Can we get Nico Okarr at all?

Well, since Malgus isn't dead I'd take him as a companion over Nico any day. Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge.

Precisely my view, as well. I'd love a revamping of the subscriber incentive program, but existing rewards oughtn't be "grandfathered in" to where everyone that subs for a year starting today gets the previous rewards.

Agreed. That was the only worthwhile reward in a string of meager rewards in an uneventful waiting room atmosphere anticipating KOTFE.

I guess the thing that's amazing to me is how much more passionate the people that don't want someone else to have the same toy as them are. And for those of you who want to get pedantic about the word 'exclusive', unless they added 'forever and until the end of all time' afterwards they're not exactly destroying their credibility. Plenty of people already got excluded for an extended period of time.

The fact of the matter is that they'd almost certainly make more money selling said companions on the market than they'd lose from a handful of people throwing a fit. And plenty of people would still sub when they offered up similar rewards in the future, cause most of them are probably more concerned with their personal enjoyment than whether or not it might someday be accessible again.

I do agree that having HK, Nico, and any of the rewards I'm aware of don't seem to offer any major mechanical advantage, and that not having them doesn't significantly detract from the game. I'm just more inclined to hope the people who missed out on them get another chance in the future than I am threatened by newcomers having access, or god forbid someone who was fully aware at the time not suffering the 'consequences'.

You're forgetting about any future rewards - why should we remain subbed for 6 months to get the bonus chapter, playing as HK-55, when we can just piss and moan on the forums and get it for free? If they back down on Nico, or the Party Jawa, or any other rewards, why shouldn't they back down over that?

Need a cash injection - well, don't bother offering an "exclusive" reward, cause no-one will fall for that one again.

I agree. There are rewards I'd enjoy having (I'm looking at you, Party Jawa) but I will not get. No, I don't think exclusive items should be re-released if I wasn't subbed, or whatever was required, and didn't make the qualifications for the item.

they needed to make these rewards for people that subscribed for a specific length of time. 24 months= x reward...36 moinths = y reward. that way they would still be getting return drom the work put into the rewards for the life of the game. as it is, they spent $$$$ making the nice reward and unless they put him on the cartel market, they will never see any more return from their investment. if you told new players that if they subscribed for 48 months they could get the nico reward, some % of them would keep their subscriptions going just so they dont lose out.

If an award is EXCLUSIVE to the players who were subscribed on X date, then ONLY those players who were subscribed on X date should be eligible to receive that reward, correct?

If someone who was NOT subscribed on X date were to receive that reward, even by purchasing it, AT ANY TIME, the it would not, by definition, be exclusive to those that were subscribed on X date, would it?

You cannot have a reward be EXCLUSIVE to those players who meet certain criteria and still allow players who did NOT meet that criteria to obtain that reward.

Actually, I'm not. I addressed both the future rewards and the 'exclusive' thing in the very block of text you quoted. But hey, what the hell.

Much as I personally couldn't care less about other people getting to play that HK mission and actually subscribe for the standard subscription benefits/because I enjoy the game, I get that these concepts are very important to some of you. And no one was suggesting anyone get anything for 'free'.

Only that some things, namely companions, should maybe some day be available again at some cost after us subscribers have had an appropriate amount of time to lord them over everyone. The point is that not all of the subscriber rewards are remotely equal, and the ones that are largely the topic of this thread were offered for a single month's subscription like the majority of the others.

I don't buy the ridiculous slippery slope argument that if any past rewards are made available then they all have to be. I'd rather a company use common sense and listen to the community than rigidly set their practices in stone.

They elected not to do that.

It is possible they felt that the date specific was the greater incentive to remain subscribed.


Date specific subscription exclusive:

Johnny sees Billy with a cool shiny exclusive reward for being subscribed on X date. Johnny learns that he can no longer obtain that reward as he was not subscribed on X date. Johnny decides that he will continue to subscribe so that he does not miss out on any future date specific subscriber rewards and subscribes continuously from that point forward.

Subscription length based exclusive:

Johnny sees Billy with a cool shiny exclusive reward for being subscribed for X months total, not necessarily consecutive. Johnny learns that he once he reaches a total of X months subscribed, he will receive that shiny reward. Johnny realizes that he does not have to subscribe continuously and so decides that he will play for FREE and subscribe only when he feels like it. He realizes it may take him longer to get that shiny, but he knows that once he reaches that magic number of months, the reward will be his and he is in no hurry.


Once again, I think a change in the incentive system to at least add a "veteran" reward system may not be a bad thing.

It is even possible to have some rewards subscription date exclusive and some rewards based upon subscription length. Having some rewards of each type may even be the best of both worlds.