2014 Membership Update - News from Smed!

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

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  1. Suraklin Member

    So what did the remark about games PS2 players might like mean at the end of the last sentence? Is EQOA being brought back to a different console or PC version? Or possibly being brought back online to play on PS2 again? EQOA was my first MMO and it broke my heart when it was announced you were shutting it down.
  2. Torryn Woodsrunner Active Member


    Actually, if you read through the Reddit thread, there's a lot of consideration going on regarding changes and adjustments to this plan...far more than I expected, being the hardened cynic that I am. :)

    I've already dropped my All Access subscription, as it was coming due anyway, and I'd rather wait and see what happens with this before I commit my rather limited entertainment budget. But as someone who legitimately loves and cares about the franchise, I felt I should offer my constructive solutions while I watch and wait.
    Kurisutaru, Alenna, aspekx and 5 others like this.
  3. Zetayn New Member

    Radarx,
    Maybe you knew about eq1 and how it came about and how the people of verant and how SOE came along were doing it right but now times have changed for the bad for SOE.

    The people that DO pay for the membership are the loyal people and having SC and having us get a item from the store is ridiculous there should be should be a better ratio for getting better drops for the gold members not going to the store and buying items which is luring people to buy more stuff. Let the FTP people pay for that stuff not the gold members!!

    Our 14.99 is a HUGE part of the companies income and we shouldn't have to be paying for items that we paid YOUR programmers to make. Not selling it to the loyal gold members!
    Avahlynn and Quinnos like this.
  4. Flatline Well-Known Member

    In EQ2 they have to buy the expansion and the feature pack, since itemization is made with reforging in mind, mercs is the order of the day etc.... so the EQ2 "Price to pay" is exansion AND feature pack. just ... saying you know ?
  5. Lateana Older than Dirt, Playing EQII since 2004

    I am a CPA and I agree about the accounting issues and tax issues that are connected.

    BTW folks: I told ya so.......in that other thread :)
  6. isest Active Member

    I have a better option give me a 10 dollar gold sub that does not give me the 2k sc perc. I would rather have that. That way if I want sc I can buy it and use it when needed.
  7. Flatline Well-Known Member

    PS1 going F2P is my guess - unless it have happend already
  8. Flatline Well-Known Member


    Just wish it wasn't so PS2 specific but i guess that shows us where we rank on the totem pole - RadarX comment in the other thread about audience size showed that too :) no offense.

    It is interesting to read ill give you that though.
    Uwkete-of-Crushbone likes this.
  9. Bashem Well-Known Member

    I bought a year membership recently. Is SoE going to stand by it with the 500 SC that I got when I signed up? If not what recourse do I have for a refund?
    Brezard and Uwkete-of-Crushbone like this.
  10. Uwkete-of-Crushbone Well-Known Member

    Brilliant! That goes along with the "alternate currency for EQ2 (ONLY, perhaps, so SOE doesn't have to worry about people "stealing" EQ3 from them with accrued SC)" idea that folks had. :)

    Uwk
  11. Filly67 Well-Known Member

    Smed already posted on Reddit that you could get a refund if you cancel.
  12. Poisinivy Member

    so according to smed all SOE PC titles will be included in an all access does this include Dragon Prophet? one of the main reason that game lost most of its player base is because of the lack of a subscription plan that bypassed all the nickel and diming.....also so how about landmark and eq next are these going to have a sub cause personally I despise not having a subscription option which is why I use all access
    Simparri and Uwkete-of-Crushbone like this.
  13. Uwkete-of-Crushbone Well-Known Member

    It would be nice if we could make a lot of those smaller things; leave Player Studio as is, perhaps, but put a lot of the other stuff out for Carpenters, etc. to make, if they don't want us piddling around with the penny ante stuff (the big-ticket stuff, the fancy mounts, the prestige homes, SERVICES, etc. would be on the Marketplace). Problem solved. ;->

