Staff Fighting and VIP

Pardon my Search-Fu, but I'll ask anyway. Why did VIPs have to pay Staff Fighting?

To be upfront - I paid for Staff Fighting and it doesn't bother me in the least. Instead I am asking this after a new VIP subscriber asked me to explain to them why VIPs had to pay for this set.

My understand was that powersets that used new tech - i.e. Beam Rifle, Beast Mastery - and yet I don't see what new tech Staff Fighting uses besides animations. Time Manipulation was free for VIPs and it used new animations, so why wasn't Staff Fighting free for VIPs as well?

I'm happy with my grossly overpowered Staff Fighting power and looking forward to beating up a lot of Circle of Thorns with my broom on my character "The Homeless Lady."

When freedom came out the devs said there would be 2 free power sets each year and the other sets would be pay sets.

In part Staff Fighting uses shared tech from both Dual Pistols & Street Justice, as well as new animation stances and the weapon models as well.

To be honest, I don't see a issue with Staff Fighting being a "all Pay" set. It is a rather Mechanically and Visually intensive Powerset. Also don't forget the tweaks made to it to be useable to Stalkers as well.

Thank you for the time...

@Travlr (Main) / @Tymers Realm (Test)

Dark Control/Affinity/Assault was our new free powerset for the time being. And Time back in i21.

Really i can't be bother with all this. Im paying for the game allready and i dont have the Points to buy this or half the other stuff i want from the market. !! i Flatly refuse to pay any more real money for points. Give me the contents i pay for !! thats what i say !!

I don't necessarily remember the "2 free a year" statement. I'm only asking this since I was getting grilled by a new VIP player who didn't understand why it wasn't free. I tried to explain as best as I could why it wasn't free for VIPs, but I was curious myself as to why it wasn't.

The way I see it is that we're getting way more powersets way more often by paying for them individually than we did getting them free in individual Issues.

Not taking into account powersets an archetype launched with or had proliferated from another archetype (so only counting powersets added to the game after the fact), we got Sonic Blast/Resonance and Archery/Trick Arrow in Issue 5, Thugs (Masterminds) in Issue 7, Dual Blades and Willpower in Issue 11, Shield Defense and Pain Domination in Issue 13, and the four powersets that came with Going Rogue (though arguably those aren't 'free' powersets). So after launch we got 4 powersets in 2005, 1 in 2006, 2 in 2007, 2 in 2008, and then 4 in 2010.

With/After Freedom's launch we've gotten Time Manipulation, Dark Control, and (if you want to count them as new powersets, despite mostly being comprised of powers copied from other sources) Dark Affinity and Dark Assault as free for VIP sets. That's 2 (or 4) free powersets in less than a year since Freedom's launch, which is essentially putting us back on track with the same number of powersets we got free a year.

HOWEVER on top of these free powersets we're getting even more powersets released that not only use new animations and weapon models, but totally new mechanics, too. Since Freedom's launch we've had Beam Rifle, Street Justice, Titan Weapons, Beast Mastery, and Staff Fighting added to the game on top of the free sets. We've had a total of 7 (or 9) new powersets in less than a year since Freedom's launch.

TL;DR... We're paying for them because they're pumping them out faster than they used to.

Because you're getting more now for free than pre-Freedom... and that's not even counting what you can get from the monthly stipend.

We've been saving Paragon City for eight and a half years. It's time to do it one more time.

Texas Justice beat me to it, so I'll agree with him. When the game was paid subscription only, they would include new powersets in expansions ( like Going Rogue). They would also release powersets as part of the free issues. With Freedom, there is a lot more flexibility now. The devs can release new content when it's ready, not just as part of expansions or issues. Some of that content is paid, some is free (for VIPs). The players have the option of whether they want to buy the content or not. If they have enough Paragon Points built up from the monthly stipend, then it would be "free." Otherwise, it's a choice to buy the set or wait.

I'm definitely appreciative of the amount of powersets we've seen since the launch of Freedom. I, personally, am not complaining about having had to pay for Staff Fighting, but I remembered it being said - and I could be remembering incorrectly or once again fabricating memories - that VIPs would have to pay for sets that included "new tech."

Either way, if my $15 PP purchase helps fuel the development of Crap Blast, then it's a win.

Man you guys don't stop Complaining do you, if you don't want to pay for it, save up you Paragon Points, since you should have done it along time ago when talks about Staff Fighting was coming out..

I don't mind paying, this game is free to play, it need another Source of Income to grow.

You only really need to 'buy' it with real $$ if you don't have points saved up and you want the set right now. If you want to wait, in 2 months your monthly stipend will allow you to get Staff for 'free'. Or is my math off on that?

Explain to them that as VIP they will get points each month. Those points can be used to buy the sets without spending any money.

They may not realize that if they've only just subscribed.

Hmmm, have they knocked down the price for powersets from 1600 to 800 recently? I cancelled sometime ago due to what I consider an exhorbitant amount of time to have to wait for a powerset ( 4 months ).

edit: why is it showing "PERC Representative" under my sig now? Very odd.