As the title slightly details, please remove this irritating and infuriating system that forces us to set up a subscription to acquire the 30-days of game time that comes with the purchase of the game. What is the point of having to set up a subscription to get the 30-days of game time if you don't even charge the monthly sub fee till the 30-days are up? It feels like you are trying to force us into playing your game by making us set up a repeating subscription before we even fully experience the game. It causes your buyers nothing but hassle as those who do not have a credit card or paypal must now waste their time acquiring one, which ,while not require much effort, can take days to weeks, simply to play a game that already costs them $50-$60 out of their pocket. And even then, from what I read on the forums, those who do set up a repeat subscription are frequently being plagued with problems such as being billed early or not getting the 30-days of game time.

A basic sign of a good game and product is good customer support and an easily, fluid experience to enjoying that product. You are not providing that and you are simply causing problems for your consumer. I myself am tempted to return this game and spend my money on Diablo 3 or Guild Wars 2 because because of how cheated and annoyed I feel with this system. Remove this idiotic method to acquire the 30-days of game time that comes with the box, it will allow for quicker, easier access to the game and solve a host of problems you are clearly having with this. Because after all, don't you want us actually playing your game and not dealing with billing issues that you have caused for no reason?

I am posting this in general discussion so I may get solid feedback from a large sum of players.

Welcome to MMO's.

This is typical for almost all subscription MMOs. They only need for it to be on file, to help players not have a lapse in playtime. Waiting until the 30 days are up then having players all need to setup their subscription will result in them losing access for possibly days at a time.
There's no difference between setting up a subscription now, or 30 days from now. If you don't have a credit card or paypal now, you'll still have to do it eventually. It's only delaying the inevitable. You will be able to cancel your subscription before the 30 days are up and not be charged.

Yeah, there have been some issues with accounts and billing, but it wasn't everyone and those are being worked through (some issues fixed already).

Well, it's been common practice for MMO's to do this for a while. I won't say I agree with it, but it's how it has been and currently is.

Games I know that did this are Ever Quest(First one), World of Warcraft, Rift, Aion, Ever Quest 2, Lord of the Rings Online(Pre F2P), Age of Conan(Pre F2P), Anarchy Online, Star Wars Galaxies, Star Wars TOR, etc etc.

Basically almost every MMO that didn't have a Free 2 Play model.

Why do they do this, even though you already purchased the game? To put it in the most simple way, to verify an account for legitimacy. There's actually a slew of more information on why, Google will help there, and I don't feel like copy/pasting it to the forums with reference links.

I love how people threathen to leave for D3 or GW2. If you like a game, and can afford it, you're not gonna let some speed bumps in getting setup keep you from playing it.

I was briefly impacted by the sub stuff too, and I do think EME had their head up their collective backsides when it came to the sub system, but the bottom line is I'll deal with it because nothing else out there interests me right now.

I could whine and start throwing games like D3 and GW2 out there, but in the end, I'd come back, probably like most of the other people "threatening" the same thing.

I have a violin I can play for you.

All MMO's do this.

I would like to add, if you did purchase a physical copy, it states right on the box.

"Includes 30 days of gametime."
"Internet connection and paid subscriptions required."

I haven't had to do this. I logged in after account creation and am still playing with nothing on file. Hmmmm

You can set up your subscription and then remove it. You can use a friend's CC for that.

But yeah EME's handling of its customer's money is kind of bush league generally. They're about 3 months behind in getting it set up. Subscription management should have been ready to go when they started taking our money.