You are simply trying to reinvent the wheel when you go around looking into the laws that govern gambling and lotteries and see how they apply to lockboxes. Cryptic has other games with this lockbox feature and I'm sure the gaming community has already beat you to it and covered this area 2-3 years ago, if not longer. Simply go check out the forum of the other games and find out some facts and outcomes of similar discussions. Making assumptions isn't going to help. There may even be an official statement from Cryptic too. Maybe that will tell you what they need or need not do, and whether they need to disclose the odds as well.
0
gek1956Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild UsersPosts: 0Arc User
You are simply trying to reinvent the wheel when you go around looking into the laws that govern gambling and lotteries and see how they apply to lockboxes. Cryptic has other games with this lockbox feature and I'm sure the gaming community has already beat you to it and covered this area 2-3 years ago, if not longer. Simply go check out the forum of the other games and find out some facts and outcomes of similar discussions. Making assumptions isn't going to help. There may even be an official statement from Cryptic too. Maybe that will tell you what they need or need not do, and whether they need to disclose the odds as well.
The DOT COM rules were created in 2000. This predates all Cryptic MMOs. Thirteen years for an update is an eon in the high tech era. The new rules are only 5 months old. If I could get on the FTC website I could look to see what has changed. Since I can't I'm not going to draw a conclusion one way or the other.
And as to reinventing the wheel... people in both Ohio and North Carolina laughed at the Wright brothers. Now Ohio bills itself as 'The Birthplace Of Aviation' since this is where they worked. North Carolina, on the other hand bills Itself as "First in Flight' because Kitty Hawk was where they had to go to make it work the first time. The two states actually went to court over the bragging rights. Since we are all being swept along in the new digital age, someone is reinventing the cyber wheel every day. Times change, rules change and MMO's come and go. I will not presuppose anything.
Just wanted to say that after opening 60 NM lockboxes during early open beta and getting nothing, I told myself I would never open a box again. But I really wanted that owlbear for my dwarf, I think it's an awesome looking mount. Again I told myself all day that I'm usually unlucky with that stuff and I'm just wasting my money. By the evening I saw a couple people with them I just couldn't resist, I told myself keys were on sale and there would never be a better time so I bought 10 keys. Opened 10 boxes. Total <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font>, I didn't make back even close to what I spent. I was angry that I'd done that and again told myself I'd never open boxes again.
But then something happened, I don't know what it was, something told me "they will give you your owlbear, just try again" haha. So I was like what the hell and bought 10 more keys, after openeing 9 I had again gotten total <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font>, and then boom, 20th box, OWLBEAR =D
I was quite happy, thank you cryptic
Guild Master of <Enemy Team>
We are definitely dominating, and we are always about to win.
0
gek1956Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild UsersPosts: 0Arc User
edited October 2013
cribstaxx, how many tarmalune bars did you get? they can be quite a nice cost recouper I hear in the new boxes...
Such extreme randomness will only drive people away from the game. People did not come here to gamble. They should just sell the items in the boxes for a set amount of ZEN.
I agree if they don't increase the drops people wont buy keys anymore... all they have to do is put the items up for sale for bars but not 2k bars like 800 at most.
A LONG TIME AGO... YADA YADA YADA DARTH VADER... JEDI
cribstaxx, how many tarmalune bars did you get? they can be quite a nice cost recouper I hear in the new boxes...
I got like 6 weapon/artificer packs out of the last 10 boxes, I thought I was going to be rich... Then I got nothing but green artificer people and tools (cheapest assets in existance)
I have like 480 trade bars, which could get me 200k from coa's but I'm still down well over 200k after the coa's. I got a bunch of enchantment packs from the first 10 and I recieved 1 R6 and like 10 R5's lol. I also only got 2 planar idols from 20 boxes.
If I hadn't gotten owlbear it would have been a horrible loss, but Owlbear is what I wanted, and that's what I got, so I'm quite happy
Edit: Owlbear is now BoE and is sitting comfortably in my new Dwarf's inventory awaiting his leveling up heh
Oh I also got 1 shimmering elven box... lesser serene rune haha, worst possible drop, as I said I am usually very unlucky with the boxes.
