Prestige

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While I agree with your stated philosophy toward monetizing the game, I feel that the addition of military bonuses does not.  It is a bonus that applies too directly against other players to allow a continued sense of fairness to remain between paying and non-paying players.  Further, it is an imbalance that cannot be measured prior to engagement.  Players will have that much harder a time knowing whether they are picking equal opponents or not.

I am a paying player, and as such I can already outpace non-paying players in economic development.  But I will not be spending my prestige on these military bonuses.  That's just too much.

Edited by HonoredMule - 21 Mar 2010 at 22:30

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HonoredMule Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Postmaster General Joined: 05 Mar 2010 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 1650	Posted: 21 Mar 2010 at 22:28
	While I agree with your stated philosophy toward monetizing the game, I feel that the addition of military bonuses does not. It is a bonus that applies too directly against other players to allow a continued sense of fairness to remain between paying and non-paying players. Further, it is an imbalance that cannot be measured prior to engagement. Players will have that much harder a time knowing whether they are picking equal opponents or not. I am a paying player, and as such I can already outpace non-paying players in economic development. But I will not be spending my prestige on these military bonuses. That's just too much. Edited by HonoredMule - 21 Mar 2010 at 22:30

Illyriad Admin Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Joined: 26 Aug 2009 Status: Offline Points: 392	Posted: 21 Mar 2010 at 22:02
	WHAT IS PRESTIGE? Prestige is the ingame currency that you can spend on both instant effects as well as bonuses over time that provide benefits to your playing experience and your town's growth. WHAT PRESTIGE CAN DO FOR YOU You can see all the available spend options by clicking on the Prestige link on the left hand side of your game screen. HOW TO GET PRESTIGE You are given some free Prestige when you start playing Illyriad, and you may spend this as you wish. You can earn Prestige by referring players to Illyriad via our Buddy Programme - and you can find details about this ingame, on the "Prestige / About" page. You can also buy Prestige via PayPal or via Credit/Debit card. OUR PHILOSOPHY REGARDING PRESTIGE Illyriad is going to be around for a long time. We have a very substantial development and expansion list, much of which is publically accessible in these forums (so you can view, comment, and even influence what we're working on). We believe that the most valuable players in Illyriad are not those who spend (or don't spend) their cash on buying Prestige. The most valuable players are active players who participate both inside the game (active and growing their Empire/Alliance) and outside the game (active in the forums, helping new players, setting up fansites and wikis etc). We don't believe in trying to fleece players for a quick buck. We believe that if the game is good, addictive, rewarding to play and has a strong playerbase then the rewards for the company and our shareholders will follow naturally. Don't get us wrong - at its core, Illyriad Games Limited earns money to pay for the servers, advertising, staff, graphic design, development costs, and everything else that keeps this game both running and developing further - by selling Prestige to players. However, unlike some other games, we don't believe that the game should be unbalanced - or the game interface crippled - for players who do not choose to buy Prestige. We know that there are games out there that allow you to spend money on the equivalent of an "I win" button, and there are games out there that (eg) do not allow you to queue building orders unless you spend money with them. We found these games as frustrating as you did. Sure, if we added a Prestige Spend option to (eg) instantly complete Research queues, or instantly build Settlers then we'd make some short-term money off of it. But it would be at the expense of the long term game, and you: our core playerbase. And we're not going to do that. We have chosen what we allow prestige to be spent on (and how much it costs) very carefully indeed, and we hope that you think we've achieved a good balance. We also believe that you should be able to earn Prestige by helping Illyriad to grow, which is why we have the Buddy Programme - where you earn Prestige by referring players to Illyriad. We hope you agree with this general philosophy, and please feel free to let us know what you think by replying in this thread.