Will You Be a VIP?

silvergryph

Will you be buying into the VIP program?

beckylunatic

This poll might be uncomfortable for some people to answer honestly because of the public voting results.

theycallmetomu

Yes

Just look at the facts: for 1000 zen, you get 30 keys. If you use every single one of those, and somehow get nothing but air and trade bars, at the end of the month, you've still gotten yourself tradebars enough to buy a (bound to account) Coalescent Ward, effectively saving you 1000 zen (or 850 zen if you were waiting for a coupon drop).

The real problem, of course, is the zen backlog. Not sure how to fix that, other then possibly by removing the AD cap. In which case, you can expect there will be a lot of fury amongst the player base.

drkbodhi

Unsure

So this is turning into Arche-age?​​

flyingleon

Yes

Simply It worth the price. The problem will be zax. I would predict AH will play a bigger role since this program. Zax will have quite some backlog. I hope they could clean some boters at least.

theycallmetomu

Yes

Here's my thought:

If the only way to be profitable on the AH is to be a VIP pass, then botters suddenly have to invest in VIP passes.

The moment botters have to start paying explicit money per account, if Cryptic actually were to start, you know, cleaning up town a bit, then if they can ban accounts that purchased VIP passes, what are the botters gonna do? Well, they build another account. But those accounts will also need VIP passes. So you're (theoretically) increasing the cost of doing business for the botters. If you can increase the cost by enough, you can get rid of the botters simply by making the economic climate too difficult to operate in.

But, knowing Cryptic, what we'll likely see is a 15% reduction in Wondrous Bazaar prices as 1000 botters all get VIP passes and sell items constantly undercutting each other, and also a whole bunch of lockbox items being sold, thus radically reducing the prices of those as well.

Oh! and actually, come to think of it, the botters will be getting trade bars by opening lockboxes. So they'll end up buying Coal Wards. Those will be bind on pickup, but if they use the wards in order to make higher level enchants, the enchants themselves aren't bound, so maybe you'll see a drop in price of enchantments that require coal wards as well.

tl;dr version: If you believe botters are going to buy the VIP packs (and I'm not actually convinced they will-I think the backlog is mostly legitimate players at this point), then Cryptic is actually using the botter "community" as a means of lowering prices.

ogarious

Yes

As angry as I am with the developers of Neverwinter right now, it would be insane for me not to use this. Most of those reasons have already been posted above, so I wont be repeating what everyone else is saying. Is this the end solution for Neverwinter? No, the game is still horribly written and designed. The classes still need to be fixed, especially Warlock. Content is too hard for the normal person to struggle through. And I think that in the long run this will not appeal to the normal or casual player at all, but it's a step in the right direction (even if it is just a small one). The first I've seen in this game in a long time.

PS. At the time of my posting there have been 5 people to say no to this. But not one of those people have posted a single word here. Why? If you don't approve of this, then fricken say why so the developers can read it!

khimera906

Unsure

Right now I don't wanna pay for VIP. Thay have stripped the game of all its fun and now they're asking us for money to make it bearable.
I'll wait till after M8 and see how the game is gonna be like, then I'll decide if I wanna invest in VIP. Honestly it seems like an awesome deal, but I'm way too unsatisfied with the game/developers. The basic game gets poorer with every module. I don't wanna reward this kind of attitude. If they rise the quality of the basic game, I'll gladly pay for a VIP/subscription.

Unknown

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theycallmetomu

Yes

As I pointed out before, if you get 30 keys for 1000 zen, and then ALL you get is tradebars, you have enough to get yourself a Coal Ward.

So there are basically no circumstances at all where it doesn't pay for itself. There's no "gambling" involved. Certainly, the amount of benefits you receive is determined by the RNG, but how exactly are you tying that to gambling? What? What? What? That's... what?

That's one of the most nonsensical arguments I've heard on this topic. What?

As for the WB price reduction, just realize that this ultimately means people will buy things from the bazaar at a reduced price, and then sell it on the AH for a price that covers the 10% cost while still costing less than the bazaar. So this means the VIP system is a price cut for everyone, even non-VIP players.

Unknown

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theycallmetomu

Yes

"Investing any amount of stat points in lifesteal is an act of gambling, regardless of what the results are. I can play my toon for an entire evening and know that my math is good enough to allow me to remain at full health or at least never go to 0 for that night. But fighting with lifesteal as part of my build is still gambling. It's just risky."

Lockboxes are an uncertain element. But there's literally no way to get less from your 30 days of VIP access than you put into it. For something to really be a gamble, there has to be a chance of loss (and even then, it's questionable what's a gamble and what's risk). If there are no circumstances where you've lost out from investing in the VIP access, it's not really a gamble.

