Really? No VIP treatment for everyone? Why?

This makes the most sense.

I'm certainly not going to argue against your opinion about that, but the one factual thing I want to point out is that some longtime VIP subscribers fell out of their VIP status either through accident or mishap.

I know one person was on vacation and simply missed a few days of being a VIP. I can't blame them for not having their payment on auto-renew or for even intentionally delaying resubscribing until they returned from vacation. Nothing wrong with that.
So, I understand your main point (although, in my opinion, NCSOft should have made the announcement and given people time to come back and pay for VIP if they wanted it before closing down the billing services... that is the true error), but -as with most things - it's not always that simple.

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

The problem there is that it does them no good, you'd be giving them money that they'd they turn around and give back to you. I understand why they're not letting people 'resub', because it doesn't earn them anything except a hassle.

The only way I could see NCSoft giving people time to resub is if they announced a pending shutdown unless X was met. Cuz y'know, they shut down the game for lack of revenue. If those people were already subbed to begin with that would've been less of an issue.

Oh, hell no. If there is any chance whatsoever of saving the game, I don't want it completely screwed up like that.

I think the GR box and digital codes are for the same thing and can't be combined. However, I believe the GR: Complete Collection boxed code would still work.

Well, really, what this comes back to is handling a shut down respectfully and successfully or not.
This is also why their statements of respect and appreciation are clearly a bad joke.
Again, I've been fully subscribed, nonstop, so I have no personal axe to grind with this particular issue...
However, a properly run shutdown of a game and community of this significance should absolutely started with an announcement that included time for fans and customers to coordinate better before any aspects were shut down.

And there would be no need, nor right, for any refunds during such a period. If a former subscriber hears the news and wants to give $15 to have the chance to experience the game properly one last time, they should have been given that opportunity. Just as such time would have allowed for subscribers to buy more points if they wanted to in order to experience some of the things that they hadn't yet... but were suddenly left with little time for the future of the game (not enough points to buy Beast mastery, but you planned to try it eventually? Go ahead, buy them if you really want to).

It all comes back to the way they have handled this from its start. A true "sunsetting" as they've taken to calling this would have the grace worthy of such a name. This was a flip of the switch as they walked out the exit.

While I was no fan of what Star Wars Galaxies became... they sent out their closure announcements well in advance. It gave the community the time to properly handle the situation. I didn't choose to, but I could have returned to revisit my old characters and their stuff and that world before it ended.
When SOE does it better than you, you're doing it wrong, hehe.

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

Every situation is completely different, of course.
I honestly don't know the full reasons why it was shut down (I mean, as popular as it may have been to those who continued playing it, a larger portion of the former playerbase left with great negativity years before... but who knows). I have heard, after the fact, that it was Lucasarts cancelling it due to their new mmorp title, but I have no idea if that is true or not (I can't dispute or confirm it. I've never even looked into it at all). The new title is not through SOE though.

Regardless, my only point was that a respectful shutdown would have consideration for the playerbase and afford them the time and the chance to take care of business.
Obviously some ex-players would have liked to come back and revisit. Did anyone here believe, on August 30th, that the game was in need of immediate shut down? Did anyone think that was going to happen? Then all possibilities of re-upping were shut off before they announced the end.
Remove the reference to SWG and my previous comments still stand. This is no "sunsetting" and "thanks" to the community for their time and money here.

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

RL happens, you know? People do have to deal with economic decisions in this recent economic downturn?

I'd subbed continuously (Month to Month recurring) from 5/2004 to 6 months into Freedom. When I had to make some tough choices, I went Premium for a few months. I'd just finished purchasing Nature Affinity and about to VIP this coming Friday for all the I24 goodness.

My point is, I'm not a Charity case. NCsoft got their money from me. Between most of the boxed sets and subscription fees. If I'd known CoH was going away, I would have made it a priority to resub for the end. I'd pay them NOW if I could.