Guild Master of <Enemy Team>
We are definitely dominating, and we are always about to win.
I remember my first time with lockboxes in Champions Online, I was so happy when I got one, but after opening several ones and not getting what I wanted, I never opened them anymore.
Now I usually sell them to vendors or AH depending on how common they are.
Such extreme randomness will only drive people away from the game. People did not come here to gamble. They should just sell the items in the boxes for a set amount of ZEN.
Sure it will, but anything is going to drive someone away and so far nothing that Cryptic has done in any of their games has driven enough players away to matter. Ambisinisterr, is correct Cryptic stays well within the law, if you want to make changes go talk to your Congressman...but don't get pissed off if he or she is too busy representing the corporations that put them there to give a ****.
I got like 6 weapon/artificer packs out of the last 10 boxes, I thought I was going to be rich... Then I got nothing but green artificer people and tools (cheapest assets in existance)
I have like 480 trade bars, which could get me 200k from coa's but I'm still down well over 200k after the coa's. I got a bunch of enchantment packs from the first 10 and I recieved 1 R6 and like 10 R5's lol. I also only got 2 planar idols from 20 boxes.
If I hadn't gotten owlbear it would have been a horrible loss, but Owlbear is what I wanted, and that's what I got, so I'm quite happy
Edit: Owlbear is now BoE and is sitting comfortably in my new Dwarf's inventory awaiting his leveling up heh
Oh I also got 1 shimmering elven box... lesser serene rune haha, worst possible drop, as I said I am usually very unlucky with the boxes.
From the beginning i collected nm.box and i waited for sale off and opened all my results:
25 adventurer
1 hero
12 man at arms
8 egg
150 Coffer of runestones(20stk CW)
130 Coffer of enchantments (10 stk CW)
12 Epic Bird
100 idol
90 Gloom box
0 mount
0 Tene
19 idonmitable ........t
8 P.F enchant
From 435 box and i got from this equal ad for what i spend.(and i am unlucky)
But the new l.b IS not worth opening shame as feywild nothing extra only olwbear is cool from it .
Here's a weird one. I still have not gotten a lockbox as a drop on my main character. No lie...not even one. I have even played a lot more the past two days than I normally do and still no lockbox. I think I might actually open the first one I get just because it took so long to get it.
I have the feeling that boxes arnt dropping in the CTA. Ive done way to many runs too count and not seen a single one. Ive not played much beyond that. I did do two sets of Sharandar dailies including Celedines tower and not seen a single box drop either.
So you dont seem to be the only one.
0
mctankypantsMember, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 0Arc User
edited October 2013
I had thought about buying a Ion Stone and trading it for the Owlbear. Seems like a fair deal to me...I spend $10 and they might get lucky with a $1.25 key!
I think it’s important to know your role in the economy. In my opinion there are … let’s call them Eager Consumers, and there are Reluctant Merchants. The Recluctant merchant doesn’t really want to get involved in the whole scammy business of myriad boxes and keys and gambling on stuff but they keep dropping and one only has so many inventory slots so it’s off to the AH and sell, sell, sell. Not bad, just annoying.
The Eager Consumer however loves the many boxes, bags, bundles and so forth. They will even buy them from the AH along with keys to open them in the certain hopes that, like in the darkness of December, father Christmas will leap forth and hand them a new mount or companion pet. At the very least they get some bars out of it. So, also not bad.
But perhaps you are opening boxes and bags in the hopes of getting something and then getting your hopes dashed, coming away disappointed that the promise of wondrous prizes remains unfulfilled.
Perhaps you are not really an Eager Consumer. Perhaps you are really a Reluctant Merchant. Perhaps you would be happier stashing those boxes and bags away and selling them to Eager Consumers in order to make the capital to simply buy what you want or convert and then buy. It’s a thought and perhaps you should think it.
And remember, there is an Eager Consumer born every minute so keep the AH stocked.
