After two and a half (mostly) good years, I uninstalled CO last night out of pure frustration and disappointment. These lockboxes and how the legacy costume pieces, devices, and AFs were added was the final drop to months of game-breaking patches and lackluster new content.
Duuuuude, if it's release in a new method, with the old method completely removed, then it's brand new content! How dare you imply cryptic don't make new thing! I want the brand new Vesperine Cloak so badly, i here it's as fast as the old one!
Do NOT buy keys or open boxes, as the drop rates appear to be broken.
Considering how often we've been told by Cryptic that stuff has been fixed when it hasn't, we shouldn't consider the drop rates truly fixed until the numbers are posted publicly by the devs and can be confirmed by players on the test server.
So SCR avoidance gear has 3 slots, 29 def, and 139 avoidance. The new gear has 4 slots, 19 def, and 139 avoidance. Someone tell me again how it's only slightly better?
AH YES ! i've seen the gear at the AH.
utility gear : 4 mod slots (instead of 3) with + 139 cd reduction + 139 cost discount + 19 defense.
Just -10 defense but 1 more mod than the other gear ig. And 10 defense is not as good as an another mod.
P2W mode engaged. This gear and his gambling with the boxes buyed with money is just the BETTER GEAR you can have of all the game. CONGRATULATIONS !!!
How to shoot himself an another bullet in the foot. They really loves this.
I'm just waiting the major update 2 with auras + some new alerts + vehicules which 'll break the game and add a lot of bugs for 6 months. Patch just before the 30 november (cox final) for a maximum suicidal efficiency.
I'm sure they have again a lot of others bullets, their stock seems gargantuan since three years.
And while this time, i see 5 mc channels now. 2 with 90 players, 2 with 50 players, 1 with 10 players.
As always, few months after a release, f2p, rare content patch, major update. Rince and repeat.
Do NOT buy keys or open boxes, as the drop rates appear to be broken.
Considering how often we've been told by Cryptic that stuff has been fixed when it hasn't, we shouldn't consider the drop rates truly fixed until the numbers are posted publicly by the devs and can be confirmed by players on the test server.
In this case, there isn't a gaming commission to reduce the rate of cheating. Main reason I won't buy keys is that I can't trust PWE enough. The 1st place rates are less than 1 percent. How do I even know they are actually there?
Considering how often we've been told by Cryptic that stuff has been fixed when it hasn't, we shouldn't consider the drop rates truly fixed until the numbers are posted publicly by the devs and can be confirmed by players on the test server.
LOLOLOL! They will NEVER reveal the drop rates.
And if you knew the history of CO you'd know why they can't be confirmed on PTS. :rolleyes:
Why not? Are the keys character bound? Drop rates were tested in STO by repeatedly copying characters to the test server and consolidating keys.
They may never reveal the drop rates and allow player verification, but until they do, I see no reason not to share my belief that they are broken.
When we tried to test drop rates on of grab bags on the PTS, they shut off the C-store in the PTS. It has been impossible to test them since. PWE/Cryptic don't say it was because of players trying to figure out the drop rates, but most people believe it was. It does seem to me to be too coincidental.
EDIT: Though your idea about copying keys to the test server has some merit...
Since Cryptic doesn't publish any odds of receiving the various rewards, they could be anything, or could change from time to time at their whim. That's why these are a total sucker bet, IMHO.
I am a little surprised this is even legal in the U.S., to be honest.
LTS since 2009. Author of ACT parser module for CO. Founder of Rampagers. Resident curmudgeon.
"Without data, you're just another person with an opinion." -- W. Edwards Deming
issues i heard its that the drop rates for higher items seems lower than previous grab bags and that the lockboxes drops a team xp boost but it is character bound which makes it unsuable when character that got it has already reached the level cap.
Wow, Clap CLAP, cryptics, now that's
a GREAT way to implement new business ideas, Yeeeeeees, just steal them from DCUO game and implement in CO...... Oh wait,that's right- It's CO, should've recognised it first.
Oh, and The fact they implemented it on STO? Lol, I was Actually Thinking of trying it out!
Since Cryptic doesn't publish any odds of receiving the various rewards, they could be anything, or could change from time to time at their whim. That's why these are a total sucker bet, IMHO.
I am a little surprised this is even legal in the U.S., to be honest.
