A case for a more robust preferred status

[Tumedus]

...and this is important as it forces the free players to the cartel shop to buy these items directly, thereby spending a little cash to help pay for their spot on the server.

 

This is why the credit limit above all things needs to remain.

 

Yet, from what I have seen, it seems to have the opposite effect. Compare the cost of items that appeal to the entire playerbase, cartel packs and the stuff inside predominately, to the cost of the items targeted primarily at F2P players, the unlocks. On my server, from a purely CC to credits comparison, items that appeal to more people have a return anywhere from double to 4 times as much as the unlocks do.

 

Why is this? Well its pretty simple when you think about it. The absolute maximum starting price for something targeted at a F2P is 200k, 350k if you are looking at preferred. Reasonably, though, because they don't want to escrow you have to price around 320-330k at best if you want it to be bought. And then comes competition, which only drives that price down from that tame starting point. In the end, most of the current unlocks, even the account version, can be bought for a days worth of dailies. Which gives lots of players the opportunity to buy with minimal effort and little to no cash spent.

 

However, if you raised the cap, or eliminated it altogether, pricing those things at a much more comparable CC to credits ratio would be far more feasible. Then, the F2P players would be put to a much harder decision of convenience or time. 90 minutes of dailies for a 10 dollar unlock is an easy choice for many. Make it 6 hours of dailies for that same 10 dollars and all of a sudden the choice isn't so simple.

 

Plus, you have now given those same players a much broader pool of items to spend their credits on and thus the decision gets that much harder. Right now, they simply cannot afford something like 24+ rank mod or a mount like the Praxon line (375k for F2p). But if they could, then every credit purchase of an unlock becomes a significant delay in gratification on those other items. Dumping your real money instead seems like that much more of an appealing option.

[Ratajack]

Yet, from what I have seen, it seems to have the opposite effect. Compare the cost of items that appeal to the entire playerbase, cartel packs and the stuff inside predominately, to the cost of the items targeted primarily at F2P players, the unlocks. On my server, from a purely CC to credits comparison, items that appeal to more people have a return anywhere from double to 4 times as much as the unlocks do.

 

Why is this? Well its pretty simple when you think about it. The absolute maximum starting price for something targeted at a F2P is 200k, 350k if you are looking at preferred. Reasonably, though, because they don't want to escrow you have to price around 320-330k at best if you want it to be bought. And then comes competition, which only drives that price down from that tame starting point. In the end, most of the current unlocks, even the account version, can be bought for a days worth of dailies. Which gives lots of players the opportunity to buy with minimal effort and little to no cash spent.

 

However, if you raised the cap, or eliminated it altogether, pricing those things at a much more comparable CC to credits ratio would be far more feasible. Then, the F2P players would be put to a much harder decision of convenience or time. 90 minutes of dailies for a 10 dollar unlock is an easy choice for many. Make it 6 hours of dailies for that same 10 dollars and all of a sudden the choice isn't so simple.

 

Plus, you have now given those same players a much broader pool of items to spend their credits on and thus the decision gets that much harder. Right now, they simply cannot afford something like 24+ rank mod or a mount like the Praxon line (375k for F2p). But if they could, then every credit purchase of an unlock becomes a significant delay in gratification on those other items. Dumping your real money instead seems like that much more of an appealing option.

 

I have little to no concern for those that choose to buy the unlocks from the cartel market and sell them for credits on the GTN. if they choose to spend their hard earned money for a few credits, let them. If they feel that the unlocks are not returning enough credits because they have to price them so low-too bad, so sad, stinks to be them.

 

The fact that the F2P'ers or preferred players cannot afford that nice shiny praxon mount is the part of the point of the credit cap. If the F2P'ers or preferred want that speeder, then they have to sub. As I said, the amount a player can spend is part of the motive for subscribing.

