So what do you all think to the Premium Plus package?

[colleen Criss]

 

[Aria Aurelia]

3 minutes ago, Jenna Huntsman said:

They did, but only in the context of those on an annual payment schedule.

Interesting as I just paid this account in April.

[Gabriele Graves]

13 minutes ago, Journey05 said:

on the horizon with Premium Plus. These are not going to be available at launch, and so they are not immediate benefits to reap, but might affect people's future consideration of value.

Only a fool would buy something on the basis of a promise of getting something else further down the line.  There is absolutely no reason why the whole deal cannot be available at launch and there is no onus on them to deliver anything further without a price increase later.

[LittleMe Jewell]

1 hour ago, Tary Allen said:

The new 2048 LH I willl wait and see. 

And we have heard "soon" so often, who knows how long it will be before the larger parcels are really here.

[Jenna Huntsman]

1 minute ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

And we have heard "soon" so often, who knows how long it will be before the larger parcels are really here.

By the end of the year, supposedly. No additional info beyond that (no idea on the theme they may pursue, etc.)

[LittleMe Jewell]

1 hour ago, Coffee Pancake said:

hope they don't bump the price to 129.99 per year (they will).

Bumping the price of regular premium would then make the statement from last month's meeting actually be true -- thee one  about double or more the stuff for less than double the price.

*sigh*

[Ren Float]

1 hour ago, Love Zhaoying said:

This will help all those merchants who don't reply because of capped messages!

Merchants who don't tie their email into offline SL IMs are not interested in providing customer support.

[Gabriele Graves]

2 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

Bumping the price of regular premium would then make the statement from last month's meeting actually be true -- thee one  about double or more the stuff for less than double the price.

*sigh*

Yeah, You can betcha that Soon for price increases is a lot different from Soon for delivery on promised features.

Edited June 21, 2022 by Gabriele Graves

[Lucia Nightfire]

It was mentioned back in October of 2019 that name changes would be cheaper for Premium Plus users.

I'm surprised the coding wasn't locked in already after all this time.

 

[LittleMe Jewell]

9 minutes ago, Lucia Nightfire said:

It was mentioned back in October of 2019 that name changes would be cheaper for Premium Plus users.

 

Found the other recorded meeting from April of this year that claimed it would be "double or more" of most current benefits for "less than double the price" --- and that didn't happen either.

https://danielvoyager.wordpress.com/2022/04/06/second-life-premium-plus-delayed-until-may-2022/

[Journey Bunny]

32 minutes ago, Gabriele Graves said:

Only a fool would buy something on the basis of a promise of getting something else further down the line.  There is absolutely no reason why the whole deal cannot be available at launch and there is no onus on them to deliver anything further without a price increase later.

  

43 minutes ago, Jenna Huntsman said:

Was something that was not confirmed - so this means that they may not come at all.

From the session:

"That is coming soon, that is one of the features we couldn't squeeze in in time for this release but we are working on actively in the background right now and it will get out."

As unconfirmed as the rest of the yet-unreleased features, I suppose, but it sounds less shaky than we seem eager to pile on about. Do *not* obviously pay for P+ on the sole basis of free mesh uploads before they are added. But it's rather negative to toss it off the discussion as irrelevant to the value when it's directly been stated as actively in development for the soon-to-be account level.

Also, free animations, free sounds not mentioned (in addition to free textures). 

[Kris Spade]

This offers absolutely no value for me whatsoever, so I'll stick to regular Premium.  I think the 70 group cap is plenty, and any more than that would simply be too overwhelming with "dings" all the time.

I think if LL needs additional revenue, one simple thing they can do that never made any sense to me as to why this rule is in place, is allow residents to purchase their own Homestead region directly from LL without the pre-requisite of having a full region.  It costs them nothing to make this change and offers a lot to the residents.

There's a certain sense of security that exists with having a region in your own name, and many simply can't afford a full one.  In my near 19 years here, I can't tell you how many times I've been screwed over by a land baron.

Edited June 21, 2022 by Kris Spade
Formatting, typo

[Rowan Amore]

13 minutes ago, Kris Spade said:

There's a certain sense of security that exists with having a region in your own name, and many simply can't afford a full one.  In my near 19 years here, I can't tell you how many times I've been screwed over by a land baron.

I've rented a homestead before from one of the larger land companies.  I paid less per month than it would have cost to own one.  Their full regions are only a few dollars more per month than owning your own.  No set up cost, full estate rights, no loss if you decide you can't afford it.  I only rent from long standing, well established companies, though.

[Jenna Huntsman]

14 minutes ago, Journey05 said:

  

From the session:

"That is coming soon, that is one of the features we couldn't squeeze in in time for this release but we are working on actively in the background right now and it will get out."

As unconfirmed as the rest of the yet-unreleased features, I suppose, but it sounds less shaky than we seem eager to pile on about. Do *not* obviously pay for P+ on the sole basis of free mesh uploads before they are added. But it's rather negative to toss it off the discussion as irrelevant to the value when it's directly been stated as actively in development for the soon-to-be account level.

