Awesome Bonus Items for Purchasing Altar of Malice!

I read in in game chat someone said SoE Live attendees are eligible to get the standard edition for free, and the CE for $50.00, is that true? I went to SoE Live, but I don't remember anyone mentioning that we'd get the expansion for free.

Thanks..

If you had a premium pass , you get the EQ and EQ2 standard expansion. The upgrade to CE is $50.00. You will be automatically flagged for the standard during launch downtime.

I had no intention on getting the CE it just wasn't enough value; however, I have since changed my mind the mount change helped but I then think to myself what other expansions have I not gotten and regret it. Vanilla I got standard edition have it every time I go into a friend house and see that baby dragon moving around I just cringe. AOD(which was the worse thing to ever come out of as far as a expansion pack for EQ2) I lost the cool BL pet and what ever else they gave with that. This time around it is a lil pricey but I also thing to myself. I paid the same price for Call of duty: ghost collectors edition to not be able to stomach playing it 24 hours later due to the makers did not bother to put in an anit aimbot/hack detection and could not get my money back and hackovision is paying for that from what i've read about COD: AW presales. Least I know that ill as a min get over a years worth content that will be playable and a few weak perks which will be used for enough time to merit my hard earned money. Lastly krono's are not a Pay 2 win item as they are a ghetto GW2 RMT currency regulator. just my .02
see you all IN AoM soon

I know everyone that going to buy AoM would buy CE if money was the least of there problems and get a year sub as well.
They would buy SC items for whatever they needed and that would be great for them.
My reason and most other here with real money problems we have to justify every purchase we make. If I spend my real hard earned money on such items I need to figure out how come up with the money in the first place. I need to find a way to adjust my budget to pay for my SE 40- and year sub 120- so I can have all access covered for a year which my renewal come up in December.
EQ2 and WoW are the only games I will play these days with a sub or free account. WoW could hook me again due to I liking the newer graphics and enjoyed the game play. I have seen screenshots and watched clips of the changes of over the old graphics which was the main reason stopped playing game but I am going to wait until can see game for myself after release to see how it looks and plays then. I did enjoy that WoW had a lot of mods I could use to customize the game using them. I could sell any gear I wanted as far as I can remember. I preferred getting tokens to buy upgraded gear so I did not mind grinding for tokens and I got nice drops also and if I did not want item I could sell them or put in bank for alt. Playing WoW I could use the tokens to buy the best gear or pretty great gear as I can remember. Game might be different now been a year since I last played.
EQ2 is the game is what I enjoy due its crafting aspect of it first adv second. I love making things for my alts guild mates and people who needed them sell on broker these days pretty tough. I have 10 level 95 crafters and 6 95 adventurer so I obviously like playing this game but it has a few kinks like heirloom tags to make that gear only useable by alt or you can mute it if your muting skill is high for item (time - money sink.
I liked it when we could get better gear with the tokens and should be able to do what I want with my acquired gear like sell it give it away to some who need it that bad game design EQ2 has.

I dont think RAID gear should be able to be bought only should be acquired though being there that devalues RAIDS but if some what to give me so well ok then. j/k for those that take game to seriously it is a game and my current way of having fun so KUDOS to SOE on that part.

The way things are now due to the games focus on 90+ gear because of stat inflation with ToV its lost its appeal to those who made a 95 toon or 2 to want to quest the lower levels again at least that how I feel.
I feel the game start at 95 now and then we grind better gear to be able to play same mobs easier or slowly trying to get your get your gear properly tuned and setup my 350 AAs for the different roles like dps or mitigation gear for us tank types. I love leveling up but not endgame.

Why is getting 341-350 AA become another time sink?

SOE need to make the game more fun by having less restriction on what I can do with my gear mute or give to alt because it heirloom. I hate heirloom tag and no trade items.
I see that SOE focus will be to make AoM more of the same a slow grind 96-100 relying on gear upgrades relying on RNG to dictate the game and why do need to get 7 pieces of same gear (time sink) to get different piece who thought up that fun? You cant have game focused on endgame grinds that need a team to play or maybe buy a merc and some merc slots? That says making real money over game play a focus like Forging and new Races.

