Customer Service Announcement: Premium Membership

So glad I vowed never to give SOE another dime back in April. Easily would have spent $400 in these last 8 months on Planetside alone, but I cannot support a company with such poor customer service. (Note this is directed at SOE, not the Planetside staff, although there has been quite of few game changes I haven't been thrilled with either, but that is an entirely different issue).

You guys do know you are all complaining on the wrong forums. This is SOE wide, for all games. Complaining to Higby and crew would be like getting annoyed about a law passed, so you run down to the post office and shout at someone there. Technically they are employees of SOE, but if this is across all games, you aren't getting anywhere. Go to the official SOE Forum and complain there about it. This is a Smedley Change, not a Higby change.

I'm BR 100 and don't really need anything else in Planetside 2. I planned on spending that extra 500 SC on Everquest Next. If this is really what they are doing I will be unsubbing. There really is no reason for me to stay subbed in PS2 any more, hope I can get a refund since I subbed for a year.

Louey
The Forty Deuce

What's stupid about this change in subscription is that it is an across the board change, why not let the user decide which of the two they prefer, either a free item Every Month or the 500SC every month.

Why you ask, there are some who have now started the game who would prefer to get the 1 free Item per month. While other players such as myself who has subscribed for the membership so that I can get SC built up and purchase what I want, when I want, look forward to the 500SC every month.

What the average subscriber doesn't understand is that the 2000SC that you are giving them does not allow them to get more than ONE ITEM. It's basically you telling them here, take any ONE ITEM up to 2000SC every month.

Well not all users want that!!! I for one am pissed that this is an across the board change. And does not give your subscriber base the opportunity to choose which of the two schemes there are, either the old one with the 500SC or the new one with the ONE FREE ITEM worth up to 2000SC per month.

Your wording was deliberate to clearly state that there would be exclusions, those exclusions were not stated up front except for player studio items and bundles, so there might also be weapons or gear that you "decide" should be excluded.

I for one prefer my 500SC every month and I am quite sure many others prefer that too. If Sony continues along this path I'm quite sure that your subscriber base for this game will drop drastically and would NEVER RECOVER!

Not giving your users the SC which most of them prefer since they might play most of your other games, which it seems might change once this plan is implemented.

Once again, your cleverly worded statement guised as being a gift to the subscribers is just a ruse for you fool your subscriber base to implement a plan that most would not like, which means we will not continue our subscription since Sony seems to prefer to take the "Microsoft" path of greed!

Before you implement this, you should take what I said into consideration and change your plan. And who ever came up with this idea should be fired!

These are SOE forums they will gather their data on reactions (if they track it at all, which I believe they do) from all their forum sections.
And we respond in thread specifically dedicated for this subject.

But it would be better if it were targetted towards the general forums is all I am saying.

The point is to force subscribers to pay more by limiting their options. Not to give you choice.
The "ah, this this is such an improvement" was just to sweeten your pill.

This.

Also, the entire marketing and accounting teams should be subjected to COMPULSORY gaming fridays., with main focus on F2P games and have homeworks analyzing different fremium models. They are being like the movie and music industry, holding onto antiquated concepts preventing them from success.

Even if you solely enjoy number crunching for some reason, please have a clue about the customers you are trying to sell to. I know the average intelect is on the decline, but even stupids still listen to the word of mouth.

I would be VERY pissed if these decisions made one of my favourite games flop and die prematurely. And I am sure your colleagues from the dev team would be as well. The difference is, they know where you live.

There are no "General forums".

Link

Dear SOE,

The week of February 3rd, 2014, I will be making a very important change to my Premium Membership level in PlanetSide 2, as in dropping it.

You got me here. "Not exactly easy to find" - said me to keep his face.

F2P 'psychology' always favours driving smaller, more frequent sales (see: xmas 99/1 SC sales, daily sales etc) over less frequent, larger ones. Membership SC effectively negates the need to regularly purchase SC for small ticket items, removing the customer most willing to pay (as evidenced by the subscription) almost entirely from the purchasing chain.

Changing the bonus from SC to a single monthly item decreases the relative value of sales and smaller ticket items. If you can 'spend' up to 2000SC, it feels like you're getting more, so why 'waste' it on a 99 SC member's sale or a daily 50%, when it could buy a golden pistol or a bundle or whatever? Remember, you can't stockpile or save them, and you only get twelve a year. You won't want to blow them on cheap stuff. And that's the point.

This change is intended to alter member purchasing habits by changing the relative value of their membership bonus as compared to in-game items. It is designed to drive more frequent, smaller SC purchases among members (the cash cows) for use on small ticket items such as sales and small cosmetics, and to bring members back into the purchasing chain. It is free-to-play 101, the most basic of 'maximization strategies'.


It is not a bonus.

It is not an increase in value.

Stop the milking.

I would request a streamlined method for cancelling my subscription and being refunded the months remaining on said subscription.

Frankly, i feel for both camps. But i welcome the new idea also of new membership perks. One question though, when will this change be implemented?

They could make a lot more money by pricing items correctly - I don't understand why companies think Rolls Royce pricing for their products will help them make more money. Sell more product at cheaper prices... the cost to SOE is a fixed cost in the software business, so more sales at lower prices actually brings in the most ROI/profits.

On second thought maybe SOE should just implement a PS2-specific currency (usable ONLY in PS2), keep all the prices as they are and simply keep the membership scheme as is? That way (almost) everyone would be happy (enough)?

What are the new membership perks you speak of? None were mentioned, and the one big one was taken away and replaced with a shadow of its former self under the guise of being utterly fantastic.

It really isn't.

More SOE wonders. Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you people? I spent at least 4 times more than what i spent on any other game and you still keep ******* me. This SOE Christmas sucked. No triple SC as everyone were talking about. Now memberships get nerfed. Jesus christ. Stop milking the freaking community.

I rarely post and this is a typical response, however. I've had my subscription for a year now and as soon as its up it will be canceled. Their is no point in changing something that is working to something that is ridiculous and not worth it.