Steampunkette
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Posts
1724 -
Joined
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*slips in, wearing a slinky, backless maroon dress, black bracelets, and high heels, snapping her fingers in time*
Never know how much I love you,
Never know how much I care.
When you put your arms around me,
I get a fever that's so hard to bear.
You give me fever,
*spins over to Fedor, and runs a finger doen his forehead oto the center of his sack-face*
When you kiss me,
Fever when you hold me tight.
Fever! In the morning,
Fever all through the night.
*rocks her body along past NekoAli, scritching ears gently on the way to Phantom*
Sun lights up the daytime
And moon lights up the night..
I light up when you call my name *winks*
And you know I'm gonna treat you right
*sashsays across the Rookery to Detra, dancing against her lightly*
You give me fever
When you kiss me,
Fever when you hold me tight.
Fever! In the morning,
And fever all through the night *hip-bumps as she steps away to Vexxa and Philly*
Everybody's got the fever
That is something you all know *points at the Rookery peoples in a sweeping arc*
Fever isn't such a new thing
Fever started long ago
*tilts her head at Twipper, slinging her hair over her left shoulder as she slinks across the Rookery*
Romeo loved Juliette
Juliette she felt the same
When he put his arms around her he said,
"Julie, Baby , you're my flame *steps around behind Twipper, running a hand across the back of his shoulders*
"Thou giveth fever
"When we kisseth
"Fever with thy flaming youth
"Fever! I'm afire,
"Fever, yeah, I burn, forsooth."
*sidles up to Shecky, half-leaning in as if whispering the next lyrics(*
Cap'in Smith and Pocahontas had a very mad affair
When her daddy tried to kill him
She said,
"Daddy, oh, don't you dare!
*then lightly "Boops" Premonitions on the nose! stroking a finger across his cheek*
"He gives me fever
"With his kisses
"Fever when he holds me tight
"Fever! I'm his missus, So
"Daddy, Won't you treat him right?"
*steps away to the center of the Rookery, still snapping her fingers, but moving away so everyone has a clear view*
Now you've listened to my story,
Here's the point that I have made:
Chicks were born to give you fever,
Be it Fahrenheit or Centigrade
*stretches, languorously, then seats herself on a stool, crossing her legs*
They give you fever
When you kiss them
Fever if you live and learn
Fever! 'till you sizzle
what a lovely way to burn
what a lovely way to burn
what a lovely way to burn
*leans back on the stool, one hand gripping for blance, head back and hair hanging*
what a lovely way to burrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrn!
Morning. *giggles a bit*
-Rachel-
( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYxoA...eature=related ) -
I dunno....
I think Dark Manipulation should go
Shadow Punch
Smite
Death Shroud
Soul Drain
Touch of Fear
Cloak of Darkness
Tar Patch (Shrunken Radius, just like Ice Patch)
Dark Consumption
Midnight Grasp
-Rachel- -
I think who said what and how it was taken by who, at this point, is basically moot.
Let's just say what we think about the situation.
I would LOVE a Lifetime Subscription to CoH. It would make my day to learn I won it in a contest or to buy it. But I realize it would cost the Developers far too much revenue to offer them. So I'll go ahead and pay my Monthly fee, hoping the Devs -never- institute such a financially suicidal payment option.
/Unsigned.
-Rachel- -
As an Insurance agent I can talk to you all day about the best time to sell a "Lifetime Subscription"... Even without my studies.
When you're a 21 year old non-smoker in great health your insurance premiums will be low. Why? Because barring some accident you're going to livefor a long, LONG time. I'll be making my $18.88/month off of you for at least 60 years if you maintain a healthy lifestyle. That's $13,593.60 I'll be making over the course of those 60 years. And when you kick the bucket (and you will kick the bucket) I'll pay out the $10,000 price-tag you put on your mortality. Meanwhile the $13,593.60 has, over the past 60 years, made money in stocks and bonds or more secure, lower-payout methods.
Now let me sell that insurance to 20 people a day for 5 years. And I'll even assume 1 full year out of those five was taken off from sales for holidays and weekends. I'll have made $396,933,120 And all of that will be returned except for the $101,339,520 profit I made off of each of those 29,200 sales. That's just the profits -straight- from the insurance. Not including the fact that I put all of the money received into securities or stocks which will, over time, make me more money.
