Another Reason To Donate

[Scragitty]

This is an idea i've been throwing around thought I would post it. Ok donating is great but at some point the rewards for vets are not as good to donate (they have all their relayers) whatever I understand donating helps the shard run smooth. I propose this idea i think it could raise donation amounts and add fun for everyone. You know how when they do charity events they use a thermometer of sorts and set a cash value goal on the top increase as funds come in? So here is what i propose we set a donation goal of 10k euros or whatever number works. As people donate they can actually see the thermometer move closer to that goal once there we get some new content either a dungion a new champ or whatever, I picked a random number not sure how much work any of this entails. I for one would donate more often if I knew it was going towards more content for myself. Thank you to those who are able to donate, and also thank you to those who are unable but still grace us with the presents on this shard. Please leave some feedback if you think it's dumb say so but offer another idea to replace it with.

[7oNine]

I love this idea, it would really make a lot of people want to donate. More content is always a good thing

[anarchy]

never go over.
sorry have to be a pessimist for a sec.

let's say for instance:
he makes 10k euro's a month...now tell me how'd you feel about donating. how'd you feel if you knew exactly how much he brings in a month (if over let's say over head cost). would you feel good about donating if you knew he was making a substantial profit? personally i hope he does for labor cost, and making sure downtime is extremely limited. he should make a little 'extra', but people won't think that way. so....sometimes, somethings were best kept secret.

[brhanson2]

It would make me donate again thats for sure.

I played WoW for 4 years and I knew they were bringing in $164,000,000 a month, much more then was needed for the little new content we got and it never discouraged me from paying my $15 a month

I love the idea.

[Scragitty]

thats a good point anarchy I guess because it would not bother me I did not consider this. Maybe we could have a gold sink meter than where you just dump gold into same type of system make it 1billion gold would help keep inflation down unfortunatly I do want our staff to be compinsated and don't see how this would benifit them as far as investing their time. Thanks for comments.

[Xavian]

Gold sink is not a bad idea, but use ED instead. People can directly donate the EDs, or they can buy EDs with gold and use them. Increase donations and lower the amount of cash in the game.. I like it.

[Scragitty]

Not a bad idea maybe instead of making it 10k euros make it 100k eds people get them for attending events and touring new players would make it harder for people to guess at what staff make per month which i still think is a minor issue i could care less if they make 1million a month they provide an enjoyable area to play in. Only problem i see with making it eds though the cost of an ED will go from 50k to 100k super fast.

[anarchy]

i like the gold idea they used to do that with the grand auctions. they used to tally everything up and put it on a deed out front. was pretty interesting how much gold was taken out during those auctions. where special house's went for over 50 mil.

good thread btw.

[brhanson2]

This is a good thread, lets keep the ideas coming!

[Scragitty]

If anyone else has any idea's please post them I think the gold thing is a good idea I personally wouldn't mind if there was a feature where i could say give up 10% of my loot to put towards new content. I however am not very tech savvy and have no idea what any of this entails. I understand the staff have lives away from the game.

[Paul129290]

Great idea(s). Gold sink and the donation goal thing both sound good to me. And I agree with Scrag, the admin's do a lot of work and I play free, so I could care less about what they make in cash. As long as the game continuously improves, I have no problem with the amount of donations they get.


Thanks,
Death

[Gaviena]

I dont think, that this is a good idea. First, Excelsior is free shard and donation is not the same as monthly fee in commercial games. Look at the contribution page. Donating is our own choice and we shouldnt expect something in return. We (Excelsior) cannot compare with commercial games and i think, that GM are not professionals too and working on shard in their free time.

If would be here any "thermometer" for new content, GM team would be forced to do this content in time and it could leads to lose their interest (motivation) of this shard, what would be not good. And of course any "thermometer" with content deadline could leads to flame topics, that something is not in time and we pay for this, etc ... (sad fact in each MMO, commercial or donate based).

I understand, that "old" players who have got almost all what they can get in the game could be little bored, but what are you expecting ? New items ? You will get it in few days and what next ? New quests are fine, but everything new is new only for max few days. You cant expect, that something new will come for example each week, even in commercial game.

I think, that better would be not force GM team to make any "thermometer" for content, because the best thing what can free shard have is motivated GM team, who enjoy that shard too. And people who do it in free time dont want have second job after their regular job. If Excelsior would change from free project to commercial with professional GM team, than maybe yes, but it is really different story ...

Btw, i dont have problem paying for game. When i paid monthly fee for commercial games for few years, why i wouldnt pay for Excelsior, when i enjoy play here. But i have to respect donating rules, simply for fact, that Excelsior is free shard and we cannot oficially pay for playing it.

[Kenekeo]

Gaviena, I really like and agree with your post in many ways. Let me explain (sorry in advance if this sounds like a rant)

I believe “Less is More”. We don’t need more content on this shard. This shard is great as it is and is considered one of the top 3 constantly free UO shard. To the veterans asking for more and hard content; you are only distancing yourself from the rest of the shard. I would guess that those veterans represent about 10% of the population. So the staff is requested to make harder and more difficult area to entertain you while the rest of the shard is still trying to maintain or catch up. But to the veterans, you already love this shard, and we know you will stay .

Excelsior has been hovering at around 200-250 members for the last 2 years (from my experience). But every day I see at least 10 new players create an account but not stay. We need to address this loss of potential new players.
.....When I personally came to this shard, I was completely blown away and lost. All I saw were neon colors and people wearing a level 100 cloak?!!! What was that. And why all of a sudden Imps were the best pets. And what was this pm on my screen?
.....Once I got the hang of things, than I realized one million gold was nothing. And those lvl 100 Cloak came from relayer which costed 25million and a ton of time. Geez, as a new player, I was struggling to kill a dragon. Than all of a sudden there comes one player and he is wiping out an entire champion spawn solo?! How the heck. So as a new player, I guess I need to farm or donate to compete with that player. For me, it inspired me to play harder, donate, and set goals in this game. But for other new players, they might think, “Im not donating to “Pay to Win”. Let me find another shard.

I really like the mini quest, those that were more tailored to low and mid level players. Those were great and help gets everyone involved.

Umbris is great for the endgame players, but it’s very discouraging for many mid level players.

As for donations; Gaviena is right, it’s a donation. A person should not expect something in return. I donate because of a few reason, but ultimately I can and want to. The money I spend on this game wont hurt me financially and I can still walk away from this shard without any regrets.

On a “less is more” rant (lol). I would love to see a dungeon that is strictly old school. Ie. Imagine entering Destard and all you got is NPC or GM Iron crafted armor or just the reagent you got on you. I bet that same dragon is all of a sudden a lot more fun than before.

Sorry again for the rant. Just my two cents

-Kenekeo

[brhanson2]

Excelsior has been hovering at around 200-250 members for the last 2 years (from my experience). But every day I see at least 10 new players create an account but not stay. We need to address this loss of potential new players.
-Kenekeo

I would be willing to bet that more then half those new players are actually BOD collectors for old players. Just a hunch.

[anarchy]

going on a alt character just tells people so and so logged in. but when a new player joins. you'll see the welcome so and so.