Nobody is looking for a free lunch Daybreak. Forgive the analogy but, if you pay for any service you expect the entire service to be fulfilled. What you as a company are doing is a standard "bait and switch". It is a very much frowned upon business practice here in the United States. If you do not purchase this xpac your gaming experience will suffer to a degree, period. Some more than others but it is a detriment. Shame on you for underhanded business practices. Shame on you for exploiting your one resource your paying subscribers. Shame on you for insulting the intelligence of your subscribers. Shame on you for having no shame about it.
I'm going F2P after my All Access runs out -- just 3 $ off for subbers ? sheesh it should at least be half price for them -- they are your money makers -- but oh well, sounds like the original EQ is getting a lot more love now from what I'm reading over here and comparing it to what they are telling them for their game -- I will not be buying any packs -- time to find a new game for me ---- one subscription you've lost for sure --- main reasosns ? this "pay to play" and the nerfing of the crafting writs ....
Most of these complaints might be valid if the premise of the GU's being part of the purchase price of the previous xpac was even remotely true. Unfortunately for those people it isn't. GU's were actually part of the subscription (if anything), but since people insist on trying to go F2P or pay as little as possible while complaining about not getting enough for free, they have to make it up some where else. EQ2 easily has some of the biggest gaming misers I have ever seen. The EQ2 team has been FAR too generous with their F2P model and hopefully they keep piling on features to be 'subscriber only.' Personally I hope the future DF will be subscriber only. EQ1 is doing just fine while still offering 'free play' in a model I've heard described as positively 'draconian' so I hope EQ2 follows suit. Personally I happy to see this DLC because it means their test to offer 'pay to win' BiS items via those new adornments probably didn't do nearly as well as someone would like. I'd much rather pay for content. okay. Its been this way since Velious on EQ1 save for an extreme minority of the playerbase and its usually rolling over time, vet players eventually needing the xpac while new ones don't.. I genuinely laughed at this one. You have to PAY to PLAY?! OUTRAGEOUS! Rabble rabble rabble. People like to cite games such as GW2 for their 'pay once, no sub' model, maybe EQ2 should allow people to buy plat with SC and vice versa which is what allows GW2 to survive like that, amongst charging for other things EQ2 doesn't charged for.
There is simply no way that I will be paying for content that you openly admit should have been included with the Expansion. This really stinks of pay to win. I already pay to play, and I do so gladly, but I refuse to pay to win.
While I will admit that I'm not thrilled with this DLC thingy and having to pay extra for it, I don't see how it is "pay to win". To me, your statement doesn't make any sense. Please explain?
people will buy this DLC to get upgrades to equipment and other items that help them progress in game and enhance their toons especially if these are only way to get these items in game at present.
See! This is exactly the problem with using Reddit. Kandor posted this over there - questions are asked there - no response at all. But 5 pages here. Issues are split, and people have to go to multiple places to track the same thing. This is not what I consider "working". Now I have to sift through these 5 pages to see if someone asked the same questions, and if they were answered, and if not, ask them here... I mean DBG is turning being current on what's happening in the game into something a little too close to work to feel like fun anymore.
yo kinder 'dis Tha DTG will ya lets us know when testing starts id love to help out on this one please purrty please??
Neiloch misses the point entirely. It already is "Pay to Play". We paid already. We the subscribers could care less what the F2P do.It's the double dipping. If the need to get money out of people make the F2P pay for the mini xpac not the subscribers who bought AoM.
I guess I see it a bit differently to those outraged at the $15 price for the DLC. Sony owned SoE and many complained that little was being done to improve the game as well as AoM lacking content when compared to other expansions. DBG purchased SoE and I have not noticed a lack of bug fixes or communication. I personally don't care for Reddit or the changes to the forums, but hey, that won't effect the game; just a minor inconvenience. At no time did I realistically expect to log into a game a short while after Daybreak took over and find everything fixed and a bustling population. Took years to get in the condition that the game is in now, will take a while to fix. That said, they announced that this is Daybreak's new release model. Their not Sony, they did not release AoM, they are obligated to us customers for the game going forward, not to appease us for mistakes made in the past. I paid for several editions of AoM for myself and my family, Sony delivered what I paid for, ledger closed. Daybreak is saying, try it in Beta, see if you like it, buy it for $15 if you chose to do so. Of course it's going to have advantages and perks above and beyond AoM. If not, why would I purchase it? So yes, they are selling content with an advantage over previous content that I purchased in the past 10 years. What's new about that? Sony got your money for all the content up to and including AoM. Daybreak is designing new content at their expense that they will sell in smaller blocks, more frequently, in the future. What's wrong with that? Please stop saying how Sony did it in the past. Sony no longer owns SoE, it's a new ballgame. Accept that you spent money with Sony in the past, Sony is no longer the owner, Daybreak owns the game, see what they have to offer and chose to support them, or not. If you can gain a few hours of entertainment for $15 and it helps to enhance your game in the future, view it as that. Otherwise it's like constantly talking about your ex to your new partner. It gets old pretty fast and accomplishes nothing in the long run.
