I was posting on Massively.com in an attempt to win the freakshow costume. I am one of the "lost players" that live on the "forgotten" East Coast, USA.
I found this very interesting post there...
"Johnny_Velocity said...
This and other customer relations-oriented idiocy on NCSoft's part was the catalyst for me quitting the game last month after being on since the start.
Let me get this straight - a permanent goody is given in limited numbers to existing customers only who, with only a few exceptions, necessarily needed to already have plans to go to the convention. Net advantage: zero new customers, few, if any, new con attendees, a few hundred happy people. Net disadvantage: several thousand angry customers.
Meanwhile, in an effort to promote a new time card campaign, a 30-day real time temporary power is attached to time cards going on sale at retailers like Target, readily located just about everywhere in the U.S. Rather than make the power a permanent one, thereby assuring themselves of some nice early sales to veteran players and thereby impressing said retailers, the power is made a temp one with a real time expiration, virtually assuring little veteran player participation.
If COH still has more than 100,000 subscribers when Champions Online and DCU Online hit, I'll be shocked. It's a good game with a great community, but they continue to alienate people* like we are completely disposable - which is exactly how they will then be treated when the competition hits.
* the term "people" does not include forum lackeys "