    Uwk
  14. Vasciagio Well-Known Member

    I have been an EQ fan for a very long time, going back to the original everquest when getting an epic was "epic. I currently only have time to play EQ2, but I have 2 AllAccess accounts. In total, I have 5 accounts. One is my gold account that I have my main characters on. A second account is a "grandfathered" Silver account that was my original account back in the Everquest days. I have paid SOE alot of money over the years; alot. Therefore, Yes you are right I am a "Valued Customer".
    I work full time and I don't have the time to play both EQ2 and EQ now, but I keep the all Access for the options to be open for me. I,also, use EQ2 as my de-stresser. I just love the crafting so much and it relaxes me. Even harvesting is relaxing for me ( I know, Weird right?) I find myself buying station cash often. I'd say around once a month. I originally thought it would be great to use my main account to do adventuring, decorating etc. While I have my second account doing Guild Crafting writs, Harvesting etc. It didn't take me long to start using SC from my main account to buy things for the non-gold account like Houses, mounts, gear etc. and of course supplementing my EQaddiction of multiple accounts can't be done with 500 SC. Therefore, SOE got more money from me, through buying lots of extra stationcash. Yes I might save up some of the 500 SC one month to the next, but most often I will add 2K or more to be able to supply all my account toons.
    Recently, I have even baught the unlocker for my non-gold account to have access to mercs and apprentices and now that my non-gold account has many lvl 90 crafters; I am thinking I need to buy COE for the other accounts. Guess what that means for SOE... more money coming your way. I was thinking why am I abusing one team of characters with limitations and was on the verge of just switching all the account to gold. I mean why not, I enjoy the game and as a bonus I can get the extra coin, the extra tokens, and the 500 SC ( which still Probably wouldn't be enough to supplement my habit.)
    Now, This information on the future changes coming out has me upset and while I usually am accepting of change and grow with it; this particular change has me posting in a Non Homeshow Forum to speak my concerns. I feel like many others that I am getting cheated. Whether you think you are cheating us or not, that is how I feel and as a "valued customer" feeling this way brings many doubts.
    I understand that ultimately SOE will need us to buy more SC rather than just save up to get those dream items from the market place. I understand the business sense from this change. However, I might suggest a different approach that would work better at getting more money from your "Valued Customers" while maintaining a Valuable relationship.
    Huge Sales don't work for you... Yes you get alot of traffic for 2X and 3X deals and even with the rebates and such but it gives more gain to customer and less to the company. Another approach would be the "Add to the Basket" or "Basket Builder" approach to sales. Don't just put something on the marketplace that people want and expect them to not save up SC to get it. Instead, put a main item of focus with many little extras that go with it. For example, you are working on putting in this awesome house that you think many customers will want. You take the time to gather the feedback and know that the house will be a big seller. Ok, there is your attention-getter. Now create matching doors, matching windows, matching wishing well for the frontyard. Use you imagination and put in items that will make people buy more SC to get all those wonderful "Add-ons".
    Eventually, even the ones saving up their SC from the 500SC gold perk will burn through their SC and want to buy more.
    I understand the philosophy behind the FTP. Get the customer interested and give them the options to accessorize with the extras. Use that same strategy toward SC itself -- give the customer the Freebie SC but give them the accessories that will make them want to buy more SC.
    Sorry for the lengthy post but I had to vocalize my thoughts on the changes and SOE wanted the feedback, so there is mine.
    P.S. - I think I will be holding off on making the other 4 accounts gold until I feel more comfortable with these changes.
    Vasciagio Bladesong
    82 Keran Troubadour/95 Master Carpenter
    Butcherblock Server
  15. pzpz Active Member

    if that was even remotely legit, wouldn't smed have mentioned it too? confused.
  16. Pippers Active Member

    That is exactly the kind of statement we should have seen upfront.
    I really have to wonder if SOE even has a real marketing department.

    While I appreciate the eluded offer of access to all games:
    1. You have no other games I'm interested in
    2. Everything can be tried out ftp anyway :rolleyes:
    For the new gold "perk" to be appealing to me it would still require drop the one item limit PERIOD.
    You could offer me a free item a month up to 10,000k sc and it still wouldn't be an improvement since the highest priced item atm is 3400 and likely to be excluded.

