Newsletter #8 - Premium change - 2010-03-30

[DeletedUser]

Originally Posted by holyerthanthow
I still havent seen an answer to a post i made early on....just exactly how (if at all) will the price change/point conversion affect those who credit their world account far in advance after buying premium?

My personal case in point is I just bought premium two days ago (50 points worth) and credited my account directly for 5 months of both premium and no-ads.

I'm not entirely sure, so you might want to wait for someone with more knowledge to answer, but I don't see a reason why your current premium wouldn't just run normally until it expires.
So everything will be as normal for you until in 5 months, when you'll purchase premium in the new system.

I hope that answers the question.

If this is true, we could all buy premium at the present rate right before the 7th.

I'll go with people that agrreed that there could be a raise in price without a big outcry. But the fact that they tried to rub it in slowly "in fact you'll even get more days" (I won't look for the exact quote but it's there somewhere, perhaps even in our mail), LIED to us, and basically changed the system to try and HIDE it from us, this is disgusting. somewhere the public relation bureau failed.


NOW, go back to the old system, raise the price a little (55% is NOT a little), and everyone will fall in line.


edit: oh, and have you noticed how suddenly, between pages 10-12, 1/3 of the posts are from mods? they've been called to the rescue, perhaps? unfortunatly, they just throwing oil on the fire.

 

[DeletedUser]

I stated a moment ago I made a misstep in my calculation. 40% is the increase from my level which is still steep.

No one is saying you shouldn't charge for premium, they are saying that this level of increase is a bit steep and rather silly in this economy.

an increase of 30-40% is silly in this economic climate? No, it is completely reasonable. Innogames is being hit by the recession just as every single other business out there is being hit by it. To remain competetive, they must raise prices. Obviously, in the recession this is not preferable to you, but Innogames are going through hard times just like most of us.

 

[DeletedUser]

Of course West and Grepolis have different premium models and payment schemes....that wasnt the point of my observation.

My point is this: If you moderate on a Grepolis world or forum, you get free premium to use for gaming there. If you moderate a West world or forum, you get free premium. And, if you moderate a Tribal Wars world or forum, you get free premium.....whether you actually choose to not play or not take advantage of the gifted premium is another matter entirely.

But the flip side to this is just as simple....If you are a moderator on TW.net, your premium can be used on any and all worlds you choose to play on (limited by the exclusion of you being unable to play on the worlds you moderate). But you cant take your free premium (nor can anybody take their bought premium) from .net over to .co.uk or to .rus. or .dr, etc.....just as (different pricing /usage schemes aside) you also cannot take the free premium over to one of the other games. For those separate servers, yes you need to pay...but if you also moderated there (be it another TW server or another IG game) as well as on TW.net, InnoGames would provide free premium as well.

Your original point was that this meant i was not affected by the premium changes. I understand what you said above, and you are 100% right - but respectfully, it is irrelevant. i am affected by these changes just as much as you are.

 

[CodaAlFine]

same here. The prices staid the same until now... so why are they suddenly rising? Going bankrupt all of a sudden? Think not.

well as I said higher up, the number of players has been steadily DECREASING over the last 18 months, even though the amount of worlds has more than doubled in that time

 

[Typhi]

If this is true, we could all buy premium at the present rate right before the 7th.

I'll go with people that agrreed that there could be a raise in price without a big outcry. But the fact that they tried to rub it in slowly "in fact you'll even get more days" (I won't look for the exact quote but it's there somewhere, perhaps even in our mail), LIED to us, and basically changed the system to try and HIDE it from us, this is disgusting. somewhere the public relation bureau failed.


NOW, go back to the old system, raise the price a little (55% is NOT a little), and everyone will fall in line.

Perhaps it's a bit unclear, but you will get more days, during the initial conversion that is. You object to this because you'd rather receive less as opposed to more premium than that you paid for? I'm afraid that even the best public relations bureau could not predict such a reaction.

