2014 Membership Update - News from Smed!

The game is free. to everyone. How can people think the 500 sc was free? Call it a rebate if you like, but it was not free, it was part of our sub that we could spend any way we liked.

Is this all games access is supposed to be seen as a perk? Really? Aren't most of them f2p anyway?
I'm glad some players are happy with it, but I am not one of them.

I guess I had ESP. I had just predicted they were going to convert my EQ2 only subscription to an all access subscription.

I guess it is something though. The benefits seem mostly the same. I can put my pitchfork away for now.

After the 60+pages of feedback on the other thread, I'm not going to sit here and sift through everything everyone has said here, but I will add my 2 cents. I do not like this 'bundled' plan SOE is now stating they will give us with a gold sub. I only play FreeRealms and EQII and have absolutely no intention of ever playing another SOE game as long as I live. I WILL NOT play EQN or Landmark, I will not even look at any new games put out by SOE as SOE has stepped on my feet a few too many times already and I do not trust them enough to consider even beginning to play another game put out by them.

My Free Realms accounts are lifetime memberships, so no need for a monthly sub there. EQII and the perks offered here is the only consideration I have for going gold, and if I am not satisfied with the 'perks' being offered, I will stop paying. It's as simple as that. Why does SOE keep throwing bones at us as if we are dogs, rather than treating us with the respect we, as paying customers, deserve? As I have stated before, when I am done with Free Realms and EQII, I am done with SOE altogether. This new announcement just reaffirms my decision to pull my gold sub and go silver and play the game MY WAY. If SOE cares so little for me as a valued customer, I see no reason to do otherwise.

There are quite a few new games in development by other companies, one of which is Repopulation, and that game looks pretty darn desirable now, considering how much work they are putting into development before they even consider releasing the game to the general population. I wasn't planning on switching though as I hate walking away from a game I have known and loved over the years, but if SOE continues to trend in the direction they are going now, I may just do so. If I switch, I won't be coming back, no matter what SOE offers me in perks for doing so, because I really don't want to go through anymore of this bait and hook game that SOE plays with us.

But if you don't log in, say you're in the military like me or in the hospital or your computer is on the fritz or whatever, then you lose that 2000 SC. Besides, most people spend SC on smaller things and what's to prevent soe from jacking up the prices so whatever you're looking for is over 2000 and you then have to buy more SC? I'm willing to bet the most desirable items will cost more the 2000 SC.

I appreciate Smedley finally saying something somewhere.

I'm still not happy with the proposed implementation of the new system in this game. I still really dislike how it was presented, & the lack of real information for so long. Why does SOE always have to make announcements like this over a weekend :/ so people have to wait for more official announcements to come our way?

I am intrigued by this proposed new version of the all-access (which is essentially what #4 in his post is). I know that would be a value for me if, particularly if I decide EQNext is going to be worth any time. I already play 2 SOE games pretty regularly though (and maintain gold subs for both on my main account). I don't think I'm in the majority though in that. Seems there are more who play one particular game.

As I stated in the earlier thread. I don't like the change to the up to 2000SC for one item redeemable from our good for everything 500SC as it stands by itself. However with this new information, the change coupled with other changes, it could be tolerable (even though the 500 SC to freely spend or save is still more desirable).


I guess we'll just have to wait & see what sorts of restrictions will be placed and any other changes that occur.

Good news! That's great stuff - I have no problem with having to /claim the 500SC each month, as it still lets you save it when you do. Although it may not be a great thing for those who are deployed in the military as they will find it difficult to log in each month, it's still a great step forward for the remainder of us.

Thank you, SOE - I appreciate what you've done here.

Wow! Smed, if you implement as I read, I'm really going to scrimp to become recurring again on my own account, and keep the kids in with kronos.

The best part of the last announcement was not only saying you listened, but acting on it.

I just got back on EQ2 after 4 years of being away.. I paid $30.00 a month in the past, And, there was no station cash. I look forward to my 500sc a month and I like to buy my "fluff stuff " because I am a women and that's what we do... LOL

I work full time like the rest of you and don't have time to be playing any other game.

If your truly ""LISTENING""" to your Gold subscribers You will HEAR that this is NOT what the majority wants. I understand YOU have PROMBLEMS with station cash savers...I'm not one of them. BUT... If you want, need or desire to keep people interested in your game... YOU might just want to THINK....and RETHINK... this "new and improved option. "

I'm only speaking for myself. What you do... you do. What I do after that.. Will be my decision. But seriously Mr. Bossman.. Think of the majority of your GOLD subs... and these threads. And listen in the chat channels... Seriously.. You have the power... I hope you figure something out besides this useless plan.

I understand your point, but you're paying the same dollar amount as you would be paying whether the other games are included or not. Granted that if you don't play them, it's not an added benefit for you specifically, but giving other people something does take away from your EQ2 value. I'm not that interested in the other current games either, but this is something that would give me an incentive to give them a try.

