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My VIP Experience
doctordna
Member Posts: 65 Arc User
Hello Friends,
Today was/is the last day of my 30 days of VIP. Here is what I discovered this month.
In my opinion, $10 US, $12 CA for VIP is not worth it. I got a daily key to unlock a lockbox and each character got an epic dungeon key. The contents of the lockbox was almost always another "mystery contents" box. Prior to opening the inner box they ran an average value of 15K AD in the Auction House. The math looks like this; 30 x 15,000 = 450,000 AD in sales. Otherwise opening the inner box was always a disappointment. If you can save up 400,000 AD I would suggest you use it to buy the stuff you need or want from the AH, instead of gambling on finding something "better" inside.
Even if not for the value, you are chained to the game. This is their plan all along. I would sometimes forget to claim my key in the morning and have to log on in the evening after work to make my claim. They made VIP to entice you to play daily and not just the weekends as I prefer to do. I believe I came out ahead on this ONLY because of last month's 50% off sale.
Moonstone Mask VIP lounge has nothing special to see. Another bar, merchant, mailbox, you may as well hang out on the garden rooftop. At least there is a portal up there. I am seriously unimpressed by the VIP package. If playing the daily pick 3 is your thing, then maybe you will like VIP. I didn't see much point to it, but I had to give it a try.
Your friendly scourge warlock and demon worshiper,
--- Dymiral Saydon
Today was/is the last day of my 30 days of VIP. Here is what I discovered this month.
In my opinion, $10 US, $12 CA for VIP is not worth it. I got a daily key to unlock a lockbox and each character got an epic dungeon key. The contents of the lockbox was almost always another "mystery contents" box. Prior to opening the inner box they ran an average value of 15K AD in the Auction House. The math looks like this; 30 x 15,000 = 450,000 AD in sales. Otherwise opening the inner box was always a disappointment. If you can save up 400,000 AD I would suggest you use it to buy the stuff you need or want from the AH, instead of gambling on finding something "better" inside.
Even if not for the value, you are chained to the game. This is their plan all along. I would sometimes forget to claim my key in the morning and have to log on in the evening after work to make my claim. They made VIP to entice you to play daily and not just the weekends as I prefer to do. I believe I came out ahead on this ONLY because of last month's 50% off sale.
Moonstone Mask VIP lounge has nothing special to see. Another bar, merchant, mailbox, you may as well hang out on the garden rooftop. At least there is a portal up there. I am seriously unimpressed by the VIP package. If playing the daily pick 3 is your thing, then maybe you will like VIP. I didn't see much point to it, but I had to give it a try.
Your friendly scourge warlock and demon worshiper,
--- Dymiral Saydon
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Comments
People are running VIP farms for a reason. They can normally resub after 15-20 days and get the next 10 drops for free. And that's not even counting the ZEN vouchers the game is throwing at you at an incredible rate.
The only factor I'd agree on is the fact that VIP really requires you to be able to claim your key daily. It's annoying but it makes sense in the context of how the game is run.
Thank you.
I agree though that the devs could make the value a little bit more obvious. This thread show people get confused when they miss out on lockboxes for 30 days and start to generalize.
However, for me it works perfectly. I've paid for VIP monthly since it began and now have level 12. I've never spent real money on it, and if it came to spending real money or letting it lapse until I had enough AD to pay for it I would let it lapse.
Lockbox keys are just a small amount of what VIP offers. I cap myself on the amount of time I spend in game per day, and this has declined to probably an hour and I'd be lost without the summoned waypoint. Having the summoned mailbox, bank and salvage anvil are also excellent for inventory management. Add to that the increase in XP and the discounts on the Wondrous Bazaar...
Does VIP work for everyone - no, does it work for me - yes.
Do I expect the uber Legendary drop from my lockboxes? No. However, if I do get something really nice, well that will just be the icing on the cake! I have received a number of great things from the "inner boxes" as you call them. From epic quality craftsmen and tools for crafting, to companion upgrade tokens, and other fun things. Sure I get bad drops as well, but I tend to look at my daily keys as a bonus to all the other VIP perks, so I don't let bad drops upset me.
