Remove the referral system

This just kills the drive to get them through anything but the depot. I'm not going to piss of twenty five friends with a troubled game, just for something that should have been in the market to begin with.

This is all quite silly. In essence it's just a referral system like more F2P games have, and that's not bad.

It having limited rewards isn't bad either, it's just another limited kind of deal, like that circuitboard camo which you could only get by buying an Nvidea card (which should be around $250 too I think). Not even all are limited, and the ones that are are just cosmetics that have or will have a similar one at least gameplay wise.
In fact, these limited deals are better than those previous limited deals, since these aren't limited technically. You can always get them unlike those other deals, you just can't buy them directly.
If anything, those other limited offers should've brought this much upset, not this one.

And $10 per person isn't that unreasonable too, seems to be the least somebody needs to really get something.
The 25 persons doing it might be a bit much, but that's to max it out. I guess that any less would be reached too soon by too much people.

I would've liked that camo to be just purchasable too, but it was pretty clear from the start that it was going to be a referral type of deal because of the string that was included.

For all the things to be upset about, you choose this one. Weird choice in my opinion.

Yeah, this is quite silly to complain about. Countless businesses have referral arrangements, you can't knock SOE for trying to get more players and thus more money. They market in a variety of ways, this is just another tool that is totally reasonable to use. They aren't a charity, Luperza ain't cheap but worth every penny! I think she needs a raise in fact!

True. Its a shame the items I want aren't available for purchase, or i could continue to help out in that regard.

It's an anger founded on the logic that only a by-standing economist can fathom. I'm here seeing that the marketability for PS2 has already reached the maximum threshold for 'getting your friends involved' because it's been out for quite some time now. Why am I angry? Because the PS2 marketing team clearly overlooked this particularly critical piece of data. This isn't some slight mishap, this is the equivalent of seeing that the wheels on your car have been replaced with cinder-blocks, yet you still plan on driving to Florida.

Had they started this some time ago, sure...I could see it being viable. Now though?...now it's only encouraging me to spread the bad reputation that's attached itself to the game. That doesn't change how many we get in new players, that changes the measure of new shareholders...people that will be disinterested in buying into a business that can't put forward a proper marketing strategy.

Pal, if SOE wants your marketing advice, they know how to contact you. Why don't you let them worry about their shareholders? Relax, the game is still relatively new and what they're implementing is standard. It does incent people to reach out to potential new players--it just does.

The referral system is in Beta and subject to change however the program as it exists has launched and will remain as is. The availability of these items for purchase is not specific to the program itself and being discussed at this time. There are other things in the works which may alleviate some frustration we've seen here.

I see nothing wrong with the system at all. Almost every mmo out there does this.

The time they said they planned to support PS2 makes the first half a year not that important. And I'd guess that a referral system isn't needed that much in the first months because of the first jump of players that get in. This is just to try and secure a better flow of people from now on.

Vast majority of players are ok with this, in fact I'm happy it's been implemented. More players is better for everyone. You have my buy in!

Luperza,

Here's what I believe the issue is for most players: they see content that they like, they want said content but they don't like that it's exclusive to the referral program.

Frankly, I think it's bad game design. I get that you're trying to do something special for those who help grow the game. That's fine. But I'd suggest rewarding them with generic benefits like more SC and a decal or something similar to Alpha Squad.

Players view the new content as effort by the art team that they'll never have access to. Is the content desirable? Absolutely. I think the art team might have done their job all too well given how upset the players are that there's no other way to get access to the assets. It will be a shame to see such great work not be more prolific within the game (which will be the case if the current situation stands).

Reward the recruitment players with cash (SC) and give them the option to purchase the "exclusive" content at a significantly reduced rate, along with an additional patch that *is* exclusive to the achievement. I think that addresses every aspect of the issue that players currently have, while still ensuring that the recruiter players have something that is exclusive to the achievement.

With the current situation, players will game the system just to get the content, and any recruiter decal will be looked upon with disdain anyway, with most players thinking "that guy just made 20 dummy accounts to get the special content."

I hope this gives you something to consider. Keep up the great work. Putting a game together like PS2 and making it a success isn't easy. Not all players are here to make a mess of it however. Some of us want to see you succeed.

You have given me a glimmer of hope, sir, and brightened my day a bit. For that I thank you.

