Cert Payout Today

[EVILPIG]

Giving the massive fight on the OF, I'm shocked it's not on here. Today's patch paid out certs to those who bought duplicate weapons before they became account wide unlocks. There is a huge debate over this, as the award is quite significant for some. Anyone here get their certs today?

Update via Higby:

Hey all -

I wanted to pop in quickly to talk about today's cert point grant. As you know, a couple weeks ago we implemented account-wide SC unlocks which made any item that was common pool available to any character on your account, and any faction specific items available to all characters of that faction on your account. At the time we promised that we would be looking into ways to compensate players who had purchased the same items on more than one character. Today's cert grant was the resolution of that promised compensation. The grant logic worked as follows:

For every SC that you spent buying an identical item, which would now be available as an account wide unlock on multiple characters, we gave 2 cert points.

For example, if you have two TR characters and bought MAX composite armor's on them both, you would have spent 1000 SC on a duplicated item on your account, and we will have granted your characters 2000 certs this morning.

Players who did not purchase the same item on multiple characters on the same account should not have been eligible for these cert grants, although some players are reporting that they did. We are investigating why, but right now it is our mistake and we won't be 'confiscating' or rolling back characters which received certs.

We are looking into reports of players who have purchased items that should have been flagged as account wide but did not receive cert grants, these seem to be for multiple purchases of common-pool vehicle weapons which were not captured as part of the database query we ran.

Additionally, if you purchased an individual item, and later a bundle that contained that individual item, we granted cert points at the same rate for the price of the items purchased from that bundle - this was an error in the logic that was used to collect the cert grants, so those of you who benefitted from this get an extra bonus.

We will be reevaluating if future changes to the account-wide unlocks will include a retroactive cert grant, at this point we are uncertain if we will continue to adhere to this policy; so fair warning to those of you who might want to create 5 characters and buy a ton of repeated stuff on them - it is not certain that this type of grant will ever occur again.

I hope this answers some of the questions as to what is happening with the grant today.

Thanks!
http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/some-notes-on-todays-cert-grants.114869/

[bpostal]

Yeah, I noticed certs show up. Got a good number of 'em too, not sure how they calculated the return.

[CraazyCanuck]

Now if we could get the option to for a reset recertification I would be one happy camper. Put those thousandd of certs I wasted on weapons etc and put them to better use.

Glad those that double/triple dipped purchases are getting a refund.

[Rolfski]

3400 certs on all my three characters for duplicated weapons I supposedly bought. Now I won't mind them making a mistake in my favor but it would have been wiser of them to refund it in SC to eliminate of any suspicion of PS2 being P2W.

[Chewy]

Iv read the same posts on the PS2 forums and seen reports of people getting 10s of thousands of certs. Here's a link to one of the biggest posts.
http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/people-got-60-br-levels-in-certs-this-update.114834/

If this is real then WTF was SOE thinking? I played for 175 hours to get 5k certs. That shit doesn't come easy for a near pure support player. Refund SC and be done with it. Giving out thousands of certs for paid SC damn near makes PS2 a PTW game!

Might as well make that on option in the store, buy cert packs for 500SC a pop (joke. I do NOT want this). Bullshit I say and it needs a roll back. Hundreds of hours worth in certs just for a few SC weapons. Bullshit

[EVILPIG]

Iv read the same posts on the PS2 forums and seen reports of people getting 10s of thousands of certs. Here's a link to one of the biggest posts.
http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/people-got-60-br-levels-in-certs-this-update.114834/

If this is real then WTF was SOE thinking? I played for 175 hours to get 5k certs. That shit doesn't come easy for a near pure support player. Refund SC and be done with it. Giving out thousands of certs for paid SC damn near makes PS2 a PTW game!

Might as well make that on option in the store, buy cert packs for 500SC a pop (joke. I do NOT want this). Bullshit I say and it needs a roll back. Hundreds of hours worth in certs just for a few SC weapons. Bullshit

It doesn't make the game Pay to Win. Maybe Paid to Win. ;) Either way, it's not going to happen again and well, they are giving you something worthless in the real world for actual money you spent. I'm sure many would prefer to get some money back, but that isn't going to happen.

[Hamma]

Since you could not have foreseen a cert grant this is not pay to win. It his however kind of silly, refunded SC imho should have been the way they went. I would imagine that was more difficult though and thus they opted for a cert grant. Some of those numbers are insanely high and people shouldn't have been granted that kind of cert points.

[ringring]

As I've said elsewhere I receove around 2500 certs on each character. I don't believe I bought any weapon on any character other than my main, although maybe I inadvertedly did it perhaps once, but no more.

Still what am I complaining about, I gotz certs!

[Mastachief]

I had 1500certs per char refunded

[Chaff]

I too am interested in a Cert Reset. Any word if and when that might come ?

$ony wasn't gonna give SC ...... that represensts possible lost revenue. $ONY ain't gonna ri$k losing out on one $ingle penny they can $queeze outta their cu$tomer ba$e.

Allowing everyone a 1-time (free) Cert-Reset might take some sting outta those with a hurt peepee. So much ranting and crying from players, I could see how Sony may have some thick skin at thi$ point.

I don't see it as a big deal.

Somewhat on this note, for those with Boosts & Advanced Subs ..... do the Passive Certs (up to 48 Certs/day) keep adding up whether you log on every day versus perhaps not logging on for weeks of even months ?

For fans of the game, who aren't too happy with it's present playability ........ it might be worth it to them to spend $15 to $20 / month .... if the could come back in 6 months and have $3,000 in SC built up and close to 9,000 Certs acquired via Passive Cert Gain. Can you guys clarify how this works ?
.

[GraniteRok]

As I've said elsewhere I receove around 2500 certs on each character. I don't believe I bought any weapon on any character other than my main, although maybe I inadvertedly did it perhaps once, but no more.

Still what am I complaining about, I gotz certs!

I'm much the same, 3000 per character. I'm like 99% sure I didn't spend any SC for my two alts. I think they made a mistake somewhere and we'll be seeing this being corrected.

[TheRagingGerbil]

Higby said characters that bought bundles that had duplicate weapons, camos, etc also got refunds. So that may be where some of you are seeing those certs from.

[VanstK]

What do I think? Well, considering that I've seen reports of players getting 25,000+ certs, other reports that purchases on the test server contributed to the cert grant, yet more reports of players that never bought anything getting certs, and countless "suck it up" posts on the official forums?

I think this is raw, unadulterated BS.

[Carbon Copied]

Logged in to find 5k of certs; the rights and/or wrongs of it it was nice that they bothered to try and rectify it not a "oh well tough luck".
I've not bought any items on another character so its most likely been when a bundle sale has proved cheaper to buy than say the 2 individual guns I hadn't yet unlocked.

Edit: getting more or less certs doesn't really bother me it doesn't make you a better player in a game like this. Just sounds more like gear envy to me.

[Sakaryu]

I just joined to say I received a 28k payout.
http://i.imgur.com/IfrG9jF.png
I can almost for certain say I'm a little bias.

[Firejack]

One of the guys in our Outfit got 29k.. per character :huh:

I'm not sure if thats a bug or whether he spent crazy money on the game.

All I know for sure is I'm insanely jealous!

Still, can't complain. If people are willing to spend serious money on our favourite games development then I don't mind.
This is the great thing about Free-2-Play games. You have a scalable pricing model. So those who can afford to spend a little more can, while those who can't or don't want to, don't have to.

The constant stream of new players and new items for sale gives me real hope PS2 will grow over many years as opposed to PS1 that was declining after 6 months.

