several extra character slots as vet rewards over the years and those translated in to Freedom if you had them. Vet rewards ensured you had access to all archetypes and, so long as you bought the individual games (coh, cov, gr), you had access to the EATS and every power set and costume piece included in those boxes along with any costume packs you purchased from the store. Characters made after freedom that had power sets that were free for subscribers would be locked until you spent points to unlock that power set as a freebie. Any power sets not included in the sub but purchased were still available as a non subber.

Well the issue was I was on Protector for like 6 years - all my vet slots went there. Then after that server kinda got real empty I slowly moved my toons to Virtue and Freedom. But I never used extra slots on those servers so I was stuck wit the 2 default when I downgraded to free.

If I had more vet slots to use to unlock more then 2 I guess I didn't realize it at the time.

[Kyriani]

Well the issue was I was on Protector for like 6 years - all my vet slots went there. Then after that server kinda got real empty I slowly moved my toons to Virtue and Freedom. But I never used extra slots on those servers so I was stuck wit the 2 default when I downgraded to free.

If I had more vet slots to use to unlock more then 2 I guess I didn't realize it at the time.

Ah I getcha! Most of my slots were devoted to the Guardian server :)

[Joshex]

yeah I guess it must have been a glitch, cause I could do incarnate content and enter all the zones. andI was gettign at least 1200 a month lol.

[Joshex]

still what about the whole temporary enhancement boosters?

[Rae]

First...Why Google? They have their own markets to be concerned about. Why would they want to invest in a game originally sourced out of Korea, that no longer runs?

Question 2, here:

http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,8542.0.html :)

[Taceus Jiwede]

Joshex, you may of experienced a bug.  Similar things have happened in Planetside 2.  However I was a beta veteran and I can assure you that you did not get "free" VIP status and you only 550 points past Tier 8 like stated before.  Quite frankly you have to give the people who are actually willing to pay every month a  bonus otherwise there is no reason to do so.  I was a VIP simply because I had always payed for the game and I didn't mind continuing to pay for it.  But I wasn't spoiled by any means, my main character didn't get any better because of it either.  It just made leveling my alts slightly less annoying.