Now you can see how their long-term subscription to my plan is making me lots of money, right?
You know who I sell a "Lifetime Policy" to? A single-payment policy? Anyone over 75. Why? Because they're going to die -soon-. I need to get what money i can out of them fast and hope to turn a profit on it before they die and get their money back. Are they going to get $10,000 of life insurance for $18.88? No way! Maybe they'll get it for $2,000 if they're in -greater- shape. but expecting that much return on such short notice otherwise is infeasible. They'll be paying $6,000 in a single payment for $10,000 later.
Heck! The older you are when you buy monthly premium based insurance the more it costs. But you -can- pay more up front and have the insurer treat you as a younger age for the cost of your monthly premium. Basically paying the past 5 years worth of premiums to be treated like you're 5 years younger.
Ultimately you have to reverse this logic for an MMO company. They need that big payout -early- rather than late, to cover their costs. And the farther and farther away they get from the big payout the less and less likely a lifetime subscription is.
I honestly feel like a horrible person for putting it like this.. But yeah. That's how life insurance basically works. Reverse MMO Billing. You buy the Box first, insurers buy the Box last.
-Rachel- -
Quote:Forbin was pointing out Freeze's statement that lifetime subscriptions would ONLY apply to new accounts and new players coming to the game.Originally Posted by Shard_Warrior
I'll be getting my 72 month Vet badge soon and I can tell you, NCSoft offering lifetime subs when GR is released would not alienate me in the least.
Are you sure you wouldn't be upset about that? Or the large portion of the long-time veterans of the player-base with multiple 50s? It would upse tme if I wasn't allowed to get a Lifetime subscription on my account and, instead, had to get a new account to take advantage of it...
-Rachel- -
I love this idea. Please add it to Jay's costume Request thread, immediately!
-Rachel- -
Quote:Actually it -was- an assumption. I was -assuming- she was right about GR bringing in 120,000 players and doubling the current playerbase. And then using widely accepted percentages based on studies done on various MMOs (from Ultima online through Everquest, into World of Warcraft, Perfect world, and dozens of others) to calculat how much of the playerbase would be remaining after a 2-3 year period.Originally Posted by Forbin_Project
It's not an assumption. It's simple math.
But, you know, that's just an assumption.
-Rachel- -
Quote:Everything everyone does, Financially, is an assumption. Assuming something will be worth the purchase. Assuming something will be worth the risk. Assuming variables which cannot be accurately predicted.Originally Posted by Miss_Freeze_NA
Obviously.
Read above where I am referring to NEW subscribers, not the existing base. Offering a lifetime sub is a good deal and can be an incentive for new subscribers.
All you are doing is assuming. You are assuming offering lifetime subs would negatively impact the game when you have no idea whether it would or not. Sure, it might. Then again, it might not.
I happen to know quite a few people who have not received any pay raises in the last 3 years, let alone EVER receiving any kind of bonuses.
However some assumptions are based upon prior experience. Or educated guesses of where things will stand based on the current situation and generally accepted and expected variables within a specific range (generally represented through percentages and soft-numbers)
Based on the current market, the age of the game, standard business practices relating to subscription marketing or long-term payment services, current subscriber base, and current economic state: This idea is risky. Too risky for most businesses to invest in it. Speaking as an Insurance Agent gone MMO Designer and former Business manager I can safely tell you that the risk is greater than the reward in this scenario based on a 5-12 year continuing plan.
Having studied these things (and trust me, I -have- studied them) it would be a horrendously poor decision on NCNC's part to offer lifetime subscriptions before the creation of a second CoH, as the first would wither and die in it's content-generation.
Did you miss the part where I said I was trying to develop my -own- MMO? This requires weeks and months of intensive reading on business plans, payment options, and a great deal on money management.
Please. Rather than beat your head against the wall railing about how it should be your way or clipping single lines from my paragraphs-long post: Invest an hour and a half into reading up on Subscription based payment plans vs. Free to Play with Microtransactions business plans vs. Lifetime Subscriptions with Microtransactions with side-by-side Monthly Payment Subscriptions with Microtransactions.
