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Astral Diamond Changes

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  • ralphclentonralphclenton Member Posts: 1 New User
    how dispicable that you ruin a game that is supposedly free and the worsen the palyability for those of us that cant afford to spend real money. it was ok when i could atleast use professions to help me keep up a little but now i cant even go and buy half good equipment so i can survive long enough to finish a quest, and to hell with PVP i dont have a prayer so im just PVE and profession and save the PVPing for the rich!!!!!
  • bethannaebethannae Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 15 Arc User
    Since we do throw this term around a lot, lets go back to it...the casual player. Can we say this is the player that spends no more than 2 hours a day playing? I think that would be pretty fair. I'd like to propose that playing more than 2 hours a day does not contribute to a healthy body or healthy relationships...or Balance of Live in general. Do you want your teenager playing a game more than 2 hours a day? probably not. I don't think anyone would like to argue that playing more than 2 hours a day is that healthy. That being said:

    1-many studies show that playing games helps relieve anxiety, depression and ptsd. Casual play is probably good for you.

    2-Am I personally going to spend more than 2 hours playing today? yep! it is my day off! I am going to spend the morning at the dining room table playing Neverwinter while intermittently turning to work on a terrain piece and get up about every 30 minutes to cast another round of plaster in my Hirst Arts molds. Until about 3pm when i will make dinner for my game group tonight. I might go out and do some more gardening.

    Where is this leading? to the value of making significant (and I think we would agree that would be in astral diamonds or the equivalent) rewards available within the first 2 hours of play. Sure, let those who are fanatical make some extra...but about 80% of the rewards for playing daily should be attainable within the first 2 hours of play.....Can't the system be adjusted to do that?
  • skalt112skalt112 Member Posts: 1,089 Arc User

    regenerde said:

    If you want to buy something from the ZEN shop, now would be the time to do so...

    While the AD price for ZEN might drop further, i wouldn't count on a steady supply of ZEN for long. People will stop buying ZEN for AD at some point, and even the ZEN allready in game will be gone too.

    The AD price for ZEN will go up again to it's limit, but i wouldn't count on the backlog still clearing with 1 million AD per day by then.

    That makes no sense.

    If people are offering 500 AD for zen, then people who were willing to buy zen for cash and sell for AD before the price change should be willing to do so now, because the value of AD is greater, not lesser, than it was before.

    If anything, zen would clear the ZAX faster because fewer people are willing to spend 500 AD per zen.
    I had a ton of ad , this change has made me exceedingly wealthy. and i havent made much ad since the change. My buying power has increased by 30% in just a couple days. The only thing this has done has made me a have , and lengthened the distance between people like me , and those who have nothing.

    As long as the zen market stabalizes at a value less than the maximum, i will be able to play the zen market with the millions of ad i have and simply get free ad and zen to outfit as many characters as i like. meanwhile anyone who comes in new , will have to either spend an outrageous amount of real money , or spend years simply to get to the same level i am at now.

    Fantastic change for me , HAMSTER for most everyone else.

  • regenerderegenerde Member Posts: 3,041 Arc User
    edited September 2015

    regenerde said:

    If you want to buy something from the ZEN shop, now would be the time to do so...

    While the AD price for ZEN might drop further, i wouldn't count on a steady supply of ZEN for long. People will stop buying ZEN for AD at some point, and even the ZEN allready in game will be gone too.

    The AD price for ZEN will go up again to it's limit, but i wouldn't count on the backlog still clearing with 1 million AD per day by then.

    That makes no sense.

    If people are offering 500 AD for zen, then people who were willing to buy zen for cash and sell for AD before the price change should be willing to do so now, because the value of AD is greater, not lesser, than it was before.

    If anything, zen would clear the ZAX faster because fewer people are willing to spend 500 AD per zen.
    Look around you in game, do you see how many players have left the game after this change?
    Now ask yourself one thing, who is going to buy ZEN with real money for ZAX in the future?

    ZEN does not appear out of thin air, and it's not "rewarded" for "playing the game" either.
    Does it make sense to you now?

    Besides, ZAX jumped from around 400 to 450 over night... guess it will be at 500 with backlog soon enough.
    Post edited by regenerde on
    I do believe in killing the messenger...
    Want to know why?
    Because it sends a message!
  • rapticorrapticor Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 1,078 Arc User
    Before: In the morning I would log in, claim my profession rewards and give them new tasks. Do an invoke or two depending on how much time I had to get ready for work. When I got home I'd run all the campaign areas as I was working on boons for my Paladin. After that I'd usually run a dungeon, occasionally 4 PVP matches and a skirmish. Claim any tasks there were complete then be done. Not a trivial amount of time, and money, spent on this game.

