Name changes and "Super Duper" Premium postponed again

[Chic Aeon]

According to Inara's blog post on the web user group meeting, name changes have been moved into 2020 (maybe the first quarter ? Maybe not.)  And the new Premium Plus (yes a better name than Elite - I agree) AFTER that name change ability is live.  It seems doubtful now that summer plans will actually come to fruition and I guess that isn't surprising considering the layoffs in Sansar (and perhaps SL too; I haven't heard any info on that).  

 

Her report mentions that  current Premium benefits are going to be “even better” for Premium Plus. So more groups? I don't use even half of what I have. More animesh attachments?  (I love my emotional support alpaca but really one is enough).  More land?  Well THAT might be helpful.   But there is a "but" there too of course. We can already have "more land" simply by paying the tier. We can still have somewhat cheaper tier by opting in to the "army of premium alts" group land idea.    Paying an increased (hard to say how much increase) membership fee isn't really an advantage for many folks. 

 

The merchant upgrades (whatever they may be) might be worth it for some creators. But again the cost will be an important factor.  

And those "Premium Plus Only" benefits?  Well I had some pretty high hopes -- but not so much now.  

The Lab has done its sixth or seventh or whatever PIVOT in Sansar (really only four that I know of but I wasn't there at the beginning) and it seems very likely that SL has made some changes in direction also.    So what WAS planned may only be a shadow of what comes to pass.  

 

In the bigger picture I am still worried about the timeline change since many folks opted into Premium simply to get a Belli house (this in the Spring - April to be exact for the first rush).   A lot of those folks (just the folks that I talk to and know well) are planning on going back to basic at their reup date.  If the new premium was rolled out earlier as planned, that might have been incentive to stay.  Without any newness on the horizon it appears there will be an exodus back to "lowly basic accounts" (which of course I was part of for a decade :D).   

 

What is still working is Belli.  It doesn't take much sleuthing to see that there are fewer green dots on the Bellisseria map than there were in the Spring and Summer.  But a LOT of folks still want a presence in Belli -- and why not? It IS lovely.  Bakes on mesh has some issues on the client side, other projects are still in the works after almost two years --- but BELLI  is doing well.    

 

So  I guess it will be the end of the first quarter before we can reassess how the changes (assuming there actually ARE changes) will help our homeland.   In the meantime we have the RFL Winter Expo with the new Belli house styles on display, Advent and many  other holiday events, the Hop and Shop and --- a New Year on the horizon. 

 

May it be a bright one. 

 

 

Edited November 15, 2019 by Chic Aeon

[Mollymews]

Chic,  as wrote you seem to be conflating the Belli project with the Name Change project, which I don't think you mean to do

the LDPW is still cranking out Belli Linden Homes as fast as they can

is a bit of a bummer that Names Changes and Premium Plus has been pushed out, but the projection from Linden was/is that these were going to cost extra, over and above, the current Premium price

[Chic Aeon]

14 minutes ago, Mollymews said:

Chic,  as wrote you seem to be conflating the Belli project with the Name Change project, which I don't think you mean to do

the LDPW is still cranking out Belli Linden Homes as fast as they can

is a bit of a bummer that Names Changes and Premium Plus has been pushed out, but the projection from Linden was/is that these were going to cost extra, over and above, the current Premium price

Conflating only in the sense that they are both LL current  projects.   

 

My point was that Belli was the thing that worked this last year -- and indeed for a longer time. 

Quote

What is still working is Belli.  It doesn't take much sleuthing to see that there are fewer green dots on the Bellisseria map than there were in the Spring and Summer.  But a LOT of folks still want a presence in Belli -- and why not? It IS lovely.

I am not sure how you construed this to mean I was anti-Belli in any way. If you look a the SSP thread you will see that I am always watching and commenting and have been since the project began. I have TONS of "beautiful Belli" photos in these forums and plenty of pro Belli posts on my blog.   There ARE fewer green dots and that is to be expected - that "Flavor of the Month" effect. But I still have a place there and I have many friends that do also.   The Moles are doing a great job and I say that often and loudly. 

 

Really I am a bit confuse that you are confused. 

And yes we have known the new premium membership would cost more from the beginning. No argument there.   Sorry if you misunderstood my post.    I am still === well let's say "worried".  But that has nothing to do with Belli which I have said many times is the BEST project Linden Lab has worked on in a decade -- in oh so many ways. 

