Premium Membership Devaluation

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by Astealoth, Jul 28, 2013.

  1. PWGuy93

    I recently discovered PlanetSide 2, have been playing since June. I see a huge difference between then and now both for paying and non paying players. In June when I started gaining certs didn't seem to be a chore, the progression felt paced along with the play. Since then things have changed.

    Gaining certs feels out of pace with actual play so I bought a 3 month membership for the increase. Sadly the increase doesn't feel at pace with my non membership from back in June.

    Something with their formula drastically changed and from my view for the worse. It not only impacts cert gain which means access to "skill trees" (which is part of the fun/play) but I have personal first hand experience that it is effecting others willingness to log on. The friend I play with listed all the same issues, so I bought him station cash for membership and he's not feeling the game love either.

    I don't know what Planetside management is thinking or if they are pressured to be a cash machine for SOE I don't even want to go into that line of thinking but I will say this, they need to understand from a fresh players perspective that the formula for gain, any gain isn't in pace with the actual play, that the reductions/decrease creates a negative perception. Not having played as long as others and not feeling the love this early into the game should be setting off alarm bells.

    I have no issue with a monthly fee when I see the devs creating new content, continents and areas to play. That there is worth a subscription. Paying and still not getting the cert (skill tree) gains is an issue. Think about longevity, eventually people will be capped on their skill trees, what then - "content" will drive income, so why make it difficult now.
  2. NOX2097

    For those of you who don't have the balls to cancel your automatic renewal, set a calendar reminder (google calendars work great).

    I paid for a yearly renewed membership last year when the game came out. Cancelled it today over the out-of-control hacking on mattherson, but I won't lie, I've had a calendar reminder to cancel my sub before renewal due to the ****** rewards. The rewards for YEARLY renewing subs are a spit in the face compared to the recruitment rewards, which are just about impossible to get now that the game's been out for nearly a year, not that they weren't ridiculous to begin with.

    All in all, a very poor showing by SOE management, and I'm voting with my wallet. It's too bad that the hard work of the devs has to be devalued by business people who, to use a quote from Bobby Kotic the antichrist of the industry, couldn't care less if they were selling games or detergent.

    I wish this game was made by Valve or another independent developer. By the same people, but in a different company.
    • Up x 2
  3. DeathTollDavid

    I must admit I bought a six month membership and a few days into it I wondered what I was getting. My biggest disappointment was that I was still in a que to get into a continent even though I thought I read this would not happen. I'm not going to stop playing but I do not intend to renew the membership. There just was not enough benefits.

    But again, no complaints about the game itself. Still play daily.
  4. DxAdder

    I enjoy playing PS2 but I have cancelled the auto renewal on my sub as well.

    I need to see more bang for my buck for this to change.
    • Up x 1
  5. ent|ty

    Odd thing is, I've been locked out of my once-beloved Esamir, several times during alerts, or as some people claimed, the queue was 'bugged'. In every case, I was unable to join the continent several times. Result? Queue reserve as a paying sub irrelevant.
    I doubt there was 2000 paying customers filling the continent, to keep me logged out.
    So yes, personally I haven't benefited from the queue system.

    Instead of 7 XP, the 50% bonus gives you 10xp for repairing a turret :D, etc.

    The benefit really only matters is when I played my VS character, at 50% XP boost, along with playing an underpopoulated faction, which at times gave me 100% XP boost.

    Its better to play an underpop faction, if you want the most out of your boost.

    Even with resource boost, I frequently run out of resources anyway. Especially when playing an underpop faction. So the resource boost does nothing for certain players in underpop situations.

    For ruling and major pop factions, they must be raking it in though.

    I agree, there is nothing 'passive' about cert gain, when you must 'actively' log in to collect it. I used to try to work logging in each day to PS2 to collect those certs, but really, I have better **** to do with my life.

    Also, when I subbed to PS2, it said nothing about a requirement to log in to collect them. It was one of those "Oh thats a nice bonus!" when you sign up, then when you realize that you have to log in it becomes "WTF? Grr! Liars!"

    Daily sales of garbage.
    When you compare the specs to many default weapons, the purchases are not even worth it.. In some cases, the purchases would be downright foolish.

    I have only used 3 setups, maybe 4 (AI, AV, AA and "TESTER").

    This is really the only worthwhile perk, since you are pretty much getting refunded $5 back every month in SC.