[Tumedus]

I have little to no concern for those that choose to buy the unlocks from the cartel market and sell them for credits on the GTN. if they choose to spend their hard earned money for a few credits, let them. If they feel that the unlocks are not returning enough credits because they have to price them so low-too bad, so sad, stinks to be them.

 

The fact that the F2P'ers or preferred players cannot afford that nice shiny praxon mount is the part of the point of the credit cap. If the F2P'ers or preferred want that speeder, then they have to sub. As I said, the amount a player can spend is part of the motive for subscribing.

Way to miss the point completely.

[FeelFlow]

I think that subscribers should be able to swap our mods for free with a CM purchase enabling that for non subs. I really dislike the 'mod tax'.

 

Hopefully we're moving to a point where the game (for free) and the CM will hebe lots of great gear available ie people will change their gear lots. It doesn't feel great to tax that behaviour.

[Ratajack]

Way to miss the point completely.

 

How so? Your argument seems a little self serving, maybe? Are you one of those that tries to sell those unlocks on the GTN? You stated that if the credit cap were removed then the unlocks could be sold for a higher amount on the GTN, correct? You claim that these higher prices for the unlocks would cause the F2P'er to think twice about spending credits. You seem to forget or simply don't realize that a higher price for those unlocks on the GTN only benefits the people who buy the unlocks to sell them for credits. You could say that the credit cap also helps to keep inflation down, because the people who buy the unlocks from the cartel market are limited in what they can charge for them on the GTN. This is a good thing, and actually a benefit for those F2P'ers, since they can't be gouged by players selling the unlocks.

 

Does that mean that everything about the credit cap is good for F2P'ers? Of course the credit cap is not all roses. If it were, it would not be a motive to subscribe.

[Tumedus]

How so? Your argument seems a little self serving, maybe? Are you one of those that tries to sell those unlocks on the GTN? You stated that if the credit cap were removed then the unlocks could be sold for a higher amount on the GTN, correct? You claim that these higher prices for the unlocks would cause the F2P'er to think twice about spending credits. You seem to forget or simply don't realize that a higher price for those unlocks on the GTN only benefits the people who buy the unlocks to sell them for credits. You could say that the credit cap also helps to keep inflation down, because the people who buy the unlocks from the cartel market are limited in what they can charge for them on the GTN. This is a good thing, and actually a benefit for those F2P'ers, since they can't be gouged by players selling the unlocks.

 

Does that mean that everything about the credit cap is good for F2P'ers? Of course the credit cap is not all roses. If it were, it would not be a motive to subscribe.

 

The point here, is to get people to spend money on the game. You seem to repeatedly ignore that aspect for an attitude of superiority over anyone who doesn't partake in the game the same way you think they should. The person I responded to was claiming that the credit limit entices people to spend on the cartel market and I was suggesting that it isn't doing that because the limit causes many of the things they would buy to be so cheap.

 

Higher prices, if they cause people to spend real money, don't just help the people selling, they help everyone. Because every penny spent of real money helps keep the game alive and kicking. And, fwiw, I don't consider letting unlocks find their natural price based on demand to be "gouging". Further the price limitation only curbs inflation if all CC to credit transaction were limited in the same way. But they aren't.

 

And not that it matters, but no, I don't sell unlocks on the GTN or any CC stuff for that matter. I bought one pack and have spent most of my CC on legacy stuff and some character slots when they came out.

[Gavin_Kelvar]

Oh my goodness, the limitations are terrible.

 

Today I let my subscription run out, but I wanted to see if I could survive as Preferred Status.

 

Once I realized that there is a commendations limit for Preferred Accounts, I decided that I should sub.

 

But upon subbing, I did not get back the commendations that I lost due to the limit. I thought there would be an escrow for them like credits. But I read that there isn't.

 

This has upset me and the limitations have gone too far. The numerous limitations are just too confusing and there is no way I would know that the commendations that were over the limit would be gone.

 

Enough is enough. Stop discouraging people from playing this game. This is probably the biggest thing to push me away from the game.

