The website FAQ, on the other hand, are quite uninformative:
That sounds like it hasn’t been updated since months before launch, even, since back when Funcom initially teased there might be different loyalty reward levels and all.
The FAQ having an informative (and up-to-date) bullet list instead would be a real good idea.
The SWL website is just kind of useless in general, with important news such as content updates and new features buried under now-irrelevant posts about long-expired bonus weekends.
I’m aware of that, thanks for pointing out the obvious.
Wasn’t in the game… My point if I WAS NOT already playing the game or heaven forbid NOT logged in, there isn’t a comparison on the FAQ or even a list of benefits as to why you’d want to sub.
Only game I’m aware of without that feature. That’s no Funcom not keeping that up. A game’s website is usually where people look for information. An intern could type that up you’d think.
All I care about is the story, so nope.
FunCom could do a ‘Bring your kids to work’ day every couple months and have them type up the website info, correct the non-displaying AH items (not showing when Superior selected etc.) and do some playtest/QA all at the same time.
Everybody wins!
Well, except the kids of course; they only get paid in hexcoins.
I think they might want to look at the number of keys on those loot boxes. For three months ive subbed, but dang, im getting maybe 5 boxes a day dropping from mobs (probably more). Maybe a few more per day would be a good incentive to keep the patron up. Heck, if you just want people to keep their sub up, tying it into the daily rewards bonus every ten days would grant a pretty decent incentive to not only sub, but also log in and stay active. Maybe 3-5 on day 10 and 20, and ten extra keys on day 30.
I rarely get anything but a boost for either a glyph, weapon or talisman. And that makes a teensy dent in an epic item (youre basically full epic up by the time you get through Tokyo). The benefit again would be to encourage players to burn those on alternative playstyles/weapons keeping the game fresh.
Naturally this doesnt apply to the super hardcore who probably have an epic item of every type, but to the less hardcore at end game it might help keep the interest once the story ends. Honestly, i just want the roll on the super rare’s and cosmetics anyway.
I dunno what kind of lunch you’re having at £10 a pop but i just had mine at the cost of 0.55p - That’s the kind of budget i’m on here - playing a free to play game.
This ^ If this is indeed a "Story driven shared world (as FC put it now) - then why would anyone want to even buy patron? Since all it would offer to a “Story driven” player is some extra XP, fluff delivery and free anima leaps for £10 a month. It’s about as much use to a story player as “Free key weekends/days” or “Bonus xp to empowerment’s” - What would they use their free keys for? Keepsakes?
I like the free key weekends - because i play the group content so for me it’s beneficial and helps to upgrade my gear so i can play more of the group content and not be stuck at the oddly selective tiers. I also spend my own saved MoF’s on opening the extra crates once my own daily ones have ran out.
Would it not be more beneficial, if say for someone who is here for story, to have a weekend of 8 hr CD’s on all missions - so they can actually play the story driven content?
It’s also worth noting that there is an opportunity cost for subscribing.
IMO for ~10$/month I can get much more entertainment and content in WoW, I can get a pretty nice indy game every month or keep up with the Assassin’s creed, GTA and Far cry releases.
While SWL’s sub doesn’t add much real entertainment value. In the end, what I really get for those 10$ are MoF’s, shards, distillates and maybe AP/SP’s. Really, only filling virtual gauges. The true amazing content (the story) is already free.
So clearly, it’s worth “something”. But to me it’s not worth what I could get by spending this money elsewhere.
I definitely see the value of being a patron, both in terms of supporting a game I enjoy and for the convenience factor. I do tend to log on every day though, even if just to get the key 
The shortened cooldowns and the teleports do help out a lot when I only have a short time to play and want to try for dailies. I have a lifetime sub from the original but as I like to play 2 characters at once I’m subbed on the second account…
That may be the case for the US or EU. However, Funcom doesn’t use local pricing everywhere. In my case the patron price is €13. When converted to local currency, that is more like four lunches. Obviously still not too much yet the difference in purchasing power plays a part in how much I’m willing to pay.
I was patron for two months after they revamped Patron benefits soon after launch. Removed subscription once I hit 50. There is still value in it mostly due to the cache keys but it’s not worth the price in my case anymore.
It’s only true if you percieve value in those things in the first place.
