Well, I was on here complaining before so let me just post my sincere thanks to Cryptic, which Iève also done on their site.  Itès great to see them respond to their customers and undoa a perceived wrong.

I signed up for a lifetimem sub even though I was originally just going to go for the 6-month option.  Last night I was seriously just going to play the one month I had paid for and then drop it so really, more revenue for them and hopefully a couple of years of play for me. 

Originally posted by xtravert

Well, I was on here complaining before so let me just post my sincere thanks to Cryptic, which Iève also done on their site.  Itès great to see them respond to their customers and undoa a perceived wrong.

I signed up for a lifetimem sub even though I was originally just going to go for the 6-month option.  Last night I was seriously just going to play the one month I had paid for and then drop it so really, more revenue for them and hopefully a couple of years of play for me. 

Good luck, and I hope you have years of killer entertainment.

I bypassed the lifetime sub as I actually want Cryptic to make money after 14 months lol.

I admit I haven't read all, or even most of the posts in this thread, but I have read some. I'm sure others have already said this, but to all those calling the angry people crybabies or whiners, know that most of us weren't upset that the subs ran out as much as we were upset that we did not know that they could run out before the expiration date.

I post my sincere thanks to Cryptic and Atari for honoring the implications of their advertisements and extending the sub availability until the original cut-off date.

Originally posted by Unshra

Originally posted by nekollx

Originally posted by Papadam

Hehe maybe Atari needs to grab some more money now when they are being sued for $30 millions...

Why would anyone invest $200 in a shady company like this who just keep on screwing their players aswel as other companies?

my thoughts enzunctly

 

The sad thing is they are still a slightly better choice then Cryptic's former owner NCSoft, wonder who will be the next owner SOE? :-p

ore News Corp ;0

Yeah right, a lifetime subscription to company that is owned by Atari, has both subscription revenue and item shop revenue built in.  

Sorry I have to laugh at anyone attempting to buy this offer.   A year from now this game will be an also ran.

Originally posted by Ozmodan

Yeah right, a lifetime subscription to company that is owned by Atari, has both subscription revenue and item shop revenue built in.  

Sorry I have to laugh at anyone attempting to buy this offer.   A year from now this game will be an also ran.

right, they showed dtheir hand and it's a ugly gnareled wart covered one...

And i'mm supose to trust them.

Wow... it's a shame that the MMO comunity is reduced to trolls and doomcriers.

Atari did the right thing.  They opened up the special offers again, which is what they should have done.  No where did they mention limited quantities, other than apparently one small post in the forums.  I was waiting to make a decision until I got to play with the live version during the head start.  For me the choice was between the 6 month and the Lifetime.

Now I'll likely not go the lifetime as my pattern for CoH was play six months, off six months, play six, etc.  Granted a lifetime would be good for that model, but I was still waiting to see.  I do think the game will be along for some time.  Ignore the trolls who are bitter about item shops, Cryptic will release regular content updates for free like any MMO.  If they don't, they will loose far more customers than they gain in revenue.  

Will some things be exclusive, sure.  That's how they are going about it.  CoH does the exact same thing.  They just don't call it MT. 

Mind you I was pretty ticked that they pulled the offers.  Even if I wasn't going to get the lifetime, I thought it was deceptive to say the least.  However, they did the right thing, and anyone who actually works for a living has been in a company that's done stupid things.  The important part is that they rectifed their mistake.  That's a comforting thought.

Trolls, please go back to haunting the Darkfall forums and would the conspiracy theorists go try to find who shot JFK or something.  Corporations are not run by evil geniuses out to get your hard earned dollar.  They're typically run by baboons who are out to get your hard earned money.  Mistakes will happen, all the time.  It's how a company responds to those mistakes that shows you a good indication on who they are.

Originally posted by Sorrow

Really gotta worry about the precedent being set here, cuss, scream, threaten boycotts, lawsuits, throw thing and generally act like a 2 year old and lo,and behold you get your way.

 

I was really looking forward to the game and have 3 lifetimes bought over a week ago,  but now I have to question if I want to be part of this game. Now everytime the kiddies want anything they will just scream rant and rave until they get their way.

 

The only positive I see in this whole mess is that school just started back.

yeah know kidding.

