100% companion coupon mistake gives a giant unintended boost to only select players.

clearenxr72

This post is intended to shred light onto the unintended and massive boost that ARC has given to only a few select players in the game in the form of the 100% off companion coupon.

To summarize the mistake; The Golden Companion bundle that is 14,000 zen could be bought for free with a 100% off coupon that was given to players back in September of last year. Once bought with the coupon the packs become bound to account but then the items inside become unbound once they are opened and selected, which means that every single item in that 14,000 zen item (or 10.5 million ad exchange with a two month waiting period) could be then sold on the AH. This lead to an unfair, and unintended advantage for any player who was sitting on their coupon for a singular companion that would of been bound to account.

We should mention the intent of the 100% off companion coupon, which was initially stated here; https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/neverwinter/news/detail/11477413 . The intended purpose was to give help to players who were adjusting to a new system, and the intent of the coupon was to make the rewards bound to account. The intent is clear, and the application was wrongfully applied to the golden companion pack.

The consequences of this are evident; a select few players got a 10.5 million AD advantage over other players. This advantage is the equivalent of 105 days of rough AD refinement.

The response from the GM's are clear in a customer service response I received; "I've read your concern about the two pieces of Golden Companion Pack that you purchased and how other players are able to obtain them using the 100% Any Companion Coupon. While we still do not have information from the developers about what happened, i'm afraid there is no instruction about being able to refund players with this. The packs you purchased are permanently applied to your account and it applies to every companion choice packs in the game. Sorry about that." This unintended and unfair advantage only a select few players received is permanent, and they are unwilling to undo their mistake or help undo purchases made before the knowledge of those mistakes were made public. The worse part of this is the lack of communication about their error to the community, because there is no official public post where they acknowledge this is a mistake or if this was intended. They are keeping quiet, and hoping this instance just breezes by and their lack of testing and accountability goes unnoticed.

In closing, I would hope the developers make a public statement about their mistake. I would hope they take actions to either fix it, or reward everyone equally and not just a very lucky few who were allowed to claim an item that was not intended to be claimed for free.

namelesshero347

That coupon was from 8 months ago. After the companion rework, there may not be many coupons left. The bundle is on sale for only a week. The devs could have blocked the use of the coupon. But now that it is out there, I see no reason for them to do anything at this point about the small number of people using the coupon. But thanks for making this situation more visible and ensuring more people will notice and take advantage of this offer before the sale ends.

plasticbat

1. The coupon mentioned in the web page said nothing about its intention to make what it receives to be account bound.
2. It is the item from Zen store states how it is bound regardless how much you pay for it. It is not the coupon which states how the item will bound. When the 100% coupon came out, the item purchased at that time was not bound at all but it was also not account wide.
3. For those who pay full price to buy it, should it be bound?
4. For those who pay current 30% off price to buy it, should it be bound?
5. For those who use 25% off coupon to buy it, should it be bound?
6. For those who use 50% off coupon to buy it, should it be bound? Are they considered to have 5.5 million AD advantage?
7. For those who may buy it in the coming Zen store sales (if the item is still available) for (say) 40% off, should it be bound?

There should only be one answer of all the "should it be bound" question. Either yes or no.
I don't see the 100% off coupon should be treated differently.

mystar

I can imagine the first person who noticed the coupon deal felt like they scored big time...cuz they did and that's cool considering how the rewards are working out for the rest of us.

I can't see these select few having an unfair advantage mainly because if they've been sitting on a free companion coupon for this long means they probably haven't had anything worthwhile to spend it on until now. Saying it's not fair and expecting them to reward everyone equally sounds so childish.

If it's only a select few who got the pack free then it shouldn't be a big deal. I'm sure it's hard for some people who spent money to congratulate others for their unexpected winfall, but it doesn't mean we should get a refund or that everyone else should be rewarded equally.

