Dear Devs:- so my concerns with this new DLC/structure of the game.

How can you say such things? Have the powers that be ever let us down before? Look, I just spent $20 on time capsules during the bonus weekend. Sure that money could have been spent elsewhere but I enjoy supporting this game.

With the above said I do agree with something you said..

Being a member (which is the best way to enjoy this game) and the perks that come with membership may need to be expanded upon. Being premium (at least for me) is way too restrictive. So since in order to play efficiently you need to be legendary and (IMO) making the member perks even more enticing wouldn't be such a bad thing.

Furthermore, I feel that stuff such as the recent member aura shouldn't be a timed release. So lets say someone decided to sub today, I'm sure they would love to claim it and other such cool extras. While I'm sure the logic is to dangle the metaphorical "carrot on a stick" to drive player subsriptions during a set period, that logic is possibly flawed. How about driving players to sub year round?

Im sorry but adding dollar values to those perks is so flawed for obvious reasons. The vault has no value to me at all. And never really has. Sometimes i go months in the game w/out running it.

You're right LightFX. The numbers game in this context is to reinforce that they think we are getting quite a deal.

To Mepps: The problem is that the numbers are for intangible items that we will never truly have in our possession. Which means, assigning a value to an intangible thing is like putting a price on what an imaginary unicorn would cost. It's literally meaningless and completely subjective. There is no law of supply and demand because intangible items cannot be exhausted! So put what ever dollar amount you want on those line items, that won't change people's perception of what they do and do not value.

All I'm going to say to you is; no, I'm not quitting because there's aspects of the game I do not enjoy, there's enough in this game that I do enjoy, there's just areas of the game I will continue to advocate change for.

If you want to quit because you don't see value and you think that makes a bigger statement from your perspective then that is your prerogative.

I also again absolutely refute your allegation that my concerns are toxic; I won't go into further detail because quite frankly it's not worth it with you, I know you're a strong minded opinonated person; such as myself and for that reason I respect you and the fact you are firm in your opinions and no matter what each of us say to each other we're going to disagree, so for the purpose of being constructive we'll just have to 'agree to disagree'

Of course some people will get a collection piece like the flash biography from capsule they opened with a key they earned in game for free. We all know that. That isnt the issue. The rate of how often that happens is the issue

Its daybreaks job to figure out what the perks should be, not the players. The players are simply stating they dont feel the current perks are worth it and tbh i agree. The 10% discount and 500 dbc isnt worth it imo because there is nothing on the MP i wanna buy and barely anything new gets added to the MP. For every person like u who got the rare collection there is 1000 players who got bytes. Just because u got lucky 1 time does not mean its a great perk. Using the 500 dbc u get to buy more keys i dont find to be a perk because im spending it on the paywall they introduced. If ya use the 500 dbc to buy replays u get 1 more raid reset or 3 total if ya combine it with the 150 replays the sub gives ya every month.

Lets look at the 150 replays. Like people have said it resets 1 raid per month. U get 10 marks as a reward. Either coins or war bonds or whatever the current marks are. The head piece on the vendor costs 100 marks. So that 1 raid reset gets ya 1/10th the cost of that 1 piece of gear. The cost of the full set is over 900 marks. And that one reset gets ya 10. 10 marks. Basically 1% of the cost of the gear set. That doesnt even factor in the OP item collection costs. Add that in and it drops to less then 1%. Now if it takes 3 months to earn the set then its 3%. Combine it with buying 150 replays with the 500 dbc and its 6-9% over a month period. How long ya play, how much ya grind, and what u try to accomplish all plays into it. Do u think that has a high value?

Look i understand a lot of playstation players have not played many other MMO games because the PS simply doesnt have many. But i urge people to go look at other MMO games. Take a look at the perks they offer and how their financial system works as far as playing the game/supporting the game with your money. I think some people will be in for a surprise Cause when ya start comparing it really opens your eyes.

