you put the smiley at the beginning not the end lol as if i knew what that meant anyway. not every forum dwelling lurker who is a PW fanboy just waiting for the opportunity to lash out with his love of the company speaks fluent geekinese. yes try writing out "this is a sarcastic joke" though that would help in the future, i do speak english... somewhat =(
hi nice to meet you. again.
As you can see I put it at the end.
Yeah I guess after decades of semi-colon close parentheses meaning wink and it even saying wink if you hover over it I figured the meaning would be clear. I guess my old man ways are just to out of date for these new wipper snappers.
i didnt even notice it was a wink i thought it was just a giant oversized smiley face, like an obtuse person who just spotted a cake. if i had my bifocals on and a magnifying glass i might have been able to tell his little pixelated face was indeed winking though, chalk it up to my bad old man eyes. not to derail this thread and all the QQing in it about other peoples money or anything though...
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starkaosMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild UsersPosts: 0Arc User
edited February 2013
The thing with lockbox items is that people don't need to pay a cent to get them. In STO, it is common practice for most to just get them off of the Auction House. They also have the lobi store which is a currency that every opened lockbox gives some lobi. So some players open enough lockboxes to get the lobi items they want and hopefully pick up some good lockbox items, then purchase the lockbox and lobi items they want in the Auction House. Some of the items in this store are bind on equip which means that it is available in the Auction House and others are bind on pickup which means you have to open up lockboxes to get these items. I am almost certain that NW will have something similar.
My opinion of lockbox keys is that they are official RMT. Although considering the Astral Diamond Exchange and the Auction House only uses Astral Diamonds, then we can't get gold that way. So it makes sense if gold is merely a secondary currency and astral diamonds are the main currency of the game.
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drwarpeffectMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 71Arc User
edited February 2013
Lock boxes that require cash keys or substitute cash keys break immersion for me.
I am fine with PWE making a profit off NW, but $200 founders pack, limit of 2 character slots, and lock boxes are really killing my enthusiasm for this game especially with ESO on the horizon.
I have paid for several things in WoT and have very, very seldom been as unhappy with the transactions as I have with several other games with NW shaping up to join the latter.
I hate, hate the lockbox... they say (in STO and CO) that they don't effect the normal loot drops, normal loot still drops normally, no more or no less.. but I just can't truly believe that deep down..
Like keirkin said, I would love to have an option so I never have to see them drop at all, if they are truly on a separate loot system then it should be possible to turn them off and never have to look at or delete them out of my inventory again.. .
I'm with you on them secretly/unstintingly reducing normal loot drops.
my explanation for why I think so:
loot is a random roll, so every time a lock box rolls high enough, to drop, the next "roll" that happens to be if, or what "normal loot" drops, would not be that same high roll, on average.
it's the bell curve effect, there's a less likely chance for the "roll" to roll the same number twice, so a lock box sucsesfully droping, lowers the chance for that ONE number that would have also droped normal loot, to not come up when rolling normal loot
the effects are that if random "roll" was 1-20, and lockbox rolled a 20, the next roll, which is for normal loot will be more likely to be any 1 number than a 20 (given 20 posable #s I would say rolling the 2nd 20 would be a 1in 40 chance, instead of a normal 1 in 20 chance)
you always have a loss when something is added to a random roll, simply because the chances on the 2nd roll gaining what it used to, is lower than it used to be.
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nemesis788450Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian UsersPosts: 0Arc User
edited February 2013
are there going to be lockboxes in neverwinter now or not? and if there are, will they only contain consumables and cosmetics?
The word you are thinking of should not be "luck" it should be "odds". The reason why PW or other mmo companies do not (in fact WILL NOT) divulge the odds is because the odds suck. If everyone knew the odds of actually getting something really good, very, very few would ever buy in.
If I get enough off the AD exchange I may test how long it takes to get best loot
... except that DDO is going strong over 6 years, with a p2p and f2p combo model. Zero lock boxes and no question they are on solid ground. There is more than one successful f2p model.