Buying zen/c-points/etc. is functionally like buying an electronic gift card, except it's not covered under existing laws because the legal definition of "gift card" is very small. This means that the publisher/developer can claim that the zen has no cash value, therefore the stuff we buy with it has no cash value, thus there is no gambling.
Another argument is that MMOs are services (entirely owned by the publisher) and not physical items, thus you can't be gambling, but that's not true. Taking a pull on a virtual slot machine to, say, get extra perks on your cable service would absolutely be considered gambling. The whole reason PWE gets away with it is because they can claim zen has no value, and the various laws that are supposed to apply to stuff like this are behind the times.
Precedent suggests we will see no new content, and more greed.
They're just grabbin' yo' money.
There is new content since the advent of grab bags. I am not speaking of the quality of said content (Im not particularly fond of it, but enjoyment is subjective). I am sorry but you are mistaken about the precedent here. Every modification of the game's monetization has been followed by content additions.
And they cannot grab your money....you have to give it to them. Blaming someone else for the fact that you gave them money seems a bit weird.
Do NOT buy keys or open boxes, as the drop rates appear to be broken.
Considering how often we've been told by Cryptic that stuff has been fixed when it hasn't, we shouldn't consider the drop rates truly fixed until the numbers are posted publicly by the devs and can be confirmed by players on the test server.
And if you knew the history of CO you'd know why they can't be confirmed on PTS. :rolleyes:
Sadly i made the mistake of buying a ten pack... the best item i got? rank 3 mods. literally all i got was 8 sets of 25 rank 3 mods, and XP/resource 1 hour boosts. NOTHING ELSE. Meanwhile friends of mine got all kinds of neat NEW items. Which worries me, as i know on a game i played in the past, there was a bug tied in with accounts affecting RNG values, makes me worry if this happens in CO too because it's suspicious when the same people always, always have great drops and then the other same people always get nothing useful, no matter how much they buy.
And yes, neural is right, the entire reason cstore got removed from PTS was to hide how bad the odds were in these bags. Why let people know how truly horrible it is for free when you can charge them?
Because, name one Pay 2 Win MMO that has the slightest degree of success and has a reasonably satisfied customer base. Name one Pay 2 Win MMO that is providing new content. Name one Pay 2 Win MMO that isn't in its death throes, if not already rotting.
As much as folks will complain and refuse to buy the keys to unlock these things, experience has shown in STO that people will be buying-and every time someone gets a high-profile item from one, we can expect the screen to spam "Hey, @RandomNameHere just unlocked the superduperawesomepower!" or something similar.
Yup. As much sturm und drang as we had over in CoX over super packs, the devs openly admitted it sold like hotcakes and had the numbers to back it up.
And they cannot grab your money....you have to give it to them. Blaming someone else for the fact that you gave them money seems a bit weird.
This. This right here. Nobody's "grabbing my money" - because I'm not buying any keys. So long as the Chests bring a positive value in the AH, I'll sell them to the other suck- er, I mean players; when the value drops too low to bother with, I'll do with these what I do with the boxes in STO, and jettison them out the airlock whenever they start to bug me.
You all knew what you were getting into when you bought the keys - it's a bit late now to try to claim you were "forced" into it.
Yeah, I know, there's this other stuff in there. It might even be really cool gear. You know what's amazing about that? Not having the "cool gear" isn't impacting my gameplay at all! The gangs, the Irradiates, even the Dogz and New Shadows don't care what you're wearing. Now, if you're all about the PvP, I can see where this might be seen as a "pay to win" thing - but if you're all about the PvP, why are you playing CO??
"Science teaches us to expect -- demand -- more than just eerie mysteries. What use is a puzzle that can't be solved? Patience is fine, but I'm not going to stop asking the universe to make sense!"
