I'm Upset at the Daily Membership Cert Gain

Its just goddamn Os and 1s in a database, capping cert gain for paying customers is just typical SOE stupidity. They introduce these arbitrary rules all the time in their games and services. They have NEVER learned that a company is its customers.

I don't feel like I'm getting what was advertised to me so I won't be renewing my subscription.

PS: You white knights and apologists are demented. Why is the internetz generation so willing to give away their consumer rights?

I can log in. Not a problem for me.

I had a friend ship off shortly after buying a six month subscription. He is somewhere in the Pacific ocean stationed on a sub. He will not be back for another 4 months.

Another guy works at sea on a trolly. He goes out for a week at a time.

I personally work 16 hour shifts 4 days a week with 3 days off. I log in every day to get my daily certs. This only makes me hate the game a little more every time I do this.

Stop being ignorant and thinking everyone that invests in this game can log in every day. I paid my money. The current system is a joke and only strives to make people like you, who pay nothing, happy that people like me, who pay hundreds a month happily, have to "work" for our "free" bonus?

Letting members get the certs THEY PAYED FOR all the time, weather or not they log in, will only give you, SOE, more money, because you'll have happy customers. Happy customers = more money ($$$)

You DO like more money, right, SOE?

Ok, 5 minutes then(seems a bit long but hey some people have really old computers). You then have to ask yourself if your time is so tight you can't find 5 minutes out of your entire day to log on and collect the certs then do you really have the time to play a video game at a level where a few lost certs is going to be an issue so huge it spawns paragraphs of ire?

Premium membership is bought on the idea that the user is going to be so active at the game that the extra bit of xp is worth $15 a month. The passive cert gain is simply an added perk on top of all the other perks.

If you bought your premium membership with the idea of letting it sit for ages and collect hundreds of certs then you misunderstood what its for.

Besides passive accumulations like that would promote account farming and selling which is a big no no in the industry.

All three of those cases are extreme in the most extreme and out of the bounds of soe's responsibilty to cater to you.

One guy is on a submarine which is no fault of soe when he bought his six month sub(har!) with another who works at sea on a trolly who should have known better than to buy a subscription when 7 day boosts are available with the last guy having a sweet schedual with three days off in a row where he can boot up the computer on the way to the morning ritual then start the logon as he wanders by again to make coffee and toast then finaly logs onto his character as he puts on his coat to leave for work.

I'm not seeing an issue here.

The biggest reason Game Developer's detess black market trading is that they themselves don't get a cut.
Which is understandable, No body would accept their work being used for monetary gain of another without getting a slice of the pie.
However to accomplish that scenario of farming, SOE would be benefitting greatly, and even more so if they in the public's eyes were opposed it and banned those who participate in the practice. It be like blizzard with D2 all over again. You really think blizzard hated people going out of their way to purchase another CD-Key, especially when it's already paid itself. No.

Although I'm not saying i should be handed 1500certs after a month of no activity just because. That's ridiculous, I agree with the notion that a membership is for active players. That would be like me not going to the gym for a month, and expecting improved fitness. I can become rather pre-occupied through a work week that logging in, becomes tedious. At the very least increase the gain to 72hours. If I don't go to the gym for a day or two, i'm still recieving the benefit of the last workout. Wednesday morning, sure... I'll enjoy a bowl of cereal instead.

Also... hahah nice. Although I do have to update my rig, it's not that old. c'mon I just don't have it at moments reach.

i really liked the eve model of passive gain better.

subscribers pay money. they should be handed 1500 certs a month, because they pay 15 dollars a month.

subscription should be the best paying plan, because subsciption is the most reliable source of income for SOE.

NEWSFLASH: i log in every day then log off just to get the daily certs. i already get 1500 certs a month.

Update from SOE Accounts/Billing Department;

After my support ticket was escalated multiple times, it looks like SOE are going to refund my 6 month Membership. They just asked me for some additional information for validate that i am the owner of my account.

I guess this is proof that OP, and the others supporting this, were correct.

I will happily subscribe again if/when the passive cert gain no longer requires logging in.

I cancelled my subscription because I only log in a few times a week and cert gains are not really passively gained. I just don't care enough to ACTIVELY log in every day to collect. My kids, wife, work and honeydoo lists keep me occupied. If the cert gains were truly passive (accumulate when on or offline) I might resubscribe. Either way the subscription page should be updated to clarify concerns brought forth in these 15 pages on the subject. I suspect the bean counters are mulling it over now anyway. If not, shame on them.

Update from SOE Accounts/Billing Department;

Greetings ******,

Thank you for contacting Sony Online Entertainment. Your subscription has now been cancelled at your request.
You will not be billed on the next billing cycle. If you wish to resubscribe, please login to the game and update your subscription information.

I have escalated your refund request, you will be notified when your refund request has been fully processed.
Your reference number is *******

Success!

