Seriously though I think this is worth considering

ariellu

If 500 Zen = $5.00 (1 Zen = 1 cent)
422 Diamonds = 1 Zen (Zen market rate but this could vary and natural greed is unlikely to make it lower)
422 Diamonds = 1 cent
150 Zen = 1 Key (to open a nightmare box, OOoooo! I do hope I get an epic, look it the big list)
(150 Zen x 422 number of diamonds for each Zen) = 63,300 Diamonds = 1 Key
So if (1 Dungeon per day = 1000 Diamonds = 30 minutes) + (1 Foundry per day = 1000 Diamonds = 45 minutes)
Then it would take
(150 Zen * 422) / 2000 giving 31.65 hours of gameplay. So it would take a week’s work (if you’ve got a job) to get one key to open a lockbox.
This is also 31.65 days circa 1 month to open one lock box. So you could ‘Earn’ one key a month.
And that’s if it’s all you want to do in the game.
Let’s be frank here you got to be real stupid to play this game and think it’s on your side. You might as well nail your foot to the floor and let everyone know you going for the world record for running around in circles.
And I thought Diablo was a devil to play…

sadmummy

I would agree if you would have taken another example. Lockboxes aren't important. They are meant for players who pay money, and that's ok. It's a small lottery ticket. I play as if there were no lockboxes, they are a lottery I don't plan to play.

You could have done the same argument with important things like enchanments, respecs, bags, fast mounts.... Those aren't a lottery, those are necessary for an mmo and are as crazy expensive as the keys

daxx360

That's the problem with "cash for convenience", when what they really mean is, "if you have a job, pay up or you'll have to spend your few hours of game time bored out of your head with the grind". Though to be honest, the key thing isn't an issue for me. I have quite addictive personality and know if I began opening those boxes, I would spend every penny I have spare on keys until I got the mount and the companion. So I just stay away from them.

But showing the current conversion rate is nice. 422 AD for 1 Zen (1 cent) will hopefully show how unrealistic it is to spend your AD on the mounts and companions (1266000 AD for a companion and 1688000 AD for a mount) from the Z-Store right now. Give it a few months and it may be a little more reasonable, people will have more AD, and the price of Zen should come down a bit. But until right now, it's not really going to happen, so Cryptic really need to put the tome's back in which allow us to upgrade our white companions, and not for something stupid like 2 million AD.

ariellu

Thanks for that, I've not played this game for long and as a casual gamer have not really looked into the other stuff. Its a shame as its a very nice looking game and I like the content. It sounds like a very complex model to make money rather than be what it should be which is first and foremost a game not a job. And I always keep in mind the fact that if its its not making money they will switch it off to which I have lost much time and money too in the past in fact you might argue i'm cost tired, but there is always a new sucker right! So perhaps best not to invest to much effort, cash and emotion in the first place. Oh well! I guess my search for Nirvana continues.

kiralyn

Of course, a lot of those things depend on 1. the exchange rate, and 2. how easy it becomes to acquire AD. Over in Star Trek Online, the exchange rate has been in the 90-130 range for months, and the ways & amounts to earn Dilithium (their version of AD) have been tweaked several times. In the time I've played that game, I've gotten over 8k zen via the market.

As for "you're just spinning your wheels".... well, that's even true of just playing the game, once you've seen the content for the first time. Once you've read all the quests & dungeons, doing them over & over again to get a slightly higher +Power on your sword.... so you can do a harder dungeon and get a higher +Power on your sword.... so you can do a harder dungeon/etc, etc, etc.

And yes, the game companies take advantage of our inherent OCD.... why else do you think there's so many games with daily login bonuses (like Celestial Coins) and long-term play bonuses (Ardent Coins)? I got a bunch of "Dilithium Claims" from lockboxes on my STO character - I can only use one each day, for 5k dilithium. That's kept me logging in (and remembering that I "play" that game) for months now, even though I'm not actively doing anything there at the moment.

lerakol

Your analogy doesn't factor in endgame activities. All gear, including all epic gear is BoE. Since the Auction House uses AD you will be able to sell epics from dungeons for good amounts of AD. If you gather a group of players and run 3 or 4 dungeons a week you'll most likely have a nice chunk of AD to buy whatever you want.

Additionally the current price of AD to ZEN is dropping everyday. It'll most likely level out at 200 AD for 1 ZEN range and then spike one way or the other when certain things become available in the game. The moral... this game is only a week old. Give it some time to balance out.