I just don't get...

[GA-Thrawn]

... why other online games I play can live with a donating system (paying will give you fun things and not make you a better player), but PA can't.

I wanna play PA again!! But in a biiiig universe only!!

[Conall]

Then pony up the cash to buy it from Jolt and let people play for free.

[mist]

jolt won't sell, pa makes them too much money (makes, saves, whatever)

that said, making the game free again wouldn't magically get a load of people playing. a large part of the pa audiance were towards the end of school, and as such have a) now reached the age where they can drink, and spend all their time down the pub ad/or b) have got a job. either way, as long as the people who think activity should be important to win have pateam's ear, the game won't grow hugely again.

plus, pa is 'old'. games like wow, eve, planetside etc are more 'interesting' and interactive, plus give you your fix when you want it, rather than when the ticker can be bothered.

looking at pia, last i heard it didn't have 10K members, pa may or may not be a better game, but i'd not expect it to get many more

if you want players, you need the game to change, whether it's p2p or not,

-mist

[Phil^]

last i heard pia had about 2.5k. pa atm has 2k+ paid planets, and 1.5k free.
go figure

[Chippeh]

Planets: 3,618 <--- Pilkara for Planetarion

Planets: 2,386 <--- Pilkara for the other game

Pretty clearly shows that neither p2p nor going back to the old code/stats would add more players.

[Eol]

The other game is a nightmare to play because of half-hour ticks... And the stats aren't the most talented either for a "PA 2" setup.

[G.K Zhukov]

Parts of the increase in PA this round and last, comes from pia beeing shit. So you saw players moving back to PA.

[Agerus]

either way, as long as the people who think activity should be important to win have pateam's ear, the game won't grow hugely again.

very well said! The activity-for-the-win department is just too big and PAteam doesn't realise that they need to make the game more attractive for the average casual player if they want more/new customers.

Moreover, free accounts are just a joke, it won't attract new players either.

But concering the other game *cough* pia *cough*, no worries I played this round and it's just totally screwded. Huge block-fest (round decided after 3 days cause of numbers), horrible shuffle (PA shuffle was top compared to that ; ) and extremely unbalanced stats, i.e 90% top players going Cloak ) + Admins who don't care much.

I rather pay to play a proper game instead of wasting my time

P.S. btw, why do PA creators allow that cheap 1:1 copy of old PA?

[mist]

legally, i'd be surprised if they could do a huge amount about it...

dunno whether jolt have persued it tho

-mist

[GA-Thrawn]

I do think PA can grow quite a lot to a number of players which makes the game worth to play again. But people need to 'feel' the game first, before they're going to support it with money. Free accounts shouldn't have any disadvantages in the way you play the game. A paid account should just have some more fun and interesting things. No p2p, but p2s (pay to support). It works in other games (Hattrick is the best example, they have perfect performance and several people who got a fulltime job out of it). Free accounts in this game don't give you any idea of how good the game is or can be...

[randal]

Ye, like this post from an interested, active, friendly and surely not stupid free player in our Galaxy Board..

----------
Question: Can I with an not UPGRADED account go roiding and get useful ROIDS beyond 200 or is it just KILL/DEFENCE fleets for me then ?

Answer: __________________________________________?

I am active, I just live in ... and do not have a credit card yet, sorry, =(
-----------

Of course his activity and interest dropped since we told him there is absolutely nothing, nothing at all he can do in the game, except build and defend.. That's how interested players get hunted away..
I just never, never understood how they could keep this ****ed up system of free Planets, leaving them totally useless after a short time of play, where they sure didn't have soo much fun yet


But i guess you don't want him anyway as he has no cc yet..

[Jester]

He can gain roids and get XP.

[Kal]

Originally Posted by Agerus

very well said! The activity-for-the-win department is just too big and PAteam doesn't realise that they need to make the game more attractive for the average casual player if they want more/new customers.

Moreover, free accounts are just a joke, it won't attract new players either.

But concering the other game *cough* pia *cough*, no worries I played this round and it's just totally screwded. Huge block-fest (round decided after 3 days cause of numbers), horrible shuffle (PA shuffle was top compared to that ; ) and extremely unbalanced stats, i.e 90% top players going Cloak ) + Admins who don't care much.

I rather pay to play a proper game instead of wasting my time

P.S. btw, why do PA creators allow that cheap 1:1 copy of old PA?

The active people certainly do not have our ear more than anyone else, and if they do its only becuase they are active enough to talk to us. We put a lot of effort into trying to communicate with the less active people, but it is very hard work.

We welcome ideas to make the game less activity dependant and more skill dependant and thats what the suggestions forums is for, but on the other hand part of what attracted me to this game orignianlly was the novelty of real time 1 hour ticks, the fact that if I was inactive I'd die its actually one of the things that makes games like pa pretty special to me.

[randal]

Originally Posted by Jester

He can gain roids and get XP.

Ye, great fun to risk/lose fleet for useless roids.. making himself a nicer target for others

Ok well you're right, gaining XP and looking it up at pilkara is huge fun, why didn't i think of that one.. that will make him fascinated..

[SpaceLegend]

Originally Posted by randal

Ye, great fun to risk/lose fleet for useless roids.. making himself a nicer target for others

Ok well you're right, gaining XP and looking it up at pilkara is huge fun, why didn't i think of that one.. that will make him fascinated..

if roids are useless, what are you playing for ??

build, defend, risk fleet for roids, making ourselves a nicer target, thats what we all do.

free planets are limited, cause without limit they get abused by multis, farms, flak planets, spies, etc. if there weren't any cheaters, there wouldn't be such a harsh limit

[jerome]

am i the only one who finds the fact that although free accs can`t MINE over 200 roids but they can possess over it therefore very viable options to farm amusing heh

[mist]

free planets are a joke, tbh

the roid max will last someone competent how long? maybe a couple of attacks. showing off protection is hardly likely to get someone to p2p

-mist

[randal]

Originally Posted by SpaceLegend

if roids are useless, what are you playing for ??

roids aren't useless for a normal person.. the great thing about More Roids is More Resources.. hence roids above 200 are useless for free guys, they're even making it worse for them..

what i am still 'playing' for ? hell knows..

Originally Posted by SpaceLegend

if there weren't any cheaters, there wouldn't be such a harsh limit

there would be other ways, roids becoming less productive or whatever, that would make sure free planets aren't too mighty, but also at least leave a Bit of motivation to play

and yes, the multi/farming stuff is still easily possible with those free planets, even more as they Can have above 200 roids

[arbondigo]

Originally Posted by randal

But i guess you don't want him anyway as he has no cc yet..

Why don't you do what some other gals have done with their freebies, and actually pay to upgrade them out of your own pocket?

[randal]

Originally Posted by arbondigo

Why don't you do what some other gals have done with their freebies, and actually pay to upgrade them out of your own pocket?

i'm not the pa charity center, i don't play much myself aswell..

of course that is an option, question is if that's the hailbringing solution to heavily get new players involved..

[I am Idler]

yes buying PA has already been tried.

shame Jolt are making every possible effort to gay about and refuse to atleast make it free for ONE single round.

Jolt Wins

[Agerus]

what about SMS services?

I have heard it works with other games and I actually know some ppl who are sending SMS to their gal mates when they see incomings.

In any case, free account needs to be more appealing.

[I am Idler]

already been suggested tons of times.

its a great idea, but as usual, Jolt are being asses

[fizzyxl]

Hey thnx to jolt there is Weebl and Bob!!! dont ever forget that!

god bless the pie

(yes i know that jolt is not the only reason, but they are a big enough part that its "weebl.jolt.co.uk"!)