Feeling Cheated after store purchase.

[Danda]

Just creating this as some general feedback.

 

After debating over whether or not to buy the Cavern Varactyl I made my decision after spotting the collection system you guys have. After testing this feature with an armor set I had previously purchased and seeing that I could claim it again I made the decision to purchase it thinking I could claim it on other characters. Seeing this feature swayed me into purchasing the mount, I regretted the purchase instantly after realizing that you were going to charge me for access to it on all of my characters instead of just one. It made me feel like I had just been jipped as you're asking me to pay even more money to fully utilize the item I had just purchased from you.

 

The money grubbing model of this game has really turned me off and I don't think I'll be spending any more money on this title if this is the way you treat your paying customers.

Edited April 3, 2015 by Danda

[SteveTheCynic]

Just creating this as some general feedback.

 

After debating over whether or not to buy the Cavern Varactyl I made my decision after spotting the collection system you guys have. After testing this feature with an armor set I had previously purchased and seeing that I could claim it again I made the decision to purchase it thinking I could claim it on other characters. Seeing this feature swayed me into purchasing the mount, I regretted the purchase instantly after realizing that you were going to charge me for access to it on all of my characters instead of just one. It made me feel like I had just been jipped as you're asking me to pay even more money to fully utilize the item I had just purchased from you.

 

The money grubbing model of this game has really turned me off and I don't think I'll be spending any more money on this title if this is the way you treat your paying customers.

Did you actually try claiming the armour on a different character before you went ahead and bought the mount?

 

Basically all(1) collections items work like this. You get the item (mount, crystal, full armour set, etc.) into your collection and it is unlocked for that character. If you want to unlock it for the rest of your legacy, you pay a bit more. I've done this with two items: an Aratech Rose speeder and a green hawk-eye (power) crystal. In both cases, "a bit more" was about a third of the price of buying a second item. In essence, instead of buying it again on every character at full price (OK, I got the speeder in a 1/3 off sale, but you get the point), I paid a third of the price to unlock as many copies as I want on all of them. It's a bit brutal when it's an orange-shell weapon that you paid only a few thousand credits for on the GTN, since you have to pay the full unlock price, but that's the way the collections system works, and it's worked that way since the beginning as far as I know.

 

(1) Well, not all, actually. Some items can't be unlocked for other characters, like the purple-black striated crystals, but they were free, ffs, and sent to all characters anyway.

[Anaesha]

Just creating this as some general feedback.

 

After debating over whether or not to buy the Cavern Varactyl I made my decision after spotting the collection system you guys have. After testing this feature with an armor set I had previously purchased and seeing that I could claim it again I made the decision to purchase it thinking I could claim it on other characters. Seeing this feature swayed me into purchasing the mount, I regretted the purchase instantly after realizing that you were going to charge me for access to it on all of my characters instead of just one. It made me feel like I had just been jipped as you're asking me to pay even more money to fully utilize the item I had just purchased from you.

 

The money grubbing model of this game has really turned me off and I don't think I'll be spending any more money on this title if this is the way you treat your paying customers.

 

You must be new to EA games if you expected to be able to claim the mount on any character without having to pay an added cost for it.

[branmakmuffin]

After debating over whether or not to buy the Cavern Varactyl I made my decision after spotting the collection system you guys have. After testing this feature with an armor set I had previously purchased and seeing that I could claim it again I made the decision to purchase it thinking I could claim it on other characters. Seeing this feature swayed me into purchasing the mount, I regretted the purchase instantly after realizing that you were going to charge me for access to it on all of my characters instead of just one. It made me feel like I had just been jipped as you're asking me to pay even more money to fully utilize the item I had just purchased from you.

Is it still April 1? Does not compute, suspect trolling.

Edited April 3, 2015 by branmakmuffin

[Danda]

You must be new to EA games if you expected to be able to claim the mount on any character without having to pay an added cost for it.

Is it still April 1? Does not compute, suspect trolling.

This is just me giving feedback as to me experience of this game. Whether they choose to do anything with what I've said or not is up to them but this is a terrible business model if your paying customers feel as if they've just wasted their money.

 

I just feel it's an atrocious way to treat your customers, especially when the competitors of this MMO have similar systems you don't even have to pay for.

Did you actually try claiming the armour on a different character before you went ahead and bought the mount?

 

Basically all(1) collections items work like this. You get the item (mount, crystal, full armour set, etc.) into your collection and it is unlocked for that character. If you want to unlock it for the rest of your legacy, you pay a bit more. I've done this with two items: an Aratech Rose speeder and a green hawk-eye (power) crystal. In both cases, "a bit more" was about a third of the price of buying a second item. In essence, instead of buying it again on every character at full price (OK, I got the speeder in a 1/3 off sale, but you get the point), I paid a third of the price to unlock as many copies as I want on all of them. It's a bit brutal when it's an orange-shell weapon that you paid only a few thousand credits for on the GTN, since you have to pay the full unlock price, but that's the way the collections system works, and it's worked that way since the beginning as far as I know.

