If they spent half as much time listening and working on customer service as they do covering their own behinds, this would literally be the best game ever. People would flock here.
With this update, we’re making some big changes and improvements to that store. Here’s a brief overview of the changes coming:
Epic mounts from prior lockboxes will be added to the store. Moving forward, we’ll continue to add newer mounts to the trade bar store with every lockbox release.Uncommon versions of all companions and artifacts from prior lockboxes will be added to the trade bar store. When upgraded they’ll be exactly the same strength and quality as those found in lockboxes.All fashion and dyes will be moved to the trade bar store.Lesser health stones and scrolls of mass life will be moved to the trade bar store.Prices are being reduced across the board on existing items. Coalescent wards for instance will now be sold for 75 trade bars, down from 200.The trade bar store may now be accessed from anywhere via the riches tab of your inventory.Trade bars may now be transferred between your characters freely via the account wide bank.
No C wards for 75 tb and no tb at all and no 2x weekend............ WHAT THE FxxxxxxxxxxK guys that give a big effect on your economy!!!
i would like to know how PWE thinks that these actions will generate more money? From what I can tell all they have done is anger the whole community. New update gets us all excited thinking we will be upgrading our gear only to find it's going to take more of our cash. I hear PWE saying blah blah economy this and blah blah parity that, it's all rubbish. Does PWE not make enough money already? This whole strategy will end up loosing money as they ban more players, take away 2x diamonds and runestones. Then give us 2x refinement?? PWE knew exactly what they were doing and didn't care how we would react. They will drag their feet on this issue in the hope we will spend more cash. But once they see that most people won't spend money, 10 bucks for a coal ward lol, they will again do a u turn to find some other way to squeeze money from its players. But not me. I bet they lost a good chunk of players money over these lies. I see a board sitting round a table trying to find other ways to cheat its players out of cash. This is not the first time this has happened and it won't be the last. I see new updates as things to be scared of. Not things to be looked forward to. Such a shame.
i also send this to there support with my gamertag. You al should do this.
0
kreatyveMember, Neverwinter Moderator, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 10,545Community Moderator
While we have been extremely liberal with moderating this thread, discussing moderation is still against the rules of these forums, and any posts that are discussing moderation will still be removed. Please stay on topic. Thanks.
My opinions are my own. I do not work for PWE or Cryptic. - Forum Rules - Protector's Enclave Discord - I play on Xbox Any of my comments not posted in orange are based on my own personal opinion and not official. Any messages written in orange are official moderation messages. Signature images are now fixed!
"We want to reiterate the above post. Buying from third-party sites - in any way or form - is against the ToS and not only puts your account at risk, but others' as well. Third-party sellers are NOT affiliated with Arc. Why would we want to put your accounts at risk? Remember, this AD from third-party sites is often STOLEN from other players' accounts - perhaps even your own. The $5,000 car may look appealing, but it's still STOLEN, so you shouldn't be upset when you're caught and punished."
This is one of their favorite statements. It may even have held true on the PC once. The problem with it on Xbox is they would have to compromise your Xbox Live Account. How many people got their XBL account compromised to just clean out their NW account? Would really like to see a non bs statistic on that. Since the XBL platform is much more traceable than a random PC on the net somewhere... That said yeah, they don't want you paying any 3rd party for their bits and bytes that they consider their intellectual property. Remember, no matter how many hours you were grinding away that Artifact is not ever yours.
Pastor Martin Niemöller had it right, but remember, before they come for anyone, they silence all, because to have discourse, is to breed discontent.
I enjoy how they can Schedule and complete a "Emergency Maintenance" to address something they do not want us to know. Funny how when something mess with their wallet, they are on top of it and take immediate action, when it is about our wallet, they will be in touch.
Pretty soon this won't be open for discussion. Theyll come back with an unpopular decision (if they announce a decision at all) then say we're done talking about it. Players will quit, and this will be forgotten. New players will come in and not know any different, coal wards have always cost 1,000 zen.
