Remove the referral system

This guy sounds like an idiot.

First implants, now the referral system?

Seems like SOE's going along as planned.

Quite honestly I think it's a good program to have as it encourages the players to help find new players and gives them rewards for doing so, we get the need for them to spend $10 to count because otherwise people will abuse it for free stuff and that's not what the program is there for. The rewards given are defiantly worth trying to earn but at the same time as many other people have said, these items (guns, camo, boosts, etc) should all be on the in game store for those people who wish to buy them, after all people just buying this stuff still gives you (SOE) more money so is hardly a bad thing, plus the sort of person who just buys this stuff was very unlikely to try earn it recruiting people anyway.

I'm going to assume the "rewards" will eventually be purchasable. For now be patient and just wait and see,

What I woulda actually like to see is the BR system tied into the purchasing of these new goods. Higher your rank the sweeter the swag you can purchase for your characters.

Just like in ps1 when you got to BR 24 you could take off your helmet put on a beret or hat, ear piece and sunglasses and BR25 you got a different armor camo.

I wonder if I'm not the only one to sense SOE doing two 360 degree decisions in a week

If it's all cosmetics than I don't really care about the referral system. At 20 meters none of that stuff matters anyway.

If the MBT guns are a significant upgrade (which we've been asking for since the HE nerf) and they are only available through this referral system, that's unfortunate. Jump-through-ridiculous-hoops-to-win.

I like this idea. What better way to reward those who play the game then being able to deck out your character with exclusive cosmetics for being that rank.

I gotta' joke for you.

Know why they call it the X-Box 360...?

Wouldn't it be a 180? If they did a 360 they would be right back where they started...

If the supposed F2P paying customer amount that's commonly mentioned on internet holds true, around 10% of players use money. This would mean that you have to, on average, invite about 20 random people over for the first tier of rewards, or 250 for the last tier.
I say random people because every last one of us has by now mentioned the game to their already existing friends. This is a lot to ask.. and moreover, the players have to compete with each other and SOE as well for these recruits.

The devs aren't confident enough in the quality of their game that they'd be willing to give out these rewards based on the recruits reaching a specific battle rank (30-40? Let's say two thirds of the current average of active playerbase?), thus by putting on a $10 eligibility, they guarantee at least some income from all of those who will make dummy accounts to get these items.

We may yet see the implant case end up as a 360.. They've begun the turn, but there's no telling where they end up. Could be same direction (360 degrees) but at a different altitude..

What changes would you make to the program to make the goals more attainable?
The issue really isn't how attainable the goals are; recruiting on any level (even 1-3 people) is going to be very difficult for most players, especially this late after release. Players are also upset because you've only provided one way to receive some of the coolest cosmetics we've seen to date.

The cosmetics alone should also be released as customer loyalty rewards or sold in the store. Leave the titles, associated decals, and boosts as the program exclusives. The fact that you're getting the items for free should be the main reward from the recruiting program.

Do you feel that the exclusive items are good enough for the program?
The rewards themselves are fine; the items from the program are worth significant amounts of SC.

Oh noes, they are using a classic marketing plan, that utilizes existing customers to help promote their product and in return they are willing to give that customer a bonus.

Nothing wrong with that, in fact I say hats off SOE, glad to see you are trying to market planetside....

However, there are many of us that would be really interested in purchasing those items, especially those of us that are older and have families and really do not have a large circle of friends to refer to this game, but have money to spend. I think this is s the only mistake you have made with this promotion. Those Items do not need to be exclusive to those that have referred 5,10 or 25 people whom have all spend $10, those would just be the players that have unlocked the camo without paying the high price for it. You could get creative and allow your players to buy some of those items outright, or even give them credit for each referral that win they for you.

If someone is willing to spend $100 to buy a black crystallized camo, why in the world would you stop them? or let's say someone manages to refer 5 qualified recruits, why not allow them to apply that $50 towards that $100 referral level item.

This is one thing that has baffled me about planetside 2, why do you guys not implement some seriously awesome cosmetic upgrades worth $50+ dollars, if the items are cool enough and cost enough, then they will be rare enough that you will attract sales. Or why do you not offer more limited time only products, like the flair guns...

Of course your company would 8e excited. "Hey, I have an idea! Lets try and make all of the goodie cosmetic items availa8le for $250, 8ut lets make everyone jump through hoops and recruit their equally as stupid friends in the process!"

