GMan3

Nope, I was questioned about it by another forum poster when I mentioned the contest screw ups in another thread. I figured before I tried to explain it again to another lazy individual, I would tell them where I got my facts from. So I was not being clever, I was being lazy myself and telling people in advance. Sometimes it is just easier that way.

As for the rest of your post, the over-dramatic conspiracy theory was funny.

I gotta say, I really don't care about the codes at all, but I think that you may be laying the blame in the wrong place here. Why would Marketing care at all about this? To me this seems like more of a case of "Oops, my mistake. I'll fix it when I get to it." I mean really, Marketing? The codes were already promised and someone screwed up by not giving them all right from the beginning. Now they have to fix themselves. If you think that is far-fetched, keep in mind that this is the third or fourth "Contest/Give Away" in a row that Paragon Studios has messed up. Do the research, it's right here at the top of the "News, Events & Announcement Discussion" section of the forums.

Your semi-right and I get your point. I have not seen any of them on-line now since the day of the whole M&G message so they may have done just as you say. That would make a total of 5 subscriptions lost for Paragon Studios. Only time will tell though.

Actually, when we talked about this I said basically the same thing and they reminded me that many restaurants and hotels have large areas that could be rented out for an event like this (They named two, but I didn't pay attention.). Therefore they would not have to have alcohol at the event. A lot of times hotels give discounts too if several reservations are made for a particular event, so Paragon Studios may have been able to save money this way. Me, I can go either way though, I do not favor venues that automatically force a certain segment out of the M&G.

As for whether this particular place is a 21+ M&G type of place . . . I have no idea, never saw that in the hotel website or the lame website for the club itself. I have to assume that Jay and Terry are drawing a conclusion based on the fact that most (or all?) the other M&Gs have been at bars that did not allow teens in. Or it could be that since they are from the area, they know something I don't. I didn't ask them about that though.

I find it "telling" though that I asked about this in an earlier post, because Jay and Terry were so pissed ,and still have not received and answer. Kinda reminds me of another few recent threads that never got an answer.

Anyways, I live in Hawaii, so I am pretty sure I'll never get to go to a M&G here. At least the right and left coasters have that going for them.

Actually MishiiLove, there is more than one meaning to the term boycott. While you can boycott something with the whole protest signs and all, that is not the meaning for this one. They have no intention of attending the event to show their displeasure and to support their kids. It is my understanding that they are sending letters to the company protesting these Adult Only M&G's as well.

It's their way of saying, "If your alcohol is so important for you that you are willing to ignore a large portion of your player base, then I have no need to meet you."

I recommended that they post something in these forums themselves to show how upset they are. They said that the whole recent "Emote Pack" issue, and how NO ONE at the company ever responded to them, seems pretty clear proof that these forums are useless. (Their words, not mine. Though I am starting to see their points.)

Try not to feel too bad Dante, I have a few friends that play this game with their teenage kids and live only a short cab ride from this place. Doesn't look like those teeange fans will be able to attend the M&G with their parents either since they are under 21. It's really too bad, the kids are the ones that got the parents playing and the parents have decided to boycott the M&G since their kids can't go.

Oh I get it, what is obvious to you has to be dependable DATA, but what other people observe is just speculation. Very clear now Nether, thanks.

I was actually "schooled" on this by a friend of my parents last year when I was home for a visit. He has worked for several video game companies and his information helped me understand the basics of these companies pretty well. I'll share two of the highlights with you.

Budget:
Most of these games are actually small divisions within a larger company, in this case Paragon Studios within NC. This allows for pretty much only the development staff at the game level (with traces of other department too), while all other resources get shared by the larger group, such as human resources, marketing, equipment, etc. So while Paragon Studios would not make enough to support everything needed to run a company, NC Soft with it's much larger array of resources (many games) can.

Development:
A lot of tinkering going on. A lot of trial and error. Almost nothing gets deleted in case it can be used later if it isn't used right now. In addition to that, there tends to be a lot of sharing of compatible programing between the various devisions of a company. This saves time and resources which allows for higher profits for the company and bigger paychecks for everyone. It also explains why some items in one game look similar to something you have seen elsewhere, but just can't put your finger on.

Ah yes, I can see it now, the new PvP Booster Pack $7.99 in the NCSoft Store:

Emote 1: cowering in a corner crying.
Emote 2: holding your arms in front of your head while screaming, "Not in the face! Not in the Face!"
Emote 3: arms crossed, shoulders rolled forward and pouting while saying, "No Fair!"
Emote 4: jumps on a teammates shoulders, hits him about the head and face screaming "Run Away, Run Away, Faster, Faster!"
Emote 5: holds up the white flag and waves it over his head.
Emote 6: toon falls down and "plays dead".
Emote 7: toon stands still staring at his hands and says "How did I miss AGAIN?"
Emote 8: toon runs away screaming "I'm just a defender, stop picking on me!"

And the all important one for that occasional victory,

Emote 9: toon stands on top of a golden Dias, hands clasped over his head and saying, "I did it! I finally did IT!"