They also have a borderline p2w model- since you can purchase stat tomes up to +4 which are very, very powerful items that drop excessively rarely from top end dungeons. It's also very time consuming to level up, craft, etc... in the game- so items that boost xp/craft xp gain are highly valuable too. As well- almost every high end dungeon that you need to get decent endgame gear- or even level up at a decent rate- is for sale only, plus reincarnating tools are far easier to get with cash- and reincarnation not only makes xp/bought quests more important to level, but makes you more and more powerful each time too.
So while yes- you did bring up an alternative f2p system that works- would people here rather have top end quests be buy to own, have xp gain be so slow you feel a need to get xp boosts to do them, and have top end permanent stat boosts be on sale only on the store?
Or would they rather have lock boxes that you don't need to participate in.
They have to make money some how- and ultimately it's always going to be a question between 'two evils' that people will whine about. While I do love DDO and enjoy the permanency of what you buy- I've also been playing it for years. I'm not a big fan of lockboxes- I found them annoying in GW2 as well, but ultimately- they're a nuisance, that's all, and I didn't stop playing GW2 because of something I didn't have to use, I stopped playing it because it was a boring game where gameplay never changed.
I think having NWO fully open to play- and make money off of things like gambling boxes- is a hundred times better than making us pay for levelling past 30, buying top end quests, getting endgame gear, etc....
I'm with you on them secretly/unstintingly reducing normal loot drops.
my explanation for why I think so:
loot is a random roll, so every time a lock box rolls high enough, to drop, the next "roll" that happens to be if, or what "normal loot" drops, would not be that same high roll, on average.
it's the bell curve effect, there's a less likely chance for the "roll" to roll the same number twice, so a lock box sucsesfully droping, lowers the chance for that ONE number that would have also droped normal loot, to not come up when rolling normal loot
the effects are that if random "roll" was 1-20, and lockbox rolled a 20, the next roll, which is for normal loot will be more likely to be any 1 number than a 20 (given 20 posable #s I would say rolling the 2nd 20 would be a 1in 40 chance, instead of a normal 1 in 20 chance)
<snip>
This doesn't make any sense. Clearly if they are saying that normal lock box dropping has no effect on normal loot dropping than they are claiming that the two events are independent. Your explanation supposes that the two events are instead linked. That somehow rolling for one piece of loot makes it less likely that you'll get the next piece of loot by changing the probability of a number coming up.
But that's not how probability works. The chance of the second roll in an independent scenario coming up with the same number as it used to will always be the same probability regardless of the outcome of the first roll. You don't suddenly have less likelihood of rolling a 20 just because you just rolled a 20.
Put another way, 20-20 has the same probability as 19-20 and the same probability as 18-20. And 20-19, 20-18, 20-X has the same probability of occurring as 20-20. For that matter a roll of 20 on the second die still has the same probability of occurring regardless of how many other independent rolls proceeded it.
This is the same as flipping a coin, an easier scenario to think about. Suppose I gave you a coin to flip. It is a fair coin. Suppose you flipped that coin 100 times and it came up heads 100 times. What do you think the probability of it coming up heads the next time is? The answer is 50%. While it would seem that it is unlikely to come up heads so many times in a row, the chance of each individual flip is unchanged by preceding events. So while the overall chance of a fair coin flipping heads that many times in a row is exceedingly low, the chance of each independent coin flip coming up a certain result is the same as it always was, 50%.
For ponying up 200$ for a pack, you really shouldn't be denied ANYTHING and i mean anything the game has, including lockboxes.
That aside, i think we can all live and play the game without ever opening a single lockbox, it's just the 'mental' torment of having said lockbox and not knowing what's in it (which i can easily live with).
Yeah I won't be buying keys. Anything I'm looking for I'll buy straight across or not at all. The people that are saying "but even if you don't get the super rare item you'll get dyes armor etc etc" If I wanted the dyes and armors companions etc etc, I'd buy them straight across. Not keep buying keys until I get them...
