there is very little that isn't either bind to character or account. it's clear that third party sellers are a problem and making adjustments towards limiting how they can exploit the game is clearly a step in the right direction.
I still hold faith that everything will fall into place soon. Neverwinter is still young. I see many pros mixed with cons and the devs are listening even if it seems they aren't.
You still miss the point. No one disputes Cryptic's right to protect their property. The point is: Cryptic is mismanaging their bot countermeasures and pissing off the playerbase while doing so. This does FAR more harm to Cryptic's intellectual property than the bots themselves ever did.
I and a few of my fellow guildmasters were already looking at new games due to NW's longstanding class and content issues. These economic policies only make things worse. Cryptic temporarily reduced bot activity, but the playerbase was and is caught in the crossfire. It's now to the point where new players simply can't compete without shelling out big bucks. Most large guilds are bleeding players. New players join, realize they'll never afford BiS gear, and quietly fade away. This is a direct result of Cryptic's bot tactics.
I'll assume you aren't referring us to third party AD sites and instead respond to this sentence as you meant it. Dismissing your current player base is rash. Mass exodus=failure for any MMO. Fight to keep players. Don't tell them to "lump it or leave it."
the definition of a competitor would be another business offering the same products/services to consumers. gold sellers do not fall under that definition. they are selling something they do not have the right to sell for a profit.
if i wrote a song and put it on the internet for free and some third party entity decided they were going to download it and sell it to someone else for a profit, they would be stealing from me regardless of the fact that i was offering the item at no cost. they are profiting from my labors. my work. my creativity.
you have a limited license and are bound by the terms of service of any game that you download and play. you do not own your characters or the items you purchase within the game. you are granted a license to use these items.
decisions a gaming company makes to protect their property is within their right to do so. your argument is whether or not they should if it negatively affects the player base as a whole. you would first have to prove that making keys BoA is going to eliminate wealth building in neverwinter and how, over time, this will negatively impact the game as a whole.
some people don't quite understand that with the free to play model, the gaming company expects player base fluctuations. but for as long as i've been on these forums, i've seen countless threads where people speculate how something is going to negatively affect the player base. the game is still here with new and old players. and i'm sure there have been some people that quit and never return just like there are people that take undetermined hiatuses.
it's okay to dislike changes and to speculate that it's going to negatively impact the game, but as i stated before, i think this is a move in the right direction. i do not approve of 3rd party sellers or theft. and not approving of the price of a gallon of milk doesn't give you a right to steal it or buy it from someone else that stole it and is selling it at a lower price.
if i wrote a song and put it on the internet for free and some third party entity decided they were going to download it and sell it to someone else for a profit, they would be stealing from me regardless of the fact that i was offering the item at no cost. they are profiting from my labors. my work. my creativity.
you have a limited license and are bound by the terms of service of any game that you download and play. you do not own your characters or the items you purchase within the game. you are granted a license to use these items.
decisions a gaming company makes to protect their property is within their right to do so. your argument is whether or not they should if it negatively affects the player base as a whole. you would first have to prove that making keys BoA is going to eliminate wealth building in neverwinter and how, over time, this will negatively impact the game as a whole.
All of that means nothing if you <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font> off the player base enough that no one plays. They might want to get rid of all the bots, but the direction of making so many things BoP is extremely bad for players that want to actually play the game.
The legal problems they run into with 3rd party sellers, is they are selling you a service not an item. Where do you draw the line in terms of what is helping or trading with someone vs 3rd party selling?
As an example, what if I want to help out a friend, sibling etc? Can I give them gold, AD, items? If the answer is no then this isn't an MMO and we might as well just play single player games. If the answer is yes, then how do you differentiate between saying someone "sold" you items as opposed to gave or traded.
At the end of the day, a properly designed game shouldn't in the least bit require anyone to "buy" gold, AD etc. You should be able to play the game and in the normal course of playing, find whatever you need.
there is very little that isn't either bind to character or account. it's clear that third party sellers are a problem and making adjustments towards limiting how they can exploit the game is clearly a step in the right direction.