Of course that 9th emote will have to raise the price of the pack to $8.99 each.

Then you risk alienating the "younger" players, so to speak. Remember, by your own count only 2% to 3% of people will make it this far so, you have to worry that upsetting the majority is more dangerous than kissing up to the minutia.

I agree. I have to emphasize though that also counts EVERY electronic purchase. Not just for the packs, but for the electronic version of the game, and the all the monthly subscriptions including the "recurring" subscriptions.

That leads me to hope the player base of this game is growing and will continue to do so at least for a little while. It is nice to see so many people on the servers after all.

That, I think, is what put such a bad taste in my mouth over this "Emote Pack". At a time when you have such a huge influx of people to the game, why would you release a niche product that so few people will appreciate? Not only that, but to do it 2 weeks (or so) after the release of GR? That screams of opportunistic money grubbing to me. Now if they had released it as a freebie and put an in-game GMotD to tell everyone, just think of the good will it could have generated.

I don't have a problem with this game making money. If it didn't, we couldn't play any more and even though I do not appreciate the "new" micro-transaction model the company is taking (and am looking for a new game because of), I do want the game to continue. At least until I find another one that entertains me as much as this one does.

I am one of the people that remembers this company bragging about how they were so much different than all the other MMO's out there. How they didn't charge for additional content, and how they listen to their customers. Fact is I am not seeing a whole lot of that anymore. Maybe I am looking in the wrong places. I'm not a PvPer but that is a very good example of what I am talking about. They basically killed PvPing in Issue 13 and we are now at Issue 18 and it is still being left to rot.

I could almost agree that $8.00 isn't much money and certainly not worth worrying about to spend on this game but, that same money could be used to buy each of my two children three school lunches. I could buy an new tee-shirt, about a dozen pairs of socks, or several pounds of hamburger for dinners; so that argument just doesn't hold with me.

I can't even buy the whole argument that the "Wedding Pack" allowed them to create the VEATs. Or even that it allowed them to be made sooner. Fact is they basically had to make them since the HEATs were already out. But if I assume they were not stretching the truth when they said that, then what exactly is our monthly subscriptions paying for? I assumed that it was paying for things like salaries, offices and equipment, marketing, and continuing the evolution of the game. That last part is the most important. After all, how many players would stay more than a year or two if the game did not keep growing?

So what are these packs paying for now? I hope it is the PEATs (Praetorian Epic Arch-Types) as well as the addition of level 21-50 content in Praetoria. I hope it pays for better internal testing so the "Free" Issues are a lot less buggy on release. I even hope that they are paying for the improvement of the endgame content to come. But like I said before, isn't that the kind of stuff our monthly subscriptions are supposed to pay for?

OK, this is my last "rant". Though rant isn't the right word. I'm just too tired right now to have the energy to rant. Don't bother thinking you'll be getting rid of me anytime soon though. The last time I renewed my subscription, I used up the last of my blind trust in this company by paying for an entire year up front.

Nope, decided not to do the whole explaination of what road I see this company taking. I've done it enough times already and have decided not to correct people who are not doing their homework anymore. They just are not worth the energy.

Good points Mishii. I personally am not a Michael Jackson fan and so the "Thriller Dance" would be worthless for me, but I do know many would like it and I think watching a Necro MM having his pets do it would be cool once or twice.

On the subject of the costume "Powers" though, I do not think I would be willing to buy a "Costume Power Pack". I would love to have most of the enemy costumes as costume sets, but not powers. My personal favorite is the Carnival of Shadows costumes, one of which can be "almost" duplicated for female characters using the jester costume with some tweaks.

Seems to me this whole contest has been very poorly executed so far. Not trying to be a jerk or anything, but this is the second recent contest that hasn't run very smoothly lately.

Yes, it would be legal, but then they would have to return the money from the "unused" portion of the subscription. While I am sure that wouldn't be a problem for 1 or 2 or even 100 subscribers, what happens if say 1,000 people decide to buy 6 years worth of the game, and then a year from now it gets shelved because bad business decisions chase everyone away (Extreme example, I know, just saying . . .)? Then they have to refund 5 years worth of subscriptions for 1,000 people for a total of $899,400.00 or there abouts. Nice chunk of change there when your trying to get rid of a financial liability.

Not trying to start a fight Techbot, but the two dance emotes I have seen did not look that way to me. The best way I could describe them would be jittery? Stilted? Not sure if those are the right words, but the dances just didn't flow properly in my opinion. Oh and before you start blaming my computer or video card, I can assure you they both are running the game just fine.

Ok, this idea I like. Well all of it except the pink part. Personally, I hate pink.

I really don't care anyone if anyone buys this thing or not. I won't waste my money but, your welcome to if you want. But seriously, how many times do you have to be told no by the very company that is trying to sell it to you before you get the hint?

Actually there is 4 threads. I guess they were hoping to get people all hyped up to buy it. They get a big FAIL there too.