Freedom - New Powers

Ok, I assumed from all that I had read that if you have a VIP account, meaning you are continuing to pay the monthly fee, that all new powers when released would be available to us. However, It seems I misunderstood. So which is it, some we get, some we have to pay for?

I would have thought VIP would have given us access because we pay the fee, plus we would presumably be making purchases from the store as well. Feels like it's being stuck to me.

Well, you might not have to "buy" anything... with real money. However, you may have to use your stipend of Paragon points to "purchase" the new powersets. And depending on the point costs, you may have to "save up" your monthly stipend for a while. However, I do not foresee Powersets costing more than 400 points (ie, what a VIP gets in a month), though I may be incorrect.

Unless you absolutely positively canNOT wait, in which case you'll have to shell out real money to get the points NAO to get the shinnies when they're released.

EDIT: Ninja'd by Emperor Steele.

Don't forget that VIP subscribers will accrue about 400 Paragon Points per month. That should buy one "pack" every two months. Provided you don't spend all your virtual dough on emotes and costumes, you'll be able buy these powers with out spending additional money.

I'm a little disappointed also, but it's important to think through the whole picture. I *think* the free Paragon Points each month will mean that VIP subscribers do get the new powers for free.

You just have the options of getting something else instead. If you don't like the Street Justice set for example, you could decide to buy the Steam Punk costumes instead. Right now, we have no choice but to take new Power Sets for free whether we like them or not, and we must pay extra for any of the Costume Packs. Issue 21 should give us a bit more flexibility.

From what I have been able to tell from posts made about these powersets, Beam and Street are premium for a good reason. They're powersets that people have wanted for ages, and beam rifle has a specific bit of new tech...weapon AND power customization.

That bit of new tech alone justifies a bit of cost attached, in my opinion. For a VIP this means spending some monthly stipend points. For 'freemium' players, it's the same price they pay for Time Manipulation, Kinetic Melee, Demon Summoning, etcetera.

If you stay VIP, you CAN get it free, but it doesn't unlock automatically.

Yes you assumed.

Right now there are powersets you can't use if you don't own the correct expansion. Think of this as the same sort of thing. Only unlike now you can save your paragon points and spend them only on things like the new powersets etc. No one will be forcing you to buy the 10 extra enhancements slots, extra costume slots, extra costumes, permanent costume powers and the like. Those kinds of things are purely optional for your enjoyment and enhancement.

It seems quite reasonable that if you save your 400 - 550 paragon points a month and only spend them on the costume set expansions and powersets as they come along you are unlikely ever to have to spend any money beyond your base subscription.

If you go wild and buy all of the extra's you can then you will spend money.

Guess what? I regularly buy the costume packs and the like so figure every 3 - 4 months I'll be spending an extra 10 - 20 dollars on my COX account. I don't figure my habits will change with Freedom. Only now I'll have extra toys to buy and spend money on and you know what? I likely be doing just that.

Yet right now there are people who have the bare minimum they can buy on their account with no optional things anywhere, or maybe 1 or 2. And they will continue to play the game exactly the same. So they will do even better and likely be piling up their Paragon Points over time as they won't be spending much of them. Unless the devs can find the right bait to tease them into spending.

Remember one of the devs goals for some time now has been to dangle new toys out in front of people to lure them into spending money. You didn't think that was going to change?

How often have we ever gotten 5 new powersets in an issue for free? (or is it 6 new sets coming with Freedom, I lost track.) Just what has been released so far about Freedom sounds like an issue with the same amount of free content (for VIPs) we usually get in an issue. Additionally, there is even more new stuff that we may have to buy if we want it right away.

I wouldn't call that being "stuck". I may get many things for free I have no interest in (which has always been the case in every issue), but as long as the overall free content is the same as its always been, I'll happily buy the additional goodies that would have otherwise been years down the road if they couldn't have made them pay for themselves.

Just to be clear, I have no problem spending extra on what I want. I have most of the boosters because I wanted them. What is clear is that I assumed based on what was said, but what was said was not very clear or unclear. Either way, I have no problems shelling out extra money like I do now when I want. But if everything is pay, pay, pay, then I have a problem since I am going to keep up my $15/month account. So then I would feel as though I am being gouged, which from the sound of it to be fair, doesn't seem like it will be the case.

Either way, I have approached the whole Freedom thing with an open mind, and gonna see how it plays out.

I *think* that the general trend will be that if paying subscribers are patient enough to let points accumulate, we'll be able to get the things we want and disregard the ones we don't really want, resulting in a more satisfactory/more personalized experience in the long run. So I am cautiously optimistic.

I am one of the NOW people..and will gladly "donate" extra money to have all the new shinies

I look at it as a way to keep the game I love so much running for even longer

Went to the movies today..cost me $20 for 2 hours of entertainment... I have no issue spending more money on something that has given me thousands of hours of entertainment the past 6 years

Keep in mind, not every new powerset will need to be purchased by VIPs. Time Manipulation is coming to them for free.

As soon as they said there'd be a store, I kind of assumed it would be this way from the start. There'd be a bunch of goodies, VIPs would get free points to buy some, but if you wanted everything now you'd have to pay. All the while, even without putting any money in, Issue 21 will be a rather huge issue. Issue 21's free stuff + the stuff I can buy with my points = awesome issue, even if I can't afford buying all the extras and have to wait a couple months.