I'm just surprised to see an MMO company, any MMO company, do a turn around on anything.  After my experience in other MMOs the industry really always seems to just take a like it or leave it approach.  I choose to believe that it's a response to the community rather than a marketing ploy.  They could have easily come back in a few months and charges $299 for it and gotten a few mor months subsription time from people as well as more money for the lifetime membership.

I'm not nieve enough to believe it isn't all about money but I think that going back and honoring the limited time portion of the offer is going to buy them some good will plus hopefully, for those playing the game, added interest in the future by people who will be paying monthly. 

Time will tell as to how good an offer the lifetime subscription is.  If it gets me through to November or December of 2010 then I'm happy with that.  Longer than that is just gravy.  I do tend to pop in adn check out MMOs I stopped playing and being able to do so without subscribing may be a nice little bonus.

Originally posted by Stellus

Who buys lifetimes subscriptions to a game that isn't even out yet, is run by two of the most notorious con artists in the industry, may not even survive long enough to make the lifetime subs worth it (see: Hellgate London), and KNOWS they will be spending even more of their money on microtransactions?

For those of you on the fence about buying the lifetime sub, let me help you out:

Wait... Wait until the game is out and the offer is over because I guarantee you that after a few months and the studio is hurting for more money, they will make that offer available again once more. THEN, you being the smart, savvy shopper can better decide whether or not to buy it because the game has already been out for some time and if it is still standing, you won't be out $300 or however much it costs.

This ---^^^^

I'll be laughing when in 6 mos they tell the world the game is now F2P and the "compensation" for all those lifers will be some form of champions bucks LOL

Originally posted by Onecrazyguy

Originally posted by Stellus

Who buys lifetimes subscriptions to a game that isn't even out yet, is run by two of the most notorious con artists in the industry, may not even survive long enough to make the lifetime subs worth it (see: Hellgate London), and KNOWS they will be spending even more of their money on microtransactions?

For those of you on the fence about buying the lifetime sub, let me help you out:

Wait... Wait until the game is out and the offer is over because I guarantee you that after a few months and the studio is hurting for more money, they will make that offer available again once more. THEN, you being the smart, savvy shopper can better decide whether or not to buy it because the game has already been out for some time and if it is still standing, you won't be out $300 or however much it costs.

 

This ---^^^^

I'll be laughing when in 6 mos they tell the world the game is now F2P and the "compensation" for all those lifers will be some form of champions bucks LOL

you know between this and the Turbine thing i have to wonder if some Atari exec got it into his head "any PR is good PR" and is intentionally holding out on Turbine until they raise a stink to get free publicity and the same with these subs then will swoop in and "Fix the oversight"

Originally posted by Saerain

Since the overwhelming theory seemed to be that they had 'sold out' of the deals because of the STO beta access, how are they doing this? Expanding their tester cap in the STO beta by whatever amount they have to? Kind of scary.

But I'm still in.

Like all great 'ideas' the devil is in the details. Just because you are granted Beta access, doesn't mean you get to play the minute the game goes into Beta. Beta can mean Open Beta (1 month before launch). Until then they could call the development phase Alpha Phase 3 or something like that. This way you don't have to honor the thousands of people at once. When you are ready for the stress test, then you declared Closed Beta and invite the people in waves. Again, slowly increasing your numbers..

I was one of the people upset by the situation. It prompted me to for the first time ever in 9 years of play in as many MMOs to post on a game's forum and express my disatisfaction. My husband and I decided to give it a few days to see how/if Cryptic and Atari would respond to the situation before making a decision about canceling our preorders. We are very pleased with the decision to reinstate the original offer in the form it was advertised to many of us. We do plan to buy lifetime subscriptions tomorrow (payday), and this decision has restored, if not improved, our opinion of Cryptic. There is no bad taste left in my mouth, and I find it difficult to believe that this could have been a ploy to try and drum up more subscriptions.

Originally posted by Tichia

I was one of the people upset by the situation. It prompted me to for the first time ever in 9 years of play in as many MMOs to post on a game's forum and express my disatisfaction. My husband and I decided to give it a few days to see how/if Cryptic and Atari would respond to the situation before making a decision about canceling our preorders. We are very pleased with the decision to reinstate the original offer in the form it was advertised to many of us. We do plan to buy lifetime subscriptions tomorrow (payday), and this decision has restored, if not improved, our opinion of Cryptic. There is no bad taste left in my mouth, and I find it difficult to believe that this could have been a ploy to try and drum up more subscriptions.

you never played City of Heroes did you?

when Cryptic was in change "bait, switch, and rebate" was their Modus Operandi

Originally posted by fansede

Originally posted by Saerain

Since the overwhelming theory seemed to be that they had 'sold out' of the deals because of the STO beta access, how are they doing this? Expanding their tester cap in the STO beta by whatever amount they have to? Kind of scary.

