Customer Service Announcement: Premium Membership

I'll bet they realised they were giving away too much money to Player Studio creators. No more buying studio items with your monthly "free" station cash. I reckon there are going to be a lot less studio purchases after this - of course meaning less royalties being paid to the creators.

See, it's the word "almost" in that sentence that basically ruins this for all of us. Or words like "some restrictions", or whatever other fluffy legal text the team needs to keep using for "You can only spend this on things we feel like letting you spend it on."

When we were getting 500SC a month, we knew that it was going into the bank, just the same as any other SC we buy. That there was going to be total transparency about what we could use this on, because we were spending it just the same as we spend money on anything in the game.

But take away that certainty, and that transparency, and the whole deal gets shot to hell. After all, even if the initial offerings looked good, SOE have already pulled on bait and switch on us here. Who's to say we won't suddenly see items disappearing from this restricted list over time?

This is a problem of consumer confidence, and right now you guys aren't giving us any.

I like the current system, my only feud with the new policy is that it all must be spent on one item? So you are saying that if I purchase a gun that costs 700 SC, 1300 of it going to waste? We need clarity on these things.

SOE if you are trying to piss off most or all of your paying customers this is a great direction to go.

That appears to be exactly what they are saying, and it's why so many people are feeling deeply unhappy with this change.

I was thinking about buying a membership, but not after this change....

Also, it kind of worries me that they're saying, "up to 2000 SC".....

If they're excluding bundles, that probably means we're getting more expensive weapons and such, as there's really only..... 3, 4 gold weapons in the game? NS-PDG, Commish G, and the other pistol.... Not sure if anything else is listed in there.

I honestly would've hoped it'd be an increase in SC a month. It does affect the game's economy a little bit but I would assume the playerbase would fully enjoy it.

What they should have done is never even mentioned the words "up to 2000 SC" anywhere and instead just said "one free item * ".
As soon as they gave us a number, people are going to see it as value being wasted if they don't use up all of it.

If you had just said "You can pick any item you want *" then people wouldn't have felt so bad picking up the cheaper things. Decal or sniper rifle; they all cost the same - nothing.



*Except bundles, Player Studio items and anything else good.

This being the real issue. The amount doesn't matter, if we can only spend it on a restricted list of items.

MEMBERSHIP ACCOUNT CANCELLATION CONFIRMATION
Hello ACCOUNTNAMEREMOVED,
This email is to confirm your recent Membership cancellation.
As a result of this cancellation, your access to exclusive Members Only content will be removed after the end of your Membership cycle. In addition, and with immediate effect, you will no longer receive SC500 per month (granted for remaining on an auto-renew plan).
But you don't have to leave the game completely! Your Station Account remains active, so you can continue your online adventures with uninterrupted access to free content!
If you miss the great Members Only quests, items, or your other characters, you can always renew your membership or purchase additional items with Station Cash.
If you have any questions or need more help, please contact Customer Service for assistance.
Thanks,


Sony Online Entertainment LLC
http://www.soe.com


15 minutes can save you 100% of your planetside membership!

I encourage all others to cancel your subs. In my sig I have a post from a while back on my ideas for memberships. The SC amount either needs to be raised, or overall prices for in-game items, especially COSMETIC items, needs to be reduced.

Thanks SOE! Tell the guy with the bachelors in economics to re-read the chapter on supply and demand.

The law of demand states that, if all other factors remain equal, the higher the price of a good, the less people will demand that good. In other words, the higher the price, the lower the quantity demanded.

In this lesson, the price of the product has not changed, but the perceived value is now reduced, and thus will result in less DEMAND, at least from this guy!

So far this new "offer" is exactly like that: you can buy ONE SINGLE item up to 2000 SC in cost per month. Be it decal for 25 SC or SWAG gold NS PDW for 2000 SC (given both are on a list from which you can choose)

Canceled and filled this with the Billing Department.

I read today that your company has changed the terms of my subscription to Planetside 2. You have removed the 500 SC per month and instead will give me a 1 time purchase per month of an item worth 2000 SC. I do not agree to this. If your company caries out this change in subscription I would like to be refunded the full amount of the 1 year subscription (~$120) I was charged on 11/21/13.

Thank you

"Additional value" lol. It's clearly, at best, alternative value, and that kind of duplicitous salesman-speak just makes you look untrustworthy.

I can understand that you (SOE, not PS2 staff in particular) are worried about people banking SC and then spending it in other games instead of buying subscriptions or SC in that game. But this is a bad way to change it because it screws over people who only play (in our case) PS2.

Every 500SC you were giving away came from $15 or €15 of real money, not just the $5 it would cost to buy SC directly, so it's not like subs were losing you anything before. If you were that worried about cross-game banking then it would make more sense to make subscriptions give 500 specific game vouchers, instead of just SC, but functionally the same if you only played that game.

I don't subscribe but I'm certainly less likely to do so now.

I'm in very much the same boat here. Please keep us updated on what billing has to say about this. I'm disgusted to think that I just paid for a full year only to get hit with this.

My best guess is that they don't want people with Planetside 2 Memberships spending their Station Cash on other games. Hopefully, someone will wake up and realize how hamfisted of a solution this is.

I don't want to seem like I should be wearing a tin-foil hat, but I do find it interesting the timing of this change. Anyone that participated in beta had the 1 year subscription offer presented to them a day or so around the date of 11/21/13. None of us will be able to contest the auto-renewal bill with our credit cards now.