Sorry I am just aggravated how SOE doing it business and is focus on selling marketplace items to earn there money as its causing the population to decline.
AoM may be last expansion that SOE get me to pay for its cash cow and maybe that their thoughts too.
I just got tired of being in a dead Guild so made my own Guild Saturday so new thing to keep my game interest and see what I can do as a noobie guild leader!

Alright going to post this or I will spend rest of life re editing it another joke their so play nice people!

I can understand some time sinks, but the 341 to 350 AA is just too much for a casual player at least. It's like getting the other 340 AAs but only getting 10 AAs, much like getting from 90 to 95 is about the same as getting from 0 to 90. What does it really accomplish except take forever and make us wait/grind/pull out hair/give up because it's just BORING.

o.0 World of Warcraft is releasing an expansion 2 days after SOE.. and just .. JUST... for pre-ordering, they GIVE you a lvl 90 deelybob like our lvl 85 thingies..... AND you get stuff for their other games. o.0 and they have IRL stuff liek art books, soundtrack, mousepad, etc...and SOE doesn't even include the playable race with CE. /shake head.
Hope that bullet wound in the foot heals fast.....
Ahem.. and their download only CE for WOW is $70

Don't they have like 100 times more players though?

EQ2 probably has 60-70k active. WoW has probably 4-4.5 million active, so 66 times.

Mid-October press release stated WoW has 7.4 million paying subscribers.

Then I guess Awkk's "100x" figure is pretty close.

And I thought I was exaggerating.

What is WoW doing right that Sony could learn from? Is it just that WoW is easier?

That's kinda my point. :\ SOE should be trying to retain players and gain new players, not irritating their remaining customers by eliminating sales and separating/stopping things that we had grown accustomed to as part of expansions/collector's editions. Freebloods were not only an exception to the usual "new race/new class" not being sold separately, they were free if you were subscribed and logged in for 3 months during the winter promotion that year. Beastlords were even included in AoD till SOE realised that not enough people wanted an xpac that had no content, and so they chopped it up.
These are digital goods. A simple RGB slide and it's a new item. Copy a zone into housing and add an interface. No retail shelf life, no shipping, new software making it faster and easier than ever before... It seems backwards and greed-driven to eliminate the sale that came with pre-orders at all. I can understand avoiding the trouble with banks that happened so much for the last pre-order, but not the loss of the sale price that made the CE an acceptable price. Combined with other changes in SOE's favor... I'm just losing all trust in this company (well, them not updating the software to keep hackers out was what really started that damage.) I'm getting a little tired of SOE trying to rely on Gamer Whales. :\ (XD Almost as tired as I am of the "Why isn't EVERY thing free?" whiners... I have to admit...)
There has to be a middle ground here.
The average "deluxe download edition" for other games is $20. Compromise and bring the CE down $20. More people will buy it, particularly if it's a limited time sale. If that would "steal the shirts of your backs" the way tripple SC was(despite it's enormous rise in numbers of people buying SC those days) I think you should check and see if someone is cooking the books. That shirt thing is gambler terminology.. and not a winning gambler...
More than a few people have said the house that came with every expansion since prestige houses were introduced was the make-or-break item for their decision on CE. So copy an instance and add an interface, add that to the CE and there is a good chunk of profit.
Speaking of profit for SOE, SONY has 4 different types of 3d printers. An excellent Collectors Edition incentive would be a token for one 3d printed item/character of their choice, mailed to them at some point, depending on how many people ordered/first come, first served basis. These could also be sold separately. People love personalization. May as well jump on that wagon before everyone has their own home 3d printer.
Another example of good business, IF someone was new to the game and went all out and bought the collector's edition for $90, they still have to buy the ability to hire mercs. o.0 (Or you know, parents buy the shiny big thing and batteries aren't included, or it's just a playset and the figures were just in the picture, not the box) So why not throw in AoD for collector's edition? (or at least the mercs unlock so new players don't get POed right off the bat?) I know we almost all already have that, but it'd be good for the situation of "Oh! Merc in the CE" going to "Oh. -.- I can't use it unless I pay more" that we're going to hear at some point in general chat.
ahem.. any way... back to my point..
WOW can afford to piss players off, and they didn't, as far as I've heard from people I know who still play there. :\ SOE can't really afford to lose much more. (I hear Eq1 had an even worse deal. >.<)

bahh. I hit reply when I was trying to edit and didn't realise it till I posted. XD

