Vet Rewards

No. They do not get them all at once.

Why not?

Well, if you want the technical reason, it's roughly a twofold aspect:
A: because the engine isn't built like that
B: because the design of the game isn't like that

From the first aspect the developers do have an amazing line-up of tools available to them. They can attach multiple events to each other inside of the game. Ergo, adding in a vet reward is as simple as linking the amount of time since the account was activated against a reward unlock.

Applying multiple unlocks based on multiple un-played amounts of times would require a non-insignificant amount of new code. As players can purchase game-play times in increments of 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months, and 14 months through the store, as well as augment the time with booster packs or NCSoft time cards, there's a large variety of ways that the developers could track time paid for. Accounting for all of those methods would require a seriously bloated database and tracking system.

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From the second aspect, the design of the game is to reward players for... playing the game. The developers don't really have any control over whether or not somebody who pays for 6 months... plays for 6 months.

As such, the Veteran rewards are one of the only fair rewards in the game. You get them as you reach the amount of time with your account active. It's equal for everybody, and nobody can abuse the system.

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Now, while there are some things the developers have said they will never do, such as AT respecs or Power-set respecs, I'm not aware of any flat statements that the Veteran reward system will not be revisited.

The suspicion is that the Veteran system won't be revisited in this game because of the number of players that already have high veteran status, and the sheer amount of coding work that would be required to make any changes to the earning system. We don't have any straight proof of this, but nor do we have any indication that a revamp of the Veteran Rewards is on the table for consideration.

My personal opinion is that when Going Rogue ships, some of the development team will be tasked towards designing a true sequel to City of Heroes, the already registered for legal reasons, City of Heroes 2. I personally suspect that a sequel title would implement veteran rewards in such a way that you can choose which veteran reward you get in certain classes.

E.G. : 3 month reward is a costume set... but you get to pick the costume set

Again, I don't have any proof that a CoH2 is in the cards. The CoH engine has shown remarkable scalability, and has carved out a steady niche in the available MMO market. Ergo, there's no rush on the part of NCSoft or Paragon Studios to pull an Everquest 2 and get a new client out the door.

See the FAQ.

See? The developers answered your question years ago.

See the above FAQ, also the fine print:

As you can see, it is for time already subscribed, not paid in advance. Now, because of a recent bug fix in the awarding system, some players might have some vet rewards they didn't actually earn by time spent being a subscriber. The developers tried to err on the side of players when they corrected the mistake.

The developers did not agree when they put the system in place.

Well it is good that players can't prepurchase time then.

Reread the above response. They don't get advanced rewards.

Triumph: White Succubus: 50 Ill/Emp/PF Snow Globe: 50 Ice/FF/Ice Strobe: 50 PB Shi Otomi: 50 Ninja/Ninjistu/GW Stalker My other characters

The best way I can explain it is like this (warning, analogy follows):

Someone who took part in a particular military campaign, such as Desert Storm, are usually given a medal or ribbon signifying that they were there and contributed to that effort.

Would it be fair for a new Army recruit to be able to BUY a ribbon that says he was part of Desert Storm, even though he wasn't there, and it is entirely possible that he hadn't even been born yet?

Veteran Rewards are the same way. They are basically a ribbon you get to wear that says you were there. The people who get the cool, long time subscribed badges and goodies are being thanked for being here when the game was struggling to get a foothold in the MMO market. The people who have been here for 5+ years get cool stuff, because without them, the game would probably not exist.

The 60+ month rewards are the dev team's way of saying "Thank you for believing in this game enough to keep subscribing as long as you have"

Allowing anyone who wants them to buy those rewards would be a disservice to the people who kept the game alive in order for us to be able to play it now.

Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately.

I have to admit this opinion has always left me feeling slightly puzzled. I have met many people oveer the years who have felt this way in many different games and I still haven't been able to decipher it. I always derive pleasure from a game from my experience, not from how anyone else experiences the game. How is it that someone else getting something that will make their game more fun, make your game less fun?

TBH, I may have just been hoping for this because I really want the Traveller Badge so that i can get my travel power at Level 6. But I still think its a valid conversation.

Speaking for myself, it has absolutely zero relationship to my fun. I am a player that could afford to buy Vet badges if for sale. To me, it changes from being an award saying "thanks for staying" to one that is obtained by those can spend the most money. The devs don't hide in caves or under stones and know people have asked many, many times to purchase these rewards and they still haven't put it in the game, even with the incentive to get a big bolus of cash.

As for any of the rewards, IMO, including the 60th, they are not that big a deal. I have used that reward just twice now out of all my 50's and alts. Do they make some things more convenient? Sure, but I played before Vet rewards, and we did just fine.

Those medals don't confer service bonuses - you don't get better weapons, or extra weapons, because you have one of those medals.

Analogy fail.

The badges confer the "you were here" status, not the powers.

PS If a "steady 15/month" is better than a lump-payment, why does NCSoft offer incentives (in the form of discounts) for those that purchase larger chunks of service ahead of time? If the steady 15/month was preferable to large but less frequent payments, they wouldn't do this.

When you say a steady 15/month is better then paying ahead, you are basically saying that NCSoft is purposely making bad business decisions.

We need a SCR for accounting.

