Ghost Falcon

I understood you perfectly! I was backing you up.

(Sometimes, I wish there could be a Dev thumbs up button for quality posts, because you pretty much nailed it.)

It would be extremely difficult to have the store recognize a per character purchase versus a per account purchase pricing strategy for a singular costume piece.

Taken another way, if you bought the singular costume piece for a single character only, but then later decided you wanted it available account-wide, should you/would you get a discount because you previously purchased it for your single character?

The thought of that proposition gives me a headache, and I imagine would give customer service, our community team and a whole bunch of other people a migraine to explain to customers.

To put it diplomatically, a per-character-costume-unlock via a Paragon Market purchase is not on any plan or schedule. If it did come up in any meeting, I would silently deep-six it underneath other desired features, items or services.

Yes. Automagically.

We won't be charging more for the fixes. We debated holding back the release of the Imperial Dynasty set, but then that would have a cascading effect on subsequent Paragon Market releases (and as a player myself, I wanted them NAO! ).

By all means, PM me the conversation and ticket to me. I can't investigate, but will forward the PM along. If there's a breakdown along the way and our GMs are giving out misinformation, the CS team will review the process flow, and change it (the process).

Just a reminder, neither I nor the Community team has access to your billing history or billing information.

Please file a support ticket. I don't know how else to be more clearer. We do not and cannot provide direct support via the forums. Not even through PMs.

If you have a tech support problem, please file a tech support ticket and our Tech Support Team will work with you. If you post within the Tech Support FORUMS, then odds are that a very helpful player (not a Paragon or NCsoft employee) will provide some advice.

I cannot stress enough that the forums are not and will never be the hands-on support mechanism that i believe you are looking for. We're not going to publically discuss your private and personal information on a PUBLIC forum.

That said, to everyone else experiencing a problem with Paragon Point Stipend deliveries or Reward Token balances/deliveries, please file a support ticket.

Someone asked for an update, i got one and delivered it.

The last billing update to our back end just recently occurred (matter of days), so if your past experience was weeks or months ago, then our Support Teams may be in a better position now to investigate and assist you.

(note: all typos and grammar errors are a result of typing on a tablet.)

Hi,

I followed up with our billing folks, and it appears that there was a bug with our back-end system. Essentially, those bugs have been fixed, but all affected accounts from those bugs have not been fixed.

If you are having issues with your monthly Paragon Points, please file a support ticket with our Customer Service department through the /petition command in-game or through the Customer Service option in the in-game Menu Drop-down. Here's a quick link explaining the different ways to contact support.

Once you file a ticket, then our Customer Service team will investigate. They have access to new tools that will update your account if they find that your account is affected. Additionally, I have been told that the Paragon Reward Token system should be fixed, and if you have any concerns, our CS department does have tools to audit and correct the amount of Paragon Rewards on your account.

-Ghost Falcon

(PS: Please note that it is extremely important that you file a Customer Service ticket so that our Support teams can help you.

PPS: Please note that I am parroting something and passing along information at the request of a lot of you. Yes. A falcon that parrots. There, I said it.)

GPBunny - for the record, I don't monitor that thread daily although I hop in every once in a while to catch up. I'm not the point person on Paragon Points, but I do know that Zwil, Doc Delilah and others have pushed for answers from our Billing Team. At first, we just delivered the information as we got it..., but then when it turned out the information we gave wasn't exactly jiving with reality with some customers, there was a decision to withhold giving updates to avoid causing even more customer angst and confusion.

At the Player Summit, I believe I even said at the Paragon Market panel that we were just as frustrated (if not more) than you in the award dates of Paragon Points and Paragon Reward Tokens.

Lately, I've been sorely tempted to post in that thread, but anything that I posted would be from anecdotal experience, and not from a position of "I've-got-all-the-answers".

I have 3 accounts (non-work - personal/play accounts) with billing dates spread throughout the month. I get my Paragon Point stipends inconsistently like you all, but they are always awarded in the month. I have never had an experience where my points were not awarded.