Lied? I certainly hope not. Could you point out where, please?

Though I can understand that it looks a bit fishy from many people's perspective, changing the system is not an attempt to hide things from the players. ...and if it was, it'd be a rather poor attempt considering the fact that the increased prices are posted in Tribalwars-wide announcements across all versions.

 

[CodaAlFine]

I hear this term "stay competitive" a lot...what does it ACTUALLY MEAN, I wonder...

competitive with what?

it seems to imply a need to keep making as many profits as the business next door...but the term tries to make it sound as though it's about trying to keep the prices lower for consumers (chortle)...(ie COMPETING for customers by giving better service...choke)

 

[DeletedUser]

I hear this term "stay competitive" a lot...what does it ACTUALLY MEAN, I wonder...

Stay competitive as a business, as a game and a user experience. Doing this requires money for advertising, marketing, maintenance etc. all the 'standard stuff' if you will.

 

[emicarn]

Not if you consider the fact that Innogames hasn't raised their premium prices for years.

I haven't in my business in over 6 years for the service I provide. This year we may but I can say with confidence it won't be 40%. Customer's don't usually care about how long since you've raised prices, only that you are and by how much.

 

[DeletedUser]

Are they changing the points system simply to put the prices up on the sly? I currently buy premium every month but with a 40% increase that seems a bit steep. The original post is disappointing also, its worded to make it look like we dont lose out when clearly the prices are being hiked up.

I used to pay £2.90 per month which was about acceptable for a game. Paying nearly £5 per month sorry thats getting too expensive. Not everyone has large sums of dispossable income, especially in the current economic climate. Dont tell me I can buy the bigger packages etc because I play month to month. Im not buying months of premium to find my RL changes and I can no longer play.

 

[CodaAlFine]

Stay competitive as a business, as a game and a user experience. Doing this requires money for advertising, marketing, maintenance etc. all the 'standard stuff' if you will.

ie - as I added in my edit - to make as much profit as the next business...

 

[kalkoenvet]

I am playing W7. Most of these improvements don't apply to older worlds.
Would you consider a discount fair for people redeeming pp in these worlds?

I only play on an old world where many of these features are not used. Can I get a discount?

You are right, not all improvements apply to older worlds, but a lot of them do, and so will a lot of future improvements. If you just look back at the last few years improvement-wise you will find most improvements (besides new building/ units) were enabled in all worlds while the premium price has never gone up till now.

The argument that most of the new features don't apply to older worlds is not correct.

 

[DeletedUser]

ie - as I added in my edit - to make as much profit as the next business...

It is a business, no-one is denying that. However, to make money as a business Innogames needs to the satisfy the customers. So by staying competitive, i mean they are developing their user experience so that the existing members continue to enjoy it, and that new members join and also enjoy it. Hopefully, this benefits Innogames and the client equally.

 

[DeletedUser]

The increase in price is fine by me. I still think it's a cheap (relatively) form of entertainment. I hope most of you agree - if you're playing a lot as most of you are -the cost per hour for the service is extremely low (someone else can do the math!)

The price increase I understand. The change of structure in the point system is extremely fishy

Either a marketing move -- seems you are getting more bang for your buck at first uneducated glance - OR -

Innogames wants this change made now to pave the way for "pay as you go" type features. As it stands now, 1 Premium Point is fairly valuable and not useful to use as a type of currency/resource in game. But multiply the 1 PP by 46 and it's suddenly a more useful commodity. Spend 1 PP and get a faster Barracks for the day, spend 10 PP and get a half priced noble, etc, etc. Such changes would be extremely unpopular UNLESS:

There was a beta world where such features could be tested for popularity/game breaking before going live to .NET and elsewhere. hmmm convenient that there's a new beta world???

I doubt that the community staff or the game developers would be aware of the plan yet. Inno might be laying the groundwork for such a new type of pay for extras feature to be implemented later if they so decide. My opinion of course.

