VIP: Suggested Model Changes

[Son_of_the_South]

Hi Dev's

Ive been playing since 2011. I've been a VIP for much of that period, I have let my sub lapse for a while here and there but in the last (6, 7 or 8?) years I have been pretty consistently auto-resubbing. My current subscription ends in May, and I am now contemplating whether it still holds (enough) value for me.

It is pleasing to see Cordovans recent comment on the forums (Jan 2023 Producers letter) regarding the current status of VIP, and the consideration being given to the need for change, and the acknowledgement of player comments around this.

I have worked in business development, have (and still) hold senior leadership positions within organisations, and so I understand the need to balance any changes to something like the DDO VIP subscription model with the need to consider the business' operating model (and, simply, viable profitablity). I preface the below with this to highlight that what I am about to write has been thought through, and isn't a "we want moah stuffz and we don't care how" post.

This is how I would consider making changes:

• Move +10% faster in public spaces! This movement speed boost stacks with all other movement boosts in public areas. - this is now a redundant feature given there are so many ways to increase public area movement speed. To make this attractive, consider offering VIPs the ability to teleport to certain locations (being mindful not to OP it), this may be level-gated, and/or a feature of the existing teleporters with 'upgraded' zones/locations for VIPs.
• Ability to create guilds for free. This is good but I am not sure it is attractive enough to be considered a VIP bonus, guild charters are only 150 store points (which can be very quickly accumultaed in game). If this was to stay, I would recommend offering a bonus to first guild creation on that server (i.e., you start at Guild level 10 or 40 or receive one of the higher tioer guild ships [when it becomes available] for free.
• Extra +10% XP. This bonus stacks with other sources of experience bonus. - this is good, cannot argue with extra XP
• Chat: Unlimited (Same as premium) - given how wasy it is become premium, this does not add any value
• Customer service: Full. (Same as premium) - with all due repsect, and this has been openly acknowledged on the forums by SSG, this is currently not a value-add. I have personally received excellent customer service from the team in the past (looking at you, Cordovan), however, I think you might agree that this is currently not value-add. Unless you radically change the access VIP's have to CS, including guaranteed turn-around times, I would remove this entirely.
• Idle Auto-logout: Increases to 60 minutes. I don't, and never have, seen this as a value-proposition for VIP.
• Gold Storage: Officially unlimited, technically limited to about 4.3 million pp. (Same as premium) Not a good value-proposition given how easy premium is to obtain. If you want to make this attractive (and not just make the plat cap 4.3 for everyone), increase it to 10M, although even 4M is a ridiculomungus amount so this isn't a VP as stated.
• Mail: 50 maximum mails at a time. Anything over that will prevent you from bidding/posting in the AH/SE or receiving mail from other characters.
• Auctions: 50 items up for sale on platinum auction house, 20 items on the Shard Exchange. - both this and the above are ok, not amazing but better than F2P
• Access to all Adventure Packs (excluding expansion content) - Sure. The packs you need to be playing are the new ones, that aren't included in VIP, and that you have to buy. I've noticed this the last few years, and I get it from a business model perspective. However, it just means that this part of the subscription, that used to be good (especially pre the give away that allowed access to a lot of packs), is now a mostly redundant feature. There are two possible fixes; VIPs get access to Standard bundles, or even just the quests, for new content (I would pay more per year than I am now if I knew I could play any new content released with my sub) OR, VIP's get access to the Standard bundle of new packs 6 or 12 months after release automatically. I've found rewarding longevity of customers loyalty instils a desire from the consumer to continue to support their supplier, and especially when they can see tangible and ongoing benefits to staying loyal.
• Enter quests directly on Hard/Elite without having to run prior difficulties - yes, really the best benefit VIP currently provides.
• Monster Manual access. - also a yes but with the caveat that a VIP's MM is reset when they TR (heroic, racial, epic or iconic). Just a thought, VIPs will love this as most i know are on the TR train, so moah xp is always welcomed.
• Sagas - the ability to skip one quest per quest saga. Yes, great feature. Nothing to see here, as you were.
• Shared Bank Vault for free (30 slots) - If I am being a bit greedy, I would ask for 50 slots for free; with so much new content and items, and item sets, it all adds up. Also, this was likely a very good feature ten+ years ago, now it needs a boost.
• Shared Bank: Platinum Vault: First tier (50,000 platinum deposit) for free. I've never really seen this as a huge feature, maybe it needs tweaking a little but it is low on the value prop
• Crafting Storage (FKA Bag Deposit Box): 45 slots for free. (33 more than Premium) I currently have just under 300 and there are a LOT of ings in the game, I think you could start this at 50, or leave alone (need to generate some micro-transactions and buying larger bags is a fair way to ask the player base to do this imho, most MMOs do and that's ok in my book).
• Daily Dice: One free roll on the Gold Chest each week. VIP's get one gold roll per character (to a max of X characters if you like) per week on a server. If people want to log in to multiple characters and roll, why not? The recent daily gold rolls demonstrated (to me at least) that you likely wouldnt be losing much in the way of store sales from gold rolls in this way. It is good for slowly accumulating xp gems, which is handy when doing multiple TRs (esp Heroic and Racial). If you really want to spic it up, make them daily for VIPs. I honestly dont think it would be detrimental to the business, and I doubt it would be a major influencing factor if/when deciding to sub - but it wouldn't hurt.
• Harper Agent enhancements: access for all characters to this enhancement tree. Yes, very good
• Epic Destinies: If you have purchased Epic Destinies, you do not need to be at a Fatespinner to manipulate a character's Epic Destiny (spend Destiny points, etc.) and can do so in any public area -yes this is also a handy feature
• Update 46 Patch 3 Release Notes: VIP players and Season Pass holders now get a small group bonus to experience. The bonus is per person in the party other than yourself, and provides a +1% XP boost per party member or member in your raid group, for a maximum bonus of +5% for a party and +11% for a raid group. This bonus is not applied for hirelings or other NPC companions in your group. This bonus stacks with other boosts to XP, including weekend XP bonuses, DDO Store elixirs, and Buddy Boost weekends. This is in addition to the standard +10% XP provided to VIP players. This is great and certainly a value prop for the sub model. Many people do solo though, and i get that this is to encourage grouping, but it is something to consider (an option: scrap this and increase 10% to 15%?)

