Monthly Reset of Normal Accounts

[DivineRight]

Every month free accounts will have their stats and units erased; only Gold Account users are exempt from the resets. The date was originally set for today but due to the confusion and mass requests by players who are waiting for their Paypal Merchant System accounts to be set up, we have extended the reset date until Wednesday December 3rd/2003. If there was ever a better reason to sign up for a Gold Account, it wouldn't fall too far behind reset protection. So show your support and sign up now!

[canopus]

really glad to hear you delayed-

I think people who started on 11/27 didnt think their month was ending in a couple days.

But now they've got to go gold to keep their drop wins...

-canopus

[skribe311]

Originally posted by canopus

I think people who started on 11/27 didnt think their month was ending in a couple days.


agreed

[Jeice]

Gotta say I think it's shitty you blank the free accounts every month, we're already denied cool units, now we don't get to keep the ones we manage to scrounge up from playing for hours on end. thanks guys, way to piss off the fanbase.

[AzN_GuY]

you're free to clean the server accounts out yourself :D

If you have a more effecient idea, i'd love to hear it though...

[canopus]

what about eliminating free accounts after one week of inactivity? That way people still playing can continue, but all the clutter disappears itself??

-canopus
peacemaker

[Eldar[TN]]

Originally posted by Jeice
Gotta say I think it's shitty you blank the free accounts every month, we're already denied cool units, now we don't get to keep the ones we manage to scrounge up from playing for hours on end. thanks guys, way to piss off the fanbase.

Then pay $5 its not like its soooo much. $60 a year FFS.

[Radiantguy99]

If you got a problem with it, then start paying the $5. We're the ones paying for the server, so I would think we should have a few extras included.

[Smashure]

Originally posted by Eldar[TN]
Then pay $5 its not like its soooo much. $60 a year FFS.

I pay less than that for Xbox live. if they want my money. do something for me to want to forkk out that much $$$.

[Bills]

I would suggest playing your Xbox then, the place you spend the most time at is the place you should spend your money at.

[Choi]

Originally posted by DivineRight
Every month free accounts will have their stats and units erased; only Gold Account users are exempt from the resets.

I think resetting the stats for free accounts is great, especially since I'm a gold member, but it would be great if it was a month since they signed in. That way you avoid a monthly crunch on people sign ups and people complaining that they that they just started. Maybe show a countdown of days until their stats reset for the last 5 days of their month.

[Jeice]

Meh, tell ya what, considering 60 bucks a year isn't THAT much, I'll still give you the finger. You're going to have terrible PR because of this, and will lose out on revenue you could get by having ads or the like on the page that people would pay you for, but whatever works for you guys I guess. I like how the gold account guys are happy about it, reinforces my point when it comes to the free's already being shafted, and now standing to be in even worse shape, the game won't even be worth playing when you're through.

[Choi]

Originally posted by Jeice
the game won't even be worth playing when you're through.

Get a grip or play something else.

[Jingleheimer]

Originally posted by Jeice
Meh, tell ya what, considering 60 bucks a year isn't THAT much, I'll still give you the finger. You're going to have terrible PR because of this, and will lose out on revenue you could get by having ads or the like on the page that people would pay you for, but whatever works for you guys I guess. I like how the gold account guys are happy about it, reinforces my point when it comes to the free's already being shafted, and now standing to be in even worse shape, the game won't even be worth playing when you're through.
How is it possible to “shaft” the free players?

It is FREE! :rolleyes:
It is not like the account deletions where kept secret.

As for ads, the amount of ads that would be needed to pay for these types of servers would very likely make the game unplayable.

I’m certainly not going to shed any tears for the few free members that will leave because their accounts were reset.
I don’t know how the admins here can stand it with all of these idiots complaining about the reset.

[xerent]

People seem to have delusions that signing up for a FREE account gives them a vote in some imaginary democracy.

[Eldar[TN]]

Yep, thats one of those annoying things with so many democratic nations. Everyone expects to have their opnion heard and respected. It doesn't work that way tho.

And for anyone else who thinks they won't pay the $60 but deserve whatever they want...

You realize it probably costs $200-900 a month to run this game?

And I doubt there are 100 gold members o0

[Jeice]

This has nothing to do with casting a vote in some "imaginary democracy" its about low level bitching about two tiered gaming, and if you don't like it, get earplugs, or stab your eyes out with a spoon...considering I'm writing in text it'd probably be more effective and entertaining to go with the second option.

[Jingleheimer]

Originally posted by Jeice
This has nothing to do with casting a vote in some "imaginary democracy" its about low level bitching about two tiered gaming, and if you don't like it, get earplugs, or stab your eyes out with a spoon...considering I'm writing in text it'd probably be more effective and entertaining to go with the second option.

Or perhaps use the "Add Jeice to Your Ignore List " option?

*click*

[Eldar[TN]]

I used that option before he posted o0

[Lone Wolf]

I will start by saying I am not gold. Next I will say that I couldn't care any less that the good people who run this site are going to wipe the free accounts. I don't support the game (yet) I suggest things but not monetarily. So wipe em.

- Lone Wolf

[ReNeGAdE]

ok im not gold yet, and i AGREE to the resets (whoa). These people put time and money into making and maintaining this game, and if everyone can play it for free they get nothing out of it. If you make the free accounts unsatisfactory, then people who like the game are forced to acctually PAY to play it. if you dont want to pay go find another fucking game. Im betting that when a higher % of the population goes gold, they will reduce the price of it. Oh, i also suggest that you give non-paying member something like an hour limit for playing each day, so they dont clog up the servers and force you to pay more money to support the non-payers and charge the payers. jsut my 2 cents........... ok maybe 22 cents........

[solbadguy]

First, i am not a gold yet because I haven't played long enough to know if I would like to pay for it yet but i agree, i don't see why Bills should listen to us non-gold members since we don't do anything in return. It's not like $5 a month is that expensive.

[ReNeGAdE]

well i acctually think the price is too high to pay for the game right now. but i expect since the game is new the money is needed for servers and expanding the game soooo after we get more golds the price will go down to something more acceptable. think of it right now as part subscribing, part donating to the success of the game! its an investment in a good cause! now dont let my down by keeping the price high forever :p.

[Ashen-Shugar]

Have you golds ever stopped to consider that the free account members are what make up this game?

Think, how many golds are there compared to non-olds? very few, if all non-golds left cuz some new bullshit rules were thrown on them, then the golds would have wasted their money because they would have nearly nobody to play with!

Not everyone has 5 bucks a month to waste on a FLASH game.

Its unfair for non-golds to just have their account thrown away because they wanna have a few fun games and they refuse to pay 5 bucks for something that definately isn't worth paying for.

[AzN_GuY]

And yet you can create your account all over again in 3 seconds... great isnt it?

[Drunken Dragon]

Golds lets stop and consider what this game would be like with out greys....

1. The server would almost never be full.
2. We wouldnt have to hear about whos a fag and "DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO GET GOLEMS!"
3. No one jumping into your game when you just agreed to play someone else.
4. No whinning about supperior forces or deleted accounts.
5. No worthless greys....
6. we might only have the option of two people to play a game against.

You know... I think I'm cool with it

[Bills]

and by the end of the month there will be something like 700 sum odd Gold Accounts, more than enough to play against.

The free account clean up ani't so much a money grab as it is a database clean up. When people make 2-5 accounts per server it makes running things as simple as rankings a hour long task.

Plus we want a current active player count.

[Sir Vilhelm]

Originally posted by xerent
People seem to have delusions that signing up for a FREE account gives them a vote in some imaginary democracy.

ROFL That is really a good point.

[Lone Wolf]

Hey whats goin on i thought my account was supposed to be electronic toast today? What happened? You guys are slacking off with pissing off the whining freebies.

- Lone Wolf

[h()()t]

bills is right

[Ashen-Shugar]

An account does take three seconds to re-make, but that still doesn't give back any units you picked up, which is ufair cuz then you have to start from scratch every month. I'll be damned if i have to pay money to prevent that from happening.

[Warcow]

OK all you bloody grey's need to put something into perspective. Your now complaing about paying 5 dollars a month. A MONTH, do the math that sure isnt much per day, maybe it means smoking one less cigarette or getting the medium fries for some of you. Now what excatly do you do to help Bills and the staff? NOTHING not a damn thing, except play his game. Well he could have just not made it and then where would you be? He could make you pay to even play! So in conclusion beggars can't be choosers if you want better game quality, stop being so damn stingy and pay 5$

[kyrios24]

i like the way that this will weed out all the whiners on the server, but i get the impression that most people dont check the forums much or else there would be a lot more complaining. Most people i've asked think that the account gets reset after they've been playing for a month, and they also seem to think that you only lose the record, not the account too. I know I just checked this now and I'm doing my best to not get mad about losing my drop units. Drops are really rare, and I like the 2 witches and 2 clerics and the extra pyro i never use...ok. Enough of that. Why don't you make some announcements in the actual servers so everyone will know about it and the dedicated people buy gold rather than many of them losing their accounts and their interest in the game? Unless you already erased the regular accounts...'tis a shame. And that would mean I wasted five minutes of my sleep. Tragic. (Who sleeps nowadays anyway?)

[Rexxx]

I currently play with a free account, with plans to go gold as soon as my PayPal situation is straightened out.. that being said...

