Special offer: Download AO for free and pay for the expansion

[_____________Tikigod]

Hey Peolpe!!! Boy do we have a amazing offer!!! U can download the AO client total free now you can't get better then that can you? ahhh but we have!!! u can now download the AO client for free and pay extra for the 'booster pack' WOW!!!! And before anyone complains don't worry the 'booster pack' is smaller then the client uve already downloaded for free so thats why we're kind enough to make u pay extra..........




hmmmmm sorry bout that but i when i heard about having to pay extra for something i just downloaded I got seriously p***ed off (And yes i do have a 56k Modem so don't think im just another fast connection person moaning)
Now When i first checked out AO I wasn't to sure about the download i got to admit but i decided if the game was as good as it looked it was worth it so i went ahead and downloaded it........ then a few weeks later I read about a new booster pack "Wow kool" was my first thought then i read on about the paying for it and thought "Hmmmm must be big if their making peolpe pay for it" then i read around and find out its smaller then the client "WTF!!! im paying for something smaller then the freaking client!!!!" then this idea came into my head.... 'FC have planed this from the start get peolpe hooked on a game miss some features out which would make the game good then..... oh hey peolpe heres a little something pay up! then 6 months later...... hey guys heres some more features (shadowlands) pay up!.......' well u get the point



Oh and heres something im not to clear about cus the idea of 'booster packs' is if its not a new client then how will the addon and the original AO be patched to add content without one effecting the other? sounds like FC have even more work on their hands seeing how this 'Booster pack' isn't forced and im sure a large number of peolpe won't be paying for this only to pay for shadowlands in the near future.......... good luck to you FC im sure ure gonna need it

[Kuro]

Originally posted by Tikigod
Hey Peolpe!!! Boy do we have a amazing offer!!! U can download the AO client total free now you can't get better then that can you? ahhh but we have!!! u can now download the AO client for free and pay extra for the 'booster pack' WOW!!!! And before anyone complains don't worry the 'booster pack' is smaller then the client uve already downloaded for free so thats why we're kind enough to make u pay extra..........




hmmmmm sorry bout that but i when i heard about having to pay extra for something i just downloaded I got seriously p***ed off (And yes i do have a 56k Modem so don't think im just another fast connection person moaning)
Now When i first checked out AO I wasn't to sure about the download i got to admit but i decided if the game was as good as it looked it was worth it so i went ahead and downloaded it........ then a few weeks later I read about a new booster pack "Wow kool" was my first thought then i read on about the paying for it and thought "Hmmmm must be big if their making peolpe pay for it" then i read around and find out its smaller then the client "WTF!!! im paying for something smaller then the freaking client!!!!" then this idea came into my head.... 'FC have planed this from the start get peolpe hooked on a game miss some features out which would make the game good then..... oh hey peolpe heres a little something pay up! then 6 months later...... hey guys heres some more features (shadowlands) pay up!.......' well u get the point



Oh and heres something im not to clear about cus the idea of 'booster packs' is if its not a new client then how will the addon and the original AO be patched to add content without one effecting the other? sounds like FC have even more work on their hands seeing how this 'Booster pack' isn't forced and im sure a large number of peolpe won't be paying for this only to pay for shadowlands in the near future.......... good luck to you FC im sure ure gonna need it

Sure, a new player can DL the client for free. Use it past 7 days and they bang their credit card...

Why is it people act like they can start playing AO for free? It's a 7 DAY Free Trial. Past 7 days, they hit you with the required registration fee of $19.95. And sure you can say "I can d/l the client whenever I want to reinstall", you can also say "I can put my original AO CD or my SE CD in the cdrom drive whenever I want to reinstall" as well.

T.A.N.S.T.A.A.F.L. - Loonie Motto (wonder if anyone will catch the highly obscure reference)

[engelstein]

If only we had Mike...*he* could probably balance PvP.

[_______________Chace]

You know, Tiki, I can understand current customer complaints about the booster and expansion packs.

