Discussion: Valentine's Day
By
1_800_Spines,
Posted on: 2008-02-12 15:33 in News, Events and Announcement Discussion
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
This is my first Valentine's Day Event. If the sandals, victory laurel, and toga costume options are offered this year as quest rewards...are they only applicable to the characters who complete said quest? Or are they unlocked for all characters on my account?
[/ QUOTE ]
Character-specific. If you have thirty alts - get used to grinding those missions out over, and over, and over, and over, and ...
[ QUOTE ]
Also, are they unlocked permanently? Meaning, if I unlock the sandals by completing DJ Zero's quest, then can I use them 2 Months from now on a new character? Or can they only be used/applied during the Valentines Day event?
[/ QUOTE ]
Permanently, yes.
[/ QUOTE ]
Unless they aren't permanent due to a bug. Seems my Empath that used to be WEARING the valentines patterns no longer has them, and even when I went in to edit that costume, the options were gone. I'll have to check later if they are back yet.
is it just me or does the scent of drama hang in the air....sorry use to be a fan of Pro-Wrestling when younger..and whenever there was a wedding..something intresting happened....(((Manticore is removing his MASK...Jim are you taping this...Oh MY God its Statesman....the ushers have pulled out sub-machineguns...Please Jim tell me you are getting all this...They are firing into the crowds...shouting CRYPTIC for LIFE BABY!!!!!))) j/k
"...well I have wrestled with reality for thirty-five years, Doctor and I am happy to state I finally won out over it." Elwood P Dowd (from the movie Harvey)
Where are my tuxedo pants!
[ QUOTE ]
is it just me or does the scent of drama hang in the air....sorry use to be a fan of Pro-Wrestling when younger..and whenever there was a wedding..something intresting happened....(((Manticore is removing his MASK...Jim are you taping this...Oh MY God its Statesman....the ushers have pulled out sub-machineguns...Please Jim tell me you are getting all this...They are firing into the crowds...shouting CRYPTIC for LIFE BABY!!!!!))) j/k
[/ QUOTE ]
Oh I bet Arachnos will crash the wedding or something like that.
[ QUOTE ]
Wow, $9.99 for a few costume parts? That's a bit steep. $4.99 I might spring for. I love the game and complain about very little, but considering there are not any temp powers or more than basically two costume options it's a bit pricy, IMHO.
And just to beat the trolls to the punch, yeah I know. I don't have to buy it. And at this price I probably won't. But I will give my opinion just the same, thank you.
[/ QUOTE ]
While I respect your opinion as well as everyone who agrees with you, I have to say that there have been many of us over the years who have been asking for something like this and we have said many times that we'd be willing to pay even more than this nominal fee of $9.99.
There will be players that have no interest in wedding costume pieces so this seems like a good idea. let the ones that want it buy it and the ones who don't can choose to pass. I hope we see more packages like this in the future.
As to $9.99 being steep . . . you should try doing SEXY JAY'S job. He put's a lot of hard work into programming these items. $10. is more than reasonable. programming these things is a <bleep>.
Thank's for the great work SEXY JAY !
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I'm not paying for costumes with real money. I already pay to play the game, I'm not paying more to cloth the characters. This should've been part of the Usher mission awards or something like all the special costumes in the past were. 
[/ QUOTE ]
All?
You mean, noone had to pay extra for the Justice and Sinister parts and pieces obtained with the Good versus Evil pack, or online code?
And noone paid extra money to get the CoH DVD edtion, which gives the Cape of the Four Winds ...?
And noone paid extra money to buy the CoV Colelctor's Edition, which gives access to the Arachnos chest emblem and Arachnos cape?
...
Son, we've been paying extra for costume pieces almost since Launch Day.
[/ QUOTE ]
GvE pack came with Pocket D pass, Jet Pak, and a badge if you just bought the add on.
CoH DVD Collector's Edition came with one HeroClix, prestige power slide, and exclusive 16 page comic book and a badge. It also came with the game and 30 days of play.
CoV DVD Collector's edition came with The Arachnos insignia for chest and cape. It also came with a art collection book from both sides of the law. It came with 7 HeroClix and also a badge. It also came with the game and 30 days play.
So let's clarify, the cool extras we paid for had far more for what they were asking for them than what they are offering us now.
That is 90% of everyone's beef with it. Cut the price down to a more reasonable one. If it had any type of power attached to it I would have spent the money on it in a heartbeat. I loved the idea of a temp teleport power that was called "Get me to the church on time".
I saw the wedding outfit, to be honest and no offense Jay I was not that impressed. It is the same costume with a lace overlay pattern on it. And to be honest I'm glad I decided not to buy it.