I, too, think that wiping ALL the free players accounts could backfire. And here's why:

People are more inclined to pay for something that is worth more. A free account, with 3 unit drop wins is worth more than a free account with no unit drops. Similar to Ultima Online... eventually, people started buying already existing accounts because building up from scratch, in a world where most other people were already godlike, was just tedious and boring.

For all the gold members telling the free members to go away.. (and remember, I WILL be a gold member soon)... Free members aren't worthless. Every single person was a free member once. Every single free member is a visiting person to the site and to the game. That's a pair of eyes that can view, and click on, an advertisement. That's a pair of eyes that can be pursuaded to purchase a gold account. Notice that a common complaint is that 'the game isn't worth paying 5 bucks a month for'.. Well.. What is worth 5 bucks a month to me, might not be worth it to someone else. But.. what if they have so many different units, or features that are only available to gold members? Maybe a unit trading shop, just for gold members.. or a unit purchase shop, just for gold members.. would it be worth it then? Well.. again, it depends on the person, but I suspect that if features like those were implemented, some of the complainers would convert and get an account.

Now, you can't please everyone all the time.. totally understood.. but.. by wiping people's account, there is little incentive to keep coming back until the game reaches a level that they consider it worth it to buy into the gold account. The game is new right now.. but imagine it in about 6 months to a year. Gold accounts will have 10-20 different units to choose from, while the free accounts may have what, 5 more? It will be MUCH more likely for a free person to sign up right away because gold members will have an obvious advantage eventually.. but right now, golds don't really have THAT strong of an advantage yet.. so, to some, it isn't yet worth it. Wipe their account, and they may never come back to see how the game grows.

You also might say.. Yeah, but they are complainers.. who needs em? Well.. TAO needs em. TAO needs em because they not only contribute to everyone's rankings, but they are also a set of eyes for advertisers, as well as potential gold members.. and their money spends just as well as anyone elses. EVERYONE complains about SOMETHING. If *EVERYONE* on the receiving end took the attitude of "Go away, we don't need you if you want to complain", then we would be a third world country. Complaining, at times, when listened to, can lead to improvements that benefit everyone, not just the complainer.

SO.. I agree with what someone mentioned above.. If there is more of a time limit of inactivity to an account, it would be much better. That way, you are only clearing accounts of those that don't contribute to the community at all. I'm currently a free account.. but I tell ya what, I'll play the game with the best of em, and win a lot. That improves player's strategies. That entices me to become a gold member. Wiping my account doesn't.

Somewhere down the line, it will be impossible for new gold members to even make the rankings because they will simply be WAY too high... Why? Because the free accounts get wiped. Unless you intend on wiping the rankings each month as well, because it will eventually reach a point where the only way for any new member to make ranking is to play 24/7, non stop.

In the SHORT term, wiping accounts looks and sounds like a good plan. In the LONG term, I think it will prove to be a mistake.

[Eldar[TN]]

Big diffrence between this and UO, there is no real major build up here.

[Rexxx]

Originally posted by Eldar[TN]
Big diffrence between this and UO, there is no real major build up here.

I agree with you, HOWEVER, what you are failing to see is that, over time, if a free member is allowed to build up their available units via unit drop or whatever, they are in a better position to go gold later, and more likely to do so.

Again, think LONG term, not short term. After a period of time, CURRENT gold members will be VERY powerful because of all the units they have accumulated. Eventually, they will have to discontinue units, or make them free, or open up more storage space for them. New gold members at that time won't be as powerful, though, if they get to keep their unit drops, they CAN be. See what I mean?

[Eldar[TN]]

Originally posted by Rexxx
I agree with you, HOWEVER, what you are failing to see is that, over time, if a free member is allowed to build up their available units via unit drop or whatever, they are in a better position to go gold later, and more likely to do so.

Again, think LONG term, not short term. After a period of time, CURRENT gold members will be VERY powerful because of all the units they have accumulated. Eventually, they will have to discontinue units, or make them free, or open up more storage space for them. New gold members at that time won't be as powerful, though, if they get to keep their unit drops, they CAN be. See what I mean?

I still think you need to lay off the weed.

1) The infrequent 'unit drops' are so infrequent that 'building up' to convince people to join will take far tooooo long for that really to make sense. You have about 1 chance in 9072 if you played one hour a day. If you played 12 times that its 1 in 756. Hell, lets even assume the games are only 1/4 full (almost never) thats still 1 in 189 if you played 12 hrs a day IN A GAME EVERY SECOND.
so you would get 2 drops a year on average...thats very long term and thats you playing 10-12hrs per day on average.

2) MOST of the units the gold members have they *got* from becoming gold members not from drops.

[AzN_GuY]

There's no ads on TAO. :)

[Eldar[TN]]

Originally posted by AzN_GuY
There's no ads on TAO. :)

That was random o0

[Rexxx]

Originally posted by Eldar[TN]
[1) The infrequent 'unit drops' are so infrequent that 'building up' to convince people to join will take far tooooo long for that really to make sense. You have about 1 chance in 9072 if you played one hour a day. If you played 12 times that its 1 in 756. Hell, lets even assume the games are only 1/4 full (almost never) thats still 1 in 189 if you played 12 hrs a day IN A GAME EVERY SECOND.
so you would get 2 drops a year on average...thats very long term and thats you playing 10-12hrs per day on average.

2) MOST of the units the gold members have they *got* from becoming gold members not from drops. [/B]

I think your numbers are flawed.. as I have had two drops so far.. and the game is what, a week old? And I don't play EVERY day, and when I do play, it's two or three games, and then I'm off.. I think my stats were 29 0 5 or something like that. So, in MY case, you'd be entirely wrong. Now.. how many more of me are there out there? Who knows....

[Rexxx]

Originally posted by AzN_GuY
There's no ads on TAO. :)

YET.

There ARE planned advertisements as there is an advertisement page. It also, obviously, would make perfect sense to implement advertising as you have an audience for it, and a pretty dedicated one.

[Eldar[TN]]

Originally posted by Rexxx
I think your numbers are flawed.. as I have had two drops so far.. and the game is what, a week old? And I don't play EVERY day, and when I do play, it's two or three games, and then I'm off.. I think my stats were 29 0 5 or something like that. So, in MY case, you'd be entirely wrong. Now.. how many more of me are there out there? Who knows....

Then fix them o0 If you do the calculations yourself you probably will get the same numbers...I've played 2-3x as much as you and have 0 drops.

[Sen]

I'm a gold member...
I really dislike the idea of resetting anyones records. Aside from making the records to a name permanent, I think to sign up you should need to provide a valid email address. But I understand why you do this.

You guys are going to be rick :p

[qbsuperstar03]

Originally posted by Rexxx
After a period of time, CURRENT gold members will be VERY powerful because of all the units they have accumulated.

It's not like your units gain levels or anything, is it? There's usually, if not always, someone better out there. One person's Scout is exactly the same as another's, so it boils down to strategy, not equipment.

[buttmonkey]

man just pay the money if you want to keep your units, thats all.

fin.

[AzN_GuY]

Yay there's ads on TAO! ;)

[Eldar[TN]]

Originally posted by AzN_GuY
Yay there's ads on TAO! ;)

How about Yayaya ther's ads on TAO then No No No Goldies See Them!

[DivineRight]

The more resources that our normal members take up, the less resources we have for our paying Gold members. From a business standpoint, since Rexxx seems to be coming from there, that direction is the opposite of a prospering business. How many businesses look to support non-paying customers over the ones that keep their business running? How long should we be giving our free members to build up their characters, we are already giving a month. Perhaps you should try starting a business and run it for an entire month for free, keep in mind that on top of the operating costs you have your initial investment capital plus you have staff who are also working for free. Where is the incentive, you talk about long term effects, how can you even consider long term with customers like this?

The reason we reset accounts each month is not to be malicious or cruel, it is to clear up limited resources so that we can continue to do business. Servers, bandwidth, customer service and maintenance all cost money and man-power. One gold member was very correct when they said that gold members are the reason that TAO continues to exist. We provide a stable, fun gaming environment for our regular members at no cost to them for an entire month. The purpose of a free account is to try the game out, get some experience and test it so that you can decide if you would like to become apart of the gaming community. Normal accounts were never meant to become competitive or be built up like Gold accounts. What is ironic is that these same people who slander us would never donate an hour of their time to doing volunteer work, yet they expect us to donate our time and resources to them indefinitely. It boggles the mind with how selfish people are these days. For Jeice to say that we are shafting them makes me wonder what sort of world he lives in. Not only have we provided him with a great gaming experience, a great gaming community and forum ALL FOR FREE, but now he is ungrateful and giving us bad publicity.

Tactics Arena Online is a gaming site and as such our number 1 goal is to provide entertainment and promote a strong gaming community. We are not a magazine or a billboard, so advertisements will never over take the essence of what is TAO, a great online gaming experience. So please do not talk about how advertising and other outside sources are able to off-set the costs because those are not the issue.

We do give free members the opportunity to build up their units, not for a few days or a couple of weeks but AN ENTIRE MONTH. Why should our Gold members bother paying if there is no incentive to upgrade? Tracking free accounts takes resources, time and man-power to do which again costs money, so there is no justification here. Bottom line is this, talk is cheap, put your money where your mouth is. If you want to talk about being fair, this is how things are in the real world.

[kyrios24]

*applause*

Well said, DivineRight. heh, I can imagine you getting pretty pissed as you wrote that.

