This does seem like quite a lame pack , all the blue gear is pretty meaningless due to the ability to level up to 60 in a few days if you play casually , the hardcore players will in all likelihood hit 60 either the day of release or Friday , then there's the companion , lets face it , unless it's an augment it will only be out when players hand in quests so that they can level it up fast then it'll probably never see the light of day and will only be used in SCA .
$20 No Brainer! 100%
$25 Most Likely 75%
$30 Maybe 50%
$35+ Not Likely Less than 10%
THIS.
Except I would add: $36 (3600 Z) or higher - not no, but hell-no.
The only thing in this pack of value the way I see it are the companion (which is NOT purple) and the greater bag of holding. Everything else is pure whipped-cream.
denverralphyMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild UsersPosts: 145Bounty Hunter
edited December 2013
Maybe I'm being a bit pessimistic, but I can't shake the feeling that this pack will be a bit over priced as it will coincidentally meet (or be close to) the 5k Zen requirement for the Charge Rewards Promotion. So you'll get the pack, as well as the companion from the Charge Rewards, resulting in two companions but losing the opportunity to sell that 5k zen for AD's.
Blue pet is a drop from the previous packs with the purple cat and fairy. No mention of skills the pet uses which could lead us to assume it's little more than a reskin of the existing hawk pet.
The blue gear will be effective until maybe level 15, so 10 levels of actual use given the fact you level during the intro. The only possible benefit here is the founder box will probably only give one weapon rather than the pair the ranger uses. But the length of playtime you'd have it for makes it less attractive.
24 slot bag is the only thing that would act as a hook to draw people in but it's one per account and bound to the character that takes it.
No AD's on offer unlike previous packs and no mount either.
All that makes it look like this will either be a low cost pack for sales or a higher priced one aimed at pet collectors.
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yogokouMember, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 0Arc User
edited December 2013
The previous pack at 20$ gave a small bag and a one character companion, plus goodies. This gives an account wide companion, plus large bag, plus goodies. Plus you can get with zen. I'm guessing 35-40$/4000 zen.
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denverralphyMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild UsersPosts: 145Bounty Hunter
The previous pack at 20$ gave a small bag and a one character companion, plus goodies. This gives an account wide companion, plus large bag, plus goodies. Plus you can get with zen. I'm guessing 35-40$/4000 zen.
Yeah that's my guess. Priced just right to entice anybody purchasing zen to go ahead and spend an additional $10 on top of that to get the $50/5k-zen Charge Rewards companion as well.
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beckylunaticMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 14,231Arc User
Are the things within the Adventurer's Helper pack bound?
Honestly, it's been so long since I opened the one I got with the Guardian pack, I can't recall if the XP booster was or not (I made the mistake of using it without realize how levelling would skyrocket without it). But I was able to divide other items from it between characters.
After reading through every post, I can't help but wonder if anyone here has actually played the Hunter Ranger on the Preview Shard?
I mean, besides speculating on the price of the pack, no one has mentioned anything about the usefullness of the items.
The Hunter Ranger can't use the "Hatchets of the Wild" until level 10, so, unless they level up beyond that, they're useless, except as skins, which few people will enjoy walking around with.
The "Hood of the Wild" can't be used until, what, level 15+? That's not much of a "starter" gear.
The "Greater Bag of Holding" will be just about useless in "Shadowmantle" as most GBoH's are currently used for storing Enchantments & Runestones collected, and used for refining them into higher ranked stones, which will no longer be the case in "Shadowmantle." They will be relegated to holding alternate sets of armor, if anyone actually needs space for more than two sets.
The title, and helper pack, might be useful, but not enough incentive to actually purchase a pack.
About the only really useful item in this pack, for me, would be the "Hunting Hawk" companion, but it's usefulness as a companion would be limited, as someone else mentioned, to the CW & HR classes.
Go for the eyes, Boo!GO FOR THE EYES!!! (Where's a Miniature Giant Space Hamster when you need one?)
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silvergryphMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 740Arc User
After reading through every post, I can't help but wonder if anyone here has actually played the Hunter Ranger on the Preview Shard?
I mean, besides speculating on the price of the pack, no one has mentioned anything about the usefullness of the items.
