2014 Membership - Update from Smed

here you go ...

Now ... taking you by the word ...
Looking at marketplace and taking a 100sc player-studio item you now can even get FIVE items for free every month compared to NULL. (Null because the voucher would have excluded player studio at all ...)

(wish i could delete own postings - then i would have merged this one into the other one right above from me and deleted this one afterwards ... maybe we can have an option that minimizes such postings instead of deleting them? so they are just taking up a line someone could easily expand if they are curious?)

Confused by your post as I have an annual Gold recurring subscription and thats what it states on my account history and I do get the 500SC monthly. I would take it up with customer service again or switch to an annual qualifying plan because it should be possible (unless I'm dreaming that my SC balance keep going up!)

As far as I saw I was the only one on the forums in support of the 2000 sc item voucher. Pipsissiwa is correct, though I found that article to be misleading it did hit the nail on the head about the freedom aspect.

Aye, the original announcement made it clear that restrictions would apply to the 2k voucher, and useful services that are the main revenue stream for SOE were highly likely to be on that list. Chances are high that the voucher would only have been good for mounts, houses, appearance gear and furniture. Ok, so I don't know that for certain, but it seems silly to assume that SOE would give away the stuff members buy the most, especially given the wording of the original announcement.

It sounds like most of you are thinking of this in terms of it being a done deal.

It was made pretty clear in the first post that this is just on the table now and the final decision has not yet been made. Even though we keep the 500 SC use it or hoard it option, just with the new requirement, must log in each month to claim it, they are still discussing exclusions.

It is possible still that services will be included in the exclusions, we just don't know until they tell us. Don't get your hopes up too much guys, just to have them dashed again...though hopefully SOE realizes now what will happen if they disappoint us yet once again.

Personally, I rarely if ever spend SC on services. Though I don't really care about the fluff such as appearance armor, and I think the mounts are just too overpriced to justify my spending SC on them, I do love decorating and I love the housing items. If they would offer more prestige houses with empty lots that I could build up the way I want, I might actually consider spending SC on prestige homes, but to date I have only purchased two prestige homes, simply because I don't like that they are already 'built' on. To have player made items and bundles included would be ideal for me, but I realize after reading all the posts of feedback, that the majority of you prefer to use your SC on services, so just think you need to sit back and watch how this plays out in the end.

I'm glad that this all access membership works out for others, though it makes no difference to me since the only two SOE games I play are FR and EQII, and my FR accounts are lifetime accts, therefore no monthly sub required for them (am curious how this works into the new all access plan as well). While I love the 500 SC option, I realize there are others who prefer the 2k voucher, use it or lose it option, and previously I suggested a solution...not because I want the 2k voucher, but because I would like to see those who prefer that option to still receive it, since it does seem to matter to them as much as my 500SC option matters to me. It would then be a win/win situation for both those of us who prefer the 500 SC, and those members who think they are getting a better deal with the 2k voucher.

I agree with a pre-F2P desire ... but the previous voucher idea suited myself and several of my friends who play far better. Now, 500 free SC and a lousy 10% discount is practically useless unless you are a consistent small item purchase buyer. 10% of say a 1500 mount is still 1350 sc which is 3 months of SC. Yes it is free if one is patient ... but in that 3 months time I could have selected 2 other items to go along with it. What happens if I sub long enough and there just isn't anything left on the store I want? I wouldn't care ...
Limitations? Fine, services such as race change etc shouldn't be free ... expansions, keep em paid. But cosmetics, mounts, houses, furniture, plushies ... no reason those cannot be voucher-set for 1 free a month.

I was thrilled about the idea and now, the rug was pulled out from under me. They should have thought harder before presenting this to the player base only to then say, oh nevermind.

Other games is moot, as I have no desire.

Much rather have the 1 item and be done with it as I never buy from the Store otherwise.

Please offer both options for players to pick from ...

500 sc does not go very fair when stretching it amongst multiple games, now if its a 500 for each game ( highly doubtful) thats diffrent.

The original plan would have allowed me to get something upto 2k ( I looked at the shops, there was enough to hold me over for a year at least at 1500sc or more between the games I would use it on) Now its just claim 500 sc, and save save save to be able to get that one 2k item i want, but i have to choose which game to get it in. Ohh well at least I can now apply it towards beast lord.

Just one thing came to mind right the moment ... (at least now I know how to write it down that is)

Before I could get 1000sc on my account for having EQ and EQ2 subs active (not AllAccess for several reasons).
With things going "AllAccess" now I may be down 500sc. Ok - happens. But I am down one subscription-fee, too. If I want those 500sc I can always just spend 5 EUR and still pay about 10 EUR less per month. For those of us who are on the $99 sub - well - I still would save about $3 per month buying the "missing" 500sc ;-)

As much as I am trying (and I am trying hard) to find a negative aspect for myself (which might apply to other players, too) I am better off "soon" than I am now. And I could check in on my vanguard characters every now and then without feeling like they are "2nd class" just because I don't maintain a subscription there.

