- 1 Nonos

HELLL NO!

OP ... although I understand exactly where you are coming from, and while in theory it could be a short term cash infusion for AC, please consider the following.

If this system was implemented, would any of the current player base bother with 1 year resubs?  All that do this currently are "gambling" that the game will survive, grow, or PBS or artillery or whatever particular feature that the resubbing player is hoping for will be implemented.  If the resubbing player doesnt like the current game state .. why resub again for a long period of time when he can simply wait, see and rate any improvement, and if he likes the game resub and buy back all the EP he has missed out on.  The player will now have no risk whatsoever.

AC would actually lose a ton of steady revenue, not because the product is bad, but simply because there would be no reason for long term resubbing.  Buying back potential lost EP, even at a premium or penalized rate, does go against the fundamentals of the game. It is completely different than a player who joins a game, buys a sub for a year, and doesnt play for the first 11 months.  The player's incentives and priorties completely change.

Takeo, I told you never to post on the forums again until you take your meds! Remember!?! Bad Takeo!

Found my meds!  great points from many against, and i am leaning that way too except; the ability to gain back SOME EP with a severe reduction in what you could have had if you subed straight through....ie. 50% of the EP back max 30 days payed for back sub and when you pay for at a 6 month new sub..or other may encourage some to come back and not feel like they are soooo far behind just because they thought there were greener pastures but realized Perp rocks!

run on sentences ftw!

thats one of the things i had had in mind making my little list before.

Of course, the general idea is hard work with only small benefits - and no one ever said to implement it asap - but some of its negative points can already be reversed just by putting up the right conditions.

Pros:

-> an inactive account that had subbed just once and comes back can spend masses of EP at once; same with those guys that ragequitted, tried to misuse gamemechanics, maybe even tried to destroy the game/community... if they had a years sub - they could come back anytime without any punishment;
players that had been loyal active players that began out the same time as them (maybe couldn't afford a year) put their everything into the game but because they couldn't immediately continue their sub for reasons whatsoever are "penalized" with less EP than the inactive account -> so why not reward them by giving them the chance to buy a little bit of their absence time back;

Problems:

1. EP buyable in general, EP extends over the time of your subscription;
   only already player that had a sub can buy back EP for a certain break time between their subs -> already gives the first two limitations: trials can't buy EP, EP-payback limited by unsubscribed days in between subscriptions

2. player leave game until a patch comes that fits them and buy back the lost EP of absent time;
   limit payback days to a maximum and also the unsubscribed time - for example: limit is set to 30 days EP-payback (my initial post), if you don't resubscribe within those thirty days no option to get a payback; why a maximum of thirty days? normally big game-changing patches come only every two months.

3. Problem that may result: "Oh, I just bought back the EP, resubbed for a month, vanish again, then buy it back again";
   minimum timespan where the account had been continuously subscribed (without a day/second break) to enable the option (had set it previously to 6 months because a normal player wouldn't count as new anymore then) - example: player has subscribed for 6 months, got his last paycheck two-three weeks too late, therfore wasn't able to resub immediately, then subbed again and bought back his lost time, next time possible would be only after additional 6 months of continuous subscription

4. "no risk whatsoever.." - others sub for a year unknowingly if the game runs until then;
   option only available if resub for more than just one month (like 3 or 6 months), evtly penalty because of the lower risk - why? to gain the possibility to pay for absence time the player has to take another risk before with subbing over a longer time;
   > still, of course the risk is lower than the player who paid for a year

5. Problem: less full-year codes bought?
   Who buys one year-subs and why? The main points of one year subs is the discount and the big resubbing stress less, isn't it?
   So topic price: buying back EP costs you something, at least for 30 days a full month without any discounts -> result: player has to pay more than for a years sub;
   topic stress: having a month break from the game, you won't only have to resub (buy/pay code, redeem it) but in addition to that also activate and buy the lost time back = double stress

Still remaining Cons: (sry, dunno a comeback to them )

• less risk

• how to code such a thing without backdoors that could lead to an EP-store and without destroying the fundamentals of the game?

... with inactive accounts there I meant those with active subs but not playing after one month; the point with the EP-retrieval to hinder those masses of bought EP is under Problems...

They have spoken. No subscription=no EP.

This is not an EP retrieval system, its an EP store, there is no 'lost EP' to retrieve. Only subbed accounts get EP. It doesn't matter if you've never subbed to the game or you subbed for a couple months a while back you still can't buy more EP.

No, its a game with time based skilling, the playing field will never be level, thats kind of the point. With the current system it will however be fair, 1 min of subbed time = 1 EP for everyone, if that no longer applies to some players, thats not fair. You could make it fair again by letting everyone buy EP, but personally I really wouldn't want that.