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I Feel Cheated and Betrayed
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Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
I know it's already been said by others, but I just want to add my voice to those complaining to Cryptic about selling pre-order exclusives in the C-Store only four months after launch. I feel cheated and betrayed, Cryptic. I bought several versions of the game based on your implicit encouragement of this practice so that I could have multiple pre-order items. The whole point of spending all that money was to have something unique, and the placing of these items in the C-Store robs them of their uniqueness.
Yes, I knew that some of these items would probably eventually find their way into the C-Store, but prior to launch you stated you had no intention of doing that any time soon, and you certainly implied that it would be a long time before you would consider that. I don't consider 4 months from launch to be a long time.
I know, it's my fault. I shouldn't have trusted you. I should have assumed that a greedy corporation would TRIBBLE its customers out of money any way it could. So, yes, silly me. I was naive. But I won't trust you next time, be assured of that, and I will spread that word to everybody who will listen to me.
Yes, I knew that some of these items would probably eventually find their way into the C-Store, but prior to launch you stated you had no intention of doing that any time soon, and you certainly implied that it would be a long time before you would consider that. I don't consider 4 months from launch to be a long time.
I know, it's my fault. I shouldn't have trusted you. I should have assumed that a greedy corporation would TRIBBLE its customers out of money any way it could. So, yes, silly me. I was naive. But I won't trust you next time, be assured of that, and I will spread that word to everybody who will listen to me.
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Q: Will the exclusives be offered as a microtransaction?
A: Not at launch, but somewhere down the road we may offer to let people purchases these if they did not pre-order.
http://www.startrekonline.com/preorder-faq
I don't recall reading the FAQ page as being a requirement to get a Pre-order Exclusive from a retailer.
Not to mention that some of the offers predate the FAQ.
Cryptic knows some of us feel unhappy about this - there just aren't enough of us for them to care about it, and they made a boatload of money from everyone buying them in the C-Store, so it's all OK.
For reference I have a Co lifetime, collectors edition and the borg BO myself so it's not like half of what I had didn't go up for sale either. I just think there are more important things in life to get ****ed off over than a few pixels offered as a bonus.
Assuming you actually wanted an explanation, I"ll give you mine. I bought a CO lifetime sub based, in part, on the inclusion of the MU uniforms. I'd have bought a 1 year or 6 mo. sub otherwise. The MU uniforms pushed me "over the edge" into the LTS.
This was why Cryptic added incentives to the Lifetime sub - to convince people who otherwise wouldn't have purchased it to do so - it's why they're called incentives.
I then did not get the uniforms when STO launched. Four months later, they finally arrived. And 30 days after that, they're for sale for $3.50. I'm told I should be OK with that, because it makes lots of people happy.
I call shenanigans. If they'd offered them for free, more people would have been happy - and I don't think those of us who paid for them would be any more annoyed. No, this wasn't about making people happy, this was about a cash grab. Anything else is spin, smoke, and mirrors.
The Galaxy-X is the same thing. Something a whole lot of people in this game want (I don't happen to be one of them, but I get the distinct impression I'm again in the minority here..) Cryptic has used this as an incentive for their recruit-a-friend promotion. People are buying multiple copies and subscribing with them for a month to get this ship. Cryptic knows this - they're effectively selling it for >$200.00 to these people.
Would more people be happy if Cryptic put the Galaxy-X in the C-Store? I'm sure they would. But then Cryptic would lose the cash from the fanatical, and some people who are out there beating the bushes for people to refer wouldn't do so - again, costing Cryptic cash. So it's not in the C-Store.
But once the promotion is over, and they've gotten all the cash they can that way, into the C-Store it will go, to get more money from anyone who still wants it and doesn't have it.
It's shameful treatment of customers - and I don't like being taken advantage of. So I'm upset.
Out of all the things that did go into the C-store the only items I can really see where people are coming from (even if I still don't agree) are the MU and TOS uniforms and at least the TOS uniforms had a female option (despite how poor it was) at launch. I was actually the same as you with the CO lifetime, I was just going to get a 6 month sub to fill time until STO launched the STO bonuses added to it as well as the thought of never having to pay a sub again was what pushed me over the edge.
Despite all this thought I don't see the point in getting all bent out of shape over it.
You should probably play Champions and be happy that you get to play it without a subscription charge.