Sure, in the short term you can turn a profit by turning your back on fair play. In the long term however games that abandon their principles never stand the test of time.
seems to me that the key/lock boxes are same as grab bags.
the only difference is that they try to entice you with drops
the price of a key is the same as a grab bag
the rewards i have seen so far have been equal to or better than the grab bags
the nice thing is you can sell these lock boxes for 1g each very easily
these don't seem to replace any other drops
buying them is as optional as buying a grab bag
the biggest difference is that you might psychologically be more likely to buy because you got it as a drop, don't want to waste an opportunity.
honestly they are no worse than grab bags, better in my opinion since you don't get as much useless things. that being said i never liked grab bags but i really don't see the difference.
the drifter store kits aren't grab bags IMO instead they are blind boxes
all guaranteed to give a certain tier of rewards. but just like bloodmoon devices, some are more effective and sought out than others
I would prefer to pay for "DLC" additions like DCUO does. $10 for a set of things that are complete optional but also has new content. Not just become devices and travel power reskins (again I do like the dark flight TP but technically that isn't new content) or have a full on Expansion at $50 like LOTRO and dare I name it that Panda game. I would gladly buy it, maybe not on day 1 (depending on where it plays, which is why it is wise to release more stuff than just missions, if it includes a costume set, some powers and other stuff of the like, it would sell regardless of the mission) but yea I will buy it.
Say let's call the next update an expansion. The Vehicle Expansion pack, cheapest pack includes a vehicle and access to the vehicle area with the carrier mission. The premium includes the same thing but add maybe a costume set or some Zen and a title w/e works. Just release stuff worth buying and the game will turn a profit without gambles. You can still drop grab bags and lockboxes if you want, just don't let that be the only "new" content we get.
Yeah, I know, there's this other stuff in there. It might even be really cool gear. You know what's amazing about that? Not having the "cool gear" isn't impacting my gameplay at all! The gangs, the Irradiates, even the Dogz and New Shadows don't care what you're wearing. Now, if you're all about the PvP, I can see where this might be seen as a "pay to win" thing - but if you're all about the PvP, why are you playing CO??
Perhaps because when we buyed the game in 2009, pvp was alive and fun.
We couldn't know that Cryptic will let the boat sink. As the pve too if i see which pve content we have and how frequently new content is created.
The situation is just a few better.
But i'm agree with your first point. The game have really no challenge, no need to have this last stuff.
But this doesn't invalid the point this last Cryptic's move is a P2W way. And i don't know how the us players see that (it seems to me they have a lot lesser problems to pay for things in a game) but in europa and in my country, the people seems dislike this a lot, when they already pays a sub.
Jasin, the key difference (if you'll pardon the expression) between these and Grab Bags is that at least for a short time after they're introduced, there's always been a way to get Grab Bags in exchange for an investment of time. Collecting Mountain Costume parts for the Mountain grab bag, running the Nighthawk daily for a Belt, even last years' Trick-or-Treat event where, if it were a Trick, there was a chance the mob would drop a Halloween Bag - sure, if you didn't want to grind that out, you could just buy a bag in the C-store (or, now, Z-store), but there was always an option. Now, the only way to find out what's in these stupid boxes is to lay out a buck for a key, or nine bucks for ten keys (or buy them in the AH, if you happen to have five hundred Globals just laying about doing nothing...).
If one mob in, say, fifty dropped a Cosmic Key, then maybe I'd be a little happier with this mess - not a lot, but a little. But heavens, Cryptic, if you want to take us out back of the woodshed and have your way with us, at least buy us dinner first!
"Science teaches us to expect -- demand -- more than just eerie mysteries. What use is a puzzle that can't be solved? Patience is fine, but I'm not going to stop asking the universe to make sense!"
Jasin, the key difference (if you'll pardon the expression) between these and Grab Bags is that at least for a short time after they're introduced, there's always been a way to get Grab Bags in exchange for an investment of time. Collecting Mountain Costume parts for the Mountain grab bag, running the Nighthawk daily for a Belt, even last years' Trick-or-Treat event where, if it were a Trick, there was a chance the mob would drop a Halloween Bag - sure, if you didn't want to grind that out, you could just buy a bag in the C-store (or, now, Z-store), but there was always an option. Now, the only way to find out what's in these stupid boxes is to lay out a buck for a key, or nine bucks for ten keys (or buy them in the AH, if you happen to have five hundred Globals just laying about doing nothing...).
If one mob in, say, fifty dropped a Cosmic Key, then maybe I'd be a little happier with this mess - not a lot, but a little. But heavens, Cryptic, if you want to take us out back of the woodshed and have your way with us, at least buy us dinner first!
This. I hate grab bags but Cosmic keys are worse. I do not intend to buy any. If Cryptic ever bother to launch a new zone, I would gladly pay for that, but gambling on a very slim chance of getting something that I don't need or want, no thanks.
