An idea to boost population?

[crutherford]

Hi all,

I just saw an interesting post on VN. Some guys had some 7 day trials to get rid of, first come fist served. They went like hot cakes.

Then some one else comes on and says, "I have some too", then another, and another etc.

I'm not even sure if we in the EU even got buddy/trial cards, but it might work.

I know of loads of guys would give it a try and I think the game is at last at a stage that I would recommend it.

So if any of you guys have them...spread the word.

 

[Nate]

Gold farmers would love this kind of thing but I hope it doesn't happen.

 

[caswallawn]

yep the golld farmers use the free trials to spam as they can just keep making accounts to spam and when that account gets banned they just make a new account. were now if a gold farmer wants to spam they have to get hold of a copy of the game meaning they either have to steal acccounts or pay for the game meaning they soon get sick of paying to advertise thier site and it keeps the numbers down.

 

[Aiteal]

I've never understood MJ's obsession with gold farmers
Aside from the rarer talismans
Gold is pretty redundant in WaR

But I guess it gives him the basis for lots of PR posts

 

[crutherford]

Ah well,

I see your point, just thought it might be a good idea. I guess I'll just have to persuade the guys to stump up the cash.

 

[crutherford]

Seems like someone at mythic has been reading my mind....well the guys mind that gave me the idea anyway

this is a copy of what went up on the US Herald. I'm not sure if we'll get it but I for one sure hope so...

Recruit-A-Friend To Join the Armies of WAR

The Realm War continues to rage and the armies of Order and Destruction are always on the lookout for new recruits. Do you know a brave warrior that could bolster the ranks? You could earn 30 days of free game time when you recruit family and friends to join the battle in Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning!

Here’s how it works:

•When you become a paying subscriber to Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, you’ll receive 3 recruitment notices to share with friends or family. For each month you continue to subscribe, you’ll receive another recruitment notice (for a maximum of 6 at any time).

•Send a recruitment email to a friend or family member from the Account Center. This will allow your recruit to create a trial account for seven days of free play. Unused referrals expire after 30 days and will revert back to your pool of available referrals.

•When your recruit becomes a paying subscriber to WAR, you will receive a credit for 30 days of free game time. Stay tuned for more exciting recruitment rewards in the future!

 

[Frozenheart]

So we have to do the word of mouth advertising for them?

 

[Ctuchik]

yep the golld farmers use the free trials to spam as they can just keep making accounts to spam and when that account gets banned they just make a new account.

theres a fairly easy way to get rid of that tho. give trial accounts their own chat channel, block them from PM's, unless he's on the friends list of the one he's PM'ing, ability to invite to group, unless the target is another trial player (a trial player can however be invited to a group by a subbed player). and use of the AH, i know thats not the name WAR use but i cant remember what it is, and mail ofc.

give them /say rights and a separate trial member global chat or something. and i'm not even sure subbed players should be allowed to enter that chat either as that will for sure encourage spammers to use it that much more.

more and more games use that strategy nowadays and i have yet to see a "real" trial player complain because they usually like the fact that if they DO end up subbing, THEY wont get spammed either.

unsure if WAR have a new player help chat, but i still say block trials out of that one to until they sub, otherwise its not gonna work.

ok this will probably not totally get rid of spammers but i'd guess alot of them will stop bother.

TR had something like that, and it worked great, think trials couldn't even trade with subbed ppl there... that would be something worth having aswell.

oh and ofc add a <Trial Account> tag to the characters. /edit: well, that tag may be unneccesary(sp?).

 

[ST^]

At this point, a free trial is the only way I'd even try Warhammer.

 

[Kami]

I've never understood MJ's obsession with gold farmers
Aside from the rarer talismans
Gold is pretty redundant in WaR

But I guess it gives him the basis for lots of PR posts

Gold farmers/spammers are a huge problem on the US servers, I get at least 1 mail from them a day in-game although they're usually banned by the time I actually get a chance to report them. I have noticed that I haven't been PM'd by a gold seller for ages, but I'm guessing they have several external apps which can macro spamming for them - lets hope punkbuster comes in sooner rather than later.

 

[crutherford]

At this point, a free trial is the only way I'd even try Warhammer.

My point exactly!!

This game is great...I have a ton of fun playing it. I went back to LOTRO for a couple of weeks at the pre 1.05 point but missed the thrill of pvp so I came back to find the game much better than when I left.

But the post above...based on the trial by the big one that shall not be named if I'm not mistaken(hmmm...I wonder if gold farming accounts are in their sub figures), is a great way to go imho

I have a few mates from LOTRO that want to at least try...at the moment I'm confident that at least 50% will sub.

