Financial status

[Elasia]

If donators post their gripes about changes and mention their donator status, they get scolded for trying to use their status as leverage. If they quietly pull their support in large numbers, they get called lamers. Oh My. :10bux:

If you make changes to the game that result in less donations, add something that will increase donations. Free translocation was one of the appeals of Pocket Plane? Add something to replace that. All the portal runes on one convenient vendor, or 1-way portals to places the normal portals dont go. Jazz it up.

One of the main reasons I liked pocket plane was the fast access to cities and being able to bind whereever.. I asked if pocket could at least keep TLs, it was rejected.. so i voted with my dollar being the only way to respond since if you go counter to a gm they will take your head or belittle you at the least.. even this will probly not make some excited.. portal system is well done and all but losing the city insentive makes pocket by itself not that attrative.. however its also been said that pocket is a "bonus" and not ment to be an insentive per say... maybe it should be.. you get alot more dollars with a carrot than being ass imho and sod needs dollars obvisly.. pocket is also missing alchemy/fletching vendors aswell.. only thing tradeskill wise thats better than newport is augments since its 24/7 which is nice but that alone isnt a very good reason to get it less your just donating platinum because your a nice guy. And most of the world is NOT nice people to each other.

Im not a betting man but I'd be willing to say not many gms will take this positively nor like it either.. you voice your opinion and stand by it you are not well received here and thats a general feeling alot get.. and that by itself is one of the main reasons im not donating atm.. they are set in their ways and that is to be respected but being more flexible to the public and not so hostile might go along way in getting more donations aswell. But to be fair to the gms there are alot of jackasses out there that do stupid shit and just pisses gms off and after awhile it just brings you down aswell until anyone new or unknown gets thrown in the same pool.. but also blanketing your donaters aswell is not going to get more money into the bin and will only drive more off. Theres a reason why donations are so low atm.. imho that might not be the sole reason but is a strong reason why. While my post by be abit harsh its not ment to be slander so if this post gets deleted anyway it only proves my point but then again noone else other than who deleted it will know that

 

[Nuncio]

All this "didn't like this, didn't like that, so pulled my support.."
If you play the game, and don't want it to go down, or even if you just don't wan't the community to dissapear, you should donate until things are g more smoothly.

 

[rab]

It makes me go :? when you vote with your dollar but continue to play. The change was enough to make you not want to support the game but you still want to play it?

Elasia, your post is a mixture of good points and bad ways of saying them. Pre-emptively defending yourself against GM's oppression makes you look paranoid. Regardless, you're quite right about people needing an incentive to donate beyond keeping the community alive.

Also, there's a huge difference between being set in your ways and bending over backwards for the almighty dollar. I think a lot of people respect that we don't sell things for donations, or give donators such an advantage that you have to donate to be competitive.

 

[Wiz]

If you make changes to the game that result in less donations, add something that will increase donations. Free translocation was one of the appeals of Pocket Plane? Add something to replace that. All the portal runes on one convenient vendor, or 1-way portals to places the normal portals dont go. Jazz it up.

All the portal runes are found in the pocket plane.

Here's the deal with pulling donator status due to a change. Go right ahead. I am never ever ever ever ever EVER going to take whether or not people will stop donating as a factor in whether I will implement a change or not. You're free to donate or not donate as you will, but I am not going to have the game be held hostage to donators.

You'll also notice, I'm sure, that no staffer member called anyone a lamer. Actually, I think you didn't notice that.

 

[Wiz]

If donators post their gripes about changes and mention their donator status, they get scolded for trying to use their status as leverage. If they quietly pull their support in large numbers, they get called lamers. Oh My. :10bux:

If you make changes to the game that result in less donations, add something that will increase donations. Free translocation was one of the appeals of Pocket Plane? Add something to replace that. All the portal runes on one convenient vendor, or 1-way portals to places the normal portals dont go. Jazz it up.

One of the main reasons I liked pocket plane was the fast access to cities and being able to bind whereever.. I asked if pocket could at least keep TLs, it was rejected.. so i voted with my dollar being the only way to respond since if you go counter to a gm they will take your head or belittle you at the least.. even this will probly not make some excited.. portal system is well done and all but losing the city insentive makes pocket by itself not that attrative.. however its also been said that pocket is a "bonus" and not ment to be an insentive per say... maybe it should be.. you get alot more dollars with a carrot than being ass imho and sod needs dollars obvisly.. pocket is also missing alchemy/fletching vendors aswell.. only thing tradeskill wise thats better than newport is augments since its 24/7 which is nice but that alone isnt a very good reason to get it less your just donating platinum because your a nice guy. And most of the world is NOT nice people to each other.

