Upcoming Supporter Changes Ideas | Price Poll

Maybe vault access could be one way...you can transfer items to utopia but not from Utopia. If vault access is going to be limited or taken away on Utopia, we will need plenty of warning so we can remove items we want to access on other servers.

I would rather keep the full vault access if EULA can be interrpreted to allow it. Personally, I don't think utopia offers any significant advantages in gathering materials. If it is a dealbreaker, just switch Utopia from daylight only to regular. That is the only advantage I can think of and it is a minor one. Perhaps other people feel differently, about the daylight only, but that is my opinion.

EMC also has to worry about alienating current supporters. They are trying to make the changes in ways that are fair to those that have donated and put time in building things on Utopia. No server (or any business or organization for that matter) is ever going to do everything exactly how you want it, unless you start your own.

It wouldn't matter if its significant advantages or not. The EULA is clear that any advantage is bad.

Put it short, anything sold for real money cannot result in any gameplay difference.

Also keep in mind that if Utopia is separate, it has to be completely separate. Users have to log out of the other servers and log in to Utopia. To the EULA, which this has been answered in Q and A, if the client doesn't have to logout its the same server.

What spirit? The one trying to be a huge PITA to the entire Minecraft community?

I never said I 'agreed' to the spirit of the EULA. . This whole nonsense is pointless. Anyone smart would only be playing in servers that they agree to being Pay To Win or not play them.

That said though, I don't intend to play on a server that violates the EULA because that risks losing all my work if they get shut down because of it.

Well using that logic, no one would ever play on any server, because it could go out of business because of lack of funding or the owners simply moving on. Nothing in life is guaranteed, but EMC has been around a long time and is trying very hard to survive.

That said, it is good to have critical points of view, so that everything gets worked out before Aug 1st. I think details are still being worked out and nothing is set yet.

There is nothing wrong with using the logic that I only want to play on Legal servers.

a very good idea, have a place where you can buy the ranks/supporter perks or whatever they'll end up being called.. and then have a separate thing for donating. where anyone can send as much as they want/can at any given time.. not set on a monthly thing, its just whenever, and that is where they can donate any amount, not just a set price, so someone could donate 1$ or 500$ .. whatever they feel they want to send.

perhaps have a "cookie jar" of some sort or a loading bar that shows the amount donated with supporter packs and donations so everyone can see how far off we are from getting the monthly needed funds? i've seen lots of servers have that.. its easy to tell when its funded, or when it needs more for that month!
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yeah yeah but to me, it doesn't look like just a donation is all. perhaps just have a button or a place that says you can. i wouldn't have thought they were actually "donation" things, even though they really are xD but still. lol

To be completely honest here, I really feel like the cosmetic pack isn't worth more than 5 dollars. I voted for 10 and 10, but if there had been a 10 and 5 option, I would have voted for that.

Here's my logic.

I think lots of people would be willing to pay 5 dollars for the cosmetic pack. The effects are desirable, but not desirable enough that I could EVER convince myself to pay 10 dollars for them.

I think lots of people would be willing to pay 10 dollars for the current supporter pack. It's a shame that you won't be able to include supporters getting extra lots, as I think that's a big reason lots of people went with the previous diamond rank in the past.

And finally, combined, that would make 15 dollars. From what I have seen, the most common donator rank has been gold. As a gold donator myself, I could convince myself to pay 5 dollars more to get both of these packs, and I believe that lots of users would feel the same way. So while you wouldn't be making more money at once, in bulk, I strongly feel that you'd be making more money simply because more people would purchase at these prices. I don't think you need to worry about your revenue dropping, in all honesty I think I'll be MORE likely to purchase donator status with these changes.

One last concern. You say that more colors will be available, excluding black and gray. PLEASE tell me you will also be excluding those silly moving gibberish symbols? People having those in their names is one of the major things I can't stand about other servers. EMC looks so much less eye-searing with it's simple colors.

I apologize if these points have been addressed all ready, I'm getting ready to head out the door, but wanted to throw in my two cents before I did.

I'm going to have argue that $10 would be fine. My reasoning is mainly psychological, if someone sees $10 as the cheapest package, they'll think it's reasonable but when there's also a $5 they'll begin to think that $10 is unreasonable. If you want to cover costs, you'll have to rely on little tricks like this.