[DVSDelrith]

In my opinion this has just ruined the game for the majority of people that have played as hard as I have. I'd say it has ruined it for most of the people above BR50.

I've had people come to me who are under BR30 with close to 90k certs. In my lifetime I've earned almost 100k (I'm BR100, I've worked my ass off) and spent close to 200k station cash.

This makes my effort, and the effort of *everyone who didn't get these* look like it meant nothing.

The only thing we have right now as a reward for our playtime, effort, and dedication to the game was our cert gain above others.

Without that, there's really nothing to show for it. BR100? Nothing given for it. 90k certs EARNED through 20+ days solid gameplay? Doesn't matter.

I think it belittles everything people have worked for. Good majority of my outfit is at the point of uninstalling the game and I can't say I'm far behind them if it's not remedied. It really blows.

EDIT: I'm not saying people shouldn't be compensated, but they shouldn't be in this fashion. 15k SC = 30k certs? I've spent 200k, give me 400k certs and I'll be happy. Can't do it to some and not others....

[DirtyBird]

29k? add 20k...
(not me I got 10k)

[Chaff]

I don't believe those numbers. Sounds like sensationalism. However, if I get home and see ridiculous Cert Credits on one or more toon ...... not sure how many seconds it will take me to get over it. If it's happened, and it's a glitch, SOny will take them back to correct levels,.....then the REAL HOWLING will commence.....hooo boy, what a can-of-worms this could turn out to be.......

BTW, if you spent $200K worth of SC, you should be getting more Cert Credits than anyone else - by a huge margin.

All I really want to see right now is Sony allow everyone to Reset their entire Cert Tree for no charge. Oh, and add a resale feature. I can sell a $700 SC weapon back to the store for $50 in SC .... that would take some sting outta some of the BS Sony has pulled on what has been a damn loyal customer base up to this point in time.

.

[Sakaryu]

What do BR100 people have to worry about? Just because people can now buy more stuff doesn't make the game worse for you. That would be like saying this game is unfair because a BR30 with few cert upgrades fighting a BR100 with decked out gear is possible. Your reward for playing the game so religiously is the certs you earned and the fun (I hope) you had. I am unable to spend large amounts of time on PS2 due to life. I have spent maybe 200$ on the game because I enjoy it. I have different friends who don't like playing the same empire. I bought gear on almost every empire. I was a little upset when they did account wide unlocks because I had most of the NS stuff bought but I was more happy that the stuff that I didn't unlock would be available for all my characters. These certs make the game better for me but I fail to see how it makes it worse for you.

[DVSDelrith]

What do BR100 people have to worry about? Just because people can now buy more stuff doesn't make the game worse for you. That would be like saying this game is unfair because a BR30 with few cert upgrades fighting a BR100 with decked out gear is possible. Your reward for playing the game so religiously is the certs you earned and the fun (I hope) you had. I am unable to spend large amounts of time on PS2 due to life. I have spent maybe 200$ on the game because I enjoy it. I have different friends who don't like playing the same empire. I bought gear on almost every empire. I was a little upset when they did account wide unlocks because I had most of the NS stuff bought but I was more happy that the stuff that I didn't unlock would be available for all my characters. These certs make the game better for me but I fail to see how it makes it worse for you.

BR100 + our certs set us above other people not only in skill a lot of the time but with the availability to use *way* more then the standard person. We worked to be able to switch weapons when we want, be harder to kill, have better vehicles... IT WAS THE ENDGAME.

If there's people who spent 10,000 station cash and got 20,000 certs, or spent 50,000 station cash (Which I know some people did) and got 100,000 certs... It completely removes the point of progression and working towards 100.

[DVSDelrith]

BTW, if you spent $200K worth of SC, you should be getting more Cert Credits than anyone else - by a huge margin.


I spent a lot of the money I won at the Auraxis Challenge on SC, on my NC character.

I didn't get any certs for it, and I'm glad I didn't.

I don't think ANYONE should be given certs for station cash, it's the ONLY THING WE CAN EARN THAT MATTERS.

[Sakaryu]

BR100 + our certs set us above other people not only in skill a lot of the time but with the availability to use *way* more then the standard person. We worked to be able to switch weapons when we want, be harder to kill, have better vehicles... IT WAS THE ENDGAME.

If there's people who spent 10,000 station cash and got 20,000 certs, or spent 50,000 station cash (Which I know some people did) and got 100,000 certs... It completely removes the point of progression and working towards 100.

You know, other than playing the game and enjoying it.

[Kail]

I've had people come to me who are under BR30 with close to 90k certs. In my lifetime I've earned almost 100k (I'm BR100, I've worked my ass off) and spent close to 200k station cash.


I don't doubt some people got a ton of certs, but 90k? That means at minimum 90 duplicate weapons; Assuming you only bought big bundles (10 items), and that you already have half of them .. that'd mean someone bought at least 18 bundles with half of the items already unlocked.

Which means that person has been what, buying close to every bundle since the game came out on multiple characters?

[EVILPIG]

As a member of the SOE Community Council as a representative of the Planetside Community, I wanted to make sure this was correct. I received 47,000 Cert Points. I contacted a developer to see if this was incorrect. You receive 2 certs per 1 SC spent on redundancies. They checked my account and found that my numbers are correct and I received the correct amount. Yes, I basically reported myself. This controversy is hot right now, but it will die down. On one side, it seems unfair to those who received little to nothing. For those who spent a lot of money, you are not getting money back, just something of virtual value that can only be used in Planetside 2.

There are many ways to argue this. Probably the biggest is the value of time and well, that's relevant. I don't know what people's time is worth, nor do I know how people got the money they spent in game. Either way, it boils down to SOE giving back something that takes time to earn in game, for money that cannot be returned.

[DVSDelrith]

Which means that person has been what, buying close to every bundle since the game came out on multiple characters?

Yeah there's people in our outfit like that.

[Kail]

Yeah there's people in our outfit like that.

Jeebus

[EVILPIG]

Jeebus

I have spent about 100,000 SC since release.

[Kail]

I have spent about 100,000 SC since release.

Oh I wasn't commenting on how much station cash it's possible to spend - with cosmetics it ramps up hella quickly. I was just pointing out how much duplicate weapon purchasing needed to occur to reach those kinds of cert gains.

You're actually a great counter-example; you've spent a ton of SC, but only 47k certs. That's a metric ton as well, but a lot easier to understand than 90k.

[DirtyBird]

As a bourbon connoisseur and representing myself only at this stage, the amount people got compensated doesn't worry me nor have any effect on my game at all.

[EVILPIG]

Oh I wasn't commenting on how much station cash it's possible to spend - with cosmetics it ramps up hella quickly. I was just pointing out how much duplicate weapon purchasing needed to occur to reach those kinds of cert gains.

You're actually a great counter-example; you've spent a ton of SC, but only 47k certs. That's a metric ton as well, but a lot easier to understand than 90k.

My response wasn't specific to you, but 90k is crazy. Bear in mind though that they only had to spend 45k in redundancies to get that. Crazy, but quite possible. I imagine that those who "won the lottery" are quite rare in the population.

[Chewy]

I just joined to say I received a 28k payout.
http://i.imgur.com/IfrG9jF.png
I can almost for certain say I'm a little bias.

How many things did you double buy?

[bpostal]

As a bourbon connoisseur and representing myself only at this stage, the amount people got compensated doesn't worry me nor have any effect on my game at all.

That's about the way I see it.
For me, the endgame starts at BR 15. When I have all three loadouts unlocked.

[DVSDelrith]

http://i.imgur.com/OUjimdo.jpg

Alright, stop saying there's no proof now. I think you can see why there's an issue.