Im not a betting man but I'd be willing to say not many gms will take this positively nor like it either.. you voice your opinion and stand by it you are not well received here and thats a general feeling alot get.. and that by itself is one of the main reasons im not donating atm.. they are set in their ways and that is to be respected but being more flexible to the public and not so hostile might go along way in getting more donations aswell. But to be fair to the gms there are alot of jackasses out there that do stupid shit and just pisses gms off and after awhile it just brings you down aswell until anyone new or unknown gets thrown in the same pool.. but also blanketing your donaters aswell is not going to get more money into the bin and will only drive more off. Theres a reason why donations are so low atm.. imho that might not be the sole reason but is a strong reason why. While my post by be abit harsh its not ment to be slander so if this post gets deleted anyway it only proves my point but then again noone else other than who deleted it will know that

What disproves this self-masturbatory block of persecution complex is that donations are coming in quickly now that I've given everyone a heads up of the situation.

Sorry to disappoint, and thanks to all the current donators, new and old. If this keeps up we'll soon be fine again.

 

[Haphesto]

ATTENTION: Character moving is not allowed here.

This rule needs to be changed for donators.

If you donate to this server, you deserve the common convenience of not having one of your characters crash every time both of them zone at the same time.

 

[Elasia]

It makes me go :? when you vote with your dollar but continue to play. The change was enough to make you not want to support the game but you still want to play it?

Elasia, your post is a mixture of good points and bad ways of saying them. Pre-emptively defending yourself against GM's oppression makes you look paranoid. Regardless, you're quite right about people needing an incentive to donate beyond keeping the community alive.

Also, there's a huge difference between being set in your ways and bending over backwards for the almighty dollar. I think a lot of people respect that we don't sell things for donations, or give donators such an advantage that you have to donate to be competitive.

Yes I know its a paradox but if you were in my position and powerless to do anything else but that, what would you do? People dont like getting dicked around and stripped of good stuff and if your on a donation system, that is really bad for donations. And my post is rather blunt about it and I've seen a few posts get knocked off by "overzealous" gms so take it as you will. This type of stuff is typical for IRC networks.. user gets slapped on for xyz for xyz reason.. user still wants to talk to friends/do whatever, user tries to avoid ircops/admins and minds their own business and that user isnt going to take kind to putting money in the hands of the oper less they got some other reason to do it.

I wouldnt make donationg into being competitive either but really put the utility into pocketplane.. that zone probly hasnt changed for eons.

Something that seriously might convert alot of people really fast... true gm events that happen weekly and not once in a blue moon that make people ooo and ahh.. and yes i realize there is probly "short" staff etc but maybe a few positions should be opened up to handle this type of deal... this was one of the main selling points of stormhammer that attracted thousands only to get nothing in the end hardly but still got them to pay an extra 30 a month.

 

[Allielyn]

One of the main reasons I liked pocket plane was the fast access to cities and being able to bind whereever.. I asked if pocket could at least keep TLs, it was rejected.. so i voted with my dollar being the only way to respond

The pocket plane is 100% more attractive to me now than it was before the TL changes. In fact, before the changes, I was considering cancelling and re-upping my donation, so I could move my platinum port neck to one of my alts.

I have worked very hard and have obtained nearly every gate neck in the game. This allows me to quick access to many citites. However, it doesn't allow fast access to every location; particularly the hunting grounds. With the pocket plane, I now have fast and easy access to almost any point in Dalaya: the cities through gate necks, and the hunting grounds through the portal system. Without any bots or port spells of my own, this system has been a godsend. The only bad thing I can say about it is that now I will have to pay an additional $25 if I want my alt to be able to get around as easily (and boy, am I addicted to it!)

Sorry if the "lamer" comment confused anybody, I was failing at coming up with a suitable description for how it made me feel, so I resorted to a mild insult. Rab came up with the perfect description: :? I don't necessarily see any incongruity in deciding SoD is not for you, pulling your donation, and moving on. But when you pull your donation and continue to play religiously, (and it appears that that is the case in a vast majority of donations: I have no facts, but I know the server population hasn't decreased), it deserves a :? (or in my case; a "lamer" insult)

 

[Minerios]

Something that seriously might convert alot of people really fast... true gm events that happen weekly and not once in a blue moon that make people ooo and ahh.. and yes i realize there is probly "short" staff etc but maybe a few positions should be opened up to handle this type of deal... this was one of the main selling points of stormhammer that attracted thousands only to get nothing in the end hardly but still got them to pay an extra 30 a month.

