2014 Membership - Update from Smed

Discussion in 'News and Announcements' started by Ashlanne, Jan 6, 2014.

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  1. Seffrid Active Member

    Anyone interested in the whole benefits issue, and especially European players, may wish to read Massively's interview with Smed here:-

    http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/0...recent-events-and-soe-philosophy-in-intervie/

    "Smedley explained that members of the Prosiebensat.1 team are meeting with SOE in the next few weeks, and one of the top topics on the agenda will focus on working out how EU players will benefit from benefits. While he couldn't go into details before the business meeting plays out, Smedley said his team has an idea that he says "should make European players exceedingly happy."
    flameweaver, Meri and Finora like this.
  2. beagley Well-Known Member

    Thanks for the link, thats an interesting article but it does irk somewhat that we still have to get our news from third party sites rather than direct into the forums. I suppose SOE's reasoning is that this is across all titles (not just EQ2) and so needs a broader base to address, however if thats the case SOE should be posting the links in forums not players.

    The only way they will make this European player "exceedingly happy" is if they announce that we can get all access (or whatever they call it) via my existing SOE account. If they want me to go anywhere PSS then this has no value to me at all and I shall not be accessing the "stable of games" on offer. I trust SOE with my personal and credit card details. PSS however is a different kettle of fish altogether.
  3. Mortisha Member

    Thank you Smedley! :D
    TarnaX likes this.
  4. Naramsin Well-Known Member

    I have read Smed's interview and found it to be an informative read, but leaves me with one question: Will the $14.99 All Access price change do away with the yearly subscription? I am currently paying $210 a year, and they automatically take it out of my bank account. Will they be doing this monthly now instead of yearly?

    Also:
    “Players will definitely be getting only the 500 SC; there will not be any chance for a choice between that or the 2K gift because of the logistics of supporting both would be complex and quite a bit of work. And Smedley noted those resources would be better spent elsewhere.”

    It'd be nice to hear a more in-depth explanation as to how the choice would be complex and quite a bit of work. Seems like the programming of it would be quite simple. Some like the 2k plan and feel cheated, going so far as to say SOE cowtowed to the 500sc “minority”. It's rather obvious to see the 500sc crowd is by no means the minority. I think the choice between 2k and 500sc claim is a good idea, as it satisfies both parties.
    Uwkete-of-Crushbone likes this.
  5. Finora Well-Known Member

    I posted this earlier in the thread.
    I found this on the EQ1 forums posted by Piestro.

    "The current thinking is existing deals will continue to be honored and that the all access benefits will be extended to those folks. So if you have the imaginary $10 a year for EQ deal, and are locked in at that rate, you'd be paying $10 a year for all access now. I can't promise this because this is the kind of thing I need legal approval to promise, but that's the thinking. "

    I've also seen mentioned that multi-month subs would not be going away, but I don't recall which of the umpteen forums, postings or news sites I saw that on.
    Uwkete-of-Crushbone likes this.
  6. ShyMidnight Active Member

    Ah Thank You, I'd forgotten about that February 3rd date.

    True that I just don't have the time it takes to trek thru' threads this long :D I suppose subscribers will get locked in at our current recurring 12 month rates.
    Uwkete-of-Crushbone likes this.
  7. baconlettuceandtomato Active Member

    My recollection was that the original announcement said "the week of feb 3". I took particular note of that because I thought my monthly subscription renewed on the 4th of each month and was left wondering whether I'd get 500sc or a 2k coupon for feb (this was before the original announcement got superseded).

    Changes like this take work to implement, and they can't pull the trigger on it if they aren't ready, hence keeping a bit of wiggle room. But even with the wiggle room I for one don't assume they'll keep the original schedule since the uproar has caused a major rethink - the work on implementing the change has to have been more or less on hold for the past week.
    Uwkete-of-Crushbone likes this.
  8. Grazel New Member


    This is a generalization as each state that's enacted these virtual currency tax laws varies, but the basic argument is that if you can spend legal US currency to buy the virtual currency then the virtual currency has real monetary value and should (and where these laws have passed is) be taxed as income, even if the player accumulates it in-game without spending real currency to acquire it.

    Yes the taxing of xp seems ludicrous and luckily has been shot down each time, so far. The problem is the people making these laws don't play games, don't know how they work, and are mostly just looking for ANY new source of tax revenue. They also think gamers, and the game industry are easy targets because we don't have the lobbying resources that the drug, oil, auto, and bank corporations have. Remember the people trying to pass these tax any sort of virtual accumulation are the same that think the internet is a "series of tubes", that D&D teaches Satanic rites, and that rock music is the work of the Devil.