Edit: So to the original point. I agree there needs a don't show lockboxes button.
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silvergryphMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 740Arc User
edited February 2013
I would like them to reverse it. Instead of picking up lockboxes, pick up keys that go automatically to a keyring. Basically just make them another currency without cluttering up your inventory. Then you buy the lockboxes and open them with the keys you've collected. Same basic transaction but without cluttering up your inventory and a lot easier to ignore if you want to.
I'd like to see the entire playerbase never once open a lockbox that drops in this game.
/Signed
This is the only way lockboxes will go away. Unfortunately it will never happen because the mind of the average MMO player doesn't work that way. They don't realize that by paying potentially several times the cost of a typical B2P game for this stuff they're not only effectively telling MMO companies that gambling for the chance to maybe get access to content is ok, but also destroying the MMO market for everyone else that doesn't wish to participate in gambling.
As I understand it in some games (like DCUO and GW2), lockboxes only give you decent loot that can also be acquired through regular play and/or buffs. While I despise the idea of gambling in video games, I think this is ok because it gives a guaranteed good loot drop for a token amount of real money, which makes it a form of "pay for convenience".
The guaranteed loot is useful, since you could use it for your character or sell for lots of in-game cash you could use to buy something else. But at the same time its something you could potentially get by grinding in-game through regular gameplay, which means that lockboxes aren't mandatory to get the items, and relaxes the pressure of buying lockboxes in order to get what's inside them. You can simply and trully buy them as "your choice" as a matter of convenience to guarantee your chances to get good drops, with a chance to get some of the best drops in the game.
The problem with Cryptic lockboxes is that they gate highly desirable, exclusive new content (like ships, vehicles, costumes, etc.) behind them that you cannot get ANY other way. So instead of selling that content through the cash shop as they once did for a straight, reasonable price, they make you gamble an indeterminable amount of money (sometimes up to hundreds of dollars) for the chance to maybe get it. So they effectively force you to participate in gambling (something some people find morally repugnant and might even be against their religion or philosophical believes) in order to get new content.
Cryptic uses the very worse and IMO despicable, money grubbing practices in the MMO industry when it comes to lockboxes.
The problem with Cryptic lockboxes is that they gate highly desirable, exclusive new content (like ships, vehicles, costumes, etc.) behind them that you cannot get ANY other way. So instead of selling that content through the cash shop as they once did for a straight, reasonable price, they make you gamble an indeterminable amount of money (sometimes up to hundreds of dollars) for the chance to maybe get it. So they effectively force you to participate in gambling (something some people find morally repugnant and might even be against their religion or philosophical believes) in order to get new content.
Cryptic uses the very worse and IMO despicable, money grubbing practices in the MMO industry when it comes to lockboxes.
No one is forcing you do to anything. You choose to play the game, you choose to want that "desirable" item that is no more powerful than what you could get otherwise(that's my assumption, if OP stuff is in the lockboxes that's another story.) And unless that item is more powerful than what you can get otherwise, its only a problem because you want it for cosmetic purposes, but you don't want to have to pay an unknown amount for it(if you buy it through lockboxes that is, you could pay a determined amount by buying it from another player who gambled.) That sounds like entitlement to me, not a flaw in game design, no one is forcing you to do anything to be OP, its only forcing you to do something you don't want to do, gamble, because you want to look cool.
Well I'm sorry, that's the trade off, if you want to look cool in the game with your desirable items that other people envy than you're either going to need to gamble or pony up for someone who did. Or just realize that everyone can't have every cosmetic they want if they're not willing to jump through the hoops that are set forth to get it.
Your choices, as I see them are to, not play, grind out Astral Diamonds to get Zen to buy keys to open lockboxes, pay cash for keys, pay Astral Diamonds straight up to get the item you want, or live without having the cosmetic you want. Whining about how money grubbing and evil Cryptic is won't get you that desirable non-OP cosmetic item you so desperately want in the game that they let you experience all the OP content for for free. Its f2p not free to get whatever cosmetic you want on your terms just because you want it. Cryptic is a business not a charity.