 

(1) Well, not all, actually. Some items can't be unlocked for other characters, like the purple-black striated crystals, but they were free, ffs, and sent to all characters anyway.

No I hadn't tested that and I realize that is my fault and after the event I spotted the not so obvious info box that appears after you scroll over the claim button stating that it'd cost extra to have it across other characters. My point here is that customers are much less willing to spend more money if you don't put across up front that it'll cost a little extra to fully use what they're paying for instead of telling them after the fact so that they feel like they've been cheated.

Edited April 3, 2015 by Danda

[branmakmuffin]

This is just me giving feedback as to me experience of this game. Whether they choose to do anything with what I've said or not is up to them but this is a terrible business model if your paying customers feel as if they've just wasted their money.

I have never felt I wasted my money unlocking something in collections and it was never a mystery how collections is supposed to work. So, either you are trolling or you were simply not paying attention.

 

I just feel it's an atrocious way to treat your customers, especially when the competitors of this MMO have similar systems you don't even have to pay for.

Name these other MMOs and provide the details of their collections systems and indicate how the systems differ from and how they are similar to TOR's. The only other collections system I am familiar with is LotRO's and its similarity to TOR's is due solely to the fact that both games use the word "collections."

[Ratajack]

Just creating this as some general feedback.

 

After debating over whether or not to buy the Cavern Varactyl I made my decision after spotting the collection system you guys have. After testing this feature with an armor set I had previously purchased and seeing that I could claim it again I made the decision to purchase it thinking I could claim it on other characters. Seeing this feature swayed me into purchasing the mount, I regretted the purchase instantly after realizing that you were going to charge me for access to it on all of my characters instead of just one. It made me feel like I had just been jipped as you're asking me to pay even more money to fully utilize the item I had just purchased from you.

 

The money grubbing model of this game has really turned me off and I don't think I'll be spending any more money on this title if this is the way you treat your paying customers.

 

How many veractyls did you buy? You bought ONE veractyl.

 

If you did try the collection system with armor before you bought the veractyl, then you should already have known there was a cost to unlock items in the collections system. Unlocking that veractyl in the collections system is far cheaper than purchasing one for each and every character on your entire account, present and future.

[midianlord]

This is just me giving feedback as to me experience of this game. Whether they choose to do anything with what I've said or not is up to them but this is a terrible business model if your paying customers feel as if they've just wasted their money.

 

I just feel it's an atrocious way to treat your customers, especially when the competitors of this MMO have similar systems you don't even have to pay for.

 

You're not too familiar with how Electronic Arts does things, are you.

 

This is par for the course.

 

Egregious example: An upcoming game in --NfS: No Limits, I think?-- the Need for Speed franchise will require to pay for fuel for your car. Let that sink in a bit:

 

In order to virtually video-game drive your virtual video-game car, you have to pay real money for virtual video-game petrol.

 

Solution, at least as regards SW: tOR:

 

Don't give them a single dime beyond the monthly sub and/or your subscriber CC stipend (CC 500-600/month depending on a few things).

 

We can go on and on and on about what grubby parasites they are, but the real truth is that people keep putting up with this crap and throwing their money at them, else they wouldn't do it. IE, they're just...[cynicism] providing a service[/cynicism]

 

Vote with your wallet. It really is that simple.

[Karaiblis]

I've played MMO's where every purchase was for big money and went to the whole account, whether you would ever use the item on more than one character or not! I really like that ToR offers the choice to me to only buy something for one character for less than it would cost to unlock it for everyone, but still gives me that option if I chose to take it.

 

Stop complaining that they give you an option, options are good things, more choices are better. If it would make you happier to pay the price+unlock fee upfront for *everything* so that it was all unlocked across your account, then from now on do the math and buy them together, but don't try to force that choice on others who are sometimes happy to pay less to get it for only one character.

[SteveTheCynic]

This is just me giving feedback as to me experience of this game. Whether they choose to do anything with what I've said or not is up to them but this is a terrible business model if your paying customers feel as if they've just wasted their money.

 

I just feel it's an atrocious way to treat your customers, especially when the competitors of this MMO have similar systems you don't even have to pay for.

 

No I hadn't tested that and I realize that is my fault and after the event I spotted the not so obvious info box that appears after you scroll over the claim button stating that it'd cost extra to have it across other characters. My point here is that customers are much less willing to spend more money if you don't put across up front that it'll cost a little extra to fully use what they're paying for instead of telling them after the fact so that they feel like they've been cheated.

I don't know - I'd seen in various places, including the lists on e.g. Dulfy.net, that I would have to pay (a bit) extra to unlock everywhere, so I did my research and decided that it wouldn't be too expensive to unlock everywhere. But yes, it probably would be good to explain *somewhere* (but that raises the difficult question of *where*) a bit earlier in the buying process. Perhaps a confirmation dialog when you click "buy", "are you aware that this will cost extra to unlock across all characters?" or something similar. With a checkbox to hide it in the future, and NO mandatory delay... (Tip of the hat to the GTN accident solution threads...)

