My CC rant

[Pilgrim]

ok, so I'm a bit miffed I'll take my points in order so people may respond (and please do)

1) Core Combat is a pay for expansion, just want to make that clear. It costs 30 bucks. For that money I get 3 new weapons, 3 new vehicles and 6 zones with a new twisty CTF game.

2) By the time CC comes out I'll have paid 100 bucks to SOE for the privilage of playing.

3) The reason they said, early on, that they would do expansions was because the content would be to vast and too much data to download. (So out of curiosity how many people have downloaded Core Combat allready?)

4) We're still waiting for content they promised us at release (can you say loadstar anyone!)

So my bitch here is Why? Why are they making this a paid expansion? I like the concept, and think it will be fun with lots of people in the caverns, but haven't we as the consumer allready paid enough for this game.

I personelly will swallow it down and buy CC when it comes out, but I have a job, and income, and these other fun things that people over the age of 20 have. Lots of players don't have this.

Just frustrated with the mentallity of zero Value that I've felt from SOE for as long as I've been using their products.

So please respond, out side of evil corporate greed explain to me why we are paying for this!

That is all



PAX

[I Hate Pants]

hmmmm... Wanna beer?

[Jagd]

Money is the way of the world. It has been pretty obvious from the get-go that this game is beyond the scope of every other FPS out there, and that to play it you would have to pay a monthly fee. They have never said that expansions would be free, although they have definitely exaggerated about the amount of "free new content" they would make available to subscribers. The only thing they could feasibly do, would be to include a free month with the purchase of the expansion. Do I think that will ever happen? Nope.

People seem to forget how long this game was in development, and how much overhead they have to keep the 5 servers running almost 24/7. And if you think about it, each "server" is actually a cluster of continent and zone servers, with hella bandwidth to keep the game buzzing along like it does. Watching my ping in zerg battles reveals that any slowdowns can be blamed on my computer not rendering fast enough, and not network lag.

Can you imagine a company creating a game like Planetside and not expecting higher than normal return on investment? Seriously, if you had a designer come and pitch you the idea of an online game with all these servers and the capacity for thousands of people playing at the same time, but just wanted to sell it for $60 and then the occasional $30 expansion, you would laugh in his face. The risks in undertaking a ground-breaking project like this are significant, and therefore the business case for it has to include much more revenue potential. That's business, plain and simple.

So in conclusion, while it would be a nice gesture for them to include a free month with every expansion, you wouldn't find a bean counter in the world who would sign off on it, because it would cost them tens of thousands of dollars. And don't delude yourself, the developers (programmers, game designers, etc) do not get to make those kind of decisions. So are they raking in the cash over at SOE? I don't doubt it for a second. Should we hate them for it? Only if we hate everyone who has to make decisions based on financials. Guess who makes decisions based on financials? You, me, and pretty much everyone else in our wonderful capitalistic society.
-Jagd

[Infernus]

1) You expected different? Was MoH Allied Assualt:Spearhead not something you had to pay for? How about all of the Sims expansions? Do you even know why they have you paying 12.00 a month?

2) Hmmm pay to play... I wonder if that means....

3) It would be to big to download, currently they are releasing it in small packs of (insert size here). Now suppose you downloaded after release, would you want it in small staggered patches or one large "GIVE ME MY GAME NOW!" patch... dont sound fun to me.

4) They may still be working on the Loadstar, but its already been established that they dont want to make it the 'Platoon Galaxy' by having it fly around mass ground transports. That would negate the use of another vehicle...

All in all it would seem you refuse to face alreay acknowledged facts...

[Nitsch]

Originally Posted by Jagd

Although they have definitely exaggerated about the amount of "free new content" they would make available to subscribers.

This is my only gripe too. If they had enough time to create a whole new expansion... why haven't they had enough time to produce the Loadstar and a bunch of the other features promised?

[Pilgrim]

Infernus:

Good points.

To reply,

1) A single player game like MOHAA has no promise of continueing content, you don't pay a monthly for it, and no one expects free content so the comparison is like apples ot oranges. Yes I do know why I pay 12 bucks a month, but a part of the bargain that SOE promised was continueing contnent updates.

2) Just pointing out the ammount, 40 bucks for the game, 12 bucks a month, sense release... get's up there.

3) If it's too big to do all at once, then why not do it the exact same way they are doing it now. They are not really expecting people to go out and get the CD most of the current player base (minus the 56k folk) will have it downloaded when they are charged for it... see the problem here. I appreciate the convenience, but this sends a really bad message.

4) Loadstars aside, the new content we've gotten has been... at best half-assed. we got one new aircraft, and a new buggy... neat.

I do know the facts. I've been in sense Beta and this is the only pay for play game that I've ever kept with for longer then 3 months. It just feels like they're punishing the current player base because the game they released wasn't %100 ready to go. If it had been the player base would have been larger, and Core combat like things would be free.

Also the only reason to charge for CC is that they need to put up new servers for the CORE zones. That's fine. I get that. but other then that, why?

[SandTrout]

Don't forget that we're also geting pounder, DC, JH, and stiker nerfs for those $10 a month(I was stupid and bought the year contract )

[Happy lil Elf]

ok, so I'm a bit miffed I'll take my points in order so people may respond (and please do)

Ok.