If I sell you my pack of 5 stale biscuits for 99$ but offer you a subscription that give you 10 of those same unique biscuits for 80$. It doesn’t suddenly make my subscription “worth it”. It’s just a better deal. Even though you know that your supermarket offers more (and better) biscuits for less.
A better question is: "Is a few additional points of Item power (what patron “essentially” is) worth 10$ a month. And what can I get anywhere else for that sum (opportunity cost). "
It didnt seem to be the case.
But Indeed if you see the question as “is patron better than spending that same amount in aurum?”. Probable, yes.
Though by “Is patron worth it” I read it as “is patron worth 10$/mo”. Especially when the original author compares the price to a (real world) lunch so definitely not “raw SWL”.
I’m currently in the same mentality, I play a bit of SWL (during new story release) and one of the main reasons I play it over competitors like WoW is because it’s free.
My money goes for actual “content” (as opposed to vitual gauges like gear score), single player games usually. I recently played through AC: Origins and it felt like purchasing actual entertainment (unlike a handful of distillates).
But I agree that for those who want to spend money specifically to support funcom. Patron is probably the best option.
What is the benefit for those that only log in a few times a month? Not much. There should be bonus Aurum each month to spend on vanity or agent stuff. Patron only seems to benefit grinding.
If you want aurum and play only a few times a month why not straight up buy it.
I don’t think that’s so much Patron as the game itself. The way the daily mission bonuses and caps are setup is part of the F2P game and Patron feeds it. It’s one of the things I dislike about the game, but I recognize the benefits.
Daily enticements keep the game from dying. Sporadic logins yield spikes and gaps in online population. So what? Why not play when you like? Well, if you just happen to log in to a couple gaps in a row, you will be effectively blocked from all group content. No matter how badly you want to do those things and how fun you think they are, you can’t do them because of no people.
Your impression is going to be “omg, the game is done” and then you quit. That snowballs fast and then the game really dies.
While I understand what youre saying, I feel that it misses the mark somewhat as it appeals to a too narrow segment of player types.
I know you shouldnt compare games, as what is an incentive in one may be nothing in another because of the systems in place, but when you look at a game like Elder Scrolls Online, the incentives are wide reaching and value added on top of the base game to cover many different types of players. including end-gamers, crafters, pvpers, roleplayers and the super casuals, theres something for everyone, but the same cant be said for Patron.
An important part that we dont really know is the desired outcome(besides making it financially viable) and mission statement of the game and its systems… Is the sum total of the game you grinding ilevels and ap/sp? When looking through the Patron list, it does appear that is their way of thinking.
Personally, I spend so much time on dailies I don’t have time for group content. And I also spend so much time on dailies because group content takes too long and is by its nature very unpredictable.
I can’t know whether it will take 20 minutes or an hour to get through a dungeon, or if my group can get through it at all, or if the queue will even pop. I do know for certain that I can be more productive in that hour towards dailies by not doing it. And if I already know I’m going to do missions, I can do ones that effectively reward distillates and a full compliment of reward bags in Tokyo or South Africa, even though they take longer than Bullets for Andy.
I’ve never been a fan of daily reward/quest systems. They are absolutely miserable and don’t help what they intend to help, in my experience.
If you casual player patron has no value .
lets review :
The only way Patron benefit you that if you hardcore player who log in every single day and use all his keys every day.
If you just want to enjoy the game and story dont bother with patron . it will actualy make game less fun.
Lifetime Patron here, but I’d have to say… maybe? Possibly? Depends on how much you plan on playing. The value of Patron increases linearly with your playtime. If you aren’t playing around 40 hours a week then you probably aren’t really getting a worthwhile value out of Patron. The free Cache key will almost never give you anything worthwhile. The free anima leap isn’t a big deal, eventually you’ll have an overflowing stockpile of shards. The bonus MoF is cool. Just complete all your challenges each and every day for it to be worth it. The bonus XP is garbo because eventually you’ll have everything full anyway. The reduced mission cooldown only works if you’re playing a high number of hours per week where you’re repeating a farming route just about daily, or even multiple times per day.
If you are playing >40 hours per week then it’s worth it, but only if you’re logging in every single day as well. If you’re playing <40 hours per week then it’s definitely not worth it.