I hate this new move offered by SoE. One sentence to sum up my opinions, read on for more detail.

To the best of my knowledge, SoE is by far the single largest money hungry online entertainment industry I know of. Sure, others exist, but as far as I know, SoE takes the cake and the pie and some other pasty of your choice. First they had the adventure packs to squeeze 5 bucks out of players wallets and now this to shave a little off the top.

This move by SoE is utterly asinine at best and, in my opinion. SoE claims only certain servers will be affected, but once they see how much money they can make off of this in the short term, they will force it on all the people who don't want digital items being sold for real-world profit on their server, which will in turn disrupt their gaming experience.

On the extreme side of the negatives, I believe the economy of this event in the long run could very well lead to a massive de-stabalization of the virtual economy in terms of in-game currency to the point where all it is good for is buying cheap vendor items which are always there and the occasional repairation of armour that was damaged when you got killed, replacing this with real-world money for items etc that people have to either create or find. Granted in this extreme the prices for these items will most likely plumit to 10-20 bucks for most items, it will still theoretically destabalize the entire game world.

As many others have pointed out, farming will run rampant on servers affected with "station exchange" and the people who can play 24/7 to farm as many items as they can at once to sell for the big bucks before the other farmers destabalize this economy driving prices down thus crashing their economy as well, in which case profit margins on sony's end will begin plummiting as well.

Needless to say despite all the words I have just typed that signify real-life speech. In the short-run, Station Exchange will help SoE make a quick buck, but in the long run it is unhealthy for the MMORPG community as a whole and will just cause great games to crash and burn in a horrific fireball killing thousands of innocent digital avatars in the process.

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Originally posted by Stormsender

My opinion of this move by SOE is its the worst move they could have made, period. I will never play a SOE MMO again, they don't value the time and effort of the player. They just allow anyone to have the equiopment that the hard working player has to sweat and fight for. I like the games that take effort to succeed not games that bring everyone down to the lowest common denominator.

I will say it again, I WILL NEVER PLAY A SOE MMO AGAIN.

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Amen.. I totaly agree and I already left... BOYCOTT SOE all!

I really do think that if they allow the Station Exchange, it will change the MMORPG's for the worse. I tell ya... this isn't a good idea. I have a strong feeling that soon, MMORPG's won't be the same.

I am never playing another SOE game again.

Cancled all my subscriptions, this was the final straw for me - seriously, consider item decay in SWG (which is also undergoing consideration for Station Exchange), a sword or item you paid real life cash for ingame could rot and decay to the point of no return!  What about items that are nerfed, and adjusted...often downgrading the value ?  Sony is setting itself up for some heavy hurt here, with lawsuits and disenchanted consumers globally.  There are so many other drawbacks..imagine playing for 3 years and then you see an ebayed guy who paid 100$ for a character of your equivalent - what happened to risk vs reward and hard work ?  Or finding out one of your friends sold their account, now a complete stranger has his/her toon..next week, same scenario...would get pretty confusing, and eliminate the barriers seperating the high lvls from the low lvls in terms of finesse and game familiarity as you could find yourself grouping with high lvl toons that have NEVER played the game before.

In the words of Mythic Entertainment: A game's a game, lets leave it at that.

I can't believe so many people "cancel their subscription" and get mad about how "this will ruin their game". After all, this won't affect the current servers much, only in a positive way.

After all, to quote SOE: "If you don't want to play on an Exchange server, you don't have to." They will set up a few new Exchange servers and allow people to move to these servers if they want to.

Perhaps people will be more greedy on the exchange servers, but I guess that comes with the territory. And if all the greedy people move there from my RP server, I won't complain. On the contrary, this is a really good move that I'm surprised anyone is upset about.

It could be discussed whether it's fair or not that you can buy characters and item for real world cash, but the choice is still up to you, it's nothing SOE will force upon you OR your server.

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I can't believe so many people "cancel their subscription" and get mad about how "this will ruin their game". After all, this won't affect the current servers much, only in a positive way.

After all, to quote SOE: "If you don't want to play on an Exchange server, you don't have to." They will set up a few new Exchange servers and allow people to move to these servers if they want to.

Perhaps people will be more greedy on the exchange servers, but I guess that comes with the territory. And if all the greedy people move there from my RP server, I won't complain. On the contrary, this is a really good move that I'm surprised anyone is upset about.

It could be discussed whether it's fair or not that you can buy characters and item for real world cash, but the choice is still up to you, it's nothing SOE will force upon you OR your server.

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Mark those words, for I am now going to cripple this weak arguing point (no offense intended, truely).

