Premier Questions

daveso

it seems to me if you have already purchased a year or two, whatever, of DAZ+, the price of Pemium should be 18.99 minus the monthly worth of your existing DAZ+ contract, at the very least. I have an offer for one month of Premiere free, but it actually isn;t free as I have 2 onths to go on my current DAZ+, so the second month I lose $12? current annual is 70 so that about $5 something a month. Also, there is no way I will pay $10 a month for plus when I've been waiting for Plus discounting to renew, not nearly double. 

Masterstroke

Might be, that DAZ wants to go along with modern times, AI, subscriptions ect, ect. 
Maybe they are afraid of not making enough money. I do understand that.
The problem is, the more they're trying, the worse they make it.
​I don't want subscription based software.
I don't want subscription based content.

I need to learn Blender.

theflarf

For what it's worth with the 'offer' comparison.

I've got daz+ until June 2025, and my 'offer' is for one month of daz premier. 

 

Dareshiranu

Well, like many I'm currently listed as a basic member and I'm paid up Daz+ through sometime in 2030. It certainly would be nice to get THAT fixed. I can't say that I have any enthusiasm for this Premiere service on offer. I will say that I suspected that something was up when there was such a deeply discounted and long running sale, but I thought it presaged the release of Genesis 10 or something. Daz has a habit of doing stuff like this in advance of releases and (apparently) controversial changes.

hjake

SnowSultan said:

OK, can we not panic THIS soon? Every time DAZ does anything, half of the forum turn into Chicken Littles.

OMG!!! Now I'm panicking!!! You shouldn't have mentioned the sky is falling!!! I forgot my umbrella this morning!!! What will I do what will I do!!!

 

Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henny_Penny

 

AndrewJJP

Massive price hike and being expected to pay for software that does only a fraction of what free alternatives can do... Well I guess they have to make money, and I don't want them to disappear.

But what is really annoying me the is extrordinarily unfair and opaque upgrade offers to their most loyal supporters. I assume this is probably based on what you paid. If so, that's irrelevant. I paid for 18 months, in good faith, based on the offers that were active at the time. I want an offer that reflects that. My personal upgrade offer is an insult and it's far from beint the worst.

 

Masterstroke

Obviously bad marketing habits are contagious.
It seems to spread across Salt Lake City.
ADOBE (cough) 

RotomatteThis

daveso said:

it seems to me if you have already purchased a year or two, whatever, of DAZ+, the price of Pemium should be 18.99 minus the monthly worth of your existing DAZ+ contract, at the very least. I have an offer for one month of Premiere free, but it actually isn;t free as I have 2 onths to go on my current DAZ+, so the second month I lose $12? current annual is 70 so that about $5 something a month. Also, there is no way I will pay $10 a month for plus when I've been waiting for Plus discounting to renew, not nearly double. 

I'm paid up till 2028 ^^ 

Not sure how this is going to work.

RadioactiveLily

As a "Base" user, nothing about Premier is drawing me in to buy a membership.  I'm not a content collector and only buy surgically for what I need in the moment.  I already have runtimes full of old Daz+ content from my previous years of being a member.  Currency conversion to Canadian Dollars just makes it even less appealing.  I guess I'm just not the customer you're looking for.

But I do worry about what I am losing.  Lesser discounts, higher cost on useless tokens that expire long before I can use them anyway.  Am I going to end up with a sub-par version of the program itself at this rate?  Should I just toss the towel in and go back to a Midjourney sub?

I feel for you Daz+ members that aren't getting the full value of your memberships.  You absolutely should be getting what the membership is worth and not the price you paid for it, or whatever it is they're doing.

Leana

Tourist said:

Quick question because I find all this confusing.

I turned down their offer for Premier which isn't valuable to me as a casual Daz user.

I elected to keep my Daz+ account which I had paid for until May 2025.

Does this mean that from now to May 2025 I have to pay $9.99 a month instead of what I had already paid?

