A Tip Of The Hat re: VIP Program

baeyorn · August 2015

With all the wailing and gnashing of teeth threads, just thought I would toss a "well-done" into the discussion.

I had some Zen left over, from ZAX conversion when it really was low there for a bit.

When Mod 7 dropped, I bought into the VIP program.

I have to say I am enjoying the hell out of it. No doubt I will be adding to the ranks I have, just for the convenience it gives.

Well-done, Cryptic.. Well-done!!

Now back to the usual diatribes, vitriol, and various rumors about developer's dubious ancestry.

ambisinisterr · August 2015

Thank you for the feedback. Glad you are enjoying it.

theycallmetomu · August 2015

I'm so far extremely disappointed. I didn't expect to get quality drops from lockboxes because lockboxes have never given quality drops, but I did expect to at least get tradebars enough to make the whole thing a wash. But it seems the tradebar drop rate has also been diminished, so for me, the whole thing feels like a classic bait and switch.

ambisinisterr · August 2015

Give it time. Luck is always a major factor. The last time I had bought keys I got jack from trade bar drops and that was months ago. A few days of key openings is a bit too small of a sample to gauge. Let me know if it is still bad in a few weeks or let me know if more than just you and a few people notice a drop in a week and I'll see what the deal is.

theycallmetomu · August 2015

If the devs are willing to give an unequivocal statement that the drop rate of tradebars was not changed with VIP, I'd be happy enough with that. I mean, I do realize there's a lot of cynicism in the community right now, so it may be that people-self included-are just looking for excuses to say they got conned.

khimera906 · August 2015

After I'll experience the changes in xp, difficulty, vigilance quests, and especially because I'm happy with M7, I'll be happy to join the VIP program.
I fell the ecstatic thank yous are unnecessary, though, as they're not doing anymone any favors with this program. it's just another product they're selling.

karakla1 · August 2015

theycallmetomu wrote: »

I'm so far extremely disappointed. I didn't expect to get quality drops from lockboxes because lockboxes have never given quality drops, but I did expect to at least get tradebars enough to make the whole thing a wash. But it seems the tradebar drop rate has also been diminished, so for me, the whole thing feels like a classic bait and switch.

I am VIP too, get keys too and bought keys in the past and can hardly tell any difference. The last time i looked you got every 20-30 Keys enough trade bars to buy one coalscent ward (200 Trade Bars). The Jackpot is pretty rare (and i think a reason it is called jackpot).

khimera906 wrote: »

After I'll experience the changes in xp, difficulty, vigilance quests, and especially because I'm happy with M7, I'll be happy to join the VIP program.
I fell the ecstatic thank yous are unnecessary, though, as they're not doing anymone any favors with this program. it's just another product they're selling.

It does a lot. As example: Many player buyed in and got VIP Rank 12. Now they are selling Greater Mark of Potency in the Auction House (they can buy it for 75.000 and can resell for 85.000). This means the price of 1 GMOP is going down. Currently the price is between 85-90.000 AD per GMOP which means it is 10-15% cheaper as before only because of the VIP program.
Same thing will happen with every other Item you can get from the lockbox. The prices will sink and this means it will getting cheaper for new players and players not willing to pay money or casual players that has not enough time to effort such a package.

In addition we can get Coupons to buy Stuff out of the Zen-Store which means 15-40% cheaper Zen Store Items as well. (Okay the Coupons are not connected with the VIP Program but i wanted to note it down because 2 years long player where screaming for lower prices).

Overall: The VIP Program is a good Idea. The new module felt first like a bit of busy work but after a short introduction time it feels good to play together as guild again and has a goal and get benefit as a guild + a lot of bug fixes + future changes in difficulty that we player requested and now coming.

