What can cryptic sell without destroying their game further?

veramis1

The recent changes has made t2 dungeons pointless for a lot of people. I assume it was done with the intent of generating more income, but I really don't see how that could work. To be honest, I would much rather see pay2win people dominate everything than to have most of the game content trivialized for no good reason like in its current state. What are some possible ways cryptic could generate income without making half of the level 60 content irrelevant? When their pockets are filled enough they may make dungeon delves and gauntlgrym meaningful again, so let's do the thinking for them.

Here's a few ideas I have:
1. Item to upgrade each t2 armor piece to t2.5, and each t2.5 weapon piece to t3.
2. Mount dyes and reskins.
3. Tome of experience, can level to 1 to 60 with enough tomes.
4. The ability to use two companions: one augment, one non-augment.
5. Tome of strength/wisdom/charisma etc, up to a max of one tome for each skill per character.
6. Tome of feats, each granting one feat point, up to a max of five feat points per character.
7. Guild mansions, with all sorts of zen purchasable furniture, decorations, and artifacts that provide buffs.
8. Transdimensional key to a t3 dungeon,

dardove

With the exception of the 2nd idea (and the 7th if you remove the buff part) everything you listed ruins the game further.

veramis1

Which would you rather prefer, the paying population having 10% better stats than you, or over 50% of the level 60 content made pointless? Before this expansion, I would've never entertained such ideas, but by gum, if cryptic wants money so bad they are willing to completely trash the in-game economy, I would much rather they consider just making pay2win people dominate than to make most content ruined for the rest of us.

frarii

Pointless? why about playing the game FOR FUN??? i hate that spoiled mentality of i need to get a shiny thingy or i wont play!

I will take a break from the forums cuz the toxic and destructive behaviour of a bunch (yeah, get the grasp of it, you're just a bunch) of negative individuals is making it just impossible to inhabit.

The new BoP policy will do wonders for the game long term, and the old dungs are now saved, people can run then off delves, cuz the reward is worth it (boss drops BoE being more expensive) and new players can get their sets way faster during delves, now if the devs find a way to end ALL shortcutting, fast running, really fix the return to instance, etc... the game will go even better, and only the people who play games for fun, adults with disposable income and half a brain, will be playing, and the game will go on for years.

veramis1

Frarii, most people who are level 60 want to do things that can yield a benefit to their characters. If they need astral diamonds to buy a cat, what will they do, a t2.5 dungeon that drops an expensive purple item that can bring them closer to their goal, or a t2 dungeon that will give them an item that they can salvage for 3-10k AD?

I have nothing against them fixing return to instance trick or other dungeon exploits, but to make all t2 dungeons unrewarding for people who already have their armor sets is as good as making them pointless for us. Mathematically the possibility of a t2 dropping from dungeon delve chest is still the same, the only two real differences is that now people can choose the item they want, and there are a lot less people doing dungeon delves. Trust me, the benefit of being able to choose your gear when your odds at a t2 armor piece is 10% at the loss of being able to buy what you want in the AH for 5-30k AD does not compare. The new BoP system has destroyed t2 for most level 60's, and in the long term the people who are now benefiting (if you can say that) from their 10% chance to pick the t2 set item they want will also reach the point where they are fully equipped and won't benefit from t2 dungeons, then they will farm CN and MC until they are bored and quit. Being someone with more than half a brain I predict this game will be killed off within a year.

And they killed the gauntlgrym kentucky derby horse race, need I say more?

ayroux

veramis1 wrote: »

Here's a few ideas I have:
1. Item to upgrade each t2 armor piece to t2.5, and each t2.5 weapon piece to t3.
2. Mount dyes and reskins.
3. Tome of experience, can level to 1 to 60 with enough tomes.
4. The ability to use two companions: one augment, one non-augment.
5. Tome of strength/wisdom/charisma etc, up to a max of one tome for each skill per character.
6. Tome of feats, each granting one feat point, up to a max of five feat points per character.
7. Guild mansions, with all sorts of zen purchasable furniture, decorations, and artifacts that provide buffs.
8. Transdimensional key to a t3 dungeon,

1) Good idea, upgrades older item stats to the next tier BUT keeps the set bonus! This could be a REALLY cool item. Basically turns T1 items into +279 main stats and T2 items to what is it 294? This would be a good way to get people running T1/T2 again. AND it would give more gear choices if you could upgrade stats!

2) I would pay for a Mount Dye or Re-skin. Just like current gear, why cant we dye mounts?!

3) I dont like this idea AS much. I WOULD like to see these just give a massive +exp gain and have them drop from T1/T2 dungeons with appropriate exp bonuses. Like +25% exp earned PERIOD for 2 hours or w.e. The T2 could be +30% exp. This just speeds up question for players who are already lvl 60 (or heck for starters who want to PAY to level faster).

