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The cap's been met
rinzler156
Posts: 115 Arc User
Hello all. I'm still alive and well. I was getting on CO here and there to do some costuming, but haven't really gotten back into it until recently. This discussion might have been talked about earlier or some time recently, but I'm going to bring it up.
The conversion from Questionite to Zen cap has been met, and has now become an instance of "sometimes there will be offers, sometimes not". Today at 5/24/2024, we had an instance where you could not buy zen at all, and selling Zen for Questionite gave you 500. Lemme preface that it is likely different right this moment as of 9:44pm MST, but I think it's important to figure out why that is the case.
1. The Questionite Sinks are not a permanent feature as they should be. The Trade Paperback at least gave some value to questionite, allowing the cost of buying and selling zen to go down (although one of these took longer to go down for obvious reasons, i.e. selling zen for questionite). Without much value being put into Questionite, it becomes a worthless currency who's worth is -only- for buying zen.
2. The Questionite Store has little value now. Let me be clear, when it comes to the Questionite Store, it does have some tabs that do offer something useful. But, the problem is that most of the items you buy are either bind-to-character, or are heavily priced to the point you need loads of questionite to be able to purchase said item, which may not seem worth it to some, but could also be worth it to others. However, without much else to offer from the questionite store, it fails to be a 'sink for currency' as what was promised/announced to be/stated to be.
3. Too much value has been put into Zen. This might seem confusing but bear with me. With the changes made to lockboxes, with how the mechanics of the lockboxes have changed again with the absolutely ridiculous account-wide tokens (aura and costume lockbox tokens... looking at you >_>). That and the costume boxes don't drop certain items nearly as often anymore. This might sound like I'm salty because lockboxes have become a more predatory feature in the game (because they have), it still proves the point that more value has been put into zen, rendering questionite pointless with the exception to buy maybe a few things once and dump the rest into getting Zen.
So here's the solution I propose, some things need to be changed in the questionite store, some prices should be lowered, some items (the devices specifically), should be buffed, and some of the secondaries that the q-store should be buffed as well (looking at you Vigilante secondaries...)
There needs to be consideration of adding say, Legion Equivalents to the Q-store? Of course, make them pricey because it's gear. As well as adding more devices, while buffing some of them. Maybe consider putting certain PVD's in the Q-store, again, make them pricey if you need to. And of course, add rank 5 mods (basic core/stat) into the store.
But here is a dark reality check.
More than likely, what needs to happen is the reduction of questionite yields from certain missions/events, making questionite boxes pricier, due to the increase of demand of the lowered supply of questionite.
But will these changes ever come? 80% chance that it won't, but some things need to be considered
The conversion from Questionite to Zen cap has been met, and has now become an instance of "sometimes there will be offers, sometimes not". Today at 5/24/2024, we had an instance where you could not buy zen at all, and selling Zen for Questionite gave you 500. Lemme preface that it is likely different right this moment as of 9:44pm MST, but I think it's important to figure out why that is the case.
1. The Questionite Sinks are not a permanent feature as they should be. The Trade Paperback at least gave some value to questionite, allowing the cost of buying and selling zen to go down (although one of these took longer to go down for obvious reasons, i.e. selling zen for questionite). Without much value being put into Questionite, it becomes a worthless currency who's worth is -only- for buying zen.
2. The Questionite Store has little value now. Let me be clear, when it comes to the Questionite Store, it does have some tabs that do offer something useful. But, the problem is that most of the items you buy are either bind-to-character, or are heavily priced to the point you need loads of questionite to be able to purchase said item, which may not seem worth it to some, but could also be worth it to others. However, without much else to offer from the questionite store, it fails to be a 'sink for currency' as what was promised/announced to be/stated to be.
3. Too much value has been put into Zen. This might seem confusing but bear with me. With the changes made to lockboxes, with how the mechanics of the lockboxes have changed again with the absolutely ridiculous account-wide tokens (aura and costume lockbox tokens... looking at you >_>). That and the costume boxes don't drop certain items nearly as often anymore. This might sound like I'm salty because lockboxes have become a more predatory feature in the game (because they have), it still proves the point that more value has been put into zen, rendering questionite pointless with the exception to buy maybe a few things once and dump the rest into getting Zen.
