Letter from the Game Director: 5 October 2007

[If6was9]

The billing in Euros and Dollars is probably just a matter of simplification. They have not ever had a sliding scale - afaik - even when the dollar was stronger than the Euro.

PVP changes sound interesting.

Far as the newer players getting a crack at the rare items - if that's coupled with something that still allows vets to spot each other that's fine. Right now I know someone's a vet if they're using/wearing something that takes vet points. Sounds like new players will be able to purchase those things.

I'd like to see a marker put in place, visible under T, that indicates the total time played on the account.

[Anicharn]

Please PLEASE make the pvp points visible somewhere! Its freaking annoying to try and figure out if I lose the title the next death or gain it the next kill. make it visible so we can count ^^

Greetings Ani

[zartosht]

(We will of course give good notice of when it will be removed!)

Will that "notice" be handled the same way you masterfully handled the full IPR notification at time of LE launch?

[Nargo]

Will that "notice" be handled the same way you masterfully handled the full IPR notification at time of LE launch?

They have not given any notice that they are removing the full IPR.

They have not removed the full IPR.

Kinda makes sense, eh?

Go to the skill window, in the top left corner theres a big "i" click it, and you get "reset skill" and "reset all skills" as the first two options.
It is there, I checked it just now and it is there.

[Zeephonz]

From reading Sil's posts about the paid points scheme, it describes how you can basically assign a certain amount of the points you have bought, to a particular character. So this means that unlike vet points which will appear even on a new toon you start from scratch, if you start a new toon you still have to assign paid points to that new character.

So, here's the gotcha.... if you allocated 50% of your paid points to a character you started/already have, and you decide shortly after that you want to delete that character and build something else, you lose those points and that decision (in effect) now costs you money to do.

Players need to be aware that if they've spent $20 on paid points, allocate $10 to a character that is then deleted shortly after, that decision has cost you $10.

Is it just me thinking this, because from where I'm sitting this way of doing business is kinda lame.

[Healyhatman]

You may not have read it very well because the way I read it is that they DO work like vet points, in that iff you buy 2000 points all characters get.... an extra 2000 points.

[enilias]

So, here's the gotcha.... if you allocated 50% of your paid points to a character you started/already have, and you decide shortly after that you want to delete that character and build something else, you lose those points and that decision (in effect) now costs you money to do.

Players need to be aware that if they've spent $20 on paid points, allocate $10 to a character that is then deleted shortly after, that decision has cost you $10.

Is it just me thinking this, because from where I'm sitting this way of doing business is kinda lame.

That is not how I interpreted it, I understood that all characters get all points. This is what Silirrion said in his letter:

These points can then be transferred to the characters on your account, so that each character can then spend the same number of points independently (i.e. each character gets all the points to spend), so if you want to try different items for different characters you are free to do so!

Edit: Healyhatman seems to be faster then I was.


I do think however that 2000 points just for some vehicles is rather steep. 20 euros/dollars is 2/3rd of what a complete expansion used to cost. If I look at what the previous expansions brought us there'd better he a hell of a lot of vehicles to come even close to justifying this price.

[Healyhatman]

I agree... $20 US seems a little steep for some purely cosmetic changes.... I was considering the deal where for 2k points you get all the vehicles in one hit, but does that include the boards as well as the bikes? Either way it's a little steep....

Can't wait to buy myself a leet pet though!

[zartosht]

They have not given any notice that they are removing the full IPR.

They have not removed the full IPR.

Kinda makes sense, eh?

Go to the skill window, in the top left corner theres a big "i" click it, and you get "reset skill" and "reset all skills" as the first two options.
It is there, I checked it just now and it is there.

They "warned" us that the full IPR would not be there forever and that a second one would be awarded. So a lot of us rushed to use the first one before it would be removed, doing some "experimentation" as we were confident that a second one would be coming and in the end we were betrayed.

So much for trusting FC...

[Berim]

I think they said they will consider giving the second one after a while, I don't recall them actually promising to give it.

Bump for some more points per euro than dollar. Better yet correct the whole billing system to reflect course changes although I have a feeling that might eat all FC's revenues.