[Warcow]

VERY well said devine and it really did need to be said. I for one think the service and customer support of this game is great and also the price is VERY reasonable so i dont see why anyone is complaining at all.

[DWarrior]

Congrats, Divine, very well said. Perhaps you should advertise on characters =) make the Free Accounts' units look like nascar cars :D then see how they like it.

That would be funny :)

[Bills]

...and that is why DR is the TAO Manager...

Very well said.

[Choi]

What is ironic is that these same people who slander us would never donate an hour of their time to doing volunteer work, yet they expect us to donate our time and resources to them indefinitely. It boggles the mind with how selfish people are these days.

Right on! May be time to do an "early reset" (read delete) accounts that nag about the limitations of the free accounts. lol

[Scrappy Doo2]

Look this ante a democatic is a bill o macatic what bill says go so pay the 5$ or PLAY THE GAME AND LIVE WITH IT. ITs a game its ment to be fun. even though this next senctence wont mean much but since the greys wanta keep there units and records i think you should let them keep there losses and draws and there units but not the wins ;)

[Choi]

Originally posted by Scrappy Doo2
...since the greys wanta keep there units and records i think you should let them keep there losses and draws and there units but not the wins ;)
Funny, but that wouldn't help free up resources on the server, which is why the grey accounts are all deleted monthly.

[DivineRight]

I think scrappy should perhaps review his language arts studies from elementary school over a few more times before he attempts to speak about political ideologies. I thought he was calling Bills a fascist originally, but then after reading his post a few times over I have no idea what he was trying to say.

Its obvious he never read my original post, just another ungreatful kid.

[Go733l3ol3]

DivineRight said:
I think scrappy should perhaps review his language arts studies from elementary school over a few more times before he attempts to speak about political ideologies. I thought he was calling Bills a fascist originally, but then after reading his post a few times over I have no idea what he was trying to say.

Its obvious he never read my original post, just another ungreatful kid.

you got that right dr

[xyxaxyz2]

Still there.

[Snork]

Scrappy Doo2 had an amusing idea.

If the man hours to do it are there at least.

For all the people whining about their stats being reset;
Couple days before the reset, do it early, except only reset the wins to 0, keep the losses. :)

That would teach them to complain about their stats being reset. :)
But then the server would be filled with thousands of emails/posts complaining about the wins.

So maybe not... :p

[will-of-thepyro]

that sucks! i dont think thats very fair. there shoudl be a rule if your on the top 100 rankign list you should keep your stats. you really have to think about those of us who are to yung to use a credit card or what ever and have parents who dont buy things from the internet.

this way the good no-gold members dont have to get screwed over.

[DivineRight]

You aren't getting screwed over, don't you get it? You never had anything to begin with! You are testing out the game, it doesn't really begin until you become a Gold Member.

[Cuathon]

hey threpyo then every one else would come upwith a reason why they should not get stat deletion. if your parents dont let you spend your own money over the internet and you feel like complaining why should the site change just for a few people who arent even players. you sghould be happy that they eeven think your worth replying to. find a way to get your parents to let you or you can go to a friend and see if if you are paying his parents will let you use their card. and if they helped you they would have to deal with people who cant afford the game whos reason is just as good as yours. grow up. life isnt fair. i have friends whos parents buy them all the game systems whan they come out but i dont cry about it. buy a video game and play that

[will-of-thepyro]

i tryed every thing trust me.

and another proublem i have is how goldies think they are so good when the most of them are noobs with good units. they use gray people to get their stats up into ladder easy. so if you get rid of all our data then get rid of all the wins they golds get from us.

edit: also you havent given me a good reason why gray acounts that get into the top 100 shouldnt keep their acounts.

[xyxaxyz2]

I'll tell you why- it will create an elite class of greys. No one will be able to beat any of the top 100 because none will be reset. And those greys aren't even supporting the game.

But none of this matters- nothing has reset.

[will-of-thepyro]

well at least let us keep our wins in unit drops. and if goldies cant get into the top 100 with all their good shit then thats just truly sad

[AzN_GuY]

ok, suggest how the servers are gonna get cleaned up?

Perhaps you could explain who's going to pay for the space your record takes up?

Perhaps you could explain exactly why keeping the top100 where a free account can get 1000 wins just by making fake accounts is beneficial?

Perhaps you could explain how grays NOT on the list would ever reach the list?

I have more :)

[will-of-thepyro]

they will get cleaned up by only deleting the acounts not on top 100 list.

if theres only about 100 grays on the recored (mots liekly less) then it wotn take to much money now will it?

and i tried makeing 2 acounts and have them fight eachother befor... it didnt work because i couldnt open 2 windows of tactics at the same time.

grays not on the list will have to play hard to get back on the list.
another answer to the same question- how will grays get on the list once theres 100 goldies with 1000 wins. it may not happen soon but it will happen.



ask more... ill answer more.


at least let us keep our unit drops. cuz think abotu it...

:D woot i got a unit drop.... next day... aw man its gone :(


edit: ok heres another idea. hwo about people Pm someone on the forum or post in a certain thread to re-new their acount in the last week befor acounts are booted. this way unused acoutns wont take up space.

is there any reason not to use that?

oh and incase your afraid no one will want gold acounts because of this then hwo about you make gray acounts unit drosp less frequant, and besides gold acounts got all those good starting units that us grays wish we had.

[AzN_GuY]

lol, most of this is a moot point, cuz it's not changing, but let's continue as if it mattered.

- first, it'll be a pain to tag the top100 since it's independant of the database, though ya, the "kill everything" command could be modified to say "kill everything but these hand entered names"

- Money for nothing woohoo! still free space no?

- Glad to see you're honest, but no, it happens. I've seen it done and I can think of ways to do it quite easily. The fact remains that it can be done, and has been done before.

-100 golds per server all on the top100 is pretty tall order, and the win-loss ranking system makes it fairly unlikely that that'll happen. but this idea creates 100 golds immediately essentially.

- yes, it sux to lose your unit dropped items, but that's a very good reason to get an account that cant lose them.
-and to the "what about the poor and the young without credit cards" If your parents cant/wont get it for you, then they probably have a good reason.


*edit*
to the last idea, there is no person willing to save each individual accoutn for the hundreds of accoutns in the game.

[will-of-thepyro]

ok... im starting to see your point... tiem for what i hoped i wouldnt have to do...

please let just me not loose my stuff :D j/k

is theresome way you can let us at least keep our unit drops? that would be cool



oh... what about if a gray comes up with a unit idea that you use... can he get a free gold acount? :P or at least not have his deleted

[Cuathon]

since seeds not out of unit ideas its also a moot point it wont happen deal with it

[AzN_GuY]

it's worth a try though :p

[DWarrior]

Umm...keeping unit drops are one of the biggest reasons to go gold. In fact, they should emphasize this by sending a message to all free accounts that win a drop saying: "Congratulations! If you want to keep this unit next month, get Gold Account now!"

[lestiedcave]

Originally posted by Warcow
OK all you bloody grey's need to put something into perspective. Your now complaing about paying 5 dollars a month. A MONTH, do the math that sure isnt much per day, maybe it means smoking one less cigarette or getting the medium fries for some of you. Now what excatly do you do to help Bills and the staff? NOTHING not a damn thing, except play his game. Well he could have just not made it and then where would you be? He could make you pay to even play! So in conclusion beggars can't be choosers if you want better game quality, stop being so damn stingy and pay 5$

you are absolutely right im not gold and i agree with them even though sadly i cant afford it even if it isnt much cause i have other things i really need if your gonna complain about getting a free game just because your account is reset its crazy i meen honestly i dont care to have a reset account if i have fun although the units would be nice to keep.... i dont really care and u other greys shouldnt either

[Aro23r]

Originally posted by DWarrior
Umm...keeping unit drops are one of the biggest reasons to go gold. In fact, they should emphasize this by sending a message to all free accounts that win a drop saying: "Congratulations! If you want to keep this unit next month, get Gold Account now!"

Nice idea. Post this in bugs & suggestions and see what other people think about this.

[Jingleheimer]

Originally posted by Aro23r
Nice idea. Post this in bugs & suggestions and see what other people think about this.

That would be kind of difficult for him to do considering he just got banned. :p

[bigmikeasdf]

Yea, kinda funny how someone who was practically a walking advertisement for the game got his account deleted. I know, know... there are two sides of the story, but DWarrior is a good person who just wanted to prove a point. ARRG I wasn't gonna get involved but I had too. Ok, now flame me ;)

[$azuma]

you know what yes i agree its good to delete the gray's BUT im not so sure about gold's i mean like think of it wasteing LOADS of money on this game and than one day yes ONE day u dont wanna play it nemore and u think to urself whoa that was just a big waste of money i mean atleast add 1 stinking unit to a free account is it that hard atleast like i dont know a golem or something nothing too good but yeah REMEMBER SOME DAY YOU WILL NOT WaNT TO PLAY ANYMORE AND THINK ITS A WASTE OF MONEY soooooooooo what u do is wait a year from now wait untill lots of updates come more units sign up boom u get lots of units and u waited less time lesss money plus for u whiners out there who cant pay u probably could raise money untill than!!!:D :cool:

[lestiedcave]

lol very good point azuma i think anyone one finds like enough money in a year to pay for a couple of months:p

[Snork]

Originally posted by Snork


For all the people whining about their stats being reset;
Couple days before the reset, do it early, except only reset the wins to 0, keep the losses. :)

That would teach them to complain about their stats being reset. :)
But then the server would be filled with thousands of emails/posts complaining about the wins.