I will concede, though, that this argument hinges upon coal wards actually being worth 1000 zen, and trade bars from 30 boxes being enough to purchase a single coal ward.

Unknown

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theycallmetomu

Yes

Yes, by my analogy fighting a boss is a gamble. It isn't. Hence why your definition is silly.

VIP passes lower prices. Not sure how that's not addressing the economy.

vordayn

Yes

I'll invest in a few ranks here and there. Even with my limited resources I think I could keep VIP running month to month.

Even if it were to expire and I returned after an hiatus, I wouldn't mind buying the zen to get the VIP up and running at a rank +1 from where I left off.

The convenience factor is what really entices me. This advantage is great for players who actually *play* the game, and doesn't do much for botters. Good move Cryptic.

vordayn

Yes

magenubbie wrote: »

The other thing I don't like, despite what I said about it being a good deal in the end, is that it promotes gambling. And that's something I'll absolutely never approve of in an MMO that has no way of checking the age of the players. Yes, you have to state that you're old enough to play this game, but in all honestly, I don't believe half of what is said on the internet. So why should I believe players to be old enough to gamble? Judging by people's behavior I'd almost say that 90% of the people are no older than 15.

A steady supply of 1 enchanted key per day is not the only reason to get 1 rank in the VIP program. Granted, it's one of the more enticing reasons. However, the key will be there whether you use it or not. One may still accrue consolation rewards in the form of tarmalune bars, however in pure gambling, the rewards on average are a loss, and you may end up losing everything. Indeed, there is no pure loss with 1 rank of the VIP program.

Perhaps if one enters the VIP program with a mindset of winning an artifact it might be akin to gambling, but it isn't precisely gambling either.

magenubbie wrote: »

Furthermore, I'm unsure of what the effect of this will be on the ZAx. The amount of Zen requested has more than doubled since this was announced. I thought the plan was to make AD more desirable in an attempt to balance the economy. This actually does the exact opposite and I have my doubts if it will balance out against the AD requirements for the strongholds.

This does concern me. Disabling leadership on gateway seemed to improve the ZAX. However, this new announcement has created more of a backlog. This may be temporary however, in anticipation of a new module and the VIP program.

In the longer term, I would hope that the ZAX will improve. In one scenario, perhaps returning players who do not have AD to exchange for zen would rather buy into the VIP program in order to avail of the convenience. That's how I would go about it anyway.

But yes, I'm not certain in what direction the ZAX would go in the long term either. That's an important question that Cryptic must work on.

ddosuks

Im unsure but leaning strongly towards No.
Why ?
1) The whole kick system, ( including the new one ), why cant there be seperate Que's. One with the kick vote, and one with no kicks at all. I have no issue carrying a lesser gear score player or trying to do a quest with no tank or healer for example.
And why am I even forced to join with 2, (3 man dungeon) or 4, (5 Man) other players, What if I wanted to enter quests as a solo player or simply with one or two other players on 5 man boards. If we get beat up going in with less players it should be our problem for not entering with the recommended number, but there should be an option to go in by yourself or any number up to the recommended amount.

2) They dont seem to ever fix any bugs ( never fixed ANY I have ever reported, all still broken ). This is seriously aggravating, especially when AD is spent to respec or change item powers because of it.

3) Lag is still a big issue at random times, it happens from different PC's and Internet regardless of playing at work or home, and its not my PC ( Cyberpower Zeus Evo T at home ). It is the Neverwinter servers. Theres actually other developers on the old forums posting issues and even telling them in detail what they need to do to fix it. Another aggravating issue.

4) With every Mod. update change its like rolling the dice, for various reasons from nerfs, bugs, boring repetative questing. etc. It could be a good one or a tragedy.

With all that being said, I actually want to like this game and really do half the time. But until at least the 2nd & 3rd issues are fixed, I seriously hesitate to spend any money for fear of wasting it.

arabatur

No

VIP is classic misdirection from the issues which currently plague this game. Shiny objects and treats, whilst looking good do not address the valid concerns of those players who want NW to survive. Will VIP generate enough revenue to be beneficial? Only time will tell, but I would rather see tangible results first before I even consider any financial support.

