I'm feeling Nickel and Dimed by Makeb

Wow all the other threads go deleted...a little miffed there Ea ??

Pretty much, and this [paywall locked updates] are almost here already. You HAVE to buy Makeb even if it's content is weak as hell. Future endgame content will be for 55. Not 50. How is this different from any other game, you ask? It's not, except you are getting less for your money. They have already said Makeb is AS big as their 'bigger' planets. Like Hoth. So in other words, you have a new host of planet quests to do that will take you to 55. New class abilties which they HAVE to do. Otherwise, No new classes, no new races. Wow.

As a consumer I will not tolerate this and I know i am not alone. This is some of the worst I have ever seen and i've played truly horrible MMOs. [shadowbane]

I am playing for the class stories. Bioware is not extending those, so a few more characters to have fun levelling up and then its unsub time.

*Disclaimer: I can only share my own views. They are not 100% indicative of everyone displeased with the expansion announcement, though I like to think that there is at least some cross-over.

1) I do not care about the price. I doubt anyone else cares about the price. I threw down $20 on LoL the other day because I feel that Riot deserved it. So yeah, $10 is nothing to me.

No, what I have a problem with is the principle of the matter. Bioware originally stated, when Makeb was first announced, that it would be a free, extremely large content update (unlike any other in the MMO genre, I believe). They also stated in the F2P announcement/FAQs/What-have-you, that the experience would not change at all for a subscriber who continued to subscribe. They then turn around and say that Makeb is no longer classified as a content update, but an expansion, and that subscribers will also have to pay to continue playing at endgame. Essentially, they lied, changing circumstances be damned.

2) They've set up another sleazy cash-grab to get optimists to fork over more money. We have almost no information about Makeb other than the +5 levels, new planet with faction quests and no new class story. They set a time limit on this pre-order so that when they do go into specifics on what Makeb will entail, those who pre-ordered cannot back out of the deal if they find it to be lacking.

3) As of this point, Makeb is not an expansion, it's a content update. We already have planets, we already have levels, we already have faction stories, we already have operations, flashpoints and warzones. What happened to open world PvP? What happened to the super secret space project that we'd find out about at the end of last year? What happened to SGRAs? Where's pazaak and swoop racing? Where's the customisable housing and/or ships? Where are the things that make this an expansion and not a content update?

Using WoW as an example: BC introduced flying mounts and new races, WotLK introduced a new class, Cataclysm completely redesigned the original continents and offered continuity in it's story and MoP introduced a new class and pet battles. Some of those things are small, some might not appeal to you, but they introduced new elements of gameplay and expanded the game.

Honestly, I want Bioware to prove me wrong on this one. I really, really do. But the way this game's been going, I simply don't have it in me to believe that they will.

4) Chosing to support Makeb means choosing to support the game going in this direction. Vague promises of content that everyone has to pay for every now and then, subscribers be damned. What will you say when they release a real ~$50 expansion ontop of the pissy little $10 'expansions'? I'd be more than happy to pay for a real expansion that extended class story and added some new element to the gameplay, but supporting Makeb means supporting more expansions like Makeb, which do not appeal to me at all as a subscriber.

I've been here since 2008. I bought the CE and I loved the game. I have no regrets. But I am sorely, sorely dissapointed in the direction that this game is being taken. It's depressing to see a game that had such massive potential flounder into obscurity.

I'm aware that my views do not align with anyone on either side of the argument. But please, just stop and consider that there might be more to our argument before you assume we're all cheapskates that don't have $10 to spare.

I think I got the gist of what you are saying:
You want them to give us content that changes the game (like Gods and Kings did for civilization) instead of getting shoehorned in as close as possible to the original game (like Shivering Isles did for Oblivion) ?

If so, I fully agree. Although,I think that we're going to get a Shivering Isles type deal, with the information provided by BW. if subs weren't charged for it, there would be a lot less kerfuffle over the expansion, and people would stop treating it like the Armored Horse (which is clearly the better simile for the Cartel Market). Am I getting what you are saying here?

The gist of what he is saying has been said many times over in many other threads.

In all honesty, I remember Makeb just being mentioned as future content... I think some people have the weirdest memories and misconceptions about future content and then get really bent out of shape when things don't turn out that way. The only definite fact we were told that didn't turn out true, to my knowledge, was that we were told it would be coming this year, which it won't.

Only thing that bothers me about Makeb is that I know too little about it to want to pre-order. The details are scant and the content we are given sounds bare minimum for even a cheap expansion.

...aw, but I got to this thread before the shouting started....

None of any of this matters for two basic and simple reasons. 1- We all know that no matter how much people cry BW/EA is not going to change their minds and say "oh you're right, we'll just call it an update and make it free". And 2- We all know darn good and well every single one of these people are going to pay $10 (probably already have) because none of them can stand not being the first one to do the new stuff and reach 55 so they can complain about it. EA knows this as well, which is how we why they will not change their prices.

Two Points: The DEVs specifically stated Makeb would be the largest free-content update ever to hit an MMO. The direct quotation has been posted numerous times on this very forum. It is not misconception or presupposition.

Second, even if it was presupposition, one of the primary jobs of Customer Service is to establish Expectations amongst the consumer-base. Anyone who has ever been involved with CS, retail, sales, etc understands this.

Bioware's job was to set expectations and redress incorrect ones.

It did neither effectively.

Look at RotHC for what it truly is. DLC. Plain and simple. $9.99 is not an outrageously high price for a DLC pack. Now if you are not a subscriber and have to pay $19.99 THAT IS OUTRAGEOUSLY HIGH FOR DLC! EA/BW should just call it a DLC pack and charge everyone $9.99 and quite being little *****es.