[Tiralee]

FC never said that there would be a second full ipr reset. They said that they might consider one at some future point.

They also said that they would give plenty of notice before removing the full ipr reset. I fully expect that's exactly what they will do, give plenty of notice.

[Nargo]

They "warned" us that the full IPR would not be there forever and that a second one would be awarded. So a lot of us rushed to use the first one before it would be removed, doing some "experimentation" as we were confident that a second one would be coming and in the end we were betrayed.

So much for trusting FC...

Your problem isnt that you trusted FC, it is that you did -not- trust them.

So dont come here crying about FC "betraying" you.
If you have ****ed up your char so badly after the full IPR its your own fault, not FC.
And they never promised, like tiralee pointed out, a 3rd full IPR neither.

[zartosht]

...
So dont come here crying about FC "betraying" you.

Since you look like somebody who likes to help and offer advice, let me teach you something which will help you make better replies in the future.

• -> this emote is used for conveying the fact that the poster is "crying" about something
  
• -> this one is used to express disdain and convey a certain resignation about a frustrating fact

As you can see from my post, I used the latter emote. So I was not "crying" about anything.

So while you go and learn your lesson you can gtfo of my Internet.

[Rewo]

You can babble on about crying vs. frustration all you want but the "fact" remains that FC never promised a 2nd full IPR as has been pointed out by a few people here.

The exact words used by Sil are actually used in this thread, that they "might consider" a second full IPR down the road. Everyone that I spoke to in game about this back then had no problem understanding what that meant and factored that into their decision about whether or not to use it.

[zartosht]

I am sure that FC has its own team of lawyers. Go find another client.

[Eatin]

Our render coder is hard at work at the conversion but as mentioned before it is a longer term goal. I would imagine it would early 2008 for testing at the very least and (all going well) sometime in the middle of next year where we might see it on the live dimensions.

Im mainly wondering how big of a difference it will make, will it simply be an improvement of what it is now. Or will it be more like moving all the info of ao as we know today into a new game engine that looks more like hl2 or halo or wow

[Eatin]

I dont see a reason to compare what a US player pays to what a lets say EU player pays..There are different levels of income/tax/general prices in society. Do you mean FC should constantly readjust to follow these variables?:S

[Mekh]

I dont see a reason to compare what a US player pays to what a lets say EU player pays..There are different levels of income/tax/general prices in society. Do you mean FC should constantly readjust to follow these variables?:S

Ofc not... Just as they should not adjust the prices depending on yours vs. my income...

Equal price for everyone... That's not the case now... They charge europeans more than others, just because they have to pay in euro...

Basically the same as looking at a customer coming your shop, and you say:
"Well, you're from the other side of the street... You'll have to pay 40% more"

What FC could/should do was to define what they wan't to charge in either euro's or dollars, then adjust the other.

1 dollar just ain't as much worth as 1 Euro atm...

I dont think they should use live exchange data at all times or something like that, but as mentioned elsewhere it would be fair, to make adjustments every 3 months or so.

[Damon7]

The price is the same, it's XX USD or XX Euros


No one is paying more than another player. The fact that the USD has fallen in comparision to the Euro is irrelevant unless you've got access to Foreign Exchange and decide to trade euros in for dollars and then pay FC some how.

Folks who pay in USD pay less RELATIVE to those who pay in Euros, however, those who pay in Euros also have the greater buying power when buying items priced in US dollars, like for instance, a vaction to the states, or US products, just as I pay more for European Euro based products (and i can certainly vouch for that as i'm bidding a contract with a Euro based sub and the converted USD price is killing profit on this bid.)

Unless you're earning your income in USD and paying for AO in Euros, these complaints about what the Euro/Dollar ratio is is just a waste of time. But if you can get FC to price everything in Euros, maybe the US will invade FC and occupy it as well

[charmant]

My country does not have official currency USD nor EUR, and my salary is not paid related to this currencies...

So i have to buy the more expensive EUR , while i could buy the USD...

What if americans would have to buy EUR just like me?
Would they feel pissed just like me?

So please tell me why this is not a valid complain about price discrimination???