Simple:

Constant development with remarkable results at a decent rate

Customer service as it should be

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Originally posted by Dragonantis
Very regular updates and patches.

Multiple community events.

Fast and efficient customer service.

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Along with the OP I have to agree to these being a necessity to get me to pay a subscription. I think Rothbard hit the nail on the head with:

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Originally posted by rothbard
I'd gladly pay a sub for a world. It's the box fee that needs to go, not the sub. Paying sub = access to world. Free client. Does this negate the whole "I want all the 'content' I bought" meme?

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Why should we have to pay a box fee if we can't even play the game without paying other fees on top of that?

Not much, not against p2p, but i've been finding some ftp games im enjoying lately.

Wanting to play it. If I want to play, I'll pay. So, good games usually get my money once in a while.

Agreed with a few posters here about the box price. I like how EVE has a rather cheap box price.

what justifies a subscription fee in my mind?

perhaps a celphone contract. Definitely not a game. Charge me for the box and if you want more money then make big expansions (not cow milking dlc).

Originally posted by GTwander

~Yeah, I'd be playing EVE right now if the community wasn't a mongol horde of dickpunchers. If any game can come out with the sheer amount of options it has, but with a community I can actually gel with, I'd pay them what they ask for.

You should come to CVA. ;)

Originally posted by rojo6934

what justifies a subscription fee in my mind?

perhaps a celphone contract. Definitely not a game. Charge me for the box and if you want more money then make big expansions (not cow milking dlc).

Funny, cellphone contracts usually cost a LOT more for very little. I've seen like $50 a month contracts, ridiculous.

I pay freaking $100 a year and that's probably as cheap as it gets with phones... and all I get is being able to call people.

I have no problem with dropping down $50-60 to get the game, to me the initial payment is to help pay back some of the money used to build the game. After that, I have no problem paying $15 a month to play the game, as long as there are updates to the game, maby some new content doesnt have to be a huge patch. I will pay $20-30 for an expansion, as long as it adds at least half the original maps size with a bunch of content, which should happen at least once a year. This would be the extream I would pay.

I refuse to play games that nickle and dime you for content anymore. Cause you end up paying more. 

Originally posted by Malcanis

Is merely keeping the server open and spending a buck or two on the bandwidth enough, or do you demand more for your $10-$15 a month?

In my opinion, paying a subscription fee should entitle the MMO customer to expect at minimum the following:

(1) Frequent, regular bug-fixing and exploit-patching

 

Any product that you purchase, which is subsequently discovered to be broken or not functioning as expected, should be fixed whether there is a sub fee or not.

 

(2) Competent, active GMs

(3) A game that's in a fully working condition to play, and which fufills the promises made by advertising (or at the least, has the reasonable expectation of fulfilling those not currently delivered in the near future)

Any product that is purchased must fulfill advertised promises, or face player censure and/or legal action whether or not there is a sub fee involved.

(4) An active, responsive community team

 

I think paying subscribers should also reasonably expect at least some of:

(5) Access to all the content in the game without further payment

Only if this is advertised as a benefit of subscription. A consumer never has the right to expect more than the merchant has promised as part of the product.

(6) An expectation that the game will continue to be developed and expanded, and for that direction to be communicated

(7) Some level of input or interaction with the Dev team as to the future direction of the game.

I disagree with this. It is nice, but not something that a player should expect.

 

(8) Proper game documentation and tutorials

 

What are your thoughts? Which subscription MMOs actually deliver to your expectations for a subscription? Should subbed MMOs which don't deliver go F2P or should they raise their game, so to speak?

Responses above.

Server maintenance + additional content + customer support + bug squashing + free candy (optional)

Originally posted by Malcanis

Is merely keeping the server open and spending a buck or two on the bandwidth enough, or do you demand more for your $10-$15 a month?

In my opinion, paying a subscription fee should entitle the MMO customer to expect at minimum the following:

(1) Frequent, regular bug-fixing and exploit-patching

(2) Competent, active GMs

(3) A game that's in a fully working condition to play, and which fufills the promises made by advertising (or at the least, has the reasonable expectation of fulfilling those not currently delivered in the near future)

(4) An active, responsive community team

 

I think paying subscribers should also reasonably expect at least some of:

(5) Access to all the content in the game without further payment

(6) An expectation that the game will continue to be developed and expanded, and for that direction to be communicated

(7) Some level of input or interaction with the Dev team as to the future direction of the game.

(8) Proper game documentation and tutorials

 

What are your thoughts? Which subscription MMOs actually deliver to your expectations for a subscription? Should subbed MMOs which don't deliver go F2P or should they raise their game, so to speak?

