Lots of changes from LL

[Callipygian]

https://community.secondlife.com/blogs/ ... g-changes/

[Sudane Erato]

This will improve CDS finances by US$64/month... a very welcome improvement to our community finances. (4 full sims @ $16/month each price reduction). They are clearly making this up by doubling the fee for cashing out SL L$s to RL money; since that activity plays no part in our economy, we get a pure gain here.

Sudane..............

[Sylvia Tamalyn]

They are also increasing the rate for Premium accounts, which probably doesn't affect most here, but it will apply to at least some. I imagine they will get a good chunk of change from the increased subscription rates, which will also help offset the lowered land rates.

[Rosie Gray]

As a person with a Premium account who also has to purchase L$ with RL Canadian dollars it will be interesting to see how much more this costs me personally. Great for sim owners, but not so great for individuals. My last purchase of L$4000 equaled $17.43 US, and when all was said and done I paid $24.22 Canadian for it.

[Han Held]

I pay monthly, so that's going to affect me -$3/month more. As they say "$3 here and $3 there and soon you're talking real money". I'm already spending more than I can use so I'm going to watch my budget over the next few months and see how it shakes out in practical terms.

The cutbacks to "basic" accounts seems like a short-sighted slap in the face, to me. Especially given that many people put cash into the game and spend that on items and rentals. I can see that potentially biting us on the tail if it leads to a smaller pool of available tenants to draw from (because people say "screw this" to SL).

[Sylvia Tamalyn]

The cutbacks to "basic" accounts seems like a short-sighted slap in the face, to me. Especially given that many people put cash into the game and spend that on items and rentals. I can see that potentially biting us on the tail if it leads to a smaller pool of available tenants to draw from (because people say "screw this" to SL).

For that matter, with the cut to number of groups allowed for basic accounts, new tenants might struggle just to be able to add a CDS group or two. That's the one change that really makes zero sense to me.

[Lilith Ivory]

Tan and me just went premium this year and are proud owners of a hotel on the Adult mainland now
- a long time dream for both of us.
Since the allowed free land holdings got increased going premium and paying annually was a real bargain. Now it's not so much anymore and for me it will make a hurtful difference to pay 99 US$ instead of 72 US$ next march.

For me the cut down on allowed groups makes total sense as this way LL wants to make it less attractive for premium members to go back to basic.

[Emilia Avindar]

...

For me the cut down on allowed groups makes total sense as this way LL wants to make it less attractive for premium members to go back to basic.

I agree, Lilith, it's a double-edged sword to slash group usage. The 16 years of group data has to be supported in the cloud, even though some huge amount of groups are defunct. Regardless, when we log in, each of us, every time, the login event must be supported by all of our group data loading too. The cloud real estate is not cheap, and I can only speculate that LL is supporting a cloud as heavy as all the lead in Fort Knox.

Have you heard the advice that "the more friends you have, the longer it takes to load your account"? Same problem. My opinion is that the Cloud is busting LL's bank to a greater extent than Sansar. I had just downgraded to Quarterly a few days ago, whereas I had always upgraded Annually. LL has given (not quite?) 30 days notice of the price changes, but the option to renew at the old price seems to apply only to Quarterly renewals one time, and Quarterly renewals will no longer be an option in the future? "Grandfathered" Quarterly renewals will then bill at the new price; a ten US Dollar increase. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

My previous dual use strategy of using alts to boost my income (stipends) and provide Mainland (premium) tier allowance is now defunct. Estate rentals should get a boost out of this, because the option for a Linden houseboat or "macmansion" is the last actual Premium perk, and houseboats remain "out of stock". Oh, there is one other perk, Premium support.

The reduction in Group slots for Basic accounts really will matter to those who were highly engaged in role play groups and events planning. I think it will cause many to leave, which will lighten LL's bill for Cloud usage. Estates are the winners, except for the potential loss of basic members, who might otherwise be Citizens.

[Sylvia Tamalyn]

Anyone may renew at the old price starting Monday. This offer will be open until June 24. So, Lilith, if you go ahead and renew for a year during that period, you will pay $72.00 and get a year tacked onto the end of your current membership period. No need to close that hotel just yet!

To help with the transition to the new pricing, starting June 3, we’re offering a limited-time opportunity for existing Premium members to lock in their current rates for one more billing cycle, including extending an existing monthly to use the current full year rate by upgrading now to annual. Simply renew before June 24th to extend your current Membership at the same low rate. For example, monthly members will be billed at the lower rate for one more monthly billing cycle, while annual members may renew (or monthly users may upgrade to annual) early to add one more year to your existing Membership at the current lower rate. We will update when the option becomes available on June 3rd. Until then - if you are not up for renewal already, you will not see the option to lock in your current price. Keep an eye out for updates.

I have done some math, and it remains less expensive to keep Premium "land alts" than it is to demote the alts to Basic and pay added tier for extra land allowance. I will be renewing my land alts during the "grandfather" period that starts next week and get that extra year on them, and worry about all this later (much later).

[Sylvia Tamalyn]

LL has reconsidered and addressed what was possibly the most-complained about change: reduction in groups for Basic accounts. They are NOT going to lower the limit; Basic accounts will still be allowed to have 42 groups.

https://community.secondlife.com/blogs/ ... c-members/

[Emilia Avindar]

Yay! I am seriously happy that they rolled back the reduction in number of Groups in a Basic account, and will leave it at 42. I'm also happy that it appears I can use the option to renew for another full year for $72, since the annual option does appear on my dashboard, even though I just renewed a few days ago at the Quarterly rate; I'm pretty sure they are prepared to do the accounting for the net charge of an additional 50 dollars.

If they get it wrong, by charging me twice without reimbursement for the Quarterly $22, I will simply file a billing ticket in Support.

I respect that LL has been willing to consider the social impact of groups. Also, I received excellent, rapid response to both a service ticket earlier this week, and a premium Chat with Support today, which took all of 2 minutes.

[Gwyneth Llewelyn]

Hrrrmpf. All I can say is that I tried to pay for my annual Premium account and LL's Cashier hiccuped and refused to accept any[/] of my payment methods... hopefully this is just temporary!

[Emilia Avindar]

Well, whatever that promise was of being grandfathered for another year at $72 annual rate, it did not work out for me. I was billed $99. I filed a ticket and they acknowledged that I selected annual renewal again on May 31st " however this was before we opened our pre-pay option."

I don't know what I did wrong; as well as I recall I was meeting whatever requirement to jump through a hoop during a special window of opportunity.

Oh well, it's a good thing my alt got a houseboat in the new Linden homes lottery. Emilia might just toss her regular Traditional home back and try for a houseboat too, or definitely not renew premium next August.

[Sylvia Tamalyn]

From the link in the original post in this thread:

"To help with the transition to the new pricing, starting June 3, we’re offering a limited-time opportunity for existing Premium members to lock in their current rates for one more billing cycle, including extending an existing monthly to use the current full year rate by upgrading now to annual."

[Ranma Tardis]

Just downgraded to basic, I could see no advantage. I will hold on to my lot in Caledon