the game went from superior fightsystem and gameplay to boring brainless grind. around 80% of ppl i knew here stopped playing.
so no wonder to me this happens. sadly most times the good ppl have to go and the idiots who brought this game down will stay in their seats! best wishes to the lost ones!
obviously horrible when someone loses a job. however maybe this happened:
boss: hey guys, I was on sabatical since august. anything new going on...wait. WHAT IS THAT???
dev: uh, it's our artifact equipment. you won't believe how much money people will spend to get a few extra stat points that they otherwise would have to sell their soul to grind out, since we basically made it impossible for a casual player to get the best stuff before they die of old age. I actually hired my cousin Sam to work for us, soley for the purpose of refilling my Mountain Dew supercup. lol. check out this.... what? boss?
boss: you're fired.
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vinceent1Member, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 1,264Arc User
edited March 2015
on the other hand, i play now ESO too, which become now big competition for NWO, but i feels like new ESO system is even more grindy in most aspects than NWO. If you expect to be strong in reasonable time frame. Hard times i can tell
obviously horrible when someone loses a job. however maybe this happened:
boss: hey guys, I was on sabatical since august. anything new going on...wait. WHAT IS THAT???
dev: uh, it's our artifact equipment. you won't believe how much money people will spend to get a few extra stat points that they otherwise would have to sell their soul to grind out, since we basically made it impossible for a casual player to get the best stuff before they die of old age. I actually hired my cousin Sam to work for us, soley for the purpose of refilling my Mountain Dew supercup. lol. check out this.... what? boss?
boss: you're fired.
This ... only the complete reverse.
Mechanic: The engine is in bad shape - you haven't added oil in a year, and your missing a cylinder.
PWE Owner: Yeah, yeah ... how soon can you put those shiny/spinning rims on the tires?
Mechanic: The engine is in bad shape - you haven't added oil in a year, and your missing a cylinder.
PWE Owner: Yeah, yeah ... how soon can you put those shiny/spinning rims on the tires?
Actually, shiny/spinning rims is EXACTLY what Neverwinter needs.
They're missing huge revenue streams like more dye colors, outfits and costumes, character customization, housing and non-combat pets. All of this falls under "cosmetics", one of the thing we know MMO players will pay out the nose for...and also something that can be added "nickel and dime" style to the Zen shop...but I mean that in a good way...you have people who don't have a problem dropping big dollars on this game, but that's a small percentage...they need to put something out there that caters to the person who could be motivated to drop $1-5 on something, a couple times a month.
If I was in charge of Neverwinter, once I got Module 6 out the door, I would focus my resources on monetizing huge amounts of cosmetic content for players, and I'd work full force on converting aspects of the Foundry that could be used for player and guild housing. I then sprinkle special cosmetic and housing item drops throughout the world and dungeons as rare drops, to entice people to "farm" that content (and make it all BoE, so those who don't care about putting a dragon head above their mantle are still motivated so they can sell it).
I also add in three components. Common housing stuff that can be purchased with gold. Uncommon housing stuff that can be purchased in game with astral diamonds. Rare and Epic housing stuff that is either part of the drops above, or sold in the Zen store. But, I price all these items at $1-$5. You have to purchase or find items individually, but they Bind to Account, so when you're designing a house, you pull from one large "housing bank" of items on your account (but once played, they're removed from the bank until you return them).
Also, everyone can get their choice of a "basic" floor plan, then pay Zen or AD (depending on the rarity of the tileset) to add new rooms to their house. For RP reasons, Players can also designate the "door" to their house as any door that currently exists in the game (sort of like starting a quest in the Foundry).
Duplicate a similar system for character "wardrobes" and monetize the heck out of unique appearances. Oh, and allow people to dye (or change) clothing options on their companions, and dye the colors of their mounts as well.
The amount of money Cryptic would make here would make the money power players spent on Artifact Equipment look like a joke.
I think all the pieces are there, they just need to be put together properly.
wow, that's actually some great stuff from ironzerg. unfortunately for me, it would be too little, too late in terms of them getting me to literally buy back into the game. but yeah, if they had done that in mod 4, especially rather than going down the artifact path, life would still be good in neverwinter.
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ironzerg79Member, Neverwinter Moderator, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 4,942Arc User
wow, that's actually some great stuff from ironzerg. unfortunately for me, it would be too little, too late in terms of them getting me to literally buy back into the game. but yeah, if they had done that in mod 4, especially rather than going down the artifact path, life would still be good in neverwinter.
You're still posting here. That tells me it's never to late
Actually, shiny/spinning rims is EXACTLY what Neverwinter needs.
I think all the pieces are there, they just need to be put together properly.
I agree man, part of the issue is their pricing model. Instead of micro-transactions they post macro transactions.
Why do we not see Linus favor posted for 100-200 zen? Thats easy money. Why are there not more dye packs? Instead of 5000 zen for a module skip, why not 150 zen to "reset" dailies.
