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Neverwinter, it's good but...
antonkyle
Member Posts: 776 Arc User
I thought I would write a post to say what I feel is wrong with this game. Mainly because it's not that much but seems like so much more. I play mainly PVP in games such as this although that is not what brought be to Neverwinter, the foundry did. My reasons may not effect PVE players, I don't know but..
There is no encouragement to grind in this game. People like to grind!! PVP is just based on two daily runs and your done, foundry quests are the same, two and your done, one skirmish and one dungeon and then your done. Come back tomorrow. That's what? An hour, two tops. Why not have some sort of currency for each. That way people can play what they want. If someone wants to spend all day pvping then there should be a reason to do so, same with pve and the same with The foundry.
Much of the stuff in the Zen store should be rewards for pvp, foundry, skirmish and dungeons in my opinion plays. This would bring more players and more players would bring more money. Cryptic seem to think that by having everything in the Zen store this will get them more money, but it's not true. Those that spend money will spend money, but they have a limit per month. If they spend it on bags for example then they will not spend it on mounts and this goes on. Not till the next month anyway. One thing is sure though, having to spend money on basic stuff like bags will mean that some people will simply not play the game. If one person is not playing then there friends may not play too.
It is sad, because now I have played this game more, I have become really fond of it. Sadly I think that cryptic are ruining it in every way they can. I think this is as good today as wow was in it's own day for game-play, but if Cryptic want to make a success of it, they should look at swtor and the way they work there Store. Which is:
F2P-limited but still playable,
Sub-all included and some cartel points each month,
Cartel market (Same as Zen store if you don't know.)
I played it for a while and I thought the price was right and while I was playing it I was a sub. I was also a sub for WOW on and off for five years and have played many other games that I was happy to pay for in one way or another. One thing I will point out is that Neverwinter has an advantage over swtor and some other games in the way it is not just a wow copy. I left wow because it had had it's day. I left swtor because wow had had it's day. Now I enjoy Neverwinter but it is being ruined by the silly pricing. I don't mind paying but I will not put money into a system like the Zen store and the way things are is it's just no fun playing it f2P. Come on, at least have a sub option where I don't have to buy bags, character slots and on and on.
As a last point, what in the world is this AD system? What's wrong with just gold? Talk about over complicating things. Not so much of a problem though, and I can live with it.
I'm enjoying Neverwinter at the moment because of the foundry but if things do not change then it will soon be bye bye Neverwinter. Hello something else. I have got to level 35 now on two characters but bag space bank slots is becoming a problem. With ESO on the horizon, Age of Wushu looking very nice and many other games also looking interesting you really need to up your game Cryptic.
People will no doubt point out that with a sub you end up paying more over the long run and I agree. But at least with a sub it is what it is.
There is no encouragement to grind in this game. People like to grind!! PVP is just based on two daily runs and your done, foundry quests are the same, two and your done, one skirmish and one dungeon and then your done. Come back tomorrow. That's what? An hour, two tops. Why not have some sort of currency for each. That way people can play what they want. If someone wants to spend all day pvping then there should be a reason to do so, same with pve and the same with The foundry.
Much of the stuff in the Zen store should be rewards for pvp, foundry, skirmish and dungeons in my opinion plays. This would bring more players and more players would bring more money. Cryptic seem to think that by having everything in the Zen store this will get them more money, but it's not true. Those that spend money will spend money, but they have a limit per month. If they spend it on bags for example then they will not spend it on mounts and this goes on. Not till the next month anyway. One thing is sure though, having to spend money on basic stuff like bags will mean that some people will simply not play the game. If one person is not playing then there friends may not play too.
It is sad, because now I have played this game more, I have become really fond of it. Sadly I think that cryptic are ruining it in every way they can. I think this is as good today as wow was in it's own day for game-play, but if Cryptic want to make a success of it, they should look at swtor and the way they work there Store. Which is:
F2P-limited but still playable,
Sub-all included and some cartel points each month,
Cartel market (Same as Zen store if you don't know.)
I played it for a while and I thought the price was right and while I was playing it I was a sub. I was also a sub for WOW on and off for five years and have played many other games that I was happy to pay for in one way or another. One thing I will point out is that Neverwinter has an advantage over swtor and some other games in the way it is not just a wow copy. I left wow because it had had it's day. I left swtor because wow had had it's day. Now I enjoy Neverwinter but it is being ruined by the silly pricing. I don't mind paying but I will not put money into a system like the Zen store and the way things are is it's just no fun playing it f2P. Come on, at least have a sub option where I don't have to buy bags, character slots and on and on.
As a last point, what in the world is this AD system? What's wrong with just gold? Talk about over complicating things. Not so much of a problem though, and I can live with it.
I'm enjoying Neverwinter at the moment because of the foundry but if things do not change then it will soon be bye bye Neverwinter. Hello something else. I have got to level 35 now on two characters but bag space bank slots is becoming a problem. With ESO on the horizon, Age of Wushu looking very nice and many other games also looking interesting you really need to up your game Cryptic.