1> There is too little content to justify the price.
2> The content in it is too obscure and non-heroic to be of any real value with the exception of a few concept characters.
3> See #1, rinse and repeat.
It's that simple. I don't object to paying for content packs if they decide to follow this model, however, they are going to have to get ALOT more compelling before I belly up to the bar with my credit card.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I'm not paying for costumes with real money. I already pay to play the game, I'm not paying more to cloth the characters. This should've been part of the Usher mission awards or something like all the special costumes in the past were.
[/ QUOTE ]
All?
You mean, noone had to pay extra for the Justice and Sinister parts and pieces obtained with the Good versus Evil pack, or online code?
And noone paid extra money to get the CoH DVD edtion, which gives the Cape of the Four Winds ...?
And noone paid extra money to buy the CoV Colelctor's Edition, which gives access to the Arachnos chest emblem and Arachnos cape?
...
Son, we've been paying extra for costume pieces almost since Launch Day.
[/ QUOTE ]
GvE pack came with Pocket D pass, Jet Pak, and a badge if you just bought the add on.
[/ QUOTE ]
Irrelevant. You paid more for a range of things, costume pieces included - so SOME of that extra money was for the costume pieces.
[ QUOTE ]
CoH DVD Collector's Edition came with one HeroClix, prestige power slide, and exclusive 16 page comic book and a badge.
[/ QUOTE ]
Same deal.
[ QUOTE ]
CoV DVD Collector's edition came with The Arachnos insignia for chest and cape. It also came with a art collection book from both sides of the law. It came with 7 HeroClix and also a badge. It also came with the game and 30 days play.
[/ QUOTE ]
Same deal.
[ QUOTE ]
That is 90% of everyone's beef with it. Cut the price down to a more reasonable one.
[/ QUOTE ]
Oh, that I won't disagree with. I paid the $10, because that' the asked-for price. I'd've been happier if it was a $5 pack, and I think $5 is about right for something of such narrow interest-range.
However, the guy I was responding to, about the GvE and collector's Edition stuff? Had claimed that we had NEVER been charged extra money for costume parts before. And that claim was just plain not right.
Sorry I didn't go back and see what you had posted in response too. I was just pointing out that in addition to costume pieces we got more for our money. I'm not saying that costume pieces weren't part of it but that for what you were getting it was worth the money they were asking for it. Unlike now
[ QUOTE ]
Sorry I didn't go back and see what you had posted in response too.
[/ QUOTE ]
.... it's only been six minutes (I posted at 11:07am EDT, you posted at 11:13am EDT). Um, "good morning" ...? ^_^
As I said, I agree that the price is a bit much for what we're getting. It might've been nice to include a temporary power - for an example plucked from thin air: a once-an-hour, five-minute Fear Resistance/Protection power, usable on other characters (bu not yourself) ... because it's easier to not be afraid, knowing someone loves you ... or something like that.
[ QUOTE ]
so we have to pay extra for costume/emotes now?
.......
[/ QUOTE ]
I have to agree. This does not bode well for the future IMO.
[ QUOTE ]
Where are my tuxedo pants!
[/ QUOTE ]
I think they thought it might be redundant. Using the Slacks with the Tin Stripe 2 option is basically tuxedo pants. Don't get me wrong, something with some fine texturing to match the jacket better would have been nice 
As to $9.99 being steep . . . you should try doing SEXY JAY'S job. He put's a lot of hard work into programming these items. $10. is more than reasonable. programming these things is a <bleep>.
$10 is not only not reasonable, it is outrageous. CoV was released with a MSRP of $50. It contained more than five times as much costume content alone than this "pack".
$5 would not be more reasonable. It would be overpriced at $1. How much people are willing to pay is irrelevant, except when computing the sucker ratio of CoX's subscriber base, which unfortunately appears to be entirely too high.
Current Blog Post: "Why I am an Atheist..."
"And I say now these kittens, they do not get trained/As we did in the days when Victoria reigned!" -- T. S. Eliot, "Gus, the Theatre Cat"
[ QUOTE ]
As to $9.99 being steep . . . you should try doing SEXY JAY'S job. He put's a lot of hard work into programming these items. $10. is more than reasonable. programming these things is a <bleep>.
[/ QUOTE ]
He pulls a salary to make a living, like everyone else. It's not like he'll starve if this fails. This is the dumbest argument in this thread full of dumb.
The pack is poor value. That's all there is to it.
What I don't understand is why wait til the middle of the day to drop the servers and add the event?