THESE are micro transactions. 150k RP for $20? Thats not micro.
Another PART of the problem is that its SO much cheaper to buy these zen items with AD instead of buying zen.
Honestly they need to do something LIKE: bumping the ZAX to be 500:1-1000:1 as the new floor/caps and then REDUCING the zen prices.
So what this means is say the ZAX is trading at 743:1 currently.
If you DROP the price of Coal Wards down to say 600 zen... Thats just $6 BUT! Its 445k AD (still in the same 'range').
So thats the direction I think they need to go honestly. Lower prices in the zen market nearly across the board by AROUND 25%-50%. Then instead of capping ZAX at 500, 500 is the new MINIMUM.
The effect of players going from AD->zen remains roughly unchanged. But the players BUYING zen get MUCH more value for their $s.
Also this method potentially allows a person spending $20 for 2000 zen to potentially get UP TO 2 million AD - which starts approaching 3rd party sites - which is a MAJOR reason this game is having issues.
Should the content be there? Yeah! But dont think for a second that their pricing model is a MAJOR reason this game is having problems.
I think they need to realize that the price point for items needs to match the demographic.
You wouldnt build a high end restaurant in "the hood" - for obvious reasons - no customer base.
Well these $20-$50 transactions are NOT what this games demographics support. They need to be focused more on the <$5 transactions because thats where MOST the money will come from.
Actually, shiny/spinning rims is EXACTLY what Neverwinter needs.
They're missing huge revenue streams like more dye colors, outfits and costumes, character customization, housing and non-combat pets.
They could certainly do a better job with the Zen store. Your cash shop should be a place players like to visit, repeatedly. If I were running an MMO, I would release new fashions every month, and rotate what I was selling in the cash shop every month. You know, just treat it like you would an actual store.
I mean, if you're running a free-to-play game supported by a cash shop, and players only visit the shop once a week to check out your sales, you're doing it wrong. They should be there every day fantasizing about all the cool stuff they could buy. I hope Cryptic's unannounced project takes monetization seriously, with costume slots, a preview function, maybe pets that actually make a difference, etc. ...Just for the sake of the game and the company, not because I want to pay $$$.
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ironzerg79Member, Neverwinter Moderator, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 4,942Arc User
edited March 2015
I think there's a reason why the Enchanted Keys are the biggest money maker...because they're cheap. Even an adult with a high amount of discretionary income is going to think about the decision to spend $30 on a magic horse. But $1.25 for a key? Why not? Impulse buy go! And heck, you save money if I buy a 10-pack, so why not?
And then *BOOM* that's $11.25 in Cryptic's pocket.
They need more of that...imagine if a player just rolled a new toon, or is bored in Protector's Enclave. Give them the option to apply dyes to their mount. I'm tired of a white unicorn. I want a pink unicorn! *BAM* $2.50 microtransaction. Or they want to change the look of their new toon because the leveling armor is ugly. Give them some options on the pieces that are $1-2...and *ZAP* more revenue.
And no one complains about cosmetic options in a game. Ever.
So many good ideas!
I'd love some customization. So many MMO's these days make bank on purely cosmetic items like hats, outfits and weapon skins.
Just look at PoE - the entire purchase model is JUST cosmetics and better yet its fairly cheap. I GLADLY was willing to support that game and would be MORE willing to support here if they didnt try to charge you $20-50 for an item. Why would I pay $50 to skip a module when I can go buy an entire game for nearly that much.
Another thing that IMO they should do is make transmutes cost 100 zen each rather than AD. This IMO is a "non-necessary" feature of the base game that is free.
Allowing for things such as: transmutes costing zen, dye packs being applicable for ANY item and MORE due packs, also creating a new item called an "enchantment Transmute" - allowing you to change your Vorpal Enchants LOOK over to any type of enchant you want. I cant imagine those things would be THAT difficult since the system is already built into the game to transmute items. So why not allow you to transmute weapon/armor enchants EXCEPT the only difference would be instead of it consuming said item, you buy a "token" - similar to the "free transmute weapons" that we get from events. This token can cost 500-1000 zen and allow you to exchange your weapon enchant look. I cant tell you how many times I would have bought this item through the course of the game. Take that seizure causing Perfect Vorpal to LOOK like a Terror Enchant? Sign me up!!!
Again, Things like a "daily reset" token - I cant imagine it would be THAT hard to code something like that - similar to relics - that you turn in and get to do your dailies 2x that day. Could be module specific for 100 zen or could be across the board on ALL modules for something like 250 zen.
Things like Mount upgrades - upgrading should be MORE feasible than flat out buying an epic mount. White-> Green should be like 200 zen. Green-> Blue should be like 500 zen. Blue-> Epic should be around 1000 zen. Overall costs would be 1700 zen.
