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Gold membership

Gold membership  

507 members have voted

  1. 1. Do you agree with this idea?

    • Yes (won't buy though).
      105
    • No.
      130
    • Yes, and I will buy one.
      246
    • I don't care.
      31
  2. 2. What benefits do you want for it?

    • None (voted no)
      129
    • Higher chance to make rare items.
      229
    • More experience.
      244
    • Different color name.
      170
    • Better chance to get rare stones while harvesting.
      248
    • Less item breaks.
      222


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One thing I don't understand tho, why those who cried "omg pk is dead!!1!" do not move to the PK server?

 

Because they dont want to start new characters from scratch :w00t:

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It appears people are finally bringing up the valid point that gold farming is an integral part of EL life. from harvesting flowers/ores/minerals and selling the goods in order to buy that shiny new steel set you've had your eye on, all the way to dragon killing teams who split profits from scale sales. *edit: the entire economy of EL thrives on selling what you can get/make/kill to someone else who doesnt have either the patience/levels/time/research/attention-span to do so themselves.

 

Stewbaby, you almost had it perfect when you said there's no real problem. From a players perspective this is true. Sadly however, since Radu isnt getting enough of an income from EL to make it a viable living, there most definitely IS a problem.

 

I still believe there should be some method to get the gc:$ working in favour of EL shop, perhaps having the option of this Gold Membership will be the key. Who knows? We can but try it and see. But seriously, dont try to stop the gc:$ sales since that will effectively reduce the chance of some of those $ from the exchanges coming back to the EL shop. Instead that side needs to be encouraged somehow, in my humble opinion.

Edited by Pyewacket

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I voted no. While the idea as it is now is decent, I'd be worried about (in istiach's words) a split in the community. I would be very afraid that the benefits of Gold membership would grow and grow until all serious players are essentially forced to pay (enter: runescape). I know radu said that no other advantages would be added, but the pressure from the gold members (the ones that are paying the bills) could be quite substantial.

 

P.S. A definite *no* to an exclusive map.

Edited by Shujral

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But seriously, dont try to stop the gc:$ sales since that will effectively reduce the chance of some of those $ from the exchanges coming back to the EL shop. Instead that side needs to be encouraged somehow, in my humble opinion.

 

But would that money come back into the EL shop ?

 

You yourself have said you bought two laptops from GC > $ sales, now for arguements sake lets say thats $1000.. if you havent bought $1000 worth of items from the shop then that is the problem facing the game.

 

Even If you spent $500 of the $1000 at the shop that is potentially $500 Radu has lost out on ( I say potentially because I have no proof the GC buyers would buy from the shop if GC sellers were not about )

 

Note: not an attack on you Pye, just pointing out the problem

Edited by conavar

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well aware of the problem, but as I also stated, that side whereby the exchanges are directed back at EL shop sales needs to be encouraged amongst people who have/are also exchanging gc:$.

 

I've already had a crack at trying to think up an idea to do exchanges in order to promote my own personal ability to buy from the EL shop, as mentioned earlier in the thread with fluffy fighting book, sadly it couldnt be done. Otherwise there would have been a bit better income for Radu. I am sure though that there MUST be other methods of a similar nature, I just havent figured one out yet.

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I know radu said that no other advantages would be added, but the pressure from the gold members (the ones that are paying the bills) could be quite substantial.

 

As one of the yes-will-buys, I don't desire anything more than "token" benefits that wouldn't put such a distance between payers and non-payers. Just enough that it's encouraging for people to pay, but without harming gameplay by being too much compared to a non-player.

 

I'd have no interest in trying to push for more once it's set-in-stone what the benefits are.

 

If others started pushing for more once already implemented, I'd oppose them, as a gold member.

 

I have no interest in things which would be severely detrimental to gameplay, which always comes first. I see where "slight" benefits may bring in some profit without hurting the game, which in the end is beneficial to the game. Too much would ruin the game, and I doubt anyone wants that. Anyone trying to push for more once the decision's made would probably get slammed from every direction.

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Okies, lets provide some hard cold facts.

 

I have 400k gc for sale for 8k/1$. So you pay 50$ if you need all. Paypal only plz.

 

Ah as usualy sell allmoust any mineral/ores/flowers/items/weapons/armors and etc for cash too

 

gc sold for 5.5 - 6 : 1 rate still offering harving services (allmoust any kind of items) pm me in game

edit: will add some more gc soon need to sell some minerals

 

i might buy some, pm me, (more than 8k/$ btw)

 

Selling fresh Goldz 375 k atm

rate 8k/1$

 

I have 350k gc for sale for 7k/1$. So you pay 50$ if you need all. Paypal only plz.