Dude, she stated that they didn't have it. That is a fact.
And she also mentioned that they CANNOT CHANGE IT.
There is NO going back in time. So why bring it up again?

1. Lower the quota to 2 - 4 - 6 - 8 - 10 - 12.
2. They are WAYYYYYYY TOO GOOD for a recruitment program.
3. Just the way you're doing it, but not with those items.

You are rewarding with items that people have been waiting to buy for a long time. Take my expample: I live in Ecuador and tryied to bring a few friends to play the game, but in this country everybody just like to play LoL and I can't change that, even though I could literally kill anyone for a Recon Camo or a Closed Foreman Helmet.

It does seem like the referral program is asking a lot of the average player. Between its age and its hardware demands, PS2 is actually a difficult sell because, by now, I think most gamers who have the PC that can handle it have already tried the game and either play it or kicked it to the curb. Thus, if SOE is trying to create a system that focuses on the playerbase, length of play, how often you play, and how much money you have spent should all matter in tabulating loyalty points; alongside any referrals you can make. I think that'd make a lot more sense, as any SC is creating real money for the company; and players who have been around a long time and play a lot are helping to create those gameplay experiences that actually draw in new players and convince them to stick around. I know that was the case with me, I was convinced to try the game by some YouTube footage, but was truly hooked on the game after a giant fight around Ceres Farm; so a lot of the community had a hand in convincing me to stay. That shouldn't be discounted in a program like this one.

• You can't fix the referral program because it is fundamentally a pyramid scheme type of structure (eventhough not intended to actually scam people off their money in this case. Unless SOE is banking on many people going the 25 fake referral accounts route, which I hope and trust is not the case), which has ample history of being total bs. The required number of recruits is beyond absurd for average person's circle of people, especially considering maybe 5%-25% of the recruits will actually spend money depending on the age of the recruited player. Furthermore only people going on spastic corporate drone recruitment spree (instead of, you know, actually playing and enjoying the game) at moment of referral program launch have a shot (read: not really) of getting the rewards, old players have already tapped their pool of potential new players and late joiners will find there are no one left to refer to (player pool is not an infinite space that can expand forever).
• Exclusive is a terrible idea to begin with because it only creates feel bad inside the player base. This is especially true when we are talking about tier 1 stuff in ingame visibility (camos, tank turrets, helmets) that is also tier 1 within its own class (=best looking, most useful w/e). If there has to be this exclusive crap (absolute no means of getting it via normal means aka certs or ingame depot), at least make it "invisible", things like 100% exp boost for x months or free station cash for recruiters and so on. This way the rewards can be substantial but aren't as in-your-face, thus avoiding the feel bad, for customers who simply can't attain the recruit rewards even on threory level.
• Next level council incoming (the suits feel free to send me a bonus SC cheque): You scrap this pointless refer-a-friend program and focus on making a game product so good* it spreads through the grapevine by itself, this is the way true icons of games have done it and it's the only way to be something else than "just an another title nobody remembers when next high budget high hype game is being released". There is a saying at least on my native language that goes "carried water doesn't stay in the well", which is exactly what these referral programs are.

*Good core gameplay, purpose to it all (=self sustaining endgame, cont locking will probably be good step towards this) and good support/tools for the extensions of the game (ie. player made videos, heck given proper ability to capture ingame footage one talented video maker could probably gain more publicity for the game than the entire referral program and he/she would do it for his/her own enjoyment instead agonizing over referrals).

What does premium payer get ... the chance to spend more SC more early then others.

Thanks

Sorry for contributing to the topic at hand. Jesus. I just want to spend all this money on the nice cosmetics that they teased a while ago. Like many others have said, SOE will likely get more money if they put these things in the depot.

And bringing up the lack of a referral system (again? Where's this again coming from?) is important to note because if tons of other games have had it, possibly including their own like Everquest that someone mentioned in this topic, then the "everybody's doing it" excuse falls flat because they had plenty of time to get one in place. I know we can't change the past, I'm giving SOE criticism for not doing this sooner.

There are a couple of issues with this particular way. First...and I'm not sure we've communicated this clearly... this is a long term program. We don't expect people to reach high tiers of it early on.

Subscriptions would exclude folks who aren't comfortable doing them or just don't want to make that long term of an investment. It's easy to unlock a weapon or purchase a package and meet that 1000 SC minimum.

What you are describing here is a retention program which is honestly the complete opposite of what this is designed to do. That sounds like a very effective "loyalty" offer that I'm betting would get a similar "cash grab" response from some folks.