Customer Service Announcement: Premium Membership

This is a terrible idea. Who asked for this? I can only assume this is a move that is solely for the benefit of SOE. It is certianly less flexible (and useful) than the program we have now. In no way do I see this as adding value to my membership, quite the opposite. If the player studio gear is not included, well that will remove any value this change might bring, as that is pretty much the only stuff I want at this point. But hey, this will give me a good excuse to end my membership and save some cash, so I guess it is not all bad.

Not only is it unfair to nerf products I have already brought down to a new lower spec from first purchase, then to only refund certs for nanoweave. But nerfing things such as harasers for example has made life easy for all who have made it to BR100 and even harder for those starting out or mid way to grind through, never mind the fraustrating lattice system. Now because your going to consoles ie. the pack, your instructing us that yet another change in your favour is coming and we should like it, as alot of us have already brought gear and 2000sc isnt worth it with nothing of any worth is left to buy which means effectivly 2000sc will go down the drain as I dont see the need or want to own every cammo or pistol etc. And with the latest nerf factor I dont think 2000sc to buy any possible new flare guns or snowball guns warrants finding out in a months time its nerfed too. PU02 crashes to desktop so no bug report sent i guess.....wtf do you want us to play your game anymore??. Yes I am rather annoyed SOE.

Oh please, of course it's an attempt to increase the revenue stream but unfortunately a very misguided one. I doubt it's going to work. What SOE doesn't understand is that if they actually did give a better deal, it would increase their revenue stream. You know why I'm not a member? Because you pay $10 for membership but you only get $5 worth of SC. You're buying SC at twice the price than if you just bought it on its own; in other words, it doubles the already ridiculous prices of items in the game. What the hell? If I'm a loyal member, surely I should get a better deal than someone who just buys some SC on its own once in a blue moon, not a worse one! If you're a dirty casual like me and you don't care about the other benefits like XP and resource boosts, that's a terrible deal! If SOE gave me $20 worth of SC for my $10 membership, basically a monthly $10 double SC deal, hell yeah I'd subscribe! Or maybe keep the 500 SC thing and drop the price of membership down to $5, so that you're basically buying SC at the regular price and also getting some other benefits in addition to that. But 500 SC for $10 is stupid, and this new scheme is even stupider. I didn't think that was even possible, but SOE managed to prove me wrong.

They can do this...

OR

They could have advised that a Membership now gives you:
1500 SC per month (to spend or horde as you like)
+50% XP bonus
+50% resource bonus
passive cert gain (that you don't have to log in every day to get!)

And just watch the money roll in.

But SOE's sales / marketing team chose poorly I guess...

This simply is not as good value as the current deal, and I won't be recommending it to new players.

I'm an Auraxium level supporter at the moment, and I've repeatedly renewed my sub specifically because of the combination of XP/resource boost AND the SC stipend. I've recommended several people to the game on the strength of that offer, because it is a good deal. I treat it as a way to buy SC with a good in-game boost for a few £ more than buying the SC alone, and like many players I'm patient with my spending and wait for items I want to come up in the daily sales to make that stipend go a long way.

I currently play another F2P MMO which has a subscription of about the same price as PS2, which has a stipend but no significant in-game boost. According to my Steam stats I've spent nearly 3 times the number of hours playing that game as I have PS2, but I've never once paid for the sub because the stipend alone is not worth it.

I also won't continue to pay for a PS2 sub where the in-game boost continues but the stipend is reduced to a single item per month. The combination of the current benefits is the single biggest strength of the PS2 sub, and taking part of it away does not improve value for players. In future I will probably just buy SC on its own if I want something, but I very much doubt that my average monthly spend will be as much as I've been spending on a sub.

tl;dr: Congratulations for encouraging me to spend less money on PS2 in future.

As much as I already dislike the membership system that gives no benefit for veteran players other than resource boost for 15 bucks a month I have to say that this change has absolutely no impact on players that have spent lots of hours into the game and have everything already.
Though honestly even the resource boost wise, membership is still useless.
Membership offers really poor bonuses.
There are no queues.
There is no server login priority.
Bonus XP as the cert gain is no longer needed after certain time played, because you have everything unlocked.
500 SC or One SC purschase a month is rather poor bonus aswell.

