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Elite Starter Service Pack ???
doctorstegi
Member Posts: 1,183 Arc User
I'm one of the people who couldn't purchase the Elite Starter Package for months because of maxed character slots. A few weeks ago the package disappeared from the C-Store and is now back not sure since when but i really noticed today. I saw i was able to purchase its and bought it immediately cause i really could use more bank / inventory slots on my chars. Now it is on me that I didn't really read before hand that this is for one character only cause I didn't think Cryptic would exchange these Packs and leave the same name for it. But yeah I didn't read and spent the 1000 zen for one Char. Still not very happy about how Cryptic handled the Elite Starter Pack, basicly everybody else was who wasn't maxed on chars could get slots for all their chars and all I get is slots for 1 Char. Basicly I got a disadvantage because i spent money and zen to max my chars, which makes me wonder what other business practices will come in the future. Not saying its Cryptic faults i bought it today, that is on me, however I feel like having spent money on the game in the past to max chars I get punished for nowdays.
C-Store Inc. is still looking for active members on the fed side. If you don't have a fleet feel free to contact me in game @stegi.
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If the RECLAIMING version is missing on other characters, that is the problem.
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
There is a new pack called "The Elite Starter Services Pack" which is a character unlock only. It differs from the previous "Elite Starter Pack" which was an account unlock. There are other differences besides the name between the two packs.
Oh, interesting. I had not heard of the new package. They are charging the same?
Link the blog post, please?
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
and the elite starter pack was there last week I know someone bought it, and now its yet gone again.
As soon as I saw this new Elite Services Pack and I was actually able to buy it, I just about did what the OP did, except I'm paranoid and like to be as sure about my purchases as I can be. So I read the description and reread it since I thought I actually misread it the first time. Once it sunk in this was a per character unlock, I came to the forums to see what, if anything, was being said about this. And well, here I am.
The Elite Starter Pack is no longer in the CStore as of just a few minutes ago. It has apparently been replaced by the new Elite Services Starter pack which offers basically the same stuff as the Elite Starter Pack did except no extra character slot with the Elite Services Starter Pack. Unfortunately this new pack is a CHARACTER unlock only, and not an account wide unlock like the old, and now apparently retired, Elite Starter Pack.
Nothing in the patch notes about the change, no blog announcement. No official word of this change at all, which for folks like me who decide to look and see if the old Elite Starter Pack has been fixed and able to be bought after every new patch, this to me, reeks of a bait and switch.
Please Cryptic, put the old Elite Starter Pack back in the CStore and fix it so those of us at the character cap can buy it. If that isn't a viable solution, make this new Elite Services Pack an account unlock. If you feel you need to increase the price to the same level as the ESP, I'm fine with that.
Losing faith in humanity, one person at a time.
True but its nothing in comparison to the original elite starter package. I'm just amazed how there was a switch in packs and no big announcement about it unless i can't read patch notes.
But now Cryptic/PWE have removed it from the C-store without warning and have added in the VERY SIMILARLY NAMED Elite Services Starter Pack which is slightly cheaper BUT is now only a single character unlock, doesn't include the account bank access, doesn't include the EC cap increase and doesn't include and character slots. This is a MASSIVE change that is totally unannounced and looks incredibly shady.
Firstly not letting us know about the change and secondly naming it almost identically so players will bound to pick it up without realising they are getting a much worse deal.
Low blow Cryptic, really low blow.
So much for the "account is the player" mentality and all that.
Of course, I already know I'm at the cap for everything on my main so I won't buy it at all. I'm just waiting for them to sell the old subscription perk slots, like they said they would when axing subs, that didn't count for the purchase cap at all.
It's only awesome if you want to play a single character. If you have multiple characters and want the inventory and bank slots then you'll now have to buy this pack on every single character, that 1000z multiplied by however many toons you run.
Plus you'll want to buy the account bank on top which is another 1000z.
Plus the old pack had character slots too so that another 300z or so.
So to get the same level of reward for an account that the old pack had you're looking at spending at least 4000z+ (account bank + 3 starter packs for the base free characters you get). That's nowhere near as good value as the old pack and its pretty dammed obvious the change was made because of greed and them not making enough money off players.
What adds insult to injury though is that the replacement has almost the exact same name and the change was unannounced. So it's clearly going to catch a few players out and make Cryptic some cash before people cotton on and realise its a TRIBBLE deal. This whole thing looks really shady if you ask me, its a blatant stealth switcheroo with a less valuable item.
They aren't required to keep the old pack available if they don't want to. Discounts end, new ones come around, and sometimes the new ones aren't as good. That's life.
You forgot your shiny white suit of armour.....
The names are almost too similar for them to avoid accusations of bait&switch. Those will come along at somepoint from folk who were caught out by the undocumented change and miss the stores (slightly surprising) mention of it being per character.
How badly is any dissemination of information is working for this game??
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
Bring back the Elite Starter Pack!!! Bring it back. Bring it back. Bring it back.
Well, it seem off somehow.....like the team developing this stuff forgot to tell Kael about it going live.
Ambassador Kael, wanna borrow my Candy Cane Bat'leth to go knock heads?
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
When they discontinue an old item and replace it with a new one, there is usually some announcement — especially if the two differ in functionality while having similar names, and especially if the new one is a character unlock while the old one is an account unlock.
I'm not sure why you're talking about discounts. The old pack wasn't sold as a temporary discount, and the new one isn't either. Usually, discounts, promotions, and limited-time items come with announcements that state when they start and end. It's worth noting that the Elite Starter Pack has disappeared from the C-Store before, and when that happened, a dev acknowledged it as a bug. So I'm going to go out on a limb and say someone probably screwed up somewhere.
Return Elite Starter Pack to C-Store
http://forum.arcgames.com/startrekonline/discussion/comment/13445945/#Comment_13445945
I seem to recall it was barely promoted by cryptic either arriving at a time when the obnoxious lander was in its infancy and appearing every single login/out with space that could have been used but wasn't. This reinforces the idea that it was a toe in the water test to see what might work.
Downside it it was obviously deemed too good (too pro consumer?) by the beancounters and we now have the per character version which will probably still sell partly because its still kind of useful and partly because the name is too similar to the previous not to catch folk out.
I'd like to think so, but the naming of the 'elite services starter pack' (which is more of an add-on pack than a true 'starter' pack, being per-character) makes it seem like a pretty blatant attempt at a silent, deceptive replacement.
It's not a bad pack, but the misnaming of it in a way that makes it sound like the vastly better 'elite starter pack' makes it hard to believe the removal of the old pack was anything but deliberate.
Pulling the original starter pack, replacing it with another pack that is similar and has almost the exact same name.. and then saying absolutely nothing about it? Yeah, sorry.. but that just reeks of 'bait and switch' to me.
It would be one thing if they posted and explained that they were changing the pack, but their continued silence doesn't do much to make me feel like it was not intentionally deceptive.
Cryptic has a history of not communicating, we all know this.. but usually they let us know when something is added or removed from the C-Store. This whole thing honestly doesn't sit right with me.
There is a similar thread over on Reddit and even over there, Cryptic has been silent on the matter. Sketchy to say the least.