The Hunter Ranger can't use the "Hatchets of the Wild" until level 10, so, unless they level up beyond that, they're useless, except as skins, which few people will enjoy walking around with.
The "Hood of the Wild" can't be used until, what, level 15+? That's not much of a "starter" gear.
Like any product, the value will be different to different people. At this point, I am much more interested in new skins than in the weapon stats so the hatchets may be great for me. Especially since all of my pen and paper D&D Rangers have always preferred hatchets or hand axes over daggers.
And we don't know yet whether or not the hood has a level requirement. It's true that headwear doesn't drop right now until around level 15, but that doesn't necessarily mean that all headwear has to follow that mold. Being able to fill that slot from right out of the tutorial would be a nice perk for those of us who love alts. Likewise, another cloak skin for early on would be nice to me.
The "Greater Bag of Holding" will be just about useless in "Shadowmantle" as most GBoH's are currently used for storing Enchantments & Runestones collected, and used for refining them into higher ranked stones, which will no longer be the case in "Shadowmantle." They will be relegated to holding alternate sets of armor, if anyone actually needs space for more than two sets.
I try to pick up everything that drops. I ID blues and possible upgrades (including for alts) and just sell the rest unidentified. So, another bag is always welcome as it means I can keep adventuring for longer without having to go back to a vendor to sell.
The title, and helper pack, might be useful, but not enough incentive to actually purchase a pack.
This will depend largely on the actual ZEN price of the Ranger Booster pack compared to a helper pack. And of course, the usefulness of a title is entirely subjective.
About the only really useful item in this pack, for me, would be the "Hunting Hawk" companion, but it's usefulness as a companion would be limited, as someone else mentioned, to the CW & HR classes.
I agree that this is what I am most interested in. But, I think the active companion bonus that increases damage based on range is also good for DCs and Whisperknife TRs.
Note: this is MY perspective and I certainly do not intend to say I am right and everyone else is wrong, etcetera. So, from MY purview: Take the price of a typical BLUE companion and 50% the price of a Greater Bag of Holding = the suggested retail price (read: value of the pack, versus purchasing separately). Everything else is barely usable and entirely unnecessary. The only genuine items of real value are the companion and inventory bag, both of which you can buy in the Z-Store (granted: a different companion, but that doesn't change the value).
Pricing will be revealed on Thursday morning, no big deal. There will be many who find it a reasonable price (as we all vary on what "value" really is). I have my own "value" scale and it may not match others'.
I suspect this package is kind of a test for Cryptic (marketing or whomever controls Z-Store pricing). This is to see how we take this package in, in terms of value and "want-ability".
EVERYTHING in the pack except for the inventory bag and companion is frivolous to me. So here are the pros and cons of the remaining, high-value items:
Bag of Holding: not necessary. I purchased one from Z-Store on my main account, only use it to store character-bound purple stuff that I distribute to my alts. Beyond this: I have no need that trumps the cost of it. To have it is nice, sure, but character-only? Um, no.
Companion: -1 that it's a BLUE quality and not purple. However, +1 that it's account-bound so you can snag it any time you want it on any character. To me, this balances out the "lower skill level" aspect. Hence, it's value (to me) sits just a tad better than a Z-Store BLUE companion (because it's account-bound), but yet it's not a Purple level. So I figure: take the price of a blue z-store companion, add $5 (500 Zen) for it's account-wide binding and that's it's value (to me - and yes I'd actually buy account-bound companions at these prices).
Since everything else in the pack is all whipped cream (full of AIR) - I see this as the only deciding factor whether or not to buy this pack. Thus, I will based the price of the pack off of the companion that comes with the pack and that is how I will decide it's value.
The pack will serve a purpose for some, many WILL buy it. Many will not. How successful it really is or not we'll all never know. But I suspect the Cryptic big-wigs will be paying extreme-close attention to this.
dheffernanMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 216Arc User
edited December 2013
Pricing will be revealed on Thursday morning, no big deal.
The "big deal" is that a new pack that sells for Zen was announced on the last day of a Zen sale but without a price. This smacks of "insider trading", i.e. controlling the release of information so as to manipulate prices, or in this case to encourage people to buy Zen before the sale ended "just in case" they decide to buy the HR pack when the price is revealed.
