I really like the modular system. Many of the things in the XL or Studio bundles I’m not particularly interested in. However, the upgrade pricing for the core and modules needs to be thought out a little more.
Also, I’d like to add my name to the list of people who think upgrading from 8.5 -> 9 should be a little cheaper than from 8.2 -> 9, even if it’s just $50 less or so. Just some acknowledgment that we’ve been supporting their continual development.
It’s not rocket science as they say , it should be easy to work out a good upgrade pricing structure.
In my opinion you start with the concept that the more people have of your products the less they pay. So if you have the core program its one price and as you progress up the modules the cheaper in percentage the upgrade gets in context, till you get to the Studio etc.
Loyalty and spend with any company today is rewarded with better pricing the more you buy. As I said it’s not difficult.
Having said that I still think asking £209 for the upgrade from eight to nine is too much in the context of what I paid for eight just under a year ago.
I have no problem with the modular system either, it’s just that now we have come to a major release there are no many different variations that people have that it is causing confusion.
I agree totally with your comments about the R8.5 price being the same as R8.2. It seems that the additional money we stumped up has not been taken into consideration.
The people at the sharp end at Maxon must really be feeling the heat at the moment!
It’s probably a bit premature, but I thought i post my query. Just going on what I saw from the UK price list, seems to suggest that I no longer have Studio. I updated to 8.5 (mistake) without S&T, but now Studio contains S&T am I forced to upgrade that, because there didn’t seem to be that option, though I would have thought it’s not such an uncommon situation, or do I have to revert to upgrading ALL the modules. Talk about taking the shine off good news!
I wonder do they have a downgrade option? They can have dynamics and pyro and mocca back, and owe ME money. 
Hey Shakes…not many aussies on here, so when you hear any details on local upgrade pricing could you post on here. Would be appreciated 
Just got a mail from Perry Stacy CEO in the UK with the following prices:
XL8.5 - 9 costs £409 inc VAT.
Your Dynamics will be updated to work with R9 for FREE.
BP1 will need to be updated to BP2. That costs £249 inc VAT
Shave 2 is still being updated for R9, but I doubt a fee will be required
for this.
So its conna cost me £658 to upgrade to R9, think I’ll be giving it a miss, unfortunately. :sad:
Thanks for the info RandomArc - if I remember correctly, XL=Mocca, TP, PC, NET and AdvR, so atleast these modules would work OK, but no mention of Sketch, which I guess falls into the same category as Dynamics ie if it needs updating to work with 9 this will be free?
The mists are clearing…
Does BP1 even work with 8.5, by the way - I thought the upgrades had to be done together?Thanks for the info anyway, I’ll put myself in the ‘wait and see’ category…
Seeyou - C
Yeah BP1 works with 8.5. I must be honest, I haven’t used it much so there may be issues I’m not aware of.
I’m definately hanging fire, can’t afford that amount of money at the moment just for an upgrade.
I have to say the whole thing is slightly ridiculous, yes its a great upgrade, but
a) a lot of the features are just a matter of playing catch up with what other apps have had for years and
b) by charging these amounts many of us who do not belong to big companies are simply not going to upgrade in a hurry if at all, so sure you can say ooh they’ve worked really hard, but if people are sticking with what they’ve got or moving across to cheaper (high end) alternatives because the price hike is too high then it was a wasted effort no?
Maxon has proved it is good at listening to its customers in some respects, but at the same time it is not willing to offer any kind of loyalty to them finacially, which is all a bit too Studio Max for my liking, if and when I can afford to upgrade I will consider it, but not for the forseeable future, so regardless of whether C4D has a ‘make hollywood movie’ button, the whole thing becomes pointless.
Of course companies need to charge for upgrades, of course we’re not expecting something for nothing, but really, - I didn’t upgrade to 8.5 and now to find that people who did are expected to pay the same as me is simply nuts, it doesn’t make me feel any better that I saved £100, it just makes me feel sorry for all those who shelled out for a minor upgrade expecting this to be taken into account at the next full point upgrade, which is normal, expected, decent and above all promotes loyalty. And to hear that people are going to have to pay £6, 7, 800 just to upgrade to 9 is sad indeed. A plea to Maxon’s money people - please look after your customers better or you may find you’ll have less of them, that’s the wrong way to go in any business.
