Premature Speculation: New "Plus" membership level

[Love Zhaoying]

14 hours ago, Sid Nagy said:

How about a log in fee, a log out fee, a teleport fee, a time online fee, a clothing changing fee, a hang around fee, a use an animation fee, a landmark fee, a forum post fee?

This would be great as lyrics to the Beatle's "Tax Man"!

Anyway, my serious "take" on this is: calling it "anything in particular" was not such a good idea.  It would instead, be a good option for the expected-to-come "a la carte" offerings.

I think the "a la carte" will suit a lot of people. 

I would not choose a "stipend" feature, myself. It just is not worth that much to me.

Having experienced it, I also would not choose a "Linden Homes" option. 

Edited November 4, 2022 by Love Zhaoying
"option..option changed to "option..offerings"

[Marianne Little]

17 hours ago, Qie Niangao said:

First, no, this isn't "Premium Plus" that's been around for a while, it's a new level between Basic and Premium, described at the Web User Group and summarized in Inara Pey's indispensable blog:

For many, I suspect, it will be a spreadsheet exercise to figure out whether the pricing for this option is offset by the decreased stipend and possibly lesser bonus tier (will it be 1024 m² just like Premium?).

There's not enough information to productively speculate, but I'm thinking any Premium membership coming up for renewal may want to put off a full-year subscription if indeed the Plus details will be known by the end of this month.

As I read this, it is no free tier included?

So if one buys Mainland, they have to pay tier fram the first square m?

It looks like this means that I can get more groups, and nothing more. Because paying tier to LL + 25% VAT is still not better than renting from another resident.

I read in an earlier Inara Pey summary of the Lab Gab: Lab Gab with Grumpity and Patch – summary notes – Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld

about "Good news for European Premium Subscribers". It was not said clearly, but Inara speculates in that it has to do with VAT. It is interesting to see if LL could find a loophole for VAT.

I am sitting very still now, to see where Premium is going. To pick from a list of what I am interested in a Premium subscription, and only pay for those things, would be great. Let us say I wanted only a Homestead, I could opt out of a Linden home or Mainland, and have a price reduction in the subscription. I wish I could opt out of voice morphing and the other perks I have never used.

But, I can see the problems for LL.

What is Voice Morphing worth? 

What is animesh attachments worth?

What is more groups worth?

It would be a really tough job, to price it in a list. "Add voice morphing to your Premium subscription pack , this will cost you ___ US more". 

 

[Qie Niangao]

1 hour ago, Marianne Little said:

As I read this, it is no free tier included?

So if one buys Mainland, they have to pay tier fram the first square m?

I don't think we know this yet. If this plan is mostly intended to allow Mainland ownership, but doesn't provide any "bonus" tier as a start, it's hard to see how it could be a viable product unless it's really, really inexpensive.

I mean, ordinary Premium costs US$ 99 / yr and the standard L$ 300 / wk stipend is worth US$ 62.40 (at L$250/US$) making the subscription cost US$ 36.60 / yr net of stipend. All that buys 1024 m² for a year, along with all the ordinary Premium perks.

So if this Plus plan were to come with 0 free bonus tier, a year of that 1024 m² would come to US$ 84 just for the tier, which would require a stipend of L$228 / wk just to break even with an ordinary Premium* even if the Plus subscription were completely free. 

I think they'll include at least 512 bonus tier. Maybe the 1024 even, and just not much else.

[ETA: This calculation assumes the Plus plan targets the lower, 1024 m² range of the Mainland market. For those paying tier at the full region range, that free 1024 may be lost in the noise: If they can save, say, half their subscription fee and still own a full region instead of 1+1/64 region, why not? For them it's pretty much a tradeoff of fee vs stipend and other perks.]

___________________________
* $84.00 - $36.60 = $47.40 annual cost by which 0-bonus tier for that 1024 exceeds Premium cost net of stipend, and $47.40 * 250 L$/ US$ / 52 wk = L$228 / wk stipend.

Edited November 4, 2022 by Qie Niangao

[Rowan Amore]

I need to stop reading the thread title incorrectly.  

[Love Zhaoying]

49 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said:

I need to stop reading the thread title incorrectly.  

Maybe it is a good candidate for the "Shovel" thread?

 

[Rowan Amore]

11 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Maybe it is a good candidate for the "Shovel" thread?

 

I'd have to post in the Adult section.  🤣

[Caeruleiae]

20 hours ago, Gabriele Graves said:

However, I can see there being a lot of interest in a level above Basic and below Premium with more group slots, premium-like priority access to events, free asset uploads, lower group/event fees, extra animesh slot but no land tier <= this last part simply because many people don't want land or have estate land.

If I was ever going to get any kind of premium account, I would want it to be something like this. I don't need or want land, I can do better on my own and would gladly trade it in for other benefits. I would likesome of them a lot like low to no upload fees, the extra animesh slot, maybe groups if I ever join too many and stipend. I don't really need or want anything else.

[Kimmi Zehetbauer]

4 hours ago, Marianne Little said:

I read in an earlier Inara Pey summary of the Lab Gab: Lab Gab with Grumpity and Patch – summary notes – Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld

about "Good news for European Premium Subscribers". It was not said clearly, but Inara speculates in that it has to do with VAT. It is interesting to see if LL could find a loophole for VAT.

Wonder if the JP Morgan partnership will help with the VAT thing...

[Istelathis]

LL should just create a menu of all of the options one may want, much like you would find on an app for a restaurant.  For each feature there would be a description, the cost, and a checkbox, it would include the total price at the bottom of the page, and give each user the flexibility they so desire.  Then there would be no need of endless premium types.

Edited November 4, 2022 by Istelathis

[Butch Daddy]

It sounds like they are looking for an option for how the original premium accounts used to be before all of the Linden homes stuff. 

When I first started, Premium got you 512sm on Mainland plus your stipend. You had to buy the parcel, but the monthly tier was included in your premium account fee.  

There were a bunch of mainland regions that had split parcels up into 512sm for newbies that were reasonably priced where you could buy a parcel to get your feet wet. 

I kept my little 512 for the longest time before selling it and renting land on a private estate. The 512 was large enough to have a small house, a few things to decorate, and a place to set my home landing point. 

I could see them picking a half price premium that gets the 512 tier included but no access to the Linden Homes, maybe half the stipend too, a few extra group slots, etc.