Yodamyman Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 (edited) Let me comment. It frustrates me that I did not get the preorder in time. But mostly I am annoyed with the early access concept period. This expansion did not need the marketing strategy, as your game player base is already firmly established. You're probably making no or little more money as a result of this strategy. However you are causing me at least and probably many others needless frustration at not being able to jump in just because we missed a due date made 3 months ago. My frustration made me seriously consider to throw up my hands and go play another game.. Rift in fact. But I always have loved Starwars and was not at this time ready to surrender. Future events with early access strategy will make me reconsider my participation. There is NO good reason to play head games with your fans. It aggravates, not excites, and as already mentioned you have an established player base. Edited April 12, 2013 by Yodamyman Grammer issues Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth_Moonshadow Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 Then by that logic, we should do away with preorder bonuses at all. Can't risk upsetting the players who buy the expansion after it launches and see you with your "Scourge of the Hutt" Title, pet and hologram Hutt. They'd be pretty aggravated that they can't have the stuff too. Instead of flooding the forum with this petty complaint, go do something constructive till Sunday and quit worrying. You're not missing squat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Threnos Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 I agree in principle that if you didn't pre-order then you shouldn't be complaining. Still, it does set players back at least a week or two in leveling and those are the more serious players who are going to level that fast. Rewards and 5 extra levels before most people can even start leveling are not exactly the same thing. I'm all for letting people access the new story content, raids, etc., but everyone should be able to level, even if it is on old content. First game I've ever seen do this and it's obviously enangered a lot of people. Probably not a good idea to alienate large parts of your player base, fair or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AsheraII Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 Simple solution: pre-order in time. Everybody got an email announcement with the pre-order benefit. Everybody could read the announcement on this website. Everybody had ample time to pre-order. If you didn't: your problem. And I actually think the early pre-order - early access is a GOOD idea. It definitely reduced the amount of players trying to kill the exact same mobs at the exact same time. So spreading the entry is a good idea, and tying it to early pre-order is only logical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hiniba Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 Also helps it get a smoother launch. Despite how good the servers have become if there was no early access and the expansion went live on say Tuesday for everyone A. If there's an issue that turns the servers off for extended time (very likely) EVEN MORE people would be mad than just the people who had early access. B. A long queue is quite possible then (I know at this point it seems unlikely but if everyone and their mother who plays the game wants to play on the same day as the expansion release it causes huge issues for server; as opposed to about half the people getting in early and the rest getting in later. Finally, as others pointed out, less people in the same area (granted instancing the planets the way they do covers a lot of this but it definitely helps). Yeah it sucks not being level 53-55 with your friends for like half a week but it's liveable. I didn't preorder early enough which sucks today, but I can still gain experience for my next level so I'm not entirely behind (basically get a free level Sunday), and what not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chesty_Jake Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 Just so you know there have been 60 instances of Makeb for early access. Imagine if there was no throttle essentially? This needed to be done likely. Next time Pre-order on time, multiple emails and banners were put up at login etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikuniman Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 Same thing as if stand in line at 3am for your favorite concert ticket to guarantee a good seat. Besides helping spread out server load. It's smart marketing and good business practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SithKoriandr Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 Next time just pre-order. Sounds like you knew you were going to be playing TOR. Did we know what all was going to be in the expansion? Nope. But if you knew you were going to keep on playing, you might as well have bought it then and got the early access. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MajikMyst Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 (edited) I agree in principle that if you didn't pre-order then you shouldn't be complaining. Still, it does set players back at least a week or two in leveling and those are the more serious players who are going to level that fast. Rewards and 5 extra levels before most people can even start leveling are not exactly the same thing. I'm all for letting people access the new story content, raids, etc., but everyone should be able to level, even if it is on old content. First game I've ever seen do this and it's obviously enangered a lot of people. Probably not a good idea to alienate large parts of your player base, fair or not. You realize that argument is a bit lame.. What are the new people that are just coming to the game supposed to do?? They are over a year late for all 55 levels?? What you fail to realize is that this isn't a race.. It doesn't matter when you start or when you finish.. Nor does it matter if any other game has done this.. All that early access did was give the people that bought the expansion first, a chance to see the content first.. There is no harm in that.. They did the same thing with the launch of this game.. There is simply no harm in that.. Edited April 12, 2013 by MajikMyst Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MajikMyst Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 What really kind of bothers me now is the general attitude of the people that want early access for everyone.. There just seems to be this feeling that even though it was their own mistake that they are without early access, Bioware must fix the issue, and those that did buy the expansion early enough just don't matter.. I don't care why someone did or didn't buy the expansion by Jan. 7th 2013.. If you did then you have early access, if you didn't then you don't.. There is nothing to blame there but yourself.. To ask that bioware not do this again is both selfish and elitist.. The people that did by it early enough are entitled to their first look.. They are entitled to what was offered to them.. Like any good sale, if you are late and miss it.. To bad.. You are not going to get those sale prices 4 months after the sale ended.. You are not entitled to the perks that I and other have.. You have only to look in the mirror to see why.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glowrod Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 My viewpoint is "It's just a game". I would have liked having early access, and I would have too, except that I was not an active member at the time and didn't know I would be until the deadline had passed. But in the end, it no big deal. I'm not in competition with anyone else to be "First" so I'll play it when my turn comes up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuryoftheStars Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 My viewpoint is "It's just a game". I would have liked having early access, and I would have too, except that I was not an active member at the time and didn't know I would be until the deadline had passed. But in the end, it no big deal. I'm not in competition with anyone else to be "First" so I'll play it when my turn comes up. ^ This. I started playing after the deadline, and really am not even close enough yet to even have taken advantage of it. Even if I did have a 50 in time, no biggie. As stated, it's not a race. Everyone hits a ceiling at some point in these kinds of games, so everyone else has equal opportunity to catch up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SithKoriandr Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 What really kind of bothers me now is the general attitude of the people that want early access for everyone.. There just seems to be this feeling that even though it was their own mistake that they are without early access, Bioware must fix the issue, and those that did buy the expansion early enough just don't matter.. I don't care why someone did or didn't buy the expansion by Jan. 7th 2013.. If you did then you have early access, if you didn't then you don't.. There is nothing to blame there but yourself.. To ask that bioware not do this again is both selfish and elitist.. The people that did by it early enough are entitled to their first look.. They are entitled to what was offered to them.. Like any good sale, if you are late and miss it.. To bad.. You are not going to get those sale prices 4 months after the sale ended.. You are not entitled to the perks that I and other have.. You have only to look in the mirror to see why.. Without early acces, there is no early access! Sounds like the OP was more "I didnt want to purchase it untill I knew more" which, those with early access where as I said "Eh, good or bad, Im likely to still play it, might as well purchase it" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuixupu Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 There are times in life where you don't make a deadline, and much more serious ones, and some times it's totally beyond your control. You can cope with having to wait 5 extra days to play a video game. I heard that a lot of schools today no longer make kids turn stuff in by a certain date and it's totally open. I guess this is the kind of society we're breeding. People who can't emotionally cope with responsibility and failure. :/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MajikMyst Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 Without early acces, there is no early access! Sounds like the OP was more "I didnt want to purchase it untill I knew more" which, those with early access where as I said "Eh, good or bad, Im likely to still play it, might as well purchase it" But there is early access and it is likely there will be again.. They did the same thing for game launch.. And yes, people complained then too.. Truth be told, they didn't really release any more information about the expansion in Dec of last year as they did April of this year.. So the excuse about wanting to know more is just that.. An excuse.. In the end it comes down to this.. The people that are complaining about early access are just upset that early access doesn't include them.. The reasons are irrelevant.. All that matters is someone has something that they don't and they are going to QQ about it.. There is no reason to dislike early access.. I am sure the people that are playing right now love it.. But out of simple selfishness, threads like this exist.. Like I said.. The only reason someone has to not like early access is the simple fact that they aren't in it.