hiawathamr
DLC developer for Trainz
Hello every one of the Trainz world. In this forum, I’m going to be sharing how my experience was with N3V’s subscription system, along with the pros and cons. I want to make this clear, that N3V Games has not asked me to make this review, nor am I paid for doing this. This was done in my free time, and on my own will.
The subscriptions cover both TANE AND TRS19, so posting it in General Trainz felt like it was the right area.
First Class Ticket:
I haven’t tried this personally, and won’t touch it basically as all subscriptions comes with a FCT. With that said, I can’t really give out any pros or cons.
Price: the current price is set at $3.99/month ( x12 months = $48 ), or for a yearly price of $39.99. Personally, its best to just purchase one from the store as they only cost $27.99 for a year pass.
Silver Pass:
N3V has recently announce a free trial for 30 days, and I don’t think it’s a bad idea. The only difference is, you won’t be getting the 10% off discount until you pay for the subscription, which does make sense.
Price: first time members can receive this pass free of charge, but must connect a PayPal account, or enter your credit / debit card information to access. The price for the pass itself is $9.99/month (x12 = $119.88) or $99.99/year.
~Pros:
>content vault – you get to start off your collection with 15 items. It ranges from simple locomotives to a few routes.
>add to your collection monthly – now this is what I basically call the “DLC trial”. If you are unsure about a certain DLC, you can hope that it gets to become a choice for that month and try it out / look at it before deciding if you want to purchase the entire package, or skip out. This one I actually like personally as I’m no longer wondering if it’s worth the price or not.
~Cons:
>10% discount – since I had the trial, there wasn’t a discount offered. If N3V collected taxes, this would’ve paid for them, but since it doesn’t, it’ll help you save a few pennies.
>exclusive member only deals – again, since I had the trial, I didn’t receive any.
~Overall:
>If you want to try out any DLCs before deciding to pay the full price, I would say this isn’t a bad deal nor an idea to pay the $9.99 to try a few out. After all, you can choose up to 5 monthly DLCs to add to your collection.
Gold Class:
This is another one of what I call a trial, but instead of it just being a DLC trial, it also includes TANE and TRS19 so you can also try out those games and see if your system can handle the game(s), or if you want to try it out before paying the full price. First time members can try it out for only $9.99 instead of $14.99 for the first month.
Price: first time members can try this pass out for $9.99. After that, you’ll have to either pay 14.99/month (x12 = $179.88) or $149.99/yearly.
~Pros:
>25% store discount – for the discounted upgrade, I can say this one does work, and again, since you paid for it, you should be able to use full benefits. I will say, anything above 12% is a deal.
>TANE / TRS19 access – I had mention this before, again, this is a really nice trial to see If you’ll love the game(s), or hate them (either you as the user, or your computer, whichever comes first).
>14-day DLC preview pass – now this is a really awesome feature that I will say. Before it goes out to the stores, you can preview it entirely for 2 weeks and decide then if you want to support the creator and buy it, or skip it all together. At first, there was a problem that first time members weren’t going to be offered this until next month, but for me, it has been fixed. This is already one of my favourite features this pass has to offer.
~Cons:
>exclusive member only deals – now this time, since I had paid for it, I had not received this, so I really don’t what they mean by this... until something in the future changes, this will be a con.
>exclusive new Trainz features – this is what some of you heard as the Trainz PLUS beta. This beta isn’t covered by any NDA (as well, its public), but is protected by the membership. This is basically a sneak peek update before it becomes part of the next Trainz product. Since I heard and read It’s a quality update, there really won't be many updates coming from this stream, but if you are excitement to try out the new features / bugs, you are welcome to.
