The Daily Grind: What's the highest sub fee you'd pay?

I think $15 is about right but of the game was good enough I might part with $20 a month, better if they offered multi-month discounts like some MMOs do.

Fallen Earths $30 sub is a bit steep really, especialy for a game not pushing the cutting edge of technology. But if that moneys really needed to keep the game afloat and they have a good honest Dev team who cares about its community and not just about money I think I could understand why people would pay that much. I probably would not though.

I just hope the moneymen at the MMO companies are not going to read this and see that people might be willing to pay more for a monthly sub:P Thou then again I would rather pay more for a sub then have a sub + cash shop in a game.

That's a tricky question because while everyone will jump in with their "I'd never pay over XX" as soon as a game they want to play asks for it, the'd pay it. Plus considering inflation whats $10 today could well be $30 in a few years.
A couple years ago when I got back into mmorpgs and found there were some that didn't have monthly subs I decided to be F2P4L but then got sucked into WoW & Rift.
Paying a sub, whatever the rate should entitle you to every part of a game with only minor cosmetic type things as purchasable and some way of earning the currency to do so. Much as Turbine and sort of SOE are doing, as well as others I'm sure. Active subs should also get any added content outside of some major expansion added free or at discounts also.

I think $30 a month for the right game seems like about as high as I'd go. That ends up being about $1 a day, which is about how much I'd spend renting a movie every day.

As for whether there are any MMOs out now that I actually would pay $30 a month for, I'm not too sure. City of Heroes and Rift would be the closest to getting me to pay that much.

Considering higher quality f2p titles available and subscription games shoving in cash shops as well, there is even less justification for subscription prices to rise, as far as I'm concerned. Would not go over €13.

$15 for a really good and large game - at least as good as WoW, with as many things to do.

Less for less polished or smaller games.

I might be willing to also purchase an expansion on top of it every couple years or so, but this would be taking my willingness to spend money on a single game to the breaking point.

Depends on the quality of the game and the pace at which it releases new content. For example, even Rift asked for 15$ as monthly subscription fee (or even 20$) I would still subscribe to it because they actually use that money to bring more stuff to their players as the pace at which they release new content proves.

That's why I think that a buy-to-play model isn't sobad as well like the one that is followed by GW. Just pay for the new content and the box for the game with no sub fee.
That way the developers will get paid for actually creating content (as opposed to the free-to-play model where they are paid by making mounts, and gimping the game to make players buy quality of life items) and will actually release stuff that improves the game.

$15 is close to my upper limit. It's low enough that I don't feel like I can't play two subscription games at the same time for that amount. For one game, depending on the game, I could pay higher but I'd certainly quit sooner when I started getting tired of the game.

I think the better question is what games deserve ANY subscription ...of any amount. For me ...I would be hard pressed to name more than one.Hopefully in 2012 I can add to that list.

I remember paying $9.89 for EQ and the player outcry when its subscription was raised, too.

For me, $15 seems like a good price point for a subscription, especially considering so many games now offer both subscriptions and a la carte premium content (Sparkle pony?).

The real issue isn't how much am I willing to pay for a single game, though, but how much am I willing to pay for my monthly gaming, in general? Right now my son and I drop $14/month combined for Wizard101 and my wife pays at least $20/month for various facebook games. Add in additional monthly subs for P2P games like SWTOR and it'll add up quickly!

Given that my gaming tastes have diversified and my time as an adult has skewed towards more casual gaming, I've got a bit of gamer-onset ADD and have a hard time sticking with one game/month anyway. That has made F2P games much more attractive to me, even if I pay for premiums.

EQ1 used to have a server that cost $45 a month to play on

The highest I would pay is maybe $8. Since I don't play as often as I would like, having a large monthly fee is just a waste. If they dropped it to something more reasonable, I would see subbing as a decent alternative to F2P options.

$15... IF they view their business as a service like TRION and provide substantial content updates year round, not as an undeserved and unearned tithe like Blizzard.

(disclaimer: not a Rift player)

More and more I find myself questioning why I should pay any subscription to a game. I'm hoping GW2 breaks me out of the whole cycle.

$15 is my max. The game I play is F2P but I pay the subscription because I really enjoy the game (STO). If they raised the price, I'd drop down to a silver member.

Nothing more than $15.
Since I only have time to play on weekends provided if I don't have plans to go out with family and friends.

So $15 is already VERY expensive based on cost per hour, compared to console games, and I will only pay for the really good game. (Only 1)