You don't need to renew until May 2025 so the new pricing should apply only after that AFAIK.

hejjj12

Neat features, but since I already own many of these features, and not just worth it for a monthly fee. Better to just have a premium program you can buy or something. Not going to pay more than creative cloud for some extra features. It definitely also needs an annual option at least.
Shame though the pose and character transforms to genesis 9 would have made me consider using G9 a lot more, but will keep using G8 for now at least.

The free updates that came earlier were nice to see though. Hope you keep up the work, if any worker sees this. 

Taoz

Is these 4 months a standard offer everyone gets, and then a number of months are added depending on how many months is left of your DAZ+ subscription?  Or is this offer based on my DAZ+ subscription?  I have about 15 months left of it.

AndrewJJP

 

I feel for you Daz+ members that aren't getting the full value of your memberships.  You absolutely should be getting what the membership is worth and not the price you paid for it, or whatever it is they're doing.

What they've done right now feels to me like saying "actually, we're not going to honour that deal we gave you". It's like saying "we sold this at half price, and we're changing the rules now and halving the term as well". Assuming that's how the calculation works. Because let's be honest, we have no idea.

They can still fix this, even for people that upgraded already, by doing a fair, simple and transparent calculation of the upgrade and extending it where needed. I would go with the new tier costs double, so if you want to upgrade, you get half the term. So I have 18 months left, and I get 9 months for that in exchange.

4 is ridiculous, and I wouldn't even consider it, and I'm one of the lucky ones. I really don't feel very valued right now :(

oddbob

Taoz said:

Is these 4 months a standard offer everyone gets, and then a number of months are added depending on how many months is left of your DAZ+ subscription?  Or is it THE offer?  I have about 15 months left of my DAZ+ subscription. 

I got offered two months for about 8 months remaining. I declined, then went off to paypal and cancelled the recurring payment. As soon as a method appears to cancel my daz+ membership then I'll do that as well.

AllenArt

doubledeviant said:

1. I am not interested in renting software.

2. I am not interested in renting assets.

3. I am not interested in having to be online to render.

4. The subscription page in my account shows the basic free tier despite having paid for Daz+ well into the future. Also, the details of my membership (dates, etc) are no longer visible.

5. I have a "Personalized Offer" in my messages that leads to the above non-functional subscription page.

6. This experienced has soured my excitement and enthusiasm for the Daz+ sale and shopping here in general. How can I be excited when Daz is upending the status quo and possibly becoming something with which I no longer wish to engage? And when the launch is such a disaster - and offers so little information - as to make it difficult to determine whether that is the case or not?

My feelings exactly. I'm going to have to think long and hard on this and it's not looking good for Daz on my part. Of course, if they lose me, it's not that big a deal for them, because my spending has decreased in recent months (inflation is a b***h).

Torquinox

joanna said:

Crossposted from Daz+ forum.

The Premier announcement is a huge slap in the face of the existing Plus users and Daz users in general (I'd use stronger words here, much stronger, if the forum allowed it). No serious company I've seen drops something like that without at least a month's notice (let alone even a day's notice). It's not only an introducion of Premier, but from what I can see, also change of the existing rules for Daz+ members: no yearly memberships anymore, and a price hike on top of that. All other companies offering subscriptions that I'm aware of communicate raising their prices ahead of time.

This should have been communicated properly, ahead of time, and definitely tested website-wise (so that there wouldn't be situations like that, and if there were, people would already be aware because of the prior communication). This is not just some promotion. This is a fundamental model change, and it seems to have been done without any prior considerations of the existing model (usually, the intro offers entice existing users by offering more in value than less; for my 8 months of existing membership with Daz+, I get 1 month of Premier free—definitely not a good deal).

I understand Daz needs to make money. I understand that this might be the only option for them to stay in business (I don't know, of course, but I can consider this perspective). But the way they handled it is so unprofessional and not in line with any serious company's standards and is extremely appaling to me.

