I believe this is probably the best 'justification' for lowering Companion upgrade pricing I've seen yet. The simple fact is Astral Diamonds are generating income for the company (no matter if you are a 100% free-player; you are subsidized by the cash-spenders). The company must still generate the income. So it comes down to supply and demand, right now the demand outstrips the supply artificially (because of the high prices).
Yesterday you didn't see any connection between AD and real money and you said these prices are to push players toward buying companions with Zen (even though it can be converted from AD).
Also this has nothing to do with supply and demand, it's not like if prices is too low then too many people would buy and cryptic would run out of "pet upgrades"
The price to upgrade a companion is indeed way too high. Those who say otherwise is because they are bulking with AD's. They should realize that not everybody has their amount of AD's. Not everybody can spend hours and hours in the game. Many of us have a life beside gaming. Not everybody wants to spend real money to upgrade a companion (like the cleric p.e.) that at its highest lvl appears to be worthless. Many of us would upgrade them if the price was much lower. 1,5 million AD is just ridiculous. 500 AD should be more than enough. I understand a company needs to earn money but not by overpricing things. I am sure lots of players would upgrade those companions if the prices were more reasonable. Now the majority leaves them at white or green.
Yesterday you didn't see any connection between AD and real money and you said these prices are to push players toward buying companions with Zen (even though it can be converted from AD).
Whoa, whoa, whoa, there. Yes I did. Please go back and read all my comments in this thread. I do not often 'dumb-down' my vernacular and lexicon to spell everything out in simple terms for time's sake - and I also forget not everyone here is a native-tongue English speaker, so I apologize if my comments weren't clear and creating confusion.
I have always recognized and supported, even advocated real legal tender for astral diamonds and the exchange.
I will further clarify my comments for comprehension of non-native-English speakers here and now: Also, if my comments are read and understood in full context, my meaning is very clear: All exchanged Astral Diamonds are derived from Zen Points. All Zen Points are derived from Legal Tender (Cash). Always. Even if you yourself never spend a penny of real money, any and all Zen or Astral Diamonds you trade for Zen will have real cash attached to it by someone somewhere else.
This is how Cryptic makes revenue off Astral Diamonds.
Therefore, by maintaining such a high cost to upgrade (anything) it will entice people to trade Zen for Astral Diamonds in the exchange if they don't want to farm them. The only way Zen get's into the game is that someone, somewhere at some time had to purchase it with real cash.
Does this mean the extreme cost of upgrading (anything) is justified? I don't think so. I also feel these costs are too high. I am simply explaining that I understand *why* they are so high.
I also believe Cryptic will eventually lower these prices. Probably not enough to satisfy most people, but lower prices just the same. But they will analyze the hell out of it first and do so slowly and carefully to be sure they do not lower the prices too far - because once lowered they cannot raise them again. This is why it will be a long while before we see these kind of changes: the time it takes for them to evaluate by how far to do it, and all the approvals from higher-up managers and bosses that are required before it can happen.
I hope this 'rephrasing' and 'simplifying' of my previous comments (in any thread regarding AD pricing) is more understandable for you. I am not trying to insult you or anyone. I do understand there are many non-native-English speakers and so understanding written English and context can sometimes be a challenge. However, if you compare all I've said in all my comments, I think you'll agree my message is consistent.
Don't see the problem really, so you can buy a purple companion for less or upgrade your free or gold bought companion for more. Seems pretty straight forward to me. Wait for a Sale and buy a Purple companion.
If they lower the upgrade cost then people would be all : "Zen Store purple companions prices are way too high, since I can upgrade my companion for half the AD, needs to be lowered."
Don't see the problem really, so you can buy a purple companion for less or upgrade your free or gold bought companion for more. Seems pretty straight forward to me. Wait for a Sale and buy a Purple companion.
If they lower the upgrade cost then people would be all : "Zen Store purple companions prices are way too high, since I can upgrade my companion for half the AD, needs to be lowered."
Why does it make sense that one way is much more expensive than the other? It's way more expensive to buy upgrades, so ... if I want purple companions I'll just buy them outright.
