Open your eyes - support quake live - purchase premium /pro or lose it

[BIMNUTZ]

Nah, let QL sink or swim on its own merits!

If the devs had kept T5 and not let them farm T3 players and new guys in there 20 game trial period and grown the player base with new satisfied standard accounts.

If they had improved and upgraded the server hosting.

If they had designed new maps with better tactics and improving content.

If every update didn't have a list if fixed glitches as long as your arm.

If the graphics were updated but running with the same physics we all loved from the Q3 days.

Other than that, I'd miss QL, or more correctly the 3astard server, for less than a week before moving on like I did for months this winter.

[depre]

Not much long now...

[*SneekySniper]

C3, I agree with you.

Those who want to play should pay.

IF that does become the case I really hope that ID becomes more responsive to its customers.

It is my hope that ID works it all out.

I enjoy the heck out of CTF!

[zb0n3]

Few things I would like to say.

Couple of years back this type of topic would get 30 pages of heated discussion by now. Most people who complained and were shown the door by the kinds of c3 simply left.

QL essentially finished Q3. Fair enough. However, QL failed miserably to evolve into anything bigger and is going to die slowly and follow the way of Q2 and Q3. Funny enough QW is still alive

Anyway, I can't wait to see QL die and iD to close this shop and call it a day. Keeping in mind how greedy they are I can predict release of a standalone QL version sort of upgraded Q3 with community buying keys and launching their own servers, mods and maps. So very likely this all happening now is simply a blessing in disguise.

[Communist316]

I am honestly getting of sick of people saying that standards players leech off of id software". No, we have to sit through 30 seconds of advertising every time we join a game. I used to be a premium member, and now I am definitely not re-subscribing.

[Lam]

Im not paying money for a game with no anticheat, poorly written netcode, no workable matchmaking and no ladder system.

Let's see:
- cheaters are detected and banned (I'd prefer that to happen faster, too - but see [1])
- the netcode is the best ever created; you probably mean hit detection, in which case only CPMA can compete, out of thousands of games...
- there are 4 tiers and believe it or not, they work nicely for protecting the noobies from us. I guess you're one of the people who imagine "match making" as "matching me with people I can own"?
- QLRanks is a ladder system and is very nicely integrated into the main site with the userscript. And btw, they have a premium package too...

[1] this also means that cheaters generally don't subscribe (banned premium account = money lost), so by playing on premium servers, you have much less chance of meeting them. Which kind of invalidates your argument.

[c3]

Why offer it for free to begin?

You can't sit here and use that argument when it is offered for free and has been since its inception. It lacks logic and I cringe at the thought of how my tax dollars were spent for towards your education (or lack of in this case).

ID runs the same business practice as many do these days. Free (with ad support) and Pay for use. Whether I am paying with money or my time to watch ads, does not mean one has to keep their mouth closed without complaining when changes are disliked. In the end, the customer is always king. If the changes work for them (which based on the feedback here I doubt) then good for them.

They can easily make it 'subscriber only' as you suggest but they don't... because they will lose revenue. It's that simple. They can't risk that move.

I know I have played much less since the change and I consider myself somewhat addicted to the game. I am sure it's the same for many others as well.

Although I understand your suspicion about ID's 'free offering,' ID never intended for this to stay free as it can't operate in this manner. Standard is offered to entice its customers to upgrade to Premium. In many cases, free memberships are offered for a period of time (Generally stated in their business model), and once that grace period is up, features are slowly taken away with the hope standard players upgrade to prem or pro.

There's a best case, worst case, and likely case scenarios. If QLive was a big hit and there were hundreds of thousands of members, let's say just past a million, then the 'paid memberships' wouldn't be an issue. There would be enough 'standard players' to fork in the needed revenue through advertising, but unfortunately this isn't the case. Membership is low, and enough money isn't being generated to keep the show going as is.

Knowing this, wouldn't you want to help QLive keep its head above water by upgrading? If the answer is no, then I suspect ID will either launch a more aggressive marketing campaign or continue to take away features from standard players. In any event, $20 over the span of a year is laughable.

-T

[BIMNUTZ]

Let's see:
- cheaters are detected and banned (I'd prefer that to happen faster, too - but see [1])
- the netcode is the best ever created; you probably mean hit detection, in which case only CPMA can compete, out of thousands of games...
- there are 4 tiers and believe it or not, they work nicely for protecting the noobies from us. I guess you're one of the people who imagine "match making" as "matching me with people I can own"?
- QLRanks is a ladder system and is very nicely integrated into the main site with the userscript. And btw, they have a premium package too...

[1] this also means that cheaters generally don't subscribe (banned premium account = money lost), so by playing on premium servers, you have much less chance of meeting them. Which kind of invalidates your argument.

Jeez dude, I want in on the fantasy world you're living in!

The tier system has got nothing but howls of protest since T5 was eliminated! Even before that most players who reached T3 didn't know that T5 could double down tier to T3. Yeah I friggin caught that, T5r's would have a double down gray chevron, indicating they could drop 2 tiers. So effing unfair! So out of bata ID did the bait and switch on us and eliminated T5 and put them in the general pop of T4. It took those jerks 2 whole years to cap off all game types to down skilling. 2 WHOLE YEARS! A good portion of that time, T1 players getting introduced to QL were functionally up against the former Beta T5 players. Its any one's guess how many new players QL lost to that incompetence on IDs part. How many kids would stick with HS football if any given game they were up against NFL players?

If anyone looks @ my game history over the last week I've played a couple of old T4 CTF servers and gotten smoked! Guys like SIKC go 22/1 K/D and I go 1/18 That's your integrated ladder system? R U for effing real? I'm a stubborn a hole with a thick skull compared to the new guys who could have been QLs new player base had there been a FAIR tier system, and I'm ready to quit! If it wasn't for the 3astard server and FAST lash, I'd be history!

You're dishonest in the most self serving way when u say "matched with people I can own" I know the friggin players I can keep up with and are a rung or 2 above or below me on the low lag ladder. There's enough of those players to keep a CTF server open @ any given time. I'd win and loose some, but I wouldn't get owned 1/18 or worse. No one is going to stick around with games like that. EVERYONE WILL STICK AROUND AND PAY IF THERE PLAYING PEOPLE AROUND THERE SKILL! Why is ID so dense in getting that simple truth?

Seems so pointless that the selfishness of the "elite" former Q3 old guard would ruin the chances of QL to be successful and welcome and help new potential paying player base in.....Then again if you've been made rich by being part of the quake franchise, you're not going to have the fundamentals of fairness for the general player base at heart instead cater to your buddies in the closed world you've insulated yourself in.


So sad!

Power To the Latency lizards! Down With the Low Lag Princesses!

[nitricity]

I want to subscribe for freeze tag but why no paypal?

[intheway]

I enjoy playing ql, especially new maps. I used to play on the old burial ground q3 custom map server. 10 years of almost daily play and not one standard q3 map in the rotation. Life was sweet then. I presently have no lag or ping issues. I can't remember the last time I saw a definite hacker. Is ql everything I want it to be? Well no, but it's close. But I do want to support the game. The premium cost annually is bout 28 minutes of my salary. The pro cost annually is about 56 minutes of my salary. The decision took about 30 seconds to make. I'm presently premium and about to upgrade to pro. The upgrade email came yesterday. I'll respond tonite.