New Marketplace Items: The Freeblood Vampire Race & Accessories

Most of that is Battlegrounds armor, available for months now.

Sinaya@Oasis wrote:

There is no doubt at all, and nothing they're going to do about it except keep ramping up the SC stuff until all servers are X. The "right" way to do this would have been to do keep this overpriced piecemeal model on X, and give us the race for free.
I'm fine with the badly-designed house being for SC, as far as I'm concerned that's fluff. Mount? There's other mounts for sale and that's been beaten up in a 1000-reply post already so whatever, let it stay.
But the RACE should be a gimme. Not a wait-till-february gimme, but a gimme now. That might spurn more purchases of these "accessories".
Anyway.. this is all pointless. They're making their money.. I saw 19 vampires on Guk last night so that's minimum $380 + whatever accessories. 9 of them were existing characters, so that's another $225. Across all servers they probably brought in 20-30k last night alone. That's 2000 subscribers' monthly income. You can damn well be sure they're going to keep doing this and who cares if they lose players because of it.. they're making their money back in spades. Who cares about loyalty or retention?

Jiten@Oasis wrote:

I think the posts on the forums for Live clearly show why SOE thinks this is a good idea. Plenty of folks are more than willing to part with real cash to have this race, and the options that go with it.
More to come..count on it.
Have fun!

While the increase in DPS I am seeing on others for bloodletting it quite small, technically its now the best predator/rogue race. Basically dark elf traditions with Disruption and Subjugation increase of 5 replaced by a lifetap.
As for the race being paid for now and free later, I see no problem with it. They could have just as easily just said 'no new race until Velious' and got no extra money for it. I'd be all for stuff on marketplace becoming packaged with updates or becoming dropped/quested/earned loot later on as long as it doesn't impact combat significantly.
I think the whole idea was for this to come out before Christmas so it can be 'gifted' for the holiday.
My only problem with it so far is going backwards from the racials revamp with the lifetap. Not that people have to 'pay' for it since the only people who have to pay are early adopters. Right now this lifetap is a clear upgrade, head and shoulders above every other combat racial except for maybe full time healers.

orwen wrote:

I went and watched the Freeblood trailer today and although the trailer was ok I have one thing to say. SOE, the way you have positioned the SC logo

Does it strike anyone else as funny that the SC logo overpowers everything else on there page? We all know which basket SOE is putting ALL of its eggs in.

I like the idea of the Freeblood race, have nothing against it, I dig the appearance and looks to be a great addition to the list, but I must say that the fact that the Freeblood race gets a Lifetap is ridiculous. I would really like to know the exact numbers on how much life you're replenishing, but if its something that could compare to a gear proc then its going to be way too OP for a racial trait.
But I guess the worst part about this is that it needs to be purchased, as if to try and squeeze some extra money from Marketplace sales. Of course everyone will want the Lifetap for the extra heals... its just extremely unfair to put an SC pricetag to a lifetap that will most likely make a big difference in PvP outcomes.

Here is the funny, SOE took away ALL racial attacks when they revamped everything and then brought it back as a premium feature. Way to lie though your teeth about racial balance. Either remove bloodletter from the vamps or give other races there racial attacks back.

Hirofortis@Everfrost wrote:

Yeah thats true. Lot's of people were pretty annoyed at losing their racial features......I agree, they should put those back in now.

Lets face it this all about money. I had a lot more typed out but I think the first sentence covers it.
I am very annoyed myself about being able to buy the Freeblood race through Station Cash. It is not that I cannot afford that it is the principle of the thing. I have a High Elf I am thinking of changing to a Vamp and waiting till the expansion to come out to do it made me feel like a kid waiting for Christmas but now it has been spoiled.
I have not been able to watch the video yet of the new Vamps but just looking at the pictures I am somewhat disappointed in their looks. I have not seen any in game Vamps yet either. Are they only evil too? I would miss my place in Castle View.
Maybe if let me make my High Elf shorter I would be happy. I like the looks of the High Elf but their height has always annoyed me, never can make them short enough, and the hair styles are awful. I know this about Freeblood Vamps but I have to try.
Thanks for letting me ramble on.