Alright, break it up, break it up!

It's all over people, get back to gaming!

All of EQ2 righteous players say... right on!

Hi everyone,
Thanks for the feedback. We listened.
Here are the basics of our revised plan. Please note - we have not had the time to do estimates of the work involved, and also we're continuing to listen. so this isn't baked just yet. Do not expect that this is all going to happen immediately. We plain don't know yet. we're doing that meeting tmw.
1) We're lowering the price of All Access to $14.99 2) We're going to make it so every subscriber to all our PC games an all access member. Basically there will be one SOE membership for our PC games. Please note there are some minor restrictions around our kids titles (simply put - if you're a 12 year old who signed up for FR you won't have access to the adult games so we'll likely leave the lower priced kids offerings as separate subscriptions for under 12 for the same low prices).

3) We're keeping the 500 SC included with the subscription instead of going to the "pick an item" system. We heard you. You didn't like the change. The only change we are making is that we're now going to make you claim it monthly. You can still hoard it though I realize this is a bit of a pain but honestly it's the best compromise we could come up with that solves the problems I mentioned in the other thread.

4) we are going to be giving our members a 10% discount in our marketplaces. 5) European players - we have an idea on how to include you in this but we need to discuss with our partners.We have a pretty good idea on this though. give us a bit of time to suss this out. 6) Nothing is changing with Player Studio items - you'll still be able to buy them with your 500SC. 7) Console titles - you'll notice I only mentioned the PC titles. Our goal is to include the PS3 and PS4 games that we have, but I want to be up front and say that isn't a done deal.
In a nutshell that's where our head is at.
As always your feedback is welcomed. Please do us a big favor and carefully think about #3. Our goal is to give you more value in the subscription to make it more attractive and making it simpler in the process.
I really feel like we're making a good decision going this route. It makes things simpler and gives more value to our players.
Thanks

umm you can still buy goblin tickets on the veteran merchant with loyalty tokens, not sure if you guys overlooked that and you did not answer my earlier questions, even tho you asked what else you could give info on

Strange how we fixed that tax problem for them.

Someone should thank Smed and SOE for listening and adjusting things. Of course, he never comes here or we could just do this ourselves...

*ducks*

kronos are also sold and bought in eq1. i don't play other games so i am not sure about them. what confuses me is that people actually think they are paying for 500sc a month perk. i remember when they started that "perk" and it was seen as something that was not permanent. it was also seen as a freebie given to subscribers. suddenly it is a "commodity" or "value" that is being taken away? how so? just because it has been here in the past couple of years doesn't mean it was always here and also doesn't mean it will always be here.

seems to me that no matter what soe does, there will be people who are not happy. some yell louder than others and the squeaky wheel gets the grease. yelling loud doesn't make you right, it only makes you heard- maybe- unless someone decides the yelling gave them a headache and so they shoot the yeller.

everyone here seems to think that eq2 is the only game that matters and that soe has to cater to just eq2. well, the truth is, they own the game and they don't have to cater to any of us. if they take away all the "perks", there will still be those of us who pay for our subs as we always have and play the game the way we always have. threats don't mean much if there are only a few people in the sit-in (an old form of protest).

I thought this was cool. Rock on!

Wish the best of luck for our European players.

Yup - keeping my fingers crossed for Pipsi and the others

Great news! Thank you!

Hooray! Can we go back to playing now? Crisis averted?

However things turn out, I don’t mind want bonus we get – it is that – a bonus. I don’t want to play other games for all the reasons so many before me have stated. For me it is all about EQII.
However, I’ve been following all the posts both on this new thread and the previous and perhaps I did miss a page or a post so if this has been asked before I apologise, but here goes anyway.
If I have 5K station cash currently in my account and the first month of the new “bonus” I get another 2K. How can I differentiate between buying something with the “bonus” and not have it taken first from my “paid for with cash” original balance.

I want to know that my purchased station cash can be used any way I want and at any time I choose. I don’t want to see it cleared out first before I can use the 2K “bonus”. I realise unused Station Cash is a problem for SoE but that is not my problem. They have my money – I wish to have the service I paid for.

Edit:
Thank goodness for the edit button – just saw the other posts since I started writing – good news but …

3) We're keeping the 500 SC included with the subscription instead of going to the "pick an item" system. We heard you. You didn't like the change. The only change we are making is that we're now going to make you claim it monthly. You can still hoard it though

Huh? How can we hoard it and yet have to claim it monthly. I think my brain is turning to mush with the length of these threads trying to keep up with it all.

Ok the light switched on for me - I told you the brain is turning to mush. We have to log in every month to claim it and then we can hoard it - gotcha. Great news ... but I still feel sorry for those who are serving their countries away from access etc etc.