[Lucia Nightfire]

If @Vir Linden would give Premium Plus land owners the ability to rez animesh characters with a 500 Ktri cap limit on their land, I would gladly pay 2x or even 3x what I'm paying now for Premium.

I have the available prims to burn! 🙂

Edited November 15, 2019 by Lucia Nightfire

[Mollymews]

50 minutes ago, Chic Aeon said:

Really I am a bit confuse that you are confused.

this bit: " In the bigger picture I am still worried about the timeline change since many folks opted into Premium simply to get a Belli house (this in the Spring - April to be exact for the first rush).   A lot of those folks (just the folks that I talk to and know well) are planning on going back to basic at their reup date.  If the new premium was rolled out earlier as planned, that might have been incentive to stay.  Without any newness on the horizon it appears there will be an exodus back to "lowly basic accounts" (which of course I was part of for a decade :D)."

Linden have indicated previously that any new Premium Plus plan is going to be a Plus plan with extra stuff not in the current Premium plan

so anyone buying a Premium today is not going to get anything less than they are now when a Premium Plus plan is available. If people are deciding not to re-up their Premium plan because of the current unavailability of Belli Homes, then a Premium Plus plan which may also include an unavailable Belli Home is not going to help them to change their mind on not re-upping, when the Belli Home is unavailable no matter what plan they have

[Alwin Alcott]

oh can i??....  before somebody else does it  

SL is dying!!!!!

( but not now yet)

for me the name change and super premium aren't that important, for the first we already have, sort of, the display name ( and we see in practice that is used in absurd ways) and as said in the thread already, IF more land is in the super premium, i'd pay the higher tier level now too) New super features have to be real special super features before i'd step into it.

[Chic Aeon]

50 minutes ago, Mollymews said:

this bit: " In the bigger picture I am still worried about the timeline change since many folks opted into Premium simply to get a Belli house (this in the Spring - April to be exact for the first rush).   A lot of those folks (just the folks that I talk to and know well) are planning on going back to basic at their reup date.  If the new premium was rolled out earlier as planned, that might have been incentive to stay.  Without any newness on the horizon it appears there will be an exodus back to "lowly basic accounts" (which of course I was part of for a decade :D)."

Linden have indicated previously that any new Premium Plus plan is going to be a Plus plan with extra stuff not in the current Premium plan

so anyone buying a Premium today is not going to get anything less than they are now when a Premium Plus plan is available. If people are deciding not to re-up their Premium plan because of the current unavailability of Belli Homes, then a Premium Plus plan which may also include an unavailable Belli Home is not going to help them to change their mind on not re-upping, when the Belli Home is unavailable no matter what plan they have

 

Guess I wasn't clear on that either.   I know quite a few folks that have Belli houses now (their main) as well as some that have several alts with Belli houses.  Of the folks that I know (as well of course the folks who have already said on these forums that they will be either going back to basic when their membership is up and/or putting their alts back to basic). This is NOT a reflection on the quality of Belli (in my mind anyway).  But it is the plan of many in my world. I have two friends in Belli that will keep their membership and many more who are going back to basic. That may not reflect the whole grid of course -- just as I said the people that I know.   

 

There is no need to go over all that has already been said on these forums.   The truth is that I am worried. That doesn't mean "SL is dying" but there hasn't been a lot of good news lately.   I will be giving up my Belli home and my alt will -- mostly because of the Tilia thing (and there is no need to get into that yet again).  All these not so huge things come together.  But there was never ANY attempt to put down the new continent. I think it is lovely.     

 

I was HOPING that the Premium Plus would be a big hit (around of the first of the year which was the last target date that I heard) along with the name change feature and bring some money into the Linden Lab coffers.  Now it seem that has been pushed back. I feel that we need another shot of goodness ^^ and it doesn't look like those things many were counting on will be coming soon.  

 

I guess we will see as Spring rolls around. 

 

 

Edited November 15, 2019 by Chic Aeon

[Pussycat Catnap]

You want me to get 'Elite Super Premium Epic First Class I'm Better Than You Noobs Mode' or whatever there's basically one trick I can think of that would do it in a heartbeat:

1. Let me fold all my alts into one account and merge all their inventories - usable between them at will.

In other words....

