Let's be clear here... I'm not upset about revamping membership. I'm upset that they made the DLC completely free devaluing the membership for 3 ~ 6 months. Lifetime memberships would have actually realized their investment's value this summer, but now that is pushed back to the end of the year.
I'm happy that we are finally hearing about a membership perk overhaul from the devs. And it seems like we are heading towards a free DLC for everyone or at least a permanent open episodes route for the future of the game. Which is fine with me, but I have to agree with some of the others in that this was not a great way to present this to us. Because open episodes have been experimented with several times in the past with this latest time frame being the longest. And we have been asking about a membership perk overhaul for years as well. The membership perk overhaul should have been at the forefront of this, with episode 40 being free to everyone as a bonus. As is, we as members have to take a hit in our membership with the next DLC being free to everyone, while we wait 3-4 months before we hear anything about this overhaul that may or may not be good news for us.
I personally don't think anyone is roasting him, people have feelings, we are all human including Mepps, I have not roasted him at all and Not everyone will like it but people can be upset it's OK. Why not make a livestream and announce the new episode and membership perks teasers, there is always different ways to approach or broach a topic.
This question is hard for me to answer because I don't think anyone is an idiot for continuing to pay their sub during Episode's 40 release. I certainly won't feel like an idiot...so why would I view you as one if you continue to pay? Conversely, i'd say even before this announcement you, I and everyone paying a membership up until this point is huge idiot. Why...because with all of the arguments about membership value, and the amount of money many of us have spent on this game, the one true membership perk in this game is the Cash Cap. Yup...I said it. That little inconvenience is currently the only thing that has kept me from dropping my sub ever. And whether some people want to admit it or not, a lot of people are on the same boat. Otherwise why aren't they singing the praises for all of the other benefits? It seems the only time people even acknowledge any of the other benefits is when they perceive them as being taken away (even when they factually aren't). I've been paying my sub for 9 years straight with no stoppage, even during the worst the game has had to offer...because i've still gotten plenty of enjoyment for the money i've paid. If I didn't feel like an idiot before, why would I feel like one now just because they're giving this one episode away for free (especially when you consider the point brought up by Akaiko on page 5)? Why should you feel like an idiot?
It gets pushed back by some months...but they'll still get their investment's value won't they? And they'll still continue to receive all of the other remaining perks not being given away with the episode...right?
That's not how it works man. You buy something planning your ROI and that helps you decide whether it's a good investment or not. You won't find a single investor on wall street accept a 6 month delay on their investments turning a profit. It's not going to work here either.
Apparently this was hinted at in the community livestream last week (someone mentioned that in this thread)...which obviously wasn't viewed by as many judging by all of our not knowing anything till today.
Was anyone guaranteed their roi by a specific date? As far as I recall players made that speculation given what information they had at the time, but at no point do I recall seeing any specific assurance or promise.
Not sure if you're trying to justify my argument or what here. When a company on the stock exchange suddenly changes plans that delays the ROI of investors they get sued. It's not acceptable in any scenario at all.
Thinking of it momentarily, in order to make the game more appealing without changing the core underlying mechanisms that affect "monetized" systems like Artifacts (which, ironically, the people who have paid the most into seem the most firmly against changing - different discussion) they have to get more people in the door and on the floor, as it were. This will do that. More people in the "endgame" gives those of us who basically live there these days a larger population of CR peers (if not actual peers insofar as factors of game knowledge and character development are concerned) - that simply makes the world go 'round a little more smoothly for everyone. More people in, more queues, more Raids, more motion. It gets a little slow on third shift these days. I know some of you know what I mean because I didn't run into you years ago, and I do so rather frequently now. And yes, ALL of those green women are me. It also to some degree incentivizes those midrange people to want to improve (occasionally), which they can do either by participating in a wider variety of older content, PVPing, or other severely underpopulated activity channels, or by spending actual cash on in-game development (which is a net win for the fiscal sustainability of the game). And to be frank, it's difficult to justify the "pay pay pay" mentality all the time relative to the fact that while we pay for the content, we also pay for the membership, and we also pay for the capsules or the catalysts or five extra Base themes, three of which I have never used... Well, you've all been here too. Granted, this still leaves this and the fact that the track record of "Soon™" is rather dicey at best. Still waiting on Serums. So here's hoping for a word sooner rather than later; I've been paying for a plate for a long time, and I would like to know what I get on my plate now that the steak itself is apparently free (even though I'm still paying steak price for it). And I'd really rather know before I continue paying steak price for it. That seems like a fair ask.
