Customer Service Announcement: Premium Membership

Under those new conditions, I will cancel my subscription when it run out next month.

• Player focused - If you SOE North America wants to sell a subscription, monthly, yearly, et. than make it worth the investment by players. While we don't have internal data, we the players understand maintenance and development costs and don't have an issue subscribing to keep the game alive and paying for future development - but - we've been patient with SOE North America playing what has felt like an Alpha or Beta game for a long long time - the OMFG performance update finally made the game playable. For other games in Alpha or Beta we pay around $14. U.S. to join and get perks as being founding members. With Planetside2 we've been paying (a great deal more) for Station Cash or membership to get items that often get tweaked and rendered in-optimal, we've paid for boosts that become useless from Derp DDOS attacks (New Years day guys) without extensions, had to deal with various hackers exploiting game mechanics, had to deal with team kill players that don't get banned and show up the next day to start their harassment cycle all over again. At times it feels like the players aren't being treated with the respect they should.
• Communicate - Treat the players with respect, be open about the problems you face and do the right things when requested - seeing tens of pages on this or other forums about a problem without any feedback antagonizes players. If there's a bug with an item, a weapon, a vehicle that unintentionally makes it overpowered, remove it, state why, give us it's priority and how long it will take to update. Would rather something be temporarily removed than allow it and those that use it to gain an advantage over others.
• Membership - Do not change the terms of service during a membership cycle. Grandfather in those players and their memberships and keep your word. It's perfectly reasonable to modify contracts for new players, it is not reasonable to change terms of service that impacts a paying members subscription - honor the contract they accepted or offer them a choice.
• Don't play games with our membership - stating X number of certs or Station Cash a month is one thing, but making players log in at 11:58 each night to ensure they get their reward is - to me - being a jerk. If you state something per month, then players shouldn't have to jump through hoops to get them. Be honest, be good, and treat players with respect.
• Update the game - We've all read the roadmap section at some time. There's a lot there and we're still waiting...

As people have pointed out, the problem with the 2000SC voucher is that there's barely anything in the game that costs more than 1000SC, and the vast majority of items cost 700SC or less. So 1/2 to 2/3 of the 'value' of these vouchers might as well not even exist (for PS2 players anyway.)

Not being able to use that 500 SC to take advantage of the daily deals is bound to rub people the wrong way too; it's ultimately kind of silly, but the game of looking for a good deal and feeling gratified when you find one is a game that lots of consumers really like playing.

Allowing the voucher to be used for bundles would be a better approach; alternatively they could issue two 1000SC vouchers instead of one for 2000. That would let members retain the purchasing power they had with the SC stipend+sales.

I'm canceling my subscription, I guess I really will be playing the game for free from now on.

Just wanted to point out the player studio exists for PS2, EQ, EQ2 & Free Realms currently. PS2 is not the only SOE game with player made items for sale.

Im canceling my subscription from next month with the new system. One item per month is not a deal for me.

Thanks.... *que crappy music & rainbow* "The more you know..."

Depending on the exact timing and state of your account it is quite probably #3.

This is on my list of player suggestions.

These are also on my list.

Currently the plan is to change the promotion as detailed in the original message (and also in the email you should have received). Give CS a few days to get back to you, as I am sure there are discussions going on about how to handle your request.

We're trying to provide equal or greater benefit. We're not trying to "slip" anything in. We're also reading your feedback and taking that into consideration.

We're constantly working against cheaters. It's our version of the forever war, we stomp them out and they try to come up with new ways. We need to find a way to nerf their spawn points.

There are still GMs and they work darn hard to continue to help improve players experiences.

Items are priced by a variety of factors. Probably not the best thread to discuss it. Ultimately value is in the eye of the beholder.

We're working to increase communication on the forums. There's another thread about that.

Items sometimes have to be nerfed. Sometimes they get buffed. We try to let you know as soon as we can what the changes will be. That's the nature of MMOs.

Player Studio exists across 4 games, and came to PS2 last out of the 4. There are many many more players there you are suggesting.

Had you let us know sooner, our CS team more than probably would have been able to help with this. It's the kind of thing they have dealt with before. They're good at resolving situations like this.

Late to the party...

I do and don't like the idea.

As long as they aren't messing with membership deals and the increased cert and resource gains I'm sort of okay with the change. What would have been better is to give us Certifications and Station Cash. They could have gone with 250 Certs a month + kept the 500 SC.

Another idea would have been to give memberships other perks, like being able to buy respec tokens at a reduced rate (respec token could reset everything, or you could make it specific, i.e. respec'ing your engineer or your lighting or your esf, etc...).

A 2000 SC item would be nice, but I've bought a ton of stuff, so I'm kinda meh on it. Is it going to be per character or per account?

Hope you all listen to us and come up with a compromise that doesn't suck.

Thanks!