Blue Wards? These should be 500-600 zen, not 1000. $10 for a ward? Cmon.... Then RE-price Green wards accordingly.
Things like this are what players DIE to spend money on. However PART of the catch in ALL of this is the ZAX. Why pay Cryptic $10 for a ward, when you can farm in game AD and buy it on the AH OR - ZAX it to zen.
They need to make REAL $ worth more in the game, more comparable to 3rd party sites - which have a CRAZY amount of volume (otherwise why would there be so many of them if it wasnt that profitable?)
If you look at the AH right now, Coal Wards are selling for 614k AD - what does this translate into? 1228 Zen. Which means that the ZAX "demand/Supply" SHOULD be at right around 614:1 right now If you put a MINIMUM of 500:1 and a MAXIMUM of 1000:1 Demand will Equal out on Price and currently the markets would end up settling around 600:1 and POSSIBLY even continue to go up to around 700:1. They NEED to factor in both inflation of this game, as well as professions accounting for ALOT of the AD that is in the game, constant supply - not enough AD sinks and you are creating an IN-efficient Market which is ALLOWING people to find price discrepancies and make AD off it (for instance buying 500:1 zen then SELLING a coal ward on the AH nets you a nice profit. However you must WAIT to get your zen)
Its also pretty clear that the RATE at which people are buying zen has decreased due to the amount of ZEN backlog there is.
But again - this would REQUIRE a drop in zen prices down to a reasonable level - atleast a 25% DECREASE in prices and I would even wager more (ever think of doing a 3x Coal Ward pack for 2000 zen?)
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baylen76Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian UsersPosts: 0Arc User
edited March 2015
Karma at work! Frankly, horrid class design decisions had been made when I stopped playing some months ago. And don't get me started on ingame support who wanted me to send stuff in 3 times. Useless! Form A38 anyone?
Personally, I hope whichever designer messed up Divine Oracle gameplay mechanics and messed with Tactician GFs saving grace – AP generation – was among. These guys effectively designed parts of the playerbase away, killing sales in the process.
Maybe this will spur the remaining designers into fixing those classes. For a better game, and for their own salaries. Make sure to fully separate PVP and PVE skills so PVP stops messing up the main game.
Oh and I would make Keys NOT bound again - allowing the ZAX to trade between 500-1000 will alleviate the issue that caused the need for keys to bound bound.
Whats funny about that is the market was TELLING us the ZAX at that point in time should be over 700:1!!!! but noone wanted to allow the market to be "free" and "price itself". The fear being that it would cost too much AD for a "free player" to get items.
This is where you DECREASE zen prices/costs in the Zen Store. Heck you could EVEN but a "multiplier" on each item to be automatically price adjusting each day.
So for instance everything is a multiple with an INVERSE relationship.
If the ZAX goes up to 600:1 The zen COST of a Blue ward could then DROP to 833 zen for a blue ward. If it goes up to 700:1 the price of a Blue Ward would drop further to: 714 Zen.
It keeps the SAME "AD cost" but allows your markets to PRICE THEMSELVES. As Inflation goes up, as more AD is being supplied, it creates demand. When you limit the markets to price appropriately you cause inefficiencies and players find ways to take advantage of them.
The easy formula is: (500 / ZAX rate)*(Current Item Price) = Final Price.
Now there would have to be some limites as to what dictates the ZAX rate: I would just suggest whatever is the current highest quantity demanded is the current price. Which currently is 500: 1 if it were allowed to move UP it would probably adjust to 600:1 or more.
Thus plug in the formula (500 / 600) * (1000) = New Blue ward price of 833 Zen.
All I can say is I haven't spent money on the game since the first months after starting. It was only then that I realized the prices are too ridiculous for what you get to have any significance, and for me the cosmetic options were a bit lackluster. If I could get more significant progress for what I pay or if they had some really sick cosmetic weapons/clothes, I would gladly pay into this game even monthly as though it were subscription based. I have no problem investing, but I need to feel like I am getting something out of it.
From my situation that appears to coincide with many others, the prices are simply too high which is leading to not investing real money into this game, but without seeing the actual data or knowing more company information, I couldn't say whether it is truly a right or wrong decision.
Hopefully this is just a setback, and the game can continue to grow in the future. My sympathies to those who lost their jobs.
^ Id like to ADD to this, if the ZAX ever got to 1000:1 when you do the math it works out to be 500 zen for a Blue Ward.
The reason this method works SO well is your allowing ALL the prices to adjust according to the market.
As more AD comes into the game, the higher the demand for zen, and the MORE attractive it becomes to BUY ZEN DIRECTLY.
Imagine if it WERE 1000:1. A player could throw in $20 into the game and get 2 MILLION AD! Or they could buy FOUR blue wards! This (again) approaches the 3rd party websites and starts pushing their margins DOWN and would even make it unprofitable for many of them to remain in business (there will always be 3rd party) but THIS type of system atleast allows players to get more value for the money they give Cryptic BASED on the current market prices.
