"Some of you non-subscribing forum contributors think it's your right to post your thoughts"

Again, who are these people that are supposedly cluttering up the forum without being subscribed? I don't have a problem with limiting their access, but I don't see why the devs should bother if they don't actually exist. Waste of time that could be spent doing something productive, like lifting the damn group limit, or making tridents not flicker in and out of existence when the captain enters or leaves.

Prove that there is a problem, and I will support fixing it. As far as I can see, you're just tilting at windmills.

" The last thing this community needs is to seem even more elitist than we already are."

Agreed

We'll never know for sure who these people are, if there are any... but giving subscribers a stronger voice in directing priorities and access is an attractive thing to me regardless.

Hmm, the old socialist in me says keep forums open to all. Why should affluent folk who subscribe but rarely play get a voice over folk who want to play more often but cannot due to RL financial issues?

I hear plenty of criticism of other pay to win games, I would be offended if VO became a pay to contribute game.

Why should affluent folk who subscribe but rarely play get a voice over folk who want to play more often but cannot due to RL financial issues?

The amusing/cute thing is, Ecka, you're fucking serious. That someone actually thinks the down-on-their-luck gamer has some kind of moral right to contribute to the game they can't afford to play definitely made me chuckle, and is on its way to brightening my afternoon.

I'm +1ing this just so I can subscribe, not play, and then get more of a voice than some old doddering pinko thinks I deserve :)

It's not a moral right to contribute, its a recognition that a player without the luxury of exorbitant finances has just as much potential to contribute to a discussion about the game as a player that has it.

That, TRS, is a much more rational reason for having open fora than what Ecka was suggesting.

I like to think its the rationale behind what ecka was saying.

But hey it's ecka, who the hell knows what goes on in the deep dark recesses of his mind.

"Some of you non-subscribing forum contributors think it's your right to post your thoughts, and that you are doing the game some kind of service by doing so "

Service? No. But it's a marvelous way to stay in touch with a community I have grown to love SOOOOOOO much when I have no access to the game itself; coincidentally, this happens to be one of those times.

I give you permission to recoil in horror, go ahead and get it out of your system.

Yeah, that's why I suggested this for the Bugs and Suggestions forums in particular, which pertain to the game itself and not just the community.