    But this is only as long as you remain a 'renewal' member. They dont care if its 1 month sub, or 3 month sub, or 6 month sub or 12 month sub. If you cancel your membership (to renew).. that 500SC benefit goes away, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER YOU PURCHASE 12 MONTHS!!!
    That means if you bought 12 months like I did, get pissed off, and cancel the auto-renewal of your sub, you will return to PS2 with 9 months of your sub left (AND THE 500SC Benefit taken away). BEWARE!. SOE, such sneaky bastards.

    I learned this when I bought my initial 3 months, and did what I usually do, is remove all payment info so that it can't auto renew (Just in case).. then returned to the game and 'wtf? Wheres my 500SC?" gone.

    You just lost the 500SC per month.
  6. Jakey


    This is the sum total of why this game is no where near the popularity it should be.

    It's a fantastic game, with excellent in-game dev's, ruined by terrible business management.

    I have no illusions that a business needs to make money, but ****** your cow won't help it make more milk.
    • Up x 3
  7. TheMonkey

    Que priority was pretty nice a couple weeks ago when there actually were ques. I was unaware of many of the changes the OP pointed out, and hope they are false. My sub comes up for renewal in a few days and I feel like ditching after I get my 500SC. No ques, don't need the extra loadouts, I can manage my resources, and there aren't many things I'm waiting to go on sale. I'll miss the extra certs, but I already have most of the stuff I want.
  8. NOX2097

    Yea, but the stick only goes so far when you're all out of carrot. Fact is, SC doesn't mean much if you stopped or are about to stop playing the game.
  9. zealluck

    I left my card information with them and they seemed to be auto renewing it for me. Anyway, I was just too lazy to unsubscribe it. Guess I will do it later tonight. Being a member really don't give much. Rome 2 will come out very soon, and it will take all my time anyway.
  10. Kingside

    Keep in mind also that the Alpha Squad boosts are due to expire soon (for those that equiped them right away) Resource gain will be so bad that there wont be any point in playing at all, much less fork over the cash to keep a subscription going.
  11. MorganM

    Queue Priority
    --------------------
    Totally agree; there hasn't been a que on Waterson in months.


    XP Bonus
    --------------
    Wait.. what? It no longer applies to alerts?! Camel..straw...back... you know how it goes.


    Resource Bonus
    ------------------------
    Agreed on all acounts and stealth nerf was very rude. This is still one of the best perks because it does help a lot when you are actively playing but honestly is it worth the monthly cost? I like your idea of shortening the timers rather than a % bonus.


    Passive Certs
    --------------------
    Word smithing at its finest. They DID finally change the wording on their FAQ page to clarify but the initial splash screen listing it as a bullet point is still VERY missleading. This is a sore topic for me right now because I was just on vacation with my family and couldn't log in for 5 days. That's 240 certs per character I missed!


    Daily Sales / Early Access
    ---------------------------------------
    I may be the exception but I do actually check the sales every day and wait patiently for the things I'm looking for. Is it worth the monthly cost? Debatable but I do benefit from this. Just the other day the Blueshift
    for VS MAX finally came on sale and it was a member only sale. Waited WEEKS for that sale! Had I not had a membership I'd still be waiting. Sales are one way of really maximizing bang for your buck. Your idea of a flat % off is worth talking about. It may spur some earlier purcheses but honestly it's hard to beat 50% off if you are patient. I wouldn't trade that for a paltry 15-20% off.

    Early Access I've yet to use. For once there's something I actually want on there (black scale camo) but that's the first time I've cared about anything in there. This is certainly not a big reason for me to have a membership.


    Extra Custom Slots
    -----------------------------
    To be blunt...what a travesty. I mean come on guys really? It's one thing to come up with a totally new feature and monetize it but to take a pre-existing one we all rely on, tweak it, and then make us pay for it? Thanks jerks... and that's from someone who pays for it!


    500 Montly SC
    ----------------------
    One of the best perks but I don't use game cards for it so I've had no issue with it.
  12. Grimfalcon77

    Completely agree with the OP. SOE has been making progressively worse decisions with each update that marginalize those that have been supporting their game with recurring subs.

    Especially with the SC. This should be delivered in one sum based on you pre-pay. The fact that I paid for a 3 month sub upfront and don't receive my SC as a lump sum until I complete the span I already paid for is idiotic.

