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"Gold Membership" (again) and the Current Economy
markfalcone
Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users Posts: 4
First, let me say why this subject comes up again despite all of the naysayers. THIS IS STRICTLY AN IDEA!!! Don't bother flaming since I won't even read this after this.
Second, the reason it comes up today: Noticing the economy has not recovered from the poor job of balancing the designers have created. The Zen Exchange is still slammed up against the top and has not adjusted from that position since the misbalance started in Module 2. Kind of hard to call it a balanced market or, for that matter, for there to be a reason for the Zen Exchange. Should just make it a place for people to put in Zen or Astral Diamonds on a 1 to 500 ratio and be done with it if that's really what you want, which, indeed, appears to be what Cryptic/PW wants.
Third, having played many other games as well as STO and CO, I can see how the balance got out of hand and, without completely scrapping the current economy, very few ways of fixing this situation.
In the end it is all about marketing. How to market. What to market. When to market. At what cost and to what profit. That is why CO and STO have the advantage in keeping a balanced economy. Comparitively, NW gives little insentive to buy astral diamonds compared to CO and STO. CO is all about the costuming, so there is a balance between costumes and effects you can get with Questionite (their version of Astral Diamonds) and what you can get on the Zen Market. STO, it's about equipment and ships and the like, so a lot of the Dilithium goes towards things like equipment and station upgrades; mind you, STO was headed for a misbalance as well before the fleet space stations, though not as quickly as NW achieved it.
There is one other thing STO and CO have that NW does not that helps with their balance: Free Zen for paying members.
500 Zen/month looks like a lot, but this is a carefully thought out marketing thing. 500/month is not enough for the grand items or even enough to keep up with key addiction, but it is enough to tantalize. Then a sale comes along. BOOM! It's gone. And the next month another great sale comes along and the player is still saving up from the last sale. So what does the player do? Either he ignores the sale or... *drumroll*... he buys Zen. Why would a player who gets free Zen buy more Zen? Because of impulse shopping, the boon of every capitalist in the 21st century and the reason fast food is profitable despite all of the news regarding how bad it is for you.
So my wife, kid, and I were talking and we came up with a short list of what an NW paid account might look like based on STO and CO's models:
$300 for Lifetime, X/month for general paid (can't remember what it is on STO or CO because, frankly, we just went straight lifetime for what we wanted)
- Gains X character slots (likely not more than 2 in this game's case)
- Gains X more bank slots per character and X more account slots (NOTE: Probably not more "inventory slots" since that would require a bag)
- Gains a "closet", a place or places in Protector's Enclave such as an inn to hold, specifically, costume pieces
- 500 Zen/month
- Access to a "Gold Member" area such as a private gathering room in an inn (nothing with special quests or anything like that)
- Special title for Lifetime members including Forum title
Questionable additions might include:
- A higher Astral Diamond refining rate
- A special costume set
- For that matter any special items at all
What I wouldn't add
- Going back to questionable, any special items. Seriously. For STO it was cute, for NW it just seems useless. Costumes are okay.
- Any consumables, especially per month. XP boost once, maybe, but even this is more than questionable, and I'm thinking of game and market balance at the same time. Besides, the player could pay Zen or Astral Diamonds for stuff like that.
That's all this coffee buzzed head and his crew here at the house can come up with for now.
Second, the reason it comes up today: Noticing the economy has not recovered from the poor job of balancing the designers have created. The Zen Exchange is still slammed up against the top and has not adjusted from that position since the misbalance started in Module 2. Kind of hard to call it a balanced market or, for that matter, for there to be a reason for the Zen Exchange. Should just make it a place for people to put in Zen or Astral Diamonds on a 1 to 500 ratio and be done with it if that's really what you want, which, indeed, appears to be what Cryptic/PW wants.
Third, having played many other games as well as STO and CO, I can see how the balance got out of hand and, without completely scrapping the current economy, very few ways of fixing this situation.
