Celebrate Game Update 1.2: Legacy

[obinon]

do you see the 30 days back on youre subscription page the extra days?

[CorellianWannabe]

By not giving you the free month, they are basically saying that they trust you more in the long haul.

 

No, they're saying that they don't think you're going anywhere so why lose money throwing you a bone. You're not appreciated because Bioware takes your sub fee for granted.

[Captiosus]

Benny... You clearly know nothing about customer service/customer relations. You're just trolling at this point. Take a Business 101 course sometime if you can't see how labeling customers in front of other customers with complete disregard for customer sentiment is a fail strategy.

 

Since WOW they all seem to develop for the fastest buck rather then the best experience.

 

One of my longest known, best friends (and the guy who got me into MMO's all those years ago) calls what you're describing the "smash-and-grab" model. Smash in, grab the cash, get out.

[TheHoodedFang]

The amount of crying over this free month is hilarious.

 

Bottom Line: It was a reward for those of us who have stuck with the game as loyal subscribers since launch. If you unsubbed anytime prior to today, you don't fall into that category and are entitled to nothing.

 

I work eight hours a day, six days a week and I have two level 50s plus numerous alts in the 30s and 40s. There is no reason to not have a level 50 unless you were a turncoat son of a hutt and unsubbed because you didn't like the game.

 

You all thought you were pretty clever when you were making threads talking trash about Bioware and broadcasting to the world that you were unsubbing - bet you don't now eh?

[OddballEasyEight]

Nevermind benny, hes just trolling because hes angry that they took out ranked warzones...

[Zuntrios]

Whelp. This is amusing.

 

Community warns, "Don't rush to 50, there's not much up there."

 

Bioware says, "We're adding in a whole bunch of things, to make it easy to play alts."

 

I say, "Sweet! Guess I'll start rolling up some alts, and experience the whole game."

 

Now, Bioware says "Oh. By the way. We're giving away a free month, but ONLY if you have a level 50 character."

 

And I say, "Well... Hmm. What? But... I've got 9 characters, who are enjoying the game, just like you told me to... *sigh*"

[OddballEasyEight]

The amount of crying over this free month is hilarious.

 

Bottom Line: It was a reward for those of us who have stuck with the game as loyal subscribers since launch. If you unsubbed anytime prior to today, you don't fall into that category and are entitled to nothing.

 

I work eight hours a day, six days a week and I have two level 50s plus numerous alts in the 30s and 40s. There is no reason to not have a level 50 unless you were a turncoat son of a hutt and unsubbed because you didn't like the game.

 

You all thought you were pretty clever when you were making threads talking trash about Bioware and broadcasting to the world that you were unsubbing - bet you don't now eh?

 

I have had a total of around 22 alts from launch...

 

Ive never unsubbed from the game and ive never had a longer abscense than a week.

 

My highest level character is lvl 44.

 

Your assumption is wrong.

[Kalfear]

That's the problem though, it isn't ENOUGH of a draw anymore. When you can fast-track development (See: Activision) and still sell enough day zero to break international records, it stands to reason that you don't need quality. You need a well known IP, and extreme market spin.

 

Well to be honest, I do think Subscription can work but you have to be ready to give the experience the subsciption covers!

 

EXCELLENT 24/7 cust service (and im not talking 1 person in a call center, talking management on location and present (no 8-4/9-5 nonsense, that society doesnt exist anymore) and the whole works)

 

And then a game designed to maximize all enjoyment

 

Its really not that hard to design conceptually the perfect MMORPG if you actually paid attention to its 21 year history!

 

You grab a bit here, a bit there, tweak something here, tweak something there (with out giving to much away) and your set.

 

MMORPGs dont need to have the wheel recreated, they just need to have the spokes tightened!

 

WOW had the right idea and then ruined it all making it mindlessly easy! But they got lucky becoming a cultural fad (and thats got nothing to do with gaming really).

 

Ive just lost faith that the right game will be made.

Its clearly not TOR, its not GW2, doesnt appear to be SW, havent looked at Tera. Rift came close (PVE Wise) but they suffered from to easy to fast not enough filler.

 

But yeah, not paying any more subs for these games until im convinced beyond all doubt its the right game. And that means everything is working when Im there, not promised for future like Paazaak was here.