People will no doubt point out that with a sub you end up paying more over the long run and I agree. But at least with a sub it is what it is.
Post edited by antonkyle on
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Comments
The AD is the "premium" currency that is harder to get in the game. This is the case in all PW games, and STO was revamped after PWE bought Cryptic a few years ago to match the system.
Basically, the game sets up a base currency that is used for trivial things (perhaps very cheap vendor-bought gear, potions and so on), while there is a premium currency that is harder to get (i.e., not always thrown at you like the base currency is) that is used to get more meaningful things in the game.
In STO the system was similar but a bit more streamlined. In STO, for example, the base currency, ECs, is also the main currency on the auction house, and the premium currency, dilithium crystals, is quite a bit harder to come by than ADs are. I suspect that these changes were made to NW so as to provide another source of Zen sales -- that is, so that players would have a greater incentive to convert Zen into ADs because there are more things to buy with ADs, and those who are AD-rich would have some incentive to supply the Zen exchange market with ADs to sell, so that they could access things in the Zen store without paying cash for them. In other words, it creates a rather brisk exchange market, and ultimately that exchange market is fueled by Zen sales. And Zen sales are the name of the game.
STO also has a subscription option for $15 per month, but it doesn't get you that much -- mostly a bit more storage, and a few other doo-dads. STO, however, was originally a sub-based game when it launched in 2010.
If you take a look at PWE's Chinese games, like PWI or FW, you have a very similar setup: multiple currencies (base, premium and some other ones as well in those games), exchanges of zen for premium currency in the game, need for premium currency to do various things in the game and so on. I would say that as compared with PWI or FW, NW is very mild in this regard, because it was designed primarily for a Western gamer market that is used to the all-you-can-eat buffet pricing that used to prevail in Western MMOs. The problem with that model is that generally people don't subscribe for long enough for the model to continue, at least not exclusively. Most of the hybrid model games that currently exist are that way because they started as sub games, and wanted to provide an option for people to continue that way if they wanted to, while also attracting new players by means of F2P. NW is different in that it is a Western MMO made from the ground up as a F2P game, and not one that converted to F2P because the sub model failed. And I think that is where the rankles come from -- the F2P model is still roundly disliked by most Western MMO players as compared to the buffet model, especially the more hardcore ones -- precisely because the buffet model is highly, highly beneficial to the hardcore gamer as compared with the a la carte F2P model.
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One final point. Actually with a sub model, it very much depends on your playstyle whether you pay more or not with a sub model. F2P games are more lucrative for the developer, because although a large portion of the playerbase pays nothing or next to nothing (much less than they would for a sub at any rate), a significant chunk pays around what it would have paid for a sub, while a rather small chunk pays a LOT more than it would have paid for a sub (on the order of 3-5x more per month if not more ... that small portion will easily drop 50-100$ on Zen in a month, which is 4-7x what they would have paid in a sub), and overall the company makes more money as long as it attracts enough of the "whales" who pay a lot more than they would if there was a sub-based buffet system.
There are other western free to play MMOs or buy to play (which I prefer), and they do a lot better job of making your money feel valuable and not feel like everything is so expensive. Guild Wars 2 is probably my favorite non-sub game, second would be Marvel Heroes, third League of Legends, as far as the value of my money. All three of these games are wildly successful without the use of coercive monetization, pay gates, or limiting your fun so that you'll pony up the cash to try to enjoy yourself.
There are many examples of games that have a sub option and a cash shop that still allow players to spend an unlimited amount of money each month, but allow the casual spender like myself to spend $15-30 per month and enjoy a complete gameplay experience. The only thing I might be missing compared to the big spenders would be like cosmetic items, cosmetic mounts, cool cash shop outfits, unique dye colors, special prizes from lottery type boxes (usually cosmetic as well), and cute mini-pets.
Let's face it, this is a cash grab, pure and simple. For those willing to throw down $60.00 on a game, I would argue, successfully, that you are FAR better off buying GW2 for the same money. GW2, you get 5 Character Slots, 8 Races, 10 Professions (all of them good), a crafting system that works, an AH that is literally 5 generations above NWO, a world that is 50 times bigger, thousands of quests, 80 levels, etc, etc.. AND, they don't force you to spend money for everyday things. Want a companion, play a ranger. You can easily solo to 80, the story lines are epic, varied by class and race, and it's just fun. Sure you can exchange gold for the premium currency and get USEFUL items, like endless ax. I played NWO for about 2 months, and I've had it. I spend $0.00, got T2 gear on both my 60 characters, and, well, just got bored, and frustrated. There is NO END GAME. Gaunt was supposed to be the saving addon, but it was epic fail. Module 1, again, probably fail, epic. Cryptic just wants money. Why they don't do as well as GW2 becomes very apparent, because EVERTHING in this game worth having is being sold for rip-off prices. So, if you want to blow $60.00, do yourself a favor and don't spend it on this game.