 

If only one thing is changed in the next six months I'd put a commendation escrow at the top of the list. There is NO reason to punish subscribers by permanently taking away items they earned while subbed just because they let their subscription lapse for a period of time. It wasn't that way before F2P and it shouldn't be that way now. Restrictions that get people to pay for an unlock? Sure that's fine. Restrictions that punish subscribers who don't renew their subscription every month without fail for the life time of the game however is not ok. Threatening to permanently take away things from subscribers whose subs lapsed is not a way to make subscription appealing.

Edited January 18, 2013 by Gavin_Kelvar

[HakkaP]

Do f2p players buy anything from the cartel market anyway? If a player is willing to pay for this game, im pretty sure like 98% of them will subscribe. F2P is a good add for this game and bring more players and some of them will sub, but I think its unlikely, that those who wont sub would buy from cartel market. 15 euros per month is really not that much even for me and im unemployed. Im pretty sure allmost all the money bioware is making from cartel market is coming from subscribers.

[mothear]

Do f2p players buy anything from the cartel market anyway? If a player is willing to pay for this game, im pretty sure like 98% of them will subscribe. F2P is a good add for this game and bring more players and some of them will sub, but I think its unlikely, that those who wont sub would buy from cartel market. 15 euros per month is really not that much even for me and im unemployed. Im pretty sure allmost all the money bioware is making from cartel market is coming from subscribers.

 

I'm sure you are correct because if you are a preferred player, i.e. you bought something on the market, everything you bought is effectively wasted money if you subscribe therefore I suspect most preferred players will either sub or leave quite quickly. If the conversion rate is poor then then the cartel market basically becomes a cash grab against subscribers.

[Tumedus]

Do f2p players buy anything from the cartel market anyway? If a player is willing to pay for this game, im pretty sure like 98% of them will subscribe. F2P is a good add for this game and bring more players and some of them will sub, but I think its unlikely, that those who wont sub would buy from cartel market. 15 euros per month is really not that much even for me and im unemployed. Im pretty sure allmost all the money bioware is making from cartel market is coming from subscribers.

 

That's probably how it ends up with this game, but there are lots of games where that isn't the case. The thing is, people have a lot of reasons besides just "can't afford it" for why they may prefer not to sub. For some people its simply the inpermanence of the sub model that they don't like and, thus, when offered the chance to permanently pay for and unlock features they jump at it.

 

I mean think of all the games that increased profits after going F2P. Most of those games didn't have things like the cartel packs. You offer people more ways to spend and more people will find things to spend on.

[Ratajack]

I'm sure you are correct because if you are a preferred player, i.e. you bought something on the market, everything you bought is effectively wasted money if you subscribe therefore I suspect most preferred players will either sub or leave quite quickly. If the conversion rate is poor then then the cartel market basically becomes a cash grab against subscribers.

 

You look at unlocks purchased as money wasted if you subscribe. I look at unlocks purchased as money spent to insure that in case of a problem with my bank card, or some other reason, I drop to preferred status. Those unlocks I purchased insure that I do not have too many inconveniences while I get everything sorted out and handled. Unlike some, I do not, however, expect to be able to purchase an unlock for every restriction.

[Ratajack]

The point here, is to get people to spend money on the game. You seem to repeatedly ignore that aspect for an attitude of superiority over anyone who doesn't partake in the game the same way you think they should. The person I responded to was claiming that the credit limit entices people to spend on the cartel market and I was suggesting that it isn't doing that because the limit causes many of the things they would buy to be so cheap.

 

Higher prices, if they cause people to spend real money, don't just help the people selling, they help everyone. Because every penny spent of real money helps keep the game alive and kicking. And, fwiw, I don't consider letting unlocks find their natural price based on demand to be "gouging". Further the price limitation only curbs inflation if all CC to credit transaction were limited in the same way. But they aren't.

 

And not that it matters, but no, I don't sell unlocks on the GTN or any CC stuff for that matter. I bought one pack and have spent most of my CC on legacy stuff and some character slots when they came out.

