Information regarding Expansion and DLC Pack Purchases

IF I have this correct and I understand everything thats been posted then...
Just one question for SOE. WHAT are you going to do (ie. reimburse,compenstate, something, etc)for those TRUSTING players who stocked on SC with the express purpose of paying for subs ?
I know many players, myself included who have multiple accounts.
We have dilegently purchased, stockpiled, and otherwise saved our SC for the express purpose of spending it on what you had offered AT THE TIME WE PURCHASED our SC.
In case it hasn't been made quite clear to you, and who knows if you even bother to read this... People feel ripped off and are quite upset with the fact that they feel paid for something that was being offered and now its not being delivered. It seems to be awful close to a bait and switch tactic.
Wouldn't it have been wiser to let people who have stockpiled SC, use up their SC? In my case, I get a large check once every six months, I do not want to use my Credit Card/Debit Card cardto pay for my 4 accounts, my girlfriend's four accounts, and I pay for a family members account also. that's NINE accounts I pay for. That is 15 x 9. I am NOT going to put my Credit card/debit card in your system for 9 spots. I have my prestige mounts, my houses I want. I am sitting here with a stack of SC cards I bought when I got my check in. they are USELESS to me now.
In this day of facebook, social media, etc. It just doesn't seem to be a well thought move.
If I'm wrong, please correct me.

edited for spelling and grammar

I understand the business logic here. SOE has become one of the few profit portions of Sony and they are trying to wring every cent they can out of the customers due to Sonys poor performance. I however agree more with what the players are trying to get SOE to see. I have beecome more and more disastisfied with SOE's business practices. I think the developers are trying there best to make a good game here. They may not always do the right thing, but they are trying. It is special interest items that are pushed for cash that are really sucking right now. Was SOEMote a good idea, I think it is more a meh idea. I turn the thing off myself. Knee jerk reactions is what SOE is known for. Instead of fixing the issue you just go WAHHHH, I am taking my toys and going home. Your marketing department is half baked and it shows. WHy not fix the issue like So many here have said instead of kneeing your customers in the face, yet again.

Really Sony?
After slapping me in the face with your with your lastest bait and switch fiasco with station cash, you have the audacity of sending me a "Bonus Station Cash" promotion email for Best Buy station cash cards? I have hundreds of dollars of worthless station cash already.
I am absolutely floored at how low you have gone. At least honor the station cash I have already purchased for expansions and subscriptions. In my opinion that would be the only way to redeem yourselves here.

The real problem here is Marketing, as it has always been at SOE. I have spoken at length about their failure to market the game, give us accurate information about expansions, and not be totally oblivious to regions outside the USA.
Marketing did these three things which created the perfect storm we have now:

• Exclusive deal with Walmart to have +500SC bonus on each card and allowing that bonus to be tripled
  
• Triple StationCash days/weekends
• Half off SC purchase weekends

I'm not sure what to say to folks threatening to "Take their money elsewhere" because they can't get an EQ2 subscription for $1.25 a month (or free if you trade plat for game cards) and expansions for $6.68. That's like threatening to walk out of Saltgrass steakhouse because they won't sell you a steak for $3.
Was Destiny of Velious worth $40? I'd say so if you include Drunder and Skyshrine. Just as far as amount of content.
Was Age of Discovery worth $40? Nope.
I'm not sure how SOE would handle SC refunds. Everyone has bought SC for a different cash value. Some people paid $15 and got 1500SC. Others got 2000SC. Some people paid as little as $3.75 to get 2000SC. And I'm guessing the multiplier values were not stored anywhere.

Hirofortis wrote:

not really sure where you are getting your financial advice but suggest that you locate a different sourcece of investing information - this move is logical, I doubt that SOE or any busines for that matter ever intended SC as a means for players to obtain subscriptions and expansions - the two set P/L items for cents on the dollar.
Sure fix the issue - keep two buckets, one for the purchase amount of station cash - the face value of the redeemed card and one for the bonus addon, subscriptions and expansions come out of the bucket for face value of the card only. That is the best proceedure to follow. Of course the theory is sound, implementation would be harder since sc is at the account level and the account can be tied to every game that is in the stable.

