Is it really necessary to disable the older versions of this addon and if it is - why is it?

I appreciate knowing when a newer version is available, but I don't like basically being forced to upgrade what I am using on someone else's timeline.  I love this addon and have convinced at least 5 other people to purchase it based on my opinions.  At least half of them have come to me and asked why it works this way and I don't know what to tell them as I have wondered the same thing.

thanks,

Nomi

Hi Nomi,

We have an expiration in our addon because we are selling it as a subscription.  If the addon didn't expire you could in theory keep using the addon indefinately (or until a patch broke it).

We are always working hard to improve the addon and add features so hopefully users don't feel they are updating just to push their expiration date out.  We may in the future exend the expiration time for users with 3 & 6 month subscriptions.  We are also planning to release an updater program at some stage.

 Is this expiration coded with your subscription expiration date?  (IE: I purchased 6 months, does it expire in 6 months) or do I need to check for updates regularly just because of an artificial expiration?  I can only assume that the package I download is already custom made for me since it knows about my character and server.

 Each version expires in approximately 1 month. We may extend this at some point.

The addon cannot access the internet, so it has no way to check anything.

So my 6 month subscription is really only 1 month? I just bought a 6 month subscription and now have an expired product. I'm scratching my head here.

This could explain why you need to release an addon at least once a month to "extend" the expiration.

I personally made it a habit to check the Carbonite website for any updates so I have little to no problem about "the expired warning".  And if I did start the game and the expired warning showed up, I would just log out and update my version.  Usually doesn't take more than 2 minutes.  What does take long is the starting the game again. :)  Can't win them all.  :D

I do however play on a different server than my "Authenticating Character".  In my authenticating character's server, I only have Carbonite as the active addon so validation is quicker.  In the main server I play, I have all of the addons that I want enabled (including Carbonite).

I think the 6 month subscription allows you to DOWNLOAD the versions for 6 months.  The addon itself might have a hardcoded expiration date (which Faatal did say they might increase).  But, I think as long as they update (even just to extend the expiration of the addon) once a month all will be good.

I do agree with Faatal that users can and probably will use the addon AFTER their subscription as expired (ie. not able to download the new versions).

hardcorePlayers:

So my 6 month subscription is really only 1 month? I just bought a 6 month subscription and now have an expired product. I'm scratching my head here.

The subscription is to the website. Each version of Carbonite expires after about a month, but we release new versions about once a week and your subscription allows continuing access to download these new versions and customer support.

Unfortunately we have had a few customers that posted their files on some shady websites trying to steal Carbonite. We have had to ban a few accounts for this. The expiration length helps combat that.