The way this is handled -including a mod throwing fuel on the fire two days after the initial post- is so amateurish and the greed shines through so bright...
It really makes me sick that these people on the helm are slowly killing this fantastic game.
The way this is handled -including a mod throwing fuel on the fire two days after the initial post- is so amateurish and the greed shines through so bright...
It really makes me sick that these people on the helm are slowly killing this fantastic game.
Its only slow cause we are a bunch of stubborn fools who keep staying here.
Row, row, row your boat, Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, Life is but a dream.
Whichever way you look at it this game is largely based on gambling (RNG) for your rewards, either at a cost of your time your money or both, unfortunately the house keeps changing the odds of success (decent drops) to become more and more remote, with the hope you are willing to throw more of your money/time into their pockets.
You should expect to get a decent return on you investments (money/time/both) always as FUN (that’s why we play) and also a decent chance of game enhancing rewards, these both go hand in hand to make a sustainable in game economy and profitable gambling business.
We all understand you need to make a profit but for that you need happy secure investors, sadly they do not seem to get it right big time. I Unfortunately think they are following the business model of the UK National lottery double the cost and half the players same profit, whilst trying to telling us it a good thing.
Its the same team who think the amount of vblood and relic hunting is appropriate.
IF that same team is going to put a package together of loot and what is acceptable.. just contemplate that for awhile.
This is why I really don't buy the bug excuse. They don't design drop tables while completely ignoring chest mechanics. Drop tables have horrible odds because they know that players don't have to consume a key every time they get a terrible roll. If this really was a bug and they continued to design drop tables around it for years it's a feature at that point whether they want to admit it or not.
NEVERWINTER IS THE GAME THAT EVEN A DEVELOPER CANNOT ADMIT THAT THE LOGIN SCREEN IS A FEATURE NOT A BUG.
The login screen is a feature. *winces from the inevitable*
Finally a developer shows up.... and responds to a sarcastic comment. Not a word about any of the feedback provided. Lovely.
I don't think there is anything I can say that would assuage anyone at this time other than, "We are rolling back the changes." I can't make that call but all of the feedback we have received and HOW it was received is certainly noted. I will certainly talk to some people about the reaction.
I just want to be clear, I am not promising anything, I am just stating, "you have been heard."
@panderus Please don't roll back the changes.. but add good loot to chests... or higher drop rate. The key changes could lead to people doing more of the other content (if the loot is worth it) and would stop the moronic 50 runs of (CN only) a day by the super elite and them taking all the good loot and bumping up the prices.
6 shards of orcus in 1 month.. I heard one say... jeez.. I've seen 1 since CN was released and that was when CN was new.
One of the most compalined about aspects of this game is lack of decent loot in chest since Mod 6... do something about that and this raging with added loot to chests... but not 1 key is worth a million peeks.
“Improvise, Adapt and Overcome!”
― Clint Eastwood, Heartbreak Ridge
Guild Leader of Ardent Justice HQ: Always recruiting People not Pixels.
forumnamesuxsMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 490Arc User
edited October 2016
@weaver936 Part of the issue here is that if the loot table is ever changed for the better, which history teaches us it won't be, it is likely to come so long after the key change, that most of us have already abandoned all hope of it ever coming, and just moved on to a game with a worthwhile reward system.
The way I interpret OP, they are going to work on loot tables post key change, while a plan for these changes should have been made long before this announcement.
Wolves, big as a horse! I need new pants!
0
micky1p00Member, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 3,594Arc User
Part of the issue here is that if the loot table is ever changed for the better, which history teaches us it won't be, it is likely to come so long after the key change, that most of us have already abandoned all hope of it ever coming, and just moved on to a game with a worthwhile reward system.
Not only this, but they will: "Look into the the matter" "Evaluate the data" "Gather more data" "Have a meeting next week" "Pass it along to the right people" etc...
And weaver, enough with turning the second cheek, each time someone throw steamy HAMSTER at my face should I say thanks for warming me? Yes, we play this by choice, yes, we can leave, but that doesn't mean we can't have a spine, an opinion, or need to like every rotten hamster thrown at us and say thanks, can we have more.
3+ years of a lot of time investment. Small'ish GH17 guild, with a lot of effort invested. We prefer not to leave, but the camel is tired and the straw is pilling up fast. For a long time now, a lot of people are around not for the game, but for the people they met and in spite of the game.
