Got this email tonight. I had to cancel, seeing as I only still play Vsoh.

Dear Station Access™ Subscriber,

We want to give you some important information regarding your Station Access subscription. Effective April 2, 2007, the new monthly subscription rate will be US$29.99 per month (not including applicable taxes).

We know that rate adjustments are never popular, but the increase is driven by our desire to provide our Station Access subscribers with a consistently high quality entertainment experience, as evidenced by our most recent addition to the Station Access subscription plan, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes™.

You don't have to do a thing; you will automatically be migrated to the new monthly subscription rate under your existing subscription plan when your current subscription plan comes up for renewal on or after April 2, 2007. We appreciate your support and continued participation in our community.

Station Access subscriptions are recurring, meaning you will continue to be billed at the appropriate subscription interval, until you affirmatively cancel your subscription. Subscription fees are subject to tax and value-added tax, as applicable. The subscription charges are in addition to the cost of the games that are part of the Station Access subscription plan. All game software is sold separately.

Originally posted by Anofalye
And...what was the rate prior this increase?

Originally posted by Anofalye
And...what was the rate prior this increase?

I believe it is around $24 and some change. At least it was when I was sub'ed to EQ2. I was in Vanguard beta up to release and wasn't fool enough to give Sony any more money after quiting EQ2.

As for the price increase........LOL

heh! Already trying to compensate for the financial disaster that is Vanguard. Can't say I blame them. I'll stick to the market standard of $14.95 thank you -  and please don't start with "but you can play all our games on station pass". If I want to play many bad games I'll buy an old arcade collection from a Walmart discount bin.

gg $ony - here is a song for you...

I have to say it's really still a pretty good deal, even with Station Access going up $5 a month.

Where else can you subscribe to that many games, with the additional perqs SOE provides to Station Access members?  Nowhere.

And how much would it cost if you wanted to play V:SoH and EQ, paying each individual monthly subscription?  $30.  And there are many players doing that.  But if you're only playing V:SoH, and there's no additional perqs worth an extra $15 per month, Station Access wouldn't make any sense for you.  Same with any of the other games, although I know people who play EQ2 only, but pay Station Access because of the extra character slots per account, and the other less noticeable perqs.

And, if they were charging $25/mo before V:SoH, why would anyone think they're not going to raise the price after adding a new game to the lineup?  Makes pretty good sense.  And that's the way the business model works, after all.  Works for Cable and Satellite TV, works for "wholesale club" stores, works for all kinds of other businesses.

So, it looks to me like they add V:SoH to their lineup, and only charge Station Access members $5 per month for it.  Right?

Regrettable that they can't give Station Access members that new game for free, after purchasing the software.  Right? 

And they may  lose a bunch of Station Access accounts, lots of people may finally break down and choose one game they want to play, instead of dabbling in 2 or 3.  So maybe SOE finds that this hurts the Station Access program, right?

We'll see.  And this gives all the "SOE haters" something new to bitch and whine about, a new completely irrational reason to flame SOE.  All good.

Kalmenicus the Rational

p.s. I cancelled Station Access also.  I was spreading myself too thin anyway, trying to play hardcore in 2 or 3 big MMORPGs at the same time.  This allows me to focus.  Or, I'll find out I just can't live without all the games, and come back to Station Access next month.  Only time will tell.... 

well Ill be ending my station access plan then. The only games i played were EQ2 and Vanguard. Ill end up taking an individual subscription to one of them not sure which yet, but i think ill pick back up my WoW sub again. Id rather pay 30$ a month for Eq2or VG and WoW than just EQ2 and VG.

Sorry but i could care less for SWG or Matrix Online or Planetside never even played those and have no interest in playing them so having those games in the station access plan was really no value for me.

Originally posted by Sornin

Originally posted by Anofalye
And...what was the rate prior this increase?

$24.99. So, it is about a 20% increase in price.

Originally posted by tevans
Sadly this limits my options where SOE and VG are concerned. I cancelled my VG account but actually considered taking the Station Access since VG was included with it. Since I had played SWG and EQ2 in the past it would have been a good deal as I could go back and forth between games. The price hike to $29.99 is too much and sadly VG in it's present state is just not worth the price on it's own. I have a feeling this is going to drive many players of all SOE games including VG to other games. At the very least SOE will still lose money on this as those with Station Access will now only pay for their game of choice at a rate of $14.99 per month instead of the $29.99 Station Access fee. This is another in a long list of brilliant SOE moves under the leadership of John Smedley. WTG SOE you just drove some of your customers away and probably killed any chance VG had.

