In WoW you don't get that every time you log in (from the same computer) - kinda agree we should have something similar here. Log in from the same computer - no need to verify every time. I have it on my smartphone and I regret getting the app at all, I'm terrified that I will lose the phone or have to change phones, since then I'll have to call support for hours on end trying to get it removed from the acct. Happened to several of my friends. Bigger hassle for me than to actually get hacked. Wouldn't mind being able to post on the forums without having to authenticate.

If you already feel that way, you'll most likely be gone soon anyway. What's to say that you will start paying again after the free month, what if they don't provide whatever it is you want to keep playing? And if they do provide it, what will be your next wish so you'll stick around? Will they be able to deliver that too? Where does it end? (Not personal - just using you as an example as you took yourself as an example of a person who was on their way out the door.) If they really are just targeting the people who were on their way out the door, they could have (for example) put in a text when someone unsubscribes, saying they get to play another month, or sending them free months by email afterwards. Instead of making it sound like it was a reward only to the best players. It feels like they are trying to hold on to those who don't want to be here, and insult the ones who do. End result, people of all categories want to leave. Which is a shame since it's a very good game. Maybe they could put those millions of theirs into hiring some people who know how to market a game without pissing off the most loyal, and most valuable, subscribers.

Actually, as a baby or child, screaming is the best way to get what you need. For babies it's even the only way. But when we grow up, nobody really wants to listen to you if you constantly scream and demand things. There is a point in life when you should grow up. But many "consumers" use that tactic to get what they want, especially in the game industry. As for the game I agree that it's brilliant. The stories are like watching a movie and getting to participate in it. I guess the problem with having a (fantastic) story line is that you have to always keep adding new stories people can play. It's like being in a respirator with a machine that breathes for you. You can never leave it. That may be a reason players scream when they're 50 and the stories run out. I think it's more sustainable if you allow players to create their own content and "let them breathe on their own" so to speak, that's the only way to live in a virtual world for a long time. (Player housing, more social such as being able to marry, letting players create their own story lines or legacy stories, would give the game a life of its own and let the players themselves develop their own content after they run out of stories)

I just see this as a huge failure for their marketing. One thing you never do in community management is to point fingers at players, impose your own moral values, or cause a rift between players and cause them to start attacking each other. You don't accuse some players of playing the game wrong, and reward others for playing it right. Go down that route and you will mess up badly. They might not have meant to divide the players into the "valued" and the "not so valued" but that is what happened, nevertheless. There's also a culture in these games where people who play them all their free time are actually considered better than others. In the real world, kids who live in their parents basement, gaming all day and night, don't have jobs or girlfriends, etc, are not cool. But in the virtual worlds that is exactly what makes you cool. This "L2P NOOB" culture is so strong in these games. So this mistake from the community management team played right into that culture and made it worse. They tried to suck up to the lvl 50 players who are on their way out the door, but instead they probably gave a lot of their casual players a strong nudge out the door instead. It would be interesting to see how this affected their player base. Someone wrote in this thread that the power levellers are the people who stay in the game, and the casuals are the ones who leave for other games. I don't agree, I think it's the other way around. It's the casuals who stay for years and years, and the power levellers who get bored and hop from game to game. It's the people with "real lives" that have the money to keep paying their monthly fee and could even be subscribed to several different games at the same time, and that could go on for years. Those are the people you do not want to piss off. This promotion was just dumb.

I agree totally with your posts. Having to work while others get a surprise paid vacation, would probably be enough to make me quit. I think anyone would really, you'd totally lose the will to work there and do your best. That's how I feel about this game right now. I think EA/Bioware should have information somewhere on their website that players who level up quickly get to play cheaper. Now there hasn't been info about that being the preferred way to play. It came as a total surprise that those of us who don't, are considered unhelpful or lazy. It also doesn't make any sense. In my experience, the people who rush to max level in a game, are usually the ones who get tired of it first, and quit playing. It doesn't seem sustainable to "pay people" to level up as fast as they can. I am afraid that this promotion is going to hurt EA/Bioware a lot. The effects might be for example, - People who wanted to go slow, get burned out, more likely to quit - More level 50's with nothing left to do, more likely to quit - Slow levellers get angry that they have to pay more than others, more likely to quit - People taking a break from the game and come back later, will miss out on future promotions they probably give to those who never quit etc It's just a dumb promotion. One reason that I've gone slowly with my Smuggler (lvl 37 now) is that I had a lot of problems with the companion quest. I enjoyed the romance quest and it got stuck. Support helped me and he started giving them again, only for it to get stuck again when he gave me a quest to kill some lvl 45's. I couldn't kill those on my own and I also didn't want to rush my toon up to 45-46 since I knew that on 46 he proposes and then the quest chain will be over. I really don't feel like going in there and leveling up to 50 now and losing out on all that. I think this will rush some people way too much and they won't be able to enjoy the game. Whoever thought of this promotion must be very inexperienced. There's a reason Blizzard to my knowledge never handed out free months, only free days if there had been severe problems. They are no dummies.