Understand, I have no objection to Cryptic/PWE wanting to make money. I pay about $10 a month for NW, same as I pay for CO and STO via subscription. I just object to these kinds of dodgy moves. There was no legitimate reason not to reveal the price in the announcement.
@Venture-1@Venture from City of Heroes if you remember that far back. Yes, *that* Venture. Yes, I probably trashed your MA arc. For me it was Tuesday.
EVERYTHING in the pack except for the inventory bag and companion is frivolous to me. So here are the pros and cons of the remaining, high-value items:
Bag of Holding: not necessary. I purchased one from Z-Store on my main account, only use it to store character-bound purple stuff that I distribute to my alts. Beyond this: I have no need that trumps the cost of it. To have it is nice, sure, but character-only? Um, no. I think that the bag will not be bound to the character, simply that you can only claim *1* bag which would then function like any other GBH, namely that it is unbound, may be sold or traded at will. I would be very surprised to be wrong about this, but it is possible.
Comment in quote
Additionally, the HR CAN use the melee weapons prior to level 10, just like a GWF can use a sword knot, a CW can use a talisman and a DC can use an icon. For those classes the off-hand is a "stat stick", the HR gets a free stat-stick of blue quality that may be useful once he hits lvl 10 as a melee weapon. But, no matter what, it is free stuff with a new skin and is not a bad thing.
I consider anything before lvl 30 to be "starter gear." The inclusion of this gear is NOT what the majority (IMO) of people buying this pack are after. We want the bag, the companion and possibly the title. The weapon skins might be fun to have, and the gear might make a day of leveling a little easier, but getting blue gear for a new alt has never been a problem anyway.
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beckylunaticMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 14,231Arc User
The "big deal" is that a new pack that sells for Zen was announced on the last day of a Zen sale but without a price. This smacks of "insider trading", i.e. controlling the release of information so as to manipulate prices, or in this case to encourage people to buy Zen before the sale ended "just in case" they decide to buy the HR pack when the price is revealed.
Understand, I have no objection to Cryptic/PWE wanting to make money. I pay about $10 a month for NW, same as I pay for CO and STO via subscription. I just object to these kinds of dodgy moves. There was no legitimate reason not to reveal the price in the announcement.
In today's news posts, there's another promotion for bonus Zen for prepaid cards again, which runs to the end of the month. So there's an option for people who wanted to decide after they see a price. Still time to take advantage of the charge rewards after the module launch, even. (Module Dec 5, reward window ends Dec 7.)
The "big deal" is that a new pack that sells for Zen was announced on the last day of a Zen sale but without a price. This smacks of "insider trading", i.e. controlling the release of information so as to manipulate prices, or in this case to encourage people to buy Zen before the sale ended "just in case" they decide to buy the HR pack when the price is revealed.
I know and understand what you're saying, but it's fallacy - meaning to say you are completely shooting-from-the-hip/misinformed.
CRYPTIC decides when to release game-related items and when to update the Zen Store. These things do not happen on a whim, they are scheduled months upon months in advance. Hell, Cryptic is probably already fine-tuning the new Warlock class. Does that mean it will be released next month? Of course not. perhaps not until the next major update of Module 3 or even one after that, a year from now. When you see a new companion in the Z-Store do you actually think it was just finished a week ago? They already have the companions ready that we will not see for six months.
PREFECT WORLD ENTERTAINMENT (NOT Cryptic) controls your Zen Wallet and the ZEN store (purchasing of Zen). These are two separate entities. Perfect World sets the sale price of Zen and Zen Bonuses, not Cryptic. Even though PWE technically "owns" Cryptic, PWE is really a lot more like an executive producer; financing Cryptic's venture. That's about it. I suspect PWE *influences* Cryptic a lot more than outright dictating what, when, where and how. The only price-controlling Cryptic can perform is a sale of items for the week in *their own* Z-Store (not Star Trek, not Champions and not any other Z-Store).
As for pricing on the new Shadowmantle Ranger pack? I suspect they're still trying to figure it out. I suspect it will be between $30 and $40 because that's the "sweet-spot" between $20 (NW Booster pack) and $60 (Guardian and Feywild packs). As for myself, I won't buy it unless it's at a flat $30 (3000 Zen) or less, even though I've purchased every pack offered by Cryptic (including the Legacy of Romulus pack offered at Star Trek Online). But that's a personal decision and certainly there are others who's dollar threshold is higher than mine.
