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Subscription vs Permanent Donation Ranks

HyperCipher's Avatar HyperCipher7/19/14 7:55 am
1 emeralds 2.3k 17
9/17/2014 1:24 am
CraftedEvil's Avatar CraftedEvil
Hey everyone,

Over the past few weeks the community has witnessed more and more servers transferring from permanent one off payment to a subscription based donation system. Most noticeably Mineplex, the largest server network out there. A lot of them are blaming the upcoming EULA changes for the change in their systems. This is not because the EULA actually specifies against permanent ranks (like most of the Mineplex players seems to believe), but because the server owners are worried that they will not generate enough income to sustain the servers.

The main worry lies with if the community would donate purely for cosmetic goods, a lot of owners think not and therefore are turning to a subscription based system to make sure the few that do donate, keep donating month after month. However is this really going to work?

If players no longer donate due to not liking the idea that their ranks will run out, then these new systems will do the exact opposite of what they are meant for and actually reduce the amount of income. As a result I have created this poll to ask you, the community, what you think about subscription vs permanent ranks.

Now of course a subscription and a permanent rank will not cost the same, and therefore to make this a little easier to compare I have compiled two example stores for you all to compare. Each with three different ranks, which increase with perks and value as they increase in price.

The Permanent Rank Prices:
Hero = $20
Champion = $50
Legend = $100

The Subscription Rank Prices:
Hero [1 Month] = $5
Hero [3 Months] = $12.50 *Save $2.50*
Hero [6 Months] = $20 *Save $10*

Champion [1 Month] = $10
Champion [3 Months] = $25 *Save $5*
Champion [6 Months] = $40 *Save $20*

Legend [1 Month] = $15
Legend [3 Months] = $37.50 *Save $7.50*
Legend [6 Months] = $60 *Save $30*

So which system would you prefer? Pay that little bit more and have the rank for ever, or pay less and have a temporary rank. One more thing to take into consideration is that the subscription system would allow you test the rank for a month if you wished to, and it also allows you to only pay as much as you would use it. So if you got bored of a server 3 months down the line you can stop your subscription.

Which ever you prefer, please vote in the poll above and hopefully we can get a good idea of what the community would prefer as a whole.

Regards,
Hyper
Posted by HyperCipher's Avatar
HyperCipher
Level 16 : Journeyman Mountaineer
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17

1
09/17/2014 1:24 am
Level 21 : Expert Engineer
CraftedEvil
CraftedEvil's Avatar
10/10 would never buy a subscription rank ever. Unless I only planned to pay like $5 for 3 months on a server that I only planned to play for that long.
1
09/17/2014 1:21 am
Level 53 : Grandmaster Artist
Miss Shadowz
Miss Shadowz's Avatar
If people still had the option of permanently purchasing it, I'd be okay with it.
1
09/17/2014 12:04 am
Level 1 : New Miner
BlockyCowz
BlockyCowz's Avatar
Well, Mineplex changed their ranks back to permanent, and I'm pretty sure they're re-adding Ultra kits soon. Happy now, haters?
1
07/19/2014 10:38 am
Level 31 : Artisan Dragonborn
WTFshady
WTFshady's Avatar
What PrototypeTheta said. It's the best advice in this forum post.
1
07/19/2014 10:28 am
Level 27 : Expert Taco
experttacobear
experttacobear's Avatar
Why would you offer Hero for 6 months for 20 dollars when you can buy it forever for 20 dollars also?
1
07/19/2014 11:33 am
Level 16 : Journeyman Toast
DiscoToad
DiscoToad's Avatar
They switched so the permanent isn't available.
1
07/19/2014 11:18 am
Level 16 : Journeyman Mountaineer
HyperCipher
HyperCipher's Avatar
they are two separate store examples, you would not be able to buy perm ranks in the subscription store.
1
07/19/2014 9:56 am
Level 77 : Legendary Robot
PrototypeTheta
PrototypeTheta's Avatar
Interesting. I'm going to start having to look at this myself. I can scab ~$35 from adf.ly a month (significantly more if I make a release that month), but I'm probably going to need more if I ever see something approaching any degree of success.

I think I'd use permanent ranks over subscriptions, and instead of giving in game items, donators would be involved in the planning process for events like war games, build-offs ect. Subscription only seems a little unnecessary for what's being done here. And seems a little too aggressive a business model for running the average server. It makes more sense for large servers, but smaller servers should probably stay with permanent ranks.

If all else fails I'll probably go and rob a bank or something.
1
07/19/2014 8:41 am
Level 26 : Expert Toast
Cheezbergur11
Cheezbergur11's Avatar
I've hosted 2 servers before - my old server that shut down and my new one that I run atm.

The old one, I had ranks like this -

Premium - $10 (6 months)
Elite - $20 (9 months)
VIP - $40 (12 months)

I got 1 donation, out of the 4 months the server was running. It was for Premium.

Now what I have:

Sponsor - $5 (lasts a lifetime)
Premium - $15 (lifetime)
Elite - $30 (lifetime)
VIP - $40 (lifetime)

I have gotten 7 donations out of the 2 1/2 months the server has been out. 3 for Sponsor, 2 for Premium, 1 for Elite and 1 for VIP.

So yeah. From experience, permanent will definitely work better.
1
07/19/2014 8:35 am
Level 81 : Elite Witch
Crescendo
Crescendo's Avatar
I don't personally buy ranks on servers but I can see the appeal of permanent prices- after all in the long term it's cheaper.

I hope people keep donating cause I just don't have the cash to do so really xD
1
07/19/2014 8:30 am
Level 1 : New Miner
Monk_Craft
Monk_Craft's Avatar
Mineplex is one of my favourite servers, don't be haters and also if your annoyed about the rankings go on a different server just don't hate on it...
1
07/19/2014 8:10 am
Level 12 : Journeyman Skinner
coolDog107
coolDog107's Avatar
Mineplex sucks. I would LOVE to see it crashed and disappeared from Planet Earth. Now they try to bypass the EULA?! I hate Mineplex. Mojang said NO SERVERS ARE AN EXCEPTION TO THE EULA. Mojang, please take down Mineplex. I don't want to see Mineplex in my eyes.
1
09/17/2014 12:30 am
Level 33 : Artisan Architect
Marthellio
Marthellio's Avatar
Personally I thionk mineplex is average, but why u be judging <3
1
07/19/2014 8:44 am
Level 26 : Expert Toast
Cheezbergur11
Cheezbergur11's Avatar
1) As said before, they aren't bypassing the EULA

2) Mojang can't really take a server down unless they either shut all servers down or hack into that computer to take it down, and they have no reason to, since Mineplex is in compliance.

3) There's this thing you can do, where if you don't like a server, you can just not go on instead of hating on it.

4) Why do you hate Mineplex so much anyway?
1
07/19/2014 8:17 am
Level 16 : Journeyman Mountaineer
HyperCipher
HyperCipher's Avatar
Doesn't seem like you read my post, Mineplex are changing their ranks for the reason that they plan to comply with the upcoming EULA and fear that subscriptions are the only way they will be able to generate enough money for the server.
1
07/19/2014 8:12 am
Level 27 : Expert Dragon
DAP
DAP's Avatar
They aren't bypassing the EULA - they are complying to it. Mojang said no pay2win, and they are trying to change their server so it isn't that way.
1
07/19/2014 8:05 am
Level 39 : Artisan Blob
Chrix12
Chrix12's Avatar
Good thing I don't care about ranks at all.
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