Yes, you have to log in daily to get your keys, though I don't get why having to log in after work if you forgot to get your key in the morning would be a problem? It doesn't take that long to log in, open your inventory and grab your VIP packs. You can then log out again straight away, nobody is forcing you to keep playing! Heck, get into a routine and after a bit logging in to get your keys on days you don't play will just become habit... and just think if you kept those keys from the week every weekend you'd have 7 keys you could use to open lockboxes!
BTW, I don't believe anyone was calling you a liar, they were simply saying you were misinformed and spreading that misinformation. Your sample size of 30 boxes is nowhere near enough to determine the average AD of lockboxes. That would take significantly more lockboxes to determine, also there is quite a variety of different lockboxes out there, all with differing items and drop statistics.
VIP is very much worth it to my partner and I, however, I would say that around rank 4 is where VIP really starts to be a great benefit as that is where you can summon the world travel signpost. Rank 5 is invoke anywhere. Rank 6 is summon mailbox. The more months you subscribe the better the bonuses are, and yes, that is the hook!
"...I grab my wiener and charge!" - ironzerg79
I think lockboxes in general are a terrible buy. I dislike them so much that I don't even bother with the 40% invoke coupon. Cryptic markets lockboxes like, yes, you too can get a legendary mount. But with the drop rate only a small fraction of 1%, the reality is only a small fraction of all accounts will ever win one. And that is normal, by design, not because non-winning accounts are "unlucky" or somehow wi-flagged.
That said, I do get about 10-20K AD worth of stuff to sell from each daily key. I've gotten an artifact maybe two or three times in the nine months I have VIP.
1 = you talk about the lockbox keys, compare the price for 30 keys in sale in the zen, with the price of 1 month of VIP that gives you the exact same amount...
2 = What about the epic dungeon keys? They are worth 5000 ad each, with one everyday, even on one character, you save 150 000 ad worth of dungeon keys ( more if you have more than one toon, and even more if you're above rank 1 in VIP)...
3 = Tarma bars, in one month, you can save up to 300 tarma bars just by opening the daylie lockbox...
4 = Side bonuses (HP etc...)
It takes you 5 mins to log in everyday to get your daylie rewards, come on, it's not the end of the world, and then if you forget, that's only your fault...
Everything that you need to know is on the tooltip, so you should have read more accuratly before buying it, it's clearly said that you get one reward everyday ( keys etc...)
It's definatly worth getting if you don't know what to do with your ZEN's...
The teleports and summon ventors/bank/mail, is great usefull.
And, Im never buy scrolls/keys again.
Keys just have to be looked at as a by product. Besides you accumulate trade bars and other little HAMSTER. AH fee helps when you keep getting undercut.
As for getting anything good out of lockboxes; in the past I've gone through at least 3-400 keys and nothing legendary; but close to recouping costs of the keys with all the junk it gives. I've saved up 1200 keys right now and testing it on preview server and early results seems like it does help to open a lot at once back to back fast (even though it should be random). I've gotten a legendary resurgence pack (on preview only) the first 275-450 keys out of the 1200 but then the remaining keys no legendary. So not sure if it gives less if you get one early. No time to test all combinations atm; and I'm sure they'll ban me again when I try to sell HAMSTER in the AH again.
And yes they ban based on what you sell in AH (and it seems to be off some ridiculous algorithm; as many people got banned after the 50% zen sale and bought stuff to resell and a lot of us had 20-50k zen to begin with). So real money spenders or AD farmers get punished if you flood the AH x.X
Also you get the extra dungeon keys - worth 3k per day minimum, as thefabricant said.
You get 10% extra on incants - 300/day per character and 10% on the Skirmish and dungeons rewards (not sure how much that is but might be around 1.5K / day per character.
I think VIP is worth it, but with any RNG there will be bad patches.
At least that would be my personal experience, running ViP right from the beginning of it, and it looks like the Devs tend to improve the newest lockbox allways a bit more.
Companion augmentation/pack for example, those drop pretty regular, and the ones from earlier lockboxes would sell for around 20-40k AD a piece, while the last one was even selling for 50-90k AD a piece.
Anyway, just saying, take a look at the lockboxes you have at your disposal, and compare their possible rewards before you open them.
Overall ViP isn't bad, but the Devs should take a look at the Trade Bar Store and really come around with an upgrade soon.