 

Given that the point is to get people to spend money on the game, which is better for EA? A one time payment made by a player for a permanent unlock, or a continuing, ongoing $15 month for that same player to subscribe? I know that player may stop playing rather than subscribe, so EA may not see that ongoing $15 month. If that player does stop playing rather than subscribe, all EA loses is that one time payment that might have kept him playing.

 

I think EA will see more people subbing to play with fewer restrictions, than they will see stop playing rather than subscribe.

[PlasmaJohn]

Do f2p players buy anything from the cartel market anyway? If a player is willing to pay for this game, im pretty sure like 98% of them will subscribe.

Yes non-subs buy from the CM. I'm subbed for the time being not because the restrictions pushed me to it but because I found an excellent deal during a Christmas sale.

 

The Cash shop model has worked so well for other MMO's that they don't count on subs for their main source of revenue. That's not to say they don't appreciate it but keeping subscriber numbers up is no longer do-or-die.

 

Your 98% figure is quite laughable. I think the industry standard for conversion rates is somewhere between 10 and 20%. If you rule out former subs, I very much doubt that TOR has even hit a 10% conversion rate because the restrictions are just that onerous compared to the industry norm. I can't even convince other people to give it a try because of how bad they are.

[Edzew]

Given that the point is to get people to spend money on the game, which is better for EA? A one time payment made by a player for a permanent unlock, or a continuing, ongoing $15 month for that same player to subscribe? I know that player may stop playing rather than subscribe, so EA may not see that ongoing $15 month. If that player does stop playing rather than subscribe, all EA loses is that one time payment that might have kept him playing.

 

I think EA will see more people subbing to play with fewer restrictions, than they will see stop playing rather than subscribe.

 

hmm what is better EA getting around a $100 for a one time spend to unlock a bunch of suff and have them quit a couple of months later or $30 for two months subscription and then un sub?? so far the latter is what they have gotten out of me (not including the price of the game, i bought it when it came out) now if i could unlock the XP nerf, med probes, fast travel, all the races, and all 8 of my toons i would keep playing this single player space game with online capability and a lil star wars stuff thrown in for flavor. as it stands there is no way in hell i would keep playing this game, the restrictions are much too high for F2P, and the game just isnt worth $15 a month.

[Avatarless]

Going to throw something else on top of all this.

 

I just re-subbed to the game for one month as of today. The only reason I did so was because my preferred status had become bugged and I could not activate my characters to actually play the game.

 

F2P get no customer support and cannot post on forums, so I had no way of telling anyone that I couldn't even play the game.. I submitted tickets and got default emails stating that only subscribers are entitled to customer support. So I had to re-sub in order to remove the activation bug from all my character slots. I chose to re-sub because I've been with the game since the beginning, however, I would not expect many players who had this experience to do so.

 

I feel as though F2P need SOMETHING in the way of customer support. Just the fact that they are interested enough in the game to download it and try it out should be seen as a bonus and not seen as a 'privilege'.

 

The MMO market is becoming saturated, there is a lot of competition out there and so I feel as though all current players should be seen as an asset and treated as such.

[Brimmer]

I

"But why don't you just subscribe?"

Ah, a good question. People have their reason for not subscribing. Mine, well I just bought every unlock available in the store. Why would I spend that much money to unlock everything, just to pay a subscription in the end. I'm just not going to do that. I'm posting here because I bought the expansion, and I got the sub for a month (instead of paying $20, it's $15 sub and $10 expansion). I will not renew, but I will buy everything in the store that's for sale. I'm sure there are many others who are like me and making our gaming experience better can only be profitable for BW in the long run.

 

No offence, but I hope they don't make it better for preferred accounts. You got a lot already for $5. yes I'm aware you are not somebody that is sponging off of a $5 payment, but you accepted to be grouped with them as soon as you decided not to pay a sub. If preferred accounts get buffs, subbed accounts should get cheaper fees.