What's more important, attempting to combat bots ineffectively (so far, not that can't improve) or providing a rewarding gameplay to the players. I started and enjoyed the game when it was rewarding. Then the game got more restricted and less rewarding. Now I spend most of my progression from not actually playing the game because the old stuff is stale and prices have gone down due to it being so old, and the new content has bad drops and lots of bop items that its not worth doing. Why is it that to progress the most, I can ignore playing any actual content? It's good that I'm able to, but I'd like to enjoy my time playing and I just can't do that when I feel like it's getting me nowhere.
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ambisinisterrMember, Neverwinter ModeratorPosts: 10,462Community Moderator
The legal problems they run into with 3rd party sellers, is they are selling you a service not an item. Where do you draw the line in terms of what is helping or trading with someone vs 3rd party selling?
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onecoolscatcatMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild UsersPosts: 575Arc User
edited July 2014
I love Neverwinter and want it to succeed. Squandered potential makes me sad. I hope Cryptic starts looking for ways to limit bots without hosing the player base.
Thanks for responding to my post Melodywhr. Your position is even clearer than before. Bots are bad and Cryptic does indeed have the right to take any actions it pleases to combat bots. I'm not saying Cryptic shouldn't kill bots, I'm saying Cryptic needs to change the methods it uses to kill them. Killing bots is fine. Killing bots at the expense of players is not. I don't know if we're contending with a language barrier or if my posts are vague, but we're not grokking.
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ambisinisterrMember, Neverwinter ModeratorPosts: 10,462Community Moderator
I'm saying Cryptic needs to change the methods it uses to kill them. Killing bots is fine. Killing bots at the expense of players is not.
The thing is, we don't see how there is any expense to the players?
If you want to purchase keys use Zen. You can either take out your wallet or use the Zen Exchange.
And then saying "but the Zen Exchange is backlogged" is a completely different problem. The Zen exchange should not be sitting at 500 AD per Zen perpetually. So please just toss that reasoning out the door. That is a completely separate matter which has to be resolved.
So if that wasn't the concern...
How is it in any way hurtful to not be able to trade keys anymore?
bioshrikeMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 4,729Arc User
edited July 2014
If I had to guess, I'd think that not banning the buyer would either be the result of them having spent a good amount, legitimately, or to try and limit the amount of backlash resulting in those players having lost access to their characters.
I share the sentiment with ambisinisterr, in that I'd punish both parties. Instead of an outright ban, however, I'd strip the buyer of the ill-gotten items/resources, and permanently flag their account - any future infraction would then result in a permanent ban.
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onecoolscatcatMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild UsersPosts: 575Arc User
The thing is, we don't see how there is any expense to the players?
If you want to purchase keys use Zen. You can either take out your wallet or use the Zen Exchange.
And then saying "but the Zen Exchange is backlogged" is a completely different problem. The Zen exchange should not be sitting at 500 AD per Zen perpetually. So please just toss that reasoning out the door. That is a completely separate matter which has to be resolved.
So if that wasn't the concern...
How is it in any way hurtful to not be able to trade keys anymore?
Ignoring all else and focusing solely on BoA keys....
Keys were used as a stable bartering standard. The trade channel was chock full of "will trade 'x' for keys". Now, there's no commonly available tradeable commodity. Players either need to find the ONE person willing to trade "z" for "q" or bite the bullet and post their items on AH. AH takes a 10% cut. Players are harmed by this. Unbound keys were a universal force for good.
Honestly, making keys BoA doesn't inconvenience bots at all. I've looked at several gold sites. They universally sell ADs and Gold. The only way BoA keys makes sense is if Cryptic plans to start buying out the ZAX backlog at 500:1....
Ignoring all else and focusing solely on BoA keys....
Keys were used as a stable bartering standard. The trade channel was chock full of "will trade 'x' for keys". Now, there's no commonly available tradeable commodity. Players either need to find the ONE person willing to trade "z" for "q" or bite the bullet and post their items on AH. AH takes a 10% cut. Players are harmed by this. Unbound keys were a universal force for good.
