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Rise of the Hutt Cartel – Free to Subscribers Starting September 12th!


CourtneyWoods

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I am one who will benefit for the free RofHC, so thanks a lot for that :)

 

But also i think you aimed this "reward" in the wrong way. Long time subscribers who bought RotHC should, at least, have the same reward as the new RotHC buyers. They are a constant and loyal support for the game, the project and the franchise. They deserve a better response. I only can think that this rewarding was planned by a marketing guy instead of a true player. You do good things and then, by any reason, you mess it :confused:.

 

Not complaining, just a constructive critic.

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So first you tell us its free... Then you make us pay for it. Then you give it out to new customers for free and they also get CC, while the people who actually preordered get a frakking title? Seriously BW?!

I mean I get that you want to make the sub even more attractive, but screwing over your existing base of ROTHC buyers and subs to do so? Bad move... VERY bad move.

 

At least give the CC to everyone who bought the expansion. I am not asking for more CC because I preordered just ... Just give us something here..

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Guaranteed I will not buy early next time. A title, really, give us a special pet, maybe a different colored tauntaun, I've always wanted another one since I lost my old account, not a stupid, and I mean stupid title. I don't even care about the coins. I'd like to be appreciated as a subscriber with a tauntaun pet, snowy white.
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This is a slap in the face to all that have supported this game since day as a subscriber. So to say thankyou you give us a title ? Really that is an insult we should be rewarded the cartel coins, title, and a little extra to say thankyou for paying not playing. I been here since early access beta day 1. Pre -ordered the game months in advance as well as the expansion. Went to Comic Con to meet the developers because I believe in this game and its brand. Ty for really showing how much you care to your loyal supports by screwing them over. :mad:
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Having paid a week later I received a 1050 Bonus Cartel Coins. Why do I need it if I am given the title? In the future, try not to rush to buy.

 

I don't think it's anyone's fault if they bought the expansion early, because they want to try the new contents, expand theirs gameplay or support the developer so in the future there will be more good quality contests instead of shallow cash grab content.

 

In fact everyone cannot foreseen the expansion likely to go free or get a big discount. I think the issue most people have problem with are the distinction on rewards matter between newly people who just bought the expansion last month but receive more value reward while people who purchased it long time ago, and still paying to contribute this game get something insignificant.

 

I personally sick with "You guys have several month of early access stop whining!" many of people here are alot of loyal long period subscribers who feels cheated but they want to voice theirs own opinion. They have right to complain as much as you have right to complain about theirs complaining, and this game wouldn't survive without the loyal subscribers's support.

 

On in other note my suggestion is give the cartel coins as compensation to everyone who purchased the expansion before september 12th. This will make people happy or feels equally appreciated. BioWare encourage more subscription, expand its community and earned the loyal subscribers base loyalty. I say its a win win here.:D

Edited by shamfurdispray
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You know what would make me not as pissed by this (and probably a lot of others)....an actual vet reward program that most, if not virtually all mmo's have to customers that are loyal.

 

Looking at the fact that TOR doesn't even have anything close makes me think that EA/BW doesn't even want people to play / pay more than a month or so.

Edited by Eillack
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People will now think twice before buying the new expansion - wait until it will be announced free and either buy it for a title and cartel coins or wait little longer and just play free. Very smart decision guys.. lets forget about loyal subscribers to whom me owe possibilty to further game development - lets just give them sh**y title and lets give cartel coins to people who bought it now... thats so awesome business decision.

 

IKR....So when the next expansion is released, I won't bother pre ordering or buying it. Unless y'all plan on giving it to anyone who bought ROTH before it went free for $1 or something

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They should have just made the expansion free and said they were going to reimburse with CCs those who bought it last month. Period.

The word "appreciation" should not be there at all. A worthless title noone will ever show shouldn't be their meassure of how much they "appreciate" their subscribers. Seriously.

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Really? we are complaining about a $10 expansion pack that everyone who purchased at early access had access to for 6 months?

 

First off you are not "entitled" to anything, the agreement you accepted when you accepted the TOS etc is for Bioware to provide a product and give you access to it for the fee agreed on. Legally they don't even HAVE to offer you a refund, because the agreements do not include a "refund for whatever I feel i'm entitled to" clause. Bioware offered a product for a price, you purchased that product, they delivered it.

 

I suppose I should drive down to the dealership where I purchased my car and demand a refund since the model year has now depreciated in value and is being sold for less than I Bought it for.

 

Bottom Line, Rise was priced at $10 when you purchased it, its now depreciated in value and is now $0 dollars to people who pay monthly for the game.

