Premium...Is It Worth It?

[LittleMe Jewell]

On 4/23/2019 at 11:09 AM, Alyona Su said:

Also this one: One cup of Starbuck's anything costs $8 or more.

Cost of living in your area is apparently higher than mine. Every morning on my way to work I get a large vanilla latte with an extra shot and an extra pump for $6 - only $5.15 without the extras.

[LittleMe Jewell]

On 4/22/2019 at 7:11 AM, Solar Legion said:

Premium, Monthly. For the life of me I cannot justify the cost of Yearly at present - unlike the ones here on the forum that'll sing the praises of Yearly/Annual I actually use my Stipend, something that is a fair bit more common than they'd like to believe.

I spend my stipend also - and the stipend of my Premium alts.  I justify the yearly because I save $42 per year over the monthly rate and that adds up across multiple accounts.  I just ensured that the yearly fee for the alts was staggered so I never paid more than one in a month.

[Laoise Rumsford]

This thread has helped me a lot, esp @Lindal Kidd's blog entry - Thank you!

[Crim Mip]

If you do the math, a yearly premium membership costs $72 which would buy you 19.8k L$. Over the course of the year you get back 15.6k in L$ through the weekly 300 L$ stipend. That means your yearly membership actually costs you around 4200L$ which amounts to around $15 US. For that you get more groups, a higher IM cap, priority entry to otherwise full regions, one of those wonderful new Linden Homes or a land allowance of 1024m with no tier payment, access to premium only areas, and occasional gift items and live phone support if needed. I'd say that's a great deal. Any one of those would be worth the price. 

[rasterscan]

1 hour ago, Crim Mip said:

If you do the math, a yearly premium membership costs $72 which would buy you 19.8k L$. Over the course of the year you get back 15.6k in L$ through the weekly 300 L$ stipend. That means your yearly membership actually costs you around 4200L$ which amounts to around $15 US. For that you get more groups, a higher IM cap, priority entry to otherwise full regions, one of those wonderful new Linden Homes or a land allowance of 1024m with no tier payment, access to premium only areas, and occasional gift items and live phone support if needed. I'd say that's a great deal. Any one of those would be worth the price. 

Premium only sandboxes are a blessing too.

[Crim Mip]

I always forget that one as I have plenty of places I have build rights in, but it is nice to have if you need a sandbox where you aren't likely to be griefed.

[Roxy Couturier]

On 4/24/2019 at 2:37 PM, Lillith Hapmouche said:

OK, against the flow ... not worth it.

Rather buy currency and spend it on goodies.

Except, there's a use fee of $1.49 per transaction. the $72 yearly fee does not. So think of it as buying $L at once? Anyway the transaction price creep was what finally pushed me into getting premium on multiple accounts. I was paying way more for L$ every month.

[rasterscan]

16 minutes ago, Crim Mip said:

I always forget that one as I have plenty of places I have build rights in, but it is nice to have if you need a sandbox where you aren't likely to be griefed.

Me too, but if I am tinkering with big stuff, or stuff that's literally hundreds of prims, then the premium sandboxes is where I prefer to tinker.

[Alyona Su]

10 hours ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

Cost of living in your area is apparently higher than mine. Every morning on my way to work I get a large vanilla latte with an extra shot and an extra pump for $6 - only $5.15 without the extras.

Very true. U.S. Left Coast siphons your soul in more ways that one. But just the same, I wouldn't be surprised at how many who balk at buying a premium subscription but do buy the $25 movie tickets every week, buy a super tall Latte with double whipped cream, cinnimon dust, and chocolate sprinkes with a dash of nutme... yikes. I'm sounding like those I laugh at!

6 hours ago, Crim Mip said:

If you do the math, a yearly premium membership costs $72 which would buy you 19.8k L$. Over the course of the year you get back 15.6k in L$ through the weekly 300 L$ stipend. That means your yearly membership actually costs you around 4200L$ which amounts to around $15 US. For that you get more groups, a higher IM cap, priority entry to otherwise full regions, one of those wonderful new Linden Homes or a land allowance of 1024m with no tier payment, access to premium only areas, and occasional gift items and live phone support if needed. I'd say that's a great deal. Any one of those would be worth the price. 

