Discussion: 63 And 66 Month Veteran Rewards!

Ya know, I remember pitching this as a vet reward back when I first found out we had a console command to do it. I still think it's a nifty idea. Great for unfettering the shadow shard maps, which are impractical to uncover by hand...great for revealing the sewers or abandoned sewers for a new character.

Nothing mind blowing, but still neat and handy in some situations. Kinda glad to see it finally going in.

Too bad we have to wait 63 months for it.

Here's my Vet power suggestion:

You know how you can summon a Crafting Table with the Field Crafter accolade? Well, similarly, create a Vet power that brings Jack Wolfe to you so you use your respec anywhere.


Or...what about a 6th costume slot? Or a Freedom Phalanx / Arachnos costume change emote?

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I'd love to know how many people actually qualify for the 63 month badge on the first possible day. (Which, I think discount bugs, would be 7/27?)

My main account has had an uninterrupted subscription since the 3-day pre-order head-start.

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Mine is this, minus one day. I turned off auto-billing at one point, cuz I was poor, and bought a one-month game card. I forgot to turn auto-billing back on at the end of the game card month, and so my account was actually down for about 16 hours before I noticed it, and quickly logged on to account management to get billing going again. I still kick myself over that one!

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Veteran Rewards for your long-time customers are nice and all, but sometimes seeing the rewards is pretty disheartening for your newer customers, especially those that are returning customers who unsubscribed before there were veteran rewards.

I have no idea how it would work, but it sure would be nice to have some mechanism to allow newer customers to "catch up".

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I don't agree with the whole "catching up" idea - however, I DO think ending vet rewards at some point might be a good idea.

I've been thinking about this a bit lately, and basically, I've come to the conclusion that CoH does not have a good recruiting program - and the Vet Rewards issue is part of that. Vet Rewards do what they were designed to do, well. That is, they offer incentive to keep old subscribers paying month after month, even if they're taking a break from the game. But, I have long felt that they must be disheartening to new players. Also (and I know this is off-topic - sorry), look at our Recruit-a-Friend program! Frankly, it's terrible, compared to other MMO's.

I have a bunch of rl friends who play other MMO's, and I've been trying to get them to play CoH for a long time. They, meanwhile, have been trying to get me to jump ship to WoW or WAR, or whatever game they're hooked on atm (right now it's Aion). Anyway, point is - they tried CoH, and left because, to them, the new player experience was terrible. And I gotta say, I understand their point of view on it, after trying out WoW and WAR with them - those games offer HUGE incentives to new players, and recruiters, alike. All we get is a free month - and the recruits themselves get nothing.

Sorry for rambling on - this is something I should collect my thoughts on, and perhaps post in the suggestions forums once I have concrete ideas. I really think we need to make a more concerted effort to get new players, because no matter WHAT Vet Rewards come down the pike, player retention will never be 100 percent.

Will the Remove Fog of War power remove the fog from all the levels if you're on a multilevel map (like the tech labs)?

My guess is that it will, seeing that all the levels are really on the same map, and the minimap makes it seem multilevel by limiting you to looking at one piece of it at a time.

But just checking...

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If someone only plays the game for 3 years, why should they give a hoot about what someone that's played the game 5 years gets?

Either stay and get it, or leave and don't worry about it...

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The highest veteran rewards will be limited to few people, and it seems, to me, that it is one of the main purposes of the VR system. However, while I understand the idea of awarding long-time players, isn't 5 years enough "veteran time" that, at some point, more players will be able to get the ultimate rewards?

Knowing that I'll get rewards for being a loyal subscriber does encourage me to keep playing, but at the same time, frustrates me to know I'll hardly ever be able to get those rewards that are just announced. I'd think that setting a hard limit would encourage more people to achieve some kind of "ultimate" veteran time and cast those frustrations away.

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I suspect this sounds bitter because you're bitter.

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I am a 3-year player. To get 5-year rewards, I'd have to keep playing for 2 more years. And every time I see a new VR announced, it's still 2 years away from the moment they announce it. [u]There will be 2 years of new stuff that I'll never be able to get[u]. It's a never-ending cycle. This, indeed, makes me bitter, and I apologize for the way my comment came out. I should have stated that I'd "prefer" that VRs just stopped instead of making it a question. It would probably sound bitter either way... just not so much.

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In order to work at my current company for 50 years, I would have to stay there until I'm in my 90's. I can never and will never get that recognition. Therefore, that recognition should be abolished??

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Given the above analogy, I'm just saying that working at the same company for 50 years *could* have the same recognition as working there for 40 years. If a recognition is available at such point (50 years), what's the good of having it available to the (probably very few, if any) people that were there when the company started, since (given your example) they would probably own it themselves anyway? It does not compare very well to playing a game.

In this game, Veteran Rewards are exposed in a public way that makes everyone want to get them by being a subscriber for many years. But 5 years can already be a long time for quite some people. While it will not make people NOT play the game or stop playing it, it will cause frustration. While a hard limit will, on the other hand, upset the people who started playing the game since first beta (because they'll stop getting rewards past the hard limit), there will be less upset people if you compare the numbers to new players. If you see it in a cold way.

Personally, I don't find the 63-66 rewards awesome. I find, however, the 60-month one very appealing (travel powers at level 6). I hope I can play long enough to get it. I'm 2 years away from it, and I'm aware it can take a long time. But what if some new, uber-cool reward is announced in the future? My frustration and anxiety will just... reset back to 2 years. =P

This is just my opinion on something I find disappointing. It does not, however, makes me want to stop playing or anything. Given the current state of the game, I can see myself playing it, like, forever. I just wished certain things were different.

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Ya know, I remember pitching this as a vet reward back when I first found out we had a console command to do it. I still think it's a nifty idea. Great for unfettering the shadow shard maps, which are impractical to uncover by hand...great for revealing the sewers or abandoned sewers for a new character.

Nothing mind blowing, but still neat and handy in some situations. Kinda glad to see it finally going in.

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It will be invaluable in the Chantry (I think, maybe it's Cascade Archipelago) if, and only if, it circumvents that bug that automatically refills the bottom third of the map, no matter how many times you clear it.

Here you go!

I think this vet power is silly, but then a lot of the other ones were too.

It's just that I think the rewards should be better the longer you go.

But then you create haves and have nots. So they are kind of stuck with the whole thing.

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Here you go!

I think this vet power is silly, but then a lot of the other ones were too.

It's just that I think the rewards should be better the longer you go.

But then you create haves and have nots. So they are kind of stuck with the whole thing.

[/ QUOTE ]You can't exactly see the Vidiot overlays until the Fog is lifted, yaknow.