Unknown

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twilightwatchman

No

I voted No, for broadly similar reasons to Magenubbie. And also the fact that I will probably be sitting out Mod 7 and waiting to see if Mod 8 addresses any of the diabolical design decisions implemented recently. Specifically but not confined to the ridiculous XP nerf.

hustin1

Unsure

I'm on the fence. I really don't care about portable banks or mailboxes, invoking from anywhere, or traveling overland from anywhere. The group buff and the keys jump out at me the most, but I haven't yet decided if I want to spend the Zen. I still think the devs have not adequately dealt with the massive nerf to survivability to deserve it.

regenerde

Yes

Yes... anyone knows if the 15% discount coupon will work for VIP too?

sasageru

Yes

Most games bring something of this nature into play eventually, and I'm just glad with Neverwinter, they're doing in such a way that it does not disadvantage players who do not have easy access to zen.

The rewards, though useful and a nice incentive, are not so awesome that it will in any real way, to put one player ahead of another. As it's also a zen store purchase, it means people can still buy zen using AD to gain the benefits without spending real money.

On the flip side, it does seem as though the benefits included will only further enable botters.

Flip side to everything.

Unknown

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matthiasthehun76

Unsure

I am hesitating between NO and Unsure, voted for Unsure.

The HP buff makes me think of that word... in PVP and it would be sadly one, without a doubt.

If some things would be fixed, like 2 year old bugs and real quality content- both PVE and PVP- would be brought back and new ones introduced, then i would be happy to give my money to them again, as i did it in my humble ways until Mod 6 hit me in the face and took away the nice dungeons and introduced that mess with the DR bug and the huge imbalance in PVP with all the Nega and Fey enchants.

matthiasthehun76

Unsure

magenubbie wrote: »

The other thing I don't like, despite what I said about it being a good deal in the end, is that it promotes gambling. And that's something I'll absolutely never approve of in an MMO that has no way of checking the age of the players. Yes, you have to state that you're old enough to play this game, but in all honestly, I don't believe half of what is said on the internet. So why should I believe players to be old enough to gamble? Judging by people's behavior I'd almost say that 90% of the people are no older than 15.

Exactly my Friend!

Makes me worry a loot too, especially when i know i get pumpled into the dirt with all kinds of shiny stuff in PVP by kids' or teens' toons, which have hundreds/thousands of bots behind them and this VIP HP boost will give them now more than a winning edge. Now they had to use the parents credit card to do that, but after VIP program, they are free to do whatever they wish, behind their parents back.

jaydenomega812

No

Just because, at this point, I don't have enough AD to put out in order to use the ZAX. Perhaps later on still unsure about that. Still want to make sure that there is not going to be a lil surprise in the fine print, for instance, all lockbox items are account bound. Still though I'm glad to see the program coming cause it will without a doubt give much more people access to lockbox items. The rewards are decent too, but I think for now I'll be able to suffer without them as I have been already.

suicidalgodot

Yes

I will do it, but after all for me this only means keeping another week or two of in-game austerity plus waiting out the ZAX.

In principle, I'm not so delighted by the move, but much of the crowd will go there, so I'll trundle along - especially as I will not have to spend RL money. And, yes, I'll go all the way to Rank 12. There's IMHO little point in punishing oneself by not grabbing the price discounts. Spending > a hundred RL cash, however for those advantages wouldn't be on my agenda.

plasticbat

Yes

It makes sense to do this for those who are farming for AD. I don't consider this is a "solution" for the problems.
People and PWE may think that way. I don't.
I consider this as an optional convenient package. I look at this objectively instead of subjectively.

If you are buying lockbox key, this is a better deal. If you are farming AD, this helps you to get more. If you are buying Greater Scroll of id to id green junks like I do, this saves 37500 AD per character. 25% off GMoP can save a bunch. If you buy and sell to AH (assuming GMoP will not be bound), you can earn a lot too. After all these "savings", the 30 days fee may be neutralized or minimized. After that, what you gain is the convenience.

It gives you an unlimited storage through:
1. AH + 0 posting fee + AH return mail.
2. Invoke anywhere,
3. savage anywhere,
4. access the bank anywhere,
5. access mailbox anywhere
6. immunity to injuries. I don't need to slot injury kit anymore
7. teleport to any map from anywhere

So, objectively, it is good to have for my play strategy.

theycallmetomu

Yes

As i keep having to point out, not only is it a better deal than getting lockboxes, the trade bars you get from those lockboxes actually pay for themselves in the form of a coal ward.

That's only true, of course, if you were eventually going to need a coal ward in the first place, though.

ogarious

Yes

kalindra wrote: »

Furthermore it's just a diversionary tactic to keep some of the players from insisting on bug fixing and content.

With that I agree wholeheartedly. While I am willing to give them a chance by supporting this, if they continue just to keep the status quo with unfixed bugs (Harrowstorm), unbalanced classes, and overall poor development. Then I'll do what I've been doing since basicly mod 5. Standing to the side, not putting any money into the game. And telling them they're doing a $@#! job.