I enjoy how they can Schedule and complete a "Emergency Maintenance" to address something they do not want us to know. Funny how when something mess with their wallet, they are on top of it and take immediate action, when it is about our wallet, they will be in touch.
Rumor has it, its got something to do with a lockbox issue. *shrugs*
Pastor Martin Niemöller had it right, but remember, before they come for anyone, they silence all, because to have discourse, is to breed discontent.
Also with all this ward bs, has nobody noticed the downgrade we got at the moment you're refining stuff? That system might work for PC but in Xbox it's pointless and more time consuming to be selecting all the refinement 1 by 1 instead of just spamming the A button like we used to do it.
This is quite possibly some of the WORST Customer Service I have ever witnessed.
It's akin to going to a car dealership to buy a nice truck you saw advertised on tv, buying the truck, waiting for it to be delivered and then when it is you discover that the tires weren't included in your purchase...
The fact that it is taking them THIS LONG to even consider rectifying the situation is beyond insulting
I will not be spending another dime on this game until what was promised is DELIVERED
And has anyone noticed the nerf in heroic events around the elemental evil areas let's take drowned shore as an example I waited there for 2 hours and ranger rescue never once showed up along with ambush assault not to mention they still don't give rewards for merchant in distress and then they went and fixed the banner man farm sure that was a little broken but to take the rewards for that event completely out too give your head a shake what were you thinking. All that aside you are offering items in the tradebar too increase more drops very cool (downside they last 30mins and with the recent nerf to the heroics your lucky you can get 3 events in before it expires and have to buy a new one)
36 hours seemed like a reasonable "deadline" for some type of formal response.
Formal complaint filed with Microsoft.
Formal complaint filed with Perfect World.
Formal complaint filed with The Better Business Bureau (see below)
PWE's title "Neverwinter" on the Microsoft platform "XBox One" is not being delivered as described in developer's patch notes/blogs/online discussions.
This game is a "free to play" title. To generate revenue, it utilizes in-game "microtransactions" through the use of an in-game currency called" "zen". 100 zen costs roughly $1USD.
The February 9th update for XBox One was to include an updated "Trade Bar" store - trade bars are another in game currency that are acquired through purchasing (with zen) keys to open chests.
Is a cached version (cached from 2/4/16) of upcoming changes to the Trade Bar store dated 1/18/16, note bottom of post, no disclaimer, note "Coalesent Ward, 5x Pack of Preservation Wards, Bloody Ruby" before/after/new pricing.
Is a Dev blog advertising a "Key sale" dated 1/28/16, 15% off keys - encouraging the player base to purchase keys (with zen, which costs money) which was to run 1/28/16 - 2/1/16
At some point after 2/4, after the Key Sale had ended, and before the proposed Trade Bar store and update had gone into effect, the following was added to the 1/18/16 Dev blog "Note: As this is originally a PC blog, things may change for Xbox One."
Now, after announcing a content release, hold a sale, and generating (what I am assuming) tens of thousands of dollars on zen purchases, PWE/Cryptic changed what was being offered by adding a caveat to the end of a 3 week old announcement.
When the 2/9 update was released on the XBox One platform, Coalesent Wards, 5x Pack of Preservation Wards, and Blood Ruby" were all inauspiciously absent from the Trade Bar update. Instead all were available in the in game "zen market" for real life dollars, rather than the in game currency "trade bars" as the entire player base was led to believe.
If this is not false advertising, bait & switch sales tactics, and a blatant money grab - I do not know what is.
I have logged formal complaints about this issue with Microsoft & Prefect World as well.
As a business owner, I find these business practices reprehensible.