Like your typical modern MMO... give me an account and then the ability to make 'characters' with it, and have my 'assets' tied to the account, NOT the characters.

- Do that, and I'm there.

 

 

[Zero Starchild]

4 minutes ago, Pussycat Catnap said:

You want me to get 'Elite Super Premium Epic First Class I'm Better Than You Noobs Mode' or whatever there's basically one trick I can think of that would do it in a heartbeat:

1. Let me fold all my alts into one account and merge all their inventories - usable between them at will.

In other words....

Like your typical modern MMO... give me an account and then the ability to make 'characters' with it, and have my 'assets' tied to the account, NOT the characters.

- Do that, and I'm there.

 

 

Best Idea I have ever heard!!!!!!

[Mollymews]

1 hour ago, Chic Aeon said:

The truth is that I am worried. That doesn't mean "SL is dying" but there hasn't been a lot of good news lately.   I will be giving up my Belli home and my alt will -- mostly because of the Tilia thing (and there is no need to get into that yet again).  All these not so huge things come together.  But there was never ANY attempt to put down the new continent. I think it is lovely.     

I was HOPING that the Premium Plus would be a big hit (around of the first of the year which was the last target date that I heard) along with the name change feature and bring some money into the Linden Lab coffers.  Now it seem that has been pushed back. I feel that we need another shot of goodness ^^ and it doesn't look like those things many were counting on will be coming soon. 

 

thanks for the clarification

as residents we all have different views about the value of Belli Homes to us personally. In my own case I read about the Belli project last year and I was out of SL at that time. When I read about it, I thought that sounds interesting.  Interesting enough to come back on SL and to get a Premium account.  Then like a week into the Belli release, that Patch Linden killed pre-emptive privacy on Belli, and I was all like nuuuu!

so I went back to a classic mainland parcel. Now that I was back on SL and on a classic mainland parcel. when the offer to extend for another 12 months at $72 I decided to take the offer. So while Belli turned out to be a personal disappointment for me, it hasn't disappointed a whole lot of other people, and I am happy for them and am pretty happy with my classic mainland parcel

on the more general point you raised. I get that you are worried about Linden. With the deferral of Last Names and Premium Plus coming on top of what happened with Sansar, I get why that can be worrying

just going off my understanding (guessing) of how corporate think works, I think that is prudent for Linden at this time to pause any projects for which there is currently no planned delivery date.  While the Board takes stock of where the company, Linden Research, is at. And where the Board wants to be and have a corporate plan to achieve this.  That until Linden does have a corporate plan then only the current projects be worked on. In the SL case, the current development projects as planned/contained in the current project viewers, and the Belli Homes project. Everything else is paused until the Board decides what is the purpose of Linden Research the company

 

Edited November 15, 2019 by Mollymews
edit typeo

[Kimmi Zehetbauer]

4 hours ago, Chic Aeon said:

According to Inara's blog post on the web user group meeting, name changes have been moved into 2020 (maybe the first quarter ? Maybe not.)  And the new Premium Plus (yes a better name than Elite - I agree) AFTER that name change ability is live.  It seems doubtful now that summer plans will actually come to fruition and I guess that isn't surprising considering the layoffs in Sansar (and perhaps SL too; I haven't heard any info on that). 

I just noticed in that blog that the Lindens will start charging to post events when they redo the event thing.

As for the name change thing, they probably need to still work out things, maybe to keep it from being abused when it's finally launched.

[Maitimo]

If Premium Plus raises my "free" land to 2048m instead of 1024, and costs less than the cost of another premium alt, I'd go for it. And that is pretty much the ONLY thing that would make me go for it.

1 hour ago, Pussycat Catnap said:

You want me to get 'Elite Super Premium Epic First Class I'm Better Than You Noobs Mode' or whatever there's basically one trick I can think of that would do it in a heartbeat:

1. Let me fold all my alts into one account and merge all their inventories - usable between them at will.

In other words....

Like your typical modern MMO... give me an account and then the ability to make 'characters' with it, and have my 'assets' tied to the account, NOT the characters.

- Do that, and I'm there.

That would be awesome from a user's point of view but absolutely dreadful for content creators, who rely to a great extent on repeat-purchases for alts. If users only had to buy a thing once, and never again regardless of how many alts they have, that would have a disastrous effect on in-world commerce.