It does seem like Funcom is asking us to pay extra for things that they originally told us were going to be included.

But this is your first post on these boards, which makes me think you just downloaded AO.

Doesn't it tell you about the expansion and the booster right on the website? If you don't like the current offerings, don't get a subscription.

Geez.

[_____________Tikigod]

I played AO for about a month or so around april but then left till about 2 months ago. The reason for that being my first post is because ive never seen the need to post on any other subject before

[Laeni]

Getting annoyed at having to pay extra for expansion packs for MMORPGs is like getting annoyed at having to pay for the next book in a series. The creators of games just like the authors of books have to pay their bills and they're not going to be able to do this if they give out all their work for free.

[_____________Tribule]

True Miria, I think a lot of people get annoyed because FC is a bussiness company,
so welcome to the real world, nobody's working for free in this world.

And if u don't wanna pay then don't, nobody is forcing u.

[engelstein]

Originally posted by Tribule
And if u don't wanna pay then don't, nobody is forcing u.

*Knock Knock*
Me: Oh, I wonder who that could be. I'm not expecting any visitors.
Me opens the front door. Outside stand three Atrox. All are wearing a full set of Elite except for a Kevlar chest and have Baseball bats in their hands. (You know, the newbie one)
Lead Goon: We heard you wanna cancel some account, dat right?
Me: Um, I canceled my Anarchy Online account, if that's what you mean.
Lead Goon: Oh, cuz we was thinking, and we thought it might be bad for your health if you canceled, know what I'm sayin? *smacks bat against palm suggestively*
Me: I, uh, I think I do. I'm just going to go reactivate my account now.
Lead Goon: Dat's good. Dat's real good. Just keep that in mind.
Second Goon: And here's a whack from the Nerfbat while we're here! *whacks me over the head. Hard. It hurt.*
All three goons commenced pummeling me, only stopping when I fell unconscious.
Third Goon: This'll teach you to cross Funcom!
*snickers from all goons*

And when I woke up and logged in (after reactivating), Complete Heal cost 3000 nano to cast with a 30 second recast delay!

[_____________Tikigod]

Originally posted by Shubalubdub
*Knock Knock*
Me: Oh, I wonder who that could be. I'm not expecting any visitors.
Me opens the front door. Outside stand three Atrox. All are wearing a full set of Elite except for a Kevlar chest and have Baseball bats in their hands. (You know, the newbie one)
Lead Goon: We heard you wanna cancel some account, dat right?
Me: Um, I canceled my Anarchy Online account, if that's what you mean.
Lead Goon: Oh, cuz we was thinking, and we thought it might be bad for your health if you canceled, know what I'm sayin? *smacks bat against palm suggestively*
Me: I, uh, I think I do. I'm just going to go reactivate my account now.
Lead Goon: Dat's good. Dat's real good. Just keep that in mind.
Second Goon: And here's a whack from the Nerfbat while we're here! *whacks me over the head. Hard. It hurt.*
All three goons commenced pummeling me, only stopping when I fell unconscious.
Third Goon: This'll teach you to cross Funcom!
*snickers from all goons*

And when I woke up and logged in (after reactivating), Complete Heal cost 3000 nano to cast with a 30 second recast delay!

ROFL u got 3 atrox? wow ure lucky! i got a herd of brontos trample me till I promised to never again complain about paying for the booster pack.
<Looks surprised> wha? no no! i didn't tell them FC!!!! I promise!!!! no! not again!!!!!!! hellllppp!!!!! <Sounds of screaming and of the computer being taken apart>

[_______________ccl28]

Listen, as more MMORPGS come out within the next 6 months, people will begin to flock to the better ones. The problem is that this market doesn't have enough competition. Give it some time and you'll see that silly ideas like booster packs will vanish. Companies will eventually have to compete for subscribers and have things like customer support, content, and minimal lag.

The booster pack is an obvious ploy to get you to play twice for the expansion. They expected the expansion to be ready by Christmas, and expected the expansion money to keep AO afloat. Well, they can't make the deadline, so they want you to buy a portion of the expansion at the same price as the full expansion.