The Feywild box drop rate was pretty low when they first introduced them and then they increased it to some nutty level. I think they need to tweak the drop rate for the new boxes a little bit though because they are rarely dropping right now. I finally got one after 30 min of random slaughter in feywild. I just ran around and killed everything I saw. I opened it and got the Trade bar box which gave me a total of 120 bars for one key. Not too bad. I probably would have opened a few more lockboxes if I had them because I have tons of keys from trading. Although I did just get a good look at the Owlbear mount and now I know I don't want one of them so I might just hold on to my keys. LOL. Some like it, but it is not for me.
0
gek1956Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild UsersPosts: 0Arc User
I got like 6 weapon/artificer packs out of the last 10 boxes, I thought I was going to be rich... Then I got nothing but green artificer people and tools (cheapest assets in existance)
I have like 480 trade bars, which could get me 200k from coa's but I'm still down well over 200k after the coa's. I got a bunch of enchantment packs from the first 10 and I recieved 1 R6 and like 10 R5's lol. I also only got 2 planar idols from 20 boxes.
If I hadn't gotten owlbear it would have been a horrible loss, but Owlbear is what I wanted, and that's what I got, so I'm quite happy
Edit: Owlbear is now BoE and is sitting comfortably in my new Dwarf's inventory awaiting his leveling up heh
Oh I also got 1 shimmering elven box... lesser serene rune haha, worst possible drop, as I said I am usually very unlucky with the boxes.
Like reiwulf, I also ran into the boxes in CO when they went FTP. I wanted legion gear and dropped about 50$ for zen, then went through all my zen in game, which was nearly 6 k at the time. I finally got 4 pieces only 1 that I would keep. After that I watched the AH and bought from the people with money to burn. I got here in late beta, and was surprised to see just how many of the nightmare prizes were dropping. I didn't expect more than about a 1% chance for the mount, and that told me LOTS of peeps were spending for them, many more than you would ever see in CO.
So after I got my first 60 with my CW I was looking at t2 gear and Leadership as good ways to spend my founder's AD, and had heard that leadershjip packs really helped from the boxes. My curiosity got the best of me and I went ahead and dropped another 50$ for zen, and started playing keys. I'd do 20 or 30 then stop and selloff to get some back. About a week and a half later I finally ran bust after opening 270 boxes. along the way I had also sold most all of my LVL 5 ENHs, most of the gear from my first DD's. Altogether it was about 3.5 to 4 million ADs. I got one nightmare and 2 heroes in drops. I sold the mount because I never particularly like d them. I already had the founder's spider for when I needed speed. Everything else I sold or traded for heroes to help in my leadership. When it was all over I ended up with 8 heroes 220 - 250k apiece on the market then, or about 1.8 - 2 mill AD's worth of good stuff for the ADs I had spent.
Just over a 60% yield. And had I NOT gotten the nightmare, it would have been closer to 45%. This is comparable with what others have gotten. Now I understand that the house is supposed to win in gambling, but this is just plain robbery. I hear the Feywild boxes were even worse, but I'd already wasted all I was going to waste by then. I cannot understand why they are so reluctant to give more value for what you spend here. In CO the legion gear was the best end game gear you could get. Pretty close to P2W. But here there are so many items that are more benign, fashion stuff, fancy pets and mounts etc.
The new boxes are supposed to be a little better. You got over twice as many tarmalune bars for your 20 keys than I would have. Some of us have been blogging for better drop rates all along. It seems obvious to me that with better pricing players would be inclined to spend more money. It's not necessary to put t2 gear and such in the boxes that would alter play balance to make them worth buying. IMO fair disclosure of drop rates would virtually force a better yield because players who know before hand what their chances were. Better yield will equal bigger sales. This is not complicated. Good business seldom is, even in the modern age. If it's worth the price, more people will buy it more often.
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stonebarrMember, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild UsersPosts: 6Arc User
I have the feeling that boxes arnt dropping in the CTA. Ive done way to many runs too count and not seen a single one. Ive not played much beyond that. I did do two sets of Sharandar dailies including Celedines tower and not seen a single box drop either.