Please note, and I'm saying this to manage your expectations of what type of support you can and should expect to receive from the forums: As a general rule, NCsoft and Paragon Studios do not resolve customer billing issues on the forums. We *always* direct customers to file tickets so that those tickets can be tracked and assigned to an NCsoft Billing Rep or another appropriate person for investigation and resolution. Paragon Studio employees (and that includes our Community Team) have zero abilities to provide Paragon Point Support because we do not have access to those support systems (No developer should ever have access to a customer's billing information. Period. I mean, to use an example, should an Apple iPad engineer have access to a customers iTunes account? Answer: No.). So when customers post problems on the forums, our Community Team gathers that information and rolls it into a summary for our Support Teams. If a customer provided a ticket or ticket number, the Community Team can include that for specific examples.

Our Community, Development, Biz/Dev and Marketing Teams are not in Billing Support (the Billing Team handles Paragon Point awarding). We can and *have* escalated those issues when we could, but if customers don't fill out a ticket, the Billing Support department can't investigate or assist you.

Also, no one has to hurt my feelings for a response. I monitor some threads, but not all threads. I respond to PMs when I can. I also get pointed to certain threads via PMs. I respond openly when I can. The post I made the other day was made at ~2:00 in the morning Pacific.... My takeaways were:
1) never respond to a thread at 2 in the morning ,
2) never respond to a thread at 2 in the morning on an iPad that doesn't have a bluetooth keyboard , and
3) typos by tablet stink

(...and can you please cut me some slack on the post since obviously I was paying attention at 2 in the morning during the middle of the week? I could have just ignored the whole thread, but then if I had, then players would have missed out on using me as a punching bag for a couple of days, and where would the fun have been in that? .)

PS: Please be kind to the new Assistant Community Manager. He's still kind of new, and you have more than enough time to break him and have him curled up in the corner crying for mercy.

PPS: That was not a challenge.

I am always open to suggestions to improve the Paragon Market, although this particular thread is probably not the ideal place to discuss. When I've had time, I've gone back and fixed some things, re-arranged some areas, improved keyword searches, etc. Hit me up via PM or I'll start a thread over in the Beta Forums to get some actionable changes done. If it's just re-ordering or re-categorizing, those changes might be easy. If the feedback is about the visual layout, then changes may not be possible or feasible.

There are a lot of good points brought up here.

I really do appreciate all the feedback, and they will be discussed internally.

I guess it wasn't enough to just give away the Going Rogue Expansion features away as a benefit for VIP subscription and allow just any subscriber to change their alignment for free.

I guess we're also morally bankrupt to give away free server transfers a month for free to VIP subscribers, too.

And for anyone that never purchased the Going Rogue expansion or let their subscription lapse, we're apparently lower than dirt to charge a $10 "service" fee to change a character's alignment that a non-paying customer spent time on....

C'mon folks. *This is not profiteering on the backs of VIPs.

ALL VIP subscribers and any customer that purchased the Going Rogue expansion have a FREE option to EASILY and FREELY change their character's alignment.

Come at me with the pitchforks, but really? *Are you not seeing the reasons for introducing this service?

Non VIP customers can now change their character's alignment to try the content on the other side without deleting thir character and grinding up to a power level where they were before (if they got up to level 20). * VIP customers get 400 points every month that they can apply to this 800 point service...., or as I pointed out earlier, VIP customers can change their alignment for FREE using the in-game system.

If you want to provide more constructive feedback like "this is a great feature that i would rather get free per month as part of my VIP membership than server transfers or 400 points per month" then we're all ears.

NCsoft does not currently stock in our inventory nor currently distribute the CoH or CoV Collector's edition boxes..., but some can still be found online. (17 COV : CE in stock and 1 CoH: CE in stock on Amazon.com at the time of this post.) [Please note that I do not know if that is a typo or error by Amazon. I just used Google. <--I'm seriously not trying to be snarky, just helpful.]

[edit: I just realized that I got baited into a response. sigh. I promise that I will not respond further to this thread and will monitor feedback.]