In the end it is all about marketing. How to market. What to market. When to market. At what cost and to what profit. That is why CO and STO have the advantage in keeping a balanced economy. Comparitively, NW gives little insentive to buy astral diamonds compared to CO and STO. CO is all about the costuming, so there is a balance between costumes and effects you can get with Questionite (their version of Astral Diamonds) and what you can get on the Zen Market. STO, it's about equipment and ships and the like, so a lot of the Dilithium goes towards things like equipment and station upgrades; mind you, STO was headed for a misbalance as well before the fleet space stations, though not as quickly as NW achieved it.
There is one other thing STO and CO have that NW does not that helps with their balance: Free Zen for paying members.
500 Zen/month looks like a lot, but this is a carefully thought out marketing thing. 500/month is not enough for the grand items or even enough to keep up with key addiction, but it is enough to tantalize. Then a sale comes along. BOOM! It's gone. And the next month another great sale comes along and the player is still saving up from the last sale. So what does the player do? Either he ignores the sale or... *drumroll*... he buys Zen. Why would a player who gets free Zen buy more Zen? Because of impulse shopping, the boon of every capitalist in the 21st century and the reason fast food is profitable despite all of the news regarding how bad it is for you.
So my wife, kid, and I were talking and we came up with a short list of what an NW paid account might look like based on STO and CO's models:
$300 for Lifetime, X/month for general paid (can't remember what it is on STO or CO because, frankly, we just went straight lifetime for what we wanted)
- Gains X character slots (likely not more than 2 in this game's case)
- Gains X more bank slots per character and X more account slots (NOTE: Probably not more "inventory slots" since that would require a bag)
- Gains a "closet", a place or places in Protector's Enclave such as an inn to hold, specifically, costume pieces
- 500 Zen/month
- Access to a "Gold Member" area such as a private gathering room in an inn (nothing with special quests or anything like that)
- Special title for Lifetime members including Forum title
Questionable additions might include:
- A higher Astral Diamond refining rate
- A special costume set
- For that matter any special items at all
What I wouldn't add
- Going back to questionable, any special items. Seriously. For STO it was cute, for NW it just seems useless. Costumes are okay.
- Any consumables, especially per month. XP boost once, maybe, but even this is more than questionable, and I'm thinking of game and market balance at the same time. Besides, the player could pay Zen or Astral Diamonds for stuff like that.
That's all this coffee buzzed head and his crew here at the house can come up with for now.
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
1) Segregation
2) Being forced to play with GM.
WTB Class Reroll please
And for the record, the Zen market does bounce up and down. I expect once Module 6 launches, and people are going to need all the precious AD they can get to upgrade stuff again, you'll see it plummet below 500 pretty quickly.
This. People are hoarding zen to buy the new packs that will probably be coming out. That's all that's happening. The last couple of packs that went with the previous modules (Dragonborn pack, Champion of Bahamut pack) as well as new class starter packs (SW booster, HR booster) have been available in the zen shop. This is why I'm holding onto every bit of Zen I currently have right now. After the packs are released? Whatever I have leftover will probably be sold for AD.
So relax. This is just a pre-module backlog. This is nothing compared to the 15 million backlog we USED to have.
WTB Class Reroll please
They never said that. Not once, not even hinted at.
A level increase has always been on the table, there is a reason level 60 quests still gave XP. Now granted, no one was ever sure when Cryptic would pull the trigger on it, if ever. But they had always left the door open for it.
As for as the content thing. They said classes would be free, they never said all content. They have been charging for special races from as early as closed beta. This is not some promise they broke.
There is indeed. To increase the level of your companions.
And the reason level 20 crafting tasks still gave xp then?
https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/neverwinter
Non-playable content is not free?
Once again, for the reading impaired. They did not say ALL CONTENT would be free. All content and all playable content are not the same thing. Sure its splitting hairs, and its clear that they choose their wording carefully. But by the same token you cant claim that they have broken promises simply because your expectations didn't match the marketing.
A sub-based model is not up for discussion, as it is not something that will be considered. If we're ever told otherwise, we'll allow such a discussion. Until then, such topics are not productive to the current course of the game's model.
Safe travels,
Archmage Zebular of Mystryl
PWE Community Moderator
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