If you are not happy about this then let them know by e-mailing them and sending them private messages. I posted John Smedley's email address earlier but it was removed for some reason. You can google him just as easily as I did. He even posted his own e-mail address himself in these very forums in one of the discussions about subscriptions being removed from the marketplace.
I've sent some PM's and a few e-mails. Now all that I can do is sit back and see what SOE decides to do.
*edited to note that Smedley did reply to my e-mail and I was very satisfied with what he had to say. I'll leave it at that, he does read his e-mail.

Zherik@Oasis wrote:

I must agree with Zherik's opinion. I feel I have lost money with this change.

feldon30 wrote:

Easy, they won't.

SOE Terms of Service wrote:

Zherik@Oasis wrote:

I am going to correct myself here.
If you go to 'My Account' for your SOE account then to Account Details.. there IS a spot where you can use a game card to pay for your subscription. My grandson found it and immediately asked for his monthly allowance (a walmart card with the 500 bonus sc) from me. Guess he really really wants to play LOL. But I'm glad he figured it out. It is a bit more of a hassle but yes it did work perfectly fine.

I thought the whole point of using station cash to pay for expansions and subscriptions was for those people that want to stay anonymous or to protect their credit card information. Does anyone remember that SOE got hacked and credit card information wasn't secure? I know lots of people that deleted all credit card information and started to only use station cash. That was main reason it got started in the first place. Let me ask you this is 1/2 price for an expansion more than zero? I have a feeling you won't get more money you will be losing it. If you don't want sales on expansions and subscriptions then have a special station cash card (like you have dungeon marks now) that can only be used for paying for these two things that will never have sale prices but people can still feel secure their information is safe or they don't need to have a credit card. Why just remove it and lose customers, offer a solution that works for both parties. Can keep the station cards the same actually and just have people claim them as EC (expansion/subscription cash) instead of normal cash so you have control not to give any bonuses or sales on these items. And here is an even better idea....this new EC you can use it to gift someone an expansion or subscription to a friend. Do you know how many times I have wanted to gift either of these to friends in need so they don't have to quit the game.

This is how you KNOW none of the devs play the game. If anyone on the SoE team played the game they'd know that people that have multiple accounts wont shell out 40 bucks per expansion on each of their 9 or so accounts. The only way these people would even consider buying/activating an expansion for their 10th account if it was SC purchasable. SoE feels that since alot of people are buying the Expansions via SC, they will also buy the same expansions with real life cash. I have a bunch of friends that would just NOT get their 3rd or 4th account an expansion. Whereas with SC, they'd say "ehh, I got this card off a buddy, i'll just buy it with SC". Not one person is going to buy expansions left and right like they did with SC if they are 40bucks real cash. Instead, people will just not activate that 2nd, or 3rd, or even 10th account that they wanted to. Seems like SoE doesn't think when they do stuff like this. Specially with expansions like AoD, that provided virtually NOTHING. I only purchased AoD because I believe it was available with SC and I had some saved up from before. I would NEVER pay 40 bucks using my card. Especially for the 2nd and my 3rd account. SoE, do you realize that just because people bought the gold + expansions with sc, it doesn't mean they will buy it with cash. Not smart at all. I'll just sit back and LOL while it takes you guys 2-3 months to realize that you had more sales when it was available with SC and put it back in game.

Brook wrote:

its because when they offered double or triple sc they lost there a$$, cause ppl could be a yr or 2 for next to nothing like i did. i told my guildies a yrs or so ago that would not last cause they were loose major money, and i was right cause they got rid of it.

Here's a Very very very simple solution that will benefit everyone and is simple to implement.
When redeeming an SC card... give us 3 options.
1 :- 1 months Sub
2 :- Station Cash
3 :- 1 Expansion point

When realeasing new content, you can then simply buy the item for cash or Expansion points.
The math shouldnt be too hard to work out. 3 points = 45 bucks = 1 expansion. deluxe = 4 or 5 points.

Another topic I've failed to clue in on due to not paying more attention to the forums and other social media sites used by SOE. I am not complaining, it's my own fault for not keeping up with such more diligently.
I simply want to express my hope that someone from SOE will read this and other users feedback and take such into consideration in bringing back a SC based expansion purchase model. I know I will be okay with whatever works for SOE and off-sets the cost they feel enabling such features will work. If it's finding a way to reinstate such a model that is not discounted during market place sales events and costs more to offset potential purchasing because of Double and Triple Station Cash events, I know I will be okay with it.
Thank you.