Vet Costume Unlocks

As a 60 month vet I would have no problem with the devs dropping all the costume bits from the vet rewards and handing them out to new subscribers.

When the vet rewards came out it was a diffrent time and diffrent thinking all together. I would not be opposed to the vet rewards stopping at 60 or 63 months because I'm pretty sure that time could be better served on other things like reworking older costumes, older TF's (I'm looking at you Positron), etc.

More options is always better... Keep the temps and whatnot but let everyone have costumes. Entitlement because I have kept paying for an account for this long doesn't work for everything. I believe my access to the temp powers and badges set me appart from my ability to wear Samarai Armor, and if i'm not wearing Samarai pieces on my alt of choice at the moment how would a new player know that I had those anyway without extensively searching my info.

As time goes on evaluation of the methods in which decisions were made in the past needs to be relooked at to decide if the right choices were made. What made since two years ago may not fit the mold now. Constant evolution needs to be in play and I believe the devs have shown in the past that they are well aware of this.

Costumes for the masses I say....

(Hides in corner....)

Costumes are fluff rewards.

By definition fluff mean something of no consequence. While to some on a personal level costumes are not fluff to the game itself they are. They do not affect the game play, missions, etc on any level. They add to the customization yes, and customization is a key attraction to this game for many players. However as has been pointed out there are other costume pieces similar to the ones in the vet system, there are other costumes you must unlock on each toon if you are going to use them, there are special costume powers from events, costumes from boosters, etc.

You can't get every costume piece from the start of a new character. The pieces in the vet system are no different. They are awarded fairly and equally to all subscribers. If this is really an arguement about not having costume pieces until the game says it's time then why not argue against having to craft costumes, or run missions to unlock them, or having to get tons of Vanguard Merits to get the pieces for those sets, or pay for other sets?

There are certain things that have to be done to get certain costume pieces outside those millions that come with the base game after you install the DVD for the first time. Spending 3+ years subscribed is a requirement if you want all the vet costume pieces, it's that simple and no different than the requirements for other costumes.

At the end of the day though costumes are fluff to the gameplay in general, but they are cornerstones of the game experience. If they are that important to you, then do what it takes to earn them, just as you earn your cape, as you earn your Vanguard pieces, and as you pay to earn the booster pack pieces.

I still say (as a 57 month vet):

Make the costume pieces available to everyone.. Give vets additional Salvage/Rec/WW slots.

Foregoing the actual definition of what fluff is... To me fluff with the vet rewards are the 5 merits I got for being a 60 month vet and the extra WW slots. Since I don't extensively play the market except to sell what I don't need it is not as important to me as it might be to someone else.

The costumes may not be game breaking, but to someone like myself who suddenly comes up with a certain concept for a character but can't craft them completely because I'm not at a certain month to attain that one piece that would completely make their concept sing is frustrating at best. Even though I can make do with something else till I get there.

I don't really care either way what they decide to do. Since I am working on the 63 vet mark now it wont effect me as it would a new player just starting.

whilst I might agree that all costumes should be available to all platers (and I also might not.../em flipcoin) in regards to the OP's problem with making a samurai themed toon, my cyborg samurai character Robo-Ronin was created before I had the vet costumes and he has taped feet, Japanese pants (trousers) and, ok buckled leather top, but a robe of some kind would have been fine (if they'd let me put a robotic arm on it). I am going to go back and redesign him now, but he's always been fairly close to my concept. I'd advise that if you've not got the Samurai Armour set yet, then make your toon as if he's a young trainee (shame there's no Bokken, I suppose you could try and recolour a Katana to match) and once you've levelled up and got your vet reward, add the armour.

First, I'm all for maintaining Veteran rewards -- I'm in agreement with the numerous reasons already stated.

Here is my compromise solution (and it surprises me that it has not been enacted yet). Unlock veteran rewards based on subscription time purchased (rather than game-time played.) Huh? Don't we do that already? Not exactly. If a new player wants his trench coat, let him buy 3 months worth of sub-time and unlock the reward (although the badge is not unlocked until 3 months elapsed.) If a player has been around 3 months and decides s/he wants angel wings, s/he can plunk down 1 year's worth of subscription time to get them.

+'s
Players can get wings and other rewards
Veterans can't claim that new players "paid" less or are not entitled tot hem.
NCsoft is still getting money, possibly lots of money, up front.

-'s
If rewards are meant to be a hook to keep players in game over time, that hook is removed. Sure, NCsoft has money from those people which fills an immediate need but if all of the rewards could be front-loaded, players aren't nearly as incentivized to stay in game. And if there aren't as many players in game, then other players may be less inclined to stock around.


Honestly, I prefer the existing system over this compromise but figured to put it out there. I think there's tremendous benefit to NCsoft and a sense of satisfaction and excitement for a player when they near a vet-reward anniversary. Angel/Demon wings look far off to a new player but as the anniversaries tick away, the excitement grows, especially after month 15 -- that's priceless.


EDIT: One other thing I'd like to comment on: I don't think the developers can or should alter the system to make the rewards purchaseable. I think certain things have been promised as exclusives and they should remain that way. Unfortunately, the developers have gone back on this twice now: prestige power sprints and arachnos helmets for pre-orders. I can see how the devs painted themselves into a corner with the helmets, given VEATs are arachnos soldiers but, still, that doesn't necessarily engender good faith going back on their word like that. Some might also suggest the hero kits too but, to my knowledge, those were just codes pulled from existing dvd editions and redistributed.

I didn't see getting the prestige sprints as loosing the special of my seldom used colored sprint as getting access to the sprint I wished I had instead.