This. I hate grab bags but Cosmic keys are worse. I do not intend to buy any. If Cryptic ever bother to launch a new zone, I would gladly pay for that, but gambling on a very slim chance of getting something that I don't need or want, no thanks.
I do not like them myself but if they lead to extra cash for things to get fixed I could live and let live with these things.
Nepht and Dr Deflecto on primus
They all thought I was out of the game....But I'm holding all the lockboxes now..
I'll......FOAM FINGER YOUR BACK!
Jasin, the key difference (if you'll pardon the expression) between these and Grab Bags is that at least for a short time after they're introduced, there's always been a way to get Grab Bags in exchange for an investment of time. Collecting Mountain Costume parts for the Mountain grab bag, running the Nighthawk daily for a Belt, even last years' Trick-or-Treat event where, if it were a Trick, there was a chance the mob would drop a Halloween Bag - sure, if you didn't want to grind that out, you could just buy a bag in the C-store (or, now, Z-store), but there was always an option. Now, the only way to find out what's in these stupid boxes is to lay out a buck for a key, or nine bucks for ten keys (or buy them in the AH, if you happen to have five hundred Globals just laying about doing nothing...).
If one mob in, say, fifty dropped a Cosmic Key, then maybe I'd be a little happier with this mess - not a lot, but a little. But heavens, Cryptic, if you want to take us out back of the woodshed and have your way with us, at least buy us dinner first!
well grab bags were always introduced in the store first, so maybe this will happen.
i agree having the keys farmable , if even for a weekend , would be good
Think of it this way.
A lot of people complained about buying grab bags. Well you no longer have to buy them, they drop free.
Going on the key description we will be getting regular "free" bags, you need to buy keys to empty them.
And yes, people are more likely to buy a key for a bag/box than buy a box, after all, "they have a box"
The prices will drop below 1G fast , as everyone gets them and few people can afford to open them.
So how many million was it PWE paid for Cryptic that they need to recover?
I do not like them myself but if they lead to extra cash for things to get fixed I could live and let live with these things.
OH, they're using the grab bag money to fix things then? SWEET, does that mean reign of frogs is going to be fixed now? Hell, it's only been broken since the start of the game.
I tried these things out. The drops aren't awful, but still- I'm burned about having to get Drifter Salvage from these things (and that being the only way) to get the costume pieces that we used to be able to make or buy at a reasonable price before On Alert. I don't like the idea of them dropping Mods in MASSIVE stacks, that just screams P2W to me.
What the Finn said was spot on. Here's an idea:
Use the money from this to make another comic pack adventure that we can buy. I don't remember the price of the old ones, but I think it should be about that.
Offer keys as rewards in these comic packs for completing the chapters.
And they cannot grab your money....you have to give it to them. Blaming someone else for the fact that you gave them money seems a bit weird.
It's figurative, not literal, and should probably have read "making a grab for".
Charging people to open lewt boxes, is very much a money grab. It is completely opportunistic and greedy. (my perception)
Maybe in my furniture business I will start pre-locking the locks I build in and charging for the key after they've already paid, I am sure my customers would love that.:rolleyes:
Ahh, this news and thread makes me very glad I have been and will likely continue to be on hiatus from CO.
While technically not pay to win since CO is faceroll easy, that the best primaries available in game are now only found from these new lockboxes rankles. The fact I could theoretically buy them off the market is small consolation since as far as I'm concerned we've not had a good content update since Vibora Bay. I don't like the idea of people throwing their money at Cryptic when so little good has been done for the game. Yes it's their money and they can do with it what they like, but still...
Adventure packs, comic series, and alerts are all small potatoes to me. Where's the meat?
At this company you get your lunch for free.
Here is the menu of what is available.
At the cafeteria you get a sealed box.
You pay a set amount for an opener and you do not know what you get till you open it.
"I wanted the hamburger. Not the refried beans."
Or go to Burger King and if you want a hamburger just go get what you want for a fee.
Not saying I won't buy a key (on those rare occasions I feel I can throw away 100z since it is not a guarantee I will get what I want, but a chance)
It's figurative, not literal, and should probably have read "making a grab for".
Charging people to open lewt boxes, is very much a money grab. It is completely opportunistic and greedy. (my perception)
Maybe in my furniture business I will start pre-locking the locks I build in and charging for the key after they've already paid, I am sure my customers would love that.:rolleyes:
Since the lockboxes are, according to Trailturtle, dropped in addition to normal drops a better analogy for your furniture business would be giving your customers an extra or separate lock above and beyond what they paid for, but locking it so that if they want to use it they need to buy a key.
