this game needs to make most stuff account wide

jackalofdeath

having all cosmetics/ companions/ mounts be character bound and not account wide is really not good if you want me to play your game
i'm a casual player and i play all sorts of mmos, and I can't even say there is another mmo I know that locks mounts and skins to a specific character. you guys will ignore my feedback, but its literally whats stopping me from playing your game right now.

ksell

Even with current system there is room to add more account wide aviability, especially with cosmetics; why not introducing there system similar to enchantment binding ?

Since most events gettin reworks, why not add rewards as account wide or at least remove binding on pickup ??

plasticbat

Most if not all mount, companion and appearance in Zen store are account wide.
For 'free' version, some event items are/were account wide.
For AH purchase, personally, I only buy account wide mount and companion these years.
An 'improvement' is the top rank enchantments can be account wide (which was not the case).
For Cryptic, do they really care about casual players (or even dedicated players) who are not spending money to play their game or not? For PR purpose, of course, they would say they do. But ...

rockster

Who was it who wrote that there weren't 10 account wide companions.

plasticbat

rockster#6227 said:

Who was it who wrote that there weren't 10 account wide companions.

If you are talking about me, to be more precise, when I said that, there weren't 10 account wide (out of the box) mythic companions yet. May be there are now.

trinity706

Not sure what was or wasn't looked at in regard to companions and mounts though there are at least 10 Mythic, account wide companions and mounts. Having 10 of each will grant each character on the account 100% companion and mount bolster upon claim end equip. There are tons of "one off" companions and mounts that do not have an account wide version, keep this in mind when thinking about collecting various ones on multiple characters.

Personally don't know of any specific cosmetic drops/cosmetic vendor purchases that are account wide.

The thing with casual play often enough is the expectation to be able to achieve something with minimal/casual effort even when that something is not achievable in that manner.

plasticbat said:

For Cryptic, do they really care about casual players (or even dedicated players) who are not spending money to play their game or not?

Over time have personally seen the casual player base receive various improvements while the more dedicated players keep getting speed bumps placed in their path (for example an account with lets say 10+ characters has to share a 100k daily RAD conversion allowance though there are various currencies, progress, etc. that are character specific...).

Overall personally see it as Cryptic caring about:

#1 Players spending money
#2 Casual Players
...
...
...
#1047 Blah, blah blah

With a faded, crumpled sticky note at the bottom of the list, barely with any sticky left from being moved further and further down, with the words "dedicated and hardcore players" written hastily with ink dipped in with a staple from a spare ink cartridge stolen from the supply closet by a long lost staff member hiding under their desk before being savagely pulled away and tossed out of the building by security for committing the atrocious crime of caring about dedicated players.

plasticbat

For out of the box (as no upgrade required) account wide mythic mount, there are over 10 mounts for a long while.
For out of the box (as no upgrade required) account wide mythic companion, these are the companion that now I know about:
1. Golden Goat
2. Golden Cat
3. Golden Deep Crow Egg
4. Windsoul Genasi
5. Kavatos Stormeyes
6. Rumpadump
7. Golden Bulette Pup
8. Linu La'neral
9. Elminster Aumar
10. Lich Makos
11. Jarlaxle Baenre

So, there are more than 10 now.

I personally have 14 account wide companions but only 6 of them are mythic.

plasticbat

trinity706#8838 said:

Over time have personally seen the casual player base receive various improvements while the more dedicated players keep getting speed bumps placed in their path (for example an account with lets say 10+ characters has to share a 100k daily RAD conversion allowance though there are various currencies, progress, etc. that are character specific...).

There have been significant improvements for players who have many characters.
1. account wide mount. There were no account wide mount except those purchase from Zen store.
2. account wide companion. There were no account wide companion. Then, they made Zen store companion account wide few years ago. Then, account wide legendary companion packs. Then, account wide mythic companions.
3. enchantment. Enchantment was the most expensive and that was why people shipping a whole set of enchantment through shared bank when they switch characters. Now, rank 5 enchantment is account wide.

Comparing with what needed to be done in the past, these are great improvement.

trinity706

plasticbat said:

Comparing with what needed to be done in the past, these are great improvement.

But of course they are all “improvements”, in a sense… Though how many steps backwards had been taken before these steps forward were?...

Since account wide companions and mounts were already mentioned previously, personally wasn’t going to mention them again though you are appreciated for doing so.

1.) Account wide Mythic mounts came AFTER a number of Epic and Legendary account wide mounts were upgraded by players on multiple characters and long AFTER mounts purchased with ZEN that can get the wanderer’s fortune insignia bonus were essentially made obsolete when the fey blessing and dragon’s hoard enchantments were introduced (later nerfed and retired in a later mod) and when RP drops were increased. All other ZEN mounts were arguably made obsolete (other than for vanity) when account wide Legendary mounts with at least 2 universal insignia slots were introduced, even more so when Mythics with 3 universal slots were introduced, yet no rebate for those ZEN purchases, not even on the price reduction (3.5k to 1.5k ZEN).

