There is no good reasons why subscribers have to pay cartel coins in 2.1.

Name one company, in any industry, that does not "bleed" its customers for profit. The whole point of a for-profit business is to make as much profit as possible.

I think the only problem here is that EA has a really crappy PR team -- that fails at spinning this stuff well enough to deflect some of the hatred.

See, if that was an option I would still be a little annoyed at the model, but I'd be much more content with a one time purchase rather than pay every single time I wanted to change something.

I don't want this to be a trend, where EAware's statement of 'new features being free for subs' turning into 'new features discounted for subs'. Almost everything off the cartel market can be bought in the GTN for in-game credits. That's how I get most of my cartel stuff. Making the kiosk CC exclusive is a really stupid move.

Again, if there was a one time full purchase I'd be much less disgruntled, but I haven't heard a word on that so It's all up to speculation.

Possibly, along with every other MMO company out there. Read the DDO or LotRO forums and you will discover that Warner Bros. actually is the worst.

I'm honestly too afraid to go over that way.

I downloaded LotRO -- didn't even get past the character creation screen. Because I wanted to play a class I had to pay to unlock >.<


I'm just biding my time until FFXIV is released. . . . . again. The beta has been promising -- and I just hope SWTOR goes super-downhill or super-uphill by the time it's released.

Going to be too hard of a decision for me if there isn't a drastic change here. I may have to practice some time management and play both. *gasp*

So far the company that supplied me with my George Foreman grill only cost me a one time fee. It's not bleeding me for anything.

But maybe you're thinking of video games only though you didn't state that.

Other than my upfront cost to actually get the game, Unreal Tournament games didn't bleed me for any additional money when I played it. The entire Thief series didn't bleed me, either. There are many others I'm sure.

Maybe you were thinking of just MMO's.

Pretty sure UO didn't bleed me for more cash when I played it. Neither did Everquest that I can recall.

I have no doubt I could go on about companies that do not bleed their customers. Their still making a massive profit in sales but not bleeding their customers.

There is so much wrong with that approach and thought process that I cannot wrap myself around it. I do feel sad for someone with that viewpoint.

My statement was not meant to address the concept of profit itself, but simply that if people feel "bled" after dealing with a company they will have much less likelyhood to continue to do business with that company and have a small likelyhood of buying their new products.

Contrary to public opinion, greed is not good and overt greed is often self defeating in the long run (unless you can buy off enough of government to get away with it).

It is also not, as a few have posted, a question of spin and PR. Many people are getting tired of that crap and are starting to build a strong resistance to it.

But a question, if one does respond, deserves an answer. One company - mine, the one that I own. I treat my clients well and do not bleed them. I have never ever had a client challenge a bill and that - a challenge - is not all that uncommon in my business. I make an excellent profit but yes I could charge more and get into the bleed zone. Part of my profitability comes from the fact that my client retention is well above my competitors in my area, my collection rate without any collection procedures or effort is 99.4% where 85 to 90 is considered good, and new clients come from referrals for the most part so I have little business development expense. I save a ton on not having to spin crap.

So greed and bleed is not good. Some companies and people get away with it, but there are better ways to run an airline.

Disagree with everything you just said and I'll leave it at that.

Rift, just saying. WoW is not the only one and Rift surely does not have 8+ mil subscribers. Its all about the budget. If the game cant keep enough people to make a profit then its the company's own fault.

Lets not also forget that they said they only needed 500k players to basically break even. That was before lay offs. They surely did not need 8+ mil.

If you give me 10 dollars and tell me its my 10 dollars.... then yes, it cost me 10 dollars.

Im just posting my opinion man. No need for hyperbole.