So maybe not... :p

Sounds like a good idea to me. :p

[Joei]

Why is it that all these goldies got this inferiority complex against us Greys.
Just because they have money to pay for a game and we don’t(or don’t want to) does not make them better (So they think).
So many times have I been bashed around by a gold (but there are good ones out there)

My point would be that the greys are the ones making up the majority of this gaming community and we deserve a little more respect then given to us. Our stats are our identity, and you choose not to even give us that. Just cause some people can pay $5 a month doesn’t make them a better person much more then a better player.

I’d like to see some of these goldies play a few round with just the starter units.

________

If you think that it’s the database will be crowded with inactive accounts then set that 10day inactive limit on logins (or more) but you’re say to wipe away a month’s work of someone that was testing out to see if it was good then deciding itss WORTH as much as it is. But getting wiped and once again dealing with overconfident goldies doesn’t exactly make a player want to stay.

I say before wiping each month you have a look at the community here and have a talk with bullies around here.

[bigmikeasdf]

GREYS SUCK!!!

ok, now big problem with that. I was grey. Loved the game and upgraded to gold so now what. The point is I'm not better because I pay or have more units. I have lost to some very good grey accounts, some without any drops. The problem is the stupid grey vs gold mentality that is driving me nutz. Just because my name is gold I get attacked atleast twice a week from greys. I'm tired of the arguments about cost of game and the fact that I have more units. And us "goldies" are not the one causing this problem. I have never seen a gold log on and start giving greys a hard time and making fun of them. I play baniff though, dont know bout other servers.

And I will always be a grey at heart. I play a couple of grey accounts even though I have a gold. It's kinda nice haveing so few units to choose from ;) I guess greys don't relize that the structure of this game is setup so well that playing grey is just as difficult as gold. Most golds have too many units and make horriable setups. Can we kiss and make up now?

[Rescorlian]

I'm gonna totally back my buddy up here. I have fought some grey's that were just unreal. Theere were a couple that every move I made was just another hole for them to get at me. The grey mentallity that golds are like gods is totally misplaced. It is simply an excuse for there lack of tactics. I have played as a grey and beat golds, some not weren't very hard.

Grey's stats are there identities? Man you need to get over yourself big time. Hopefully sometime very soon you'll realise that stats mean nothing. But yes it is true that grey's make up most of the community, thus the problem. Many create multiple accounts ot just make ones for diffrerant purposes. Thus they must be blown aaway so tht the game can continue, as your not paying for the bandwidth on the servers you have no respect for this.

You wanna keeep your stats dish out the measily five bucks, if you can't then I'm sorry but your gonna get shafted.

GET OVER YOURSELVES!

[$azuma]

ok grey's loook if you don't like the gold's because they have more units and they probably or will own you just forget about them ignore them dont battle them jeeze if u care about losses IM HAPPY we get our stats reset who cares about drop its the fun part getting them back and most of the time its a enchantress so build an army of enchantresses paralyze all his units lol that would teach him but yea dont fight gold's if you don't think you want a loss or ur not up to the task! bing bong bang its over.:rolleyes:

[Joei]

Hey, some greay are ignorant little bastards I'll give you that. Sorry if that may have sounded a little one sided.

But I have seen goldies pick battles with greys just to give them a hard time and say "if you don't like it then leave"

There's goods and bad on both sides and i guess thats just how it is.

[A.F.I.]

most golds are better than greys because most people that suck dont pay for a game

then again
the people that suck are stupid there showing the source of their badness

[Joei]

Originally posted by A.F.I.
most golds are better than greys because most people that suck dont pay for a game

then again
the people that suck are stupid there showing the source of their badness

that's a pretty unreasonable opinion for amny reason.. but I gotta eat so I jst won't say them now but I'm pretty sure you can deducte them on your own.

[A.F.I.]

listen to logic
A. if you are bad at a thinking game, you must not be to smart
B. If you are a poor player. why pay for a game and continue to play poorly
C. If you are stupid, would this allow you to make poor decisions, such as paying for someting just to make n00bs afraid?

[Joei]

or maybe you might be a smart teenager that doesn't have a credit car to pay.

Asumptions are a deadly thing.

[A.F.I.]

and what would that make me?

if you are smart (even if 15) you will probably have money

if you are smart, you parents probably arent @$$holes

therefor u give parents money to pay

:D

[Joei]

Not in realality

[A.F.I.]

wow explain your logik there?

[Joei]

Do i have to??.... awww....

Well lets see. If you are smart and you're a teenager. Your parents might want you to keep up with your school work then to waste you time on a game therefor not supporting you aka not paying.

[xyxaxyz2]

But they want to encourage people to buy gold accounts (rightly), so thats never going to happen.

[blaze06]

yea i think its crap that your just gunna delete everything every month...only delete the profiles who haven't signed on in a week or something....dont delete everything. what about for the people that dont wanna lose all there shit but dont feel like paying $5....u really need to think of something better....i'm not a gold member and i dont feel like losing everything i have, and hell no to paying $5 a month i have better things to spend my money on.....how bout you take a poll of all the users playing and majority wins, if they vote to not delete all profiles, then dont. give them strict rules about if u dont sign in in a week it will b erased but dont go get rid of everything

[Joei]

Since these gold memebrs have money why not add a donate option.

[DivineRight]

A donate option is a great idea Joei, we might be implementing something like that soon.

To respond to blaze06 and the other people who are asking for resets of Grey accounts who are inactive for a week, I find it extremely funny that you guys can't see the impracticallity of it. The Grey account members "who don't feel like paying" who play for hours every single day, who get impressive records are the ones who are free-loading from our company. Not only do they pay nothing to support it, the community and the servers but they are using up huge amounts of resources. Now they are making demands, its so rediculous that it makes me laugh.

Can you walk into a McDonald's and eat there for free just because it makes you happy? Can you go stay at a Hotel and live there for no money just because you don't feel like paying?

Like I said before, everything that you guys see costs money and continues to cost money. For 2 weeks we couldn't work at all with the servers because of the enormous amount of Grey accounts on all 3 servers. Our Terms of Service have promised nothing to Grey accounts, not even technical or customer support.

If the account and the stats were really that important to you, then why would you resort to begging? Is $5 really enough to make you look so cheap? Some of these people talk like they are homeless.

[Joei]

believe me I would love to help and contribute and see this game develope farther... but i just can't :( not enough resourses on this end <_<

[A.F.I.]

well again i will assume that you are a teenager and smart, seeing as you defended them earlier

i will now say that 5 dollars is not much and i doubt that is your block

if it is your parents not allowing you, you should prove something to them showing your worth

i do so much stuff and play this game it is impossible to manage without massive amounts of caffine, i am sure you can prove your worth with much less even

[Joei]

Asian parents can be a hassle.

I've heard somehting about linking my savings account on here but I'm still a little reluctan se as we get a quarterly statment and my parents are just dieing to see how muhc my intrest builds up (1 cent evey 3 months)

Even if i do convince them they still will have that trust issue over whether its safe to send their credit card over the internet or what not.

Its all a big hassle.

I'm just gonna maybe wait 2 more years (18) and sign up for gold and donates some.... meh who knows...

But still, if ther's any way i can help without hte involment of my parents or money I'd love to do it.

[Sektor]

Originally posted by xyxaxyz2
But they want to encourage people to buy gold accounts (rightly), so thats never going to happen.

I think deleting inactive accounts is better than wiping out ALL greys. And as far as the getting people to buy gold accounts goes, you guys can cut unit drops to all greys. I never got a unit drop anyway. You can also put ADS on the website, they wouldnt bother me. If thats the most i can do to support the game(& cept for paying 5$), ill do it.

[xyxaxyz2]

If people care so much about keeping their accounts, it is clearly working to get more golds in.

I personally, if I had 5 a month to easily give to TAO, would probably not buy a gold account except to keep my stats and support our clan. I don't want the new gold units; I think there is more tactics in grey vs grey battles.

[astarothus]

Ok u know what? Heres an idea. Why not make the game EXCLUSIVE for golds ONLY. Given the time of two weeks, this game will fall to its knees and guess what? "WTF happened to this game? Where the fuck are the those morons complaining about this and that?" Only then u will realize that us, greys, are the backbone of this game. Wanna bring more golds in? Want more money? Then do what Im saying. Make a big banner saying " FOR GOLDS ONLY" and we'll see how this stupid game progresses. Lets face it, greys dominate the population of TAO players and getting rid of us means less publicity - less viewing -
Im sick and tired of this "no pay, no play" shit so GO AHEAD AND MAKE TAO EXCLUSIVE FOR GOLDS ONLY, since money is the only thing going through your head. What are you waiting for? DO IT! Let's see how "happy" you will make the gold players, and shortly, say goodbye to TAO. You think that resetting our accounts will make us go GOLD? rofl. Thats ridiculous. People who suck in this game will go GOLD for some search of compensation. Its bad enough that GOLDS have the advantage when it comes to the units - and to add to that - our drops aren't kept. So go ahead and heres an idea to "make people go gold".
Want to free up some space? Then why have us, measely grey free-playing players using it up? Seriously, you want to get rid of greys? Then do so. PLEASE DO, I dare whoever has the power to.

[Joei]

Originally posted by xyxaxyz2
I think there is more tactics in grey vs grey battles.