Honestly, making keys BoA doesn't inconvenience bots at all. I've looked at several gold sites. They universally sell ADs and Gold. The only way this move makes sense is if Cryptic plans to start buying out the ZAX backlog at 500:1....
Individual players may be hurt, but if all person to person trade was stopped the playerbase would benefit because the ah would be taking it's tax out and limiting inflation, which (inflation) is a major problem right now.
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onecoolscatcatMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild UsersPosts: 575Arc User
Individual players may be hurt, but if all person to person trade was stopped the playerbase would benefit because the ah would be taking it's tax out and limiting inflation, which (inflation) is a major problem right now.
Are you suggesting a blanket removal of all peer-to-peer trade; forcing every transaction to use the AH is GOOD for players? That's contrary to everything I learned in my economics classes.
The thing is, we don't see how there is any expense to the players?
I guess the "hurt" on the playerbase is partly from the retroactive aspect of the change. Players who trade in keys or guilds using keys as rewards was not warned beforehand of this change, and therefore caught off-guard with loads of untradable keys.
The irony is that some of the botters and 3rd party sellers whom Cryptic is targeting to hit with this change got wind of the change from the Polish(?) forum beforehand and had some reaction time to minimize their loss, thus rendering Cryptic's move less effective.
Personally, I am not affected by this change at all. I don't trade keys. If I have an itch to open some lockboxes, I'll use the AD/Zen Ex. But since the massive backlog in the exchange, I stop getting Zen and keys altogether. In fact, I've stopped playing for the past few months as I got bored with the content and events.
I agree with others who suggested to BOA all Zen market items. Get Zen with real money or use the Exchange if you want anything from Zen market. There is no need to allow exploiters a way to make a quick buck playing the AH/Zen market/Exchange game.
The only items that should be allowed to be traded in AH where Zen and/or keys are concern should be stuff from lockboxes, as people like me with horrible RNG luck would sometimes want a pet or mount from lockboxes available to us.
Are you suggesting a blanket removal of all peer-to-peer trade; forcing every transaction to use the AH is GOOD for players? That's contrary to everything I learned in my economics classes.
You're confusing this with a real economy. Real economies have things like government mints that control the influx of currency, can set interest rates, and fight inflation. MMO economies have "gold" (in this case AD) sinks. Inflation can only be fought by making sure that there are enough sinks to pull out enough AD to equal the amount being created. That ratio is off right now so we have inflation and zax at 500:1 more expensive items on the ah than previous etc. People are bypassing the AD sink with peer to peer trading, which is part of why the system is broken. People will overall benefit from the system working even if you have hurt some to get it to work. Sacrifice a few for the benefit of the many.
In the real world as well, things wear out, break down, etc. This creates demand for replacements or for repair parts and services (one of my vehicles is 27 years old, I know of what I speak). In Neverwinter, items last forever, which results in far less demand for items as there would be (and the need for artificial AD sinks). Even in PnP AD&D, depending on house rules, you can break your weapon (natural 1 roll + failed weapon save), which doesn't exist here.
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Not quite true!
In NWO, Items loose their usability by rule changes and the introduction of more advanced equipment and get lost when their owner leaves the game without giving them to another player.
Not really true on the better items. In most cases the T2 set beats the T2.5 sets.
In the real world as well, things wear out, break down, etc. This creates demand for replacements or for repair parts and services (one of my vehicles is 27 years old, I know of what I speak). In Neverwinter, items last forever, which results in far less demand for items as there would be (and the need for artificial AD sinks). Even in PnP AD&D, depending on house rules, you can break your weapon (natural 1 roll + failed weapon save), which doesn't exist here.
You must not forget that with the IWD expansion , Degrading Equipment was introduced that had to be fed Black ice or it lost its functionality over time. Too fast in my opinion but there it was,gear that broke down. Also this is a magical land not your average everyday world so magic maintains some magical items like enchants and that's natural.Also in PnP magical weapons were unbreakable unless certain conditions were met in which case they were destroyed.Some artifacts are eternal,can you imagine the robes,eye and hand of Vecna being shredded to pieces after one sword swing or getting rusty due to wear? Magic would be a laughing matter if that happened.