Lags still remain which is sad. But i have now more hope for the future of neverwinter and that the lags hopefully get fixed as well. From me: Thank you Cryptic/PWE.

rollingonit · August 2015

karakla1 wrote: »

theycallmetomu wrote: »

I'm so far extremely disappointed. I didn't expect to get quality drops from lockboxes because lockboxes have never given quality drops, but I did expect to at least get tradebars enough to make the whole thing a wash. But it seems the tradebar drop rate has also been diminished, so for me, the whole thing feels like a classic bait and switch.

I am VIP too, get keys too and bought keys in the past and can hardly tell any difference. The last time i looked you got every 20-30 Keys enough trade bars to buy one coalscent ward (200 Trade Bars). The Jackpot is pretty rare (and i think a reason it is called trade bar).

My experience as well with trade bars post original trade bar nerf. Took 20-30 keys to get enough. Ill look more closely when I use all my keys at once at end of month.

theycallmetomu · August 2015

Coal wards are 200 per, correct?

My recent drop rate is about 3 bars per box, which is under half the rate of "30 boxes per coal ward"

Maybe it's just an outlier though.

khimera906 · August 2015

I'm not debating wether or not the VIP program is beneficial for the players - of course it is. However it's not the kind of thing I would thank the devs for. Reducing the prices in the WB for everyone, like we've been asking for ages; that would've been something for which I could be thankful.
I'll say this though: it's a good way to monetize the game (unlike some other things they've tried in the past), and the price is more than reasonable. That's something I can appreciate.

theycallmetomu · August 2015

Well, due to market forces, WB prices are decreased for everybody. The rank 12 VIPs buy WB items at -25%, and sell at -15%.

dfnce · August 2015

Use 15% discount coupon to buy discounted 6 month VIP, so you can engage more liquid assets in trading of other discounted goods.

theycallmetomu · August 2015

I tried that; I had a bunch of refining packs, and then I opened them until I found a -15% coupon. However, cruel fate, that's when the server went down, and by the time they were back up my coupon had expired.

I was super PO'd about that.

Misfits · August 2015

theycallmetomu wrote: »

I tried that; I had a bunch of refining packs, and then I opened them until I found a -15% coupon. However, cruel fate, that's when the server went down, and by the time they were back up my coupon had expired.

I was super PO'd about that.

why would you hunt for the coupon right before the maintenance (since that's the only time servers are put down and there hasn't been any unannounced times where the servers went down last week).

killergilnyc1 · August 2015

the daily enchanted keys are the reason i got this. bonus exp and such is an added bonus.

regenerde · August 2015

Elemental Evil, first days, 10-20 lockboxes delivered more then enough trade bars for a coalescent ward.
I even got two of those epic chickens and the mystic (?) artifact from it to sell.

I started banking enchanted keys for Strongholds...

Strongholds, first days, 90(!) lockboxes gave me "enough" trade bars for 2 or max. 3 coalescent wards.
Rest of the loot was just some [censored] to sell of.

Feels like there was a hidden nerf to the droprate, to keep the massive amount of enchanted keys from VIP flying around in check.

Unknown · August 2015

This content has been removed.

theycallmetomu · August 2015

grrouper wrote: »

Misfits wrote: »

theycallmetomu wrote: »

I tried that; I had a bunch of refining packs, and then I opened them until I found a -15% coupon. However, cruel fate, that's when the server went down, and by the time they were back up my coupon had expired.

I was super PO'd about that.

why would you hunt for the coupon right before the maintenance (since that's the only time servers are put down and there hasn't been any unannounced times where the servers went down last week).

Think he was talking about after the server was up from patch and they shut it back down. I recall a few people that lost out because the Dev's Fail to tests before they launch new mods. Or maybe it is that fact that they did test and should have seen the problem from owlbear and fixed it to start with but rather just ignored us all in the alpha forums.