Edited January 19, 2013 by Brimmer

[KariTalRathe]

Going to throw something else on top of all this.

 

I just re-subbed to the game for one month as of today. The only reason I did so was because my preferred status had become bugged and I could not activate my characters to actually play the game.

 

F2P get no customer support and cannot post on forums, so I had no way of telling anyone that I couldn't even play the game.. I submitted tickets and got default emails stating that only subscribers are entitled to customer support. So I had to re-sub in order to remove the activation bug from all my character slots. I chose to re-sub because I've been with the game since the beginning, however, I would not expect many players who had this experience to do so.

 

I feel as though F2P need SOMETHING in the way of customer support. Just the fact that they are interested enough in the game to download it and try it out should be seen as a bonus and not seen as a 'privilege'.

 

The MMO market is becoming saturated, there is a lot of competition out there and so I feel as though all current players should be seen as an asset and treated as such.

 

I agree with the sentiment in this post, I really do. Likewise, even those saying the preferred limitations are fine, generally agree support should still be provided for non-subscribers. The problem is how does it pay for itself? I know of gaming companies that use volunteers from their playerbase to liase between players and support staff, but have only seen this system (which incidentally works very well) in place with companies that specialise in publishing FTP games only. Ultimately, all players are supported in those games, but as they are all 'free' players no particular group is paying for the CS service they receive. This clearly wouldn't be the case here, where Cartel Market customers and/or subscribers would directly pay the wages of employees providing support to players who haven't paid a penny.

 

And to be honest, until gamers are better educated about when to submit tickets and when to not submit a ticket, CS paid for time is probably 90% wastage. That's no reference to your own particular problem of course Av (I am wondering if a phonecall directly to CS would have made a difference there, but too late to know now), but in reference to players who submit tickets over farcical issues, like an isolated CTD or a companion 'unify' not working when it was acknowledged and listed as a known issue on this very site. Ditto the 'inspect' command. Even if BW hadn't acknowledged these bugs, not one of them deserve a ticket. Fine submit a bug report after checking the site to see if someone has already reported it, but a bug report isn't the type of ticket that requires a personal reply or personal character attention. Yet hardly a day goes by without a "submitted a bug report and didn't even get a reply" comment on these forums and in game some of the reasons I have heard for ticket submission have left me incredulous. And then people complain of how it takes BW days and sometimes weeks to get a problem resolved via the ticket system. Hardly surprising knowing the crap they must have to sift through to get to the one player who really needs assistance.

 

Maybe I should have used a rant on/rant off indicator there, but the way CS is abused in games is one of my pet hates.

 

As for the unlock issues. If you have paid for something via the CM then it needs to be supported irrespective of whether you sub or not. If bought with credits, nah. Buyer beware rules are fine in those instances (in MY opinion).

 

Medical probe isn't an issue either. In FPs probes are not available until all party has wiped anyway so we all have to run back from medical station/start point while the fight is on-going. And any player can revive, so I am not sure why someone mentioned healers reviving themselves first (with probes) after a wipe before reviving the group. Maybe they got their MMOs confused. Outside of FPs/OPs, use your 5 for a dollar wisely, or run back...running back is usually the only option you get in other games, if you solo that is, so it seems it is only an issue here because we have more than one option. Making the second option a paid for consumable rather than a permanent unlock makes good business sense and only mildly inconveniences the player who doesn't wish to pay for it in any capacity.

 

Credit cap. Well neither of my 2 level 50 characters have paid anything like 350k for an item, so GTN prices should be discounted from any decision surrounding what the cap should be. I see a lot of enterprising players offering trades (my item - sometimes with cash - for your item) which gets around any cap as well as a reluctance to craft. Comms cap - spend them before you unsub is the obvious solution. We only have ourselves to blame if we didn't research the impact of unsubbing before doing so.