4) no idea why you would want this...

5) Are these like "Boons"? I really like the Boon idea, so maybe more of those?

6) I like this idea, what would be better imo is a tome of NEW abilities for each class. Something that drops and can be upgraded like the current abilities.

7) Guild housing forsure!

8) Eh... more dungeons? rather have more pvp maps...

veramis1

ayroux, thank you for your constructive criticism, it is most appreciated.

3. I think your idea would be nice, but I kind of lean towards a flat xp gain tome for sale in zen store, catering to people with the money to give to cryptic for very fast leveling.
4. I don't want this, but it would be an amazingly effective way to get people to spend zen.
5. Yes like boons but at zen store.
8. Yeah they should have more pvp maps , but again the point of my suggestion was an item for cryptic to sell for $.

beckylunatic

There's a huge problem with implementing many of these suggestions, in that gamers who object to the idea of paying for power will be driven away. New players who base their decision on whether or not to start playing a game on if it is P2W will direct their attention elsewhere, because nobody would be able to honestly answer them that it is not, and attracting new players seems to me to also be a vital part of keeping an online game lively.

Yes, there are people who would happily pay for these features, and while they may or may not harm the experience of those who don't, there are a lot of people for whom implementing those kind of features really would be the last straw.

veramis1

That's possible, becky. I think it would depend on how they price the items in zen coins, and whether or not they make t2 dungeons and gauntlgrym rewarding again. The dire situation now is that people can't make a lot of AD, and they need a lot of AD to buy things like cats and stones or the things I suggested. If they roll back some of the ridiculous BoP changes that have destroyed the economy, the AD will start flowing again, and free2play players should be able to get AD again to purchase the zen items they want.

beckylunatic

You're missing the point that it isn't the affordability of paying for power that some players object to, but the idea that you'd have to at all just to keep up.

frarii

Pay to win is always an awful idea and that will REALLy destroy the game, is elitist and unfair, the only thing that this game needs to "fix" the BoP... is an unbinding stone for 1000 zen... problem solved!

Things this game could do to win millions of bucks???

1- Allow mobs of dungeons drop blue/purple enchants/profession resources-assets in a 1-100 1-1000 ratio, as i wrote once in those forums, make even it a lottery, allow 1-1000 lvl 7 enchant drops, 1-10000 lvl 8, 1-100000 lvl 9 and 1-1 million lvl 10, let people have the chance of getting rich doing dungeons... and people will search the corners to find missing mobs.

2- unique-really exclusive boss drops from dungs: Parrot augment companion on PK, High priestess of lolth fashion costume on ToS, Dragon wyrmling mount/pet in Karr... etc, do it drop only 1% chance in boss and make it BoE, people will go CRAZY for those things, and run the instances 24/7 like there is no tomorrow, also, the whales, people with disposable income who like shiny thingys, will buy thousands of zen to get their hands on it, also make T1 dungs have those "tomes" (5 t1 dungs + fardelver t1 = 6 char stats) drop from boss also at the same rate, but BoP, Min-Maxers and PvPers will run all the t1 instances helping the new players for the chance of improving their toon. (cannot be BoE because then you will be again selling power, even indirectly)

3- the Mount dyes is a great idea, but what would be better idea is to allow alchemy to make new recipes, or make random mobs arround the world drop rare recipes on a 1-1000 ratio, that will revamp the profession and make profit for those who run Alchemy, at the same time... revamp "old" professions (the new ones are in the right direction)

4- ladder PvP and new PvP maps and types of game, theyre working on it, but the PvPers need a bone.

5- Being able to bind a key to switch from PvP setup and PvE setup and also make PvP and PvE separated to avoid new nerfs to the Main player base in order to balance.

6- the new classes and paragon paths, theyre really needed, i know they are on a timer here, but they must shorten that timer if they can.

7- A public list of Banned people and their offense, accessible for anyone, stickied, updated daily, its the 21th century, transparency is a must, we must know who is banned and why, i want to see 100 goldselling bans everyday and those who exploit also, people will understand the company is responsible and is taking care of bussines and will soon forget the whole (really overblown, but i dont wanna derrail) lockbox issue.

8- More, A LOT MORE, dev comunication with player base, explain why you do things, explain why things are this way and not that other way, explain more and more... comunication from devs, not from CM & Mods (those do it and do it great)

veramis1

becky: A person can exchange astral diamonds for zen, and if the exchange ratio and zen power item prices are reasonable, I don't see how pay2win becomes a significant issue.

frarii: All great suggestions, I would love to see any and all of them implemented.