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Dear Mesanna, "Reward the players that pay the FULL Year" ? HALLO ?
Stygian Abyss came out in September 2009 (Publish 60). There were at least 19 people on the U.S. dev team at that point (Cal, Mesanna, Supreem, Draconi, Leurocian, Grimm and three other artists, Wilki, Shade, Sakkarah, Logrus, Axel, MrsTroublemaker, Misk, Argyle, Bleak, and Adida).
High Seas was released September 2010. There were about 13 people on the U.S. dev team for High Seas: Cal, Mesanna, Supreem, Grimm, Drummergirl, Shade, Phoenix, Logrus, Misk, Axel, Argyle, Bleak, and Mrs.Troublemaker.
Shame was upgraded and the shard transfer shields were added in November 2011 (Publish 73). By that time, the U.S. dev team only included about 10 people: Jeff Skalski, Mesanna, Grimm, Phoenix, Shade, Supreem, Bleak, MrsTroublemaker, Drummergirl, and Misk.
At the 15th anniversary party in September 2012 the U.S. team seemed to only consist of the following 9 people: Jeff, Mesanna, Misk, Bleak, Dropixel, Kyronix, Phoenix, Onifrk, and Mrs.Troublemaker.
EA delegated management of UO to an outside company (Broadsword) in February 2014. By that time, I believe the U.S. dev team was (and still is) just Mesanna, Misk, Kyronix, Bleak, and Onifrk.
So what's the point of this chronology highlighting the size of the dev team? It's simply to point out that at the time the shields were rolled out in late 2011, UO's future and the possibility of it lasting another 14 years sure looked a lot more certain than it does today.
High Seas was released September 2010. There were about 13 people on the U.S. dev team for High Seas: Cal, Mesanna, Supreem, Grimm, Drummergirl, Shade, Phoenix, Logrus, Misk, Axel, Argyle, Bleak, and Mrs.Troublemaker.
Shame was upgraded and the shard transfer shields were added in November 2011 (Publish 73). By that time, the U.S. dev team only included about 10 people: Jeff Skalski, Mesanna, Grimm, Phoenix, Shade, Supreem, Bleak, MrsTroublemaker, Drummergirl, and Misk.
At the 15th anniversary party in September 2012 the U.S. team seemed to only consist of the following 9 people: Jeff, Mesanna, Misk, Bleak, Dropixel, Kyronix, Phoenix, Onifrk, and Mrs.Troublemaker.
EA delegated management of UO to an outside company (Broadsword) in February 2014. By that time, I believe the U.S. dev team was (and still is) just Mesanna, Misk, Kyronix, Bleak, and Onifrk.
So what's the point of this chronology highlighting the size of the dev team? It's simply to point out that at the time the shields were rolled out in late 2011, UO's future and the possibility of it lasting another 14 years sure looked a lot more certain than it does today.
Can. Did. Been playing since 98. Despite several long vacays and some time flopping still just a few months shy of 17 years. :/ So yeah, I have access to all the vet rewards, always have when it was possible, outside of titles.
You seem to think the only possible reason someone could be against vet rewards is that they don't have access to them, despite all the fully explained arguments people make to the contrary.
I agree really, I wouldn't have used the term entitlement. I already made my point here a dozen times in this thread alone, so I won't go over it all again. All, I'll say is for me personally I only want what's best for everyone not just people who feel they are owed rewards for playing a game they like. That's the beauty of egalitarianism in a setting with no real life implications. If you got somewhere the only thing separating you and people who didn't is effort, because everyone has the exact same opportunities all the time. The opportunity to wait really isn't the same thing.
Why? Is being loyal not it's own reward? You'll never become a knight of humility with that attitude.
Yeah, the potential impossibility of attaining a year goal is absolutely part of the equation. There will absolutely be people playing today who are never able to reach the 14th year level... I just can't see UO hitting a 30+ year run.
