AD Gift for Adventurers

strumslinger · November 2015

We're giving all Xbox adventurers 100,000 raw Astral Diamonds in order to alleviate some of the economy issues: http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/xbox/neverwinter/news/detail/9668093

stpensive · November 2015

First of all, thanks; I mean that.

I am sure you are well prepared for, 'IT AIN'T ENOUGH BRO!' but for me, it is welcomed and appreciated. In fact, I hope there is not a growing consensus there to radically change the game to make it even easier to get AD (or the like). I don't want a watered down experience; I want challenging and fair.

That said, this was equally important to me:

'This is only a part of the greater AD changes we’re making with the patch today.

We’ll gauge how this introduction of AD affects the Xbox economy and monitor its place in-game. Please continue to give us your feedback so we can further improve the Neverwinter experience.'

I work for a game company; I am also a gamer. I can not tell you how important it is to (frequently) acknowledge the community and their concerns; even if it is to detail a justification for a practice you will not change or implement.

When we hear from you, we get to see that you are human, gamers yourselves and, most importantly, listening. By doing so, you gain 'Defenders of the Faith, as I like to call them. Posters, those who may be on the fence about supporting you, are pulled to your side when they get a chance to hear your position articulated. It's easier to dismiss the Butthurt Brigade when they are armed with your written acknowledgement and intentions.

Thanks again.

Unknown · November 2015

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ragamffn · November 2015

What economy issues? Low AD -> Zen rates? Bad for the company I suppose because more players can use AD to buy Zen instead of cash. Good for the players because they can use AD to buy Zen instead of cash.

Or perhaps an economy issue has to do with players spending cash on 3rd party sites to buy AD because it's orders of magnitude cheaper than buying Zen and converting to AD. If the inflationary tactic of more AD drives up the exchange then there's a chance more players will buy Zen and convert to AD. Unfortunately, the company will never compete with the 3rd party sites through market forces alone.

One way to fix the 3rd party site issue is by capping AH prices, say at 50K AD, for items that should never sell for more than that. This will make it more difficult for players to procure *millions* of AD via these 3rd party sites. I've run across players who would rather easily work around the 3 day ban than to grind endlessly in order to refine mythic artifacts. Perhaps if the RP road to mythic were less exponential and more linear there would be less inclination to game the game as it were. It certainly would make for less one sided PVP matches!

Is an economy issue due to recent reductions in player population? There is a general consensus that NW is a buggy POS (NeverWorking). There is a general consensus that, while one outspoken dev talks about doing it for the players, changes made are done as a cash grab by the company. It's hard enough to compete with Fallout 4 without these two reason alone giving serious gamers incentive to leave!

Personally I have no problem with the state of the economy on XBOX. Low AD -> Zen rates are good for the player. But if these so called economy issues are due to the company feeling a hit in their revenue stream because of 3rd party sites and reductions in player populations, then inflation is the wrong way to go about fixing it. Make the game more compelling and bug free. Adjust upgrade paths both in terms of RP needed and AD required. Make changes that are good for the player and more players will play, increasing the company's main source of revenue, the players.

Oh and BTW, what exactly are *raw* Astral Diamonds. I know of refined or regular AD, and I know of rough AD, which is yet to be refined to regular. But what is *raw*?

zebular · November 2015

ragamffn#8871 said:
Oh and BTW, what exactly are *raw* Astral Diamonds. I know of refined or regular AD, and I know of rough AD, which is yet to be refined to regular. But what is *raw*?

Raw Astral Diamonds are Unrefined Astral Diamonds, aka Rough Astral Diamonds. Both terms are used pretty equally to describe Unrefined Astral Diamonds, even in STO their Unrefined Dilithium are referred to both as Rough and Raw.

jpdingera · November 2015

I imagine 'raw' may be a term used just for these 100k AD. maybe it will be ina. different currency slot and you do not have a 24k limit on converting them.

All this 100k gift is going to do is raise the price of things on the market temporarily. This is more a gift to those who already have loads of items to sell. Example. tough leather on xbox is going for about 500AD/10 right now. all this inflation is going to do is increase that price to 750-1000AD/10. The price on ZEN in the exchange was 118AD/1 last time i looked. this will likely flow upwards to 250 at least. All of this will only be temporary. when the regulars who play run out of that 100k AD and do not have the AD to pay the inflated prices, things will not sell and the prices will drop again, leaving us just where we were.