 

Let me give you a little perspective for those of you who are complaining and are unfamiliar with what a real "rip off" scam is.

 

That OTHER Star Wars MMO, you remember it? Star Wars Galaxies? well any of you who played it remember Trials of Obi-Won.

 

a $20 expansion pack released on Nov 1, 2005, one that was advertised with content for all the wonderful classes SWG launched with, classes that on the SAME DAY as the xpac launch were REMOVED from the game by the infamous NGE after they had happily taken our money and promised us content for those classes, KNOWING all along they were going to remove them. a radical game overhaul like NGE doesn't happen in a week.

 

That is a willfully perpetrated scam if I've ever seen one.

 

Giving what amounts to a six month early access to an xpac for a piddly $10 bucks is NOT a willfully perpetrated scam, its called, well Early Access. It may not have been intended to be early access, but that's what it is.

 

But the bottom line is, they owe you absolutely nothing. You are "entitled" to exactly what the contract you signed with Bioware outlines, you pay, they give you a product. Loyalty rewards are a wonderful idea, but they are hardly required by law, No company has to offer you any kind of "loyalty" rewards. I dont get a discount on my gas just because I fill at the same station every time.

 

I would even possibly go so far as to say they DO owe people who bought the game within the last 30 days a refund because the decision was probably made within those 30 days and not announced till 3 days before it happens. But hat is of course my opinion, and im sure many will disagree.

 

What isn't is that purchases of Rise were a Business Transaction, that is all this is, not "arent we special, we stuck with you, now reward us". Your reward is that you get to keep playing the game your paying for and enjoying and they get to keep producing more content for it. Content they are now NOT charging subscribers for.

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. Then you give it out to new customers for free and they also get CC, while the people who actually preordered get a frakking title? Seriously BW?!

 

No, they are giving people who PURCHASED IT and are SUBSCRBERS a refund if they did so in the last 30 days, and not even a real refund, Cartel Coins, so basically people who bought the game in the last 30 days get enough cartel coins to NOT unlock even some of the most basic adaptive armors, enough to unlock ONE race and almost eough for another or perhaps a few QoL upgrades for their ship or legacy.

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Really? we are complaining about a $10 expansion pack that everyone who purchased at early access had access to for 6 months?

 

First off you are not "entitled" to anything, the agreement you accepted when you accepted the TOS etc is for Bioware to provide a product and give you access to it for the fee agreed on. Legally they don't even HAVE to offer you a refund, because the agreements do not include a "refund for whatever I feel i'm entitled to" clause. Bioware offered a product for a price, you purchased that product, they delivered it.

 

I suppose I should drive down to the dealership where I purchased my car and demand a refund since the model year has now depreciated in value and is being sold for less than I Bought it for.

 

Bottom Line, Rise was priced at $10 when you purchased it, its now depreciated in value and is now $0 dollars to people who pay monthly for the game.

 

Let me give you a little perspective for those of you who are complaining and are unfamiliar with what a real "rip off" scam is.

 

That OTHER Star Wars MMO, you remember it? Star Wars Galaxies? well any of you who played it remember Trials of Obi-Won.

 

a $20 expansion pack released on Nov 1, 2005, one that was advertised with content for all the wonderful classes SWG launched with, classes that on the SAME DAY as the xpac launch were REMOVED from the game by the infamous NGE after they had happily taken our money and promised us content for those classes, KNOWING all along they were going to remove them. a radical game overhaul like NGE doesn't happen in a week.

 

That is a willfully perpetrated scam if I've ever seen one.

 

Giving what amounts to a six month early access to an xpac for a piddly $10 bucks is NOT a willfully perpetrated scam, its called, well Early Access. It may not have been intended to be early access, but that's what it is.

 

But the bottom line is, they owe you absolutely nothing. You are "entitled" to exactly what the contract you signed with Bioware outlines, you pay, they give you a product. Loyalty rewards are a wonderful idea, but they are hardly required by law, No company has to offer you any kind of "loyalty" rewards. I dont get a discount on my gas just because I fill at the same station every time.

 

I would even possibly go so far as to say they DO owe people who bought the game within the last 30 days a refund because the decision was probably made within those 30 days and not announced till 3 days before it happens. But hat is of course my opinion, and im sure many will disagree.

 

What isn't is that purchases of Rise were a Business Transaction, that is all this is, not "arent we special, we stuck with you, now reward us". Your reward is that you get to keep playing the game your paying for and enjoying and they get to keep producing more content for it. Content they are now NOT charging subscribers for.