However, SOE, if you are reading this, i will happily subscribe again, if i can get 48 Certs per day without logging in.

Good for you Chiss, now if only they could be convinced that members deserve some leeway as far as logging-in goes. Membership, as far as I can tell, is pretty much designed for those of us who are busy and are less able to log in regularly. It's a way of letting people with more money than time share the stage with those with more time than money isn't it?

Everyone is supposed to win here.

Too bad that it the only way to market any kind of item/reward. Your weapons and everything else you have is payed for to get it first. Same for boosts etc.

Subscription is the same as buying a large boost. Get over it.

+1

After seeing this, I will not subscribe. I was going to subscribe to basically be supporting the company and gaining certs while I was away/busy.

Bump. Please give this to offline players. You will boost your income and it is not game-breaking because they are making no more certs than the average player anyways.

After thinking about this a little, I fully agree; subscription users should get passive certs.

It will help both the players and the company.

Can you kindly post the steps that you went through to get a refund and perhaps shortcuts (email addresses and contact names of those in higher positions) so we don't have to jump through so many hoops for our refund requests? I'm surprised that SOE hasn't chimed in here and answered a few questions about this issue, but perhaps their silence is an answer in and of itself? At least we have some recourse or at least one person has had success with this issue. That set some precedence and it should be easier for those that choose to do so to cancel memberships and be refunded. Thanks in advance!

Tell you what, you find a way that SOE can run this game completely free of positive revenue, and I may see your ideaology as more than broke kid versus adult with a job.

It started with a SOE Live Support Chat, where i explained that i purchased Membership SOLELY for the 48 Certs per day.

Live Support got some details from me, and forwarded me onto a Game Master, who had this to say;

Greetings,

Thank you for contacting PlanetSide 2 , Operative ****** here!

I understand you are curious about Passive Cert Gain. When players or members earn Passive Certifications they have a certain amount that slowly builds up depending how long they have been offline. However if you are offline for too long such as a week, those certs will disappear and restart depending how many days you have not logged in. They best way to make sure you earn those Passive Certs is to log into every character at least once every day or every other day so they wont build up past their threshold and disappear. I have included a link to our Knowledge Base article with more information on Certifications and Passive Certs (http://help.station.sony.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/34804). If you are still interested in having your Membership refunded, please let us know so that we can escalate your ticket to our Account/Billing Department. Should you have any future questions or concerns please don't hesitate to contact us again.

Sincerely,
Operative ******

To which i replied;

Hello!

Thank you for the prompt reply.

The sole reason i purchased Membership was to gain 48 Certs per day, as I'm often away on business for extended periods, and i wanted to return to some Certs. The Membership purchase page had no mention of a daily log in requirement to receive them.

I've heard some distress from other members on the forums too, regarding this matter. I'd suggest adding a footnote to the Membership Purchase page, highlighting how passive cert gains work, making sure people understand they need to log in once per day to receive the bonus Certs.

I am still very interested in a refund (or getting 48 Certs per day, without having to log in, if possible).

Thank you again for the reply.

Sincerely,
*******************

And they said...

Greetings,

Thank you for contacting PlanetSide 2 in-game support, I am Operative ******.

I am very sorry that we will not be able to refund certification points, however I agree that the Membership purchase page should hold a bit more information. I would suggest starting a topic on our Official PlanetSide 2 Forums (http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php ) as our development team routinely searches the forums for new and upcoming ideas. If your topic receives enough attention there is a very good chance it will be addressed by a developer. I apologize for any inconvenience or frustration that this issue may cause. If you have any further questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact us again.

[PS2] Certifications
http://help.station.sony.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/34483

Operative *******
PlanetSide 2
Sony Online Entertainment

You get the color codes...


Hi,

Is that to say i will not be receiving a refund, nor the 48 Certs that were CLEARLY ADVERTISED on the website? This is not acceptable.

There is already a thread on the official forums, and it has more replies than any other thread. It has received no response from the development team;
http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/im-upset-at-the-daily-membership-cert-gain.105915/

Regards,
*************


And from here on they were very agreeable about a refund, just requiring a couple of details to confirm ownership of my account.

Hope that helps.

I wish this thread would have been here BEFORE I purchased mine! I just bought it this last weekend. I had considered it several times over the last few months and then when the "Passive Cert Gain" thing happened, it was almost a no brainer for me. Hey Lance. Don't we run together in the same outfit sometimes? Im in VVAR on Helios (Formerly DDLY and CTD) I'm going to share this thread with the rest of the outfit this evening.

I really hope SOE sees this thread. The thing to keep in mind is that often for every one person who is vocal and actually posts on the forum for an issue there are 100 people who are silently dissatisfied with the service and either won't purchase or will walk away upset with the service never to return.

I can't believe how many people White Knight for first-world-problems.