This unprofessional behavior severely damages my trust in Daz as a company, because they're showing they will change the rules without any notice, and that will affect my willingness to give them money. What if they say in three months that I have to pay to even use Daz Studio? And so on.

On top of that, I'm definitely not moving to monthly model (it's highly inconvenient to me to pay monthly, I pay for 99% of my services yearly) until my current membership expires (which is mid-2025), and I'll likely limit my spending in general as a response (natural shopper reaction: you don't want to spend money in a place you don't trust anymore), which in turn will lead to not moving to the monthly model afterward, since I won't perceive the benefits of joining with lower spending and less enthusiastic shopping habits, and when they pull off another stunt like that, it's more likely that I'll be willing to pay more money elsewhere just not to support them.

Haha! Renderosity did that with their prime subbies. They do whatever and tell you later or not at all. And in support of your idea, no I don't spend much at Rendo - Their bang for buck is terrible! But then, maybe their volume is low, too. No idea! So they do what they must. Maybe for Daz, it's the same.And as a laggard, I'm always a few versions behind on my DS. I also have some older versions downloaded, so it doesn't much matter to me. Honestly, I'd say Daz should keep to selling us content. It's what they're best at and why we buy from them.

Leana

sausagemix_d9e00246a7 said:

I guess the hope of this software being updated and innovated for free like the past versions is over.

For the record, it's not the first time there has been paid-for version of Daz Studio in addition to the standard one, though Daz has not done that for years.

Daz Studio 3 had an "advanced" version, and early versions of DS4 had "advanced" and "pro" versions. In both cases, the paid-for versions were "standard version plus a bunch of tools also available separately" (and 64 bits support for DS3A), which is exacltly what Daz Studio Premier seems to be so far with a subscription model rather than a flat fee.

And the standard free version still got updates and new features during those years, not just the paid-for one. So no, I don't think days of updates to the free version are over, especially for features that would make them sell more content.

Torquinox

Taoz said:

Is these 4 months a standard offer everyone gets, and then a number of months are added depending on how many months is left of your DAZ+ subscription?  Or is this offer based on my DAZ+ subscription?  I have about 15 months left of it.

My Daz+ goes to mid-December. They offered me a month of Premiere. Yeah, no. I can wait to see! 

scorpio

Leana said:

sausagemix_d9e00246a7 said:

I guess the hope of this software being updated and innovated for free like the past versions is over.

For the record, it's not the first time there has been paid-for version of Daz Studio in addition to the standard one, though Daz has not done that for years.

Daz Studio 3 had an "advanced" version, and early versions of DS4 had "advanced" and "pro" versions. In both cases, the paid-for versions were "standard version plus a bunch of tools also available separately" (and 64 bits support for DS3A), which is exacltly what Daz Studio Premier seems to be so far with a subscription model rather than a flat fee.

And the standard free version still got updates and new features during those years, not just the paid-for one. So no, I don't think days of updates to the free version are over, especially for features that would make them sell more content.

I remember how upset people were when they changed back to the free version after about 6 months, it didn't work very well then so one has to wonder if thats a possiblity this time around.

Nath

Leana said:

sausagemix_d9e00246a7 said:

I guess the hope of this software being updated and innovated for free like the past versions is over.

For the record, it's not the first time there has been paid-for version of Daz Studio in addition to the standard one, though Daz has not done that for years.

Daz Studio 3 had an "advanced" version, and early versions of DS4 had "advanced" and "pro" versions. In both cases, the paid-for versions were "standard version plus a bunch of tools also available separately" (and 64 bits support for DS3A), which is exacltly what Daz Studio Premier seems to be so far with a subscription model rather than a flat fee.

And the standard free version still got updates and new features during those years, not just the paid-for one. So no, I don't think days of updates to the free version are over, especially for features that would make them sell more content.

