Remove the referral system

Why the hell is there a recruiting system now that forces players to advertise SOE's games? It's already bad enough that it forces us to recruit players for items, but when it says $10 is to be spent in order for it to count, that is taking it way too far.

SOE, you're asking players to recruit massive amounts of people, assuming not all of them will pay $10, in order to receive items that could've been placed in the in-game shop? This is outrageous. I am not the type of person who meets and greets everywhere. I see this reward system as a smack in the face to people who don't have a lot of friends. I have a few friends, but they don't even play games.

Next, to ask for 25 recruits ($250+) is just another way to milk free money without spending a penny on advertisement. It is not our job to advertise your games; it is your job, SOE. Stop using your loyal players as slaves to send your bank free money.

This is just bad practice and the direction your company is heading in is about to meet up with EA.
As a loyal player and customer, I feel this is bringing players like me down to the state of being slaves.

>SOE shows us what "Recon" camo looks like at GU9 or 10
>Only available through referring people

Does not need to be removed... but it does need to be
TWEAKED

Players who want to spend money on this game for this content should be allowed to (Not signing up 25 accounts and spending $10 on each). We should not have to jump through hoops to earn SOE money to get these prizes.

Exactly. If they're gonna keep the system like this, they might as well call themselves the new EA.

I have some Friends but as i play this game since beta i allready told them about this game... at least 3 have spend over 100€ because i brougth them in the game.

Some other play from time to time, some did not like it.

But NOW you come with this referal stuff? Sorry, i don´t have any friends left i could ask now... everyone allready tried it...

They are starting to hurt on money and or getting really damn greedy.

You forgot the part where they hold you down at gunpoint until each person you recruit decides to buy that 10 SC. Oh wait, except they don't because they aren't forcing you to do any of this. While I think telling people that they need the people they recruit to buy 10 bucks in game is just a wee bit excessive, I understand why they're doing this. It get's more people into the game, and thus get's more people paying to keep new content being produced. Honestly I think this system is just a little bit late, but better late than never.

Nobody is forcing anyone, and the game is only getting better because of this system. People have been concerned time and time again bringing up steam charts to show player decline, but when SOE is taking actions to increase the playerbase using only cosmetic items as rewards, YOU FEEL FORCED? /endrant

Why do I have to recruit people who I don't know into the game (because I don't have friends who play games) when the items can be put in the shop? It's hard enough to recruit one person, and to make us recruit dozens who will spend $10+ is insane. It doesn't make the game better, it makes SOE's pocket richer while not spending a penny on advertisement.

Either get rid of the $10 requirement or many people won't be doing it/have a hard time doing it.

If I want the items and I'm required to send SOE free money, I am forced. And I'm sure I'm not the only person who feels this way.

And better late than never? It's already late to the point where people have to go to 4chan and craigslist to look for people because all the friends they showed the game to already tried it.

Actually it is a good idea , BUT NOTHING SHOULD BE EXCLUSIVE , i mean No exclusive helmets , camo or anything , they have to make everything in those reward bundles , obtainable in game via Station cash or Certs ,

WOW i dont want them to make The foreman helmets i was expecting a recuitement reward

I already have recruited over 80 players in Ps2 lol and make many of them already bougth SC , custumisation and membership ....

most peoples who are in my friendlist have been recruited by Me so yeah , so what we get since we already have recruited tons of peoples in the game already and dont have a new load of 20 players to invites ? its a screw you ?

Seriously as cool as it look it should as been implemented at first in the game not now ... but i guess its a cool feature for newer players .... but still


DO NOT MAKE ANYTHING EXCLUSIVE to that promo , at least give us the choice to buy those items if we want to

Same here , i recruits around 80 players .... but its already done i recuits few ones once is a while new guys i meat on steam and who dont even know about ps2 but still , i dont have their email adress they are steam friends not close friends and all my close friends are already register since i got them in since beta

this is kinda awefull

I don't recall us being forced to do anything, this is here as a benefit to you if you decide to recruit new players, this earns you free guns, camo, boosts and other items while helping to increase the game's player numbers. There is no down side here.

As for the $10 thing that's just obviously there so that people are not abusing it for free items, the top level reward is a 6 month 50% exp boost (that's not cheap to buy), the game still has to earn money so something as cheap as $10 is more than acceptable and stops people (probably you) from abusing it for free items.