I wish I would have saved my coupon lol.

clearenxr72

plasticbat said:

1. The coupon mentioned in the web page said nothing about its intention to make what it receives to be account bound.
2. It is the item from Zen store states how it is bound regardless how much you pay for it. It is not the coupon which states how the item will bound. When the 100% coupon came out, the item purchased at that time was not bound at all but it was also not account wide.
3. For those who pay full price to buy it, should it be bound?
4. For those who pay current 30% off price to buy it, should it be bound?
5. For those who use 25% off coupon to buy it, should it be bound?
6. For those who use 50% off coupon to buy it, should it be bound? Are they considered to have 5.5 million AD advantage?
7. For those who may buy it in the coming Zen store sales (if the item is still available) for (say) 40% off, should it be bound?

There should only be one answer of all the "should it be bound" question. Either yes or no.
I don't see the 100% off coupon should be treated differently.

1. The 100% coupon itself states that the companion becomes bound to account. It says it on the coupon, and the packs that are bought are bound to account and bypass that feature when the companions are selected from the packs. So your first observation is a fail.
2. The same as 1, you don't understand how the 100% coupon works.
3-7, only the 100% coupon should of bound all of the rewards, or not of been usable at all. The rest should work just as intended. The 100% coupon was INTENDED to make all of the items bound to account, and did bind companions previously bought with them to account. I don't see how you don't get that.

clearenxr72

mystar#5733 said:

I can imagine the first person who noticed the coupon deal felt like they scored big time...cuz they did and that's cool considering how the rewards are working out for the rest of us.

I can't see these select few having an unfair advantage mainly because if they've been sitting on a free companion coupon for this long means they probably haven't had anything worthwhile to spend it on until now. Saying it's not fair and expecting them to reward everyone equally sounds so childish.

If it's only a select few who got the pack free then it shouldn't be a big deal. I'm sure it's hard for some people who spent money to congratulate others for their unexpected winfall, but it doesn't mean we should get a refund or that everyone else should be rewarded equally.

I wish I would have saved my coupon lol.

It is about the intent of the 100% off coupon, and that it should of bounded all of the items to the account. Also, a free 10+ million AD is a significantly huge advantage, and that influx of items devalues those same items for players who actually earned those rewards with either real world effort or in game grind.

wazzer23

They simply put the pack into companion section in order for players to get the 30% off the pack price. It was overpriced and a money grab in the first place. Who thinks players have 140euro to waste in a game during a pandemic. This was 100% cryptics fault there was no exploits only people availing of an offer that was given to them a long time ago. In saying so it does seem very unfair on those who spent money on this pack as the items should have been worth and sold for a lot more. Indomitable runestones were 1mill ad in ah now slashed to 500k etc. That is the only benifit the other players who could not buy it would get.
Also i mean we cant really be suprised that this happened. Every pack or new item release has been broken upon arrival for years now (mount collar pack unbound etc)
Also be careful what you spend your money on in this game. We get the developers need to get paid but not for reskins of the same old things and companions we all ready have that have the tinyest of better stats
Do better cryptic

armadeonx

I wasn't playing NW at the time the coupon came out so I didn't get one.

However, any player who purchased the pack without the coupon got what they paid for - asking for a refund or whatever because a few other players managed to get it for free seems like a strange reaction to me.

So Cryptic messed up and a few players scored a win? Good for them.

You still got the benefit you expected when you purchased it.

greywynd

clearenxr72#2608 said:

1. The 100% coupon itself states that the companion becomes bound to account. It says it on the coupon, and the packs that are bought are bound to account and bypass that feature when the companions are selected from the packs. So your first observation is a fail.
2. The same as 1, you don't understand how the 100% coupon works.
3-7, only the 100% coupon should of bound all of the rewards, or not of been usable at all. The rest should work just as intended. The 100% coupon was INTENDED to make all of the items bound to account, and did bind companions previously bought with them to account. I don't see how you don't get that.

Whatever is bought with the coupon is bound. The pack is in the companion tab. Devs made it clear this was intentional so that coupons could be used with it. WAI.

If what comes out of the bound pack is not bound, nor was it intended to be. WAI.

clearenxr72#2608 said:

It is about the intent of the 100% off coupon, and that it should of bounded all of the items to the account. Also, a free 10+ million AD is a significantly huge advantage, and that influx of items devalues those same items for players who actually earned those rewards with either real world effort or in game grind.

