Premium improvements for all?

[Kalgon]

The only objection I have to this is that THIS IS GIVEN TO ALL SUBSCRIBERS, NEW OR OLD.

There is nothing that new subscribers get that old subscribers don't here. The complaints about this are literally not asking for "the same as new subscribers", you are asking for MORE than they will get.

You have the opportunity to get an AA pt per level up.

People need to stop acting as though we are treating people differently - we are not at all.

The problem is that many of us already have the 80s we want. I myself have quite a few 80s that are fresh and on the shelf.

My friend just offlined a toon to 80 right before they announced the change coming. So now hes got a fresh 80 with no AAs.
So now he has to time train and gain prowess slowly.

Expecting us to level up a toon over again to get the AAs is ridiculous. I do however think this was a needed change and its appreciated.

Just wish those of us who just got done making some new 80s were not screwed

[Khaletohep]

Player A levelled his char from 1 to 80 last week. He doesn't get any "free" AA levels.
Player B levelled his char from 1 to 80 this week. He gets "free" AA levels.

There is difference, yes. But is it a meaningful difference? Does it really "justify" treating both players/characters differently?

[Nusquam]

Just wish those of us who just got done making some new 80s were not screwed

No but again we are looking into a solution.

I'm just saying that
a) all subscribers have the same deal.
b) nobody got "ripped off".

People are annoyed because "somebody got an opportunity that I didn't have a few weeks ago".

I get it, but it is a pretty flimsy complaint to make when you have the *same* opportunity.

And there are people who are like "what about veterans?"

Well veterans have both the same opportunity and offline levels on account of being, you know, veterans. So they can get an 80 with the AAs with a much lower effort than new subs anyway. Which is what offline levels for vets is all about.

Again, this doesn't mean I am dismissing the complaints. But when we do this and set a cut off point, people will still be annoyed because "I was a day outside the cut off point".

[Kurt2013]

@Nusqam: Sorry, but you are wrong here, because the way it works now it gives new chars EXACTLY something old players can not get (not at all even, unless you can buy AA expertise pots in the shop again). At 80 this might not be bad, because sooner or later 80s get their AA filled, but the big difference is in low levels as well.

Low level pvp is for some the only content they might pay for...and you just wasted an opportunity to make lots of f2p pvpers resub just to get that extra AA at low level. Do you have any idea of the impact at low levels when you get extra prot and hitcrit rating?

Even without that...is it such a mystery that a lvl40 char levelling now will have 39 less AA points at 80 to start closing the gap than a lvl1 char levelling from now? *shakes head*
It is not even the same "opportunity", since already premium levelled players can NOT unlevel their chars to get the points.

[Nusquam]

@Nusqam: Sorry, but you are wrong here, because the way it works now it gives new chars EXACTLY something old players can not get (not at all even, unless you can buy AA expertise pots in the shop again). At 80 this might not be bad, because sooner or later 80s get their AA filled, but the big difference is in low levels as well.
Low level pvp is for some the only content they might pay for...and you just wasted an opportunity to make lots of f2p pvpers resub just to get that extra AA at low level.

You are wrong and if you cannot see this, we cannot discuss this.

An old player can start a new char and level from 1-80 and get AApts.
A new player can start a new char and level from 1-80 and get AApts.
There is no difference between what they have to do to get 80 AApts. Except vets have the advantage of offline levels.

What you are asking for is 80 free AApts to old characters. But that is not what we have given ANYBODY.

[Prima]

@Nusqam: Sorry, but you are wrong here, because the way it works now it gives new chars EXACTLY something old players can not get (not at all even, unless you can buy AA expertise pots in the shop again). At 80 this might not be bad, because sooner or later 80s get their AA filled, but the big difference is in low levels as well.
Low level pvp is for some the only content they might pay for...and you just wasted an opportunity to make lots of f2p pvpers resub just to get that extra AA at low level.

"Characters" and "players" are not the same thing. Every new character -- whether played by old and new players -- gets the AA. Every account is treated the same.

edit: dangit joel

[Kurt2013]

No, seems you don't want to see my point. And you falsely assume vets can simply create new chars (assuming they want to do that and neglect their older cared for chars).

The only way full accounts for example can get the same treatment now is by deleting old beloved chars or unlevelling. I call that different treatment. Period.

You can not argue away the fact, that especially at low levels there is different treatment too.
Example: one old char was 20 when the change is made and levels to 39, resulting in 19 AA points. A new char levels to 39 and has 38 AA points. Sounds different to me.

You are aware that many people keep alts at the different mini ranges just for the sake of different pvp experiences? This means they will NOT level past this range and will NOT be able to use offline levelling. Are you aware of the power gap even a few points in AA make for low level combat formulas? (back in the days gear with hitcrit was VERY rare till level 50+ for a reason)

[Scythie]

You can not argue away the fact, that especially at low levels there is different treatment too.

How?
Leveling a toon to 50 is just a few days. (At the most!) No difference there for anyone.

[Azanath1979]

Just a question: What happened to Kithai normal modes? You do not need any AA for them. Do it old school like we have before anyway. You learn a lot about playing your character this way as well. Heck you even get rares nowadays for them. So why is everyone and their mother so much after Hardmodes? Because of the epic drops? Almost all Kithai Blue drops are better than the old world raid drops (barring Tier 3) anyway...

[wharmaster]

There is nothing that new subscribers get that old subscribers don't here. The complaints about this are literally not asking for "the same as new subscribers", you are asking for MORE than they will get.

You have the opportunity to get an AA pt per level up.

People need to stop acting as though we are treating people differently - we are not at all.

No, I'm not asking for anything more than anyone else. Just that the character I rolled when I re-subbed after that oh-so-enticing email you guys sent me on may 10th be able to enjoy the same benefits as a character that is rolled today....IE, one AA point per level.

We have invested time, offline levels, and item shop points into these characters. Deleting them and starting again is really not a viable solution.

We were NEVER informed that subscriber benefits would not be applicable to existing characters, or that we should wait until May 23rd to start new characters if we wished to take advantage of newly implemented mechanics.

Many of us figured that if we re-subbed on the tenth, it would be a good idea to level up new characters, re-familiarize ourselves with the game, and have sufficiently leveled characters to be able to participate in the anniversary events.

Here is a great opportunity to show that Funcom can fix mistakes, and provide good customer service.

Edit: let me just also say that this whole mechanic is a great idea....it just was poorly implemented. I have faith that Funcom will do the right thing in this situation by addressing this customer service issue in an appropriate manner.