Again all of this also comes with more things to BUY in the zen market as well - the MOST popular being cosmetic features which cosmetic features SHOULD be "pay to get" and more difficult to obtain vie zen - easier to obtain buying direct. Heck you could even create a "discount margin" in the formula so it becomes an ADVANTAGE to buy zen direct something like:
So just like the AH - Cryptic "nets" 10% of the zen purchased via the ZAX.
Thus when you BUY 1000 zen, you only get 900 via the ZAX.
So looking back at our Blue Ward base 1000 zen @ 600:1 ZAX rate:
(500/600)*1000= 833 Current Price of Blue Ward. A player would have to BUY: (833/90%) = 926 Zen to actually BUY the item with AD. OR they can pay $8.33 for the item via Direct.
Which means they can EITHER use: 555k OR $8.33 which NOW starts competing even MORE with 3rd party sites. What they need to realize is they can SET THEIR OWN COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE!
I am starting to wonder if noone at Cryptic has an Econ background...
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zebularMember, Neverwinter Moderator, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 15,270Community Moderator
edited March 2015
Layoffs are a sad thing indeed. Alas they happen in any company, big and small. We wish the very best to those no longer with us, and hope they excel in their future endeavors.
However folks, let's keep away from doomsaying and rumor-milling. Let me put one rumor to rest: Akromatik is still our Community Manager for Neverwinter.
Safe travels,
Archmage Zebular of Mystryl PWE Community Moderator
[ RoC | ToS | Support ]
No, STO lost Captain Smirk, that was thier CM. Dwight's status is still unknown, however.
Dwight is no longer with the company, I've been advised. The reasons for his departure are unknown, however, and do not appear to be connected with this round of layoffs.
ROLL TIDE ROLL
Great Weapon Fighter: Because when is today not a good day to die?
PC and PS4 player. Proud Guildmaster for PS4 Team Fencebane. Rank 5 Officer for PC Team Fencebane. Visit us at http://fencebane.shivtr.com
Wow - that stinks about Dwight and the layoffs in general. The nature of IT shops, especially in the gaming industry, can be brutal. Best wishes to all displaced and hope that everyone lands on their feet sooner than later.
Cant confirm but it seems "Spirals" is gone as well. Sent him an email and returned undeliverable. Which really sucks because his passion and heart were definitely spot on and what this game needed...
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torontodaveMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 992Arc User
Cant confirm but it seems "Spirals" is gone as well. Sent him an email and returned undeliverable. Which really sucks because his passion and heart were definitely spot on and what this game needed...
Ergh. =/ We need a new foundry dungeon master. ASAP.
NW-DSQ39N5SJ - 'To Infinity, and BEYOND!' - Spelljammer Quest. Skyships, Indiana Jones moments NW-DC9R4J5EH - 'The Black Pearl' - Spelljammer! Phlo Riders and Space Orcs
Thanks for all the fish.
Its the logical consequence for the massive player loss in a year, and....who really thinks they will get 9 new devs to "revive a car with a broken engine that lost all wheels "
as you read "go forward develloping some new stuff..."
thats obviously the ideology in these days, no fixing, no look back, no regrets ... just buy a new one
Its the logical consequence for the massive player loss in a year, and....who really thinks they will get 9 new devs to "revive a car with a broken engine that lost all wheels "
as you read "go forward develloping some new stuff..."
thats obviously the ideology in these days, no fixing, no look back, no regrets ... just buy a new one
I agree, I mean the writing was on the walls back in November when the Q3 results for PWE were released. PWE reported a 50% loss in profits and attributed that to is US operations (aka Cryptic).
I am GUESSING they wanted to wait until mod 6 was ready to roll out - or atleast close enough to then cut the staff to lower their costs and it would buy them time since module 6 is pretty much done, they kept maybe 75% of the Developers for NW, so they can still run with less crew.
BTW - this is exactly why they need to revisit their economic model. They need to ask the fundamental question: "How do we encourage players to pay"
Clearly they tried artifact equipment which was a TOTAL bust.
SO maybe its time to revisit this, I rolled out a simple, feasible, very little programming required, solution to the ZAX/Zen Market that would go a LONG way in encouraging players to PAY for this game.
I actually think, even in its current state, there ARE adequate dollars being spent on NW, just not directly through Cryptic- but through 3rd party.
I have it on good authority that there are still suppliers out there, who have billions of AD supplying to 3rd party sites who then turn around and offer it to the public.
Based on the PE spam I see everyday and even several PMs from 3rd party sellers, it seems business is still booming there... Otherwise it would trail off if lack of demand.