They're already short on people to create "normal" quests, I think they'll want to have this covered before putting more efforts into one-shot events.

 

[Liam]

ATTENTION: Character moving is not allowed here.

This rule needs to be changed for donators.

If you donate to this server, you deserve the common convenience of not having one of your characters crash every time both of them zone at the same time.

Donators already get compensation through the donator items.

 

[excuseme]

Wow, this topic is one I am passionate about - but it would be wiser if I didn't go into details. If I did, much of what I would say wouldn't be interpreted as constructive.

So I'm gonna bite my tongue real hard, and just ask a question that I think might have crossed a few people's minds:

If someone donates (at whichever level) by pre-paying for a year, and then the server ends up getting brought down (either for a month or so, or indefinitely), does that person get any sort of refund?

Thanks

 

[Timir]

In game donation titles... ha yea right im drunk sorry. Where is ramblo's weird remark... do you have a patent on that sweet beer holder? Ill buy one for 10k.

 

[HandsofChaos]

Well I've been meaning to donate but free is just so darn juicy . But I guess if I want my nightly entertainment I got to step up to the plate. I just transferred some money to my pay pal account. You guys should be getting another plat donor within the next 6-8 business days. Hope this helps out. I really hate to see this nice community go under.

Forever Healing.... Uageru.

 

[Zhak Morris]

I've been retired for 3 months and I still have my plat donator subscription going, $25 / month is pennies on the dollar as far as entertainment goes for the amount of time that some of us spend playing SoD every month. For those of you who can't come up with $25 ( i realize shit happens ).. I don't think $5 every 4-6 weeks is unreasonable to ask

 

[Manluas]

It really makes me sad that donations went down and like last time (after which I started donating) it went up after a heads up.
This can't and shouldn't be the intention of the players.
They can play a great (IMO the best) game out there and they can decide if for free or not and people should be intelligent enough to recognize that it is up to them to keep it alive. If they cancel their support because they are upset they cut in their own flesh an look dumb to a lot of other persons.

I for myself will no go and figure if I can upgrade to Plat or not (hell I only get 400€/month and it should still be enough) so if I can do A LOT of others should be able to do as well.

Just my 2cp.

 

[Xardon]

It makes me go :? when you vote with your dollar but continue to play. The change was enough to make you not want to support the game but you still want to play it?

I'm sure some of the Admins are going to jump down my throat for this ... but I see this type of response a lot.

I think the community keeps people wanting to come back. They've established strong friendships, but in the same respect they might not agree with the changes made to the server. I admit when the new TL system came out I was highly frustrated and didn't play as much for a while, until I just got use to it ... and made some more wizard/druid friends. I know a few people who have quit and never looked back since then. But I can also see how someone paying ~$10-$20 a month would get a little frustrated and cancel their payment or reduce it.

Take a cell phone, if you have really crappy service, what do you do? Most people cancel it ... well if you *could* keep the crappy service for free, wouldn't you? Probably ... it's free right? Fairly similar to SoD (Not saying it's crappy but I think you understand the analogy). But I think it's the community that keeps people coming back even if there is a change people disagree with.

Another aspect could be RL issues. It's coming up on summer time, vacations are probably being scheduled, I know a few people who go in to penny pinching mode around this time of year to save up for vacation time.

I've got 2 more months left of car payments, then I'm free of my $587/month drain ... so I'll be pitching in my share soon. I must admit either way I like the fact that everything is optional.

Now ... bring on the flames Rab! Ready and waiting ... Don't disappoint! :hug:

 

[Tempus]

Take a cell phone, if you have really crappy service, what do you do? Most people cancel it ... well if you *could* keep the crappy service for free, wouldn't you? Probably ... it's free right? Fairly similar to SoD (Not saying it's crappy but I think you understand the analogy). But I think it's the community that keeps people coming back even if there is a change people disagree with.

No Donations = No Server
No Server = No Community
No Community = No Fun

It is really very complicated. Luckily, we have enough people that understand how it works and have donated since it was announced that the monthly cash flows were falling short. The fact that people even assume they would get some leverage from the staff based on the fact that they start up or cancel a donation subscription is laughable at best.

 

[Xardon]

It is really very complicated. Luckily, we have enough people that understand how it works and have donated since it was announced that the monthly cash flows were falling short. The fact that people even assume they would get some leverage from the staff based on the fact that they start up or cancel a donation subscription is laughable at best.

I don't think people are "using" it as "leverage" ... I think SOME people might cancel to make a point that they are unhappy with the changes. People today are much more reactionary based on the way society has changed in to what I perceive as an "instant gratification mode." Because of this, people will react more harshly and quickly to, "in their opinion," a negative change to their existing environment.