    Now: Wake up, log in, invoke and claim my VIP rewards (which I now regret purchasing). Close the game and not think about it the rest of the day. Now a trivial amount of time, and ZERO money, will be spent on this game. How again was this change supposed to help anyone other than Cryptic by pushing that Zen? Oh yeah it wasn't.

    So in that regard Cryptic is doing me a favor so I've changed my mind on this: I'm now in favor of it. Thank you Cryptic for saving me time and money by not playing your game.
  • tom40stom40s Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 43 Arc User
    ok well I am someone who plays the game but on days that I have no time I would go into the game and invoke for the day and I would do my leadership mini game which use to give astral diamonds. I bought hero of the north, and dragon born packages. I just spent 100 bucks last week on the store. In the past I have spent money just to get astral diamonds. I am very disappointed about the change with the leadership mini game. I have read responses from cryptic that this is to help people who do not have money? How? Because anyone got astral diamonds from the leadership mini game, so I do not see how this helps them or anyone else. I like the change of pvp, and skirmishes because when I have "time" I do play them but I work full time and I go to school full time so I depended on the leadership mini game.
  • nyterazor#4638 nyterazor Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 40 Arc User
    I stopped playing DDO once Neverwinter came out years ago. Once the market has stabilized maybe Cryptic will move towards the DDO model by getting rid of the Zen exchange then making new content you have to pay to play sometimes.
  • theycallmetomutheycallmetomu Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 1,861 Arc User
    skalt112 said:

    regenerde said:

    If you want to buy something from the ZEN shop, now would be the time to do so...

    While the AD price for ZEN might drop further, i wouldn't count on a steady supply of ZEN for long. People will stop buying ZEN for AD at some point, and even the ZEN allready in game will be gone too.

    The AD price for ZEN will go up again to it's limit, but i wouldn't count on the backlog still clearing with 1 million AD per day by then.

    That makes no sense.

    If people are offering 500 AD for zen, then people who were willing to buy zen for cash and sell for AD before the price change should be willing to do so now, because the value of AD is greater, not lesser, than it was before.

    If anything, zen would clear the ZAX faster because fewer people are willing to spend 500 AD per zen.
    I had a ton of ad , this change has made me exceedingly wealthy. and i havent made much ad since the change. My buying power has increased by 30% in just a couple days. The only thing this has done has made me a have , and lengthened the distance between people like me , and those who have nothing.

    As long as the zen market stabalizes at a value less than the maximum, i will be able to play the zen market with the millions of ad i have and simply get free ad and zen to outfit as many characters as i like. meanwhile anyone who comes in new , will have to either spend an outrageous amount of real money , or spend years simply to get to the same level i am at now.

    Fantastic change for me , HAMSTER for most everyone else.

    Yeah, but the market was like that from the beginning. I mean, hell, that's the nature of exchanges like this. People can make money just buy buying low and selling high. "Zen speculators."

    Personally, I always preferred the "use coupons to buy zen goods and resell on the AH at a price below the direct full cost" model of profiteering.
  • satsunohadosatsunohado Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 71 Arc User
    edited September 2015
    Almost 30% price increased from $8.5 to $12. Now since players have no leadership for ad to supply themselves (daily dungeons & skirmishes? those are jokes), Botters makes more money now, thanks to Cryptic.

    Now, players have only 3 choices: 1, buy ZEN from Cryptic (most expensive way). 2, buy AD from Botters (less expensive but will be more and more expensive in the future) 3, GTFO this game. My choice is 3.
  • quistranaquistrana Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 5 Arc User
    Never tought it would came to this but for now, I've put this game in the deepest dungeon I could find.
    Alas, no more NWO for me, till the company comes to their senses and shows sincere respect for their playerbase.
  • tripsofthrymrtripsofthrymr Member, Neverwinter Moderator, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 1,624 Community Moderator
    The true bots will generate less AD too, since a major source was removed. However, they still run in and out of Ghost Stories 24/7 and still have no problem advertising their websites in /zone. Bots will make less money overall, but their prices will go up due to overall decreased supply of AD for players and bots.