People can come up with "economic solutions" but at the ends of the day, Cryptic HAS to be a little greedy in how they structure the model, they CANNOT just give EVERYTHING away for free. They need to create a competitive advantage to BUY through Cryptic while STILL allowing free players to access the mandatory portions of the game.
This is where cosmetics typically shine as they add no REAL value in the sense of "power" but people are ALWAYS willing to spend to make their characters look good. Transmutes could EASILY massively increase the sales of Cryptic if transmutes were all 100 zen now AND ontop of that, my suggestions about the ZAX were implemented. Because now you would have to pay quite a bit more to transmute OR you can drop $20 and get 20 transmutes to support the game.
It lends distinct competitive advantage in Cryptics favor to do it all. Now will free players be slightly set back a little? Yes. There is NO other way. You cant have the best of both worlds - high revenue fueling a quality game AND offering it all for free.
Whats the saying? Why buy the cow when you get the milk for free?
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checkmatein3Member, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 525Arc User
edited March 2015
This is the reason why Cryptic and other games associated with Perfect World Entertainment are having to pare down staff:
The 5 year trend shows increase in stock price at the release of Neverwinter from beta, Mod 2, Mod 3 and Mod 4. However, during the release of Mod 5 (early Nov 2014), the stock price was in decline, and the quarterly report released on Nov 25th confirmed what was already known, an overall profit margin decline for PWE, Inc.
The uptick in price on January 2nd was not related to any release software or improvements, but the CEO buying back about 450k shares outstanding. So, investors jumped at the buy, even though the trend shows a decline in profit margin. The trend in the stock price since January 2nd has been consistently downward.
The delay from March 17th to April 7th effectively pushes the mod 6 release into Fiscal Year 2015's second quarter. A directive from PWE may have been given to subsidiaries to increase profit margin by reducing operating costs for FY 2015 first quarter. What this means practically is firing people to boost profit margins.
Anyway, it is a short term solution to the long term problem of declining profitability. Sorry to all the devs who lost their jobs!
I am offering an outstanding offer to put together an Economic Paper outlining all of this in detail for you. I would as a Financial Consultant and was an Analyst before that with my Degree in both Finance and Marketing.
Most of the time, I am paid for my time, however I would gladly discuss these matters with anyone willing to listen from PWE/Cryptic for FREE as a way to assist in the sales without much real work. You can send me a PM and I will pass along my personal email+Cell.
Feel free to pass this along to anyone at PWE/Cryptic as well.
Comments
so no wonder to me this happens. sadly most times the good ppl have to go and the idiots who brought this game down will stay in their seats! best wishes to the lost ones!
boss: hey guys, I was on sabatical since august. anything new going on...wait. WHAT IS THAT???
dev: uh, it's our artifact equipment. you won't believe how much money people will spend to get a few extra stat points that they otherwise would have to sell their soul to grind out, since we basically made it impossible for a casual player to get the best stuff before they die of old age. I actually hired my cousin Sam to work for us, soley for the purpose of refilling my Mountain Dew supercup. lol. check out this.... what? boss?
boss: you're fired.
This ... only the complete reverse.
Mechanic: The engine is in bad shape - you haven't added oil in a year, and your missing a cylinder.
PWE Owner: Yeah, yeah ... how soon can you put those shiny/spinning rims on the tires?
Encounter Matrix | Advanced Foundry Topics
Actually, shiny/spinning rims is EXACTLY what Neverwinter needs.
They're missing huge revenue streams like more dye colors, outfits and costumes, character customization, housing and non-combat pets. All of this falls under "cosmetics", one of the thing we know MMO players will pay out the nose for...and also something that can be added "nickel and dime" style to the Zen shop...but I mean that in a good way...you have people who don't have a problem dropping big dollars on this game, but that's a small percentage...they need to put something out there that caters to the person who could be motivated to drop $1-5 on something, a couple times a month.
If I was in charge of Neverwinter, once I got Module 6 out the door, I would focus my resources on monetizing huge amounts of cosmetic content for players, and I'd work full force on converting aspects of the Foundry that could be used for player and guild housing. I then sprinkle special cosmetic and housing item drops throughout the world and dungeons as rare drops, to entice people to "farm" that content (and make it all BoE, so those who don't care about putting a dragon head above their mantle are still motivated so they can sell it).
I also add in three components. Common housing stuff that can be purchased with gold. Uncommon housing stuff that can be purchased in game with astral diamonds. Rare and Epic housing stuff that is either part of the drops above, or sold in the Zen store. But, I price all these items at $1-$5. You have to purchase or find items individually, but they Bind to Account, so when you're designing a house, you pull from one large "housing bank" of items on your account (but once played, they're removed from the bank until you return them).
Also, everyone can get their choice of a "basic" floor plan, then pay Zen or AD (depending on the rarity of the tileset) to add new rooms to their house. For RP reasons, Players can also designate the "door" to their house as any door that currently exists in the game (sort of like starting a quest in the Foundry).
