- Thread Author
- #1
Please change the current "user pays for x hours of botting per month" subscription model to a simple "user pays for x hours of botting" system where the purchased hours don't expire.
Reasoning:
-The current subscription model penalizes users who purchase subscriptions during periods of low bot usage and/or bot an irregular number of hours each day.
Example 1: Period of low bot usage followed by period of high bot usage
When I returned back to RM on January 26 and announced the development of my Cursed Wisp bot, I purchased a $10 subscription on the 27th, since I was anticipating heavy bot usage in the future. Until now, I've purchased additional $10 subscriptions every time I've been running low on hours. I was aware of the problems that other people had with the subscription system, so I didn't purchase a large amount of hours at once.
Today, I was hit with a "out of botting hours" notice because the January 27 subscription expired. Since I hadn't done much botting during that time since I didn't get my Cursed Wisp bot to a stable state and start botting 24/7 until early February, very few of the hours granted by the $10 subscription were used, causing me to dip below 0 hours since I didn't regain many hours.
Example 2: Period of high bot usage followed by period of low bot usage
I buy a $100 subscription and then bot for 10000 hours in a single month. At the end of the month, I decide the ban rate at where I'm botting is too high and switch to running four Vindicta bots. If I botted for 10 hours a day on each of those bots, I'd only use 1200 hours/month. However, due to the way the subscription system works I'd have -10000 hours of credit, which means I have to wait until near the end of the month to resume botting, or pay $100 to bring myself above a negative balance, which means I'd be wasting $88 on hours I'd never use.
Thus, in order to minimize the amount of wasted hours due to them expiring and to avoid suddenly running out of hours due to an irregular number of hours used each day (i.e. due to bot downtime, a banwave, etc), the most efficient way to purchase subscriptions is to repeatedly purchase $2-3 subscriptions to gain access to hours as needed. However, this increases the amount RuneMate has to pay in Paypal fees. For a single $90 subscription, RuneMate will pay $2.91 in fees. However, for 30 $3 subscriptions, RM will pay $11.61 in fees. I expect to begin botting another MMO in March, so I'm reluctant to commit to a single subscription since my hours botted will drastically change as a result. If a "pay for x hours of botting" system was implemented, I'd simply buy bulk hours in a single transaction since I wouldn't have to worry about them expiring.
-The current subscription model confuses many users.
Confusion over how the current subscription model works results in many threads being made in the Client & Site Support section. This consumes staff time and reduces user satisfaction. A "pay for x hours of botting" system is much easier to understand, especially for users who have English as their non-primary language.
Alternative plans discussed on Slack:
-Change it to a "Pay for x hours that expire after x time period" similar to cellphone plans, which is how a lot of people think the current system works. I believe this was suggested by @Party on Slack
-Sponsors would also never have their hours expire, which would serve as an incentive to get it for people who aren't interested in the ability to advertise other websites. I suggested this because there's not much of a reason to get Sponsor except to advertise websites.
-Change it to the old "pay for additional instances" system, except that each additional instance is more expensive than it was before ($1/instance to $3-5?).
Reasoning:
-The current subscription model penalizes users who purchase subscriptions during periods of low bot usage and/or bot an irregular number of hours each day.
Example 1: Period of low bot usage followed by period of high bot usage
When I returned back to RM on January 26 and announced the development of my Cursed Wisp bot, I purchased a $10 subscription on the 27th, since I was anticipating heavy bot usage in the future. Until now, I've purchased additional $10 subscriptions every time I've been running low on hours. I was aware of the problems that other people had with the subscription system, so I didn't purchase a large amount of hours at once.
Today, I was hit with a "out of botting hours" notice because the January 27 subscription expired. Since I hadn't done much botting during that time since I didn't get my Cursed Wisp bot to a stable state and start botting 24/7 until early February, very few of the hours granted by the $10 subscription were used, causing me to dip below 0 hours since I didn't regain many hours.
Example 2: Period of high bot usage followed by period of low bot usage
I buy a $100 subscription and then bot for 10000 hours in a single month. At the end of the month, I decide the ban rate at where I'm botting is too high and switch to running four Vindicta bots. If I botted for 10 hours a day on each of those bots, I'd only use 1200 hours/month. However, due to the way the subscription system works I'd have -10000 hours of credit, which means I have to wait until near the end of the month to resume botting, or pay $100 to bring myself above a negative balance, which means I'd be wasting $88 on hours I'd never use.
Thus, in order to minimize the amount of wasted hours due to them expiring and to avoid suddenly running out of hours due to an irregular number of hours used each day (i.e. due to bot downtime, a banwave, etc), the most efficient way to purchase subscriptions is to repeatedly purchase $2-3 subscriptions to gain access to hours as needed. However, this increases the amount RuneMate has to pay in Paypal fees. For a single $90 subscription, RuneMate will pay $2.91 in fees. However, for 30 $3 subscriptions, RM will pay $11.61 in fees. I expect to begin botting another MMO in March, so I'm reluctant to commit to a single subscription since my hours botted will drastically change as a result. If a "pay for x hours of botting" system was implemented, I'd simply buy bulk hours in a single transaction since I wouldn't have to worry about them expiring.
-The current subscription model confuses many users.
Confusion over how the current subscription model works results in many threads being made in the Client & Site Support section. This consumes staff time and reduces user satisfaction. A "pay for x hours of botting" system is much easier to understand, especially for users who have English as their non-primary language.
Alternative plans discussed on Slack:
-Change it to a "Pay for x hours that expire after x time period" similar to cellphone plans, which is how a lot of people think the current system works. I believe this was suggested by @Party on Slack
-Sponsors would also never have their hours expire, which would serve as an incentive to get it for people who aren't interested in the ability to advertise other websites. I suggested this because there's not much of a reason to get Sponsor except to advertise websites.
-Change it to the old "pay for additional instances" system, except that each additional instance is more expensive than it was before ($1/instance to $3-5?).
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