[bpostal]

http://i.imgur.com/OUjimdo.jpg

Alright, stop saying there's no proof now. I think you can see why there's an issue.

So because these guys have c4 and shit like you do 'without putting in the work' you're angry?

[Sakaryu]

How many things did you double buy?
A couple bundles.
I feel like this Cert payout is like a Tax Refund. Those who didn't pay much in taxes are screaming at those who did.

[Lonehunter]

A friend of mine only buys things in bundles, and we think he was given a full refund for each one's full price cert cost. Plus he got it on ALL 3 of his characters, instead of just refunding the alts for something his main bought, he got certs for all 3, and kept weapons for all.

Plus didn't someone on the official forums get like 30k certs? That's fuggin ridiculous lol. Of course no one knew SOE would eventually turn their Station Cash into certs, but has still broke one of it's promises.

They gave certs for money

Edit: and Delrith brings up a really great point. The cert inflation screwed that leaderboard, reminds me of the Outfit point cap in PS1 lol.

[Soothsayer]

Evilpig, I hope you loaded up your account with extra character slots like you were considering doing... I thought I had an awesome payout (in the same territory as yours)... then I logged onto the other 9 characters on my account! hah total kerfeckingching! haha

[Baneblade]

I received none above the normal. I had no reason to receive any.

[Sakaryu]

I want to apologize for my earlier comment about people screaming at others. I know there are people who received payouts who don't really want them. I don't think these cert bonuses should count towards the leader board. Then again I don't really care for the leader boards. I can kind of understand the pride you get from it but that is aside from the point. Just because other people now have more weapons or C4, like one person put it, doesn't effect your game negatively. Sure you feel like you are entitled to be better than other people for putting so much time into this game but that is pretty selfish and one way. Lobby based games combat this unevenness in unlocks via matchmaking (although its done very poorly in most cases). If you are upset because people can now kill you almost as easily as you can kill them, you are a troubled person. Upset because of the leader board, that is more understandable.

[Falcon_br]

Higby said characters that bought bundles that had duplicate weapons, camos, etc also got refunds. So that may be where some of you are seeing those certs from.

My case, just got one chat and I received 1.400 certs today!

I warned everyone here, but the vehicle bundle to all your characters, it is almost 5k worth certs, if you buy them for all your 3 characters all of them would be receiving 15k certs today, I am playing since day one and I only have 18k certs with ONE character! (with the 1,4 k bonus).

[Hmr85]

Well, I for one didn't receive a payout like everybody else. I am a one faction kind of man. :ncrocks:

[Hamma]

Update via Higby:

Hey all -

I wanted to pop in quickly to talk about today's cert point grant. As you know, a couple weeks ago we implemented account-wide SC unlocks which made any item that was common pool available to any character on your account, and any faction specific items available to all characters of that faction on your account. At the time we promised that we would be looking into ways to compensate players who had purchased the same items on more than one character. Today's cert grant was the resolution of that promised compensation. The grant logic worked as follows:

For every SC that you spent buying an identical item, which would now be available as an account wide unlock on multiple characters, we gave 2 cert points.

For example, if you have two TR characters and bought MAX composite armor's on them both, you would have spent 1000 SC on a duplicated item on your account, and we will have granted your characters 2000 certs this morning.

Players who did not purchase the same item on multiple characters on the same account should not have been eligible for these cert grants, although some players are reporting that they did. We are investigating why, but right now it is our mistake and we won't be 'confiscating' or rolling back characters which received certs.

We are looking into reports of players who have purchased items that should have been flagged as account wide but did not receive cert grants, these seem to be for multiple purchases of common-pool vehicle weapons which were not captured as part of the database query we ran.

Additionally, if you purchased an individual item, and later a bundle that contained that individual item, we granted cert points at the same rate for the price of the items purchased from that bundle - this was an error in the logic that was used to collect the cert grants, so those of you who benefitted from this get an extra bonus.

We will be reevaluating if future changes to the account-wide unlocks will include a retroactive cert grant, at this point we are uncertain if we will continue to adhere to this policy; so fair warning to those of you who might want to create 5 characters and buy a ton of repeated stuff on them - it is not certain that this type of grant will ever occur again.

I hope this answers some of the questions as to what is happening with the grant today.

Thanks!
http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/some-notes-on-todays-cert-grants.114869/

[Lonehunter]

So if a weapon cost 700 SC and 1000 certs, and you got it refunded, they would give 2 certs per SC totaling 1400 certs. 400 more then the actual cert cost?

[ComerEste]

http://i.imgur.com/OUjimdo.jpg

Alright, stop saying there's no proof now. I think you can see why there's an issue.

Since you posted that picture, you have fallen to #17. That Blackweb guy who was just above you is now #3 with 122,806 certs. He logged in for 3 minutes and got 28,800 certs. lol just...wow.:eek:

For me though, I actually measure players by Facilities defended. In my opinion that number basically means how much of a team player you are, so it's the most important.

[Maarvy]

I tried to make people see the foolishness of granting certs in a post here last week even though i didnt imagine it would be this bad , none gave a toss then and I gave up trying .

Well I guess its realy come back and bit the game in the ass , reddit is litup with whining .

[Falcon_br]

I was doing the math here.
I received 1.400 certs because of the double bought prowler HE cannon.
But I did buy a weapon pack with the t5 AMC that I already have it from the alpha squad.
So, they are only counting the certs for sc items!
I wonder, and people that got the ns11 with certs with one soldier and bought it with SC with another character? I think for that crazy logic, both characters would receive 1.400 certs each, but maybe they didn't receive anything, and if that guy had a third character will he receive the weapon and 1.400 certs too?

The truth is, Sony did an uncalculated move, forgot to make the math, noone was expecting it, now they can't roll it back and made some of the most lame players to be on top of the certification scoreboard!
I really don't think what you can unlock with 91k certs, but considering that guy uses sc to buy all weapons in the game, 91k certs must be enought to get all skill to maximum level! Something a person should need 4 years to accomplish or more!

PS: I already opened up a support ticket to ask for 1.000 certs because I double unlocked the T5 AMC. 1.000 certs is like 10 hours of play for me!

[EVILPIG]

Evilpig, I hope you loaded up your account with extra character slots like you were considering doing... I thought I had an awesome payout (in the same territory as yours)... then I logged onto the other 9 characters on my account! hah total kerfeckingching! haha

Actually yes, I have 9.

[EVILPIG]

So if a weapon cost 700 SC and 1000 certs, and you got it refunded, they would give 2 certs per SC totaling 1400 certs. 400 more then the actual cert cost?

Yes and no. You get 1400, but that 1400 represent cash you won't get back. So it's 400 more certs, but cost you money to get.

[Maarvy]

(out4blood PS2 Forums) :A Reset to all player certifications (so everyone can recertify) will allow SoE to take away the unearned certs players have spent, while also giving everyone a nice thank you for playing at the same time.

I think this would be a very good solution to the current problem . No roll back and give the comunity something many have been asking for quite a while .

[Rolfski]

Miller's jackpot list. 200K on all your characters for just logging in, not too bad of a welcome to Casino Royale I guess:

http://i.imgur.com/LBSyFwi.jpg

[torokf]

I'm just gonna leave this here, pull your conclusions :eek:

http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/26k-cert-shopping-spree.114970/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NhGY8EcN-mE

the one who got 26k Certs

“Anyone know what caused this? I've only spent like $30 on PS2 and I don't have an account over BR 23.”