So here's the solution I propose, some things need to be changed in the questionite store, some prices should be lowered, some items (the devices specifically), should be buffed, and some of the secondaries that the q-store should be buffed as well (looking at you Vigilante secondaries...)
There needs to be consideration of adding say, Legion Equivalents to the Q-store? Of course, make them pricey because it's gear. As well as adding more devices, while buffing some of them. Maybe consider putting certain PVD's in the Q-store, again, make them pricey if you need to. And of course, add rank 5 mods (basic core/stat) into the store.
But here is a dark reality check.
More than likely, what needs to happen is the reduction of questionite yields from certain missions/events, making questionite boxes pricier, due to the increase of demand of the lowered supply of questionite.
But will these changes ever come? 80% chance that it won't, but some things need to be considered
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Comments
Questionite is "the bullshit currency" that Gacha games have.
What's Questionite even for?
Pity currency without a purpose. It has a daily cap on it to stagger accumulation for an arbitrary reason; a (poorly advertised) associated store which most users consistently purchase only a handful of items (Necrull's, Spark Shield) from - it's even less useful since the humongous Vehicle nerf, because nobody wants or needs Mods for it anymore.
Edit: don't get me started on TPB - an 'event' which isn't even always Live, in which the pity-currency is used as gambling currency to hopefully get a Ticket for something you want. The pity-currency is gambled. What.
Questionite as a whole has very little value other than purchasing Zen. (other than "goddamn it, it costs how much to unslot this mod? Lol, lmao even"). We need better and more permanent things to sink Questionite into:
- Once the whales cap out on TPB, they aren't sinking Q.
- Once the appropriate items are gotten from the Q-store, nobody sinks Q.
- Only Zen needs you to sink Q reliably, leading to bloated pricing and a borked market.
To reduce Q and thereby making the Q-box prices go up would act more like a G-sink over making Q seem more valuable - and with the frankly abysmal way the game grants Resources at end-game, this feels like a band-aid solution to an overarching problem: Questionite is directionless, only a stop-gap between players getting Zen by playing, and players getting Zen by paying.
(I mean, the whole problem is "lockboxes and a million split currencies" but if I say that too loudly the suits will remove my forum post. /lh)
Hope that they can fix this before it gets to Neverwinter levels.
Yea, the only solution I see for that event is if it becomes permanent. STO did something similar with their game, so why can't CO?
With this change of publisher HQs: Redwood City, California, US -> Berlin, Germany. Later this year or early next year, it is more likely that Questionite, Drifter Salvage, Lockboxes, etc will get get nuked out of the game.
As Germany's gambling problem increases it is likely that the subsequent video game restrictions/bans will get pushed through:
"urging a ban on game mechanics in computer and video games that represent paid virtual containers or packages, so-called loot boxes or packs, awarding in-game items randomly. According to the motion, mechanics similar to a Wheel of Fortune or slot machine should also be banned."
"also includes obligating game developers to disclose probabilities for the distribution of randomly generated items after game events, such as winning a round or reaching a certain milestone."
'"also includes banning virtual paid currencies within video games designed exclusively for acquiring additional in-game content that “cannot be exchanged for real currency.”'
With this being stated as well: “Computer and video games should be a source of joy and entertainment, not a backdoor form of gambling or an opaque financial trap. Especially concerning children and teenagers, effective protective measures are necessary to shield them from potential negative impacts,”
While DECA (GER) will be taking over the games with Cryptic (US) in a more supporting role - we as players have no idea or eyes on the company side of things nor the laws (or the bending thereof) which are applicable in this situation. If the laws were applied as we read them, then Dutch and Belgian players should no longer have access to Cryptic's titles at all considering those countries either have, or are trying to enforce, a ban on lootboxes. Your point rests on conjecture, and risks derailing the thread's point of the Questionite / Zen markets being entirely screwed without intervention.
Few years too late on that one. 😂
Point made: Zen is already earned through gameplay and trading - they just invented a currency to do so indirectly, further pointing out how pointless Questionite really feels.