 

[DeletedUser26129]

I have always been able to use TW on my mobile, so that kinda makes it useless for me.

About the price change:

Innogames has been here with TW for alot of years, normal stores and companies raise their price by 3 / 5 % anyway each year...

They never did it until now, i think its fair...

 

[CodaAlFine]

It is a business, no-one is denying that. However, to make money as a business Innogames needs to the satisfy the customers. So by staying competitive, i mean they are developing their user experience so that the existing members continue to enjoy it, and that new members join and also enjoy it. Hopefully, this benefits Innogames and the client equally.

how does that work, when people stop playing in droves because they can't justify or afford the increased premium costs? Then you just have less paying customers, and that is going to be all the people that are unable to buy larger packages - probably most customers. OK, so they are going to be replaced by a new generation of players in the long run that don't know better (and don't mind having their attack speeds auto regulated lol)*

I hope you are going to make this game really damn hot to attract all those new players, because whatever you've been doing in the last 18 months sure hasn't done it

*and btw I find this kind of cutthroat business mentality appalling - "don't worry about todays' dissatisfied customers as they will be replaced by new suckers tomorrow who don;t care about the changes because they don't lose anything they had before" - really sucks

 

[emicarn]

an increase of 30-40% is silly in this economic climate? No, it is completely reasonable. Innogames is being hit by the recession just as every single other business out there is being hit by it. To remain competetive, they must raise prices. Obviously, in the recession this is not preferable to you, but Innogames are going through hard times just like most of us.

Really?

Using USD examples since I'm in the U.S.

If you'd go to the grocery on april 7 and find that your $125.00 weekly food bill had jumped to $175.00 would you find that reasonable?

How about that $3.00 gallon of gas to get to work was now $4.20?

To Inno, jumping up the cost of a game that costs only a few dollars USD may seem reasonable but to those of us who have to pay it?

Yes.. silly.

 

[DeletedUser]

This game is way cheap. Being most of the internet usage for hardcore user, it costs only a fraction what a good broadband costs. And You need good internet to be able to snipe and launch those 0.5 sec trains. I would love them to rise prices and add real features actually. I was away for a year, and the stuff they have added - almost zero. To compete in gaming industry and stay in position this game needs a lot more - first of all graphic, graphic, optional customer installable crap to visualize battle animations for firstime noobs and other cool stuff. Adding an extra building to village or implementing a noble planner that is anyway available from addicted community programmers - its not a considerable feature..

So- if You rise price - rise it seriously. And add serious features. And time it. Timing is essential in TW.

 

[DeletedUser]

Really?

Using USD examples since I'm in the U.S.

If you'd go to the grocery on april 7 and find that your $125.00 weekly food bill had jumped to $175.00 would you find that reasonable?

How about that $3.00 gallon of gas to get to work was now $4.20?

To Inno, jumping up the cost of a game that costs only a few dollars USD may seem reasonable but to those of us who have to pay it?

Yes.. silly.

Yes, but in the past 3 1/2 years Gas prices have increased more than once. This is the first time that Innogames have increased their prices. Same with Groceries, their prices fluctuate regularly but Innogames' do not. Though personally, if the increase had been 5% i still believe that this opposition would occur.

 

[DeletedUser]

an increase of 30-40% is silly in this economic climate? No, it is completely reasonable. Innogames is being hit by the recession just as every single other business out there is being hit by it. To remain competetive, they must raise prices.

c'mon..leave the economy alone. that is not the solution when you have problem in a recession. more...it will create a problem.

 

[kalkoenvet]

I haven't in my business in over 6 years for the service I provide. This year we may but I can say with confidence it won't be 40%. Customer's don't usually care about how long since you've raised prices, only that you are and by how much.

If you compare Tribalwars with similar games in the genre, then you will find that the new prices are nowhere near unreasonable. Even with a 40% raise, you will find that the price you pay for Tribalwars premium is still below average compared to games in the genre.