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yodamyman Posted April 13, 2013 Author Share Posted April 13, 2013 Ok I read the replying post and understand my position is not the popular one. Soo ill try once more and the last attempt to explain something about this situation. First of all early access for initial launch of a game IS understandable. The marketing team wants to sell as much as possible to develop a large customer base. No problem with this as it serves a marketing purpose. Buts lets take a look with this expansion . First of all it is obviously primarily tailored to existing player base as a high percentage of the content is for level 50+ characters. There is some minor stuff for lower levels, but mostly level 50+. So we are not primarily trying to get new players. maybe returning players, but not new though they are welcome Now let me point out something else. The Due date. Jan.7, 2013. Was it fair? only two weeks after Christmas and one week after new years. Arguably the busiest time of the year for spending money for others not ones self. There is a reason why Jan. and Feb. are the slowest retail time of the year. I'm sure there or other factors beside the Holidays, but no one can doubt the effect it has on the economy for those two months. In my mind if you have to have a due date March 15th would be better. Reason being most people have there income tax returns by then. Not everyone of course, but most. The economy starts gearing up again. With that being said in my mind except as someone pointed out about server stress, there is no reason to have an early access program with established characters. I myself missed the due date by a week. Just couldn't swing it so close to Christmas expenses. I'm sure other folk have there reason also Looking at al the above why create a situation where loyal customer should be excluded. What? A slap on the hand in reply for not moving fast enough. That seems unprofessional. Anyway you either get it or you don't. This will be my last post on this. And someone says "Thank the Maker". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuryoftheStars Posted April 15, 2013 Share Posted April 15, 2013 I understand your point, but I would have to disagree to an extent. I disagree in that they "shouldn't" have early access, however, I don't think they should've done it with so much lead time... 4 months? And yes, the timing was bad. They probably should've had the early access available to purchasers up to approx 1-2 months before release, and not have that deadline being immediately after holidays. But in reality, it does not put you "behind" early accessers... you were merely delayed 5 days before being able to accomplish the same exact thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWGEvictee Posted April 15, 2013 Share Posted April 15, 2013 IMO there is no difference between early access for an initial launch and for an expansion. To say one is ok and the other isn't is in, again IMO only, my mind illogical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chesty_Jake Posted April 15, 2013 Share Posted April 15, 2013 Did you just mention tax return income for a 9.99 expansion? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MajikMyst Posted April 15, 2013 Share Posted April 15, 2013 Did you just mention tax return income for a 9.99 expansion? Are you serious??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MajikMyst Posted April 15, 2013 Share Posted April 15, 2013 (edited) The Due date. Jan.7, 2013. Was it fair? only two weeks after Christmas and one week after new years. Dude.. No offense.. But that is completely irrelevant.. You are basically saying that the time right after Christmas is the worst time to sell stuff.. I guess bills shouldn't be due at that time either... According to your logic.. There is no excuse here.. It was only $10 for subscribers.. I spend more at McDonald's to feed my family.. I spend more at Starbucks.. Seriously dude.. There is nothing wrong with early access and how they did it.. People have only themselves to blame.. Not the holidays or the timing.. I can't believe you said that... Edited April 15, 2013 by MajikMyst Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chesty_Jake Posted April 15, 2013 Share Posted April 15, 2013 Are you serious??? I mean not to be a jerk but christ this forum cries foul about everything. Mentioning March 15th be better due to tax returns coming in for a 9.99 expansion has me scratching my head. In the words of Microsoft: Deal With It. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elly_Dawn Posted April 15, 2013 Share Posted April 15, 2013 to me this is the same as someone coming into an MMO fresh and new, seeing all the Lvl.50's or whatever the cap happens to be on that particular game and crying about it "if i have to start at Lvl.1 then i demand a rollback on everyone else so they have to start at Lvl.1 too... seriously, it is so self centered its disgusting... i didn't make the pre-order date for reasons out of my control, but i'm not gonna come to the forum and cry about it demanding everybody have to start on the same day at the same hour for every release therafter... no, imma take the hit and roll with it, that's life what can you do?.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wraiven Posted April 15, 2013 Share Posted April 15, 2013 You're not missing squat. This ^ You're not missing much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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