VIP to Premium IO question.

Thanks you for starting this thread ClawsandEffect.

I also failed to notice this Flaming Gotcha for droping to Premium level.

I will admit that it is reasonable for the company to take this stance as they have always stated that content is balanced for SO built toons. Fair warning I suppose.

I had planned to let my second account drop to Premium permanently or until I get back to work someday. Now, since I missed the no IO access for Premium consequence, I have to totally rethink that strategy as the five level 50 toons I spent the last few months making and slotting out on that 2nd account ALL require their full IO builds to do what I want them to do. A second build using just SO's will be relatively usless.

I have a different service that I need to direct the money currently spent on the 2nd account to, and as it is for the safety of my wife over the road on her daily commute, it wins. To those of you who have budgets such that $2 a month is trivial, and who don't mind the annoyance of having to remember to buy a license every 30 days - gratz.

I am going to start a new thread asking for suggestions of AT type and Power set picks that function very well on pure SO builds.

i believe the word I want is OOPS,
Jak

Most if not any archetype and powerset combo will work just fine with SOs. We had people doing crazy stuff before IOs. It will simply not be possible tO crazily abuse the limits of what an archetype /can/ do versus what it was /meant/ to do.

And I want to point out that this, in part, is why you can unlock an empty slot (as I recall) over a used one for premium play.

I was going to point out that Premiums can simply use their second builds to have a VIP build and a Premium build but it's already been said.

So all that remains is to laugh derisively at the nerdrage and misquote Babylon 5.

"No Doom today, Doom tomorrow. There's always a Doom tomorrow."

Okay, I'm not concerned for myself, since I'll have enough tokens for the global IO unlock on my account.

Still kind of sucks for the guys I got into the game. Not a big deal for the one guy, he rolled an Archery/Energy blaster. The other guy rolled a Claws/DA sccrapper and I hooked him up with a KB protection IO. Since he was planning on playing at Premium level from the get go, he's going to lose his KB protection as soon as his free month runs out. He can always take Acrobatics, but that's going to be yet another toggle in a set that will end up running 10 of them anyway.

I think I'll try to nudge him toward Willpower. Dark Armor is a good set, but it's not particularly beginner friendly.

I think possibly some of us particapating in this discussion have lost sight of the core idea behind the F2P and Premium Status add-on to our existing model.

That foremost goal, as I undersatnd it, is to greatly expand our player base. The primary quality of the F2P experience and the Premium experience should be that they are serious FUN and create a desire in those new and returning players to have More Fun by becoming more deeply involved in CoH, eventually choosing to be VIPs. For players that need or want for whatever reason to be Premium only, there needs to be a solid Fun factor to fuel those micro transactions.

A secondary goal is to allow everyone, particularly Premium Players to spend as much or as little as they wish, when they wish, or to play completely for free at times if they wish, as that is the way a LOT of people prefer to manage their MMO experience.

The current implementation of the IO restriction is going to be really not-fun to returning players with existing Alt's with IO's and to currently subscribed players such as myself that, for money reasons, must fall back to Premium on an account for some unknowable period. I think that this Lack of Fun should be addressed. Completely new players will not miss what they never had and the utility of the IO system will be a nifty carrot to draw them on.

While it would not help my situation with my 2nd account, one of my SG Leaders had a suggestion that I think would make a lot of sense for maximising Fun for returning returning Vets and also for lot of people slipping back to Premium. It would put one of the funnest things in the game within a more reasonable investment level for new Premium players.

That would be to adjust the Vet Reward/Reward Token level where you gain permanent access to the Invention System to a lower tier, perhaps 5. This would more nearly match the Tier where you gain access to the Trading house/Auction House/Black Market. He suggested that since both Trading/Auction Houses and the Invention System were introduced in Issue 9 it would make a lot more sense if they became permanent at about the same level. Sounds like a good idea to me. I might even be able to eventually ooch my 2nd account up to Tier 5 as 13 tokens is a lot more do-able than 27.

Anyway, we all need to focus on the idea of Fun and put aside any dissappointment with the implementation as best we can. The Train is on the tracks and coming fast and we Have to jump on board or be flattened.

Jak

PS: And now for a little RANT.

As has been relentlessly repeated Premium Player status is a gift to those of us who are not going to keep an account fully subscribed. I am glad to recieve it and will treasure and enjoy it like a new puppy, even if it has a broken ear and limps a bit.

And I am glad that for most of you, $2.00 a month is a trivial amount of money. For my wife and myself $2.00 is the cost of some of our generic prescriptions. We forego any form of pay TV. We have the stupidest possible phones with the fewest possible minutes only so we can summon help if a car breaks down or there is a medical emergency. We do not rent movies, we do not go out to the movies, we do not go out to eat, we buy no liquor, no beer, no wine, and eat the cheapest food our individual special diets permit. The only time we get high is when we visit our primary care physcians who happen to have their offices right next to the local Broadcast TV antenna farm, which naturally is on the greatest elevation in the DFW metroplex. We are considering adopting out our pets since we can no longer afford the vets bills. This game is our only extravagance and we are now choosing to laspe the sub on one account, and diverting those funds elsewhere, because of the great generousity shown by Paragon and NCSoft in creating this new model.

For ANYONE on this or any forum to puff up or take to task some other poster because they are thrifty people who want as much as possible for as little as possible, all I can say is:

A) You demonstrate an utter lack of understanding of the basic rules of the marketplace and should probably relocate to a non-capitalist country, or play a game not based in a country that still has the for profit business model in use, however hamstrung that model has become. To review for your benefit: It is the job of the consumer to seek the best deal possible for themselves. It is the job of the merchant or service provider to get as much as possible from the consumer.
B) Are probably youthful and healthy with a shallow life experience.
C) Show a lack of compassion typical of so many of todays light thinking people.
D) Arrogate to yourself an astonishing presumtion in judging others financial desires or decisions with NO knowledge whatsoever of where their shoes pinch them, and
E) A just plain boorish lack of tact.

So if you are 'exasperated' with us 'cheapskates', I can only say that exasperation is a pallid corpse of a word for my reciprocal feeling towards you and all your ilk.

End of Rant.