Suggestion: Ardent Coins and long term rewards

zomd

One thing I've seen posted occasionally is that people would like updated ardent coin rewards. I think this is a good idea, especially since Ardent coins kind of replicate the veteran rewards of previous mmos. Since people--though not myself--are starting to get the angels and higher end rewards, it seems like a good time to update but a few potential problems emerge.

First, do you just require that much more for added rewards? If the best reward is 360 coins do the new rewards start above 360 coins?

Second, would new rewards also need to be better? If not, wouldn't players just buy the old rewards?

Third, what about people who are trying to catch up? If new rewards cost at least 360+ coins perhaps even reaching 600+, doesn't that deter people from logging in to get their coins as the dedication to receive them takes longer and longer?


Well, I think a great way to add new rewards is in tiers. Each tier unlocks with spending a certain number of ardent coins in previous tiers. That way each year you can add a new tier in a new tab in a simple interface that differentiates new rewards from old. Let's say that spending at least 100 ardent coins in the first tier opens the second tier (basically an added tab of new rewards), that means the real cost of the rewards is 100 plus their price. That way it just doesn't have to be a linear cost increase for new rewards. That would also put downward pressure on perceived quality needed to justify the increased cost of the new rewards. This would also make the first tier lower priced rewards more attractive since buying them will open up the second tier of rewards. Otherwise I imagine people are just saving for a mount or the purple pet. Plus people who've already spent coins on items won't feel cheated (or as cheated) if they like newly added rewards more as their purchases have gone toward unlocking new tiers.

For new players hopping to catch up, how about allowing players to allocate one ardent coin to one of their characters for every one hundred zen spent in the zen store and/or added to your Neverwinter account from the PWE site. The former is more inclusive (for us trading ad for zen) but the latter is probably more lucrative ensuring you get cold hard cash.

It's a nice bonus for spending zen and will probably be appealing to rich people. At a 100 : 1 ratio that'd be spending/adding 36K zen which is 360 bucks. It's a somewhat indirect version of the add 1k zen to your account pet you did recently.

Some negatives of the buy zen for coins system is that it would undermine what the current rewards mean for some people and it might devalue the Gift of the Gods boxes.

sockmunkey

Can you imagine the heads that would explode. If they added in a new 400 point super reward. After hundreds of people cashed in thier points for angels.


Not saying nothing new should be added. But it should be done with a consideration of timing.

dardove

I think the idea of spending x amount of ardent favor unlocking new rewards is a good one. The only problem is that they probably don't keep track of how much ardent favor has already been spent.

xxleyanxx

I like the idea but like what sockmunkey said people will go crazy if they add another tier of rewards at this time. Maybe add a new currency(as if we don't have enough currencies ) for tier 2 after getting 365 ardent coins. For example, after getting 365 ardent coins, you get to unlock the tier 2 currency, same goes for tier 3/4/5, each with their own currency to buy things. You can trade coins back to lower tiers or higher ones(assuming you've already unlocked them) to get the items you want. I hope this post make sense, I suck at explaining things lol.

@Dardove
True, I doubt that they even keep track of the ardent favor spent...
One of the ways for this to work is to simply to 'refresh' the whole VoP rewarding system, leave the old ardent coin as they are and add a new tier 1(Tier 1 coins can be traded for ardent coins). Instead of spending x coins to unlock the next tier, they should add a counter to show how much coins you've already gotten by invoking daily. Counter: ?/365 to next tier.

zomd

@Dardove, that's a good point they may not be currently tracking that which would be problematic. I also hate just adding new currencies/systems and prefer trying to update/integrate.

@xxleyanxx, I was trying to avoid new tier rewards being locked behind a year worth invoking. In my experience, MMOs that had purely linear veteran reward systems have moved to more flexible systems. If I were a designer (and as a player), I wouldn't want someone to look at the rewards in tier two and be put off by a year long wait, that's partly why I'd make the unlock for tier two relatively low and complement it with the 100 z added/spent to 1 coin reward system.

kolevra

It's really about time they added some new things to the Ardent Favor shop. More transmutes and dyes should be a no-brainer.