Duplicate a similar system for character "wardrobes" and monetize the heck out of unique appearances. Oh, and allow people to dye (or change) clothing options on their companions, and dye the colors of their mounts as well.
The amount of money Cryptic would make here would make the money power players spent on Artifact Equipment look like a joke.
I think all the pieces are there, they just need to be put together properly.
You're still posting here. That tells me it's never to late
I agree man, part of the issue is their pricing model. Instead of micro-transactions they post macro transactions.
Why do we not see Linus favor posted for 100-200 zen? Thats easy money. Why are there not more dye packs? Instead of 5000 zen for a module skip, why not 150 zen to "reset" dailies.
THESE are micro transactions. 150k RP for $20? Thats not micro.
Another PART of the problem is that its SO much cheaper to buy these zen items with AD instead of buying zen.
Honestly they need to do something LIKE: bumping the ZAX to be 500:1-1000:1 as the new floor/caps and then REDUCING the zen prices.
So what this means is say the ZAX is trading at 743:1 currently.
If you DROP the price of Coal Wards down to say 600 zen... Thats just $6 BUT! Its 445k AD (still in the same 'range').
So thats the direction I think they need to go honestly. Lower prices in the zen market nearly across the board by AROUND 25%-50%. Then instead of capping ZAX at 500, 500 is the new MINIMUM.
The effect of players going from AD->zen remains roughly unchanged. But the players BUYING zen get MUCH more value for their $s.
Also this method potentially allows a person spending $20 for 2000 zen to potentially get UP TO 2 million AD - which starts approaching 3rd party sites - which is a MAJOR reason this game is having issues.
Should the content be there? Yeah! But dont think for a second that their pricing model is a MAJOR reason this game is having problems.
You wouldnt build a high end restaurant in "the hood" - for obvious reasons - no customer base.
Well these $20-$50 transactions are NOT what this games demographics support. They need to be focused more on the <$5 transactions because thats where MOST the money will come from.
They could certainly do a better job with the Zen store. Your cash shop should be a place players like to visit, repeatedly. If I were running an MMO, I would release new fashions every month, and rotate what I was selling in the cash shop every month. You know, just treat it like you would an actual store.
I mean, if you're running a free-to-play game supported by a cash shop, and players only visit the shop once a week to check out your sales, you're doing it wrong. They should be there every day fantasizing about all the cool stuff they could buy. I hope Cryptic's unannounced project takes monetization seriously, with costume slots, a preview function, maybe pets that actually make a difference, etc. ...Just for the sake of the game and the company, not because I want to pay $$$.
And then *BOOM* that's $11.25 in Cryptic's pocket.
They need more of that...imagine if a player just rolled a new toon, or is bored in Protector's Enclave. Give them the option to apply dyes to their mount. I'm tired of a white unicorn. I want a pink unicorn! *BAM* $2.50 microtransaction. Or they want to change the look of their new toon because the leveling armor is ugly. Give them some options on the pieces that are $1-2...and *ZAP* more revenue.
And no one complains about cosmetic options in a game. Ever.
I'd love some customization. So many MMO's these days make bank on purely cosmetic items like hats, outfits and weapon skins.
Just look at PoE - the entire purchase model is JUST cosmetics and better yet its fairly cheap. I GLADLY was willing to support that game and would be MORE willing to support here if they didnt try to charge you $20-50 for an item. Why would I pay $50 to skip a module when I can go buy an entire game for nearly that much.
Another thing that IMO they should do is make transmutes cost 100 zen each rather than AD. This IMO is a "non-necessary" feature of the base game that is free.
Allowing for things such as: transmutes costing zen, dye packs being applicable for ANY item and MORE due packs, also creating a new item called an "enchantment Transmute" - allowing you to change your Vorpal Enchants LOOK over to any type of enchant you want. I cant imagine those things would be THAT difficult since the system is already built into the game to transmute items. So why not allow you to transmute weapon/armor enchants EXCEPT the only difference would be instead of it consuming said item, you buy a "token" - similar to the "free transmute weapons" that we get from events. This token can cost 500-1000 zen and allow you to exchange your weapon enchant look. I cant tell you how many times I would have bought this item through the course of the game. Take that seizure causing Perfect Vorpal to LOOK like a Terror Enchant? Sign me up!!!
Again, Things like a "daily reset" token - I cant imagine it would be THAT hard to code something like that - similar to relics - that you turn in and get to do your dailies 2x that day. Could be module specific for 100 zen or could be across the board on ALL modules for something like 250 zen.
Things like Mount upgrades - upgrading should be MORE feasible than flat out buying an epic mount. White-> Green should be like 200 zen. Green-> Blue should be like 500 zen. Blue-> Epic should be around 1000 zen. Overall costs would be 1700 zen.
Blue Wards? These should be 500-600 zen, not 1000. $10 for a ward? Cmon.... Then RE-price Green wards accordingly.
