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Astral Diamond Changes

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  • theycallmetomutheycallmetomu Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 1,861 Arc User

    Just a reminder:

    Cryptic uses "Bots" synonymously with "leadership army."

    They really don't care if you're actually manually managing those 20 characters, they just don't want you to be using them to boost your main.


    And what if you wanted to have, like myself, 8 "mains?" In the 30 or so years I've been playing PnP D&D, I've *NEVER* just had "one character."

    Flawed logic.
    If you want 8 mains, presumably, you'd have to spend the time playing 8 mains, and you wouldn't need 20 side characters each of which is designed to support one of those eight mains.

    I'm really not sure what's so difficult about this concept for people. You can have 8 characters, but each of those characters is boosted by time spent playing that character.

    That being said, I'm definitely sympathetic to the idea that second and subsequent characters should be easier to level/give gear to than your initial character, sure. But the existence of those secondary characters shouldn't make life easier on your PRIMARY character.
  • theycallmetomutheycallmetomu Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 1,861 Arc User
    Right. They shouldn't have allowed it from the beginning. What you're saying is because they made a mistake, they're somehow not allowed to fix it.
  • bilitheaxe66bilitheaxe66 Member Posts: 38 Arc User
    The funny thing is that this reminds me of the game managers not listening to the players in the closed Betas of Vanguard and Age of Conan....who told them repeatedly their games would fail if released as they were. The server load is already lightening as I have picked up 4-6 fps in every area of the game I have my toons parked at.

    Guess the plus is that if I wait a few weeks I should be able to run some of the currently lag infested content with a decent frame-rate before finally leaving. *shrugs*



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  • ghoulz66ghoulz66 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 3,748 Arc User

    Just a reminder:

    Cryptic uses "Bots" synonymously with "leadership army."

    They really don't care if you're actually manually managing those 20 characters, they just don't want you to be using them to boost your main.


    And what if you wanted to have, like myself, 8 "mains?" In the 30 or so years I've been playing PnP D&D, I've *NEVER* just had "one character."

    Flawed logic.
    If you want 8 mains, presumably, you'd have to spend the time playing 8 mains, and you wouldn't need 20 side characters each of which is designed to support one of those eight mains.

    I'm really not sure what's so difficult about this concept for people. You can have 8 characters, but each of those characters is boosted by time spent playing that character.

    That being said, I'm definitely sympathetic to the idea that second and subsequent characters should be easier to level/give gear to than your initial character, sure. But the existence of those secondary characters shouldn't make life easier on your PRIMARY character.
    I've geared up all 8 classes. You have no idea how much effort and ADs went into that ordeal....
  • hustin1hustin1 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 3,467 Arc User

    Just a reminder:

    Cryptic uses "Bots" synonymously with "leadership army."

    They really don't care if you're actually manually managing those 20 characters, they just don't want you to be using them to boost your main.


    And what if you wanted to have, like myself, 8 "mains?" In the 30 or so years I've been playing PnP D&D, I've *NEVER* just had "one character."

    Flawed logic.
    If you want 8 mains, presumably, you'd have to spend the time playing 8 mains, and you wouldn't need 20 side characters each of which is designed to support one of those eight mains.

    I'm really not sure what's so difficult about this concept for people. You can have 8 characters, but each of those characters is boosted by time spent playing that character.

    That being said, I'm definitely sympathetic to the idea that second and subsequent characters should be easier to level/give gear to than your initial character, sure. But the existence of those secondary characters shouldn't make life easier on your PRIMARY character.
    For me, the acid test will be campaign quests. If they stay true to their stated intent, then I expect to see campaign tasks granting AD in very short order. To not do so would put the lie to it.

    The really cynical part of me is expecting to see planar idols returning to the next lockbox. Now that would really be crass.
    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
  • aratecharatech Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 269 Arc User
    hustin1 said:

    Just a reminder:

    Cryptic uses "Bots" synonymously with "leadership army."

    They really don't care if you're actually manually managing those 20 characters, they just don't want you to be using them to boost your main.


    And what if you wanted to have, like myself, 8 "mains?" In the 30 or so years I've been playing PnP D&D, I've *NEVER* just had "one character."

    Flawed logic.
    If you want 8 mains, presumably, you'd have to spend the time playing 8 mains, and you wouldn't need 20 side characters each of which is designed to support one of those eight mains.