TRU DAT MY MAN!!!

tru dat....

[xyxaxyz2]

You know something else? I don't even use my unit drops (except witch, when I'm playing gold and occasionally at other occasions). I don't need them to win 95% of the games I play, and for the other 5% I'd rather lose and gain the experience from playing the people of both superior skills and units than win only because I happened to get lucky a few weeks ago.

[Choi]

Originally posted by astarothus
Ok u know what? Heres an idea. Why not make the game EXCLUSIVE for golds ONLY.
Uh oh. Someone forgot to take his medication. Greys are important to the business model so going Gold only is ridiculous. You should vote with your feet... if you don't like that way the business of this game is set up, move on.

[astarothus]

Well I certainly am sure that pissing every grey off every month is THE BEST solution, is there now?

[canopus]

It takes less than a minute to re-create your grey account and start playing again, that is a BIG service from TAO. Why be pissed off?

-canopus

[dakar]

Not if you consider it similar to shareware. Most programs only let you use it for 30 days before shutting down (some can be redownloaded, others find ways to make it permanent unless you pay) . Many shareware games give you only a few weeks to play.

I remember Kali (I think that's the name: well known back in the day for letting you play games like warcraft 2 online) set it up so that you could play a game for only 15 minutes before being booted (War2 games could take an hour or more). Another game, Evernight (Vr1 version, there are two games called 'Evernight' out there) let you play 2 games completely before shut down (which wasn't bad: 1 game lasted 6 weeks). I play another where you can play all you want but getting powerful either takes ALOT of time or ALOT of money (quick statement: NEVER ask for the ability to 'buy units'. People WILL pay $100 a month for a full set of DSM and dragons, or worse)

All in all, this is actualy a pretty soft way of handling free accounts. Unlimited play with a reasonable set of units (can still beat an equal skilled gold, though with difficulty). The idea of having to play is already established (some games start off fully free then later on make everyone pay to play. Some games have died in the switching) but not fully required (yet).

This isn't considered a free game. It's nonstrict shareware. It's best to assume that this will change (note that there IS a gold-only server in development). If you want to play something free, enjoy what's availible. If you want to enjoy this game, best to decide whether it's worth the money. If not or don't like the free features, there's plenty of other games out there.

[astarothus]

Ok before all else, TRY TO SEE IT IN OUR POINT OF VIEW - GREYS. Then try and give an honest and unbiased reply. Ur all talking from your point of view - has any one of you ever tried looking from ours?

Canopus: you are right. BUT we start from scrap again. DO U UNDERSTAND THAT U CONCEITED ASS? Everything we worked for is gone. U UNDERSTAND THAT?

P.S.

There are alot of other games that treat free members better than TAO does. Runescape is one. In all honestly, I could pay the buggy little $5 a month - but I wont. Not after the way moderators DELIBERATELY say "we dont care about greys". U expect greys to come crawling back to you after pushing them down the cliff? LOL ur on some kind of crack. Now they might say they do, but action speaks louder than words. Sorry mate, no $5 a month for you.

[Bills]

No one every said we don't care about grays... were are you getting this from?

We have to reset accounts, it's something that is limited because we are using Flash Comm servers. Soemthing like TAO has never been done we are already pushing the limits of what Flash, and Flash COmm servers can do.

In fact we exceded them last month when our account totals passed 250 000.

Our server could not handle that much data in the database. Other games use SQL and are text based. This is live stream real time stuff. It has alot of overhead and when the scripts have to go through 200k+ records they stop working.

Even a light script like a messageboard slows down with 200 000 members.

Anyhow, reseting grays is to clear accounts is needed because there is no way to function after they build up to a certain point. the first month we had to find that limit. We did, we went far over in fact which caused alot of server problems.

We know from now on what number to reset accounts at, this could be every 2 weeks it could be every 8 weeks, it depends on accounts.

[astarothus]

Ok in all honesty, I am thrilled to get a reply from the almighty bills. But, I am not stupid. I see what is going on. Our accounts are reset, BAM theres a hint. lobby limits BAM thers another. dude I can go on but I have class to go to. again, think -grey- perspective.

[Aro23r]

Simple response is see it now from the admins point of view, since you like that a lot. It costs a LLOOTT of money ($$ ££ ¥¥ ¢¢) lol whatever currency you wanna use to run servers that are as large as they are with as much memory as they do.
They need the greys to give incentive to go gold and then provide the money to maintain the servers as well as game a small profit for their hard work.

Just look at it from an administrator point of view, and you'll see differently.

[astarothus]

hmm... Guy above me is right... But its not like I never saw if from their point of view. I only complain whenever I see something that is not right, but how can something be right and yet on the other end wrong? I really hope more people would tackle this sensitive topic so more minds can think this through (and maybe in the process, contribute a little).

A business always tries to find ways of getting more revenue, or sales, into the company. But sometimes, smaller people are getting stepped on during the process. In this case, more than half the people are getting trampled on. All I'm saying is please, administrators, if you really care about the greys, then why has anybody not expressed their gratitude? Prove me wrong when I said that you dont care.

[Sektor]

Look man, reseting account is something they have to do. Even if us greys hate the idea and might leave TAO, they still have to do it.

[Murzor13579]

ok, do any of u understand that a grey account its a f-r-e-e a-c-c-

o-u-n-t, for those of you who dont understand what that means:

you pay them n-o-t-h-i-n-g and the give you s-o-m-e-t-h-i-n-g.

why the hell should they spend time and money improving your

accounts, they get absolutely nothing from you and in return they

give you a free game, in my opinion a good game. before i

upgraded my account i played as grey for 2 weeks and enjoyed it

almost as much as i enjoy my gold now. complaing (in a hatefull

way i might add) about this is like having a total stranger give

you $20 for nothing and then screaming at them that it isnt good

enough. if you cant tolerate disadvantages with a free account

then dont play this game at all (i realize many of you dont

understand this concept, just click the red X in the corner of the

window and dont come back, though i realize many of you many

need help with this also). like i said they get nothing from you, i

doubt youll be missed. they are giving you something for nothing

and putting alot of time, effort, and money into that something,

so shut the hell up or leave you childish, spoiled, stupid, and

ungratefull assholes.





Ive tried to space the words you people seem to be having

trouble with, i realize many of you are slow-witted losers lacking

both social and comprehensive skills so i will keep an eye on this

and give you all plenty of time to write your replies and have

them edited by a competent person. i may have repeated a few

thing to enphasize the point or simply because im too mad at you

people to waste proper grammar on you. ive spaced it out so

that someone who undertands big words like competent,

emphasize , and ungratefull can more easily see them and

explain them to you from over your shoulder.

[Sektor]

Ok nice lil speech but ur deeply mistaken. Grey accounts do give something to TAO and that something is applying for a Gold account and advertising the game (as we do have friends).

[Murzor13579]

none of you seem to think its worth it to upgrade, and why the hell would the cut-off dates for greys influence your decision about going gold. also greys dont directly do anything, unless of course they upgrade, i never said all the greys should leave, just you assholes who are complaining and dont seem to be considering the upgrade.

[Incendiels]

While I'm not arguing either way, (one side or the other would come after me if i did ;)) I do have a suggestion to make. It seems that the problem comes from people with gray accounts who feel at a disadvantage while playing golds. Perhaps one of the servers could be devoted to grays and only let them in, one could be devoted to golds and only let them in, and one could be devoted to the grays and golds who don't mind playing each other. Just a suggestion...

[Sephiroth]

ok look if Divine were to take out the inactive members than that wouldn't be good aswell i mean look if he puts that idea in to action than every grey is gonna be on at least once a week so they dont get deleted so scratch that idea not good here. Look all you grey's out there look Divine does care that you are pissed (mayb not) he is trying to do something but all the idea's you are giving him won't help him get rid of space! he NEEDS SPACE inorder to keep this game goin. He needs to add servers i don't knnow mayb he'll add a server or 2 and he might do something with us grey's lol for all we care we should b lucky he gives a dragon tyrant in like a year from now when better units come out. So look stop you'r whining and bickering and listen to Divine he's the big man he can get rid of you in one snap (he is probably considering that as i type) i've said it once i'll say it again STOP YOUR BICKERING AND WHINING wait a few years raise some money than pay for a gold i mean common gain parents trust help them around the house do chores get gorceries i don't know do something so they can see you deserve to use the money you've earned ($azuma said that which is me. Old account). so there i've said it so be happy take my advice listen to Divine and dont yell at him.

[astarothus]

I think I owe them an apology...

Sorry moderators, especially Seed:(

[lestiedcave]

ok my fellow greys you really have to GET A GRIP cmon the game is FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE and takes we are takin MONY mula cash argent whichever u want lu takin it from TAO and usin it they need the space or boom no more TAO cause their server is DOWN so honelestly you estie stupide suceur de queux tes trop inncocent pour voir tes un putin didiot to think that there just gonna let u take everything for free there needs to be a way for them to keep their servers up!!! tabarnak de colisse

:mad:

[lestiedcave]

Murzor13579 IM with u all the way lol but u should have put more




spacing and repitition
:D :D

[Murzor13579]

yeah i noticed that afterward but i was to lazy and mad to correct it, i put my excuses at the bottom.

[Cuathon]

someoen mentioned runscape which i play it is huge it is older than tao i think and can afford to let freebies play but you cant cut gems and do lots of other stuff without paying you might not have noticed that

[Vash]

reply

[canopus]

well astarothusgoth apologized for all to all so alls well that ends well.