And finally look into the current DDO business plan. Monthly Payment with Microtransactions WITH Lifetime Subscriptions with Microtransactions WITH Free to Play with Microtransactions. Which is actually not a -terrible- system but definitely has it's bugs!
-Rachel- -
Quote:Well... Obviously someone isn't paying attention! let's go over this, again.Originally Posted by Miss_Freeze_NA
And for all anyone knows, offering a lifetime sub along with a new, boxed expansion like GR potentially could bring in another 120,000 more subscribers to play the game because it is a "good deal". You are guessing at what the impact would be.
You are also guessing that 80% of the playerbase would buy a lifetime sub. For all anyone knows, it would be less than 1% who would.
Offering a $200 Lifetime subscription within one month of Going Rogue's Release would be a bad idea. Why? Because those 120,000 new players aren't going to plop down $230 on a game they've never played before. $30 with a "Free" month of play? Sure! But not another $200.
Now. Let's assume that of those those 120,000 players about 80% get standard subscriptions (which, if they bought the game, is a fairly standard assumption) which they continue for a full 6 months. Of those about 60-70% can be assumed to stay on for another year, becoming 18 month veterans. After that, however, the drop-off rate is intense, until you're left with about 1/4 of the original players (30,000) still playing after about 2 years and 6 months.
Assuming one quarter or less players from the original 120,000 players purchase the Lifetime subscriptions it's a sound business plan. But with our economy in shambles you'd likely have a larger portion of the playerbase trying to get the "Long Term" entertainment value by paying what they would normally pay for just over a year's worth of gameplay for a permanent game.
And it's this level of economic risk that puts lifetime subscription offers in a dangerous region. Add to that the growing market (some would say "Glut") of MMOs in the world. City of Heroes is competing with every other MMO there is, not -just- Champions Online or Detective Comics Universe Online. Cross-genre interest is rampant.
In addition the company must maintain it's current stable of designers who all have a yearly salary which must be paid. How long would you continue working 40 hours a week without a raise or bonus, regardless of how many new innovations you've created? The price for quality designers is not cheap by any stretch of the imagination.
So. Combine every point herein with the various points in my previous post on the issue. Does it make sense -now-?
-Rachel-
PS. And let me add that if any of those New or Returning players -did- drop down the $200 lifetime subscription fee this economic train wreck gets even worse. Now the initial 80% has a hit of a specific number of players who will, effectively, play for one year and no more, for the purposes of revenue stream! Which in turn cascades into the remaining numbers. -
Make a girl blush, why don't ya?
Okay. Okay! *giggles* Enough Threadjacking. =-3
-Rachel- -
Quote:Flattery will get you nowhere... but I still like to hear it.Originally Posted by Forbin_Project
Beautiful and smart . . . A dangerous combination.
-Rachel-
PS: Please bear with me on the typos and misplaced capitalization. I'm using a new "Ergonomic" keyboard purchased for me. Very hard to get used to. -
Quote:There's a -need- to take a travel power, now?! What the heck?Originally Posted by Aett_Thorn
There is a jet pack vendor in the zone of each side that is tough to get around without vertical travel of some sort: Grandville on villain-side, and the Shadow Shard hero-side.
Considering that any character with enough cash can get to those areas now at any level, and purchase one, I'm not really seeing a need to have more of them. Especially since it would even further negate the need to take a travel power in the first place.
I've just been using Sprint, Swift, and Hurdle on any character that doesn't thematically have a travel power. o.0
Oh. And now Ninja-Run. =-3
-Rachel- -
Quote:Booster Packs, Server Transfers, Character renames, Expansion Packs, and Server transfers all add to Paragon Studios' current profit without impacting their long-term financial gain.Originally Posted by Miss_Freeze_NA
You mean like paid expansions (CoV, GR), server transfers, booster packs, character slots etc?
You are guessing that offering a liftetime sub would be interpreted as any kind of "white flag" to the industry.
See above. NCSoft has been making money in numerous other ways to "keep the game going".
A Lifetime subscription sale could severely impact their long term financial gain in a negative manner.
Is that so hard to understand?