PM me or Gossip me in-game, or leave forum PM, or post here your in-game name if interested, thx.

SOLD

 

As Title says:

I have 100k Water ess for 120USD

First player gets it.

 

I have 1,300,000 for Sale

SOLD

 

Selling 3M gc

 

These are but a few lines pulled out for your enjoyment from a source to remain unnamed. I could go on ad nauseum.

 

By applying rocket science, one could arguably conclude that it is possible that a ratio of 8kgc : 1$ would indeed drive rosto price to 32kgc per and EFE price to over 13kgc ,,,,, etc. It is not hard for me to imagine that given the option of buying 25 rostos from the EL shop for $100 and sell them individually at 16kgc ingame (old price) for a total of 400kgc or buying 800kgc for the same $100 which choice to make.

 

It is also obvious to me from the players offering above said gc puchases that indeed at least several alts are afk harvesting as the main galavants about the lands raping and pillaging. Throw in the fact that some of these players also own one or more bots, the situation becomes even more outrageous.

 

So after reading the War and Peace thread followed by this ongoing Moby Dick thread, I support the 'Cookies for Radu and Roja movement' . The only thing I would not like to see is an ingame visual premium vs free to play distinction. I do not think players who choose not to, or can not afford to should be reminded in this manner.

 

Now, back to the originating thread involving alt(s) harving while main runs about making cows nervous, hell no. Do what it takes. Families on same ISP are cool. Ban the criminals.

 

I am done. Jim -x~~

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Could it be possible for an npc to set the exchange rate of gc - $ with a shop item or a service redemable in game with gc's / invasion tokens platnum coin?

 

So that the npc in game could provide a bas line price for the gc to $$ that makes it sense to buy other items/services from shop then to sell the gc's to other people?

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Voted yes, and any benefit you choose is fine for me (the skill I'm training most at the moment is sittng, but I'd like to keep my name white :w00t:)

 

I just doubt that it would actually affect the gold farmers, so instead what about taking their place?

 

1) make GC selling a bannable offence for BOTH the buyer and the seller (is it feasible? no clue if the server logs would make the farmers easy/hard to spot): probably the farmer doesn't care about losing his unleveled alts, but a player who has been training for months (or years) will not want to risk his char, especially if they have a legal alternative to it (point 3)

2) set a gc/$ rate that you consider optimal and offer the items from EL shop for dollars OR gold coins, (for example 5kgc=1$, then 1 rosto will cost 5$ or 25kgc), and maybe adjust some of the prices for items that currently don't look worth buying: this gold coins end in a pot of coins available for sale

3) sell gold coins from EL shop, but only the ones you gathered selling items: in this way there is no "creation" of gc, all the money you sell was previously produced ingame; and even if someone farms gc to get items, the money ends to radu and not to the farmer

4) every 2-3 months, you could adjust the prices/rates from the shop, according to the amounts of items ingame, demand, etc...

 

* the gc price from the shop is basicly a max price for the item (and even if I said "from the shop", makes more sense to have those items sold by an NPC)

* if people mostly buy rosto for coins, then the ingame price for rosto will go down while the pot fills, so who wants to pay $ for gc can get the coins from the EL shop (rosto would be harder to sell)

 

Alternatives to consider:

- the NPC would sell only a limited amount of items (per player and/or per week?) instead of unlimited

- the gc price could be higher than the offered gc/coins ratio? (1 rosto for 5$, 25kgc for 5$, 1 rosto for 30kgc)

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I'm on my way out the door, so I can't finish reading yet, so I apologize if what I'm adding is redundant.

 

1. I think it's a great idea and I am going to purchase it.

 

2. I like it primarily because there is nothing being sold here that can't be attained by non-paying players (the game is still free in its full version). (I do NOT like the idea of p2p maps or anything that would limit non-paying players.)

 

3. The only issue I have is the idea of the different name color. I don't want newbies to think I'm a mod, and I'd rather not advertise that I have real money to pay in paypal. I fear kids standing in VOTD asking me to buy them something in shop, which already happens to me enough with characters for the PK server.

 

All in all, I'd rather see the $$ in radu's pockets, so sign me up.

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3. The only issue I have is the idea of the different name color. I don't want newbies to think I'm a mod, and I'd rather not advertise that I have real money to pay in paypal. I fear kids standing in VOTD asking me to buy them something in shop, which already happens to me enough with characters for the PK server.

