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Lifetime Subscription Sale
AG-Vuk
Member UncommonPosts: 823
I posted this in another thread , but on second thought, I found this was deserving of it's own thread. People wonder what it is about Cryptic and STO that evokes such passion ? It's the contempt and hubris they have .
Here's what kills me :
Rekhan
To celebrate the launch of Champions Online: Free for All and the one year anniversary of Star Trek Online, we’ll be discounting the price of Lifetime Subscriptions for both games by 20%! The sale starts January 25 at 6 a.m. Pacific and ends February 4 at 10 a.m. Pacific. This means players will be able to purchase a Lifetime Subscription to Champions Online: Free for All or Star Trek Online for just $239.99!
This is absolutely hilarious . They announce that CO goes F2P on Jan 25 and post this crap ! Wow , they think people are as dumb as door stops. This borders on unethical behavior. When you really give it some thought, you're really just paying full price for STO. Cryptic has hit a new low. Anyone who takes advantage of this , I have land for sale, in NJ. The thread goes on to argue that a regular LT is $ 299 and they don't forsee it dropping much past what they've discounted now. I'm pretty sure "we just don't get it. "
Comments
A lifetime membership to F2P CO would mean full access plus free cryptic buxx every month. So if you didn't even play the game for the next 5 months, you'd log in to find enough to buy, probably anything you might want.
If LotRO did this, I woulda snatched it up in a second. But neither of Cryptics games are worth a lifer sub. If they announced $240 to get BOTH games, it wouldn't be worth it. In STO I end up completing their content on the free weekends, anyway.
this makes a lot of sense form a business perspective.
most people think sto is going f2p soon.. so why not sell lifetime memberships for the game as soon you probably wont need a sub. get the money while you can. and its not like selling lts then going f2p will damage cryptics reputation, it wont cost them customers, as anyone who has a lts cant really "leave" and the die hards wont leave no matter what. and anyone who actually looks in to a game before buying it is going to be aware of cryptics business practices, so its not like it will hurt their reputation.
i honestly do not see a downside on this from cryptic's point of view. as a customer.... well, buyer beware.
IF THE ONLY DEFENCE FOR CRITICISM OF A GAME IS CALLING SOMEONE A TROLL OR HATER, THAT SAYS A LOT ABOUT THE QUALITY OF THE GAME
Raistalin, WOAH! That is about the nicest thing I have ever seen you post about cryptic. There just may be hope for you yet!
A Little something to consider:
We haven't sold CO LTS subs since launch. We brought them back due to popular demand by our playerbase, after announcing the Champions Online: Free for All conversion on 10/26/10. We announced the return of the CO LTS on 11/11/10.
Lifetime Subscribers to Champions Online enjoy all the benefits of having a subscription to the game, including a monthly stipend of Cryptic Points to spend as the wish in our C-Store. For the cost of roughly twenty months of subscription time, only this subscription offer lasts the life of the product. In short, I, and others, still beleive that a lifetime subscription to your favorite MMO (whether that be CO, STO, LOTRO, or any other game) is quite possibly the best possible value for your entertainment dollars.
Lifetime subscriptions to Star Trek Online have been available since before the game launched. Many players have purchased them, and while I freely admit that not everyone who has done so is happy with their purchase; many, many more are. Even some of our staunchest critics with lifetime subscriptions will (and have) stated that they are happy with their purchase of a STO lifetime sub.
We have no plans to take Star Trek Online Free to Play right now. Should we decide to do so in the future, Lifetime subscribers will continue to have the benefits of being a Lifetime Subscriber they do today, as well as the monthly stipend of Cryptic Points that Champions Online Lifetime Subscribers will soon be enjoying.
We're celebrating the launch of Champioons Online: Free for All, and Star Trek Online's one year anniversary by holding a sale. We're offering our customers a discount on the services we provide, which we (and many others) beleive holds value.
If you disagree, well, then this sale simply isn't meant for you, and I'm sorry that it's offended you.
Thanks,
Stormshade
Wow, Stormshade! Nice to see you over here on these forums! I do agree with you on LT subs. I bought sto LT before it even released. I have never regretted that purchase! Granted there are a lot of issues I have with STO itself, I look to the future of what I think STO is going to be and I am proud to be a lifer! Now, about some of those STO fixes......