[Newsinz]

Well, HAVING a game for 4 months does not necessarily mean PLAYING it since launch, does it?

 

How is that Bioware's fault that you decided not to play the game right away?

 

 

I am super happy with the game.

I play SOLO. and there's enough content for solo players, if you accept occasional gathering with others to go "heroic".

 

Very cool. I can appreciate that. Sometimes I like playing solo too It is an MMO though hehe.

 

I am NOT for a ll that" guilding", and speed up leveling because someone other urges me to do.

 

Either am I. Nobody rushed us. In fact I am in a guild with about 8 people and they are all friends in RL. I'm also the Guild leader. I would never rush people to get to 50. Ever. You pay 15 a month to play the game.... Im not paying it so why should I have a say in how you play your game

 

I go with my own tempo, exploring how I want and how I want.

 

I get it you take your time. Again that's why I stated that the way the said it in the mail was the bigger issue for people. I'm sure they view you as valued I just think everyone is over reacting and not stopping to think that they really didn't mean that everyone else wasn't important.

 

But that does not make me less paying customer.

 

Nope and I don't believe they meant it that way either. Again see above response.

[Kubernetic]

Regardless of which side of the issue you're on, I'm sure we can all agree that this has been one big fiasco by marketing, PR, customer service, or possibly a combination of the above. You have to agree that by any other company's standards (as we've seen the past few years), a decision like this that instead of largely receiving widespread praise, receives so much backlash would've had heads rolling in those departments. Likely whoever worded the announcement in the first place. Personally, from a marketing point of view, it was a very poor choice of wording if it was supposed to simply reward the lvl 50s for the failed content delivery.

 

Again, let's keep our eyes on the prize.

 

This was not done in a vacuum without the management team's buy-in. I highly doubt the marketing team could run off and give away a month's subscription without clearing it in advance with management.

 

PR and Marketing and other departments might always come up with ideas, some more crazy than others, about how to reinforce the behavior of the clientele. But the management team is supposed to be aware enough to figure out when some of these are bad ideas and stop them from happening before it hits the fan.

 

In addition, this is a financial decision with a financial impact. While there might be leeway given to customer service to offer a free month here and there for certain problems that affect individual players, I doubt something like this that is going to affect a group of players at once and impact the revenue stream is going to be done without the finance team and the management team giving a sign-off.

 

I'd prefer that we specifically blame the people at the management level that approved this, and didn't listen to those telling them that it was a bad idea.

 

Because I am confident that people existed within the ranks who felt it was the wrong path, and I don't want them taking the brunt of this. They don't deserve it.

[exccw]

The amount of crying over this free month is hilarious.

 

Bottom Line: It was a reward for those of us who have stuck with the game as loyal subscribers since launch. If you unsubbed anytime prior to today, you don't fall into that category and are entitled to nothing.

 

I work eight hours a day, six days a week and I have two level 50s plus numerous alts in the 30s and 40s. There is no reason to not have a level 50 unless you were a turncoat son of a hutt and unsubbed because you didn't like the game.

 

You all thought you were pretty clever when you were making threads talking trash about Bioware and broadcasting to the world that you were unsubbing - bet you don't now eh?

 

Sorry, but by that benchmark of your bottom line, I should be receiving the free month too, no 50 though, and have far less time than you do.

[CorellianWannabe]

The amount of crying over this free month is hilarious.

 

Bottom Line: It was a reward for those of us who have stuck with the game as loyal subscribers since launch. If you unsubbed anytime prior to today, you don't fall into that category and are entitled to nothing.

 

I work eight hours a day, six days a week and I have two level 50s plus numerous alts in the 30s and 40s. There is no reason to not have a level 50 unless you were a turncoat son of a hutt and unsubbed because you didn't like the game.

 

You all thought you were pretty clever when you were making threads talking trash about Bioware and broadcasting to the world that you were unsubbing - bet you don't now eh?

 

I see nothing that says you had to stay subbed since Dec- the terms of the promotion state "Just be sure you are an active subscriber (signed up for a recurring subscription or redeemed a Game Time Code) and have a Level 50 character by April 12, 2012, 12:00PM CDT, 5:00PM GMT."

 

Since when did active mean 'can't have unsubbed in the last 4 months'?