@panderus we all know that you (plural) will not reverse the changes but the loot drop rate needs to be fixed ASAP as well as the time to make a key and you need to let us test it all. Because after these changes hit we won't even have the illusion of progression in the game. Even if I was an addicted gambler these odds don't come close to making me an addict.
6 shards of orcus in 1 month.. I heard one say... jeez.. I've seen 1 since CN was released and that was when CN was new.
And how is this tied to Key changes? All 6 could've been a drop from the boss. No key used. Even after this hits the guy will still get 6 because he runs an insane amount of them during that month. The only difference being we will all get a +1 ring from the chest with that drop.
But yeah, you are right. The loot table needs to be adjusted all over the board.
Its the same team who think the amount of vblood and relic hunting is appropriate.
IF that same team is going to put a package together of loot and what is acceptable.. just contemplate that for awhile.
This is why I really don't buy the bug excuse. They don't design drop tables while completely ignoring chest mechanics. Drop tables have horrible odds because they know that players don't have to consume a key every time they get a terrible roll. If this really was a bug and they continued to design drop tables around it for years it's a feature at that point whether they want to admit it or not.
NEVERWINTER IS THE GAME THAT EVEN A DEVELOPER CANNOT ADMIT THAT THE LOGIN SCREEN IS A FEATURE NOT A BUG.
The login screen is a feature. *winces from the inevitable*
Finally a developer shows up.... and responds to a sarcastic comment. Not a word about any of the feedback provided. Lovely.
I don't think there is anything I can say that would assuage anyone at this time other than, "We are rolling back the changes." I can't make that call but all of the feedback we have received and HOW it was received is certainly noted. I will certainly talk to some people about the reaction.
I just want to be clear, I am not promising anything, I am just stating, "you have been heard."
@panderus Please don't roll back the changes.. but add good loot to chests... or higher drop rate. The key changes could lead to people doing more of the other content (if the loot is worth it) and would stop the moronic 50 runs of (CN only) a day by the super elite and them taking all the good loot and bumping up the prices.
6 shards of orcus in 1 month.. I heard one say... jeez.. I've seen 1 since CN was released and that was when CN was new.
One of the most compalined about aspects of this game is lack of decent loot in chest since Mod 6... do something about that and this raging with added loot to chests... but not 1 key is worth a million peeks.
you obviously haven't been playing this game very long if you think they'd actually improve loot rolls by that much. given their history we are literally talking about a move up to a aqua from a peridot. it's like trusting the govt to actually spend higher taxes on things that matter instead of pork.
As players have said...logically in an MMO if you use a CONSUMABLE key to open a lock (chest) then the key should be CONSUMED when OPENING the lock whether you want the gear or not. We have had people report it to us because they felt like it was a bug and an exploit.
If keys are consumables, then WHY THE ---- AREN'T THEY IN THE "CONSUMABLES" SECTION OF THE AH? They're "Miscellaneous" instead. Even the tooltip doesn't state that the key will be consumed after use at all (at least on Epic Dungeon Keys).
Holy HAMSTER, I've seen many pathetic developers over the years (and trust me, I had to go thru a lot of Cyanide HAMSTER with my beloved Blood Bowl), but Cryptic is one of a kind.
Even if they don't push this debacle live it DOES NOT change the fact that the new raid has THREE chests that need to be opened for the new weapons. Either only run it once daily with keys that sound like a pita to get OR buy keys from the Zen shop.
That HAS to change, whether they do the right thing re: this whole key debacle.
Why don't you ALL just grow up and be thankful that you had it SO good for SO long. This is what pisses me off about people.. never thankful for the blessings in their lives.. always asking for MORE MORE MORE.. and always bitching about how they are supposedly done wrong.
Grow up.
In an old school (real) MMO.. none of you likely would have made it past level 10.
Are you for real? When did we have it SO good for SO long? I honestly don't understand what your suggesting, that because we have played and enjoyed this game, we should be okay with them turning it into HAMSTER? Thankful for the blessings in our lives? .... its a game, a source of entertainment and pleasant distraction, not a blessing, and as a customer I have every right to be pissed when they lower the quality of the product I am consuming... and are you like brand new to the game or something? "always asking for MORE MORE MORE" ! ! !!!!!!!!!!! SERIOUSLY?! are you daft insaine? Most of us have been begging them not to TAKE TAKE TAKE. When we do ask for more, it often includes the return of things they've taken at the top of the list.
