2014 Membership Benefit Update

Discussion in 'News and Announcements' started by RadarX, Jan 2, 2014.

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  1. suka Well-Known Member

    lol i didn't look at the top of the page. however, i did see where there were issues with it in the past. are there still problems with it or can we assume it has been fixed?
  2. Kilar Active Member

    The new offering is NOT 2000SC, it is a once a month, claim it or lose it, use it or lose it, Ticket/Voucher, which can be spent on 1 (One) item from the market place, regardless of value of said item, up to a maximum item value of 2000sc (Unknown Exclusions will apply). It has no relation to Bought SC or the previous 500SC (allowence/stipend). Normal SC balances will not be affected.

    I hope this clears things up
  3. R.J. MacReady Active Member

    What you have to understand that this is not an isolated change. It opens a door to curb your options.

    The introduction of MT's was a new open door. Once you went through that door you went from buying just potions to Instant Level 85. Now once you go through this new door of limitations for your monthly SC ....the usefulness of your monthly SC will surely degrade over time.

    The entire point of this is to increase new credit card charges for new & popular Market Place items.
    Quinnos, Kilar, aspekx and 1 other person like this.
  4. Kilar Active Member

    And smaller useful things like 'Instant Rezz' (Can't see many people using the voucher for a one off instead rezz lol) or more expencive items costing more than 2000SC
    Avahlynn, Pipsissiwa and aspekx like this.
  5. Katz Well-Known Member

    I've told them over and over that it is only future SC from subscription that is affected and their current SC is fine but it is like using a teaspoon to bail out a lake.
    jazmeena likes this.
  6. Avahlynn Well-Known Member

    And it will be until official word, and a comprehensive plan outline is made. That is the nature of fear left to fester for days, it gets ugly.
    Katra and aspekx like this.
  7. Liral Active Member

    The expected hysteria and false rumors and gloom and doom prophecies and screaming at SOE are in full force. So sad to see but not unexpected.
    Awkk and jazmeena like this.
  8. R.J. MacReady Active Member

    In the grand scheme of things the monetary cost to the player is somewhat minimal.

    However, I profoundly understand that a lot of people will no longer continue to do business with a company that believes their customers are not very intelligent.
    Ragna, end of days, Fetish and 7 others like this.
  9. Nelie Well-Known Member

    Most people will troll by doing this. It is to scare the ones who don't even read or even know about the forums for that matter. Its like any other upcoming event though, there is going to be 50 different stories where that one cool guy/gal in general (1-9 chat) who thinks they know everything before anyone else but really is just trolling 9 times out of 10.
    aspekx and jazmeena like this.
  10. Wanic Active Member


    Fear not, for we are waiting for the whole post to come sometime soon.

    Is it a bird? Is it a plane?
    Its the SOE explanation thread, coming to a forum near you.
    Darsch and aspekx like this.
  11. Glassjaw Active Member

    It's a simple business decision by not that of a developer minded person but a business minded person. People are blowing this way out of proportion because it's not how they want it to be. Which is fitting because much of the general mindset of the player base is of the "entitlement age" and expect things to be precisely how they see fit.

    So you cant hoard station cash to get essentially free heroic characters anymore or whatever else you were using it for. Get over it. The game only costs 15 dollars a month and the team provides content, updates, fixes etc for that 15 dollars a month and I for one feel it is well worth it. The station cash is a bonus whether it is in the form of SC itself or a voucher.
    Awkk, jazmeena and Pipsissiwa like this.
  12. Carribea Active Member

    RadarX it is Monday, do we have more information on this topic from SOE?
  13. Quinnos Active Member

    You don't pay $15 a month for the game. The game is Free.

    EQ2 is Free to Play.

    Many people will get over it. Instead of subscribing they will just spend their $15 how they see fit. If they want to buy stuff on the marketplace they will simply buy it with $15 instead of subbing for perks.

    Although I have a feeling the way SoE is treating subscribers will make a lot of them less than enthusiastic about spending money on the marketplace for anything at all.

    They really should just remove subscriptions entirely. Then there wouldn't be so much annoyance among the loyal EQ fans by being jerked around every few months and insulted like this.
    Katra, Fetish, Juraviel and 2 others like this.
  14. Carribea Active Member

    you do realize FTP players get those exact same features right? think about it. plus this is about a perk that many of us don't wanna loose.
    Quinnos and aspekx like this.
  15. RadarX Community Manager


    We'll provide you guys an update a soon as possible. I have no ETA on this.
    daicia likes this.
  16. Kuulei Well-Known Member

    I don't see why they would do this. ALL of my SC is actually from the last double SC purchase, I spend my free stuff as soon as I get it along with what I've added :p
    Those that add nothing and are saving for something, might as well start spending it since this is the last month (January) that you can use it for what you want? There won't be anymore accumulated.
  17. Pipsissiwa Well-Known Member


    The team provides content, updates, fixes etc for the free to play players too, for... ahem.. free. When SOE chose to make the game f2p they made it clear that their main revenue stream for the game is the SC shop.