But I'm still in.

 

Like all great 'ideas' the devil is in the details. Just because you are granted Beta access, doesn't mean you get to play the minute the game goes into Beta. Beta can mean Open Beta (1 month before launch). Until then they could call the development phase Alpha Phase 3 or something like that. This way you don't have to honor the thousands of people at once. When you are ready for the stress test, then you declared Closed Beta and invite the people in waves. Again, slowly increasing your numbers..

 

Star Trek Online
Activated Features
Closed Beta  <--------------------------------

This better mean closed beta, not necessarily at the start, but not the "open" beta that CO just had.

Originally posted by Guillermo197

Originally posted by Babylon9000

Every lifetime Sub that Cryptic sells for this game this month limits the addons/ upgrades that will occur past 13 months from now. A lifetime sub pays for 13 months worth of game play at regular price. Cryptic has a large staff, and the CFO has to sign alot of paycheques. If too many lifetime subs get sold, they are going to have to start budgeting.

Little miss what's her dingy that raised the big stink the other day on the CO forums was quite ridiculous. Cryptic would have been better off to simply refund her money, delete her posts and move on.

This company and it's developers have received alot of flack from the fans on the forums for any number of sily things. I wish all the whiners would of have stayed on CoX. That was one of the main things that spurred me on toward a move to CO from CoX... the prospect of a new less negetive community. One poster here says "You're damned if you do, you're damed if you don't." With the hero following crowd I would tend to agree.

I think Cryptic has done a fine job on CO so far and demonstrates exemplary restraint  toward negetive customer feedback and commend them for their acheivement in Champions, it really does stand out as a "unique" MMO.

 

Why you think they have a Cash Shop?

You can bet that every new addition to this game will end up there. Nothing will be added for free. That much you can count on.

The only thing this LifeTime sub has given you is that you don't have to pay the 15 bucks a month. But in return it forces you to stick around for at least 13 months to play even.

And seeing the retention rates of players sticking around in MMO's that have been released these last years. Then selling as much Lifetime Subs as possible will bring them more money than any other MMO that has been released as off late.

Simply because the majority drops the game within 1 to 3 months.

You can bet on that a lot of people buy a LifeTime sub on impulse without thinking clearly and then end up leaving the game in lets say  3 to 6 months. Or maybe even earlier. Stomping themselves against the head out of stupdity.

That means 7 to 9 months of free subfee money straight into Cryptics pockets. Money they wouldn't have had, when those players would have just bought the box only.

I have no idea what your disagreeing with in my post or if you even understood what I was saying because on one hand you seem to be arguing with me; and then you pretty well agree with the genral idea of what Im saying so I'll just leave it alone and assume your from a bad gene pool and just feisty buy nature lol.

Originally posted by Unshra

Originally posted by nekollx

Originally posted by Papadam

Hehe maybe Atari needs to grab some more money now when they are being sued for $30 millions...

Why would anyone invest $200 in a shady company like this who just keep on screwing their players aswel as other companies?

my thoughts enzunctly

 

The sad thing is they are still a slightly better choice then Cryptic's former owner NCSoft, wonder who will be the next owner SOE? :-p

got that right

It's important to realize that a life-time subscription does not mean a subcription for your life-time but for the game's life-time... Let's hope it lasts longer than Tabula Rasa.

I do agree this is some kind of marketing strategy.

However, I do fall into that!  Simply because Demand and Supply, I WANT a lifetime sub and I don't really care if they do this for marketing or what.  I am sure there are many people just the same as me.

From what I think, they probably wanna push those "maybe lifetime sub" people into "I am lifetime sub".  Honestly, they did it!!!  A very smart move.

I am a businessman as well, so I have nothing against any strategy that can make more money.  Instead of like other people complaining or trolling around about their marketing, I am actually impress and tbey do draw me to buy a lifetime sub.

I hope now their game developing team can maintain this game MORE fun !!! (is not like not fun now but everyone always wants more right ?? ^_^ )