    There are so many ways to combat bots without upsetting the legitimate player base like this. Bots were not the primary reason this was done. Legitimate players, playing by the rules, who might actually spend more real money without AD in Leadership, are the target of this change. My personal opinion is that real money sales will fall both short- and mid-term. Players that don't trust the game maker, don't spend money on the game maker.
    Caritas Guild Founder (Greycloak Alliance)

    Sci-fi author: The Gods We Make, The Gods We Seek, and Ji-min
  • kiltaroskiltaros Member Posts: 1 New User
    Just started playing a few months ago. Bought my first Zen a week back to expand the bank slots, pick up a few bags and to support the developers. Was considering investing more to buy new mount and companions...
    Only discovered Leadership recently. Got both characters up to Lvl 12 (leadership). Was fairly happy that I could do a dungeon, 3 skirmishes and run leadership tasks to bring in about 10k in AD each day.
    With the change to leadership I now look at it and wonder, whats the point of the profession. An 8-hour task for a little bit of gold and some meagre amount of experience seems like a waste of time.
    To offset this with changes to the dungeons and skirmishes does make some sense. Running back to Rhix day after day becomes rather tiresome.
    But, now I have to run through loads of instances to get anywhere near the 10k I was receiving before. Sure the first two pay out nice, but I find I am getting 150 AD for every skirmish after the first two. Not worth the effort when Some skirmishes can take 30 minutes to play when you have limited people or a weak group. This one change also made me realize the content limitations of the game. For someone who is not in a guild, I find myself doing my Sharandar quests, Dread ring quests, daily dungeon and skirmishes and then logging off. If that is all there is for content for the solo player, seems time to move on.
    Kilt.
  • angryspriteangrysprite Member Posts: 4,982 Arc User
    edited September 2015
    All those people shouting to "Remove AD from professions!!!ONE!11" have gotten their wish. Now they will see what their wish has gotten them.

    As for the ZAX backlog suddenly disappearing? Lots of Zen order cancellations. Everyone who still has AD is now an AD Hoarder. Since they won't be buying as much stuff from AH prices will fall like a rock. Lots of the 'junk" in AH will eventually go away.

    Hopefully they'll have a solution for solo players to earn some AD by the time all this happens. But, of course, it'll be bugged and broken. So... -shrugs-
  • teatewteatew Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 61 Arc User
    Lucky they did this change now instead of 2 weeks ago for them. I would never have bought VIP access... I feel so screwed.

    At least summon signpost is fun and very good but now theres no place I want to go in the game anymore.
  • dnosrcdnosrc Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 122 Arc User
    teatew said:

    Lucky they did this change now instead of 2 weeks ago for them. I would never have bought VIP access... I feel so screwed.

    At least summon signpost is fun and very good but now theres no place I want to go in the game anymore.

    Ofcourse they do it AFTER you had several weeks to buy VIP :>
  • sasagerusasageru Member Posts: 269 Arc User
    Wrong direction.

    Everyone is focusing on the removal of AD from leadership, but that isn't the issue, the issue is not providing another way to make the same earnings of AD.

    They've tried to cover us by giving rewards through dungeons/skirmishes etc, that's great and the right idea - but they've capped it at such a low level, it's not really effective.
    DPS Rogue | Heal/Buff Cleric
     
  • sylkrodesylkrode Member Posts: 84 Arc User
    edited September 2015
    What's really odd is that they're basically saying that they're making earning AD easier (which is, even if that were their intent - which is in question, absolute HAMSTER) .... BY FORCING YOU TO GRIND FOR IT. The grind is ALWAYS the worst part of any game.

    I left STO a while back because they kept ruining the fun parts and making the game more and more of a grind. Plus, I was getting bored of scifi. Fine. So, I discovered Neverwinter. For a while, it was fun - now they brought the same punishing grind model prototyped in STO's now infamous Delta Rising expansion to NWO. Great. Now I'm told that the only F2P fantasy MMORPG's out there aren't free to START - you have to buy them. So, with the [questionably] declared intent of making life easier for F2P members, they have in point of fact made it harder - and I have nowhere to go for my participatory escapism.

    The people at PWE really are, as I've been rather colorfully describing them for some time now, a bunch of reject Soviet ape-man soldiers - brainless tubs of nothing. And, they're treating us as the same creatures. Think that's racist? Hunt me down and sue me. But be warned - you can't get blood from a stone. Just ask Sallie Mae.
    image
    If you want robofarming, go play farmville or something.

    ARE WE PERFECTLY CLEAR?

    Rage against the zeitgeist.

  • aandrethegiantaandrethegiant Member Posts: 3,364 Arc User
    edited September 2015
    I have NEVER, in all my time spent in the Neverwinter community (circa 2011), seen something this bad.

    How does a Dev come in, drop an announcement like he did and then DISAPPEAR?

    I am wise enough to know he didnt make those decisions, the Neverwinter community will NEVER MEET THOSE THAT DID.

