Rubberlad
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Posts
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Joined
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Great zone, lovely atmosphere, awesome story arc, amazing new instance maps, excellent new NPC groups, just all around well done.
Was there a particular inspiration for its design? -
Quote:I hope that includes a full body skeleton costume set!Originally Posted by Golden Girl
We should see some pretty cool stuff in the market for Halloween
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Very impressive. This is just one set of options you can do. Really great job on this one. I look forward to seeing how others use these parts in-game. -
Quote:LOL, okay that's funny. Totally ignorant but still funny.Originally Posted by PeerlessGirl
The real problem with a lot of things is this entire generation of WEBs we've got growing up since about 1980 and up (and some from earlier who've decided to 'backslide').
WEB=Whiney Entitlement Baby.
Gang, I hate to tell you but people are going to believe what they what they want to believe regardless of anything that's said on these forums. Trolling, picking fights, and trying to discredit folks with a different opinion because you've no other way to say "I disagree" other than shouting them down and out of the thread/forum won't work.
I've said before in this thread I think some of the prices are reasonable and others are horrendously overpriced and guilty of price gouging (like costume slots #6 - #10 for $10 each). I've worked in procurement for over 10 years; I know how markets work, where the best deals are and when a vendor is trying to price gouge (and negotiations are needed to bring down overinflated pricing). Piss on my credentials all you like but I've got a lot more understanding of the reasoning behind NCsoft's business model than you might ever have. I'm still a consumer though and outside of work, I always push for a happy middle ground between supporting good business practices and splurging for pleasure.
The Paragon Market's prices are *somewhat* overinflated and guilty of price-gouging on certain items. If you want to pay more than what some items are worth, be my guest. As a steady subscriber, booster pack investor, 84-month VIP player, etc. I know what my dollars have done for this game over the years and what more they could do. I have a magic number I can easily afford and I'm willing to spend in the Paragon Market but I won't just throw my money away blindly on NCsoft's uneven pricing just because *I WANT IT NOW.*
I'm sorry you guys can't handle a more civil conversation without shouting people down to make your opinions seem factual. No amount of shouting though is going to convince folks to "buy now" or that the Paragon Market's prices are more than fair. If anything, the more sensible folks will ignore everything you have to shout and either wait for a sale or the inevitable moment when NCsoft comes to it senses and says "We're lowing prices across the board!" which *will* happen eventually. Its just a matter of time and yes, for that glorious day, I and others definitely can wait. Until then...
Ta.
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Quote:That's *exactly* what I'm saying although I firmly disagree with the cheating tangent you're trying to spin into this. It's not about what people did or didn't spend in comparison/competition to one another during a 7 year period, its about NCsoft recognizing any player that spent more than the basic price of admission (ie buying CoH) plus maintaining a monthly subscription at any point since the game went live in 2004.Originally Posted by Arcanaville
I don't really follow your logic on this, especially when I can prove VIP players will always, under all conceivable conditions, pay less.
Unless you are counting everything I've paid for this game up to this point as factoring into the total cost of Freedom, which I don't believe to be a fair assessment. I paid over the last seven years to play the game over the last several years. I've already gotten the appropriate value for that money. This is no different than saying someone who's been subscribed for six years has paid less than I have for the exact same game, so I've been cheated in some way. That's false: I got seven years of play and they only got six.
More than that, giving away 800 points a month doesn't seem economically viable: the prices in the store would have to increase markedly to compensate. There's no logical reason to do it. The point to the stipend is to offer a reasonable hedge against market prices to provide a frontloaded discount to VIPs. Shifting that stipend to a full 66% of the subscription or more (in my case it would be 84% before the tier 9 bonus was factored in, and proportionately speaking 115% of my subscription with it) makes it an unwieldy adjunct to the subscription. In effect the subscription's value itself would have to be almost entirely based on the points we get, and by extension it could offer very little value on its own. That makes subscriptions devalued, and VIP players devalued as a consequence.
Now if you're going to argue that the game will operate at a loss if it gives away even 800 pp/month to VIP subscribers, after it's already been in operation for 7+ years with just a $14.99/mo subscription rate and no f2p/paragon market, don't be surprised if I walk away from this conversation laughing at your foolishness. If the game wasnt drawing a profit, it would have closed down like Tabula Rasa. The fact is Freedom can easily afford to operate with 800 pp/month VIP gifts and still profit. NCsoft just chooses not to.... Guess it's a P.T. Barnum thing.