Things like this are what players DIE to spend money on. However PART of the catch in ALL of this is the ZAX. Why pay Cryptic $10 for a ward, when you can farm in game AD and buy it on the AH OR - ZAX it to zen.
They need to make REAL $ worth more in the game, more comparable to 3rd party sites - which have a CRAZY amount of volume (otherwise why would there be so many of them if it wasnt that profitable?)
If you look at the AH right now, Coal Wards are selling for 614k AD - what does this translate into? 1228 Zen. Which means that the ZAX "demand/Supply" SHOULD be at right around 614:1 right now If you put a MINIMUM of 500:1 and a MAXIMUM of 1000:1 Demand will Equal out on Price and currently the markets would end up settling around 600:1 and POSSIBLY even continue to go up to around 700:1. They NEED to factor in both inflation of this game, as well as professions accounting for ALOT of the AD that is in the game, constant supply - not enough AD sinks and you are creating an IN-efficient Market which is ALLOWING people to find price discrepancies and make AD off it (for instance buying 500:1 zen then SELLING a coal ward on the AH nets you a nice profit. However you must WAIT to get your zen)
Its also pretty clear that the RATE at which people are buying zen has decreased due to the amount of ZEN backlog there is.
But again - this would REQUIRE a drop in zen prices down to a reasonable level - atleast a 25% DECREASE in prices and I would even wager more (ever think of doing a 3x Coal Ward pack for 2000 zen?)
Personally, I hope whichever designer messed up Divine Oracle gameplay mechanics and messed with Tactician GFs saving grace – AP generation – was among. These guys effectively designed parts of the playerbase away, killing sales in the process.
Maybe this will spur the remaining designers into fixing those classes. For a better game, and for their own salaries. Make sure to fully separate PVP and PVE skills so PVP stops messing up the main game.
Thanks.
Whats funny about that is the market was TELLING us the ZAX at that point in time should be over 700:1!!!! but noone wanted to allow the market to be "free" and "price itself". The fear being that it would cost too much AD for a "free player" to get items.
This is where you DECREASE zen prices/costs in the Zen Store. Heck you could EVEN but a "multiplier" on each item to be automatically price adjusting each day.
So for instance everything is a multiple with an INVERSE relationship.
If the ZAX goes up to 600:1 The zen COST of a Blue ward could then DROP to 833 zen for a blue ward. If it goes up to 700:1 the price of a Blue Ward would drop further to: 714 Zen.
It keeps the SAME "AD cost" but allows your markets to PRICE THEMSELVES. As Inflation goes up, as more AD is being supplied, it creates demand. When you limit the markets to price appropriately you cause inefficiencies and players find ways to take advantage of them.
The easy formula is: (500 / ZAX rate)*(Current Item Price) = Final Price.
Now there would have to be some limites as to what dictates the ZAX rate: I would just suggest whatever is the current highest quantity demanded is the current price. Which currently is 500: 1 if it were allowed to move UP it would probably adjust to 600:1 or more.
Thus plug in the formula (500 / 600) * (1000) = New Blue ward price of 833 Zen.
From my situation that appears to coincide with many others, the prices are simply too high which is leading to not investing real money into this game, but without seeing the actual data or knowing more company information, I couldn't say whether it is truly a right or wrong decision.
Hopefully this is just a setback, and the game can continue to grow in the future. My sympathies to those who lost their jobs.
No, STO lost Captain Smirk, that was thier CM. Dwight's status is still unknown, however.
The reason this method works SO well is your allowing ALL the prices to adjust according to the market.
As more AD comes into the game, the higher the demand for zen, and the MORE attractive it becomes to BUY ZEN DIRECTLY.
Imagine if it WERE 1000:1. A player could throw in $20 into the game and get 2 MILLION AD! Or they could buy FOUR blue wards! This (again) approaches the 3rd party websites and starts pushing their margins DOWN and would even make it unprofitable for many of them to remain in business (there will always be 3rd party) but THIS type of system atleast allows players to get more value for the money they give Cryptic BASED on the current market prices.
Again all of this also comes with more things to BUY in the zen market as well - the MOST popular being cosmetic features which cosmetic features SHOULD be "pay to get" and more difficult to obtain vie zen - easier to obtain buying direct. Heck you could even create a "discount margin" in the formula so it becomes an ADVANTAGE to buy zen direct something like:
So just like the AH - Cryptic "nets" 10% of the zen purchased via the ZAX.
Thus when you BUY 1000 zen, you only get 900 via the ZAX.
So looking back at our Blue Ward base 1000 zen @ 600:1 ZAX rate:
(500/600)*1000= 833 Current Price of Blue Ward. A player would have to BUY: (833/90%) = 926 Zen to actually BUY the item with AD. OR they can pay $8.33 for the item via Direct.