I know they can't make everyone happy, but damn! They certainly are good at making everyone unhappy. I guess minus you from that everyone. You should go apply for a job at Cryptic, you've got the right stuff for it, mainly no idea what everyone here is talking about.
After writing this, out of bemused curiosity from your statements, I took a look at your posts. You've been around for over a year now, which makes your comments all the more bemusing, but damn man (or woman) the hypocrisy you are displaying is disgusting. You had a thread shut down by a moderator because it was A "Troll Thread". You said in a post on February 18th, "You guys have DEFILED and gutted a CLASSIC and Precious part of Neverwinter. CN was once the high point of NW end-game content and now it's just trash. It's a shame that the devs do not learn from their mistakes and keep ruining even the good things...." You even have cited the removal of content in other posts, like when you talked about the removal of old dungeons in a thread that first week they took Gateway down before it was removed entirely.... Where is your thankfulness for your blessings? Certainly seems like you have done your fair share of bitching about feeling like you've been done wrong. And from skimming your 240 posts, it sure seemed like you did a lot of asking for MORE MORE MORE yourself. Please, don't rage at other people for doing the exact same thing you've done in the past, and don't bring that hypocrisy to this thread. Its already brutal enough in places.
Guild - Synergy, Australia
SW - Lanfear, GWF - Krivnaar, OP - K'aathorn, DC - Allegria, CW - Mierin Eronaille
Oh just as a little bit of comparison - Wizards of the Coast replied to my complaint about this within four hours. Yes it maybe helps that I was a playtester for them (before they began crowdsourcing playtesting) but it clearly shows there is a better way. And hopefully that those whose Intellectual Property you are devaluing by destroying the brand's reputation will be waking up and taking this seriously.
So it would help if you told us where/who you wrote to? You know you want me to whine and meow into their ears instead of yours ... It may be grasping at straws but why not at least try to petition WotC... I know if I were a dev in this game I would most certainly not come to this forum and defend moronic decisions I had no part in making (and look...they rarely ever do...it´s not a surprise) but I would be glad to see those that did make the decisions get fired or at least brought to reason by some source that has the power to do so.
I would love to see that, but they will not make this for 21 reasons 1- it will show new players the number of active bugs 2- it would show that bugs that affect theyr money comes first, btw this is NOT a complain, is theyr work is how it has to be, but i dont think most of the community would like to see this...
I don't think there is anything I can say that would assuage anyone at this time other than, "We are rolling back the changes." I can't make that call but all of the feedback we have received and HOW it was received is certainly noted. I will certainly talk to some people about the reaction.
I just want to be clear, I am not promising anything, I am just stating, "you have been heard."
Personally, I would like to see loot in all chests that consume keys to be worthwhile to open, regardless of their content. They need to have something in them that is both worth the time of the content ran and worth the key consumed. If this could be assured and done, then I am sure that folks would have no problems with the change. As it is right now, almost all the time the loot in the chests is sorely disappointing.
Agreed, you see Farming Edemo for the twisted weapons is really boring but at least we know that we are slowing getting there, but the dungeons/skirmishes special chests are a joke, mostly the basic one has better drops...
But the promess og better drops must not come like yuo will "have a chance to get X" i want to see the % drop, if not a % at least a month in the preview for analisis and feedback...
Funny thing even after ignore the game itself for a few days already i still stop my work to read this forum thread, looks like "While there's life, there's hope"...
sameriker, i do like "reroll" loot concept for cost almost nothing or very little tiny cost.
Thanks, it is a shame however some people are not bothering to read what is "hidden" under the » show previous quotes before jumping to conclusions. Seeing the full discussion helps one understand my point of view much better. Adding more to the game is always better than this game of take away. If you whittle a piece of wood long enough you could have a nice flute, remove too much you have toothpicks.
Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident; the only earthly certainty is oblivion. ~ Mark Twain
"Another key area for us is communication with our community. We are looking at additional ways to show our progress or create direct lines of communication back to our players whether it be through additional dev blogs or in-game activities. We will be working on a way to give the community a clearer picture of what we are working on and what we understand the top issues to be." -State of the Game, 2016
Is this why we had to wait two days for a response to this thread? Or wait five days to find out the Gateway shutdown was intentional?
We've been waiting for the missing dungeons for eighteen months now. What's the status on that?