No one is forcing you do to anything. You choose to play the game, you choose to want that "desirable" item that is no more powerful than what you could get otherwise(that's my assumption, if OP stuff is in the lockboxes that's another story.) And unless that item is more powerful than what you can get otherwise, its only a problem because you want it for cosmetic purposes, but you don't want to have to pay an unknown amount for it(if you buy it through lockboxes that is, you could pay a determined amount by buying it from another player who gambled.) That sounds like entitlement to me, not a flaw in game design, no one is forcing you to do anything to be OP, its only forcing you to do something you don't want to do, gamble, because you want to look cool.
Well I'm sorry, that's the trade off, if you want to look cool in the game with your desirable items that other people envy than you're either going to need to gamble or pony up for someone who did. Or just realize that everyone can't have every cosmetic they want if they're not willing to jump through the hoops that are set forth to get it.
Your choices, as I see them are to, not play, grind out Astral Diamonds to get Zen to buy keys to open lockboxes, pay cash for keys, pay Astral Diamonds straight up to get the item you want, or live without having the cosmetic you want. Whining about how money grubbing and evil Cryptic is won't get you that desirable non-OP cosmetic item you so desperately want in the game that they let you experience all the OP content for for free. Its f2p not free to get whatever cosmetic you want on your terms just because you want it. Cryptic is a business not a charity.
I'm pretty sure the point of their post was that these items ARE better than what you can get in the game. Or they are exclusive content. We really can't points fingers yet until we find out what will be in those boxes. But if they're offering exclusive items in lockboxes that I can't buy straight across (which seems like the only real use for lockboxes. To entice people to buy keys) than their post is spot on the nose.
I dislike any system of gambling for content, particularly systems like lockboxes. In my opinion, it should be illegal unless the developers/publishers go out and get gaming licenses and have to submit to the rules and regulations that any other lottery or game of chance company would. After all, the mechanics are the same. You risk a certain amount of resources hoping to win a larger or more favourable amount of resources with a probability that favours the house/company. It does not matter that lockboxes always yield something - that is just like how casinos comp drinks to keep you gambling. It is disgusting.
Ultimately, players are given items they cannot open and really did not ask for in order to pressure them into buying what amounts to casino chips to put into a slot machine. It would not be quite so bad if these items did not show up in normal content, so players could avoid them, but they are purposefully shoved into your inventory to prey on any weaknesses you may have, such as not wanting to waste them, etc. Yes, as a player you have the ability to not involve yourself in it, but the company also has the ability to not engage in the practice.
Anyway, I agree that it is a pretty dirty practice and should end. I have absolutely no problem with selling items in the cash shop. Sell mounts, dyes, convenience items, etc. Charge whatever you want - I will never complain, ever. I think that if someone wants to pay $1000 for a mount, Cryptic should support that. However, I do not support gambling and the sorts of problems it creates, particularly in people predisposed to addiction and those who simply do not know any better.
In short, paying for content should be simple and straight forward. If you want something, it should be available in the cash shop with a set price and you should be able to pay that price and walk away a happy customer. You should not be in a situation where you need to gamble for an item you want; that is a low business practice that does nothing to help the customers.
If you want to get access to this content (which was the actual context of my post), they are. You are forced to gamble (or to feed the cycle by getting it from someone who did gamble) if you want to get access to that content, because they're exclusive items you can get no other way.
As for the rest that's just you asserting your values over anyone else's. You choose to value power over cosmetics or new game features (such as vehicles they added to CO), as well as view power as the only unacceptable thing to sell or gamble huge sums for. Therefore as long as they don't sell power everything is fine, and anyone that wants other stuff for reasonable, transparent prices rather than gamble away their pay check for the chance to maybe get access to digital goods that don't even have a production cost is being "entitled".
