Please help test new repair options

Sorry it's taken time to follow up.

We are removing the ability to use the Repair feature in combat. That will be done before it launches.

As for the cost of using your own SC, we are reducing the cost to use the service significantly on Test until it goes live. I'll update here when the price is final, tested, and live. Should be within the next couple of hours.

Holly Longdale
Producer, EQ2

- So, the arguably OP and reason to use this "convenience" is being removed.
- The making players use their own SC to test it on Test is only being reduced.
- It still is going to cost more than it currently does to Repair/Remove Debt once it goes live (potentially)

Wanted to sum up what players are probably going to say.

The Repair feature now costs 1 SC for testing. This nominal price ensures that the full functionality of the feature can be tested.

Still a vast price increase and an intrusive and ugly addition to the character window. This game feels more and more like those terrible Asian browser games every day. Whats that? You want to do something? Sure, that will take 3 days and X amount of currency BUT WAIT YOU CAN CLICK THIS SHINY BUTTON AND IT HAPPENS IMMEDIATELY ISNT THAT GREAT?!

Does it ever bother you guys what you're having to do to this game? Or are you past the point of caring?

Thank you for removing the in-combat use.

The reduced testing price is better, though I'd still like to see the folks who paid 150 per test compensated. I don't think it'd be that hard to track them down, given that the only access to it has been on Test server. If I'm wrong, I apologize, but the repayment should be issued regardless.

By saying you'll update here when the price is "final, tested, and live" do you mean the price once it goes live is being adjusted as well, or just that we'll be alerted when the testing phase pricing is in (which has been done already, thanks Ahma)?

But who is the bigger fool - SOE for asking or the players for paying?

Considering that no one testing it this early could have easily resulted in the OP 'in-combat' repair going in on live, I would say its worth it but still shady. The same way paying someone $50 to not slash your tires is worth it but essentially blackmail.

Ok, I have read all 5 pages and not one positive feedback here. NOBODY LIKES IT! Take a hint, stop wasting dev time with it, stop gouging our pocketbooks, stop intruding, stop angering your players, stop ignoring your customers, just STOP!

If the forgiveness potion was not selling like it should then why not put it in featured item of the week? Rename it too, so we know it repairs as well. IMHO, it was a bad excuse to do what you are gonna do anyways and the end result is what???? You get a few people who might use that button in a jam but in the big picture all you did was lose customers because you won't listen to the people who are giving you the money, and eventually we get tired of not being heard and stop giving you the money. WoW gets another customer and while they are there they talk all kinds of poo about EQ2 and the bad rep spreads like wildfire and next thing you know Norrath fades into a memory of what once was a great game. That is where your headed SOE. STOP! Change course.

Well, then I'll be the first to vote OK for the feature. I see absolutely no problems with the new button - you wanna use repair tools then use it, you don't have them with you - spare going to a mender and pay SC instead, just another service, just easier to find... I don't think I will need it myself as there was only once in several years when I was out without a repair kit and noone around to summon a repair bot. Yet why ban the feature if it can come handy for someone?

Agree. My issue was with paying to test it. That said, I tested it. All of the buttons work. The only suggestion, which was in my last post is to change the behavior when there in not enough sc to repair. Pop a yes no box instead of immediately loading market.

You could already do that just pop onto the marketplace and buy a forgiveness potion for .50 and your good to go, but now there is this intrusive button that does half of what the forgiveness potion does and charges you three times as much. So you might be ok with that kind of logic but I on the other hand am not. If it did the same thing as the forgiveness potion and cost the same then I would be more willing to accept the annoying button.

Ah! "Failure to communicate" rears its ugly head; sorry... :-/

Yeah, that's what "one per account" meant for us in old WoW; that with one purchase, it was account-wide, and everyone, new and old characters, could get one.

