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SWTOR unsubscribe option goes missing for some [Updated]
Call it the Case of the Canceled Sub: Many players have written in to us to report that the "cancel subscription" button on their Star Wars: The Old Republic account pages has mysteriously gone missing. Considering that tomorrow is the one-month mark where accounts are set to be billed following the free month of gameplay for those who started on launch day, we think this is particularly troublesome. Some players have found a workaround link but have received a warning and seen their threads shut down by moderators as violating the Rules of Conduct. BioWare is investigating the situation and has alluded to an issue with certain types of browsers. In the meantime, the CS team has asked those affected customers to contact the company by phone for help cancelling their subscriptions. BioWare is awarding those players who pay for an additional month of game time by March 19th with a special "Founder" title. [Thanks to the many, many people who sent us this tip!] [Update: In a correspondence with us, BioWare has confirmed that it is aware of the website issue and is working to resolve it that the issue is now fixed.]
Are other game studios taking countermeasures against RIFT? [Updated]
If you didn't know, today is the head start launch of RIFT and the beginning of many strained household relationships as players finally dive into Telara for real. While we've known for some time that Trion Worlds' creation was going to be a major player in the MMO field, it seems as though RIFT's release has caused other MMO studios to step up and take countermeasures. In the past 24 hours, there have been a few significant developments that seem suspicious in regard to timing, at least. The first is that Blizzard dropped World of Warcraft's next content update, Patch 4.1, on to the public test server in the middle of the night. Mortal Online's announced that its free 14-day trial program is now active for any interested parties. We've also received numerous tips that EA Mythic disabled the cancel subscription option for Warhammer Online. Although we obviously can't be certain that all of these events are due to RIFT, timing, as they say, is everything. Have you seen any other MMO studios stepping up their game today as a distraction from the new shiny? [Update: The Warhammer subscription option was a bug that should be resolved today, according to the devs.]
Breakfast Topic: When will you quit playing WoW?
With all this five year anniversary stuff going on, and the new push by Blizzard for subscribers via the TV commercials and special offers, I've been thinking about what it would take for me to leave WoW. What would my point be where I quit the game, unsubscribe, and not return to playing it? I think likely it would be a slow death. I'd log in less and less, until I found that I wouldn't log in for months at a time. At that point I'd probably be sensible and cancel my account -- although it took an inordinate amount of time for me to cancel my EQII account where I did more or less the same thing. I'd like to think this is how it'd go at least, I wouldn't want to quit in a huff over some silly bug or class change. Of course, this is WoW, and I find myself uniquely invested in it. I've got characters with hundreds of days worth of /played on them, and I don't know yet if I could ever stop myself from being able to have immediate access to them. They are a hobby, and investment, just like a detailed model airplane or schooner. Then there's also what I do here, which gives me a little unique reason not to ever unsubscribe. But alas, it might happen one day. And that's the topic of today's breakfast nook discussion. When will you quit playing WoW? How will you go out? With a bang or a whimper?
WoW as a bargaining chip
My wife is a shrewd little fox. She knows just how much I love the fact that she plays the game with me so sometimes, when we have our little domestic arguments, she makes sure to cancel her WoW account just to drive home a point. Of course, it doesn't mean much since we're both paid up for the next few months, but the message is clear -- "we make up (or you see things my way) or I'm quitting the game!" Of course, we don't reconcile merely because I'll be losing my favorite playing partner, but I have to confess that it doesn't make me happy one bit.For parents, World of Warcraft can be a useful bargaining chip for their kids with the parental controls feature. It's easy enough to control WoW time if kids aren't doing their homework, floundering in school, or simply not doing their chores. Conversely, a friend of mine gave his son a WoW subscription when he did well in school. World of Warcraft can be so much fun and addicting that it's often used as a social tool, and it's often upsetting when our friends quit playing the game. How many of us have had friends whose significant others have "allowed" them to play the game after, say, a wonderful date?I'm not sure if it only applies to me, but because I play the game with many of my RL friends and my family, I use the lure of WoW to full effect. I once had my brother do a specific task for the promise of an upgrade to The Burning Crusade. A little before he finished what I asked him to do, I secretly upgraded his account so he could finally make his Blood Elf Priest. Kind of manipulative, I know, but we did end up having a lot of fun leveling our alts together. How about you? How much a part of your life is WoW and has it ever been used as a bargaining chip in your social life?