The main difference is that if I dust off that old "pro" version and it still works three computers and two operating systems later, those tools will still work or not just like the main software. With this deal, you rent the tools as long as you're paying the fee. Not appealing to me at all. But others may find it a good deal, who knows.

cjfea

I purchase annual Daz+ memberships when they are on sale.  Unless there is an option to buy a Daz+ membership annually and at a good discount, I will have to let my membership expire.  I can't afford $9.99 monthly.

Mr_Fluffkin

I hope the basic version of DS keeps all nessesary tools, but this all sounds absolutly terrible for what the future will bring. I was so excited when I saw the 25th birthday banner, but all I get from this announcement is "Milk the cow". I'm fine with spending money for models and I left a LOT of money at the Daz store, but at some point it's enough. It's a tragedy that after 25 years we suddenly have to pay €20 a month to continue to be able to use the basic software to its full extent. Happy Birthday...

Llola Lane

AndrewJJP said:

mdl062168 said:

AndrewJJP said:

Actually, I probably would pay for it. But not until there's a clear answer about the upgrade path. Maybe I'm the record holder with 18 months left on Daz+ (?) but I'm sure plenty of people have a long period.

And can someone point me at the signup page? It seems broken! Thanks!

Not to brag, but my Daz+ renewal date is (was) 4-12-2029

OK, that must surely be the record!

Beats mine!  lol 

Taoz

Torquinox said:

Taoz said:

Is these 4 months a standard offer everyone gets, and then a number of months are added depending on how many months is left of your DAZ+ subscription?  Or is this offer based on my DAZ+ subscription?  I have about 15 months left of it.

My Daz+ goes to mid-December. They offered me a month of Premiere. Yeah, no. I can wait to see! 

Someone got 1 month Premier in exchange for 9 months DAZ+, so it's definitely not consistent, as others also have stated. 

PixelPie

To subscribe to premier, I must contact support? considering mine is about to expire and I had planned to renew, I don't want to wait weeks and weeks for an answer...I am not sure if it is on auto renewal.  It does show my subscription status above, so I assume if I dont click the "keep" plan it will just run out and expire? Can someone confirm because I don't want something to charge me without knowing. 

 Here is what going to the Payment page appears like below.... BTW I like the new Account overview page - looks nice DAZ, just please tell me how to add paypal please! - or do you not accept paypal any longer?  My buttons don't look like others, is that because mine is about to expire?  -->I am going to assume yes.. based on type of sub you had

Timbales

Taoz said:

Is these 4 months a standard offer everyone gets, and then a number of months are added depending on how many months is left of your DAZ+ subscription?  Or is this offer based on my DAZ+ subscription?  I have about 15 months left of it.

My Daz+ expires June 2025. I was offered a month of Premier. I'm not taking the offer and currently don't plan on renewing Daz+.

Richard Haseltine

sandrayln said:

Disappointed, bored, and depressed by the Premier tier.

Disappointed because now Daz+ is going to get lesser discounts.  You could have just left Daz+ with the same discounts and given Premier better ones.  Instead, you've slightly decreased the one in favor of the other.

Daz+ isn't changing - in fact the prices of Premier (formerly +, nee PC) for a day items for + members look lower than previous years.

Bored, because Premier is offering the same stuff I've been ignoring in sale after sale after sale.  "Ohhh, have some legacy stuff."  Already got all I want out of that, thanks.

Depressed because of the "Premier features and content in Daz!" aspect.  It implies that in the future, I'm not going to be able to purchase things that would be beneficial - and anyone that's foolish enough to think that renting content is a benefit, let me just remind you that you don't control whether you continue to get access to anything you've rented; it can be deleted, removed from rental, or otherwise no longer in your control at any time.

May this fail as resoundingly as the "some products are available only through Install Manager!" promotion several years ago.  Me and my 2.5TB of content are gonna be over here still at Daz+ level, ignoring all this Premier crap until it dies the death it deserves.