    I'm really not sure what's so difficult about this concept for people. You can have 8 characters, but each of those characters is boosted by time spent playing that character.

    That being said, I'm definitely sympathetic to the idea that second and subsequent characters should be easier to level/give gear to than your initial character, sure. But the existence of those secondary characters shouldn't make life easier on your PRIMARY character.
    For me, the acid test will be campaign quests. If they stay true to their stated intent, then I expect to see campaign tasks granting AD in very short order. To not do so would put the lie to it.

    The really cynical part of me is expecting to see planar idols returning to the next lockbox. Now that would really be crass.
    The cynic is right 90% of the time. And pleasantly surprised the remaining 10%.
  • nightstalkornightstalkor Member Posts: 154 Arc User

    Again, "Bots" is slang for "alts" whether they're managed manually or through a script. That's the only way to make sense of their policy.

    If your contention is true, this is just another example of PW shortsightedness. Which is sad but typical. The only way I've been able to get my four "primary" toons anyplace at all is to have the other four alts to help supply the AD funds etc that I NEED to do so. To buy things like Greater Marks of Potency, Coaelesent wards, etc.

    Any MMO is like that. You use your high lvl toons or a group of developed toons to supply cash and stuff to other toons, ones that you Might Not play w/o such a capability. All PW is doing is hastening the inevitable death of NW with this AD leadership change. Only the cheaters and the cash customers will be playing after a while. That is, the people with 4000 pt plus toons (probably more than one) that can waltz thru anything the game has to offer.

    And for the record, I have one toon of each class. Helps me understand the weaknesses/strengths better, w/o going super crazy w/ alts. Plus it's kinda fun to play a pally or GF every now and then. My favorite primary is a CW... and I've got bibles about how PW and the NW team have made that class worse and worse each mod.

    cheers
  • methuselasmethuselas Member Posts: 275 Arc User
    ghoulz66 said:



    I've geared up all 8 classes. You have no idea how much effort and ADs went into that ordeal....

    Truth! I did it, for my guild. I wanted to be able to play any class available, for DD runs, when my guildies needed gear. Back then, I was mostly running R5s and T2-3 gear I EARNED, by running Dungeons.

    I didn't get my HR to 60, til last November and he still has no boons, but the first 2 from Sharandar.
  • palad1n2palad1n2 Member Posts: 20 Arc User
    methuselas, you have stated it correctly. If they can't see it's a money grab then they never spent money in the first place so it doesn't affect them. The game literally FORCED us to create alts, level them on professions, to outfit ONE toon, because I will NOT spend thousands of real dollars in a F2P game....all because I want to have ONE character as best as I can make him....and that is a crime apparently.
  • edited September 2015
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  • bilitheaxe66bilitheaxe66 Member Posts: 38 Arc User

    Right. They shouldn't have allowed it from the beginning. What you're saying is because they made a mistake, they're somehow not allowed to fix it.


    The problem is that they are trying to replace a light bulb by using a sledgehammer instead of carefully unscrewing it.... and will get the same results.
  • palad1n2palad1n2 Member Posts: 20 Arc User
    Same here, i leveled a GF and a DC to help guild dungeon runs because we were short on both tanks and healers, and now I learn that I was never supposed to have more than one toon? If alts were not meant to be, why did they take my money? Ahhh well, inconsistent messaging seems to be the norm.
  • raistlinmajere00raistlinmajere00 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 176 Arc User
    Agreed in a sense, along with professions, in the earlier mods, I found I could queue a lot easier with pugs for quick matches on my DC alt and thus getting me more salvageable items to get ad for my main. Since my main wasn't as geared to be wanted in the first place and well, playing on my dc was fun too ;o
    image
  • methuselasmethuselas Member Posts: 275 Arc User
    edited September 2015
    palad1n2 said:

    methuselas, you have stated it correctly. If they can't see it's a money grab then they never spent money in the first place so it doesn't affect them. The game literally FORCED us to create alts, level them on professions, to outfit ONE toon, because I will NOT spend thousands of real dollars in a F2P game....all because I want to have ONE character as best as I can make him....and that is a crime apparently.