    So Strum, what do we say to the DECENT, PAYING (over several years) Neverwinter folk to keep them happy and playing?

    We will have a guild meeting in two days. I need some pearls of wisdom, a Cryptic PLAN, so I can give members of the guild I founded a REASON to be PATIENT.

    For that matter, why not give us ALL A REASON?

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  • gphxgphxgphxgphx Member Posts: 184 Arc User
    These are the guys who introduced injuries as a 'feature' 'everyone asked for' then come out with a VIP membership making players immune to them.

    Translation: 'Buy VIP or we're going to hurt you'. Literally.
  • dandare#8529 dandare Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 337 Arc User
    edited September 2015

    I have NEVER, in all my time spent in the Neverwinter community (circa 2011), seen something this bad.

    How does a Dev come in, drop an announcement like he did and then DISAPPEAR?

    I am wise enough to know he didnt make those decisions, the Neverwinter community will NEVER MEET THOSE THAT DID.

    So Strum, what do we say to the DECENT, PAYING (over several years) Neverwinter folk to keep them happy and playing?

    We will have a guild meeting in two days. I need some pearls of wisdom, a Cryptic PLAN, so I can give members of the guild I founded a REASON to be PATIENT.

    For that matter, why not give us ALL A REASON?

    I'm afraid we all 'know' the true reason for changes. That being said I'm happy someone as renown as You is helping solve the situation aandrethegiant. I've seen you since beginning of open beta if I recall and I assume guild masters and officers are like pillars to MMO communities. Especially if guild is on game for long, long time.

    Sadly I admit we won't be probably hearing from Board of Directors on this case. And the way how hasty and abrupt (not mention how detached from game mechanics) this decision was: I have no doubt it was highest management responsible for it.
    "You stand as inspiration. You are practically the Avatar of Buttkicking." -Quote towards Minsc
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  • silverkeltsilverkelt Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 4,235 Arc User
    What Ive said over and over and over.. its not just the removal of the AD.. its THE dead communication about the process, NO way they shouldve announced this and just left it, IT shouldve included a wholesale restructuring of the game economy..

    SO many positive, realistic and logical suggestions have been giving to them.. they dont even have to pay for those, they could take the top twenty and execute.

    Frankly if you made the end lvl 25 leadership give us a bound gmop every 7 days on a long task, that would make me happy enough and some other tweaking to AD gain and costing structures (half the price of many).

    What a terrible , sad day for the game.

  • sylkrodesylkrode Member Posts: 84 Arc User
    edited September 2015
    I have an idea; Skirmishes = flat rate of 1k/play. That's fair. Essentially rolls back the hourly nerf by making it continuous. Same model in STO - one of the few welcome changes they've made. Dungeons = 4.5k - less insulting than a 500AD profit you got from buying keys - or, just make it 3k/play, no key required; but investing in a key gets you more. Adjust the earning caps on everything so you have a much easier time getting your 24k+. If your goal is to make things easier, that'll do the trick. But, we have our doubts on that. In any case, they're trying to apply central managment to a "free" economy; that always ends poorly.

    PS; I think this "unknown" dev is just a bot, posting blank HAMSTER periodically to make us think they're listening. Call me the king of cynicism, but that's my theory.
    image
    If you want robofarming, go play farmville or something.

    ARE WE PERFECTLY CLEAR?

    Rage against the zeitgeist.

  • fogtripperfogtripper Member Posts: 179 Arc User
    sasageru said:


    Everyone is focusing on the removal of AD from leadership, but that isn't the issue, the issue is not providing another way to make the same earnings of AD.

    Precisely.
  • deathbeezdeathbeez Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 789 Arc User
    Went to WoD and found a single instance with a dragon run, and couldn't get an invite--during peak play time.
    Dread Legion skirm, got 3 afkers in a row, and since you can't kick with anything on the ground, I just gave up.
    My VIP isn't giving me squat in the skirmish runs. I thought it was like 3k without the bonus, I'm not even getting 2k, the first 2 runs. One as 1.7, the other was 1.9. Epic fail on me for buying that.

    I just found out today you have to walk over dead bosses bodies in dungeons. Can't astral diamonds have an icon/picture or something since they're the most important aspect of the game since launch? Is this the same for skirmishes?

    PE is a ghost town. Me and my g/f would sit up on the garden balcony and see if anyone would walk by down there. Like 1 every 20 minutes. They're all in strongholds working on their 100 million AD boons, right? How they paying for it.
    My guild chat is dead. Guild leader quit.

