2014 Membership Benefit Update

Yawn

I suspect other things will appear on the Market place for 2k SC that'll incent people to use the free cash

Me too pay and barely play.....
How if i need a 3500sc heroic char ?
I can accumulated to get one,
but after the so called [Membership Benefit Update], i hav to dig up my wallet again.....

I don't like the idea but I'm naturally sceptical.

Question: can we use this 2k token towards a larger ticketed item and pay the difference? (such as a transfer token or heroic character)

Well after all this time played . I suppose I will go check out Elder Scrolls Online in April .this change Sucks

There will always be negative and positive responses to any change. Unfortunately Sony can't please everyone. Instead of complaining and making threats of quitting the game, why don't you first see if it works for you. Then you will have a valid reason to complain. Just learn to give changes a chance, you may like it in the end. As for me, i will be saving any judgement until i have had an opportunity to utilize this new change.

Hmmm... well, my final opinion about this change will be dependent on which items are excluded. So, in February we get this change and loose the double token/coin bonus. Yeah...

Wait wait wait:

Lets say you are a Lifetime Member in DCUO. Now-a-days you play EQ2 for whatever reason. You have been receiving 500 SC per month from DCUO to spend in any SOE game you chose. Now, if I'm reading this right, will the Lifetime member's benefit no longer cross games? Is a part of the original contract between the lifetime member and Sony on a completely different level than a Gold (premium) type subscription?

Looking over the DCUO forums as well, I was seeing that they will receive Loyalty Points. Am I too assume that this will prevent interactive benefits between the two games now or will the member be able to "use" in some way these points in EQ2 or EQ or Planet Side 2?

Just looking for some clarification on how this level of interaction is going to work.

-- Arieus

Like i said, Sony can't please everyone all the time. So....

To quote Al Borland of TV's Tool Time, when responding to something totally stupid, "I don't think so, Tim". This is an end run to try and get people to buy more SC, just like the 'rebate' weekends. Just how many single items are close to 2k SC? And how many would I actually buy? This is a very good way to feel cheated every month I don't want any single item close to 500 SC, and feel cheated again when I want something over 2k that I could have saved for.

If you really want this to be 'better', rework the SC store into a Cart and Checkout system. Then we could add stuff to our cart up to whatever amount, click a SC discount button (that would only work once a month), and we're done. Then we can buy as many items as we like up to the limit of the discount plus our current balance, once per month.

Of course if you did that, you'd have to rework the 'Rebate' weekends to work the same way, and that would mean far less incentive to purchase SC for the privileged few that can afford it and actually do. I have to wonder if upsetting the large majority of players that don't purchase SC is worth the tiny percent increase these schemes net in the end.

I wish i had the answer you need Arieus, perhaps contact a gm for that. Good luck = )

I guess this is to remove cross financing between SOE games, because of the separate SOE and PSS1 SC wallets. This way we won't miss the SC transfer between SOE and PSS1 account when EQN is released.

I only went for recurring sub in EQ2 after SOE announced that Everquest Next Landmark will be a SOE game and not a PSS1 one. A big reason for this was the monthly 500 SC grant which I can't really spend in Everquest 2. I rarely buy any fluff items from marketplace, I don't really care about mounts, appearance items, houses.

This change should take effect only after the current subs expire. Otherwise I wouldn't buy 1 year sub for both of my accounts. Can we get a refund on the remaining time?

The only useful thing to buy in EQ2 is spell research. Maybe character slot unlock when a new class is released. Are these included in the free grants? And some items which really qualify as micro transaction, like mercenary unlock and maybe the tracking scroll.

This is the most important part for me personally. I do not know exactly what is meant by "bundles" so I am unsure what to think just yet. I know if practically everything is included, I will be very happy with the change. If "bundles" means that things like racial appearance armor sets are not included, I will not be very happy. I have played EQ2 on-and-off for several years, but just recently settled-in here for the long haul, making it my #1 game, even though my account has been (Station/All Access) continuously since Jan. 2007. Yes, I am one of those terrible alt-o-holics, having 15 characters, and only 2 of them have flying mounts or prestige homes. So for me, I can see getting a very high value from this program, as I could see spending a minimum of 1350 of that SC (and some months 1950) every single month for at least the next two years!

So much depends on what will be restricted! If the big-ticket items are included--all mounts, prestige homes, 280 AA baubles, appearance armor sets--I will be very happy with the change. Surely I am not the only one?

I do not mean for this to sound selfish at all--just voicing an opinion from my own personal perspective. I do understand the different views here though, as those who make a lot of small purchases will be inconvenienced.

More than anything else, I would love to see more information about what will be included or excluded.

I don't see this as a benefit at all, this is a terrible idea.

Will you be taking our current SC we have now, and/or forcing us to spend our current total in Feb. or will be able to keep the current total to spend when and how we decide?

There is rarely anything I want every month, and this does not give you full access to what you can buy, in fact, it's extremely limiting.

This is not a benefit, it's a reduction in benefits. I want to keep the 500 SC a month to spend how and when I want.

Why don't you let us keep the 500 SC each month and just exclude Player Studio, for which I know you want real money to play the designers.