What annoys me as a customer is the lack of options and variation that gives me, sours me on the whole thing, so I just throw my hands up and spend NOTHING.
(Ok, I bought a Galeb duhr because I have a dwarf cleric, but I'd have probably bought more companions if I wasn't annoyed, or if you could transfer them between characters)
Campaign: The Fenwick Cycle NWS-DKR9GB7KH
Wicks and Things: NW-DI4FMZRR4 : The Fenwick merchant family has lost a caravan! Can you help?
Beggar's Hollow: NW-DR6YG4J2L : Someone, or something, has stolen away many of the Fenwicks' children! Can you find out what happened to them?
Into the Fen Wood: NW-DL89DRG7B : Enter the heart of the forest. Can you discover the secret of the Fen Wood?
I will further clarify my comments for comprehension of non-native-English speakers here and now: Also, if my comments are read and understood in full context, my meaning is very clear: All exchanged Astral Diamonds are derived from Zen Points. All Zen Points are derived from Legal Tender (Cash). Always. Even if you yourself never spend a penny of real money, any and all Zen or Astral Diamonds you trade for Zen will have real cash attached to it by someone somewhere else.
This is how Cryptic makes revenue off Astral Diamonds.
I don't think there is a problem with my understanding of english and nobody is denying what you're saying here, this wasn't really my focus of this discussion, not sure why you had to enforce it. I understand this and it's true, i just don't think it's relevant to my point.
Therefore, by maintaining such a high cost to upgrade (anything) it will entice people to trade Zen for Astral Diamonds in the exchange if they don't want to farm them. The only way Zen get's into the game is that someone, somewhere at some time had to purchase it with real cash.
Now here is where some data would be required, because i think the game's high AD cost on upgrade (anything) has nothing to do with this. I think most of Zen bought on real money and sold for AD goes into the AH. Some statistics would be awesome but this is my option based on my experience in this game.
Having high prices on pet/mount upgrades has little to no impact on the amount of ZEN bought from PWE. There is no reason for someone to sell ZEN for AD just to upgrade pet/mount or some other overpriced <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font> PWE is selling while there is an alternative.
You think that higher prices = higher demand for AD, but in reality higher prices = no demand for AD (for this purpose).
People have a need, for epic pets right? This need can be satisfied by upgrading a pet or buying an already epic one. The problem is that the prices for these 2 options are way off.
I also believe Cryptic will eventually lower these prices. Probably not enough to satisfy most people, but lower prices just the same.
I'm not asking for lower prices for it to be affordable to new players or satisfy some abstract notion, i'm asking for balance between the 2 options, it's a price adjustment to match the Zen store.
If someone wants and epic pet and has money to spend, he'll buy from Zen store, or sell the zen and buy it from AH which again, is much cheaper than upgrading. Ridiculous high prices have no purpose while there is a cheaper alternative. And just because i buy Zen from someone who paid real money, it doesn't mean he's buying my astral diamonds to upgrade pets/mounts.
edit: here's another idea, making epic pets in Zen store ~3700ish would also make upgrading more appealing.
3700? wtf are you smoking you do realize converted thats $37 for just a companion. The whole idea behind a store and ftp game is MICRO transactions, every time someone pays that <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font> high price of $30 + for just a single companion for a single toon your buying an entire game. On average everything in the store is way overpriced not just companions, the only reason they should be anything higher than 1500 zen is if they are account unlocked, meaning one for every character you have.
Now I could agree about zen vs AD costs if all zen store companions were epic. But to expect me to pay $12 for a blue companion then tell me that I have spend 750K ADs to upgrade it to purple is just insulting. Even at normal zen exchange prices (350ish) you're asking me to basically shell out another $21 worth of ADs to upgrade it which in the end brings the cost of that blue companion to $33 which is $8 more then any epic companion. Also lets not forget that zen store companions are account wide so now I'll have to pay the 750k upgrade cost for each character that uses said companion.....it really does start to get ridiculous.
And to buy green or blue companions isn't even about trying to save money, it's the fact that some green and blue companions have better stat bonuses then some purple companions. So even as a paying customer you're getting screwed buy the high cost of upgrading.