30 minutes? Lucky. Hour and twenty two minute here. Enough time to halfway level out of the bracket. Seriously, queued at level 40 to test the waters. Leveled to 45 about 2 minutes prior to queue.
what they are doing now is stall tactics. Delaying purposely to see how the current market and player base responds even with the complaints. Then throw in the Zen sale, now that was a laugh there. you take away and then you say here we will discount zen you buy? really. What were you thinking there? Stop with the stalling and just tell us. I know the games your playing over there, i know the business side of these things. Just say yes your bringing them back or no your not. So that way everyone can get on with their lives.
First you say you need us to have the same content as PC, thats why you took leadership away and did all the patches and such to make things easier, but yet you take away from us what you gave PC, how is that keeping us with the same content. SO how about you give us leadership back for AD then if you wanna play this card. Cause now you have totally contradicted everything you have said in the past.
You got less than 2 hrs to get a decision out there before the regular event is supposed to start that was scheduled, and after that your going to see a serious decline in players. And in all honesty, you still may see a serious decline in players after this fiasco you created
XB One LGPG Alliance Reagents of Death - Leader CW - Phoenix lvl 70 4034 (Main) GF - Spectre lvl 70 4012 (Main) GWF - Ice lvl 70 4010 (Main) SW - Zor lvl 70 3230 (Main) OP - Box lvl 70 3002 (Retired)
PS4 Look Good Play Good GWF - Ice lvl 70 3875 (Main) GF - Spectre lvl 70 2669 (Alt)
I hope you are still reading comments. Even those who are responding emotionally demonstrate how charged your player base has become.
The Official initial response of wards being taken out of the tradebar store framed the issue as one of parity, or the lack of its need. That framing is not the issue and putting it that way is not fair to the player base. The issue is one of integrity. I'll fast forward past the rehash of giving what appeared to be promised. I'm upset about it as I also made in game decisions based on the now altered announcement about ward prices. Let's assume that January announcement didn't exist.
We now have one of two options. Option one, you guys post an announcement that wards will disappear from the tradebar store with Underdark. Option two, there is no announcement and we all log in to discover they disappeared. Given the lack of announcement or correction prior to the January announcement publication, I have to assume the second.
Do you really think either option would have met substantially less blow back from the player base? As a VIP I've easily spent more on this game than any other franchise (and I'm a big God of War and Assassin's Creed fan). I purchase enchanted keys beyond the VIP daily, though probably not to the extent of others. I get a lot of junk from lockboxes. Tradebars are the consolation prize. For every 25 or so lockboxes I open at least I could purchase a coalescent ward to improve my weapon enchantment. Put another way, for $25 worth of lottery tickets, some which admittedly pay off a little, I purchase something worth $10 value. It's my "frequent buyer's" reward for spending money on your game. And your intention was to take that away, presumably with no notice. Did you really think players wouldn't be upset about that?
That's what I mean by framing this as an integrity issue. Between the recent (unatributed) addition to the January tradebar store announcement and the delay in an Official response I have to assume lawyers are being consulted. Probably rightfully so. The Company could have protected itself by demonstrating integrity in posting an announcement of ward removal. All evidence suggests ward removal was intended to be a surprise. The Company is now reaping the karma of that choice. I don't envy your current position. But you could have avoided it. Whatever happens with this, I hope the Company chooses a path of greater integrity in the future.
it is a tough situation, i have honestly been waiting for a new hammer to drop since we got free ad and it did not raise the exchange prices long term like they hopes it would. im sure there is something in the works to re balance us, and im sure it wont be nearly as nice as free ad.
which was great by the way, but the issue they wanted to fix, is not fixed and i am sure that is a concern for them. maybe they need to open us up to some ideas to raise the exchange rates (reasonable ones) that the player base might agree with without too much trouble. even talking about changes confidentially with their x box streamers as they are voices of your player base and already chat with andy and the company reps regularly.
just spit balling here....
have a good one, so far enjoying the new campaign atleast.
If they change things, then it goes against their falling in line with PC as to having the same content PC has to keep future patches and updates simpler.