 

I do not think this discussion is about what is legal or not? It is just about respect for the people who invest in this game.

 

To pick in on your example of the car dealer. Lets say I have bought all my cars at this guys shop and he gets to do a montly maintenance as well for an honest price. 40 days ago I bought the newest car at his shop, and today he gives it away for free. Next to that, he gives away free options on that car to anyone who bought it the last 30 days with the value of that car, and I just get a key chain for my years of loyal customership. Legally the dealer has done nothing wrong, but this was the last time I bought my car at his shop. Ofcourse this is an extreme example, but it illustrates what it means to maintain a good relation with your customers.

 

About your example on the gas station. Well, I do get a discount if I fill up at the same station each time, and many shops, stores or services have some sort of loyalty bonus, customer card or rewards for returning customers. Although they are not legally bound to it, they do it out of respect for their customers and to ensure they keep coming back which is ofcourse better for them in the long run. And this is where Bioware fails, their lack of respect for people who have been sticking with this game and all its flaws will cause them to eventually abandon TOR for the competition while this could have been very easily avoided.

 

If a marketing stunt like this causes this much controverse, you have done a very bad job as a marketing department, it's as simple as that.

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I don't have a problem with this, to be honest. I preordered RotHC as a subscriber, and I've gotten my $10 worth out of it in that time, so I don't feel I need any sort of refund for it. The coins are, as many people have pointed out, simply a partial refund for people who have bought it in the last month so they don't feel like they wasted their money. My guess is that they are handing out the update to allow people to properly level before the next update rolls out. (SSSP maybe?)

 

That said, Bioware could have handled this better. Maybe combining this news with a general subscribers appreciation update of some kind. Or maybe by announcing this well in advance instead of trying to "repay" recent purchasers. If the announcement had been that RotHC is being discounted, and will be free for subscribers beginning in three months in preparation for a new expansion, I don't think the reaction on the forums would have been so ... violent.

 

Ultimately what bothers me about this is not what they are doing so much as how they rolled it out. This community is not hard to predict (give something away == everyone who doesn't get it screams) so you'd think they would have gotten out ahead of it.

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Why a freaking title?! Seriously they didn't get the memo after the KOTOR anniversary? We don't *like* meaningless titles, specailly when they read "sucker" like the one they are giving us now.

 

Why not a mount, a pet or I don't know, the same CC Johnny come lately got.

 

"But you guys got the holo statue", so give it to everyone who bought this now free expansion, I won't mind.

 

 

For those saying that it was obivous that it was going to be free eventually, it's funny how I didn't see any pop-up warnings or anything when buying it, at no time I was told I would be paying for "early access" only...

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I suppose I should drive down to the dealership where I purchased my car and demand a refund since the model year has now depreciated in value and is being sold for less than I Bought it for.

 

Bottom Line, Rise was priced at $10 when you purchased it, its now depreciated in value and is now $0 dollars to people who pay monthly for the game.

 

Kind of a key difference there, don't ya think? Multiple key differences, in fact..

First, your car depreciates in value through no real fault of the dealership. If Bioware releases another shiny new game, SWTOR and ROTHC only depreciate a very small amount, likewise your car doesn't depreciate that much because a newer shinier version comes out. But beyond that; the dealership cannot possibly be at fault if your car has depreciated sharply from nearly 100% of it's starting value to 0 in the span of a few days unless they are now giving it away completely for free.

 

Really? we are complaining about a $10 expansion pack that everyone who purchased at early access had access to for 6 months?

 

First off you are not "entitled" to anything, the agreement you accepted when you accepted the TOS etc is for Bioware to provide a product and give you access to it for the fee agreed on. Legally they don't even HAVE to offer you a refund, because the agreements do not include a "refund for whatever I feel i'm entitled to" clause. Bioware offered a product for a price, you purchased that product, they delivered it.

 

But we are not saying we're "entitled". We're saying they've hurt our loyalty to them because it feels like we're being slighted and taken for granted.

 

I'm not a doomsayer, so I won't say that subscriber numbers are going to plummet or the game is going to die or Bioware is going to the great game-developer-beyond or something silly like that... but they are potentially hurting their future profit margin if they ever intend to sell an expansion again. I didn't pay for early access, for example. I paid for access because I knew I would eventually get to the point where I would be accessing Makeb and doing that content, so I "knew" I'd be spending it eventually.