If xpacs weren't double dipping then neither is this. The new DLC structure = 1 xpac a year. I can't find anywhere where they said GU's were explicitly part of purchasing the xpac that preceded them, I would love to see some evidence of this. You need not bother with ''Strong implication' or casual agreements. If people just assumed that was the case then guess whose fault that is (hint: not the developers). This is different from xpacs how? By that same logic AoM was 'pay to win' because it came with all sorts of loot, levels, and additional abilities you could only get via the xpac. 'pay to win' refers to getting gameplay boosting items with little to no in-game effort by paying cash, not access to said items. Are people really getting stuck on how content is being delivered? They are taking xpacs and splitting them up into installments instead of one big shot a year. I agree. Without putting in my vote for which, a side needs to be picked and concentrated on. Official Forums or Reddit. At the very least on a per subject basis with no cross posting.
While it is difficult at times to obtain items and gear upgrades while soloing it is still doable. There are many things unavailable to those of us who choose not to raid and yes, that is our choice. It has been my choice for years. I still have level 100/100 characters with very decent gear. I play this game to enjoy my downtime at home (which isn't much due to work), not to wait around listening to a hoard of raiders who very seldom can get it together without making the experience regrettable and most unpleasant. This being said, It has always been my choice to obtain the best I can in game for my characters without the headache of raiding. The content has always been obtainable through each year costing me only the price of each expansion and my monthly fee which I gladly pay. It has been this way for me for 15 years (my beginning of EQ1 into EQ2) I don't mind at all working hard to get things in the game that I want or need but within the past year or so everything I need is completely out of reach due to funds of some sort, IE: real life cash or station cash or tokens. Now even my game content will be costing me multiple times throughout each year. Some of you say get over it, Daybreak is designing game content at their expense. That should not be a problem shared with our wallets. They knew what they were in for. This tells me that their focus will be on only those with fatter wallets instead of making the game content available (in one way or another) to all valued customers. All game content should be obtainable to all customers. I like the idea of having "Collectors Edition" Expansions, I like the idea of new content being opened up by completing quest timelines, I like the idea of certain items being available only through Marketplace or by questing your ars off for tokens but I draw the line at multiple real cash expenses popping up throughout the year for actual game content that is available in no other way. I spend hours questing, hours decorating, hours crafting. The only thing I do not do is raid or group outside my guild. Things like this are why we leave EQ. That should be the devs main focus. Getting their customers back. I have watched over the years as people slowly pull away from the game for one reason or another. The only ones I see staying are the hard core raiders and housing decorators. Playing an online game is always about the money when a person chooses a game. There are many F2P games out there and I have tried to get many friends to come back to EQ2 but their argument is sound, why pay for gaming content with headache side effects when I can play this game for free.
DTSGOD is absolutely correct. We are Pay to Play, We already paid. Month to month, annually, expansions, buying station cash, whichever.
Neiloch also forgets the AoM wasn't even a full xpac.We paid the same as we do for all the other xpacs but got less for our money. So if Neiloch wants to play Devil's advocate or is just being a shill for Daybreak I can care less.
I guess I'm failing to grasp the point you are attempting to make on how prior purchases should include the purchase cost of new content. At no point do I recall Daybreak stating that they will be releasing new content for free to those who purchased content, subscriptions or SC points from Sony in the past. When you paid for your monthly/annual subscription, you received a monthly/annual subscription. When you paid for your expansions, you received the content included with that expansion package. When you purchased SC points, you received the points accordingly to the package you purchased. There's an old saying that fits true in these cases and that is "Let the buyer beware". While speculations might at times be accurate, they should not be used as the determination for a purchase. If you purchased AoM on the basis that it was incomplete and would have additional content provided to supplement the expansion for free in the future, that was pure speculation. Don't get me wrong. I also agree that AoM was a disappointment when compared to other expansions as to the amount of content provided for the money. I however purchased the expansion (several copies) knowing that ahead of time. many of us, self included complained quite vocally in the forums that the price was very steep for the offering. Once purchased though, one agrees indirectly that the specific package (AoM) is what's included in the purchase. Would it be nice to have this new release included? Of course it would! Daybreak however, is in no way obligated to make amends for what we might deem to be a shortcoming on Sony's part. In order to go forward, we have to be able to stop judging things by looking at the past. I'm not suggesting that we blindly purchase every offering from Daybreak. I'm suggesting that we weigh those offerings, as new offerings, and determine if what they are releasing/offering is worth our purchasing dollars based on that offering. Will $15 spent on the new campaign provide you with what you deem to be an entertainment value? If so, purchase it; If not, pass it by. In other words, AoM was less of a value than other expansions in my opinion; yet still worth the money I spent on it at the time. Since I made the decision to purchase that expansion and received what they offered at that price, I don't feel entitled to future campaigns for free based on that purchase.
