Wil

But what would happen should you delete a character from your account, as I do quite frequently?

Are you one of those people that purposely miscontrue a valid statement for an extreme, unrelated situation?

We aren't talking about lives or seatbelts, we're talking about digital goods. To which my stance is that 'no one' (including you) cannot tell me (with any degree of certainty) how much it will cost me to specifically purchase the EO costume pieces (which are the only things of value 'to me' in the packs), therefore... I will not be investing any money into it.

Feel free to bring up airplanes again. If I want to get to the Bahamas, and each flight I pay for, although only $50, has a 13% chance of landing in the Bahamas (but 100% chance to land somewhere in the Caribbean), I can gauran-dang-tee you that I won't be buying any tickets. Now if I had a month of vacation and wanted to travel to the Caribbean, with no particular destination, then this airline is the one for me.

I am well aware of Arcanaville's point, and I both respect and support his/her decision. I also respect your decision to buy the Superpack for all the reasons you've listed.

You can buy the Superpacks because it excites you and you believe it is worth the cost. I will not purchase the Superpack because all I want is the costume and I do not believe it is worth the undetermined price it will cost me to get it.

Hence the stalemate...

You can tell me that you bought 5 packs and got everything you wanted. I can buy 500 packs and still not get a single costume piece. There are no guarantees. Telling me that is is cheap means nothing compared to the fact that you still can't tell me how much it will cost to get a complete set. Should they continue to go this route with the costume pieces that I want, I will simply leave for a more 'sure thing'. And if things change months or years down the road, I 'might' come back.

I came back for the free weekends and Freedom, and became a VIP subscriber again simply because I wanted to get a good idea of what to expect as a VIP member. The vast amount of locked costume parts were disturbing, but at least I had an allowance to free up specific parts as I wanted/needed them. If "my" interests of playing dressup with digital dolls while beating the crap out of things comes down to random chance, then I'm going to go someplace else where it is not so random.

Well, I guess this summary pretty much brings this discussion to a stalemate. I am indeed out of luck. Oh well...

First off, I'm not a lawyer. The following is simply the opinion of a professional computer technician and programmer.

I think part of what needs to made clear in our discussions is that 'conceptually' the Super Pack cards are no less legal in terms of gambling than over the counter Pokemon cards.

An adolescent looking for a... Charizard will spent an unknown amount of money to obtain it as will the players looking to collect 'specific' EO costume pieces.

One of the major complaints regarding the Super Packs is that some individuals would rather have a 'sure' way of obtaining the same costume pieces instead of paying for the 'chance' to obtain said pieces. I, myself, am in that camp and I have replied with numerous ways in this thread that they can provide both the costume pieces and the Super Packs in a way to appease both camps. Many people have, in fact.

Another concern raised, which I think you agree with, is that some individuals do not like the direction the company may go with random packs because of the bad habit it can form in others in terms of gambling for what you want.

Yesterday, I was logged into the game, went to the store, and debated whether I should purchase the packs or not in an attempt to acquire the EO set. In the end, I decided no. Partly because I wasn't assured to obtain the set with the birthday money I had to spend, but mainly because I didn't have another available costume slot for my character to use.

EDIT: Perhaps they should have added that to the drop list.

I know the way another competing company handles their equivalent to Super Packs that contain exclusive costume rewards is that you are 'gauranteed' to get a customer piece with each pack purchased, while the other rewards are random.

What this would mean is that those that want the costumed bundle will have to purchase one pack for each of the costumed pieces made in order to get the entire set.

The more pieces a costumed set has, the more packs a consumer will have to buy. This means the bigger sets will cost more appropriately.

...and you'll still get the random rewards that come with buying a pack.

I have to agree with this also. It is not readily apparant how many parts make a complete costume, nor how many pieces I have left to obtain. Additionally, I would want the ability to trade with others to obtain what I need, or even trade in 3-5 commons to get a common I want, or downgrading (similar to the incarnate system to further obtain all costume parts).

Any changes that would allow me more control to obtain the items I specifically want will go a long way toward having me even consider purchasing such packs.

I don't know...

...something about a morally bankrupt dead toddler who's gambling.

I agree, and would have preferred it this way.

Yes. Some have reached 30 packs and still not received the whole costume, which is what the "No-Gambling" group is wary of.

We'll see how this turns out in the future. I just hope my popcorn doesn't get cold.

Yeah, like a slot machine!

The fact that you have no control over what you specifically get is why it is a gamble. You are gambling to get the costume pieces specifically, but you are not gambling to get 4 random items with each card.

Yes, you are. And what does it cost you? A click of the mouse.

=====

All I want to say is that there is not 'wrong' with gambling in concept. The problem with gambling is the price of it and the individuals who abuse paying the cost.

I have 'gambled' in combat against Super Reflexes (who are purple no less) and lost many many times. At the end of the day I've lost about an hour of my time and my wrist may be sore.

For those that want the costume pieces specifically they may, or may not, choose to 'gamble' for them, by purchasing enough Super Packs until they have obtained them all.

That is the problem that they (those that choose not to purchase them) have with the system, and it frustrates them. It's not that the very essence of gambling is wrong (I'm so not looking for a religious/legal argument) but that they don't want to spend the requirement of points (which can be purchased with money directly, or indirectly via subscription) for the 'chance' to get the costume set.

Personally, I would be happy if I knew that if I purchased 24 packs, I'd get the set for free. Or that certain parts would unlock as I bought enough packs (very similar to the Paragon Point reward system). Simply cause I don't like uncertainty.

Strange, as I can pay $0 a month and play the same game you are.

I'm not going to berate your decision to spend $115 for something that makes you happy. I understand that arguement. I'm glad you have made sound decisions in your career to be gainfully employed to the point where you can support said entertainment in such manner.

I cannot.

For me this is not a "I won't pay to play CoX!". I'm currently paying for it now. What I will stand by is I will not pay for the "possibility" of getting costumed parts for the game. For me it's not worth the $4 a day for 30 days straight.

I love the set, and I will definitely pay an good amount of money to acquire it, but I'm more of a 'sure thing' consumer than a 'gambler'. Thank you.

Bah!

Give em a Strongman costume change device and a Paypal email address that they can use to tip the artists at.

#$!*&% VEATS!!!

Thanks. You just saved me a LOT of gray hairs

Complete, and utter, Awesome-Sauce!

GR has dropped to $15 which is the pricing of the alignment switch alone. Needed for those brutes with low END that need access to the Energy Mastery set.