 

As of the announcement I have one character above level 50. That character is level 51. I've barely started Makeb - having finished maybe the very first area for one faction on said character. Because I play a lot of alts, I spent most of my SWTOR time since the X-pac was released on them. Had I known that this purchase was for early-access I wouldn't have bothered getting it. I haven't gotten my ten dollars out of it, and now it's worth a title that I have no Zombie characters to put it on. If I had been able to pre-purchase it and thus recieved the pre-order bonuses for the same price I wouldn't be complaining because the value of my purchase would not be zero. So what am I supposed to do when the next paid expansion arrives?

 

The correct answer is that if the pre-order bonuses are not worth what they're asking for, or I miss the pre-order period; I will not buy it. The expectation is that it will become free and I will not have missed anything of value by waiting. I did not pay for early access, because early access to me is not worth ten dollars. For that matter, had I known it was early access I would have treated my time with it differently. Again; this particular piece of information was not revealed (not that I think they were secretly planning this the entire time). This is my reason; other people will have their own reasons which may or may not be similar.

 

The simple fact is that future decisions are made based on past events. This event is a discouragement towards future spending. Bioware loses potential income and net happiness is diminished. :(

Edited by Trase-Kor
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why should people who pre-ordered it and got to play it for 5 months, be reward over and above the ability to play it for 5 months and all the swag, loot, gear, extra content etc etc they've accumulated for 5 months and got their $10 worth of entertainment (that's $2 a month, seriously, where else can you get 5 months worth of entertainment for that cheap?)

compared to the people who bought it, but haven't gotten to enjoy it yet, only to find out it's now free?

 

it's a huge slap in the face that i payed $10 for it last week and now everybody is getting it for free. waste of $10 if you ask me, i could have easily used that $10 to buy 1050 CC coins instead! Dx.....

 

oh wait....:rolleyes:

 

 

But we are not saying we're "entitled". We're saying they've hurt our loyalty to them because it feels like we're being slighted.

 

slighted how? how are you any less slighted then the people who just paid $10 and didn't get even the slightest inkling of their money's worth out of it yet?

Edited by homsikpanda
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why should people who pre-ordered it and got to play it for 5 months, be reward over and above the ability to play it for 5 months and all the swag, loot, gear, extra content etc etc they've accumulated for 5 months and got their $10 worth of entertainment (that's $2 a month, seriously, where else can you get 5 months worth of entertainment for that cheap?)

compared to the people who bought it, but haven't gotten to enjoy it yet, only to find out it's now free?

 

it's a huge slap in the face that i payed $10 for it last week and now everybody is getting it for free. waste of $10 if you ask me, i could have easily used that $10 to buy 1050 CC coins instead! Dx.....

 

oh wait....:rolleyes:

 

 

 

 

slighted how? how are you any less slighted then the people who just paid $10 and didn't get even the slightest inkling of their money's worth out of it yet?

 

I stopped reading after swag...

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Aye well my opinion is this that myself a loyal sub since beta have put loads of work into this game and yes i got the moneys worth out out of the ROTHC, i don't feel entitled to the money for recent people buying it i just feel that giving us a title is a slap in the face because its of no value to most people now if we had something else etc speeder or anything else that a f2p couldn't get without subbing i wouldn't feel as the same but due to that that why its a bitter pill to swallow, ive loved this game and playing this game with my guild i just wish that they would treat us players who have been playing since the start with a bit more appreciation, this sub appreciation stuff is ridiculous giving us the ability to get a title whoop tee do, give us something that means more then that for example discounts on cc stuff or a pet or speeder, Im not saying that as subs we should have everything but treat us better because we were loyal to you since the start.
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Did no one see this coming? Many other games have done this in the past; most famously WoW which has made the earlier expansions free.

 

The game is at the point where you NEED the expansion to enjoy the game and its mostly defunct content now. Most people only go to Makeb because they have to; dailies for money, still need 72's from TC etc.... S&V HM is about to be released and most of the other 55 stuff introduced is redundant or rehashed level 50 stuff like *yawn* TFB: \

 

In addition, in fact imho even though it could well be seen a cheeky to do it only 6months and not 12months or w/e; this is a good thing for those of us at endgame as it increases the pool of players. More 55's means more people to lolGroupFinder with or a bigger pool of players to recruit from. Any MMO is only as strong as the community that plays it and this only increase and enhances it.

 

Chances are if you did not have the expansion back then and where playing at endgame you would be bored stiff, barely anyone who is unhappy at this would not have got the expansion even if you knew it was going to be free. You would have paid or left rather than sit around bored for 6months wasting sub money not being to enjoy anything in game with it all being moved to 55.

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