Discussion: New Gamestop/Razer Going Rogue Promotion

Wait... I thought we weren't supposed to mention any of the details from that Going Rogue video that was briefly viewable...

The Electric-Knight ______ Malfaz _____ Zox'Oculox

@Zethustra

"Now at midnight all the agents and the superhuman crew come out
and round up everyone that knows more than they do"-Dylan

www.pauldamonthomas.com - Original Music

Doesn't seem to Worth it to me, if there a rare Costume Piece or a rare badge then Sign me up but I don't see anything special about these.

If that's the problem you're having, you're jumping the gun on it.

First off no preorder was EVER in an item pack, they were free bonuses for preordering and then, years later, Vet Rewards. The CoH preorder wasn't made available as a Vet Reward for something like 2 and a half years from its initial release and then only as a Vet Reward at the 12 month mark. The CoV Preorder helmets were made Vet Rewards around two years after they were released and then as a 51 month Vet Reward. Now, I admit this is from memory, but I'm at least close on the timing.

At this point, it is impossible to say that the GR Preorder is a break from what happened in the past, since not enough time has passed to reasonably assume they will not be released to everyone in the same way previous preorders were and every reason to think they may be.

Remember, at the time of the CoV Preorder there was no Vet Reward program so no one could have guessed that those preorders would ever be available in any other form since the CoH preorders had never been made available again. As far as anyone knew there were "no apparent plans to make them available" in any other way (and the helmets were ONE only, you couldn't apply other preorder codes after the first and get the bonus).

Now, when we pass the 84 month vet reward, you could reasonably show some mild concern. If we get to the 96 month reward you can reasonably get a bit miffed. When we get to the 108 month one and it's still not shown up, this might be a valid point.

For those who were around, active on the forums and have a long enough memory, some of these same types of complaints were being made about the helmets being different for different locations. All those problems vanished when everyone got them, even though it takes 51 months to do so.

Every edition except the CoH Deluxe/DVD edition has had a digital "item pack" that went along with release (although I am now blanking if the CoV CE had any sort of item pack, I don't think it did because of the physical goodies, but I could be wrong). Even the CoH DVD Edition had an item pack you could buy (it cost $19.99 or so with shipping way back when) and was not digital, it was a physical package sent to your home because of the heroclix and comic book with a card that contained your add-on code. So far the GR goodies are precisely like every previous edition from the preorder to the "exclusive items." The only difference this time is there were two sets of perks, one for prepurchasing and one for preordering and the one for prepurchasing cannot be put in a pack or made into a Vet Reward after release.

OK I'm on the OPs side. Sorry I was so mad.

Bashful Banshee

Ah, you're right. The code for the pre-order goodies is a separate code from the one in the box which is for the full game. This means:

1. As you point out, no discount pre-order boxes with pre-purchase codes later on.

2. I'm still left wondering if the box code is stackable with the pre-purchase code for the completionists willing to spend the extra bucks.

3. If I don't pre-order, I'll probably get these double DOs as a Veteran Reward in about 18 months, anyway.

4. The fact that this is a separate code outside the box proves that Marketing wasn't lying in saying that this deal was made with GameStop rather recently and not a secret they were holding back when the pre-purchasing deal was offered.

CoH and CoV both had physical Pre-Order Boxes on shelves (in fact, I still occasionally find a store with CoV preorder boxes, and when Circut City liquidated, both the nearest ones had dozens in bins trying to clearance them for a buck each) so it was a natural mistake to make. While it was in the original announcement that the code was on the receipt with the instructions, it was the guys at one of the GameStops (the one who looked it up on his iPhone and suggested I wait until their system updates before preordering) that pointed it out to me.

Earlier, I made mention that anyone who had prepurchased check to make positive the preorder code and the Complete edition code was compatable with the prepurchase code, but a redname didn't respond to it, so that's still really good advice.

It's probably all the hickory it smoked.

I wish people would stop saying this.
There *are* long term advantages to having these enhancements. Take for instance powers that take Targeted AoE Damage sets. There are only 3 Damage/Recharge IOs in the 3 "normal" Targeted AoE Damage sets, and getting any from the other sets is problematic (or impossible) below the top levels. These new Damage/Recharge enhancements provide a way to add more Damage and Recharge (in one slot) for these powers. Another example is Recharge Intensive Pet sets, where Recharge is only available in 2*A/D/R and 2*E/D/R (and here there aren't any other options at *any* level).

I'm not saying that this is in any way problematic (I think it seems like a reasonable advantage that basically only exists in a limited number of cases), but there *is* an advantage here. I agree that it seems to be a bonus that is "useful, but not too much so", but you're wrong when you say that "There is literally *NO* long term advantage to having them".

Also, I miss the days when the space penguins were invading Earth. So much fun to be had....
Wait, that didn't happen either?

(Cuppa and Cricket worked with Community relations, not marketing )

That may be true at level 21, but totally wrong at level 22 when SOs become available. A single SO is as potent as these doubled DOs because an SO is worth exactly 2 DOs.

