Customer Service Announcement: Premium Membership

Thank you Piestro for actually listening, I thought this is going to be a one sided enforcement without even bother asking those people who spent their hard earned money (or their parent's hard earned money).

I'll be waiting SOE's response, hopefully it'll be done soon enough to enlighten us that actually subscribe because of the 500 SC.

This change has nothing to do with EQN or any other game. It's a change in overall business practices.

Thank you for the constructive suggestion. If it is not a boon though, which is our intent, we need reasons why. You've provided that with previous posts, so that's more a general reminder for everyone else.

I appreciate the honesty regarding the reasons behind this change -- but I do not appreciate the dual narrative here. One moment you're claiming this is a decision made for the benefit of the players, as this is a change that offers an increased value. Another you're telling us that the change is because of a "business and accounting" reason.

I appreciate this may be a change that is out of your hands, but don't pee on our legs and tell us it's raining. It's insulting to the intelligence of your paying customers.

As a Planetside 2 supported since Alpha Squad, and previous Planetside player I must say I am disappointed with this plan.

What it generally translates into, is one purchase a month. As much as it is probably a decent value for new players, who can purchase bundles, for veterans it really doesn't help.

The simplest solution that would keep everybody happy would be IMHO to give players a choice, if they want to stay on their existing plan or migrate to the new plan (Obamacare anyone?).

If your ultimate goal is to keep the membership numbers up, I suggest you consider pursuing that route. Otherwise you may see lots of cancellations. With F2P model used by Planetside 2, membership is really quite optional.

I am currently supporting 2 memberships (one for my daughter) and losing 500 SC benefit will really make me reconsider that.

Please understand that this isn't just me listening, although I'm happy to be one of the people doing it publicly. This is something we here at SOE as a whole are very interested in hearing what you have to say. Your feedback is being propagated beyond this thread, and your words are being heard by those at every level here at SOE.

I was literally just considering signing up for membership, i was on the membership page, but this has made me take a moment and think. (and maybe pushed me over the edge)

I feel this change benefits new Subs rather than old ones by quite a margin.

If I signed up now I get basically anything I want for free (gold commissioner for example) which is great, seriously fantastic, much better than 500SC. And in following months I can get any other weapons I want that are worth ~700SC. From a newbie perspective this is a brilliant change.

But I have to think about people who have been members for 6 months and more, people who have pretty much got the high cost stuff they want and are happy for 500SC to just spend on daily deals, or camos, or just save it up. They are in a much lower spot in terms of "value" when compared to a newbie.

There's really only a few acceptable choices from the customer's PoV:

• Roll back the change, go back to giving out 500 SC/mo (which accomplished all of your stated goals).
• Drop PS2 subscription prices by 33% on 6 and 12 month, 25% on 3 month and 20% on 1 month.
• Drop subscription prices by 10%, give out less SC per month.
• Change it so that membership gives you a permanent 33% off items in the store (all items).
• Allow the "1 free item up to 2000 SC" coupons to stack across multiple months (maybe they expire after 6 months)
• Change them to be rebate coupons, valued at 500 SC that never expire and can be applied whenever you purchase an item.

I BOLD the very correct sentence that summary why people reply the way they reply

First of all thanks to Piestro for showing up here and joining the conversation & commenting on some things, if not for that my comment probably would've been much nastier.

However that doesn't mean I'm happy, you've turned a not overly happy but silent & paying customer into a badmouthing freeloader (for now). No subscription renewal for you, if I weren't so lazy or it was a bigger sum I'd definitely take legal action (enough people in here commented on how this change voids the contract...).



Will I go out of my way to talk smack about SOE? No, I've got better things to do with my time.
Will I recommend investing in SOE products when friends are in doubt? Definitely no, too much questionable & even shady stuff going on. I simply need to describe the current situation to get "lol that's ridiculous" reactions from most of the people I know.

I don't think the new conditions are all that bad or unfair in general, but for my personal purchase plans I would've gotten 7 items out of the remaining SC boni, that's cut down to 5 with your newly planned model, in other words I would've gotten an additional 40% out of the old system.

Solution: let old subscribers chose if they want to move to the new model ( it's actually better for some) or if they want to stick with the old one, new contracts starting in February can be whatever you want them to be...

