After 3,5 Years | First big HWS Patreon Upgrade

Prologue

Dear HWS Patrons,

3,5 years ago we decided to give Patreon a go without knowing anything about it.
It was one of these "why not, let's see" ideas, you know. We would have never thought that it would be, in our point of view, incredible successful and so many of you will support what we do.

This whole  HWS/Empyrion idea was created under this flag actually. We never hosted a server and never tried to build up such a big community.
On top, doing this for living, it feels unreal for me sometimes.

But here we are and I can't express in words how grateful I am. You offer me a great opportunity to do what I like, at home, 24/7 and giving me this reponsibility for so many people.
It's for sure not always easy and rewarding but if something runs for years, you feel kinda home - something I always seeked to provide with the Homeworld Servers.

Now, after 6+ years running HWS, writing with thousands of people, experiencing so many situations I never did before, learning so many new things - technically and socialy; it's time for a new chapter.

With Reforged Eden we already established a great opportunity for people who like the Scenario in combination with our HWS Features and our dedication of running the servers and providing the best support out there, if something goes wrong.

While I could relax on other people work as many do, it's just not my nature and my own HWS Scenario will always be my project I will spend time for.
So with my HWS+ Scenario, releasing at most likely 7th June, we start a new chapter to establish a gameplay that is not only great for PvE but hopefully also PvP and even more: both in smybiosis.

To do all of that and going further, trying to maintain 4 HWS Servers with so much variety, things also have to change here at Patreon.

After 3,5 years running Patreon I learned a lot, got a lot of feedback from the community and saw room for improvements in general.
I learned for example that a $1 dollar Patreon Tier was not my greatest idea at all.
My initial thought that quantity will support the bigger case, did not work out and even more: giving the $1 Tier big benefits doesn't help either.

Analyzing the distribution of Patrons along the Tiers I definitely saw that it's not only about the benefits in the first case. There are people out there which truely want to support not only me but their place where they feel home. They want to keep the place alive that gives them joy, friends and excitement.

Considering all of that I worked on our very first big upgrade or restructure of HWS Patron.

HWS Patron Restructure

With this post I want to inform you about the upcoming changes to HWS Patron, on 1st June. This gives you the opportunity to decide for yourself if you want to keep your support or not.

We are especially aware that moving benefits to a more expensive Tier is always a tricky and uncomfortable topic. That is the reason I explained in the Prologue that we really thought long about this decision, understanding more of the meaning of some benefits, understanding more the behavior of our players and the overall meaning for us, doing this for a living.
We hope you understand our decision to do that and value our transparency about it.

General changes and the $1 Pro Tier change

OLD

NEW

• Because of Reforged Eden we had to change the EAH chatbot cooldowns in general but still offering a good convenience for Patrons to get their stuff faster
• We decided to align the Tier discounts for Support Packages and Elemental Garage ships to the Tier prices. That means HWS Astral Patrons get a 70% instead of a 30% discount!
• The CSW Fee added 2 months ago will get lesser the higher the Tier
• 4 benefits moved to a higher Tier because they were incredible too powerful and unjustified for a $1 only Tier
• Since the test ran very successful on HWS RE, the benefits you get at the EGS HQ via the Dialogue will be a fundamental benefit for Patrons also in HWS+. 1x Free XS Resource Package in the Pro Tier for example.

The $3 Survivor Tier change

OLD

NEW

• Removed the HWS Connect Event Queue, since we switched our Event Manager back to EAH (for now)
• One benefit from a lower Tier and one benefit from a higher Tier got in.
• The OAM fueler was moved one Tier up
• A new benefit (1x XL Resource Package)

The $5 Veteran Tier change

OLD

NEW

• Two benefits from a lower Tier and one benefit from a higher Tier got in.
• The Passive Daily Loot Grabber was not only too powerful for this Tier but also required more time investment from us to maintain it. Thus it got moved one Tier up.
• A new benefit (1x Instant Level 25)

The $7 Elite Tier change

OLD

NEW

• Removed Ads in HWS Connect and Co. As already announced, instead of annoying our players, we rather went for the decision to increase slightly our Package prices and doing this restructering.
• Two benefits from a lower Tier got in.
• A new benefit (1x Alien Core)

A new $15 Tier: HWS Master

With this Tier we want to address a big feedback topic from the community about the big uncomfortable step between the current $7 Elite and $30 Meta Tier.

This HWS Master Tier will contain the new added Origin Benefits, that were previously added as test to the Elite Tier. It also contains a new benefit (10k Unlock Points).

NEW

The $30 Meta Tier change

OLD

NEW

• Made it more clear that Meta Patrons get a reserved Residence at their own Community "Meta Planet"
• Made the Meta Discord Channel more clear
• A new benefit: Priorized Joining / Login Server Queue
• A new benefit (All Faction Honored)

The $70 Astral Tier change

OLD

NEW

• Made the Astral Discord channel more clear
• A new benefit: A Custom Faction Skin Helmet. This requires time and a dedicated item ID in the config, thus the highest Tier. (Example: if your faction has a Logo, you can get it placed on the Helmet)
• A new benefit: As Astral Patron you not only get a 70% discount on all Supporter Packages but right away either 1 Planet or 1 Sector for free - but only available as long as you are an Astral Patron.

The new Patron Tier List as PDF is here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Td18TmvWtiwLmdly6OG-EZvCyhuTjV33/view 

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Annually Membership

After long thoughts we also want to offer you the possibility to pay annually instead of monthly. Doing so includes also a 15% discount for you, which means ~2 months are basically for free.

For existing patrons, the following steps will help you switch over your pledge to annual.

1. Log in, hover over your profile icon in the top right corner, and select Manage  memberships
2. From your Active Memberships page, click Edit next to the pledge you want to change
3. Select the Annual option (if available) on the checkout page
4. Click the Update button. You’ll be charged upfront for the discounted price

New patrons, visit my Patreon page, where you’ll have an annual option below your chosen tier’s “Join” button.

Check out this help center article if you have any questions about how it works.

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Conclusion

Please be aware that we thought about this very carefully and we totally understand that all the new and good changes won't be enough for some bad changes for some of you.
We only make this change because we feel it's reasonable for everything we did the last 3,5 years, we currently do and will do in the future.

Also, even though this change is announced for the 1st June, please be aware that it's just because we want to give you the opportunity to make your decision on your next pay period. It does not mean we will enforce the change on that day right away.
The change itself about shifting the benefits around will be enforced on the HWS+ Release (7th June).

From now on we also won't shift benefits around anymore but only edit them or especially adding benefits.
Sorry for the inconvenience those changes might cause to you but again, we hope you understand our decision behind it.

We appreciate everyone of you supporting us and hope you enjoy your stay on HWS nevertheless.

Your HWS Team