My other concern is that they would roll land allowance into per-account instead of per-avatar too.  That would hurt people who use multiple accounts to take advantage of a combined land allowance.

Either way, it would also hurt the Lab - if you only needed to buy Premium or Premium Plus on one account, because the result is merging them all anyway, there would be no incentive to holding more than one premium account, which of course a lot of people currently do.

[Christhiana]

1 hour ago, Pussycat Catnap said:

You want me to get 'Elite Super Premium Epic First Class I'm Better Than You Noobs Mode' or whatever there's basically one trick I can think of that would do it in a heartbeat:

1. Let me fold all my alts into one account and merge all their inventories - usable between them at will.

In other words....

Like your typical modern MMO... give me an account and then the ability to make 'characters' with it, and have my 'assets' tied to the account, NOT the characters.

- Do that, and I'm there.

 

 

I think that would be a big blow to the SL economy. Merchants would sell a lot less which probably results in a number of them closing their shops. This in turn will leave you with less variety and probably lesser quality products on the MP. LL will also make less money, which you really don't want if you want to enjoy your SL for the next years to come.

[Garnet Psaltery]

2 hours ago, Matty Luminos said:

That would be awesome from a user's point of view but absolutely dreadful for content creators, who rely to a great extent on repeat-purchases for alts. If users only had to buy a thing once, and never again regardless of how many alts they have, that would have a disastrous effect on in-world commerce.

I'm not sure that would necessarily happen.  My alts buy different things but now and again I'd like to have access to them.  I'm sure they'd love to raid my inventory too.  

[ItHadToComeToThis]

If they want to attract people to a new super premium by offering more they should create a level of premium that offers a homestead with the package. That and a higher stipend would convert me

[Qie Niangao]

3 hours ago, Matty Luminos said:

That would be awesome from a user's point of view but absolutely dreadful for content creators, who rely to a great extent on repeat-purchases for alts. If users only had to buy a thing once, and never again regardless of how many alts they have, that would have a disastrous effect on in-world commerce.

Yes and no. At least my alts only very rarely own the same things, but once in a great while it would sure be nice to be able to share something with them that's no longer available anywhere.

The one place where I think it would make a difference is mesh avatars and heads. Personally, I'd still end up buying exactly the same number of them because they're so crazy expensive that each alt gets a different one to test and no one creator ever sells more than one to the whole set of my alts, but I bet some folks actually buy multiple copies of the same mesh avatar or head to outfit alts, so for those buyers the creators would miss out on some revenue.

I don't think it's very common to use the Marketplace to buy these ultra-high-ticket items, so selling fewer wouldn't much affect the L$ sink of Marketplace commissions -- and just between us, I wouldn't cry a river if the mesh avatar and (especially) head creators lost some business. I might feel differently if their prices were more in line with the sophistication of their products -- which is to say, reduced by 90%.

[sirhc DeSantis]

Although the 'homestead leve'l has its appeal, I would happily pony up say 25% more for annual for double the land allowance.  Inventory sharing? To be honest if we can't make something ingroup that needs sharing then I will buy multiples - always seemed fairer that way.

Name change, Linden home (nice for those so inclined) - not really all that much of a draw for me personally.

[Syo Emerald]

I'm also not really sure what would be enough to draw people to become premium plus members. I mean, the increased price for the already existing premium membership had me a bit on the fence about staying premium. Most "more of that" options are either already archieveable, if you are willing to pay more money, or are so minor, that they aren't big enough of a draw for most people.

[Pussycat Catnap]

9 hours ago, Matty Luminos said:

That would be awesome from a user's point of view but absolutely dreadful for content creators, who rely to a great extent on repeat-purchases for alts. If users only had to buy a thing once, and never again regardless of how many alts they have, that would have a disastrous effect on in-world commerce.

I think that's an over-estimated concern.

Most people don't kit their alts out to the same degree, and when they do it's often with some fundamental differences.

I personally don't buy many things anymore unless they're full-perm... which lets me make things for my alts.

A lot of the commerce would adapt, as it always has. A lot of it is already primed for this. Instead of buying 2 copies of the red dress, the buyer gets a red one and a black one...

 

But the convenience for users is massive.

SL will only thrive if it favors users, not business, not merchants, not land barons...

That's why we have things like Belleseria now.

Land allowance is likewise, less of a concern - whether people tier up or get multiple premiums the end result is the same.