    It isn't a question of entitlement, its a question of value for money, just like any other product or service. I resent being accused of entitlement because I'm not prepared to donate to a company as if they are a charity and would like something back in exchange. The game itself is now free. Its the differences between free and subscribed, and in particular recurring subscribed, that we pay for. Why do so many people think that wanting something in exchange for $15 a month that actually feels worth $15 a month is so wrong? Most aren't asking for the moon. Just a little something meaningful to say Ty for committing to pay money regularly when we don't really need to. I'm glad that for some that the changes SOE are planning (as so far announced) still sound like good value, but to many of us it doesn't sound so great. That doesn't make us 'entitled' or wrong. Going with my tin of beans analogy that I used earlier, I'd be miffed if I paid more for better quality beans, but they were exactly the same but in a fancier 'collectors' tin or metallic label. Others may love that. Its simply a question of what each individual perceives as good value. No entitlement, and I wish people would stop dragging that up, it isn't relevant to 99% of the people here.

    It isn't so much about the loss of the 500SC as the disgust with the replacement offer which is being touted as an improvement and for most people clearly offers much less value for money.
    Katra, Sambril, Anghammarad and 6 others like this.
  18. Quinnos Active Member

    To be fair, I don't think entitlement is a "negative" word even if some people intend it that way.

    It just shows their lack of understanding of how economics works and the definition of the word entitlement.
    Avahlynn, aspekx and Pipsissiwa like this.
  19. Finora Well-Known Member

    Well, I've paid to play these games since 1999. First EQ1 (5 accounts the last 3 years of that game for us) right up until Nov 2004 when EQ2 released. 2 accounts have been gold for EQ2 (sometimes all-access) since 2004 & we added a 3rd gold in 2008, all three are still subbed. If it were a sub only game, those 3 accounts would stay subbed just as they are now. No bonus perks needed, as you are paying for access to the game and you wouldn't have access at all if you didn't pay.

    In a world where there was no marketplace what would get me to sub? I don't know. It would entirely depend on the restrictions placed on free/silver accounts & what added benefit there was for gold. If it were the gold rush buff as it is right now & restrictions as they stand right now for free/silver players...I would have little justification for subbing on any account that didn't need eytma. So only one of the 3 would likely be on a continuing sub, the others might periodically be subbed gold.

    Enter SOE's push for free to play. Since they offer the actual gameplay (and many of the expansions people like me paid for) 100% free, SOE now has to give added value to gold memberships or impose restrictions on the free accounts. If silver/free memberships had stayed the way they were initially, or even how they were a few months ago, gold memberships would still have a far greater value even if there were no 500sc monthly or 2000sc claim or any of this new gold rush buff stuff that has been added. Simply having the access to the gear, spells, bank & bag space without paying extra made it worth it. Bit by bit over the past year/year and a half the restrictions on free accounts have been lifted until there is very little difference between gold & silver. SOE has tried to balance that with adding more perks for subscribing (see the Gold Rush buff), however most of the new buffs are completely inconsequential. The only one truly being worthwhile being the new double tokens (which is pretty awesome).

    Add to that the fact that 500 SC has been a perk for recurring subs for a couple of years now. People have gotten used to it and rather liked how it worked. While the change may have been necessary for SOE (though there has been precious little information given about it, particularly to the EQ2 community), however the line with the announcement of the 2000SC claim " We appreciate our customers, especially our valued members, and therefore are excited to bring you this additional value." is what rubs most everyone posting here the wrong way. It is not an 'added value' for most of those who don't like the change because of all the reasons people have already listed. The change being perceived as yet another cut to the benefits of actually subscribing over being a silver player. If SOE had left out the blurb about ' added value' the change would have been disliked, but there wouldn't have been as many of the rage-quitters and definitely not as many people like me, who are just very disappointed in how it's being handled.

    http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/01/04/norrathian-notebook-are-membership-changes-a-benefit-to-eqii-pl/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed: Massively (Massively)

    Here's an article that outlines it all pretty well.
    Darsch, Quinnos, Kuulei and 1 other person like this.
  20. Wanic Active Member


    Surely you jest?
    CoV is the only non fluff vet reward left worth keeping to your account age, but that's off topic.
    Feara likes this.
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