[FerkWork]

Was it a Scam and a Slap in the face?

[JattaGin]

Despite everything that has been said here, I agree with the OP that this is not a very nice business model.

 

But, since it is in place, I can only decide to not use it if I don't like it. My maximum threshold for an unlock is 90 CC. Everything higher I cannot justify to myself for spending on a virtual item with no value.

 

The thing that amazes me is that this system seems to work greatly for them. So what shall one do if most players are fine with these prices and pay them happily? Nothing. Grumble a bit and keep on playing.

[Anaesha]

I would consider it cheating me if the unlock only effected my characters on the server I am currently on. HOWEVER, since it unlocks the item(s) for ANY server I choose to play on I don't find it an unfair price to pay. Edited April 3, 2015 by Anaesha

[Papazmurf]

A simple solution to this would be to have an option similar to CC unlocks in game for storage. If you purchase with credits it shows for character and if you purchase with CC it shows account, just add another CC option.

 

I think there should be two prices showing for armors, mounts, etc that go in collection, what the price is for the character and what the price is for your account. Anything bought directly from the market should have this. Packs are a whole another story.

[branmakmuffin]

I don't know - I'd seen in various places, including the lists on e.g. Dulfy.net, that I would have to pay (a bit) extra to unlock everywhere, so I did my research and decided that it wouldn't be too expensive to unlock everywhere. But yes, it probably would be good to explain *somewhere* (but that raises the difficult question of *where*) a bit earlier in the buying process. Perhaps a confirmation dialog when you click "buy", "are you aware that this will cost extra to unlock across all characters?" or something similar.

Why would anyone even think it would work like "If I buy this, it's for my entire account/legacy" in the first place? I cannot think a single example in this game where a purchase is for the entire account or legacy unless it is specifically labeled an account or legacy unlock.

[Ilhares]

I would consider it cheating me if the unlock only effected my characters on the server I am currently on. HOWEVER, since it unlocks the item(s) for ANY server I choose to play on I don't find it an unfair price to pay.

This is precisely the reason I *do* like the collections. My legacy may not exist on the other servers, but my collections does. I can pop onto Jung-ma (or wherever), whip up a new Sith Warrior, cancel the intro dialogue, load up a set of Sith Radier armor & lightsaber hilt of choice (or vibrosword, for flavor), and then re-initiate the intro sequence. Now I don't look like I showed up in the back of a galactic turnip truck.

 

Man, what I would give to get a Fira sword/staff in the collection. Preferably one where the electric bits respect the color crystal inserted.

[DreadtechSavant]

While I understand your disappointment this is a standard collection systems.

 

Items used by a character can be reclaimed by that character. For other of you characters you can buy a unlock for that character or buy an account wide character unlock.

 

Remember that for outfits you must have all of its items and must be worn by that character at the same time for it to count towards your collections. Second remember that while this is a general rule there my be exceptions so always look at collections before you get rid of an item. To make sure you can retrieve it again. also some cartel items cannot be account wide unlocked.

[Fevee]

I know it makes it feel even more expensive to pay Cartel Coins for an item, and pay again for its unlock. But, it depends on how you want to look at it.

 

Instead of buying one at full price for every character on your account (x40, in my case), you buy one for full price, and you buy an infinite supply for a portion of the cost. Instead of 2 for the price of 1, it's unlimited for the price of 1.5. And looking at how that's across the entire legacy, across every sever, across your entire account.

 

I assure you, you take the plunge now, and you'll be taking that cavern varactyl for granted in the future; seeing as how every single character (even the ones that don't exist) pretty-much already have one.

 

I'm glad I took the plunge when I did. I now have access to some adaptive armor that costs millions on the GTN, now. (Regal Apparel Miniskirt, Covert gloves, Thul Loyalist. Some of these pieces I only want for a single piece of the set.)

[Orizuru]

If you think that is bad, then I don't recommend shopping at WalMart.

 

I went to WalMart once and purchased a hammer for my tool collection. I later returned to the store to get another hammer and some guy stopped me on my way out of the store and tried to accuse me of shoplifting! I didn't even switch characters!

Edited April 6, 2015 by Orizuru

[branmakmuffin]

Remember that for outfits you must have all of its items and must be worn by that character at the same time for it to count towards your collections.

They do not have to all be worn at the same time (same character, yes).

[Nexdine]

Frankly, the collections feature where you can unlock an item - if you choose - for a fairly reasonable amount of cc is one of the best things about the whole system. You go and buy a multi-million super-rare mount and now you can just put in a token sum and have it everywhere - this is one of the things I really don't mind about the system.

 

Now, the entire notion of gamble boxes where you never know what you are going to get and may wind up paying 5400 cc for essentially no value at all, that I really dislike... but I guess that's another rant.