Of course I feel like asking someone to wait 14 years for a loyalty reward program is pretty ridiculous by any standard.
I've always had a problem with the idea of the term "loyalty" when it comes to video games. Honestly, we all pay our monthly subscription because we are getting enjoyment from the game in some form. If, for whatever reason, you're not having fun, it doesn't make any sense to do anything other than stop the subscription, which I have done three separate times I believe. While I can't speak for anyone else, I find it difficult to believe that there are many people out there paying the subscription solely out of a sense of loyalty. The idea that someone should expect any sort of a gift or special treatment due to their "loyalty" somewhat ends the "loyalty" part of it. It's a rather selfish notion, once expectation of reward is introduced.Yeah, the potential impossibility of attaining a year goal is absolutely part of the equation. There will absolutely be people playing today who are never able to reach the 14th year level... I just can't see UO hitting a 30+ year run.
Of course I feel like asking someone to wait 14 years for a loyalty reward program is pretty ridiculous by any standard.
Your subscription grants you access to up to seven characters per shard. It grants you the ability to place a virtual house on two shards, assuming one is either Siege or Mugen. Apart from that, you are guaranteed nothing. You're not even guaranteed to have fun.
I'm on the side that thinks shard shields was a bad idea. The reasons have been mentioned before by others, so I don't think I need to repeat them.
I think loyal people deserves a discount, thats how RL works.
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Honestly, loyalty programs are generally nothing more than a marketing contrivance.
Deserves got nothing to do with it. The shields are a horrible feature not because some have them and some don't. It's because they are game breaking. They killed economy on most shards out there.
First they ARE NOT GAME BREAKING because Xfer Tokens are still sold in the EA Store and EA determined that they could and would allow for the lose in Xfers if it meant keeping subs around longer, EA makes more money off subs than they do Xfers. Shard Shields did not kill your dying economy but did allow you to go to other shards to get stuff to make playing on your less populated shard better and allowed you to sell stuff on more populated shards that did not sell on your shard. Shard Shields have allowed lower population shards to survive by giving them a way to buy and sell goods that they were not able to on their home shard. How is it the long term Vet's fault that EA/UO determined that Shard Shields were a good idea. Shard Shields may be a WALLET BREAKING reward in your opinion but it IS NOT A GAME BREAKING reward as there are other ways to do the same. Game Breaking is a feature that only some people get that gives them an ingame playing advantage that you no matter what you do can not get, there are 2 ways to Xfer goods across shards, anyone that has 14 years invested gets both all others have to use a Xfer Token to do the same thing but it is still there and only you deny yourself of it.
Here's how shard shields could be considered game-breaking.
Player X goes to an underpopulated shard using the shard shield, looks through vendors for powerscrolls that are cheaper than on Atlantic.Player X buys up every last one and goes back to Atlantic to sell them at the going rate there, which is much higher than the underpopulated shard.
Player Y, having played for a couple of years on the underpopulated shard, is looking for a particular item. Unfortunately, Player X has bought them all up and has moved them off the shard.
Player Y now has four options.
1) He/she may wait until someone stocks said item again, which may be quite some time in the future.
2) He/she may attempt to get the item, though the chances are slim that it will be gotten.
3) He/she may pay real money for a two transfer tokens, go to Atlantic and buy the item in question, then transfer back to his/her own shard.
4) He/she may try and get someone else to get said item on Atlantic, then wait for that person to come back whenever they happen to return.
It can be an issue. Powerscrolls might be the worst case in this scenario, and I am fairly confident this does happen.
The exact same thing happens without shard shields, it happens with transfer tokens also. As a mater of fact, That's what I did for the years I made gold through trading. I always had min 3 shards I would bring gold to (at time up to 6 shards), sit and buy for a month, then transfer token back to Pacific and sell. Gold goes both ways, I used to make money off ATL, loading up on items that were more expensive on PAC vs. ATL. When you have 10 on ATL and 1 on PAC you get your price on PAC. People can still use transfer tokens and make good coin, and people are still doing it, since they are still selling tokens. To say Shard Shields are game breaking when your example (even though debate it) would happen because we have transfer tokens, which would put the issue of being able to move items from shard to shard, regardless of how someone does it... If I were to wager, I bet there is move "Volume" in transferring with transfer tokens then there is volume with Shard Shield tokens.