Also, free animations, free sounds not mentioned (in addition to free textures). 

I somewhat doubt that free mesh uploads will be added, mainly as the pricing structure for mesh was made separate for a reason - mainly to promote "good" content, i.e. content which was seen to be properly 'optimized' - so there's a chance that if that does get added, then we'll see a bunch more laggy mesh get dumped into the grid, pretty much negating the work LL did beforehand with the Performance Improvements viewer

The free animations and sounds I could take or leave. Animations are just painful, namely because the primary interchange format (.bvh) is extremely basic and doesn't take advantage of what SL's animation system is capable of.

Sounds, I'd be more interested if LL (finally) allowed for uploading samples of 30 seconds in length. Then again, the length of the uploaded sample shouldn't be something that's tied to a premium tier, so there's not really a win either way on that one.

[Myntz Mysterious]

As I read over this my handbag leapt off the table and hit me in the back of the head! 😢 💢 OUCH! 

[Prokofy Neva]

It's a good thing the Lindens don't rely only on forums-dwellers for sales or they'd be out of business by now.

So another feature I think wasn't mentioned that is in the interview with Patch today is the fact that with Premium Ploooss, you will be able to pick your own Linden Home.

Now it sounded to me as if he indicated this couldn't be done where the automated system was currently working, i.e. in the newest areas? But that older areas where you might hunt out a good lot could be requested.

And this would enable groups of people to request houses next to each other and make a neighbourhood like The Sims Online, and Patch said he particularly had that in mind.

So I could see that would be a draw, and might both increase the cliquishness of Bellisseria, and also give it some multiple cliques in competition. 

Of course, anyone who was that keen to have a neighbourhood could find 15 of his or her friends and get an empty Mainland sim and have more land, without doing premium plus, but people seldom do that. I think this will be a draw if the houses and roads are pre-built.

You would have to wait at least 24 hours or more, like with abandoned land, which usually takes 3 days.

Patch confirmed that they will not create any more new Mainland sims, and that means not making coastal land that connects the continents as certain land barons and merchants keep demanding, but there is plenty of coast in Belli.

The larger 2048 Belli homes will NOT be coming right away. You will still be limited to only one Linden Home per account. So that means possibly merchants attracted by the free uploads (animations and sounds as well as textures) might be motivated to get a Mainland store with the 2048, and we might see more stores and less crowded events and sales. That would be beneficial in some ways. 

PS: The Lindens should close off one loophole that will be gamed by Game of Homes players -- you can't request a certain lot with PP, then downgrade to regular premium. 

Edited June 21, 2022 by Prokofy Neva

[diamond Marchant]

Moneywise, Premium Plus is a price INCREASE ( except for the 2048 tier level where it barely wins).

The following spreadsheet gives the numbers for those who pay annually. Stipend is subtracted off ($60/year for Premium and $131/year for Premium Plus).

Notice that three Premium accounts costs $117 and you get THREE Linden Homes.

One Premium Plus account costs $118 and you get ONE Linden Home.

DOA

About the "pick your own Linden Home" scheme, It seems absurd. Suppose you find a choice Linden Home, what are the chances it will still be there after all those hours pass while "the wheels are in motion".

[Gabriele Graves]

31 minutes ago, Journey05 said:

  

From the session:

"That is coming soon, that is one of the features we couldn't squeeze in in time for this release but we are working on actively in the background right now and it will get out."

As unconfirmed as the rest of the yet-unreleased features, I suppose, but it sounds less shaky than we seem eager to pile on about. Do *not* obviously pay for P+ on the sole basis of free mesh uploads before they are added. But it's rather negative to toss it off the discussion as irrelevant to the value when it's directly been stated as actively in development for the soon-to-be account level.

Also, free animations, free sounds not mentioned (in addition to free textures). 

On one hand Patch is saying, here is what is in Premium Plus now and on the other (in the above enboldened part) they are saying this is not, so what's the point of taking those things into consideration now?  That seemed to me to be point of your previous post?  They aren't in this release and so not really relevant until they are because that might be marketing fluff and never eventuate.  This topic seemed to me to be predominately about what is definitely in the package.

[Buttacwup Float]

my initial thoughts are, I am not sure who this is for exactly and how it brings any significant value over simply having more than one premium. Sure if there are large Linden homes that is potentially interesting, and some people will want them but as a value overall I think it is lacking. 

At the price point I think it should be 4096 land minimum. There is sooooo much open mainland you might as well use it. On that, make it so premium plus members pay 50% less to buy mainland from LL when grabbing up those abandoned spots. More groups is nice for some, but really the number included is just kind of silly. The stipend is fine, and has always been one of the best value propositions for premium paid annually, but as shown above has very little difference over the double premium. Message cap increase is silly, this is a communication platform that should be a core feature. Group fee reduction? How many groups are people creating in a year? If i was creating 100 groups a year maybe, but I would be likely to save maybe 180 L$ per year on that one.

In my opinion they missed the mark on this one and should head back into conference and talk it through again. I will wait for the final package and official announcement, but I will not buy this and would generally advise against it as it currently stands.