[ QUOTE ]
Well, to be honest, I think it's a bit much to charge 10 dollars for some costume parts and emotes that should have been part of the event like Santa Hats for Christmas events. Last thing I want NCSoft to thing they can nickle and dime us to death like SOE does for microcontent. Personally, I hope very few people buy the Wedding Pack so NCSoft gets the message that this is not a viable income stream for them.
[/ QUOTE ]
Unfortunately there are SO many people who play this game that have a desire to have all content that your hopes will be dashed against the rocks. Not to mention the seemingly endless number of people who actually care about in-game marriage.
So begins the pay for expansions after the nsoft/cryptic split
V Day event is live! Let the passion commence!
[ QUOTE ]
All?
You mean, noone had to pay extra for the Justice and Sinister parts and pieces obtained with the Good versus Evil pack, or online code?
And noone paid extra money to get the CoH DVD edtion, which gives the Cape of the Four Winds ...?
And noone paid extra money to buy the CoV Colelctor's Edition, which gives access to the Arachnos chest emblem and Arachnos cape?
...
Son, we've been paying extra for costume pieces almost since Launch Day.
[/ QUOTE ]
"Almost since launch"? Umm, your earliest example was WAY after launch. People exaggerate too much on forums. Lets be real here. Those examples you gave were from special marketing tools used for the sale of the game itself. This is a bit different because it is not a sale of the game with some perks. It is a bit of holiday event extras that they want us to pay for. Looks to me like the holiday events are going to stop being about fun and start being about money.
Edit: Geez, this topic has me fired up. If I keep posting I will lose my impressively low post count. lol
To wit I add the Mr. T commercial where he is the Mohawk class Scrapper made me ROLL! Hack a game and make a new Scrapper...Great idea!
Wait...Wrong game? Well, who are the celeb's pitching CoX? There are none? People are going to WoW in droves now? Wonder why that it is...Maybe the constant patches to fix issues that were bugged that shouldn't have been rushed into production in the first place? Like take for example the latest patch, it included a little something that FINALLY fixed the Endurance Modification IO sets that were "broken" since the IO issue was released, and to rescale the levelling process that should have been implemented in i6...This game is chock full of it's little "issues." To say nothing of the fact this massive overhaul of the servers did precisely nothing to increase game stability or server speed...$15 a month gets loads...And don't fool yourself into thinking NCSoft and Cryptic are releasing all this to "boost OUR gaming experience" or "it was overdue, and we did it for YOU." They do it to make money, and to keep making money. Like the dealer that hooks you up with a small "freebie" knowing full well that you'll be back for more later...I know people that left the game simply because of lack of change in-game long ago, they won't be coming back because of the "new" changes that aren't actually all that great to begin with anyway!
Great, so you created IO's...Like all my 50's decked out with Hammi's weren't stupidly over-powered to begin with, now you want to add the ability to rocket them off the SCALE with bonuses. At least I have something to spend my influence on instead of SO's and costume changes. A billionaire I am now longer, but still not that far from.
HEY DEVS! Here's an easily implementable idea to keep us jaded players interested:
Change the mission difficulty scaling. Rolling Invincible generates +2's? Ooooo, me scared now...Make it generate +4's. Run the STF and it spawns +4 AV's. Any lvl 50 worth his/her salt can handle a mission packed with +2's. I drool at the thought of farming +4 Demons, with +4 Demon bosses 
People leave because this game is all about the same old missions, same old levels, same old characters, same old maps, same old powers...Something about polish and cowpies comes to mind. Bottom line? This game needs a massive overhaul to clear the air of the stagnation...Not tossing little packs out, and actually charging for them
If it wasn't for the people I have known for the last 3 years playing this game, and my ability to PL my toons, and anyone elses, I would have left long ago...The thought of having to level another toon through the Hollows generates a stabbing pain in my right eye that travels all the way down to my left pinky toe whenever I think about it. I have ground levels out from 1 to 50. I have run the same old gamut of the game. I know why PI is packed with lowbies, so does everyone else. Do you?
[ QUOTE ]
He pulls a salary to make a living, like everyone else. It's not like he'll starve if this fails. This is the dumbest argument in this thread full of dumb.
The pack is poor value. That's all there is to it.
[/ QUOTE ]
That whistling sound you here is the topic that went over your head. I wasn't talking about Jays paycheck. I was talking about the work he does. Making costumes for a game like this isn't like running to Kmart and buying a t-shirt. There is a lot of time and effort that goes into his work. If it were as easy as you and some others seem to think they'd be cranking out new costume pieces on a monthly basis. The company would be well within their rights to charge us for everything they release. I'm grateful that they give us as much as they do for free.
<the following is not directed at anyone in particular>
While everyone is entitled to have your own opinion, $10. bucks is cheap in my book, and for the record I happen to live on a fixed income because of a disability. So if the next argument is that your not rich, it won't hold any water with me. I only get $725. a month and yet I can manage to pay all my bills and still have money left over in my budget to pay for 3 accounts and this costume pack.
