2014 Membership Update - News from Smed!

How many of you would have even looked at any SC items or LON cards without free SC and cards ? I wouldn't have. That's marketing folks that's how it works. It IS a downgrade but being touted as an upgrade I think that's why most of the hostility.

"Why did we make this change? There were a few reasons really. First and foremost we wanted to let players get some of the larger items on the marketplace. People complain the other way on this all the time - they complain that the 500SC isn't enough for them to buy enough stuff. " -
This is a silly pure PR answer and is disingenuous from where I sit.


"Second - it helps us deal with some internal issues regarding accrual of balances of SC for people who aren't playing or spending. There are a lot of people who play and have SC in their wallets and don't spend it ever.. this accrues over time and it's a problem. "
What is telling here is that you say absolutely NOTHING about WHY it is a problem. Do tell.


Third - we have a problem with a disparity between our console titles (which can't use Station Cash) and our PC Games. We can't do the same kind of promotions as easily on the PS3 and PS4. We're a lot more limited because we can't use Station Cash on there. So when we have a 3x sale on SC we have to do something different for our console titles. It's a pain in the neck to deal with this.
Fair enough.


Forth - And this is very important -
We are considering (and are likely going to move forward with) a plan that means if you subscribe to one of our games you are a subscriber to all our games (this applies to PC titles only btw).. all for the current $14.99 a month. That's a benefit most companies simply can't offer because they don't have our portfolio of games. The goal would be to let you pick an item in each game you play. Some of you might say "well who cares..I only play Planetside 2. How is that a benefit to me?" My answer is simple - we've got a great lineup of games, some of which aren't announced yet that cater to a lot of players. We have EQN and EQNL coming along with other..... games... that PS2 players might just like

I have a neutral reaction to this although again this more marketing plan on Sony's part than anything else but that is to be expected. The bottom line here is, well, the bottom line. Sony would not make this change unless they felt it would enhance their bottom line which is profit. Something about the current system was not enhancing the bottom line enough or someone figured out a means to enhance the bottom line even more. I don't expect Sony to be forthcoming about such things but that is where the buck stops so to speak. The rest of it is just finding a way to make it palatable to subscribers. Now of course there is a possibility that Sony is thinking of a marketing strategy to increase the subscriber base without trying tax its current subscribers more, but given that EQ is has an aging and likely slowly dying off subscriber base that seems like a remote possibility. What say ye?

My question is about Point 4 Access to all games. I am currently a EQ player only and my account is Gold for close to 900 Days (Not Recurring)

Would the access apply to those who purchased several 1 year memberships when they where available for SC a while back? Would the access apply to those who use game cards because they do not entrust SOE with their credit card information? (or is this only for recurring gold accounts?)

Just curious about point 4...its not a huge impact on myself because I don't anticipate playing outside of EQ unless the offer was available.

I'm neutral on the changes--it'll just change the way I use SC. I'll probably claim more items, since I can't save up for particular purchases any more. I am vaguely intrigued by the idea of my subscription turning into a Station Pass equivalent, though. Might look at some other games if I don't have to pay up-front for them.

I have a 3 month EQ account subscription.

How is this change going to affect what I pay, are the subs being increased with the bait of all access?

I play EQ, and have done for 14 years.

I DO NOT want to play any other of Sonys games, am I about to be charged money for something I don't want, didn't ask for and wont use?

Here is more information from Smed on this change.

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Hi everyone,
Thanks for the feedback. We listened.
Here are the basics of our revised plan. Please note - we have not had the time to do estimates of the work involved, and also we're continuing to listen. so this isn't baked just yet. Do not expect that this is all going to happen immediately. We plain don't know yet. we're doing that meeting tmw.
1) We're lowering the price of All Access to $14.99 2) We're going to make it so every subscriber to all our PC games an all access member. Basically there will be one SOE membership for our PC games. Please note there are some minor restrictions around our kids titles (simply put - if you're a 12 year old who signed up for FR you won't have access to the adult games so we'll likely leave the lower priced kids offerings as separate subscriptions for under 12 for the same low prices). 3) We're keeping the 500 SC included with the subscription instead of going to the "pick an item" system. We heard you. You didn't like the change. The only change we are making is that we're now going to make you claim it monthly. You can still hoard it though I realize this is a bit of a pain but honestly it's the best compromise we could come up with that solves the problems I mentioned in the other thread. 4) we are going to be giving our members a 10% discount in our marketplaces. 5) European players - we have an idea on how to include you in this but we need to discuss with our partners.We have a pretty good idea on this though. give us a bit of time to suss this out. 6) Nothing is changing with Player Studio items - you'll still be able to buy them with your 500SC. 7) Console titles - you'll notice I only mentioned the PC titles. Our goal is to include the PS3 and PS4 games that we have, but I want to be up front and say that isn't a done deal.
In a nutshell that's where our head is at.
As always your feedback is welcomed. Please do us a big favor and carefully think about #3. Our goal is to give you more value in the subscription to make it more attractive and making it simpler in the process.
I really feel like we're making a good decision going this route. It makes things simpler and gives more value to our players.

Thanks
Smed

Forget about all the fluff and bonus crud -

How does this $14.99 AA Sub compare to already existing EQ subs, and the previous All access price.

Yay!

Question: Will we be getting the 2 extra character slots (8->10) that was a benefit of All Access prior to this program?

Curious about point 1 and how this applies to those who have long term gold memberships to EQ. If a player has a lot of non-recurring Gold Membership time credited to EQ (in my case approx. 900 days) will the access to other games be included?

I don't believe that benefit is offered anymore, and is grandfathered in for people who took advantage when it was offered.

Obviously we still need to put a fair amount more work into this, but my understanding at this time* is that membership will be cross product (so if you are a member in EQ it's automatically applied over).

*This is my understanding at this time. It's going to take a while for us to figure this stuff out.