What you call a "Free Pass", I call offering customers an "Extraordinary Customer Experience" by letting everyone experience the best of CoH before it goes away.

It isn't owed to me, but this will absolutely be a factor for me to consider if I ever decide to give NCSoft a penny in the future.

A lot of us aren't crying because we want to be VIP for free. We're crying because for one reason or another, we were unsubbed and not GIVEN the opportunity to resub prior to the announcement and stoppage of billing. Personally, I unsubbed for the first time in over 6 years in June because I was off on a multi-national exercise for the summer and wouldn't be able to play. Do I regret doing that? Damn right I do. But I'm pissed that I can't access all my characters and incarnate powers and NCSoft won't even let me give them money to give me that access. Stopping all billing on the day of the announcement without giving vets an opportunity to resub for the sunset was the biggest kick in the pants for me.

+1 Reason why I unsubbed: Needed to trim a little bit of extra during a dry time, I got a job, was gonna re-up after I got a good firm grasp of how much I would be bringing in every pay...was gonna re up on Sept 1 but guess what...*yoink*

I've played this game since December 17 last year. I went VIP on December 20. My VIP originally ran out on July 20. I got a friend to also subscribe, so my VIP was extended to August 20. I was on holidays last week of August and could not renew my VIP before hand (only paypal).

Next to this I've spent enough on the Paragon Market to have the full Fire and Ice costume set. 37 Reward tokens in 8 months, you do the math.

I have since spent the equivalent of nearly 50 dollars to get a boxed game shipped to my country. It arrived today in the mail but it seems the boxed codes no longer work.

I was late to this game. I wish I had found it sooner, but it was never really sold in The Netherlands nor advertised. I enjoyed it a lot while it lasted.

I would really have liked to get my level 47 toon to level 50, but she's a Rogue.

I don't want a "free pass", I just want to play a game I really like while I can. Given that now even boxed codes no longer seem to work, I'm really out of options.

:-(

UGGHH!!!!
I thought box codes still worked. It could be that the box you got was already used :/

Hrm...
Come on... let's round up some unused codes for people.

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

I believe they stopped working on the 19th. I suspect NCSoft invalidated all unused codes at the same time they reset VIP status and established their refund policy. Perhaps they will grant VIP status once they've dealt with the refunds and no longer need to worry about complicating the matter, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

"Original"

Definitely not. It was shrinkwrapped and the game card first needed to be scratched to reveal the code.

There was also a code for "invite a friend" in a separate envelope, I had to tear the paper as it was glued shut.

Neither code worked.

I'm afraid that the time it took from ordering at Amazon to having the box arrive on my doorstep was just too long and I got pre-empted on the 19th.

I have put in a support ticket.

Play on beta, then. Other than the autolevel to 50, the rest is there.

Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle it has gone from unconscionable to downright appalling that we have no way of measuring our characters' wetness.

Originally Posted by Brillig It's hard to beat the entertainment value of Whackjob Wednesdays.

Except if you're not VIP you still don't get to do any of the Incarnate stuff.

Neither can you access all your toons for a farewell run on each and final screen shots.

To be honest I've just given up on the whole thing,... toons, superpack items, costume pieces, power sets, paragon points, VIP tokens, lots of things paid for that won't be used at all or to their fullest.

Learned a good lesson though caution when playing an on-line game, double caution on extra items purchased in a game store, as it can be all be yanked tomorrow even if the game is making money.

But so what? Were you enjoying yourself? If yes, then that's what matters. If not, you should have left a long time ago.

So is the lesson that you should never let yourself enjoy an online game? If CoH does go away, I'll find another game. If we get lucky and it stays around, I'll keep playing and keep spending money on it.

Um, if you've bought anything from the Paragon Market, or have ever been subscribed in the past, then that makes you Premium, and Premiums will be upgraded to VIP on the live servers. (Maybe they have already; I have no way to check)

It's only Free players (i.e., players who have never bought anything with real money) who won't be upgraded.