Premium Ships

5770941 · July 6, 2013, 8:07am

I’ll just say it. Premium. Ships. Aren’t. Worth it.

You’re charging a good £15 for some of them and that number is just… it makes me want to weep endlessly in a corner. Why on Earth should I buy something that - for its price - is utterly worthless?!

So, I prepared a multitude of fixes which could actually persuade me to buy a couple.

Pricing

The pricing is… atrocious. Really, it is. If you’re going to make us pay for them, then I’m going to take a page from Jasan’s book and say:

THINK IN FIVES

Five is the magic number for games. Virtually everything you pay for in a game is a multiple of five. However, most stay within that beautiful £5 margin. Why is it pounds? You may ask. It’s really rather simple: British Pounds are currently one of the most valuable currencies that are commonly available for spending in-game. Fit everything into that margin and it’s still affordable in any currency.

So, as a guideline: the Tier 2 ships should be worth no more than £5. Increase that price by 25% per Tier. So a Tier 3 ship is £6.25 and a Tier 4 is £7.50. A Tier 1 ship, following this pattern, would be a nice £3.75. These are just guidelines, so you don’t have to use 25% as the increase, but any more than 40% becomes overpriced.

Synergy

Premium ships are known for their synergy starting at their maximum value.

I say scrap this.

Instead, they start from level 1, like all other credit-based ships, but gain synergy 50% faster. It’s not P2W, but P2GL. So they reach maximum synergy faster.

Combat Efficiency

If I’m paying for a ship I want it to be worth it when it’s in the field. Bonuses are arguably what make these ships better, but it isn’t enough. So, here’s my fix:

All the premiums you can buy in a Tier count as the maximum Rank for that Tier.
At maximum synergy, they are marginally better than a credit-based ship of the same Rank.
The above can be implemented in any way you like, except for bonuses. I’m talking slight resistance boosts, slightly increased speed, higher hull and shield values etc.

As an example, let’s take the Anaconda and Anaconda Mk3. Pretend they both are Rank 9 and have the same slot counts and the suchalike. All values are just made up, but you get the general idea.

Anaconda

Hull: 10000

Shields: 10000

Resists, Hull: -15/45/15

Resists, Shield: 30/-30/0

Speed: 180m/s

Energy: 800

Anaconda Mk3

Hull: 10250

Shields: 10250

Resists, Hull: -10/50/20

Resists, Shield: 35/-25/5

Speed: 185m/s

Energy: 820

That’s just as an example.

Bonuses

The new Sai is a very good example of these. I believe it has an extra +26% crit damage, +21% crit chance, and +30% beacon capture speed. The crit bonuses are very appealing, but they could make the ship overpowered when combined with combat efficiency bonuses. So, either give them some good bonuses like these, OR increase their combat efficiency.

And that’s all I have to say.

3338318 · July 6, 2013, 8:18am

So, first they make it non-P2W, and you want to place it right in the P2W corner? That is a terrible idea…

The premium ships right now are good. Want to paym oney instead of grind? here have this premium ship that is as good as the R3/6/9/12 version of it.

Want to grind instead of pay money? go ahead, R3/6/9/12 ships are just as good!

I like this ssytem and I think it would be bad to undo it.

5770941 · July 6, 2013, 8:24am

What did I do to make it P2W? It’s still P2GL.

The combat efficiemcy bonuses are supposed to be marginal and not make much of a difference. The boosts I gave would not all be applied, maybe just extra energy and speed. I only gave all of them a boost to show what the boosts should look like at best.

3338318 · July 6, 2013, 8:26am

If they become even slightly better than their F2P ships, it is a slippery slope to full P2W ships.

Some ships already are borderline P2W, but most aren’t.

I dislike giving premium ships extra things, since I doubt they need em.

594424 · July 6, 2013, 8:27am

Hello
most of the premium ships should already be equal to max rank ships. At least the amount of module slots.

But I can only repeat, we do not want to make the game P2W. Premium content should save you some time for grinding, but it should not give you a bigger advantage in battle. Saving the time for grinding Synergy and no repair costs are already a nice bonus.

3075578 · July 6, 2013, 10:02am

Hello

most of the premium ships should already be equal to max rank ships. At least the amount of module slots.

But I can only repeat, we do not want to make the game P2W. Premium content should save you some time for grinding, but it should not give you a bigger advantage in battle. Saving the time for grinding Synergy and no repair costs are already a nice bonus.

There is no Rank 9 Tackler.

There is no Imperial Rank 9 Gunship.

There is no Rank 9 Recon.

Should I go on, poppet?

594424 · July 6, 2013, 10:24am

There is no Rank 9 Tackler.

There is no Imperial Rank 9 Gunship.

There is no Rank 9 Recon.

Should I go on, poppet?

We are aware of the balance issues and there will be more balance patches in the near future.

3075578 · July 6, 2013, 11:04am

We are aware of the balance issues and there will be more balance patches in the near future.

It’s not a question of balance, in these cases. It’s the fact that the race’s mainstream ships are completely gone. I believe I already posted about that somewhere, so I’ll try not to repeat myself on this…

594424 · July 6, 2013, 11:07am

It’s not a question of balance, in these cases. It’s the fact that the race’s mainstream ships are completely gone. I believe I already posted about that somewhere, so I’ll try not to repeat myself on this…

These are mostly issues belonging to the ship tree and this goes to the balance area.

3402178 · July 6, 2013, 1:44pm

As I said in another thread, it isn’t pay to win if they are filling a different role.

The Scout and Dwarf 2 are a good example. The Scout is better at straight-up combat; its weapons do 5% more damage and it has four medium missiles as opposed to one large. However, the Dwarf 2 has a single large missile - typically used to deploy a minefield - and its Recon abilities have longer range.

Both ships could have equal survivability without the Scout being “pay to win”. Yes, the Scout would beat the Dwarf 2 in a straight up fight, but the Dwarf 2 could Spy Drone the Scout, Cloak and disengage long before its Premium counterpart entered weapons range!

This is what I’d like to see from Premiums - I want them cheap, and I want a lot of them! I’d like to see the Scout given better armour. I’d also like a second variant on the Dwarf - perhaps one with less Survivability but a better Microwarp, or more survivability but without the Recon range boost…

In effect, the standard ships are the normal progression, and Premiums would be for people who want to try something a little different with the ship.