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Elegant solution for Cryptic to address the "wipe" concerns at the end of Open Beta
lltsnwn
Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 787 Bounty Hunter
I believe that an alternate solution to the numerous "wipe" requests by beta testers concerning game exploits, bugs, etc is to hyper-inflate Neverwinter's economy after its official release.
The idea is simple... Hyper-inflate all of the game's content so that all of the current beta currency, gear, etc is worthless once Neverwinter is officially released. MMORPGs have successfully done this numerous times when releasing new expansion packs.
You take all of the best gear and devalue it by releasing much easier to acquire gear that has twice as good stats. You devalue all of the current in-game currency by releasing a new currency type that is used to purchase all of the higher performance equipment.
This is a tried and true solution to level the playing field with new and existing players when a MMORPG moves into a new phase of development without wiping everyone's characters. This solution solves all of the issues raised by the testing community concerning the numerous game bugs and imbalance issues discovered during open beta testing that negatively affected Neverwinter's economy.
Neverwinter is currently in open beta with game bugs and game imbalances expected to be discovered and addressed. Cryptic has stated numerous times that it will not have a wipe between open beta and Neverwinter's official release. Cryptic/Perfect World has blurred the lines between game testing and game release by accepting real world money for in-game currency (Zen).
Hyperinflation after Neverwinter is released is the best solution to address all of these issues.
The idea is simple... Hyper-inflate all of the game's content so that all of the current beta currency, gear, etc is worthless once Neverwinter is officially released. MMORPGs have successfully done this numerous times when releasing new expansion packs.
You take all of the best gear and devalue it by releasing much easier to acquire gear that has twice as good stats. You devalue all of the current in-game currency by releasing a new currency type that is used to purchase all of the higher performance equipment.
This is a tried and true solution to level the playing field with new and existing players when a MMORPG moves into a new phase of development without wiping everyone's characters. This solution solves all of the issues raised by the testing community concerning the numerous game bugs and imbalance issues discovered during open beta testing that negatively affected Neverwinter's economy.
Neverwinter is currently in open beta with game bugs and game imbalances expected to be discovered and addressed. Cryptic has stated numerous times that it will not have a wipe between open beta and Neverwinter's official release. Cryptic/Perfect World has blurred the lines between game testing and game release by accepting real world money for in-game currency (Zen).
Hyperinflation after Neverwinter is released is the best solution to address all of these issues.
Post edited by lltsnwn on
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Boom down goes the value of lvl 60 items, and everyone has more to do.
Those of us that are playing as Cryptic intended (and paying cash) are then being negatively impacted.
Sure that will work as long as you add a new in-game currency that is used to purchase gear for the level 60+ gear.
Not exactly. Because if Gauntylgrim released in this manner (hence the 2 Grym coins you probably have in your bag), it would make this go a lot smoother. They don't necessarily have to "jack up the prices", but release better gear with Gauntylgrim that's just as easy to get as all the others, maybe with a few mounts and companions aswell. Therefore, I see no negative effect.
Increasing the level cap would require all new content and class upgrades to go with it. Increasing the stats on gear would require a huge rebalancing of the game. You compared this to expansion releases, well expansions typically go through a year or more of development. It's definitely a potential solution for the future, but it's not a viable one at this moment.
That does nothing to address the hundreds of millions of AD the exploiters have hoarded.
If no character wipe, they need to at least have a wealth wipe. Limit each account to 5,000,000 AD and 500 gold, make all the current purples BoP ... that would go a long way toward limiting the damage.
The real world money used to purchase Zen which is then used to buy in-game features such as additional character slots, etc would be already purchased using the current game economy and would be grandfathered into the hyper-inflated game economy.
- Titania Silverblade, the Iron Rose of Myth Drannor (Lvl 60 GWF, Destroyer)
- Gwyneth, the Cowardly Cat Burglar Drowling (Lvl 60 TR, Saboteur)
- Lady Rowanne Firehair, Heartwarder of Sune (Lvl 33 DC)
- Satella, Sensate (LvL 44 CW, Renegade, Non-Active)
Check Steppenkat's Foundry Quest Reviews!
If you take all of the best gear available at the end of open beta, double its stats and then create a NEW post-release currency that is used to buy this new gear you effectively devalue all of the "Hundreds of Millions of AD that exploiters have hoarded". MMORPGs have done this for years every time a new expansion is released.
That would absolutely be far easier than adding 30 levels worth of new content, but I think it'd still be a lot of work. I kind of doubt readjusting all of the endgame encounters (and maybe even midgame encounters) and potentially reworking all of the player stat scaling so PvP doesn't also get screwed up is something Cryptic's prepared to do right now.
You are assuming a lot. My main is only level 52.
If you purchased a Founder's Pack you would also get an appropriate amount of new currency for the hyper-inflated game economy. I think that Founder's Packs should continue to give it the same level of benefit it currently has.
Because those are the only 2 solutions?
Most people's panties aren't in a bunch over this issue. There's a small percentage of the population running around screaming that the sky is falling. When in fact Cryptic doesn't need to do anything to further fix this issue. The economy will fix itself. It isn't nearly as bad as all the people freaking out are making it out to be.
All die, so die well.
Compromise solution? I picked elegant because it allows Cryptic to honor its pledge not to wipe at the end of open beta and Neverwinter's release while addressing many of the beta tester's concerns about a broken game economy.
But people will still have millions of AD...
New superior gear would be purchased using a new post-release game currency. (AD+, etc)
Fix the mess, don't patch in more band-aids.