 

I don't really think this would be an issue. I would say on the whole, newbies don't even know that mods *can* have green names. Would there be a lot of "[bob @ 1]: why do some players have colored names?"? Yes. Would it bother anyone? No.

 

By applying rocket science, one could arguably conclude that it is possible that a ratio of 8kgc : 1$ would indeed drive rosto price to 32kgc per

 

I think this is where you go wrong, you're presuming that the only vector through which rostos can enter the game is the EL shop.

Edited by Shujral

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Voted Yes, I would buy one

 

First thing imo is to ban all gc famers (who cares it solves the problem or not, we'll see soon enough) and then try to implement some various payment systems for EL Shop, that could slightly increase Shop buying.

I love EL, played it almost since it starts and wouldn't like to see it falling deep in trouble or being empty of players. I'll gladly support the game and if I had to buy from shop (only bought p2p as now) I would do it in "the legal way", because even if goldfarmes could get me more cash, I'd know it's "dirty money" and it kills the game. Though, membership idea seems very restricted imo, because it would, as said before, create inequalities.

When you launched discussion @ chan 6 yesterday I thought first to put alot more of objects in the EL Shop, because besides of weapons & stones/enriched essies, there ain't much choice in here (but of course to get it work you should consider make gc farm forbidden) and maybe you already get that in mind w/o getting it working, dunno just giving a bunch ideas.

 

Regards

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I am posting this on behalf of Eugenia, with my translation from Italian, since she feels more comfortable writing in her mother tongue.

 

I am perplexed...

 

Lately I have been keeping channel 6 open. Unfortunately, I have a hard time with English, and I was unable to voice my opinion.

These prospected changes would harm new players on EL.

Oldbies have had big advantages: finding more stones, dropping richer prizes, and all this is unfair to new players.

This conservative policy is cruel, and creates a strongly uneven field between those who have been playing for a long time, and those that have started in the last year.

 

I try to give myself an explanation and to understand the reasoning behind: it could be that those who put forward certain proposals have high skills and maybe are afraid of loosing their edge on new players...

Sorry to say that, but it all looks very unfair.

 

Do not turn EL into RL.

 

Bye.

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I have been thinking about this today and I found out a few suggestions.

 

First of all. There is a license agreement in this game. At least i remember there was something like this before. This means if you added a clause (maybe there already is one) saying players could not earn usd on this game (gold farmers) you would have a legitimate reason to ban all the gold farmers and their potential customers as well. (this is an important fact, because the demand creates the black market.)

 

For a couple of years you have tried to control the economy, and now it seems that you are loosing profits on behalf of gold farmers. You know what, you are teh god here, therefore, rather than dividing the comunity for the paying ones and nonpaying ones try to controll all the gc/usd flow in the game. I would suggest to Ent to be some kind of "FED/national bank" for the el. This might help to maximize the profits for you/for the game and it would erradicate the need for the absurud/every other one mmorpg/gold membership suggestions like this one.

 

Regards,

Isti

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My own stance now. (Disclaimer: this is just personal opinion, not officially endorsed by anyone, etc.)

 

I have no problem with the concept of supporting the game (and Radu/Roja). I got Internet connectivity at home only because of EL, after resisting it for many years, and certainly I'm paying much more for that than the proposed 5$/months. Also, I am spending on EL countless hours that, if used for any kind of job, would make me hugely more than that.

I tend to donate some buck when I pay for something on the shop, this something being bots renewals (e.g., paying for Rraisa, notwithstanding Radu's generous offer to have it for free as a community bot) and vanity-only items (e.g., roses bouquet) as gifts.

 

However, I don't like the concept of splitting the players into two castes. Personally, I like playing in an even field (I know EL is already uneven, due to the possibility of buying rostos etc. from shop and selling them), and I would find equally embarassing to pay, and have an advantage over others, and not to pay, and being at a disadvantage.

 

I would have no issue at all with paying and getting some purely symbolic advantage: e.g., 10$/month to have an halo ("good guy") over your head, for a month. No material advantage whatsoever: just the "I proudly support EL" bit to encourage people.

Of course, you already have something like that in p2p races (but you get an advantage over others in PK as well).

 

I realize that this kind of donation with acknowledgment and no advantage would probably not motivate as many players as the other options (e.g., +2% xp), but it could be interesting to at least offer it (when you pay your monthly due, you can choose which kind of advantage you get for the month, including the "halo" thing).