I'd pay a dollar apiece for fridge magnets of each of my characters.

Very well spoken, Griffon Lady. We can only hope the SOE marketing team actually reads it and learns something from it. Otherwise, I see another influx of SOE's player base making another mass exodus to go play WoW or something else. I surely hope not as I really don't want to see this game shut down like the other SOE games were, but sadly, it's the only future I see for this game if SOE doesn't wise up and soon. I don't mind putting forth a little financial support but I still have to be able to justify what I'm spending. :/

Let's bring this back to basics:

$40 for the expansion for a 10 year old game is fair (the free picture is ..... irrelevant, unless you're a decorator, I suppose)

$90 for the CE, where the extra $50 buys you a merc, mount, portal, pet, 3 armour upgrades and 8 days of spell research reduction might be fair if you consider the individual SC cost of each item.

However, although bonus items are always appreciated, are the extra items actually what a typical EQ2 player expects in a CE, would be pleased to find in a CE, and is willing to pay something extra for?

I'm guessing (as have others in this thread already) that someone in the sales/marketing department has argued that if the CE is really loaded with extra digital re-skinned goodies, charge the extra then if the CE sales are comparable to previous expansions, then the headline figures will look great, even for a 10 year old game...

...typically for S&M at a large company, though, there is a disconnect with the customer base!

Let's start by asking: how many CEs for older expansions were purchased outside the pre-order window of opportunity?

From my own experience with EQ2, where a previous CE was only an extra $20 or so during the pre-order window (certainly since switching to digital download) , it was easier to stretch the budget that little bit further for extra items that I/we* could expect to get some benefit from, for all our toons, across all our accounts.

From EQ2 Zam, CoE details:

Standard Edition - $39.99

• Cloak of Mourning (Pre-Order Exclusive!)
• Drinal’s Scythe Replica – Mounted
• 2 x Scroll of Resurrection

Collector’s Edition - $59.99 Pre-Order Special Price (Regular Price $89.99)

• Cloak of Mourning (Pre-Order Exclusive!)
• Drinal’s Scythe Replica – Mounted
• 2 x Scroll of Resurrection
• Hero’s Blessing of Experience
• 1 x 6 hour 100% XP potion
• 2 x Portal Globe of Swift Travel
• 2 x Health Potion
• 2 x Power Potion
• Firiona Vie Memorial Tapestry
• Krivix Honorclaw – Werewolf Mercenary
• Ethernere Wyvern Mount (announced on 11/2)

CoE may not have had a direct equivalent for the 3 gems, the 2 research reducers - and given the price hike in SC per day of research reduction, they have quite a high value attached by somebody in S&M - but the comparison to the AoM editions is still valid.

Using CoE as a baseline, $20 extra for the CE paid for a mount and merc for every toon. Extra AA potions were handy too, but to my mind, the merc and mount were where my $20 went.

For AoM, I'd be happy to pay an extra $20 for the mount and merc. Admittedly, there don't seem to be any extra AA potions on offer, but the AoM mount has some useful stats (where, if I remember correctly, the CoE mount didn't), so I can live without the potions.

An extra $30 on top of that for the gems and research reducers? Thanks, but no thanks. Put them on the SC marketplace for those with the budget.

I would even be happy to see a 2-tier CE for Altar of Malice, to regain the position where $20 purchased some items that I considered to be of value for all my toons: $20 extra for a limited time broadly equivalent to the old pre-order** concept.