Thanks to TAO moderators and admins for creating a cool online enviroment. Its great getting the feeling you are in on sumthing from the ground up, congratulations & cheers to your continued success.

[meletus]

Just tired of ppl ripping into everyone who wants to just play the game. Sir Vival makes some good points and this has been brought up before, lots. The monthly reset and what it means to the playing people. The first reset was very upsetting and so was the Christmas one.

Accounts that are playing and are logged in almost everyday should't be deleted. I am sure that there are over 300,000 accounts again.. But the active members should be allowed to keep their stats and drops at least until the account goes inactive for some period of time. Who does its hurt to allow this? Actually making a good challenge available is never a bad thing.

Golds might not have the advantage per say since it is tactics and they still have to chose their units wisely, but just having that option is what makes the game fun. It is obvious that not everyone can go Gold for one reason or another, i don't look at these as test account or freebies but people who just want to play a game.

You play 100+ and become proud of your record only to learn in two days your account is gone. Would you want to come back and play.. let alone pay? Maybe for some. I know the staff here listens and more than likely will not change the way this is run. It is just a thought mostly to those who constantly criticize those who want to play but can't/don't/won't pay for a Gold account.

They aren't lesser ppl.

[Bills]

Guys, let me settle this once and for all….

Resetting free accounts is not a marketing ploy.

It is 100 percent unavoidable, absolutely anything using a Flash Comm server is limited by the technology. Currently our servers will not function correctly once accounts reach a certain number. The database is just not useable after a certain point.

It’s a limitation based on the Flash technology which everyone can admit is very break through TAO is pushing the limited of what Flash and Flash Comm servers can do.

So you all have to understand ANY company, do anything requiring record keeping would reset things after records hit a certain number. It’s just unavoidable.

Seed, Marcomedia, Uvault and anyone that is familiar with servers/databases will back up this claim. Currently Flash Comm doesn’t scale to extreme levels, and 300 000 accounts in 1 month is VERY extreme.

I hope this clears it all up, and yes we still do hope if you want to keep your record and play the game often enough to value your record you would be willing to support it for a small fee, but that is NOT why accounts are re-set it is not a punishment for lack of support. It is just a limitation we currently have.

[Sektor]

Originally posted by Sektor
Look man, reseting account is something they have to do. Even if us greys hate the idea and might leave TAO, they still have to do it.

Thats what i been tryin to tell you guys. :)


Hey did the forums get updated? yellow smily faces sharper puttons.

[Mr. Mud]

i dont care about the stats being reset but i do care about units being reset

most people including me can pay 5 bucks a month the only reason i dont is cause i dont have a credit card

[DivineRight]

I don't think people realize it yet, but we don't "reset" Grey accounts, we PURGE them from our servers so that they can run.

I think I understand why people are angry about the "reset", we aren't simply resetting free accounts, and we are deleting them to make room for our Gold members. Like Bills said, we are given only so much per Flash Comm server and we need to distribute it accordingly.

It is not fair to our Gold members to have their accounts become corrupted because of over-loaded databases; it is also not fair that Gold members cannot join a server that they paid money for because free accounts are hogging the resources.

Yes, most of our members are Free Account users and herein lies the problem. Somewhere along the line our Greys have forgotten that TAO has given them the PRIVELAGE to play the game and they have somehow gotten into their heads that it is their RIGHT to play.

[astarothus]

I thought bills ended this already?

[Sephiroth]

oh no this will never end as long as there are grey's out there that dont like the idea this is endless it will get annoying soon we will all forget about this and learn to live with it. Everyone who posted made some pretty good points! Divine made the best ones lol most grey's ignored him so thats what created this mess so im glad its partially over.:)

[Viking]

I am a grey, and I think it is a good idea, cos usually gray play gray and that will keep it more even and fair, because some play it 24h and of course get a lot more free units.

Then we get 2 see who is skilled and not just lucky.

Thx for cool free game guys.

[KWarrior]

Just out of curiosity, what would happen when the Gold Accounts stack up to "extreme" levels? Would you find a way to split up (say Banff) to separate but linked servers? Or would you have to start deleting Gold Accounts?

[Blitz Ace]

I highly, HIGHLY doubt they'd start deleting Gold Accounts. All Golds have to pay $5 a month in order to be Gold, and if Bills or someone just came up to them and said "Hey, you know we have too many people on TAO. We're deleting your account!!!" isn't a smart thing to do in the buisness world.

To put it simply, Gold Accounts can never ever be deleted unless the holder of said account downgrades back to Grey, as Greys reset monthly.

[LondonJack]

If there are so many gold accounts that the servers were constantly full, that would be called financial solvency. Which would allow Bills to purchase new servers and possibly even clone Seed a few times, wouldn't exactly be a bad thing.

[KWarrior]

My question wasn't really about deletion of Golds. It was more, how would TAO solve the problem of having too many per server. Obviously they'd have lots of money, but money can't take out the lack of ability of FlashCom. I was wondering if they would (or already have) find a way to split up Banff onto separate servers. If not, how else would they circumvent having to delete golds? Understand my question now?

[canopus]

they would buy another server when the servers they have get too full for all new accounts.:D

[AzN_GuY]

Originally posted by LondonJack
If there are so many gold accounts that the servers were constantly full, that would be called financial solvency. Which would allow Bills to purchase new servers and possibly even clone Seed a few times, wouldn't exactly be a bad thing.


mmm seed clones

[MasterGolem]

i jus get so pissed when grey say like GIVE USE UNITS or NO RESETS and u look down and they only have 1 post

[RAYven]

I just start playing 2 days ago, but till then i play full time..i got good score and unit-and thats the problem-ERASING of my account..I know, be Gold and got it, -I TRYED, nut my credit card seem to be incommpactible (i am from Slovakia-Europe),and like i discovered to be Gray have many advantages-(exept cool units),Gold are simple too strong for gray, they often leave, so Gold have fun only with Gold, ->they are few (max 10-15 on serv)
I like being grey Exept erasing account...i understand that many of us create account than they dont use later...but WHY??? acounts thats are using daily??? Couldnt be deleted only account witch are inactive for month (week) ???or some kind of bonus for
Alltime-players with extra high score??If i wil have score(wins) more than 100 (200,300 i dont know), my account will be saved..I dont talk abou Units, they i can find again, but my SCORE !!!1000 hours without anythig witch will stay...I will reach score of 500 or more if i must for not erasing!!! This could work no???

PLSSSS...there arent many of us totally crazy of this game, but we are DONT DELETE US !!!

Thanx

[LondonJack]

These kids today, they don't know how good they got it. Why i remember back in my day you had to walk uphill 20 miles in the snow just to get to the comic shop (and this is in July) in order to spend $3 on a single pack on Magic the Gathering, and you were lucky if you got nothing worth playing with.

[bandit]

While I agree deleting greys is a bad thing(for us), Bills has a point. With only a few servers, TAO can only support so many people. If you don't like the way things go, play runescape or something else. Im grey and I understand that we are given a lot to play this *amazing* game and we get it for free too.

[canopus]

yeah just try to play WizKids MageKnight for 5$/MONTH.

:o

[Serge]

I agree that reseting the grey acounts is a good idea in a business standpoint because it will make more people go gold. Plus it gives us greys a chance to improve our battle statistics.

[Say What?]

Maybe make the reset every 2 months? That seems fair. :D

[Engmar]

This thread has got to be just about the most pathetic collection of, even more, pathetic whiners _ever_. Getting to play a cool game, for free, one month at a time is a good deal! What exactly do you have to whine about? Do you realize you sound like a bunch of crybaby 6 year olds?

They are being nice to you, letting you play a game they spent their money and time to make. They are being nice to you when they let you play on the servers they pay money for. But for some reason you think you are entitled to some kind of online game welfare.

If you are so pitiful as to think someone here owes you something, you have a lot to learn about reality - the first thing being that if you want a thing you have to do something to earn it. Free rides are a myth. Learn it, live it.

[letsgo]

Originally posted by Jingleheimer
How is it possible to “shaft” the free players?

It is FREE! :rolleyes:
It is not like the account deletions where kept secret.

As for ads, the amount of ads that would be needed to pay for these types of servers would very likely make the game unplayable.

I’m certainly not going to shed any tears for the few free members that will leave because their accounts were reset.
I don’t know how the admins here can stand it with all of these idiots complaining about the reset.

Agreed. I have a free account and i understand the frustration of your account being cleared, but until a BETTER system is found, this will and should continue.

[Aenarion]

First off, I am a grey by day and by night. This game is great. I was reading all of the posts here and I noticed something: NOBODY EVER PRESENTED A NEW ARGUMENT AFTER THE FIRST COUPLE OF POSTS! :mad:

So, let me present a novel idea. Divine, would it be possible to have a small fee for a grey account to not be deleted. Many have expressed a lack of interest toward paying $5 to be a gold. However, the notion of a mesely fee (like $1 or something) to keep a grey account now there is an idea.