This is a very significant change in terms and conditions of membership. Therefore, every player with an existing premium membership, who is not happy with this major change, should have the right to cancel their membership and get the money for the remaining membership time refunded. That would be customer service, but seriously, SOE has never been known for that. Especially those with a 6- or 12-month membership with a lot of remaining time are screwed ... taking into account that probably a lot of the long-lasting memberships were bought in Nov / Dec 2012, I cant help but assume that the timing of this announcement isnt by chance ...

If this came as a suprise SOE, i must inform you that my reaction to this is; Membership cancelled

Not happy

No one ever asks for these things, SOE knows best after all

Bang out of order, I purchased 1 years membership for the sc to spend how I wont, not forced into some over priced items that dont sell!

My purchase of the 1 year sub was the station cash, I pay to try and support the game for you guys at SOE to figure out how to make it better, not drive people away in anger and not re sub when it comes round again?

Why dont you ever ask the people who play about what we think, instead of saying more on reddit, say it on the official forums!

I want this game to succeed, but I feel your just pushing those who pay your wages away, I for one, will not renew my subscription, even if i have to wait at the WG to get into a cont, the poultry 48 certs a day for 1 year members is just being a scrooge, for those who are trying to help you I think its appalling.

Oh hell, I didn't even realize that! That's a scummy, scummy thing to do! Bad SOE!

I often advocate putting my money where my mouth is.

If you were releasing new weapons and vehicles every other month, then this would really have potential to benefit customers. As you aren't, really you're just offering a new camo each month; all of which look the same on the tiny empire palettes offered. To be frank, I'd prefer to have 500SC I could stockpile until something I do need comes along/gets released.

As such, I'm out for now.

As a non member it's not a move that would tempt me to buy membership at all ... Just comes across as a way to make members spend $ on top of their membership Fee's ..

No ty .. I will buy SC when and where I need it

As i am playing since beta i pretty much got every currently available shop item on my main as well as certed most stuff i want. This step devalues the premium membership for me, so i am not gonna renew. Premium was only worth for the XP Boost and somewhat the SC anyway. Now there is only the XP boost left. Step in wrong direction SOE.

And all that just by asking the paying customers what they want ... huh, who couldve known

I really don't know why people are complaining, rather than holding onto that 500 that can't buy much, waiting for a sale that may not come for months. You can buy the weapon you want each month. It could be a way to get more weapons out in the world rather than just the stock that players are given.

If the creators gets a fee for every sold item, then this is just another sold item?

I think player studio items should be available to these sales.

I have to say I read this with disbelief. I get they are trying to stimulate SC purchase and are looking for innovative ways to do so given their reluctance to offer 2x / 3x deals, but this to me is a kick in the teeth for all long term players with memberships.

What sells for 2000SC right now that isn't on the excluded list? I assume that there will be more, stupidly overpriced black / gold weapons coming out in the future for this to even make sense? Even then, it still won't make it worthwhile when the normal version of the weapon will be more than 50% off.

I would have suggested they offer a third currency that is in effect Planetside 2 specific SC (to prevent PS2 losing out on cross game spending), but that would then suggest that SOE want to offer members and veteran players value for their membership. The membership benefits were previously right on the edge of what I was deeming to be reasonable value. I see nothing in this deal that gives me flexibility and choice as a paying member. All I see is a huge drive towards forcing people to buy SC or do without.

If they are looking to revamp the member sale items to be packages or something truely worthwhile then I'll gladly change my mind. Until then however, this is just a seriously bad idea.

It looks like they've made up their minds. But just in case someone somewhere is taking a tally. I vote-Nay.

The point being it was the players choice what to do. Here, if you don't spend it, you lose it. So now you have to chose SOMETHING or your entire benefit for that month goes. Something you don't want, don't need, and will probably never use. Right now, people have been able to save for what they want and also have the option to make the daily deals work for them. You can get 2 or 3 items a month when discounted and if nothing came up you wanted you didn't lose out.

SOE are removing the flexibility and value from the membership, plain and simple, in favour of enticing SC purchase. I get it, I really do. As I have said above though, unless eligible items that are 1500-2000SC become readily available and are NOT just repaints of cheaper weapons, or the members sale is restructured to offer packages or something over and above what people buying SC can purchase, then I see nothing here that makes me want to renew any longer. Offering items of that value is going to be difficult however, since everything is meant to be a sidegrade and not an upgrade.

Edit: Slightly updated.