Q: “BR has nothing to do with it, its buying same item on more than 1 charector, or maybe a bundle where you already had an item inside it.... though 26K cert is a lot, what have you spent SC on if you don't mind me asking?”
A: I have:

-Vehicle Weapon Starter Pack for TR/VS.
-Infantry Starter Pack for VS.
-A couple of camos.
-Rocket pods for TR before the starter pack.

That's all I can remember, really.


and with like 30$ he got over 26k certs ahaha, now i'm not envious or anything, but i guess this is far beyond what they thought at SOE when they made the math behind the refund :lol:

[Mox]

I got 15k on all my chars and i dont know why. But i like it! I see it as a little present for spending 150 bucks so far.

[GamerGawd]

Devs have lost so much respect and integrity because of this.

its shameful and unprofessional, not to correct a huge mistake.

[Koadster]

This system is bugged, I knew account wide unlocks were planned so I never bought anything on my alts. ONLY my main.. Yet I still got 1000 cert points when I logged in today. Ill just take it as a 'thankyou' for buying AS and membership.

[Ghost Runner]

Big deal nothing in this game in upgrades makes you op so nothing gained by getting certs added, sorry some of you cant see this as just getting something back for your losses in real world money because of the account wide unlocks.

[Vashyo]

awwww, too bad I didnt win in the cert lottery :(

This just means we have more people with nanoweave 5 so snipers cant instagib people as easily anymore. Possibly tons more shotgunners too.

Miller's jackpot list. 200K on all your characters for just logging in, not too bad of a welcome to Casino Royale I guess:

http://i.imgur.com/LBSyFwi.jpg

That #1 player is gonna be extremely happy the next time he logs in :D



I'm really jelly of all of u guys who got atleast something :/

[SconX]

i received yesterday =0= Certs-and im happy...:) now i have a new challenge (on ceres): i pown noobs they get thousands of certs and their skill is still shit

[Rothnang]

I got a 1400 cert payout, which is because I once bought a bundle pack that contained two items I already owned.

While I'd like to keep those certs, when I really think about it, this entire thing kind of screwed up the game. I mean people getting upward of 20000 certs in one go is just crazy, that's more certs than most people have accumulated by playing since launch in a single second.

The reason why that's a problem is because those certs aren't going to put back into weapons like an SC refund would have done, they are going to go into unit upgrades that you are supposed to play for.

[Mordelicius]

No idea why people are complaining. It's SOE's mistake and loss if anything. They mistakenly gave out too many certs. Twenty six k certs? :doh:

They probably counted each part of a bundle as a whole, multiplied by the components. So, a 4 piece bundle for 1k SC gets counted as 4k SC purchase and rewards 8k certs. Just a guess....

[almalino]

I got 6000 certs. WOW!

I have 2 char slots and I play only 1 of them for NC. Also I never bought bundles, only individual weapons. Granted I spent more then 100 Euros on the game already.

May be SOE appreciate this by giving me so freaking many certs :)

I play only on weekends only and to earn so many certs I would need to play 2.5 months!!!!!

Edit:
Or not? I checked my certs here:
https://players.planetside2.com

Does it show all certs earned since beginning or currently available certs on my account?

[DirtyBird]

Once you have over 10000 saved certs do you not earn any more?

reason I ask is I am over 10k saved and after 30mins play and although my score is sitting on 20k points I've not earned any certs during this session.

[Carbon Copied]

@DirtyBird: Correct you do not earn any when over the 10k cap.

[DirtyBird]

Thx.
I am actually now seeing the cert bar move but at the current rate I'd need half a million points to earn another cert.
Better get spending.

[Baneblade]

@DirtyBird: Correct you do not earn any when over the 10k cap.

Yep, so even if you want to take the moral high ground and not spend the certs you were given, you have to to even advance normally.

[almalino]

Could anyone confirm about Certs value here under stats tab:
https://players.planetside2.com


Is it:
- currently available certs to spend

or

- total certs earned since the beginning

?

[Assist]

Could anyone confirm about Certs value here under stats tab:
https://players.planetside2.com


Is it:
- currently available certs to spend

or

- total certs earned since the beginning

?

It's total earned.


I really don't get all the bitching people are doing. It's not pay to win at all, these people paid, SoE made a decision to change how weapon sales go (Based on player feedback) and they gave them all certs(better than SC imo) as a reward for their design decision.

These people with 10000000 certs are not any better because they got the certs. This just shows how many players out there think Battle Rank means something in this game, There are so many horrible BR90+ who've earned tons of certs out there that you would think by now the community has realized that certs are not a means to an end.

Anyone who thinks this cert payout is going to hurt their game play experience is just dumb, IMO. You get killed by BR10's with tank mines already, how the hell are you going to know if he has 100,000 certs in the bank and more importantly, why the fuck do you care?

[Assist]

http://i.imgur.com/OUjimdo.jpg

Alright, stop saying there's no proof now. I think you can see why there's an issue.

As if your stats are close to legit Delrith. I'd love to know how some of your stats changed in the past, but I guess we'll never find out. It's like how you were at 30 days played one day and the next you were down to 19. The statisitics don't seem to be even close to correct on the leaderboards or the players site.

[almalino]

It's total earned.

Thank you!

Crap. No free certs for me then. I'm wondering then why it shows 30% of certs next to 6000. What that 30% means?

[Falcon_br]

Could anyone confirm about Certs value here under stats tab:
https://players.planetside2.com


Is it:
- currently available certs to spend

or

- total certs earned since the beginning

?

It is total for me.

[almalino]

It is total for me.

So I have pathetic 6000 certs earned playing since November 2012 every weekend?

And some people got 25 000 for free? :) I'm jealous.

[Assist]

What do I think? Well, considering that I've seen reports of players getting 25,000+ certs, other reports that purchases on the test server contributed to the cert grant, yet more reports of players that never bought anything getting certs, and countless "suck it up" posts on the official forums?

I think this is raw, unadulterated BS.

You can't buy anything on the test server.

That's about the way I see it.
For me, the endgame starts at BR 15. When I have all three loadouts unlocked.


Indeed. Anyone who thinks otherwise is just flat out wrong.

[Rolfski]

Some people get nothing, others get almost 200K. I can very well understand that this must be outraging to people, especially for the ones that have grinded hard for their certs an got nothing while others with almost no experience instantly surpass their hard earned character build.

Giving people unfair advantages touches the core of this game so I'm afraid SOE must do something to even out the playing field a bit. Normally I'm not a fan of roll-backs but in this case I'm afraid that that the negatives of unfair advantages damages the game more than the negatives of having your lottery prize taken away from you.

SOE should probably determine a good average most people got out of this, roll-back the servers and give all players the same cert amount.

[almalino]

Some people get nothing, others get almost 200K.

200k? Are you sure? It is enough to upgrade everything in the game to maximum and still some certs will remain :)

[Hamma]

I can certainly understand why people are upset about it in the end, specially after earning a ton of certs with actual playtime. Really though this is SOE's screwup, it's not like they said HEY YOU'RE BR1 HERE'S 40,000 CERTS. It was an across the board fail.

I think they should have just refunded SC like I said earlier in the thread it would have solved all these problems. Granting certs was a dumb way to go especially if you grant like 20,000 certs.. that's at minimum 20 weapons someone can buy when they probably only bought 3 or 4 on other characters.

They ended up giving away a bunch of SC in the end even though it was unintentional.

[ReachCast]

Facts:
bunch of certs give people an advantage

Sc refund probably would have been a better way to go

Skill still trumps certs

Opinion:
Games still fun for me


Sincerely,
Torkz

[almalino]

Facts:
bunch of certs give people an advantage

Sc refund probably would have been a better way to go

Skill still trumps certs

Opinion:
Games still fun for me


Sincerely,
Torkz

I agree that SC refund wold have been better. Because certs you cannot buy with money.