Quit worrying about what others have. It'll make your life easier.

rockster

clearenxr72#2608 said:

that influx of items devalues those same items for players who actually earned those rewards with either real world effort or in game grind.

You said it was 'a select few' so I guess that "influx" is really not going to be big enough to affect much, is it. Tbh the very thing you're complaining about, you are actively making even worse and potentially bigger because it's only drawing attention to it and alerting people who would have had no idea otherwise so well done with that. This is probably why the other threads were removed and this one will likely be too, because the less people know about it the better it is for the company, but it is probably such a few people who even have one of those things after so long anyway, plus the bundle is limited time only and the issue is going to be a non-issue soon anyway, so maybe they think it's better just to let it ride. But please understand that advertising it to all and sundry because you are upset and want to make a big deal out of it to make yourself feel better and vent is only going to make more people realize about it and then possibly do exactly what you are complaining about.

mystar

clearenxr72#2608 said:

mystar#5733 said:

I can imagine the first person who noticed the coupon deal felt like they scored big time...cuz they did and that's cool considering how the rewards are working out for the rest of us.

I can't see these select few having an unfair advantage mainly because if they've been sitting on a free companion coupon for this long means they probably haven't had anything worthwhile to spend it on until now. Saying it's not fair and expecting them to reward everyone equally sounds so childish.

If it's only a select few who got the pack free then it shouldn't be a big deal. I'm sure it's hard for some people who spent money to congratulate others for their unexpected winfall, but it doesn't mean we should get a refund or that everyone else should be rewarded equally.

I wish I would have saved my coupon lol.

It is about the intent of the 100% off coupon, and that it should of bounded all of the items to the account. Also, a free 10+ million AD is a significantly huge advantage, and that influx of items devalues those same items for players who actually earned those rewards with either real world effort or in game grind.

I don't know where you get that anything should have been bound to account when at the very bottom of the description for the bundle it clearly says "Single purchase, tradeable with players." It also says the companions "will become account wide reclaims when used"

I doubt it devalues anything...right now the mythic companions are selling for 8 million to 80 million AD on the AH.

I say good for those players who got it for free even if I did have pay for it or didn't get it because it's not within my budget.

plasticbat

clearenxr72#2608 said:

plasticbat said:

1. The coupon mentioned in the web page said nothing about its intention to make what it receives to be account bound.
2. It is the item from Zen store states how it is bound regardless how much you pay for it. It is not the coupon which states how the item will bound. When the 100% coupon came out, the item purchased at that time was not bound at all but it was also not account wide.
3. For those who pay full price to buy it, should it be bound?
4. For those who pay current 30% off price to buy it, should it be bound?
5. For those who use 25% off coupon to buy it, should it be bound?
6. For those who use 50% off coupon to buy it, should it be bound? Are they considered to have 5.5 million AD advantage?
7. For those who may buy it in the coming Zen store sales (if the item is still available) for (say) 40% off, should it be bound?

There should only be one answer of all the "should it be bound" question. Either yes or no.
I don't see the 100% off coupon should be treated differently.

1. The 100% coupon itself states that the companion becomes bound to account. It says it on the coupon, and the packs that are bought are bound to account and bypass that feature when the companions are selected from the packs. So your first observation is a fail.
2. The same as 1, you don't understand how the 100% coupon works.
3-7, only the 100% coupon should of bound all of the rewards, or not of been usable at all. The rest should work just as intended. The 100% coupon was INTENDED to make all of the items bound to account, and did bind companions previously bought with them to account. I don't see how you don't get that.

