Make Shroud of Memory Available for Everyone

I don't mean to start an arguement, and please don't take this as me trying to be antagonistic. But, parts of the EU, I find was a mess and "fan fiction-esque" was all the crap with Palpy and Luke, and all of their insanely OP powers. XD This is why I'm happy that Disney are cherry-picking from it, and who knows, Mara might eventually become canon!


Yeah, I do understand your point, and it might well be a BW decision. I just thought that at least some people should stick up for them.

Whilst I wouldn't mind if they did this, I do already have it, and I'd be more than happy for the others (including those that openly bragged about unsubscribing) to buy it. The chapter really shouldn't be any less than 20 bucks. I think, $50 for the chapter would be a reasonable price.

HOWEVER, what if they were to do a fresh promotion, with a totally new bonus chapter? Wouldn't this essentially be the same thing whilst keeping the HK chapter as a exclusive reward?

I won't deny that there were some bad stories in the old canon, but throwing out an entire universe over a few mediocre entries seems foolish to me.


$20 would be a reasonable price (pretty sure some cartel speeders cost that much), but $50 for such a short chapter would probably be bad PR for Bioware and lead to more complaints from people that buy it.

If they released a new bonus chapter with the same time limited requirement as shroud of memory I would be strongly opposed to it. Like I said, I firmly believe that no story content should ever be gated between a time limited paywall.

IMO the chapter shouldn't cost the same as any measly cartel speeder. I understand why some call it short, but by the same token, how long do those people play. I know I couldn't finish the chapter within an hour, I even think two would be pushing it. I'll meet you halfway then, what would you say about $30, that's probably the amount of two months sub. I said 50, because subs had to be subscribed for three, this way they're (general they're) are still getting it cheaper, including those people that openly bragged.

Wouldn't it also be bad PR for Bioware, though, if they were to offer something that was supposed to be a sub reward. What do you think the damage would be to future subscriber rewards?

More like SEVEN months: somewhere in January to somewhere in August.

And ultimately the whole thing boils down not to any question of "betraying" or some such nonsense regarding the specific incentive thing, but whether or not the effectiveness of a future incentive offer is reduced.

History: There were people who boasted about how they were going to unsubscribe after KotFE came out, then subscribe again for one month after chapter XVI came out to secure the whole thing. The offer of a bonus chapter if you subscribed continuously during that period was probably, in part, intended to encourage people to stay on as subscribers rather than dropping out.

Now consider what happens *next* time if Bioware makes the HK-55 chapter available retroactively, *whatever* the mechanism. A bit after that, they propose another offer of the same type: be subscribed during this (future) long period to get this new bonus chapter.

Does this offer have the same credibility and "incentivising power" after the retroactive availability of the HK-55 chapter? I would say not.

(Having said that, I remained subscribed during the HK-55 chapter's qualifying period because I wanted to play as a subscriber, not because I wanted to get the chapter. It was just an added incentive. If they made it and/or other things retroactively available in some way, I'd be less impressed by a future "subscribe to get X" offer. Would that be enough to make be unsubscribe? No, probably not. On the other hand, if they keep the exclusives exclusive, that might be enough to defuse my reluctance to continue subscribing when the new incentive is announced.)

I'd say $30 is perfectly fair.
As far as damaging future sub rewards...well, as I said, I don't think a chapter or anything story related should ever be a subscriber rewards at all, so I'd hope it WOULD damage any future attempts to gate story content behind a time limited paywall. As for non story rewards, it wouldn't affect them, as they remain subscriber exclusive.
Might be a moot point anyway though since bioware seems to have stopped doing subscriber rewards for the time being.

Actually, that bonus chapter required EIGHT months of continuous subscription, at a cost of $120 at the single month rate.

If BW were to decide to make that bonus chapter available to those that did NOT earn it, even $50 would be far too low a price point, IMO.

If they make ANY subscriber rewards available again to those that did NOT meet the criteria to receive them, it WILL have a negative impact on the effectiveness of ALL future subscriber rewards.

I know I sure wouldn't stay subscribed for them in the future. I quite playing for quite a few periods of time, but I still paid because I wanted the rewards for when I came back. If I didn't have to pay and could get them later, I wouldn't. I am fairly sure I'm not alone in this.

Honestly, I don't see the big deal. If they had another promotion like this, then surely those that bragged about unsubscribing - thinking they were being smart - wouldn't make the same mistake a second time?

I guess, technically, it might be "considered story content" but I think that's stretching it. It's more akin to a short story then anything else, and it adds nothing to your personal character's development.

If BW honors their implicit agreement with those that met the clear and explicit criteria to have access to that bonus chapter, then yes, those that bragged about unsubscribing (as well as those that "didn't know about the promotion", weren't playing at the time, or whatever other excuse they have for not meeting those criteria) will have extra incentive to remain subscribed in the event of another subscriber reward promotion.

If, on the other hand, BW caves to the "whiners", then everyone will know that they can unsubscribe and openly brag about it, whine a bit on the forums later and be able to get that shiny. That does not even include, or begin to address, the inevitable massive increase in demands for other past subscriber rewards and other limited items to be made available again for little to no effort or cost.

You're right. It's a BONUS CHAPTER that has no bearing on a character's ability to progress.

Not having access to that BONUS CHAPTER does not in any way impede a player's ability to progress their character.