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we WANT a 5 Pck discount(s) for those who have multiple UO Accounts

DO YOU Want SA 5 Packs available WITH Discount?? SPEAK UP

  • YES!! Bring it on I'll be buying SA UPGRADE Accounts Like CANDY

    Votes: 139 67.1%
  • No I only have 1 account

    Votes: 31 15.0%
  • I really don't care

    Votes: 37 17.9%

  • Total voters
    207
  • Poll closed .

kelmo

Old and in the way
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Dread Lord
Wow! That is a pretty broad brush you are using there. Theo...
 
D

Deb

Guest
In today's economy I can bet there are people who would not upgrade
all accounts if they have to pay full pop for them. But they would if
there is a multi purchase discount. And yes I finished high school and run
2 dealerships.
And as far as marketing goes why don't you explain that to EA?
 

kelmo

Old and in the way
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I think it would be a good show of appreciation for loyalty to the brand. Those that pay quite handsomely to have a wide variety of templates, houses or whatever the reason it is that some maintain multiple accounts.

I dropped out in the third grade to follow my dream and pursue a career in dish washing, so what do I know...
 

Maplestone

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
There is NO INCENTIVE for EA to offer a discount other than you are hoping to save $$.
Although I do agree with most of your post, I would point out that this is a decision point where some people may be hovering between "upgrade one account", "upgrade one account now and others later", "upgrade all accounts" or "open a new extra account".

(me, I'm posting in the middle of the day, so that sort of betrays that I have other complications to worry about in my upgrade decisions)
 

Black Sun

Grand Poobah
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Personally, I only have 2 accounts, so a 5 pack deal won't do me any good. However, I think it's a nice benefit/reward to those who are paying subscriptions for that many accounts. I say make it happen.

(me, I'm posting in the middle of the day, so that sort of betrays that I have other complications to worry about in my upgrade decisions)
Or you could be like me and just post from work. *hides from the boss*
 

kelmo

Old and in the way
Professional
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LadyNico

Always Present
Stratics Veteran
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Yes, to 5-Pack discount.

I have 5 accounts, of which 3 are open. It might even be incentive for me to reactivate the other two.
 

Snakeman

Grand Inquisitor
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
You are correct Deb, in today's economy people are thinking 2, 3 & 4 times on extra's that are not necessary (some even on necessities :( which is sad). If this was a thriving economy right now, then yes I can see Theo's thinking, but to a point. I know many of my smaller clients think hard on the monthly charge we have to provide answering svc for them. Then they realize, what it would cost them to staff a person to answer their regular calls & emergency calls all day. That small amount I charge is about 1/5th what it would cost them to staff 1. Even a answering machine can't physically call someone immediately or patch like we can. But many have cut down on the lil extra's we offer as a way of cutting some of their costs. Even though they are somewhat needed (example daily call logs & Msg's emailed or faxed as proof/backup for liability reasons. Yes we can always be called to look up something that was done, but it does cost more), but they cut these svc's anyway.
 

twoburntfouryou

Journeyman
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Between my hubby and I we have 2 accounts not many compared to others. Still putting out 60.00 for our accounts is way to much for us right now. So we will not be getting it right away. I do think the cost is a bit to much even for 1 account. :rant2:
 
K

Kensai Tsunami

Guest
i'll up my post count to say THANKS to Aboo for the AMEN!
...and yes i have gradumacated high schrool and in fact i obtained a collegimatical degree too! did i schpell all that right? hmmm.
muahaha!
;)

sorry man, i just couldnt help bein a smartass! its in mah blood. no offense!!
 
D

Deb

Guest
I submitted this for FOF this week..maybe we will get an answer as the
8th is right around the corner.
 

Theo_GL

Grand Poobah
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
And yes I finished high school and run
2 dealerships.
Ouch.

US auto sales about to hit the tank in Sept. It will be perhaps the worst car sales month on record as CFC soaked up nearly all demand for new cars and caused another bubble of sorts.

Yet I digress...

What else will Obama the llama come up with next? Approval rating below 50% and dropping...

I wonder what the UO Dev team approval rating is?


Oh and UO Marketing lets see...

1 - Find a way to get store shelf presence or give UO discs away free. Thats right. Free like AOL discs. Install and get 15 days free to play. Newby restrictions apply. Give them away at counters of best buy and other stores.
They should have done this about 4 months prior to SA so when SA comes out - all those new players would be incented to buy the upgrade.