Some people (especially those already familiar with the current system) may think it's unfair, but it'll eventually be accepted by most.

I will agree here however The moving symbols are useless and annoying, and everything just looks absolutely messy. I would have thought that it would have been excluded anyway though

I voted "can't support" right now but that has more to do with my financial state at the moment than an unwillingness to support. My feeling is that as stand-alone, either should be $10, with the option to get both for $15-$17. That's based on what I personally feel like I'd be comfortable with.

Edit: I also think you need to consider that although more people who voted seemed comfortable with around a $20 price-point, those are existing players. I really have no idea what other servers with P2P/Supporter are asking for, but you need to consider that whatever pricepoint you choose needs to be appealing enough to new players as well as those who already play and love EMC.

While the overall may still not be a plausible remedy to the current situation, it was indeed only a suggestion with an example of possibility. Yes each server appears to have 1504 residences of which all are surely not filled. And they are definitely not all in use continuously because the max players on server at one time is 60, and I have never seen 250 players in game at once. So with those thoughts in mind, there has to be some flexibility in how the overall idea of having paid servers and free servers split up would work.

From what I can tell, we are headed to some sort of split in servers anyways with the main issue being: "Will the free players still be able to come to my utopia plot to spend their money on my goods?".

Mojang said :

So with that being said, I don't see how the Utopia can be accessed by free players. And at this point with all the talk of supporter levels and such which I know is needed, I am at a loss as to where the free player falls in the mix.

I suppose you could still leave Utopia accessible to the free realm, but as an example of what can be done in the paid server with no ability to live there anymore, but everyone could visit and see it with everything enshrined in protected mode for free / new users to observe. Utopians could build monuments to be remembered by for this point in time.

When looking specifically at what Mojang said :

Currently we use "play.emc.gs" to connect to the server. All one would have to do is add "play.emc.free.gs" or "play.emc.supporter.gs" to differentiate the two and you would have the option to offer both.

If it were me, I would simply mirror the servers as they are now and put a duplicate on another host name. Then allow all users to connect to the free server, and only supporters to connect to their respective server. Yes, this would cause a utopian problem which would cause free users to not have use of utopia, but for me, I have never been to utopia, and I am a free user atm. Also on that note, as a free user I did not realize I was permitted to go to the Utopian server in the first place, as this was not made clear. But when I can support that is one of the benefits I look forward to, and I see that as a draw on the game to encourage players to change from free to supporter. You could even make more wastelands or frontiers available to certain supporter groups and by that I mean they could be added later to make supporter level more appealing.

With the mirrored server / separate host model, you could still offer multiple paid tiers, albeit non-interacting tiers, and still offer the cosmetic package to any tier. The idea of being a supporter would give you multiple residences in that you would gain access to the paid server(s) and the free in which each has a residence you can claim. Diamond supporters could gain access to the free and Gold server too. I agree the way things are currently with access to all is nice, but Mojang has laid down the gauntlet. I know I am not the only player that plays multiple games or even instances of Minecraft, so I do see this as a viable option.

As far as this supporter package and the cosmetics package deal goes, I think one should structure their game to survive on the supporter package(s), and then all revenue from cosmetic would be gravy for future development. Having played games that seemed to bank on cosmetic changes, it appears they found themselves in a bind, and have gone more towards game enhancement perks to fund their existence. I recommend laying the foundation of support with supporters, and build upon that foundation with the intake from the cosmetic purchases.

I also would like to 2nd the motion that battmeghs proposed with regards to a donation / supporter to cost of operation vial or goal themometer. Even though I have not been a supporter, if I saw the empire in a pinch, I would do what I could to help if I saw it was critical, and I feel many others would too.

Still praying for your guidance in this endeavor Aikar, and LONG LIVE THE EMPIRE!

... I was only planning on getting the cosmetic package and I was fine with 10 dollars...

or you could get nothing when the server has to be shut down. stop complaining please D: aikar is trying to figure things out so that it fits most of everyone's abilities and still be able to afford everything..
and he did mean a 10$ cosmetic pack.. he meant 20$ in total with the 10$ supporter and 10$ cosmetic.. so i don't know where you were meaning it wans't >_<

I think he was saying he'd be happy paying $10 for the cosmetic package rather than the $7 that was brought up. I don't think he was complaining.

Server downsizing will come long before closure, we don't need 5 top of the line expensive as hell servers, but we have them.