Now I could agree about zen vs AD costs if all zen store companions were epic. But to expect me to pay $12 for a blue companion then tell me that I have spend 750K ADs to upgrade it to purple is just insulting. Even at normal zen exchange prices (350ish) you're asking me to basically shell out another $21 worth of ADs to upgrade it which in the end brings the cost of that blue companion to $33 which is $8 more then any epic companion. Also lets not forget that zen store companions are account wide so now I'll have to pay the 750k upgrade cost for each character that uses said companion.....it really does start to get ridiculous.
And to buy green or blue companions isn't even about trying to save money, it's the fact that some green and blue companions have better stat bonuses then some purple companions. So even as a paying customer you're getting screwed buy the high cost of upgrading.
ok so im wrong on that point and thanks for pointing that out. But the rest of what I said still stands.
People have to remember that NW has went through a lot of changes since its release and as such over all pricings may be a bit out of date so to speak. I don't think anyone is suggesting free upgrades but at least make the prices reasonable so that more players will make use of this feature. After all, one of the reasons sited by the devs for making changes to the refinement system was do to the fact most players refused to slot enchants until they had they're epic gear do to the insanely high cost of unslotting enchants.
I've already pointed out 3 times when cryptic has decided to change the AD costs of services and lets not forget that at one point they lowered prices in the zen store by like 30% (if I remember correctly) so the notion that cryptic may need to revise other AD costs is not totally unfounded even if some people think the prices are fine.
Don't sell me a civic and then throw upgrade costs at me that make it more expensive then a BMW, that's just bad business.
People have to remember that NW has went through a lot of changes since its release and as such over all pricings may be a bit out of date so to speak.
Also the prices never were in date. The prices has always been waaay too high.
Transmutation, Mount upgrades, Companion upgrades ( and now the squeezing out of weapon and armor enchant upgrades in what they have slowly been doing since mod 2 ).
The pricing of things has always been unreasonable. Yes they decreased the prices of things in the zen store, yes they decreased the price of transmutes by 10% (woopidy doo). Still doesnt change the fact the prices of things are still outrageous. Its why I havent bought a thing. And I wont until the prices become more user friendly. Even if I could, just because I could afford it, doesnt mean I'll just hand over the cash for it.
its about principle. Paying for these things with the prices they are is just promoting bad business practice.
They're making most of thier money off Keys anyway. The last ftp mmo I played, I didnt mind paying for things at times, cause the prices are reasonable. I will not pay 30-40 dollars for a single mount/companion, ever. Dont care if I could afford it. Im all for supporting the game. But I wont support prices like that for any company, no matter how much I like them.
Upgrading is just worthless with the prices they are, and its pure foolishness to pay to upgrade a companion with the prices they are. Same with mount upgrades. transmutation I'd argue with as well. And now enchanting is becoming a bigger and bigger hole to upgrade and invest in now due to the lowering of coal wards in now, and the limited sources to even get one that is absolutely nessecary to get any weapon or armor enchant.
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mrsukebeMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild UsersPosts: 5Arc User
edited March 2014
While I would prefer the prices be cheaper (who doesn't want to pay less) I feel the current prices are fair. Why do I feel this is the case?
1: An epic companion provides +300 to a single stat or 165 to 2 different stats. That is equivalent to a rank 10 enchantment. Right now, the cheapest rank 10 enchantment costs 3 million diamonds. to raise a companion from common to epic takes only 1.55 million. More often than not though, you will be raising an uncommon companion to epic (which saves 300k diamonds - cost of the uncommon companion). This seems fair to me.
2: While it is true that I could buy an epic companion for zen for much less, the fact is I do not want any of the epic companions that they have available. None of them provide the bonuses I want for any of my characters. There are however, many uncommon and rare companions that I definitely do want. This leaves me with the choice of either buying something I don't really want for less or spending more to get what I do want. This seems like an easy decision for me.
TL: DR
1: leveling a common companion to epic costs less than rank 10 enchantments but provide the same benefit.