2 - Sponsor newby guilds on every shard. Have them run by an EM that can mentor players for 30 days and help them get immersed in the game. After 30 days - turn them loose from the guild.

3 - Advertise in trade magazines and explain the high level of customization in UO. Something many other games don't give you is housing. Show some of the spectacular houses that people have built in the game.

4 - Create 'ladder' events on various shards for PvP or PvM challenges. Update ladders and create sense of community. 'XYZ character is PvP Mage of the week on GL 4 weeks running - can anyone dethrone him? Next open challenge Sunday 8pm.'

5 - Reduce cost of some of the tokens and sell packages. Ie there is no way in the world I'd pay $35 for a name and gender change token package. Are you out of your mind? Seriously. Try $5 or $10 and you'd sell alot more. Unless my character was named 'Rainbow Warrior' in a fit of binge drinking on some idle Thursday night - there is no way I'd pay $35 to rename/regender him.

6 - Give out tokens for points as well. IE - Your account gets 5 pts for every 90 day account payment, 12 points for a 6 month and 25 points for a year. Tokens can be redeemed for name change, gender change, player transfer etc. Maybe 25 points for transfer token, 15 points for name change etc. It essentially costs EA nothing to do this and incents people to keep playing and keep subscription open and to subscribe for longer periods.


Ok, those are 5 min of brainstorming... I'm sure someone who really had a marketing background could come up with a more effective plan. However, I don't believe UO HAS any marketing personnel. That is part of the problem.
 
D

Devil_Woman

Guest
It would be one account short for me, but I would be most happy with it!
One short for you and two short for me, but we know a couple of other folks with 3 and 2 we could split them with. And as for EA's profit, our friend with 2 accounts is unlikely to upgrade on his own at all, however he would likely split a package deal with us on the pretext of helping us out. That's two more accounts upgraded than will likely happen without a package discount. ;)
 

MalagAste

Belaern d'Zhaunil
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Campaign Supporter
I can say with all honesty.... if no 5 pack..... I may buy two now...... and then over the next couple months or more I may or may not buy a couple more.... But I won't be buying the 8 that I could to upgrade all...

Not without a significant discount... And over the year or two that follows I may or may not upgrade the others. Certainly don't need to... since 9 times out of 10 I only play characters on 2 of my accounts. And the others aren't likely to go to SA ever.

So there you have it Theo... Add that with the people who sit a 4 accounts and would possibly reopen an account to upgrade... adding another 13 bucks a month to revenue for however long as well.... I can't see that the profit would be that much better for them if they didn't offer a 5 pack bonus discount package.
 

proctor

Adventurer
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
added my yes to the vote between ex-wife and I we have 5 accounts so it will do us fine.
 

Siabra

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I've asked several of the people I know who play UO but currently have several inactive accounts and they said the same thing ... if there's a decent discount for buying a "Multi-Pack" SA UPgrade package they will .

Other than that they will just leave the other accounts inactive and pay for 1 upgrade to SA.

Seems to me, more active accounts would bring in a longer term revenue even after you factor in the discounted SA Multi-pack purchase.

More people opening more accounts = more $$ for EA
also it = more value for people to play UO and NOT play other games
 

RaDian FlGith

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
You know... I've read some of the pro and con responses here, and a few things jump to mind about the potential "harm" of giving a 5-pack discount.

First, the discussion would be an entirely different thing if we were discussing the need to go out to a store and purchase a box. Realistically, EA is maximizing their profit on the digital expansions; they do minimal advertising for UO, they don't have to pay for boxes, they don't have to lose anything on distribution. All they "lose" from profit is the amount their digital distribution costs (which is negligible compared to traditional methods).

Second, the 5-pack discount WILL make them more money both initially and over the long-run. Without the discount, those with accounts in the multiples of 5 or greater will probably carefully consider how many accounts they are going to upgrade. With the discount, EA's guaranteed a 5-pack sale to most multi-account holders. Someone with 10 accounts (yeah, they exist) is more likely to upgrade all of their accounts than to wait.

Third, a 5-pack discount is a nice customer service and a great marketing incentive.

If EA wants to maximize it's bottom line to show whether or not UO is still viable for expansions, the 5-pack discount only makes sense.
 
