Murderhobo

Asazami I completely agree with you. I am leaving Aion, there's no point in playing with the kinah drops nerfed when every thing else remains the same price. In a quick cash grab NC has delt a critical blow to themselves and the game.

So, no one has any ideas for attracting new players? I mean all the ideas and hope for 2.0 is good for existing players who want to make an alt, but I don't think that is enough to draw in new players. This game has two components story and pvp. The issue is that the story is now hidden behind a pay wall, so what is there to this game to get a new player? Most people now a days have cellphones, the games there can be a person's first interaction with gaming. Now how many people have bought something off one of these handheld games and regretted it? I have, I bought an upgraded weapon on a game and after the purchase I learned I had to clear three more levels just to use the darn thing. Now take that experience and look how Aion works. The new player is playing and after the first hour the game stops them from picking up items that are only for the NPC. You wouldn't fight the birds for feathers in any part of this game except the NPC wants them. So now you are having flash backs to when you bought that weapon and can't use it! First impressions are everything and F2P people do buy in eventually if they like the game enough...I did until recently. So from a new player point of view why would you pay to do something from the story line? Or to farm money? You need both but you have to pay to do either, so why bother playing the game at all? This is why you will see a new player on for a little bit then see the message in chat "What does it mean I can't pick up items at this time?". We respond with "It means you need to buy the Aura." and that player may or may not decide to quit the game entirely. If you want to bring in new players let them be able to pick up quest items and farm white gear and kinah again. There was no need to hide these bare basics behind a pay wall other than NC is trying to force the subscription on people. Cultivating new players is a balancing act. You don't want to give everything away, but if you give nothing away then your player base shrinks to the point where only the end gamers are left and that is where we are now. You can't even complete the fruit collection at the first level now without the aura so why would new players waste their time or money on a game that is sliding into the P2W category now?

Here's an idea that would help get new players, allow f2p players to get kinah without the aura...yep that was the last thing the devs took on the last update to try to force f2p players to buy subscriptions, and now all that is left for the most part are end gamers who if they want to stay relevant must pay for the aura now. So yay?

I have no clue what NA's thinking, and unless my system glitched you can't even pick up kinah outside the aura now, so where is the player enticement? I don't know. I have played this game on and off since it went free to play way back when. A free to player had so much freedom to explore the quests and pick up items to sell or use. Now the game has been nerfed down to where you must buy the aura to even play it. To those that want to chime in and say "Well it used to be pay to play." I know. The problem is when you go free to play new customers will play the game for the first hour and when the game shuts that player down completely after the first hour it leaves the new player thinking "Well here's the pay wall!" A very quick turnoff. Anyone notice how Raid shadow legends is advertising like crazy again? It's not just the third year of the game. They lost a huge hunk of the player base due to the gotcha game aspect. Once customers no longer see value in a hobby or pass time activity they move on. All the people in charge of Aion are doing is causing the game to die faster by nerfing everything in the game. But then again the game is ten years old so as much as I hate to say it maybe it's time for Aion to be shut down.

Tron you are 100% correct, free gets them to the door, but when the free runs out and the game basically locks down to being unplayable customers will NOT spend money on it. The product is ten years old and glitchy as f (I always know when an Ely is in my area as I get a great big lag for a few seconds games shouldn't have a tell like that). Oh and now you can't even farm kinah now so what is there to entice? Here is another tid bit for you I used to buy the monthly subscription, but I stopped to funnel the money into a different hobby. Now that the game is unplayable (can't farm anything at all) there is no point in playing it outside my one hour a week. Also the later comments confirm what I said earlier the game is stagnate, the same players playing maybe different characters, but the numbers are not going up.

Tron businesses use "free" to entice new customers, but when the free product disappoints new customers it fails.

Does the sub model make the game play any better? Do you get special items? The reason most companies will move from a sub model to f2p is because there is not enough people subbing. The f2p model is to bring in new players, but if the new players get blocked from basic quests by a pay wall they will more than likely leave and not come back. Now you might think that is fine we don't need people here that don't want to play, but how many people have actually come back? The server merged and the last time I heard a head count (a few months ago) it was 64, on a Saturday. This is a problem because the game isn't designed for 64 players but hundreds or even thousands of players. This is also why you see messages from players offering 50 mil for Kromede's Spear. The rng (random number generator) isn't set up for 64 people, it needs hundreds to complete the sequence to get the rarer items to drop. Not only that but everyone has been complaining that the drop rates aren't working right. A small number of players can't trigger the drops. Another thing to take into consideration is that four months of saved up subscription fees can buy Elden Ring a new game with a new storyline and gaming experience. Don't get me wrong I like Aion, but if the player pool keeps shrinking eventually the company will take it down.

So, I recently let my subscription lapse thinking it wouldn't matter. I am not doing dredge with a level 50 character, or really interested in getting crafting supplies. I am leveling up a new character slowly so I can enjoy the game at a slow pace. However, today I learned you can no longer pick up quest items with out a subscription. The game is now playable for an hour a day for f2p players. It is kind of sad as I have watched Aion go from free to play to okay now you pay for green items and up to now you pay to pick up anything that the game requires to play it. How do you bring in new players that have to pay to complete quests? You don't. The player base that is now playing is probably subscription players. There's nothing wrong with that, but when you are competing with all the other PC games online forcing your players to pay to do basic quests isn't going to bring in new players. I do wonder how many subscribed players will continue to pay as the player base continues to shrink? So what are your opinions?