For me, you can take away the SC perk entirely, I was never happy with F2P or SC anyways. The next logical extension and certainly into Next is Pay To Breathe.

I would be happy if you took all of it away and just left double tokens for Gold subs (of which I am one). An alternative is to lose F2P and make everyone pay the same for their entertainment. As it is, my SUBscription is actually a SUBsidy

Oh and as SC/F2P is here to stay, I am against this move entirely; as has been posted before, this will mean that everything you can buy with the perk SC is INFLATED to 2000sc!

All I ask is that someone from SOE come on these forums and help discuss this and clarify things better.... SOE if your reading these posts then as a courtesy it would be nice to hear from you and help the community understand why you put these ridicules changes in place... I am a 10 year vet and I would like t hope they would actually care and listen

i think there is a bigger picture here. a few years ago Smed made an offhand comment about SOE going f2p as a final goal. this is it.

what they are saying and will continue to say as they cut options is that they don't want your subscription. why? because on average they believe they can make more money forcing everyone to use the shop.

the progression is simple: add f2p options, add store, move vet rewards to purchases only made with Loyalty Points so they are no longer tied to subs, then cut the one of the last real perks of being a subscriber.

it's simple they don't want your sub.

if subs were phased out or simply a bad consumer option, what do you think will happen? the shop will be the one and only method of obtaining things. i don't think they will be so foolish as to charge for zones in EQN, but you can bet they will eventually start selling things that only someone with an inordinate amount of time on their hands will be able to obtain ingame. and you won't be able to complain because they will no longer 'owe' you anything for your sub. it's all free after all isn't it?

I'm really not sure I like this at all. Great if you want to give us the 2000SC but let us use it to buy what we want that totals up to 2000SC and there should be no items that we can not buy. <-------(still do like that idea) I personally like to save my SC up if there is nothing I want so why not just give us more each month that will carry over like it does now? It won't at all benefit my husband, he only buys something when he really wants/needs it. So it seems to me that people like him are getting the short end of the stick in this deal as well as the ones that like to save it up. Again, Just raise the amount and let it carry over!!! Much better!!!

sadly, i think you are mistaken. everything will not be 2000SC. however, things will quickly become 2001SC.

I can already tell you definitively, it will not work for me. I save up my 500SC/month, and use it for small things like unlocking mercs in EQ2, or maybe a new costume option in DCUO, or other small things here and there across my All Access account. Sometimes I have carryover from the prior month. Sometimes I don't. If a big item should come along that I don't care to save up for, I'll buy some additional SC and buy my item. But across the board, I spend my SC on my schedule, and based on my recreational spending budget.

This is what SOE is taking away with this plan. I will no longer be able to spend my way, as I see fit. I, and many like me, will be forced to use a 2000SC 'voucher' once per month, regardless of whether there's anything we really want in the Marketplace or not. Otherwise, we lose the 2000SC entirely, and thus sacrifice a benefit of subscribing.

That's just bad business. As long as a subscriber is paying their subscription fee, they should never have to sacrifice any of their subscription benefits. EVER. If I pay for a year ahead of time, and choose (or am forced) to wait until the last three months of my paid time to log in, I have every right to expect the prior nine months of benefits to be waiting for me. I've paid for them. If I pay month-to-month, I'm still paying for a subscription, and have every right to expect the benefits of membership, regardless of me logging in or not. I'm paying for them. Those membership benefits are mine by right of commerce.

Changing the benefit system is fine, but denying a membership benefit because you didn't log in to claim it is just outright wrong. I claim my benefits every time that subscription fee gets paid.

This idea needs more refinement, a lot more thought, and needs to continue to provide benefit to the subscriber regardless of their inclination to log in.

And yes, it is possible to make all the players happy with this change, and still motivate people to subscribe, and purchase additional Station Cash. It just requires more actual work to do it.

First the "rebate" 48 hour holiday sale and now this goofy change to the monthly subscription stipend? I really want to know what member of the management staff came up with these ideas, and why on earth the rest of the decision makers agreed that it was a great idea and signed off on it? Pot is legal here in WA and Colorado, but I didn't know it was legal in California now, too. (I know. I know: "Dude, *its California*...") Was 'Casual Fridays' changed to 'Puff, Puff, Pass Wednesdays'?

Seriously, I am flummoxed at what I've been reading tonight. (Which is a word that I never actually thought I'd use in any conversation, much less in a post on a gaming forum.) But its exactly what popped to mind after I started catching up on these news links via the EQ2 Launcher.

Personally, I always felt that the monthly stipend was a part of my subscription fee, that helped offset some of the need to buy SC if I wanted something from the store. Subscribers are already telling the company that they feel the game is worth paying $15 a month, so the stipend is just a little thank you that the player can either spend on something they need, or save over time to buy that something special, or whatever.

I have a feeling this is in relation to plans for Everquest Landmark/ Everquest Next and TBH, if this is the new direction that SOE is choosing to go with their games, then "no thank you".

If you folks want to figure out new and innovative ways to get us players to spend our money... just try asking us. Since we're the ones who want to be entertained and are willing to pay for it, I think we can best give ideas on what will make us say "Take Our Money, Plz!". All of you developers have seemed to have forgotten that; these money grab schemes are just not necessary.