Still, in the immortal words of Judge Judy: please don't piss on my leg and tell me its raining. Ill pay what is fair and competitive market value but don't try to price gouge me on a seven year old game engine sporting a fresh new coat of paint and the same old fixtures polished up to look new. I'll pay you what it's worth at 7 years old - on top of what I've already paid into it - but I wont pay you what it's pretending to be worth "new." -
Quote:And you probably paid too much for costume slot technology thats years old. But hey, as long as you feel the slots were worth it, then theres no point arguing the price of happiness. Just don't be surprised if NCsoft saw you and others coming and opted to take advantage knowing this was an absolute "must have" for you. I want them too but not at $10/slot.Originally Posted by Lothic
Just to be clear about this while I might agree with your general idea about targeting prices towards "impulse buys" I think it's pretty obvious that the threshold for what different people consider cheap enough to be an impulse buy is going to vary widely. To some people an impulse buy is a pack of gum and to others it's a late model Lamborghini.
Having most things cost 400-800 points is fine. But I see no reason why -everything- in a store like this has to be in that price range. The idea of having some relatively expensive (or even relatively cheap) items should not be seen as a "failure" of the system. Instead they should just be considered what they are - exceptionally unique items.
As far as the costume slots go I've already mentioned that to me they were anything but an "impulse" buy. I had wanted them for years and when I first learned they were finally going to happen a few months ago I was able to easily budget having enough money to effectively buy as many as possible at any price. I understand that for you and many others they might not be "worth" that to you. But to me they were. It's as simple as that. *shrugs*
And IMHO I got more account-wide perks buying booster packs for $10 then I do buying one account-wide service slot. If you want to throw away $10 on one item that you waited *years* to have, thats fine for you but try to understand why others might feel a little more wary if the cost for years-old QoL improvements is over-inflated. Because it is - regardless of whether or not one can afford to pay those prices. -
Quote:No One's taken Anyone from Anything Lately, if that helps.Originally Posted by Chase_Arcanum
Ok, so... to recap:
Westley's not Philotic Knight on the VIP server.
But somebody IS Philotic Knight.
And somebody IS Arcanaville
But Arcanaville is not that somebody.
Who is somebody?
That name's taken too, but I guess I could still be "somebody special" on the VIP server.
It also looks like somebody's nobody, but I could be "nobody special". That may be more accurate.
After all this squatting, is anything still available?
Has anybody tried to be everybody?
Anyone?
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Quote:I don't disagree with you however I think you are overlooking just how much VIP players have invested in this 7yr old mmo game.Originally Posted by Arcanaville
As I've mentioned in the past, logistically Paragon Studios could have given VIPs a discount on price, but they chose to give free points instead. The advantage of free points is that they are frontloaded. You get stuff for free spending no money at all, and then you pay for whatever you want above that. Theoretically speaking, a patient person might spend nothing at all.
As to whether we're getting enough free points, suppose we're looking at the value choice between giving us a 50% discount across the board or points. We get the equivalent of $5 of points per month (more if we are tier9) and that is $60 per year. The break even point between 50% off and the frontloaded points is $120 of stuff per year. In other words, if the choice was between 50% off and 400 PP per month, every VIP player who bought less than $120 of face value stuff per year would come out ahead, and everyone who bought more would come out behind.
I think that's actually a far better proposition than a discount. For one thing, it rewards patience and taxes impatience. It offers a theoretical path to lowering your costs if you have less money, and are willing to wait. That's an option discounts don't have. For another thing, it tends to shift the costs to the players more likely to be able to afford it: the players that intrinsically buy more stuff at a quicker rate.
That's completely separate from the fact that it greatly simplifies things if players change tiers. Suppose times are good and you are a subscriber and buy a bunch of points. Then times change, and you are forced to temporarily unsubscribe. As a premium player, your points just depreciated in value; in the example above by a whopping 50%. This way, points are points are points and always have the same buying power. What's different is that VIPs gets more of them.
Varying retail costs for CoH, CoV, and GR as basic staples of gameplay; optional booster packs, those who opted to buy special editions - all of those accumulated purchases and investments aren't matched or accounted for in the costs a F2P member *could* pay to have more than the bare minimum CoH experience if they wanted to... so in the end, the new hybrid market assumes the average VIP member (already paying $15/mo + accumulated retail extras over x years) will *always* pay more than the average F2P member will on available market items.
For a game thats 7+ years old, I think the VIP subscribers already invested in the game deserve more than just a third of their monthly membership in Paragon points. I think a base 800 points/month is fair, and tier 9 VIPs can earn 1000 free points a month. Frontload that way and I think VIP players will be a little more inclined to be equally generous and spend more money out of pocket than less.