(plus it looked really spiffy...there are SOME things I miss about that game, but not many ;->)

Uwk

No matter how Holly slices and dices this - it is still an EPIC FAIL. You are about to charge players MORE MONEY to repair their items ONLY -- whereas 50sc got you not only a repair but XP forgiveness. I am not sure you are going to beat that,

Lets be honest for a changes -- all you are doing is MONEY GRUBBING. You want more money for less service. That is what it all comes down to. It is not a player benefit -- it is a theft since you hare provding less for more. WHAT A RIP OFF>

Even more sad that this SC crap leads to active and helpful community people quitting, like Whilhelmina. The community is one of the large advantages that EQ2 had (I already use the past, yes) and is already being replaced by mindless zombies playing the game. I have already seen a huge drop in quality in terms of new players - and I'm not talking about skill, but rather behaviour stuff.

Anyways, this SC stuff is annoying as hell and as I have already mentioned a lot of times (and others as well): As a Gold member I am not asking for a lot of stuff. Take away the 500SC, I don't care too much about it. Take away the LON-Card or the Goblin Ticket, fine to me. But one thing I really want to have as a Gold member: Allow me to hide / disable all SC buttons, pop-ups, welcome-screens, advertisement.
I want to play the game I love (and in which I am more and more losing interest because of all this) and not have my nose put into your marketplace stuff. And I don't like it that there is stuff that changes the game, i.e. tracking for races & classes that usually can't track, etc. Kills the immersion for me.

Not even going to comment that this SC repair now is actually more expensive and offers less value than what has been removed from the marketplace before - enough other people already commented on that.

I don't think SC is the reason for active and helpful people like Whilhelmina are quitting....It is becoming more obtrusive and that detracts from game enjoyment on that I will agree.

However, the game can be played nicely without ever spending a single sc. I like the stuff I get, I like ez buttons, but I can also play without them. My being able to buy the whole game from levels to gear on the market does not interfere with your gameplay.

Its not the point that you can do that with SC.. its the point they put it in your face... I don't like it being in my character window.. sure on the repair window when you go to use the mendor and ignore it anyway.. but don't throw it in my face.. i've already disabled my welcome window because that's a slap in the face.. if you want to use SC.. by all means do.. but once again.. don't throw it in our faces. I truely don't know whe we bother posting this as it falls on the wayside and they do what they want anyway.

*sigh* Development houses are struggling right now with how to make enough money to make their next game. The gamers demand more and more and it takes more resources for the developer to give them what they want. The way the cycle works is the first game, a very small team writes it and puts it out and makes enough to get more people to make the next one bigger and better. rinse and repeat. Every developer out there is playing with micro transactions trying to figure out how to make it work because the old way of single player games by small teams has been abandoned by the big developers. My point? I don't really have a point. Just wanted to give a bit of insight into the WHY of the intrusive SC stuff is going on. You all already know it. It's to generate revenue. Not because they're greedy, but because it takes more now than it ever has to make a game.

I suspect it would not be hard to find tailors, sages, alchemists, jewelers and carpenters that disagree with you, and will state that they believe the Cash Shop has interfered with their gameplay. Every time new levels are released, people can cash-shop their way direct to M1's, and a lot of housing options are via the cash shop.

As time goes on, it is only going to get worse. We have been on a slippery slope since the day LON was announced. There is no going back, things will continue to slide and it is only going in one direction. Unless there is a significant culture change at SOE, it is only inevitable that a day will come where this game is PTW.

/agree Avirodar

It is not about the microtransaction in general, but the "how" that annoys me so badly.
You know, I also play Path of Exile in between. F2P. The whole game for free if you don't want to spend anything. The stuff in the marketplace there is purely cosmetic and not necessary. And you know what? I actually bought quite some stuff there to support the Devteam. Because - as you said - they need to generate money and I want to appreciate their work. But they don't show you in an annoying way the marketplace in every popup in the game - that is the huge difference.

I also play Tera Rising F2P atm and I have to say, lovin the combat system. I have no issues with the SC as long as they remain in the realms of;
- Pay for Convenience.
- Pay for Looks

PFC and PFL simply mean you look nice and can take shortcuts to do in-game stuff faster than normal. Usually in the form of small services such as repairs, debt, teleports or auto-revivals (which border on the PFP imo).

The issue arises when Micro-transactions become to the realm of Pay for Power where you can use RL-Money to buy gear/weapons/spells, Instant-Upgrade falls into PFP on very minor levels as you can quickly gain Master Level spells which are more powerful. This is a service, we are entitled to not use it. The button however is too large and intrusive in the UI.