Mark Tuttle Reveals Why All Access is Awesome

I went back and read the original post as well as the revision. You are correct. I'm woman enough to admit my mistakes so, I apologize. I still don't like having to log into marketplace each month to click for my SC since it occasionally causes me to crash but, I WAS wrong.

So what? They're paying customers.

Wow, this sounds really cool... Where are the zone points to EQII, Planetside and DC? New stones in PoK maybe? Can a 100 SK survive in either of those games?

Since the 500SC can be equated to RL money, the accountants get leery of players having thousands of SC given to them each month when the player just intends to hoard the SC. Like with the free LoN packs we get; this is a method by which SOE can reduce the number of people who hoard and don't use them until there is something big or a sale; since most players are too lazy to go click the button. Plus as was mentioned earlier they won't have quite as large of a discrepancy between how much $ SOE was paid for SC and how much SC is in existence on player accounts.

theyir paying for a subscription to play a game and have full access. they get that whether they log on or not. SC is an extra benefit that now requires you claim the reward before getting it.

they could opt to not offer SC at all.

if youd like theres plenty of dev post regarding the change and the reason.

500 Station Cash Reward to claim each month is what paying customers are paying for.
its clear as day for the SOE All Access.

Here is what paying customers get.

• Access to 1000's of Alternate Advancement Abilities
• Additional 6 character slots ($60 Value)
• Full Access to all spell ranks
• Maximum amount of Loyalty Rewards
• Get 5 free Legends of Norrath trading card game packs per month ($15 Value + Loot)
• Full access to Mercenary Tiers
• Full access to in-game broker
• All housing and guilds halls allowed
• Access to Progression Servers
• Unlimited Chat channel access
• Full Guild Functionality
• Preferred Status with Customer Service

EQ2

• Additional 5 character slots ($50 Value)
• Early access to select new content releases
• Double ALL alternative currency earned in-game
• 15% more coin
• 10% bonus mount speed
• Member-only items at in-game Loyalty Merchants
• Access to all spell tiers
• Get 5 free Legends of Norrath trading card game packs per month ($15 Value + Loot)
• Full access to in-game broker
• Unlimited Chat channel access
• Full access to in-game mail
• Full Guild Functionality
• Preferred Status with Customer Service

Planetside

• 25-50% increased resource gain
• 25-50% increased XP gain
• 25-50% increased passive cert point gain
• Priority login
• Early Access
• Additional Character Slots
• Daily Members-Only Sale
• Monthly Members-Only Double XP Weekends

DC Universe

• Access to all DLC Packs
• 150 Free Replay Badges Monthly
• Unlimited Prometheum Lockbox Unlocks
• Unlimited in-game currency
• More Inventory Slots
• Free daily Vault Access
• Form a League
• 14 Additional character slots
• 20 Broker slots
• 36 Additional Bank slots
• Trade items and cash

Coming Soon
EQ Landmark
Dragon Prophet
H1Z1

All access may or may not be awesome, but in the current state the servers are in it's impossible to sign up for. It almost feels like they're advertising a shiny new feature we can't have if we don't already have it.

I have tried numerous times over the last few hours to sign up for this. I'm always met by blank pages, internal errors, or other issues. If you're going to advertise this as something awesome that we all have to have, at least make it so we can get it if we want it.

Currently, my account shows nothing but "add station cash". I really wish to see how much my cost will be come this weekend. Naturally, they timed this exactly when my 3 month subscription is up. I am just as much in the dark as I was before. Look like it's time to quit altogether.

OH WAIT! I can't quit because access to the account is locked due to lack of total access to account information. Double duh! FIX IT.

It will be fixed, it always is. Relax.

The original idea was terrible, I'm glad it was scrapped, this is better but it's still bologna. When I read your post I thought it was just about the perfect transition from single games to all access. Except for the SC part of course. This isn't hard, it's just flipping math. If I pay you $15 a month and you are willing to comp me back some of that in SC's then figure out how much you are willing to comp me and do it. Just flipping do it.

Or charge me less and comp me nothing. Don't be that company with the reputation for having timed hurdles in front of the rewards. You know what everybody hates? Airline miles with blackout dates. You just implemented something comparable.

How about we flip the situation? Every month I don't login you have to refund my all access fee. Doesn't seem so fair now does it?

Is this sale price the price going to be used as the renewal price or is this just a single $20 off offer?