Let's see... if you could have stacked up a bunch of those game codes for 2.50, that means a LTS would pay itself off in..... 8 years.....
Yeah....
Anyone who buys a lifetime sub for STO at this point, deserves what they get... (and there are probably a few other things they deserve and won't get... I'll let your imagination fill in the blanks).
Respect @ STORMSHADE for Posting here ...
While we have your attantion ... could you confirm if STO will be going F2P within the next 18 months ?
{Mod Edit}
After the band died playing music on the Titanic, WhiteStar billed thier families for the lost uniformes...
Old Stormmy is a PAID Craptic employee, and while I personally do not have anything against him, his company is the lowest of the low.
"twenty months of subscription time"--- at 2 bucks 50 cents 300 lifetime is closer to 120 months. And most of the people I know gave up on the game after 2 weeks. (including myself)
"I freely admit that not everyone who has done so is happy with their purchase..." Wait, I agree as well
"We have no plans to take Star Trek Online Free to Play right now." You should incert the word publicly into your statement.
We have no public plans to take Star Trek Online Free to Play right now. Let's talk again in about 8 months.
You seem like a nice guy Stormshade, and it kind of pains me to get all flamy here, but I loathe your company. They take intellectual properties and chop them for a quick buck. They pander to the people who know that this is the closest thing we will ever to see to a Star Trek MMO. And now their sights are set upon Neverwinter, and that's just not cool...
As community manger it's your job to defend the position of your employers, that however doesn't make you privy to the plans for the product. While everything you state is absolutely true, with regards to Cryptic's actions on the CO boards, it doesn't reflect the facts absent from the offer . That CO will in effect be F2P the day the offer goes live , it's what Cryptic is banking on . Another stroke of marketing genius on Cryptics part. Then they wonder why they are quickly becoming despised. The lack of disclosure and obscurantism in Cryptics statements are at the heart of the matter.
Well i think this is a bargain, i know i can look forward to hours upon hours of End Game Play.
As an Online Community Representative, it's my job to represent the concerns of the Star Trek Online, and Champions Online community here in the offices of Cryptic Studios. In other words, when my players get mad, I get to run around the office and yell at people on their behalf. When my players are happy, I get to walk around and pat everyone on the shoulder.
This sale for discounted Lifetime Subs begins on the day that Champions Online becomes free to play. We're well aware of that, and we're certainly not hiding it. The sale also doesn't end until Friday the week following. This means, that if you are coming back to the game as a free player, or just trying it out for the first time, you have almost two weeks to try out Champions, and make a decision regarding the purchase of a Lifetime Sub during this sale.
So here's the deal:
We're holding a sale. The sale lasts for almost two weeks. I hope you guys will consider trying out one, or both, of our titles during that time. If you like what you see, and you enjoy the game/s, and the many improvements we've made to them, I hope you'll consider playing for awhile. Maybe even become a subscriber. If you think you'll be playing the game for some time, consider a lifetime subscription. If you don't enjoy the game or games that we offer, then save your money and spend it on something you will enjoy.
No pressure. No gimmiks. It's your call. The only thing you have to lose is a few hours. Something I don't think you'll actually find as a loss.
Thanks,
Stormshade
well there you go, straight from stormshade's keyboard. they know they are ripping people off and have no problem with it.
they are selling lts to a f2p game the same day it goes ftp.
read my earlier post, this is about money and cryptic understands that their reputation is so bad they really can not hurt it at this point.
edit- hey didnt cryptic have a manager from hellgate london that sold LTS then closed the servers a month later?
IF THE ONLY DEFENCE FOR CRITICISM OF A GAME IS CALLING SOMEONE A TROLL OR HATER, THAT SAYS A LOT ABOUT THE QUALITY OF THE GAME
You do realize that the FTP version of CO is not the same as the sub version, right? I don't play CO, but I do know that there is a major difference there.
I want a mmorpg where people have gone through misery, have gone through school stuff and actually have had sex even. -sagil
Wow...
Let me break this down a little more for you, and anyone else whom you may have managed to confuse.
