What are your opinions on the new "Land Price Reductions, New Premium Perks, and Pricing Changes "?

[Selene Gregoire]

5 minutes ago, Fox Wijaya said:

i can have misread but i hear nobody about the VAT... as far i know EU residents now get the VAT on premium waved away, but it seems to come back again according the post!
That is a adittional 20% for the raised premiums!!! ...ehm...guys that gets a bit nuts!

VERY small font...

 

Since I do live in the US, I didn't want to bring it up and be the bearer of more bad news. I'm glad you did.

Edited May 30, 2019 by Selene Gregoire

[Kadah Coba]

4 minutes ago, Selene Gregoire said:

I think you may have forgotten to take one thing into account on the changing last name thing. A lot of us basic accounts have last names because we've been here that long and longer. So why shouldn't we be able to pay to change our last names?

From what I remember, the plan with bring back last names was to allow for paid changed. Given how long it has been without any news on it, I think there have been further complications to bring them back. I think we can all agree that this is Michael's fault.

4 minutes ago, Fox Wijaya said:

i can have misread but i hear nobody about the VAT... as far i know EU residents now get the VAT on premium waved away, but it seems to come back again according the post!
That is a adittional 20% for the raised premiums!!! ...ehm...guys that gets a bit nuts!

VERY small font...

 

I think that was more of a "we are not an accredited tax advisory, we cannot speak authoritatively on VAT for your specific situation".

[j0Q]

''IMs get capped please send a notecard.'' I pretty sure I will continue to read that.  lol  I want one of those one time fee Charter Memberships I was told some of those old timers are getting L$500 to L$1,000 weekly stipend.

[Fox Wijaya]

1 minute ago, Kadah Coba said:

I think that was more of a "we are not an accredited tax advisory, we cannot speak authoritatively on VAT for your specific situation".

i think we know LL longer than yesterday... if they meant that they would have added that. Or not mention it at all.

[Fox Wijaya]

Just now, j0Q said:

getting L$500 to L$1,000 weekly stipend.

here are the stipend rates, 1000 never was one as far i know
https://secondlife.fandom.com/wiki/Stipend

[callistanull]

They could open name changes to basic accounts if they do it at all, but either way they have to charge more than a trivial amount, to keep people (of either account type) from abusing the privilege. Realistically they'd probably charge extra for basic accounts on top of whatever the change fee is. At that point it would make more sense to get premium for one month, get the change done, and then not renew. Still no real idea what the fee would be, but I've heard numbers around $20 or $25 USD floated as rumors, so I don't think a one month membership, especially factoring in the stipend, would be a huge barrier to anyone who was willing to pay the change fee in the first place.

[Kadah Coba]

1 minute ago, j0Q said:

''IMs get capped please send a notecard.'' I pretty sure I will continue to read that.  lol  I want one of those one time fee Charter Memberships I was told some of those old timers are getting L$500 to L$1,000 weekly stipend.

Offline IMs and group notices to email are not capped, but are subject to the same unreliability.

1 minute ago, Fox Wijaya said:

i think we know LL longer than yesterday... if they meant that they would have added that. Or not mention it at all.

Lawyers usually prevent such things and why we get "may be subject to" instead.

[Selene Gregoire]

4 minutes ago, Kadah Coba said:

From what I remember, the plan with bring back last names was to allow for paid changed. Given how long it has been without any news on it, I think there have been further complications to bring them back. I think we can all agree that this is Michael's fault.

OMG! Yes! Even though he has been gone for years now some of the crap he pulled (and tried to pull) still chaps my @$$.

[Selene Gregoire]

5 minutes ago, j0Q said:

''IMs get capped please send a notecard.'' I pretty sure I will continue to read that.  lol  I want one of those one time fee Charter Memberships I was told some of those old timers are getting L$500 to L$1,000 weekly stipend.

They stopped selling lifetimes in 2004. It's not ever going to happen again. Sorry.

[Coffee Pancake]

11 minutes ago, Fox Wijaya said:

i can have misread but i hear nobody about the VAT... as far i know EU residents now get the VAT on premium waved away, but it seems to come back again according the post!
That is a adittional 20% for the raised premiums!!! ...ehm...guys that gets a bit nuts!

VERY small font...

Please note that monthly and quarterly Premium Memberships for Residents who live in some European Union countries may also be charged value-added tax (VAT) in accordance with sales tax regulations. Please visit our VAT Policy page for more details and our Corporate Pricing page for a list of impacted countries.

LL are not responsible for your local tax laws, but if they wish to do business in your locality then they have to abide by them.

Half the fun of SL being around so long, LL can't get away playing fast and loose with stuff like this.

[Selene Gregoire]

3 minutes ago, callistanull said:

They could open name changes to basic accounts if they do it at all, but either way they have to charge more than a trivial amount, to keep people (of either account type) from abusing the privilege. Realistically they'd probably charge extra for basic accounts on top of whatever the change fee is. At that point it would make more sense to get premium for one month, get the change done, and then not renew. Still no real idea what the fee would be, but I've heard numbers around $20 or $25 USD floated as rumors, so I don't think a one month membership, especially factoring in the stipend, would be a huge barrier to anyone who was willing to pay the change fee in the first place.

*sigh* So because I'm basic, I'm to be punished for being basic by being charged more for a service?  The axe is about to fall on my neck isn't it. 

[Kadah Coba]

1 minute ago, Selene Gregoire said:

OMG! Yes! Even though he has been gone for years now some of the crap he pulled (and tried to pull) still chaps my @$$.

Michael should have been canned years sooner, one of the worst things even to SL. Complete feature stagnation and many dumb mistakes like paying a design firm, who had never touched SL before, to design the Viewer 2.0 UI. It took years to begin to recover.