Edited January 19, 2013 by KariTalRathe

[Ratajack]

hmm what is better EA getting around a $100 for a one time spend to unlock a bunch of suff and have them quit a couple of months later or $30 for two months subscription and then un sub?? so far the latter is what they have gotten out of me (not including the price of the game, i bought it when it came out) now if i could unlock the XP nerf, med probes, fast travel, all the races, and all 8 of my toons i would keep playing this single player space game with online capability and a lil star wars stuff thrown in for flavor. as it stands there is no way in hell i would keep playing this game, the restrictions are much too high for F2P, and the game just isnt worth $15 a month.

 

So, what you are looking for is the equivalent of a lifetime subscription? One payment to unlock everything you want, and you never have to pay another cent? I'm not saying that you wouldn't spend any money at the cartel market, only that you wouldn't need to spend any.

 

I think a lot of those people who claim that the game isn't worth $15 month and they are going to stop playing if they can't get that "lifetime subscription" are in fact going to continue to play and are actually likely to sub. I'm sure not all of them will, but enough will. If they started selling "lifetime subscriptions", I think that would cause the current sub numbers to go down drastically.

 

You may not feel that this game is worth $15 month, but a lot of people do. A lot of people still subscribe, most likely to play without restrictions like the credit cap. You have already paid for two months subscription. They have that money from you. I have subscribed since the game was released. They already have all the money I've paid in subscription fees. The difference between us is that I will continue to subscribe, so they will continue to get $15 month from me. If, on the other hand, they allow a one time fee to unlock everything, then even I would unlock only those features I use, and stop paying the sub fee. So, even though you say you will no longer subscribe, and you say they will get no more money from you, they will more than make up what you and I would have paid in a one time fee for those unlocks by my continuing to subscribe.

[leojreimroc]

So, what you are looking for is the equivalent of a lifetime subscription? One payment to unlock everything you want, and you never have to pay another cent? I'm not saying that you wouldn't spend any money at the cartel market, only that you wouldn't need to spend any.

 

I think a lot of those people who claim that the game isn't worth $15 month and they are going to stop playing if they can't get that "lifetime subscription" are in fact going to continue to play and are actually likely to sub. I'm sure not all of them will, but enough will. If they started selling "lifetime subscriptions", I think that would cause the current sub numbers to go down drastically.

 

You may not feel that this game is worth $15 month, but a lot of people do. A lot of people still subscribe, most likely to play without restrictions like the credit cap. You have already paid for two months subscription. They have that money from you. I have subscribed since the game was released. They already have all the money I've paid in subscription fees. The difference between us is that I will continue to subscribe, so they will continue to get $15 month from me. If, on the other hand, they allow a one time fee to unlock everything, then even I would unlock only those features I use, and stop paying the sub fee. So, even though you say you will no longer subscribe, and you say they will get no more money from you, they will more than make up what you and I would have paid in a one time fee for those unlocks by my continuing to subscribe.

 

How is what I'm asking for even close to a lifetime subscription? Last I checked, lifetime subscribers in most games get current AND future content for the purchase price. If I buy everything now, I will still have to shell out money every content update. That is not even remotely what a lifetime subscription is.

 

This is of course not even counting access to WZ/OP/FP that all preferred will continue to pay for. Again, not even a little close to a lifetime sub. Your argument just doesn't make any sense.

Edited January 20, 2013 by leojreimroc

[leojreimroc]

I agree with the sentiment in this post, I really do. Likewise, even those saying the preferred limitations are fine, generally agree support should still be provided for non-subscribers. The problem is how does it pay for itself? I know of gaming companies that use volunteers from their playerbase to liase between players and support staff, but have only seen this system (which incidentally works very well) in place with companies that specialise in publishing FTP games only. Ultimately, all players are supported in those games, but as they are all 'free' players no particular group is paying for the CS service they receive. This clearly wouldn't be the case here, where Cartel Market customers and/or subscribers would directly pay the wages of employees providing support to players who haven't paid a penny.