The content of the lock boxes are a product to which Cryptic/PWE sell access. In the sense that any company that has a product wants your money, yes this is a money grab.
The nature of how the contents are sold...no option to not gamble puts me off. But the idea of selling the contents does not (except for having the best gear only available in this manner and having this as the only means of accessing things that were included with my purchase of the game initially).
1. Supplement the "random Legacy Items" purchase with individual Legacy items that can be purchased directly. Even if they're more expensive, I'll pay the Drifter Salvage to get precisely the costume piece I want than to have to deal with the costume piece lottery.
2. Make the Legacy stuff permanent. I do not want these going away after Halloween.
I wish all of the legacy stuff had been put in the Q-store and not gated behind random chance.
That's just me, though.
Not just you, pretty sure that's what they said at one point. But instead destroying the Questionite Exchange looked more logical to them since you would have to be insane to convert hard earned Q into Z now, and as much as people want to say that Q has little to no value, it does matter on removing high ranked mods, on travel powers and secondary purples. It would be even better if they added the legacy stuff AFTER the Halloween thing ended on the Q-Store for sure. Since we can still get Q in the game but Drifter Salvage is only through the Z store and by chance. Granted there's a slight chance we'll get DS from the Trick or Treat event but there's no announcement at this point, just personal speculation.
I don't play a lot of CO anymore, sinds I am currently playing with Guild Wars 2 (and I like it a lot).
But to my point of view, and like Trailturttle told us, those are in addition to normal loots. So if you don't want the random content of a chest you are given two options.
1) Buy a Cosmic Key.
2) Throw it away.
It is optional, and also an attempt to let people buy keys from the Z-Store. Now for the the rest of you who don't want to buy those keys it won't change anything beside the fact you'll have more junk to throw out from your inventory, thats all. And even if you want the content from a chest it is still possible to buy those keys with the Q-exchange, even if the conversion rate is horrible.
Don't get me wrong, I am against any form of gamble in a video game, but sinds this is optional and doesn't grant any real advantage to the players I don't feel concerned at all.
Now on a sidenote, legacy items comming back... Yaaaaaay! :cool:
It is optional, and also an attempt to let people buy keys from the Z-Store. Now for the the rest of you who don't want to buy those keys it won't change anything beside the fact you'll have more junk to throw out from your inventory, thats all. And even if you want the content from a chest it is still possible to buy those keys with the Q-exchange, even if the conversion rate is horrible.
Its in addition to normal drops yes, but it still means the items are locked behind a gamble - no way of getting them any other way, and they will likely add more things locked behind a gamble in future rather than being able to buy it.
Also it has killed the q exchange rate (more q needed per zen) about 25% more questionite is needed per zen already
Even worse, the legacy items are double locked! You need to buy a key getting a random item multiple times, wether you want them or not, to get salvage to get a RANDOM chance at an item you are trying to get!
In my opinion this is possibly the one positive thing about these boxes/keys.
2 class societies are not good, if you say it is then you are... nvm.
The treasure chests killed the drop rate of every other item, it killed the Q exchange, which used to be unreasonably high already before the latest patch. It made some of my friends play other games in less than 24h, etc. I mean seriously every drop is a lockbox now, this cannot be intentionally and if it was, what is the purpose? Expanding the gap between silver and gold players further? Lockboxes would not bother me at all, if it did not replace other / better / more useful drops such as mods for example.
Comments
Duuuuude, if it's release in a new method, with the old method completely removed, then it's brand new content! How dare you imply cryptic don't make new thing! I want the brand new Vesperine Cloak so badly, i here it's as fast as the old one!
Considering how often we've been told by Cryptic that stuff has been fixed when it hasn't, we shouldn't consider the drop rates truly fixed until the numbers are posted publicly by the devs and can be confirmed by players on the test server.
AH YES ! i've seen the gear at the AH.
utility gear : 4 mod slots (instead of 3) with + 139 cd reduction + 139 cost discount + 19 defense.
Just -10 defense but 1 more mod than the other gear ig. And 10 defense is not as good as an another mod.
