Newsletter #3

[TimberWolf]

Move away from monthly subs, man are you reading a lot into all of this. What is EA/BS/UO going to do with all the current accounts, make us pay for stuff that we already have or just us keep what we have and access it for free.

No you stop being as part of the equation. You get grandfathered and nothing changes for you. You keep paying your monthly subs and sitting in your castles by the sea.
But when they change 14 day trial accounts to permanent accounts that is the first step after a successful in game store is established. Those free accounts will want houses and will have to buy an upgrade to place a house..how much will depend on what they want to place and how many they will want to place. But you will never get your stuff for free. To maintain your accounts with what you have will cost you a monthly subscription...F2P will only apply to new accounts.

 

[Lord Frodo]

No you stop being as part of the equation. You get grandfathered and nothing changes for you. You keep paying your monthly subs and sitting in your castles by the sea.
But when they change 14 day trial accounts to permanent accounts that is the first step after a successful in game store is established. Those free accounts will want houses and will have to buy an upgrade to place a house..how much will depend on what they want to place and how many they will want to place. But you will never get your stuff for free. To maintain your accounts with what you have will cost you a monthly subscription...F2P will only apply to new accounts.

So everybody just buys an account that was made before this happens and applies a 1 mo code to it and they get everything for the cost of a sub, there goes your F2P up in smoke. The ingame store is being put in to make current players more happy so we will support UO longer.

 

[TimberWolf]

No I am stating a simple fact that EA will NEVER allow BS to control the purse strings no matter what some people on here is trying to say. There will be items that will not be purchased in game such as anything that the code has to be applied to your master account like game time or expansions.

You ever wondered why you cant get certain things in certain parts of the world??? Restrictions
EA controls the profits and 100% of control over the price of Sovs...BS will control the items on in game store. No regional restrictions can apply and no sales tax to deal with for BS. Tax will be paid at the purchase of Sovs so nothing sold in game will be taxed.... ( unless taxed by the king....which is a different topic )
This will level the playing field between new players and vets....which is one of the biggest game problems.

I just hope hope hope they are smart enough to hire someone that knows how to do this well and pay attention to details...this could be incredible.....or very very bad

 

[Uriah Heep]

Uh....I could not find any fault really with that newsletter.

Only fault I could find was the explanation of why the new artwork is actually right, and what we had before is wrong. So I am assuming (yeah that word) that all our artwork in the future will be the "right" kinds
bleh

 

[TimberWolf]

So everybody just buys an account that was made before this happens and applies a 1 mo code to it and they get everything for the cost of a sub, there goes your F2P up in smoke. The ingame store is being put in to make current players more happy so we will support UO longer.

NO not 1 month sub....you keep paying your full sub costs for as long as you want to keep your grandfathered account active....eventually this could lead to a reduction in sub fees....but not eliminate it for existing accounts

 

[Lord Nabin]

This will level the playing field between new players and vets....which is one of the biggest game problems.

How is an in game store going to do this?

 

[Lord Frodo]

You ever wondered why you cant get certain things in certain parts of the world??? Restrictions
EA controls the profits and 100% of control over the price of Sovs...BS will control the items on in game store. No regional restrictions can apply and no sales tax to deal with for BS. Tax will be paid at the purchase of Sovs so nothing sold in game will be taxed.... ( unless taxed by the king....which is a different topic )
This will level the playing field between new players and vets....which is one of the biggest game problems.

I just hope hope hope they are smart enough to hire someone that knows how to do this well and pay attention to details...this could be incredible.....or very very bad

How the hell does having an in-game store level the playing field between new players and vets? Please tell me as a VET I can purchase that a new player can not, here let me answer that for you, NOTHING. If a store does not have it in there listing then it will be the same for a VET or new player. Try again.

 

[arkiu]

I personally could care less for an in game store. I feel like they can allocate their limited resources else ware in the game like content etc. And if the in store gump is anything like vendor search, I can't imagine people are going to be too pleased with it. I hate to have such limited faith in this working but I just don't use the store and I don't care for anything except for the 7th char slot and transfer tokens - hate that the TT's are $20 though.