Think about it from both the perspective of your business and the greys. If you have thousands upon thousands of greys paying you only $1 to keep their accounts active, well that could probably cover your server costs fairly easily. Then the greys would feel valued and you could focus on using the money from the golds to make the game even better. :D

Now, just a quick explaination of why greys would be willing to fork over a dollar. Many almost upgraded to Gold but then did the math. $5 does not seem like that much. However one year of that is $60. That is steep for any computer game, let alone the fact that one would continue to pay for it afterwards. Then look at it from the perspective of $1 a month. Now you only have to pay $12 a year, well if you can't afford that you probably can't afford internet access or a computer, in fact you probably are wondering whether or not you will be able to eat your next meal. :rolleyes:

Now Divine, you are probably thinking a buck a month?!?, that is lame and not worth the effort. But, I have a solution to that as well. Simply have us pay the $12 annually. Think of the immediate revenues and all of the happy greys. :)

Finally, think about the foot-in-the-door phenomenon. After agreeing to such a small fee almost all of the greys would easily comply to a larger request later on (Gold Accounts). Think of the possibilities. :p

Yes, this is my first post and yes, it is long. However it is definitely worth reading.:cool:

[Punishment Co.]

IM not sure, there is no real "right" response to this because there will forever be two sides to an argument. It's a fairly decent idea and I would like to hear the moderator's thoughts/opinions.

[Hasi]

well.....i would upgrade...if i could
the payment possibilities are too limited....for me :D
wellwell.....so remember that not all greys are just a few ppz who only play this game bcuz its free and who dont have respect for the crew or something....and i think that the unit removing is ok....its freakin me out sometimes....but its quite fair.....we dont pay for it do we? :p

[yapperface]

testing my sig

[Aenarion]

Originally posted by yapperface
testing my sig

Go test it by simply looking at one of your old posts. Don't put a message here of all places ya stupid Cannuk. Just cause yur gold ya think ya own the place.:rolleyes:

[Snork]

Originally posted by Aenarion
Go test it by simply looking at one of your old posts. Don't put a message here of all places ya stupid Cannuk. Just cause yur gold ya think ya own the place.:rolleyes:

Take off eh. :)

[Aenarion]

:D I guess I was a little harsh. Forgive me.

[Hashish_Scout]

We are all God's people, you must love and respect each one of us, who are each perfect in our way. Laladeda....

[grrrrr you7]

"How many businesses look to support non-paying customers over the ones that keep their business running? How long should we be giving our free members to build up their characters, we are already giving a month."

www.runescape.com

Though I agree, free players shouldn't be complaining. It's free, take it or leave it.

I think the problem is that there isn't much incentive to become a gold member. If there was, then these greys would stop complaining and just pay.

Really, what's so great about having a bunch of new units? I'm content with the grey ones. There's nothing wrong with having your record reset, if you're good then you don't need a record, people will know by your NAME.

The gold units aren't that good either. My very first match was against a gold. I won.

[grrrrr you7]

[i]Its bad enough that GOLDS have the advantage when it comes to the units - and to add to that - our drops aren't kept.[/B]

You must not be very good if you have trouble winning with the regular units.

[Gollum]

i've got an idea that would put a end to all of this fighting over the monthly reset. it doesent seem the save game files for ur stats and stuff for the game would be that big. if it would be possible have the people type in their e-mail address when they want to create an account and when the reset time comes along their save game file is stored and untouched. to get it back into the game all they would have to do is add it into a game file on in a folder that's made for the save games or they would run the game from their desktop via a download that you can download through the TOA website.

This would be great idea but it would be some time for it to come out, i understand that. but, it would make a lot of users happy.:D

[yapperface]

or they could only wipe users that were not on in the past .......... 2 weeks or something

[Aenarion]

Sure let's all just download our records to our computers. Hopefully no one here would even dare to think of hacking into them and changing any of the information.:rolleyes:

[Aenarion]

Originally posted by Gollum
when the reset time comes along their save game file is stored and untouched. to get it back into the game all they would have to do is add it into a game file on in a folder that's made for the save games or they would run the game from their desktop via a download that you can download through the TOA website.

This would be great idea but it would be some time for it to come out, i understand that. but, it would make a lot of users happy.:D

And what on earth would be the incentive for them to do this. It basically takes away the entire appeal of a Gold membership! I am a grey but sheesh this is ridiculus. At least the plan I presented earlier might be feasible. The programming required for them to do this would not make any sense seeing as we don't pay anything for this. It is free. We have no right to demand that they not reset our accounts. In fact they aren't even "OUR" accounts in the first place. They really belong to TAO.

[Agent Smith]

while i agree that they have a right to reset our accounts, not a

bad idea giving a download option really, might even take stress

off the server. im not a programmer, so i really wouldnt know...

but anyway, i have to say that that would also be easy to hack, (i

think? im not a hacker lol) and although i doubt anyone who

would show their face on the forums would hack it, theres always

pple who will do anything to see their names on a high score list...

and for the people who will say that im just whining cuz i want to

keep my drops, i DID just beat a gold with the standard grey

team, and really dont care that much, although new drops are

fun :D

[The Alliance]

now i dont know why u are dissing gollum's idea....... it's an awesom idea....... and if u dont like it u r all losers........... why dont u like it?!:mad:

[Aenarion]

Not to make any accusations, but if you're really just gollum with a new name, then that is lame.

Otherwise, I was not "dissing" it. I was merely pointing out the fact that it was inherently flawed and had no successful applications to the real world. Beyond that it's great.

Oh yeah, one more thing: TAO IS FREE. We greys have no bargaining chips.

[Kos-Mos]

lol im poor but i not care, i just wanna play, i not care bout score


(and for u ppl who want free points BUG OFF!)

[BlackSyphon]

Its not like they have contributed to the developement of this place, however there are some very talented greys out there. But if you want to have a bigger say to what goes on around here, then you need to be respected, getting a gold membership is where most of us started.

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[Littlemelf]

I'm sorry but I don’t think that that is very fair. Gold’s already have better Units and many other benefits that I’m sure will become greater in the future. If you make a new unit there is a very small chance it will ever become a Grey available unit for a year. I think you should do something like after a week of no activity wipe the account, but don’t just have Greys work hard for there things and then have them wiped out because you are pushing Gold membership.

[Office_Shredder]

They aren't pushing gold membership, they need to constantly delete all the free accounts on the servers so they don't crash all the time... it's not like they have much choice here.

[Littlemelf]

Office... more then half of the Greys would be gone with the 1 week no activity plan. Only the Greys that go on often like me would stay. It solves the clutter problem AND allows Greys to test the game for a longer period and possibly become Golds themselves.

[Bottle]

Just remake the account when the reset comes. You lose your rating and drops, but you can both of those back if you try.

[Snork]

Originally posted by Littlemelf
Office... more then half of the Greys would be gone with the 1 week no activity plan. Only the Greys that go on often like me would stay. It solves the clutter problem AND allows Greys to test the game for a longer period and possibly become Golds themselves.

You play for FREE!
Why are you making demands?

[Littlemelf]

I care about my stats. Not really my units unless I win another DMW. All im saying is to use the week idea (no activity for 1 week = deleted) It makes both of us happy... the servers are not cluttered and people like me (that play a lot) get to stay playing the game. I am planning to go Gold in a while... and I'm sure if you give Greys more time to play the game and see all the new things Golds are getting they may go Gold too.

I mean take a Grey. He hears this and never plays again. Now if you don’t do it as the Golds get more and more things he will say "wow maybe I should go Gold too" and boom more Golds in who are giving you $$$

*add* There is also the cahos possibility. Lets face it there aren't many Golds now. If all the Greys leave who will you play? You will sit in the lobby for half an hour looking for a game when now you can get one in 5 seconds.

I'm just trying to give an idea that benefits Greys and Golds.

[Bottle]

Littlemelf, you only got here a week ago. You can easily reclaim your stats.

The account reset is going to be a regular feature of TAO, no matter how much greys complain. Deal with it. I did when I lost my last 2 grey accounts (with stats 174-2-17 and 198-4-18).

[Littlemelf]

I guess your right... I just hope this doesn't backfire I like TAO...

[Office_Shredder]

They've had this policy for two months now I think.... is that right?

[Bottle]

Since they started, actually.

[Back Guard]

I totally understand that they have to reset accounts but I wish they'd give us more of a heads up. There's been talk of maybe not needing to reset accounts monthly at the last reset I believe, anyway I check the announcements today and they announce the acounts will be reset on the second! That's not even 24 hours, for christ's sake! There's no way I have enough time to go gold.

And for those wondering (i.e. before I get jumped on by people saying I should just have gone gold before) I was trying to enjoy being grey (less in the spotlight and less a target of noobish questions) as long as possible. Anyway, it doesn't matter all that much.

Think of it this way, the sooner you announce (or just remid) people that there'll be a reset the more time they'll have to get nervous about them loosing all their drops and rating and the more people get nervous the more will go gold.:D

A reminder a couple of days ahead, that's all I ask.

[Jeffery]

Actually, it has been talked extensively, and stated repeatedly that the wipes will happen every month.
There is supposed to some warning of exact time, but 1 day was been set as the minimum
I don;t see why people all act surprised....

[maxpower3979]

The recent account clean out was necessary. I know that. but why not just delete the grey accounts with a rating less than 750. If they are that bad, they haven't won any units and creating a new account, (if they still want to play they'll be doing this anyway) will raise their rating. I don't think many people with awesome ratings won't come back and play again. Persopnally, I had a 1243 rating and 9 aquired units...and this is pretty messed up. Deleting accounts lower than, let's say 800, would easily clear out at least 3/4 of the server. There are so many noobs that play once, lose, get a 740 or whatever rating, and never play again. just delete their accounts.

[Office_Shredder]

If you feel so strongly about the game, why don't you just get a gold account?