Another really questionable thing is the arbitrary refunding of certs (ZOE yes <-> Harasser no, Proximity Radar yes <-> Defense Slot stuff no). I expect stuff to get nerfed and I don't mind it all that much, however unfair actions like this are very high on my list of things a developer should avoid if they don't want to lose me.

Solution: don't ever refund certs unless you completely remove an ability/weapon

I would've loved to drop 20-50€ on a double/triple SC sale but I can totally understand how it can be bad for you in the long run and I don't expect them. I do expect to be treated in a fair manner!



P.S.
Look at the flourishing Indy Games scene or how a project far away from finishing already has accrued over 35m $ because PC gamers are damn loyal if you treat them nicely. In contrast I have not bought an EA game in years and thankfully more and more friends of mine are joining the "vote with your wallet" boycotting of supposedly AAA titles that aren't anything but shiny textures & shaders.

Both are true. One on hand we have an issue we need to resolve. The best result of this should be benefit to both sides, and that is our intention. We want to make it better for everyone. That's the best way to make changes; the goal should always be everyone wins.
We're not in an adversarial relationship, we all want the same things. We want you to be happy and want to provide a good value to you all.

If you are unhappy and don't play the game that's a loss for everyone. Then we don't make more games, you don't have games to play, and I end up working outside the gaming industry. My wife might be happier, because I doubt I'd want to be working on a Saturday if it wasn't something I cared about, but on the other hand she wants me to be happy about my job and isn't glaring at me as I type this. Honest.

If I earn Station Cash.....it's MINE to determine how it's spent! I don't need someone else to spend it for me by limiting the access to the merchandise.

How about leaving Pro7 as a third party partner in Europe? They failed with every game linked with them. Their history with user dissatisfaction goes a very long way. Nonexistent account security and account recovery options and etc.

Make unified SOE Premium accounts, I don't want any SevenCash crap which is, in fact, my failure in beginning with choosing them over regular SOE account.

I even don't have any of daily or premium deals latest couple of days to begin with. That is who Pro7 is but, thing is, now it's too late for account switching.

Why dont give us 1000sc every month to spend on something and no more saveable, that would be a greater deal than the 1 item 2000sc per month deal.
So i can buy some items with 1000sc per month and thats it, if i want more, i have to buy sc...

btw.: paid over 600$ for this game allready... never paid that much in my whole life for a game.

You don't 'earn' SC.

The creation of studio items has caused the SC to go from having no value outside of game to actually being a financial liability for SOE.

Before, you could have had 1,000SC and for SOE that was valued at $0. Now? Now that 1,000SC is a $4 liability because if you were to spend it on a studio item, they'd need to pay $4 to the creator.

So while before as soon as you gave SOE $15 for a subscription, SOE could immediately put that $15 as income, now they need to set aside $2 for every 500SC grant in case you choose to spend it on Studio items.

I'm not really liking this idea. What it says to me is that there will be a lot more higher priced items in the store. At the moment, there are 3 items (I think, correct me if I'm wrong) that cost 2000 SC. As bundles, and player studio items may be subject to exclusions, this means that the vast majority of players with subscriptions will be spending 1000 of their 2000 allowance per month, to limit it to a single item and not expect the player base to put two and two together is insulting.

I would much rather see either the current system kept, or an increase to 1000 SC per month, that players can still spend on what they choose, and not to have to spend it in that month. I may not want to spend it in a month, and on occasions, I have saved my 500 SC and waited until there were things I wanted.

I'm going to see how the new system pans out, but if it goes as I expect, I won't keep renewing. What SOE have done with this change is marginalised a large number of paying customers.

Because that would potentially mean SOE paying $4 a month to external parties from your subscription if you buy Studio items. Making studio items ineligible makes this an even worse deal.

PM me about what you mentioned here - Piestro

There is no PS2 exclusive currency that does not include Studio items for which SOE has to give 40% to the creator.

Apparently you misread my post.
It's ok you can try again if you feel like it, amount of tries is unlimited and does not expire at the end of the month.

I would downvote this if I could. A better customer service gesture would be to up the station cash to 1000sc per month for active members or just not rock the boat and leave it at 500sc where it is. Several people have already expressed that they are ending their membership because of this.