2.) Account wide Mythic companions came AFTER companions were changed to allow being upgraded to Mythic and AFTER a number of Epic and Legendary account wide companions were upgraded by players with a considerable number of characters.

3.) Rank 5 enchantments traded into the vendor become character bound when claimed and you need to trade in one for each offense/defense enchantment of a type that you want to reclaim on other characters (depends on the player if that is positive or negative). This system came at the same time partial refinement could no longer be applied to upgrades leaving a number of players with various amounts of RP spread across dozens of characters and currently with no way to pool them. Also the more characters a player has of different classes the more rank 5 enchantments of various types they would probably need to be able to claim multiples and all within an updated refining system that has had the overall costs significantly increased (ALL preservation wards being consumed on a failed upgrade attempt instead of ONE as described in-game).

--+-~* *~-+ +-~* *~-+ +-~* *~-+ +-~* *~-+%+-~* *~-+ +-~* *~-+ +-~* *~-+ +-~* *~-+--

There are a number of other setbacks for players with a considerable number of characters (non account wide resources, expensive tokens of patronage/no account wide token version, no account bound seal vendor equipment since Mod 20, significantly reduced campaign rewards on additional characters, limited ways to effectively streamline/manage multiple characters, etc., etc.). But yes, account wide mounts/companions and reclaimable max rank enchantments when looked at in a standalone manner were/are an “improvement” for players with a lot of characters though those improvements unfortunately came after/with significant costs that all help reduce the overall benefit when looking at things collectively.

The dedicated player base needs effective account wide ways to make their play style feel and actually be more rewarding.

plasticbat

trinity706#8838 said:

1.) Account wide Mythic mounts came AFTER a number of Epic and Legendary account wide mounts were upgraded by players on multiple characters and long AFTER mounts purchased with ZEN that can get the wanderer’s fortune insignia bonus were essentially made obsolete when the fey blessing and dragon’s hoard enchantments were introduced (later nerfed and retired in a later mod) and when RP drops were increased. All other ZEN mounts were arguably made obsolete (other than for vanity) when account wide Legendary mounts with at least 2 universal insignia slots were introduced, even more so when Mythics with 3 universal slots were introduced, yet no rebate for those ZEN purchases, not even on the price reduction (3.5k to 1.5k ZEN).

2.) Account wide Mythic companions came AFTER companions were changed to allow being upgraded to Mythic and AFTER a number of Epic and Legendary account wide companions were upgraded by players with a considerable number of characters.

Yes, they were AFTER. But, it was pretty obvious to me that the account wide mythic mounts were coming for each new lockbox at that time. The question was how long will that take to get 10. Hence, I did not upgrade any mount (although I had few legendary account wide mounts) and in a hindsight, I am wasting my stash of mount upgrade tokens (all still parked in the bank).

The account wide mythic companion came much slower. Hence, I did spend companion token to upgrade some account wide legendary companion. However, I consider it was not a bad move because they (those I chose to upgrade) have better companion power than current available account wide mythic companion. In other words, I would still upgrade those even if I have 10 account wide mythic companions.

Yes, I have considered Zen store mount and companion are just vanity for years except may be some "come and go" special packs.
I have been running multiple characters concurrently since mod 6. 5 since mod 6 and 9 now. Hence, I always have upgrading multiple in mind.

I can't speak for others because situation is different, the decision making is different. I personally am happy about the mentioned "improvements" though.

trinity706

plasticbat said:

I have been running multiple characters concurrently since mod 6. 5 since mod 6 and 9 now. Hence, I always have upgrading multiple in mind.

I can't speak for others because situation is different, the decision making is different. I personally am happy about the mentioned "improvements" though.

Like you, upgrading multiple characters was/is in mind. In the beginning, personally opted for additional characters and ZEN mounts because at the time (especially) the cost to equip each character with multiple mounts (for various insignia bonuses) from the trade house would have been far more expensive. Upgrading multiple characters the most efficient way is personally kept at the forefront, otherwise a player can find themselves spending a lot more time and or money.

For clarification, the aforementioned “improvements” are appreciated by this forum user in spite of the choice of words which may come across as unappreciative, simply discouraged at how the considerably active player base is in a “climbing an escalator that is going down” type environment and when not on the escalator, feels like running on a hamster wheel.

strathkin

I mean how the NEW system for earning stuff is very reasonable & here's why:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's easy if each character is reasonably geared to run a Dungeon, Skirmish for Northern Seals; or Heroic's in Northdark for 10-20 Northern Seals each time. Also most major classes have at least 1-2 others they can buy gear for, at least respect to Ancient Armor's and Gear. I think this is completely reasonable on their part as well...
-----

Now the issue is more with Dragon Seal Gear, as that still is Bind on Pickup, at least for Armor. I suspect they did that however, as they wanted each character to earn it mostly. Still not something desirable for encouraging you to play your Alts.

Note: Since they introduced Dragon Seals, the only thing I spend it on is Boons!
╘ Have several toons maxed at 1500, it keeps throwing seals away, and don't want anything either.