By that same logic, if they had more powerful items (which they have in CO, and the STO lockbox ships are more powerful than ordinary ships, other than the very best end game ones) and OP stuff in the boxes, no one is forcing you to gamble for it. You could very well make due with regular gear and plow through the game's PvE content like everyone else. But if you choose to want to get the more powerful stuff, that's the trade off if you want to have a bigger epeen than everyone else with your desirable gear that other people envy.
And finally, YES, Cryptic is a business--not a freaking online casino!
I never in my entire post implied otherwise. Just because Cryptic is a business it does not automatically follow that if they offer their game for free that they HAVE to make you specifically gamble for the chance to get additional content in order to make money. They could, you know--SELL the damn things outright. Or did just selling things rather than just the chance to maybe get them went out of style and nobody told me at some point?
And I don't care about the fact that they're offering the entire game (sans some add-ons and modular features they'll add to the game and charge money for) for free. I'm not some F2P leech hoping to play an entire game for free because I'm out of work and can't afford to pay for games but still want to play them regardless like games are a life necessity. I'm perfectly willing to pay a straight, transparent price for them and even for additional features, such as cosmetics, housing, vehicles, new zones, pets, etc. Maybe even for power (though, I rather they provide in-game means to get comparable gear and only provide payed means as a convenience rather than gate the most powerful items through payed means). But I will NOT gamble for them.
If Cryptic trully is a business and not some online racket, and they want my money they're just going to have to sell me things for a transparent cost because I'm not giving it to them otherwise.
Doesn't matter, you can get a FREE lockbox key every five days. Confirmed in beta weekend one. This is available to everyone.
It does matter because a single free lockbox key every five days is meaningless. These boxes have ridiculously low drop rates for anything that isn't junk and people have been known to pay dozens ($40, $50, $60 or more), even hundreds of dollars (at the rate of one key per dollar) in their other games to get the items. Its extremely unlikely that a single key every five days will get you anything.
arythor said it better than me and with a more leveled head. Very good post (though, I'm not paying $1000 for a mount).
It does matter because a single free lockbox key every five days is meaningless. These boxes have ridiculously low drop rates for anything that isn't junk and people have been known to pay dozens ($40, $50, $60 or more), even hundreds of dollars (at the rate of one key per dollar) in their other games to get the items. Its extremely unlikely that a single key every five days will get you anything.
It would only seem to matter to those whom are impatient. A free key every 5 days = 6/month or 72/year. I bought a $60 founder pack and plan on spending an average of $15/month on zen, which none of will be spent on keys. An extremely rare item is just that and not everyone is expected to get it. All games have those items. On the other hand, if someone wants to spend their hard earned money on hundreds of keys, more power to them. I won't sweat it and Cryptic can sure use the money.
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therealtalMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero UsersPosts: 4Arc User
edited February 2013
On STO, what annoyed me the most about the lockboxes was the game wide system message that popped up on EVERYONE's screen whenever some fu...nky dude got one of the rare ships from a lockbox. That was in your face annoying, and utterly unnecessary. Basically, lockboxes are advertisement for buying keys. And because of that you can bet your sexy behind that you won't be able to opt out of the lockbox drops. I'll gladly take their freaky free key, but beyond that I won't buy any keys.
Comments
and confusion but only for the obtuse.
Also makes some people fat? :eek:
As you can see I put it at the end.
Yeah I guess after decades of semi-colon close parentheses meaning wink and it even saying wink if you hover over it I figured the meaning would be clear. I guess my old man ways are just to out of date for these new wipper snappers.
My opinion of lockbox keys is that they are official RMT. Although considering the Astral Diamond Exchange and the Auction House only uses Astral Diamonds, then we can't get gold that way. So it makes sense if gold is merely a secondary currency and astral diamonds are the main currency of the game.
I am fine with PWE making a profit off NW, but $200 founders pack, limit of 2 character slots, and lock boxes are really killing my enthusiasm for this game especially with ESO on the horizon.
I have paid for several things in WoT and have very, very seldom been as unhappy with the transactions as I have with several other games with NW shaping up to join the latter.
OBTUSE, dull or flat. Slow witted.
OBESE, overweight or...and you so delicately put it....fat.