    These laws though got their start because someone noticed that people were making money off of virtual goods: the gold farmer sites popping up, the sale of characters and accounts (even if it goes against the ToS of a game), and then with games starting to offer ways to spend real money to buy in-game items or currency. A lot more attention came about when some set up actual exchanges and had fluctuating value of their virtual currency compared to real currency, like Linden Labs did with their Lindens currency in SecondLife.
  9. Uwkete-of-Crushbone Well-Known Member

    Not to mention, Zynga Games and others. Does the Sims online stuff do this as well? :-/

    Uwk
    who agrees that yeah, we don't have the "tax us and we'll GET you" protection that the other industries have... :-/
  10. Pipsissiwa Well-Known Member


    Aye, Smed thought the Prosieben deal was great for Euro players in the first place and seemed genuinely, if perhaps naïvely, surprised at the backlash. I remain very cautious as to what he thinks will make us 'exceedingly happy'. I can't quite bring myself to hope that means we can play everything on existing SOE accounts, but that is the only solution I can see that would match Smed's prediction for me at least. Those 'few weeks' until the meeting are going to drag.. Need to know ASAP.
  11. Uwkete-of-Crushbone Well-Known Member

    Well, I'll give Da Smed this: I really doubt anyone in SOE had much say at all about what happened with Pro7 et.al.; they were just told to tell us about it. :-/

    Uwk
    who's keeping his fingers crossed for my EU buddies :)
    Trevynoae, Lodrelhai and Pipsissiwa like this.
  12. Darsch Member

    Thanks for the link.
    After reading that I am kinda saddened that the 500 SC is a done deal, was hopping for either an increase in sc or a revisited 2k voucher plan for discussion. Still feel the 2k voucher was the best deal. Oh well, at least they are lowering the cost of the all access pass still and all future games like EQN will be included. Still feel like i got short changed though and almost have the same bad taste in my mouth that I got from SWG NGE.
  13. Darsch Member

    Would be great to have our European peers get what they want, If that happens I will be very happy and wont mind the lose of the proposed 2k voucher as much. I might, just might even forgive soe for the NGE.
  14. Griffon Lady Well-Known Member

    I know the people who "lost" the 2k item a month won't actually care, but if you think about it....
    You sill get 500 sc a month (even thought you have to claim it like LON now. :\)
    You won't have to buy SC any where still.
    People who buy a bunch of small items in a month would have had to spend their money on SC if it had gone to the 1 item a month thing. (I have to admit, soon as i heard about the change i started planing on the mounts and houses I'd get, but one vs the other, I really do like getting my change for a $5 back more than a token for something under $20.01, especially when the $20 will be restricted and the $5 won't.)
    Most of the items on SC are under 500sc, aside from mounts and houses and bundles (Bundles were going to be excluded any way, IIRC? or was that just the player made bundles?)
    So (assuming you aren't OCD about having lines of matching mounts in your houses) the 2ksc would not have been 2k SC any way.

    Those who keep trying to get JUST the 2k token back... you could be joining all in together and requesting the ability to chose one or the other each month. Stop being bitter and try and get a compromise. -.-

    And for people who don't care and waaant their 2k item RIGHT NOW and phooey with any one who thinks different.. one word... karma.

    On a side note... those land mounts that cost half the price of a full expansion.... any one at SOE listening... could you guys reduce the price on those to something reasonable, or make them one per character? XD Those were what i was going to be using the free item token on. =P
    Katra, Uwkete-of-Crushbone and daicia like this.
  15. mouser Well-Known Member

    Pretend you never heard about the 2000 SC Item deal - you just got All Access for a single game price.
    It may not be the win you wanted, but it's still a tangible win for everybody (so long as they don't screw up my grandfathered Station Access perks, but those are part of my 'account entitlements' now, so hopefully they're safe).

    Go download Dragon's Prophet and play around with the character generator. The best I've ever seen.
  16. mouser Well-Known Member

    I have to laugh at this a bit. Anyone else think the new 'featured item' Ethernere mount looks suspiciously familiar?
  17. Griffon Lady Well-Known Member

    This is not the 2k SC item deal you were looking for. Move along. /waves hand
    >.> I'm still on my old windows XP computer (hopefully soon to be replaced, depending on what emergencies pop up THIS year right after tax returns get here... /sigh) and Dragon's prophet is incompatible with winXP. I never play any thing but EQ2 any who. XD The decorating is just right, Homeshow people are good to be around (occasional troll slips in, but they usually get bored fast around constructive people. o.0) and it just feels like home. XD
    Have you ever tried AION? The game is kinda meh IMHO, but it has the most amazing character creator I've gotten to play with. XD I made an orangutan there, a long time ago. XD
    And yah. XD I thought that WAS the Frostfell cloud mount till i looked closer.o.0
  18. Ocarinah Well-Known Member

    It wasn't just a 2k SC deal...it was going to be a 2K SC every game deal. Would have gotten 2K for planetside 2, 2K for eq2, and 2K for eqnext, etc. They really need to let people pick between the two options.
  19. Lucus Well-Known Member

    Well it seems you are lucky enough to have some people in power that understand gaming and the sheer number of people who do game and how troublesome it would be if any XP taxation went through and gamers all over the place went ape over it.

    Hey SOE I'm pretty sure Australia doesn't tax virtual currencies. just think "virtual tax haven" less money to give to the 'money monsters'.

    Moar money for your exec salaries and you get the privilege of accepting my good money without converting it so i don't get slugged with a conversion fee.
  20. Kilar Active Member

    I applied to beta test this game and got an invite to do so. Unfortunately after downloading it it would not run. I sent in a /bug report and heard nothing more. So I searched the net for info. After a while I found the reason. Dragon's Prophet does not run on XP OS, so basically I was out of luck. I still use XP because I prefer it to the later Windows OS's.
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