They basically just need to eat crow on this one. Just give what was promised and then move forward and implement changes that will benefit the market in the future. Or better yet, introduce a new ward maybe. 2 wards that are so far apart to do the upgrading is pathetic really
XB One LGPG Alliance Reagents of Death - Leader CW - Phoenix lvl 70 4034 (Main) GF - Spectre lvl 70 4012 (Main) GWF - Ice lvl 70 4010 (Main) SW - Zor lvl 70 3230 (Main) OP - Box lvl 70 3002 (Retired)
PS4 Look Good Play Good GWF - Ice lvl 70 3875 (Main) GF - Spectre lvl 70 2669 (Alt)
Let's look objectively at what happened: 1. Cryptic -unintentionally- let you believe you'd get the same trade bar shop as we have. ... 3. And here's the rub. It's quite simple to just adhere to the old promise and give you what was promised. But this has economical consequences that were simply not foreseen. So they have to decide what countermeasures will have to be taken to bring the economy back into balance. And I can assure you that you won't like any of them.
Hopefully you'll see the dilemma: Either give you what was promised, or be forced to implement certain other -possibly drastic- changes along with this to balance the game. For once, I don't blame them for requiring time to decide which one of the 2 evils is the lesser one. That said, I do expect they will eventually decide to keep their promises and will implement other economic changes to compensate for it. It's the only sensible course of action after the fiasco in no2.
No I don't accept that position at all. The economy within the xbox platform has a lack of income generation - this has been acknowledged by Cryptic in previous posts. This is why players were so looking forward to the price change. The effect of bringing the coal wards to 75tb would be twofold: 1. reduce prices across the board for buying higher level enchantments on the Auction House 2. reduce the cost of creating & upgrading your own enchantments to affordable levels
Given the accepted position that the xbox economy has insufficient liquidity, introducing price reductions & the use of alternate currencies (tarmalune bars) increases liquidity & works towards fixing the overall problem.
The only possible reason for removing them altogether is to create a bottleneck. It forces players to purchase zen to upgrade anything beyond a low level. An increase in players purchasing zen with AD drives up the price - an increase in the AD to Zen ratio has two effects: 1. it becomes harder for players to purchase zen with AD 2. purchasing zen with $$ in order to trade for AD becomes more attractive
Therefore the most reasonable conclusion is that someone at Cryptic spotted a means of increasing revenue generation at the expense of player satisfaction and ran with it.
The problem for Cryptic is that this is extremely short sighted. Tarm bars as an alternate currency encourages players to buy keys and/or vip, thus increasing revenue for the company - but it doesn't have quite the same impact on zen pricing as a hard-stop, bottlenecking tactic.
Such crass thinking works on the assumption that 'we can always find new players' to make up for all the ones that leave. I would ask them one question regarding this - 'how has that worked for you on the PC?'
Please Do Not Feed The Trolls
Xael De Armadeon: DC
Xane De Armadeon: CW
Zen De Armadeon: OP
Zohar De Armadeon: TR
Chrion De Armadeon: SW
Gosti Big Belly: GWF
Barney McRustbucket: GF
Lt. Thackeray: HR
Lucius De Armadeon: BD
As upset as I am, I too thought about what @magenubbie just said, and his conclusion is the outcome I came to as well. I've already decided to drop the game as this game has extracted an already enormous amount of time and resources from me.
1) The grind from 67-70 is atrocious. 2) Leveling artifact weapons and gear takes forever with out double refinement events. 3) Leveling artifacts takes forever with out (you guessed it) double refinement events. 4) Customer service is pretty much non effective at resolving complaints/valid issues. 5) This last incident shows that my time and money spent on their produce is not appreciated.
I am however still curious to see just what it is they're going to do.
First, I won't defend how this was handled. If they were going to remove the wards and rubies, they should have informed us before the patch went live. We should have been given an updated list of what would be available with time to decide what to do with our existing bars.
