Post by Game Tokens on Feb 6, 2007 20:12:41 GMT -5
This is on the AE forums posted by one eye thought ya might like to see it.
Later this week, the Ashen Empires service will be undergoing some major changes.
The most noticeable change is the price per month of Ashen Empires will be reduced.
Another change will be the addition of products that can be purchases in-game or through the Ashen Empires store via micro-payments.
To make these micro-payments possible a game token system is being introduced. You will no longer pay directly for most Ashen Empires products. You will instead buy gametokens from the Ashen Empires web store. Game tokens will be available in increments of $5, $10 and $25 dollars. There are 20 game tokens per dollar. Game tokens will be used for all purchases in-game and from the Ashen Empires web site/store.
What are the new costs?
With the update the cost of one month of Ashen Empires will be $8.00, three months will be $23.00 and 6 months will be $44.00. See Game Token cost below.
Why are these changes being made?
These changes are the first stage of a long term plan to make Ashen Empires a free service.
I am currently a subscriber how will these changes affect me?
If you pay via a reoccurring credit card payment, these changes will affect you very little. You can choose to keep your subscription as is and your account will be credited each time your payment is made with the cost difference in game tokens. If you wish to re-do your subscription to reflect the lower monthly cost that option is also available to you. Players who pay monthly without a reoccurring plan can pay the new lower price or even choose to deposit game tokens and make their account reoccurring.
What are the subscription levels?
Ashen Empires accounts will be separated into two levels. Free Players and V.I.P. Players. All V.I.P. Players will be represented by an in-game icon next to a player’s name.
Accounts that are not V.I.P. can not own a house of Guild Hall. Players who have stopped being V.I.P. (now playing for free) have any housing they own foreclosed. They will also loose what ever is in their shared bank slots.
What is the cost in game tokens for V.I.P.
(1 Day) – 10 game tokens
(3 Days) – 25 game tokens
(7 Days) – 50 game tokens
(1 Month) – 160 game tokens
(3 Months) – 460 game tokens
(6 Months) – 880 game tokens
(Check Game Store in case these amounts are no longer correct.)
I have an older account can I still play the game without having a subscription?
Yes! Returning players may now play the game without a V.I.P. subscription account.
How much will the various Ashen Empires expansions cost with this new system?
Talazar’s Revenge – 350 game tokens
Sands of Creation – 299 game tokens
Talazar’s Revenge + Sand of Creation – 599 game tokens
Sand of Creation + Construction – 399 game tokens
Construction – 200 game tokens
Tides of Fate -
All Expansions – 790 game tokens
How will I use the Ashen Empires In-Game Store?
With this update, Ashen Empires will add an in-game store where players can make purchases with their game tokens. To access the store, players will type /store or click the store icon button on hotbar 0 (press 0 on your keyboard to toggle this hotbar).
What game items will I be able to purchase in the store?
On launch of the in-game store the following items will be available for purchase with game tokens**:
Valentine’s Day Home Pack – 100 tokens
The Valentines Day Home Pack provides an assortment of holiday themed house deeds to add to your house.
Valentine’s Day Armor Set – 30 tokens
The Valentine’s Day Armor Set provides decorative clothing for Valentine’s events and parties.
Race Change – 200 Tokens
A Race Change purchase allows for instant and permanent changing of your character’s race and sex.
Greater Potion Pack – 60 Tokens
This Potion Pack purchase provides 15 each of various Greater Potions, including healing, stamina, repair, cure poison and cure disease.
Map Reveal – 100 Tokens
A Map Reveal purchase will permanently remove the fog of war from a character’s in-game map.
Summon Corpse – 50 Tokens
Summons all of your corpses to your current location.
Item No Drop – 125 Tokens
This option will mark a single item as ‘No Drop’ permanently.
Item Rename – 5 Tokens
This option allows you to rename a single item (including containers) permanently.
Player Henchman – 30 Tokens
This purchase will provide an appropriate level warrior NPC that will travel with a player and obey the player’s commands. The Henchmen will stay with you until it dies or you log off the game.
Runeshard – 75 Tokens
A Runeshard allows you to take 5 orbs from one stat (that is at least 10) and transfer those orbs to other stats.
Orb Reset – 500 Tokens
An Orb Reset purchase resets all of your characters stats to base value.
Character Rename – 400 Tokens
A Character Rename purchase allows you to change the name of your character in game.
Skry Scroll – 25 Tokens
A Skry Scroll allows you to view another player in the world and follow them as a ghost for a short time.
Death Protection – 20 Tokens
This purchase will protect an item in your possession from dropping on your next death.
Berserker Potion Pack – 50 Tokens
The Berserker Potion Pack provides 10 potions which make your character to go berserk against creatures for a short period.
Server Move* – 600 Tokens
Server Moves allow a single character to be transferred to a different game server. Transferred characters lose all items in inventory and banks.
*only available from the Ashen Empires Web Store
**all token prices are subject to change before launch of the Ashen Empires store.
Can I trade tokens to other players?
Not with the initial release, however, phase 2 of the Ashen Empires store will allow for players (in good standing) to transfer tokens to other players. Players can then use these tokens to buy items from the Ashen Empires web and in-game stores.
I have an unused gift certificate, what will happen to that?
All active and unused gift certificates will be converted to their token value and be credited to the account they are currently on.
Players that are V.I.P. get perks that free account do not. They can own houses and Guild Halls, purchase personal pets and get a "package" each month. The stuff in each months package is always listed on the AE Forums. The personal pets do not fight and do not carry stuff, they are just fun and you can name them using a name change purchased with token at the AE Store. Monsters can not kill your V.I.P. pet.