It's like people have never had prior experience with a referral system that grants unique rewards...

Also, it's like people don't realize that this isn't a PS2-only system.

If players want to buy something, but can't get them unless forced to refer people who will pay $10, there's something wrong with that. It's obvious they're doing this for cash grab without spending a penny on ads. If they truly wanted to reward players for bringing people to the game, make it so that they reach a certain BR, not take money then count it as a refer.

I literally have to drag my *** to 4chan and other stupid sites with crackheads to get this done if I even can because I have no friends.

I'll agree with you there that players should still be able to buy these items if they want to, that again just gives SOE more money so would be a good thing to let us buy this stuff if we want to. But I don't think it's fair to say the referral system is bad or needs removed as there's no downside and helps the game, but yes add this stuff to the store for those who just want to buy it.

Do that and it'll at least make sense. But as of right now, it seems SOE just made this so people who wanted to buy the items, have to be forced to refer people who will pay $10 to the game. It's pretty obvious they don't care about what happens to the new player after because if they did, they would have made reaching a certain BR the requirement, not pay.

Unfortunately, they are aiming a gun at us. a figurative gun. For some time now, plenty of people have been willing to forward large sums of money in order to keep the game going. Why?...because there's interesting stuff to buy. I want the new Submachine gun coming out. I want the new armor planned ahead and I'm pretty sure we've got more cosmetics on the way. The sooner we get them, the sooner I can shovel my hard-earned cash into their wallets...because I'm an impulsive buyer with deep pockets.

They've taken several products that I've wanted for some time and essentially set them far enough into the briar patch that it's not worth pursuing. You know what that is? It's a marketing term known as 'Opportunity cost'. Do they want to take something that would have worked best during launch, enable it only once the appeal has worn off and expect people to sit with what has been reportedly 'nobody interested in joining'?....oooorrrrrrr....do they slap it up there on the market that has wanted it since it was first announced and get instant profit at a reasonable price?

They've killed their marketability for these things. It's window-browsing at best because the price tag is asking for resources that were depleted months ago. This is killing their potential for profit by a degree and is by extension aiming a figurative gun at the people who want to keep playing. If they don't make them available on the market, then chances are we'll suffer for the profit that they aren't making. Features don't get added because they can't afford them, because their design didn't bring them in the resources they expected, because those resources were depleted quite some time ago.

...we need those features and we want those items in the market. By adding them to the market, we can give them money to fund the features we need.

Well... part of the reason referrals need to spend money to count is there would be too many fake accounts made for free stuff... as this is a free game, after all.

Actually, that may be the entire reason why.... besides " money = good " of course.

I've got a feeling that even that much can be bypassed by an experienced individual.

Recruiting enough people and getting them to spend money isn't easy otherwise you wouldn't be complaining, The payoff to that is that you get something special...Cosmetics that don't affect game balance.

I likely won't be getting any of these things but I'm not going to moan about it, The people who get these rewards put forth effort to get them and they earned them. You plunking down a few dollars to get the same things defeats the point, It's the cool factor and the exclusivity of it that makes it more appealing and worth going after. And doling out rewards based on BR just encourages people to make dummy accounts and grind them till they hit the reward tier they want, You know people would do this so they gated it to accounts that spend ten bucks.

Next you'll be complaining about athletes having to earn medals in the Olympics and not having the option to buy them.

Many games and companies have recruit-a-friend programs. PlanetSide 2's recruit program is an incentive that our company, SOE, is really excited about. We wish that we had it at launch as some of you have stated, but we didn't and there's not much we can change about that. Having this program now will allow us as a company to use it in the future for our future games.

It's still a great program that allows you and your friends to attain rewards for playing PlanetSide 2 and purchasing things you already planned to. This is a voluntary program. You are not "forced" into it as some of you have stated. If you want the rewards, you'll work towards them.

Now... To turn things around and actually get a bit more constructive feedback from this thread:

• What changes would you make to the program to make the goals more attainable?
• Do you feel that the exclusive items are good enough for the program?
• If you were to make a refer-a-friend program for PlanetSide 2, how would you envision the system working?