This is my point, exactly: there are no permanent sinks for Questionite - since all the options bar Zen (and un-modding, lol) to sink it into eventually reach a point of no longer being necessary. I'm a filthy casul and even I've begun to just put Q on the market because there's nothing much catching my personal interest. (watch them enable the "6 million Q travel power sale" in a week or two)
Questionite / Zen markets need to be erased not saved.
- Legal reasons => eventual based health/ethical/moral bans
- Ethical/moral reasons => it is a blemish to have these monetization schemes targeting easily manipulated, compulsive players.
1. No thanks. Get rid of it. Don't support it.
2. Since 2012, it never had any value to begin with.
3. Has Zen ever been really valuable?'
My solution and the only ethical moral healthy choice is to nuke it.
There I made it more on topic you are welcome.
I mean you're not wrong, but, what are the questionite sinks that matter? You suggested something without clarification so I'm genuinely curious.
Also, unfortunately you are correct, in a perfect world Questionite wouldn't even be a thing and like Helldivers 2, Zen would be a premium currency you can earn in-game through looting.
UNFORTUNATELY!
We've been shown complete disregard over our opinions of many things except for the occasional rare moments where she got pushback, and rightfully so.
It went downhill with the Atari Tokens. Then, further downhill with Zen. Which exploded with lockbox and questionite doomed player count cycle 2012+ onwards.
The original purpose for Questionite was more for User-Generated Content rewards. It was meant to be the "Donation System" to attract "Authors" to make game content for Cryptic. Players enjoy Authors content then gift Questionite to Author, etc. However, its current operation is the scummy Play-2-Earn scheme. Which is further attached to a lockbox scheme.
The ideal overall monetization for MMOs will only ever be Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2. Minus the Gem Store/BLTC which is another play-2-earn scheme. However, it like Helldivers 2 is not the worst version of play-2-earn.
Questionite and Zen sinks are likely to not give us worthwhile content. As these systems reward the bare-minimum of effort by the developer. As the most fulfilling content across every MMO is the PAID expansion pack.
Objectively speaking, when it comes to the whole questionite issue, the origins don't matter, it has been absolutely bastardized into this 'play-to-earn' currency, which while I am not against, was tied into trading for the premium currency, which... is an okay concept in theory, but unfortunately, it was bound to spiral out of control, hence the discussion we have here
It's a nice currency for casual players. All items in the Questionite Store are Bind on Equip or Bind to Account on Equip except Travel Powers. Plenty of items that I find useful are found there. Not all, to be sure.
So, if you are just stockpiling Q, spend some on items that can be sold in the Auction House. You don't need to make a killing from a single sale either. Several smaller sales will net you lots of Gs, in my opinion.
My only gripe would be the Travel Powers being Bind on Pickup. Make them Bind on Equip also so those items can be sold to other players.
-=-=-=-=-=-(CO in-game handle: @WarCan )-=-=-=-=-=-
"Okay, you're DEAD, what do you do NEXT?"
Sims 3 = $19.99 Base => $379.81 of DLC
Sims 4 = Free Base => $1,244.20 of DLC
Imagine Sims 5 having a play-2-earn currency. Where these players have to do PvE combat sections in the Sims Gulag to earn such currency. It is the most abhorrently soul draining content imaginable.
But, at least they can skip these tasks by paying USD to skip it. The only context for this currency type being successful is not being play-to-earn. Instead just being used to tip UGC or pay for UGC.
Instant it becomes [work in a video game or credit card] is when it becomes unhealthy. In turn, ruining the game it goes into. As well as it being pushed to serve lockboxes. Which further ruins the game they are planted in.
The only way for an MMO to turn around is to get rid of the fleecing. With focus on making good content that pushes or expands the setting.
1. Remove Questionite p2w items and its lockbox, have it be an endgame currency w/o exchange with Zen/USD.
2. Remove Zen p2w/p2s items and its lockboxes
Focus on expanding the setting for cash:
Champions in 3-D
Champions Beyond
Champions International
Dark Champions in its current 5th to 6th edition state: Action Hero RPG [beginning/early-game examples: James Bond, Jason Bourne, Sam Fisher, Ethan Hunt, etc]
Whoever owns Champions Online has the Champions IP outright as well as a permissive license to insert other Hero RPG IP.
This is the only case for Champions Online to be spun into a successful MMO IP.