That is had on at least a weekly basis by the people who want to buy it because they don't have it.

Maybe that should show you that City Traveller, at the very least, is a bad reward for supposedly "fair" system?

Because this may not be about money...just saying "thanks"? Are you implying a company can't do something for their playerbase without money involved?

Or how petty and greedy some people are...

Whoa, I think petty and greedy is going a little far man. Like I said, it was a question because I wasn't sure whether that was the way they worked or not, but yes, I don't think it would signify the end of humanity if they allowed it to work this way.

You're taking my answer to that poster out of its context and inaccurately applying it as a response to your post.

Oh, so a veiled insult is okay, so long as it's insulting me, not the OP?

The military also doesn't just let the new guy drive the tank or fly the helicopter. You have to put in the time for basic training (just like everyone else), then be approved for special training which will likely last even longer and then run special tests and simulations before they even let you touch the controls.

And for the record, "my daddy has money" doesn't get you through these programs any faster. Nor should "I have more money than that guy" get you earlier access to Vet Rewards. OH, FULL CIRCLE!

Yup.

Not everyone has a steady income where they can afford $15 per month; there are a lot of people (take teachers, for example) who have periods in the year of limited income. It actually behooves NCSoft to give an option that allows people in this category an option to pay up front, as it a) gives them a larger instantaneous profit and b) increases the chance that those people will continue to play (and thus pay), instead of deciding that they don't miss the game after they've had their forced break.

Originally Posted by Nethergoat it's NEVER too late to pad your /ignore list!

No?

I don't think 12 year olds deserve to drink beer just because they want to either.*







(*General United States drinking age is 21 years)

There's no time limit on those tests, short of the time required for basic training. A soldier can serve for twenty years and never qualify to pilot a tank or helicopter, while a raw recruit just out of boot could qualify to do both. And seniority is only one of many factors that figures into earning promotions.

The analogy still fails.

Who said anything about money? The only question was seeing if you had to wait the time as well as paying the time, or if paying the time was enough, and a general statement that the latter wouldn't be the worst thing ever.

Insert standard accounting rant here.

That's not how finance works. The "steady stream" (which is easily cancelled) is not more valuable than the "lump sum". It's not an incentive or a special treat. It's because it makes better business sense for NCSoft to receive larger payments up front rather than smaller payments over time.

The ratio of discount for this to become untrue is very large - along the lines of 50%.

I'll call this one. Your analogy assumes that the people who are given the vet rewards have been given some sort of "test" to assume some level of general competency. That is plainly untrue. I've only been back for a couple of weeks and have already PuG'd with one 48 month vet who proceeded to run through every ambush point on a Mayhem mission and triggering 6 ambushes all at once (and this was on and 8 person team that is a ****load of longbow).

Hell, from what I understand the rewards aren't based on time spent in game even, so someone can have prepurchased 48 months of game time, rage quit, come back at the end of these 48 months and been a vet. Don't see how that is different from what I am proposing.

No, you cannot pre-purchase 48 months. We can only do 12 months at a time.

Here is one way it is different. NCSoft had that subscriber all those years as both a financial assett and as an entity to point to that the game was at its state of success. If ALL of those people had quit how would it have helped them to come along 4 years later offering money? Pretty sure the game would have closed up.

And the final failure of your reasoning. We don't buy our vet rewards. The company decided to give them to people for loyalty (sticking with the game) as a subscriber. What we chose to do with our subs was up to us just as what they choose to give us as that rewards is up to them.

Seems to me since there are more than 5 booster packs already available for purchase if they wanted to sell them to you they would have offered it already. Perhaps they might really mean it as a thank you to their loyal subscribers just like they say it is.

Fair enough, my bad, didn't know that.

Not a bad point at all. It still doesn't change the point that I was making that the analogy of a badge/position being given to a trained soldier is a spurious analogy. It also doesn't change the fact that someone can prepurchase game time, leave the game for 12 months then come back with all the rewards. All I am saying is that, functionally it is no different than if they had been given the rewards the second they prepurchased the game time.

Once again, the post you quoted was me responding to Chad's analogy about the soldier but, perhaps this is just me, but I really don't see the difference between loyalty to the brand by prepurchasing a large amount of game time and getting rewards up front or by purchasing game time once a month for a long time.

I know I keep coming back to this but you said what would have happened to the game if people prepurchased a whole heap of game time but then didn't actually play for 12 months. You're right, the game probably would have floundered and not succeded. So if it is that logic that you are using then shouldn't people who purchased time and didn't actually play the game be excluded from vet rewards? After all,with your reasoning, these people weren't being loyal to the game while you who was here the entire time were. And yet these people are still running around with vet badges.

Don't get me wrong, I have no doubt in my mind that I will never change your mind, I'm just trying to get you to see that there functionally there is no difference between someone who has purchased 12 months game time and then waited for their rewards and someone who purchased 12 months game time and got the rewards staright away.

Yes there is a functional difference.

Try this then. Don't get paid until December 31 this year. You will still get the same pay this year.

There shouldn't be a difference especially not for a company that, hopefully, has a competent accounting department. In fact it should be better because the money that they are paid in advance is guaranteed income, while the money from subscriptions that are paid month to month is projected income which can, and often does, vary.