P2W mode engaged. This gear and his gambling with the boxes buyed with money is just the BETTER GEAR you can have of all the game. CONGRATULATIONS !!!
How to shoot himself an another bullet in the foot. They really loves this.
I'm just waiting the major update 2 with auras + some new alerts + vehicules which 'll break the game and add a lot of bugs for 6 months. Patch just before the 30 november (cox final) for a maximum suicidal efficiency.
I'm sure they have again a lot of others bullets, their stock seems gargantuan since three years.
And while this time, i see 5 mc channels now. 2 with 90 players, 2 with 50 players, 1 with 10 players.
As always, few months after a release, f2p, rare content patch, major update. Rince and repeat.
In this case, there isn't a gaming commission to reduce the rate of cheating. Main reason I won't buy keys is that I can't trust PWE enough. The 1st place rates are less than 1 percent. How do I even know they are actually there?
Formerly Aeolwind
Nothing witty, just angst.
Primus Database of Characters
40 Count = 6
LOLOLOL! They will NEVER reveal the drop rates.
And if you knew the history of CO you'd know why they can't be confirmed on PTS. :rolleyes:
People are broken. - Lum the Mad
Why not? Are the keys character bound? Drop rates were tested in STO by repeatedly copying characters to the test server and consolidating keys.
They may never reveal the drop rates and allow player verification, but until they do, I see no reason not to share my belief that they are broken.
EDIT: Though your idea about copying keys to the test server has some merit...
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You need a big player base to grab money?
I do believe sub numbers have never been published, so....
Hmm... I didn't consider that, not a bad idea. But to be statistically valid you'd need 1000's of keys.
Good luck and let us know what you learn.
People are broken. - Lum the Mad
Thanks. At the very least it'll give me something worthwhile to spend my stipend points on.
I am a little surprised this is even legal in the U.S., to be honest.
"Without data, you're just another person with an opinion." -- W. Edwards Deming
:biggrin:
And spinning the Wheel of Fortune isn't illegal in U.S.
And playing by myself since Aug 2009
Godtier: Lifetime Subscriber
issues i heard its that the drop rates for higher items seems lower than previous grab bags and that the lockboxes drops a team xp boost but it is character bound which makes it unsuable when character that got it has already reached the level cap.
a GREAT way to implement new business ideas, Yeeeeeees, just steal them from DCUO game and implement in CO...... Oh wait,that's right- It's CO, should've recognised it first.
Oh, and The fact they implemented it on STO? Lol, I was Actually Thinking of trying it out!
Buying zen/c-points/etc. is functionally like buying an electronic gift card, except it's not covered under existing laws because the legal definition of "gift card" is very small. This means that the publisher/developer can claim that the zen has no cash value, therefore the stuff we buy with it has no cash value, thus there is no gambling.
Another argument is that MMOs are services (entirely owned by the publisher) and not physical items, thus you can't be gambling, but that's not true. Taking a pull on a virtual slot machine to, say, get extra perks on your cable service would absolutely be considered gambling. The whole reason PWE gets away with it is because they can claim zen has no value, and the various laws that are supposed to apply to stuff like this are behind the times.
There is new content since the advent of grab bags. I am not speaking of the quality of said content (Im not particularly fond of it, but enjoyment is subjective). I am sorry but you are mistaken about the precedent here. Every modification of the game's monetization has been followed by content additions.
And they cannot grab your money....you have to give it to them. Blaming someone else for the fact that you gave them money seems a bit weird.
What insanely overpowered gear are you referring to ?
'Caine, miss you bud. Fly high.
Sadly i made the mistake of buying a ten pack... the best item i got? rank 3 mods. literally all i got was 8 sets of 25 rank 3 mods, and XP/resource 1 hour boosts. NOTHING ELSE. Meanwhile friends of mine got all kinds of neat NEW items. Which worries me, as i know on a game i played in the past, there was a bug tied in with accounts affecting RNG values, makes me worry if this happens in CO too because it's suspicious when the same people always, always have great drops and then the other same people always get nothing useful, no matter how much they buy.
And yes, neural is right, the entire reason cstore got removed from PTS was to hide how bad the odds were in these bags. Why let people know how truly horrible it is for free when you can charge them?
/e raises hand. "Guild Wars 2."
Erm *Looks Up* That. Yeah
I still Need to Try it though.
Yup. As much sturm und drang as we had over in CoX over super packs, the devs openly admitted it sold like hotcakes and had the numbers to back it up.
