RIFT Hellbug Mount Rant

At the beginning of this month, Trion advertised that if you purchase Defiance, you can get a free Hellbug mount and five dollars of in-game credit.  Upon seeing this, I was excited.  I purchased two copies of Defiance, one for Xbox and the other one for PC within the first couple months of launch and I thought to myself, based on the instructions for the PC version, I might be able to redeem that copy for a Hellbug mount on my own!  Sure, the article said "purchase," but surely they would allow those who have owned each game already the chance to have an awesome new mount!

With these thoughts in mind, I went to the link provided in the article (a riftgame.com url) to redeem the key and it told me I had already redeemed this key.  "Odd," I thought.  At this point, I went searching online for the answers.  At first, I came across this post:

http://www.riftgame.com/en/defiance/
If you were thinking about purchasing another copy of defiance to get the hellbug mount and gun transmog for Rift. Don't. Not yet at least.
We were informed on the live stream that you can add the code to your account if you already own defiance, well I found out on the Rift forum that this is not the case and people cannot redeem the code if they already own the game.
So I thought I'd let our defiance players know if they decided to take part in this promotion. I almost did, glad I waited.
(http://forums.defiance.com/showthread.php?132786-Hellbug-mount-rift-promo-do-not-buy-another-copy-if-you-already-own-defiance.)

This thread gave me a renewed hope so I tried it again, thinking maybe I typed it wrong.  Again, it told me I had already redeemed the key.  "This isn't right," I thought to myself, going back on the search for answers.  This time, I found a response from Daglar!

This promo is only for boxed copies and during the time frame of the promo, not previous sales.
~Daglar  

Feeling defeated by this, I realized I still have one more copy of Defiance I could buy to get this awesome steed but would it be worth it?

Now, allow me to stand on a soapbox for just a moment as I vent and try to shed some light on why this is an annoying situation.  Firstly, Rift is a game I have owned since within the first year of it coming out (sure, I'm not an alpha player or cannot boast that I have played it since launch because frankly, I just did not have the money to throw into gaming at the time).  When I started playing it, I was already hooked.  Of course, being as busy as I was looking for a job, I didn't get much time to play it and eventually just stopped playing all together.

Fast forward to the beginning of the year, I'm working at an awesome new job with great benefits and I do have time to play, at home and at work.  It is a glorious time!  I install RIFT and suddenly I'm hooked again! Naturally, the talk of a futuristic MMO that involved shooting things and no tab targeting swept around the world and I caught my first glimpse of Defiance.  Knowing how well Trion did with RIFT, I was certain Defiance would be a great game, especially since it had a television show to be played alongside.  It was an amazing concept.  I entered the Beta for Defiance and couldn't get enough of it.  Being a fan of Trion's work, I ordered my copy.

I feel entitled to the right to have my hellbug mount!  I have put my hard earned money into not only the purchases of these products but I have also paid my subscription to RIFT before it even went Free to Play!  Why should I buy a copy of a game on a console that I won't even play it on?  Sure, I've got the console so that's not an issue but why would I want to buy it again?!

Is this the feeling that I should have?  Probably not, but as a consumer, I do.  I feel disgusted for even having these thoughts.  This same entitlement I face every day at work, doing my best to please some people who are impossible to be pleased.

The simple fact of the matter is giveaways come and go and promotions are created for a reason.  Defiance, a great game on it's own, has had a rocky start.  I would not say the game is dying because it isn't.  The studio has seen it's share of cuts but it was mostly parts of the team that were necessary for initial development, not long-term upkeep and content design.  The game has its flaws that turn away some newer players but for those who enjoy a game like this, they tend to look past the flaws.

This promotion is a marketing campaign.  They aren't aiming this at those of us who have invested time into Defiance and RIFT already.  They are looking to recruit new players to come join us old veterans of the terraformed Bay-Area in California and the newly Free2Play RIFT.  This is a campaign meant to feed both games a new flock of gamers, looking to dip their toes into a new fantasy world.  Those of us who have been playing already have a headstart and some already have a Hellbug mount to use in RIFT at any time (except for me, who has the worst luck with Hellbug mount droprates ever).

Does this understanding of the logic behind the promotion make me like it any better? No way, Jose.  I still think it is unfair.  The only thing that makes me not want to nerd rage faster than a red-shirted lore nerd pissed off he didn't get invited into the Hearthstone beta is the fact that I have the understanding behind the concept and appreciate that they are bending over backwards to breathe more life into their game communities.