Well, maybe any TWO are worth the price. Just saying.  LOL

Edited April 26, 2019 by Alyona Su

[Lillith Hapmouche]

9 hours ago, Roxy Couturier said:

Except, there's a use fee of $1.49 per transaction. the $72 yearly fee does not. So think of it as buying $L at once? Anyway the transaction price creep was what finally pushed me into getting premium on multiple accounts. I was paying way more for L$ every month.

So how do you get your shopping money? Just that bit of L$300 per week? No sarcasm, but genuinely interested.

There are months where I easily spend that annual US fee or a multitude of it on shopping alone, alongside renting tier for roughly L$8000 per 4 weeks to keep about 9000 sqm of mainland. Turning multiple alts premium would cost a small fortune upfront and again each year... not a fan of that, really. 

The higher group count is mildly interesting, but not really worth the price for my liking. That "early access" option is ok, but something I can live without, especially since the plain difference in time zones allows a fair chance of hitting a less occupied hour or so. That time limited Support feature was next to useless when I really could have needed it once. Everything else, I tend to fix by myself. Renting tier for my land group is less expensive than paying LL. Linden homes, no thanks. The weekly payment is so little that it barely covers one week's Fifty Linden Friday shopping round. So in the end, my mindset is too "greedy" to pay for premium AND pay for L$, hence why I rather take the L$.

The short and sweet for me: do your maths, focused on your preferences.

[Roxy Couturier]

30 minutes ago, Lillith Hapmouche said:

So how do you get your shopping money? Just that bit of L$300 per week? No sarcasm, but genuinely interested.

There are months where I easily spend that annual US fee or a multitude of it on shopping alone, alongside renting tier for roughly L$8000 per 4 weeks to keep about 9000 sqm of mainland. Turning multiple alts premium would cost a small fortune upfront and again each year... not a fan of that, really. 

The higher group count is mildly interesting, but not really worth the price for my liking. That "early access" option is ok, but something I can live without, especially since the plain difference in time zones allows a fair chance of hitting a less occupied hour or so. That time limited Support feature was next to useless when I really could have needed it once. Everything else, I tend to fix by myself. Renting tier for my land group is less expensive than paying LL. Linden homes, no thanks. The weekly payment is so little that it barely covers one week's Fifty Linden Friday shopping round. So in the end, my mindset is too "greedy" to pay for premium AND pay for L$, hence why I rather take the L$.

The short and sweet for me: do your maths, focused on your preferences.

It's more than a little bit.

Taking your example of 9000 sqm, if you premium 8 accounts, you can pool your 1024 each in a land group. With the bonus, it comes to roughly a little over 9000 sqm. So now you can buy and own your own land and then eliminate the 8000L monthly cost. Your premiums pay for that. Now, your 8 each give you 300L. So that's 2400 per week to spend, or 9600L every 4 weeks and there are 13 such 4 week periods a year. That's 124,800L$ per year.

Now, you're saying I cant pay for all that at once. You're correct and you don't have to. You stagger going premium once a month for each account. So, only 8 of the 12 months a year is any money being taken. Starting out has an upfront cost, as you pay for your land and the premiums, but you won't need to buy as many L$ each month. You'll have to find and buy land, but that's a one time fee ever. Once your premiums fully pay for your land, all the L$ you get are yours to spend as you wish. It also equals out to buying $50 in L$ per month. (Less because $1.49 a month goes to the transaction fee.) If you're buying more than that, then you can still buy L$ to supplement. 

That's the math.

[LittleMe Jewell]

And don't forget that each one of those alts that goes Premium will get a one-time L$1000 bonus after 45 days.  That also sweetens the pot a bit.