    @palad1n2

    I'm embarrassed I spent a couple hundred bucks in the past 2 years or so. :P I loved my GF, but they gutted him and made him useless, after the Conqueror nerf. Then, I made a DC, but it was NOT what I was expecting, so I went to a TR. Loved that, then moved to the GWF, then the CW, then the HR and finally the CW. Made another TR, to test the Whisperknife. Still have 3 open Char Slots. Gee, can I get my 750 in Zen back, since it's "Botting" to have alts. *Rolls Eyes*

    Would have loved to play them all, but I spent most of my time playing my "alts" to get my boons and not my "main."
  • nightstalkornightstalkor Member Posts: 154 Arc User
    Now that I've read some of the responses and the so called logic of this change it's time to make some comments.

    Most importantly, IF this leadership change DOES happen, it will kill the game for casual players like myself.

    KILL. No ifs, ands, Or BUTS. Leadership right now is about the only way I can make AD's. I log in a couple of times a day, send my leadership guys out on tasks, and then go to work, or make dinner, etc. I DO NOT have time to play NW for more than a couple of hours in a given day.

    Removing the ability for a player to make AD's over time by the strategic use of leadership tasks has to be the most outrageous and flat out TERRIBLE idea that I have ever heard. Right now it's the ONLY way I have to build UP AD's so that I can buy Zen to buy whatever.

    Consider the following. Your average Gaunt PvP match lasts about 15 mins. IF YOU win, you get the 4k AD's. Otherwise, repeat at least twice to get the daily reward of 4k AD's. More likely FOUR times, since right now in Gaunt the teams are so unbalanced that you are most likely going to LOSE, unless you get a lucky queue. So now one ONE toon, you've burned a WHOLE HOUR, just for 4k AD's. Maybe 8K if you're lucky. IF.

    Same goes for Domination PvP. Same issues, such as No Tier system for segregating players by relative power levels. Minimum time for a Dom match is 15 mins, and usually they last 20 mins plus. So Four matches for your 4k AD's again. For a minimal time investment of an hour, once again.

    Dungeons and Skirmishes. Can't play em. My highest score toon out of my eight total, four primarily active, is NOT quite 2300. That's it. I can queue for an epic dungeon and run around doing other stuff for over an hour w/o getting a team queue pop. And Foundry has the SAME time lock issue as PvP. You HAVE to spend 15 mins in a mish to get credit. So there's an hour for another 4k AD's. IF, of course, the Foundry is actually Working!

    So now we see that an average player can, with ONE toon, earn about 12k AD's in 3 hours. Call it about 15k in about 3 1/2 to 4 hours if you can run skirmishes. NOT EVEN ANYWHERE CLOSE TO THE MAXIMUM AD'S PER DAY. That's 24,000 for anyone who doesn't remember. FOUR HOURS ON ONE TOON W/O EVEN HITTING THE AD CEILING.

    I mean, I see all this talk about bots and say, really? Leadership is time and task gated already. To minimize your times you HAVE to sink AD's into buying Man-at-Arms or Adventurers to lower your task times. Or AD's into Zen to buy keys for lockboxes or profession packs for the same purpose. The last time I priced a Man-at-arms on the AH they were running over 65k AD's. Per dude. It was about 170k AD's for Adventurers.

    And when you've spent those AD's, what do you get? With an Adventurers, just over 12 hours to make 1600 AD's on Destroy Enemy Camp mish. Times three is 4800. Just over 12 hours for 500 AD's and a resonant bag in the Escort Seneschal mish. OVER 18 hours for the battle Elemental Cultists mish, which gives you 2k AD's and a coffer.

    So that's 9800 + 3000 AD's for just over a day. And That's if you hit the mission turnover perfectly.

    Time gated. Limited to 3 at a time. This system works and it kills me that the devs are going to punish me and everyone else when they COULD punish the FEW cheaters and save themselves a lot of work and the game as well.

    Let me spell it out for you guys. ANYONE W/ OVER 20 TOONS ARE YOUR CHEATERS. It should be a rudimentary task to track the time usage of those accounts, and by doing so Prove that they are using bots. HINT: it takes me about 15 to 25 mins to cycle the Leadership tasks for all EIGHT of my toons by hand. So gee, anyone whose account is logging one and only spending 15 to 20 mins for TWENTY TOONS? I think the conclusions are obvious...

    And for that matter, anyone WITH more than twenty toons should be given a good long hard look anyway. Since the invocation changes and the PREVIOUS leadership changes, maintaining more than twenty toons is extremely time intensive and highly suspect. OVER TWO versions of each character class? Really? Who are these people trying to kid?