While I appreciate the Devs at least responding to criticisms of their artwork, I gotta say that whatever artistic/technical explanations they gave doesn't make what they've put out any more visually appealing. Doesn't take an artistic savant to realize that a lot of it seems misplaced and frankly... kinda weird. At least they will try to improve it, right?

 

[Arroth Thaiel]

Uh....I could not find any fault really with that newsletter.

Try harder. This is Uhall. We are all disappointed in your lack of fault finding.

 

[TimberWolf]

because fo the price of some Sovs...everything will be available to a new player eventually and no monthly sub means they have more to spend.

 

[Lord Nabin]

because fo the price of some Sovs...everything will be available to a new player eventually and no monthly sub means they have more to spend.

No that's not a balancer

 

[Lord Frodo]

NO not 1 month sub....you keep paying your full sub costs for as long as you want to keep your grandfathered account active....eventually this could lead to a reduction in sub fees....but not eliminate it for existing accounts

I have a ton of existing accounts that are setting dormant and if I wanted to I could apply a 1 mo code to it and have it grandfathered then sell it to a new play or give it to a new player.

 

[TimberWolf]

How the hell does having an in-game store level the playing field between new players and vets? Please tell me as a VET I can purchase that a new player can not, here let me answer that for you, NOTHING. If a store does not have it in there listing then it will be the same for a VET or new player. Try again.

Dude open your imagination a little....you wont need to pay for it,,,cause you have it
but new players dont have all the stuff you do.
but they will be able to buy it....not having to grind it out to slowly get it

 

[TimberWolf]

I have a ton of existing accounts that are setting dormant and if I wanted to I could apply a 1 mo code to it and have it grandfathered then sell it to a new play or give it to a new player.

ROFLMAO.....sorry dude you just dont get it......but that is hilarious

 

[Lord Nabin]

Dude open your imagination a little....you wont need to pay for it,,,cause you have it
but new players dont have all the stuff you do.
but they will be able to buy it....not having to grind it out to slowly get it

Absolutely nothing was indicated that you would be able to buy anything not currently in the store but is in game.

All that was indicated was you could buy what was in the store in game.

"Eventually" does not set up a balanced system as you claim it will be.

I would prefer you stuck with the facts instead of the wild speculation that just creates stupid drama and dumb rumors to the contrary of what is really happening.

We have no place for chicken little syndrome here

 

[Lord Frodo]

Dude open your imagination a little....you wont need to pay for it,,,cause you have it
but new players dont have all the stuff you do.
but they will be able to buy it....not having to grind it out to slowly get it

The **** that I have was earned in game not bought from Origin. A new player can buy the same game changing stuff fro Origin that I can buy, there is no difference. You are grasping at straws with this one.

 

[Lord Frodo]

NO not 1 month sub....you keep paying your full sub costs for as long as you want to keep your grandfathered account active....eventually this could lead to a reduction in sub fees....but not eliminate it for existing accounts

ROFLMAO.....sorry dude you just dont get it......but that is hilarious

Please make up your mind. If I apply a 1 mo game time code to all my accounts will they or will they not be grandfathered into the old pay your sub and nothing changes or not. These are OLD ACCOUNTS that are setting dormant at the moment and do not require me to go to the setup of a new account. You do understand what an OLD ACCOUNT is paid for or not it is still an OLD ACCOUNT with established Chars with Power Scrolls and everything else the only thing they are missing is a house.

And if you think for one second that EA will ever reduce our subs then I want what ever you are on.

 

[WootSauce]

@TimberWolf

 

[Dot_Warner]

She may or may not like it but EA owns UO not BS and as she may be the producer who is in charge of maintaining UO for BS/EA I dought EA would give BS's CEO or Mesanna to set any prices when it comes to UO or DAoC.

Uhm.. One of Mesanna's reasons for creating the in-game store was to be able to set more realistic prices. She. Said. That.