So, even if I'm ready to invest to keep up with all these fre certs people get I cannot. I need to play 1 year to get the same amount of certs they got for free in a 1 day.

[Assist]

I can certainly understand why people are upset about it in the end, specially after earning a ton of certs with actual playtime. Really though this is SOE's screwup, it's not like they said HEY YOU'RE BR1 HERE'S 40,000 CERTS. It was an across the board fail.

I think they should have just refunded SC like I said earlier in the thread it would have solved all these problems. Granting certs was a dumb way to go especially if you grant like 20,000 certs.. that's at minimum 20 weapons someone can buy when they probably only bought 3 or 4 on other characters.

They ended up giving away a bunch of SC in the end even though it was unintentional.

The only thing that bothers me about it is that they decided 1 SC = 2 certs. I don't understand how they could of come to that conclusion.
Giving it on all characters seems like the lazy mans way of doing it as well. Should of just given certs to the characters who bought the 2nd duplicate.

But, I don't see the need for the huge uproar and people threatening to quit over it. It's not some game changing/breaking event.

[Rolfski]

200k? Are you sure? It is enough to upgrade everything in the game to maximum and still some certs will remain :)

Didn't you check my picture? Anyway here's the Briggs lottery board and as you can see, some got even around 220K:

http://i.imgur.com/e0gIQOm.jpg?1

Mind you, 200K translates to around 14000 dollar in SC and more XP than most players will ever see.

Basically, SOE screwed up their own MMO economy AND their micro-transaction business model overnight. This is rapidly unfolding in one of the biggest fuck-ups in MMO history and I feel sorry for them.

[Shamrock]

http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs42/f/2009/093/5/9/Double_Facepalm_by_ScotlandForLife.jpg

[Kail]

http://i.imgur.com/OUjimdo.jpg

Alright, stop saying there's no proof now. I think you can see why there's an issue.

If you were referring to me, I never said I didn't believe you. Just that getting those kind of payouts are hard to imagine.

I can certainly understand why people are upset about it in the end, specially after earning a ton of certs with actual playtime. Really though this is SOE's screwup, it's not like they said HEY YOU'RE BR1 HERE'S 40,000 CERTS. It was an across the board fail.

I think they should have just refunded SC like I said earlier in the thread it would have solved all these problems. Granting certs was a dumb way to go especially if you grant like 20,000 certs.. that's at minimum 20 weapons someone can buy when they probably only bought 3 or 4 on other characters.

They ended up giving away a bunch of SC in the end even though it was unintentional.

Yeah, although I also understand there are complications they didn't want to get into with returning cross-game currency. Really the only way to avoid a cert payout and the SC problem is to calculate the amount of duplicated SC, then grant that as membership time. Doesn't given people free certs, doesn't affect other games, works for everyone. Or a combination where after 10k Cert grants it converts to membership.

/shrug

Honestly to me it just means that certs are a bad thing to measure on the leaderboard - it really seems they need a brand new stat that isn't affected by boosts / grants / restores / refunds.

[Falcon_br]

Didn't you check my picture? Anyway here's the Briggs lottery board and as you can see, some got even around 220K:

http://i.imgur.com/e0gIQOm.jpg?1

Mind you, 200K translates to around 14000 dollar in SC and more XP than most players will ever see.

Basically, SOE screwed up their MMO economy AND their micro-transaction business model overnight. This is rapidly unfolding in one of the biggest fuck-ups in MMO history and I feel sorry for them.

So, the ends come as predicted, all because of that lame f2p business model that was really bad implemented.

[Chaff]

.
What I see here is a big ol' REALITY CHECK for many players. A reality "check" that some took to the bank. Some were left to spend all of their "reality check" on Kleenex to cry into. Sony should have returned Redundant Sation Cash back to the Character (alt) that players made any duplicate purchase on.

I believe Sony considered this option. However, SOE did NOT want to give SC .... in their eyes it represents LOST REVENUE .... if they gave players $500 SC, or $180,000 SC, they would project that out ...... and feel ALL those players would spend that "free" SC credit .... INSTEAD OF SPENDING MORE MONEY.

I would GLADLY spend 220,000 cert-credits on each character I have. It'd be nice to pretty much max-out every cert tree .... perhaps have enough certs to max nanoweave & flak armor, and have time to figure out which I prefer at my own slow pace. Even if i had "won" the Cert-Refund Lottery, I doubt my game effectiveness would change much. MY survivabilty is minutely better. When I die my unavoidable death, maybe now those better (still) than me will reap a small percentage more XP (from me doing 3.4% more damge than before). I'll still die,. But if I managed to live a little longer and get an extra kill or two - the same better players get MORE XP for killing my lame Lottery-Benefitting ass. IN-the-end, they'll earn back anything they "lost" via the fact that they will still be the better player they were before Sony made this move. Methinks it's more crying than necessary. Get over it ...... and don't obsess on "numbers" so much.

IT"S ABOUT MONEY FOLKS. Money talks, bullshit walks. Look at the PS2 store. To "earn" stuff via pure Cert-Grinding is doable, but very hard and likely very time consuming. Especially so for those of us who are poor shooters &/or Slow brain-hand-eye players.

The crying will die down. The guys that quit over this lose. They put in THE TIME. If they choose to throw away all the time they invested - they only punish themselves.

The better (more skilled) player will win at the same percentage he was winning prior to this Cert-Credit-Refund Fiasco. Some guys appear to have invested FAR TOO MUCH of their identity and perceived self-worth into their BR or Cert Ranking.

I got a healthy Cert Credit. I was dumb enough to spend too much money - and do it MORE STUPIDLY than I cared to think about at the time. Now, I've been rewarded for dumb purchases. I have better Flak armor today than I had two days ago. I'm still a poor player (who enjoys the game), and all the same guys will still kill me too fast to ever notice my name on thier scrolling list of kills ...... in the end, all this is still about SONY choosing the ONE WAY that appeared to them to not COST them any potential money. As dumb as I often am, I already knew how the World (and big business) works. Businesses exist to take our money - not to give us some great perfect product that fits our every whim & wish.
.

[Rolfski]

People having unfair advantages, being able to unlock everything is a serious game breaker for any game, especially a MMO. They need to repair this before all hell really breaks loose and trust is forever lost.

Best way to control damage is to act swift and decisive:

Roll-back server.
Give EVERY player the same amount of certs. This should be an amount that is higher than the average lottery cert prize outcome (probably 10K or so).
Send email with apologies.


They need to act NOW or damage will be irreversible.

[GraniteRok]

People having unfair advantages, being able to unlock everything is a serious game breaker for any game, especially a MMO. They need to repair this before all hell really breaks loose and trust is forever lost.

Best way to control damage is to act swift and decisive:

Roll-back server.
Give EVERY player the same amount of certs. This should be an amount that is higher than the average lottery cert prize outcome (probably 10K or so).
Send email with apologies.


They need to act NOW or damage will be irreversible.

Agreed! It is not too late to fix this. To wait it out would be a huge mistake on SOE's part.

[Carbon Copied]

I wonder if there will be anything mentioned on tonight's Command Centre.. although I doubt it bar the chat channel being a vicious torrent of arguing :rolleyes:

[Chaff]

.
Roll-back Server ? Really. ......like THAT wouldn't make this worse ?

Let EVERYONE unCERT, and then reCERT. It's not much. But, I'd LOVE IT. Sony does not owe us a server roll-back. Besides, I imagine that would completely unglue the player base.