Here's a tip. I play the neverwinter market alot. When you want to sell more of something and fast...what do you do? you sell cheaper. If Neverwinter is having revenue issues, why not lower the cost of ZEN, or instead of having an AD boom, run a coupon event where players can get double the ZEN for a limited time, or slash the prices of mounts and companions. Giving us AD is not the way to go about it.

respectpays · November 2015

if u think this going to fix players buying from 3rd parties its not u could give every player 10m ad and would it stop 3rd party buyers NO because their rate is 10x beter then urs and I told u this in ur pm to ur dev team to ur support team I even told u how people got around ur bans did u listen f___ to the no u don't give a f___ u want to fix this c___ fix ur own prices and then change them accordingly to 3rd party sites and u would never have a problem with it again I mean NEVER use head tho that has greed shall always be the seed

armwald · November 2015

These changes were totally unexpected and gives me more confidence that Arc does understand Neverwinter Xbox is not Neverwinter PC and listens to it's customers.

I expected some of these changes to be made in 2016 and thank Arc for expediting these changes as I feel it will keep people playing and may bring back some who have left.

Thank you

On a side note my vow to never spend a nickel on this game since the last 2RP GMoP reduction after I spent 2-2.5 Million AD on these marks is now over.

respectpays · November 2015

the only chance u have is to remove the limit to how much someone can refine a day only and only then will zen per ad =3rd party websites

dreadvenemous · November 2015

Please pass along my gratitude to the developers. This adjustment is very welcome and raises hopes that we'll have a more workable system for earning AD in the future.

firkeing101 · November 2015

Is there a lv limit to this because I can't get it in my lv 30 that I am goin to main but it showed up on my lv 60 that I don't play anymore

zebular · November 2015

firkeing101 said:
Is there a lv limit to this because I can't get it in my lv 30 that I am goin to main but it showed up on my lv 60 that I don't play anymore

It's only one per account, not character.

zman81420 · November 2015

Thanks! Every little bit helps.

Unknown · November 2015

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stpensive · November 2015

magenubbie said:
Wow.. and the economy on the PC version hasn't suffered enough -by Cryptic's own doing mind you- to get this yet? we've had... let's see now..
1. 2 years worth of exploits that ruined the economy over and over and over again
2. Our income cut in half for months with no changes in any of the AD sinks
3. The few adjustments we've seen since then took months after our income was cut and are still by no means adequate
4. still no repairs to the now broken and mostly useless leadership profession
And the PC version does not qualify for this?
I'm lost for words.. well, that's not entirely true. I have words for this. But they'd be moderated out of this post.

I gather you are allowed to post in the PC forums, yes?

zman81420 · November 2015

How have you planned to spend our little economy booster. I purchased a companion a win/win and 20% off is a nice sale for those on a AD Budget. The new to the game players in our guild which I spoke to last night were and still are very excited as they have not seen that much before.

armadeonx · November 2015

It was a good move and having 4 events running all week - ones that people actually want - is great too. For the first times in ages I'm stuck at which to focus on, lol.

Ofc all the extra AD is sending prices up but that was needed somewhat I guess. The actual mechanics of the economy still need work to increase generation from multiple earning sources but it's a good temporary fix.

zman81420 · November 2015

armadeonx said:
It was a good move and having 4 events running all week - ones that people actually want - is great too. For the first times in ages I'm stuck at which to focus on, lol.

Ofc all the extra AD is sending prices up but that was needed somewhat I guess. The actual mechanics of the economy still need work to increase generation from multiple earning sources but it's a good temporary fix.

It was nice to sit there for a few hours and upgrade everything possible with great results. I was just in awe of what to do lol.

armadeonx · November 2015

Lol me too

A few posts above going on about Leadership. The personal loss off tons of AD to them appears to blind them to the fact that it made Zen much more expensive to buy with AD - as do the AD sellers. They both devalued AD against Zen to the point it hit the top buffer.

With more level income streams across the player base, ordinary players find items in the AH more affordable as there won't be millionaires buying top items at stupid prices. For the first time since I started playing I'm able to regularly by zen with AD! I'm loving it.

Zen price, to be effective, needs to essentially be a reasonable 'time/zen' ratio with time represented by AD. This is not possible when you have sources of AD that do not reflect the time = income ethos.

