Title kind of says it all, leaving aside the exact elements that would make it a "better" MMO, would you be willing to pay more than current going rates for a better game?

No..

Absolutely not.  If anything prices need to go down.

Absolutely.

I would be happy with a smaller albeit more committed community as well because of the price increase.  I am not willing to spend even one penny a year on a commercialized game; time is money, and I do not have the time to level-up to gear-up to raid/PvP-up to gear-up again.

We need an MMORPG experience that is redefined through innovation --not in graphics-- in features.  EDIT:  It probably should be a sci-fi game; this "new" and "innovative" and more expensive game.  A different genre entirely, or something that is not star wars like or lord of the rings like. 

I would be horrified if prices where to drastically increase to play an MMO.

Currently 99% of MMO's released are offering us rehashed games with poor content and woeful support.

If I was faced with the prospect of a substantial increase in a subscription I would be expecting a world class game and world class support, would we recieve such a service for more money? highly doubtful.

We only have to look at past MMO's that still operate and judge them on what they are currently offering their customers for their money, not much has really changed over the years and the service offered usually stands still with only minor advancements when the competition brings something in.

I already think I'm paying enough money for what I recieve and I know from past experience that paying more for your subscription does not always mean your going to get a better service (Legends server in EQ1 anyone?)

You must also take into account what a price increase would mean to your player base, younger players may be forced out as parents would find it unreasonable to pay a higher price "Just for a game", those that subscribe to more than 1 game would certainly have to reconsider if it's going to be worth it, and in a time of a world reccession you certainly do not want to talk about price increases for entertainment, you would more likely want a decrease to continue justirying paying for a non-essential service.

I would pay up to $50/month if it was the absolute shit. And  I mean the absloute, hands-down, mother of all MMORPGs. Like SWG x 100. EVE with colonizeable planets, a good ground game, stations walked in and around, ordering a drink from a bar, having your own quarters, roleplay, everything. That would be worth it.

Anything below absolute sublime perfection and no, I wouldn't pay that.

But if a company had the balls to risk it and spend like 10 years developing the ultimate MMORPG. I'd do it.

I'd have difficulty in justifying the increase. Certainly anything over 20$ per month would require a game so good I'd be afraid of playing it for fear it would consume all my free time.

i think 30-40 usd for a game each month is to much or you must be rich or you just buy every thing on credit and you don't care(what i think is realy stupit thing to do)

Nope, I guess I'm assuming that a 'good game' would have many players though.

There is no guarentee that it would be a better game.

Voted "a little more", although I'd seriously question whether such a thing could actually exist.

Could Premium Movies exist?  Go to the movie theater and instead of an average $9.25 you pay $15.00 for the movie.

Just because a studio puts more money into their movie, that doesn't necessarily make it better.  Looking through the list of most expensive films:

• Pirates of the Carribean: At World End (#1 on the list) had a terrible metacritic score of 50.
• Spider-man 3 (#2) got a 59.
• Quantum of Solace (#3) got a 58.

Basically I think movie houses and MMO devs are in the same boat - you can't gaurantee higher quality just by throwing money at the problem.

I think at this point only Blizzard could hope to get away with premium pricing, purely for the reason of their proven track record.  But I'm not too sure Blizzard would try to get away with it; raising prices would itself be an act of tarnishing that track record ;)

Yeah, if the game suited my playstyle (I won't go into what that is, since the OP didn't either), and had very nice up-to-date graphics, and was very well polished and an all round great game, I'd pay a little more for sure.

If the game was absolutely perfect, you know, like my "dream game". I'd pay $40 a month easily. I don't see why any of you wouldn't for your "dream game". Think about it, lets say you're playing regular games, wether on PC or Console, you'd be buying at least 2 or 3 games ($60 each time) per month.
So for an MMO, which tends to stop you playing other games except the MMO (for me atleast), I'd be quite happy to spend a high monthly fee, because it's still cheaper than a new video game every month.

Obviously though, there will never be that perfect game. So no, I wouldn't be willing to pay a monthly fee that high ($40).

Regarding the movie comparison it is already being done. Star Trek in IMAX cost me 16.50, and it was soooo not worth the extra cash.

Originally posted by qbangy32

You must also take into account what a price increase would mean to your player base, younger players may be forced out as parents would find it unreasonable to pay a higher price "Just for a game", those that subscribe to more than 1 game would certainly have to reconsider if it's going to be worth it,  

See I would actually see those as a benefit. I would love a well done properly elitist niche game to play and wouldn't mind paying a premium price for it. Obviously it would have to be actually done well and well maintained and wouldn't be for everyone, but I would rather be playing in that sort of environment than in the vast McMMO market we have now.

Also, somewhat obviously a price increase alone doesn't garauntee anything - the quality would have to really be there or it would flop.

I've never found a p2p game that I thought was worth the monthly expense, but.. if the ULTIMATE MMO came out and had everything one might want in a game, maybe I could be drawn away from my penny pinching ways.  But that would have to be one AWESOME game.

To hear other people talking about their p2p's, they aren't that much better than some of the f2p's I've played.  So I would have to agree with a good portion of the people on this thread, they would have to raise the proverbial bar a great deal before I would even think of shelling out a portion of wealth that much bigger than 15 bucks a month.

 the question is wrong: WHY PAY SO MUCH FOR THE SHIT MMORPG WE HAVE IN THE MARKET?

Yes. This is the right question.

No, considering some of the crap devs have been shelling out lately paying $15 is too much. 

I suppose under the right circumstances I might be game but if anything mmos have taken a turn for the worse, and I'll be damned if I want to give them even more money when quite frankly some of them didn't deserve the going rate.

I'm having trouble finding an MMO on the market today that is actually worth the $15 they charge already. So really, MMO subscriptions should be lower, unless it was an absolutely awesome game, then it should be the standard $15 a month. But why does a better game have to cost more a month? I find Guild Wars to be a better game than nearly every P2P MMO on the market, and it costs me nothing per month.

Originally posted by Xisko

 the question is wrong: WHY PAY SO MUCH FOR THE SHIT MMORPG WE HAVE IN THE MARKET?

Yes. This is the right question.

Bzzt - nice try though. I firmly believe that MMO players should hold companies to a higher standard - I sure do - I wish more would stop buying the hype and supporting crap...but that's their own problem. No one is forcing you to pay to play games you don't like.

MMOs that are just starting out, I can justify a $15 monthly subscription, but companies that have been successfully milking a huge audience for years, need to drop their prices in my opinion.

For $35-40, a game better blow me once a month.