I can't tell you the internal details, but Solomon had said it is possible to cap with F2P. That means the part where your experience absorption is diminishing is capped at some threshold where it levels out and stays there.

The penalty is purposely less at lower levels to get people into the game, and so on.

Among other things, it exists to avoid way too many afk scripting accounts. But also to get people to eventually subscribe if possible.

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Check out who's dying any time! https://twitter.com/GSIVDeathLog

Because F2P is basically a trial version of the game, extended past the original 30 days, with some cutbacks from a subscription account to encourage subscription.

You have no monthly charge or credit card needed. There is likely a cap on the penalty as Solomon said you could cap. If you don't buy anything from the Simustore, ever, you are playing for free. Your experience could be augmented with a subscription and its benefits. Higher still for premium.

Don't consider it a penalty but as the new base experience learning rate with a subscription having a perk bonus. Or buy items from the store to learn faster. I agree the store offering should be longer than a few hours. At that point, you would be paying a la carte and less than a basic subscription. Also you would have more flexibility as to not being locked into $14,95/mth if your availability doesn't allow you to play every month or consistently.

>Personally I don't want to commit to a regular monthly billing. I've been fairly active in the simucoin store and spent lots of time playing. Why isn't the Prime option in the simucion store and I could just buy it each month I want to be active.

This is definitely an interesting suggestion!

Are you basically asking for a 30-day potion for $14.99 (or whatever) that a character can drink and unlock all of Prime features for a month?

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Check out who's dying any time! https://twitter.com/GSIVDeathLog

<<Are you basically asking for a 30-day potion for $14.99 (or whatever) that a character can drink and unlock all of Prime features for a month?>>

This is something I would actually be interested in.

I haven't spent any money on my F2P account and have no plans to, but I would consider buying a 30 day basic subscription potion.

I have no interest in subscribing, because once you subscribe you have to keep paying in, or you lose access.

>because once you subscribe you have to keep paying in, or you lose access.

<<you could always start a different f2p character to play on light months.>>


No thanks. Why would anyone invest time into a character just to have to start over? Perhaps you should stop playing your character and start over, so you understand what it is that you're suggesting.

I can definitely see the desire to have Basic Account potion good for 30 days. It's kind of how I play SWTOR. Sometimes I just want to hop in for a small bit of playing and am good, but sometimes I want to spend the money for a month of playing fully. Would I want to start over or use a different character in my off months than my full months? Nope. And that resonates stronger here in GemStone where we have the RP aspects as well.

An announcer shouts, "Introducing our new combatant, Duskruin Arena Hero Durakar al'Yari Faendryl the Captain of the Mist Harbor Militia, hailing from Isle of the Four Winds!"

>Most of your posts, from what I have noticed are negative or suggesting worse benefits for other people. Please stop.

if you have a private issue with Simu, please email feedback. This is a public-ish forum and I will scrutinize as I please. Maybe you're not looking at the big picture for subscription money loss when it comes to an option such as this.

>If it doesn't make much of a difference, why do you care?

I'm making suggestions on how to manage your accounts.

<<if you have a private issue with Simu, please email feedback. This is a public-ish forum and I will scrutinize as I please. Maybe you're not looking at the big picture for subscription money loss when it comes to an option such as this.>>

I don't have a private issue with Simu, I have an issue with your negative attitude towards improvements that other people suggest or request.

I also disagree that there would be a subscription money loss with the addition of this potion. They would be gaining money, the same amount of money as a subscription with the addition of this potion. For someone like myself, they receive ZERO money. With the addition of this potion, they would most likely receive money from myself and others, when they currently do not. That would be a net gain for them.

<<I'm making suggestions on how to manage your accounts. >>

>I have an issue with your negative attitude towards improvements that other people suggest or request.

except for all the subscribers who say, hey, I'm not going to play much this month, so put me F2P. But then it comes back that people who have subscribed for years and years cannot have such a flexible account, so now F2P has an advantage over normal subscribers.

>> <<I could see something like this but it would probably need to go for more than $14.95 for a month and I would expect the account to still be marked F2P with regard to event raffles, services, etc.>>

>> If they pay the same cost as a subscribing account, why would they not receive the same benefits?


By paying the same price but being able to turn it on/off at will you have an additional benefit that a regular subscriber does not (the ability to revert to F2P at will). Paying the same cost as a subscribing account would mean that you are paying the monthly fee for every month that you are playing.

Raffles and services intended for basic subscribers should be reserved for basic subscribers. Paying $14.95 for one month during an event is not the same as being a continuing basic subscriber. If you are interested in those benefits then subscribe.

-- Robert

"Wyrom isn't interacting with me, I think he is AFK scripting."

<<By paying the same price but being able to turn it on/off at will you have an additional benefit that a regular subscriber does not (the ability to revert to F2P at will). Paying the same cost as a subscribing account would mean that you are paying the monthly fee for every month that you are playing.>>

I would also argue that it should be possible for a basic account to downgrade to a F2P account. In my opinion, that is a flaw in the overall account design. It would be beneficial to retain a player and their account by allowing them to downgrade, versus losing the player altogether.

> people who have subscribed for years and years cannot have such a flexible account, so now F2P has an advantage over normal subscribers.

Implementing something like that potion would probably involve re-working how subscriber accounts are handled. Offering something like an auto-renew option (current plan), the potion option, and perhaps a slight discount on 6-12 month plans (these could even have auto renew on them).

> also, how does that work with joining a house, guild, society, etc.? Suddenly you have a locker, and then you don't, not to mention banking issues.

The same way it works now when a F2P buys a token to join a guild, society, etc... loses the ability to use those features. Ditto that with lockers, they are there but not usable. As for banks, borrow from SWTOR and use an Escrow account that can't be touched without SimuCoin use or subscribing.

> Raffles and services intended for basic subscribers should be reserved for basic subscribers. Paying $14.95 for one month during an event is not the same as being a continuing basic subscriber.

Actually, by my above mentioned bit it would allow Basics to revert to F2P if they so wanted. And nothing is stopping anyone from opening up Basic accounts now when a festival comes up just to go and have an increased chance at winning a raffle. This would be no different than the current situation.


An announcer shouts, "Introducing our new combatant, Duskruin Arena Hero Durakar al'Yari Faendryl the Captain of the Mist Harbor Militia, hailing from Isle of the Four Winds!"

>Yeah. If they gave full access (no restrictions at all) to F2Pers, there would likely be a large influx of them grabbing a potion for months with festivals and saturate the market for services that paying accounts deserve a better chance at.

>If players want an account with no restrictions, they can pay for it. If they want F2P, they live with what that entails.

But if they are paying the $14.95 for a Basic Subscription potion then they are paying for an account with no restrictions, albeit just for 30 days. It's equivalent to opening a new account or reopening an account only for festivals.


An announcer shouts, "Introducing our new combatant, Duskruin Arena Hero Durakar al'Yari Faendryl the Captain of the Mist Harbor Militia, hailing from Isle of the Four Winds!"

So anyone got any info on the XP penalty at higher levels.

The reason that 30-day potions wouldn't work at 14.99 is the perception that veteran subscribers would be so irked by not having the option for their own characters that they would split--thus causing a much larger attrition issue. 14.99 from one person wouldn't be worth potential 3 digit monthly loss from even losing one subscriber.