It's BUGS bunny i tell you.
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The irony is that some of the botters and 3rd party sellers whom Cryptic is targeting to hit with this change got wind of the change from the Polish(?) forum beforehand and had some reaction time to minimize their loss, thus rendering Cryptic's move less effective.
I really don't believe their rational for making keys BoP.
If they really want to get rid of botters and 3rd party sites they would just make everything in the game BoP and get rid of the auction house. Then there is no need or way to trade AD.
I don't think cryptic gets the picture at all.
Ok so now keys are BOP. So what? Maybe... just maybe the botters lost a ton with the keys they already bought and can't trade. What's to prevent them from finding another source to barter with? Strictly speaking: Coal wards, Mounts, Companions, bags, etc.
This didn't stop anything, it only slowed them down.
I don't think cryptic gets the picture at all.
Ok so now keys are BOP. So what? Maybe... just maybe the botters lost a ton with the keys they already bought and can't trade. What's to prevent them from finding another source to barter with? Strictly speaking: Coal wards, Mounts, Companions, bags, etc.
This didn't stop anything, it only slowed them down.
Keys were a very common sale for a number of reasons. Mounts can't be resold, companions are very specific for each person, and are a fluff item. Coal wards would be their only real profit maker. And slowing something down is a step to stopping it isn't it?
I don't think cryptic gets the picture at all.
Ok so now keys are BOP. So what? Maybe... just maybe the botters lost a ton with the keys they already bought and can't trade. What's to prevent them from finding another source to barter with? Strictly speaking: Coal wards, Mounts, Companions, bags, etc.
This didn't stop anything, it only slowed them down.
Absolutely, everything in the Cash Shop needs to bind on acquire as a first step to fixing the ZAX.
Absolutely, everything in the Cash Shop needs to bind on acquire as a first step to fixing the ZAX.
How will that fix the zax? all that would do is create a even bigger backlog than now , at least now players can buy cash shop items from the auction house using ad , fair enough it is usually marked up some but that is the price of convenience ,if everything in the cash shop was bop then everybody would have to trade through the zax to buy cash items and the zax would be at a virtual standstill ,it is already pretty clear there is a huge shortfall in the amount of zen entering the game compared to demand .
How will that fix the zax? all that would do is create a even bigger backlog than now , at least now players can buy cash shop items from the auction house using ad , fair enough it is usually marked up some but that is the price of convenience ,if everything in the cash shop was bop then everybody would have to trade through the zax to buy cash items and the zax would be at a virtual standstill ,it is already pretty clear there is a huge shortfall in the amount of zen entering the game compared to demand .
It would fix it because the people that are buying zen and want ad do not use the ZAX right now. Why would they, they get more for their money from c. wards, p. wards, etc. They're getting around the ratio cap. This means that only "uneducated" zen sellers use the ZAX and that is why there is the backlog.
The nature of NW is such that it needs to have an AD sink; we can probably all agree on that, and that the current mechanism isn't adequate. In real life we have other "sinks" as well, though: we have to buy food, we need a warm/safe/dry to sleep every night, we have to replace things that wear out, we have to pay for transportation (tolls, gas, etc.) What if NW started to take on some of these aspects, but in a way to try to make the game more immersive and atmospheric?
- When we travel along the Sword Coast, whether to Sharandar, Dread Ring, or to somewhere else, what if we had to rest when we got there? Go too long without sleep and we undergo a debuff that worsens over time (like in the Baldur's Gate games).
- What if traveling wasn't guaranteed to be safe, and we might find ourselves in an encounter where we're being attacked by bandits? Do we need to pay a ransom to be left alone, or maybe pay hirelings to make such encounters less likely (or to fight at our sides)?
