Customer Service Announcement: Premium Membership

The only items that cost above 700SC as in 1000-2000 are either:
Playerstudio item´s which are excluded
Gold/Black Skins of less than a handful of guns, Skins that will in 9/10 be replaced by a Camo.
Member early access camos and ornaments, which will be excluded

So whats left? Old stuff you might already have, weapons you can unlock via certs and time and therefor don´t need SC for.
Since SOE excluded the Playerstudio 95% all new vanity items are also excluded, because --in case you havn´t noticed-- there isn´t much stuff being released right now that isnt made by players. And new weapons or other new stuff SOE might release will probably fall under the "aswell as certain other items" rule. Face it, it´s a downgrade for anyone whos been around for a while.

It might be nice for fresh subscribers but everyone whos paid a subscription for a year and probably spend lots of extra money on SC gets the finger!

Those boosts are a great idea - most BR100s have started playing other factions, so even they have something to put them towards.

Cosmetic bundles should be made single item purchasable - there's really not a lot of sense in having 3 kinds of the same camo, 6 kinds of the same helmet type, etc... these type of stuffs should ideally be combo packed. Or class specific combo packs. And of course, camo combo packs. The problem with PS2 in particular is that these items are so fragmented. They even clutter up the store and list of items available.

2000 SC for 30 day set of BFR "keys"? Okay, there's one thing I would consider staying subscribed for.

I just got a 6 month subscription, so I know a bit of what you're feeling. As far as refunds go, SOE has a pretty strict, "NOPE" policy on refunds. That is to say: no, they wont refund anything; and if you ask, "nope" is the copy-pasted response you'll receive if you ask.

This is garbage. Again you'er doing a good job pissing me off SOE. I much prefer my 500sc a month which I can save up to use on sale items. If you want to make changes for future subs thats fine, but changing how my current sub works is in bad faith.

I guess thats just how you boys operate.

so after this change goes live in February - there pretty much wont be a point in even showing 'the on sale items'. Most of the sale items would range from 125 SC to 750 SC. Buying it on sale or buying it a full price, would still pretty much leave you with over half of your 2000 SC leftover since you can only buy ONE item! Now everybody will feel the need to buy whatever is at 2000 SC or closest to 2000 SC to feel like they got their 'PREMIUM' membership worth.

Premium membership cancelled. I will miss the resources for a moment until I remind myself it would cost $15 USD a month.

Absolutely, Camos need to be Bundled. I always buy all 3 Camo types.

As some has previously stated, I too am not real happy with these changes. I purchased a yearly membership in December of 2013, hoping to see Planetside 2 accomplish awesome feats in the long term despite the recent turmoil. One of the major reasons I subbed was the cert and SC bonuses, especially the SC.

I could sit here and cry at the screen at losing the SC with a more unfavorable deal for my purchasing habits, but perhaps there can be alternatives as well. Some of these may have been already been suggested, and are tailored more towards Planetside 2.

1. Expand Product Range
= Perhaps have items that are normally seasonal or somewhat exclusive to be available for purchase using the free item deal.
= Or perhaps have membership only items that can be obtained using the free item deal.

2. Old Member Plan
= Members who sign up before the enactment date will continue receive their SC benefits until their membership plan expires. Afterwards, all new memberships will follow the new reward system.
= In my situation, this is the preferred option. I'll see about renewing my yearly membership down the road if the benefits still hold any value to me personally.

3. Transfer the "1 Item 2000SC or Less" into a specific benefit. (Alternatives)
= This method keeps the free item deal, but players not interested in said deal can transform that benefit into something more fitting for their needs.
- "500 SC" Game Specific Currency -- This keeps the old benefits for those who play specific games and like to stockpile. While I would prefer if this "GSC" is also affected by sales, I would probably expect it to act like a non-negotiable price like certs.
- Actual Passive Cert Gain -- Instead of obtaining a free item, obtain passive certs without having to log in daily.
- Certification Gift -- Instead of obtaining a free item, obtain certs instead.
- Increase Resource Cap -- Instead of obtaining a free item, increase resource caps. This is intended for the hardcore players who already own many items or those who uses up resources regularly.