That said, i don't think this is entirely a evil cash grab. But was a poorly executed means of manipulating the market. I have felt there is currently a bit of a glut in Zen on the market, due in no small part to strongholds insane AD requirements. Guilds buy zen to sell for ad. Lots of zen on market pushes the prices down. The problem has become, with the exchange so low, many don't want to buy at such a low return. Then comes the opportunity to remove a primary source of advancement and forcing its purchase for zen. Forcing players to the zen market for wards, will first eat away at the zen on the market. This in turn drives the price of Zen back up, and encourages the purchase of zen for astral diamond exchange. After market prices were in better shape, you ad the wards back in to remove the pay wall to advancement. I can see where there was look towards the long term survivability of the game. However, the way it was handled has done severe harm to the trust between company and consumer. This will take a great deal of work on PWE part to repair the damage to public trust. I'm not sure with their track record that they are up to it though.
TL;DR: This was a poorly handled attempt at market manipulation, that unfortunately may have cause irreparable harm to the games future.
Comments
Epic mounts from prior lockboxes will be added to the store. Moving forward, we’ll continue to add newer mounts to the trade bar store with every lockbox release.Uncommon versions of all companions and artifacts from prior lockboxes will be added to the trade bar store. When upgraded they’ll be exactly the same strength and quality as those found in lockboxes.All fashion and dyes will be moved to the trade bar store.Lesser health stones and scrolls of mass life will be moved to the trade bar store.Prices are being reduced across the board on existing items. Coalescent wards for instance will now be sold for 75 trade bars, down from 200.The trade bar store may now be accessed from anywhere via the riches tab of your inventory.Trade bars may now be transferred between your characters freely via the account wide bank.
No C wards for 75 tb and no tb at all and no 2x weekend............
WHAT THE FxxxxxxxxxxK guys that give a big effect on your economy!!!
Do what you promise!
You al should do this.
Any of my comments not posted in orange are based on my own personal opinion and not official.
Any messages written in orange are official moderation messages. Signature images are now fixed!
It's akin to going to a car dealership to buy a nice truck you saw advertised on tv, buying the truck, waiting for it to be delivered and then when it is you discover that the tires weren't included in your purchase...
The fact that it is taking them THIS LONG to even consider rectifying the situation is beyond insulting
I will not be spending another dime on this game until what was promised is DELIVERED
Formal complaint filed with Microsoft.
Formal complaint filed with Perfect World.
Formal complaint filed with The Better Business Bureau (see below)
PWE's title "Neverwinter" on the Microsoft platform "XBox One" is not being delivered as described in developer's patch notes/blogs/online discussions.
This game is a "free to play" title. To generate revenue, it utilizes in-game "microtransactions" through the use of an in-game currency called" "zen". 100 zen costs roughly $1USD.
The February 9th update for XBox One was to include an updated "Trade Bar" store - trade bars are another in game currency that are acquired through purchasing (with zen) keys to open chests.
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:FWVF5Na_Jd8J:https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/xbox/neverwinter/news/detail/9746173-developer-blog%3A-improved-trade-bar-store+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
Is a cached version (cached from 2/4/16) of upcoming changes to the Trade Bar store dated 1/18/16, note bottom of post, no disclaimer, note "Coalesent Ward, 5x Pack of Preservation Wards, Bloody Ruby" before/after/new pricing.
http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/xbox/neverwinter/news/detail/9763033-neverwinter-xbox-one:-enchanted-key-sale!
Is a Dev blog advertising a "Key sale" dated 1/28/16, 15% off keys - encouraging the player base to purchase keys (with zen, which costs money) which was to run 1/28/16 - 2/1/16
At some point after 2/4, after the Key Sale had ended, and before the proposed Trade Bar store and update had gone into effect, the following was added to the 1/18/16 Dev blog "Note: As this is originally a PC blog, things may change for Xbox One."
http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/xbox/neverwinter/news/detail/9746173-developer-blog:-improved-trade-bar-store
Now, after announcing a content release, hold a sale, and generating (what I am assuming) tens of thousands of dollars on zen purchases, PWE/Cryptic changed what was being offered by adding a caveat to the end of a 3 week old announcement.