Account benefits[edit]

• 11 character slots per server (6 more than Premium, more may be purchased) this seems fine
• 500 complementary DDO Points per month. More may be purchased or earned by gaining Favor. Again, seems reasonable @ 6,000 points/year
• Access to the Alchemist class. Must purchase Artificer (account-wide) or unlock through Favor (per server). Must purchase Favored Soul (account-wide) or unlock through Favor (per server).
• Official forums: Read/post. (Same as premium)
• Beta priority: High. (May refer to the slow release speed of content packs on the Lamannia test server's version of the DDO Store)
• Login Queue: Priority (This isn't a real benefit, the game has not yet implemented any log in queue tech, you simply get an error if the server is full regardless of your account type)
• Access to the Warforged race (also unlockable via Favor) and the Aasimar race. Must purchase Iconic Heroes.

All the above is good (except the login queue)

Special benefits[edit]

• On rare occasions, VIP's may receive other benefits such as exclusive in-game items (for example, the Alabaster Lioness Figurine of Wondrous Power offered early in 2017). Why not implement a regular bonus? Every year VIPs will receive a bonus, announced in the Producers letter each year (akin to the FoWP)? Or, a VIP lottery, picked once/month with real benefits (store points, large value in game items [think rare items/tomes/augments etc])

If you want to continue with a subscription model, it needs to hold more value than it currently does without compromising the operating model of the business - as it stands it is more cost efficient to buy points (assuming they're on sale) and purchase required content piece-meal over time than to subscribe.

Here are some other new ideas:
- Allow VIPs to buy expansions with points in store, and not just the marketplace; we are already paying a premium (and the trend seems to be to devalue points by increasing the cost of expansions and not offering them for sale using points). Again, I get the need for profitability (& ROI) but you could up the cost of VIP slightly to allow for this.
- Allow VIPs to TR straight to level 4. We can already create new characters at levels 4, 7 and 10 with Vet status, allowing a TR to start at level 4 wouldnt cost SSG and would be a very good benefit - I mean I know everyone LOVES to run Misery's but I'm sure they'll get over it quickly.
- VIP's get one free chest roll/week
- Crafting: the 10 (15??)% xp bonus applies to crafting xp for VIPs
- Recognise VIP 'tenure': reward ongoing patronage for those who continue to subscribe, over time (on second continuous year a small gift, then after three, then five and so on).

I'd love to hear from other VIPs, I am certain there are some amazing ideas out there in the community.

Thanks for reading.

[Bacab]

I agree with almost everything that was said here.

Another person in a different thread brought up the daily Gold rolls. It was thought that it was the items, not the XP gems that were the sticking points.
Perhaps VIP could get a daily "XP Gem Roll" in addition to the Silver Roll and the Weekly Gold roll?

Also, you know how you can warp to certain spots in a slayer/wilderness area once you have been there? How about VIPs, once they unlock it, that ability to warp persists through TRs?

[Stradivarius]

I frankly don't think they'll do anything meaningful for VIP. Like not much. At best they'll throw us a couple of bones maybe an XP pot every month or something but nothing like daily gold rolls or something that will actually make you think.

I base this on the fact when listening to Cordovan's stream he kinda subconsciously stated "I think VIP's are fine for the most part." which lends me to believe that the meeting between Severlin, Tolero, and other shot callers basically had them not wanting to give anything else out.

On a side note, it's fascinating the complete dichotomy between LOTRO and DDO when it comes to the "generosity" toward their respective pbase. LOTRO's players are white-gloves catered to and given pretty much everything for free AND they get all the upgrades to their game.

