What is your idea?

Allow the ability for a crew to purchase an upgrade to have a crew-owned plane. The cost would likely be high to purchase, but once the crew owns it, the cost would be the same as a regular flight, to pay for "gas".  CL specifies who has access to plane privileges. $100-150m to purchase?

Has your idea already been suggested in some form or another before? (Check the Suggestions forum for past threads with ideas the same or similar to yours.)

I checked and there was something that touched on the idea of individual's owning planes, but not crew. However, that thread did not have a conclusion.

What does your idea entail?

Would probably need a bit of coding done but you might be able to use the same mechanics.

How can your idea be successfully implemented into the game as it stands?

Current flight engine can still be used, but private flights would now be coded to the crew having a plane or not.

What major changes would be needed to make your idea work?

Nothing too major, just an extra privilege option to add for members and tweak the flight feature.

What is the positive impact of your idea?

Easier flights would help those who RP in different BDs to manage them more effectively. It would encourage more people to travel to other BDs and would also allow users to spend in-game cash or help persuade them to buy credits to sell for cash, increasing MR revenue.

What is the negative impact of your idea?

High cost initially, so some CLs might not be able to purchase. Could be detrimental if a rogue decides to set up shop and go for a quick in-and-out attack, but the high cost should dissuade.

How may your idea affect the rest of the userbase?

Crews would now be able to figure out if they can weigh the high initial cost with the use of the plane.

Open to any constructive feedback, good or bad.

No.

Reasons:

This makes it more pay to win, so people that can sit there and swipe credit cards get a major advantage.

Seems like it allows already set up crews a much cheaper way to battle rogues.

I find things are already benefiting people at the top in a way that is skewed and is currently making things extremely difficult to get rid of people that no one wants at the top but have stayed there for like 2 years now.

So does it basically make the T timer useless once a CL has bought the Private jet for 100-15m?

If yes,  then I think drug running will ruin the game economy. (The reason why drugs trading is off during events when you can fly frequently.

If No, and you suggest a cool down, then how much of a CD would it be?

There are other reasons to not do so, like the case of rogue you mentioned.

And honestly 150 mil is nothing for such a privilege.

Moryana:

Currently people can buy credits anytime and sell for quick cash, so with the suggestion enacted or not, if someone wants to spend $500 to buy a bunch of credits for a cash advantage, it is already possible.

That reason you provided against rogues sounds like it would be a good reason for a crew to purchase the private plane.

 

Technically, it would be open for ANY CL to purchase so it wouldn't solely benefit one specific crew or group as it is open to all.

DrPepper:

That's a good point. It could be limited to one plane, so if I fly to NY with it, then it would technically be parked in NY, so someone from LA would NOT be able to use it until one with the ability to use it flies back to LA from NY. That could be the limiter to the "no more Travel Timers" pitfall.

If I do fly to NY, then log out for the night, there could be a 3 hour inactivity clause to where if it stays parked out of the home city for 3 hours, the pilot flies the plane back to LA without me.

The cost would have to be something that would make a CL second-guess buying it as it would be a big cost.

Thank you both for your input!

Squishy:

Hopefully my later post applies a bit to your first bit about the pace.

What if it had a 1 hour cool-down from when it landed to anyone who was trying to use that plane? 

Assuming a scenario where a CL wants to allow a specified limited number of crew members to use the plane, the benefit is that he would be factoring out the cost of someone having to come up with 2-4m for a flight and giving that low-cost flight as a benefit to the limited group of crew members. Or, if the CL strictly wants to use it for his/herself, that is a valid risk because then it wouldn't be used as fast as multiple people having access.

Overall, I think limiting the plane to one user and knowing that it might not be available for use if someone has it in another city and shorter cooldown, this would be a balance to someone hopping all the cities within seconds.

That's a good point. It could be limited to one plane, so if I fly to NY with it, then it would technically be parked in NY, so someone from LA would NOT be able to use it until one with the ability to use it flies back to LA from NY. That could be the limiter to the "no more Travel Timers" pitfall.

 

If I do fly to NY, then log out for the night, there could be a 3 hour inactivity clause to where if it stays parked out of the home city for 3 hours, the pilot flies the plane back to LA without me.

 

The cost would have to be something that would make a CL second-guess buying it as it would be a big cost.

I think it will make things very complicated. Maybe an alternative can be:

CL spends 100-150mil to buy the privilege pass that applies to the whole crew or the members chosen by the CL/hands.

Benefits of pass can be:

10-25% reduction on the cost of private flight and/or 10-25% reduction on T timer

That does sound more feasible, DrPepper . I would be curious to get feedback on those numbers from CLs on if they would hypothetically purchase the upgrade with that cost and those suggested benefits.

If you're stuck with paying the cost of a private flight so be it. If the need to fly is important enough you will pay. 

Currently people can buy credits anytime and sell for quick cash, so with the suggestion enacted or not, if someone wants to spend $500 to buy a bunch of credits for a cash advantage, it is already possible.

For some the market helps them get timers and perks. I do not see how it will benefit the entire user base.  

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