So you dont seem to be the only one.
I got a new lockbox in the skirmish. But they dont seem to drop as much. My stack of 250+ feywild boxes is evidence of that. If Neverwinter was minecraft, I could build a castle out of lockboxes. And they could be much more useful that way
There was a day when you would have received 380 inferno mounts from your 380 lockboxes.
I opened all (+ i buyed some more for gold)box, and i worked on that day+ i alway's wanted to open my own mount now i buyed 2 i don't spend more money
on key's . Beacuse the new box's are not worth to open it & i will not buy nmlb for 4k ad each.
RNG... I've only opened about 40 lockboxes in total and the most valuable item I got was worth 50k AD.
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melfuryaMember, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 2Arc User
edited October 2013
My 2 cents:
IF cryptic stricltly follows any rule existing, considering gambling, what can be said about their way of doing?
I mean, if people want to gamble, that's ok, if done out of free will. But in the case we discuss, this game drops chests (and loads of them during feywild time, though it seems to have lessened with the new ones...) which are, I consider, their way of telling "hey! you may have won a wonderful prize only if you pay."
When I see this kind of mail in my box, it goes straight to bin without even opening it. In my country, enterprises sending this kind of real mail (not emails) have benn condemned for enticing people to buy, in the hope they would win something.
It's not gambling that is the problem, it's the way those chests drop and make you hope you may win.
Let people who want to gamble pay for an unlocked chest directly, or loads of them if they want, but do not try to boost up the sales by giving away locked chests... This is what is biased, IMHO...
(forgive my english, dunno if my thought was well explained)
But you don't have topay anything, you can just buy the keys with Zen you bought with AD. So I don't think it applies for gambling laws if you don't have to spend real money.
That's just my impresion though.
Lockboxes wouldn't be classed as gambling even if the courts recognised that digital items have a real world value. Why not? Because in order to be classed as gambling, there needs to be a chance of you getting nothing.
As they stand Lockboxes are more like a lucky dip at the local school fair than a lottery or casino, you always get something, even if that something isn't worth (in your opinion or actual value) the money you paid into it.
So, in effect, even though the 'Terms of Service' or EULA - whichever you may call it, explains and disclaims clearly that PWE has absolutely no liabilities and obligations to you as the customer at all (Something all the trolls here will swear to and by ) , except to provide you with this SERVICE (the game) under the terms with which it its offered, (free) and that this service may be terminated by themselves only. (You can't even cancel your account, it stays even if you leave.) this user agreement alone may not meet the conditions of not appearing to be a lottery. Most particularly with younger players. Making every effort for full disclosure of what these lockboxes are all about is the best mitigating remedy for this.
Actually you can cancel your account, you need to contact them via writing to do so but if you do request that your account be deleted then they are legally obligated to do so.
there's a really simple solution here for ppl that complain about the opening of lockboxes and getting 'nothing good'.
stop opening lockboxes.
if you want the goodies inside, wait a while, save your astral diamonds and buy whatever from the auction house. if you don't want to do that... well... is it cryptic's fault for making this game so damned good, putting those awesome incentives in a lockbox that i could win if i just bought a key? or it it my own fault for not being able to control my impulse buying?
everything that you could win in a lockbox is listed. you go into it fully aware of what you could walk away with. it's a game of chance. i've opened three lockboxes so far and i got a blue artificer, some meh epics that i can't salvage and some rank 5 enchants. am i loving it? eh... it is what it is. will i open more? probably. but your mileage may vary.
have fun!
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gek1956Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild UsersPosts: 0Arc User
there's a really simple solution here for ppl that complain about the opening of lockboxes and getting 'nothing good'.
stop opening lockboxes.
Here's the problem with that. These boxes are far and away the largest revenue generators in the FTP marketplace. To make this game as pretty and as nice as it is Cryptic/PWE needs that money. Now here's the thing. if they could get MORE of that money, it could make for a better game. To get more money you have to SELL MORE KEYS.