    I have no desire to continue my sub after my current span runs its course.
  13. ent|ty

    You should be getting a portion each month.

    The problem is if you bought a 3 month or longer sub, then decided you weren't going to renew, and cancelled the renewal process.
    Suddenly you willl not get that monthly SC you thought you were going to.

    They're tricky, tricky, tricky, beware.
    • Up x 2
  14. Crator

    I play on Waterson most of the time and opened a sub a couple months ago due to continent queue length. Well, that was my primary reason for doing so. I haven't tried the game without a sub since they increased resource costs so not sure how beneficial the sub is for that.

    I really like all the ideas suggested by the OP though! Good stuff!
  15. Grimfalcon77

    Completely agree. My thought has always been why I wouldn't get the sum of SC I paid for. If you pay 3 months at a time, why not give you the 1500 SC other than them wanting to have the % chance to screw you out of a month of it if you decide to remove your billing so they don't auto renew it on you.
  16. ent|ty

    Because the 'renewal' tactic is very common. Many corporations do this, including websites, or any subscription.
    They're hoping you will forget, so they can sneak in a renewal again months later.

    I found out the first time I was stupid enough to buy 3 months, then cancelled the renewal so I didn't have to worry about it later, then realized I didnt get ANY of the 1500SC I should have got.

    I've literally marked a time on my calendar to cancel the renewal, so that I get all the SC coming to me that I paid for.
    Its a really slimey tactic that will not be forgotten, and I will tell every gamer I know about it.
    • Up x 3
  17. MilitiaMan

    Give me a shinny camo or weapon or item in general to flaunt that says "I am a paying subscriber" and I would be happy.

    A lot of games do this or are moving to it.

    City of Heroes, ever 3 months you subbed you got a costume piece or new power or something special.

    Makes use feel special, I've been almost subbed a year and I got a camo.....That was it....O and a title...
    • Up x 3
  18. WraithRage

    The resource boost for membership is looking to become even less desirable do to the resource revamp incoming. In the recent FNO, Malorn (dev working on resource revamp) stated that he would like to make the disparity between the resource generation of non-members and members much less than it is currently (para-phrased slightly?). Malorn discussed this at 2:35:00 of the FNO. This would mean that without tweeking, the resource boost provided by the membership would become a non-factor. Thus further contributing to the devaluation of membership/subscription.


    In a PSU thread recapping the FNO episode,
    http://www.planetside-universe.com/showthread.php?postid=938641#post938641,
    I brought up this point as well as provided an analogy for those screaming that membership resource rewards are "Pay 2Win!".

    Analogy:

    I see pay to win mentioned often in regards to PS2 and I understand the concern. However, I don't think P2W applies here.

    How many of you would be angry (and threaten to leave and never come back!) if you were invited to your favorite professional sport's stadium FOR FREE to watch the game FOR FREE while other people who PAID to sit in the SkyBox enjoy their air-conditioning and amenities?

    That's right, NONE. You both experience the game and enjoy yourselves. The difference being that you MAY buy a hat or a T-shirt and the other person spends thousands of dollars.
    • Up x 1
  19. llPendragon

    THIS F_CKING PISSES ME OFF!!!


    I agree with all this. Especially the timer. It's always felt "cheap" to me. Like it was a last-minute temporary solution that SOE just tries to ignore.



    This is a bait-and-switch type of scam. Let me highlight the fact I used the word "SCAM" to describe it. This walks the line of being illegal, but takes a big hop, skip, and a jump past the edge of decent and/or moral business practice.
  20. MorganM

    Chill bro they didn't do it just to piss you off. It's because their system wasn't desgined properly and needs to be fixed; not some secret plot to scam those who use pre-paid point cards instead of credit cards. Your SC is delivered at the end of the month when your next month kicks in. Can't do that with a pre-paid card member because there is no cycle to peg this on.

    Lets take the 3 month subscription as an example. I paid for it with a credit card and if I don't cancel it at the end of the 3rd month it automatically renews. The SC is delivered at the end of each month; not the begining. So at the end of month 1 and going into month 2 I get 500 SC.

    If you use a pre-paid card it doesn't know when the end or begining of the next cycle is. There really isn't one because you just bought a one month sub.

    Granted they should fix it but chillax with the evil corp. scam drama. You only belittle the real crimes.