Hello, On the one hand, as a player, I took membership to support the project and the production, not for the access to episodes. As I see it, I find the idea great. It might be a good way to have more players coming and discovering the game in a period where having contact with other persons might be useful to everyone. On the other and, I'm curious about how you'll get regular incomes from players (special bought gear/items, exclusive emblems, others?). But I personally trust the dev team in its choices and personally find it very interesting to do such fo a MMORPG of this quality and with that many content. Keep up the good work, I keep my membership to support the work as long as I play.
Ok....but this isn't the stock exchange and no date was specified for their roi, which they're still getting. Also, unlike the stock exchange and laws set up to protect investors, we the players signed a ToS allows them to make these kinds of changes without getting sued for it. If Lifetime subs want to be upset because their returns get pushed back by a bit (not canceled), that's on them.
Not looking to derail the topic (and not really disagreeing with much of what you said) but...you really shouldn't be waiting on Serums. That got cancelled quite a long time ago (right around the mention of Water powers for healing as a replacement for Atomic changing to tanking).
Yes, I'm not stupid. But it serves as an excellent reminder of how much faith one should place in the words "Soon™"
Hmm.. Well... Thank you for the "permanent" free episode; I appreciate that! It's nice not having to let my membership lapse in order to "permanently" buy content this time. I find it interesting that DCUO is "dipping it's toes" into the free content ocean shores. It makes me wonder what would be "left behind" if the direction of the game does turn towards free content for all. From my experience, players don't get that without losing something important or another "gate" put into place. I think free content across the game is great, but I know that something will have to give in order to have it. As far as the announcement about the Membership changes, there is nothing to really say about it until you have more information for us. I could speculate for days about what those changes will be; I'd rather be farming Base Items, Nth Metal and Collection instead. Suggestion: Instead of tying in the free episode with the membership changes, you could have tied it in with the fact that we, the players, stuck with this game and are still sticking with this game through this COVID Pandemic and you have gifted us with a permanent, free episode as a token of gratitude. I think many players would have appreciated that better and would not have complained so much. Just sayin'.
Got a question for you. Whenever they've added features in the game that gave members new and additional perks, such as the lair system and bonus stabilizer fragments, did you also complain back then about the price of the membership staying the same? I mean, they added something to the membership that wasn't already "incorporated" in the price, right? They should have raised the price of the membership in those instances, don't you agree?
I believe that free episodes is the right path. Not all people can afford membership and without it the game is just too boring to keep those players. I think instead of making the membership price lower, you could just give more daybreak cash and replay badges, plus you could make discounts to membership players on the quark vendors and maybe giving more stabilizer fragments daily. Personally I would keep my membership even if the episodes were free beacause I want to help the game. I know that I will play a small part on keeping this game going and therefore I will keep getting a membership every year. I am sure that many people will do the same. Thank you for this and let's make DCUO great for free players too.
That is correct, if a perk is added, there is an enhancement to the membership benefit, you probably thought there was going to be some "gotcha" moment there and that I would deny it and be like "No" and you'd have gone "haha Proxystar, shame!" LOL. What you're doing though is besides the point, when a consumer looks at a product they're going to be appreciative of enhancements, perhaps not though, generally speaking enhancements are an expectation because it betters the relationship between the retailer and the consumer. However, what's more likely to be noticed though is when something is removed and you are going to simply get people talking about it and saying things, that's just the nature of the beast. If you take a very basic example, let's say McDonalds add a cheese slice to the Big Mac and make it even more awesome, without even really saying anything, people just accept it, appreciate it, possibly say something, possibly don't, perhaps McDonalds do say something and everyone goes "wow thank you McDonalds" then two years down the track McDonalds leave the cheese slice in but take out a meat patty, do you expect people to say nothing, because they should be happy they got a cheese slice... Because that's what you're implying