It happening without shard shields is completely different, since without the shard shields, both Player X and Player Y are on a level playing field. Without the shard shield, Player X is spending real life money to transfer items to another shard. It is up to Player Y to decide if it's worth using real money to transfer to a more active shard to buy it.
With shard shields in play, Player X gets a free ride that the newer player does not get.
So what your saying is these other people who don't have shard shields because they haven't played 14yrs, have to pay for transfer tokens, like I had to before I reached 14 years - making the same decision on buying transfer tokens, is unfair... Are you also saying that keeping an account open for14 years and ~$1600 that it took before I was able to attain this reward, is a "free ride"?.
Obviously you haven't read my earlier post. I'll repost it here.
"Your subscription grants you access to up to seven characters per shard. It grants you the ability to place a virtual house on two shards, assuming one is either Siege or Mugen. Apart from that, you are guaranteed nothing. You're not even guaranteed to have fun."
I can guarantee you didn't pay for 14 years of game time just to get the shard shield. Yo paid for 14 years of game time to play the game. In fact, I would doubt that a shard shield had any sway in paying for 14 years of game time, since nobody knew they'd be introduced until year 14 of the game being around.
I'm saying the shard shields were a mistake. In fact, I think they are a huge mistake. I don't understand how a company that relied even a little on the money generated from transfer tokens could have even contemplated the notion of giving them away for free to a select group of players.
If I was a newer player (which I'm not) and wanted to use these (which I don't), I would be pretty ticked off that I had to pay [insert real money] amount to do what an older player gets for free. I wouldn't care how long said person played. Even if you don't think it's game-changing, it sure does smell like it, especially for a newer player.
"I have played this game for a long time, I deserve special treatment." if that's not a sense of entitlement, I don't know what is.- Uthva
The fact that this topic comes up time, and time again, and is so highly contested reveals clearly that there is a problem. Also, it's the only veteran reward that there is an uproar about, and there is a very good reason for that: Never in the history of Ultima Online has an item put players on such unequal footing.
A few other things I find baffling...
- Other players having access to Shard Shields doesn't affect me in any negative way. Not sure the why I would argue against other players being able to choose their limited veteran picks on whatever item they want. I don't understand the motive...really I don't....
Also interesting is that each year your account ages you get more rewards but that is still not enough for Veterans:
5 year 7 rewards
10 years 17 rewards
15 year Vet 30 rewards
A 15 year veteran has 23 more rewards than a 5 Year veteran, but somehow that is not enough, and completely inconsequential! How greedy can you get!?
I think the next rewards they introduce...everyone should have to wait 20 years before they can claim...old players and new alike.
Because EA never made disastrous decisions, right? There is a big difference between transfer tokens and shields. Shields are free, thus it is very easy to make profit moving everything to Atlantic. With tokens you have to factor in the cost of the token.
100 Million round trip! That's totally fair thought right...that's not imbalancing in any way is it?
Free for the Pezzonovante!
But, as we can clearly see,there has been no impact on the game over the past few years.
As smoot pointed out, there are serious health ramifications going on as a result of shard shields being allowed only to a select group of the playerbase.
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Lord Nabin
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I call BS
So I have shard shields, and use them occasionally. To those in the thread who are arguing that they are "game breaking" and a negative aspect, what would you propose to fix it? I don't use them much, but am genuinely curious as to how you think we can put the toothpaste back into the tube, so to speak. It's been a number of years since they were introduced, and it's not like you are arguing against some upcoming change at this point.