That's all I can think of at this moment. I really hope this situation gets rectified soon.

I join the rest: I think I will drop membership too.

Only provides me quicker continent queues and a bit more ressources now. The 500sc and hunting sales was my main drive. I don t need new guns just fun cometic stuff.

This is of almost no value to anyone who's been a member for any length of time, unless they're dying to get a black NS gun but could never justify the expense before. Most of us save those SC and grab the things we don't already have or desperately need when they go on sale... which brings the total cost to below 500 SC, so the actual gain here is simply a few expensive cosmetic variants on common pool guns.

tl;dr - Considerably reduces the value of resubbing for long-time members, especially those who've certed everything they really want and don't need the XP boost.

With the current pricing structure, this an unattractive change for both new and old players alike. If you buy the 700 SC guns you will get a new gun every month instead of two every three months, but there are many 500 SC and 250 SC options, and you'll be either at par or worse off than with the old system. And you're definitely worse off when it comes to cosmetics. I suppose the only options where you could pick something close to the full value are the black/gold Nanite Systems guns and the premium early access items. Everything else is nowhere near the 2000 SC value, especially if bundles are excluded.

Personally, I already have most of the guns that I want, and most interesting cosmetic options already arrive through the Player Studio. I don't really need that much additional certs from the other subscription bonuses either, so I see little benefit from continuing my subscription when it expires in February. If something interesting arrives, I'd have to buy Station Cash anyway, and I can do that with or without the subscription.

Couple of questions:

1. What happens to old subscriptions? Do you honor the original terms of the contract until the subscription is up for renewal, or do all currently active subscriptions switch to the new system?
2. Is the 2000 SC limit checked against the item's original price or against any possible discount? For example, many of the currently available bundles have been pushed below the 2000SC limit due to the ongoing sales. If the bundle exclusion didn't apply and we were already using the new system, would these discounted bundles be eligible to be acquired by subscribers?

Just mention that your customers dont want this and the team needs to go back to the drawing board .. focus on "value for money for everyone" and "keep people in the game". Atleast thats what id do before this goes too far.

This part is inaccurate. The vast majority of items will be offered, including newly released items.

Literally just bought a 12 month renewal a little over a month ago, so I'm feeling massively ripped off here. Will SOE be offering a chance for existing customers to be refunded our remaining subscription time, since the product we purchased is no longer the product we're being given?

I will not be renewing my membership.
You continue to insult the intelligence of your player base with these changes. First lattice and now you're trying to shove this increased "value" down our throats? When the most valuable item is half the 2000 SC allowance and it's only available monthly, you're narrowing our options and treating us like children again.

Sigh.

Look, SOE, you guys have built up some good rep with the whole OMFG thing and honestly, this Holiday thing was kinda fun with the snowmen, IMO. But c'mon guys. You have to realize that the existing memberships were pretty thin already. The only thing making it even remotely worthwhile was the free 500SC.

EXP bonus? Not that big a deal for those who have been playing.
Queue priority? Those aren't really that big a deal.
Extra loadouts? Nice to have, but not worth paying money for most of us.
Early access to items? I have yet to buy one of those.
Members-only sales? Ok, this can be nice, ESPECIALLY during the Holiday thing.
500 SC/month + all of that? Definitely worth 10-12 bucks a month.

Here's the thing: putting the whole "fungibility" thing aside (I'm certain you've already read the Reddit posting, which makes some EXTREMELY compelling points), the free 500SC was like a $10 Target Gift Card. It got me in the door and once inside the store, who only buys $10 worth of stuff at Target? You ALWAYS spend more. That's what this 500SC did -- I'd see my balance and that 700SC weapon I wanted and thought "Well, it's only a couple bucks more, and I like the game, and I can use the extra when I get my 500 next month." Now? None of that will happen. If I kept my membership, I'd just get a free item (not any of the items I probably want, since Players' Studio and Bundles are exempt) and no incentive to "just splurge a little more."