Just let me reCERT. Also, allow "resale" in the CA$H Shop. Let me sell back my dumb or obsolete purchases for 1/10 of what I spent. This is a Goodwill (non money-grabbing) gesture Sony can afford to make, and someting they'd be wise to consider ..... even before this fiasco came into the picture. This is especially true since SOE stedily introduces better weapons which make what we have semi-obsolete in comparison. Sony needs to address their somewhat predatory wepons introduction policies/practices. In light of all the butt-hurt Cert-grinders, it more incumbant on them to become more customer-friendly.

Don't TURN THE GAME UPSIDE DOWN ..... right after they upset so many people. NO SERVER ROLL-BACK. That's a knee-jerk & WHACK response. Fix a questionable policy decision with a bigger cluster-fuck that affects absolutlely EVERYONE ?

They already said they won't undo what's been done. I say ask for something reasonable - as a gesture of goodwill from Sony. They made a mistake. We all have. This was a big one, but hardly a game breaker. MOST will get over it. By-the-sound-of-it, most saying they may quiit over this were very high BR/Certs. The people who bought & spent a lot of SC will NOT be the group who suffers here folks. THEY PAY FOR THIS GAME. Please, don't ask for the real reality of the World to not eixist somewhere within Sony's policies, business practices, and decisions. Not gonna happen. Unrealistic. It's cookoo.

Sony tried to correct an earlier oversight. They chose to credit accounts with Certs because they were too greedy to give (credit-back) Station Cash. That's all that happened. There's no conspiracy here.

Sometimes, Reality sucks.

If masses & masses of players are still bitter 2 or 3 weeks from now, they'll try to smooth things over by bringing back BFRs.
.

[SamizdatCowboy]

.
The people who bought & spent a lot of SC will NOT be the group who suffers here folks. THEY PAY FOR THIS GAME.
.

I'm sorry but comments like this piss. me. off.

I have spent several hundred dollars on this game, but I made the 'mistake' of spending it all on membership + boosts for a single character. I've probably spent more than many of these 'double purchase' lottery winners, but because I spent it on the 'wrong' thing I see zero benefit. As someone said on the official forums, this is a slap in the face to many paying customers, including myself.

I'm pissed off enough right now that unless this is fixed I am done with PS2. I've already opened a ticket asking for a refund of my remaining SC and Hero boost.

[SamizdatCowboy]

Granting certs was a dumb way to go especially if you grant like 20,000 certs.. that's at minimum 20 weapons someone can buy when they probably only bought 3 or 4 on other characters.
.

Hamma if it was just additional weapons people could unlock that actually wouldn't be too huge of a deal... The deeper problem is that this allows people to fully unlock cert trees, which were *only* supposed to be unlockable via play time. This is core to PS2's design and meta-game.

People keep getting hung up on gameplay balance, but pure balance in firefights will probably be fine.. it'll be weird that a BR15 is more fully kitted out than a BR70, but they'll still be able to kill one another.

However by giving away the endgame to a bunch of random people they basically broke the meta-game.

[Chaff]

.
.....poop happens. Sucks for you. Sucks for many others. One fix (attempted) brought new problems and generated ill-will and hurt feelings in other areas. I fear Sony will only make things WORSE....if they try to fix this. They have a track record in this regard.

However, it's a random axe that fell. Some benefitted. The ones that didn't feel cheated. That's life. Quit PS2 if that's how you feel. I do feel bad that some players now feel they wasted their time. Sony's Cert-Credit decision wasn't directed at you personally. Sony made a decision based on protecting their revenue stream. You, as a good "paying" customer, voting with your feet ... and leaving is the only way you have to influence future business decisions Sony makes. It's a sad state of affairs.

I've spewed too much of my opinions on this subject already. I hope Sony learns a lesson from this.

************************************************** *************************

Well, one last thought:

* Allow EVERYONE to RECERT 100% across the board.
* Everyone who got Cert-Credits is required to recert with the following adjustments:

1) No one gets more than a 25,000 Cert-Credits for redundant Cash Shop transactions.
2) Got 25,001 to 75,000 Cert-Credits ?...you drop to 25K + 1 free 6 mo XP Boost
3) 75,001-125,000 ? .... drop to 25K + 2 free 6 mo XP Boosts
4) 125,001-175,000 ? ..... drop to 25K + 3 free 6 mo XP Boosts
5) 175,001 and higher .... drops to 25K + 4 free 6 mo XP boosts

Sony can still "try" to correct how their earlier cash shop was too predatory, but downgrade the Cert-Credit Bonanza DRAMATICALLY ....... which hopefully would help turn the clock back on goodwill with their player base ..... yet leave enough for those who "won" the Cert-Credit Lottery to really have NO GROUNDS to bitch over Sony restructing things down to more realistic numbers.


.....just throwin' it out there......


.
.

[SpcFarlen]

I wonder if there will be anything mentioned on tonight's Command Centre.. although I doubt it bar the chat channel being a vicious torrent of arguing :rolleyes:

I doubt it, theyll probably mention them giving out Certs as a good gesture and leave it to that. All while chat erupts calling for their heads on a silver platter.

Not agreeing with that much anger but even my third grade math teacher would be rolling her eyes at how they handled this. A 700 SC weapon is also sold for 1000 certs. If they were going to give out certs, why not based on the exact pricing?

For one weapon they are, if the system actually worked as intended which we all know it has not, given 40% more certs. If you got 3 duplicates, you essentially got a free 1000 cert weapon or upgrade. That goes far beyond the bounds of a refund.

I myself am upset because the very system they created was flawed from the start and over paid people. I myself have three characters in different factions. I have bought them all composite armor and a helmet. I dont feel like i deserve to get Certs for that, and indeed i dont because those are "faction specific". So it baffles my mind to think how giving 1400 Certs for a 1000 Cert weapon was even thought of to be a good idea.

Going back to my third grade teacher rolling her eyes, 1400 does not and never will equal 1000. So who exactly came up with this flawed formula?

[satori]

However by giving away the endgame to a bunch of random people they basically broke the meta-game.

This

[EVILPIG]

Going back to my third grade teacher rolling her eyes, 1400 does not and never will equal 1000. So who exactly came up with this flawed formula?

You're comparing apples and oranges. It costs 1000 certs earned through play vs. their compensating for the loss of 700SC worth of money. Maybe too hard for some to understand, but that is the logic.

I'm not saying it was the best way to do it, but that is why the cert return for actual real world money is greater than the cert cost in game. Hell, you don't even have to play. If you log in a character once a day with Premium you can collect 336 Certs a week. Don't get too hung up on comparing values.

[Hamma]

Update:
Edit: Update 4/11/12 - 12pm PDT:

Quick update on this. We've seen a lot of people under the impression that somehow the cert grant was broken or given to "random players", and not players who spent Station Cash on repeat purchases. So far, after about 12 hours of investigating, and pouring through virtually every character on the list we've found zero characters who were granted certs that didn't make the appropriate StationCash purchases to warrant those cert grants based on the above grant logic. Yes, that includes all of these characters with 20-100k certs granted. A lot of confusion has come from players who purchased bundles which contained items that had previously or were subsequently purchased on other characters on their account - these were flagged as repeat purchases and treated as such. If you think you do know of someone who did receive certs without purchasing any duplicated items, we are really interested in knowing more, and you can email me directly ([email protected]) with that information and we will look into it. We are still compiling a list of players who did not receive cert points for certain duplicated purchases.

We've definitely heard the frustration from players who were not part of this grant, and looking at some of the astronomical numbers of cert points that certain accounts received it's understandable why. It's worth noting that less than 5% of our player population was granted certs from this and less than 0.03% of players received anything more than 2000 certs from the grants.