You all knew what you were getting into when you bought the keys - it's a bit late now to try to claim you were "forced" into it.
Yeah, I know, there's this other stuff in there. It might even be really cool gear. You know what's amazing about that? Not having the "cool gear" isn't impacting my gameplay at all! The gangs, the Irradiates, even the Dogz and New Shadows don't care what you're wearing. Now, if you're all about the PvP, I can see where this might be seen as a "pay to win" thing - but if you're all about the PvP, why are you playing CO??
- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
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Sure, in the short term you can turn a profit by turning your back on fair play. In the long term however games that abandon their principles never stand the test of time.
the only difference is that they try to entice you with drops
- the price of a key is the same as a grab bag
- the rewards i have seen so far have been equal to or better than the grab bags
- the nice thing is you can sell these lock boxes for 1g each very easily
- these don't seem to replace any other drops
- buying them is as optional as buying a grab bag
the biggest difference is that you might psychologically be more likely to buy because you got it as a drop, don't want to waste an opportunity.honestly they are no worse than grab bags, better in my opinion since you don't get as much useless things. that being said i never liked grab bags but i really don't see the difference.
the drifter store kits aren't grab bags IMO instead they are blind boxes
all guaranteed to give a certain tier of rewards. but just like bloodmoon devices, some are more effective and sought out than others
Say let's call the next update an expansion. The Vehicle Expansion pack, cheapest pack includes a vehicle and access to the vehicle area with the carrier mission. The premium includes the same thing but add maybe a costume set or some Zen and a title w/e works. Just release stuff worth buying and the game will turn a profit without gambles. You can still drop grab bags and lockboxes if you want, just don't let that be the only "new" content we get.
Perhaps because when we buyed the game in 2009, pvp was alive and fun.
We couldn't know that Cryptic will let the boat sink. As the pve too if i see which pve content we have and how frequently new content is created.
The situation is just a few better.
But i'm agree with your first point. The game have really no challenge, no need to have this last stuff.
But this doesn't invalid the point this last Cryptic's move is a P2W way. And i don't know how the us players see that (it seems to me they have a lot lesser problems to pay for things in a game) but in europa and in my country, the people seems dislike this a lot, when they already pays a sub.
If one mob in, say, fifty dropped a Cosmic Key, then maybe I'd be a little happier with this mess - not a lot, but a little. But heavens, Cryptic, if you want to take us out back of the woodshed and have your way with us, at least buy us dinner first!
- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
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I won't!
This. I hate grab bags but Cosmic keys are worse. I do not intend to buy any. If Cryptic ever bother to launch a new zone, I would gladly pay for that, but gambling on a very slim chance of getting something that I don't need or want, no thanks.
I do not like them myself but if they lead to extra cash for things to get fixed I could live and let live with these things.
Nepht and Dr Deflecto on primus
They all thought I was out of the game....But I'm holding all the lockboxes now..
I'll......FOAM FINGER YOUR BACK!
well grab bags were always introduced in the store first, so maybe this will happen.
i agree having the keys farmable , if even for a weekend , would be good
We could use some $DLC Packs with themed Comic Series that include some powers and costume pieces and auras.
*does a moonwalk to horizon*
And playing by myself since Aug 2009
Godtier: Lifetime Subscriber
A lot of people complained about buying grab bags. Well you no longer have to buy them, they drop free.
Going on the key description we will be getting regular "free" bags, you need to buy keys to empty them.
And yes, people are more likely to buy a key for a bag/box than buy a box, after all, "they have a box"
The prices will drop below 1G fast , as everyone gets them and few people can afford to open them.
So how many million was it PWE paid for Cryptic that they need to recover?
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OH, they're using the grab bag money to fix things then? SWEET, does that mean reign of frogs is going to be fixed now? Hell, it's only been broken since the start of the game.
Why do these justifictions seem to keep popping up? Was there a news announcement about how they were going to spend the proceeds?
What the Finn said was spot on. Here's an idea:
Use the money from this to make another comic pack adventure that we can buy. I don't remember the price of the old ones, but I think it should be about that.
Offer keys as rewards in these comic packs for completing the chapters.
It's figurative, not literal, and should probably have read "making a grab for".