F

Fink

Guest
I only have 2 shared accounts myself, but I voted yes.

The multi-account holders are UO's bread & butter. A once-off break on the price of upgrade, even a modest one, would be a nice thank you. Even better would be a multi-subscription discount, but let's not bleed them dry. It's been a long time between expansions.

I would probably get a 5-pack myself if it were cheaper and there were some goodies involved.
 

Amren

Journeyman
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I say no.

Only because if you support this game with more then 1 account, you should have to pay equal prices for all accounts to upgrade.

You multiple account holders are keeping this game afloat after all.
 

IanJames

Certifiable
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Well as a multiple account holder, I won't be upgrading all of my accounts. I will be upgrading one. If there is some sort of discount, I will think about upgrading the others. Otherwise, they will stay where they are.
 

Ancient Sosarian

Journeyman
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Hello,

At my craziest, I think I had 20 open and active accounts. I have reduced down to 13 at present and hope to get down to 10 accounts which I hope to be able to afford to keep open.

There is simply no way I can pay $30 x 13 to upgrade all my accounts.

WITHOUT a significant multi-account discount I will only upgrade one account.

With a significant multi-account discount I would definitely upgrade them all.

Real life economy trumps everything else.

An SoS
 

Kaleb

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Im against this, Its really not fair to the people who have just a couple accounts and have to pay full price for each code. And in reality Its not EA's fault someone wants to keep multiple accounts and should not offer a discount, If a family has multiple accounts then each person should be responsible for upgrading their account.
 

Xanth de Orlig

Journeyman
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Im against this, Its really not fair to the people who have just a couple accounts and have to pay full price for each code.
get with friends and split a pack?

or use two and i bet you will find random users for the other three?

*shrugs*

it's like at a gas station .. i see buy two 20oz sodas for $2 or 1 for $1.49 ... i don't need two .. but i'll be damned if i'm payin full price for one ...

so i get two, and give one to a co-worker for a buck ...

*shrugs*
 

Black Sun

Grand Poobah
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I know if they sold them in discount bundle packs, they'd see see more upgrades than by not doing so. If giving multiple account holders a discount for 5 upgrades or more is what it takes to get that extra money pumped into UO, I'm all for it.

It's really good business sense if you think about it. Let's make believe...

Scenario #1 - Everyone pays $30.00 per account.
Joe has 5 accounts and $100.00. He can't afford to upgrade all 5 of his accounts. So he only upgrades 2 accounts, and goes to the movies.
Profit to EA - $60.00
Profit to Joe's local movie theater - $40.00 (he got a soda and a large popcorn!)

Scenario #2 - It's $30.00 for one code, or $100.00 for five.
Joe still has 5 accounts and $100.00, but this time he sees that he can afford to upgrade all 5 of his accounts without breaking his budget.
Profit to EA - $100.00
Profit to Joe's local theater - $0.00 (don't worry about them, $9.00 for a ticket and $3.50 for a small popcorn, they're not hurting)
 

Siabra

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Well it seems that the EA peopel do listen about important issues.. they are going to do "something about PET DYES" AFTER the SA Upgrade
......

regardless of the fact that people have posting here like MAD that they WILL BUY more UPgrades if Ea reduces the cost..

No response to us :(
but at least the FEW people that UPgrade to SA wont have to have ugly pets for long before UO changes that - which going on a par for the last 128 months that I've played means pet dyes wil be here for about 2 yrs or so

I will only get 1 SA Upgrade

this is how companies go out of business - I give you Circuit City and other companies who no longer exist :(
 

IanJames

Certifiable
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Would be nice to hear from someone like a Community Rep about this. . .


Chrissay??

Yes?, No? I don't know? It's out of our hands?
 

RaDian FlGith

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Why would they offer 5 packs when you will pay full price anyways? The only reason you offer bulk discounts is to encourage higher volumes than would normally be purchased.

If you have 6 accounts - how many upgrades would you buy without the bulk upgrade vs a 5 pack? Answer - 6 in both cases.

There is NO INCENTIVE for EA to offer a discount other than you are hoping to save $$.
Actually, in my personal situation, if they were to offer a 5-pack discount, I would purchase 2 and upgrade 10 accounts.

If they do not provide a discount, I will upgrade the four accounts that I regularly play and live without the housing tiles on the other accounts.