[Amina Sopwith]

How do they make enough profit when they pay so much of it back to you?

[LittleMe Jewell]

2 minutes ago, Amina Sopwith said:

How do they make enough profit when they pay so much of it back to you?

L$ don't really cost them anything and I'm guessing a large majority get the "land" bug and end up buying bigger pieces of land and thus paying LL more money in tier.

Not to mention that for many people, that L$300 isn't really much shopping money, so they still have to buy L$.  Keeping them in SL where they will then spend more money eventually works out well for LL.

[Lindal Kidd]

Amina, LL's income is from:

• Premium membership dues
• Land tier
• Setup and land fees for private regions
• Marketplace sales commission fees
• Marketplace listing enhancement fees ("Featured Items")
• Auction commission fees (a new one!)
• Transaction fees on buying and selling $L
• Process Credit fees
• Upload fees
• Classified ads
• Show in Search fees

Hmm...wonder where they will get us next?

[Lillith Hapmouche]

Just for the records:

I've got 9568 sqm group owned land, have owned it since March 2014, paying L$ 7800 per 4 weeks and the only reason I'd give it up for would be nice deal on a homestead to play around with. 

That would require 9 premium accounts - quite an alt army, but still manageable in one way or another. But still, a huge annual upfront fee to pay, roughly enough to get a decent gaming rig. To avoid that one time occurrence, it would require splitting them, like into 3 batches... but at the same time, somehow come up with enough tier to keep the existing plot.

... and afraid I did forget if either the premium fee or tier had VAT on top of  it...

Plus, shopping money.

[Polenth Yue]

Another thing they added recently is that premium accounts can attach two animesh items to an avatar. Basic accounts can only attach one. Which might interest you if you're into follow pets, rideables, or anything else that might use animesh.

[Amina Sopwith]

17 minutes ago, Polenth Yue said:

Another thing they added recently is that premium accounts can attach two animesh items to an avatar. Basic accounts can only attach one. Which might interest you if you're into follow pets, rideables, or anything else that might use animesh.

Now that alone wouldn't be enough to make me fork out however much it is for the year, but if it were combined with other similar bonuses, and if I had enough time to spend inworld to make it worthwhile, it's the direction that could sway me in the end. Land, groups and premium entry to crowded venues don't tempt me but improved opportunities for immersion and RP might.

[Amina Sopwith]

Ok, so I've just seen elsewhere that apparently you get a voice morpher with a premium account? That wouldn't affect my decision of whether or not to go premium, but given how many people set so much stock by VOICE VERIFICATION, I'd be interested to know the effects that has on the population at large. The kind of thing one might not mind having but presumably wouldn't be too keen on other people having, if you're one of the VOICE VERIFICATION people.

[Rolig Loon]

It probably has near zero affect on the population at large at the moment, since the voice morph system hasn't actually been available for a while.  It has been broken for months.  However, anyone can buy the full version -- as opposed to the stripped down version licensed to LL -- from the company that sells it, Screaming Bee.  I can't say anything useful about the quality of the product itself, since I haven't used it, but the description on their web site says that it offers a large packet of voice morph options and that you can have one created from your own voice.

[Rolig Loon]

37 minutes ago, Rolig Loon said:

the voice morph system hasn't actually been available for a while.  It has been broken for months. 

Well, talk about rapid updating ..... Alexa Linden just posted a note in the Answers forum a few minutes ago 

Voice Morph is now alive and well.

[Selene Gregoire]

On 4/27/2019 at 7:26 AM, Lindal Kidd said:

Amina, LL's income is from:

• Premium membership dues
• Land tier
• Setup and land fees for private regions
• Marketplace sales commission fees
• Marketplace listing enhancement fees ("Featured Items")
• Auction commission fees (a new one!)
• Transaction fees on buying and selling $L
• Process Credit fees
• Upload fees
• Classified ads
• Show in Search fees

Hmm...wonder where they will get us next?

Where ever they can stick it to us while we roll over and play dead?