There are no contractual reasons with any internal or external parties that prevents the Prestige Power Slide from being sold in the Paragon Market.

A quick background on the CoH Collector Edition Perks availability:
In 2005 or 2006, to make the CoH Collector perks accessible to early adopters (CoH was released in April 2004, but the Collector's box was released ~Nov 2004), we took the contents of the physical City of Heroes DVD Collector boxes and repackaged them into City of Heroes "Hero Gear" boxes that were sold through the NCsoft.com merchandise store.

Essentially, this allowed customers to get access to the game manual which had the *same* CoH CE DVD Serial Code that was in the CoH DVD boxes (but they just didn't get the fancy box or install discs).

When the online NCsoft.com merchandise store was closed, all extra inventory was sent to Paragon Studios. We've since handed them out for free or sold them at various Meet & Greets, HeroCons, and have given them away as Community/Forum prizes. I don't think we have many left (if at all).

City of Heroes Freedom:
When we decided to change our business model, it was decided that the Collector Edition bonuses from the CoH and CoV boxes were not to be distributed through the Paragon Rewards Program nor be available for purchase through the Paragon Market. Pre-Order bonuses from retailers (online and physical) were okay to distribute through Paragon Rewards, but the CE bonuses were hands-off.

Many people will disagree with this position, but at its heart, the decision was primarily driven by maintaining the exclusivity of those Collector / Limited Editions for the customers that took the time and effort to purchase them at the time of their release. We're not doing this because we have a pallet of the boxes that we're trying to sell for $mint$ through secondary markets.

Is this position final?
Absolutely not. We've always listened to players and have used that feedback to influence or re-examine our position on many things.

Is the position on this particular item going to change soon?
It's unlikely that it will change soon, but I do want to point out that I'm watching this thread and have watched previous threads where the unavailability of Collector Edition perks have been brought up.
(Note: ...other red names read the forums, too!)

You've said that you read previous threads..., what are the blocking points?
It depends upon who you ask, but there are two main ones.
1) the primary reason cited above (i.e. maintaining exclusivity for those that purchased the Collector's Editions), and
2) if we sell a component of the Collector Edition Perks (clothing or Power)...would we sell the VIP/Destined One badge, too?

...and just to re-iterate, there are more reasons, but the two above are generally the blocking points.

I'm going to refrain from commenting further about this, and look forward to see how this thread discussion evolves.

In the Paragon Market, if you go to :

Paragon Picks > Sales

Enhancement Boosters are on sale for 25% off:

• Booster (x5) - Now 150 Points (originally 200 Points)
• Booster (x30) - Now 675 Points (originally 900 Points)
• Booster (x90) - Now 1350 Points (originally 1800 Points)

Additionally,
Costume Change Tokens are 50% off:

• Costume Change Token - Now 20 Points (originally 40 Points)

Those in-game sales will end on Monday, February 20th at 11:59 PM Pacific.

[edit] It's intentional.

When a Rare IO set is introduced and goes on sale, the 50% discount is applied to the "set", and to the Rare IOs.

The Uncommon IO (Decimation 1 of 6) is left at the regular price.

The sale price will remain in effect through Monday of next week. On Tuesday, the Rare IOs will be back to their full price.

Good catch.

That error has been corrected in the in-game store.

Lothic nailed it.

Main reason: They were intentionally left out to maintain some exclusivity to the Imperious Task Force (ITF).

Players can normally obtain/unlock the Roman Costume pieces for free in-game, but this has to be done PER character by completing the ITF. The purchase of this bundle allows players to unlock many of the main costume pieces for all other characters on your account without having to do the Task Force.

/e fireworkbloom
/e fireworkrocket
/e fireworksparkle

It's a one-time purchase that is a permanent power. It's not temporary. It does not have a charge.

It can be purchased by itself.

It will only available for sale until January 31, 2012.

There's a funny story there... (or I'd like to think so), not funny "ha-ha", but more of a face-to-the-desk moment.