As a note, we don't want "granted" certs to be part of the leaderboards, so in a future update those certs will be removed so that only "earned" certs are being displayed to ensure that the leaderboards more accurately reflect level of effort of the player.

I realize this update isn't going to make those of you who are upset about this cert grant less upset, but it's information we felt was worth sharing so people could have a better understanding of what is actually happening, amid a lot of misinformation being spread around.

I want to emphasize that our goal on this grant, as with all decisions made on this project, is to provide the best possible overall experience for our players. Moving beyond this incident, we will be reevaluating our policies for future compensations to ensure we have methods that do not cause the kind of impact to our player community that this admittedly has.

Finally, to those of you who feel betrayed or hurt by this incident, we humbly apologize.

http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/some-notes-on-todays-cert-grants.114869/

[Chaff]

.

....if they didn't require you log in every day for that kind of "passive" cert gain, I'd pay the extra $$$$$$ ..... plus, you get $500 SC each month somewhere in the process of building up to a Premium membership, right ?


88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888 88888888888


....jsut saw Hamma post something from Higby. My response;

Thanks Higby for not hiding, apologizing to those who needed it, and admitting y'all have room to grow.


*****************************************

.....I've been married for over 30 years, so I KNOW what it feels like to get ROASTED for mistakes
that every human is prone to make from time to time...... heads up and keep up the good fight.

.

.

[Rolfski]

So far, after about 12 hours of investigating, and pouring through virtually every character on the list we've found zero characters who were granted certs that didn't make the appropriate StationCash purchases to warrant those cert grants based on the above grant logic.
This is just bullocks, I got refunded 3400 certs (= 1700 SC) but I never spend any dime on duplicate weapons/items.
All was invested into my main TR character. Will send him an email.

[Chaff]

I hear y' Rolfski ...... Please, read my post from the bottom of pg-6 .... any chance you see merit in the bottom-half of that post ?..... cuz I was looking at the regain trust issue as well ..... searching for something that would be more palpable to the masses ..... there was a huge divide created via the Cert-Credit-Lottery.

[SpcFarlen]

You're comparing apples and oranges. It costs 1000 certs earned through play vs. their compensating for the loss of 700SC worth of money. Maybe too hard for some to understand, but that is the logic.

I'm not saying it was the best way to do it, but that is why the cert return for actual real world money is greater than the cert cost in game. Hell, you don't even have to play. If you log in a character once a day with Premium you can collect 336 Certs a week. Don't get too hung up on comparing values.

But you are paying for that service of getting 336 certs, and at 10-15 dollars a month you are certainly over paying for those certs if indeed, as you say, SC should have a much higher value to that of certs.

When ever a product is sold with two currencies you in turn equate the two. If i said this cow is worth six chickens or two goats. Six chickens are equal to two goats because no matter what payment method you choose, you get a cow. So no its not apples and oranges, its how an economy works when multiple currencies are involved. They are not 1:1, but a value is given to each of them based on the others. So three chickens could equal a goat. Two cows could equal a a dozen chickens.

The time and effort spent to get an unlock is equal to the amount of real world money it is to bypass the time and effort. If you either make the time and effort such a large amount that real world money is more viable you get into the grey area of pay to win, not in the classic sense of golden bullets (thank god we dont have those). Also inversely if you make time and effort so minuscule that real world money doesnt correlate, you devalue the f2p model for that game. SOE doesnt make money because people would rather just 'grind' it out.

So yes, time and effort has to be equal to real world money. Certs have to be equal to SC otherwise the playerbase would drastically prefer one over the other.

[Falcon_br]

So, now that they confirmed they screwed everything the only thing they will do is to remove those certs from the scoreboard?
Great move SOE!

[Chaff]

The leaderboard has NEVER been anything I pay attention to. I fear if they had a "loser" board, I'd be a hot commodity. I learned it's everything to a LOT of players. Silly me.

Sony has to balance between F2p being too much cheaper in the overall $$$$ revenue stream. Many people don't do any math, or goat-to-chicken calculations. Sony has to skew things - because money is king. They want paying customers - partially to subsidize all the free players who help make it fun by providing us all healthy Pop levels.

Unfortunately, Sony miscalculated (especially players) .... and gave back 2 Golden gooses for every SC chicken.

doh !

.

[EVILPIG]

This is just bullocks, I got refunded 3400 certs (= 1700 SC) but I never spend any dime on duplicate weapons/items.
All was invested into my main TR character. Will send him an email.

Rolfski, how many characters do you have and what did you buy for them? Don't need names, just Character A, B etc..

[RedOak]

So, now that they confirmed they screwed everything the only thing they will do is to remove those certs from the scoreboard?
Great move SOE!

He did just the opposite of confirming they screwed everything. He gave info about what happened, understands some are angry about it, and apologized to the upset. How did you extract the exact opposite from what he said?

[RedOak]

This is just bullocks, I got refunded 3400 certs (= 1700 SC) but I never spend any dime on duplicate weapons/items.
All was invested into my main TR character. Will send him an email.
I look forward to reading the response to it. I have a mild suspicion its fine the way it is.

[Rolfski]

A lot of confusion has come from players who purchased bundles which contained items that had previously or were subsequently purchased on other characters on their account - these were flagged as repeat purchases and treated as such.

What does this exactly mean? Does this also cover bundle sales that contains items you already bought on your same character?
Meaning: If I bought the "vehicle starter bundle" that contained a gun I already owned, they refunded that gun?
If so, that would explain something.

Besides these questions, I still find it hard to believe that people got 200K in certs refunded. That's roughly 14000 dollar worth of SC (at 700SC = 1000 cert rate).
I guess some people are really crazy but this touches imagination.

Rolfski, how many characters do you have and what did you buy for them? Don't need names, just Character A, B etc..
I have TR (main), a NC (alt) and Vanu (alt). All was spend on my TR so the only way for me to explain this refund is the example above: Repeated sale on a single character because of a gun you already own being part of a bundle you bought, which is NOT what Higby stated btw.

[EVILPIG]

What does this exactly mean? Does this also cover bundle sales that contains items you already bought on your same character?
Meaning: If I bought the "vehicle starter bundle" that contained a gun I already owned, they refunded that gun?
If so, that would explain something.

Besides these questions, I still find it hard to believe that people got 200K in certs refunded. That's roughly 14000 dollar worth of SC (at 700SC = 1000 cert rate).
I guess some people are really crazy but this touches imagination.

Granted that should probably be divided by the X2 and X3 SC events, even if all $14000 worth was purchased at full price, there are people in our society that can easily afford such luxuries. It's all relevant to the person. I love this game and if I was WEALTHY, I'd probably own everything too.

[Sardus]

The way I see it: you can give someone else all the certs in the game and I'll still kill em ;)

[Striker KOJ]

Yeah I'm inclined to not really believe that the 12 hours of thorough investigation really figured it all out. As far as I can recall, my character (Striker9 - VS Connery) should not have been elligible for ANY certification points, however I received closed to 6000 certs. To the best of my knowledge:

I only have one character, so I made no dupicate purchases.
I never purchased a bundle which contained items I had already purchased, as the bundle price did not offer a savings (generally).

I probably did purchase some weapons that may have qualified for this "compensation" program (like a MAX burster arm), but again, as I only have the one character I'm not sure why I received ANY certs at all.

So their claim that they made absolutely no mistakes seems false to me, but I can't be assed to go out of my way to prove why they fucked up, because that's not my job.

But just keep telling us you know what you're doing, SOE. If you say something enough, it must be true.