Make a shard travel moongate that VIP accounts can access, charge more per month to be a VIP. Then folks could come and go wherever they please. Atlantic is WAY to crowded and laggy to be any fun. With the moongate more people could access good housing and the economy would be better. True Atlantic players would have less lag and there would be more interaction and PVP for all.
There seems to be an argument indicating that shard shield tokens are awarded only to a small exclusive group of individuals, yet the folks making this argument also claim that this small exclusive group of people's ownership of Shard Shields has single-handedly destroyed the game's multi-shard economy. The argument mentions these tokens being bad for UO... unless they get to have them too of course.
We could argue all day/night about whether or not they should have come out, but the fact is... they are here. Making them easier to attain than a 14 year commitment would diminish the reward for an extremely large amount of customer loyalty.
As far as the claim that Shard Shields are bad for UO's economy... Transfer Tokens were around years before the Shard Shields had even come out. People were trading their goods over on Atl long before the Shields were provided to 14 year vets as a reward. Under no grounds can I see any merit to supporting this claim.
We could argue all day/night about whether or not they should have come out, but the fact is... they are here. Making them easier to attain than a 14 year commitment would diminish the reward for an extremely large amount of customer loyalty.
As far as the claim that Shard Shields are bad for UO's economy... Transfer Tokens were around years before the Shard Shields had even come out. People were trading their goods over on Atl long before the Shields were provided to 14 year vets as a reward. Under no grounds can I see any merit to supporting this claim.
Cymidei, I get your sentiment, but much like some other threads, it all comes back to the Atlantic shard. Personally, I left the ATL shard long ago for the very reasons that you seem to reference here. I keep my "prime" house spots there, etc, due to the fact that I did play there for years, many years, and there is an attachment to them. My gameplay - day to day is on other shards, and there is little possibility that I would move that day to day play back to Atlantic based on what I see there in gen chat and on the boards.
How would a shard travel moongate abate the issue at hand? Would that also not just end up with a concentration on the most populous shard?
If such a moongate did exist, you could play wherever you want to and live wherever you want to. You could go to tavern night on one shard, attend an EM event on another, go raid someone's spawn, more chances to find stealables, find people to PK, go shopping, and head home at whim. Atlantic folks complain their Dragon Turtle spawn is so crowded they can't even pull up the HP bar or even see the boss while on Baja for example that spawn is probably empty most of the time. If some of the people could move around more easily they would have a ton of choices about what to do, who to play with, and what to buy and where to live. The VIP subscription would probably make more money than the transfer tokens and make people happier.
theres nothing that can be done to fix it. damage has been done.
to continue the road the devs have chosen to take the game, id change all existing shields to no longer being account bound (just like all other rewards) that way all players could have access to them for in game gold if they choose. no way i would ever sell even a single one of my 10 shields, but alot sell tigers and helhounds which i think is a really stupid thing to claim compared to the advantages of free transfer tokens. so im sure many would choose to sell them and make them available to those who need and would use them.
it ruins the economy of all shards but atlantic. so you give everyone access to the 1 shard left that has a good economy. no, its not optimistic but rather is a realist approach to solving a problem of imbalanced shards economies thats here to say.
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I think you may be unsure, because that is not an example of entitled behavior People who act entitled feel that they are inherently owed special treatment. A call for balancing out what someone views (right or wrong) an unbalanced system is not an example of entitled behavior.
I think the point is the damage is done, the shields exist (and the effect of their existence is in play), so we might as well remove the artificial barrier allow the tokens to be usable by anyone, and allow everyone the option of working for them in game, just like all the other vet rewards. Personally I would see that as a leg up for the vets as
I personally would rather they just be removed, but I don't know if that would actually help, and I DO know that people would get pissed off about it, and rightfully so. It was a mistake, but the mistake was made, and it was made long ago. No going back, so best to try and balance it.
this would most certainly kill vendors on the smaller shards. why would someone want to buy from my vendor on sonoma if they can shop on atlantic?