Charging people to open lewt boxes, is very much a money grab. It is completely opportunistic and greedy. (my perception)
Maybe in my furniture business I will start pre-locking the locks I build in and charging for the key after they've already paid, I am sure my customers would love that.:rolleyes:
While technically not pay to win since CO is faceroll easy, that the best primaries available in game are now only found from these new lockboxes rankles. The fact I could theoretically buy them off the market is small consolation since as far as I'm concerned we've not had a good content update since Vibora Bay. I don't like the idea of people throwing their money at Cryptic when so little good has been done for the game. Yes it's their money and they can do with it what they like, but still...
Adventure packs, comic series, and alerts are all small potatoes to me. Where's the meat?
At this company you get your lunch for free.
Here is the menu of what is available.
At the cafeteria you get a sealed box.
You pay a set amount for an opener and you do not know what you get till you open it.
"I wanted the hamburger. Not the refried beans."
Or go to Burger King and if you want a hamburger just go get what you want for a fee.
Not saying I won't buy a key (on those rare occasions I feel I can throw away 100z since it is not a guarantee I will get what I want, but a chance)
Since the lockboxes are, according to Trailturtle, dropped in addition to normal drops a better analogy for your furniture business would be giving your customers an extra or separate lock above and beyond what they paid for, but locking it so that if they want to use it they need to buy a key.
The content of the lock boxes are a product to which Cryptic/PWE sell access. In the sense that any company that has a product wants your money, yes this is a money grab.
The nature of how the contents are sold...no option to not gamble puts me off. But the idea of selling the contents does not (except for having the best gear only available in this manner and having this as the only means of accessing things that were included with my purchase of the game initially).
'Caine, miss you bud. Fly high.
1. Supplement the "random Legacy Items" purchase with individual Legacy items that can be purchased directly. Even if they're more expensive, I'll pay the Drifter Salvage to get precisely the costume piece I want than to have to deal with the costume piece lottery.
2. Make the Legacy stuff permanent. I do not want these going away after Halloween.
That's just me, though.
Not just you, pretty sure that's what they said at one point. But instead destroying the Questionite Exchange looked more logical to them since you would have to be insane to convert hard earned Q into Z now, and as much as people want to say that Q has little to no value, it does matter on removing high ranked mods, on travel powers and secondary purples. It would be even better if they added the legacy stuff AFTER the Halloween thing ended on the Q-Store for sure. Since we can still get Q in the game but Drifter Salvage is only through the Z store and by chance. Granted there's a slight chance we'll get DS from the Trick or Treat event but there's no announcement at this point, just personal speculation.
... Ah well.:eek:
But to my point of view, and like Trailturttle told us, those are in addition to normal loots. So if you don't want the random content of a chest you are given two options.
1) Buy a Cosmic Key.
2) Throw it away.
It is optional, and also an attempt to let people buy keys from the Z-Store. Now for the the rest of you who don't want to buy those keys it won't change anything beside the fact you'll have more junk to throw out from your inventory, thats all. And even if you want the content from a chest it is still possible to buy those keys with the Q-exchange, even if the conversion rate is horrible.
Don't get me wrong, I am against any form of gamble in a video game, but sinds this is optional and doesn't grant any real advantage to the players I don't feel concerned at all.
Now on a sidenote, legacy items comming back... Yaaaaaay! :cool:
Its in addition to normal drops yes, but it still means the items are locked behind a gamble - no way of getting them any other way, and they will likely add more things locked behind a gamble in future rather than being able to buy it.
Also it has killed the q exchange rate (more q needed per zen) about 25% more questionite is needed per zen already
Even worse, the legacy items are double locked! You need to buy a key getting a random item multiple times, wether you want them or not, to get salvage to get a RANDOM chance at an item you are trying to get!
Q - Zen - Global trade rate are totally broken now like Dollar - Euro - Japanese Yen.
In my opinion this is possibly the one positive thing about these boxes/keys.
'Caine, miss you bud. Fly high.
2 class societies are not good, if you say it is then you are... nvm.
The treasure chests killed the drop rate of every other item, it killed the Q exchange, which used to be unreasonably high already before the latest patch. It made some of my friends play other games in less than 24h, etc. I mean seriously every drop is a lockbox now, this cannot be intentionally and if it was, what is the purpose? Expanding the gap between silver and gold players further? Lockboxes would not bother me at all, if it did not replace other / better / more useful drops such as mods for example.