I expected to pay between £200 and at most £300 to upgrade from XL8 to XL9, I expected 8.5 users to be charged £100 less, if this had been the case my pre-order would’ve been in by now and I’m guessing many other peoples too.
So there you have it. Best get back and earn some cash 
Boxy
Totally agree with everything you said boxy.
Really can’t see where Maxon are coming from at the mo
well said boxy or at very worst they could offer a special early birds deal for the upgrade. i’d certainly snap at it.
actually not everyone - i warned them that this happened to alias with poweranimator. do some searches you’ll find it.
i hope they work this out soon, especially with new Renderman for Maya and almost everything else using Mental Ray - there are other very compelling choices…
dann
I think its time for the NLA to reform as the FLA (finance liberation army) - put the word out
Boxy
I’m still in the dark here. Why is Maxon Uk the only place where you can see what it costs to upgrade and make an actual preorder. Are they internally debating about this or just lazy?
odo
Those who do not learn from past are doomed to repeat it… (and this was just the v8.2 to v8.5 updates - there was much more turmoil over the v7 to v8 updates)
there are dozens of threads from the v7 to v8 upgrade like this… sigh… i just want a simple number.
http://www.postforum.com/forums/read.php?f=6&i=92901&t=92901
: (
dann
Again, I agree Boxy, but I wouldn’t hold my breath for it to be changed or re-considered in any way, unless everybody DOES actually complain or point out to Maxon HQs everywhere what is apparently obvious to most of us, it will remain as is regardless.
I forwarded my thoughts to Perry at Maxon UK, and even directed him to the couple of ‘upgrade price’ threads in this forum, and received his thoughts and reasoning on the matter. Maxon’s argument is, that if you bought 8.5 early on, you will have had nearly a years use of all its added tools and features already, and at a fairly low price (which considering the added features in 8.1, 8.2 and 8.5 together, it is a fair point). But, what he also said, was that if people don’t want to pay for a .5 upgrade, that’s fine, but that means we’ll all be back to 2 year cycles with no serious upgrades in between, which again I can accept. But I do find it hard to swallow that despite paying £100 for a .5 upgrade (which was great value)we shall not see any reductions compared to those that didn’t upgrade.
What de did say though, was that if you just recently bought the 8.5 upgrade, they’d probably work something out to reflect the little usage you’d have had prior to the upgrade to 9.
I think the real issue is less to do with the lack of consideration for the .5 upgraders costs, and moreover that the overall costs of upgrades to any flavour of R9 are just perceivably too high regardless! - they cross that line of ‘easily swallowed’ and almost become the cost of a new software package altogether, albeit, a medium priced one, instead of just looking like great value additions we have to have, and the cost is ok - if they’d have just priced the typical 8XL to 9XL at the £300+ figure, I think most would accept it, but at £400+… I think many people will either just not bother, have to wait sometime and save, or worse still, jump ship.
Personally, I wouldn’t consider the latter, as I don’t see anything comparable that is as intuitive to use, and since I have already invested heavily within only a year of buying 8XL, I am basically up against a wall.
I’m in agreement with you with regard to your last comment kromekat.
My kneejerk reaction was to think of changing to another app, but I am just getting comfortable with C4D and don’t fancy starting all over again.
As you point out the upgrade is the equivalent of buying a mid priced app and that is one of the things I find hard to swallow.
Lets hope there is enough negative reaction to these prices to cause Maxon to do something, however, like you I doubt this will happen.
I guess we will have to just like it or lump it in the end, we will see.
Add to that the cost of upgrading single modules, which in essence means you must buy new ones!
I could personally handle the R8 to R9 cost I was given, even thow it’s far more that I would ever have guessed, but paying so much for the AR upgrade, and not even owning Mocca to be able to use clothild…it just isn’t worth it, not for the stuff I do!