First of all, do you think that because exchange servers are introduced that the entire market of bots and such will migrate over to them ? No, that doesn't make an inkling of sense, bring all the bots and farmers/IGEers together on a server where almost all items will be intended for resale (there would be no market on said server..everyone is there for primarily the same purpose, to farm!). That being said, we can assume that while there may be a slight population decrease in farmers on the normal servers, illegal selling and ebaying etc will still occur because that is where the consumer market it - the buyers are playing on these servers, so that is where the sellers will go.

And what about WHAT servers will be converted into Station Exchange servers, they did not say they would make NEW servers, but would transform current ones into said template..that means a portion of the playerbase WILL be affected by this - I imagine they will offer free transfers off, or knowing SOE's money hungry ways, will make you pay a small fee...

Also, Character transfers will happen if this game's projected longitivity will be mantained, and I severely doubt that all transfers/trades between exchange and non-exchange servers will be blocked. I just Hope that this whole fiasco with Sony Station Exchange will not open the floodgates for more of this crap.

Fire Smedly, was the input I responded to when prompted about my feedback for the Exchange proposistion, and is the advice I still retain.

Those of you berating SOE for this should be turning the same venom on this very website that actively advertises for and supports the secondary market, because "only about 50% of our visitors are against it". Sell some porn ads if you are so desperate!

Anyway, at least SOE's version doesn't have questionable legal status. This will enable them to sue IGE for damages, which is actually a great biproduct of this disgusting "feature".

I would say only one thing...............that doesn't come as a surprise for me.

SoE focus too much on the size of their poket rather than focusing on the quality of their product.

EQ2 will bomb dramatically, people is leaving EQ2 faster than the people that is joining.
When games like D&L, D&D and Vanguard will come out, EQ2 will die slowly and will fade into oblivion.
So give the poor sods a way to make some money now they can.

Enjoy til it lasts SoE

PS: By the way, I am one of those people that has still an active account of EQ2, but who doesn't play it.
So if you are counting on customer like me for the future, your calculations are wrong.
Like me there are lots of people in "stand by" waiting for a new game to come out or hoping that SoE will start to understand players need and will rethink the entire game (which is very unlikely).
That s the kind of customer you have, and make no mistake (as Bush like to say), we will leave the game sooner rather than later, so I won't be so excited by the fact that your subscriptions don't drop rigth away.
They will in the very near future.

Enjoy

Erhhh.......double post again

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Now, you have a valid point that Botters/Farmers/etc will remain on the non-exchange servers because there are customers there. But they will likely DECREASE in number, because A; it's easier to sell on the Exchange servers and B; buyers will prefer the secure transactions on the exchange servers. If you think this somehow will make things worse than they are today, please explain.

Also, you state that Character transfers between these servers WILL happen. That is pure speculation and you know it. I'm not saying it won't happen, the only one saying that is SOE (didn't even bother to look up a quote, since they're repeating it all over anyway).

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Ahem, by your post you have I believe manged to only offer argument opposing two of my at-least-half-a-dozen arguments as to why this station exchange is going to be a bad thing, or rather, IS a bad thing. I did not state that this would elevate the problem, but it surely won't offer a form of solution - it is as another poster said, a way for sony to line their pockets - and if it does at all, it will be a mild one not affecting anything on a grand scale...I personally as a player would HATE to play regularely on a server where these exchanges are legal, because I would be surrounded by farmers/bots ergo one could assume that alot of the good loot mobs would be perma camped (the IGE industry is not weak..there are crews working around the clock, and a term being coined is "sweat shop gamers" ..people who play the game for a small cut of the profits made for their employers). Massive Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game - recall, that by this definitive term applied to this genre, we are to enjoy immersion in a living breathing high fantasy world with other like minded gamers...and thats why the majority of us are still here.

Sad to see Sony take something wonderful like Norrath and rip it to shreds...

Just my 2c to this issue.

That was SOE does is the best solution in a bad case. They probably found out that they can not stop sites like IGE with any legal means. Therefore they makes the best thing out of this bad case and opens an exchange service on their own. They can really cut down the fraudulences with their own system very well.

Yes one really concern as many people already mentioned is what happens if you buy that uber sword of instant killing for $1000 and then it get nerfed to a dull blade of rustyness? I'm sure you'll have to accept that loss! But this can happens if you buy that item from IGE also!

Generally as long this does affect only PvE server, I can respect it.
My real concern is what will happens if an Exchange service will be offered on a PvP server? Especially if the looser can be looted like in Shadowbane? If they need really to open an exchange service for such servers then they should only sell accounts and non lossable items. But I'm still against it.

