Give f2p a small zone in which they can PvP perhaps maybe even PvB/BvB, or atleast somewhere where they will need to work in teams and experience what is one of the most fun parts in any MMORPG working in a group! Just a little bit to get a taste of it. I think more f2p players will then go p2p eventually because they're missing out on huge parts of the game and just getting a little whiff of it (and how much more it could be if they got access to wild space) would convince more f2p's to go p2p.

I don't really have an exact clue on how and what kind of zone it should be, but I believe the f2p model is still lacking this aspect and thus not showing enough of the game so f2p won't be convinced to subscribe.

yclepticon and I discussed this exact issue just a few days ago, and my personal opinion is that the freemium system should indeed give trial players the chance to experience PvP, PvB and BvB in this game, as that is a very valuable experience that they can profit from if they chose to upgrade to a premium account Not being able to get experience in this aspect of the game through the trial system, might be a huge disadvantage, but that is only a thought, not something I have first hand experience on.

We also have the ability to filter PvP now This means we can mark a galaxy with PvP only being allowed between freemium players, without interaction from premium players! But my QA mind tells me that I should check if this applies to healing, energizing, and other types of support

A viable threat to a system like this, is premium players that make "uber" freemium players, which is basically an exploit of the trial system, since they are already subscribing. A possible idea yclepticon and I discussed was to do an IP check to see if there are active premium accounts subscribed to the same IP as the freemium

So yeah, I would love to hear some player opinions on this, and especially from fresh low level players and freemium players

It shouldn't be an exploit as long as Star Sonata advertises itself as a free to play game.

When you subscribe as a premium player, I don't see a reason why you should be playing on trial accounts and interact with "real" trial players. The reason why I say this, is because we have seen abuses of this in the past, some of the most extreme cases where premium players would use high end shield monkeys to turn uber freemium players into "invincible" players, that have been used to drive away real freemium players from the game

I thought of that too, however I think uber f2p's only (and can only) exist on the 20 level cap. With the current trial system, f2p's are only limited by the maximum skills they can acquire instead of having to "plan out" their 100 skill points into the most optimal spread. With maximum skill level being the limitation of f2p instead of maximum level, you essentially CAN'T have uber f2p's.

Essentially, no f2p can be better than any other f2p in the end because they all have equal skill levels meaning they can all access the same gear.

Decent argument, but p2p have access to incredible healing, elec beaming, and FC buffs that f2p do not have access to. There is currently no code in place to stop these things from being used to help a f2p.

Well if things like that could be sorted out I still think it would help te game a lot to offer f2p's a small taste about what this game is really about.

Yeah uh, dunno where you've been in the last god knows how long, but F2P level cap went from 20 to 2000, and even now it has been entirely removed as you can't even do much at 2000 as F2P anyways so the limit seemed dumb. The level cap change went hand in hand with a skills rehaul iirc.

What he was saying that uber F2Ps could only occur under a level 20 cap system. Without the level cap a F2P can't be uber compared to another because they all have the same access to skills and aren't limited to planning out their skill tree to only 100 points.

Indeed a good argument, but in my view the skills is only a small fraction of what makes up an "uber" F2P. I find the accessible gear, previous game experience and knowledge as even bigger components in the build of an "uber" F2P So I have a different view on this, I think you can have uber F2Ps with the current system

I think that's because of the subspace having gear under T20. Those who have access to that can definitely become uber compared to others.

Not only Subspace, but a lot of gear between tech 0-19 (and 20 in some cases) is extremely hard to obtain for a completely fresh new player. But when the freemium player is funded and owned by a premium player, it will have access to a lot more powerful gear

What I as a long-time F2P think of this is that it reeks of newer players losing there bases due to some P2P using a heavly funded F2P acc and killing of new bases.

This should not be implanted if it alowes P2P to cause heavly losses for newer players thus pushing them away from the game.

I saw this as a possible weak spot. However, PvB will only occur in w0 or w1 (unless devs change it?) which means pretty small PvP ranges. I mean, when do most NEW players start building bases? I tend to see it happen at around level 50-100 when people get interested with bases. I'm sure not all players are going to stay in that range with their "funded f2p characters". Besides, even if that WAS that case, it could encourage some newbie teams.

Newer bases? Isn't that what building academy was for?

In my personal opinion, I am going to argue for an own dedicated area for this part of player interaction The whole idea of Earthforce Layer (old Celestial Garden Layer) was to give new players a safe environment to practice base building and galaxy management, and I really think that has succeeded