Sermon

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  1. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Forbin_Project View Post
    And the items in this pack (except for the bow) are available all year round for free by simply running the ITF. If somethings available for free all year it's hardly limited. (again except for the bow)
    This pack is part of a trend of limited time offerings. The convenience, which is largely what they are selling, is a limited time offer.
  2. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Organica View Post
    You haven't established that this is bad marketing. In fact, as Cathulhu explained, "for a limited time" is very good marketing for Disney, for example, and may prove to be very good marketing for CoH.
    You are right. I didn't mean to imply that it is perhaps a marketing strategy which is bad for the game (and the game's bottom line). It may not be a bad strategy per se, but I am suggesting that it could be in this instance.
  3. Quote:
    Originally Posted by KnightofKhonsu View Post
    You are exactly right. A message board is populated by certain percentage of the gaming population and thus does not even come close to representing the player base as a whole.
    The playerbase represents the general population in an undetermined and unquantified way. I would love to see some studies to show just how much

    Anyways, it is just as nonscientific to claim that the forumgoers don't represent the playerbase as to claim that they definitely do.
  4. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Cathulhu View Post
    While I find it annoying that they use these "limited time offers", I fully understand why NC does it. It would be stupid for them not to.
    I disagree that it would be stupid not to. Survival of an MMO is dependent on player satisfaction and the willingness of players to recruit friends etc. Hurting or eroding your image through bad marketing is a bad idea.
  5. Quote:
    Originally Posted by terrible_deli View Post
    The bow is available for purchase outside of the pack for 60 PP.
    Indeed, that is true. Sorry if my post obscured that issue.
  6. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Forbin_Project View Post
    You don't think they feel the same way about some players and their sense of entitlement issues? They try to do something nice by making some gated content available for a small one time fee and inevitably some people start complaining that it isn't enough.
    Hmmm... I am not sure I see the point you are making.

    I, as a player and customer and fan, am continually annoyed that they play marketing games (exclusivity, limited-time offer, and pay-for-randomness) with things I would (otherwise) pay for happily without the gimmicks. I appreciate the attempt to offer convenience, but why limited time?

    I apologize if I am a bit off topic, as I am not responding directly to the issue of inclusion of Roman weapons. My complaint focuses on the bow, and how it is bundled arbitrarily with the roman stuff, and its availability is limited-time (but maybe I should think of it as a limited-time valentines item instead ... as I am used to limited time holiday items, but they still annoy me).
  7. I dunno why they have to continually try the patience of the playerbase with little stunts (exclusive items, limited time offers, and the upcoming grab bags). I have just about hit my limit of patience with marketing. I feel less and less like I am voting with my dollar and more and more like I am begrudgingly giving them my money. This change in my personal attitude saddens me.
  8. Why is this set a limited time offer? I find that really annoying. It makes something that was added as a convenience feature a lot less convenient.

    Does that include the bow? Will it be completely unavailable? Or is the bow obtainable from the valentines event?
  9. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Zwillinger View Post
    It's a give and take and there will always be compromise.
    The issue, for me, is that there were almost no changes to the packs for the largely costume-minded player. The problem with involving so many things into the super pack is that you are pressing all of our buttons at once. Making ATIOs easier to get w/o packs doesn't really interest me, as all I want is the costumes. That's the risk you run when you bundle things together.

    Anyways, I just want to give my visceral response to the packs which persists since they were announced. I feel like I am being told that I am not paying enough. Since freedom I have never let my sub lapse and I have bought every costume set (minus a few one-offs pieces) and every powerset made available. Still, the store is trying to twist my arm to pay more to get another set not unlike the ones I have gotten for less. That is a disappointment. I don't look forward to explaining the super packs to my supergroup, who have even less disposable income than I do (but who, likewise, have bought practically every powerset and costume made available).
  10. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Bosstone View Post
    Actually, they've made a number of significant concessions already. It's just that certain things like "don't actually implement them" are off the table.
    Pricing changes have been glacial. They have made some pleasing concessions elsewhere, but progress for the store has been excruciating.
  11. Quote:
    Originally Posted by warden_de_dios View Post
    I haven't received emails since BEFORE Lighthouse worked here.
    That sounds about right. The only one I ever remember getting was the Going Rogue announcement, but that was delivered through a different company, if I remember correctly.
  12. Quote:
    Originally Posted by enderbean View Post
    Even though my correct e-mail is on file and I have anything from NCSoft flagged as safe, I have yet to ever receive the newsletter.
    This. I never receive anything.

    edit: I just confirmed that my check box is marked to received newsletter updates in my account profile. People have complained about this problem for forever-and-a-half now.
  13. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Golden Girl View Post
    Having some classic animated skeletons to fight would be pretty cool.
    This times forever!