$200 now is a -great- deal for all of us players because we'll save money in the long run. The problem is that the money we -save- is money not being given to Paragon studios to keep up with it's never-ending cost to maintain overhead as well as a team to produce new content for the game. In the Long Run lifetime subscriptions would hurt CoH.
In the Event of a CoH2 being launched offering a lifetime subscription for CoH1 would be fine. Why? Because you'd likely be lowering your overall staff to a minimum for the furthering of CoH1 and would, instead, jsut maintain the server structures to keep the game running for those who like to play it. Issues would likely come at an incredibly slow rate or not at all. Meanwhile the instant revenue from the Lifetime Subscriptions would help to offset the development costs of CoH2. And though CoH1 would lose a substantial amount of long-term financial gain the increased playerbase being applied to the monthly-payment plan of CoH2 would make such a business decision sound, as the company would continue to reap the benefits of that game's revenue stream for years to come.
Boxed Expansions (rather than "Issues" or Updates) are not an attempt to grab money from thin air, either. Nor are they a way to recoup losses or make a quick buck before the game goes under. They are, however, intensely time-consuming for the purposes of development and, therefore, expensive. To offset the cost to the company such expansions are boxed, shelved, and sold for far more than the package and disc are worth.
Ultimately the game is doing wonderfully! And lifetime Subscriptions would hurt Paragon Studios in the wallet two, three, or five years from now in a very big way. You don't want to hurt City of heroes, do you?
And bear in mind, this is being written by someone who is trying to get into the industry. Someone who has read up on business practices and models specifically pertaining to MMOs. Don't believe me? The link is in my signature.
-Rachel- -
Has anyone else noticed the chest-piece bug? It's terribly annoying that both my Huntsman and my Crab Spider lost their high-collars and metal breastplate. What's up with that?
-Rachel- -
There is no in-game explanation for it. But by the same token there's no in-game explanation for the helmets with no eye-holes that all the arachnos agents wear, yet they fight without being blinded.
Personally I like to presume that the Crab Backpack is -not- a surgical attachment at all. After all, it's not meant to be used outside of the specially crafted super-heavy "SWAT" armor that is the Crab Suit. The fact that it appears on my character regardless of what costume she is in is glossed over, in-character. At least in my interactions with other players.
Instead the helmet contains eye-lens High definition LCD monitors to allow for perfect day or night vision with multiple viewing modes based on several micro-cameras in the helmet's plexiglass coating. As for how Longfang Vasquez maneuvers the crab-spider arms: Glove and arm controls. It explains why she drops into a specific position every time she uses one of the maneuvers.
She's fairly loyal to Arachnos, thanks to the paycheck, college loans, and the substantial pension plan (what Arachnos Soldier makes it to retirement, anyhow? Recluse could put it at billions and never need to pay it off!) but not enough to get herself intentionally and permanently disfigured or undergo surgery which keeps her from ever laying down comfortably.
-Rachel- -
I remember this!
The scaling damage for ranged/melee got shot down so I instead suggested melee and ranged DEFENSE mods. But then there was an argument about Defense versus Damage resistance...
In the end we got nowhere, I'm afraid. =-(
-Rachel- -
Quote:Probably a big flaming dance of death as the blaster spins, jumps, swings, and strikes in all directions.Originally Posted by IanTheM1
*tries to imagine what a Whip nuke would be like*
-Rachel- -
New Winter Olympic events? How about field-stripping a P-123 Tompson-Jennings model xp-14456A combination tesla coil and adaptive alternating current electrical generator.... On... ice...?
>.>
Ice is not conducive to Steampunkishness! It's conducive to buttock-freezing! *whines*
-Rachel- -
Quote:Had a bit of financial trouble towards the end of Last year. Nearing Winter people stopped buying insurance in the North because their heating budget always comes first. Then I got bad news from Georgia involving my Mom. My fiancee and I drove 1200 miles on a Friday/Saturday 2-day trip, slept and Packed my Mom's belongings on sunday, loaded up a pickup truck (did I mention he'd never driven one before our 1200 mile straight-shot with no sleeping?) and then loaded Mom (an elderly disabled woman who is also morbidly obese) into the Passenger side of the truck. We then drove for the next 3 days trying to get back to Wisconsin without losing any of her belongings or the several tarps we went through (wind tore them apart the closer we got to Chicago)Originally Posted by Sharker_Quint
not tryin to threadjack anyone, but holy freakin steam powered bicycles batman, where have you been rach? long time no see.
oh, and i am always up for more things for bases. i just don't think they will do something like this. but hey, you never know...