    I also find it mildly amusing that new accounting/reporting laws on virtual currency may be making life difficult at SOE.
    Perhaps the cash cow "Free to Pay" model wasn't such a good idea for companies after all.
  17. Phenyx New Member

    I never comment in the forums, I just come here looking for info. But a few people have used the fact that most people in the forums are ranting to assert that most players dislike these changes. So I'm popping in to add my 2 cents.

    Things I love:
    • "Gold for one is Gold for all" ;) I'm interested in checking out EQL/EQN. If I like it, this will be a nice boon. I wasn't interested in paying more for All Access, so I was going to end up having to choose based on benefits of Gold and play time of each. Lots of people in the forums seem not to be interested in this, so I wanted to let you know there are lots of us who DO like it.
    • Permanent Double Tokens - YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D:D:D
    • 15% More Coin, 10% More Mount Speed, Past Expansion Items available for Loyalty tokens - Very much appreciated
    Very happy with the above perks. Thank you. :D

    As for the Station Cash brouhaha.... I don't really care about the change from $500 free SC to a free monthly item. Each one has it's pros, each it's cons and I will be fine with either option. Making more bundles of the smaller items would make a lot of people happier, though.

    What I'm NOT fond of is the seeming end to SC sales. I don't mind paying for SC, but I've never thought 500SC for $5 was a good value. I'm an alt-aholic and my husband plays as well so we have a lot of toons to buy for and the prices for everything are just too high. But getting SC on sale made it easier to justify spending a bunch of real cash on fictional items. I topped off on the Black Friday sale, but now I'm nervous about spending it because I'm worried I might not see another decent sale on SC until Black Friday 2014, if at all! Since there was no annual Double SC sale this year for Frostfell, everyone is convinced we've lost THAT as well.

    I think in the end, for various reasons, many players are starting to feel like we simply won't be able to get the things we really want with our Marketplace experience. Or put another way, we're starting to feel 'strapped for (Station) cash'. :eek: And of course, no one enjoys that feeling. So please consider bringing the Double/Triple SC sales back, and if you keep the 2000SC single monthly item change, then please add more bundles of smaller things and keep the items on the restricted list to an absolute minimum.

    Aside from the SC issue, my guildies and I love what you're doing. Thanks for the updates and explanations. :)
  18. Kalika Well-Known Member

    If you afraid just change this SC into a currency usable only for Eq2 but with the same purhasing power.
    Gaelmyst likes this.
  19. Gaelmyst New Member

    This is my first comment/post in forums and is really the first time I've felt it important to add my viewpoint, so here goes:

    I'm happy to see that the vocal and - mostly - unhappy gold member response has encouraged SOE to clarify their reasons for this change and to possibly re-evaluate how to keep their subscribed members interested in continuing to pay $ every month for added benefits.

    Personally, I do understand the fiscal reasons behind trying to limit endless accrual of SC on accounts that are occasionally or not played; however, active player or not SOE still receives the monthly fee. These occasional players are PAYING customers, whether they take advantage of SC or not. This is an electronic platform and digital coinage we're talking about. SOE should be capable of maintaining software that can keep accurate digital $ accrual without it causing
    .
    I'm one of those EQ2 nuts that actually have an all-access and 2 additional paid gold accounts (alt-aholic:D). I don't know if there's a great answer to the problem of providing similar goodies over multiple platforms without chaos and
    .

    I like the idea presented by many members to offer a monthly choice between using up to $2000SC on an item - including bundles, etc. - or $500SC to spend on anything and/or save. Accrual, buying several smaller items and such should be a choice for your loyal paying customer base.
    chiteira likes this.
  20. Pippers Active Member

    Actually for me can easily see this as bad now.....there is nothing currently on the market place that makes this good for me even with out exclusions.
    If I want a neat new mount, house, or appearance item I've bought it already.
    I went through the market place and assuming nothing other things labeled "bundle" and PS are excluded (we no that's not true but being hopeful) almost HALF the items available at 500- 2k sc are mounts. Seriously how many does a char need.

    So for me anything I picked would likely be well below 500sc in value and therefore NOT an added value over what I get now.
    Dohmyr, chiteira and Avahlynn like this.
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