There are many hardcore gamers in AO, just imagine how many mindless missions higher level characters must have gone through. Without some place better to turn, they'll probably buy the booster. I mean a lot people put 60 hours a week into the game, they're not going to magically get a life anytime soon. So the booster will probably do well enough thanks to those people.

[Kuro]

Originally posted by ccl28
Listen, as more MMORPGS come out within the next 6 months, people will begin to flock to the better ones. The problem is that this market doesn't have enough competition. Give it some time and you'll see that silly ideas like booster packs will vanish. Companies will eventually have to compete for subscribers and have things like customer support, content, and minimal lag.

The booster pack is an obvious ploy to get you to play twice for the expansion. They expected the expansion to be ready by Christmas, and expected the expansion money to keep AO afloat. Well, they can't make the deadline, so they want you to buy a portion of the expansion at the same price as the full expansion.

There are many hardcore gamers in AO, just imagine how many mindless missions higher level characters must have gone through. Without some place better to turn, they'll probably buy the booster. I mean a lot people put 60 hours a week into the game, they're not going to magically get a life anytime soon. So the booster will probably do well enough thanks to those people.

Then I respectfully submit you know absolutely nothing about MMORPG marketing.

The whole point behind expansions and boosters and special editions, regardless of the game, has almost nothing to do with box sales. It is all about market exposure. People like Funcom, Verant, Turbine, and Mythic make very little money from producing an expansion. Where they make their money is in retaining that person who had never played their game that walked down the game isle and saw their NEW box on the shelf.

No matter how you slice it, box sales means nothing in a subscription based game like MMORPGs. It's all New Customer Aquisition and Customer Retention. Expansions, and now Booster Packs, help to retain current customers by providing new content and new features. And they aquire new customers by putting their product back into visibility. Sheesh...

[_______________ccl28]

I agree with what you say about MMORPGs being subscription driven. That was what my whole competition argument (first paragraph) is based on.

However, mothly fees include FC's profit, maintenance, plus whatever loan payments they need to make for equipment. Once you start dedicating man-hours for other purposes, like an expansion, you're eating into your monthly profit. You'd like to advance yourself some cash as soon as possible (initial box sales).

Now, expansions have been great ways of grabbing new and keeping old subscriptions. The main way this works is usually by adding new content, with graphics that compete with other games on the shelf. So little Joey flips AO box around and says "wow", instead of "hey, the back of the box looks just like last year."

However, the booster pack doesn't do this. It provides zero for a new subscriber. Same graphics, same areas, same (no) content. With all the other games on the shelves, what would make you buy AO from the booster, that didn't make you buy it a year ago?

If FC's motivation was to keep/increase their subscriber base, they would have no reason not to make the booster an inexpensive download for current subscribers, or give the free month to new and old subscribers. In fact, not having these options is horrible marketing for current subscribers, makes you feel like you're being cheated. The ONLY reason a company would risk that is if they were low on dough.

Don't forget that this idea came from nowhere from a new CEO, that had to be coping with financial issues.

[Kuro]

Originally posted by ccl28
I agree with what you say about MMORPGs being subscription driven. That was what my whole competition argument (first paragraph) is based on.

However, mothly fees include FC's profit, maintenance, plus whatever loan payments they need to make for equipment. Once you start dedicating man-hours for other purposes, like an expansion, you're eating into your monthly profit. You'd like to advance yourself some cash as soon as possible (initial box sales).

Now, expansions have been great ways of grabbing new and keeping old subscriptions. The main way this works is usually by adding new content, with graphics that compete with other games on the shelf. So little Joey flips AO box around and says "wow", instead of "hey, the back of the box looks just like last year."

However, the booster pack doesn't do this. It provides zero for a new subscriber. Same graphics, same areas, same (no) content. With all the other games on the shelves, what would make you buy AO from the booster, that didn't make you buy it a year ago?