 

And to be honest, until gamers are better educated about when to submit tickets and when to not submit a ticket, CS paid for time is probably 90% wastage. That's no reference to your own particular problem of course Av (I am wondering if a phonecall directly to CS would have made a difference there, but too late to know now), but in reference to players who submit tickets over farcical issues, like an isolated CTD or a companion 'unify' not working when it was acknowledged and listed as a known issue on this very site. Ditto the 'inspect' command. Even if BW hadn't acknowledged these bugs, not one of them deserve a ticket. Fine submit a bug report after checking the site to see if someone has already reported it, but a bug report isn't the type of ticket that requires a personal reply or personal character attention. Yet hardly a day goes by without a "submitted a bug report and didn't even get a reply" comment on these forums and in game some of the reasons I have heard for ticket submission have left me incredulous. And then people complain of how it takes BW days and sometimes weeks to get a problem resolved via the ticket system. Hardly surprising knowing the crap they must have to sift through to get to the one player who really needs assistance.

 

Maybe I should have used a rant on/rant off indicator there, but the way CS is abused in games is one of my pet hates.

 

As for the unlock issues. If you have paid for something via the CM then it needs to be supported irrespective of whether you sub or not. If bought with credits, nah. Buyer beware rules are fine in those instances (in MY opinion).

 

Medical probe isn't an issue either. In FPs probes are not available until all party has wiped anyway so we all have to run back from medical station/start point while the fight is on-going. And any player can revive, so I am not sure why someone mentioned healers reviving themselves first (with probes) after a wipe before reviving the group. Maybe they got their MMOs confused. Outside of FPs/OPs, use your 5 for a dollar wisely, or run back...running back is usually the only option you get in other games, if you solo that is, so it seems it is only an issue here because we have more than one option. Making the second option a paid for consumable rather than a permanent unlock makes good business sense and only mildly inconveniences the player who doesn't wish to pay for it in any capacity.

 

Credit cap. Well neither of my 2 level 50 characters have paid anything like 350k for an item, so GTN prices should be discounted from any decision surrounding what the cap should be. I see a lot of enterprising players offering trades (my item - sometimes with cash - for your item) which gets around any cap as well as a reluctance to craft. Comms cap - spend them before you unsub is the obvious solution. We only have ourselves to blame if we didn't research the impact of unsubbing before doing so.

 

A customer is no support is generally a lost customer. It's really as simple as that. If you don't provide support to the free to play crowd, you've just pretty much guaranteed that they will never buy anything from you.

 

If you provide them with timely, friendly service when they get a problem though, they will be much more likely to support you and buy things.

[Ratajack]

How is what I'm asking for even close to a lifetime subscription? Last I checked, lifetime subscribers in most games get current AND future content for the purchase price. If I buy everything now, I will still have to shell out money every content update. That is not even remotely what a lifetime subscription is.

 

This is of course not even counting access to WZ/OP/FP that all preferred will continue to pay for. Again, not even a little close to a lifetime sub. Your argument just doesn't make any sense.

 

You are asking to make a one time miniscule payment to have all the features that you use. You would have access to all the features you use, without any of the restrictions, and without ever having to pay a subscription fee again. How is that not almost a "lifetime subscription". As far as FP's/WZ's/OP's, you've already stated that you want permanent unlocks for those too, but "one thing at at time". That would make it even more like a lifetime subscription.

 

Sure you might have to pay for future content updates, or expansions, should you decide that you want access to them, but there's no guarantee that EA would even charge for them, or that you would actually decide to pay for them if they did.

 

How much would you be willing to "shell out" for future content, if you were willing to "shell out" anything at all? We've been told that they expect to be releasing new content about every 6 weeks, with the next content update being about 8 weeks due to the holidays. Even if EA charges an unlock fee for every new content patch, and you paid for every new content patch, at one content patch every 6 weeks, or 2 every 3 months, they would need to charge at least $23 per content patch just to make subscription a better deal than your proposed a la carte system. Even at $23, subscription would only be a better deal by one dollar for three months, and I doubt you'd be willing to pay even that much. That means you would have all the features you use and access to the new content, all for less than the subscriber pays for the same benefits.