If you read the guidelines above about Black Friday, essentially ALL RARE IOs within a set were supposed to be on sale for 50% off. And then if the entire set was sold, the K.I.S.S price was to put the set on sale for 400 points...

Well, if you break down Kinetic Combat (5 IO set), there are 4 Rares and one Uncommon IO. I accidentally put the Uncommon IO in the 50% off sale (literally right after my last house guest left on Thanksgiving night in preparation for the Black Friday launch at midnight that evening). The difference by buying it a la carte versus as a set was 12 points. Some folks brought it up to my attention, but in the end, I felt like I would be the biggest jerk to raise the price of the Uncommon IO while the promotion was active, and for the most part, the error was in everyone's favor. So during the holiday weekend, I made the call to just let the 50% off the Uncommon IO remain. Kinetic Combat was a deal at 388 points or at 400 points either way.

New Tier 9 VIP stuff : It was shown at the Pummit. I don't track the builds anymore, and that's largely a Doc Delilah / Skippy Sidekick question.

Awarding of Paragon Points and Tokens : Lineage II just went Free to Play...(so our Billing Team may have been distracted).

I removed the Undead Survival Kit from the Paragon Market when the Black Friday Sales started. Since the Kit was selling for 400 points, and we reduced the price of the Qty 5 Inspirations to 50 points, I did not want a player to accidentally purchase the kit and be overcharged. After Black Friday ended, no one raised an eyebrow, so I left it off.

We're still evaluating Inspirations, so I removed all Small and Medium Inspirations. To de-clutter the Inspirations section, I also removed all Qty 1 and 3 Inspirations.

Dual, Team and Team Dual Inspirations for now, will only be minimally be sold at Qty 5. They'll go on sale again at the end of the year.

The long-term prices for those specific items are still being discussed internally, and we'll address those in Q1 of 2012.

Black Pebble / Marketing gets blamed for everything.

In Black Pebble's defense....:

I (Ghost Falcon), as the Business Manager:

1) proposed and got buy off on all prices in the market prior to Freedom's launch
2) schedule all new items to be released in the Paragon Market.
3) write up 90% of all Paragon Market in-game text,
4) propose and schedule all in-game and in-store weekly sales promotions (even Black Friday),
5) examine all in-game store sales metrics and adjust prices / remove item(s) accordingly.

When Titan Weapons slipped in November, *I* came up with Undead Survival Kit. I knew it was last minute, but I have some items held back in case of emergencies. The Warwolf Whistle was the anchor of the pack, and then I padded it with interesting consumable items (the bat / slugger, temp revolver and inspirations) plus I added the self-revive power.

I also asked that the Halloween Event be extended by a week.

Well..., long story short, the pack was released, exposed some strong feelings about the price of inspirations (which we later tested on Black Friday), and someone didn't approve the Halloween Event extension.

I wanted to post about it, but the flames and pitchforks were already out, and I was cautioned against fanning the fires. Marketing took the blame, and I felt really, really bad for Black Pebble.

Anyway. Valuable lessons were learned. The Undead Survival Kit is off the Market (not that I think anyone noticed.., although the Warwolf Whistle still sells well), and I think we all moved on.

It's been under discussion internally here since we have to release those items onto the Beta server for testing.

I don't want to give an answer right now, but I did want to reassure you that we're talking about it.

The Black Friday promotion was :

• 50% off all Rare IOs
• All Rare Sets for 400 points.

The normal Rare IO Sale price promotions :

• 50% off all Rare IOs
• All Rare Sets for 50% off

...and 50% off of what you may ask?

All IO Set bundles follow this pricing rule:

• Total all IOs in the set.
• Apply 20% discount.

The Rare IO sets are 50% off that 20% Off price (so savings are greater than just 50% off).

With the Rare IO sale this week:

• Numina's was offered at the Black Friday price since we had to pull it last minute due to a bug.
• Obliteration and Eradication Sets were priced at the 50% off price in accordance to the normal Rare IO sale promotion pricing.

I hope that makes sense.