    SO. I really, sincerely hope that the Devs DO not do this change. Otherwise you'll find me somewhere else, because playing NW will at that point be too much work and not enough fun.
  • highliregardedhighliregarded Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 13 Arc User
    edited September 2015
    Guess this isn't really news. Search Google News for "neverwinter leadership" and you get 0 results. All the news is about Xbox release of Elemental Evil. You can see where they are putting their advertising resources and none of the gaming mags want to come out and do a story on this issue or report on it. It just goes to show you who owns the gaming press and how they kow-tow to the game makers. I'm still going to wait and see how things go before I leave the ship, but it is definitely odd how there is nothing being said online about this issue except in this forum. Perhaps the PC version is destined for the MMO graveyard. Oh well, Everquest is still alive and kicking...maybe there is some hope!
  • theycallmetomutheycallmetomu Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 1,861 Arc User
    ghoulz66 said:

    Just a reminder:

    Cryptic uses "Bots" synonymously with "leadership army."

    They really don't care if you're actually manually managing those 20 characters, they just don't want you to be using them to boost your main.


    And what if you wanted to have, like myself, 8 "mains?" In the 30 or so years I've been playing PnP D&D, I've *NEVER* just had "one character."

    Flawed logic.
    If you want 8 mains, presumably, you'd have to spend the time playing 8 mains, and you wouldn't need 20 side characters each of which is designed to support one of those eight mains.

    I'm really not sure what's so difficult about this concept for people. You can have 8 characters, but each of those characters is boosted by time spent playing that character.

    That being said, I'm definitely sympathetic to the idea that second and subsequent characters should be easier to level/give gear to than your initial character, sure. But the existence of those secondary characters shouldn't make life easier on your PRIMARY character.
    I've geared up all 8 classes. You have no idea how much effort and ADs went into that ordeal....
    At no point have I suggested that the current rate of AD acquisition is appropriate. Rather, I'm suggesting the leadership army method is inappropriate.
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  • hustin1hustin1 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 3,467 Arc User
    edited September 2015
    mattock13 said:

    Almost 43 pages in a few days and only 1 reply. :D

    I'm astonished at that fact. I can't believe that the devs and/or CM can't see how unbelievably bad this looks. That said, I have no doubt that they're not saying anything because management won't let them.
    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
  • nightstalkornightstalkor Member Posts: 154 Arc User

    ghoulz66 said:

    Just a reminder:

    Cryptic uses "Bots" synonymously with "leadership army."

    They really don't care if you're actually manually managing those 20 characters, they just don't want you to be using them to boost your main.


    And what if you wanted to have, like myself, 8 "mains?" In the 30 or so years I've been playing PnP D&D, I've *NEVER* just had "one character."

    Flawed logic.
    If you want 8 mains, presumably, you'd have to spend the time playing 8 mains, and you wouldn't need 20 side characters each of which is designed to support one of those eight mains.

    I'm really not sure what's so difficult about this concept for people. You can have 8 characters, but each of those characters is boosted by time spent playing that character.

    That being said, I'm definitely sympathetic to the idea that second and subsequent characters should be easier to level/give gear to than your initial character, sure. But the existence of those secondary characters shouldn't make life easier on your PRIMARY character.
    I've geared up all 8 classes. You have no idea how much effort and ADs went into that ordeal....
    At no point have I suggested that the current rate of AD acquisition is appropriate. Rather, I'm suggesting the leadership army method is inappropriate.
    explain your logic given the system as it currently exists. Because so far as I can see, you don't have any.
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  • palad1n2palad1n2 Member Posts: 20 Arc User
    By the way, for those of you that are so disdainful of alts and have bought the line of "you weren't supposed to have alts", go talk to that vendor in PE that sells ACCOUNT BOUND gear for seals. Hmmmmmm, that's odd, i'm not supposed to have alts yet you created a vendor that allows me to buy ilvl 130 gear for every class in the game? And most of the loot drops in t1 and t2 dungeons are account bound as well? Why would you do that if I'm not supposed to have alts? (Pokes balloon with pin) There goes the reasoning for alts being an issue. What ya got next?
  • asterotgasterotg Member Posts: 1,742 Arc User
    The patch notes are either wrong or misleading. It is either as announced or they LOWERED AD gain. No ADs is not lower AD reward, bc lower reward is some reward in my book.
    Chars: CW, DC, GF, GWF, HR and TR.
  • aratecharatech Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 269 Arc User
    asterotg said:

    The patch notes are either wrong or misleading. It is either as announced or they LOWERED AD gain. No ADs is not lower AD reward, bc lower reward is some reward in my book.