- What if we have to buy feed for our currently slotted mount? What if, on our journey to Dread Ring, we ran into a driving rainstorm and need to stable our mount? (NW could be so much better if it had day/night/weather cycles, hint, hint...). This one could be much more viable if we had many more towns available like Port Llast, Ember, West Harbor, etc.
- What if traveling to cold climes required cold-weather fashion gear, or we would suffer at minimum a debuff (which might worsen or turn into damage over time)?
This might seem OT, but I don't think it is; the change to keys appears to be an attempt to stabilize the economy, but perhaps there are other ways that might have the same effect and make gameplay more interesting.
Harper Chronicles: Cap Snatchers (RELEASED) - NW-DPUTABC6X Blood Magic (RELEASED) - NW-DUU2P7HCO Children of the Fey (RELEASED) - NW-DKSSAPFPF Buried Under Blacklake (WIP) - NW-DEDV2PAEP The Redcap Rebels (WIP) - NW-DO23AFHFH
My Foundry playthrough channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/Ruskaga/featured
The nature of NW is such that it needs to have an AD sink; we can probably all agree on that, and that the current mechanism isn't adequate. In real life we have other "sinks" as well, though: we have to buy food, we need a warm/safe/dry to sleep every night, we have to replace things that wear out, we have to pay for transportation (tolls, gas, etc.) What if NW started to take on some of these aspects, but in a way to try to make the game more immersive and atmospheric?
- When we travel along the Sword Coast, whether to Sharandar, Dread Ring, or to somewhere else, what if we had to rest when we got there? Go too long without sleep and we undergo a debuff that worsens over time (like in the Baldur's Gate games).
- What if traveling wasn't guaranteed to be safe, and we might find ourselves in an encounter where we're being attacked by bandits? Do we need to pay a ransom to be left alone, or maybe pay hirelings to make such encounters less likely (or to fight at our sides)?
- What if we have to buy feed for our currently slotted mount? What if, on our journey Dread Ring, we ran into a driving rainstorm and need to stable our mount? (NW could be so much better if it had day/night/weather cycles, hint, hint...). This one could be much more viable if we had many more towns available like Port Llast, Ember, West Harbor, etc.
- What if traveling to cold climes required cold-weather fashion gear, or we would suffer at minimum a debuff (which might worsen or turn into damage over time)?
This might seem OT, but I don't think it is; the change to keys appears to be an attempt to stabilize the economy, but perhaps there are other ways that might have the same effect and make gameplay more interesting.
I absolutely hate all your suggestions. They were the worst part of some other games I've played. Sorry but these are very bad sinks as they make the gameplay less fun. Sinks should not make it where it takes longer and is more of a pain to get to the content you are trying to play.
The nature of NW is such that it needs to have an AD sink; we can probably all agree on that, and that the current mechanism isn't adequate. In real life we have other "sinks" as well, though: we have to buy food, we need a warm/safe/dry to sleep every night, we have to replace things that wear out, we have to pay for transportation (tolls, gas, etc.) What if NW started to take on some of these aspects, but in a way to try to make the game more immersive and atmospheric?
- When we travel along the Sword Coast, whether to Sharandar, Dread Ring, or to somewhere else, what if we had to rest when we got there? Go too long without sleep and we undergo a debuff that worsens over time (like in the Baldur's Gate games).
- What if traveling wasn't guaranteed to be safe, and we might find ourselves in an encounter where we're being attacked by bandits? Do we need to pay a ransom to be left alone, or maybe pay hirelings to make such encounters less likely (or to fight at our sides)?
- What if we have to buy feed for our currently slotted mount? What if, on our journey to Dread Ring, we ran into a driving rainstorm and need to stable our mount? (NW could be so much better if it had day/night/weather cycles, hint, hint...). This one could be much more viable if we had many more towns available like Port Llast, Ember, West Harbor, etc.
- What if traveling to cold climes required cold-weather fashion gear, or we would suffer at minimum a debuff (which might worsen or turn into damage over time)?
This might seem OT, but I don't think it is; the change to keys appears to be an attempt to stabilize the economy, but perhaps there are other ways that might have the same effect and make gameplay more interesting.