[Teresa Firelight]

I have to say that I am hugely disappointed as well. I was lead to believe from comments from a linden in a linden lead user group that the price would roughly 2 times premium for roughly double the features. Instead it is more like 2.5 times the price... annual premium is $99 USD and annual premium plus is $249 USD....  that is 150 USD per month or 1.5 times the price more.

I originally expected 2x the price, and I was willing to pay that much to get the extra groups. But at 2.5 times the price .. I don't think so... at least not for the current feature package.

[Buttacwup Float]

44 minutes ago, Kris Spade said:

This offers absolutely no value for me whatsoever, so I'll stick to regular Premium.  I think the 70 group cap is plenty, and any more than that would simply be too overwhelming with "dings" all the time.

I think if LL needs additional revenue, one simple thing they can do that never made any sense to me as to why this rule is in place, is allow residents to purchase their own Homestead region directly from LL without the pre-requisite of having a full region.  It costs them nothing to make this change and offers a lot to the residents.

There's a certain sense of security that exists with having a region in your own name, and many simply can't afford a full one.  In my near 19 years here, I can't tell you how many times I've been screwed over by a land baron.

I couldn't agree more. In my opinion the ability to purchase a homestead on it's own should be a perk of premium...but I would take it as a perk of premium plus. 

[Coffee Pancake]

23 minutes ago, Prokofy Neva said:

So another feature I think wasn't mentioned that is in the interview with Patch today is the fact that with Premium Ploooss, you will be able to pick your own Linden Home.

Yes, hyper useful.

O N C E.

On the condition!! That the home you want is sitting empty AND exactly where you want to be.

G R E A T

Now, how can I get the neighbor to move out so my fren can claim it in the dead time between it dropping and the GOH randomatic just handing it to someone else.

In programming. This is called a race condition. It's a source of unpredictable outcomes and misery.

W O O H O O

Edited June 21, 2022 by Coffee Pancake

[diamond Marchant]

6 minutes ago, Teresa Firelight said:

I have to say that I am hugely disappointed as well.

I am actually angry at this point. I think it is extremely disrespectful to the residents of Second Life to trot out this Premium Plus dog-and-pony show as if they are actually improving anything. It appears they are simply trying to extract more revenue out of a not-growing user base. Mr. Oberwager is a finance guy and is looking for ROI, which is perfectly understandable and reasonable. Maybe be could sell Second Life to an actual high-tech company, one that does not think improving sim crossings (that's right, I said SIM crossings) is too hard cause there is just so much to keep track of.

[Sammy Huntsman]

57 minutes ago, Kris Spade said:

This offers absolutely no value for me whatsoever, so I'll stick to regular Premium.  I think the 70 group cap is plenty, and any more than that would simply be too overwhelming with "dings" all the time.

I think if LL needs additional revenue, one simple thing they can do that never made any sense to me as to why this rule is in place, is allow residents to purchase their own Homestead region directly from LL without the pre-requisite of having a full region.  It costs them nothing to make this change and offers a lot to the residents.

There's a certain sense of security that exists with having a region in your own name, and many simply can't afford a full one.  In my near 19 years here, I can't tell you how many times I've been screwed over by a land baron.

You do realize you can turn the dinging off in settings. right? I do that for myself due to the fact the dings overwhelm me, I am hypersensitive to sounds. Being on the Autism spectrum and all. So I just turn it off, before I have a meltdown. 

[Journey Bunny]

19 minutes ago, Buttacwup Float said:

I am not sure who this is for exactly and how it brings any significant value over simply having more than one premium

The who is creators, the value is "infinity or zero."

Everyone on here seems to be doing the money maths about land, which has me head-scratching. Think about the discount you get from the regular Premium plan:

Basic account: 7 USD, you get a 1024
Premium account: 8.25 USD, you get a 1024

No discount, no value. The added value of the Premium plan is not a discount tier. It's that it gives you a set of software features that you simply can't have with a basic account. Is it worth the extra 1.25/month for 28 extra groups? Certainly doesn't cost LL that. The offer isn't a "deal" on anything the lower account type has--it's additional features that the lower account hasn't got.

Then, consider whether Premium Plus is doing anything so different:

Basic Account: 13 USD, 2048 land tier
Premium+ Account: 20.75 USD, 2048 land tier

No discount, no value. Same arrangement--they give you the highest amount of land tier that fits within what you've paid. And then double your groups, increase your message cap, etc...and then free textures, sounds, animations with more to come (yes, they said mesh is coming). Again, it's the "stuff from lower tiers that you've more-than-paid-for," plus features you don't get at those tiers.

Premium isn't going away. And I think many people should stay with it, myself included. But I think a lot of people are disappointed that P+ isn't some sort of "Premium, but a cheaper deal in the long run" and is, instead, another set of costlier feature offerings at a higher price, and I don't know why we would suspect that LL would grant us all double land while cutting their bottom line on tier fees in some way.

Creators, though? Fixed business cost. That's a huge value offer to a certain set of the SL population.
 

Edited June 21, 2022 by Journey05