Noobian_Prince

Was counselling required?

Darn those hooligans! Get outta my base!

Because 480 pts is so much more expensive than travelling to a con or skipping work to take part in an event (and even that is no guarantee you'll get the code).

Considering your grammar above (and elsewhere) as well as your spelling errors (like "seperate"), you probably shouldn't go there.

You stated: "You have NEVER had to pay for powersets before." That's a direct quote. When I (and others) pointed out this is false, you tried to weasel out by claiming that expansions don't count. Yet you fail to give a coherent explanation as to WHY expansions are inherently different.

Not exactly. You claimed that expansions were different from issues or updates because they "gave you new powersets, new zones, new arcs, tfs, etc." I pointed out the same was true for updates. So what's the inherent difference between a paid expansion and a smaller free update -- the packaging? If GR was DLC, would that mean it's no longer an expansion?

Actually YOU were. (That's why "established expectations" is in quote marks. I'm quoting you.) As to the point, I was trying to get you to realize that even though you may have an expectation based on the past, it's foolish to presume that it was always be that way.

In the second part, I had just copied some of your statements that appear to indicate that you were in favor of the new model pricing since you thought you were get "MORE cool stuff" (your words) at no extra cost to you but from "added revenue" from Premium players. (I'm ignoring the self-evident fallacy of getting revenue from free players and your confusing VIP and Premium customers.)

This is like leasing a car for $200/month. On one of your (free) scheduled maintenance visits, the mechanic tells you, "We put in a newer model fuel injector that will increase your mileage. No charge." On another visit, they've taken out the standard AM/FM radio and replaced it with one that also plays CD's and MP3's. Again, no charge. Are you seriously claiming you PAID for the free injector and CD player? And, no, it doesn't matter whether you have one car or two.

If this is you being mature, color me relieved you're not the "snit" type.


When you say something like, "I don't think the current pricing model is to my advantage. I think I would get a greater benefit from not paying a subscription and spending the $15/month on Paragon Points instead." is an example of making a case for a proposed action. Regardless of whether someone agrees or not, this is NOT mere bellyaching since it gives objective REASONS for the argument.

OTOH, statements like:

• "I don't WANNA wait and save!"
• "But I have EXPECTATIONS!"
• "I've never had to do that before!"
• "I want it now!"

and

are mere unreasonable rants and = whines. Do you see the distinction?

(BTW, you aren't helping your case with illogical statements like:

without anything to back it up.

• New powersets: Trick Arrow, Sonic Attack, Archery and Sonic Resonance
• New Zones: Peregrine, The Hollows, Croatoa and Striga
• New arcs: too many to count.
• New TF's: Abandoned Sewers, Cavern of Transcendence, Eden and Terra Volta

All of the above were ADDED for free in the first 5 issues. Would you care to try again explaining how expansions are a "completely seperate issue" ?

If you didn't PAY for COV when it came out, did you have access to the brute, stalker, mastermind, etc. powersets? No. If you didn't pay for GR, could you access dual pistols or demon summoning? Also no. Forget "early access", if you didn't buy it, you couldn't play it.

BTW, a number of MMO players had the "established expectations" that their games would be around as long as they wanted to play them. If you've been following the industry at all lately, you'd know that those expectations were dashed as those games are simply gone.

So you've already gotten 21 free updates with new powersets, zones, capabilities (like inventions or Ouroboros) and you want "MORE cool stuff" but supported by revenue from Premium players instead? Nice

Actually, yes you did have to WAIT much longer for issues or updates and SAVE for expansions and booster packs. (And you couldn't get any of them for free, no matter HOW long you waited.)

So you want LESS content? This is confusing.

When Origins came out two months after the Party pack, did you go into a snit because you had to choose what to spend your money on? Or because you were saving up for the Animal pack, then all of a sudden Steampunk came out?

NCSOFT is in the business of making MONEY ? Gasp! Alert the media!

Here's the bottom line: No one is making you spend ONE PENNY over your subscription. Nobody forced you to buy COV (and some people didn't, including me -- and I had inherited a sg base I couldn't access -- but that was my decision). I knew GR would eventually be free but paid for it anyway -- without complaining.

You can still get your shinies -- for free -- and wait a SHORTER time (~two months) than you did previously waiting for updates.

But nobody's twisting your arm or begging you. If you think Premium makes more sense, then by all means, go that route. Just kindly stop whining that because you got some things in the past for free, you expect that to go on forever.