[Striker KOJ]

Yeah I'm inclined to not really believe that the 12 hours of thorough investigation really figured it all out. As far as I can recall, my character (Striker9 - VS Connery) should not have been elligible for ANY certification points, however I received closed to 6000 certs. To the best of my knowledge:

I only have one character, so I made no dupicate purchases.
I never purchased a bundle which contained items I had already purchased, as the bundle price did not offer a savings (generally).

I probably did purchase some weapons that may have qualified for this "compensation" program (like a MAX burster arm), but again, as I only have the one character I'm not sure why I received ANY certs at all.

So their claim that they made absolutely no mistakes seems false to me, but I can't be assed to go out of my way to prove why they fucked up, because that's not my job.

But just keep telling us you know what you're doing, SOE. If you say something enough, it must be true.

Well Higby checked my account personally, and figured out which items I purchased that qualified. So, perhaps not false.

May disagree with the way it was handled, but at least it was implemented correctly.

[ringring]

Well Higby checked my account personally, and figured out which items I purchased that qualified. So, perhaps not false.

May disagree with the way it was handled, but at least it was implemented correctly.

Thanks for the update, good to know.

I wondered about my own cert grant. I can't recall buying anything on anything other than my main, but I know I make mistakes from time to time .. sooo .... I'm satisfied the grant was done right.

[Assist]

I don't even know if I got any :| I always have like 1500+, it's like a bank acct, don't want that thing to get too low cause you never know what might happen and you'll wish you had it! (Like new guns releasing!)

[Rolfski]

I got personal word from Higby as well: If you ever bought a bundle with a gun you already owned, they refunded that gun.

I'm still waiting for an explanation on why I got this same cert amount refunded on my other characters as well. I didn't spend any SC on them so this totally doesn't make sense.

[bpostal]

I don't even know if I got any :| I always have like 1500+, it's like a bank acct, don't want that thing to get too low cause you never know what might happen and you'll wish you had it! (Like new guns releasing!)

Just keep it under 10k :D

[Rolfski]

Granted that should probably be divided by the X2 and X3 SC events, even if all $14000 worth was purchased at full price, there are people in our society that can easily afford such luxuries. It's all relevant to the person. I love this game and if I was WEALTHY, I'd probably own everything too.
Now imagine that person got 14000 dollar worth of SC refunded on ALL his three characters, totalling 42K dollar. That's really pushing imagination, right?

Well, I just got worth from Higby and this is exactly what happened. Grants were given on all characters, no matter if people spend SC on them, which explains a lot of the confusion.
So I spend 3400 certs/1700 SC duplicate because of guns in TR bundles I already owned and SOE decided to give that on my other characters as well, effectively trippling my refund.

[Whiteagle]

Well, I for one didn't receive a payout like everybody else. I am a one faction kind of man. :ncrocks:
Same here... :ncsucks: :trrocks:

[Climhazzard]

[...] other reports that purchases on the test server contributed to the cert grant [...]

SC purchases are disabled on the Test Server.

I'm wondering then why it shows 30% of certs next to 6000. What that 30% means?

That just means you're 30% of the way toward earning your next Certification Point.

I think they should have just refunded SC like I said earlier in the thread it would have solved all these problems.

Since SC exists on a level above any particular SOE game, I have a feeling that individual development teams don't have the ability to make direct SC deposits to a player's account. They can only make withdrawals. Any other change to a player's SC balance could possible have to go through Customer Service.

I'm still waiting for an explanation on why I got this same cert amount refunded on my other characters as well. I didn't spend any SC on them so this totally doesn't make sense.

It was either a conscious decision or the database query would have been far, far too complex.

[Falcon_br]

I got personal word from Higby as well: If you ever bought a bundle with a gun you already owned, they refunded that gun.

I'm still waiting for an explanation on why I got this same cert amount refunded on my other characters as well. I didn't spend any SC on them so this totally doesn't make sense.

It is not 100% true.

I just received 1.400 certs because I double bought the prowler HE in the vehicle starter bundle and in the tank bundle.

But I already had the T5 AMC from the alpha squad and I got the infantry weapon bundle, that contains the same weapon.

No extra certs for that, I think alpha squad weapons should be counted as SC purchased weapon, but this can increase the problem even futher, because if people with 9+ characters and the alpha squad, would receive puls 9.000 certs because of that!

Because I only got 1 character, I opened a support ticket to ask for those 1.000 certs.

I also discovery that the tank bundle have a underlight for the lighting, but I am already triple check my character and can´t find it, just discovery several people had perceived that months ago and only the ones that opened a support ticket received the light!

[Ghoest9]

This is the lamest whine yet - and many of you guys are really good at lame whines.


I dont think i got any free certs(all but 1 items i have purchased so far has been for one toon.)


And I dont feel at all at a disadvantage. Im guessing that most of the people who got significant amounts of certs back - already have lots of certs.
Im sure they enjoy more certs but I dont think it will make them more dangerous players.

[Rolfski]

This is the lamest whine yet - and many of you guys are really good at lame whines.


I dont think i got any free certs(all but 1 items i have purchased so far has been for one toon.)


And I dont feel at all at a disadvantage. Im guessing that most of the people who got significant amounts of certs back - already have lots of certs.
Im sure they enjoy more certs but I dont think it will make them more dangerous players.
The unfair advantage is not so much in how much stronger you are with everything unlocked, it's the fact that you can instantly pay yourself into all these abilities and surpass abilities of level 100 players in a blink of an eye.
Certs were designed as something you earn over time and SC as something you buy into but NOT for straight upgrades. The latest grants have blurred that line.

[Chewy]

Edit: Update 4/11/12 - 12pm PDT:

Quick update on this. We've seen a lot of people under the impression that somehow the cert grant was broken or given to "random players", and not players who spent Station Cash on repeat purchases. So far, after about 12 hours of investigating, and pouring through virtually every character on the list we've found zero characters who were granted certs that didn't make the appropriate StationCash purchases to warrant those cert grants based on the above grant logic. Yes, that includes all of these characters with 20-100k certs granted. A lot of confusion has come from players who purchased bundles which contained items that had previously or were subsequently purchased on other characters on their account - these were flagged as repeat purchases and treated as such. If you think you do know of someone who did receive certs without purchasing any duplicated items, we are really interested in knowing more, and you can email me directly ([email protected]) with that information and we will look into it. We are still compiling a list of players who did not receive cert points for certain duplicated purchases.

We've definitely heard the frustration from players who were not part of this grant, and looking at some of the astronomical numbers of cert points that certain accounts received it's understandable why. It's worth noting that less than 5% of our player population was granted certs from this and less than 0.03% of players received anything more than 2000 certs from the grants.

As a note, we don't want "granted" certs to be part of the leaderboards, so in a future update those certs will be removed so that only "earned" certs are being displayed to ensure that the leaderboards more accurately reflect level of effort of the player.

I realize this update isn't going to make those of you who are upset about this cert grant less upset, but it's information we felt was worth sharing so people could have a better understanding of what is actually happening, amid a lot of misinformation being spread around.

I want to emphasize that our goal on this grant, as with all decisions made on this project, is to provide the best possible overall experience for our players. Moving beyond this incident, we will be reevaluating our policies for future compensations to ensure we have methods that do not cause the kind of impact to our player community that this admittedly has.

Finally, to those of you who feel betrayed or hurt by this incident, we humbly apologize.

-
mh


http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/some-notes-on-todays-cert-grants.114869/
Higby gave an update to this cert fuckup. Link above and I quoted it for everyone. It isn't as bad as the hysteria made it out to be but Im still going to be pissy about this and move on after a few more hissy fits.