I bet people wish they could pay their bills every 90 days and just one month's bill when you have to.
I bet people would love to see the utility companies reward you by not raising their rates and actually lower them because you pay every month because you are loyal to them.
I bet people would want ( not forced ) to pay their taxes because the IRS said you been a great tax payer for the past 18 years so we are going to let you slide by and not pay taxes anymore.
I bet people would love to go and buy stuff and tell the store that they will be back in 90 days to pay for it since they shop there all the time.
You know...I read in the paper about these dumb kittens walked into a convenient store and ran out with a case of beer. You know the grab and dash types. When they got caught they told the officer they was going to pay for it later because they had no money at the time. I figure they have 90 days to pay the fine after their conviction.
Loyalty? In todays world that is a marketing ploy. Oh you may get a discount here and there but only if you spend so much at that store so you can save those 2 bones on your purchase. You know how many cards ( not credit cards or bank cards) that I have to carry anymore to go shopping to just get the price of an item that is shown. If I don't have a card on me then I pay higher. Like wtf is wrong with this picture. Even if the employee knows me and knows I have a card and a loyal customer I still get charged the higher price if I don't have the card on me.
Entitlement? Your really not. Nobody really owes you anything. Just because you pay for a service your not really entitled to any extra perks. You are already paying for the service anyway. Just be glad you are getting a service.
So say the government says that brakes are free now for vehicles ...well because brakes are a necessity for you to be able to stop when you are driving. People really need to stop at stop signs and red lights and if you are one of them that don't, all I can say is I have a big kitten you for ya. I been paying for brakes all these years and now these 16 year old kids don't have to because they just got lucky when the law was made. Well that's unfair isn't it? I had to pay and now they are free.
Oh god! What has the world come to? I was loyal and I am so entitled to have it the way it was because I always paid for my stuff when I had to and then you go kitten it up all for me.
OR
Oh god! What has the world come to? I can only pay when I can because I feel like it and then now you are trying to kitten it up all for me.
My personal opinion it should be paid each month. You shouldn't be rewarded for paying for a service they are offering. Its kitten business. Nothing personal, it's just business but you should never feel your owed anything for something you are paying for in the first place.
Nobody wins and nobody loses. It is what it is.
I bet people would love to see the utility companies reward you by not raising their rates and actually lower them because you pay every month because you are loyal to them.
I bet people would want ( not forced ) to pay their taxes because the IRS said you been a great tax payer for the past 18 years so we are going to let you slide by and not pay taxes anymore.
I bet people would love to go and buy stuff and tell the store that they will be back in 90 days to pay for it since they shop there all the time.
You know...I read in the paper about these dumb kittens walked into a convenient store and ran out with a case of beer. You know the grab and dash types. When they got caught they told the officer they was going to pay for it later because they had no money at the time. I figure they have 90 days to pay the fine after their conviction.
Loyalty? In todays world that is a marketing ploy. Oh you may get a discount here and there but only if you spend so much at that store so you can save those 2 bones on your purchase. You know how many cards ( not credit cards or bank cards) that I have to carry anymore to go shopping to just get the price of an item that is shown. If I don't have a card on me then I pay higher. Like wtf is wrong with this picture. Even if the employee knows me and knows I have a card and a loyal customer I still get charged the higher price if I don't have the card on me.
Entitlement? Your really not. Nobody really owes you anything. Just because you pay for a service your not really entitled to any extra perks. You are already paying for the service anyway. Just be glad you are getting a service.
So say the government says that brakes are free now for vehicles ...well because brakes are a necessity for you to be able to stop when you are driving. People really need to stop at stop signs and red lights and if you are one of them that don't, all I can say is I have a big kitten you for ya. I been paying for brakes all these years and now these 16 year old kids don't have to because they just got lucky when the law was made. Well that's unfair isn't it? I had to pay and now they are free.