You guys have a very bad habit of making nebulous promises, but never following through with them. Another vague assurance like "the Neverwinter design team will be better able to design rewards for chests going forward now that the bug has been fixed" isn't going to cut it this time, we've been burned too many times. That would be like killing Gateway and giving us some vague promise of rebalancing professions and relocating the companion loot in the future... oh... wait...ha, that's exactly what you did.
The loot fix and QoL review that Becky, Iron, and others have asked for HAS to be completed before the key change if you want to retain your paying customers, it's that simple.
Post edited by beadin on
0
frozenfirevrMember, Neverwinter Moderator, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 1,475Community Moderator
That the decline button was there for those who did not want the loot, not for those who did not want to consume their key.
Back in Mod 3, keys needed AD, 10k AD I believe. You open a chest, got a Peridot (Yay!), you lost your key, would you decline? Taking that peridot and selling it would atleast get you 5% of your cost back. So, nobody, I repeat, nobody, let me be very clear, nobody will decline a chest with their key consumed, that option should NEVER EXIST if what you're saying is true. Let's say you open a Runic Lockbox, you get a Runic Insignia Pack from which you get 2 bloody uncommon Insignias (800 AD out of 62500 AD, awesome!), do you see a Decline button anywhere? Huh? Let's say you open a Coffer of Celestial Artifact Equipment, you get a Rank 4 Enchantment and a Thaumaturgic Stone, again, any Decline buttons visible? NO, because you used up whatever you used to open it and there's no reason to decline a reward that you paid for. Campaign keys now no longer require AD, but the Campaign Currency still needs effort and don't magically appear in your bags, they sure as heck ain't free. There was a reason only chests had a Decline button, cause you're allowed to decline without losing anything but time.
Anyways, what's the logic behind not being able to decline? I take the rewards, my hands are full and can't place the shiny peridot on the floor to get my key back. But, if I decide the rewards ain't worth the key, I can lock it back up and take my key with me. How's that a 'BUG'?
Conclusion, THIS is NOT a BUG! No matter what you say.
And, being a moderator, you CANNOT go around advertising 'bugs' whether or not they are condoned.
I believe I've disagreed without being disagreeable. If you can, @zebular, @ambisinisterr, @panderus, disagree without being disagreeable and I (and probably the entire community) will let it pass.
Do not play developers work, it's totally worthless, and now all your time will be wasted because you'll not have keys to open the coffers, anyway, they only contain garbage.
Play the foundry!! You don't even need a key to open the final chest!! Isn't that amazing!!
Oh, you say foundry rewards are garbage too? Yep, may be true, but at least you'll not need a key!!
Even if they make the loot better, it will still change how people play. People currently group up and run Lostmauth, Shores, Castle Never, & EDemo 10+ times in a row. If you run it once, use your key, then you're out of keys, people will stop doing that and thus stop playing.
Once you lose a few healers or tanks, it becomes impossible to make a group and more people will fall off. I don't think you'll find a guild with 5 people willing to spend money on keys every single day, and PUG groups can rarely finish more difficult content in my experience.
If you think people want to grind a campaign for a week to make a key and run a dungeon once, that's not what people do, and you'd need the whole group to have the keys made.
0
jumpingmorksMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 876Arc User
As players have said...logically in an MMO if you use a CONSUMABLE key to open a lock (chest) then the key should be CONSUMED when OPENING the lock whether you want the gear or not. We have had people report it to us because they felt like it was a bug and an exploit.
If keys are consumables, then WHY THE ---- AREN'T THEY IN THE "CONSUMABLES" SECTION OF THE AH? They're "Miscellaneous" instead. Even the tooltip doesn't state that the key will be consumed after use at all (at least on Epic Dungeon Keys).
Holy HAMSTER, I've seen many pathetic developers over the years (and trust me, I had to go thru a lot of Cyanide HAMSTER with my beloved Blood Bowl), but Cryptic is one of a kind.
The first thing you learn in NWO is never trust the tooltips.
If they increase the drop rate percentages, how will we know they aren't just going from like 0.01% to 0.0125?
The only idea I can think of is that we will need to know the old percentage and the new percentage for each item on the loot tables. Otherwise they'll just say "Ah yeah we will increase the drop rates, no problem! We are pleased with this compromise and sure you will be too!" and then the increase is some super small amount.
They probably inclue in the numbers of ppl who did not exploit those who played for a few hours then moved on as well as ppls alts which are not used for dng running and just as ponies, profession farms..etc..also they probably include bots.