[Freyar]

The amount of crying over this free month is hilarious.

 

Bottom Line: It was a reward for those of us who have stuck with the game as loyal subscribers since launch. If you unsubbed anytime prior to today, you don't fall into that category and are entitled to nothing.

 

Guess what, I've been fully subscribed since EA.

[TOURDallas]

Since you haven't reached lvl50 you've still got lots of stuff to do in the game.

 

Players played longer sessions than BioWare had planned, thus consumed the content faster then expected. I guess these players, who stayed and paid, despite finnishing the content are being valued and rewarded.

[Captiosus]

Bottom Line: It was a reward for those of us who have stuck with the game as loyal subscribers since launch. If you unsubbed anytime prior to today, you don't fall into that category and are entitled to nothing.

 

What a moronic statement. Didn't read any of the previous pages in the thread, huh? It shows.

 

Being level 50 doesn't mean a damn thing about subscription time. In fact, the very thing you're saying they're not rewarding is actually precisely what they're rewarding. Because I could have gotten to 35 or 40 during the first month, quit for a month and a half, come back and gotten to 50.

 

And then I'd get a free month. Whereas someone who, for whatever reason, didn't reach level 50 but stayed subscribed consistently since day one gets nothing.

 

Using level as an indicator rather than time doesn't indicate loyalty. It doesn't indicate how long someone's been subscribed. It only indicates that someone had enough play time to reach 50. Period.

[ShadisLecrou]

I've noticed a couple of themes recurring from people who think that those of us without 50's shouldn't complain about not getting the free 30 days. I'd like to respond to a few of them.

 

"50's had to deal with broken content that lower levels didn't."

 

True, most of the fixes in 1.2 are to endgame content. But it affects everyone when people start leaving in droves because the game is broken. I can't find people to group with, even within my own guild, because the endgame content was broken and they left. So while we didn't have to suffer through broken endgame content, it still greatly affected our gameplay experience, and we stayed anyway.

 

"You should be happy they're making a gesture of some kind."

 

Why? When they exclude me from their idea of a most valued customer simply based on the level of my character, it's a meaningless gesture. If someone started handing out $100 bills to everyone in the room except for people who meet your description, would you think "well, at least people who aren't me got something."

 

 

And finally, I would think that EVERYONE would be upset at Bioware and/or EA for this slight to a large part of their player base. If you have a level 50, it doesn't cost you anything to support those of us who don't. But if a large portion of us decide to leave, that's just that many fewer people for you to do endgame content with. It costs you nothing to either keep quiet about it, or even post something supporting giving the free time to more people. But to bother to post something criticizing us for playing less often than you doesn't help anyone.

[exccw]

Again, let's keep our eyes on the prize.

 

This was not done in a vacuum without the management team's buy-in. I highly doubt the marketing team could run off and give away a month's subscription without clearing it in advance with management.

 

PR and Marketing and other departments might always come up with ideas, some more crazy than others, about how to reinforce the behavior of the clientele. But the management team is supposed to be aware enough to figure out when some of these are bad ideas and stop them from happening before it hits the fan.

 

In addition, this is a financial decision with a financial impact. While there might be leeway given to customer service to offer a free month here and there for certain problems that affect individual players, I doubt something like this that is going to affect a group of players at once and impact the revenue stream is going to be done without the finance team and the management team giving a sign-off.

 

I'd prefer that we specifically blame the people at the management level that approved this, and didn't listen to those telling them that it was a bad idea.

 

Because I am confident that people existed within the ranks who felt it was the wrong path, and I don't want them taking the brunt of this. They don't deserve it.

 

That's why I used the qualifier, "possibly," and specifically stated the individual who came up with the announcement...lol

[SirMandokarla]

I've been reading every ten pages for a while here. Ouch. Anyway, the only intelligent argument I've seen is the feeling of being valued. The wording of the promotion. Not getting a reward isn't the same as being punished, we understand that. I hope.

 

So, BW, you've had your blonde moment, the children have had their time to love to hate you, now you'd best apologize, I think. It's not your fault you can't please everyone, and people will understand that. There's only so much awesome to hand out. But words hurt. These children are sensitive.

