I was reasonably unhappy about this new "Wedding Pack" yesterday. I'm still not thrilled with it. It took me a while to identify why, exactly, I was unhappy though, but I think I have it now.
It is not THAT they are charging for it. They deserve extra cash for working hard and adding "extra" content. I mean, I've never had to pay for one of those big content patches. Many companies would save up a few content patches, call it an "expansion", then make you pay $30-$50 for it.
I bought the VIP pack for $10, and I consider it a worthwhile investment. I get two new armor options, plus I get a power to give my Superspeeders vertical movement and a teleport to Pocket D. This is quite generous. I am all for it.
What I'm unhappy about is WHAT they are charging $10 for. They're gating arguably important roleplay items by cash, and even that, I'm okay with to some degree. But they're offering me a handful of situation-specific emotes and a few costume options.
For the same price, I got a couple useful powers and some snappy costumes. I don't see this "Wedding Pack" as a good value. I hold NCSoft in high regard, and I suppose I "expect better" than this. I'd pay $5 for this, as offered, and even then I might wince a bit. But $10 for a wedding dress, a tux, and a few emotes? Good grief. That's pricey, especially compared with past offerings.
Not to mention that I still have flashbacks to a certain MUD company that decided to charge $100 for GM assisted weddings and spouse-specific emotes. I get nightmares about that, after all this time.
I encourage NCSoft to develop "packs" and charge extra money for them. I like giving them my money. They give me a great game, and a host of wonderful free content with my monthly subscription. But to pay 2/3 of a month's subscription for a couple costumes (with so many available) and a handful of emotes that I might use twice is a bit unreasonable. Give me some meat for that money, and I'll throw it at you in wads.
I'm just unhappy that this seems "unworthy" of them. Not that they want me to pay.