 

[Grachnist]

I for one have met many new (never played SoD) before people. So if people pulled their support and left the game, they could very well be replaced by these people. Especially given the time when the GMs were pushin hard for people to advertise the game via the game ranking site, etc.



And as for people pulling their donations when something was changed that dissatisfied them. I don't really think you can say it's "low" of them. If they don't like the change after giving it a fair shot, and there is no indication of it being changed back then Im not really seeing a reason for them to be looked down upon. They supported the game when they enjoyed the game, game took a different direction and it doesn't track with their mentality of "fun" so they move on.

I can say I haven't been playing nearly as much as I did prior to the med revamp, even went so far as to make a warrior. Then I got tired of hearing the people keep telling me to "stop pulling so they could med" every other round because the 30 second timer from last cast was making it so they couldn't med at all between pulls. Just not feeling it, but it's Wiz's and the gangs sandbox. So I guess everyone has to agree to disagree, and some went so far as to vote with their dollar.

Honestly I saw two threads on the med change, I posted in the first thread. It got moved/removed/deleted/hidden/whatever to control it's size, and I didn't feel it needed to be reposted in the new thread....but that also means many people may have not seen any of the first thread posts. Since they didn't see a thread with 50 pages on it, everyone just assumed people were ambiguous of the change and said to themself "Self, I think this change is gonna be around awhile...I don't really like it, so it's time to move on." It's just a little difficult to get a feel for the acceptance of it, people argue over certain spells/etc losing effectiveness while I think most people would rather it be closer to the "original" system...maybe even make you med faster the longer you med.

Anyway, pretty off-topic but I think the recent changes seem to match up with the donator decline awful conveniently.

Quoted for being the truth.

I pulled my donator status when the new med system went into place. The new med changes are a complete slap in the face to necromancers imho. I gave the med revamp a fair chance, I played before and after the 30second 'cooldown' was in, but both seem very flawed and make necromancers not nearly as fast or efficient at soloing. One suggestion I would make is greatly lower the ammount of HP lost from the lich line of spells, I mean by alot, so that they are still usable in combat. My necromancer is level 49, he just got lich, it drained his HP fast before the revamp which was ok because I could sit and med while my pet and dots worked away at the mob, throw in a tap now and again to keep my HP up. Now after the changes, even with lich on in combat, the ratio of HP lost to lich compaired to mana gained is really flawed. My new tap costs a good chunk of mana and lich, without being able to med in combat, takes HP away too fast without giving enough mana back to make it worth it. Sure I could use a lower level version of lich and tap but thats like being nurfed... as it is I would take Clarity over Lich. Scale the HP lost to lich and mana gained evenly with the med revamp. Before I was getting lich+meditate at a set rate of losing HP to lich. Now I still lost the same ammount of HP to lich but dont gain even close to the same ammount of mana in combat without meditate. I almost never go 30sec without using a spell, whether its re-snare, pet heal (because fear doesnt work for the most part), or tap to keep myself alive... in the end though this is not the same game I had been enjoying, and with the changes to med it took a different direction and is not fun for me anymore.

Its not like I pulled my donations and continue to play, I have not been playing at all sinse about 2 weeks after these changes. I still log in now and again only to be reminded how much the med revamp sucks. If/when the med revamp gets changed back to the way it was I will be more then happy start playing and donating again. Until then, sorry Wiz and the team you dont have my support.

Edit: I do look forward to Dawntide though.

 

[Elasia]

It is really very complicated. Luckily, we have enough people that understand how it works and have donated since it was announced that the monthly cash flows were falling short. The fact that people even assume they would get some leverage from the staff based on the fact that they start up or cancel a donation subscription is laughable at best.

I don't think people are "using" it as "leverage" ... I think SOME people might cancel to make a point that they are unhappy with the changes. People today are much more reactionary based on the way society has changed in to what I perceive as an "instant gratification mode." Because of this, people will react more harshly and quickly to, "in their opinion," a negative change to their existing environment.

Thank you Xardon for saying what i've been saying but in a less blunt way.. I think this whole "leverage" deal is a bunch of hooey anyway.. people dont cancel going omg you change this now or I quit nor expect it.. they quit to make a point.

The Cel Phone Analogy is pretty good aswell.. for myself I donated for 1 content, 2 service. Content was changed negitively and the service about it was rather rude so I took my donation away, However I will also say this.. I donated enough easily cover bandwidth usage for myself for a year, you guys are saying this crap about people canceling their donations are scum etc... or rather you think of them "lowly" what about everyone who hasnt donated a dime?