Does SSG want VIPs?

[Hazelnut]

I am honestly asking this question. I ask because when I look at some of the subtle changes in recent sales and the pre-purchase options for Ravenloft, I'm seeing some changes that make me thing SSG does want more people subscribing.

Back in the Turbine days, the package deals in the marketplace (expansions, combo deals) always involved a bunch of TP. The previous Black Friday sales had pretty big savings on quest packs as well. It was all geared to getting discounts for the one-time purchases. It felt to me like Turbine wanted premium players.

But since SSG took over things have changed. The while lioness permanent hireling for all VIPs got a lot of us to go VIP. We may not have stayed but I'm sure some people did. The recent Ravenloft expansion packs include a VIP subscription code (at least the one I got did). This year, not even the old quest packs are on sale. None of this is huge but it feels like a change in focus from the sales team.

It's always (since I've been playing DDO) been a choice. Some people prefer a subscription, others prefer one time payments. Subscriptions allow for more predictable month-to-month costs. One time payments (premium) allow for spend what you can when you want. They both have advantages and disadvantages. When I joined it felt like Turbine was more focused on the premium players with the VIPs being there for people who preferred that model. I'm starting to feel SSG is leaning the other way.

[PsychoBlonde]

I suspect it's more that VIP's have been whining that they don't get enough VIP-only stuff. I don't really get this attitude, but I've seen it other places as well. Some people really like to think that their exclusive club that literally anybody can get into for $10 a month is some sort of big important deal.

Personally, I think VIP is a good deal, but I use the VIP stuff a lot, so it depends on your playstyle, really.

[Hazelnut]

...
Personally, I think VIP is a good deal, but I use the VIP stuff a lot, so it depends on your playstyle, really.

I see it more of an economic choice, but basically I agree, it depends on your available funds and playstyle.

I opted for premium (after being VIP for a year) because there is only one thing VIPs get that I can't purchase as a premium. That being the ability to open on elite first time/first life. There are other definite advantages to choosing VIP and other people will rank them higher than I do. I'm glad you all do, when I'm in a group with a VIP, we can go in on elite first time.

In case others are reading this and wondering, there are a lot of things you get as a VIP that you otherwise have to pay for to get access to as a premium. Like, all adventure packs (but VIPs do have to buy the 3 expansions), a taste of the shared bank and entry level platinum vault.

To my knowledge as a VIP you get the following that there is no way to purchase as a premium:

• +10% run speed in public areas
• +10% XP, stacks with all other types of XP boosts including those that can be purchased.
• Open on hard/elite/reaper first time/first life
• Some extra shared vault (20 items), platinum vault (50,000 plat), shared collectives storage (45 vs 12).

I believe all the other benefits of VIP (including gold rolls) can be purchased but many will require buying things on a regular basis (like 500TP per month and astral shards to get the weekly gold roll).

Also, buying all the quest packs is very expensive if you do it in a single shot. If you have the patience to wait for sales, it will still cost but you can probably save about 20% over full price, which is still more than a year of VIP.

[Annex]

Large companies like Warner Brothers operate under very strict goals for revenue and earnings per share. Subsidiaries like Turbine share part of that burden and operate with their own assigned earnings goals. If a subsidiary fails to perform, very serious people from "higher up" show up, assess the situation, and start issuing orders to fix the problem. If management of the subsidiary cannot follow orders and get things turned around, they get replaced.

I suspect that Turbine conducted a few Fire Sales to meet revenue goals and avoid visits from the very serious people "higher up". I also suspect people at Warner Brothers and Turbine realized certain elements of Turbine would never keep up with revenue goals, and so they mutually decided to part ways. Conglomerates do that sort of thing all the time.

Now that Standing Stone operates independently they need not feed the revenue goals of the parent company. They only need cover operating costs and meet payroll. That very probably cuts them a huge amount of slack which, in turn, means they need not conduct any more Fire Sales.

It appears current Standing Stone management wishes to acclimate players to a pricing structure that favors more affluent players. No doubt, they hope this strategy will increase revenue. Only time will tell.

In my opinion, people waiting for another Triple Bonus Points or 85% off Expansions sale are not reading the tea leaves very well.

Anyway, in answer to your question, yes, I think current management wants more subscribers. Subscribers provide pleasantly predictable revenue and that makes budgeting easier. Management at Standing Stone clearly wants to raise product quality. More steady customers will definitely help with that.

Everyone with an axe to grind will now be along to tell us how management at Standing Stone is wrecking DDO and driving away players. I am not so sure of that but certain areas like Customer Service clearly require attention. That is a different (and very long) discussion and I have Guild Renown to earn so...

Ta ta for now!