Paid but lower threshold
Dear Niantic,
I am one of the concerend players that thinks a threshold of $ 13,- (excl fee/vat) is a bit to much for 1 badge (return of value is low). Next to the fact that in a lot of countries this is a large part of a monthly income.
I get that Ingress needs to make some money after all these years and that to me is not the problem.
Here is my suggestion to make it more accepted (I think) for the community and also for all those 1000's of players at offsite Recharge rooms.
Paid :
Basic ticket : $2.- (or $ 5.-) for badge (on site / off site)
Premium ticket 1 : $ 10.- badge + 1 character + 2 x AP + small loud out code (on site only)
Premium ticket 2 : $ 15. - badge + 2 characters + 2 x AP + medium load out code (on site only)
Premium ticket 3 : $ 20.- badge + 3 characters + 2 x AP + Large load out code (on site only)
Those premium tickets have on site activation (reg portal) to get the extra items in e-mail and the badge after the goals are met ( 13 portals hacked in playbox).
In this way off site Recharges will still attend because of the lower price ticket for just the badge (because now RR are quiting massive due to the pricing) and you make the extra cash you obviously need for this game. With the current amount of $ you will not get the amount of money from those recharges at all, with making a low cost basic badge ticket you will.
And with the premium tickets on site you give players who are attending on site some extra, and all players a choice just a badge or with the extra's (like in the old days with swag packs).
And you can even do different color badges for off site and on site to apriciate the on site player just a bit more with a more colorful badge.
Just think it thru. You can get more money this way than your current system by making a basic Badge ticket with a lower price without extra's. You will also not look to money greedy, and return of value is much higher to players.
Again I don't expected Ingress to be free forever but if you want anomalies to be the paid event in game make sure you do it right. If I pay the current amount in for example Pokemon Go I get way more stuff. Balance is everything in a game.
Hope you will concider this option (or a variation on it) I truly think most people are willing to accept this kind of proposal and pricing more than your current price for 1 badge.
Kind regards.
Comments
There's always the issue of balancing price and numbers. If, for example, 100 people are willing /able to pay $15 and you lose 300 people because of the cost that's only $1500 made, On the other hand if there's a free badge option that's badge only and then levels of purchased items as suggested by HavokT among others, maybe 150 will pay $10, 50 will pay $20, and 250 will pay $2. That's $1500 + $1000 + $500=$3000.