The basic features and core functions of Longshanks are 100% free. This allows people who don't get to play games very often to attend events easily. It allows people to easily host one-time events without needing to pay. It allows spectators and casual game fans to check things out without a commitment. Longshanks being free has always been and will continue to be true - I am very proud of that fact.

That being said, Longshanks is a for-profit enterprise. We have expenses and it takes significant time and effort to maintain and improve the system. To keep the doors open, we offer paid subscriptions since which unlock additional features and tools.

Since the subscription system was activated in April 2018, things have worked pretty much exactly the same. I would like to highlight a few of the changes made over the years and then announce a few new changes which go into effect today.

Renewal frequency

In the beginning, subscribers had the option to renew their subscriptions either monthly or yearly. Yearly memberships have the advantage of lower payment processing fees for Longshanks which we passed along in part to users by giving one free month. However, we found that people with yearly memberships tended to forget and then want a refund immediately after a renewal was charged. This ended up being more trouble than it was worth, so yearly plans were cancelled in 2021. There are still a few people with active yearly subscriptions, but we have no plans to add this option again.

Payment processing

We use PayPal to handle our subscriptions payments because they have reasonably good tools for automatic payments and their integration was fairly easy back in 2018. There have been requests for us to change payment processors or add additional options, mostly due to PayPal not being available in every country. We have and continue to look at options, but at this time PayPal will continue to be our only payment option.

Prices

When Longshanks was expanded to many game systems in addition to just Guild Ball in 2021, the price of the lowest subscription level was increased from $2.50 per month to $3. To date, this is the only time our prices have changed. As with yearly plans, there are still a few people with active subscriptions at the $2.50 level.

Terminology

Our three subscription levels were originally named for character types in a Guild Ball squad - Mascot, Squaddie, and Captain. When we expanded to multiple game systems, the two upper levels were renamed Patron and Champion to make them more agnostic.

And now for the big reveal ... Today, I am pleased to announce some changes to our subscription system.

Terminology

First and foremost, our subscriptions now have a name - Longshanks Plus. The new name will allow us to more easily describe and label features that require a paid subscription versus features that are free. In addition, the individual plans are also being renamed - Bronze, Silver, and Gold. We think these names will do a better job of describing the levels without people needing to look up which one is higher.

Prices

Let's face it, the world is getting more expensive. I'm sure everyone reading this is familiar with prices going up for just about everything. While Longshanks has taken pride in not adjusting prices often and not trying to take advantage of inflation to pressure our users, we are not immune to rising costs.

Starting today, the prices of two of our three plans are changing. The Bronze plan now costs $4 per month and the Silver plan costs $6. The Gold plan is not changing and is still $10 per month.

Just like last time we updated pricing, existing active subscriptions WILL NOT CHANGE. The new prices only apply to new subscriptions starting today.

Bronze	Silver	Gold
$4	$6	$10

New subscription tools

Starting today, we are using a new subscription model with PayPal. This is mostly an under-the-hood change which won't affect users very much. Two important things this new model will allow subscribers to do are:

1. Cancel their subscriptions more easily.
2. Change which subscription level they have without needing to cancel and start a new plan.

We know that cancelling subscriptions has been painful for a while. A large part of why we are making the change to Longshanks Plus is to relieve that problem. Allowing users to upgrade their subscriptions more easily is a big perk, too.

We are working on the back-end system which will enable these features and expect them to be available soon.

Please view the Longshanks Plus page to learn more about the subscription benefits and to sign up if you aren't already a subscriber.

My sincerest gratitude to every subscriber - past, present, and future. Longshanks exists because of their support. Thank you and happy gaming!