2: the companions in the zen store are cheaper but (to me at least) are much less useful.
While I would prefer the prices be cheaper (who doesn't want to pay less) I feel the current prices are fair. Why do I feel this is the case?
1: An epic companion provides +300 to a single stat or 165 to 2 different stats. That is equivalent to a rank 10 enchantment. Right now, the cheapest rank 10 enchantment costs 3 million diamonds. to raise a companion from common to epic takes only 1.55 million. More often than not though, you will be raising an uncommon companion to epic (which saves 300k diamonds - cost of the uncommon companion). This seems fair to me.
2: While it is true that I could buy an epic companion for zen for much less, the fact is I do not want any of the epic companions that they have available. None of them provide the bonuses I want for any of my characters. There are however, many uncommon and rare companions that I definitely do want. This leaves me with the choice of either buying something I don't really want for less or spending more to get what I do want. This seems like an easy decision for me.
TL: DR
1: leveling a common companion to epic costs less than rank 10 enchantments but provide the same benefit.
2: the companions in the zen store are cheaper but (to me at least) are much less useful.
first, let me just quote myself from an earlier post in this thread
Actually you can make a R10 for a hell of a lot less then 1.5mil AD unless you're talking about actually buying everything needed to make a R10 then yea, I can see you're point. But since you don't need to buy everything or really anything to make a R10 I cant agree with you.
Not to mention the fact that not all companions give +300 bonus at max level so there's that problem. There are quite a few that only give +165 at max level which is less then a R7 gives, which at the moment you can buy R7s for about 70k in the AH.
So 70K vs 1.5mil, tell me how thats right? And just for the sake of the math, with 1,550,000 ADs I can buy 22 R7s. which more then enough to make a few R10s vs the cost of upgrading just 1 companion.
then let me add that unlike making enchants, you have no other choices when it comes to upgrading companions. With enchantments you can technically get everything you need to make a R10 for free. So you can either get all the items for free, get all the items from trading or a combination of the two. But when it comes to upgrading companions you only have one choice and that is to spend a lot of ADs. And that's why arguments like this don't work. You're comparing something that can be gotten for free vs something that you have to pay for.
Also if you're willing to shell out 3mill for a R10 then shelling out 1.5mill for companion upgrades shouldn't be an issue. I mean right now I can pay 263K for a lesser vorpal or just get the items for free and make it myself and pay nothing. If there was another (free) way to upgrade a companion then yea, leave the prices the way they are but since there is not, the prices should be lowered.
first, let me just quote myself from an earlier post in this thread
then let me add that unlike making enchants, you have no other choices when it comes to upgrading companions. With enchantments you can technically get everything you need to make a R10 for free. So you can either get all the items for free, get all the items from trading or a combination of the two. But when it comes to upgrading companions you only have one choice and that is to spend a lot of ADs. And that's why arguments like this don't work. You're comparing something that can be gotten for free vs something that you have to pay for.
Also if you're willing to shell out 3mill for a R10 then shelling out 1.5mill for companion upgrades shouldn't be an issue. I mean right now I can pay 263K for a lesser vorpal or just get the items for free and make it myself and pay nothing. If there was another (free) way to upgrade a companion then yea, leave the prices the way they are but since there is not, the prices should be lowered.
I'm afraid I cannot agree with your argument. If that is how you want to think, then you can also say that you can get all the ad you need by selling/trading items to other players. If the "i can get enchant stuff from in game without spending money" excuse is good enough for enchants, it is good enough for ad as well. While it is true I have spent a fair amount of money on this game, I also make a good amount of ad just from selling items I find/make. Those items you need to upgrade enchantments are no more free than astral diamonds are as they take time to gather and could have been used to get ad or other useful upgrade items. Everything is a trade off.
The price for the enchant I gave (3m) was just what I found by looking on the AH as I was typing my reply to the thread. It isnt something I have bought. The simple fact remains however, that if you are buying upgrades for your character, then paying to upgrade your companions is not overly expensive compared to the same boost from an enchantment bought from the AH. Nothing you said (or self quoted) changes this fact. You may be willing to take the long, annoying patient path (as I am usually) but many are not, as they do not have the time or do not find it fun.