And at the end of the day, if we like the game, and we'd rather play with people we've known for ages....this is a good thing.

I just hope GOA allow it. They do seem to be following Mythics lead atm

 

[Aiteal]

Gold farmers/spammers are a huge problem on the US servers, I get at least 1 mail from them a day in-game although they're usually banned by the time I actually get a chance to report them.

well
I guess its all relative, the mails don't bother me, I get less gold spam mails in game than I get penis enlargement emails at work

Someone out there has me marked down as a tiny cocked pauper, which is totally unfair, as I have I'm in double figures....

In my bank account at least


I guess what I'm getting at is that Mr Jacob's is a bit too fond of the limelight, he likes easy wins and feel good press releases, if he spent as much time and effort in the first few months talking about client/server stability etc as he did about his personal crusade against gold-sellers he might have retained more customers.

Any night I logged off in frustration, it was because I was sick of 40sec intervals between server messages reaching my client, and not because I had an ingame mail in a mixture of chinese/english and leetspeak trying to sell me gold that I don't need.

 

[Loneliness]

well
I guess its all relative, the mails don't bother me, I get less gold spam mails in game than I get penis enlargement emails at work

Someone out there has me marked down as a tiny cocked pauper, which is totally unfair, as I have I'm in double figures....

In my bank account at least

Haha

 

[Grotnob]

Looking at that US herald thingy above, it looks like Mythic are tying trial accounts to subbed accounts, and with the offer of 30 days free subs they must also have a way of knowing which subbed account spawned which trial account.

This is a good thing, because it means that if a trial account is used to spam, the "mother" account can be banned as well, leaving the gold farmers in the same situation they're in at the moment - having to pay for a new license in order to continue spamming.

On the other hand, if I offer my mate a trial off my account, and he's been to Curse Gaming and accidentally picked up a keylogger in one of those oh-so-wonderful addons, he'll get hacked, and I'll get banned.

I'd like to know what Mythic/GOA's got in place to ensure that an appeal in such cases won't fall on deaf ears, because it's going to happen.

 

[crutherford]

Nic/Magnus,

are we going to be getting these trials?

 

[MagnusGOA]

Nic/Magnus,

are we going to be getting these trials?

I don't have a confirmation on this yet but I'd expect to see a similar program in Europe sooner or later.
[Edit] Actually I just received confirmation on this; we will launch this program but the exact date is not set yet.

Can't wait to get some free mo.. oh wait.. every month is a free month for me..!



-Magnus

 

[crutherford]

I don't have a confirmation on this yet but I'd expect to see a similar program in Europe sooner or later.
[Edit] Actually I just received confirmation on this; we will launch this program but the exact date is not set yet.

Can't wait to get some free mo.. oh wait.. every month is a free month for me..!



-Magnus

Git

 

[mooSe_]

I don't have a confirmation on this yet but I'd expect to see a similar program in Europe sooner or later.
[Edit] Actually I just received confirmation on this; we will launch this program but the exact date is not set yet.

Can't wait to get some free mo.. oh wait.. every month is a free month for me..!



-Magnus

smug bastard :kissit:

But seriously, I think this is a good idea, there are several people I could give this trial to, it would be a lot easier than trying to explain the whole game to them.

 

[Frozenheart]

I would want more than a free month for doing their advertising for them

 

[Klonk]

So we have to do the word of mouth advertising for them?

Which is the definition of "word of mouth advertising" as far as I know The fans/users/players spreading the word?

Sounds good to me.

 

[Gibbo]

I see Blizzard are now using Ozzy to promote Warcraft on TV. This is a 4+ year old game, remember when DAoC was 4+ years old?

So if they want to get people playing the game, maybe advertise it.

Oh, and improve the game.....by a lot.

 

[Flimgoblin]

I see Blizzard are now using Ozzy to promote Warcraft on TV. This is a 4+ year old game, remember when DAoC was 4+ years old?

So if they want to get people playing the game, maybe advertise it.

Oh, and improve the game.....by a lot.

Superb advertising campaign - thing is WoW has so many people playing it it's almost mainstream hard to say how many new/lasting players they'll get from their TV ads and whether it'll be worth the marketing spend - I guess it must have been working if they've put out a new one...


Second point - fs why don't they just keep pressing the "make it better" button it's so simple.

 

[Kuldiin]

Get rid of the 4000 servers we have and force people onto just a few of each style?

I dont play because I got so tired of wanting to play a PVE or RP server, but couldnt as they always felt like ghost towns.