Funny, this will actually be the first bonus pack I do NOT buy from Cryptic...depending on how they set the price, of course.
And we don't know yet whether or not the hood has a level requirement. It's true that headwear doesn't drop right now until around level 15, but that doesn't necessarily mean that all headwear has to follow that mold. Being able to fill that slot from right out of the tutorial would be a nice perk for those of us who love alts. Likewise, another cloak skin for early on would be nice to me.
This. And the melee weapons are equip-able before 10 as well - and provide stats - just like other off-hand items do.
The "big deal" is that a new pack that sells for Zen was announced on the last day of a Zen sale but without a price. This smacks of "insider trading", i.e. controlling the release of information so as to manipulate prices, or in this case to encourage people to buy Zen before the sale ended "just in case" they decide to buy the HR pack when the price is revealed.
That's not insider trading.
It would only be insider trading if someone from Cryptic (or someone else with information about what they are doing not available to the public) was buying and selling zen to their advantage, gaining a one up in one for or another over other players.
This is not what is happening.
What Cryptic IS doing is something considered often just as foul and dark - Marketing.
-Rajani Isa
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denverralphyMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild UsersPosts: 145Bounty Hunter
The Hunter Ranger can't use the "Hatchets of the Wild" until level 10, so, unless they level up beyond that, they're useless, except as skins, which few people will enjoy walking around with.
Sure they can use them. They just don't get the melee attacks. But they can equip them and reap the benefits of the increased stats.
Well blue companions are 2k zen and the bag is usually 1k zen so probably around 3k zen unfourtently. I think it should be atleast down to 1k at launch to better promote the class.
Companion: -1 that it's a BLUE quality and not purple. However, +1 that it's account-bound so you can snag it any time you want it on any character. To me, this balances out the "lower skill level" aspect. Hence, it's value (to me) sits just a tad better than a Z-Store BLUE companion (because it's account-bound), but yet it's not a Purple level. So I figure: take the price of a blue z-store companion, add $5 (500 Zen) for it's account-wide binding and that's it's value (to me - and yes I'd actually buy account-bound companions at these prices).
Obviously, you have never purchased a companion or mount from the Zen store! They ARE "Account Bound"! Therefore this "version" of the hawk is NOT sufficient enough that I would buy this pack, at this time!
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rosicrucianistMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild UsersPosts: 0Arc User
Obviously, you have never purchased a companion or mount from the Zen store! They ARE "Account Bound"! Therefore this "version" of the hawk is NOT sufficient enough that I would buy this pack, at this time!
I think you are wrong about that. Mounts are account bound, companions aren't, or if they are somehow, I'd sure like to know how to get my stone I bought on my other characters. Only companions bought through the packs on the website can be acquired by multiple characters on the same account. This is why I generally don't buy companions. If they were for the whole account, I would purchase more. Really wish they would change that, especially now that companions are required for builds.
I think you are wrong about that. Mounts are account bound, companions aren't, or if they are somehow, I'd sure like to know how to get my stone I bought on my other characters. Only companions bought through the packs on the website can be acquired by multiple characters on the same account. This is why I generally don't buy companions. If they were for the whole account, I would purchase more. Really wish they would change that, especially now that companions are required for builds.
My mistake, you are correct companions, other than those in the special packs, are character bound! Wish they would have gone forward with the ability to unbind companions!
I think you are wrong about that. Mounts are account bound, companions aren't, or if they are somehow, I'd sure like to know how to get my stone I bought on my other characters. Only companions bought through the packs on the website can be acquired by multiple characters on the same account. This is why I generally don't buy companions. If they were for the whole account, I would purchase more. Really wish they would change that, especially now that companions are required for builds.
I am the same way. The Zen-store companions cost to much money to invest for one character so the only ones I have are the ones purchased from the packs.
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rosicrucianistMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild UsersPosts: 0Arc User
I am the same way. The Zen-store companions cost to much money to invest for one character so the only ones I have are the ones purchased from the packs.