Forgot to add :
If the devs actually believe selling these little trinkets are going to increase business, or keep the MAJORITY of us "die hards" interested, they need to relook at the player population. On top of that, people are actually paying for outside companies to sell them influence and power levelling services...Speaks volumes about the situation of the gaming experience.
Personally I'm not going to doomsay about this until I see it happen more regularly.
That said, having messed with the Wedding Pack on my characters last night-
The next time you release micropayment content, please try to avoid having over 75% of it usable by only one PC gender.
I really cannot recommend this costume pack to anyone that primarily has male characters. You get one jacket/sleeves combo with two different textures. That is -all you get for your boys-.
(blah blah blah, yes you are unbelievably clever for cutting out everything after "anyone" then typing "Fixed.", you person that's already planning to do it. I find I am so attracted to your rugged internet outlawhood that I wish to stalk you IRL and take your fingernails to keep in a jar by my bedside to chew on them at night)
DJs for The Cape Radio
Makes videos & podcasts about reviewing toys, covering conventions, and more at Vangelus.ca
[ QUOTE ]
Forgot to add :
If the devs actually believe selling these little trinkets are going to increase business, or keep the MAJORITY of us "die hards" interested, they need to relook at the player population. On top of that, people are actually paying for outside companies to sell them influence and power levelling services...Speaks volumes about the situation of the gaming experience.
[/ QUOTE ]
What part of anything you just had to say was on the topic of the valentines pack and enjoying the nice new costumes and emotes? You just spewed "I love Wow!" ... nothing more.
It seems by the content of the forums, that most people here love the pack and have paid for it, and will pay for more. You are an exception, there are others. But that's just it: you are *exceptions* not the rule. So, by that logic and that which you just stated... Looks like you're going to be passing up a lot of new stuff that's extra, non-game-breaking ingame items when many others will be paying for them and enjoying them.
I for one WILL buy more of these things for my other accounts. The sole reason I haven't plugged them onto my 2nd and 4th so far is that I am only PLAYING my main right now, so... no need for them there yet.
I'll buy whatever they give out. I'm not picky about that, but I will enjoy whatever costumery or emotes that are added. If I have to pay ten bucks? So what. Five? Yeah perhaps that's more reasonable per "volume" of content, but really - I don't care. It won't hurt the game if SOME people have it and others don't, just like the capes and other goodies which SOME folks have and others don't.
Please read my FEAR/Portal/HalfLife Fan Fiction!
Repurposed
Here are my thoughts on this...
Usually a move like this is known as data mining (or collecting information). How many transactions are made, on which accounts (new players, veterns, multiple accounts, etc). Data mining can then be used to prepare for future needs (ie. Walmart knows if there is a storm that causes power outages, stores need twice as many batteries and five times as many pop tarts). So in theory if enough people pay for this it could become the new holiday business model. The event itself for free but a host of fun extras for a "small" fee. Hey you don't have to buy it.
So now comes easter, want those bunny ears? Ten bucks. Fourth of July, Uncle Sam hat, only ten bucks. Groundhog day, a cute tail and buck teeth... ten bucks. Microtransaction, microtransaction, microtransaction. I am not saying I'm against it, it's the economy and the way it goes. I'm just saying in general this type of thing is done in business' for a reason. Mind you this mining will take time, you may not feel it's full effects for a year or so... but we'll all feel it.
So here's my POV...
9.99 is too expensive when the only add on is several costumes and emotes. A jet pack, costume and transport to Pocket D, that was worth 9.99.
4.99 (under five dollars) is far more worth it if you're going to continue to charge for such additional content.
My idea and I hope it will go to the right people...
The costumes and emotes should all be free, if you earn them. Just like the Christmas event (hate, scarf, etc). You should be able to earn them or...
You could make it so that you can pay 9.99 and automatically get the content. That's right make it so those who want to put the time in and earn the items can earn it and those who want to just buy it outright can buy it.
I wouldn't suggest this for everything, just as an alternative to those things you may charge for in the future.
So those who wanted to attend them wedding tonight in full garb may have had to buy the dresses and tuxes in order to be there looking snazzy... but those who want to earn it could run around collecting valentines day cards (from blinking cuties spread throughout the cities ala presents) or from running missions (for the newly wed couple) or any number of other ideas.
Just my thoughts. I will not be paying for this package. Those who are against and and buy it anyway seriously don't understand what they are doing. When you buy something you are voting with your money (which is what companies want). So my vote on this is no, for 4.99 it may have been yes.