Originally posted by bverji

Originally posted by SirKale

Personally, this limited time offer on the lifetime subscription reeks of a total scam, and that's not even getting into whether or not the game is actually any good. What they're doing is trying to sucker those people who are really excited for the game. Try and get them to throw down $200 to get a few extra things without even being able to try the game out yet. It's just a really, really low thing to do. My faith in the game is plummeting quickly, so I doubt I'll be picking it up on launch, if I even do at all. And this is coming from a big CoH fan who has been playing CoH since launch.

 

Totally agree, This reeks of desperation.

Let's see, first Jack sells City of Heroes to NCSoft so he can crawl into bed with Microsoft to create the Marvel MMO, a direct competitor to the game he just abandoned. As is their nature, MS kills the project when the bills start coming in with nothing but promises and hot air from Cryptic to show for the investment. Emmert is then stuck with a superhero game and no one to buy it. Then he works out a deal with Hero Games to adapt his game to their niche PnP RPG system, eventually buying the company so he can have total creative control over the franchise.

Add one Bill Roper, the huckster who left Blizzard when Vivendi wouldn't let he and his chums have greater decision-making ability with World of Warcraft. Roper and chums create Flagship and hype their Hellgate: London franchise, a game which, it would be revealed, had a serious identity problem. As has been so aptly said here, HG:L was a single-player game which Roper & Co tried to make look like a MMO. After many overseas PR trips and extravagant marketing, Flagship releases HG:L, but not before offering the same lifetime subscription model we're are seeing right here. HG:L Founders got a real bargain at a mere 150 smackers for the full-meal deal. What they couldn't foresee is that Roper would abandon the game a little more than a year later, closing Flagship's doors and allowing HG: L to be taken over (as in OVERSEAS!) by Flagship's Korean creditors. Founders were left with a nice parting gift of a single-player game and a pretty box. Koreans are still playing the game. The announcement that Roper had been hired by Cryptic was a bad omen.

In the meantime, Emmert sold Cryptic to Infogrames / Atari, similarly financially-struggling company with no MMO experience. The fix was in. The game was pushed back from its July release date for "polish". Then the rumors broke of the existence of an Item Shop mechanic in the beta code. Typical, Cryptic and Roper let the controversy boil over before finally announcing that Champions Online would include features that could only be bought with real cash, in addition to the full industry-standard subscription fee.

Now we have the Lifetime Subscription being offered before the game is even released, just like Hellgate: London with similar perks, another indication of a severely cash-strapped developer with no confidence in their finished product. Call it all the sweet things you like, but this is nothing more than a fast-grab revenue generator. Good luck and godspeed to the unwary "fans" who will fall for this, oblivious to what has gone before.

Cryptic has subscribed to the P. T. Barnum marketing model. Hurry in for this exclusive limited-time offer! Some restrictions do apply. Void where prohibited by law.

well, hopefully the cash generated by fleecing the noobs will go toward development of STO (not that i think this IP is in the right hands)

Everyone considering this should look at the man behind this game Bill Roper. Look what happened to the game he last offered lifetime subscription with. Just do your homework please.

I think it is really sad that CS must obviously think CO can't draw subscribers on it's own that they have to try to bribe players with a STO beta acess to get them to play CO.  It really bothers me that more and more GD's are trying to charge money for beta acess to scam players to take a chance on some IP that has little or no chance of even being succesful. If the GD can't get their publishers to support them instead of the beta testers then maybe they need to rethink their career choices.

I remember the days when gamers would of  loved to get paid to test games....now GD's want US to pay THEM to test their game? Not I, and anyone who fell for DF should know not to either, heh.

 I would be wary of taking advantage of either offer for closed beta access, as it doesn't say when you will join the closed beta (could be the final wave before open).

Also, I think LOTRO allowed pre-order person to take advantage of their lifetime offer after the initial release of the game. It was not restricted to open beta, as far as I remember.

To me, the thing I don't like about this is the tacking on of extras. It becomes less an offer to the players and more a mammoth collectors edition.

The single largest problem with lifetime subs, for me, is the fact that once they have my money I no longer have any avenue of meaningful protest. I can no longer "vote with my wallet" if I think it sucks or later on takes a turn for the worst (think the SWG NGE here). It's not the cost, it's the principle of the matter. The foregoing applies to lifetime subs in general. In the specific, there is no way in hell I would even consider a paying a lifetime sub for a game that Roper has had any hand in.

Ok I preordered the damn game April and what Key.  I call Gamestop where I paid and they have nothing yet.  What preorder key?   As far as lifetime memberships.   Good deal,  Doesnt hurt anyone and benifits lots.   Just as long as NCSOFT doesnt spend all their preorder money up front leaving nothing left for later.

Originally posted by Shreddi

Just as long as NCSOFT doesnt spend all their preorder money up front leaving nothing left for later.

Cryptic / Atari not NCSOFT....

Originally posted by lornphoenix

Originally posted by Shreddi

Just as long as NCSOFT doesnt spend all their preorder money up front leaving nothing left for later.

Cryptic / Atari not NCSOFT....

It makes me sad to see NCSoft name incorrectly associated with Champions Online, they have absolutely no relations with CO. I could proceed with an item mall rant but I'm not in the mood.

if they offer this deal (like Lotro did) after launch then i willl jump all over it provided the game is at least a standard MMO style game (WAR, AoC(minus the bugs)...ect).

And then it hit me... you actually have to play for 20+ months for this to break even with just getting 6 month subs back to back.  If you are an altoholic the extra slots might be enough to jump but otherwise $15/month is peanuts and getting into betas is almost guaranteed for all but the high profile ones.  Cry never did get my Aion beta QQ.  But then NCSoft won't be getting my sub either until I've read about it after launch backwards and forwards :P