I'm looking for opinions concerning a hypothetical situation:Should EA refund players who have purchased (with real money) an item/card, if that item/card is later nerfed?Why or why not?What if the purchased item deserves to be nerfed?Personally, I feel it would be a bait and switch, as you no longer own or can use the item you paid for.

No, a player has no justification to claim a refund. Every player agrees to the Terms of Service for the games they play, and ToS generally point out that we, as players, don't actually own the cards; we just use them. EA still owns the game and can change anything they want to at any time. If tomorrow they decided to change all Zombie cards to Skunk Punks, all the Plant cards to Button Mushrooms, and all the Superpowers to Meteor Strikes and Electrobolts, they would probably lose a ton of players and not make any more money moving forward, but they would still be well within their rights to do so.

It happened months ago with clique peas. What EA did in the end was raise the sale price of that plant to the purchase price. But, anyway, the players who paid real money for it had no chance to get it back.On the other hand, what has happened to me sometimes is that I bought a pack without wanting to, because I touched the screen by mistake. This should also be reversible (or EA should show a confirmation message before making any purchase).

You mean like buy it be for you can earn it lucky leper con. Witch is getting nerfed. Refund plz

@blinddouble wrote:I'm looking for opinions concerning a hypothetical situation:Should EA refund players who have purchased (with real money) an item/card, if that item/card is later nerfed?Why or why not?What if the purchased item deserves to be nerfed?Personally, I feel it would be a bait and switch, as you no longer own or can use the item you paid for. No, I don't think you should get the refund of the money payed.See it this way.When you pay for a card, let's say.... Kitchen Sink Zombie, you don't actually pay for the card, but for the SPARKS to create it.It's like... you pay $20 for 8,000 Sparks. (or something like that, I don't know the exact values).But those Sparks are used to craft the Kitchen Sink Zombies. When the card is nerfed, its disenchant value is equaled to its crafting cost.By doing this, you still get the same thing, 8,000 Sparks for $20 bucks, but now you can now use this sparks to craft whatever you like. Let's say.... 2 Dark Matter Dragonfruit. So now is like you used those 8,000 sparks you paid for 2 DKD, instead of 4 KSZ.EA still gets the money and you still get what you paid for.

@blinddouble Yes, and it is a bummer. But if a thing MUST be changed after you gave it some use, a refund should not be allowed.It's like... food.Suppose you are eating a Supreme Monster Burger. You are halfway through when a manager appears, saying that they made a mistake, and they NEED to take the burger away. (I don't know, maybe something about health issues, but they absolutely need to take it away)They cannot give you a refund, since you already ate half the burger and they cannot give you another one exactly the same, since they are taking all Supreme Monster Burgers away. The only thing left is for them to give you another burger, free of charge.Same thing happens here. You purchase a card and played with it, but now EA is going to reclaim all copies for a change.If you made a purchase by accident, you should be able to ask for a refund.BUT, even if you played the card just once, then you should not be able to get the money back.Again, it is a bummer, but that's how businesses work.

Should a player be refunded for a purchased item if that item is Changed later?

22 Replies

Anonymous
8 years ago
Approved
It happened months ago with clique peas. What EA did in the end was raise the sale price of that plant to the purchase price. But, anyway, the players who paid real money for it had no chance to get it back.
On the other hand, what has happened to me sometimes is that I bought a pack without wanting to, because I touched the screen by mistake. This should also be reversible (or EA should show a confirmation message before making any purchase).
Anonymous
8 years ago
Approved
I lost out on my fourth Unexpected Gifts because the game had an error. I was very near the end of reaching my fourth card, but as I didn't quite get there, I was offered the respectable price of 50 gems as a last chance. Unfortunately, the game told me, "there was a problem with this purchase" when I tried to claim it, and that I should "reload the app". But because it was my (and I use their words) "last chance", I was never given the offer again. It would be a little less unfair, had I not already earned over 1000 tickets to acquire it, but I lost out completely from no fault of my own. I guess it's just one of those few F-ups that can't be fixed. Not entirely related, I know, but a refund would've been nice.
Anonymous
8 years ago
Approved
You mean like buy it be for you can earn it lucky leper con. Witch is getting nerfed. Refund plz
Azombioso
8 years ago
@blinddouble wrote:
I'm looking for opinions concerning a hypothetical situation:
Should EA refund players who have purchased (with real money) an item/card, if that item/card is later nerfed?
Why or why not?
What if the purchased item deserves to be nerfed?