Oh god! What has the world come to? I was loyal and I am so entitled to have it the way it was because I always paid for my stuff when I had to and then you go kitten it up all for me.
OR
Oh god! What has the world come to? I can only pay when I can because I feel like it and then now you are trying to kitten it up all for me.
My personal opinion it should be paid each month. You shouldn't be rewarded for paying for a service they are offering. Its kitten business. Nothing personal, it's just business but you should never feel your owed anything for something you are paying for in the first place.
Nobody wins and nobody loses. It is what it is.
Yeah... I failed to mention the fact that I think transfer tokens are also a mistake. Yes, EA gets money from them, but it's at the expense of shard populations and shard economies. Shard shields just made the whole process easier for the "small exclusive group."
The damage has been done. Not sure how or even if it could be corrected.
My main beef is that the shard shields are far and away the most powerful vet reward there are, and they further exacerbated an already big issue. I could see it being much less of an issue if the shard shields were available to more of the playerbase in theory, but I'm not even sure about that.
theres already so few items on non-atlantic vendors that building a character already isnt viable (i tried to on sonoma and a few other shards actually and failed because couldnt find about half of the basic scrolls and arties i needed. i ended up just gearing the characters fully on atlantic and then transferring)
im sure people will still buy things on every shard. if its there already, its obviously more convenient. i would think the opposite of your fears, if you have something thats more convenient to buy, and possibly cheaper because of less demand / population than atlantic, why wouldnt they buy it? if your saying you have inflated prices specifically because its the only option for a player to buy, then youll just have to lower them to compete with average atlantic price i suppose.
With it effecting such a small percentage of people why should they? I think we'll have to agree to disagree on the extent of their effects. As I showed earlier the claim they effect shard population is arguable (to the extent that I believe in most cases it allows folks like me stay on my home shard and still be able to get necessities when needed). I also doubt the economy effect since very few people actually have them and even less use them as an advantage in trade. Not to mention the limit on the quantity that can be transfered and the limited quantity of shield tokens produced makes it even less attractive for large volume transfers.
Fairness is expected when everyone is paying the same amount for a service, regardless of how much time has lapsed.
Nowhere, certainly, but are you saying we shouldn't work toward fairness? That we should celebrate inequity? To each their own, but I personal want to play in as just a world as possible.
While you are certaing pay the same per month those who have ahard shields have paid longer. Does that not matter? Kinda does to me. Its that whole relitive thing and fairness.
Again ones definition of fair is anothers definition of unfair.
Right, but that's an issue of weighing arguments. You asked "why does everything have to be fair", which of course it doesn't but one obviously wishes it were.
I think the question you really want to ask is why don't you see it from my point of view? You have your idea of fair, I have mine, neither is right or wrong objectively, and though they may be incongruous we both want things to be fair in our estimation.
I don't think anyone is questioning your ability to have that opinion, they are just disagreeing with it, and offering arguments as to why. Assuming it matters what we think about it, which is the better argument is up to the devs.
I've said my piece already. I've explained my opinion over a few posts here. If you haven't looked to see what I said about your monthly subscription and what you are entitled to, then you probably won't if I post it again.
In short, I don't think anyone should be given such a significant reward just for being here longer than someone else. I also think transfer tokens in general were a bad idea.
One question though. Would you be okay with me getting the vet rewards if I had the cash to pay enough money to cover what it would have cost had I started the game from the beginning to current? If not, then your argument has little to do with how much money a vet has paid in, since my money is every bit as good as theirs.
Honestly this may be a bit of a personal fault of my own.
I believe this is the main point we disagree on. I believe (again personal opinion.) Longevity in my view is very important and should be rewarded.
I suppose a nuetral party would be best to make this decision... which they already have.
Actually there are many accounts currwntly for sale that have shard shield access. As far as buying vet reward status i would have zero issues with that.
Banks do on occasion reward you for choosing them..... car dealers do it all the time... the difference there is competition. If they don't hold your interest and offer you a deal you will take your money somewhere else.