What fatal said imo is correct. Instead of trying to add dollar values to these perks, which imo is very flawed, they should introduce perks that players want and find useful and most importantly last for a long time. There should be member cosmetics that are for members only. They cant be traded to other players, account bound and thats it. Just 1 idea.

I acknowledge and accept this, given your clarity here it's now less of an issue to me, not because I'm not wanting "free players to have access" but that I want there to be a balance to preserve both membership and free to play for the betterment of the game - thanks for the clarity.

My concern isn't about the "generosity" I do acknowledge there are good perks and there are some that are industry competitive, my concern is often that many can go for a long time without updates and the longer they go the more diminished they become.

I know you made a further post in this thread; for the sake of brevity i'll just respond within this one with a few examples.

- Lockboxes - these haven't been updated for a long time and actually when they were updated with what about 800 more styles they became so convuluted it's actually harder to get what you want from them and the fact they only drop once every 6 hours is probably at this point become quite excessive given the convuluted loot table now present.

Possible immediate solution:- increase the drop rate of lockboxes to every 20 minutes, this would immediately add value to the subscription

- Vault - this is in a desperate need of an update, perhaps it could be used to give villain/hero styles to cross faction and maybe it could even be on a 3monthly rotation or something to keep it fresh.

These are just two suggestions - I guess what makes matters worse is they seem like easy fixes from a customer perspective and I know you're doing stat revamps but sometimes it's worth taking the couple of hours to tweak these things to increase the value of them.

It's not even that you're always deliberately diminishing the subscription it's inadvertant because of other changes that at the time are done to help, like adding heaps of lockbox styles but not realising the eventual flow on effect etc.

When something becomes exceptionally out-dated even though it might appear to have a $6 benefit for example the benefit isn't there anymore because it's been the same for far too long.

Let's not beat around the bush in terms of this, time capsules are not the only way to "make that happen" they're the developers preferred way to make that happen because it's the most profitable way. It is however certainly not the most "satisfying way" from a customer perspective (while certainly not mine and others to I'm sure). This is why sometimes there needs to be a mix between both "gambling boxes" and "direct to market purchases"; there desperately needs to be a balance. Ask yourself too; yes the capsules continue to pay for themselves and that's great but on the other hand i'll ask the imperative question "what are our memberships paying for?" we're technically not buying the perks right they're just "perks" or am I wrong there?

Don't worry I take no offense, so no need to say 'sorry'. You're right I don't know wwhat you're working on, I only know what I see you working on and on the flip side what you 'visibly aren't working on'.

My comment was more along the lines of we're now at our 5th time capsule yet there has been no announcements regarding any plans; even though throughout numerous streams and Q&A's you've said the devs are listening to feedback but nothing happens.

Again I know all the devs are working on stat revamp right now I get that; but that cannot be at the expense of everything else at all times, it just can't be, little things still have to be done and look at it from the customer perspective, it becomes increasingly frustrating when the same ideas are put forth every week and the developers say that's a cool idea and 6-12 months later still nothing.

The time capsules are just a real sore spot because the customers look at them and see poor drop rates, no improvements and a forever increasing stat point rat race where they have to try and get it done while they're valid; because when they're no longer relevant, the stuff gets harder and harder to get with no alternative method to obtain the content.

Even if you re-release the capsules it doesn't matter because everyone's already gone through the rat race (the very feeling that's pushing people to buy, how's that for catch 22)

The irony of all of this is if you're actually striving to get new players all the time how is locking them out of preceding time capsules without an alternative route beneficial.

What people also look at is other games, many of which already offer alternative methods to the contents offered within gambling boxes, methods which don't involve just grinding out keys to roll the dice.

This was the problem with OP gear too prior to your crafting/collection changes.

Thanks for taking the time to reply Mepps and don't get me wrong, I love the game but this is genuine feedback based on genuine concerns.