VIP players who already pay to get full access, and have invested in it's development for anything more than a year, should be encouraged to spend more by getting more. 400 pp/month is nice but its also the bare minimum and doesnt go quite far enough in recognizing long time subscribers for their base game +add-on investments.
Premium or F2P members who havent or don't invest nearly as much probably won't (unless they upgrade to VIP status). -
Look, some items/services are fairly priced and others are definitely guilty of price-gouging.
I really think its in NCsoft's best interests to have VIPs see one price point and F2P see another. If VIPs pay $15/mo, they really should be seeing lower costs or be getting something more than 400 pp/$5.00 as a monthly gift (definitely not both though).
F2P *should* pay these prices because they're not paying the $15 subscription. But current VIP players? No, I think a better arrangement could definitely be had. -
This thread is hysterical.
If you really want the name that bad, just email the person who has it and *kindly* ask them if they'd be willing to give it up/back. I don't think there's any real harm in that. Just be careful not to harrass them if they keep your name. -
Quote:At the same time, is one costume slot for $10 getting the same bang for your buck if you spent $10 on one booster pack pre-I21? Yes and no. More time and effort goes into creating all-new costume and emote content for one set than it does to alter the five-slot interface already in game to now accommodate ten.Originally Posted by Lothic
Yes I might agree that when you just say "5 costume slots for $50" it does sound a little expensive. But I think you have to legitimately factor in how many total extra slots you're going to be able to use across an entire account.
For instance prior to Issue 21 I had saved up well over 30 costumes ready to go as soon as I got the extra slots for my main characters. When I bought the "five slots" yesterday I loaded all those costumes on all those multiple characters. So my effective "cost per extra costume slot" is now well under $2 at this point and it'll only get less as time goes on.
When you factor in the potential benefit for ALL of your characters, not just the "five slots", the cost was much more justifiable to me. YMMV of course.
Me personally, I'm going to wait until the additional costume slots drop in price. I *might* pay $25 for an additional five slots but no way in hell am I paying $50. Whether folks can afford it or not, thats a ludicrous amount to pay for a 7 year old QoL feature that took little to no effort to upgrade from 5 slots to 10. No offense to anyone that already paid too much for a pre-existing feature that was very easy to replicate. -
Quote:No, wait, hang on... Are you saying that you are glad you paid an extra $5 for less product? If so, thats insane. No wonder my husband wants me to cancel my VIP account after seeing the inflated prices in the market last night!Originally Posted by FullMoonRising
There are prices on the market that are a complete and total steal, and there are prices on the market that are too high.
The costume pieces individual and ala carte? Are perfect. I happily dropped 15 dollars today to unlock what seemed like dozens of pieces that I was missing without having to buy the full 10$ pack before for the other pieces I DIDN'T want. This was awesome.
BTW, I agree that VIP point costs should be lower than what free players pay. Either that or double the monthly allotment of points VIPs earn. The way it is now is deeply troubling. -
Quote:Is there a badge for "Feels like the dumbest player" award? Cause I think I earned it now. Thanks GG.Originally Posted by Golden Girl
After logging in after the patch, my hair doesn't move.
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Awesome, thanks!
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Quote:Really?! Where is the contact for it? I had no idea!Originally Posted by Golden Girl
There's a new sewer Trial red side to match the new blue side one.
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Couple of SG mates have written off checking out the revamped Mercy Island thinking its all the same. Really its not. Its not visually upgraded like the new Atlas Park but the new starting contacts, missions and instanced maps have changed quite dramatically - and for the better!
My only disappoint is that villains in Mercy Island don't have an uber-awesome newbie trial like the new AP sewer trial (which I ran with a group late last night). Can a villain-trial counterpart get shortlisted for future content please? The changes we have now are very good but having a low-level villain trial would just make the awesomeness even more uber-awesome (and draw a lot more players back to Mercy Island, I suspect). -
Quote:Sorry, you're right.Originally Posted by Chaos Creator
False
The mission porter was never a vet power.
I've updated the subject heading.
Also correct, but a pre-30 toon on a VIP account will see the Lock icon in the pull-down list. I think this is a bit misleading because I almost bought these auras back thinking I'd lost them on lvl 30+ toons which already had them. Very confusing and I'm not sure the store would have stopped me from wasting points on the needless transaction - so I apologize.Quote:Originally Posted by SeebHuh, aren't those the auras you're supposed to unlock by a mission at level 30? (Except Wisp, which we supposedly got for using the ncsoft launcher.) -
It never worked for me when I changed the account password. It did however work for me when I changed the game password... Very weird.