Like it or not dude, NW Online is an Action RPG. The ideas you propose here are great ideas on their own, but they don't fit in an Action RPG like this. They're better suited for games like WoW and GW; in other words, true RPGs. Christ, this game doesn't even have any meaningful open-world mechanics, which you'd think would almost be required in order to have a sleep/resting system like that. <:\
I absolutely hate all your suggestions. They were the worst part of some other games I've played. Sorry but these are very bad sinks as they make the gameplay less fun. Sinks should not make it where it takes longer and is more of a pain to get to the content you are trying to play.
See what I mean? Many people who play this game aren't even very avid RPG players. Like this guy I just quoted (presumeably).
Comments
I still hold faith that everything will fall into place soon. Neverwinter is still young. I see many pros mixed with cons and the devs are listening even if it seems they aren't.
the definition of a competitor would be another business offering the same products/services to consumers. gold sellers do not fall under that definition. they are selling something they do not have the right to sell for a profit.
if i wrote a song and put it on the internet for free and some third party entity decided they were going to download it and sell it to someone else for a profit, they would be stealing from me regardless of the fact that i was offering the item at no cost. they are profiting from my labors. my work. my creativity.
you have a limited license and are bound by the terms of service of any game that you download and play. you do not own your characters or the items you purchase within the game. you are granted a license to use these items.
decisions a gaming company makes to protect their property is within their right to do so. your argument is whether or not they should if it negatively affects the player base as a whole. you would first have to prove that making keys BoA is going to eliminate wealth building in neverwinter and how, over time, this will negatively impact the game as a whole.
some people don't quite understand that with the free to play model, the gaming company expects player base fluctuations. but for as long as i've been on these forums, i've seen countless threads where people speculate how something is going to negatively affect the player base. the game is still here with new and old players. and i'm sure there have been some people that quit and never return just like there are people that take undetermined hiatuses.
it's okay to dislike changes and to speculate that it's going to negatively impact the game, but as i stated before, i think this is a move in the right direction. i do not approve of 3rd party sellers or theft. and not approving of the price of a gallon of milk doesn't give you a right to steal it or buy it from someone else that stole it and is selling it at a lower price.
All of that means nothing if you <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font> off the player base enough that no one plays. They might want to get rid of all the bots, but the direction of making so many things BoP is extremely bad for players that want to actually play the game.
The legal problems they run into with 3rd party sellers, is they are selling you a service not an item. Where do you draw the line in terms of what is helping or trading with someone vs 3rd party selling?
As an example, what if I want to help out a friend, sibling etc? Can I give them gold, AD, items? If the answer is no then this isn't an MMO and we might as well just play single player games. If the answer is yes, then how do you differentiate between saying someone "sold" you items as opposed to gave or traded.
At the end of the day, a properly designed game shouldn't in the least bit require anyone to "buy" gold, AD etc. You should be able to play the game and in the normal course of playing, find whatever you need.
What's more important, attempting to combat bots ineffectively (so far, not that can't improve) or providing a rewarding gameplay to the players. I started and enjoyed the game when it was rewarding. Then the game got more restricted and less rewarding. Now I spend most of my progression from not actually playing the game because the old stuff is stale and prices have gone down due to it being so old, and the new content has bad drops and lots of bop items that its not worth doing. Why is it that to progress the most, I can ignore playing any actual content? It's good that I'm able to, but I'd like to enjoy my time playing and I just can't do that when I feel like it's getting me nowhere.
Simple:
You do not own any materials in the game. Therefore you may never purchase any materials for any real world currency other than when directly offered from either PWE or an Official Affiliate that is endorsed and permitted to run such a sale.
There is no website other than those owned by PWE which sells services for cash that is allowed to by law.
Thanks for responding to my post Melodywhr. Your position is even clearer than before. Bots are bad and Cryptic does indeed have the right to take any actions it pleases to combat bots. I'm not saying Cryptic shouldn't kill bots, I'm saying Cryptic needs to change the methods it uses to kill them. Killing bots is fine. Killing bots at the expense of players is not. I don't know if we're contending with a language barrier or if my posts are vague, but we're not grokking.