That's usually the perk that LTS'es are all about. Complaining about pixels for a uniform in a completely different game than the sub was for, kind of devalues the sub itself. Which isn't a very strong position from which to "discuss" the topic.
You're basically saying the game you bought the subscription to has less value to you than the uniform perk fluffy bonus item that came with it.
You assume that the value of the sub is (or should be perceived to be) greater than the value of the pixels. That may be true for you, but unlikely to be true for everyone.
Personally I don't want to play CO or wear the silly MU uniform, but I certainly think the MU uniform has more value to me than that thing they call an MMO.
As for the OP, if he valued the sub more than the pixel, and the sub was put on the cstore for a pittance would his feelings of betrayal be anymore or less legitimate? Rhetorical question, obviously.
No assumption needed. Cryptic's final ruling is ... the subscription is worth 15 dollars per month. The uniform is worth $3.50 once.
Not only is that not really plausible (buying C-Points for money to then turn around and buy subscriptions which cost ... money) ... but the strange thing about this particular sub is ... they stopped offering it. Champs LTS does not exist anymore. The STO LTS you can still purchase after launch. The Champs LTS you could only get for that limited time.
Let's use the whole thing:
For me, the difference in cost between the LTS and the 1 year sub was worth it if I got the MU uniforms, and wasn't if they weren't included. That's just as Cryptic intended - that's why they were there.
Feel free to disagree with my valuation of the bonus, but at least have the common courtesy not to misrepresent my position by selective editing of my words.
Do you play Champions? Do you even like the game? If not ... it's hard to sympathize. If so, well, you got a pretty good deal on a pretty good game. So it's still hard to sympathize.
It's a bit of a catch-22. You take the hardline stance that the pixels were worth more to you and you really seem like you were willing to spend way too much money for an in-game item that doesn't even exist in real life. It's very hard for people, even tech savvy people to relate to that. Let alone give you empathy for your plight.
You take the reasonable stance that you bought the sub for the subscription and then the entire issue loses steam because the subscription has quite a lot of value and you got a great deal. On a game. But a different game from these forums.
Do I play Champions? (Online, as opposed to the paper n pencil version) - Yeah, a bit, not as much as City of Heroes. I was hoping for it to be a better superhero game than it turned out to be.
But there's no catch-22 involved. It's not an either-or choice. I bought a product with several features, for a given price, based on advertisements and statements by employees of the company that the only way to get those features was to buy the product. Those statements were false. If I had known those statements were false, I would have made a different purchase.
Others might not have - maybe you're one of them. I'm not looking for sympathy, empathy, or a refund. My mistake - I took this company at their word, and got burned for it.
Someone wanted to know why I'm upset, and I told them.
I also want to do what I can to ensure that anyone else who's looking at Cryptic's promotions in the future is aware of how they run things, so they don't end up feeling cheated. And I intend to do my best to that end.
I bought three copies of the game: a standard edition, a collector's edition, and a digital deluxe edition. The only edition I needed to play the game was the standard edition. The other two editions cost me $140, if I remember correctly. The only reason I spent that money was for the pre-order exclusives and the DDE/CE extras. I didn't even benefit from the extra 60 days of game time because I bought a lifetime sub.
I spent that money because Cryptic led me to believe--through intentionally vague statements and through their deafening silence when these subjects were discussed at length on the forums prior to launch--that the pre-order exclusives and the DDE/CE extras would not be put in the C-Store for a long time.
Had Cryptic told the truth, i.e., had they said "almost all of this stuff will be in the C-Store four months after launch for a fraction of the price," I would never have spent that money. I would gladly have waited to buy them in the C-Store.
Yes, I know it's my fault. I chose to put my faith in Cryptic, and I got burned for it. So I agree with Synchrotron. I'm not quitting this game over this one thing. I'm not asking for a refund. I'm not looking for sympathy from other players. I just want Cryptic to know how I feel and why I feel that way. That's why I posted in a Feedback forum.
And, like Synchrotron, I will also aggressively post warnings on the appropriate forums the next time Cryptic launches a game and sells pre-order "exclusives" or other extras, because I want other potential players of Cryptic's games to learn from my mistake, so they don't end up feeling as cheated and betrayed as I feel right now.