I'd add a second thing to this: the ability to get another linden home for a small fee, but also having to also get the tier for it.

 

[Beth Macbain]

No one knows what the Premium Plus membership level is going to be comprised of. Everything at this point is just speculation and it may well include things that no one here has considered. People getting angry about what is included in something that hasn't been released is just freaking bananas and bananas are gross.

It's a bit like saying "Hey, I don't like that brown paper bag of groceries over there that I can't see the contents of because it clearly doesn't have any chocolate cake in it and is filled will bananas," when the bag actually contains zero bananas and a large chocolate cake. 

Also people making claims that certain benefits that may or may not be included are worthless or worthy based on their own desires is goofy AF. What I might find absolutely invaluable may be someone else's trash, but that doesn't negate its value to me. It's not for you? Great, then don't purchase the Premium Plus level when it's available. 

Also, in my opinion, Premium Plus is a terrible name. I put Premium Plus gasoline in my car.

[Pussycat Catnap]

14 hours ago, Chic Aeon said:

What is still working is Belli.  It doesn't take much sleuthing to see that there are fewer green dots on the Bellisseria map than there were in the Spring and Summer.  But a LOT of folks still want a presence in Belli -- and why not? It IS lovely.  Bakes on mesh has some issues on the client side, other projects are still in the works after almost two years --- but BELLI  is doing well.

Bellisseria has also grown to be vastly larger than it was then. Those dots are more dispersed. Everytime a new sim comes out (1-3 daily) all the houses go within minutes if not seconds, and that sim stays super busy for a day or two. The supply has only caught up with the demand in terms of campers - the traditionals and houseboats are still very hot commodities.

Additionally the community groups for Bellisseria are the most active social places I have ever seen in SL.

The project was a resounding success and shows that measures aimed at the residents are the right solution. NOT the now-gone B2B market of the M. Linden days, not the Land Barons of most eras, not the merchants of the last few years... but the actual users of the product - make them happy and Second Life thrives.

 

[LittleMe Jewell]

9 hours ago, Matty Luminos said:

Either way, it would also hurt the Lab - if you only needed to buy Premium or Premium Plus on one account, because the result is merging them all anyway, there would be no incentive to holding more than one premium account, which of course a lot of people currently do.

The one area that would keep folks holding on to existing Premiums is the Linden Home aspect.  There are quite a few folks that have multiple Premium accounts specifically so that they can have more than one type of Linden Home.  

As to the ones that hold multiple Premiums in order to get additional Mainland slightly cheaper, it would have some impact but it would depend on how the numbers really play out and the proposed cost - and how many of the existing accounts could be rolled into being managed by a single account.

 

Based on how much trouble they've been having changing the back end just to allow for a single account name change, I can't imagine what they'd have to do to completely overhaul the system to allow for a single top account to have multiple sub-accounts under it.

Edited November 15, 2019 by LittleMe Jewell
typo

[Alyona Su]

10 hours ago, Kimmi Zehetbauer said:

I just noticed in that blog that the Lindens will start charging to post events when they redo the event thing.

Thumb up if this is true. "Events" are a joke and 90% lap dancer sales and DJ hooligan announcements. ~roles eyes~ Make 'em pay through the nose, I say. Then the events list will list actual "events".

 

40 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

As to the ones that hold multiple Premiums in order to get additional Mainland slightly cheaper, it would have some impact but it would depend on how the numbers really play out and the proposed cost - and how many of the existing accounts could be rolled into being managed by a single account.

I agree. This Premium Plus thing will be a *hard sell* - it's barely enough to really justify the Premium as it is with the new rate (although I understand and mostly agree with the price hike) - whatever the cost-to-benefit ratio over and above the current Premium levels had better be some juicy "gotta have that" type stuff.

[Maitimo]

2 hours ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

Based on how much trouble they've been having changing the back end just to allow for a single account name change, I can't imagine what they'd have to do to completely overhaul the system to allow for a single top account to have multiple sub-accounts under it.

This will be the main obstacle I think. It would pretty much mean starting from scratch with a new grid with an entirely new structure, and..  well, we have seen what's happened to all the others.

[Lucia Nightfire]

If there was an "always get into a full sim" benefit to Premium Plus, would that be appealing enough to buy into it?

I'm mostly asking the shopaholics. 🙂