Once EA gets the money for fist-fulls of sovereigns, I'm doubting they're going to care all that much. I also doubt Mesanna will lower the prices to the point EA will "lose" money...not that you can lose money from virtual items to begin with.. but... whatevs.

 

[ioelis]

Uh....I could not find any fault really with that newsletter.

well, they did botch the spring contest rules...

Rules:
1. You are able to have one entry per person.
2. You must be signed up for the newsletter to win.
3. Must have an active account
4. Must be signed up for the newsletter

 

[Hannes Erich]

EA wouldn't actually be doing anything novel by reducing our subs. When was the last time you bought a ten or twenty-year-old game on GOG or Steam for its original purchase price? Similarly, most publishers reduce subscriptions on their MMORPGs as a reasonable kind of "bargain bin" strategy so they can still make a little bit of profit (and good will) while they and most of their customers move on to whatever newer titles they're developing. A lot of people think that UO's big problem is no marketing or something. Those people obviously don't follow the industry. Retro graphics might be big sellers these days, but things like retro user interfaces and exorbitant subscriptions aren't. No MMORPG older than ten years should cost more than five or six bucks a month to play.

In other words, they could have retained a lot more players over the years (and hence made more money) by reducing the sub for each individual user. I highly doubt UO has the manpower for F2P; and what resources they do have now would all be sucked into producing a steady stream of shinies. Even fewer bugs will be fixed and long-standing Quality of Life requests will be scrapped unless they can be monetized (but I guess TimberWolf will have more to complain about; maybe that's really his goal here). This is what makes F2P such a big gamble for smaller studios. If vanity items don't make enough money, guess what the studio is forced to sell? That's right--items that provide in-game benefits or interface improvements that shouldn't have to be purchased (a larger play window maybe!). And if that doesn't work, it's game over. Broadsword undoubtedly knows the risks at this stage of the game's life probably outweigh any reward for them or the players. I'm really starting to wonder where TimberWolf earned his business degree.

 

[Arroth Thaiel]

I'm really starting to wonder where TimberWolf earned his business degree.

 

[kelmo]

*chuckles*

 

[Uvtha]

Please make up your mind. If I apply a 1 mo game time code to all my accounts will they or will they not be grandfathered into the old pay your sub and nothing changes or not. These are OLD ACCOUNTS that are setting dormant at the moment and do not require me to go to the setup of a new account. You do understand what an OLD ACCOUNT is paid for or not it is still an OLD ACCOUNT with established Chars with Power Scrolls and everything else the only thing they are missing is a house.

And if you think for one second that EA will ever reduce our subs then I want what ever you are on.

What he is saying is he assumes that UO will maintain a subscription system, but it will be tiered. One tier being free, the other tier being the same one we have today, the free one will have limitations, the regular one wont. This is the model that most sub to f2p games use, or some variation of it.

 

[WootSauce]

What he is saying is he assumes that UO will maintain a subscription system, but it will be tiered. One tier being free, the other tier being the same one we have today, the free one will have limitations, the regular one wont. This is the model that most sub to f2p games use, or some variation of it.

How are you guys drawing these conclusions from the info put forth in the latest newsletter? These seem like huge leaps of logic to me.

 

[Hannes Erich]

No leap of logic is too large for TimberWolf.

He has a strong business background.

I heard this is his theme song.

 

[Uvtha]

How are you guys drawing these conclusions from the info put forth in the latest newsletter? These seem like huge leaps of logic to me.

I'm not. I'm just explaining what he was trying to say.

I would assume he is making the leap because "sovereign" type "special" in game currency is a staple of f2p games.

I personally think it's probably just a work around the origin store not really working with the kind of shop they want UO to have, in particular one that you can buy multiples of something if you want to, as well as allowing them to alter pricing as they wish.

It COULD be laying the foundations for f2p, but I think that's probably a side effect more than anything.

