Should have given 30 days to everyone subbed since release

Thats pretty interesting. I think loyalty cant be bought that easily. Certainly not for all the forum haters. But maybe it can buy loyalty from those who are doubting? I would have played this game regardless of the extra month, as would a lot of other with me. So wouldnt this just cost them more money then it gets them. If thats the case then it is a customer service/improving SWTOR's image sort of deal.

So who is this directed at?

The last statement makes me suspect that no matter what Bioware would have done, you would not have been happy.

You didn't read far enough apparently. Many of us here are mostly upset about not being regarded as loyal customers even though we have been. It isn't about the 30 days to us, its about being overlooked for staying the course with them as well. Our beef, as it were, is more with how this was implemented rather than the object itself. If Bioware just said, "Sorry lvl50 players for lack of content, have a month on us" than it would have been less of a storm than it is now.

They are forgetting we vote with our wallets. The fact is we are loyal customers who have had an active subscription since launch. I re-rolled because they made too many servers and my FULL server died out over time why the hell would I play an MMO with 3 people.

Casual tears are yummy.

You know, this is entirely possible. But that should have been thought of in advance of this announcement. I'm not even saying they had to announce what that was at the time.

Something as simple as:

For the rest of you who don't meet these specific requirements, we have something special in mind for you too, as we also consider you to be our most valuable players and want to reward your loyalty as well. Give us a week or two and we'll have more information on this exciting announcement. Of course, anyone who gets the free 30 day subscription from this promotion will not be eligible so that we can spread our appreciation around...

...would have gone a LONG way to preventing most, if not all of this confusion and anger.

Again, the management team needs to learn from this and make sure it doesn't happen again. They need to THINK about what they're saying to people when they make these announcements. I assure you that the players will think about it, even if they don't.

You're making this sound as if not having a level 50 character is a mark of virtue. This has, in all likelihood, rewarded a lot of long-term, patient players who happened to get a character to 50 before painlessly moving on to another alt. There' s no powerlevelling involved to get to 50. This bracket encompasses everyone from those who took a week to get there, to those who took six months to get there.

Chances are a lot more people like you were rewarded than the villains you describe.

SWTOR may incentivise alts, but it's never suggested that getting to level 50 was a bad idea. On the contrary, it's been made fairly clear that keeping to a character long-term - completing act 3 and getting a character to level 50 - were both beneficial in Legacy. This is a Legacy promotion, as it turns out, so this doesn't seem weird to me.

I agree with the people in here been subbed since pre release and just due to not having a level 50 character yet we're not considered "valued" players? It should be for everyone who has been subbed since day 1.

I don't think you understand the issue some of us have with this situation.

Many of us don't care about the 30 days. We are concerned/insulted about not being considered "Loyal players" or "Active and Valued" players simply because we didn't get a character to level 50.

Many of us got involved with this game in Beta and have stuck with it despite many problems, namely the server population issues that are largely responsible for not having any level 50s.

This, for me, is not, and has never been about the free month, this is, to put it simply a pr disaster by Bioware. They are of course entitled to do what ever they want with their game, they could give out lightsabres of death to all force characters with 3 vowels in their name. It's a perception, trust and goodwill of the player base issue.

Bioware has repeatedly admitted that the game they released was about the journey, kept bringing up the legacy system, which encourages alts, said it was friendly to all gamers, those who play 100 hours a week, and those who play 1 and everything in between. Everyone pays the same each month, and whatever your opinion is of those who have played since the outset and haven't got a level 50 yet (and this thread suggests there are lots) for whatever reason are now being made to feel less valued by bioware than those with a level 50, when they have paid at least the same, if not more. 30 free days is a very tangible benefit, something a vanity pet, or founder title is not.

Bioware, as they are allowed to, have given a tangible benefit, with real world financial impact (very minor but undenyable) to an arbitrary segment of their playerbase for those have nots it is entirely reasonable to feel shafted, especially if they have been there since day 1 on a regular subscription. Bioware can do what they want, but they alo have to accept that we are their customers, and as a result of this some of us will cease being their customers unless they remove the perceived unfairness in this promotion.