Well if a$$holes keep pushing for aur refund and we get it, that means sp wipe too, and reset of assets.
Which means everyone (including myself) who purchased all bpo items before the price increase will lose those too. So those of us who created militia fits for cheap to fall back on....will be forced to spend $30 on one militia fit.
Carry on trying to F uck things up people, you may just manage it.
If the above happens, as much as I love dust, I'm done!

I'm afraid I can't comment on any plans for an AUR refund at the present moment. I will look into getting a more definitive answer for you guys.

Can we assume that this means someone is actually looking into this instead of leaving the question open indefinitely?

and where did this thread come from anyway?

seems very random to me.

I have removed discussion of moderation from this thread.

Well if a$$holes keep pushing for aur refund and we get it, that means sp wipe too, and reset of assets.
Which means everyone (including myself) who purchased all bpo items before the price increase will lose those too. So those of us who created militia fits for cheap to fall back on....will be forced to spend $30 on one militia fit.
Carry on trying to F uck things up people, you may just manage it.
If the above happens, as much as I love dust, I'm done!

Well if a$$holes keep pushing for aur refund and we get it, that means sp wipe too, and reset of assets.
Which means everyone (including myself) who purchased all bpo items before the price increase will lose those too. So those of us who created militia fits for cheap to fall back on....will be forced to spend $30 on one militia fit.
Carry on trying to F uck things up people, you may just manage it.
If the above happens, as much as I love dust, I'm done!

Yes. I sent out an e-mail about it a few minutes ago and will be following up on getting a proper answer in the next few days. But it is Easter and a large number of our team will be on holiday, so it may take some time to get a response.

I hope you do. I was told marketing was looking into it back in Jan 24, and, well, here we are.

Yes. I sent out an e-mail about it a few minutes ago and will be following up on getting a proper answer in the next few days. But it is Easter and a large number of our team will be on holiday, so it may take some time to get a response.

That's a comment on how comical the AUR prices are, not how awesome early adopter discounts were. To be frank, bpos should be removed from the game entirely save the 4 default fits and EXTREMELY RARE prizes.

Isn't the whole idea of that thread in violation of forum rule number 9?

it is


i sense a double standard

making money will ALLWAYS be the primary focus maken, there's only so much we can do

That ship has sailed and quite awhile ago, removal now either means
A) Creating a new and deeper disadvantage for new players
B) Taking away beta rewards, prizes, promotions and purchases from a lot of testers/players who've been supporting the game. (Note: it's not just taking away one of the above, it would require taking away rewards & prizes & promotions & purchases. All of them not used synonymously).

Either one is a very poor choice from a customer relations/PR perspective as it violates stability of the game and customer trust.
You cannot conduct a successful micro transaction module if people don't know from one day to the next if their purchases will behave in remotely the same manner as when they were purchased, or even exist at all.

Non-introduction of said BPOs would have been a viable choice, removal is simply a terrible idea across the boards.

~ Cross

They will make more money if people know they will get all their AUR back *excluding boosters of course*

To be honest, now that I have looked deeply into it, it would probably be best for CCP to just refund the AURUM and leave the assets in place. Assuming CCP does things right, more customers will arrive and it will be best to just get it over with before then or else they'll be in a pickle when people ask for refunds of this nature by the millions.

Kind of like when you get pulled over by a cop for speeding and cop tells you "Sir, I'm just 5 minutes away from finishing my shift. Give me a reason that I haven't heard already on why I shouldn't give you a ticket and I'll let you go."

Nowhere says that the two must go hand-in-hand. Sure, it's how it's been happening in the past, but they aren't tied to each other.

It is definitely a delicate situation for CCP to handle.
They did change the terms of merc pack sales around open beta (to remove any mention of reset on release), so if they reset it will probably only be for closed beta sales (still quite a bit).

A total reset would be a nightmare:
-people that bought militia BPOs when they were super cheap would be angry.
-people that have been grinding SP every day since open beta would be angry.
-people that have been stockpiling ISK would be angry.
-the reset would occur right as Planetary Conquest begins
- the only benefit might be for new players who join in on release to not be up against proto suits

A reset of just merc pack and AUR purchases from before the sales agreement change would also cause problems:
-people not included would feel it is unfair
-if the reset/refund doesn't effect SP people will be essentially getting free boosters (who used their AUR for that)
-if items bought with AUR weren't tracked and removed properly (or already used) it could lead to more complaints.

Either way CCP would lose a lot of potential future sales. Sure the merc packs sold would not cause a loss (they are virtual items, free to restore) but that would also mean fewer merc packs and AUR people would buy again in the near future.

I bought two merc packs before open beta and personally would rather support the game than make demands on a technicality. As long as there is no SP wipe or character reset, I feel I put my AUR and 30 day boosters to use as intended.

So basically what you're saying is that CCP is screwed no matter which route they take. Appease the pro-refund folks and you pee off those who see it as unfair for those who didn't invest any AUR and create a problem with the Dust economy and ultimately nearly kill Dust (which is really, really bad). Appease the anti-refund folks and you end up with a bunch of closed-beta players wanting to file a lawsuit on the company which would result in the loss of revenue needed to sustain Dust.

Wow, there is no solution to this.

AUR is used to gain an SP advantage (boosters) and to buy higher tiered items early. If CCP refunded all AUR without resetting SP then basically all of the boosters and items purchased prior to the AUR refund would have been free. I seriously don't see CCP doing that. This may end up being the "catastrophic event" they were alluding to as being the only reason they would reset SP.