Good points. The pack is not bound if you buy it without using the 100% off coupon.
The pack is bound to account if you use the 100% off coupon to buy it. So, the coupon does its job to bound the pack to account.

sak

...

clearenxr72

plasticbat said:

clearenxr72#2608 said:

plasticbat said:

1. The coupon mentioned in the web page said nothing about its intention to make what it receives to be account bound.
2. It is the item from Zen store states how it is bound regardless how much you pay for it. It is not the coupon which states how the item will bound. When the 100% coupon came out, the item purchased at that time was not bound at all but it was also not account wide.
3. For those who pay full price to buy it, should it be bound?
4. For those who pay current 30% off price to buy it, should it be bound?
5. For those who use 25% off coupon to buy it, should it be bound?
6. For those who use 50% off coupon to buy it, should it be bound? Are they considered to have 5.5 million AD advantage?
7. For those who may buy it in the coming Zen store sales (if the item is still available) for (say) 40% off, should it be bound?

There should only be one answer of all the "should it be bound" question. Either yes or no.
I don't see the 100% off coupon should be treated differently.

1. The 100% coupon itself states that the companion becomes bound to account. It says it on the coupon, and the packs that are bought are bound to account and bypass that feature when the companions are selected from the packs. So your first observation is a fail.
2. The same as 1, you don't understand how the 100% coupon works.
3-7, only the 100% coupon should of bound all of the rewards, or not of been usable at all. The rest should work just as intended. The 100% coupon was INTENDED to make all of the items bound to account, and did bind companions previously bought with them to account. I don't see how you don't get that.

Good points. The pack is not bound if you buy it without using the 100% off coupon.
The pack is bound to account if you use the 100% off coupon to buy it. So, the coupon does its job to bound the pack to account.

The items inside of the packs are not bound when opened, and no other item you could use the 100% off coupon with acted this same way. The coupon did not do it's job in this instance.

clearenxr72

mystar#5733 said:

clearenxr72#2608 said:

mystar#5733 said:

I can imagine the first person who noticed the coupon deal felt like they scored big time...cuz they did and that's cool considering how the rewards are working out for the rest of us.

I can't see these select few having an unfair advantage mainly because if they've been sitting on a free companion coupon for this long means they probably haven't had anything worthwhile to spend it on until now. Saying it's not fair and expecting them to reward everyone equally sounds so childish.

If it's only a select few who got the pack free then it shouldn't be a big deal. I'm sure it's hard for some people who spent money to congratulate others for their unexpected winfall, but it doesn't mean we should get a refund or that everyone else should be rewarded equally.

I wish I would have saved my coupon lol.

It is about the intent of the 100% off coupon, and that it should of bounded all of the items to the account. Also, a free 10+ million AD is a significantly huge advantage, and that influx of items devalues those same items for players who actually earned those rewards with either real world effort or in game grind.

I don't know where you get that anything should have been bound to account when at the very bottom of the description for the bundle it clearly says "Single purchase, tradeable with players." It also says the companions "will become account wide reclaims when used"

I doubt it devalues anything...right now the mythic companions are selling for 8 million to 80 million AD on the AH.

I say good for those players who got it for free even if I did have pay for it or didn't get it because it's not within my budget.

It is on the 100% off coupon. The bound to account occurs to anything purchased with that coupon as was intended and stated on the coupon. The packs were bound, but when opened the companions inside were not. No other companion item that coupon could be spent on could be sold on the AH, just this brand new pack. The intent was clear, you just have to think.

As for the devalue, I think more people received the free packs than what others are suggesting, and we see the devalue in the form of the runestones. Runestones lost 1/2 their value, and this loss in value is significantly higher than any other item fluctuation I have seen when zen items go on sale and mass purchases occur. The mythic companions that are actually selling are going for 8-12 million right now, and that is after a 7.5 million investment and months long waiting period (if you didn't buy zen), when other zen purchases are equating to a 2x or 3x your ad return because of the high backlogs. Devaluing the packs in the resale market is pretty clear.

clearenxr72

My other significant complaint is clear as well, The Devs and GMs don't care about this issue, or those who purchase zen. Not one official post or comment on the situation, and the sale ends tomorrow.

greywynd

Because there isn't a problem. You buy zen. You spend it or hoard it. What you buy is your business. What others buy with theirs is their business.

So long as a player is satisfied with what they get, it is all good. What other players get or do with their zen, is no other player's business.