The grind in this game is just horrible stupid. The end game mostly just add's up to smashing your head repeatedly against a wall hoping for a good outcome. I have bought store companions. I have bought a mount. While I appreciate having them. I am really annoyed that companions are so bloody expensive still. Even more the fact that they don't get shared across all my characters. I will never, buy another store companion in this entire game if this remains the case. I repeat, NEVER. It is a HUGE waste of real money. The gain that I got was not worth 25 dollars. Further more, the information on what gear does for companions is entirely no where to be found. PWI and Cryptic don't help players out with information. They don't create guides to explain things. They do not even have it included in guides in game. This game has no heart.
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mrsukebeMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild UsersPosts: 5Arc User
The grind in this game is just horrible stupid. The end game mostly just add's up to smashing your head repeatedly against a wall hoping for a good outcome. I have bought store companions. I have bought a mount. While I appreciate having them. I am really annoyed that companions are so bloody expensive still. Even more the fact that they don't get shared across all my characters. I will never, buy another store companion in this entire game if this remains the case. I repeat, NEVER. It is a HUGE waste of real money. The gain that I got was not worth 25 dollars. Further more, the information on what gear does for companions is entirely no where to be found. PWI and Cryptic don't help players out with information. They don't create guides to explain things. They do not even have it included in guides in game. This game has no heart.
what do you mean "what gear does for companions"? I am not sure where the confusion is on this.
Specifically when you give a companion a piece of gear for +defense what does that actually give the companion. There is no break down given nor information as to whether boosting other stats might be better for defense versus straight defense. Where are the mitigating returns counted and at what point. Etc etc...
There is no information provided anywhere that tells you how gear directly effects a companion besides seeing a stat go up.
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bioshrikeMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 4,729Arc User
Specifically when you give a companion a piece of gear for +defense what does that actually give the companion. There is no break down given nor information as to whether boosting other stats might be better for defense versus straight defense. Where are the mitigating returns counted and at what point. Etc etc...
There is no information provided anywhere that tells you how gear directly effects a companion besides seeing a stat go up.
You can't get the damage resistance % from gear for companions, but you can click the 2nd tab and get the exact stats the companion has.
<::::::::::::::)xxxo <::::::::::::::)xxxo <::::::::::::)xxxxxxxx(:::::::::::> oxxx(::::::::::::::> oxxx(::::::::::::::> "Is it better to be feared or respected? I say, is it too much to ask for both?" -Tony Stark Official NW_Legit_Community Forums
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adinosiiMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 4,294Arc User
edited March 2014
I am in the minority here, but I am just fine with green->blue and blue->purple costs. It is worth it to upgrade certain companions for the stat bonuses (+165 to two stats is not bad at all), and quite frankly it is a lot more cost-effective than upgrading R9 to R10 enchants.
What I have a problem with is the cost of upgrading white companions to green. That cost should be cut by 50% or so.
I voted "No" as well. It's sure expensive but what isn't? Upping a white companion to purple is not something you need to do. It's not like you have 3/3 pieces of a gear set and the last piece's price in AH is 1,5 million AD.
For those voting 'no,' are you honestly fine with upgrading to purple being more expensive than buying a purple companion outright?
If so, why?
I'm honestly puzzled and curious.
The purpose of the high price is to encourage people to "get a better deal" by purchasing the companion instead of just upgrading. Getting people to spend real world money, not just what they grind in game. I'm not justifying it - just explaining what is likely PW's rationale.
The purpose of the high price is to encourage people to "get a better deal" by purchasing the companion instead of just upgrading. Getting people to spend real world money, not just what they grind in game. I'm not justifying it - just explaining what is likely PW's rationale.
That logic fails in many ways, however. Its not like the zen purple companions are a clear superior choice. And green or freebie companions are clearly stop gap or stepping stone type compaions.
The very nature of the active bonus system was to give more value/usefulness to the lower ranked companions. So keeping the upgrade cost high as a means of making zen compaions seem more valueable. Seems to competely undermine that very system.
