Let the buyer beware!

The GM that visited me in game told me I should post about this here.

As you can tell from my join date, I'm not a savvy long term vet player. I joined up a bit before Freedom, and when freedom came out, because I didn't have that many characters, I went to premium and used an invention license.

Anyhow, I have a Dom, level 48 now. And I wanted to hit 50 today. I still might, but I went to the market and bought the 50% XP booster, the one on the bottom.

Well guess what folks! It won't work on my character. It will work on a "target friendly" character. So, I can give this boost to a teammate, but not my own character? This would be great for farmers who pl their alts, but it doesnt' do my character a bit of good!

What person is in charge of the in-game Paragon Market. I'd really like to know why they do things like this! How many people are going to buy this thing, thinking that they will get a 50% boost, only to find out, after they've spent the points that it won't?

You know, the freebies have the right idea. Drain the games resources, take up server space, irritate the vip with useless chatter in help, and run dfb until we all puke because when they get to 50 they haven't a clue about how to negotiate a pull as a blaster.....oops, that's a rant, there. Better stop that. /end rant

Seriously, now that I've gotten that off my chest, does anyone know the name of the person that places these things in the market, but doesn't let us get more info on it - how in the world am I supposed to know that the boost I bought was for some teammate?

Don't be impatient to hit 50 like me. Just do msrs and nem invasions. Don't spend your points on ANYTHING in the store unless you know ahead of time exactly what you're getting, because all sales are final. Even if you didn't get what you thought you paid for.

CoH - you really should rethink your return policy. I won't ever be buying anything, and I sure am glad I only went vip for 1 month instead of 3.

The description in the store:

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

I bought the 50% XP booster today. It applied a 50% boost automatically to me, and added a 50% ally boost clicky power with 1 use. Did you check your active powers after claiming? All XP boosters are applied automatically, they do not go to your power tray as clickies.

Refunds for non-physical items are highly problematic. I don't understand why you would ever expect to receive one unless maybe the item description had a legitimate error in it, which is not the same as you simply not understanding what you were buying, which is what seems to be the case here (except not because you seem to be wrong about how the boosters work, based on what other posters are saying).

Still, your advice is valid. You should never buy something unless you know what you're buying. Otherwise you might end up with a pineapple instead of a bicycle.

I don't know how much good it'll be to explain the hows and whys it since you're already exclaiming about wanting freebies to drain resources and glad you'll never spend here again, but I'll explain simply what has happened and why you weren't ripped off in the least.


You used the [50% Shared XP boost] power, your character now earns 50% more XP for the next in-game hour. You should have an auto-buff icon denoting this in your upper-right corner.

You were then GRANTED a 50% Shared XP power which is used to cast on another player, since the system can't just 'guess' who you want to get the boost, the system lets you choose by casting this power on your friend/ally.

You think the power that was generated needed to be cast on you and your friend but the fact is you already got the XP boost the moment you claimed the reward.



Now whether you actually care to come back to read this thread to put your mind at ease, I'm not entirely sure.

So for one thing, yeah, you do get the 50% boost yourself, as well as the 50% boost to use on another character, as Kitsune Knight and Bubble_Wrap said.

Moreover, the item description in the market tells you this also. So yes, caveat emptor, read what you're buying before you buy it. In this case, you got the XP boost you thought you were buying plus an extra thing you didn't know about, so there's not much to be upset over, really.

if you check buff bar you'll see a XP icon there, if you don't, then make sure that you aren't hiding auto-powers then check again. as the blurb that pops up when you claim it says, it activates for your character immediately.

You then also get a power to give 50% XP to someone else as well.

Yeah, open mouth, insert foot.

I'd had a 25% booster running from the previous play session and didn't see the icon for it in my buff bar.

Still - when I right clicked on it to find out maybe why it wasn't working, that's when I saw the bit about it working on a friendly target - which is not at all what I was expecting. I still think they should have described this in the store. It's not the first time I've bought one thing and found out I have something else.

Sorry for ranting, but it ticked me off and there's no csr to speak with about it.

Still, the caveat is a lesson well learned - before I spend any more points, I'll find out ahead of time what's up.

I did the same with the Enhancement Booster, not realizing that it was an invention item, and thus useless to me unless I buy an invention liscense, and keep buying them forever to keep the Enhancement valid, or go VIP.

And YES, I did buy it from the menu, not the description.

Still, other items have a (VIP CONTENT) warning. Shouldn't it, as well...

What I really wish is that I could give it to a VIP friend, so that someone could get my money's worth, but I can't give it away!!!

Now, I ask other players about things before I buy...

Not siding with anyone but I do agree somethings in Market should be a bit more clear.

Maybe a video of the power being activated and used. EG panther stealth power. Maybe larger images of the items EG when barbarian set came out. Granted some of this stuff can be seen in costume creator now, but there was a time you could not. But regardless images and video in this day and age are really not hard thing to add to websites. If you can take my credit card number you should be able to upload a video or at least a larger image for me to review.
Sometimes I get the impression they are almost embarrassed by what they are selling that even they don't want to promote it that much.

The market interface is pretty lame and could do just about everything in a much clearer, more intuitive way, but you can't blame it for user error.