If FC's motivation was to keep/increase their subscriber base, they would have no reason not to make the booster an inexpensive download for current subscribers, or give the free month to new and old subscribers. In fact, not having these options is horrible marketing for current subscribers, makes you feel like you're being cheated. The ONLY reason a company would risk that is if they were low on dough.

Don't forget that this idea came from nowhere from a new CEO, that had to be coping with financial issues.

Actually the Booster Pack has new content in the way of new features. Yes, everyone whether or not they buy the booster pack will be able to see a tower on the playfields. But only Booster Pack owners get full interactivity with the towers.

I'm not up to date on my EQ expansion packs, but the addition of the Ilksar race (I believe that's its name) during the Ruins of Kunark expansion is similiar. In order to play as an Ilksar, you had to purchase the expansion pack (originally, though now it's part of the regular game files I believe). Ruins of Kunark also implemented new content, making it a full expansion. But what if someone just wanted to play an Ilksar? The new content would have had very little to do for a new player, since it was high level content.

The booster packs do allow choice, which is what I like about the idea. And which is why I'll buy the ones I want and skip the ones I don't. I do want the ability to setup towers. But I might now want the ability to own buildings or the ability to own my own shops or whatever FC has planned for the next pack.

[_______________ccl28]

I'm willing to bet that the expansion will include the booster pack. But we'll have to wait months to know that, and if your statement holds water.

[Kuro]

Originally posted by ccl28
I'm willing to bet that the expansion will include the booster pack. But we'll have to wait months to know that, and if your statement holds water.

Heh...well like I said, you don't have to buy Ruins of Kunark to choose an Ilksar anymore either

[lilnymph]

Originally posted by ccl28
If FC's motivation was to keep/increase their subscriber base, they would have no reason not to make the booster an inexpensive download for current subscribers, or give the free month to new and old subscribers. In fact, not having these options is horrible marketing for current subscribers, makes you feel like you're being cheated. The ONLY reason a company would risk that is if they were low on dough.

Don't forget that this idea came from nowhere from a new CEO, that had to be coping with financial issues.

Not really. Its quite possible that this way just came up with giving the company the most profit. That is what gets things done in companies, you can have the best idea in the world, but if the finance dept things another idea will get them more money, guess which you are going with. Trust me on this, it takes ALOT of argueing with finance depts once they have an idea in there head. This goes for all companies, even those with the best finances in the world.

hugs

lilnymph

[_______________ccl28]

We can argure this as much as we want, but the truth is that only time will tell. None of us know what's up with FC, and thats exactly the way they wanted. Even though I would think that they need to have a financial statement available for their investors somewhere, but some clever player would have found it by now.

Admittedly, all my experiences come from a family run meat wholesale business in NYC. It's a multimillion dollar business, but it is completey different from what goes on here. Its totally customer driven. If a restaurant runs out of meat on the weekend and you don't get out of bed and make an emergency delivery, or you're consistantly late with deliveries, or Joe Schmoe has rack of veal for 3c less a pound, then guess who's not ordering from you on Monday. Perhaps these types of businesses are rare in today's world.

[MartekO]

This issue, regardless of how the booster and/or expansion is packaged, is not worth so much mental anguish. It's no BFD. To have your sensibilities all out of whack over this is silly.

Martek

[_____________DocFunk]

Originally posted by Martek-SLAG
This issue, regardless of how the booster and/or expansion is packaged, is not worth so much mental anguish. It's no BFD. To have your sensibilities all out of whack over this is silly.

Martek

posting is a sign of mental anguish... who knew!

[lilnymph]

Originally posted by ccl28
We can argure this as much as we want, but the truth is that only time will tell. None of us know what's up with FC, and thats exactly the way they wanted. Even though I would think that they need to have a financial statement available for their investors somewhere, but some clever player would have found it by now.

If they are a limited type company, I would guess their yearly finances are available to the public (they are in the UK). It would just take someone in the country they are registered (switzerland?) to go and ask for a copy).

hugs

lilnymph