Yeah and you get all the rewards if you get enough people to spend 250 dollars on the game...well I have already done that over time since launch, I dont get a reward for being a big supporter of the game? I payed money because there are cool things to bu AND I believe in this game. Plus, i never needed an incentive system to convince me to get every gamer i know to play this. As soon as shooters come up in a conversation i tell people how awesome this game is.

I am already trying to push this game on people, perhaps the loyal customers actually deserve to be thrown a bone here, or perhaps, just the customers in general.

What's wrong with having a special item reserved for people who refer players? I guess I just don't understand why that's such a big deal. Yes, it's true you can't buy it with SC. So?

That's the point...if you can just buy it, people won't put in the effort to recruit people. They're trying to encourage people to recruit...

Just sell me all those items. I don't want to create that many emails and soe accounts.

If this were just PlanetSide 2 your argument might have a strong argument. This is a company wide program that involves all our top tier products some of which have been out for a decade. The long term benefits of a viral recruiting program far outweigh the benefits of letting a few folks purchase black camo and helmets.

This is only a small portion of the PlanetSide 2 marketing plan (most of which you guys will never see) so forgive me but I'm a little confused at how this will create detriment to the long term viability of that plan.

Game is getting better?
Surley you jest.

RadarX,

Frankly, it just looks like the marketing team is out of touch/tone deaf to player psychology and good game design. That's what any incentive program is- game design. When I first reviewed the situation I thought "no gamer types/game devs would design this this way" and then quickly thought "they must not have, it's the marketing guys who did and they probably rarely/never play stuff like this." True or not?

Also, what works for other products won't work for the PS2 core player base. Particularly from a psychology standpoint. FPS players are a completely different breed than someone who plays Candy Crush on Facebook.

What changes would i make.. Well i'm sorry but the problem is that they aren't attainable for me at all. The problem is the "if you want the rewards, you'll work towards them" concept. I can't 'work towards' the goal. Its like saying 'when you attain 10 more Battle ranks, you get X bonus' when you are already BR 95. I can't work towards the goal, because i've already used up all my friends, they either already play, or have moved on.

The goals aren't attainable for me at all, which basically makes all these items impossible for me to get, completely excluding me from the program, and the possible rewards. Yes, they are just cool, unique items that don't add any power to the game, but 99% of the items you buy are like that, its a big part of the game as a whole, and the problem is now all these things are going to sit there, things i really want, that i simply can't ever have, because i have no capability to get them. I've already used up all that potential ages ago, and now there is nothing I can do about that. Every time i see someone with one of these, i'm not going to think "oh, look at that cool thing he has, he's brought a lot to the game" all i'll think is "oh, he brought a ton of people in, must be new" and just get kinda jealous he has the thing i want, but can never have, through no fault of my own and no matter how much i work.

The only thing i can imagine doing is posting on forums or being a someone with a fanbase, someone who can recruit random people i don't really know into spending money on the game. It just disappoints me that things the community obviously really wanted, and have for some time, are locked behind a gate numerous people can't ever get past. Its not about grinding the game, its not about jumping through hoops or spending money, its simply a gated reward that some people will simply be incapable of ever attaining, which just doesn't seem right.

You can say things like "its something to work for" or that they are just "cool items that are fun for people to own that meet the requirements" but the problem will remain, no matter what you do, that such a system is going to exclude a vast majority of the player base. The people already supporting the game, who have played for months and already have put a lot into it, BECAUSE they have had that support, because they have been there since the beginning, that very fact is what excludes them from EVER being able to get the things they want.

People will no doubt say "its just a game" and "its not that important" "they're only cosmetic items, its not a big deal" but it is a big deal, not only because it sets a precedent but because it seems like a poor future concept, there should never be anything that excludes people, there should never be anything that has only one way to get the item that not everyone has access to. Its not a good concept for a free to play game and its a terrible concept for a community based game like this. Creating groups of haves and have nots is never a good idea and this is what this will do.

I think here we see the source of a lot of the confusion and irritation. Not only that the players can't see the possible detriment (or lack thereof) to the big picture, but that we cannot see the good things coming down the pipe. Ignorance breeds overreaction, because....well, we don't know.

Having looked at the rewards page, I noticed the helmets at least have the tag "SE" on the end of them, implying they're somehow a unique version of something we will later see in the depot.