1. Thats the point. Under the new system tou have to PAY AGAIN for SC, double the money for SOE.
2. To purchase what you want, when you want it.
3. Most members have what they want already, now your being forced to get somthing you dont want.
4. So why should we be punished, for $2, really??
5. item, 2,3

Is whoever is at the helm of SOE deliberately trying to kill the game? Because decisions like this one end and the constant nerfs end up just putting people off buying either SC or memberships.

I'll probably cancel my subscription due to this change. The 500sc is what put it over the edge for me to get the station access account I can play any game that soe has and I get 500sc to spend between them if I wanted and if i did not want to I could save it up for better items. So I might as well cancel my account for 20 dollars a month and just spend 15 on sc card and keep my sc for what ever I want and really there is not much in the store that has me saying oh oh i must have that and after the harasser changes I really feel ripped off for the SC / Certs I spent on it. So most likely i wont be buying and fluff stuff for anything again for fear of the bait and switch that seems to be happening here.

I'll add these to our list of player suggestions!

Cancelled mine over a month ago, after a year of playing i was finding it hard to spend certs and sc as it was and some night it feels so empty of players its just boring to play now.

One Item? Does not roll over? No bundles?
Just increase it to 1000 SC or buy 2 1000 SC Items and call it good. Roll over like it does.

For the record, if this is how it worked last week. I could not have bought those 1 SC items without buying more. What is the point of having a good deal if it is unavailable to you because you got a voucher instead of cash.

SOE nice try saying this is going to be better.
Hey, IT MIGHT BE, but I am really doubting it.

Well, at least now I can get that Decimator and Underboss in two months. . .

So, after letting things cook and soak in and read a lot of the post here, I'll make another post, this time with a bit better of a level head.

*** WARNING*** Wall -o- text ahead.

So we see that SOE, as a company, across ALL of their games, is making a bit of a big change to current and new premium memberships, where they are removing the free 500 Station Cash per month for continuing subscriptions that are not canceled, and replacing the 500 free SC with a once a month, one free item purchase valued up to 2000 SC that can be used on any item that is not restricted by SOE, such as Bundles, Player Studio, and other select items. It MUST be used within one month's time of receiving or it is forfeit and can not be stacked to allow two+ free items in one month. Seeing how this is COMPANY WIDE, it is meant to cover the cost of some items in other games where there are items, such as flying mounts in Everquest 2, that can cost up to 2000 SC. The purpose of me spelling this out, is to make it clear that this is not Planetside 2 only, and is company wide, as in ALL of SOE. I wanted to help clear up any confusion this may have caused people as that many that comment on here are people who are subscribed ONLY with Planetside 2 and not with other MMO's by SOE.

With that out of the way, I would like to discuss how this decision is not an added value, and instead is detrimental to most of the player base here in Planetside 2. I only have a subscription to PS2 my self and no other games with SOE, so I can not make any fair and practical judgement call on the effects on the player base in other games, though I can imagine that it is very similar, from what I have seen in other forums and those that do play other SOE MMO's, have said here.

As many on here have stated, this new change is a devaluing of the subscriptions for many repeatedly listed reasons. Such reasons are, veteran players have already bought most of the SOE provided content that they wanted, such as weapons, SOE created cosmetics, ect. Also the benefits that a subscription offers in-game such as up to 50% xp boost, resource gain, and que line bypasses, do not do much for long time players with high to maxed level characters, causing a subscription value to decrease further. Other subscription benefits such as additional character slots and loadout slots are not of much value as most players will have just three characters, one on each faction/empire, and the 3 loadouts you get normally is enough for the majority of players who have settled into specific load outs for each class, such as three top used weapons for light assault, three utility loadouts for engineer, three situations for maxes like AA, AI, and AV, and so forth. Now, the only really valued bonus for having a Planetside 2 subscription was the free 500 station cash a month allowance, that was not restricted and allowed for multiple purchases of any kind and stack with the following month's allowance. Players could also add on more SC to add to the allowance by buying SC, and in a lot of cases, only have to buy a smaller amount to add up to the amount needed for the item of their choice. With the new change, you can not add to the free single item purchase, that is limited to what SOE offers and what has not already been bought by the player previously.

As many other players have stated, the bundles and player studio items are the only items that would come close to the 2000 SC value, also the player studio items are the only ones that are of new content that is appealing to a large portion of the player base. I my self was looking forward to getting the head band for my NC, but then saw it is player studio made and can't be gained with the monthly one free item purchase allowance. This is an example of how I, and others, are limited to what we can purchase for our self that we find appealing and desirable, but becomes restricted and unattainable without buying more Station cash. This sadly only adds to the devaluation of the subscription that we pay for. This is how many feel, and this is how many see it. The only people that the subscription and the new plan would appeal to, is new players. But after a few months to a year, the value of the subscription will drop dramatically and the player will end the subscription and continue on for free or move on to another game that they find appealing.