[Fox Wijaya]

Just now, CoffeeDujour said:

LL are not responsible for your local tax laws, but if they wish to do business in your locality then they have to abide by them.

no of course they are not, but when they applied the taxes when it was forced they lost about half of the European userbase, they reversed the VAT ad swallowd it, To add it again when there's also a price raise isn't a clever move.
 

[j0Q]

3 minutes ago, Selene Gregoire said:

They stopped selling lifetimes in 2004. It's not ever going to happen again. Sorry.

Just saying it would be a nice option.

[Selene Gregoire]

8 minutes ago, Kadah Coba said:

Michael should have been canned years sooner, one of the worst things even to SL. Complete feature stagnation and many dumb mistakes like paying a design firm, who had never touched SL before, to design the Viewer 2.0 UI. It took years to begin to recover.

I remember all too well. I was still on the FS support team back then and heard a lot of things the rest of us "plebs"  never had an inkling about. There were times when I was actually scared he would succeed. He came way to close to succeeding for comfort. SL would have been dead long ago if they hadn't canned him when they did.

 

[Selene Gregoire]

9 minutes ago, j0Q said:

Just saying it would be a nice option.

Yes, it would and I would love to have that option.

[Cinos Field]

35 groups aren't enough, LL.

More carrot and less stick.

[Fox Wijaya]

4 minutes ago, Cinos Field said:

35 groups aren't enough, LL.

groupslots should get transferable   i always have enough space on my accounts. $$$$

[Debs Whimsy]

I think LL are in it to make money which no one can fault. But, as a result, they are alienating their base of income: Premium members. In doing away with quarterly installments, raising the cost of membership and offering a pittance, they are making us think twice now about renewing. I am strongly reconsidering going to basic and I've been Premium for years. 

[Kimmi Zehetbauer]

1 hour ago, CAITIE24 said:

I am afraid LL is hurting there Second life world. I have been here for almost 10 years and things just seem to get more and more frustrating. The inability to get to places via tp as of late and the feeling of it not  being a second life. Meaning it gets more and more why do I get on I used to look forward to getting on SL to enjoy the interaction with so many all around the world we would stay up all hours of the night laughing and joking.. That is not SL anymore or so it seems it has become.. With the recent announcement of price increases and increasing and decreasing of group allowances I am afraid it will lose alot of there long time dedicated members which is sad for I always have looked at this as a second life and it is becoming more and more like RL. I understand the price increases it takes alot to run the programs and the maintenance but the people of sl are what keeps LL were it is. But you make it sound like a good thing that you are lowering the tiers most can not afford that anyway. Then you go and take away groups as well, yes increasing premium groups at a cost and they only get 300 lin a month when used to be 500. Most businesses and clubs rely on those groups to get people to there places and in turn LL makes money as well. Without the groups most people in SL will not know of special events or gifts available. Another means of groups is for people working in SL for communication with dj's host's and store CSR's. I hope my voicing my opinion may help you reconsider or reevaluate some of your decisions in this recent announcement. 

 

 

With the changes we're already losing a lot of members. I used to see clubs full all the time and MM prize boards getting smacked a lot. Now it's slowed way down.

I've been on the fence if I wanted to continue as a premium. This might push me to close up my venue or rent a parcel on an estate again. I'm in the process of setting up in another virtual world and 2 of the performers I host are in the other place. I need to do some serious thinking.

[Fox Wijaya]

1 minute ago, LadyWriter said:

In doing away with quarterly installments, raising the cost of membership and offering a pittance, they are making us think twice now about renewing.

i agree the loss of quarterly payments is, nice said, kinda weird, also wrapping the raise in cost in the raise of groups can't get my excitement go up, it's pretty useless for me. But took my pills less than a hour ago so won't be flamable as usual yet ... i don't think i'll change my subcription(s) for this.

[Ani Aunerfal]

As a premium user who does not own land, I feel like I have effectively been screwed for the benefit of land owners, especially since the only part of my premium perks that seem to have been adjusted are the parts that have the least value. No increased stipend, no new featuers, no extra allocation of land? You're just gonna.. Let me join more groups and get more offline IMs. 

Greeeat.

[Cinos Field]

And to say something more about that, reducing the groups for basic members might hurt creators in the end, and those are the lifeblood of SL. I'm not leaving my social groups. DJ groups, my event groups, old dead groups that I just have nostalgia for (and couldn't rejoin if left) or my land groups. The only ones I can ditch are the creator ones where my favorites advertise their new releases, so it'll be harder to keep track.

I do hope that those group slots are really hardware-intensive and cutting them saves LL a lot of money (/s) because otherwise it's just a completely meaningless net loss that won't get anyone to go premium.

The price hike? Well, inflation and all... I think that one's reasonable, but it should probably be accompanied by asking premium members what perks they actually want in exchange, rather than punishing basic users. There have been so many good suggestions for possible things that'd cost LL basically nothing.

 

[Kadah Coba]

2 minutes ago, Ani Aunerfal said:

As a premium user who does not own land, I feel like I have effectively been screwed for the benefit of land owners, especially since the only part of my premium perks that seem to have been adjusted are the parts that have the least value. No increased stipend, no new featuers, no extra allocation of land? You're just gonna.. Let me join more groups and get more offline IMs. 

Greeeat.

Its not land owners in general, its just private full region owners. Mainland only land owners are getting the same bupkis you are.

[Ani Aunerfal]

1 minute ago, Kadah Coba said:

Its not land owners in general, its just private full region owners. Mainland only land owners are getting the same bupkis you are.

You're quite right, forgive my wording.