Especially considering, in most cases there isnt even a clear purple replacement for many of the popular green\free companions.
The purpose of the high price is to encourage people to "get a better deal" by purchasing the companion instead of just upgrading. Getting people to spend real world money, not just what they grind in game. I'm not justifying it - just explaining what is likely PW's rationale.
This logic is flawed because if someone who wants an epic pet (s)he would have spent that money regardless, since both Zen and AD have a real money cost attached. If upgrading pets were cheaper you would pay real money to buy zen, convert zen in AD and then upgrade pet, cash flows either way.
Ofc like i said before, i'm not asking for one option to be cheaper than the other, even though the store pets have better active bonuses which makes them attractive even if you already have an epic pet.
Comments
Yesterday you didn't see any connection between AD and real money and you said these prices are to push players toward buying companions with Zen (even though it can be converted from AD).
Also this has nothing to do with supply and demand, it's not like if prices is too low then too many people would buy and cryptic would run out of "pet upgrades"
Whoa, whoa, whoa, there. Yes I did. Please go back and read all my comments in this thread. I do not often 'dumb-down' my vernacular and lexicon to spell everything out in simple terms for time's sake - and I also forget not everyone here is a native-tongue English speaker, so I apologize if my comments weren't clear and creating confusion.
I have always recognized and supported, even advocated real legal tender for astral diamonds and the exchange.
I will further clarify my comments for comprehension of non-native-English speakers here and now: Also, if my comments are read and understood in full context, my meaning is very clear: All exchanged Astral Diamonds are derived from Zen Points. All Zen Points are derived from Legal Tender (Cash). Always. Even if you yourself never spend a penny of real money, any and all Zen or Astral Diamonds you trade for Zen will have real cash attached to it by someone somewhere else.
This is how Cryptic makes revenue off Astral Diamonds.
Therefore, by maintaining such a high cost to upgrade (anything) it will entice people to trade Zen for Astral Diamonds in the exchange if they don't want to farm them. The only way Zen get's into the game is that someone, somewhere at some time had to purchase it with real cash.
Does this mean the extreme cost of upgrading (anything) is justified? I don't think so. I also feel these costs are too high. I am simply explaining that I understand *why* they are so high.
I also believe Cryptic will eventually lower these prices. Probably not enough to satisfy most people, but lower prices just the same. But they will analyze the hell out of it first and do so slowly and carefully to be sure they do not lower the prices too far - because once lowered they cannot raise them again. This is why it will be a long while before we see these kind of changes: the time it takes for them to evaluate by how far to do it, and all the approvals from higher-up managers and bosses that are required before it can happen.
I hope this 'rephrasing' and 'simplifying' of my previous comments (in any thread regarding AD pricing) is more understandable for you. I am not trying to insult you or anyone. I do understand there are many non-native-English speakers and so understanding written English and context can sometimes be a challenge. However, if you compare all I've said in all my comments, I think you'll agree my message is consistent.
If they lower the upgrade cost then people would be all : "Zen Store purple companions prices are way too high, since I can upgrade my companion for half the AD, needs to be lowered."
Why does it make sense that one way is much more expensive than the other? It's way more expensive to buy upgrades, so ... if I want purple companions I'll just buy them outright.
What annoys me as a customer is the lack of options and variation that gives me, sours me on the whole thing, so I just throw my hands up and spend NOTHING.
(Ok, I bought a Galeb duhr because I have a dwarf cleric, but I'd have probably bought more companions if I wasn't annoyed, or if you could transfer them between characters)
Wicks and Things: NW-DI4FMZRR4 : The Fenwick merchant family has lost a caravan! Can you help?
Beggar's Hollow: NW-DR6YG4J2L : Someone, or something, has stolen away many of the Fenwicks' children! Can you find out what happened to them?
Into the Fen Wood: NW-DL89DRG7B : Enter the heart of the forest. Can you discover the secret of the Fen Wood?
I don't think there is a problem with my understanding of english and nobody is denying what you're saying here, this wasn't really my focus of this discussion, not sure why you had to enforce it. I understand this and it's true, i just don't think it's relevant to my point.