Yeah, cancelling my membership -- oh, and I can't do it now, or else I forfeit the things I already paid for, which let's be honest, is some ticky-tack stuff that just adds on to the irritation here and further erodes your image in my eyes. An image, by the way, that had been almost totally rehabilitated after years of irritation with SOE after terrible customer experiences with SWG and EQ2....and I'm not talking about the games themselves.

So, to sum up:

1. They are going to lose my exiting subscription dollars
2. They are going to lose the other SC purchases I tended to make fairly regularly (as much of what motivated me to make them is now gone)
3. Corporate credibility is once again shot.

Success, SOE! Success!

Thing about rank 80+ players is, they have gained about 40k certs at least. Now, even if they didn't spend any SC on weapon unlocks (which is usually not the case I think), that still means at least 15-20 of the more expensive guns and most of the armor/ability upgrades on highest rank - or at least close to it.

I guess that makes the items that you can get by certs less appealing to them, especially if they've been subscribers for a longer period of time (or bought some bundles, expensive guns, etc).
I'd say most of them spend their SC on higher battle ranks to try and make their characters unique. Most of the things that make you somewhat unique looking are through the player studio.
But I'm pretty sure you could request a rather simple database query of the transactions from accounts which have high battle ranked characters, to find out what are they actually spending their SC on.

Other than the market things, I think the resources boost is a very strong selling point for players that don't have much else to unlock.
Alternatively, you can make the unlocking and certs boost part useful to them, by introducing new items and abilities. I know it's not exactly related to the subscription, but if you would add new guns, attachments, vehicles, abilities, then it'd not only bring some new players, but possibly keep subsribers.


Here are the benefits of subscription:

• 25-50% increased resource gain
• 25-50% increased XP gain
• Increased passive cert point gain
• Priority login
• Early access
• Additional Character Slots
• Daily Members-Only Sale
• 500 SC each month

Highlit with red those that are far less important for those with higher ranks. The character slots is red, because you can just subscribe for a month, create three characters and you'll be able to play them even if you cancel your subscription plan, therefore it isn't a reason have a subscription for longer than a month.
Now let's take the 500 SC each month from this, and most likely the daily sales will go with it, because most of the members used the 500 SC for that.
I know it's also what ruins the business, but you can see how this makes membership less appealing.
Now I'm not sure how many people use the "Early access", but I'd go with borderline useless on that. On most servers you barely have queue to a continent, unless there's double exp event going on, so I'd go with not so important point either.
tl;dr: Take away the monthly 500 SC and it'll make the subscription not worth the money it costs. Start adding new things to the game and (/or, but more like and!) add benefit to the subscription that actually balances out the loss of 500 SC - because the monthly one item with the current restrictions certainly doesn't.

I couldn't believe it the first time I went to buy camo and had for armor...then weapons...then vehicles... if I wanted the camo for everything. Why not just sell camo? Very silly.

I got a suggestion. (But please keep the 500SC anyway)

Add the ability to once a day recert a whole rank chain or recert a weapon (if bought with SC then only attachments r refunded)

I swear to you, if you want a massive amount of members then this is the way to go.

In Planetside 1 you had to wait 24 (or was it 12h?) to recert something, so why cant it work here? They are paying a subscription after all. Shouldnt they have the same benefits then as we did back in PS1 when we payed monthly? (granted that certs are unlimited now, but they still are very limited for the low BR players)

Theres a thread on the roadmap thats called recertification, its been delayed like everything else, but I believe it still has the most posts in it. Imagine that amount of membership subscription from all of them...

My big complaint is that with SC I could wait for an item to go on sale or spend it ona bundle thats has a discount.
Trading is 500SC to buy a 700SC item that i could normally wait to be on sale for say 400SC is not a great deal.
One free weapon (usually 700SC) is just not worth the lose of:
not being able to take advatage of sales,
Lack of flexability on purchases
Inability to save up (say for a bundle)

Maybe offer a free weapon purchase, Boosts (not te long term ones so we get hooked on boosts becacuse your evil), and a cosmetic.
Combined this may be more equivilant.