Also, wiping people just because they have a low rating is a bad idea. A lot of people who just started the game will leave because of that, and won't get the opportunity to buy a gold account later, because they are so pissed. On the other hand, someone with a 1200+ rating should have had enough time to decide that it was worth it to get a gold account, and in a way should get deleted before the new person because of that (not that I am saying that greys with good ratings are bad or anything, I'm just presenting a counter-argument).

And there are probably a lot of accounts with a 900+ rating that have been abandonded.

And a third thing is that greys with a good rating may quit the game, or gold accounts that have canceled their subscription, and they won't ever get deleted either.

[maxpower3979]

ok...but how about this then...when you make a new grey account name and password, they ask for your e-mail too. send out E-mails to the grey accounts like a week before they delete teh accounts and have it say "CHEK YOUR E-MAIL TO CONTINUE YOUR ACCOUNT" on the main page. if they don't respond.....aww skrew it...they don't wanna work that hard for people who don't wanna pay i guess....but I'm just sad I had to say goodbye to the units I've won: goodbye 2 clerics and 2 assasins.....goodbye 2 barrier wards and the pyro....and...the two witches....I think I'll miss you two most of all.....

[g5shade]

http://www.unirok.ca/jjd/jblack.jpg
It seems we all have a choice. get a gold account and keep all your stuff or stay grey and lose it all. this is fact, it is written on the tactics arena web site. so there is no reason to whimper or wine like a little school girl with no lunch money every month when this happens.
Just get a gold account and support the game you seem to be addicted to.

[Jeffery]

Originally posted by maxpower3979
ok...but how about this then...when you make a new grey account name and password, they ask for your e-mail too. send out E-mails to the grey accounts like a week before they delete teh accounts and have it say "CHEK YOUR E-MAIL TO CONTINUE YOUR ACCOUNT" on the main page. if they don't respond.....aww skrew it...they don't wanna work that hard for people who don't wanna pay i guess....but I'm just sad I had to say goodbye to the units I've won: goodbye 2 clerics and 2 assasins.....goodbye 2 barrier wards and the pyro....and...the two witches....I think I'll miss you two most of all.....

So even now you want to insist that the people who spend time and money running the game invest MORE time and money into helping out people who won;t or can;t support the game finacially?

[Hugh Junit]

Excellent point Jeff. Cmon Max. This is entirely free to you. You could play gold for an entire year for about the same price as one XBOX game. Considering the rating and units you racked up you must play quite a bit. Its probably worth the 5 dollars a month for you to invest in something you love so much. If you truly love the game then find a way. Believe me they arent going to make it easier on the people who dont pay to keep this site running. The units and exemption from resets are the incentives to go gold. Buck UP or pipe DOWN. Just teasing:D

[SMEGOL]

:( ok first of all god i didnt know i would get basically yelled at for expressing my oppinion......... all i said was my oppinion on how they might be able to do somthing that would make people happier.......... maybe if all the grey's paid a special low price of $1 and the TAO admins saved there account, people might be happy then........ just a thought....... dont yell at me but god people u arnt payin anything so what do u want to have the people just work for free? c'mon guys that's insane........ i'm a grey and i have great stats... i get p.o.'d when teh resets come but i deal with it. whopdie frickin do! if u dont want to pay for a gold account, dont expect much. like i said tho i'ma grey and i get ticked when the resets come but i work p my stats again and again.


also my name on banff is now "smegol is back" yes....smegol the great is back lol :D

[Jeffery]

Whenever a person or company receives money via Paypal, they pay a $.30 + 2.9% fee. So remember, if you get too low a price, they make no money.
But the $1 idea has been brought up a a silver, bronze, gold account status idea several times.

[SMEGOL]

hmmmmmm that idea about the bronz, silver, gold accounts would actually be somthin worth lookin into.......... i mean i prolly wont do it seein as tho my parents wont let me pay for anyhting on the net............ f'in parents lol sorry got off track..... but yeah that's actually somthing that a lot of people woul prolly do. but have units that are only availible to the kind of accounts... like the broze get's teh frost golem and etc. but yeah i would look into that if i was an admin.:p

[Rick James]

The greys need to stop whining. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR
in the case of the greys NOTHING, and rightfully so. they call it pay to play for a reason.

[imperium]

Originally posted by Choi
Get a grip or play something else.
he's trying to save a good game
how about you get a grip
bniatch

[Ulf-Thorsson]

One thing players can do if they don't trust paying over the net (or their parents won't let them), is to look into buying a Disposable Prepaid Credit Card. Pick up a $100 dollar prepaid card, then put $60 of it in Your PayPal Account for TAO, and you've still got $40 left to buy Pizza. If some Hacker hacks your CC# all they can possibly get is the left over $40. Your Bank Account and Regular CC stay safe.

[DuBious]

I don't believe all this complaining:rolleyes: You'd think that the TAO admin. are taking advantage of someone. SHOCKING, GREY ACCOUNTS ARE RESET! :eek: Suck it up:mad: It's JUST A GAME! The Admin. are volunteering their time for your benefit, NOT the other way around! Believe it or not.... if you're a grey refusing to go gold, then you are freeloading off of their generosity, plain and simple! (and all this coming from a grey!)
Resetting some parts of accounts or only some accounts defeats the purpose of a reset anyway.... Clearing out the deadwood that is bogging the servers down.
If you are complaining and are angry... vote with your feet; leave. As "vital" as you think greys are, their are always more to replace us.
Most of all, PLEASE stop posting the continuous, circular, empty arguments I've read on this thread!

Edit: And that idea Thorsson is an excellent one.

[-God-]

It's just a game. Whether you pay $5 a month to be gold or sweat it out with the greys, after you've sat down at your computer and played for hours, you still end with the same thing you began with. NOTHING!!!

So stop complaining and realize that IT DOESN"T MATTER!!!

[silentfish]

Heres to bashing the free-loaders!

[FryLock]

First off, I'm gray. And I like it. I realize there are abusive grays out there who bash golds and whine a lot. Heck, those bozos even jump other grays and try to get them to push f5 or simply abuse them throughout. There are also grays with decency and respect who play good solid games.
I've also been jumped by golds who have been...less than complimentary. But on the whole, I've found that golds are cool folks. One even showed me how to play this thing when I was first starting off. Regardless, I don't think grays need to have some sort of "god complex" about them. They've paid the money, let'em have the rewards. It is certainly possible to beat them, but you actually have to use TACTICS. Wow. What a concept.
As for those grays who claim "my score is my identity," why on earth are you looking for validation from some electronically generated number? I have a good rating now (Banff). Yes, it will suck when it gets deleted, but I will still be the same person with just as many skills as before.
Besides, I've gotten my rating up high using only the basic unit pack. I've gotten some cool drops, but all they do is watch from the sidelines, because I've found my groove with the guys I started with. I'll be sad to see my 3 extra pyros get deleted, but it's not as if I use them anyway.
After all, the real fun of this game is strategy, and what provides more strategic fun than learning to win with the basic units?
When my rating gets zapped, I'll simply put my formation back together and build it back up again, since I wasn't relying on any special units anyway.
Maybe I'm in the minority here. Maybe I'm crazy for wanting to use only 1 cleric when I have 2 to spare, but I think this is strategy at its purest. I respect the golds (and the grays) who use their new units wisely, but the ones who use them for brute force are defeatable.
The golds paid, let'em reap the benefits, and fellow grays, let's learn to play with what we've got. It's a rewarding feeling.

[Kava]

i'm not sure if this brought up already since this thread already has 14pages but anyway about this payment:

my country use euros so how can i pay that in dollars?

[Jeffery]

Originally posted by Kava
i'm not sure if this brought up already since this thread already has 14pages but anyway about this payment:

my country use euros so how can i pay that in dollars?
Use Paypal and it will automatically convert the amounts for you.

[Office_Shredder]

Originally posted by Kava
i'm not sure if this brought up already since this thread already has 14pages but anyway about this payment:

my country use euros so how can i pay that in dollars?

You can't, you European pig! Bow down to the almighty American Dollar!:D

***this has been a public service announcement by the Bush-Cheney campaign***

If you can't use paypal, you probably aren't going to want to think about the shipping costs of sending money by mail, so I think Jeffery covered all the bases.

[MasterGolem]

Just send 9000 Euros a month (Hey i better get some of this)

[Tigris]

I would go gold but my dad says its a waste of money

[Jeffery]

Actually with current conversion $5 US is only 4.17760 Euro.

God bless Bush.

[Black_mage]

Originally posted by blaze06
yea i think its crap that your just gunna delete everything every month...only delete the profiles who haven't signed on in a week or something....dont delete everything. what about for the people that dont wanna lose all there shit but dont feel like paying $5....u really need to think of something better....i'm not a gold member and i dont feel like losing everything i have, and hell no to paying $5 a month i have better things to spend my money on.....how bout you take a poll of all the users playing and majority wins, if they vote to not delete all profiles, then dont. give them strict rules about if u dont sign in in a week it will b erased but dont go get rid of everything

what if u go on vacation?

[Black_mage]

Originally posted by Incendiels
While I'm not arguing either way, (one side or the other would come after me if i did ;)) I do have a suggestion to make. It seems that the problem comes from people with gray accounts who feel at a disadvantage while playing golds. Perhaps one of the servers could be devoted to grays and only let them in, one could be devoted to golds and only let them in,