Same with Gaming companies. Give me something to do..... reward me the longer I stay... Keep me interested and keep me happy because if the grass looks greener somewhere else..... that's likely where I'll go.
Any company that has competition is going to compete for your loyalty and for your money. They do that with enticements.... cut costs, rebates, coupons, and any other gimmick they can find.
A couple of thoughts regarding shard shields as a vet reward:
1. None of the vets who have shard shields played for 14 years waiting for them. For the first 14 years the playing field regarding transfers was level. To say something like "I played and used real transfer tokens for 14 years so it's fair for someone else to do it for 14 years" ignores that fact. It is an unlevel playing field.
2. Vet rewards are important, but should not be so powerful that they materially alter the balance in any aspect of the game. Dye tubs, cool colored robes, statues, etc. are rewards that can add to your "coolness", but otherwise do little to provide an advantage over actually playing the game.
3. IMO most transfers are, and have always been, of fewer than 300 items (excluding bank checks) They are moving a handful of rares or moving a fully trained and suited character to a new shard. There are a few occasions when real transfer tokens come into play, like moving an entire account between shards. But all you have to do is watch the rares forum too see how quickly items jump from the shard of origination to ATL too see they aren't waiting around for another 299 items before the make the transfer.
4. The analogy between having your own car vs hitching a ride is a very apt analysis. Being able to go where you want when you want at no additional cost is vastly different than being dependent on others for transportation or being at a significant cost disadvantage.
1. None of the vets who have shard shields played for 14 years waiting for them. For the first 14 years the playing field regarding transfers was level. To say something like "I played and used real transfer tokens for 14 years so it's fair for someone else to do it for 14 years" ignores that fact. It is an unlevel playing field.
2. Vet rewards are important, but should not be so powerful that they materially alter the balance in any aspect of the game. Dye tubs, cool colored robes, statues, etc. are rewards that can add to your "coolness", but otherwise do little to provide an advantage over actually playing the game.
3. IMO most transfers are, and have always been, of fewer than 300 items (excluding bank checks) They are moving a handful of rares or moving a fully trained and suited character to a new shard. There are a few occasions when real transfer tokens come into play, like moving an entire account between shards. But all you have to do is watch the rares forum too see how quickly items jump from the shard of origination to ATL too see they aren't waiting around for another 299 items before the make the transfer.
4. The analogy between having your own car vs hitching a ride is a very apt analysis. Being able to go where you want when you want at no additional cost is vastly different than being dependent on others for transportation or being at a significant cost disadvantage.
Like I said it's a marketing ploy.
Make sure you get that free toaster when you change to that new bank. Then they treat you just like everybody else and you see that fee they charge that you had no idea about.
Make sure you get that best discount and friend for life when you get that new car from that salesman. Then you find out he lied to you when you could of got it cheaper at another lot.
It's game content that means more to players. Not pixels items they give for free. Good game play is the perk. Any game can give you the best shinies ever made but if the game content sucks you are not staying. Content > Free pixels.
like real life health insurance. kids get it till 26 now, i did not. i had to pay for those years. now they get it for free. just saying its the same thing as your example, does happen in real life, and should not be expected not to occur when needed in video game. who knows, maybe in 50 years we WILL get brakes for free. its really not that absurd when you look at history.
For those that think longevity warrants reward, how do you feel when you have cable service and a commercial comes on, giving new subscribers free HBO/Showtime/Sports package/whatever for less than what you are paying? Meanwhile, you sit their in your chair and think, "uhhh... I've been with you for ten years. Why am *I* not getting those perks?"
EDIT: Now that I think about it, I'm inclined to think that at this point, they should stop giving vet rewards and start giving new player rewards and/or returning player rewards.
EDIT: Now that I think about it, I'm inclined to think that at this point, they should stop giving vet rewards and start giving new player rewards and/or returning player rewards.