Problem with Recruit-A-Friend Campaign

[Shiroe_Shirogane]

So their recruitment campaign IMO is kind of borked for several reasons, having attempted it with my brother this weekend. I spent a lot of time figuring out how I could possibly make this work, as it wasn't clear if you had to purchase the game (you do) or if you could just activate it from the free trial.

#1.) Trials have to wait 24 hours before activating the game. Why this matters I'm not sure. If I bought the game and just created an account I wouldn't have had this problem, but for some reason the trial software is special. It should allow you to register a real game at any point.

#2.) None of the items listed above take effect till after the bonus period and after your free month you get for buying the game. So by the time the items designed to help a low level new player become active, the player who would have got the items is well beyond needing them, and neither the recruiter or recruit would benefit from them. Even if you went ahead and purchased a 90 subscription, it still wouldn't benefit you since the billing is delayed. They need an option for billing immediately, not after the trial period to at least give new players and recruiters and option to benefit from these items.

#3.) SE doesn't allow for the purchase of digital codes to pre-purchase subscription time. The only way to do this is with game cards, which have to be mailed to you, and only come in 60-day allotments. So if you're a new player and a recruiter, the end cost of the entire recruitment if you were really looking to take advantage of the items is $25 for the game, and another $60 to buy 2 x 2 month game cards. I'm pretty flabbergasted at this point you can't just go on their store, buy a digital code and enter it on their system to buy game time at this day and age.

[RiceisNice]

1. Agreed. There just doesn't seem to be any reason to impose a 24-hour wait time before you can upgrade the account.

2. I was under the impression that this is similar to veteran rewards? The amount of sub time paid by the recruitee's account would provide the recruiter with the benefits. I see people running around with the two-seater chocobo.

3. I do agree that they should have 30-day digital purchases, instead of being locked to regular subscription or 60-day segments (espesically if they do something like veteran rewards and offer it in 30-day brackets). The only way I'd get around this is paying for game-time via steam wallet.

[Shiroe_Shirogane]

2. I was under the impression that this is similar to veteran rewards? The amount of sub time paid by the recruitee's account would provide the recruiter with the benefits. I see people running around with the two-seater chocobo.

It is, but because of #1, #2, and #3 by the time you could actually make use of the items, which to be honest are meant for people pre-level 25 and pre-chocobo attainment, the new player is most likely well beyond the point of using them. If the items were truly meant to help the recruiter better help the recruit, then there is a very, very limited means to doing that. If you wait till after the bonus month for the subscription to actually get charged, the opportunity is lost. It doesn't take long to get past level 20. By the time the subscription kicked in they could be level 50. If they are trying to make these items to really help new player someone recruited, then their current system really makes it difficult for that to happen, unless these are just in reality glorified and prestige and glamour items.

[RiceisNice]

To be honest, the rewards seem more like novelty than anything (think WoW's recruit a friend program). Anyone in your party can ride the chocobo, and pre-level 25 is enough of a breeze that most players tend to outlevel past their story quests just from hunting logs and DF.

[slider_aus]

Shiroe i should let you know that you can receive all rewards with a game card straight away, and you can buy gigital game cards that deliver the code to your email as soon as you buy them i did this for my recruit and had the items that day and hes happily lvling like a kitten chasing a string