 

However, I tend to agree with asgnny that this scheme would not really improve the state of the affairs in the game: rather, people would try to convert gc -> $ -> gold membership, and thus create a push to introduce more gcs in the economy. After all, 5$/month is 40Kgc/month, which is very easily obtained in one or two days of work with a single character. And if the farmers can then sell those 40kgc with any profit margin, things will be worse than before.

 

The two problems are intertwined, but I would also consider:

  • on Radu's budget: try to get more players into the game (I know, advertising is expensive, maybe launch a "word of mouth" campaign?); make the shop more friendly (there are pre-cooked, free e-commerce solutions available, and do you really need to deliver all items personally, instead of having an NPC where players can go to collect stuff they bought? Instant satisfaction and impulse shopping ftw!) and sell a wider variety of items (including vanity items and services); provide more opportunities for donations; run in-game fundraisers from time to time;
  • on the inflation: take whatever step is needed to reduce multi-alts afk harvesters. They break the relationship between effort (time spent) and value (resources collected), thus allowing the injection of unbounded amount of goods into the economy, and devaluating "normal" player effort. Normal players feel that the effort they put into the game is taking them nowhere, and are led to either quit, or become afk-alt-harvesters themselves. In a word, normal players are developing a sense of frustration. What we need is a more favourable ratio between time spent and player satisfaction, and it is a few multi-alts that make time spent valueless for everyone.

 

Edit: typos.

Edited by Usl

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I think a lot of the "omg, this sux" comments come from the fact that everyone wants to play a free game, that has the proper upkeep and loads of new cool things, and never realize that someone has to work to make it happen. It maybe because they are young, and still think life is a bowl of fruit, and they don't know what it takes to put food on the table and support those we love. Or, for whatever reason, have never had to worry about "paying the bills". Until now, and even if this idea is implemented, EL has done a great job earning money in ways that do not require that you spend $ to enjoy the game. As many others have stated, people who spend money on the game have had a lot of advantages, if you have not noticed yet, I doubt this will affect you.

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I think a lot of the "omg, this sux" comments come from the fact that everyone wants to play a free game, that has the proper upkeep and loads of new cool things, and never realize that someone has to work to make it happen. It maybe because they are young, and still think life is a bowl of fruit, and they don't know what it takes to put food on the table and support those we love. Or, for whatever reason, have never had to worry about "paying the bills". Until now, and even if this idea is implemented, EL has done a great job earning money in ways that do not require that you spend $ to enjoy the game. As many others have stated, people who spend money on the game have had a lot of advantages, if you have not noticed yet, I doubt this will affect you.

 

I think everyone understands that el needs money as every other project, but due to all the respect. Different memberships are not the way. If you want to know why, read the discussion.

 

Regards,

Isti

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Perhaps it's you who hasn't read? There's nothing drastic being suggested here, at least not by anyone who should be taken seriously. The "benefits" will most likely prove to be not much more beneficial (or possibly less) than the benefits that have been going on all along of just buying items from the shop. As it should be.

 

This "huge split" between payers and non-payers is all in your head. If it were a huge difference, there'd be a lot less yes votes.

Edited by GoodDay2Die

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Perhaps it's you who hasn't read? There's nothing drastic being suggested here, at least not by anyone who should be taken seriously. The "benefits" will most likely prove to be not much more beneficial (or possibly less) than the benefits that have been going on all along of just buying items from the shop. As it should be.

 

This "huge split" between payers and non-payers is all in your head. If it were a huge difference, there'd be a lot less yes votes.

 

First of all if the "benefits" will most likely prove to be not much more beneficial..., what is the point in doing all this? However you are right. 1 000 000 exp is not that big differecnce comparing to 1020 000 exp, still current status is not creating frustration. And voting doesnt mean what is good, it means what people want. That is a difference imo :)

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First of all if the "benefits" will most likely prove to be not much more beneficial..., what is the point in doing all this? However you are right. 1 000 000 exp is not that big differecnce comparing to 1020 000 exp, still current status is not creating frustration. And voting doesnt mean what is good, it means what people want. That is a difference imo :)

 

My oh my, we have Mr. Know-it-all here. If you don't like it, then fucking leave, it's as easy as that. And guess what, what people want is an important driving factor in this game.

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I VOted Yes and i would buy one .. i dont think that would stop the gold farmers.

If i understood the idea, the Gold member would have some vantages that should include better rate to rare/special things so that would have so many rare/special things that gold farmers would stop buy those stuff on shop.