 

That said, all of you un-subbers who claim loyalty spurned should be ashamed of yourselves! Being around since the beginning, subscribing and playing, enjoying the game for what it is, and understanding that it's a fledgling, a child that's still working on getting up and running, and needs your help, that's loyalty.

 

So BW made a mistake, so SWTOR isn't all sunshine and lollipops. It's a game, it's fun, I love it, and I'm sure those of you who are really loyal do, too. All we really want is BW to be a little less thoughtless when it speaks. Right? Because loyalty is loyalty, whether it's recognized or not.

 

Say it with me now: Bioware, you gave us KotOR, Mass Effects 1 and 2, and this amazing world of SWTOR. We love you, and you know we'll forgive you if you say you're sorry. You just have to say it.

 

Happy now, everyone? Love and hugs all around?

[CorellianWannabe]

Since you haven't reached lvl50 you've still got lots of stuff to do in the game.

 

Players played longer sessions than BioWare had planned, thus consumed the content faster then expected. I guess these players, who stayed and paid, despite finnishing the content are being valued and rewarded.

 

So they're loyal and valued because they hung around a game they had nothing to do in? I'd call that loitering myself.

[OddballEasyEight]

The amount of crying over this free month is hilarious.

 

Bottom Line: It was a reward for those of us who have stuck with the game as loyal subscribers since launch. If you unsubbed anytime prior to today, you don't fall into that category and are entitled to nothing.

 

I work eight hours a day, six days a week and I have two level 50s plus numerous alts in the 30s and 40s. There is no reason to not have a level 50 unless you were a turncoat son of a hutt and unsubbed because you didn't like the game.

 

You all thought you were pretty clever when you were making threads talking trash about Bioware and broadcasting to the world that you were unsubbing - bet you don't now eh?

 

Also, i could have joined 2 weeks ago, leveled a character to 50 by skipping content and spacebarring and doing lots of space missions and PvP matches and i would be getting this reward.

 

so your assumption is wrong on that point as well.

[Rezarect]

I really didn't want to read 151 pages so if this is already talked about than I'm sorry. I'm not level 50 nor do I have one. I just started last month. I'm just another player who is losing its loyalty for this company.

 

 

SWTOR- You should have given all your fans that have played from day 1 (in beta and beyond) and are still active today, the free month. Everyone is going to want to make cap now for that free month. Like the guy that started last week who will probably stop playing when the free month is up. Your "true" loyal supporters are the ones who have stuck through and through when this all started!

 

What you said "As a thanks for being one of our most valued players, every active account with a Level 50 character as of April 12th, 2012 at 12:00PM CDT / 5:00PM GMT, will receive thirty (30) days of game time** in appreciation for your support and loyalty"

 

 

People have actually said in game and on websites- that there is no end game content. For that, some dedicated players aren't going to want to hit 50. There's no point.

 

 

SWTOR- You guys are probably scared cause another game is coming out that has proven it's worthiness. You'll lose players by being prejudice. There is no room for that kind of treatment anywhere in life!

[Kalfear]

I've been reading every ten pages for a while here. Ouch. Anyway, the only intelligent argument I've seen is the feeling of being valued. The wording of the promotion. Not getting a reward isn't the same as being punished, we understand that. I hope.

 

So, BW, you've had your blonde moment, the children have had their time to love to hate you, now you'd best apologize, I think. It's not your fault you can't please everyone, and people will understand that. There's only so much awesome to hand out. But words hurt. These children are sensitive.

 

That said, all of you un-subbers who claim loyalty spurned should be ashamed of yourselves! Being around since the beginning, subscribing and playing, enjoying the game for what it is, and understanding that it's a fledgling, a child that's still working on getting up and running, and needs your help, that's loyalty.

 

So BW made a mistake, so SWTOR isn't all sunshine and lollipops. It's a game, it's fun, I love it, and I'm sure those of you who are really loyal do, too. All we really want is BW to be a little less thoughtless when it speaks. Right? Because loyalty is loyalty, whether it's recognized or not.

 

Say it with me now: Bioware, you gave us KotOR, Mass Effects 1 and 2, and this amazing world of SWTOR. We love you, and you know we'll forgive you if you say you're sorry. You just have to say it.

 

Happy now, everyone? Love and hugs all around?

