Any Value in Patron?

[Aeryl]

As a GM/lifer I wasn’t exactly sure what the Patron (monthly sub) did/didn’t offer. Leave it to FC that on their FAQ page - it doesn’t actually say! Nor is there (as most games have) a side by side look at the amazing benefits to having a sub table.

If only there was a window in the game that told you… Oh wait. There is!

[BombShelley]

The website FAQ, on the other hand, are quite uninformative:

What is the Patron Rewards Program?
The Patron Rewards Program is a loyalty program that rewards players with extra features, additional convenience, and in-game bonuses. It is not required in order to play Secret World Legends.

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.

[Aeryl]

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.

[ziboo]

I’m aware of that, thanks for pointing out the obvious.

If only there was a window in the game that told you… Oh wait. There is!

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.

[Zorvan]

All I care about is the story, so nope.

[MadBadger]

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.

[ippy]

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.

[Meta-Moth]

A month of Patron costs less than one lunch

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.

All I care about is the story, so nope.

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?

[Mnord]

A month of Patron costs less than one lunch and it has a huge variety of small bonuses.

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.

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.

[Broc]

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…

[withoutscratch]

12.99 for 30 cache keys

1 key = 150 Aurum
30 Key = 4500 Aurum

do u get 4500 Aurum for 12.99?

I do believe it was 10 bugs for 1050 Aurum…
In addition u don’t need to spend so much MoF for grinding stuff
one extra Scen key 1500 Mof
3 extra lair keys 3000 Mof ( not sure if it was 1000 Mof per lair chest
8 extra dung keys 4000 Mof

so u get about 8500 Mof virtually in addition, you don’t need to grind them u just have them but cant keep them reset every day

and get more Mof from challenges, so u don’t need to grind this much for them

don’t forget the third age fragments, they help a lot in upgrading stuff
u can purchase purple gear and don’t need to grind it if u wane upgrade to yellow
much faster

so is patronizing worth it?
Absolutely

[Vandelay]

A month of Patron costs less than one lunch

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.

[Mnord]

12.99 for 30 cache keys

1 key = 150 Aurum
30 Key = 4500 Aurum

do u get 4500 Aurum for 12.99?

[…]

so is patronizing worth it?
Absolutely

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). "

[withoutscratch]

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). "

In addition u don’t need to spend so much MoF for grinding stuff
one extra Scen key 1500 Mof
3 extra lair keys 3000 Mof ( not sure if it was 1000 Mof per lair chest
8 extra dung keys 4000 Mof

so u get about 8500 Mof virtually in addition, you don’t need to grind them u just have them but cant keep them reset every day

and get more Mof from challenges, so u don’t need to grind this much for them

don’t forget the third age fragments, they help a lot in upgrading stuff
u can purchase purple gear and don’t need to grind it if u wane upgrade to yellow
much faster

do not ignore that, see it as whole set
the “Free” Mof is worth the patron

And what can I get anywhere else for that sum (opportunity cost).

if u take other games into account yes patron benefits could be different
but we talk about raw SWL and benefit from patron

its like I get 10 chicken eggs for 10 bugs or I get 3 ostrich eggs for 10 bugs

do not compare with other games
other daughters/sons look very juicy, stay with the one you are engaged with

but I understand that it would be nice if we would get free vanity/sprint/pest sry pets/emotes/weapon skins/hair cuts/Tattoos/consumables etc…

I would be satisfied if I would get my smoke, not paying 5+ mof for each

[Mnord]

but we talk about raw SWL and benefit from patron

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”.

[withoutscratch]

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”.

ok agreed
and from that POV no 12.99 is to much for what u get then
I can buy a complete indi game every month for this amount
or patronize a developer that is making a game I like to play

if I wait 3 month I can buy a game from a big company if it is in sales
6 month I can buy it at release date, but who is doing that cus games on release date are all beta level
better to wait 6 month before purchasing

[Mnord]

not “raw SWL”.

ok agreed
and from that POV no 12.99 is to much for what u get then
I can buy a complete indi game every month for this amount
or patronize a developer that is making a game I like to play

if I wait 3 month I can buy a game from a big company if it is in sales
6 month I can buy it at release date, but who is doing that cus games on release date are all beta level
better to wait 6 month before purchasing

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.

[ncurph]

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.

[Leogrim]

If you want aurum and play only a few times a month why not straight up buy it.

[Bjond]

Patron only seems to benefit grinding.

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.