I think the reason for many people still being upset about it, is - Some of us are just sick of having to kiss ***. These are bad financial times, people have to do a lot of *** kissing just to get a by. We always have something to prove to someone. Lately companies have started asking people to compromise their principles to get a job - such as asking you to hand over your Facebook/social media passwords at the job interview, so they can go in as yourself and see everything you post and make an evaluation about you as a person. It's bordering on illegal, but they can still do it since many people will just go along with it, if you want the job you grin and bear it. Stuff like that. We have to kiss *** to survive and as someone pointed out yes we are constantly being evaluated to see if we measure up, if we are doing enough, if we have enough value. For me it's just a dealbreaker that a video game company asks us to prove our worth to them. This is not a job. We shouldn't have to play all our free time to be considered valuable. I know we are a big part of the product they are selling - it is a social game and we are what's social about it - and I know we are a better product to sell if we are online 24/7. But they could try to keep that to themselves and let me live in the illusion that I am not a battery in a giant Matrix. I'm just tired of kissing ***. This one is easy since I can just unsubscribe and get the free month, for free. And keep my self respect. I don't want to change and start playing here all my free time just for a few dollars. They'll have to pay me more than that if this is supposed to be a full time job.

Here's my take on it. We were given "a second chance" so now we should be online everyday for over a week and grind our way up to 50. If we do that we get rewarded with a month off. I just feel that the whole promotion is wrong. I don't think the game company should tell me how much I need to play, when I need to log in, how long I need to be logged in for and how high level I need to be. All they can say is that I have to pay the monthly fee, and that should be enough. They should not try to determine how "valuable" I am. It's not their business how I play. Playing once or twice a week is what I feel I want to do right now. Nobody has the right to tell me that I'm not okay for playing less. If my guild needs someone who is there constantly, I can understand that. Then they can remove me. But the game company should not be trying to measure how valuable a person is. Their only concern should be if I pay the monthly fee. That's what loyalty is. If they want to award something to the people who have been here since the start that is fine. This feels like going to the hairdresser and getting the haircut for free if you have brushed your hair every day, or if you agree to brush it every day for 10 days after and they will check up on you. That is just none of their concern. My money should be as good as anyone elses regardless of my play style. I cancelled my subscription and I will give myself the free month. If I miss the game after that time I will come back and play again. I'm sure they will find a way to penalize me for taking a month off, by offering everyone else some goodies for not doing it, but I guess anything is better than having to "prove myself" to a game company. Right now I do not want to "become a better and more valued player" by being online 24/7 to grind my way up to 50. I have other things I would rather do. This promotion is just stupid, desperate, it has gone wrong and will probably cost them a lot of money.

Your arguments are irrelevant. It doesn't matter how long it takes to level, and nobody has to explain to anyone else what play style they have. This is just plain wrong. If they want to reward loyalty then they should reward loyalty. This is not how you measure loyalty. This is how you destroy it.

Just adding my opinion here as well. I don't think I've ever been this angry with a game. I got angry when I read the announcement yesterday, and I was still angry today. Today I cancelled my SWTOR subscription. It's just not worth being this angry and upset over a game. I can't bring myself to paying for a month that most of my friends get for free. Why should I pay - why are they worth more? I have also been here since beta. This seems like a marketing stunt gone horribly wrong.

I'm really upset about this too - how much time someone had to level up, or how much someone played, is not the issue. It should suffice that we supported the game from the start. We paid for the game. How we choose to play is our own business. We shouldn't have to defend ourselves and explain how much we have or haven't played, or how slow we are or what play style we have. It's plain wrong to reward players for leveling up to a certain level. It's no different than saying "everyone with a level 14 character gets 10 real life dollars" and stating that these people are the best and most loyal customers. This is a huge mistake and in my opinion a PR fiasco. I have cancelled my subscription today. I still like the game but I can't pay for a month that most of my friends get for free. If I miss the game I will come back after the "free month" is up. I played the beta and I've paid for the whole time since. There are people who just started playing who are more valuable as customers than I am, according to EA/Bioware. CS can't do a thing so I guess we just have to give ourselves the free month.