I had several accounts that just recently received the Mondain's Legacy update when they gave it for free.

$30 x 4 = $120.
EVEN if the discount was buy 4, get one free (which I'm sure it won't be):
$30 x 8 = $240.

In my eyes, a 200% increase in sales is a good reason to give me a discount. And I'm certain I'm not the only one viewing it in this manner (as evidenced elsewhere in this thread).
 
W

woody_cats

Guest
Just because i am in a weird mood today how about:

I do not know, it is out of our hands, yes we love you all dearly however a poll might need to be conducted on how a discount might effect my next payraise. We will take it under advisement and get back to you soon.
 
J

jerseyboy

Guest
i voted yes, however i only have one account... i think players with multiple accounts should be at least offered a discount seeing as their already paying 50 - 100 or more in some cases, a month just to play already....
 
S

Salya Sin

Guest
Thats what I was thinking Miss Bliss! What if they offered the bulk rates for only the initial release period. It's just like the incentive gifts... you only have till the 20th of the month to purchase the upgrade or you will not receive them.

SO they allow discounts to all who purchase from the 8th of September to the 20th. I would do that... I have 3 accounts in my household and whoever above said each should pay their own... one belongs to my 14 year old daughter. I would have to pay for it anyway... lol. I also have one other account and possibly a 5th account going on my card sooo... that makes 5 total for me. I'd be willing to pay $100 to upgrade them all... otherwise.. I will be upgrading only ONE account. I think EA has more to gain here by encouraging multiple upgrades. Though I was surprised by the upgrade price as it is... especially in this economy. They are lucky there are so many people who somehow manage to pay the monthly fee for ONE account... let alone multiple.

Anyway... thats my two cents...
 

Ken of Napa

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Im against this, Its really not fair to the people who have just a couple accounts and have to pay full price for each code. And in reality Its not EA's fault someone wants to keep multiple accounts and should not offer a discount, If a family has multiple accounts then each person should be responsible for upgrading their account.
LoL That's one way to look at it I guess. I guess your right "It's not EA's fault that I have seven accounts open and pay them $91.00 / month" So why should they allow me to upgrade five accounts for a measly $100.00 ? After all your $13.00 / month for one account should entitle you to just as good a bulk discount.

Just to be realistic tho, I personally have seven accounts (currently open that is). If there is no discount I will upgrade two. My main account and my crafting account will be upgraded at a cost of $60.00. If they offer a discount for five I will upgrade 5, not that I really need to but if there's a nice discount I will do so.

I own my on businees and every day I have customers ask about quantity discounts. I always come up some sort of bulk but deal for them, sometimes they take the deal, some times they decide that the quantity is too high.

I hope they decide to offer a discount, but won't be broken hearted if they don't. I really only need two upgrades anyway. ;)
 

Siabra

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Hi;
well the things is, you really only NEED ONE (1) account to play UO .... as you said if EA/UO can't come up with a valid reason ( read valid= discount) then THEY loose money ....

Players CAN survive without upgrading other accounts they have :p

Some have even found they can play other games and survive without UO :blushing:
 

Black Sun

Grand Poobah
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Hi;
well the things is, you really only NEED ONE (1) account to play UO .... as you said if EA/UO can't come up with a valid reason ( read valid= discount) then THEY loose money ....

Players CAN survive without upgrading other accounts they have :p

Some have even found they can play other games and survive without UO :blushing:
I think I'm missing your point here. Are you saying if they don't want to make a discount for multiple purchases, multi account owners can get by just fine with only one account upgrade?

If so, It's not about what players need, it's about EA being able to make more money by offering a discount for multiple uprades at once. If I had 5 accounts, most likely I'd only upgrade 1 or 2, not all 5 that would be too expensive. Now if they were to offer some sort of discount, I'd be more likely to spend that extra money (that EA would have not gotten otherwise) and be able to upgrade all my accounts. So, it's not about players needing a discount, it's about EA using good business sense to part us fools from a little more of our money than we had intended to spend initially.
 

Sara1

Adventurer
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I have 3 plus I pay for my daughters 2 accounts and my grandson's account. Yeah, I'm a dummy, but I love for them to play with me.
 

Black Sun

Grand Poobah
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I tried getting my cousin to play again. I offered him a paid account with a house. No deal. Damn kids and their fancy 3D FPS games!
 