~Overview:
>For $14.99 a month or $150 a year, it can go both ways. I like the DLC preview pass the most, as you can look at it in detail and then decide if you want to buy it or not. The Trainz PLUS beta is basically quality from what N3V said, so personally won’t say it’s a good deal. I would recommend this pass if you want to try out TANE / TRS19 before paying the full, or want to try out the DLC that looks interesting / questionable before it goes LIVE. Personally, I would just use this pass to try out some items, and then cancelling it before the next billing cycle, and if you like something, either Trainz or a few DLCs, then pay the full price, as in the long run, it’ll be much cheaper.
Overview for Silver Pass and Gold Class: the subscription idea that N3V has isn’t too bad to be honest, especially if you want to try out content before paying the upfront cost. I basically call them a “paid trial” because you hear or see something you want, but you don’t know if the price is right. However, you do take the chance of that item not being available in the monthly DLC collection, but as for the game wise, $14.99 (or $9.99 if new) isn’t that bad for 30 days and you get 1 if not 2 Trainz games to try out + DLCs. For the DLCs, its probably best to just to use it as a trial to look at the DLC before buying, and for the Trainz games, again, best to use it to see how it works on your system and if you like the new game, but again, it’ll be more expensive to do the subscription route than just buying the game after the 30 days are up.
Some possible FAQs:
Q: What happens to the content you download with the subscription or are they trial-ing the content?
A: The content you downloaded through your subscription will remain on your computer, but will go into a stage like "Installed, Payware (not active)" until you either purchase the DLC, or you reactive your subscription. They really aren't trial-ing the content, I just called it that, as you can try out the content before purchasing it.
Q: Does it stay on your rig? Is it removed? What's preventing you from using it in your own routes?
A: Like the above question, it'll remain on your system, but will go into not active status. If you used any of the payware assets in your routes / sessions, they will show up as missing dependencies.
Q: What happens if you cancel Trainz after $150/year?
A: Unless you had purchased the game from the store, it'll lock you out of the game entirely until you reactivate your subscription. The game, and your content will remain on your computer, but you won't be able to launch it. You can however, uninstall the game and delete the content's folder if you haven't been doing major work.
*questions provided from Approach Medium (Joe).
Thanks for stopping by and reading the reviews. I’ll try to answer any questions you might have. I'll try to keep this up to date as much as possible.
Peace
The subscriptions cover both TANE AND TRS19, so posting it in General Trainz felt like it was the right area.
First Class Ticket:
I haven’t tried this personally, and won’t touch it basically as all subscriptions comes with a FCT. With that said, I can’t really give out any pros or cons.
Price: the current price is set at $3.99/month ( x12 months = $48 ), or for a yearly price of $39.99. Personally, its best to just purchase one from the store as they only cost $27.99 for a year pass.
Silver Pass:
N3V has recently announce a free trial for 30 days, and I don’t think it’s a bad idea. The only difference is, you won’t be getting the 10% off discount until you pay for the subscription, which does make sense.
Price: first time members can receive this pass free of charge, but must connect a PayPal account, or enter your credit / debit card information to access. The price for the pass itself is $9.99/month (x12 = $119.88) or $99.99/year.
~Pros:
>content vault – you get to start off your collection with 15 items. It ranges from simple locomotives to a few routes.
>add to your collection monthly – now this is what I basically call the “DLC trial”. If you are unsure about a certain DLC, you can hope that it gets to become a choice for that month and try it out / look at it before deciding if you want to purchase the entire package, or skip out. This one I actually like personally as I’m no longer wondering if it’s worth the price or not.
~Cons:
>10% discount – since I had the trial, there wasn’t a discount offered. If N3V collected taxes, this would’ve paid for them, but since it doesn’t, it’ll help you save a few pennies.
>exclusive member only deals – again, since I had the trial, I didn’t receive any.
~Overall:
>If you want to try out any DLCs before deciding to pay the full price, I would say this isn’t a bad deal nor an idea to pay the $9.99 to try a few out. After all, you can choose up to 5 monthly DLCs to add to your collection.