I do believe PWE need to address the cost of refining artifacts as this is a point of real contention. To get a weapon artifact from 60 to 100 takes 40 blood rubies during double refinement which is ridiculous. I think a quick fix for this is to make artifact gear levelling have the same bonus as main artifacts - e.g. 2 artifact main hands levelled to 59 would get a L60 main hand to L100.

You'd still need the refinement stones but not a stupidly unachievable amount of them.

Someone mentioned that 'friends' will take a 3 day suspension for the sake of buying AD illegally. Can I suggest to the devs that on top of account suspension that they confiscate the sudden unearned AD too? Removing the illegal earnings removes all incentive to purchase - now that would be a serious blow to the sellers.

zukn75 · November 2015

As a PC player I say "Grats, nice one" to the devs. The sooner we can close the gap between PC and X-bone economies, the sooner we can progress as a coherent game. (And can I have 100k AD too please?)
I understand that to realign the two economies on par is a long term goal and nesassary for future development. but by the gods it's stinging in the short term.

silverkelt · November 2015

meh.. who cares, its 2-3 days worth of grinding, sure I would take it.. but come on guys.. throwing out a big fat # like 100k seems impressive but its not.

Are you telling me by this time there isnt enough xbox players who cant do the same? I find that hard to believe.

Own vip, run dds x 4 classes even = around 36k give or take AT A minimum.. more likely you will be closer to 50k a day.

This 100k is just 2 days free worth of grinding.

Not saying its bad, but come on now, its not so great..

I would MUCH rather have a double AD weekend on the PC side..

armadeonx · November 2015

silverkelt said:
meh.. who cares, its 2-3 days worth of grinding, sure I would take it.. but come on guys.. throwing out a big fat # like 100k seems impressive but its not.

Are you telling me by this time there isnt enough xbox players who cant do the same? I find that hard to believe.

Own vip, run dds x 4 classes even = around 36k give or take AT A minimum.. more likely you will be closer to 50k a day.

This 100k is just 2 days free worth of grinding.

Not saying its bad, but come on now, its not so great..

I would MUCH rather have a double AD weekend on the PC side..

I'm sure that's the case for you and many PC players. However I'm in a guild (XB1) where the majority of our 130 members are on their first character and over 50% of them are below L70. They have never seen 100k AD and the average daily income is below 10k AD - they were all totally amazed at receiving such a large sum especially when added to a double AD event AND a 50% increase from all earning streams.

Needless to say they all love it. Yes XB does have its seasoned players who earn way above average but our AD/Zen exchange fell below 120AD, meaning we needed a correction in base earnings. Cryptic say the average XB player earned a daily average of 32k - I assume that is per account, not character. I have 4 characters, 3 above 70 which I do the AD daily dungeons & pvp on and make about 45-50k per day - to most of my guild I'm rich but everyone else knows different

Everyone agrees that zen stores prices need to fall to match earnings but they are probably holding off until PC millionaires income falls to a point where they won't buy the whole house as soon as that happens - meanwhile XB players are getting by, waiting and needing for this to happen. I'm sure this is also the case for new PC players - if you have any

Unknown · November 2015

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urabask · November 2015

armadeonx said:
Lol me too

A few posts above going on about Leadership. The personal loss off tons of AD to them appears to blind them to the fact that it made Zen much more expensive to buy with AD - as do the AD sellers. They both devalued AD against Zen to the point it hit the top buffer.

With more level income streams across the player base, ordinary players find items in the AH more affordable as there won't be millionaires buying top items at stupid prices. For the first time since I started playing I'm able to regularly by zen with AD! I'm loving it.

Zen price, to be effective, needs to essentially be a reasonable 'time/zen' ratio with time represented by AD. This is not possible when you have sources of AD that do not reflect the time = income ethos.

I do believe PWE need to address the cost of refining artifacts as this is a point of real contention. To get a weapon artifact from 60 to 100 takes 40 blood rubies during double refinement which is ridiculous. I think a quick fix for this is to make artifact gear levelling have the same bonus as main artifacts - e.g. 2 artifact main hands levelled to 59 would get a L60 main hand to L100.

You'd still need the refinement stones but not a stupidly unachievable amount of them.

