Big change to acquiring skills coming

Tharvis

is it bad that I completely understand and mimic that cat's expression right now?

Santar

Band-aid fix to a broken business model.

Jules

Santar is an asshole, but he's often a correct asshole, and in The Mariner's Guild, everyone's favorite asshole/city enemy - although for some reason the fabulous general logic skills needed for coding sometimes fail to translate into even basic savvy with money, so who knows.  Still, even I wouldn't drop a bomb like this in a thread like this though (probably)  Yay lessons!

Caladbolg

Sarapis said:

@Antonius Nope, you should be able to buy this twice easily enough. Multiple people already have.

Just for the record buying something online twice in one hour usually causes the credit card company to freeze my card. Might be easier to wait an hour and buy it again than to have to sit on the phone with them for 25-30 minutes just to say yes, I bought this twice in one hour.

Sarapis

@Jules In this case, an asshole is just an asshole.

Dunn

Sarapis said:

Kuy said:

Excuse me.  I need to find my pants.

Trey

Sarapis said:

@Jules In this case, an asshole is just an asshole.

Santar

Sarapis said:

@Jules In this case, an asshole is just an asshole.

Overly sensitive?

Achaea has been tanking for years now, yet continues to cling to its extortion tactics as it primary business model. Sorry for not suddenly doling out wild praise for a small step in the right general direction. You're resistant to even the slightest bit of change because you're desperate and afraid of losing money. Every part of the Achaea business model screams to its customers, "How can we milk more money out of you?" You've even brainwashed many into actually supporting this model. Ever think that providing a fair deal might generate more interest in the game? Seems every other company running multiplayer games out there has caught onto this idea. Achaea is still living in the stoneage, though has made a few mild improvements over the years.

It's always charming to flagrantly insult one of your long-time supporters and customers for giving criticism, though. Thumbs up.

Dunn

I like that you didn't differentiate between constructive and not constructive criticism, though.

Santar

The only difference between constructive and not constructive criticism in this case was the amount typed, no?

I initially had little interest in this thread so I posted a half-sentence to summarize.

I don't mind this change at all. It lowers the barrier for people getting involved into the game, which is a good thing. It is, however, exactly what I said:

Santar said:

Band-aid fix to a broken business model.

Dunn

The connotation of that sentence says more than a drunken sorority girl on formal night.

Sarapis

I'm not going to argue with you. Take your ranting to the Sewers where it belongs.

There's always someone out there that can't do anything but complain. 

Triak

@Santar

I don't think you realize the breadth of your stupidity on this subject.  Matt basically created this business model with Achaea.  Since almost 20 years ago it has grown to be the dominant business model in the gaming world.  Play for free, but pay to get ahead/advantage.  (LoL, Hearthstone, SWTOR, RIFT, Neverwinter, and so many more) 

Also the very fact that ANY text games can sell product (text items, lessons, bonuses..whatever) for paid staff in the face of 2014 graphical games is a feat in of itself.

That isn't to say there can not be improvement to the model, such as the IRE membership and this lesson addition as well.

I mean you could always just not log into Achaea if you don't like it.

Lucine

Triak said:

@Santar

I don't think you realize the breadth of your stupidity on this subject.  Matt basically created this business model with Achaea.  Since almost 20 years ago it has grown to be the dominant business model in the gaming world.  Play for free, but pay to get ahead/advantage.  (LoL, Hearthstone, SWTOR, RIFT, Neverwinter, and so many more) 

Also the very fact that ANY text games can sell product (text items, lessons, bonuses..whatever) for paid staff in the face of 2014 graphical games is a feat in of itself.

That isn't to say there can not be improvement to the model, such as the IRE membership and this lesson addition as well.

I mean you could always just not log into Achaea if you don't like it.

You can critique something or want it to be different and still like it.

Prythe

I think selling the lessons int his type of bulk as an "any time" thing is not a good game idea (although brilliant for generating revenue). 

It may be too difficult now, but that's making it too easy. Where is the sense of accomplishment if one can triple trans almost immediately?

Oh hell, what the heck do I know - i don't even have a cute banner signature.

Korben

The one criticism I have of IRE's business model is that it caters so much to the big buyer, and in that light, this is a huge step in the right direction.

To be fair though, catering to the big buyer seems to be part of the package with pay-for-perks. There will be a few people (as little as 0,5% of the playerbase, according to the numbers released by one game company) that provide most of the revenue.

I think this move makes a lot of sense, even from the big-spender perspective. Many of them will probably end up buying this as a gift for friends.

Kei

I already bought three for other people, yeah. It's a great small gift that, for some people, really helps make their day to see just appear in their messages.

Sarapis

@Korben Well, our feeling on it is that while at one time, all we had to sell was the skills - mainly the class ones - we have a huge inventory of things people can and do buy now, so giving out more of the class skills will, hopefully, be good for us long-term. The big buyers are still where our money is going to be made. I mean, it takes 60 people buying a $10 package to equal up to one person buying 2000 credits. We're hoping this increases the changes of more big buyers though, by keeping people around for longer. It's a delicate balance, however, because giving away things too cheaply early on may damage the value of credits/lessons in the mind of the newbies. Worth experimenting with (and keeping unless it fails) though, and I hope it's permanent.

@Kei That's great!

Tarkanian

@Sarapis: the twice-only limit is applicable for self purchases, or includes purchases for somebody else?

edit: sorry if it has been asked before.

Riley

I bought my two, and one for someone else

Tarkanian

i mean, if i already bought two, can someone else gift me with another package?

i think that'd result to abuse, though.

Tecton

Tarkanian said:

i mean, if i already bought two, can someone else gift me with another package?

i think that'd result to abuse, though.

No, it's limited on the recipient.

Wynedere

Is this going to end up being IRE-wide, or restricted to Achaea?

Tecton

Wynedere said:

Is this going to end up being IRE-wide, or restricted to Achaea?

It's IRE-wide

Ephram

I support this so much that even though I'm not ready to buy some for my own character, I bought a friend a set. 

Alexandre

I'm a big fan of this change and I really hope it doesn't become temporary. The amount of changes that have been made to Achaea as a whole over the past five years are... Amazing. I've been playing the game for close to eleven years now and somehow I always come back to it.

Nim

After careful contemplation, I begrudgingly accept that buying this for random people might not violate the spirit of my boycott. They will be so happy, if they have not already purchased it for themselves.

That said, I notice that it says 6x, but under ideal circumstances, it's only 3.5x (assuming you buy 1000 credits for the first time, which would be the most efficient credit purchase), and only about 3x as much as ideal Iron Elite membership month (maxed out bonus credits, logging in every day).

I am nitpicking!

Melodie

I support passing on the love, so much so I did it myself. Everyone should!

Synbios

Beyond selfless acts of generosity, I imagine that the lowered cost would make it advantageous for mentors to reward promising novices.

Florentino

I bet there are going to be a lot of alts created by established players as well, since you can get an alt up to dual-trans much, much more easily after just buying the 2000 lessons and bashing to 80.