The only limit on the number of connections is the ability of your bandwidth and your computer to support it. This is true of the Ultimate and the Full license.
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The only limit on the number of connections is the ability of your bandwidth and your computer to support it. This is true of the Ultimate and the Full license.
I've been following this thread to get a feeling of what's exactly a Ultimate License meant for. I think I get it.
Now, traditionally, with RPGs, the economic pressure was set upon the DM. It was normally the DM who would buy the rulebook, photocopy some character sheets, use his own dice, etc, while the players would benefit from his hard work with virtually no investment (save for their time).
The Ultimate License mimics this situation in some way but fails to deliver a full experience to the players due to the Demo limitations.
For USD 150 I'd expect that limitation to be erased in some way. It could be done, for instance, thanks to a free Lite edition that can only be activated thanks to a partner Ultimate edition (a first connection or something). That lite edition would then only really operate offline or if connected to that specific Ultimate edition.
I'm sure a "free Lite edition" would cause some confusion to the public, which SmiteWorks should avoid, so instead, they could bundle a pack of Ultimate Edition plus Ultimate client (which could be in fact a tweaked Lite edition) and ship it as a complete pack.
I'm sure many potential DMs out there, like me, are willing to pay USD 150 the same way we paid in the past for the rulebooks, third party quests, miniatures, etc so we could arrange a campaign with some friends (or not even that) imposing no extra fee.
I somehow manage my own company and I am always dealing with "business models" and how new strategies could be helpful or risky. I'm not here to tell SmiteWorks how to do business but I think an extra step towards that direction (Ultimate + "lite" clients) could have great potential. I, for one, would not hesitate to buy one.
Regards,
Pablo
My solution to the offline issue is to keep the server up and running for the players. This seems to work pretty well.
While I found the $150 to be worth it for me, I think it might be a bit more palatable for people if it included some rulesets bundeled with it. (perhaps $50 towards other products).
The issue in my groups now is that if someone else wants to GM, they must either buy the Ultimate license or have everyone buy lite versions, negating any expense "savings" on my Ultimate license.... meaning that I essentially paid $150 for a Full license....
However, because most of my core players wouldn't run a game and don't have the free time to play more than in my game, it was worth it for us. For other people a Full+Lite approach might be better... just depends upon your situation.
I was also able to quickly ramp up a Cthulhu game that likely never would have gotten off the ground if I didn't have an Ultimate license......
To be honest most rulesets do not support offline mode anyway.Quote:
Originally Posted by diacritica
If the ruleset does support offline mode on a lite client any characters that have connected to the server are read only any way.
Thank you for the feedback. We are always considering new business models and improvements to our offerings and to our product. We debated long and hard before finally settling on the price and package for the ultimate edition and the community was very helpful in finding the right price. We realize that we are not going to be able to satisfy everyone and our bottom line with whatever we decide, but it appears to be selling quite well. We see a lot fewer lite license sales, but they are balanced by the ultimate licenses. The next significant business model change will be to provide a floating license option. We have promised this to our users and we still hope to deliver -- despite some setbacks in this area.
It's true that most people on the forums are asking for this floating license feature. This wouldn't be my case as I'm clearly my "local DM" but I'm sure it will satisfy many.
I guess the key question here is the pricing. If the Ultimate edition is elligible for this feature, I could understand asking for extra USD. Maybe USD 200?
Anyway, it could be compatible with the idea of "floating" Ultimate clients (based on lite) tied to a specific Ultimate floating edition. This would be just awesome and could give the Lite edition a new meaning.
Cheers,
Pablo