Being over a 12 year vet. player, there was a time I had to cancel my account due to real life situations and I wasn't able to play for a year.. you have that option to do so it you find you are not able to play for an extensive period of time and you will have your toon and everything back to where it was before you left. I did this in 2004 and came back in 2005. This issue has also been discussed over time for as long as I can remember (before the forums were here) and if you don't play for 1 month, it's you're fault not Sony's. Sure there have been times where I didn't play for a few months at a time but kept my account active. Also yes, there will be downtime some months more than others, people have griped about that too that Sony should compensate them for money when nobody can use the servers. Usually the Devs WILL give a bonus in game like double. xp, 1/2 off Marketplace items or something like that to make up for lost time.. also keep in mind this game is over 15 years old, downtime occurs, things need updated and be patient, I'm sure when all this is said and done the Devs will see this as a lot of downtime and do something cool for the players.

I never thought I would see people complain about having to do about 10 seconds of work once a month to receive something bonus *for free*.

Then I remembered that this is the Internets.

The complaint I dont feel is tge extra 10 seconds. In my case I pay reoccurring so I dont need to think about paying my account. Now they are making me if I want the 500 sc a month. Iv heard its due to legal reasons but im not sure I buy into that. Only compromise I would be happy with is a key bind that woukdnt cause lag lol.

You missed my point. Sony wants people to subscribe, it's in their best interest. This policy goes against their best interest. If I'm getting 500SC a month for subscribing and I know I won't be online for a month I'm more likely to leave it subscribed, soak up the 500SC and get on when I can. If I know I have to click something in game to get the 500SC I'm going to cancel that thing as soon as I know I won't be logging in that month.

The reason they implemented this is so they could bring in $15 per month per account and not always have to comp every account the 500SC's per month. Stated clearly, it says "we hope not everybody always remembers to do this." Otherwise why implement it? Will any customer ever benefit in any way from this implementation? No. You'll never do better under this implementation than you would have from the old one.

That's disingenuous, that's my problem. Just be up front with your customers. If you can only afford to give me 200 SC's a month, every month, automatically, then tell me that and give me that. If it's 300 or 400 that's fine too, just don't jerk me around. I like SOE, I like Everquest a lot too. Started in 1999 and played several years straight. Since then I have come back once a year for a few months at a time. I'm subscribed right now, mostly for Journeyman merc access in EQ. This isn't a show stopper for me, not making ultimatums or anything. Just saying, look at what you just told your customers, from a customer's perspective... how would you feel about it?

Does this mean that you will have membership to all Sony online games with one monthly fee for everything combined? Like EQ1 and DCUO at the same time for 15 total instead of paying 30 to get the same thing?

Yeah, I was wondering how to get there to. I checked in my station account, but only Everquest was listed. I remember in the past all of the games were listed. I guess they'll let us know eventually.

$14.99 for all station access. Some of the games aren't included yet. The All Access Faq around here somewhere should have a list.

Dear SOE All Access Game Pass Member,

We regularly evaluate our offerings at SOE to ensure we are consistently delivering great games and products, while also offering exceptional value to our players. As an All Access member you have premium access to all our games and now we’re adding even more value.

The week of February 3rd, 2014 we will be making a very important change to the All Access Game Pass.

The current benefit of receiving 500 Station Cash (SC) monthly will be replaced with the following:

For EverQuest, EverQuest II, and PlanetSide 2: A new benefit allowing you to select one single item valued up to 2000 SC each month in each of the qualifying games -- EverQuest, EverQuest II and PlanetSide 2. Nearly all items within the games’ Marketplace will be available for this selection. Player Studio items, bundles and additional exclusions may apply. This new benefit must be claimed each month that you are a member as it will not carry over to subsequent months.

For DCUO: A similar benefit that grants a form of in-game currency called Loyalty Points. Each month you will be granted 500 Loyalty Points (worth $5 USD) that you will be able to use at a special Loyalty Vendor to purchase Marketplace items. Your Loyalty Points will stack – meaning you can save up Loyalty Points in order to make larger purchases – but you must log into the game at least one time each month in order to collect them. DLC packs will not be purchasable with Loyalty Points.

We appreciate our customers, especially our valued members, and therefore are excited to bring you this additional value.

Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to seeing you in game soon.

Best,
Sony Online Entertainment LLC


That 2500 sc item was per month not a one time deal . ive seen it stated differently. also you could do it for multiple games.

this was posted by Smed before the 500 sc was put back on the table

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. So we thought this would be a positive change.
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. Before the jaded among you cry out that this is really the most important reason - please don't judge just yet. It's actually not but I don't want to hide the fact that it's a part of it.
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.
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 will do my best to keep up with this thread and answer questions as much as I can (a bit AMA style).
Smed


What they offered with the item had value in all the games. and you could get a higher priced item each month. it was a fair trade off. but people didnt want it.

mainly this identifies the problem with hoarding and it impacting their metrics and marketing projections (implied).

Several people stated they don't log in every month, like some players who are on active duty. I doubt they can use their goovernment computers, while deployed, to get into the game and get the 500SC. The US military have to put up with alot, they should be exempt from this requirement.