Another thing that is upsetting players here is how this devaluing of their subscription is being spun as a good then when it is blatantly a devaluation. Most of the player base here is intelligent, educated, and are mature adults (despite how some reactions show otherwise). No reason is given to clearly state exactly why this decision was made to make such a a change, and it leaves its self open to speculations and interpretations that it is done in the name of greed and to further screw over the customer base and further alienate the gamers. The lack of transparency, the feeling of being ripped off, and further devaluing of a payed service, causes the gamers here to react the way they are currently, and only causes further divide.

Now, as for solutions to this current issue. Many have been suggested, and honestly, most are based off of the idea that we should get more for our money, being based off of interpretations with no formal information regarding the reason for the change, and making changes that are limited to Planetside 2. Most ideas are good and reasonable, and can make for a lot of good consideration, but I think that what needs to be done first and foremost is that SOE as a corporation needs to be transparent and upfront to exactly why they are making these changes and restrictions. When SOE treats its customers as mature, intelligent adults, informing us of why these changes are necessary, instead of putting a sugar coating of lies on top of a pile of crap dressed up as something other than what it is, then a lot of the rage can be avoided and discussed in a more mature manner, also you would have had far less sudden subscription cancellations than you have had since this announcement.

Another solution would be to include select bundles and player studio items for selection with the once a month free purchase. There is plenty of camo bundles that can be made that most would enjoy having, and it would add more perceived value to the subscriber. Also allowing Player studio helmet items to be purchased with the once a month freebie would subdue a lot of the devalued feeling that this change provides. Again, this all comes down to is we, the customers, wanting more bang for our buck.

So really, we want to know why for this drastic change, why treat us as dumb children, why have it as a blanket policy, and what alternative are there that can let us feel like we are getting a real value for our subscriptions instead of being ripped off and restricted? Each game is different, and Planetside 2 is more over so, along with the player base for Planetside 2. Where as most MMO players are use to the typical MMORPG, people who play First Person shooters are very much different in their view and value for their game. Where as the RPG gamers will no doubt feel that they are getting some value, if not as much as before, FPS players feel that the value has dropped considerably. If you think about it, the RPG's are just as their names imply, Role Playing Games, where they do a lot of Role Playing. So having extra character slots and load outs can work for them, and works with their role playing, FPS players want to have some individuality, but also have a lot of simplistic things and ways because for them, it is all about a military battle and that's it, no role play. That would be one of the underlying issues for why this change has such bad reception.

I do hope that this could have hopefully shed some light on the situation, the reception this change has and continues to receive, and give the higher up's something more to consider. All I ask, and as I feel many others would also ask, is that we, the customers, are properly informed and allowed to fully understand, within reason of course, as to what is going on and where things stand with not just the game(s) that we play and are subscribed to, but also about SOE its self. This level of transparency not only lets us know what is really going on, but lets us feel as that we ARE valued customers and that our support as customers is important and that SOE actually is concerned about their customers, and not just the amount in our wallets.

For my self, I will continue to support Planetside 2, as that I am a Planetside 1 vet since 2003 and was part of the PS2 beta and have had a year's worth of consistent subscription since last February, if not a little longer. I will still buy SC and use to to acquire items that I have an interest in as I feel that I am supporting the game and the game developers more so than SOE its self. I would also ask that other players here continue to support Planetside 2 and the developers, as they have been as open with us as they can be (The OMFG dev videos and other PS2 PR interaction) and do their best to keep us in the know.

Sure it's been mentioned before but one option if they don't want cross game SC is to reward membership with tokens credited straight to X games account ..
So
PSTokens
DCUOTokens
etc etc

Other ideas to increase the value of membership but without heading into P2W realms would be

Give members a 10% discount to all store Items ( Also an incentive to charge $ as they get more bang for their buck )
Add loyalty fluff items .. Camo, weapon skins, MBT barrel skins , decals etc etc etc ( given out at 3, 6, 9 and 12 month intervals )

etc etc

Here's are my ideas that I wish I got for premium membership

• Allow members to put a bounty on other players using Station Cash. There is a 5% exchange cost that goes to Planetside 2 team developers.
• Allow members to set up contests using station cash or items they have with other players . example. I put up my shotgun as a prize between me and my teammate that who ever gets the most kills within this time limit wins it. Or use station cash instead of a prized haymaker. note: There is a 5% exchange cost for station cash and items prize cost 20 SC to set up the contest.
• Let Alerts drop like a 5%-20% experience bonus increase that lasts 30 minutes for the losing members. Just something extra
• Let members sale their items to other players with station cash at a 5% cost for the exchange.
• members get too choose a free item once a month from the members only sales area.
• no changes to the 500 station cash each month.
• members get access to an exclusive arena to go up against eachother

Also add

The members number of kills show up on vehicles.