For what it's worth I'm not going to pull support of the game, because that's not how I roll but I will always provide you with honest open feedback

We understand that there are MANY perks but what really throws many people off is the lost value of those perks. It's not even that they're completely worthless but they have lost a considerable amount of worth over the years yet the membership prices stays precisely the same.

Access to DLC. Yeah it's nice having access to all DLCS. It would be even nicer if episodes like 19-27 were of high quality like HoP 2 and down.

500 DPC. Now you see this would be way more useful if there were actually things to buy on the marketplace besides replay badges and power tokens.

Unlimited lockbox unlocks... I mean come on.. who even looks forward to opening those? I remember years ago when my friends would sub to get the super cool items. Now like you said all your resources are focused on time capsules. Adding old enemy faction styles is hardly an update either. In fact, I've noticed that since you added so many of those outdated styles it's harder to get things like auras or master mercenary gear etc.

Free daily vault access. I can't even remember when this was updated and if it was then it was not significant. Let's be real here, no one looks to enter the vault daily like they would for stabilizer duo. I mean even just adding 2 ancient coins to drop would be a decent update.


This is why many of us are frustrated.

bank, broker, and character slots arent a good perk as once you max those they are no longer a perk.

vault after playing 6 years+ nothing in the vault is worth running the vault ever again.

the highlighted yellow perks are the only true perks IMO.

IMHO a perk is something nobody else can get, and if they want it they have to fork up the $ to become legendary.

Think of legendary like the VIP section of a club, they wont let the rough looking guy from the corner in unless they fork over the $$ to enjoy the nicer things.


EDIT:

and I think each length of legendary should have slightly different perks. With a full year being / having the best.

ringz has a point you know?

it was stated that non-legendary players arent important or as important yet theres been open access and now a month free to a brand new DLC. Seems like the game is in a bad way IMO to do a 180 on how they think of the bottom feeders.

iirc 10% discount

Told ya'll. I got so much hate when I said this game make more money off of MC than membership it self. I hit this thing on the nail months ago.
Let me take you a trip down to memory lane
https://forums.daybreakgames.com/dcuo/index.php?threads/do-away-with-mebership.281829/

I normally find your answers pretty chill Mepps, but that one ran a cold shiver down my back, that you think this.

The thread is 8 pages long, so kindly, excuse any oversight on my part. Please indulge me an answer

I used to be your cheer- leader on the fairness of membership, regularly supporting it vocally on these forums, indoctrinating others into DCUO as a hobby in game as league staff, but since july 2016.. things have changed man. kindly.

We went from monthly content to 6 monthly content, for people who were playing 10 hours a day everyday, and then the content dried up overnight.. man, you gotta see my point of view here! then no new content for 3 months 3 weeks, when it comes, admittedly it's not for me, but then we got the Anti-Monitor event which I LOVED, but you took away and replaced with.. nothing.

Lets face it, the Time Capsules make the Promethium Boxes look like trash, ESPECIALLY if you are longer time sub like myself, I have all the stuff in PB's on Sigma. DB have done NOTHING to readdress the balance of the PB RNG for long time subscribers. IF I already have a feat for a style, please, don't give me the style on an alt. Instead slant the PB RNG to an Aura which even IF I own I can sell on broker. Introducing previous OG Auras to PB's would be a *start*. Slanting the RNG heavily to unowned styles, and even blocking owned styles. I have had the same 'uniform' since 2011, if I haven't changed by now, its not going to happen. But I want the feats for the styles I haven't completed. If I have to wait on a RNG to regurgitate every style on DCUO it's highly likely I will get a style I already have, for a long term subscriber, this totally ruins the point of opening PB's.