The thing is, we don't see how there is any expense to the players?
If you want to purchase keys use Zen. You can either take out your wallet or use the Zen Exchange.
And then saying "but the Zen Exchange is backlogged" is a completely different problem. The Zen exchange should not be sitting at 500 AD per Zen perpetually. So please just toss that reasoning out the door. That is a completely separate matter which has to be resolved.
So if that wasn't the concern...
How is it in any way hurtful to not be able to trade keys anymore?
I share the sentiment with ambisinisterr, in that I'd punish both parties. Instead of an outright ban, however, I'd strip the buyer of the ill-gotten items/resources, and permanently flag their account - any future infraction would then result in a permanent ban.
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Ignoring all else and focusing solely on BoA keys....
Keys were used as a stable bartering standard. The trade channel was chock full of "will trade 'x' for keys". Now, there's no commonly available tradeable commodity. Players either need to find the ONE person willing to trade "z" for "q" or bite the bullet and post their items on AH. AH takes a 10% cut. Players are harmed by this. Unbound keys were a universal force for good.
Honestly, making keys BoA doesn't inconvenience bots at all. I've looked at several gold sites. They universally sell ADs and Gold. The only way BoA keys makes sense is if Cryptic plans to start buying out the ZAX backlog at 500:1....
Individual players may be hurt, but if all person to person trade was stopped the playerbase would benefit because the ah would be taking it's tax out and limiting inflation, which (inflation) is a major problem right now.
Are you suggesting a blanket removal of all peer-to-peer trade; forcing every transaction to use the AH is GOOD for players? That's contrary to everything I learned in my economics classes.
I guess the "hurt" on the playerbase is partly from the retroactive aspect of the change. Players who trade in keys or guilds using keys as rewards was not warned beforehand of this change, and therefore caught off-guard with loads of untradable keys.
The irony is that some of the botters and 3rd party sellers whom Cryptic is targeting to hit with this change got wind of the change from the Polish(?) forum beforehand and had some reaction time to minimize their loss, thus rendering Cryptic's move less effective.
Personally, I am not affected by this change at all. I don't trade keys. If I have an itch to open some lockboxes, I'll use the AD/Zen Ex. But since the massive backlog in the exchange, I stop getting Zen and keys altogether. In fact, I've stopped playing for the past few months as I got bored with the content and events.
I agree with others who suggested to BOA all Zen market items. Get Zen with real money or use the Exchange if you want anything from Zen market. There is no need to allow exploiters a way to make a quick buck playing the AH/Zen market/Exchange game.
The only items that should be allowed to be traded in AH where Zen and/or keys are concern should be stuff from lockboxes, as people like me with horrible RNG luck would sometimes want a pet or mount from lockboxes available to us.
You're confusing this with a real economy. Real economies have things like government mints that control the influx of currency, can set interest rates, and fight inflation. MMO economies have "gold" (in this case AD) sinks. Inflation can only be fought by making sure that there are enough sinks to pull out enough AD to equal the amount being created. That ratio is off right now so we have inflation and zax at 500:1 more expensive items on the ah than previous etc. People are bypassing the AD sink with peer to peer trading, which is part of why the system is broken. People will overall benefit from the system working even if you have hurt some to get it to work. Sacrifice a few for the benefit of the many.
Blood Magic (RELEASED) - NW-DUU2P7HCO
Children of the Fey (RELEASED) - NW-DKSSAPFPF
Buried Under Blacklake (WIP) - NW-DEDV2PAEP
The Redcap Rebels (WIP) - NW-DO23AFHFH
My Foundry playthrough channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/Ruskaga/featured
You must not forget that with the IWD expansion , Degrading Equipment was introduced that had to be fed Black ice or it lost its functionality over time. Too fast in my opinion but there it was,gear that broke down. Also this is a magical land not your average everyday world so magic maintains some magical items like enchants and that's natural.Also in PnP magical weapons were unbreakable unless certain conditions were met in which case they were destroyed.Some artifacts are eternal,can you imagine the robes,eye and hand of Vecna being shredded to pieces after one sword swing or getting rusty due to wear? Magic would be a laughing matter if that happened.