But . . . but. . . playing in the sandbox was one of my favorite things about the sewer trial !

Doesn't seem to be affecting costumes already awarded (those con giveaways) or purchased. I just used the Pirate costume skin and it's WAI.

I was going to buy the Animal and Steampunk boosters but it seemed more logical to wait until Paragon Market came along as I would be getting them "for free." But the available bundles seem to be just the costume parts.

Does anyone know if the emotes (and Steamjet power) are included in the Market bundles? Thanks!

Freedom Players Are Really Neat?

Woot! New powerset!

Automagic !

*pictures cars in top hats and capes doing prestidigitation*

This has been posted in a couple of places but here it is again:

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...&postcount=130

Extra slots were added only to owners of the two paid game expansions: City of Villains (we went from 8 slots to 12 if you bought COV and COH) and Going Rogue*. Thus there is no real need for Account Management to "track" anything. Regardless of whether you bought COV or not, for the last three years NCSoft has basically given away COV and the extra 4 slots for free. As things currently stand, no Premium players will get tokens for it. So the only thing to track is whether you bought GR. (*The sole exception to this was the i12 bonus, which was temporary.)

Note: As it currently stands, the i12 bonus will apply only to VIP players.

And if anyone feels that Posi's last line ("Other bonuses possible") is too ambiguous, that's actually a GOOD thing, since it means there may be even MORE stuff given to the paying players.

So you're saying that an à la carte*, purchase-only-what-you-want option shoudn't cost more? Isn't that argument the opposite of the one for discount pricing? If you waited until the day before your granny's birthday to mail her birthday present, no doubt you would castigate the Postal Service for dreaming of charging extra for Express Delivery?

Observe the following scenario:

YOU: I want to buy some Magic costume pieces. How much are they?
NCsoft vendor: $1.25 each.
YOU: Hmmm *calculates* If I buy them all, it's $15. Do you have a bundle discount?
NC: Yes, you can have the entire bundle for $12.
YOU: Naw, that's too much. I just want this hat and the baron collar. How much are they?
NC: A dollar twenty-five.
YOU: What?!? If I buy it as part of the bundle, they're a dollar each !
NC: *sighs* Fine. You can have them for a dollar.
YOU: How much if I add the rest of the costumes?
NC: Twelve dollars.
YOU: But you were going to sell me all ten at a dollar each! I won't pay more than $10 for the bundle!
et cetera, et cetera, ad infinitum

so? Bearing in mind that none of us know what the final pricing for bundles is going to be, why not buy it now for $10 ?

"Operators are standing by."


Let's see. . . . They've had TWENTY free expansions so far and haven't raised their subscription rates in SEVEN YEARS. What are the odds that NOW they're going to start nickel-and-diming subscribers? ESPECIALLY when those same subscribers can PLAY FOR FREE if they don't feel they're getting their money's worth?


YOU BOUGHT THE WEDDING PACK ? TWICE ?

How . . . . nice. *backs away slowly*

*Did you realize the opposite of "à la carte" is "table d'hôte", at which a menu with limited or no choice is served at a fixed price?

we haz tinfoil hats ? Gimme !

Whatchu got against Brians ?

It should be pointed out that another NCSOFT game, Guild Wars, gives paying customers FOUR character slots. Not four per server, four PERIOD. If you buy one of the "campaigns" (so-called but they're actually standalone games, just like COV used to be), two additional slots open up. So if you purchase ALL FOUR full games, you get the maximum amount of slots, which is ten. There happen to be 10 different classes, btw. (Apparently the "Eye of the North" expansion does not give extra slots, but I stopped playing GW before EotN was released so I can't say for sure.)

So a returning player who previously paid four years worth of subscription fees, bought GR and 2 character slots gets the same number of unlocked slots (10) as the MAXIMUM available to GW players.

I agree that some returning players may be upset to find out that they will only be able to play 3 or 10 or whatever number of toons out of their entire repertoire or that some archetypes are initially closed to them. Hopefully we will all have the patience to keep pointing out that, "It's a shame you can't pay the subscription fee right now, but in the meantime, pick any three (or five or whatever) toons you like and play FOR FREE as much as you like!" or "It sucks you can't play MM's right now but keep playing and it'll be unlocked for you."

That's because he was quoting the OTHER Chad G-M.