I do not think that word means what you think it means.
Occam's Razor makes the cutting clean.
I'm with you on them secretly/unstintingly reducing normal loot drops.
my explanation for why I think so:
loot is a random roll, so every time a lock box rolls high enough, to drop, the next "roll" that happens to be if, or what "normal loot" drops, would not be that same high roll, on average.
it's the bell curve effect, there's a less likely chance for the "roll" to roll the same number twice, so a lock box sucsesfully droping, lowers the chance for that ONE number that would have also droped normal loot, to not come up when rolling normal loot
the effects are that if random "roll" was 1-20, and lockbox rolled a 20, the next roll, which is for normal loot will be more likely to be any 1 number than a 20 (given 20 posable #s I would say rolling the 2nd 20 would be a 1in 40 chance, instead of a normal 1 in 20 chance)
so lockbox rolls a 20
normal loot"s cances to roll are
1 2/39
2 2/39
3 2/39
4 2/39
5 2/39
6 2/39
7 2/39
8 2/39
9 2/39
10 2/39
11 2/39
12 2/39
13 2/39
14 2/39
15 2/39
16 2/39
17 2/39
18 2/39
19 2/39
20 1/39
you always have a loss when something is added to a random roll, simply because the chances on the 2nd roll gaining what it used to, is lower than it used to be.
Yes locked boxes. No idea what is in them
If I get enough off the AD exchange I may test how long it takes to get best loot
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They also have a borderline p2w model- since you can purchase stat tomes up to +4 which are very, very powerful items that drop excessively rarely from top end dungeons. It's also very time consuming to level up, craft, etc... in the game- so items that boost xp/craft xp gain are highly valuable too. As well- almost every high end dungeon that you need to get decent endgame gear- or even level up at a decent rate- is for sale only, plus reincarnating tools are far easier to get with cash- and reincarnation not only makes xp/bought quests more important to level, but makes you more and more powerful each time too.
So while yes- you did bring up an alternative f2p system that works- would people here rather have top end quests be buy to own, have xp gain be so slow you feel a need to get xp boosts to do them, and have top end permanent stat boosts be on sale only on the store?
Or would they rather have lock boxes that you don't need to participate in.
They have to make money some how- and ultimately it's always going to be a question between 'two evils' that people will whine about. While I do love DDO and enjoy the permanency of what you buy- I've also been playing it for years. I'm not a big fan of lockboxes- I found them annoying in GW2 as well, but ultimately- they're a nuisance, that's all, and I didn't stop playing GW2 because of something I didn't have to use, I stopped playing it because it was a boring game where gameplay never changed.
I think having NWO fully open to play- and make money off of things like gambling boxes- is a hundred times better than making us pay for levelling past 30, buying top end quests, getting endgame gear, etc....
Sort of but not really. You "b2p" it in chunks and you don't really get a free trial of those actual chunks.
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This doesn't make any sense. Clearly if they are saying that normal lock box dropping has no effect on normal loot dropping than they are claiming that the two events are independent. Your explanation supposes that the two events are instead linked. That somehow rolling for one piece of loot makes it less likely that you'll get the next piece of loot by changing the probability of a number coming up.
But that's not how probability works. The chance of the second roll in an independent scenario coming up with the same number as it used to will always be the same probability regardless of the outcome of the first roll. You don't suddenly have less likelihood of rolling a 20 just because you just rolled a 20.
Put another way, 20-20 has the same probability as 19-20 and the same probability as 18-20. And 20-19, 20-18, 20-X has the same probability of occurring as 20-20. For that matter a roll of 20 on the second die still has the same probability of occurring regardless of how many other independent rolls proceeded it.
This is the same as flipping a coin, an easier scenario to think about. Suppose I gave you a coin to flip. It is a fair coin. Suppose you flipped that coin 100 times and it came up heads 100 times. What do you think the probability of it coming up heads the next time is? The answer is 50%. While it would seem that it is unlikely to come up heads so many times in a row, the chance of each individual flip is unchanged by preceding events. So while the overall chance of a fair coin flipping heads that many times in a row is exceedingly low, the chance of each independent coin flip coming up a certain result is the same as it always was, 50%.