DDO's playerbase is almost taken for granted and at the same time we spend multiples more than the average LOTRO player. It's bizzare. It's like someone who pays $100 get's the cheap seats while some dude with a coupon who spends almost nothing get's the premium front row seats. Don't believe me? Try reading their producer's letter.

[Onyxia2019]

This is a well thought out thread and I agree with the OP.
The current VIP was a good value long ago but it has not aged well.

The adventure packs or lack there of is one big issue. Since everything is an expansion now this perk to VIP does not carry as much weight.
I would think having subs would be preferred to someone buying the base level expansion pack as the sub is reoccurring income.

The plan for future growth should focus on getting and retaining subs
As the OP pointed out there is very little that makes VIP attractive currently.

[Stradivarius]

So, instead of being so negative I'll throw my 2 cents in terms of suggestions.

Every month, as a VIP, you are allowed 2 1-month long access passes that can be used to access any expansion except the latest paid one (I.E. IoD right now).

VIP will then become an incredible value for new to semi-new players. Currently, especially if you had the COVID free codes VIP is utterly useless. Nothing really says , "OH! I NEED THAT!"

But again, my fellow DDOers, they will not do much with VIP. I doubt Tolero will even give us 3 specific things they will add to VIP in the PAX panel. Heck, maybe not even 1. They are waiting hoping the VIP mob dies down. Search your feelings, you know this is truth.

[mikarddo]

Up the +10% xp to +25% xp.
Allow VIP to start at level 4 after a TR.

It does not have to be complicated to make VIP both attractive and non-invasive on store sales.

[Dandonk]

Up the +10% xp to +25% xp.
Allow VIP to start at level 4 after a TR.

It does not have to be complicated to make VIP both attractive and non-invasive on store sales.

Yup. Doesn't have to be complicated and require months of tech work. The above would do just fine.

[Amorais]

Nice post but developers don't read these forums unfortunately

[DareDelvis]

I would love to keep my bank and bag space without Having to rerun the quests for space so I can TR again. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

[Eantarus]

Also, you know how you can warp to certain spots in a slayer/wilderness area once you have been there? How about VIPs, once they unlock it, that ability to warp persists through TRs?

Why even make us have to unlock it once? How about just, as a VIP perk, we get free access to wilderness teleporters?

Trying to have the system track whether or not you unlocked it one time 50 lives ago would be a huge challenge. Just having it check "are you VIP?" would be way easier to impliment.

And we very seriously need to consider ease of implementation when asking for VIP enhancements.

[Eantarus]

I would love to keep my bank and bag space without Having to rerun the quests for space so I can TR again. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

Again: how about just giving VIPs more bank & bag space.

Making anything "persist through TR" is a lot harder than just giving it to VIPs.

[Son_of_the_South]

Again: how about just giving VIPs more bank & bag space.

Making anything "persist through TR" is a lot harder than just giving it to VIPs.

Yes, good point. I had tried to think of that during my post but you make an excellent point.

[Son_of_the_South]

Nice post but developers don't read these forums unfortunately

I really hope they do. Unless, as stated in a previous reply, they're focusing on micro/macro transactions and eschewing (see what I did there?) the VIP model.

[mbartol]

Tolero, the DDO Producer, asked the player base directly for suggestions to improve VIP a year ago. Then SSG followed up by ignoring the thread—just like they ignored feedback from the last two rounds of Lammania.

[Dandonk]

Tolero, the DDO Producer, asked the player base directly for suggestions to improve VIP a year ago. Then SSG followed up by ignoring the thread—just like they ignored feedback from the last two rounds of Lammania.

In the words of the immortal Johnny Logan - What's another year?

[tsotate]

In the words of the immortal Johnny Logan - What's another year?

Another year? That's what no one in my guild is planning to resub for as our VIP subs run out over the next couple of months.

[Dandonk]

Another year? That's what no one in my guild is planning to resub for as our VIP subs run out over the next couple of months.

VIP? What's that? Very insignificant Payers, I think they rebranded it as, right?

[mbartol]

And I thought my VIP was going to expire on Thursday. With that rebranding, we all have lifetime VIP status.

[Eantarus]

Once they chisel a few more benefits away, VIP will be functionally worse than Premium.

[noxx007]

I just want to say the whole VIP Adventure pack thing is a big point for me. I've bought all the expansions, sans Dread Isle (but thats coming up too), but I've never purchased any adventure pack in 10 years, I rely solely on VIP for that access so I find it very valuable. I may be in the minority but it is the only reason I got VIP and continue to have it above all else.

Daily gold/Xp rolls would be great. Or Veteran TR'ing. I paid for veteran from the DDO store back in the day and it is a shame I never get to use it on my main who is mostly who I play. Rollover Coinlords/House K favor for bank/inventory space is great as well.

This might be considered a bit predatory...but I could also see a "VIP Shop" for maybe some unique cosmetic items only available to VIP. Either for DDO points or remnants/reaper points. Like a yearly or twice yearly addition of some unique armor/wings/helmets/etc. Doesn't need to take priority over the normal shop but a few exclusive incentives would be a selling point to me as well.