Awesome Bonus Items for Purchasing Altar of Malice!

This is not good business practice if you ask me. No pre-order, so there was no rush for me to buy the new expac, as there had been with ToV. Now there is no sale, so instead of rushing to get the CE for my 6 accounts as I had for ToV, I will not be buying the expac at all. Instead of getting my $360 (ToV presale price), SOE thought they would be greedy and try and get me for $540...well sorry but I dont think so. Instead now they will be getting $0.

I dont have any characters at max level so I do not need to buy this expac at all at this moment in time. I feel bad for those of you who are forced to buy the full price. I will wait when it all goes on sale later next year most likely. I still have to get into all the ToV content which will take a lot of time for me, so I can wait. So sorry SOE, but Im not opening my wallet this time. If I am still around by the time the expacs go on sale, I will buy it then but not now, not at full price.

This is the first time that I can remember since I started getting into this game, that I won't be able to buy the CE probably. Well, its probably not a probably. 10% off so its what, 81 bucks? I don't have that just laying around. I can barely afford new games as it is. But I would have bought it if it was say, 60 bucks. I will probably be stuck buying the standard edition this time around.

It sucks, really sucks. But if SOE wants to screw us around, then I guess they can lose my CE purchase. If I wasn't so into the game at this point in time, I wouldn't even buy the standard. But sadly I am. So they have my standard purchase.

Now, that's definitely voting with your wallet

This thread reeks of entitlement.

Sadly, I've never been to SOE Live, so I didn't receive any type of discounts/upgrades related to that.

To add on to that, most can't afford a latte a day for the allotted $3.75. There are many who budget so that they can make ends meet, and even one latte a week will keep those ends from meeting. The past expansions have allowed for pre-order, which not only allows most of us to get our ducks in a row monetarily, but pre-orders have come with decent discounts, even significant discounts if you purchased the weekend after expansion announcement.

Like many who purchase the CE, I allow for the extra $8 it costs [over the regular price of a standard edition] to purchase on the significant discount. (I just checked; I paid $48 apiece for the CE of CoE and ToV.) However, if there is no significant discount for AoM, I will not be purchasing the CE. I will also feel royally effed if I purchase the standard edition on 11/11 and there is a sale on it a few weeks later to get more people to purchase it. (However, due to my lack of playtime, I won't feel like I'm missing much if I don't purchase the expansion for awhile after release. A pre-order/immediate order discount would make me think long and hard about purchasing right away, even if I know I won't get to play much. I'm sure many players are in the same boat as I am.)

In short, while SOE has been blowing smoke about how wonderful it is to be All-Access (and don't get me wrong, I like my subscription and its perks, and I plan on keeping it, but I could likely get my money's worth, so to speak, by going FTP), being sold a second-rate CE package with virtual items we've all seen before (c'mon, an appearance mount?) for the low, low price of $89.95 with a whole 10% off feels like either SOE takes us for morons who will buy anything they throw at us, or like SOE's not being honest with us, and perhaps are desperate to keep income flowing in any way they think might get them immediate money so they might not go under.

We longtime consumers of this product have come to expect this of SOE. Give, give, give, give, and give freely, then realize that, somehow, the finances got away, and then drop the other shoe on an unsuspecting (and, I guess that's our fault for maintaining false hope) player base who were hoping things didn't change this year. I guess the joke's on us.

I've always thought 90 was way too high (and had a sneaking suspicion SOE did as well, which was why they had the discount to begin with). The only ones I've bought were with the discount, and even then still thought they were steep. I also used to buy for multiple accounts before I was laid off, but would have thought the same even if it were only 1 account I was buying for.

Even with my own job situation, if something is worth it to me, I buy it. Doesn't matter if it's food or a game expansion. So I would buy this with the pre-order discount, but not without it, as it's still not worth 90 (or even 81) to me. There are a lot of things out there clamoring for consumers purchasing decisions, so you have to make it worth it to the consumer. Maybe they thought the 10% off for active members would be enough? Are they hedging their bets, thinking that if people bought it with a larger discount before, they'll buy at the same volume with a smaller one? I have a feeling it won't be enough for many people, and they'll lose quite a few CE purchases because of it. Just my opinion, of course. The perception of a larger return for the money is a huge buying-decision driver and SOE just cut off a lot of that value perception.

Perhaps - but most of them do have a point, as I wrote above.

I've been playing since the game launched, collector's edition every time. In my opinion $90 is too much.

I have to agree with many of the previous posts. Almost $100 for CE and not even including the Aeryken into it, it's more than my already tight and limited budget would justify on spending. I may have no choice but to forgo the CE, get standard. And for a full paying member since original EQ and die hard fan, that's saying a lot about your new pricing structure. Nickle and dime-ing your customers for extra added bonuses like many other games out there, not cool SOE. Not cool.