How do you maximize this? The lock box concept is native to the far eastern gaming market and has migrated to the west through companies like PWE. You cannot assume that the business model for these items that works best over there will work best here. Western players approach this with a more mathematical and less mystical approach than their eastern counterparts. Most of us want to KNOW the odds, plain and simple. SO, give more value per box, and give a true and accurate statement of the player's chances. I'd like to see MORE keys sold, because profitable games are better at serving their customers.
In addition, many governments insist on proper product labeling, whether for gambling or truth in advertising. Rules for this are fairly consistent internationally. Japan is already considering regulation of 'konpu gacha' and other lottery-esque e-game practices. US and European countries are lagging in this respect, but complaints are piling up. Beyond the sensible business aspect of it, FTP games are available to MINORS without restriction almost everywhere. Nothing said in this forum, in Cryptic's advertising, or in the game's Terms of Service is going to trump this fact. Every time some 14 year old Johnny Jr. goes to Wal-Mart and blows his allowance on a $20 game card, then spends it all on keys, the game risks another complaint. Accurate winning chances and a clear disclaimer right there in game ON THE TOOL TIP will do much to protect the game from the angry parents of an angry child who spent all his money and did not get what he wanted. Anything less could be considered predatory business practice, and no e-business alive wants to wear that label.
Maybe this blows, but it's the way it is. The USFTC has set clear precedents for what it expects of both promotional and gambling games of chance here in the US. Sooner or later rules are coming. My advice, and my sincere wish, is to see voluntarily steps taken here long before they arrive. Lockboxes have proved a PR disaster for every game that uses them, but without their revenue, FTP games would be just a shadow of what they are right now. Nobody ever said it was gonna be an easy choice.
Comments
The DOT COM rules were created in 2000. This predates all Cryptic MMOs. Thirteen years for an update is an eon in the high tech era. The new rules are only 5 months old. If I could get on the FTC website I could look to see what has changed. Since I can't I'm not going to draw a conclusion one way or the other.
And as to reinventing the wheel... people in both Ohio and North Carolina laughed at the Wright brothers. Now Ohio bills itself as 'The Birthplace Of Aviation' since this is where they worked. North Carolina, on the other hand bills Itself as "First in Flight' because Kitty Hawk was where they had to go to make it work the first time. The two states actually went to court over the bragging rights.
But then something happened, I don't know what it was, something told me "they will give you your owlbear, just try again" haha. So I was like what the hell and bought 10 more keys, after openeing 9 I had again gotten total <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font>, and then boom, 20th box, OWLBEAR =D
I was quite happy, thank you cryptic
We are definitely dominating, and we are always about to win.
I agree if they don't increase the drops people wont buy keys anymore... all they have to do is put the items up for sale for bars but not 2k bars like 800 at most.
I got like 6 weapon/artificer packs out of the last 10 boxes, I thought I was going to be rich... Then I got nothing but green artificer people and tools (cheapest assets in existance)
I have like 480 trade bars, which could get me 200k from coa's but I'm still down well over 200k after the coa's. I got a bunch of enchantment packs from the first 10 and I recieved 1 R6 and like 10 R5's lol. I also only got 2 planar idols from 20 boxes.
If I hadn't gotten owlbear it would have been a horrible loss, but Owlbear is what I wanted, and that's what I got, so I'm quite happy
Edit: Owlbear is now BoE and is sitting comfortably in my new Dwarf's inventory awaiting his leveling up heh
Oh I also got 1 shimmering elven box... lesser serene rune haha, worst possible drop, as I said I am usually very unlucky with the boxes.
We are definitely dominating, and we are always about to win.
Now I usually sell them to vendors or AH depending on how common they are.
Sure it will, but anything is going to drive someone away and so far nothing that Cryptic has done in any of their games has driven enough players away to matter. Ambisinisterr, is correct Cryptic stays well within the law, if you want to make changes go talk to your Congressman...but don't get pissed off if he or she is too busy representing the corporations that put them there to give a ****.