Since that wonderful trip I've been taking care of Mom, cleaning house, trying to sell Aflac, Rearranging furniture, and running from the Social Security Administration offices to the various hospitals in the area, pretty much full time and a half! And what free-time I had went into development for Clockwork Symphony: Being a True and Factual Account of the Marvels of the Machine Age.
Things finally calmed down, our situation is not -quite- so precarious, and Mom's health is stable. So I finally allowed myself some City of Heroes. =-3
-Rachel- -
Quote:ThisOriginally Posted by cursedsorcerer
I could see this. And how about another similar event in Talos featuring Freakshow, Tsoo and Warriors?
And this.Quote:Originally Posted by Texarkana
I can see this happening. PP needs some spicing up.
Heck, can see this going down with the RIP in Mercy too.
And let's put it in Nerva Archipelago, too. That way both Heroside and Villainside have 2 zones with "Gang War" activity. For nerva you cuold have Family, Crey, Longbow, and Arachnos in a 4-way brawl. =-3
-Rachel- -
Quote:That's actually not that bad of an idea... Though I doubt it'll ever happen, as it would render standard teleporters (mostly) obsolete.Originally Posted by Shuriken_BladeX
How would the game need an overhaul? It could be in the base and be limited for how many uses per day. I mean..it could be just like the mission teleporter. Maybe a little customization if not that just having the sg symbol and colors on the side. I wasn't looking for anything to fly around in I just mean for show and to be a mission teleporter.
-Rachel- -
Sliding Scale Brute Fury.
More Ranged attacks you land the higher your Melee damage buff. Vice Versa.
I could swear i made this suggestion, last year...
-Rachel- -
I guess the best way to resolve this is to ask a simple question.
If you could have made a Warshade or Peacebringer when your level 50 hit 20 would you have stopped playing that character to roll a PB or WS?
-Probably- not, in most cases. Most people, by level 20, are just getting to the meat and potatoes of their powersets. They're getting to the powers that make them a far better addition to teams and far more capable of running solo. And only 2 levels away from Single Origin Enhancements...
The change, ultimately, takes nothing away from those who "Earned it the hard way" because you didn't go from level 1 to level 50 specifically to get a Kheldian. You did it because you wanted to play the game and had some measure of enjoyment out of it. You did it to get the next power, or to see the end-game content. Perhaps it was the Explorer in you. Or the Role player who wanted to see her character rubbing shoulders with the Elite members of the Superhero community.
A while back the WoW forums exploded into a similar argument when the minimum level to get a mount was lowered. Why? It didn't hurt them at all, and if they made a new character they'd be able to level faster since they could use the mounts to get around more easily.
But ultimately: You didn't go from level 1 to level 50 -just- to get Kheldians. And Veterans are now rewarded with the Vet Rewards program.
But perhaps i just don't "Get" the issue. I've only got 4 level 50s, so far.
-Rachel- -
*snerks awake, then grins and pets the kitteh!*
I've been... good. Mostly. You guys totally missed out on interesting stuff in December. The week before Christmas my Fiancee and I drove 1200 miles in a Ford F-250 (which neither of us have ever driven before) helped my Mom pack all her belongings up, loaded the truck with what we could carry, sent the rest to my sister's, and drove 1204 miles back to Wisconsin with a disabled woman in the passenger's seat... Longest weekend of my life!
Since then I've been taking care of Mom, trying to work on the Symphony (mostly character ideas, stories, systems, and the like) playing a little bit of D&D Online (since it was free) and throwing effort into selling AFLAC. Noone wants to buy insurance in this economy, though... So that kinda sucks.
But now I'm back with CoH on a fully paid account and I should be here for a good long while.
*snuggles the Kitteh* That cover most of what you wanted to know?
-Rachel-
PS. Thanks Philly! -
*snores cutely, still in the leather chair from last night, goggles askew!*
-Rachel-