Generally does all Exchange services hurting the ingame economy! Suddenly stuff can no longer be afforted by ingame stuff only because the player sold stuff is inflating to such high levels that you need 10 millions gold just to get 1 high level armor piece (assume that a mob drops about 200 to 1000 gold per kill.)
(Yes, there are some free MMOPRGs which are selling ingame money/items in some way for real money.)

Not only that, it's going against Sony's EULA - seriously, you write those things pretty much as the commandments..abide by them, if you expect your playerbase to as well those agreements are as such to mantain and erect a common relationship and agreement between the consumer and the producer.

I know of at least 200 people, across several gaming forums, WTF & GU Comics, etc, that have deleted their Sony accounts..and some of those aren't just EQ2 accounts..im talking EQ and SWG as well. No doubt, Sony will begin to feel the sting of their actions in some fashion and more so as time progresses...

To me, it's not simply SOE anymore...henchforth it is SOigE

From one point of view, they're just "legalising" what is already happening. It is true that it's difficult to track and ban botters or other people who violate the rules of the game and it is quite a large market. Since it is a phenomenon that cannot be effectively stopped, it makes sense to allow such transactions to take place, in a safe enviroment where the buyer can be sure there is little chance of a fraud (and, of course, SOE makes money in the process).

However, this will turn a game into an actual profession and I believe it's that point where the game stops being fun. I think that Jacobs, CEO of Mythic Entertainment, provided some interesting points, for example monopolising certain zones will increase, harassment issues will increase and generally an unhealthy competition among players will be developed.

A game's goal is to have fun. SOE's decision will make the game fail in this goal.

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Originally posted by nexus42
Like death and taxes, this was inevitable. It's worth noting, however, that no one likes death or taxes either.

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If no one has noticed it's meant to be a game, NOT real life. SOE are encouraging  botting  and farming, and facilitating a grown industry of gaming sweatshops.

I've played and paid for Planetside and SWG and I'm an active member of of the largest EQ2 Guilds. I enjoy EQ2 very much, and I will miss it but as soon as this goes live I'll quit my account and will encourage as many guild members to do the same. I will also never buy another SOE game again. I'll will actively take my custom to other companies who take a stance against SOE.

Bad idea.. For those thinking of making a quick buck.. Dont forget about the chineese farmers who will undoubtly force down the prices of items. Plus the endless fights over money making spots and mobs.

Might be time to quit EQ2 when this goes live.

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Originally posted by Stormsender

My opinion of this move by SOE is its the worst move they could have made, period. I will never play a SOE MMO again, they don't value the time and effort of the player. They just allow anyone to have the equiopment that the hard working player has to sweat and fight for. I like the games that take effort to succeed not games that bring everyone down to the lowest common denominator.

I will say it again, I WILL NEVER PLAY A SOE MMO AGAIN.

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/agree I will never play a SOE MMO again

This is greed pure and simple, cutting 40% of calls, who believes this rubbish?!

The dollar sign is so well earnt in $OE.

Wow, its to bad that this post asked for mature replies, and not bashing of sort. Because i was swear the lad that just bashed those that actually work and earn a living is pretty upset with what i just said in my post.

Look at it this way, i pay to play and do what i want ingame, you nor anyone else can tell me how to play my game. If it's money or gear i want, i'm going to get it one way or another, regardless of time spent ingame playing, so, if SOE wants in on the band wagon and earn some money towards the game they made, so be it and congrats to them for doing it.

Next time Tyrgris you start bashing folks, make sure your typing is a bit more readable, and your not so upset with what folks post about certain things before you go and make your own posts. They asked for mature content, not other player bashing, grow up kid and post a mature reply about the game and the idea of what SOE is doing, stop being a spoil child.

How come no one wants to discuss the underlying issue, which to me is ... people wouldn't need to buy their level/equipment advancement IF the game made that trek enjoyable in the first place.  Sure there will always be those that have to have the best of everything, but if more folks enjoyed the "journey" instead of the end result, we wouldn't even be having this discussion.

I played EQ1 for over 5 years and EQ2 since launch.  I terminated my EQ2 account at the beginning of April because it is just no fun anymore.  I think the /pizza crap was the first nail in the coffin, but there are myriad other reasons.  Not to mention the already rampant botting and farming that seems to go unchecked no matter what SoE claims about cancelling accounts.  I reported a list of the alphabet named farmers months ago and they never seemed to get stopped.  It seems a shame that I had to battle farmers in both EL and Zek just trying to accomplish little quests.  No thanks...it will only get worse from here.

As for ebay in game?  No thanks...and make no mistake, if it becomes popular it WILL end up on all servers regardless of what SoE promises.  It's all about the $$ afterall.  If it wasn't, SoE wouldn't be doing everything they can to turn EQ2 into WoW...