2014 Membership Benefit Update

I've canceled my subscription. The deal just isn't a good one for me personally. I would rather just buy SC or SC Cards and get what I want than play the convoluted voucher system. The other perks aren't worth $15 monthly to me and with the 2x loyalty going away that sort of seals the deal.

I like to stockpile my SC. I enjoy buying big things sometimes like mounts or premium deeds. Often I like to buy small things like accelerating research and what not. So I'll go with purchasing SC as needed.

I think that we may all look back on this later and go "that was when the game died". Yes it's all guesswork and speculation on what's going to be excluded but I think it's educated guesswork to say services won't be able to be bought with the 2000 sc.

Services seem to be holy, they aren't put on sale or rebate, why would that change now?

As someone that has been an ardent soe defender, I'm in shock at the stupidity of this move. Hello? Whoever is in charge of this choice? You aren't very good at your job.

Can't wait to buy all those mounts!

This is a terrible idea, and will cost you more in subscriptions than you gain in SC sales. And here is why: When I was a grad student, my adviser gave me a piece of advice about teaching. You can make your students do almost anything, as long as you explain what is expected of them *the first day of class*. You try to change the rules after then, and they *will* rebel.

Same principle applies here. You explain what people get when they sign up for Gold membership, and you can pretty much make the benefits whatever you want. Try to change the rules after people sign up and many will leave, if for no other reason than to express their displeasure with your changes.

Solution? How about a "Legacy" membership level for existing members? People who are already gold get moved to "Legacy" membership and keep their current benefits. New subscribers get Gold membership with the new Gold rules. If you ever drop your "Legacy" subscription you cannot go back - you get the new Gold membership if you drop and resub later.

Other companies do this kind of thing all the time - change their program rules but allow existing members to keep what they have (or to change to the new rules if they want to - understanding that once you change you cannot go back). It really encourages customers to stay with them. You should really consider something like this - you already have the ability to apply different levels of subscriber (Free, Silver, Gold) with different benefits.

I don't care for the "exclusions may apply" what items would be available to buy then, one wonders. Also, I am one of the people that like to save up SC instead. This is a limit 2k, some of the mounts for example, are more than that. If SoE insists on implementing this "benefit" could they at least do it so it is more like a coupon. So you can use that SC for Money off if you wish.

On a side note, I really wish they would fix the bug for the forum where it forces some letters to become capitalized when they aren't supposed to be... perhaps a browser related issue, not sure. but still.

I think this gold sub benefit needs to be revised to say the least.

Ozien brings up some very good ideas!

I think it's possible that a lot of folks are missing the point of the change. I doubt that the change is being made for our benefit. SOE is trying to recapture our micro-transactions by changing the benefit from 500 SC per month to 1 free purchase per month (limit 2000 SC, exclusions apply). That way they're recapturing your decorating, potion, service, etc. purchases each month.

I dont like this change, it takes away my FREEDOM OF CHOICE, so it while the sticker price LOOKS good, what you are in essence doing is LIMITING my options to what you DEEM us worthy of, which we all know - because it makes sense - will NOT be services etc.

Today i have the option of saving my 500 SC to use when i see fit and most importantly on WHAT i see fit, if i want to save for 2 months and buy a character slot I CAN .... not so much any more.

I personally think that this is a NOT AN IMPROVEMENT, but a devaluation of the whole value of gold memberships.

Exactly.

Dear Sony,

Please keep the 500 SC per month for Gold membership and keep double tokens for life for Gold membership as well. Don't fix something that isn't broken in the first place.

Sincerely,

Current Population

Well as someone who has recently returned and is having a blast and was considering gold (a large part of that was the 500 SC points every month) I'm don't really see the benefit of subscribing now. 2000 point item a month which is going to have restrictions and goes away if not used? If the rebate sale was any indication, most of the "good" items will be restricted and unavailable for purchase, which wouldn't have been the case with the 500 SC per month.