    "Zero is a lower number than 1+"

    Welcome to Cryptic's logic. Poor sods can't realize that trying to string people along for a few more hours is only going to make the inevitable backlash worse.
  • asterotgasterotg Member Posts: 1,742 Arc User
    aratech said:

    asterotg said:

    The patch notes are either wrong or misleading. It is either as announced or they LOWERED AD gain. No ADs is not lower AD reward, bc lower reward is some reward in my book.

    "Zero is a lower number than 1+"

    Welcome to Cryptic's logic. Poor sods can't realize that trying to string people along for a few more hours is only going to make the inevitable backlash worse.
    I hope, that they showed some sense. Otherwise there will be an epic exodus tomorrow.

    Chars: CW, DC, GF, GWF, HR and TR.
  • proudfishproudfish Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 7 Arc User
    So it does appear they are going castrate leadership and leave us with no means of satisfactory AD gain in game.


    The sad thing is leadership kept many of us logging in and engaged, even amid many bug filled patches and lackluster updates. Where is the motivation to log in now? Hope we all have already bought VIP and are willing to invoke daily for bound bag clutter? Or perhaps run a few dungeons to get that insulting 3k ad/ea and rewards that are worth less than the price of keys?
    While you're praying, bend over more in hope your hoard enchants happen to work for a small amount of time (and drop something other then pearls) so you can update artifact gear? Seems if you don't have it refined already, you are out of luck.
    But you can (and should) always grind dailies, to progress? ...none of which give any AD.


    Maybe they aren't maliciously trying to get people to stop playing, and it's merely inept greed, but it's actually getting hard to believe anyone invested in this game could be this clueless and misinformed about it.
  • theycallmetomutheycallmetomu Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 1,861 Arc User
    edited September 2015
    palad1n2 said:

    By the way, for those of you that are so disdainful of alts and have bought the line of "you weren't supposed to have alts", go talk to that vendor in PE that sells ACCOUNT BOUND gear for seals. Hmmmmmm, that's odd, i'm not supposed to have alts yet you created a vendor that allows me to buy ilvl 130 gear for every class in the game? And most of the loot drops in t1 and t2 dungeons are account bound as well? Why would you do that if I'm not supposed to have alts? (Pokes balloon with pin) There goes the reasoning for alts being an issue. What ya got next?

    If you were actually paying attention, you'd realize that the argument isn't that you're not supposed to have alts, it's that the alts should exist for the alt's sake.

    As I have said before, I'm A OK with making your second character easier to gear than your first. The thing that becomes a problem is when the incentive structure is set up in such a way that you need that second character in order to make your FIRST character have gear. The "Bind to account, checkmate!" thing is an example of your first character making things easier for your second.
  • brisedabriseda Member Posts: 100 Arc User
    edited September 2015
    Give me an example of a time when Crytpic listened to the community and behaved accordingly. I cant think of any. They put things on the preview server, not for your input, but to deaden the painful feeling of being bent over and getting whatever they want shoved in the opening of your choice. We tell them, whoa there buddy, there are bugs here. Bugs and all get put on the main server.

    edit: You sensor the strangest words...
  • palad1n2palad1n2 Member Posts: 20 Arc User
    edited September 2015
    And what you aren't seeing is all the rage and disdain for people like me that did create alts to PLAY and oh by the way, why not get professions rolling. and HEY leadership actually gives a reward that I can use to make all of my toons better, especially my main. I have seen many on this forum call people like me a bot, purely because I have 9 toons rolling LS so that I can afford to outfit toons without having to spend THOUSANDS of dollars. SO thank you for your spin, but the point of many of these posts has been to slander anyone that has more than one toon, and God forbid they have those extra toons doing Leadership. So you find it palatable by the fact that I play all 9 toons (as stated MANY TIMES which you don't seem to read, for my guild, a DC and tank for dungeon runs when a main is not available) but then complain because I have those toons doing Leadership? Your logic escapes me.
This discussion has been closed.