Cryptic also said BEFORE the pre-order FAQ was up that certain items WOULD NOT be put on the C-Store.
Additionally, I know that you all know that Atari is the publisher, not Cryptic. Cryptic just codes the game, it's the suits at Atari that decide what kind of marketing will be done. When and what kinds of special offers will be made. Cryptic doesn't make these decisions, Atari does. So getting upset at the folks at Cryptic for this is like getting mad at the waitress because your food wasn't cooked right. The waitress isn't the cook. Same thing.
And even were all of that not the case, getting upset over this still doesn't make any sense. Retailers in America offer discounts and run sales all the time. Frequently customers will buy a gallon of milk or a wide screen TV or a car for full price only to see that same item on sale for a lesser price a week or a month later. Retailers have been doing this for a century or so now. Getting upset over it just doesn't make any sense.
I can certainly understand and sympathize with the folks who spent several hundred dollars purchasing multiple versions of the game in order to get those special bonuses. However, Cryptic warned us from the outset that those special items might become available later on. So if you are upset that you spent more money to get those special items than you should have, then you should direct your anger toward the person who is truly responsible for that.
Yourself.
I distinctly recall the iPhone being sold as "exclusive" in some places when it launched a while back.
i think most of the problem is most people don't really understand what the words exclusive and unique mean.
Main Entry: 1ex·clu·sive
Pronunciation: \iks-ˈklü-siv, -ziv\
Function: adjective
Date: 1515
1 a : excluding or having power to exclude b : limiting or limited to possession, control, or use by a single individual or group
2 a : excluding others from participation b : snobbishly aloof
3 a : accepting or soliciting only a socially restricted patronage (as of the upper class) b : stylish, fashionable c : restricted in distribution, use, or appeal because of expense
4 a : single, sole <exclusive jurisdiction> b : whole, undivided <his exclusive attention>
In marketing, "exclusive" can refer to products that are only available from select distributors or retailers, and have never been released before, or only at a particular event.
Main Entry: unique
Pronunciation: \yu̇-ˈnēk\
Function: adjective
Etymology: French, from Latin unicus, from unus one more at one
Date: 1602
1 : being the only one : sole <his unique concern was his own comfort> <I can't walk away with a unique copy. Suppose I lost it? Kingsley Amis> <the unique factorization of a number into prime factors>
2 a : being without a like or equal : unequaled <could stare at the flames, each one new, violent, unique Robert Coover> b : distinctively characteristic : peculiar 1 <this is not a condition unique to California Ronald Reagan>
3 : unusual <a very unique ball-point pen> <we were fairly unique, the sixty of us, in that there wasn't one good mixer in the bunch J. D. Salinger>
so the borg bo, for example, was exclusive to amazon, no other retailer offer that as part of their package, it doesn't mean that it could never be offer again. now conversely the human bo was inclusive, meaning everyone who ordered a copy of the game has access to it. Exclusivity never states that it will never be offered it just states that not every one will have it, if you buy STO today from say best buy you will the retail excluse tribble and you could buy the borg BO from the c-store.
unique which the the MU uniforms where advertised as no where is the offer was it stated that they would never be available or offer again. being unique was just stating that they where different than what other uniforms are, in fact they still are unique as no other uniforms offer a belt or terran badge.
the galaxy-x is unique and exclusive, it is the only fed ship that cloaks and have a laser lance and only available to people who get 5 people to sub, that does not not mean it will never be available by other means or no other fed ship will be able to cloak
But Daeke also did a lot of booboo's in his time.
He was, however, an employee whose job is was to convey information to the public, and as such
there was no reason back then to not take what he said at face value.:
Furthermore no other Cryptic employee corrected him at the time, so his statements stood unchallenged for the full duration of the offer, and months afterwards.
The STO FAQ is completely irrelevant: It did not exist at the time of the offer, and only referred to the retailer items, not the CO LTS ones.
Oh your absolutely right. Your not even required to read the BOX before you buy it in the store, or to read the article on the web page you buy it from. That said, reading up on something you buy never hurts. NOT doing so obviously can, as this thread proves.
agree completely
'Somewhere down the road" is not a known or set quantity. It could have been 3 minutes after launch or 3 years after.
Being "cheated and betrayed" would have been if they took yours away. People have to understand that bonus items are given away for free. They did not cost you extra when you purchased the game.