I mean who really came up with this? If they wanted to make more $ this seems like the wrong way to do it. If I wanted a 2000 point item I would need to be a subscriber for 4 months to save up that kind SC as a gold member which would be 4 months x $15. Now you can technically subscribe for 1 month, save $5 off the price of that 2000 SC item by doing so, unsubscribe once you buy the item and call it a day. Now if the object is to nickle and dime those who buy small items I guess, but don't alot of those come in bundles anyway at a higher SC cost. So I don't see the benefit their either to anyone, even SOE.

BTW, It's not just me, but also my wife who plays. We were both thinking of coming back ans subscribing because we are having a good time...but this kinda puts the breaks on things for us and we are really going to have to think if the benefit is there anymore. More character slots? Broker system? eh, already have 5 character slots (veteran reward, started in 04) and no real need for the broker system ATM, so what's the point now?

WOW AWSOME

can you tell if char slots/rename pots and race pots will be included?

All my reasons for severely disliking this change have been spelled out by others here. The only option left me, and others, is whether or not to speak with the checkbook once this rolls out. I'm all the more a sucker for having bought into the EQN:L founder program (no refunds!).

I am very disappointed in you, SOE.

would take you 7 months

Well I’ve always felt uncomfortable with the auto-renew plan for recurring membership ever since the hacking debacle. With this latest fiasco, I decided today to cancel that recurring membership – annoyingly a few days late since my annual renewal was automatically deducted from my credit card. Now that was fine until I received this little gem in the “account cancellation confirmation” email. I’ve underlined the annoying part.

As a result of this cancellation, your access to exclusive Members Only content will be removed after the end of your Membership cycle. In addition, and with immediate effect, you will no longer receive SC500 per month (granted for remaining on an auto-renew plan).


Hello … SOE, you have my money 12 months in advance with this recurring membership. So anyone looking at a recurring membership – make it the shortest possible period of time and don’t be stupid like me thinking that SOE should have our total support.
So for me now – this latest fiasco becomes a non-event since I won’t be getting any benefit from being a gold member who has paid up front for the next 12 months. To add insult to injury – I have foolishly paid out for EQ Next Landmark! Heed my stupidity and don’t get done over for your loyalty!

There are only so many large items to buy. I too prefer to buy a lot of small items. Please rethink this.

Very disappointing to see the manner in which this has been presented, especially if your unlucky enough to have recently purchased an entire year's worth of membership.

I don't think it's the day the game died. I think it could be the day the sub died.

I'm not quitting the game. I'm just not going to pay for it with the occasional subscription anymore. I plan on playing and paying solely with SC purchases.

This is why I never ever do this anymore. I used to be an annual subscriber to Rift, but I felt burned with the SL expansion and how it was sold. I felt like annual subscribers got the finger while Trion pandered to everyone else offerinig all sorts of deals if you bought additional years and packages. It's just too far out to commit and publishers aren't consistent enough to make that risk worthwhile when all you save is a few dollars over a 3 or 6 month deal.

Will I be getting a refund for the year long Gold membership that included the 500 SC monthly or am I getting the rest of the SC that I paid for?

“The current benefit of receiving 500 Station Cash (SC) monthly will be replaced with a new program that allows you to select one single item valued up to 2000 SC each month.” This new benefit must be claimed each month that you are a member as it will not carry over to subsequent months.”


How is this new benefit any value for a gold subscription player “ONE SINGLE ITEM valued UP TO 2000 SC” with exclusions already being mentioned before implementation? Forcing subscription members to claim the “benefit” before it disappears forever as it will “not carry over to subsequent months”, with a little subliminal message, “This new benefit must be claimed each month that you are a member”. So, SC is really mightier than the SUB, thank you SOE for showing your true colors once again, ( Ref: Fan Faire 2010) Changes are not always for the better, two wrongs do not make a right. Better think this NEW benefit over very carefully.