Of course this only applies if they honor current subscription rates to qualify as "AllAccess" that is. But it would be stupid not to do so unless they want to alienate long-time customers. Most likely I do expect them to take one of the existing subs and add it to the other maybe.

And of course - final judgement will be done once I can be sure that there is no tricksery about us european customers with pro7 ;-)

I use my SC on fluff. I rarely use the services. Occasionally it is nice to get an insta-rez, and I did unlock one merc to hire anywhere, otherwise it's house items, hence my preference for the flexible 500. I don't mind working up an alt, I love questing ( as you can see from my sig) so aa's fly up pretty quick, plus I had two aa baubles from a preorder. I have more houses than I can keep up with the decorating on and all my toons have wings already - I call them Batonga lol.

So now we are back to the 500SC a month and a $14.99 SOE subscription plan. I *really* like the $14.99 SOE subscription plan especially since I am planning on playing EQNL and EQN in the future and I may go back to Vanguard for a bit as well, see how things are after a year or so away. The price is right and I am looking forward to this. Good change!

I was excited last night when I read Smed's first post where we would be able to get a 2000SC voucher in *each* game that we played/logged into every month. That seemed far more beneficial to me than a single 500SC per month that I logged in. Seeing how he also stated that Player Studio and Bundles would be included I was happy with the 2000SC.

How about letting each customer pick which bonus they would want? Those that want the 500SC each month could choose that and those that would rather have the 2000SC voucher each month could choose that? The cost of the SOE subscription would remain the same. We would just have two choices as far as which bonus we would get letting us choose which we want every month - 500SC or a 2,000SC voucher.

Personally right now I would like to see the $14.99 SOE subscription plan come with a 2000SC voucher for *every* game over the 500SC per account, especially if we would be allowed to use the voucher on things such as services (race, name changes), mounts, housing and so on.

Off topic - but I'd suggest you take this up with CS again. I have 3 gold accounts, all on annual subs, all with up to date CC details on file and all on auto renew. They are all considered recurring and all get their monthly 500 SC fix.

yeap, can't agree more, that is my freedom of choice right there. More bang for my buck. the single 500sc a month grant is just to limiting in my opinion compared to the revised voucher plan smedley announced earlier.

Now if they were to announce we would have full access to all the adventurer feature pack unlocks ( Beast lords, mercs, dungeon maker, reforging, etc) I would be extremely happy.

I will maintain my sub regardless, just stating what I would prefer.

Whew! Awesome, thanks, guys!

Appreciate keeping us in the loop!

Uwk

It's a welcome sight to see the communication open up a bit. You don't see that all the time.

I like the new changes. The all access is now a good option for our four accounts. We were leaning that way for EQN anyway. I am wondering if with the new lower price if there will be the discount for yearly subscriptions that normally come with that type of deal.

Also, once the all access came into play the idea of tokens wasn't as offensive since it spanned all games. I am assuming that the tokens are no longer an option at all since they will be reverting back to the monthly 500SC.

Question for the mods: We currently have a subscription for EQ2 only. Once the all access goes into play will we be all access too on our existing subscriptions?

I just can't understand why now, after they change back to SC only option each month that people are pouring onto all game forums complaining that they liked the voucher system better. Take a lesson people, those of us that were unhappy with some or all of the changes posted our views, you should have done the same. Yes, the negative can overwhelm but that was your time to state your views to have an affect. Personally, I didn't like the voucher system, UNTIL, the all access option came up. That wasn't an option before so tokens didn't make sense. Now that there are new cards on the table that maybe should be revisited.

With option #3, would it not exclude services?

It was an option before, they simply took the regular all access pass and made it cheaper, you sub to one game now you are an all access pass member instead of paying 20 like I have been and only getting the 500 sc a month as if I had only subbed to one game.

The previous voucher system you referenced was giving me something for all the games I play instead of just 500 sc and was a much better value for my $20 a month, now I will be getting what I have all ways gotten, while losing access to two games that was previously a part of the all access pass (honestly could care less about those though), and getting a 10 percent discount ( which is only saving me 20 to 50 SC on a purchase) but only paying $15 a month for it now.

Given that the 500SC will need to be claimed, once the change is implemented, why not now have both options ? That is, /claim 500SC that can be used for anything (or retained) OR \claim 2000SC that has to be consumed immediately on a limited choice, Once one or other of the options is claimed, the unclaimed option is then removed from the claim window - until the next month - when the choice can be made again.. That way all players have the choice - each month - to decide how to use the SC.