 

[Uvtha]

Only fault I could find was the explanation of why the new artwork is actually right, and what we had before is wrong. So I am assuming (yeah that word) that all our artwork in the future will be the "right" kinds
bleh

Just the same explanation cathat used years ago (with the same visual aides ) explaining that the floor tiles are oblique not isometric, thus the oblique perspective (the full circle) is correct in relation to the floor tiles. I would argue that UO has a mixed perspective. The only thing isometric about the uo classic art assets were the floors and the walls. Everything else was an almost direct rip from Ultima 8 which used an isometric perspective. So if you look at in that respect its basically an isometric perspective on an oblique plane. 90% of the games art assets are isometric, and while yes, it's true, that goes against the oblique perspective of the world, it's the art direction they chose, and the one that the game adheres to in the vast majority of cases.

So to me the solution here is simple. Just use the isometric perspective when you are modeling anything that isn't walls or floors like mobiles or animated bits, and anything that isn't animated should be hand drawn, shouldn't it, and in that case just look to the game for reference.

That's just me.

 

[Tina Small]

It would be nice to know a bit more about how the sovereigns you purchase are going to become attached to a paperdoll. I'm sure I'm not the only person who has multiple UO accounts attached to one Origin account. So how will EA know which of my UO accounts to attach the sovereigns to? Also, once the sovereigns are attached to an account, will I be able to spend some of them on one shard, some on another, and the rest on another shard? Or will they only be available on one shard and I'll either have to transfer the sovereigns from one shard to another or the things I purchase with them from one shard to another, which means having to pay for transfers if I'm not lucky enough to have shard shields? Also, will sovereigns be transferable between accounts? Will the items purchased with sovereigns be account bound or can they be transferred between accounts?

 

[TimberWolf]

oh gawd thanks for the laughs......the trump university one I saved.....
I am not interested in drama or debates or the typical hate mongering when things are suggested that require some of you to think outside of the box.
Do a little research in F2P....then read a few business plans on transitioning to F2P.
You are right I am extrapolating and making assumptions based on things I have read...people I have talked to, and what I have seen them transition toward.

Nothing to get your panties in a bunch...perhaps it is all just a lucky coincidence that they are doing exactly what they need to do if they were to transition to F2P. ( I just dont believe in coincidences)
And yes nothing would make me happier because then at least it would appear that BS is actually doing something ( besides creating bunny rabbit east pictures) to try to solve some of the huge issues that exist in this game.

Also hilarious after months of silence the one thing Bonnie comes screaming onto the forums to denounce is a leak that they are transitioning to F2P....oh and then demand the thread gets locked!

Yep just another happy coincidence...yep yep...ROFLMAO

I am out of this conversation.....more then willing to sit back and laugh and watch this all unroll!

 

[WootSauce]

oh gawd thanks for the laughs......the trump university one I saved.....
I am not interested in drama or debates or the typical hate mongering when things are suggested that require some of you to think outside of the box.
Do a little research in F2P....then read a few business plans on transitioning to F2P.
You are right I am extrapolating and making assumptions based on things I have read...people I have talked to, and what I have seen them transition toward.

Nothing to get your panties in a bunch...perhaps it is all just a lucky coincidence that they are doing exactly what they need to do if they were to transition to F2P. ( I just dont believe in coincidences)
And yes nothing would make me happier because then at least it would appear that BS is actually doing something ( besides creating bunny rabbit east pictures) to try to solve some of the huge issues that exist in this game.

Also hilarious after months of silence the one thing Bonnie comes screaming onto the forums to denounce is a leak that they are transitioning to F2P....oh and then demand the thread gets locked!

Yep just another happy coincidence...yep yep...ROFLMAO

I am out of this conversation.....more then willing to sit back and laugh and watch this all unroll!

It's so nice to hear from a game developer and businessman who represents modern day MMO / RPGs.
*your newsletter - please sign me up*

 

[Hannes Erich]

Seeing as how the newsletter has zilch to do with F2P, let's get back on topic shall we?

I'm normally one of the first to jump to Broadsword's defense--yes I'm kind of a fan boy--but it's also because I truly believe their development standards are defensible.

