Administrators Alex Posted July 14, 2017 Author Administrators Share Posted July 14, 2017 Just now, Ripper said: @Alex, this makes sense for some of the services: e.g. you should pay regularly to avoid seeing in-game advertisements, since people also pay for the advertisements. There are other features of VIP though that should actually be purchased once: e.g. if I change my military icons, I should be able to keep them, the same way I buy a flag. And then, if I want to change them, I have to pay again. My suggestion: decouple some of the VIP services. Let people keep their customized nation page but lose all other advantages. The entire point of VIP is that it's a subscription service, and that it's a way to pay for the game's costs without being pay-to-win. That's why I added things like custom military images, was to incentivize people to buy and keep VIP. Making them one time costs really defeats the purpose of that, you buy VIP once and then what do we do to pay for costs the next month? Make Credits worth more, I guess. Then people complain about how the game is "pay-to-win." I'd be happy to let everyone have custom flags, images, etc. all the time, and just charge everyone $5 a month to play the game, but people obviously wouldn't agree to that and would quit, and the game would die. I'm trying to keep things as free and fair as possible, and VIP subscriptions are ideally the best way to go about that. But it only works when people renew their subscriptions. Which isn't happening because they've been able to keep most of the benefits without paying for them as-is, which is why I'm finally fixing that. 1 Is there a bug? Report It | Not understanding game mechanics? Ask About It | Got a good idea? Suggest ItForums Rules | Game Link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
durmij Posted July 14, 2017 Share Posted July 14, 2017 This isn't really an update worth getting upset over. I'm not sure why everyone is hung up on clause 5. It's pretty standard to have subscription benefits end when a subscription does. It's even less of an issue in this case because all of those benefits are cosmetic. My hot takes on these changes: 1. Should have been there at the launch of the feature. 2 and 3: Necessary changes to give new players a leg up into the game. 4: Should have been there at the launch of the feature. 5: Should have been like this at launch of the game. 6: Should have been a there at the launch of the feature. Seriously, these changes are all basic maintenance type features. None of this should be shocking. 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjI4ROuPyuY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUUEHv8GHcE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callum Posted July 14, 2017 Share Posted July 14, 2017 4 hours ago, Alex said: Which isn't happening because they've been able to keep most of the benefits without paying for them as-is. I'd completely forgotten the cover image was VIP. mostly because you could never justify paying for it as a subscription. its a one off purchase no different than the flags. you want to change it? buy another credit and do whatever. well two can play at that game if you want to be sponger, i'll just have to turn on ad-block. as you offer nothing in return for my ad revenue. If nothing else its commendable to you can find more ways to lock this already bare bones games behind more paywalls. I look forward when you start putting infra caps on non-vip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azkar Posted July 14, 2017 Share Posted July 14, 2017 If only Alex could monetize salt, he'd never have to sell another credit again. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WISD0MTREE Posted July 15, 2017 Share Posted July 15, 2017 1 hour ago, Callum said: well two can play at that game if you want to be sponger, i'll just have to turn on ad-block. as you offer nothing in return for my ad revenue. If nothing else its commendable to you can find more ways to lock this already bare bones games behind more paywalls. I look forward when you start putting infra caps on non-vip. Sheepy will be so damaged by your $0.0008 per page click. Except for the game itself. The point of VIP is to keep the game away from pay to win, as Sheepy knows the game will die faster than . It's in his interest to not become a pay to win game. (Pay to win games are quite interesting in this perspective. Majority of their money comes from whales buying items to make them stronger against players who don't pay. Put another way, the whales pay to slay the non-payers, effectively making weak players some form of content within the game. Being killed by overpowered items has a negative effect on retention rate, so the pay to win game has to spend more on advertising to obtain enough players for the whales to fight. If they don't, the whales leave and the game dies.) 54 minutes ago, Azkar said: If only Alex could monetize salt, he'd never have to sell another credit again. Absolutely. Hell, he could probably pay off his student loans with it. Just maybe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callum Posted July 15, 2017 Share Posted July 15, 2017 Don't get me wrong Wisd0mTree, im well aware of how petty im being, But as far as im concerned most of the items he offers as a subscription. should be "X credit per change" things. X$ a month just so Sheepy will allow me to use an image hosted by a separate company. is nothing more than a money grab. he realized he could potentially make more money changing the system in place under the guise of correcting an error. such underhand tactics dont make me want to give any more money to such a questionable company. especially when he's allegedly given up on P&W to make another NS game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthur James Posted July 15, 2017 Share Posted July 15, 2017 @Alex/Sheepy Please increase the allowance of civil healthcare buildings or create a "project" like cental healthcare bldg to increase the counterance of pollution/disease ability. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Alex Posted July 15, 2017 Author Administrators Share Posted July 15, 2017 9 hours ago, Callum said: Don't get me wrong Wisd0mTree, im well aware of how petty im being, But as far as im concerned most of the items he offers as a subscription. should be "X credit per change" things. X$ a month just so Sheepy will allow me to use an image hosted by a separate company. is nothing more than a money grab. he realized he could potentially make more money changing the system in place under the guise of correcting an error. such underhand tactics dont make me want to give any more money to such a questionable company. especially when he's allegedly given up on P&W to make another NS game. It's not as if I took away custom cover images and hid them behind the VIP paywall, or anything of that sort. Custom cover images were added specifically as a VIP feature. Before they were a VIP feature they weren't in the game at all. That's how all the VIP stuff is - I never took custom flags and made you have VIP to use them. Is there a bug? Report It | Not understanding game mechanics? Ask About It | Got a good idea? Suggest ItForums Rules | Game Link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seryozha Nikanor Posted July 16, 2017 Share Posted July 16, 2017 On 7/14/2017 at 2:12 PM, Alex said: Again, I don't understand. The point of a VIP subscription is that it's not supposed to last indefinitely. It's not a one time purchase. It's a subscription. Because it is a big !@#$ing inconvenience. When I have re-upload. What if somebody loses their files? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kowloon Sword Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 On 7/15/2017 at 1:43 PM, Callum said: especially when he's allegedly given up on P&W to make another NS game. Very interesting. Will it be better than P&W? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sailor Jerry Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 (edited) So as to the #5 about VIP custom images. I've used Photobucket since '09 for images.....since this minor change, on my VIP page, now I have this "Please update your account to enable 3rd party hosting.....for important info, please go to www.photobucket.com/P500". So I just went to it and they want to change me $399 to upgrade! !@#$ that, everything was fine until this change apparently.....if it can't be fixed or resolved.....why the hell would I ever extend my VIP status....which is still good for another 26 days! What a !@#$ ing waste of time and I'm sure as hell not wasting my money! THANKS SHEEPS!!!!!! P.S. I just noticed it on my sig now as well.......this is awesome!!!!! Edited July 17, 2017 by Sailor Jerry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azkar Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 @Sailor Jerry The timing is a coincidence. Photobucket recently disabled hotlinking across the board. Use imgur, or some other image host, instead. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Alex Posted July 17, 2017 Author Administrators Share Posted July 17, 2017 On 7/15/2017 at 10:36 PM, Seryozha Nikanor said: Because it is a big !@#$ing inconvenience. When I have re-upload. What if somebody loses their files? You don't have to re-upload anything unless you let your subscription lapse. So long as you renew before it lapses, you'll never have this issue. 3 hours ago, Sailor Jerry said: So as to the #5 about VIP custom images. I've used Photobucket since '09 for images.....since this minor change, on my VIP page, now I have this "Please update your account to enable 3rd party hosting.....for important info, please go to www.photobucket.com/P500". So I just went to it and they want to change me $399 to upgrade! !@#$ that, everything was fine until this change apparently.....if it can't be fixed or resolved.....why the hell would I ever extend my VIP status....which is still good for another 26 days! What a !@#$ ing waste of time and I'm sure as hell not wasting my money! THANKS SHEEPS!!!!!! P.S. I just noticed it on my sig now as well.......this is awesome!!!!! That had nothing to do with this update, this is just Photobucket trying to squeeze money out of people. I'd recommend using imgur.com Is there a bug? Report It | Not understanding game mechanics? Ask About It | Got a good idea? Suggest ItForums Rules | Game Link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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