Gold Class:
This is another one of what I call a trial, but instead of it just being a DLC trial, it also includes TANE and TRS19 so you can also try out those games and see if your system can handle the game(s), or if you want to try it out before paying the full price. First time members can try it out for only $9.99 instead of $14.99 for the first month.
Price: first time members can try this pass out for $9.99. After that, you’ll have to either pay 14.99/month (x12 = $179.88) or $149.99/yearly.
~Pros:
>25% store discount – for the discounted upgrade, I can say this one does work, and again, since you paid for it, you should be able to use full benefits. I will say, anything above 12% is a deal.
>TANE / TRS19 access – I had mention this before, again, this is a really nice trial to see If you’ll love the game(s), or hate them (either you as the user, or your computer, whichever comes first).
>14-day DLC preview pass – now this is a really awesome feature that I will say. Before it goes out to the stores, you can preview it entirely for 2 weeks and decide then if you want to support the creator and buy it, or skip it all together. At first, there was a problem that first time members weren’t going to be offered this until next month, but for me, it has been fixed. This is already one of my favourite features this pass has to offer.
~Cons:
>exclusive member only deals – now this time, since I had paid for it, I had not received this, so I really don’t what they mean by this... until something in the future changes, this will be a con.
>exclusive new Trainz features – this is what some of you heard as the Trainz PLUS beta. This beta isn’t covered by any NDA (as well, its public), but is protected by the membership. This is basically a sneak peek update before it becomes part of the next Trainz product. Since I heard and read It’s a quality update, there really won't be many updates coming from this stream, but if you are excitement to try out the new features / bugs, you are welcome to.
~Overview:
>For $14.99 a month or $150 a year, it can go both ways. I like the DLC preview pass the most, as you can look at it in detail and then decide if you want to buy it or not. The Trainz PLUS beta is basically quality from what N3V said, so personally won’t say it’s a good deal. I would recommend this pass if you want to try out TANE / TRS19 before paying the full, or want to try out the DLC that looks interesting / questionable before it goes LIVE. Personally, I would just use this pass to try out some items, and then cancelling it before the next billing cycle, and if you like something, either Trainz or a few DLCs, then pay the full price, as in the long run, it’ll be much cheaper.
Overview for Silver Pass and Gold Class: the subscription idea that N3V has isn’t too bad to be honest, especially if you want to try out content before paying the upfront cost. I basically call them a “paid trial” because you hear or see something you want, but you don’t know if the price is right. However, you do take the chance of that item not being available in the monthly DLC collection, but as for the game wise, $14.99 (or $9.99 if new) isn’t that bad for 30 days and you get 1 if not 2 Trainz games to try out + DLCs. For the DLCs, its probably best to just to use it as a trial to look at the DLC before buying, and for the Trainz games, again, best to use it to see how it works on your system and if you like the new game, but again, it’ll be more expensive to do the subscription route than just buying the game after the 30 days are up.
Some possible FAQs:
Q: What happens to the content you download with the subscription or are they trial-ing the content?
A: The content you downloaded through your subscription will remain on your computer, but will go into a stage like "Installed, Payware (not active)" until you either purchase the DLC, or you reactive your subscription. They really aren't trial-ing the content, I just called it that, as you can try out the content before purchasing it.
Q: Does it stay on your rig? Is it removed? What's preventing you from using it in your own routes?
A: Like the above question, it'll remain on your system, but will go into not active status. If you used any of the payware assets in your routes / sessions, they will show up as missing dependencies.
Q: What happens if you cancel Trainz after $150/year?
A: Unless you had purchased the game from the store, it'll lock you out of the game entirely until you reactivate your subscription. The game, and your content will remain on your computer, but you won't be able to launch it. You can however, uninstall the game and delete the content's folder if you haven't been doing major work.
*questions provided from Approach Medium (Joe).
Thanks for stopping by and reading the reviews. I’ll try to answer any questions you might have. I'll try to keep this up to date as much as possible.
Peace
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