So I will admit that I have...problems...with this newsletter. I'll leave the grammar and spelling aside because, really, we've got bigger problems.

I actually have a big problem with the art perspective explanation. See, Uvtha hasn't made any huge leap in logic above; the objects in the world were created with a certain perspective for most of the game's existence. Much of that art is beloved, and is still often brought up in retrospectives in the gaming press, meaning it's one of the game's most memorable qualities.

My big problem is the extent to which Newsletter #3 attempts to throw years worth of prior teams and beloved artists and their work under the bus, essentially calling it out as substandard in order to dig your heels in and defend current artists and artwork that has been less popularly received. I just can't defend that move and also be able to sleep well tonight. It was wrong and kind of insulting, both to years worth of former staff, and to discerning players. If the newer development tools touted in the newsletter are so awesome, why haven't you received more favorable criticism? Sometimes the right move is to dig your heels in and look out for your team; but you've just given a hugely technical explanation that insists recent art is better and you're standing by it, even though it is out of sync with the perspective and craftsmanship that prior UO studios were praised for. How many bridges are you looking to burn exactly?

My other problem is minor; the play window size tease. It's pretty standard now for a QoL tease like this to get dragged out for a year or two before the team falls silent about it and eventually has to admit it didn't work out. I fully appreciate why things don't work out. But I don't think you need to include us on development meetings until you can really offer something.

 

[Angel of Sonoma]

No leap of logic is too large for TimberWolf.

He has a strong business background.

I heard this is his theme song.

ugh. i wasted 2 minutes and 10 seconds of my life listening to that song.

 

[WootSauce]

My big problem is the extent to which Newsletter #3 attempts to throw years worth of prior teams and beloved artists and their work under the bus, essentially calling it out as substandard in order to dig your heels in and defend current artists and artwork that has been less popularly received. I just can't defend that move and also be able to sleep well tonight. It was wrong and kind of insulting, both to years worth of former staff, and to discerning players. If the newer development tools touted in the newsletter are so awesome, why haven't you received more favorable criticism? Sometimes the right move is to dig your heels in and look out for your team; but you've just given a hugely technical explanation that insists recent art is better and you're standing by it, even though it is out of sync with the perspective and craftsmanship that prior UO studios were praised for. How many bridges are you looking to burn exactly?

This is a wonderfully accurate post.

 

[Hannes Erich]

Thank you but I wish I hadn't needed to write it. It's not my goal in life to drag people down and it's not my business to threaten their pride (making fun of TimberWolf not included); but I'm also thinking about all the people who received that newsletter today that may have been stung by it. Every team should build on the accomplishments of the former. It's a little late to be rethinking the game's art direction.

 

[utilitron]

I enjoyed the part about the oblique projection. It is actually military projection to be exact. I have spent a good deal of time studying and learning about UO's graphics for a UO-inspired arena fighting game I am making called Mage Duels. I was actually able to mimic this type of projection in 3D GitHub - Utilitron/Oblique-Projection: Oblique Projection in OpenGL

I even posted about the issue with the EC stuff last year Poll on Client popularity
Glad to see they are fixing it.

 

[Ender]

How ****ing dense are some of you guys? You wouldn't pay one month subscription and get everything forever. Holy ****, have you ever seen a F2P+sub game?

 

[Eärendil]

EA wouldn't actually be doing anything novel by reducing our subs. When was the last time you bought a ten or twenty-year-old game on GOG or Steam for its original purchase price? Similarly, most publishers reduce subscriptions on their MMORPGs as a reasonable kind of "bargain bin" strategy so they can still make a little bit of profit (and good will) while they and most of their customers move on to whatever newer titles they're developing. A lot of people think that UO's big problem is no marketing or something. Those people obviously don't follow the industry. Retro graphics might be big sellers these days, but things like retro user interfaces and exorbitant subscriptions aren't. No MMORPG older than ten years should cost more than five or six bucks a month to play.