Yep, couldn't agree more. I have bought a total of 1 companion (the stone). I want to support the game (and do), but I find enjoyment playing the game with alts. Sadly, the game isn't terribly alt friendly when it comes to companions, and I'd be curious to hear their rational for not making companions account bound. The logical answer is they sell plenty of the same companion to the same account, but I highly doubt this (and only Cryptic knows the answer). If companions were account bound, I'd drop $100-$120 tomorrow on them.
Obviously, you have never purchased a companion or mount from the Zen store! They ARE "Account Bound"! Therefore this "version" of the hawk is NOT sufficient enough that I would buy this pack, at this time!
-[SCRUBBED]-
I see above that you've realized your mistake.
And please don't proclaim something to be "obvious". For the record: I did purchase a Galeb Duhr on the promise it would be unbindable - so, um, yes: I *have* purchased a companion from the Z-Store. Then Cryptic changed their policy after-the-fact - which makes me livid. But that's a beotch-session for another thread. ;-)
All zen store companions should have 2 purchase options, and the prices for companions needs to be lowered.
Green companion (single character use) : 500 zen
Green companion (account wide unlock): 1000 zen
Blue companion (single character unlock): 800 zen
Blue companion (account wide unlock): 1600 zen
Purple companion (single character use): 1200 zen
Purple companion (account wide unlock): 2500 zen
All zen store companions should have 2 purchase options, and the prices for companions needs to be lowered.
Green companion (single character use) : 500 zen
Green companion (account wide unlock): 1000 zen
Blue companion (single character unlock): 800 zen
Blue companion (account wide unlock): 1600 zen
Purple companion (single character use): 1200 zen
Purple companion (account wide unlock): 2500 zen
The epic PROBLEM with this is that it makes *way* too much sense. How dare you.
And please don't proclaim something to be "obvious". For the record: I did purchase a Galeb Duhr on the promise it would be unbindable - so, um, yes: I *have* purchased a companion from the Z-Store. Then Cryptic changed their policy after-the-fact - which makes me livid. But that's a beotch-session for another thread. ;-)
I ran into that with the original starter pack. The bag was supposed to be claimable by all of ones characters it was even asked on the forums if this was the case or was it pure character and it was stated it could be claimed by all of ones toons then on release they made it only claimable by one character.
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rosicrucianistMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild UsersPosts: 0Arc User
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THIS.
Except I would add: $36 (3600 Z) or higher - not no, but hell-no.
The only thing in this pack of value the way I see it are the companion (which is NOT purple) and the greater bag of holding. Everything else is pure whipped-cream.
The blue gear will be effective until maybe level 15, so 10 levels of actual use given the fact you level during the intro. The only possible benefit here is the founder box will probably only give one weapon rather than the pair the ranger uses. But the length of playtime you'd have it for makes it less attractive.
24 slot bag is the only thing that would act as a hook to draw people in but it's one per account and bound to the character that takes it.
No AD's on offer unlike previous packs and no mount either.
All that makes it look like this will either be a low cost pack for sales or a higher priced one aimed at pet collectors.
Yeah that's my guess. Priced just right to entice anybody purchasing zen to go ahead and spend an additional $10 on top of that to get the $50/5k-zen Charge Rewards companion as well.
Honestly, it's been so long since I opened the one I got with the Guardian pack, I can't recall if the XP booster was or not (I made the mistake of using it without realize how levelling would skyrocket without it). But I was able to divide other items from it between characters.
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There will be new enchanted lock boxe dedicated to the expansion? like nightmare lock boxe ?
sorry 4 my eng
We don't know if there will be another larger pack.
The new lockbox will be the Rusted Iron lockboxes.
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I mean, besides speculating on the price of the pack, no one has mentioned anything about the usefullness of the items.
The Hunter Ranger can't use the "Hatchets of the Wild" until level 10, so, unless they level up beyond that, they're useless, except as skins, which few people will enjoy walking around with.
The "Hood of the Wild" can't be used until, what, level 15+? That's not much of a "starter" gear.
The "Greater Bag of Holding" will be just about useless in "Shadowmantle" as most GBoH's are currently used for storing Enchantments & Runestones collected, and used for refining them into higher ranked stones, which will no longer be the case in "Shadowmantle." They will be relegated to holding alternate sets of armor, if anyone actually needs space for more than two sets.