Some of this information may be out of date, I am checking and updating.
((hugs))
Later this week, the Ashen Empires service will be undergoing some major changes.
The most noticeable change is the price per month of Ashen Empires will be reduced.
Another change will be the addition of products that can be purchases in-game or through the Ashen Empires store via micro-payments.
To make these micro-payments possible a game token system is being introduced. You will no longer pay directly for most Ashen Empires products. You will instead buy gametokens from the Ashen Empires web store. Game tokens will be available in increments of $5, $10 and $25 dollars. There are 20 game tokens per dollar. Game tokens will be used for all purchases in-game and from the Ashen Empires web site/store.
What are the new costs?
With the update the cost of one month of Ashen Empires will be $8.00, three months will be $23.00 and 6 months will be $44.00. See Game Token cost below.
Why are these changes being made?
These changes are the first stage of a long term plan to make Ashen Empires a free service.
I am currently a subscriber how will these changes affect me?
If you pay via a reoccurring credit card payment, these changes will affect you very little. You can choose to keep your subscription as is and your account will be credited each time your payment is made with the cost difference in game tokens. If you wish to re-do your subscription to reflect the lower monthly cost that option is also available to you. Players who pay monthly without a reoccurring plan can pay the new lower price or even choose to deposit game tokens and make their account reoccurring.
What are the subscription levels?
Ashen Empires accounts will be separated into two levels. Free Players and V.I.P. Players. All V.I.P. Players will be represented by an in-game icon next to a player’s name.
Accounts that are not V.I.P. can not own a house of Guild Hall. Players who have stopped being V.I.P. (now playing for free) have any housing they own foreclosed. They will also loose what ever is in their shared bank slots.
What is the cost in game tokens for V.I.P.
(1 Day) – 10 game tokens
(3 Days) – 25 game tokens
(7 Days) – 50 game tokens
(1 Month) – 160 game tokens
(3 Months) – 460 game tokens
(6 Months) – 880 game tokens
(Check Game Store in case these amounts are no longer correct.)
I have an older account can I still play the game without having a subscription?
Yes! Returning players may now play the game without a V.I.P. subscription account.
How much will the various Ashen Empires expansions cost with this new system?
Talazar’s Revenge – 350 game tokens
Sands of Creation – 299 game tokens
Talazar’s Revenge + Sand of Creation – 599 game tokens
Sand of Creation + Construction – 399 game tokens
Construction – 200 game tokens
Tides of Fate -
All Expansions – 790 game tokens
How will I use the Ashen Empires In-Game Store?
With this update, Ashen Empires will add an in-game store where players can make purchases with their game tokens. To access the store, players will type /store or click the store icon button on hotbar 0 (press 0 on your keyboard to toggle this hotbar).
What game items will I be able to purchase in the store?
On launch of the in-game store the following items will be available for purchase with game tokens**:
Valentine’s Day Home Pack – 100 tokens
The Valentines Day Home Pack provides an assortment of holiday themed house deeds to add to your house.
Valentine’s Day Armor Set – 30 tokens
The Valentine’s Day Armor Set provides decorative clothing for Valentine’s events and parties.
Race Change – 200 Tokens
A Race Change purchase allows for instant and permanent changing of your character’s race and sex.
Greater Potion Pack – 60 Tokens
This Potion Pack purchase provides 15 each of various Greater Potions, including healing, stamina, repair, cure poison and cure disease.
Map Reveal – 100 Tokens
A Map Reveal purchase will permanently remove the fog of war from a character’s in-game map.
Summon Corpse – 50 Tokens
Summons all of your corpses to your current location.
Item No Drop – 125 Tokens
This option will mark a single item as ‘No Drop’ permanently.
Item Rename – 5 Tokens
This option allows you to rename a single item (including containers) permanently.
Player Henchman – 30 Tokens
This purchase will provide an appropriate level warrior NPC that will travel with a player and obey the player’s commands. The Henchmen will stay with you until it dies or you log off the game.
Runeshard – 75 Tokens
A Runeshard allows you to take 5 orbs from one stat (that is at least 10) and transfer those orbs to other stats.
Orb Reset – 500 Tokens
An Orb Reset purchase resets all of your characters stats to base value.
Character Rename – 400 Tokens
A Character Rename purchase allows you to change the name of your character in game.
Skry Scroll – 25 Tokens
A Skry Scroll allows you to view another player in the world and follow them as a ghost for a short time.
Death Protection – 20 Tokens
This purchase will protect an item in your possession from dropping on your next death.
Berserker Potion Pack – 50 Tokens
The Berserker Potion Pack provides 10 potions which make your character to go berserk against creatures for a short period.
Server Move* – 600 Tokens
Server Moves allow a single character to be transferred to a different game server. Transferred characters lose all items in inventory and banks.
*only available from the Ashen Empires Web Store
**all token prices are subject to change before launch of the Ashen Empires store.
Can I trade tokens to other players?
Not with the initial release, however, phase 2 of the Ashen Empires store will allow for players (in good standing) to transfer tokens to other players. Players can then use these tokens to buy items from the Ashen Empires web and in-game stores.
I have an unused gift certificate, what will happen to that?
All active and unused gift certificates will be converted to their token value and be credited to the account they are currently on.
Players that are V.I.P. get perks that free account do not. They can own houses and Guild Halls, purchase personal pets and get a "package" each month. The stuff in each months package is always listed on the AE Forums. The personal pets do not fight and do not carry stuff, they are just fun and you can name them using a name change purchased with token at the AE Store. Monsters can not kill your V.I.P. pet.
Some of this information may be out of date, I am checking and updating.
((hugs))