In other words, they could have retained a lot more players over the years (and hence made more money) by reducing the sub for each individual user. I highly doubt UO has the manpower for F2P; and what resources they do have now would all be sucked into producing a steady stream of shinies. Even fewer bugs will be fixed and long-standing Quality of Life requests will be scrapped unless they can be monetized (but I guess TimberWolf will have more to complain about; maybe that's really his goal here). This is what makes F2P such a big gamble for smaller studios. If vanity items don't make enough money, guess what the studio is forced to sell? That's right--items that provide in-game benefits or interface improvements that shouldn't have to be purchased (a larger play window maybe!). And if that doesn't work, it's game over. Broadsword undoubtedly knows the risks at this stage of the game's life probably outweigh any reward for them or the players. I'm really starting to wonder where TimberWolf earned his business degree.

Haha, yes. Feel quite the same!

 

[Eärendil]

View attachment 44054

Making UO great again! Mwahaha

 

[Merlin]

The Newsletter is more than fine. It's a positive effort on behalf of the developers to keep the community up to speed on upcoming publishes, in-game changes they're thinking about, and provide an inside look into the game with the portion about Oblique perspective and so forth.

This is head and shoulders above radio silence.

 

[Nails Warstein]

I just want to know if selling Sovereigns on Stratics for Gold will be allowed. A Sovereign is bought with a Real Money Transaction (RMT) It is in fact a replacement for Real Money. Its only slightly different then advertising selling game time codes for gold, which Stratics decided to stop about 9 months ago.

If selling Sovereigns on Stratics is allowed. The unintended consequence of a Sovereign is that Broadsword may just have inadvertently created an opportunity for code sellers to now buy up cheap Sovereigns sold for less money in other countries, bought with stolen credit cards, and/or some other nefarious methods. I expect this will also allow certain players who know how to generate a lot of gold to play this game for free. It will in fact be easier for code sellers to generate real money faster than what they are doing now, give them greater access to customers who were skeptical of buying from an unknown source, because a sovereign is acceptable. No risk involved.

As the free market dictates competition, this will eventually drive the price of a Sovereign down. In that respect give some reprieve for players by being cheaper than paying a credit card subscription, which is currently the main source of income for Broadsword. This could over time have a negative impact on Broadswords bottom line if EA receives the bulk profits of each Sovereign sold.

Personally I would have preferred they fixed the account management system before creating this new in game store. Instead they made videos on how to use the current one. If only there were a way for returning players to find their accounts and play again. Too many give up trying.

 

[Hannes Erich]

If anyone thinks my view of the newsletter's art portion is overboard or off the mark, feel free to speak up and explain why. I'll be glad to sleep on it. I want to support the team any chance I get. But right now those are my feelings on the matter and I think that calling it fine or better than radio silence isn't fair or kind to prior artists and all of their fantastic work (I'm a fan boy of theirs too after all!). I don't want to hear Broadsword say they'll fix a few assets to appease our totally unfounded concerns (because look, diagrams!). Prior artists and discerning players deserve better (edit: and really, we're talking about Broadsword making a shift from the game's entire twenty-year art direction because they say they got this cool new art software and all the previous teams were just doing it wrong this whole time...). I want to know that Broadsword can look past their own tenure at the needs of UO's legacy and audience.

Also those are good concerns Nails, but I have faith they've thought all that through already. They've had a long time to think it through.

 

[Uvtha]

I just want to know if selling Sovereigns on Stratics for Gold will be allowed. A Sovereign is bought with a Real Money Transaction (RMT) It is in fact a replacement for Real Money. Its only slightly different then advertising selling game time codes for gold, which Stratics decided to stop about 9 months ago.

If selling Sovereigns on Stratics is allowed. The unintended consequence of a Sovereign is that Broadsword may just have inadvertently created an opportunity for code sellers to now buy up cheap Sovereigns sold for less money in other countries, bought with stolen credit cards, and/or some other nefarious methods. I expect this will also allow certain players who know how to generate a lot of gold to play this game for free. It will in fact be easier for code sellers to generate real money faster than what they are doing now, give them greater access to customers who were skeptical of buying from an unknown source, because a sovereign is acceptable. No risk involved.