And I like AoM better than ToV and less than CoE. I think what everyone has been getting at is, since DoV it has been SOE policy to release an smaller expac with the unwritten but spoken promise (and yes it really is out there) that more content would be added later free of charge. And upto now that has been the case. But I agree things change, and as long as you don't have something in writing, there isn't much you can do about it. I'm going to buy the new content for two reasons only. 1) Because I can. I have a well paying job and EQ2 is my hobby. 2) I want to support our beleaguered devs. This mess isn't their fault, and its my way of paying them back for the years of good times and memories I've had in their game.
Well stated. I do agree that it's often been the case that free content follows after an expansion. The only issue that I see in them attempting to follow in those footsteps, is at what point are they then able to introduce/gain revenue from campaigns? At some point the process has to change over from the big expansion annually to the campaign system they are going towards now. I also have no issue in supporting my form of leisure activity with my wallet and prefer that future content be released in the manner proposed. If the new system sells well it just might generate enough revenue to give them an incentive to put more development into the game and release content more often. In my view, that's better than the once a year boost in revenue that has to be stretched out throughout the year with hopes that the monthly revenue from the store and subscriptions holds them over. The argument that "It's always been done that way" only works if doing it that way results in success. An American Theologian, William T.G. Shedd once said "A ship is safe in harbor. But that's not what ships are for". I'm sure many of us felt comfortable with a new company steering the ship, but not with it treading into uncharted territory for this game. Obviously, that was not working from the company's standpoint. It's a product and they expect a decent return on investment. Their ways and changes may, or may not work, but insisting that they follow the ways of the previous Captain (Sony) is most likely not in their best interest, or ours for that matter.
ok -- here goes --- I have played EQ2 for 10 years -- loyally -- and bought every xpack and adventure pack -- and even bought some CEs -- even the last one (which from what I'm reading, I was in the minority ) -- so don't give me the bunk folks ... I've helped this game out -- I've supported it for 10 years ..... and end game raided .... but ... it's like the old Janet Jackson song says "what have you done for ME lately ? " The "smaller, more frequently " released packs? big mistake imho -- and yes there are other games out there -- good ones -- EQ/ EQ2 do not have a monopoly on good gaming -- wake up ! And I love this game, and always will -- but enough is enough -- period
I'm going to buy it. Its 15.00. I've bought all the xpacs and etc for the last 10 years too - and hopefully, by doing so, my monies have gone toward keeping the game up and running. Sure some content wasn't the greatest. Some game changes really sucked. But - for 15.00, I can log in and smash a few things with a virtual hammer and feel good. I can log in and chat with people who share a love for the game.... c'mon, its 15.00. Should it have been included? Who cares - and its pretty irrelevant now - that's ships already sailed. This is Daybreak, they need my 15.00 to keep the doors open, I'll pay. No problem. And get this: I've played the zones in Beta - and its worth 15.00 in my opinion. I can't go and see a new movie in the theaters for 15.00. Can't eat out at a decent establishment for less than 15.00. The entertainment value for 15.00 is tremendous. But, once I buy this DLC - I can play it *forever. On any alt toon I create, with any players around the world...and "what have they done for me lately?" - they created a game that I love. I play it whenever I want to (around maintenance) - they've kept the doors open for 10 years. There's a reason why this MMO has lasted this long. Clearly most of you griefers haven't played many other MMO's. Where are they now? Are you emailing them back asking for your money back since you bought their DLC / xpacs and now they've gone belly up? No. So get real. Go mow a yard, make 15.00 and contribute to the greater good. Try to put a positive light on this. The alternative *could* be no EQ2 ever again - then you whiners can go back to whatever you were doing before finding Norrath. *forever = how ever long DBG continues to keep the game up.
I will say that I was under the impression more content would be released after aom's release that could be considered part of the aom price. This doesn't mean it was actually said or I can provide a link, it just means that's what I was led to believe for one reason or another. Something I feel I am currently being led to believe is that these dlc's are replacing full expansions...if they are then I don't see what anyone has to complain about. Over the course of a year are we going to receive a similar amount of content for a similar investment as we have previously? This is the unknown yet important consideration. Personally I like the move to dlc's, I feel it will flow better than dumping a large amount of content on us at once that we can grind through then sit at the cap with nothing new to do waiting on a new expansion. I also like the perks that come with all access membership and for me this is worth the monthly subscription on its own, and I like that they continue to find new ways to add value to this over time. Yes, it would have been nice for paying members to receive this first dlc for "free" but that would have just set a precedent that would have to be changed the next go around, and most likely at an even higher amount than this $15. How much do you spend on this game every month, how much time do you spend playing it? How important is it to you to have all the most current content? These are questions only you can answer, and you have to decide if that's still a good value compared to other ways of spending your time and money. Try another game, I've tried several, they don't hold my interest. For me eq2 is still a good deal.