Edited January 20, 2013 by Ratajack

[Edzew]

You are asking to make a one time miniscule payment to have all the features that you use. You would have access to all the features you use, without any of the restrictions, and without ever having to pay a subscription fee again. How is that not almost a "lifetime subscription". As far as FP's/WZ's/OP's, you've already stated that you want permanent unlocks for those too, but "one thing at at time". That would make it even more like a lifetime subscription.

 

Sure you might have to pay for future content updates, or expansions, should you decide that you want access to them, but there's no guarantee that EA would even charge for them, or that you would actually decide to pay for them if they did.

 

you really must be a troll kuz you don't seam to make any since, turn stuff around that people say and don't seam to understand what people are saying.

[Ratajack]

A customer is no support is generally a lost customer. It's really as simple as that. If you don't provide support to the free to play crowd, you've just pretty much guaranteed that they will never buy anything from you.

 

If you provide them with timely, friendly service when they get a problem though, they will be much more likely to support you and buy things.

 

As I said before, support for cartel items is the one area in which I agree with you. Anyone who purchases a cartel item, whether it is direct from the market, from the GTN or from another player, should be able to expect support for that cartel item, if there is a problem.

[Ratajack]

You are asking to make a one time miniscule payment to have all the features that you use. You would have access to all the features you use, without any of the restrictions, and without ever having to pay a subscription fee again. How is that not almost a "lifetime subscription". As far as FP's/WZ's/OP's, you've already stated that you want permanent unlocks for those too, but "one thing at at time". That would make it even more like a lifetime subscription.

 

Sure you might have to pay for future content updates, or expansions, should you decide that you want access to them, but there's no guarantee that EA would even charge for them, or that you would actually decide to pay for them if they did.

 

 

 

 

you really must be a troll kuz you don't seam to make any since, turn stuff around that people say and don't seam to understand what people are saying.

 

What exactly am I turning around? What am I not understanding? Please enlighten me.

[leojreimroc]

You are asking to make a one time miniscule payment to have all the features that you use. You would have access to all the features you use, without any of the restrictions, and without ever having to pay a subscription fee again. How is that not almost a "lifetime subscription". As far as FP's/WZ's/OP's, you've already stated that you want permanent unlocks for those too, but "one thing at at time". That would make it even more like a lifetime subscription.

 

Sure you might have to pay for future content updates, or expansions, should you decide that you want access to them, but there's no guarantee that EA would even charge for them, or that you would actually decide to pay for them if they did.

 

How much would you be willing to "shell out" for future content, if you were willing to "shell out" anything at all? We've been told that they expect to be releasing new content about every 6 weeks, with the next content update being about 8 weeks due to the holidays. Even if EA charges an unlock fee for every new content patch, and you paid for every new content patch, at one content patch every 6 weeks, or 2 every 3 months, they would need to charge at least $23 per content patch just to make subscription a better deal than your proposed a la carte system. Even at $23, subscription would only be a better deal by one dollar for three months, and I doubt you'd be willing to pay even that much. That means you would have all the features you use and access to the new content, all for less than the subscriber pays for the same benefits.

 

This thread is to discuss the issues raise in the original post, mainly permanent unlocks to credit cap, support for preferred, and unlocks to the medical probes. If you want to discuss any additional permanent unlocks, please make a new thread.

 

As it stands, unlocking these would not be close to having a lifetime subscription. Again, to make the same argument that I made, a lifetime subscription is a 1 time payment, everything after that is taken care or. In this case, preferred customers would have to keep on paying for OP/WZ/FP access, every single week. This is not a lifetime sub. Furthermore, we would pay for content updates. No matter what the price is, we would pay for it. Again, this is not a lifetime subscription in any sense.