Its a downgrade .
Why ? http://nw.perfectworld.com/news/?p=955081
200% better then this
http://nw.perfectworld.com/news/?p=994581
From the beginning i collected nm.box and i waited for sale off and opened all my results:
25 adventurer
1 hero
12 man at arms
8 egg
150 Coffer of runestones(20stk CW)
130 Coffer of enchantments (10 stk CW)
12 Epic Bird
100 idol
90 Gloom box
0 mount
0 Tene
19 idonmitable ........t
8 P.F enchant
From 435 box and i got from this equal ad for what i spend.(and i am unlucky)
But the new l.b IS not worth opening shame as feywild nothing extra only olwbear is cool from it .
Sorry for bad eng.
So you dont seem to be the only one.
The Eager Consumer however loves the many boxes, bags, bundles and so forth. They will even buy them from the AH along with keys to open them in the certain hopes that, like in the darkness of December, father Christmas will leap forth and hand them a new mount or companion pet. At the very least they get some bars out of it. So, also not bad.
But perhaps you are opening boxes and bags in the hopes of getting something and then getting your hopes dashed, coming away disappointed that the promise of wondrous prizes remains unfulfilled.
Perhaps you are not really an Eager Consumer. Perhaps you are really a Reluctant Merchant. Perhaps you would be happier stashing those boxes and bags away and selling them to Eager Consumers in order to make the capital to simply buy what you want or convert and then buy. It’s a thought and perhaps you should think it.
And remember, there is an Eager Consumer born every minute so keep the AH stocked.
Like reiwulf, I also ran into the boxes in CO when they went FTP. I wanted legion gear and dropped about 50$ for zen, then went through all my zen in game, which was nearly 6 k at the time. I finally got 4 pieces only 1 that I would keep. After that I watched the AH and bought from the people with money to burn. I got here in late beta, and was surprised to see just how many of the nightmare prizes were dropping. I didn't expect more than about a 1% chance for the mount, and that told me LOTS of peeps were spending for them, many more than you would ever see in CO.
So after I got my first 60 with my CW I was looking at t2 gear and Leadership as good ways to spend my founder's AD, and had heard that leadershjip packs really helped from the boxes. My curiosity got the best of me and I went ahead and dropped another 50$ for zen, and started playing keys. I'd do 20 or 30 then stop and selloff to get some back. About a week and a half later I finally ran bust after opening 270 boxes. along the way I had also sold most all of my LVL 5 ENHs, most of the gear from my first DD's. Altogether it was about 3.5 to 4 million ADs. I got one nightmare and 2 heroes in drops. I sold the mount because I never particularly like d them. I already had the founder's spider for when I needed speed. Everything else I sold or traded for heroes to help in my leadership. When it was all over I ended up with 8 heroes 220 - 250k apiece on the market then, or about 1.8 - 2 mill AD's worth of good stuff for the ADs I had spent.
Just over a 60% yield. And had I NOT gotten the nightmare, it would have been closer to 45%. This is comparable with what others have gotten. Now I understand that the house is supposed to win in gambling, but this is just plain robbery. I hear the Feywild boxes were even worse, but I'd already wasted all I was going to waste by then. I cannot understand why they are so reluctant to give more value for what you spend here. In CO the legion gear was the best end game gear you could get. Pretty close to P2W. But here there are so many items that are more benign, fashion stuff, fancy pets and mounts etc.
The new boxes are supposed to be a little better. You got over twice as many tarmalune bars for your 20 keys than I would have. Some of us have been blogging for better drop rates all along. It seems obvious to me that with better pricing players would be inclined to spend more money. It's not necessary to put t2 gear and such in the boxes that would alter play balance to make them worth buying. IMO fair disclosure of drop rates would virtually force a better yield because players who know before hand what their chances were. Better yield will equal bigger sales. This is not complicated. Good business seldom is, even in the modern age. If it's worth the price, more people will buy it more often.