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I really don't believe their rational for making keys BoP.
If they really want to get rid of botters and 3rd party sites they would just make everything in the game BoP and get rid of the auction house. Then there is no need or way to trade AD.
Ok so now keys are BOP. So what? Maybe... just maybe the botters lost a ton with the keys they already bought and can't trade. What's to prevent them from finding another source to barter with? Strictly speaking: Coal wards, Mounts, Companions, bags, etc.
This didn't stop anything, it only slowed them down.
Keys were a very common sale for a number of reasons. Mounts can't be resold, companions are very specific for each person, and are a fluff item. Coal wards would be their only real profit maker. And slowing something down is a step to stopping it isn't it?
How will that fix the zax? all that would do is create a even bigger backlog than now , at least now players can buy cash shop items from the auction house using ad , fair enough it is usually marked up some but that is the price of convenience ,if everything in the cash shop was bop then everybody would have to trade through the zax to buy cash items and the zax would be at a virtual standstill ,it is already pretty clear there is a huge shortfall in the amount of zen entering the game compared to demand .
It would fix it because the people that are buying zen and want ad do not use the ZAX right now. Why would they, they get more for their money from c. wards, p. wards, etc. They're getting around the ratio cap. This means that only "uneducated" zen sellers use the ZAX and that is why there is the backlog.
The nature of NW is such that it needs to have an AD sink; we can probably all agree on that, and that the current mechanism isn't adequate. In real life we have other "sinks" as well, though: we have to buy food, we need a warm/safe/dry to sleep every night, we have to replace things that wear out, we have to pay for transportation (tolls, gas, etc.) What if NW started to take on some of these aspects, but in a way to try to make the game more immersive and atmospheric?
- When we travel along the Sword Coast, whether to Sharandar, Dread Ring, or to somewhere else, what if we had to rest when we got there? Go too long without sleep and we undergo a debuff that worsens over time (like in the Baldur's Gate games).
- What if traveling wasn't guaranteed to be safe, and we might find ourselves in an encounter where we're being attacked by bandits? Do we need to pay a ransom to be left alone, or maybe pay hirelings to make such encounters less likely (or to fight at our sides)?
- What if we have to buy feed for our currently slotted mount? What if, on our journey to Dread Ring, we ran into a driving rainstorm and need to stable our mount? (NW could be so much better if it had day/night/weather cycles, hint, hint...). This one could be much more viable if we had many more towns available like Port Llast, Ember, West Harbor, etc.
- What if traveling to cold climes required cold-weather fashion gear, or we would suffer at minimum a debuff (which might worsen or turn into damage over time)?
This might seem OT, but I don't think it is; the change to keys appears to be an attempt to stabilize the economy, but perhaps there are other ways that might have the same effect and make gameplay more interesting.
Blood Magic (RELEASED) - NW-DUU2P7HCO
Children of the Fey (RELEASED) - NW-DKSSAPFPF
Buried Under Blacklake (WIP) - NW-DEDV2PAEP
The Redcap Rebels (WIP) - NW-DO23AFHFH
My Foundry playthrough channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/Ruskaga/featured
I absolutely hate all your suggestions. They were the worst part of some other games I've played. Sorry but these are very bad sinks as they make the gameplay less fun. Sinks should not make it where it takes longer and is more of a pain to get to the content you are trying to play.
Like it or not dude, NW Online is an Action RPG. The ideas you propose here are great ideas on their own, but they don't fit in an Action RPG like this. They're better suited for games like WoW and GW; in other words, true RPGs. Christ, this game doesn't even have any meaningful open-world mechanics, which you'd think would almost be required in order to have a sleep/resting system like that. <:\
See what I mean? Many people who play this game aren't even very avid RPG players. Like this guy I just quoted (presumeably).