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Role Playing (Games) PC Games (Games)

MMOG Subscription Model Changes 36

Posted by Zonk from the can't-imagine-why dept.
Blue's News has details on changes to popular MMOG subscription plans. Star Wars Galaxies has been folded into the Sony Online Station pass, which now allows gamers to pay one fee for all of Sony's Online offerings (EQ, EQII, PS, SWG, and the Station Games). In related news, the folks behind Anarchy Online also announced today that they're extending their subscriptionless service plan out until early 2006. Good news for folks wanting to try some new games.
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MMOG Subscription Model Changes More

MMOG Subscription Model Changes

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  • The Sad Days of Modern News (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Altizar ( 736406 ) on Friday January 14, 2005 @05:04PM (#11366947)
    Oh joy, a link to a link that is a word for word copy of a press release.
    Why cant someone just link to the orginal press release?

    Well the only good thing about this is maybe some fools with think the all access pass is worth their money now.

  • Anyone else notice? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Squatchman ( 844798 ) on Friday January 14, 2005 @05:05PM (#11366971)
    The games that are going into "subscription bundles" or having subscriptionless options are usually under-performing compared to the opposition? Seems like this is more of a last ditch effort than a wave of future tidings.
    • That is not really the solution they are tring to solve with this, considering that EQ2 was just released and is doing really good.
      For the majority of MMORPG players, they only play one game, and will cancel the previous one. At that point only 5%(10% is considered really high) of the quit players will ever come back. With the subscription thing, SOE is gambling that people will be willing to pay the $10 extra just on that off chance they will go back to thier old game(covered by subscription) or they wi

  • No there just following Microsoft example (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Why make people create new account and pay you multiple times for the same service. This way they make it up in selling multiple games. Just look buy 4 games at $50 a piece , plus one subscription is more money.
    • The only SOE game that is still 50 dollars retail is Everquest 2. SWG and it's expansion are 20 dollars each. Planetside is 7 dollars and it's expansions are 20 dollars a pop or less. Everquest 1 can be had with all expansions (minus the newest which is now 20)for 20 dollars.

  • Bundled subscriptions feel like a waste of money (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Mofo196 ( 155076 ) on Friday January 14, 2005 @05:20PM (#11367181)
    Am I the only one who has trouble focusing on more than one MMORPG at a time? With a bundled subscription, you not only are paying for each game (with expansions for it to be worth anything) and then an elevated fee to basically ignore the other games.

    I tried to do Planetside and Everqest at the same time and it just didn't work for me. I felt I was being spread too thin.

    I suppose the only way this could work is if you went in on a subscription with some friends who all play a different game. I would imagine that SONY has some kind of safeguard against this though. It almost certainly violates the EULA.

    I would rather pay $14 a month to play one game than $24 a month to ignore 3 others.
    • I suppose the only way this could work is if you went in on a subscription with some friends who all play a different game. I would imagine that SONY has some kind of safeguard against this though. It almost certainly violates the EULA.

      You are correct. [sony.com]

    • I am probably going to do it on one of my accounts. I play SWG now (I have 3 accounts), but wouldn't mind playing EQ2 also on certain occasions. I liked EQ2 but found myself spending a lot of time looking for groups through the week in the middle of the day when I just wanted to play. EQ2 sucks for soloing so I quit. I always wanted to try planetside (I have done their 2 week trials before) and I think it would be a pretty fun game if I spent some time with it.
    • I've always felt like that the $10 dollars a month should grant you access to the whole kit and kaboodle, for the reasons you have just stated. You shouldn't have to change subscription plans and payment schedules if you're just jumping from EQ to EQ2, and

      I'm personally waiting for the MMPORPG umbrella payment corporation, whereby you give someone 15 dollars a month and get access to most of the MMPORPG's out there, who recieve money based upon usage. That way I don't lose my level 90 elf if I decide to

  • I was hoping for "suspended" months (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I was hoping that some MMORPG vendor will eventually allow you to suspend your account for a couple of months while you can't play the game. I wouldn't mind having to pay say a $1/month to keep my characters active.

    But having to pay full price for months I won't get to play - forget that.

    How to other MMORPGs handle that? I know that if you decide to drop Square's Final Fantasy XI for three months, they permently deactive your account so you'd have to buy another copy of the game to play again (!). Do a
  • I dropped the idea of Matrix Online since so many beta testers complained about the experience.

    I was going to try World of Warcraft since I heard nothing but positive feedback. But this kind of buffet subscription plan is really making me think twice.

    • Re:WoW (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Then check out MMORPG that has positive tester feedback and no subscriptions [roma-victor.com]
    • I don't know what all the hype about WoW is for. I rarely can't log on to EQ2 (only once in over 2 months, when they had a bad update), but oftentimes, the WoW login server is down, or the server's lagged horribly when I go there. This has happened continuously since opening, and happened as recently as last Friday night. As for the game quality, I guess it's subjective, but even without the server problems, WoW was just okay. If you like to solo most the time, or you're hardcore into MMO PvP, it's a pr
    • Check the boards, one is having a survey of players and if they would recommend WoW to friends over 40% would not.
      WoW servers are having a major problem, and while the game is good it can be a major hassle to get online, even on low population servers.
      Check the server you plan to join and its average login queue for the times you want to play before you start.
  • Having multiple EQ and SWG accounts, and not playing much anymore, I was considering cancelling things. Now if I can fold these accounts into a single subscription, that would be great. The problem I have is how easy will Sony make this? If I have an EQ and a SWG account, do you honestly think that as long as they're getting paid two separate monthly fees, they're going to make subscribers aware they can save money by folding this into a Station Pass account? I doubt it. If anyone has details, let us
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • Actually, this is a brilliant idea... because there are many people who haven't moved to EQ2 from EQ. They don't want to go through the trouble of having to build up another character, so if for the same price you have access to both EQ and EQ2, it's more of an impulsive decision to buy the software knowing you don't have to pay any more monthly fees. A pretty clever way for Sony to encourage more people to play EQ2 and their other games.
    • It's simple, easy, and extensively encouraged right now. (Just step onto any of their front pages and you see the Station Access badge, and any time you enter a billing area it will ask you if you want to join directly.)

      I joined the instant EQ2 came out (well... after the free month ran out) because I considered it a value just for EQ2 and Planetside and the ability to keep in touch with my EQ friends (and play EQ whenever I felt like it). Adding SWG is just a dream come true. ^_^

      The only real problem
  • ...and absolutely encouraging that it's SOE that's leading the charge in cheap and extensive MMO-bundling (as they're the ones who would usually be seen as most likely to try to soak as much as possible from people). If SOE does it, everyone else would be absolutely foolish not to follow.

    I am curious just what deal they made with LucasArts to be able to bundle SWG in with their other games, though. I figured they might have been able to make a "Station Access Plus" pass which would add LucasArts' cut of
  • I wish that MMORPG's would offer a subscription based on the number of hours you play in a month. Similar to how Compuserve worked long ago, where you'd buy X number of hours a month with which you could use the service. My MMROPG of choice is City of Heroes, however in a given 2 month period of time, I only play for maybe 10 or 12 hours, and most of that happens in one weekend where I happen to not have any work to do. Yet I'm still paying a decent amount for continual monthly service. If there was som

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