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That aside, i think we can all live and play the game without ever opening a single lockbox, it's just the 'mental' torment of having said lockbox and not knowing what's in it (which i can easily live with).
You won't be able to process enough AD to be able to do that at any decently short period of time.
The whole point of everything is to get you to spend money to buy ZEN.
Edit: So to the original point. I agree there needs a don't show lockboxes button.
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/Signed
This is the only way lockboxes will go away. Unfortunately it will never happen because the mind of the average MMO player doesn't work that way. They don't realize that by paying potentially several times the cost of a typical B2P game for this stuff they're not only effectively telling MMO companies that gambling for the chance to maybe get access to content is ok, but also destroying the MMO market for everyone else that doesn't wish to participate in gambling.
As I understand it in some games (like DCUO and GW2), lockboxes only give you decent loot that can also be acquired through regular play and/or buffs. While I despise the idea of gambling in video games, I think this is ok because it gives a guaranteed good loot drop for a token amount of real money, which makes it a form of "pay for convenience".
The guaranteed loot is useful, since you could use it for your character or sell for lots of in-game cash you could use to buy something else. But at the same time its something you could potentially get by grinding in-game through regular gameplay, which means that lockboxes aren't mandatory to get the items, and relaxes the pressure of buying lockboxes in order to get what's inside them. You can simply and trully buy them as "your choice" as a matter of convenience to guarantee your chances to get good drops, with a chance to get some of the best drops in the game.
The problem with Cryptic lockboxes is that they gate highly desirable, exclusive new content (like ships, vehicles, costumes, etc.) behind them that you cannot get ANY other way. So instead of selling that content through the cash shop as they once did for a straight, reasonable price, they make you gamble an indeterminable amount of money (sometimes up to hundreds of dollars) for the chance to maybe get it. So they effectively force you to participate in gambling (something some people find morally repugnant and might even be against their religion or philosophical believes) in order to get new content.
Cryptic uses the very worse and IMO despicable, money grubbing practices in the MMO industry when it comes to lockboxes.
No one is forcing you do to anything. You choose to play the game, you choose to want that "desirable" item that is no more powerful than what you could get otherwise(that's my assumption, if OP stuff is in the lockboxes that's another story.) And unless that item is more powerful than what you can get otherwise, its only a problem because you want it for cosmetic purposes, but you don't want to have to pay an unknown amount for it(if you buy it through lockboxes that is, you could pay a determined amount by buying it from another player who gambled.) That sounds like entitlement to me, not a flaw in game design, no one is forcing you to do anything to be OP, its only forcing you to do something you don't want to do, gamble, because you want to look cool.
Well I'm sorry, that's the trade off, if you want to look cool in the game with your desirable items that other people envy than you're either going to need to gamble or pony up for someone who did. Or just realize that everyone can't have every cosmetic they want if they're not willing to jump through the hoops that are set forth to get it.
Your choices, as I see them are to, not play, grind out Astral Diamonds to get Zen to buy keys to open lockboxes, pay cash for keys, pay Astral Diamonds straight up to get the item you want, or live without having the cosmetic you want. Whining about how money grubbing and evil Cryptic is won't get you that desirable non-OP cosmetic item you so desperately want in the game that they let you experience all the OP content for for free. Its f2p not free to get whatever cosmetic you want on your terms just because you want it. Cryptic is a business not a charity.
Neverwinter Official Wiki - http://neverwinter.gamepedia.com/
I'm pretty sure the point of their post was that these items ARE better than what you can get in the game. Or they are exclusive content. We really can't points fingers yet until we find out what will be in those boxes. But if they're offering exclusive items in lockboxes that I can't buy straight across (which seems like the only real use for lockboxes. To entice people to buy keys) than their post is spot on the nose.