I've purposely compared to CoE rather than ToV, since the monk merc was included in both ToV editions (although that in itself does beg the question: why isn't the AoM merc included in the standard edition? No standardisation?) since CoE took a similar approach to the included merc, only including it in the CE version.


I'm not going to make any silly claim that I'm going to stop playing EQ2 over this - although I've not played continuously, I have been a part of the silent EQ2 player base more or less since a week or two after launch, I think - I'm grateful for the dedication that the devs and others in the EQ2 support community have shown to keep this great game alive and interesting.

But I'm not going to pay $90 for the CE, even for one account***

A small sample, but there are 6 accounts that (probably ) would have paid $60, $360 total. Instead, we're only going to pay $40 each, $240 total.

Make the right decisions (or revisit the original pricing discussion to belatedly make the right decision) with regard to pricing of the CE (even if say, the gems and research potions are removed) and SOE could see an extra 50% in 'profit'.


-----

* wife and daughter also play, with 6 accounts between us picked up at various times over the 10 years of EQ2

** or some other artificially time-limited period after launch, if pre-order is just not possible to administer

*** I do like the look of the mount, and the merc, and would love to have a merc with better survivability myself, but there's no way I could get away with just buying the CE for my 'main' account, without also buying a copy for my wife, who'd want it on both of her accounts, avalanche effect

Uncle....I wasn't going to get the CE either...but after consideration I decided to get it on one account and cancel my 2nd account.....like you I don't want regrets later because I didn't get the CE......so SOE will get the sale of one CE from me but they will lose the 2rd account monies once my advanced 1 yr paid sub runs out...that's my trade off.

Totally agree. With a lower player base I would imagine that SOE would do all that they can to keep their loyal customers coming back while bringing in new ones. If SOE really wants people to buy the CE then they should make it an outstanding value for us. The current way the CE looks with the hefty price tag, no I will not be purchasing it for my accounts...not even my main one.

The marketing team (if there even is one) really seemed to miss the mark big time on this promotion. From what I understand there are more F2P players then subbed ones. You really need to make a strong incentive for people to sub, I imagine that must be a discussion that comes in meetings over there. 10% off, when prior years had a greater discount? A major missed opportunity here to get people to sub. You could have done an All Access week discount that resembled the prior pricing, for example.

Also with an SE that has no merc, there doesn't seem be any incentive for a new player to buy the expac at all. $90 for a CE for a new player is excessive and not something I think very many new players would do. I think that the expac should have something to entice new players. Maybe throw in a "starter pack" (for those who have all accces, maybe) that gives a free ground mount plus bags/food to each character. That way even vets would be inclined to buy the new race and start over rather then just buy a race potion. And then there would be more people to run the LAD's and thus the new players would have more people to play with.

Instead of drawing people in, both vets and new, SOE's current model for releasing the expac is to make us feel that we are all getting the short end of the stick. If your plan is to move the EQ2 player base over to EQ Next, well I will just let you know that I personally have no plans to go to EQ Next. I bought the $100 Landmark package and I tried the game and I dont like it all. And no I wont be going back to WoW, I wont be making ridiculous claims of leaving this game, because it is a great game. I just wont be buying the expac for now, and will be left with more of a jaded feeling to SOE.

Good grief, there is some very excellent advice here from a lot of players to SOE. I hope SOE is taking note. Several of these members should work in marketing or sales, I think they would help boost player membership and income for SOE. Super kudos for Griffon Lady and to Bendigeidfran all I can say is very, very well said!!!

That fact that they haven't made a single statement about the bad feelings this has caused says a lot about how SOE feels about the EQ2 customer. Not a "we are looking at this" or a "we feel this is justified by our business needs at this time". Just silence. I feel this is why we have a revolving door for the community managers. People up top make really bad decisions with little regards to how it makes the customers feel. Then they leave it to the CM to deal with it. In the end the community manager either gets fed up and asks to be transferred or the powers up top are not happy that they couldn't quell the unrest that they caused. Then we get somebody new who, no matter how great they are, can't really cover up the bad decisions that are out of their control and the process repeats itself.