*soapbox rant*
Additionally, I can barely pay the mortgage, to penalize me for not attending SOE Live due to a tight budget is something I find highly offensive. I've been playing beta, and I'm just not that impressed. I've got a 95 fury. I've also got 25 other alts (one for each class and paid for all the additional slots!). To say I've sunk a huge amount of my life into this game is putting it lightly. It has been my solace in times of trouble. A balm to my wounds. A friend when I needed one. A stress relief when my burdens became too much. But....

Perhaps it's time to put away childish things.

Add Aerakyn race and it'd be ok. As it is it's a weak offering for a CE. Unless that merc is godly, anyway.

$40 for the standard edition is quite fare in my opinion, you'll be getting how many hours of game time out of this while say your a console gamer for Xbox you pay $60 for a game say call of duty that in my opinion has less play time potential than this, also keep in mind there is a yearly cost of Xbox live of 59.99 per year I think it is.

89.99 for the CE is just insane for some in game content. it'll be weird traveling to the island of refuge from my vet reward island of refuge home anyway. And honestly, I haven't seen a merc better than the 9year vet merc.

These pay to win gems are starting to aggrivate me tho... Cut that stuff out...

Yes, charge it to your CC, they'll send you a monthly statement and you do not have to pay it all at once.

You also paid $60 dollars more per year for your all access, so $24 dollars cheaper.

Very well said, indeed Rorschact! Especially the soapbox rant ... come on! Yeah, there are more than two of us die hard players that would LOVE the chance to go. But not all of us can. Most of us have bills and/or families to take care of. I also am one of those who spend way more of the money in my pocket on this game than I should, but it has become a part of my life I feel I truly need for my sanity. Then again, I did go to Rift when my life was so abruptly changed and could not get my 'fix'. No, it wasn't Everquest 2 but it did fill the need for a short time, but with the amounts time and money I have spent for SO MANY years now, it was not a replacement. But things change, and yeah, it may be time for that. $200 for my two accounts is a LOT more than I can think of choking down..

No new house makes me sad

I can and I will. Thank you, though, for the lesson in economics. I've been able to pay off my mortgage, my car and my student loans by managing my disposable and discretionary incomes creatively. It's been quite difficult at times yet I tend to reward myself for small successes. I also budget a buffer in case lettuce goes up to $4 per head or, yes, if gas goes up for the weekend.

I work with a number of people on extremely tight, fixed incomes. Not only have I learned some incredible budgeting tricks from them I have gained an incredible respect for them and their outlooks on life in this anti-middle class country.

A few of those folks actually play EQ2, enjoy the game and also like helping to support the developers. We do get together for gripe sessions occasionally, we're only human.

As far as the lack of pre-order savings, I totally agree with folks that it is a stupid move. However, what the CFO wants, the CFO gets and the rest of the company just takes it in the ....

Spin

So CE in the UK is going to be (rounded)

£61 (at current exchange rate and less 10% discount)
£12 VAT

Total: £74

If I've got that right (please someone tell me I got it wrong!), that's nuts

It's a stupid move from our end, but from their end, it makes perfect sense. There will always be a "gotta have it first/now" crowd who will happily fork over whatever is asked of them just for the dubious privilege of having it first. Given this fact, it makes no sense to heavily discount the product at release. First, get your maximum amount of money out of the "early adopters" and then once that passes, discount it for the more money-conscious consumer (who will happily pay less for a product that by then has most of the bugs worked out). I see this as SOE waking up and smelling the balance sheet and realizing that they've been doing it backwards all along.

Does it still suck for those of us who've grown accustomed to the other way around? Absolutely. But I have to have a tiny bit of hope that there is a discount coming after they've parted a certain segment of the consumer base from the most money possible, because I won't be buying a CE until then. If it doesn't come, then I'll pick up the standard edition.

Absolutely none of this game is a requirement for me to enjoy life either but I'm here and it's a good thing that people like you and me and these others are still coming in to play it. I'd really love to keep it that way. Wouldn't you?

I'm not complaining, I'm communicating. Regardless of what they choose to do, my husband and I will buy the expansion but if the new race is not included in the collector's edition we will stick with the standard edition and we will pay to unlock the new class as well as the character slots needed. There is no question that we love and support EQ2 but there is a limit to the amount of monetary support we are willing to give. We do pay monthly all access fees on multiple accounts in addition to the cost of these expansions. A penny here, a penny there... it all adds up in the end of things, doesn't it?

Whether you agree with these discussions or not, it's business, not personal. SOE wants and needs to know how their game community feels about their products. Otherwise the game you and I love to play could become nothing more than an online ghost town and considering what EQ2 used to be in comparison to what it has become, it's heading that direction and I for one do NOT want that to happen. If I could be in their offices serving them cups of coffee, hot sandwiches and cookies while they're fixing the bugs in this expansion, I would do so in a heart beat. I love this game and those developers that much. In all communication I have ever had with the staff of this game, I have always communicated my love and appreciation for them and will continue to do so but I wont pay for things I neither need or want.

~shrug~

After reading 6 pages . To borrow from Ashy "and will continue to do so but i wont pay for things i neither need or want. ~shrug~"