 

Nice gesture Sir but I honestly dont think a meaningless and fake appology will cut it for most that cancelled!

 

It might push some on the fence back in but I think they screwed up huge and now they ned to pay for it big time!

 

Ill leave what big time means to them, I know what it means to me!

[Onyx]

I'm sorry but I just don't get how people don't have level 50's in 4 months and don't say because you have a life, cause we all do. I have 2 level 50 characters I started in early access, I only played with my roommate and my other RL friend. We didn't rush. There were days when we didn't play at all. My roommate and I both have 60 to 80 hour work weeks and family. I was scoundrel heals, Roommate was Guardian and my other friend was trooper. I was there for every one of their story missions.

 

Im really tiered of those who don't have level 50's saying "Well you must have not taken your time." I crafted, I REd learned LOTS of schematics all the way to purple and I have hit 400 on both my gathering and main crafts on BOTH characters, Reached 64 Valor the legit way, I didn't space bar until my 3rd toon and that was only side quests sense I have done them 2 other times. I also enjoyed all the flashpoints, did all the "Heroics"

 

The reasons people are upset, honestly don't make much sense to me. I think the real problem may have been with the wording they used "You are one of our most active and valued high level players"

 

It's not like they set out to hurt peoples feelings. Some of you seem to dissect EVERYTHING Bioware does. (BTW: I'm 99.9999% sure that Bioware was not the one who made this decision it was EA. They are the ones that actually deal with this sort of thing I believe.) Honestly I really understand why Bioware doesn't pay a lot of attention to the QQ posts. Even if those posts were made with the best intentions there are a handful of people who just flame and QQ and talk about how horrible the game is. Even I have been guilty of this but I have realized that crying about it and calling people names isn't going to solve anything.

 

I'm wondering if you guys ever be happy with the game. They could fix all the bugs and some of you would STILL find something to talk trash about. If you wont be able to just be happy about something then why play the game? Its unhealthy for Bioware and yourself.

 

Ironically, many of the people who are affronted in this situation are those who have been supportive. That's partly why there are folks who are upset.

 

As to your comments on how you can't understand how someone could play for months and still not have a level 50, more than a few scenarios have been put forth. Those include playstyle (i.e. preferring activities other than leveling), technical issues, helping friends and guildmates who've joined the game, taking time to build community within a guild, activities such as crafting and playing the GTN, those who have spent more time chasing bugs and testing, those who were stuck on dead servers with no transfer mechanism and started over, and so forth. They include people who were active in closed beta, those who have been active trying to help resolve connection, FPS and graphics issues, and more.

 

Unfortunately, the initial statement was quite explicit in alienating people. They've since edited the release at least twice, trying to tone it down and make it more ambiguous. But the damage had already been done at that point.

 

The "insult to injury" part of this for some is the fact that players who zoomed to 50 without doing anything else, quit the game, and resubscribed are getting a month free. People who subscribed only a couple weeks ago and zoomed to 50 are getting a month free. People who quit are getting a week free.

 

I don't think anyone disagrees with those who actually play and have helped getting rewarded, rather it's those who didn't that are getting rewarded instead of other loyal players.

Edited April 13, 2012 by Onyx

[FoxNemhauser]

First of all, thanks BioWare :-)

 

 

Second of all, they had to pick some segregation criteria, obviously they wouldn't be able to grant free month to everyone as they at least would like to break even on that month (server costs, labor cost, etc).

 

And no matter how they pick the criteria, there will always be someone that barely managed to match it and lots of people who almost matched it and they will gonna cry.

 

You can't please everyone this way, unless you please everyone (which they can't/should't do).

 

 

I'm an altoholic, but I usually ding my first character to max and then play with alts (already got second char to 50 as well). And I wasn't even skipping content/dialogues the first time.

 

 

It's easy for me to say it (as I qualify) but don't cry, envy others but instead rejoice that they've got it. Maybe in the future you will get something too.

 

 

BioWare surely skimps through this topic and I bet they wouldn't not be happy reading all those complaints after they just gave the community a nice gift.

Edited April 13, 2012 by FoxNemhauser

[TOURDallas]

So they're loyal and valued because they hung around a game they had nothing to do in? I'd call that loitering myself.

It's only loitering, if you stay and don't pay.

 

They stayed and paid.