Please check out our Features Matrix, which outlines the differences between the "Gold" or subscription level, and the "Silver" or free level.
You'll find it very similar to other popular games which have adopted a hybrid "freemium" model. Lifetime Subscribers will essentially be set to a "Gold" level, for the life of the game. This means that if you compare that cost of a lifetime subscription to the cost of an ongoing monthly subscription, we're allowing you the ability to garner potential incredible amounts of savings, later down the line, in exchange for your initial investment.
Thanks,
Stormshade
Champions Online is still going to be a subscription game, even after it goes "free to play". The "free to play" option is basically an extended free trial. Buying stuff from the item mall without buying a subscription merely makes it a somewhat more generous free trial, but doesn't remove the build restrictions that mean that you're stuck with a somewhat gimpy character.
What I think is the more interesting line of attack is that a lifetime subscription used to be $200, and is now "on sale" for $240.
The truth is that the LTS has been on for a few months since the first announcement of CO going to f2p at $300. Apparently it was to match STO LTS price.
wow what stormshade?
you have put forward that you are offering a deal? you claim that the cost for a lts will pay for itself in around 3 years..... you seriously think their is 3 years worth of content or replayability in either title cryptic offers? can you suggest that with a straight face?
you claim that your offer is similar to other games... ITS NOT!
lotro has had offers something similar in price but offers a AAA mmo that has tons of content and replayability (you mentioned lotro as similar in an earlier post) sto and champions are definately NOT AAA mmo's.. if you dont beleive me heres a link with your EP saying so
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=177070&page=2
your "offer" is a complete rip off. if you offered a LTS for an actual AAA mmo that was not about to go f2p then you are actually offering something.
unfortunately -
1- cryptic does not have a AAA mmo
2- one of your 2 titles is about to go f2p (and the other probably is not far behind imo)
IF THE ONLY DEFENCE FOR CRITICISM OF A GAME IS CALLING SOMEONE A TROLL OR HATER, THAT SAYS A LOT ABOUT THE QUALITY OF THE GAME
Didn't Turbine have an offer like this a while before LOTRO went free to play? I am pretty sure some people were upset because they bought it just a week before the announcement.
You don't have to be a Mon Calamari to release "-it's a trap!" (yeah, wrong SF IP).
What I don't understand is why people are angry with Cryptic for doing this? It's like getting pissed off that a band you never liked in the first place has 'sold out', or some equally inane thing. You(the people upset) keep saying that they are 'ripping people off'. Ripping people off is SOE saying that Frogloks were an unlockable race at launch, though a hidden quest, which didn't actually exist yet. Ripping people off would be selling a LTS, and THEN saying 'HA!! It's going F2P anyway!'.
Cryptic isn't doing that. Everyone knows the score, and if someone thinks it's worth it, they'll spend the money. If they don't, they won't. WTF is the big deal? It's like people getting pissed off because there are Pepsi banners up in the venue where some punk band is playing a concert. No one is FORCING you to buy the damn Pepsi!
You have this thing... it's a sort of 'will'.... that's 'free'.... you can do what you want, buy what you want, and play what you want. Then again, maybe YOU don't, but most of us do.
I don't intend this as 'hate on cryptic', however I don't feel that your games are worthy of the 299.99, nor the discounted, price tags. When LOTRO launched they offered a LTS of 199.00. And, in my opinion, Turbines product is a better product, even prior to their expansions and free updates.
I'm aware that your existing lifers may throw a fit if Cryptic offered the LTS at a much lower rate than they paid, say 159.99. But you could always make it up to them by giving free cash shop points. I'd be willing to bet that more gamers than not will balk at both your 299.99 and 239.99 price tags, but might consider a range of 139.99-159.99. But that, again, is just my two pennies worth.
well if you really dont understand, heres how you can learn...
buy a lts to both games then come back in 6 months or so and let us know if you think are going to get your 500$ worth.... if it takes you that long.
having said this i am not against lts, i often regret not having bought a lts to lotro (and if eve had ever had such an offer it would have been worth it too). of course a lts to lotro would have been well worth the money imo. paying 250$ for a lts to a half finished game that has less than a months worth of content is a blatant scam.
its not that people are angry at cryptic for making the offer, people should be warned about business' that behave questionably (at best).