Well... I am trying to put myself in Johny shoes...

Maybe he want to get peoples to cancel the subscribtion to the all-access Pass in a significant amount and see to what game they are going to subscribe individually, EQ?  EQ2?  Vanguard?  I see many reasons as to why he may want to see peoples cancelling and moving to single subscribtions; mostly on the bargaining and decision level...about MAJOR decisions, which may lead to closing some titles althogether (or just to determine who get the budget for expansions).

SoE can always lower the price AFTER they close a game or 2...or removed them from the pass.

Originally posted by Deathstiny

heh! Already trying to compensate for the financial disaster that is Vanguard. Can't say I blame them. I'll stick to the market standard of $14.95 thank you -  and please don't start with "but you can play all our games on station pass". If I want to play many bad games I'll buy an old arcade collection from a Walmart discount bin.

gg $ony - here is a song for you...

Originally posted by Kalmenicus

I have to say it's really still a pretty good deal, even with Station Access going up $5 a month.

Where else can you subscribe to that many games, with the additional perqs SOE provides to Station Access members?  Nowhere.

And how much would it cost if you wanted to play V:SoH and EQ, paying each individual monthly subscription?  $30.  And there are many players doing that.  But if you're only playing V:SoH, and there's no additional perqs worth an extra $15 per month, Station Access wouldn't make any sense for you.  Same with any of the other games, although I know people who play EQ2 only, but pay Station Access because of the extra character slots per account, and the other less noticeable perqs.

And, if they were charging $25/mo before V:SoH, why would anyone think they're not going to raise the price after adding a new game to the lineup?  Makes pretty good sense.  And that's the way the business model works, after all.  Works for Cable and Satellite TV, works for "wholesale club" stores, works for all kinds of other businesses.

So, it looks to me like they add V:SoH to their lineup, and only charge Station Access members $5 per month for it.  Right?

Regrettable that they can't give Station Access members that new game for free, after purchasing the software.  Right? 

And they may  lose a bunch of Station Access accounts, lots of people may finally break down and choose one game they want to play, instead of dabbling in 2 or 3.  So maybe SOE finds that this hurts the Station Access program, right?

We'll see.  And this gives all the "SOE haters" something new to bitch and whine about, a new completely irrational reason to flame SOE.  All good.

Kalmenicus the Rational

p.s. I cancelled Station Access also.  I was spreading myself too thin anyway, trying to play hardcore in 2 or 3 big MMORPGs at the same time.  This allows me to focus.  Or, I'll find out I just can't live without all the games, and come back to Station Access next month.  Only time will tell.... 

Originally posted by DeadJester

Originally posted by Deathstiny

heh! Already trying to compensate for the financial disaster that is Vanguard. Can't say I blame them. I'll stick to the market standard of $14.95 thank you -  and please don't start with "but you can play all our games on station pass". If I want to play many bad games I'll buy an old arcade collection from a Walmart discount bin.

gg $ony - here is a song for you...

LoL again some one that does not know what they are talking about SOE is the host of Vsoh and has no real money invested other then server space and CSR witch im sure they have plenty of  because of SWG huge misstake the NGE so dont troll unless you know what you are taking about

sorry my bad. I didn't know server hosting and customer service were free.

/sarcasm off

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Originally posted by Sornin
When you get down to it, the Station Pass has always been a way for Sony to make tons of extra cash off of hosting games.

Consider that whether you play just one game or two, you will probably play the same AMOUNT in terms of time. All SOE is doing, therefore, is charging you extra money to play more games, but for about the same amount of time, total. Considering people playing multiple games also need to buy more expansion packs, etc., and it is a nice source of cash for them.

I bet if you looked at the profit relative to player upkeep, Station Pass players are jewels to have as customers.

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I'm pretty sure there was a "feature" of the Station Plan where you actually couldn't play one game at the same time you were playing another. So no playing EQ while Entertaining in SWG or whatever. So yeah, it was definitely just more money for the same amount of time.

Originally posted by Shadrak
id rather them drop a few  of the silly games that noone plays anymore like SWG, Planetside, EQOA,Matrix Online and Keep the price where it was,