Which means they can EITHER use: 555k OR $8.33 which NOW starts competing even MORE with 3rd party sites. What they need to realize is they can SET THEIR OWN COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE!
I am starting to wonder if noone at Cryptic has an Econ background...
However folks, let's keep away from doomsaying and rumor-milling. Let me put one rumor to rest: Akromatik is still our Community Manager for Neverwinter.
Safe travels,
Archmage Zebular of Mystryl
PWE Community Moderator
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Dwight is no longer with the company, I've been advised. The reasons for his departure are unknown, however, and do not appear to be connected with this round of layoffs.
Great Weapon Fighter: Because when is today not a good day to die?
PC and PS4 player. Proud Guildmaster for PS4 Team Fencebane. Rank 5 Officer for PC Team Fencebane. Visit us at http://fencebane.shivtr.com
Ergh. =/ We need a new foundry dungeon master. ASAP.
NW-DC9R4J5EH - 'The Black Pearl' - Spelljammer! Phlo Riders and Space Orcs
Thanks for all the fish.
as you read "go forward develloping some new stuff..."
thats obviously the ideology in these days, no fixing, no look back, no regrets ... just buy a new one
I agree, I mean the writing was on the walls back in November when the Q3 results for PWE were released. PWE reported a 50% loss in profits and attributed that to is US operations (aka Cryptic).
I am GUESSING they wanted to wait until mod 6 was ready to roll out - or atleast close enough to then cut the staff to lower their costs and it would buy them time since module 6 is pretty much done, they kept maybe 75% of the Developers for NW, so they can still run with less crew.
BTW - this is exactly why they need to revisit their economic model. They need to ask the fundamental question: "How do we encourage players to pay"
Clearly they tried artifact equipment which was a TOTAL bust.
SO maybe its time to revisit this, I rolled out a simple, feasible, very little programming required, solution to the ZAX/Zen Market that would go a LONG way in encouraging players to PAY for this game.
I actually think, even in its current state, there ARE adequate dollars being spent on NW, just not directly through Cryptic- but through 3rd party.
I have it on good authority that there are still suppliers out there, who have billions of AD supplying to 3rd party sites who then turn around and offer it to the public.
Based on the PE spam I see everyday and even several PMs from 3rd party sellers, it seems business is still booming there... Otherwise it would trail off if lack of demand.
People can come up with "economic solutions" but at the ends of the day, Cryptic HAS to be a little greedy in how they structure the model, they CANNOT just give EVERYTHING away for free. They need to create a competitive advantage to BUY through Cryptic while STILL allowing free players to access the mandatory portions of the game.
This is where cosmetics typically shine as they add no REAL value in the sense of "power" but people are ALWAYS willing to spend to make their characters look good. Transmutes could EASILY massively increase the sales of Cryptic if transmutes were all 100 zen now AND ontop of that, my suggestions about the ZAX were implemented. Because now you would have to pay quite a bit more to transmute OR you can drop $20 and get 20 transmutes to support the game.
It lends distinct competitive advantage in Cryptics favor to do it all. Now will free players be slightly set back a little? Yes. There is NO other way. You cant have the best of both worlds - high revenue fueling a quality game AND offering it all for free.
Whats the saying? Why buy the cow when you get the milk for free?
http://www.thestreet.com/story/12998333/1/perfect-world-pwrd-stock-soaring-today-after-chairmans-share-acquisition-offer.html?puc=yahoo&cm_ven=YAHOO.
The 5 year trend shows increase in stock price at the release of Neverwinter from beta, Mod 2, Mod 3 and Mod 4. However, during the release of Mod 5 (early Nov 2014), the stock price was in decline, and the quarterly report released on Nov 25th confirmed what was already known, an overall profit margin decline for PWE, Inc.
The uptick in price on January 2nd was not related to any release software or improvements, but the CEO buying back about 450k shares outstanding. So, investors jumped at the buy, even though the trend shows a decline in profit margin. The trend in the stock price since January 2nd has been consistently downward.
The delay from March 17th to April 7th effectively pushes the mod 6 release into Fiscal Year 2015's second quarter. A directive from PWE may have been given to subsidiaries to increase profit margin by reducing operating costs for FY 2015 first quarter. What this means practically is firing people to boost profit margins.
Anyway, it is a short term solution to the long term problem of declining profitability. Sorry to all the devs who lost their jobs!
Guild--And the Imaginary Friends
I am offering an outstanding offer to put together an Economic Paper outlining all of this in detail for you. I would as a Financial Consultant and was an Analyst before that with my Degree in both Finance and Marketing.
Most of the time, I am paid for my time, however I would gladly discuss these matters with anyone willing to listen from PWE/Cryptic for FREE as a way to assist in the sales without much real work. You can send me a PM and I will pass along my personal email+Cell.
Feel free to pass this along to anyone at PWE/Cryptic as well.