Sara1

Adventurer
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Tried to quote someone. lol The one who had all the points of a better UO system of selling to us and droping prices on as he/she said, the Change Name/Gender Tokens:

You have made some wonderful points there. I am living hand to mouth. I don't have enough money to go to the movies, go to the theme parks, buy expensive clothes, etc. $12.99 per account is not much to those who have enough to live on, but for most of us who use UO as our only entertainment, this can add up. Some months I have to leave my accounts off. A lot of months I leave my family members accounts off and maybe all but one of mine because I have to either pay my electric and internet bills or wouldn't be able to have UO anyway. lol If we had the point system that you mentioned, I would be more willing to leave more accounts turned on and buy less toilet paper. lol Because of the token prices, there is no way I can buy them from the UO Store!!! IF I need a token, the only way I could ever afford it would be to use a "gray" source. I'd much rather support UO, but when they want as much for one token as I pay for my accounts per month, there's no way. When I go to a new shard, I just start over. lol I'd probably buy several if they were only like $9.99 ec for transfer tokens and I would buy them fairly often because I love to shop on different shards and take my wonderful buys to my shard. IMHO UO would make a lot more if they would drop the token prices as well as for those of us who have been playing this game faithfully for like 10+ yrs a break on the new upgrade. (Not saying it should start at 10 yrs) I've spent so much percent wise on my uo life, I do wish they could show me that they appreciate it instead of me appreciating them all the time.
 

Olahorand

Slightly Crazed
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
The last expansion was offered at a discount as 5 package bundle, I wonder, why this should no longer be possible.
As already said by others here - out of my 5 perma open accounts I will upgrade one, maybe two, which would be different with a multi package offer. (Besides the fact, that uogamecodes never would sell me single 5 packages at once.)

*Salute*
Olahorand
 

Siabra

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Hi Sun;
What I was saying that "at most players would "NEED" one SA Upgrade... other than that .. whats the real point of paying Full Price to upgrade multiple accounts to the SA client?

A lot of people are saying that they are not going to upgrade as many accounts as they could if there was a discount for that.

players dont "NEED " a discount- but they'd be more apt to purchase more upgrades.. everyone looks for 'sales"

As for me, if theres not a discount for buying multiple copies of the SA Expansion, I just wont buy as many as I could... One or 2 will do just fine. I'd like to upgrade more accounts, but not at that price and certainly NOT with the firm conviction that EA will be shortly selling THOSE "Special" tokens for the SA Upgrade at the UO Store

So that's a lot of money EA looses.. its not very effective marketing

which is sad :(

Siabra
 
M

Mitzlplik_SP

Guest
I didn`t vote because its a pretty lop sided poll.

I have 2 accounts. I don`t think they should give a discount. Even if I had such an addiction that I had 5 accounts I wouldn`t want a discount.

Support your addiction and PAY UP!!!


NO DISCOUNTS!
 
L

Lord Urza

Guest
There are alot of familys that play uo and have 5,6,9 accounts. when the father,mother both play, and then a couple in home kids play, and maybe another close family member who doesnt have a credit card of his own plays and his family is nice enough to run his account threw there credit card, family members in the service perhaps, or going to school.
There are a ton of reasons people have 5+ accounts, and i have no doubt it will be tough on them to try and pay to upgrade them all at full price, and most likely will opt to just upgrade there main accounts.

As far as the "bean counters" they should understand there selling virtual codes for allready created virtual content, there investment is made there goal should now be to sell as many of them as possible.

100 sold at $30 = $3000
150 sold at $25 = $3750

useing small numbers like this shows the advantage of selling bulk, and buying bulk, something we should all look into during what are for many many people hard times.
 
W

Wolfways

Guest
I only have one account because i can't afford more, so i want a discount...on everything...ever :p
 
L

Lord Urza

Guest
100 sold at $30 = $3000
110 sold at $25 = $2750

Made-up numbers can say anything.
It was an example of how theory works, I just want to see EA make as much money off the expansion as possible ( not because EA needs money so badly, but because uo needs to improve its constant decline in subscriptions) I think overall if they did it right a discount would come out in there favor, just my opinion tho.

some ******* marketing wouldnt hurt either.
but i find myself saying this each time something new comes out.
 
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