Alternative to Hunter Reqs Per Entry

[heartbreak_courier]

I brought this up in another thread, but I thought it might be worth discussing. I'm of the opinion that charging hunter reqs per expedition entry is too unpredictable, and when things go wrong, that means a customer and customer support being tied up over items that amount to 40-ish cents each.

SWTOR has this model set in place for their PvE dungeons (flashpoints):

* All SWTOR players have access to the PvE content (in our case, it would be expeditions)

* F2P players may run the content three times a week without paying and still get dungeon loot (just like we have now)

* After those three passes have been used up, F2P players can still run dungeons but do not have access to loot. To regain access, they either purchase a "weekly pass," which returns access to dungeon loot for a week, or subscribe. (Or wait a week for their three free passes to refresh.)

* Subscribers have constant access to loot for the duration of their subscription.

Obviously, the Defiance DLC content already has something similar in place, and I think this has only helped the game. I know many people who participate in Warmaster and do not own Arkbreaker, but it keeps the content populated. Alcatraz was supposed to be the social hub/endgame, but it's already looking empty, and a lot of the folks in my clan are either holding off on buying hunter reqs or are just not interested, which leaves the content empty for people who are buying hunter reqs and might force them to reconsider purchasing another batch. My friend and I went a whole expedition without anyone being added in with us. (Admittedly, it could be on account of matchmaking instability.)

Adopting the SWTOR model would also mean fewer instances of customers having to contact support. If I drop out or get disconnected during an expedition I paid for individually, I would contact support. If something similar happened during a "Weekly Pass" or during a Patron subscription, I would just requeue.

Not an economics major and I don't have insight into the company's inner workings, but I thought I'd throw that out there while we're voicing our opinions. I think expeditions should be monetized, but as-is, for as much as I enjoy them, I think this is acting more as a barrier than anything else. Not only between us and the content, but the company and steady revenue.

[duction]

What about being kicked out of the expedition by a team after you just paid to go in?

[Graywolfe]

I saw another good idea for the expeditions which involved the entering them to be free no HR required but the HR would be used for the revives only. I thought that a good idea so there would be no loss of HR due to any problems staying in but the HR would still be needed to stay alive to reach the higher rounds.

[Alisis]

I saw another good idea for the expeditions which involved the entering them to be free no HR required but the HR would be used for the revives only. I thought that a good idea so there would be no loss of HR due to any problems staying in but the HR would still be needed to stay alive to reach the higher rounds.

I had mentioned the whole free to enter and HR to rez bit. Its all about marketing. People are more likely to spend money on hrs for rezes than they are to go into expeditions. The whole have to purchase em to enter has accomplished 1 thing: Players use their weekly 1 and then go play a different game. Come back a week later and use it again then poof off to a dif game. Which in the gaming industry is a bad thing. You want people to play. The longer they play consecutively the better the chance that they will spend money in the cs. Ie, the more they play expeditions, the higher the chances that they will fork over the cash for the rez. The more people playing = more hrs sold. Its much better to have 500 players buyin reqs for rezes than 50 buying them for entrance.

[RevyTwoHands1987]

I will not pay for HR ever.the only thing I will spend my money on is toon slots and inventory slots.

[Derailer]

I will not pay for HR ever.the only thing I will spend my money on is toon slots and inventory slots.

Salvage should buy HRs and solve all the worlds problems. Even if they cost a lot it would still beat sitting on millions of useless salvage forever.

[Cryptic Effect]

Salvage should buy HRs and solve all the worlds problems. Even if they cost a lot it would still beat sitting on millions of useless salvage forever.

They will never give more uses for salvage. If you ask if they would add a feature that uses salvage the answer with sure they are always looking to add more uses for arkforge even though we are talking about salvage.

[Elucidate]

I had mentioned the whole free to enter and HR to rez bit. Its all about marketing. People are more likely to spend money on hrs for rezes than they are to go into expeditions. The whole have to purchase em to enter has accomplished 1 thing: Players use their weekly 1 and then go play a different game. Come back a week later and use it again then poof off to a dif game. Which in the gaming industry is a bad thing. You want people to play. The longer they play consecutively the better the chance that they will spend money in the cs. Ie, the more they play expeditions, the higher the chances that they will fork over the cash for the rez. The more people playing = more hrs sold. Its much better to have 500 players buyin reqs for rezes than 50 buying them for entrance.

Why bother even ressurecting if that's the case? After round 3 the loot chance is practically the same. If they had FREE entry then nobody would bother paying for hunter reqs. I for one bought some mainly to enter...as far as revives go...if you need that much revives then you're clearly not using the right load outs or your group is just trying to rush it without thinking. I can easily get up to round 7 even with PUGS as long as they're willing to listen. I have yet to pay for a revive for anything less than round 5 for PUGS and zero for clan group runs.

I honestly don't understand the whole complaining about the freebie ones per week given. Honestly you only need 1 token per day, and honestly, given that it's a freebie, 3 a week isn't so bad

[heartbreak_courier]

What about being kicked out of the expedition by a team after you just paid to go in?

Yup. That's definitely one of the reasons I'd prefer SWTOR's model over the present one. If expeditions were unlimited with a subscription, or if I had purchased a "Weekly Pass" that likewise allows unlimited expeditions for a week, then I'd be a lot more comfortable with my purchase. It wouldn't be such an all-or-nothing thing.

But spending money and then getting booted or getting placed in an expedition alone with my group in a separate one (which happened to me), that won't encourage me to buy more anytime soon. With the sub/weekly pass thing, I would be angry, but I would just requeue. I wouldn't have a need to contact support.

EDIT: Also saw that getting downed in water can force an auto-extract, apparently. The likelihood of things going wacky just seems way too high to charge per entry.