Problem 1) only 143 players having gold member account @ $6 would be $860 .. and Radu would need some of this players spending like $3140 in rosto/efe/binds/eme ... that can happen .. for start .. but when we have the better rate less ppl should be buying stuff on shop and 3k would be harder to get so the game would have problems with money (pay the things that should be payed)

Problem 2) Greeed ... ppl that have 9M WANTS to have 20M ... (i really cant understand y but ..i cant understand so many things ...)

Problem 3) New players that would start playing with no gold member account would be in HUGE disvantage and probably wont keep playing till get "love" for the game to pay for it.

Problem 4) To have a monthly fee payd that must exist a contract .. so a banishment could be contested cause the guy pays for the service .. dont know much about law in USA and so but who knows what some crazy ppl can do when thinks that his rights r not respected ..

 

About the "split" comunity as gold and non gold char well .. in fact that already exists .. in PK (i dont go much in pk but i used to when i signed for non drop KF) exists a kind of "this one is a bought char that never killed a rabbit in IP" .. or "this one takes an Att level upp by buying a new char with RL US$" that is allways depreciative so this split already exists ...

 

This game is free and its wonderfull to have a free game like this .. i understand that there is a cost to keep the things like they r now. I like to support the game and when i can do it .. that i make from time to time for stuffs for me or for my guildies. I would buy a gold member status .. but as i said i agree with ppl that says that it wont solve the problem .. in all MMORPG exists ppl that just dont care for the game itself .. just want to have the best stuff the best char and zero (or near zero) sacrifice .. that just cant be stopped .. so if the gold membership would help Radu to keep the game that would be great. But not to solve the problem with the gold farmers ...

 

[]'s Anamir

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Problem 3) New players that would start playing with no gold member account would be in HUGE disvantage and probably wont keep playing till get "love" for the game to pay for it.

So, consequently, if a new member buys a gold membership, he will be at a HUGE advantage?

 

Problem 4) To have a monthly fee payd that must exist a contract .. so a banishment could be contested cause the guy pays for the service .. dont know much about law in USA and so but who knows what some crazy ppl can do when thinks that his rights r not respected ..

Sure, the contract is: You pay for it, you have gold membership. If you break the rules, you are out, because you are in breach of contract.

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I can not understand economy rules terms etc so I can't comment in that part (1 and 2. of first post and how this will affect economy-goldfarming etc.)

 

Since you feel you need more income from shop, I think this is a nice idea.

I voted yes and that I would buy it (left out the different color, cause I don't care, not that I find it bad)

 

I also think that the amount of bonuses given (as first thoughts in 1st post 2% exp or 1/9600 instead of 1/10K)

are enough to attract people to actually spend the 5$ and buy membership (each month or frequently)

and not big enough to cause much difference and "force" people to buy it in order to compete

 

another idea for bonus I liked was Sqwurl's (I think) about a slghtly bigger chance to get drops from mobs.

Edited by spyridonas

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This "huge split" between payers and non-payers is all in your head. If it were a huge difference, there'd be a lot less yes votes.

 

I think there is without a doubt a split, it just isn't really relevant.

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im sure there are alot of players who would happily budget $5 a month for the gold membership , but with benefits like more xp, more rares, more of anything EL instantly becomes a two tier game of the haves and the have nots

 

its a big move

I haven't voted yet, I'm still reading. I'm inclined to vote yes I'll detail that later. You know I like ya baby Timmay's daddy, But I have a ? I've seen other MMO's that have paid and non-paying memberships. El is different than other MMO's. I like EL. This probably will help the economy, (ya know we like what's good for the Economy) help lower the cost of rostos (you also know we like rostos) as well as other rares, help with the bricks for Radu, and possibly give it more exposure generating more interest. This in turn would bring in more players (yay!!!!!!) and might bring about better changes development wise. There's another possibility: Radu <or other developers> might be able to provide support for older graphic cards due to more folks helping pay for the game. As it stands, it's mostly a free game and older systems have a hard time getting support. I've seen similar systems in Card games. My wife and I played and paid for premium memberships. We played in Cases ladder, yahoo spades and Hardwood spades. Platinum members could gift gold, same as diamond members. There were tiers, everyone knew there were advantages. I don't want to make this into a long winded post like some other player does from time to time. I'm just trying to point out some positives and my view. I love you bro <shang too>. One thing I forgot to mention. In spades you won "bux". In EL we have gold coins. Premium members could buy memberships for non-premium members. Another way to get premium memberships were contests or saving enough "bux" to buy one. Just my 2 cents.

Edited by popeye

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