Ultimately, players are given items they cannot open and really did not ask for in order to pressure them into buying what amounts to casino chips to put into a slot machine. It would not be quite so bad if these items did not show up in normal content, so players could avoid them, but they are purposefully shoved into your inventory to prey on any weaknesses you may have, such as not wanting to waste them, etc. Yes, as a player you have the ability to not involve yourself in it, but the company also has the ability to not engage in the practice.
Anyway, I agree that it is a pretty dirty practice and should end. I have absolutely no problem with selling items in the cash shop. Sell mounts, dyes, convenience items, etc. Charge whatever you want - I will never complain, ever. I think that if someone wants to pay $1000 for a mount, Cryptic should support that. However, I do not support gambling and the sorts of problems it creates, particularly in people predisposed to addiction and those who simply do not know any better.
In short, paying for content should be simple and straight forward. If you want something, it should be available in the cash shop with a set price and you should be able to pay that price and walk away a happy customer. You should not be in a situation where you need to gamble for an item you want; that is a low business practice that does nothing to help the customers.
If you want to get access to this content (which was the actual context of my post), they are. You are forced to gamble (or to feed the cycle by getting it from someone who did gamble) if you want to get access to that content, because they're exclusive items you can get no other way.
As for the rest that's just you asserting your values over anyone else's. You choose to value power over cosmetics or new game features (such as vehicles they added to CO), as well as view power as the only unacceptable thing to sell or gamble huge sums for. Therefore as long as they don't sell power everything is fine, and anyone that wants other stuff for reasonable, transparent prices rather than gamble away their pay check for the chance to maybe get access to digital goods that don't even have a production cost is being "entitled".
By that same logic, if they had more powerful items (which they have in CO, and the STO lockbox ships are more powerful than ordinary ships, other than the very best end game ones) and OP stuff in the boxes, no one is forcing you to gamble for it. You could very well make due with regular gear and plow through the game's PvE content like everyone else. But if you choose to want to get the more powerful stuff, that's the trade off if you want to have a bigger epeen than everyone else with your desirable gear that other people envy.
And finally, YES, Cryptic is a business--not a freaking online casino!
I never in my entire post implied otherwise. Just because Cryptic is a business it does not automatically follow that if they offer their game for free that they HAVE to make you specifically gamble for the chance to get additional content in order to make money. They could, you know--SELL the damn things outright. Or did just selling things rather than just the chance to maybe get them went out of style and nobody told me at some point?
And I don't care about the fact that they're offering the entire game (sans some add-ons and modular features they'll add to the game and charge money for) for free. I'm not some F2P leech hoping to play an entire game for free because I'm out of work and can't afford to pay for games but still want to play them regardless like games are a life necessity. I'm perfectly willing to pay a straight, transparent price for them and even for additional features, such as cosmetics, housing, vehicles, new zones, pets, etc. Maybe even for power (though, I rather they provide in-game means to get comparable gear and only provide payed means as a convenience rather than gate the most powerful items through payed means). But I will NOT gamble for them.
If Cryptic trully is a business and not some online racket, and they want my money they're just going to have to sell me things for a transparent cost because I'm not giving it to them otherwise.
EDIT:
It does matter because a single free lockbox key every five days is meaningless. These boxes have ridiculously low drop rates for anything that isn't junk and people have been known to pay dozens ($40, $50, $60 or more), even hundreds of dollars (at the rate of one key per dollar) in their other games to get the items. Its extremely unlikely that a single key every five days will get you anything.
arythor said it better than me and with a more leveled head. Very good post (though, I'm not paying $1000 for a mount).
It would only seem to matter to those whom are impatient. A free key every 5 days = 6/month or 72/year. I bought a $60 founder pack and plan on spending an average of $15/month on zen, which none of will be spent on keys. An extremely rare item is just that and not everyone is expected to get it. All games have those items. On the other hand, if someone wants to spend their hard earned money on hundreds of keys, more power to them. I won't sweat it and Cryptic can sure use the money.
Heh. Freaky free key. Isn't comedy fun?