SOE's Station Access Price Increase

[Engels]

I twinked a rogue with expensive PoP and Luclin era equipment and solo'd her to level 37 :) That Crypt of Decay dagger did some serious carnage to the Zelniaks in Luclin.

[Phred]

I was a Rogue. I never soloed past about lvl 5. Ever.

Heh I was gonna say, kunark may have been the death of soloing for a few classes but half of them could never solo in the first place. I can't remember anything as mind numbingly boring as soloing raptors in that kunark ocean zone because I couldnt find a group on my druid though.

Of course it was to their financial advantage to keep the status quo when they could. I didn't know anyone that wasn't 2 boxing when I quit eq.

[Merusk]

I'll be honest here, I miss quad kiting.  It was fun and took a bit of skill to learn how to best do it, and you always had that risk of running into another mob's path.

Doesn't mean I miss doing it enough to want to relieve the 4-5 hours of doing it every night for a bar or two of xp that went with it.

[Azazel]

Nod, I soloed my Druid up quite nicely. If you were to do it all again today, it'd be a very different experience though, due to the fundamental game changes that have taken place since the introduction of the WoW.

[MahrinSkel]

Why would someone *have* a Station Pass?  I think we can safely assume they aren't doing it for all the Station minigames (most of which are clones of games that can be played for free elsewhere).  So most Station Pass holders are doing it either for perks attached to their favorite game (like the EQ2 extra character slots), because they are or were migrating from one of them to the other (EQ --> EQ2 --> VSoH most likely), *or* they play one most of the time and have a second for a backup, when the first is boring them and they need to recharge.

MxO isn't a game you just drop in and out of, but Planetside *is*.  I think there's a good chance that many Station Pass holders play one of the three BPF games, and have the Station Pass so they can get their FPS ya-yas out in PS every once in a while.  So if the Station Pass price goes to $30, and that's less than the cost of EQ/EQ2/VSoH *plus* a PS subscription, a lot of people would probably drop back from the Station Pass and just have two separate subscriptions, and be paying SOE $5 less.  Or at least someone was really worried that might happen.

Why nickel and dime your subscribers to death like this?  Well, you might note that the end of the Sony fiscal year is approaching.

--Dave

[Hound]

 I had a Station pass for about a year and a half. EQII perks mainly and occasional drops in to my old SWG server so I could sit and cry awhile and curse SOE.

[Woody]

The best impact WOW is having on the industry is people are learning that games don't have to suck as far as fit and finish.  Just can't wait for the masses to look at Smed's "we have a whole bunch of crap games for one price" and see a whole lotta junk ain't worth one good game, let alone two.

[shiznitz]

I think there's a good chance that many Station Pass holders play one of the three BPF games, and have the Station Pass so they can get their FPS ya-yas out in PS every once in a while. 

That was me. Was. Now I have just a single EQ2 sub (I lost the adventure packs but I have outlevelled two and Fallen Dynasty is empty) and I *might* re-sub to PS occasionally as a one-off but even that is less likely at $15. PS isn't remotely worth that since to enjoy the game you need to be part of an organized outfit and you cannot be part of an organized outfit if you play 3 months a year. VG was fun to try when it was "free" but way too much of a trainwreck to actualy pay for.

This really hurts VG at a strange time to be handicapping that game. Station Pass players are much more likely to pop into VG every now and then to see how things are going than your single game subscriber. But now I have lost my "free look" at VG and things are going to have to become dramatically different in that game before I pull the trigger on a full month.

I would have stuck with Station Pass up to $28.99. That last dollar, though, is like a backhand across the face.