This. Obviously I wouldn't have opened packs before the server had even launched, because then the VIP pack wouldn't be available for purchase in the first place!

mynaam · August 2015

Really happy with the VIP. Some complain about the drop boxes not dropping enough good items but they forget the fact that you can also buy a Coal ward with the tarm bars you get. I am realy glad I baught it and want to say Thank you.

plasticbat · August 2015

VIP improves quality of life in NW. It is a good convenient package.

theycallmetomu · August 2015

mynaam wrote: »

Really happy with the VIP. Some complain about the drop boxes not dropping enough good items but they forget the fact that you can also buy a Coal ward with the tarm bars you get. I am realy glad I baught it and want to say Thank you.

Please read the actual comments. Well, I guess there are a few sillies out there. But no-the objections have been that the trade bar drop rate has been nerfed.

Though, I'm on the fence about that. Yes, I had a lot of 3 bar drops, but then just yesterday I got a 10 bar drop and today a 20 bar drop, so it could just be the RNG.

thefabricant · August 2015

+1 to the vip system from me as well, mounts used to be what I called the best investment, but now I think its the VIP system. This is where you should definitely put your zen, it is pretty much guaranteed to refund you more then its AD value.

plasticbat · August 2015

Now, I need to train myself from my habit of hitting '6' after death. Slot 6 is where I put my injury kit and now potion. I wasted some potions by hitting '6' without thinking.

beckylunatic · August 2015

I'm still adjusting to not needing to ride to a gate to travel. I actually saw a guy heading for a gate stop and pull out his signpost right after I summoned mine. "Oh yeahhhh."

One little feature I appreciate is that the backpack icon flashes until you take your lockbox key, making it very hard to forget, but it doesn't nag you about the other stuff so you can let those slide if they'd just be creating unwanted clutter.

plasticbat · August 2015

beckylunatic wrote: »

I'm still adjusting to not needing to ride to a gate to travel. I actually saw a guy heading for a gate stop and pull out his signpost right after I summoned mine. "Oh yeahhhh."

One little feature I appreciate is that the backpack icon flashes until you take your lockbox key, making it very hard to forget, but it doesn't nag you about the other stuff so you can let those slide if they'd just be creating unwanted clutter.

That guy would be ... me.

erethizon1 · August 2015

theycallmetomu wrote: »

I tried that; I had a bunch of refining packs, and then I opened them until I found a -15% coupon. However, cruel fate, that's when the server went down, and by the time they were back up my coupon had expired.

I was super PO'd about that.

Absentmindedly, I did not think about getting a 15% off coupon (I have just gotten used to thinking of the 1 hour coupons as trash and forgot they could ever be useful) and so paid full price for my VIP. But my one and only character got affected by the bug that prevents him from getting his daily reward (as well as making many of the other VIP buttons not work), so I paid full price for half a VIP program. I'm pretty annoyed about it too.

So you can add me to the people that are not thankful for the VIP program. I am glad they added it. I am not glad that they added it while it was still buggy and don't seem to be in that much of a rush to fix it. At the very least I would like to see them refund the scrolls I should be getting each day but am not.

locksanpockets · August 2015

The VIP Pack won't take a 15% off any Zen Store item coupon. At least for me it won't.

dfnce · August 2015

Character with which i did VIP program purchase in store also had buttons grey-outed. If you have only one character, create second character (temporarily) and try to claim scrolls.

regenerde · August 2015

Move the discount coupon around a bit in your inventory, and try opening/closing the ZEN shop interface several times, at some point the coupon should work.

dfnce · August 2015

I have one more funny observation. When you click on coupon, ZEN store opens and it shows discounted prices for appropriate items. When buyer has decided on buying, in purchase window person needs to pick coupon from combo list to get said discount. ZEN store shows discount price, but in very last moment it implemented to make buyer to accidentally forget about coupon and pay full price. Stay vigilant.

regenerde · August 2015

Yes, you have to add the discount coupon from the drop down menu to get the discount... would be great, if they would change that allready.
If that menu is greyed out, try what i have suggested above.

A Tip Of The Hat re: VIP Program

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