The OP is not spreading false information. What you are failing to see is that he mentioned that the money he spent could have been used for better upgrades at the time.
Without a certain degree of familiarity with the game, the average new player will waste the VIP opportunity. People with limited budgets may also waste the opportunity.
A lot of factors contribute to this, market value of lockbox components, RNG brutality, outdated lockboxes with terrible rewards, RNG fatalities!
Does VIP pay off ? Yes. Over time and only if you have the AD to spare so you can grab it via zen conversion, or were able to pick it up during 50% off.
For players still gearing up, it's not something recommend. Have I used it ? Yes. Was it advantageous? Yes. But that is only because I had the extra 10 bucks to throw around.
No injuries from traps or death
Travel signpost
Bank anywhere
Mailbox anywhere
The rest, frankly, are bonuses thank make it even more worthwhile. I don't min/max it down to AD cost. The travel, as instynctive said, is worth the price of admission. Having those 4 items above is with the $10 monthly price tag - especially given I haven't paid real money for it ever... But, if I was willing to pay real money to Cryptic for anything, VIP would be right up there at the top of the list.
Sekhmet@kvetchus_
Guilds: Greycloaks, Blackcloaks, Whitecloaks, Goldcloaks, Browncloaks, Spiritcloaks, Bluecloaks, Silvercloaks, Black Dawn
Tredecim: The Cloak Alliance
For other games with subscription models, you don't really get perks for paying, you just get the whole game. Those games curtail your experience if you don't pay. There are some free games like that too but lets stay focused.
To me Neverwinter offers you the full game at face value for free and the VIP system adds extra perks and bonuses on top of that. I say boo and hiss to the dirty tricks and ugly profiteering in this game but the VIP system is a great way to convince me that I should give them some of my money. I rather wish there were more forward looking systems like the VIP system that rewarded you for contributing without punishing other players who don't.
I had the same thoughts thought about attendance being mostly compulsory now. But I can live with that. Perhaps it is a bigger nettle for some. For me the VIP system is a pretty bright spot in all this.
I can understand the OP's frustration of a game that entices/forces you to log in on a daily basis, if you don't you "lose money (or value)" in a way.
So, for someone who plays daily the VIP package certainly is a bonus, but for the casual player it's kind of a loss.
The VIP time is consumed even if you are afk on an island for a month, though you get nothing from it.
They could give you the VIP items daily on an automated basis, or they could only count online time (i.e. 1 month VIP = 200 hours game time)
But the system is designed to glue you to the chair. I am not condemning this design, just saying what looks obvious to me.
If you are not online you get nothing from your VIP bonus. If you are just a casual weekend player you get much less for your bucks than an online junky.
Rise to POWER with <House of Power>.
The Exterminator - (NW-DLNXF3BGG)
But lmao, because while i need to get to the gym, my end goal will not be to look like my GWF!!!
VIP is for quality of life. VIP is for those who plays very often if not daily.
VIP12 gives you bank access anywhere,
you get 3 dungeon keys per day,
you get discount to buy stuff from AD store and the discount is stackable with AD store sales,
you get 10% more AD from anything that generates AD in game such as invocation, salvage, etc.
salvage stuff in anywhere you want, I don't need to carry the loot around.
If my bags are filled, pop a bank and dump them to bank(s).
If the bank is filled, pop a postal office and dump them to mail.
Why do I need to park in the garden when I can park anywhere and have access to almost everything?
Why do I need to park next to a portal when portal is always beside me?
If you run Maze Engine daily quest, you don't need to ride all the way to the portal.
I guess many people gives up for that easy 400 AD because they don't have the portal.
I don't use lockbox key daily. The RNG will always be against you that way. I find a quiet instance and open at least 30 keys in one shot. That is when you can get some good stuff.
This game doesn't have a great sense of risk versus reward, I'll give you that. However, any player complaining they can't break even with a lockbox every time doesn't have a good grasp on the concept either.
IMO: VIP is awesome and well worth it. Once you stop getting injuries, the teleports.....wow. Not all of it is useful, and the keys are a free bonus to me so its a win win. Anyone thinking it is not a good value is either: Very new, which I could understand it has lesser value then, or is just not seeing the big picture.