1) Core Combat is a pay for expansion, just want to make that clear. It costs 30 bucks. For that money I get 3 new weapons, 3 new vehicles and 6 zones with a new twisty CTF game.

Wait, are you trying to imply that there was confusion about whether or not people would have to pay for CC? God, I hope not. And, yes, those are the essentials of what you'll get. If spending $30 to get those things doesn't appeal to you, don't buy the expansion. It's that simple.

2) By the time CC comes out I'll have paid 100 bucks to SOE for the privilage of playing.

Hi. Planetside is a pay to play game. Again, if paying to play a FPS doesn't appeal to you, by all means no one is stopping you from cancelling. This particular horse died long ago. Please don't beat it anymore.

[quote]3) The reason they said, early on, that they would do expansions was because the content would be to vast and too much data to download. (So out of curiosity how many people have downloaded Core Combat allready?)[quote]Some have downloaded it already, but not many. If you preordered you've downloaded parts of it, but not the entire thing. Now yes if you're in the beta you've downloaded it. but somehow I seriously doubt you're in the beta so you really have no idea how large the download is, do you?

4) We're still waiting for content they promised us at release (can you say loadstar anyone!)

Lodestar wasn't promised at release. I was promised awhile after it. It's also still coming.

So my bitch here is Why? Why are they making this a paid expansion? I like the concept, and think it will be fun with lots of people in the caverns, but haven't we as the consumer allready paid enough for this game.

If you, as a consumer, feel you've paid enough, then cancel. If on the other hand you still want to play the game, suck it up and quit bitching about it. You agreed to pay that much to play. You were not forced. You were not coerced. You made a concious decision to spend your money in this manner. Crying about it after the fact is childish.

I personelly will swallow it down and buy CC when it comes out, but I have a job, and income, and these other fun things that people over the age of 20 have. Lots of players don't have this.

Is this an attempt to play on sympathy for the poor disenfranchised gamers of the world? News flash for you. If you're so low on funds you can barely afford the $12/month and the $30 for the expansion means you won't be able to eat, you probably shouldn't be spending money on any MMO game. If you're in that dire of straights an expansion costing $30 should be the least of your worries.

Just frustrated with the mentallity of zero Value that I've felt from SOE for as long as I've been using their products.

And yet you keep giving them money? You've got some odd logic there.

So please respond, out side of evil corporate greed explain to me why we are paying for this!

Because we want to use it. It's that simple. Again, no one is forcing you to spend your money on this expansion, so don't if you don't want to. Continuing to play a game you feel is ripping you off would be foolish, almost as foolish as bitching about it on a fansite dedicated to that game...

[Queensidecastle]

WTF! One month of Planetside is cheaper than taking a date to a movie or about the same as renting a DVD and paying a late fee. I have no sympathy at all for people that play this game paying months on end and expect free expansions. There is no such thing as a free lunch

Did it ever occur to you that Planetside may not have been as profitable as the company projected and they need to make some more money? I personally love the game and think it is a bargain as far as price/entertainment ratio goes. Finally, if you signed on for a year of planetside paying 10 bucks a month expecting endless free content, gratz on your first lesson on Economics in RL. Quite simply, if you dont think paying to play Planetside is a value you enjoy then quit paying for it, but I suspect you wont because you also realize that it is not a bad value for your entertainment dollar

[Happy lil Elf]

Oxo and I agreed on something

The end is near.

[ChewyLSB]

You expected the expansion pack to be free?

More proof that the human race is going to die of stupidity.

[Bismarck]

Originally Posted by Queensidecastle

WTF! One month of Planetside is cheaper than taking a date to a movie or about the same as renting a DVD and paying a late fee. I have no sympathy at all for people that play this game paying months on end and expect free expansions. There is no such thing as a free lunch

Did it ever occur to you that Planetside may not have been as profitable as the company projected and they need to make some more money? I personally love the game and think it is a bargain as far as price/entertainment ratio goes. Finally, if you signed on for a year of planetside paying 10 bucks a month expecting endless free content, gratz on your first lesson on Economics in RL. Quite simply, if you dont think paying to play Planetside is a value you enjoy then quit paying for it, but I suspect you wont because you also realize that it is not a bad value for your entertainment dollar

Very well put. You people bitch about 13 bucks a month and 30 bucks for an expansion when it's almost (if not is) impossible to take a date out for ONE night for the price of the expansion.
A freaking movie ticket costs 6 dollars for a student where i live.

QUITURBITCHIN

[Madcow]

My guess is that more people than expected cancelled sooner than they might have anticipated. Expansions were certainly slated, no doubt about that, but the timing did seem curious. I think their original intention was to provide more free content up front but the push on the expansion left less manpower to actually take care of the freebies.
They're probably making the bottom line on the project look as nice as possible. It's Q4 and they're releasing the expansion with 2 months to sell copies before year end. If they believe that the majority of subscribers will buy the expansion (they obviously do) and that those that don't won't cancel (they're obviously happy with the potential losses there as well) then they chalk up another 30 bucks per subscriber and add that right into the books.

[Zodiac]

WTF, all Pil did was make a sensable thread for discussion and you all flame him.

i think you all would be more at home on the OFs

[Jagd]

FLAMES!? You've got to be kidding me... Especially if you read the OF, I don't see how any of these posts could be considered flames.

Expansion packs cost money. That's common sense.