    Kessel queue takes even longer, even though it's practically demanded for income since you need to get to WoD 20 minutes early to get some res stones to sell at a price-cut. Sitting on rocks 3 hours a day is awesome.

    Running normal temple of the spider 12 times a day is really fun! I think I can almost do it blind-folded. Drow priestesses are kinda hot. Maybe I'll get 'dem digits after my 1,000th run. At this rate, that will be next Tuesday.

    Having to jump on 'ole Blackdagger's impaled corpse for 40 AD is nothing short of hilarious. Running that legit with a 2.2k GS party is like throwing grapes at a freight train to slow it down.

    Watching this game's trajectory is kind of like listening to the Howard Stern radio show back in the 90s. You don't need (or want) to be a fan, but you want to see what kind of insane sh|t is gonna happen next.
  • silverkeltsilverkelt Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 4,235 Arc User
    the real issue isnt even that.. its that DIDNT touch costing. Who cares if you can make 5 AD a day, if gmops only cost 50 ad..

    See the point, the REAL issue is one of costing. If they lowered costing by 50-100% across the board this week and reset some things like 7 day bound gmops on lvl 25 leadership.. the playerbase would be thrilled, we could all move on and play the game again.

    But all we hear is crickets.. or maybe those little fire sprites that you catch, one of those anyways.
  • fogtripperfogtripper Member Posts: 179 Arc User

    the real issue isnt even that.. its that DIDNT touch costing. Who cares if you can make 5 AD a day, if gmops only cost 50 ad..

    See the point, the REAL issue is one of costing. If they lowered costing by 50-100% across the board this week and reset some things like 7 day bound gmops on lvl 25 leadership.. the playerbase would be thrilled, we could all move on and play the game again.

    As I stated in other threads, you cannot simply lower prices until the AD stockpiles are dealt with.
  • tom40stom40s Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 43 Arc User
    sylkrode said:

    What's really odd is that they're basically saying that they're making earning AD easier (which is, even if that were their intent - which is in question, absolute HAMSTER) .... BY FORCING YOU TO GRIND FOR IT. The grind is ALWAYS the worst part of any game.

    I left STO a while back because they kept ruining the fun parts and making the game more and more of a grind. Plus, I was getting bored of scifi. Fine. So, I discovered Neverwinter. For a while, it was fun - now they brought the same punishing grind model prototyped in STO's now infamous Delta Rising expansion to NWO. Great. Now I'm told that the only F2P fantasy MMORPG's out there aren't free to START - you have to buy them. So, with the [questionably] declared intent of making life easier for F2P members, they have in point of fact made it harder - and I have nowhere to go for my participatory escapism.

    The people at PWE really are, as I've been rather colorfully describing them for some time now, a bunch of reject Soviet ape-man soldiers - brainless tubs of nothing. And, they're treating us as the same creatures. Think that's racist? Hunt me down and sue me. But be warned - you can't get blood from a stone. Just ask Sallie Mae.

    I was in sto also and I was a gold member as well And I agree the grind was very tiresome after awhile. I also spent a lot of money just to get dilithium. I think that is the intent here as well, I played sto for years and now two on Neverwinter maybe three I lost track, but I think bring back the leadership astral diamonds awards would help cryptic because people are really pissed off about this. People are not going to spend more money on a game that screws them over especially if they do not have it. I think cryptic is getting a little bit greedy and this is coming from a sto gold member and hero of the north member some one who does spend a lot of money on the games.
  • regenerderegenerde Member Posts: 3,041 Arc User
    edited September 2015
    If they really wanted to reward "playing the game", they would have just offered rAD for quests.
    Story quests, campaign quests or even daily quests... a lot of options here.
    And with the 24k rAD refinement limit in place, why not?

    Unless this change is really just here to force players into buying ZEN...
    And btw. when will we see those other changes?
    This month?
    This year?
    I do believe in killing the messenger...
    Want to know why?
    Because it sends a message!
  • schietindebuxschietindebux Member Posts: 4,292 Arc User
    right in case the do not adjust the AD you get in game its hard, i could earn 4k+3-5k from on elol run, now its 2k+3-5k
    so instead of lifing the reward its lowered, you have to run two dungeon to get the same reward you got from one daily?
    braindead, someting has to be improved
    on one hand telling ppl they can earn the AD ingame on the other hand capping the income
    and how is going to do 5 elol runs in a row
  • regenerderegenerde Member Posts: 3,041 Arc User
    They either find a way to deal with this, or they will see more players running away from this game.
    I do believe in killing the messenger...
    Want to know why?
    Because it sends a message!
This discussion has been closed.