IF THE ONLY DEFENCE FOR CRITICISM OF A GAME IS CALLING SOMEONE A TROLL OR HATER, THAT SAYS A LOT ABOUT THE QUALITY OF THE GAME
If you like the game fine. If you dont, also fine. Either way your opinion is not a fact. Buy it if you want, or dont. Theres nothing else to it than that.
However, if LotRO ever does bring back the Lifetime offer I don't think they'll ever again offer it for the $199 price.
Back when LotRO launched and the price was chosen the game was new and unproven. Not only that but they only had 4 years remaining on the LotR license (though with the option to extend) and so didn't yet know how well it would do or if it would even last past the license time. They probably couldn't have gotten away with asking for much more than the $200 sale/$300 normal price.
Things have changed a lot since then. The game has proven itself as well as proved to most of the players that the Lifetime was a tremendous deal over the last several years. Also the LotR license has been extended till 2017 (again with the option to renew) so it will likely be around another 6 years at least adding even further value to the Lifetime option.
Now, add in the ~$5 worth of store points that Lifers get each month...~$60/year for 6 more years (at least) along with any loyalty or holiday bonus points and LotRO Lifetime holders will be getting ~$400-$600 worth of free store points up till 2017, and that's in addition to full subscriber access for the full duration.
If LotRO Lifetime accounts were offered again now that it's only increased in value, I honestly can't see them offering it for less than $300, and that being the sale price...$350-$400 being the norm.
Anyway, my point in mentioning all this is NOT to advertise LotRO or draw attention away from Cryptic's offer, but rather to emphasize, or give example to, how their offer can potentially be a tremendous deal.
Champions online is their own IP...Cryptic doesn't have to pay licensing fees or royalties to anyone and because of this not only is there no expiration on the license but because they don't pay royalties to DC or Marvel or anyone then the game is more profitable and is likely to be around a lot longer.
Over time more value will be added to the game in the way of more content, bug fixes, new features, etc. Add in the ~$5/mo in Cryptic points you get back and in a matter of a few years a Lifetimer would get the price of the Lifetime back in points alone...but they'd also get full subscriber benefits that whole time too with no monthly fee ever again.
To conclude, I brought this all up to show that the decision to buy a Lifetime option should take into account more than just if the game is worth the value now (which it almost never is at the start, no matter the game) but rather if you think it will have been worth it 2 years from now after the "break even" point where the amount you saved equals the amount you paid, and on into the 3+ year point where the Lifetimers will be operating at pure profit (no subscription fee for full benefits and free points each month) while the game itself will have had several years of updates, expansions, fixes etc. added to it.
I personally can't even guess if it'll be worth it. I've never played Champions Online and probably never will (I'm not into superheroes that much) and have also never tried STO (may try it if it goes free-play). I DO however have a LotRO Lifetime account and it's been the best MMO purchase I have ever made, not just because I got it at the reduced $200 price but because it's provided me value over the last few years I've had it and I know it will provide me value in the years to come even though LotRO is now a free-play game. If someone plays and enjoys CO or STO now enough to subscribe and they think they'll still be playing years from now then I can honestly only see the Lifetime option as a great deal for them...assuming the games are still there of course.
i agree with most of what you have to say about lotro (allthough i think your prices for a lts now are high), however sto and champions are different.
i dont recall the executive producer of lotro stating 6 months after launch that most of the core of the game had to be re-done due to it being considered sub-par. lotro had longer than 2 year run before it went f2p. and lotro had an absolute ton more content than sto. there really is no comparison... lotro was a AAA mmo at launch, sto and champions are not.
IF THE ONLY DEFENCE FOR CRITICISM OF A GAME IS CALLING SOMEONE A TROLL OR HATER, THAT SAYS A LOT ABOUT THE QUALITY OF THE GAME
If STO goes F2P and it does well, it might give cryptic the incentive to improve STO with more than just the occasional added mission, and for LTSs some of the store items are nice.
Having said that STO scarred me for life and I hope Cryptic HQ gets hit my a meteor full of borg nano-probes and Ferengi ear wax.