All you said should be included in the box price. Bandwidth costs so little nowadays, its neglible.

Today, if a MMO charges for a sub, I would expect all the above plus:

- a full blown expansion each year with loads of content, available for free to subscribes who already paid enough in sub costs. i.e. if someone played 6 months paying 15$/mo, he will get it for free (value of 60$ game + 50% more for other costs, but if he played only 3 months with a sub, hell have to pay half the price and so on.

- constant updates with new content, instances, small zones, throughout the year, free for all.

Any additional revenue can be obtained with a fluff based cash shop.

if im hooked. then my money is yours. simple as that.

and NO, im not grinding thru level 20 to see if I get hooked....'cause it ain't happenin' if the story doesn't catch me at the first click.

       I haven't found a MMO in a long time that I felt was worth a monthly sub....The reason why I like f2p games is I can come and go as I like without the obilgation.......THere are just too many games out there now to justify playing only one and spending extra for it.

What Justifies a subscription fee in my mind?

A monthly Sub now a days is not justifiable in my book unless I'm renting a physical item from the developer that I'll be forced to return once I cancel my sub fee. 

Games are starting to prove that a sub fee is not needed to provide a decent game, infact some games are in beta and provide a better game then most that are relased and charge a sub fee.  The standards of the MMO market is starting to change.   Those who think it is needed for a developer to provide a quality game are mistaken and need to start questioning what their monthly payment is actually providing them with the current games they are sub'ing.

It seems to me a lot of people are accepting a monthly sub charge to justify the years that it wasn't needed in the past with all the money previous developers milked out of the players.

I like systems such as LoL's cash shop in which you can earn the in game currency to purchase items or use cash but none of the items are needed to compete.   Same with the Guild Wars 2 system, purchase the box and it has an optional cash shop that is not required for you to use it in order to compete within any part of the game play.

An mmoRPG that makes me actually feel like I did when I played EQ, Ultima, Asheron's Call, and Dark Age of Camelot.  If the mmo makes me feel immersed, that I have actually gone to a fantasy world that matters to the community and to itself, then I will pay a fee.  Show me a game where the same races and classes are beating each other up over a flag and Im gone.

Paying a fee for video games that pose as mmorpgs, is a joke.  I'm ont paying for Huttbal, or some cut and paste race and class instanced pvp in GW2, or some watered down version of realm warfare in Rift where the same classes and races are still beating each other up - that's laziness in a nutshell and games like this might work for P** Smoker Pete who still lives at home, but for the rest of us, we deserve more.  Hell, P** Smoker Pete deserves more, he's just too shot to know it.

/My 2 cents :)

Originally posted by Irus

Originally posted by rojo6934

what justifies a subscription fee in my mind?

perhaps a celphone contract. Definitely not a game. Charge me for the box and if you want more money then make big expansions (not cow milking dlc).

Funny, cellphone contracts usually cost a LOT more for very little. I've seen like $50 a month contracts, ridiculous.

I pay freaking $100 a year and that's probably as cheap as it gets with phones... and all I get is being able to call people.

i do agree with you that they (celphone services) should be cheaper and give a lot more service. But a comunication service is worth more than game time which is not a service (devs want games to become a monthly subscription service as the standard model and thats wrong).

Its my opinion so i stick to free games, or even buy sub based games to play the free month only then throw them under the bed. Thats about it

Originally posted by Comaf

An mmoRPG that makes me actually feel like I did when I played EQ, Ultima, Asheron's Call, and Dark Age of Camelot. 

A time machine?

Originally posted by GTwander

Originally posted by Comaf

An mmoRPG that makes me actually feel like I did when I played EQ, Ultima, Asheron's Call, and Dark Age of Camelot. 

A time machine?

back to the future online.

anyone? 

Originally posted by rojo6934

Originally posted by GTwander

Originally posted by Comaf

An mmoRPG that makes me actually feel like I did when I played EQ, Ultima, Asheron's Call, and Dark Age of Camelot. 

A time machine?

back to the future online.

anyone? 

More like "back to my childhood online".

~Or if that doesn't apply "back to my honeymoon phase online".

People will eventually get over their jilted sense of nostalgia, or they will blame the world eternally for "being shitty".

I don't need to justify paying a sub. I'd rather pay 15 per month than be nickled and dimed in the middle of my game play.

Originally posted by bcbully

I don't need to justify paying a sub. I'd rather pay 15 per month than be nickled and dimed in the middle of my game play.

~but now that you are seeing both at the same time, what options are left?