Now here is where some data would be required, because i think the game's high AD cost on upgrade (anything) has nothing to do with this. I think most of Zen bought on real money and sold for AD goes into the AH. Some statistics would be awesome but this is my option based on my experience in this game.
Having high prices on pet/mount upgrades has little to no impact on the amount of ZEN bought from PWE. There is no reason for someone to sell ZEN for AD just to upgrade pet/mount or some other overpriced <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font> PWE is selling while there is an alternative.
You think that higher prices = higher demand for AD, but in reality higher prices = no demand for AD (for this purpose).
People have a need, for epic pets right? This need can be satisfied by upgrading a pet or buying an already epic one. The problem is that the prices for these 2 options are way off.
I'm not asking for lower prices for it to be affordable to new players or satisfy some abstract notion, i'm asking for balance between the 2 options, it's a price adjustment to match the Zen store.
If someone wants and epic pet and has money to spend, he'll buy from Zen store, or sell the zen and buy it from AH which again, is much cheaper than upgrading. Ridiculous high prices have no purpose while there is a cheaper alternative. And just because i buy Zen from someone who paid real money, it doesn't mean he's buying my astral diamonds to upgrade pets/mounts.
edit: here's another idea, making epic pets in Zen store ~3700ish would also make upgrading more appealing.
And to buy green or blue companions isn't even about trying to save money, it's the fact that some green and blue companions have better stat bonuses then some purple companions. So even as a paying customer you're getting screwed buy the high cost of upgrading.
Companions are not account wide only mounts.
yet that's what you have to pay for a full upgrade
People have to remember that NW has went through a lot of changes since its release and as such over all pricings may be a bit out of date so to speak. I don't think anyone is suggesting free upgrades but at least make the prices reasonable so that more players will make use of this feature. After all, one of the reasons sited by the devs for making changes to the refinement system was do to the fact most players refused to slot enchants until they had they're epic gear do to the insanely high cost of unslotting enchants.
I've already pointed out 3 times when cryptic has decided to change the AD costs of services and lets not forget that at one point they lowered prices in the zen store by like 30% (if I remember correctly) so the notion that cryptic may need to revise other AD costs is not totally unfounded even if some people think the prices are fine.
Don't sell me a civic and then throw upgrade costs at me that make it more expensive then a BMW, that's just bad business.
Its principle.
... Yeah.
Wicks and Things: NW-DI4FMZRR4 : The Fenwick merchant family has lost a caravan! Can you help?
Beggar's Hollow: NW-DR6YG4J2L : Someone, or something, has stolen away many of the Fenwicks' children! Can you find out what happened to them?
Into the Fen Wood: NW-DL89DRG7B : Enter the heart of the forest. Can you discover the secret of the Fen Wood?
Also the prices never were in date. The prices has always been waaay too high.
Transmutation, Mount upgrades, Companion upgrades ( and now the squeezing out of weapon and armor enchant upgrades in what they have slowly been doing since mod 2 ).
The pricing of things has always been unreasonable. Yes they decreased the prices of things in the zen store, yes they decreased the price of transmutes by 10% (woopidy doo). Still doesnt change the fact the prices of things are still outrageous. Its why I havent bought a thing. And I wont until the prices become more user friendly. Even if I could, just because I could afford it, doesnt mean I'll just hand over the cash for it.
its about principle. Paying for these things with the prices they are is just promoting bad business practice.
They're making most of thier money off Keys anyway. The last ftp mmo I played, I didnt mind paying for things at times, cause the prices are reasonable. I will not pay 30-40 dollars for a single mount/companion, ever. Dont care if I could afford it. Im all for supporting the game. But I wont support prices like that for any company, no matter how much I like them.
Upgrading is just worthless with the prices they are, and its pure foolishness to pay to upgrade a companion with the prices they are. Same with mount upgrades. transmutation I'd argue with as well. And now enchanting is becoming a bigger and bigger hole to upgrade and invest in now due to the lowering of coal wards in now, and the limited sources to even get one that is absolutely nessecary to get any weapon or armor enchant.