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For the most part, I21/Freedom is lovely. Store works great, the new powersets impress and the made-over starter zones for AP and Mercy Island (give or take a few bugs) really makes the game feel new and wonderful. That said, my fellow VIP SG mates and I are starting to discover items we *used* to have that have either changed, had restrictions added, or have vanished completely. I suspect a lot of folks may have similar questions and concerns after having a good look around.
In the hopes of aiding long-time players who are feeling a bit lost trying to find their way around I21/Freedom, here's a semi-helpful player Q&A thread to explain just what happened to everything you used to have - and where you can find it now... Feel free to ask questions or provide answers; I'll try to add/update the list as folks discover new changes and/or discrepancies.
Former "Veteran Reward" Powers
- Patrol XP is now labeled Experienced - the rate of use has been updated as well. (Note: This should not be confused for the XP Booster Temp Power that's available under the Email button/"Character Items" tab)
- Various Vet Reward powers have been relocated to the Email button and click on Account Items (for some reason, folks are aren't seeing or are overlooking the pop-up message that tells them where to go; might just be the player's error after being hit with so many visual changes upon log in).
- You can now "claim all" rewards rather than having to choose one reward at a time (lovely!).
Dual "Mission Teleport" Powers
- "Mission Teleporter" is a new ability that is limited to 5 uses (shows up in tray under the "Temporary Powers" category). This can be claimed under the Email button/"Account Items" tab (if you've earned it). Not to be confused with the "Mission Transporter" power (originally part of the CoH Mac edition DLC) that allows for unlimited usage but still has a 2-hour cool-down (shows up in the Powers tray under the "Inherent" category).
In the Paragon Market, the Mission Transporter power is marked "Mission Teleporter" but in-game will still show up as "Mission Transporter" - very confusing but these really are two separate "mission teleport" powers.
Auras and Capes
- The "Wisp" aura has vanished (this was a reward for downloading the new NCUpdater in advance).
- The following Level 30+ auras may appear "Padlocked" to players rolling new/low-level toons: Electricity, Fireflies, Flies, Gaseous, Glow, Glowing Aura, Rocky Crumble, Smoky, Smoldering, Snow, Sparkles, Starburst Glow, Tendrils, Vaporous. Lvl 30+ toons that already have these auras earned/unlocked will not show up as "Padlocked" in the Tailor drop down window.
- The DVD edition Arachnos cape has vanished (except for the high collar cape).
NOTE: In the Paragon Market, the Aura Unlock and the Cape Unlock each costs 160 Paragon Points and lets your characters, whatever their level across your entire account, use the auras and capes that you would otherwise have to unlock with a "minimum level required" mission. (Thanks to Serpine and Zortel for providing better clarification.)
Costumes
- Chest detail for school girl top hankerchief/tie has vanished.
- Various Vanguard set pieces previously unlocked with vanguard merits prior to I21 appear to have re-locked. This includes costume pieces and the costume change emote (vanguard sigil). -
I know I will. I really enjoyed the quieter alternative to Atlas Park but I'm sure not everyone felt the same.
If you knew sacrificing other pre-GR zones could get you new/merged/better zone content, which zones would yiu sacrifice? -
Quote:True. That misses the point however that most folks stay rooted to their "home" server and never venture out anywhere else. Ideally, Exalted will draw veteran players from *all* the servers. Makes it a lot easier to play with folks from Virtue, Justice, Victory, Freedom, etc all at the same time instead of having to make the rounds.Originally Posted by Giant2005
That is provided there are more than a handful of other VIPs that share that sentiment but more importantly, what is stopping you from doing that now? You can roll a character on any server you like and play with people from there.
I think folks are being a little too pessimistic about the VIP server. I honestly think its a great thing and won't take away from "home server" gameplay at all. -
Now see, I think the new VIP server is a great idea and I fully intend to use it.
One of the biggest perks for me is that I'll get to meet/team with veteran players from other servers that I never knew existed. It'll feel like I'm part of the United Nations of Servers. I also expect that the Dev-related "head start" events don't portend doom for seeing future Dev events on other servers. Its just a bit of promotion and encouraging folks to try something new. When Freedom opens up to the unsubcribed, I fully expect the Devs to run server-wide events to make those new players feel quite at home too.
Sure, Hubby and I may move a couple of 50's to Exalted but we expect to roll some new toons and play there regularly as we do on our home server. And why not? The more we branch out and make new friends, the better our overall gaming experience becomes.
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Fortunately I get the day off no matter what, it's just deciding which day. If I knew Freedom VIP head start was going live on either day, I'd plan accordingly.
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I'd rather they tell us it's not coming out this week or next so I can schedule time off. Still debating if I want tommorow off or Monday.
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That would suggest VIP head start is this weekend and I'm not sure they're ready for that.