I got a new lockbox in the skirmish. But they dont seem to drop as much. My stack of 250+ feywild boxes is evidence of that. If Neverwinter was minecraft, I could build a castle out of lockboxes. And they could be much more useful that way
There was a day when you would have received 380 inferno mounts from your 380 lockboxes.
on key's . Beacuse the new box's are not worth to open it & i will not buy nmlb for 4k ad each.
IF cryptic stricltly follows any rule existing, considering gambling, what can be said about their way of doing?
I mean, if people want to gamble, that's ok, if done out of free will. But in the case we discuss, this game drops chests (and loads of them during feywild time, though it seems to have lessened with the new ones...) which are, I consider, their way of telling "hey! you may have won a wonderful prize only if you pay."
When I see this kind of mail in my box, it goes straight to bin without even opening it. In my country, enterprises sending this kind of real mail (not emails) have benn condemned for enticing people to buy, in the hope they would win something.
It's not gambling that is the problem, it's the way those chests drop and make you hope you may win.
Let people who want to gamble pay for an unlocked chest directly, or loads of them if they want, but do not try to boost up the sales by giving away locked chests... This is what is biased, IMHO...
(forgive my english, dunno if my thought was well explained)
That's just my impresion though.
As they stand Lockboxes are more like a lucky dip at the local school fair than a lottery or casino, you always get something, even if that something isn't worth (in your opinion or actual value) the money you paid into it.
Actually you can cancel your account, you need to contact them via writing to do so but if you do request that your account be deleted then they are legally obligated to do so.
stop opening lockboxes.
if you want the goodies inside, wait a while, save your astral diamonds and buy whatever from the auction house. if you don't want to do that... well... is it cryptic's fault for making this game so damned good, putting those awesome incentives in a lockbox that i could win if i just bought a key? or it it my own fault for not being able to control my impulse buying?
everything that you could win in a lockbox is listed. you go into it fully aware of what you could walk away with. it's a game of chance. i've opened three lockboxes so far and i got a blue artificer, some meh epics that i can't salvage and some rank 5 enchants. am i loving it? eh... it is what it is. will i open more? probably. but your mileage may vary.
have fun!
Here's the problem with that. These boxes are far and away the largest revenue generators in the FTP marketplace. To make this game as pretty and as nice as it is Cryptic/PWE needs that money. Now here's the thing. if they could get MORE of that money, it could make for a better game. To get more money you have to SELL MORE KEYS.
How do you maximize this? The lock box concept is native to the far eastern gaming market and has migrated to the west through companies like PWE. You cannot assume that the business model for these items that works best over there will work best here. Western players approach this with a more mathematical and less mystical approach than their eastern counterparts. Most of us want to KNOW the odds, plain and simple. SO, give more value per box, and give a true and accurate statement of the player's chances. I'd like to see MORE keys sold, because profitable games are better at serving their customers.
In addition, many governments insist on proper product labeling, whether for gambling or truth in advertising. Rules for this are fairly consistent internationally. Japan is already considering regulation of 'konpu gacha' and other lottery-esque e-game practices. US and European countries are lagging in this respect, but complaints are piling up. Beyond the sensible business aspect of it, FTP games are available to MINORS without restriction almost everywhere. Nothing said in this forum, in Cryptic's advertising, or in the game's Terms of Service is going to trump this fact. Every time some 14 year old Johnny Jr. goes to Wal-Mart and blows his allowance on a $20 game card, then spends it all on keys, the game risks another complaint. Accurate winning chances and a clear disclaimer right there in game ON THE TOOL TIP will do much to protect the game from the angry parents of an angry child who spent all his money and did not get what he wanted. Anything less could be considered predatory business practice, and no e-business alive wants to wear that label.
Maybe this blows, but it's the way it is. The USFTC has set clear precedents for what it expects of both promotional and gambling games of chance here in the US. Sooner or later rules are coming. My advice, and my sincere wish, is to see voluntarily steps taken here long before they arrive. Lockboxes have proved a PR disaster for every game that uses them, but without their revenue, FTP games would be just a shadow of what they are right now. Nobody ever said it was gonna be an easy choice.