1: An epic companion provides +300 to a single stat or 165 to 2 different stats. That is equivalent to a rank 10 enchantment. Right now, the cheapest rank 10 enchantment costs 3 million diamonds. to raise a companion from common to epic takes only 1.55 million. More often than not though, you will be raising an uncommon companion to epic (which saves 300k diamonds - cost of the uncommon companion). This seems fair to me.
2: While it is true that I could buy an epic companion for zen for much less, the fact is I do not want any of the epic companions that they have available. None of them provide the bonuses I want for any of my characters. There are however, many uncommon and rare companions that I definitely do want. This leaves me with the choice of either buying something I don't really want for less or spending more to get what I do want. This seems like an easy decision for me.
TL: DR
1: leveling a common companion to epic costs less than rank 10 enchantments but provide the same benefit.
2: the companions in the zen store are cheaper but (to me at least) are much less useful.
first, let me just quote myself from an earlier post in this thread
then let me add that unlike making enchants, you have no other choices when it comes to upgrading companions. With enchantments you can technically get everything you need to make a R10 for free. So you can either get all the items for free, get all the items from trading or a combination of the two. But when it comes to upgrading companions you only have one choice and that is to spend a lot of ADs. And that's why arguments like this don't work. You're comparing something that can be gotten for free vs something that you have to pay for.
Also if you're willing to shell out 3mill for a R10 then shelling out 1.5mill for companion upgrades shouldn't be an issue. I mean right now I can pay 263K for a lesser vorpal or just get the items for free and make it myself and pay nothing. If there was another (free) way to upgrade a companion then yea, leave the prices the way they are but since there is not, the prices should be lowered.
I'm afraid I cannot agree with your argument. If that is how you want to think, then you can also say that you can get all the ad you need by selling/trading items to other players. If the "i can get enchant stuff from in game without spending money" excuse is good enough for enchants, it is good enough for ad as well. While it is true I have spent a fair amount of money on this game, I also make a good amount of ad just from selling items I find/make. Those items you need to upgrade enchantments are no more free than astral diamonds are as they take time to gather and could have been used to get ad or other useful upgrade items. Everything is a trade off.
The price for the enchant I gave (3m) was just what I found by looking on the AH as I was typing my reply to the thread. It isnt something I have bought. The simple fact remains however, that if you are buying upgrades for your character, then paying to upgrade your companions is not overly expensive compared to the same boost from an enchantment bought from the AH. Nothing you said (or self quoted) changes this fact. You may be willing to take the long, annoying patient path (as I am usually) but many are not, as they do not have the time or do not find it fun.
what do you mean "what gear does for companions"? I am not sure where the confusion is on this.
There is no information provided anywhere that tells you how gear directly effects a companion besides seeing a stat go up.
You can't get the damage resistance % from gear for companions, but you can click the 2nd tab and get the exact stats the companion has.
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What I have a problem with is the cost of upgrading white companions to green. That cost should be cut by 50% or so.
If so, why?
I'm honestly puzzled and curious.
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The purpose of the high price is to encourage people to "get a better deal" by purchasing the companion instead of just upgrading. Getting people to spend real world money, not just what they grind in game. I'm not justifying it - just explaining what is likely PW's rationale.
That logic fails in many ways, however. Its not like the zen purple companions are a clear superior choice. And green or freebie companions are clearly stop gap or stepping stone type compaions.
The very nature of the active bonus system was to give more value/usefulness to the lower ranked companions. So keeping the upgrade cost high as a means of making zen compaions seem more valueable. Seems to competely undermine that very system.
Especially considering, in most cases there isnt even a clear purple replacement for many of the popular green\free companions.
This logic is flawed because if someone who wants an epic pet (s)he would have spent that money regardless, since both Zen and AD have a real money cost attached. If upgrading pets were cheaper you would pay real money to buy zen, convert zen in AD and then upgrade pet, cash flows either way.
Ofc like i said before, i'm not asking for one option to be cheaper than the other, even though the store pets have better active bonuses which makes them attractive even if you already have an epic pet.