If you put 2 of these new enhancements into a power, you get the same benefit from 2 SOs, one Recharge and the other Damage.

Sure, there may be a few edge cases where one of these Dual DOs provides the perfect amount of extra Dam and Rech without hitting the diminishing returns of ED; or that you only have room for just one more slot and you need a little more DAM and Recharge and there are no Dual Aspect IOs that fit the need.... but such cases are going to be very rare, and there will be workarounds. And at level 35 and higher, switching to IOs will satisfy your needs better 99% of the time.

For those Recharge Pets, use common Dam and Rech IOs... they'll always be better than the Dual DOs.

Key phrase in the post you quoted: "in one slot".

Yes, if you're going to use two slots, then 1 Damage + 1 Recharge will be better. If, however, you are only going to use 1 additional slot, then these enhancements will be able to do something you otherwise would not be able to do. It doesn't even have to be near the ED limits for either aspect (though the effect is amplified there). Sometimes you can just prefer having a little Damage and a little Recharge to a lot of Damage or Recharge.

I agree that this is only a benefit in a limited number of cases, but the benefit is there.

ROFL Wow...
Thank you SO much for that. I REALLY needed that laugh.
I am rather upset about this, mostly for fluff reasons. I have a toon based on clockwork who now won't be able to have a nifty clockwork enhancement. Also because the "reasons" given aren't really reasons. Helping new players is awesome, but why couldn't it *also* help vets? I've played the current starting areas many times over, and would love to get through them faster with my new characters. Oh well, if the code for it is separate as Gamestop's site suggests, then maybe I'll buy this for my gf and take the code for myself.

EDIT: Side note, some people might remember that even the original main game had store specific pre-order bonuses. I had the "Rush" sprint power before it became a vet reward.

Word.

I mean, this is almost worthy of an SNL "Really? w/ Seth" segment, IF the Proc portion of these didn't stop working at above lvl 20.... Well, then I'd actually be seriously upset - atm its merely a big fresh 'cup of disappointment' to start off my day with...

More specifically - It's like a big steaming hot 32oz. insulated mug - full of coffee from the local convenience store. One so hot, (you just add in your standard amount of sugar/creamer and stir) - you don't even taste it until you're well on your way down the road (and don't have time to go back).

And when you DO taste it, you find out that its 'Mud & Bugspray'-flavored, and you're fairly sure its fraking Decaf!

Originally Posted by Arcanaville City of Heroes didn't fail, City of Heroes was killed. If a 747 dropped on your house, you'd say you were killed, not you failed to find a safer dwelling.

I think in some people it's a semi-unconscious fear that that a new player might be able to show off something to a vet player that they don't have, which reduces the effect of trying to wow a new player with all your leet vet lewt - and if you can't crush a new player with how awesome you are with all your leet vet lewt, then what's the point of living anymore?

A mousepad that lets you get too close to Desdemona.

A costume piece might have that effect. An enhancement is invisible to other players; unless they have set bonuses that show in the info window, which these don't.

They can still be dragged and dropped into the chat window, and the new player can ask "what does this do?", and then the vet will start weeping from a sense of rage, jealousy and loss

Or even worse, the vet mightn't even know if the new player had the unique phat lewt or not, and the not knowing would eat away at them, haunting their every waking moment, and most of their nightmares too.

This about covers it. When the first pre purchase was anounced i thought do i want to play DP and DS early that bad? It's not like we weren't told that there were differences if you bought now or bought later. As well up thread someone posted where they did warn us that retailers may have other offers. Plus...

Okay, I'm cool with that, and it makes sense. Normally I rail against exclusive stuff, and the Wal-Mart thing a while back was boneheaded in the extreme. Once nice thing about this bonus is that it's not really "braggable." Really, there's no way to tell if someone has these things slotted or not. It's function over form. I approve.

By the way, slaps in the face are highly underrated. They can be bracing. I've been known to slap myself in the face, for example, when I'm driving while really sleepy.

So, given the suitable length of time used last time, you expect these will become vet rewards about 2 and half years after the release of GR?

Although I'm not a big fan of special preorder perks tied to a specific vendor, I completely follow your reasoning on all accounts here. I think it's great that effort is being taken to get this great game some visibility in the shops so new players are more tempted to pick it up.

Unfortunatly this won't do me any good since none of those new players are going to be coming to the EU servers. The EU servers REALLY could use an influx of new players. But we all know by now that that isn't going to happen. At least we still got another appeasing 'we're aware of the problem and we're looking into it' post over in the EU section. So thanks for taking the time to at least acknowledge our existance. But I'm not buying it anymore.

I would've gotten the prepurchase the moment it was released AND a boxed set (with or without pre-order perks) on top of that. Now, however, I'm honestly contemplating to let my subscription lapse (that would be first time in 4 years) till a month or two after GR launch and go play some EVE again in the mean time. By then most of the kinks will have been ironed out and it'll be clear if the GR release has had any lasting positive effect on EU numbers.

No, I'm not bitter, just sad to see the decline (well, at least in the part that's relevant to me) of the game I enjoy so much.