That way the active <50k players who knew is dwarved by the 14million characters...
Statistics can support whatever story they want to spin us...
Now, on to the those claiming that the "this is a bug" is a lie. It is not. The Moderators were told early on just after Module 3 that being able to open a chest and not take the contents but keep your key was indeed a bug. That the decline button was there for those who did not want the loot, not for those who did not want to consume their key.
I doubt anyone will believe this. I certainly don't.
In any case, once a deliberate decision was made to let it go, the decline functionality was promoted from bug to feature.
I can understand that reasoning, especially since it was treated as an acceptable bug that was not deterred from use, even encouraged. What ever it was or is, that doesn't change that they're changing things. What we need to focus on is how that change will take effect, what it will mean, and whether or not it will be an acceptable change overall. In short, we need answers on just what this change means for our chest loot.
No, we need to convince them to roll back the change!
Mod 1-5 monetization: Play and have fun, if you spend money you'll get neat shinies!
Mod 6+ monetization: Play, but if you want to have fun, you have to spend money!
Frankly it's typical pusher behavior. They drew in a core group, got them hooked for cheap, then once they were invested slowly escalated costs on the community, hoping that the core would help them retain their player base.
This whole key bug cash-grab/box within a box is just the final straw, the tipping point where that core has finally become disillusioned. It's a wake-up call to Cryptic: either they need to seriously re-evaluate this games direction, or be prepared to lose a substantial number of their core players.
I've played all their games for years, I have lifetime subscriptions on two of them, and I've thrown more than my fair share of money their way to support them - way more than a monthly subscription to any other developer would have cost me. Until they rethink their strategic direction, that's finished. I'm pressing Shift+2 on opening my wallet. For ALL their products. I don't appreciate being coerced to spend money to opt out of busy work, and if I wanted to spend real money to gamble, I'd spend it on a real lottery ticket, not pixels in a virtual chest.
Comments
The way this is handled -including a mod throwing fuel on the fire two days after the initial post- is so amateurish and the greed shines through so bright...
It really makes me sick that these people on the helm are slowly killing this fantastic game.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, Life is but a dream.
You should expect to get a decent return on you investments (money/time/both) always as FUN (that’s why we play) and also a decent chance of game enhancing rewards, these both go hand in hand to make a sustainable in game economy and profitable gambling business.
We all understand you need to make a profit but for that you need happy secure investors, sadly they do not seem to get it right big time. I Unfortunately think they are following the business model of the UK National lottery double the cost and half the players same profit, whilst trying to telling us it a good thing.
Please don't roll back the changes.. but add good loot to chests... or higher drop rate. The key changes could lead to people doing more of the other content (if the loot is worth it) and would stop the moronic 50 runs of (CN only) a day by the super elite and them taking all the good loot and bumping up the prices.
6 shards of orcus in 1 month.. I heard one say... jeez.. I've seen 1 since CN was released and that was when CN was new.
One of the most compalined about aspects of this game is lack of decent loot in chest since Mod 6... do something about that and this raging with added loot to chests... but not 1 key is worth a million peeks.
― Clint Eastwood, Heartbreak Ridge
Guild Leader of Ardent Justice HQ: Always recruiting People not Pixels.
FOUNDER and OWNER of the SKT3K Channel: SKT Only Content 3k+. http://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/neverwinter/#/discussion/1228278/skt-content-for-the-non-elite-video-links-provided
Part of the issue here is that if the loot table is ever changed for the better, which history teaches us it won't be, it is likely to come so long after the key change, that most of us have already abandoned all hope of it ever coming, and just moved on to a game with a worthwhile reward system.
The way I interpret OP, they are going to work on loot tables post key change, while a plan for these changes should have been made long before this announcement.
And weaver, enough with turning the second cheek, each time someone throw steamy HAMSTER at my face should I say thanks for warming me?
Yes, we play this by choice, yes, we can leave, but that doesn't mean we can't have a spine, an opinion, or need to like every rotten hamster thrown at us and say thanks, can we have more.
3+ years of a lot of time investment. Small'ish GH17 guild, with a lot of effort invested. We prefer not to leave, but the camel is tired and the straw is pilling up fast.
For a long time now, a lot of people are around not for the game, but for the people they met and in spite of the game.
Even after this hits the guy will still get 6 because he runs an insane amount of them during that month. The only difference being we will all get a +1 ring from the chest with that drop.