Why simply because I paid so much for Ancient Mythic for them, still I admit it would be nice to buy for Alts as 1900 might help them a bit more, even if they have 1700 Ancient Armor already!

Still I'm fine they did to Bind to Character for Companion Gear, as that should be earned by each toon by completing quests or missions!

trinity706

The Dragon equipment (Armor, Head, Arm and Feet) is limited like the Ancient Scalebreaker/Enclave equipment (if not exactly the same); different classes have different pieces available to them meaning classes can NOT just wear any piece.

For example:
Dragonhide Jacket – Rogue, Cleric, Bard, Ranger
Dragonsteel Plate – Barbarian, Fighter
Dragonsteel Cuirass – Paladin, Barbarian, Fighter
Dragonhide Leathers – Warlock, Wizard
Dragonhide Raiment – Warlock, Bard

Ancient Scalebreaker’s Plate – Fighter, Barbarian
Ancient Scalebreaker’s Cuirass – Paladin, Fighter, Barbarian

It being changed to BoP because “as it could be worn by any class unlike with Northern Seal Armor limited to 2-3 classes” is incorrect.

The shirt and pants of both sets are the ONLY pieces between them that ANY class can equip. The difference between the two sets in regard to shirt and pants is that the War-worn (Mod 22) is bind on equip while the Drow (Mod 24) is bind to account on pickup and bind to character on equip so it is ok for players to buy the shirt and pants for other characters though isn’t for the Dragon equipment (see the difference?)… Had it been the same for the Dragon equipment (BoA then BoE) it would be more acceptable, though still lackluster and restrictive.

It raises the question of why do the Mod 24 shirts and pants bind differently than the other Mod 24 seal equipment? Both could have been BoA then BoE or both could have simply been BoP… Maybe it was an oversight, either way players with multiple characters (especially those with a considerable amount) being faced with spending over a month on each (around 15+ hrs EACH doing queues) JUST for seal equipment and almost double that for a shirt, pants and boons is overbearing. All that time that would be spent on additional characters to achieve the same thing over and over could be spent doing other things in-game/in real life… BoA seal vendor equipment would help solve that.

BTW, if a player has ever used a character or multiple characters to get something for one or more characters though agrees with Mod 24 companion equipment being BoP then they are essentially being a hypocrite.

winteranesti

I do not like the new Mod bind on character for pick up. The grind has gotten so bad I went from 7 end game characters to 3 now. They should make items bind to account as I tank or heal a ton for other players. There are no real tanks or healers in game. I can barely run my DPS in Mtos. Its a current 20/1 ratio for tanking 12/1 heals vs my DPS getting in for a week. I am begged the moment I log on to help. Cryptic hurt players doing this. Make things account wide plain and simple. Want to make players with alts really happy. Offer the same trade in for Mythic mount collars and insignias you have with enchants. I would trade mine in a heart beat. I have 60+ mythic insignia and 7 mythic collars currently. I would give away half my insignias to others as I would not longer need that many. My shared bank is crammed and I do not want the hassle of swapping stuff back and forth, just not worth it to me. Offering more trade in options to be account wide bound would just be quality of life improvement for me.

fritz

Ideally you want to make looks account wide but not gameplay related benefits. Separating systems is probably too much work.

rockster

fritz#8093 said:

Ideally you want to make looks account wide but not gameplay related benefits. Separating systems is probably too much work.

They already split things off like this when you convert an item to your appearance library so they can do it if they want to, it's just an extra step somewhere to make it looks-only from the start and have it a free-floating item. But the ability is already in the system to take away the other coding on the items and just have the appearance code only. As usual it's only if they care enough to bother putting in some hours on it to make it happen.

strathkin

trinity706#8838 said:

BTW, if a player has ever used a character or multiple characters to get something for one or more characters though agrees with Mod 24 companion equipment being BoP then they are essentially being a hypocrite.

I did state that the Ancient is as it's mostly been limited to 2-3 different classes, that I'm fine with. As for my comment about Dragon Seal Gear, yes while I didn't state it's still limited to those same classes--the Core Issue is clearly the Bind of Pickup restriction, that defeat's the ability to offer to other Character's entirely.

I too wish they'd change the Bind on Pickup (Character) to Bind on Equip for sure!

--- ♫♪♫♪♪ ♫♪♪ ♪♪ ♫♪♫ ♪ ♫♪ ♫♪♪ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What I'm mostly (not) a fan of is Premium Reward's that are mostly single character, getting back on Topic.

trinity706

Outfitting 10 characters with BoE Dragon equipment will essentially take the same amount of effort. BoE is just as trashy as bind on pickup, the idea is to reduce the grind, not shift it around.

chidion

Yeah, "unbind" tokens that don't actually unbind things - or more accurately only unbind certain things, what a waste! I am of the opinion there is a huge missed opportunity here, unbind tokens for sale in zen market or possibly RW cash market and they actually unbind anything a player wants. Different items require different amounts of tokens to unbind. Let the players not the developers decide if the items are worth the cost.