Katz wrote:

Don't fret. I am sure they will become available soon. For a price.
Have fun!

Neiloch@Kithicor wrote:

Not strictly speaking true. It's my understanding that anyone who has subscribed (or renewed an old sub) since the first "winter reward" was given will not be given Freebloods for free, Velious purchase or not.

which is gonna be a real low minority. Might as well save two months sub and buy it then if you haven't been subbed up to this point. In a way its cheaper for people who don't want to play until Velious comes out.

Yes, so far what people are saying is when they asked they were told because they were not set on auto renew when their subscription came up they will not be eligible for it. Whether that has to do with when the subscription day hit or the fact that they were not auto renew period hasn't been determined.

I am antsy and couldn't wait. Even though I will be getting the free unlock in Feb., I still broke down and bought the racial unlock and accessory pack on one of my two accounts that I play all the time. I will wait on the other account but I love the new vampire and turning into a swarm of bats is so much fun I cancel it a lot just to do it again hehe.
This was a great way to use my half price sc

I don’t feel comfortable about this, to me it feel much like SoE is trying to test subscribers tolerance to their ever encompassing Cash Shop scheme. What’s next? I’m afraid I might not be around to find out.

Hirofortis@Everfrost wrote:

They hope you click on the logo and they get a Golden Egg

Jiten@Oasis wrote:

The truck load of cash from tons of people buying them is reason enough.

Emblazer wrote:

They are testing, dont you find it odd that have to remain subscribed to get free stuff and then the freebloods given out to cost so much.
To many people say screw this im leaving and cancel only to resub the next month screwing with sony's true numbers. So they make it so you have to be active this time to get the true result of how many people quit over it.
I mean it sucked they did it but i got double station cash and bought the race...Im close to the limit of stuff I will dead with but this didnt push me over ..yet. Only time will tell how it will go.

Lafiell@Guk wrote:

Well Duh! Of course its about money. SOE is a business of course they are out to make money that should really
come as no surprise to anyone. They could have just sold the race flat out, and never offered it to subscribers for
free but they didnt. As shown by how many Vamps there are running around they are doing pretty well on sales and
its for something that we will all get free.
I bought the whole package myself, and am having fun with it, which by the way is why I play the game. As for the
op thing I will leave that to those whose crunch those numbers as I dont raid or do bg and as such am not as
concerned about the points there. I am sure over time as those things do it will get worked out.
As for me the only concern I have is will the vamps get a voice? Mine has no options under voice and sadly is silent.
One more thing....those that complain about the mounts, come on you can join any high level guild and basically get
a stat mount that you didnt earn. If the sales and ALOT of people are on SC mounts help keep this game going then
I am all for it. Sure there are things I would not like to see as items being sold that would hurt the crafters or buying
your gear but until I see that I am ok with whats going on.

It used to amaze me at what people would complain about but over the years the wonderful EQ2 community has taken that amazement away. It is to the point that EVERYtime SOE adds something to the marketplace people have to get on here and whine. Its your right and do it if you really want to but it doesnt make it a bit less annoying and it will not make them stop doing it.
The vampire package appears to be pricey at first glance but it really isnt. If you are smart and purchase your Station Cash during double events (which they have quite often) then for the whole package (Race Unlock, Mount, House and Weapon) you are paying 25 dollars. That is about the same as any other extra entertainment luxury around such as a trip to the theatre or a dinner, etc. and imo will be a longer lasting investment to most people than either of those other 2 things mentioned.
It all comes down to what you want to do with your extra money. If you dont have it or cant justify the cost then your solution is simple; dont buy it. Badgering people for doing so or getting mad at SOE for trying to make a profit in a competitive industry is plain petty. In the end they have to keep making a profit or shut the servers down and I for one do not want that to happen.