USA Subscription Increase
- Thread starter Mordyn
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Morchaoron
Fledgling Freddie
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Mythic said:
what do they mean? they know jackshit about the game at all
Chesnox
Fledgling Freddie
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Hmmm, WoW starts, server pops drop like a stone, and they increase subs. What are they thinking?
My guess is they are working on the assumption that the people who havn't quit already are such hopeless addicts or fanboys that they'll cough up regardless. Pretty silly move tho imho.
My guess is they are working on the assumption that the people who havn't quit already are such hopeless addicts or fanboys that they'll cough up regardless. Pretty silly move tho imho.
Morchaoron
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Bellona said:
it means one less beer per month
the horror!!!
Vasconcelos
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Mythic high staff got their management degrees from the town fair 
Fana
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"However, in the three years since DAoC first launched, Mythic’s costs to operate DAoC have more than doubled as we have expanded the size of the development team in order to add new technologies and grow the world of Camelot. In order for Mythic to continue to make this significant investment after three years of not changing our subscription fees, we must raise the price of our fees in line with those increased costs".
Well this is the reason they are increasing sub costs. GOA have no such expenses (i.e. development) so i hardly see them beeing able to justify another increase themselves just because mythic does. Although im sure they could come up with another argument if they wanted/needed. That beeing said, GOA's pricing is already in line with other mmorpgs pricing so i doubt they could get away with increasing it at this time (i.e. it would mean wow etc would look even more atractive to alot of players).
For Mythic, well, this new pricing brings them in line with the other mmoprgs who are mostly all around 14.95 dollars a month for single month subs.
Well this is the reason they are increasing sub costs. GOA have no such expenses (i.e. development) so i hardly see them beeing able to justify another increase themselves just because mythic does. Although im sure they could come up with another argument if they wanted/needed. That beeing said, GOA's pricing is already in line with other mmorpgs pricing so i doubt they could get away with increasing it at this time (i.e. it would mean wow etc would look even more atractive to alot of players).
For Mythic, well, this new pricing brings them in line with the other mmoprgs who are mostly all around 14.95 dollars a month for single month subs.
Fana
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Just checked VN boards, and of the first pages 25 topics (daoc general discussion) as good as all of them were related to the sub changes, or outrage at mythics incompetence at balancing their game 
Seems every other post has something along the lines of "2 accounts cancelled" etc.
So doesnt seem like it was the best move by Mythic, unless they have already calculated with the players they would lose over the sub increase (which i doubt).
Seems every other post has something along the lines of "2 accounts cancelled" etc.So doesnt seem like it was the best move by Mythic, unless they have already calculated with the players they would lose over the sub increase (which i doubt).
" in the three years since DAoC first launched, Mythic’s costs to operate DAoC have more than doubled as we have expanded the size of the development team in order to add new technologies and grow the world of Camelot."
All I can say is what a proud achievement, doubling the costs and halving the number of customers - then having the nerve to claim they have 'grown' the world of camelot.
What it really should say is "we made a right mess, losing customers and revenue and in order to carry on as a business and pay our salaries we must increase the charges to our remaining loyal supporters".
My bet is it won't be long before the EU get a corresponding increase, once the effects of WoW kick in.
All I can say is what a proud achievement, doubling the costs and halving the number of customers - then having the nerve to claim they have 'grown' the world of camelot.
What it really should say is "we made a right mess, losing customers and revenue and in order to carry on as a business and pay our salaries we must increase the charges to our remaining loyal supporters".
My bet is it won't be long before the EU get a corresponding increase, once the effects of WoW kick in.
The most astute (and recent) post on the price increase issue is that it is about generating some instant cashflow via the 'special one year deal' that Mythic announced at the same time. You could be talking several millions. You will also be able to say to investors that the game is not dead. Speculations on what the money would be used for: Imperator; Korean launch in the face of Lineage2, to buy the servers for the announced server cluster!, avoid shorty term cash crunch, make the books look better.
As many have worked out $2 is not going to amount to much. The poster suggested that Mythic will even have factored in a population loss figure. Even some of the most loyal fanbois posters are stupified by the timing of this announcement however coming only a few weeks after people may have bought Catacombs for $30.
Although its generally accepted that Catacombs has not met its sales target.
The VN boards are very quiet these days but Mythic's announcement has hit a nerve. There have been a lot of posts this week and another tranche of people saying that they have cancelled and uninstalled. I think the number is unexpectedly high. Again another concensus is that Mythic assumed that people who bought Catacombs wouldn't cancel ...... wrongly it seems.
So will there be an increase in Europe? Well the drop in the US playerbase in 2004 is broadly the same as that in Europe (without WoW).
As many have worked out $2 is not going to amount to much. The poster suggested that Mythic will even have factored in a population loss figure. Even some of the most loyal fanbois posters are stupified by the timing of this announcement however coming only a few weeks after people may have bought Catacombs for $30.
Although its generally accepted that Catacombs has not met its sales target.
The VN boards are very quiet these days but Mythic's announcement has hit a nerve. There have been a lot of posts this week and another tranche of people saying that they have cancelled and uninstalled. I think the number is unexpectedly high. Again another concensus is that Mythic assumed that people who bought Catacombs wouldn't cancel ...... wrongly it seems.
So will there be an increase in Europe? Well the drop in the US playerbase in 2004 is broadly the same as that in Europe (without WoW).
GReaper
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The timing of the price increase is awful!
Take a look at the population graphs. At the moment there are 13 servers which have fewer people online than Prydwen! Many people consider Prydwen to be a fairly quiet and low populated server (compared to Excalibur), even Prydwen has population problems with Midgard and Hibernia (although Hibernia puts in effort for RvR) - just think of all the problems those servers must face. They've only got 5 servers with a decent population (something more populated than Prydwen) and only 2 servers which actually manage to get 2,000 players online.
Perhaps if they'd waited until the server clustering had been implemented and brought back some life into the game, then I'd agree with the price increase. For those players who were playing more than one MMORPG and had just been keeping their DAoC account open for occasional use may just get rid of it.
This years 'free' expansion for US players is a $24 price increase.
Take a look at the population graphs. At the moment there are 13 servers which have fewer people online than Prydwen! Many people consider Prydwen to be a fairly quiet and low populated server (compared to Excalibur), even Prydwen has population problems with Midgard and Hibernia (although Hibernia puts in effort for RvR) - just think of all the problems those servers must face. They've only got 5 servers with a decent population (something more populated than Prydwen) and only 2 servers which actually manage to get 2,000 players online.
Perhaps if they'd waited until the server clustering had been implemented and brought back some life into the game, then I'd agree with the price increase. For those players who were playing more than one MMORPG and had just been keeping their DAoC account open for occasional use may just get rid of it.
This years 'free' expansion for US players is a $24 price increase.
Svartmetall
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Firebirth said:
Yeah, reading VN Whine is funny - apparently they didn't know know they had inflation over there. And for fuck's sake, it's 25 cents a week...you wouldn't notice that if it fell through a hole in your pocket...
...
Vasconcelos
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Marc said:
I do, rly
Increasing the price of a product that has reached the maturity state of a product life cycle is kinda against the laws of marketing managment (not to mention having to compete with some fresh new products that are breaking the market right now)
I know its an increase motivated by the inflation ,yet there is a good moment to low your price or keep it as it is and assume the inflation margin loss as a similar measure. Oh, and will make your customer base happy (or at least avoid the whines).
Here is a good manual you could use: "Marketing Essentials" Phillip Kotler