Richard Haseltine

Cybersox said:

ANGELREAPER1972 said:

sounds the same to me at least think most of us have a lot of those options already and it costs fair bit too

Yeah, it sounds like what is already out there in a slightly different package... and in all probability it's going to be far more dependent upon being logged into DAZ to function, which is a bad idea given how prone they are to being down due to cloudflare issues. 

Cloudflare may be the bane of the forums, but it very rarely affects other parts of the site - and I am not sure that personal areas, such as accounts or subscription status, can go through a service like Cloudflare.

Offering the two year old basic Genesis 9 elements and monthly bundles composed of at least partially of previously released items come across as the ultimate in chintzyness as well.  Don't really need to export to Maya or Blender, and there are far better AI programs out there I would use if I was interested in that direction.   

Richard Haseltine

Cam Fox said:

Cybersox said:

So, at $18.98 a month, that's $227.76 a year and no way mentioned to get that at a lower price, versus Prime which renews at $70.00 a year with multiple options to get the renewall for much less.  Looking at the supposed benefits... I'm not seeing a great appeal, especially since most of the things that are being offered as promos like the Gen 9 base units and, apparently, a good portion of the monthly bundles, are things that have been out forever and which a lot of the target consumer is likely to already have.  So, exactly what is it that we'd be paying four times as much for...?  DAZ needs to demote the person who put the promo together as it really doesn't make Premiere sound like much of a benefit.

 

As a basis, always decide if the price of the items in your cart is worth the trade in real dollars *to you.* Regardless of scary clocks ticking down, tokens expiring, bright red percentage discounts, bundles, magical combo items, doorbusters, "you win today" banners, etc.

If you subscribe to Premier, you get two monthly coupons worth $10 each. IF you have items from each coupon category that you *know* you intend to buy, and IF you assume there will be a sale sometime each month that will let you use both coupons to create a final price that you would find agreeable, you break even by subscribing to Premier that month vs shopping without any subscription at all. (A big caveat here that the memberships page now says the second coupon is "$10 OFF of $25 on select items" which might be different than the "$6 OFF of $18 on all PA items" Daz+ members are currently accustomed to seeing. ie the new monthly coupon might be more restricted?)

I have always disliked tokens because they only cater to whales. (ie People who spend lots of money at once.) Folks who typically buy small carts can't really utilize tokens and are less likely to get agreeable carts during smaller sales. Regardless, with Premier you'll now be able to buy $40 worth of items to recharge your token pool vs $80 worth of items with Daz+. That will absolutely add up IF you intend to keep shopping most of the sales.

All the other perks are dubious/speculative if you already have a big product library. (Freebies, exclusive bundles, pull from existing content which many long time Daz+ members already have.) You *will* inevitably get a few extra freebies, better gift card discounts, a little extra cart discount during sales - but good luck predicting the value/frequency of that. The Daz Studio software enhancements are pretty well covered by 3rd party plugins, but maybe the built in tools are snazzier/preferable to some? It sounds like "Daz Studio Premier" is even a separate app, maybe that's more convenient to work with?

To the Daz team, what I don't want to see is those third party plugins disappearing, or Daz Studio becoming a subscription-only software, or software that needs constant internet to use the content we already purchased. Someday Daz will probably want to merge "Daz Studio Premier" with "Free Daz Studio" to not have to maintain two apps or feature sets, and at that point they'll probably introduce a login screen. I just say I love the simplicity we have today, of opening Daz Studio anytime anywhere and getting right to art. <3

There is only one version of Daz Studio, it is a matter of which additional plug-ins and features are activated, so the code-base is the same regardless of whether you are using basic (no serial), Pro (free serial) or additional features (from serialised or subscription plug-ins etc.).

Richard Haseltine

Ghosty12 said:

Have noticed that if you got the top tier sub you get a different version of Daz Studio in Daz Studio Premier. So looks like Daz have returned to the old tiered software system one free and one paid for with extra features. And the issue is that if your Premier sub expires so does your access to the Premier version of Daz Studio.

again, there is only one application - it is a matter of which features are enabled and that has always been true.