Someone mentioned that 'friends' will take a 3 day suspension for the sake of buying AD illegally. Can I suggest to the devs that on top of account suspension that they confiscate the sudden unearned AD too? Removing the illegal earnings removes all incentive to purchase - now that would be a serious blow to the sellers.

Wait, do mainhands really go past 60 on Xbox?

kreatyve · November 2015

urabask said:

armadeonx said:
Lol me too

A few posts above going on about Leadership. The personal loss off tons of AD to them appears to blind them to the fact that it made Zen much more expensive to buy with AD - as do the AD sellers. They both devalued AD against Zen to the point it hit the top buffer.

With more level income streams across the player base, ordinary players find items in the AH more affordable as there won't be millionaires buying top items at stupid prices. For the first time since I started playing I'm able to regularly by zen with AD! I'm loving it.

Zen price, to be effective, needs to essentially be a reasonable 'time/zen' ratio with time represented by AD. This is not possible when you have sources of AD that do not reflect the time = income ethos.

I do believe PWE need to address the cost of refining artifacts as this is a point of real contention. To get a weapon artifact from 60 to 100 takes 40 blood rubies during double refinement which is ridiculous. I think a quick fix for this is to make artifact gear levelling have the same bonus as main artifacts - e.g. 2 artifact main hands levelled to 59 would get a L60 main hand to L100.

You'd still need the refinement stones but not a stupidly unachievable amount of them.

Someone mentioned that 'friends' will take a 3 day suspension for the sake of buying AD illegally. Can I suggest to the devs that on top of account suspension that they confiscate the sudden unearned AD too? Removing the illegal earnings removes all incentive to purchase - now that would be a serious blow to the sellers.
Wait, do mainhands really go past 60 on Xbox?

I believe he might have misspoke or he's mistaken. Artifact equipment doesn't go past level 60 on PC or Xbox.

armadeonx · November 2015

Sorry yes I'm talking about getting it from epic to legendary

cscriv79 · November 2015

armadeonx said:
Someone mentioned that 'friends' will take a 3 day suspension for the sake of buying AD illegally. Can I suggest to the devs that on top of account suspension that they confiscate the sudden unearned AD too? Removing the illegal earnings removes all incentive to purchase - now that would be a serious blow to the sellers.

Xbox does not allow the devs to remove/add anything to/from a players inventory, I would assume that AD would come into that restriction.

Not sure why the 100k has increased the prices since you can only refine a certain amount of it per day and as such with what I am normally doing I still have that 100k sat there, in fact I am increasing the amount of rough astrals carry over per day.

respectpays · November 2015

some players have in the millions of rough ad on many characters which doesn't help them at all

respectpays · November 2015

armadeonx said:

Someone mentioned that 'friends' will take a 3 day suspension for the sake of buying AD illegally. Can I suggest to the devs that on top of account suspension that they confiscate the sudden unearned AD too? Removing the illegal earnings removes all incentive to purchase - now that would be a serious blow to the sellers.

unless they wanna get sued i doubt they'll be doing that u can't logically take anything from a player even if its bought 3rd party because its still from ur game its not logically breaking player conduct by Microsoft laws therefor if they did take the ad away the player would have Microsoft step in and probly lawsuit them for it for invading player conduct

armadeonx · November 2015

Actually yes it is - it is theft of intellectual property. If a player bought AD from a 3rd party site then attempted to sue PWE for removing it they would have to admit this in court, leaving them completely open for a counter-suit.

Microsoft doesn't have 'laws' it has terms & conditions & this would breach those too, meaning MS would side with PWE. The law relating to this subject is that of intellectual property & a person cannot claim proprietorship for items bought via illegal means as a person cannot 'own' something that is essentially stolen, regardless if they paid real money for it or not.

This is the legal position across the US and Europe & applies in some form or another across most of the world.

PWE T&C clearly states that a person cannot use AD bought from 3rd parties & AD belongs to PWE to dispose of as they wish. They were not a party to the (illegal) sale to the player & therefore have no responsibility for ensuring the player profits from it.

Edit: the position regarding Microsoft only applies if a player purchases AD from PWE directly. The law would also apply to back up the claimant as PWE would be a party to the sale & therefore have a responsibility to ensure the player benefited from the contract (i.e. sale).

This is not the case here.

stpensive · November 2015

cscriv79 said:

Xbox does not allow the devs to remove/add anything to/from a players inventory...

Not true...

AD Gift for Adventurers

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