I don't protest as much as possibly I should about the 'open episodes'.. I DO see your point that it invites the community as a whole to come together. But frankly, you need to up your game for members, seriously man, I'm no blow-hard*.. as I say folk who are blowhards all they do is blow their monitor/tv over.
It comes down to a trinkets and bobbles + indians thing.. what do you (DB) really think of legendary subs? Are we worth investing in? Because if there is a lack of DLC content, then how do I spend my RBs that come with my membership? okayokay.. I get 500 SC.. what do I spend it on, in marketplace, for YEARS I would buy RBs, sometimes auras. I dunno man..when the perks can be shot down, then.. no wonder members are getting *jealous* of free players

Mepps, your normally quite level headed, but these TC's and boosters gold's shiny shorts seem to have blinded you man


on a personal note.. I am sick of Magic content. Want Meta.. lots of Meta.. or Tech. New Krypton II & III. Lantern Healer.

I am SO glad Proxy and Fatal are singing my song, I have been complaining about this for MONTHS on my blog :HERE: and :HERE:
THANK YOU TO PROXY for starting this thread. and to Fatal for sharing common sense with the community, bravo!

*Blow-hard; someone who gets easily angry and shouts at people, regardless of being right or wrong.

Take off those two "perks", make them free for everyone, and watch how fast the subscription numbers drop.

No one wants to rent when they could own, and the more important things like bank/inventory space, dlcs, and character slots, people would buy rather than rent indefinitely.

Those two "perks" and those two alone, are literally all that makes your subscription "worth it". Which isn't saying much.

For me, if this game was an actual free to play game, than I might be tempted to come back, even overlook some of the atrocious decisions made of late but, I'm damn sure not going to overlook those things when I have to pay monthly for this game (or two "perks" for that matter), not gonna happen.

Unfortunately this is the answer, but i respect well written threads instead of "omg wtf devs" lol

part of the problem here is......

Value.

a good example is the lucky dip booster boxes of yesteryear and the modern time capsules.

you'd pay your $10 n take your chances.

speaking of chances, chances are youd end up with proto repair bots, proto banks bots, and whole bunch of crap which you don't 'value' - but to dbg as they sell these things on the marketplace, they have a 'value' in a pricing sense, hence you are getting 'value'.

key thing here, is it's a relative term.

although when you set the price of a mp item, its kinda like marking your own homework in regards to value, as its perceived by the market itself.

the 'value' of the game to me, is far far far less than it used to be. tbh i havent even logged in in quite a while, nor was i that amazed by the stream today.

to me - the 'value' i place/placed in the game was the community, the storylines, my league, my friends, and the gameplay.

community - largely toxic
the storylines - weak these days
league - mostly empty
friends - mostly left the game
gameplay - uninspired, broken and the time it takes to release anything of interest to me is honestly verging on years rather than months.

i used to love pvp back in the day, i used to look forward to DLC - seeing marque heroes in storylines and being keen to log in and run with likeminded people.

WTF happened?!?!?

This thread is about improving membership. Yours was about removing it.

Big difference.

It actually became both later in the thread. It became a either or type of thread

Mepps said - We are REALLY excited about that as we look to the rest of the year. No, we can't share yet. On a related note...

Please stop with the cliffhangers... how did that work out with the new UI, New powers, and STATS Matter oh yeah still left wanting with broken PvP, powersets, and stats that DO NOT MATTER.... Historically when your team gets really excited about something and leaks cookie crumbs....it flops.

Mepps said - You have no idea what work is being done on what.

We have "no idea" because you guys don't communicate properly. Instead you offer random and vague posts to try to keep the community waiting and wanting instead of informed.

Mepps said - I'm sorry about that, but that's the reality we have where plans will change during development and where plans changing is unacceptable to the community overall. We will share at the appropriate times. Thanks again for voicing these frustrations.

We are sorry but at this rate you are losing your loyal community members as each week passes. At some point these frustrations will just turn into cancelled memberships.

Does anyone feel like they are giving us trash styles from the DLC & Great styles people actually wamt in the TC so that they can make more $

People have already outlined Mepps earlier post about membership. That should give their team a good look at how people view membership, both members and non members.