This is not a threat or whine, so don't take this the wrong way.
I'm a penny-pinching cheapskate. But I am easy to fool into parting with my money via free gifts and discounts (such as the recent summer sales on UOStore Japan).
I have played for 12 years and have no intention to quit because there's no 5 pack discount. However, I am in favor of the discount, for mainly selfish reasons, of course.
Now, I have exactly 5 accounts -
1) My main,
2) wife's main,
3) brother-in-law's old account (which I took over after he quit the first time),
4) brother-in-law's new account (wife's using it for the time being),
5) 1 extra account opened to grab an idoc spot, but it's a good spot so I'm keeping it. Plus there are advantages to having 5 accounts for arcane focus.
I also played siege for a time, and it's quite handy.
So it's not only for scripters. UO is a family game where you can have multiple accounts in the same family. Sometimes, you end up with more from taking over accounts from friends and family. No need to cast unfounded accusations that only scriptors have multiple accounts (they probably won't even upgrade their castaway accounts used for scripting).
That being said, I must admit that I am not loyal enough to upgrade all my accounts for every expansion. I just need my main and my wife's main to access any of the new areas. Some, Like LBR and 3rd dawn I skipped entirely.
ML is the first one that I have upgraded all accounts for. Because there was a special ML 5 pack pre-order offer. In case folks have forgotten, this was what was offered:
Thank you for purchasing the Ultima Online: Mondain's Legacy 5-Pack. To find out
more about this expansion go to
www.uo.com/uoml.
This package includes:
1. Five Mondain's Legacy Upgrade Codes, which will entitle an existing account
to play with all the new content, plus all content from every previous
expansion pack.
2. Five Mondain's Legacy Account Creation Codes, which can be used to create a
new Ultima Online account that has the first 30 days of game time free. You can
give it to a friend or you can open a new account for yourself.
3. Five Chargers of the Fallen in-game pre-sell gifts. This item is given by
using your UPRGRADE Codes within UO's in-game promotional system.
4. A Character Transfer code, which will allow you to transfer an existing
character from one shard to another.
Now, that's how big businesses boost sales. Including EA. They attract simpletons like me with gifts and such to entice me into spending more than I normally would. And spend it Now. Now. Now.
Not by hoping that I upgrade 2 now, then a year down the road, I would ultimately upgrade the rest of my accounts. Money they earn now, is worth more than the money they may or may not earn a year down the road. On top of that, note that by then, the product would likely be outdated and no one would want it anymore.
More importantly, the manager will have a very nice sales report for that first month of the product's release to show to the board.
Instead of delving into the principles of economics that folks have have been throwing around, allow me to instead explain what I will be doing.
I have previously posted the following in the older thread requesting for discounts - If there are no 5-pak discounts, I will be upgrading 2 accounts. Wife's and mine. The rest can live without the upgrade.
Now the thing is, if they offer a 5 pack later on, I would not buy the 5 pack anymore, no matter how attract the gifts are, since I have only 3 accounts left. As a cheapskate, I will feel that I am wasting money.
Nor will I feel a need to upgrade that 3 accounts individually later on. Perhaps I will change my mind 6 months later and upgrade them. Perhaps I will wait for a couple of years until they make it available for everyone. Remember, I have 2 accounts fully able to play the new content. And I have never upgraded all my accounts before the ML offer.
Finally, just want to repeat that this is not a threat or whine. Just trying to give positive feedback. And letting them marketing folks know that I'm a sucker for free gifts/discounts when they release the next expansion a year later. (Yes, this means I'm guessing that there will be no 5-pak discount for SA).