As the free market dictates competition, this will eventually drive the price of a Sovereign down. In that respect give some reprieve for players by being cheaper than paying a credit card subscription, which is currently the main source of income for Broadsword. This could over time have a negative impact on Broadswords bottom line if EA receives the bulk profits of each Sovereign sold.

Personally I would have preferred they fixed the account management system before creating this new in game store. Instead they made videos on how to use the current one. If only there were a way for returning players to find their accounts and play again. Too many give up trying.

This is assuming they aren't account bound, which I think they should be, since they are just a way to make buying in game items easier.

 

[Deep Ellum Dan]

Ohh the conspiracy theories...
*sits back with popcorn*
Lol

 

[Riyana]

I just want to know if selling Sovereigns on Stratics for Gold will be allowed. A Sovereign is bought with a Real Money Transaction (RMT) It is in fact a replacement for Real Money. Its only slightly different then advertising selling game time codes for gold, which Stratics decided to stop about 9 months ago.

That's a good question. Unfortunately it is one we can't answer now--we don't have enough information about the system to evaluate whether or not it would be appropriate for Stratics. When the system is much closer to implementation we will have to investigate and make a call on it.

 

[THP]

Well if u did miss a EM Event/ or u didnt get the drop u really wanted most....Maybe the ingame store will be the best answer !!! pop to the ingame store and purchase the item for the new reasonable priced soverign rather than pay a player silly amounts of gold?? just saying it does say ingame shop and if anything like other games u can purchase just about anything.....any thoughts ???

 

[Dot_Warner]

Allowing players to trade sovereigns is just a bad, bad, bad, bad, bad idea.

 

[Uvtha]

Well if u did miss a EM Event/ or u didnt get the drop u really wanted most....Maybe the ingame store will be the best answer !!! pop to the ingame store and purchase the item for the new reasonable priced soverign rather than pay a player silly amounts of gold?? just saying it does say ingame shop and if anything like other games u can purchase just about anything.....any thoughts ???

I doubt there will be much more there now than the stuff that has been on the origin store forever. I highly doubt they will be selling things you can regularly get in game.

 

[DJAd]

Personally I would have preferred they fixed the account management system before creating this new in game store. Instead they made videos on how to use the current one. If only there were a way for returning players to find their accounts and play again. Too many give up trying.

YES THIS!! I can't believe others have not called them out on this.

You literally see so many posts about people coming back and having issues with the TERRIBLE account management. It was due in May, what the hell happened?

Now they are teasing us with a new store option / payment system.

Mesanna back in Feb 2015 during the YouTube video (skip to 1:03)


"So we have been working very hard to come up with a simple way to change your credit card. To change your password. To locate your account. This should be re-done and hopefully we have it targeted by mid May. A TOTAL REVAMP OF THE ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT that I hope everybody enjoys."

 

[Slayvite]

I read this as being:
***
Items which are currently purchased via Origin, where Origin emails you a code which then must be input in-game to redeem the item, will be changed.

You will now be able to purchase Sovereigns through Origin, which are tied directly to your account - no email needed-, and then use the Sovereigns to purchase items in game through an interface on your paper doll.
***

This would indicate to me that any item which currently uses the code redemption system, as opposed to being applied directly to your account, will be moved to the in-game store accessible from your paper doll.



The same basic purchase system we are used to is still there. Right now we have to go to Origin and buy a special code. The new way we will have to go to Origin and buy a special currency. New way just does away with codes and item purchase limits.

Current system:
Go to Origin, choose an item, buy code, have it emailed, and input said code in game to receive the item.

New system:
Go to Origin, buy a Sovereign, have it automatically applied to our account, and choose in game the item we want.



Are you complaining that EA still controls the purse strings, or do you want EA to control the purse strings so you can still buy stuff through Origin?





It sounds like these Sovereigns will be bound to your paperdoll gump in-game store. Not actual items in the game.

Yeah, I was meaning the items/tokens bought with a hacked account.