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Let Gold accounts buy free-for-gold items from the C-Store

dataweaver42dataweaver42 Posts: 166 Arc User
edited September 2012 in Suggestions Box
First, it's a matter of principle: if I have a Gold Account, and I want to spend my money on something I already have for free, who are you to tell me I can't? Sure, warn me that I'm about to spend money on something I already have; but give me the option to go ahead with the purchase anyway.

So why would I want to spend money on something I get for free? Because Gold accounts aren't permanent. I'm on a very tight budget at the moment, and there have been times that I've had to let my Gold account lapse for a while until I can scrounge up the funds to get it reinstated. So there have been times that I've wanted to buy something that's free for gold so that I'll have it the next time I have to go Silver.

Also: I'm Silver right now. I have a level 40 toon that I created and leveled up while I was Gold. I gave him a full allotment of bags, and I had a piece of Silver Champions gear in one of the bags that I've now been locked out of because of my Silver account. When I went to unlock the bag slot, I was told that I can't, because (to paraphrase) I "already have a Gold account". This would not be an issue if Gold Accounts were permitted to purchase "free for Gold" items.

So: do you want my money? Then don't tell me that Gold accounts can't buy certain things.
Post edited by dataweaver42 on

Comments

  • klittyklitty Posts: 1,540 Arc User
    edited September 2012
    Save your stipend when you are gold, go silver, buy what you need. Go gold again, get stipend, go silver, buy what you need. Profit?

    Or go LTS and forget about being silver again! :D

    =^ _ ^= Kitty Lives!
  • dataweaver42dataweaver42 Posts: 166 Arc User
    edited September 2012
    If I had the money to go Lifetime, I would; but the fact is that right now, I'm struggling to maintain Gold. Lifetime is a bit out of my reach.

    In my particular situation, there's something that I can't do that regular Silver subscribers can do: unlock Bag Slots. It's not that I lack the resources to do so; I have the 250 Zen needed to unlock a bag. The problem is that the system is refusing to let me spend the Zen on the slot, because it's seeing me as Gold when I try to make the purchase. I think it has to do with the fact that there's already a bag in the slot that I'm trying to unlock.

    But it isn't just about my current situation: the whole point of the "micro-purchases" system is to profit from impulse buys. That means making the purchases available to the customer when the customer wants to make them. I go Silver whenever I'm too lean on cash to stay Gold; so it's when I'm Gold that I'm most likely to buy things from the C-Store. Yes, I can work around the "Gold can't buy free-for-Gold items" restrictions, for the most part (the aforementioned bag slots fiasco being the glaring exception); but I shouldn't have to. CO is missing out on sales because of this.
  • lokikinlokikin Posts: 624 Arc User
    edited September 2012
    A lot of games do this...

    For example, in DCUO you can't buy DLC when you're subscribing because you get them free as a subscriber...

    Kinda standard F2P MMO MO...
    _._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._

    M-O-O-N, that spells @Rhyatt

    Originally Posted by mijjestic: Ultimately, though, MMO players throwing stones at each other in this fashion is basically one nerd pointing and laughing at another nerd whose glasses are thicker.

    Laws yes!
  • chalupaoffurychalupaoffury Posts: 2,559 Arc User
    edited September 2012
    I feel like the option to buy archetypes anyway, at the least, is only fair. I can farm for bags, but if I decide to slip to silver? Saving that retrain means nothing at all, if i gotta wait until i unsub, then buy the at, then retrain into it. It'd be fantastic if that step could be skipped.

    I might be biased, though, in that I'm considering going silver until some glaring bugs (adventure packs, comic series, crafting being flat-out broken) get some attention.
    In game, I am @EvilTaco. Happily killing purple gang members since May 2008.
    dbnzfo.png
    RIP Caine
  • cptvanorcptvanor Posts: 274 Arc User
    edited September 2012
    dataweaver42 wrote: »
    First, it's a matter of principle: if I have a Gold Account, and I want to spend my money on something I already have for free, who are you to tell me I can't?

    Well quite simply, there's far too many people out there who would disregard any sort of warning about buying something they already have. Then demand that Cryptic refund the money they spent.

    So it is in every way, simply easier to prevent it from happening.

    But there's nothing stopping you from buying what you want when you're sliver is there? I mean if you're a gold account today and have 5 bag slots and the zen needed to pay for those bag slots. When you become silver you'll still have the zen needed and can pay for it then.

    So I'm not sure I see what the problem is really.
  • lokikinlokikin Posts: 624 Arc User
    edited September 2012
    cptvanor wrote: »
    Well quite simply, there's far too many people out there who would disregard any sort of warning about buying something they already have. Then demand that Cryptic refund the money they spent.

    So it is in every way, simply easier to prevent it from happening.

    But there's nothing stopping you from buying what you want when you're sliver is there? I mean if you're a gold account today and have 5 bag slots and the zen needed to pay for those bag slots. When you become silver you'll still have the zen needed and can pay for it then.

    So I'm not sure I see what the problem is really.

    The overall problem is items on sale...

    Say they have a half off sale on Archetypes right after I subscribe. I can't take advantage of the sale because, as a subscriber, I get the ATs for free so the game won't let me buy them. I miss out on the sale...

    But, as I said earlier, that's standard for F2P games...
    _._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._

    M-O-O-N, that spells @Rhyatt

    Originally Posted by mijjestic: Ultimately, though, MMO players throwing stones at each other in this fashion is basically one nerd pointing and laughing at another nerd whose glasses are thicker.

    Laws yes!
  • cptvanorcptvanor Posts: 274 Arc User
    edited September 2012
    lokikin wrote: »
    The overall problem is items on sale...

    That I can see as being a problem. But I don't see much of a way around it. Letting people buy something they already have access to is a very bad idea. I don't care how many warnings you put, or how many boxes you make someone click to acknowledge they know what they're doing...

    People will have a fit when they waste zen on something they already have access to, and will demand refunds. So it's better to simply not allow it in the first place and avoid the problem.
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