But yeah, you are right. The loot table needs to be adjusted all over the board.
no.... roll back those changes.
Holy HAMSTER, I've seen many pathetic developers over the years (and trust me, I had to go thru a lot of Cyanide HAMSTER with my beloved Blood Bowl), but Cryptic is one of a kind.
That HAS to change, whether they do the right thing re: this whole key debacle.
SW - Lanfear, GWF - Krivnaar, OP - K'aathorn, DC - Allegria, CW - Mierin Eronaille
It may be grasping at straws but why not at least try to petition WotC...
I know if I were a dev in this game I would most certainly not come to this forum and defend moronic decisions I had no part in making (and look...they rarely ever do...it´s not a surprise) but I would be glad to see those that did make the decisions get fired or at least brought to reason by some source that has the power to do so.
1- it will show new players the number of active bugs
2- it would show that bugs that affect theyr money comes first, btw this is NOT a complain, is theyr work is how it has to be, but i dont think most of the community would like to see this... Agreed, you see Farming Edemo for the twisted weapons is really boring but at least we know that we are slowing getting there, but the dungeons/skirmishes special chests are a joke, mostly the basic one has better drops...
But the promess og better drops must not come like yuo will "have a chance to get X" i want to see the % drop, if not a % at least a month in the preview for analisis and feedback...
Funny thing even after ignore the game itself for a few days already i still stop my work to read this forum thread, looks like "While there's life, there's hope"...
-State of the Game, 2016
Is this why we had to wait two days for a response to this thread? Or wait five days to find out the Gateway shutdown was intentional?
We've been waiting for the missing dungeons for eighteen months now. What's the status on that?
You guys have a very bad habit of making nebulous promises, but never following through with them. Another vague assurance like "the Neverwinter design team will be better able to design rewards for chests going forward now that the bug has been fixed" isn't going to cut it this time, we've been burned too many times. That would be like killing Gateway and giving us some vague promise of rebalancing professions and relocating the companion loot in the future... oh... wait...ha, that's exactly what you did.
The loot fix and QoL review that Becky, Iron, and others have asked for HAS to be completed before the key change if you want to retain your paying customers, it's that simple.
Play the foundry!! You don't even need a key to open the final chest!! Isn't that amazing!!
Oh, you say foundry rewards are garbage too? Yep, may be true, but at least you'll not need a key!!
image upload
Have a good day!!
NWS-DOVA9JIJV - The Lost Seneschal
NW-DT3221YUY - The Wildcross Bride
Foundry Grand Master.
Once you lose a few healers or tanks, it becomes impossible to make a group and more people will fall off. I don't think you'll find a guild with 5 people willing to spend money on keys every single day, and PUG groups can rarely finish more difficult content in my experience.
If you think people want to grind a campaign for a week to make a key and run a dungeon once, that's not what people do, and you'd need the whole group to have the keys made.
The only idea I can think of is that we will need to know the old percentage and the new percentage for each item on the loot tables. Otherwise they'll just say "Ah yeah we will increase the drop rates, no problem! We are pleased with this compromise and sure you will be too!" and then the increase is some super small amount.
They probably inclue in the numbers of ppl who did not exploit those who played for a few hours then moved on as well as ppls alts which are not used for dng running and just as ponies, profession farms..etc..also they probably include bots.
That way the active <50k players who knew is dwarved by the 14million characters...
Statistics can support whatever story they want to spin us...
Mod 6+ monetization: Play, but if you want to have fun, you have to spend money!
Frankly it's typical pusher behavior. They drew in a core group, got them hooked for cheap, then once they were invested slowly escalated costs on the community, hoping that the core would help them retain their player base.
This whole key bug cash-grab/box within a box is just the final straw, the tipping point where that core has finally become disillusioned. It's a wake-up call to Cryptic: either they need to seriously re-evaluate this games direction, or be prepared to lose a substantial number of their core players.
I've played all their games for years, I have lifetime subscriptions on two of them, and I've thrown more than my fair share of money their way to support them - way more than a monthly subscription to any other developer would have cost me. Until they rethink their strategic direction, that's finished. I'm pressing Shift+2 on opening my wallet. For ALL their products. I don't appreciate being coerced to spend money to opt out of busy work, and if I wanted to spend real money to gamble, I'd spend it on a real lottery ticket, not pixels in a virtual chest.