*Steps up on Soapbox*
Regarding the Tribute Point reset, this is my petition on eqlive, to Tarew Marr GM. One voice is nothing but many make too much noise to be ignored. Feel free to copy/paste and edit to your specifics if you do not like to write, but please petition one way or another. This was straight up robbery.
Dear Sony/EQ GM/CSR's,
When the Tribute masters went live, I went to donate at the first opportunity as I wanted Mana Preservation IV definetly, and Flowing Thought V if possible.
I cleared out my trader and three other toons of all the lower end items I was otherwise going to sell in the bazaar on my trader, to get Mana Pres IV in an item, as well as a few higher end items that were not selling with any real quickness, or not selling for what I thought was a fair price.
I saw what the Tribute Master was giving for what I would have otherwise sold, deemed it to be a very fair trade-off (unlike the game NPC's who are outright thieves) that would allow me to have the effect long enough for me to win a bid at a raid for such an item, and "purchased" Tribute points in trade for droppable items. I then set the tribute points to spend in ways I thought would better my character and was greatful I did not have to stand in bazaar all day to get the platinum to buy a Mana Pres IV item at this point in time. I was very happy that day, and felt that finally Sony had offered something to the player that was truly useful and obtainable. Something that recognized hard work and rewarded you for it.
Today I log in to find that my tribute points have been downgraded to 6k from 45k, and not only do I htink Sony has done it's loyal EQ players a grave disservice but I am almost positive this is against the law. You have sold a digital effect to me at a set price per digital item on one date, then decided to lower the item's value without giving me the option to completely bow out of the tribute system and recover my digital items.
You could not sell me a car on a Sunday and then on Wednesday
come and rip out the CD player and take the tires off as you have now decided it was too good a deal. You should not be able to come and strip my character of Tribute points that I gave what I thought to equate a fair market value in items for. Had the items only been worth what was offered at the rate you "allotted" to me today (some 0ne-eigth the original value), I would NEVER have given those items as tribute to begin with.
I would have chalked it up as yet another NPC who wants to put the screws to you for anything even remotely decent you are trying to buy/sell to them. As is usually the case with EQ NPC's.
I am asking that all my items be returned, and all your tribute points be returned to you. I choose not to participate in the Tribute System. My choice to do so should be equally as viable as your choice to penalize me for having participated in the first place.
It is almost as if Sony pulled a robbery act on those of us who have stockpiled player items. Less items means less platinum from Trader sales. Less platinum in game means less to be sold to outside platinum sellers, which drives the outside prices of platinum up so high that no one will want to buy it anymore, and you would again be in control of the platinum on each server. (Say the platinum that was created by exploitation not
too very long ago on this server at least?.
That would be a very underhanded (and I am just certain, illegal) way of doing business with people who bought Everquest and all it's expansions, and pay monthly to play, who play legally, investing thousands and thousands of hours building up characters who are capable of high volume equipment storage and trading.
I am sure my lawyer would be very interested in looking up precendence on this subject, as it is new but definetly established, and people are winning suits for this very thing, even as we speak. I love to play Everquest. I do not like to be dealt with unfairly.
Sony tested it, thought it was good, initiated it, then changed their collective mind, deeming it a bad decision. I should not have to pay so large a price for Sony's choices. I wait patiently for patches to finish, for server resets, for server overloads that always happen but are never properly planned for, for random stupidity as well, all for things that were supposedly tested before implementation. I give honest and thoughtful feedback, report bugs when I find them, and try to play as honestly as I can. I pay for two accounts to play the game, and have requested to volunteer my time as a guide on another server. I pay to play, not to be penalized for paying to play.
Since you decided not to roll back the servers on the night that you took the Tribute Masters down, when you might have done so with much smaller difficulty and fallout, it is my opinion you should have eaten whatever foolishness occurred up until the point where you put the tribute masters back up at a FAR lesser trade value than originally offered. You did not, and in doing so, the end product is that you have robbed me of many items after allowing me to think it was a fair deal. I want them back. ASAP.
Sincerely,
"Real name On Credit Card"
Account: "Account Name"
aka: "Player Name" of Tarew Marr