The title, and helper pack, might be useful, but not enough incentive to actually purchase a pack.
About the only really useful item in this pack, for me, would be the "Hunting Hawk" companion, but it's usefulness as a companion would be limited, as someone else mentioned, to the CW & HR classes.
(Where's a Miniature Giant Space Hamster when you need one?)
And we don't know yet whether or not the hood has a level requirement. It's true that headwear doesn't drop right now until around level 15, but that doesn't necessarily mean that all headwear has to follow that mold. Being able to fill that slot from right out of the tutorial would be a nice perk for those of us who love alts. Likewise, another cloak skin for early on would be nice to me.
I try to pick up everything that drops. I ID blues and possible upgrades (including for alts) and just sell the rest unidentified. So, another bag is always welcome as it means I can keep adventuring for longer without having to go back to a vendor to sell.
This will depend largely on the actual ZEN price of the Ranger Booster pack compared to a helper pack. And of course, the usefulness of a title is entirely subjective.
I agree that this is what I am most interested in. But, I think the active companion bonus that increases damage based on range is also good for DCs and Whisperknife TRs.
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Pricing will be revealed on Thursday morning, no big deal. There will be many who find it a reasonable price (as we all vary on what "value" really is). I have my own "value" scale and it may not match others'.
I suspect this package is kind of a test for Cryptic (marketing or whomever controls Z-Store pricing). This is to see how we take this package in, in terms of value and "want-ability".
EVERYTHING in the pack except for the inventory bag and companion is frivolous to me. So here are the pros and cons of the remaining, high-value items:
Bag of Holding: not necessary. I purchased one from Z-Store on my main account, only use it to store character-bound purple stuff that I distribute to my alts. Beyond this: I have no need that trumps the cost of it. To have it is nice, sure, but character-only? Um, no.
Companion: -1 that it's a BLUE quality and not purple. However, +1 that it's account-bound so you can snag it any time you want it on any character. To me, this balances out the "lower skill level" aspect. Hence, it's value (to me) sits just a tad better than a Z-Store BLUE companion (because it's account-bound), but yet it's not a Purple level. So I figure: take the price of a blue z-store companion, add $5 (500 Zen) for it's account-wide binding and that's it's value (to me - and yes I'd actually buy account-bound companions at these prices).
Since everything else in the pack is all whipped cream (full of AIR) - I see this as the only deciding factor whether or not to buy this pack. Thus, I will based the price of the pack off of the companion that comes with the pack and that is how I will decide it's value.
The pack will serve a purpose for some, many WILL buy it. Many will not. How successful it really is or not we'll all never know. But I suspect the Cryptic big-wigs will be paying extreme-close attention to this.
The "big deal" is that a new pack that sells for Zen was announced on the last day of a Zen sale but without a price. This smacks of "insider trading", i.e. controlling the release of information so as to manipulate prices, or in this case to encourage people to buy Zen before the sale ended "just in case" they decide to buy the HR pack when the price is revealed.
Understand, I have no objection to Cryptic/PWE wanting to make money. I pay about $10 a month for NW, same as I pay for CO and STO via subscription. I just object to these kinds of dodgy moves. There was no legitimate reason not to reveal the price in the announcement.
Comment in quote
Additionally, the HR CAN use the melee weapons prior to level 10, just like a GWF can use a sword knot, a CW can use a talisman and a DC can use an icon. For those classes the off-hand is a "stat stick", the HR gets a free stat-stick of blue quality that may be useful once he hits lvl 10 as a melee weapon. But, no matter what, it is free stuff with a new skin and is not a bad thing.
I consider anything before lvl 30 to be "starter gear." The inclusion of this gear is NOT what the majority (IMO) of people buying this pack are after. We want the bag, the companion and possibly the title. The weapon skins might be fun to have, and the gear might make a day of leveling a little easier, but getting blue gear for a new alt has never been a problem anyway.
In today's news posts, there's another promotion for bonus Zen for prepaid cards again, which runs to the end of the month. So there's an option for people who wanted to decide after they see a price. Still time to take advantage of the charge rewards after the module launch, even. (Module Dec 5, reward window ends Dec 7.)
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I know and understand what you're saying, but it's fallacy - meaning to say you are completely shooting-from-the-hip/misinformed.