    The damned zombie obsession of late has really cut down on the number of animated skeletons in my gaming.
  14. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dr_MechanoEU View Post
    I say simple double the points cost.
    I think they should just price the pieces individually. It will basically double the cost anyways, and then people can mix and match methods of obtaining the costume pieces.
  15. This is a great start, but my most important concern remains unaddressed (as of yet, not that you guys aren't aware!).

    My primary suggestion for making the costumes non-exclusive is to announce a date for a later, non-exclusive release (ie. make them become non-exclusive at an announced time, say 2-3 months after the super pack launches). Then, price the pieces individually, with the idea that players can fill out any pieces they might be missing.

    Oddly, offering ATIOs through in-game means actually makes it more likely i might buy some super packs, because enhancements are worthless without being able to obtain the whole set (also, I would feel kinda guilty buying packs them if the friends I play with didn't have any access to them (ie. can't afford them)... is that odd?).
  16. Sermon

    Pilgrim Hat

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Orion_Star_EU View Post
    Is the Pilgrim hat going to return to the store at some point?

    For some reason I was under the impression that it was going to be in the store for two weeks and after checking today, am kinda disappointed that I have missed out as it's broken my track record of every single timed exclusive :|
    I didn't even know it was time-limited. I have at least one friend who missed out then
  17. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Oedipus_Tex View Post
    Basically any primary color applies to the hat, but also multiplies on the hair layer. If you color the hat pure Black, the secondary color (and the stripe on the hat) both change to more or less that color. But if you pick any other primary color than Black, the stripe takes on the secondary color, but the hair is a blend of the primary and secondary color. Hence, in this picture, purple hair from a blue primary and a red secondary color.
    I think this is intentional. Since there are only two tones, they have to make those cover the hair. It can be limiting, but currently there is no point of reference for hair color while wearing a hat. Instead of fixing the hair color (to, say, blond) they make the hair color a mix of the two hat colors. It is somewhat limiting, but I would say less so then giving us a hat with the hair color already chosen. Alternatively, they could have made the secondary color affect the hair only, and have the belt portion of the hat uncolorable (say, black). I would probably have preferred that option.

    edit: I wonder if they could every have a secondary option which lets you switch between, option 1, a blended hair with colorable hat-belt, or, option 2, preset hat-belt with secondary color hair.
  18. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mallerick View Post
    So, "Looking forward ..." is Marketing Language for, "You're not getting female gunfighter costume pieces."

    I'm sad.
    I do think it's surprising. Going forward, however, hopefully thinks won't be as problematic.
  19. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Zwillinger View Post
    Regarding the pretinting of costume pieces: While pretinted pieces give the artists the ability to provide some very unique materials and add more visual interest to select pieces, we don’t want to limit your creativity, either. Moving forward, we'll be offering both a pretinted and untinted option for all pieces which we choose to make pretinted.

    Thanks

    -Z
    Wow. This is great to hear.
  20. Just got the set. It's kinda fugly. I might use a few pieces, but I dunno who made the decision to make these pieces as busy and complex as possible.

    Also, its odd that they tell us that we can't have some costume pieces because of clipping, and then they give us the gunslinger chest detail, which basically clips with most everything.

    The gunslinger belt makes no sense. What was it based on?
  21. Quote:
    Originally Posted by DumpleBerry View Post
    It's the newer pieces. If you're an old school player, which your forum reg date seems to imply, then you might not notice. Tons of stuff is baked in these days. You buy a set, and then suddenly discover that you can't change half the colors.
    Yeah, maybe I just don't use a lot of the newer pieces.
  22. Quote:
    Originally Posted by DumpleBerry View Post
    More and more costume items are coming out with the colors baked in, unchangeable. The OP asked if the new helmets could be tinted different colors.

    I'm not putting words in anyone's mouth, but my own. If the OP wasn't asking if they could change the color of the helmets, then I don't know what this thread is about.
    I just can't think of a lot of pieces which can't be tinted at all (or have large sections which can't be tinted). Perhaps my own failing.
  23. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Doc_Reverend View Post
    Very often with the pretinted items, it's nearly impossible to color things beyond a fairly narrow range. Try coloring a set of gloves yellow, it comes out green because of the pretint. It throws off a lot of stuff. So if these helmets are pretinted silver and black, rather than just using a colorless metallic base, it does wonky things with trying to make colors work. For instance, making the Statesman helmet black in a way that lines up with other black costume pieces becomes problematic.
    I understand, but I don't think the OP is asking that.
  24. I agree as well with the OP.

    Basically, the dev team has always *respectfully disagreed* with us.

    The skimpy look of the females lately is also really dumb, but maybe comic books aesthetic is largely to blame.

    Anyways, I think that the echo chamber at paragon studios likes the pieces they are producing, so I doubt posts like this are going to get us any further now than they have in the past.
  25. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Doc_Reverend View Post
    Gunslinger and the Steampunk packs, though Gunslinger has the most egregious examples of it yet.
    I haven't seen gunslinger yet.

    I thought the original question was about whether we can colorize the pieces at all. What makes you think they are asking about pretint?