Personally, I feel it would be a bait and switch, as you no longer own or can use the item you paid for.
No, I don't think you should get the refund of the money payed.
See it this way.
When you pay for a card, let's say.... Kitchen Sink Zombie, you don't actually pay for the card, but for the SPARKS to create it.
It's like... you pay $20 for 8,000 Sparks. (or something like that, I don't know the exact values).
But those Sparks are used to craft the Kitchen Sink Zombies. When the card is nerfed, its disenchant value is equaled to its crafting cost.
By doing this, you still get the same thing, 8,000 Sparks for $20 bucks, but now you can now use this sparks to craft whatever you like.
Let's say.... 2 Dark Matter Dragonfruit.
So now is like you used those 8,000 sparks you paid for 2 DKD, instead of 4 KSZ.
EA still gets the money and you still get what you paid for.
BPRDHB
Hero (Retired)
8 years ago
@UniVoidz wrote:
I lost out on my fourth Unexpected Gifts because the game had an error. I was very near the end of reaching my fourth card, but as I didn't quite get there, I was offered the respectable price of 50 gems as a last chance. Unfortunately, the game told me, "there was a problem with this purchase" when I tried to claim it, and that I should "reload the app". But because it was my (and I use their words) "last chance", I was never given the offer again. It would be a little less unfair, had I not already earned over 1000 tickets to acquire it, but I lost out completely from no fault of my own. I guess it's just one of those few F-ups that can't be fixed. Not entirely related, I know, but a refund would've been nice.
Been there, done that. It sucks. I've made sure to purchase my 4th card in advance if I knew I wasn't going to get it with tickets.
BPRD
blinddouble
8 years ago
@Azombioso I dont understand. If I wanted to buy the Sparks, I'd buy the Sparks. What was being sold and advertised was the actual card, not the Sparks.

Look at it this way: If the card is changed, and you disenchant it for Sparks, you no longer have what you would have originally bought the Sparks for. In other words, what was bought was access to a card, not to Sparks.
Azombioso
8 years ago
@blinddouble Yes, and it is a bummer. But if a thing MUST be changed after you gave it some use, a refund should not be allowed.

It's like... food.

Suppose you are eating a Supreme Monster Burger. You are halfway through when a manager appears, saying that they made a mistake, and they NEED to take the burger away. (I don't know, maybe something about health issues, but they absolutely need to take it away)

They cannot give you a refund, since you already ate half the burger and they cannot give you another one exactly the same, since they are taking all Supreme Monster Burgers away. The only thing left is for them to give you another burger, free of charge.

Same thing happens here. You purchase a card and played with it, but now EA is going to reclaim all copies for a change.

If you made a purchase by accident, you should be able to ask for a refund.

BUT, even if you played the card just once, then you should not be able to get the money back.

Again, it is a bummer, but that's how businesses work.
blinddouble
8 years ago
@Azombioso You wouldn't expect a refund if your food was taken away? It wasn't your fault they had to take it away. Either way, the card isn't being "used up" like a burger would be from eating. It was changed and no longer what was paid for. The equivalent would be to you buying a car, then the company taking it back and removing the engine.
Azombioso
8 years ago
@blinddouble Well... I don't know about you, but I don't know a single place that refunds you money if a meal is bad. They just offer you more food.

A car without an engine is completely useless, but that's not the case here. Leprechaun Imp for example, will only shuffle one pot of gold instead of two. Is not useless, just not as powerful as before.

So it would not be losing the engine, but getting a smaller one. If you don't like the way it stayed, just buy another car. No one is forcing you to keep a slower version of the original car you purchased.
blinddouble
8 years ago
@Azombioso Let's change the car metaphor because the food one obviously doesn't apply. The car retains an engine, and it's a tractor used for work, you bought this tractor because it has a lot of horse power. The dealership halves that horsepower and you're left with a tractor you don't have any use for anymore. Yes, it's still useable, but no longer useful, nor what you paid for.

Btw, almost every place, especially if they're reputable, will refund you for bad food, especially if they made changes to it themselves to make it something other than what you ordered.