I'm feeling Nickel and Dimed by Makeb

*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.

Can I have a link to a direct quote from the developers stating that specifically Makeb will be a free update? I hear that a lot on the forums but it tends to be a stretch from what the developers actually said.

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.

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.

They have the memory that SOMEONE said that Makeb was going to be free to subscribers. They just forget that the 'someone' in this case was an interviewer and NOT a dev. The person he was talking to (I forget which dev it was) didn't confirm or deny whether or not it would be free.

Indeed, in all these threads with this claim, noone's actually given a working link to the statement. I do definitely recall a statement where they were CONSIDERING making it a free update to subscribers, but again, that's not a solid promise. But ah well.

As for game changing expansions: no thank you. Usually, they change the game into a direction I do NOT enjoy. There are a few exceptions to that rule, but I can count them on one hand. In my opinion, an expansion should EXPAND the game, not CHANGE the game.
Hell, I've played WoW for five years, but with every expansion I started to HATE the game more, with every expansion it changed further away from the game I fell in love with when it launched. And don't even get me started on some of the mid-expansion overhauls it received as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txpfoYS36FQ

Towards the end.

He states that Makeb is a content patch (the largest in any MMO he's heard of), not an expansion. Combine this with Bioware saying that F2P would change nothing for subscribers, we'll still get regular content updates paid for by our subscriptions and you can conclude that Makeb = free.

Now Bioware have backflipped on it being a content update and are calling it an expansion. That's more worrying to me than them charging for it if a piece of content that couldn't be considered an expansion suddenly becomes one.

edit: if you read what I wrote in regards to expanding the game, none of that would be considered as fundementally changing it.