Hey SOE, long time player, first time poster! I'm more passionate about this topic than I'd like to admit, so hopefully by posting some constructive feedback about the recent changes, I can give you an idea of how to create more value for me in PS2.

I'm not excited for this change in membership benefits and am seriously considering ending my membership due to this change.

Why I liked a station cash stipend as a Planetside 2 Player:
- I'm an item hoarder by nature. I store cert points and station cash for extended periods because I want to be sure that if something cool comes out that I want, I'll have sufficient resources to purchase it. As a premium member, I don't want to be punished for delaying gratification(I just purchased Esamir camos within the past month and I've been playing since launch. Suddenly they looked super cool, and I saw an added benefit in blending with the environment) or saving up in-game currency for items I want.

- It seems like this change will make it easier to purchase new weapons for my character. I've found weapons I really enjoy using, and am stubborn about changing them. New weapons have entirely different "feelings" that I don't frequently want to try. In a way, it changes my strategies and mouse maneuvers to an uncomfortable degree. I can see the benefits of adding more weapons to my vehicle loadout. However as a veteran player, my vehicles are set up how I want them, and I frequently have enough cert points to spend on the weapons I want(that I don't already have).

- It restricts my ability to further customize my character with new cosmetics. The "Player studio items may not apply" fine print is worrying. It is often the PS items that are new and exciting. Being able to purchase PS items gives me more opportunities to SPEND the SC I've accumulated. At the rate PS camos are being added to the game, it's likely some really cool designs are going to come out that I want to spend SC on. Let me use the SC I've accumulated from being a premium member on them.

Why I liked station cash as a SOE supporter:
- SOE has new games coming out that I'm interested in(EQ3 being top of the list). Knowing that by "paying to play" the existing content to potentially have in-game items in a future game is a cool concept.

tl;dr:All in all, I really liked the FLEXIBILITY of the station cash benefit I received as a premium member. I'm upset that you've taken action to make it less flexible.

I look forward to your continued engagement with the community about this issue.

addendum: I understand the business pressures of having an uncomfortable amount of accrued liabilities with an uncertain due date. Letting players build up stockpiles of currency and then watching them hoard it until holiday sales can be frustrating I'm sure. Players have the advantage of knowing that holiday sales are practically a sure thing, and that the company has to offer something to compete with the myriad of other "gaming sales" during that period. I think one problem PS2 has is the amount of content being offered to players. Right now, they have the ability to spend SC on armor/weapon customizations and weapons(to a degree. some available via certs). Give players more things to spend the accumulated SC on. I'm just throwing these out there, Commander's DLC, Enhanced UI Customizations(a nightmare for the team who went through OMFG, sry), Outfit Decals, Outfit Base Captures, Enhanced Voice Controls, More In-game music options(side note: I can't tell you how under utilized the PS2 soundtrack is. even the song that plays when you first select the race you'd like to be is NEVER heard again throughout the entire game), More "fun weapons"(see flare gun), etc.... These are all things that players would SPEND SC on. With the gap of content due to OMFG, I'm sure a lot of players are eager to see what tasks the dev team is able to work on now that they have their time back(we hope?).

addendum tl;dr plz give us more things

Bad idea SOE. This is not the deal I signed up to when I subbed for 500 SC per month... and I simply don't like it when anyone (or any company) I entered into an agreement with, just go change the fundamental arrangement like this. I'm unsubbing until there's a way for me to get SC on a regular basis and I am able to spend it with more freedom and on any SOE game using SC. (As per the deal I made with you several years ago SOE!)

I cant say I like this at all. I have brought most of what I like and to have the option of the SC stored to purchase what I would like is how it should be. I get better value buying from SC when the daily sale comes out.

A) They said player studio items and bundles are not included. I imagine there will be some exceptions to this but usually those items cant just be obtained with your 1 month buy. Reasonably speaking this is ok. You cannot expect to buy one of those mega bundles that has camos + guns + side arms or a full set of vehicle weapons as your monthly one thing purchase!
You couldn't do that with 500sc before and you couldnt do it now. They never said ALL bundles are out though.
Player studio items are not included because its not fair to the people who made them I imagine? I am not well aware of how the player studio works so I cant speak about that.

B) That is sooo true, there were so many sweet items for sale dirt cheap, i used my 500sc to buy a number of items that were on sale for 99sc and 1sc. I finally ran out of sc and I was tempted to buy more. So yes it was going to be subscription AND buy SC for the first time in my life, I didnt take the plunge cuz game crashed though
Anyway YES there scheme worked!
Still with these discounts i feel like im getting a bargain, a camo for 1 sc? a tank weapon for 99sc? thats the kind of deal that I feel its worth it to buy sc for, Just 1k SC will do alot for you, and should keep you happy for a long long time. Especially that you can get a free item per month as well.
Before this I thought prices were just too high. This is only available to members so it encourages people to subscribe, which I believe they should anyway (if you played this game like me 600+ hours you should show your support)

But then again I compare this game to other games or movies, and considering the number of hours I play, it its VERY cheap entertainment.
Consider a cinema movie 1.5 hours, 12$ = 8$/hour
This game 600+hours, 150$ (actually less $, more hours, but just for the sake of simple math) = 0.25$/hour.

And in the end If you want non of this, you can play totally free and you wont be gimped in any way and have a full on game experience for free.
Is that really sweet or what?

Do items "purchased" as the free item count as SC unlocks, (I.E. I choose a NS-11A as my item, and i can then use it on ALL factions and characters.) Or as a Cert Unlock? (I.E. Only useable by the character i picked the item/weapon on)