CRYPTIC decides when to release game-related items and when to update the Zen Store. These things do not happen on a whim, they are scheduled months upon months in advance. Hell, Cryptic is probably already fine-tuning the new Warlock class. Does that mean it will be released next month? Of course not. perhaps not until the next major update of Module 3 or even one after that, a year from now. When you see a new companion in the Z-Store do you actually think it was just finished a week ago? They already have the companions ready that we will not see for six months.
PREFECT WORLD ENTERTAINMENT (NOT Cryptic) controls your Zen Wallet and the ZEN store (purchasing of Zen). These are two separate entities. Perfect World sets the sale price of Zen and Zen Bonuses, not Cryptic. Even though PWE technically "owns" Cryptic, PWE is really a lot more like an executive producer; financing Cryptic's venture. That's about it. I suspect PWE *influences* Cryptic a lot more than outright dictating what, when, where and how. The only price-controlling Cryptic can perform is a sale of items for the week in *their own* Z-Store (not Star Trek, not Champions and not any other Z-Store).
As for pricing on the new Shadowmantle Ranger pack? I suspect they're still trying to figure it out. I suspect it will be between $30 and $40 because that's the "sweet-spot" between $20 (NW Booster pack) and $60 (Guardian and Feywild packs). As for myself, I won't buy it unless it's at a flat $30 (3000 Zen) or less, even though I've purchased every pack offered by Cryptic (including the Legacy of Romulus pack offered at Star Trek Online). But that's a personal decision and certainly there are others who's dollar threshold is higher than mine.
Funny, this will actually be the first bonus pack I do NOT buy from Cryptic...depending on how they set the price, of course.
This. And the melee weapons are equip-able before 10 as well - and provide stats - just like other off-hand items do.
That's not insider trading.
It would only be insider trading if someone from Cryptic (or someone else with information about what they are doing not available to the public) was buying and selling zen to their advantage, gaining a one up in one for or another over other players.
This is not what is happening.
What Cryptic IS doing is something considered often just as foul and dark - Marketing.
Obviously, you have never purchased a companion or mount from the Zen store! They ARE "Account Bound"! Therefore this "version" of the hawk is NOT sufficient enough that I would buy this pack, at this time!
I think you are wrong about that. Mounts are account bound, companions aren't, or if they are somehow, I'd sure like to know how to get my stone I bought on my other characters. Only companions bought through the packs on the website can be acquired by multiple characters on the same account. This is why I generally don't buy companions. If they were for the whole account, I would purchase more. Really wish they would change that, especially now that companions are required for builds.
My mistake, you are correct companions, other than those in the special packs, are character bound! Wish they would have gone forward with the ability to unbind companions!
I am the same way. The Zen-store companions cost to much money to invest for one character so the only ones I have are the ones purchased from the packs.
Yep, couldn't agree more. I have bought a total of 1 companion (the stone). I want to support the game (and do), but I find enjoyment playing the game with alts. Sadly, the game isn't terribly alt friendly when it comes to companions, and I'd be curious to hear their rational for not making companions account bound. The logical answer is they sell plenty of the same companion to the same account, but I highly doubt this (and only Cryptic knows the answer). If companions were account bound, I'd drop $100-$120 tomorrow on them.
-[SCRUBBED]-
I see above that you've realized your mistake.
And please don't proclaim something to be "obvious". For the record: I did purchase a Galeb Duhr on the promise it would be unbindable - so, um, yes: I *have* purchased a companion from the Z-Store. Then Cryptic changed their policy after-the-fact - which makes me livid. But that's a beotch-session for another thread. ;-)
All zen store companions should have 2 purchase options, and the prices for companions needs to be lowered.
Green companion (single character use) : 500 zen
Green companion (account wide unlock): 1000 zen
Blue companion (single character unlock): 800 zen
Blue companion (account wide unlock): 1600 zen
Purple companion (single character use): 1200 zen
Purple companion (account wide unlock): 2500 zen
The epic PROBLEM with this is that it makes *way* too much sense. How dare you.
I ran into that with the original starter pack. The bag was supposed to be claimable by all of ones characters it was even asked on the forums if this was the case or was it pure character and it was stated it could be claimed by all of ones toons then on release they made it only claimable by one character.