When the 2/9 update was released on the XBox One platform, Coalesent Wards, 5x Pack of Preservation Wards, and Blood Ruby" were all inauspiciously absent from the Trade Bar update. Instead all were available in the in game "zen market" for real life dollars, rather than the in game currency "trade bars" as the entire player base was led to believe.
If this is not false advertising, bait & switch sales tactics, and a blatant money grab - I do not know what is.
I have logged formal complaints about this issue with Microsoft & Prefect World as well.
As a business owner, I find these business practices reprehensible.
First you say you need us to have the same content as PC, thats why you took leadership away and did all the patches and such to make things easier, but yet you take away from us what you gave PC, how is that keeping us with the same content. SO how about you give us leadership back for AD then if you wanna play this card. Cause now you have totally contradicted everything you have said in the past.
You got less than 2 hrs to get a decision out there before the regular event is supposed to start that was scheduled, and after that your going to see a serious decline in players. And in all honesty, you still may see a serious decline in players after this fiasco you created
LGPG Alliance
Reagents of Death - Leader
CW - Phoenix lvl 70 4034 (Main)
GF - Spectre lvl 70 4012 (Main)
GWF - Ice lvl 70 4010 (Main)
SW - Zor lvl 70 3230 (Main)
OP - Box lvl 70 3002 (Retired)
PS4
Look Good Play Good
GWF - Ice lvl 70 3875 (Main)
GF - Spectre lvl 70 2669 (Alt)
I hope you are still reading comments. Even those who are responding emotionally demonstrate how charged your player base has become.
The Official initial response of wards being taken out of the tradebar store framed the issue as one of parity, or the lack of its need. That framing is not the issue and putting it that way is not fair to the player base. The issue is one of integrity. I'll fast forward past the rehash of giving what appeared to be promised. I'm upset about it as I also made in game decisions based on the now altered announcement about ward prices. Let's assume that January announcement didn't exist.
We now have one of two options. Option one, you guys post an announcement that wards will disappear from the tradebar store with Underdark. Option two, there is no announcement and we all log in to discover they disappeared. Given the lack of announcement or correction prior to the January announcement publication, I have to assume the second.
Do you really think either option would have met substantially less blow back from the player base? As a VIP I've easily spent more on this game than any other franchise (and I'm a big God of War and Assassin's Creed fan). I purchase enchanted keys beyond the VIP daily, though probably not to the extent of others. I get a lot of junk from lockboxes. Tradebars are the consolation prize. For every 25 or so lockboxes I open at least I could purchase a coalescent ward to improve my weapon enchantment. Put another way, for $25 worth of lottery tickets, some which admittedly pay off a little, I purchase something worth $10 value. It's my "frequent buyer's" reward for spending money on your game. And your intention was to take that away, presumably with no notice. Did you really think players wouldn't be upset about that?
That's what I mean by framing this as an integrity issue. Between the recent (unatributed) addition to the January tradebar store announcement and the delay in an Official response I have to assume lawyers are being consulted. Probably rightfully so. The Company could have protected itself by demonstrating integrity in posting an announcement of ward removal. All evidence suggests ward removal was intended to be a surprise. The Company is now reaping the karma of that choice. I don't envy your current position. But you could have avoided it. Whatever happens with this, I hope the Company chooses a path of greater integrity in the future.
it is a tough situation, i have honestly been waiting for a new hammer to drop since we got free ad and it did not raise the exchange prices long term like they hopes it would. im sure there is something in the works to re balance us, and im sure it wont be nearly as nice as free ad.
which was great by the way, but the issue they wanted to fix, is not fixed and i am sure that is a concern for them.
maybe they need to open us up to some ideas to raise the exchange rates (reasonable ones) that the player base might agree with without too much trouble. even talking about changes confidentially with their x box streamers as they are voices of your player base and already chat with andy and the company reps regularly.
just spit balling here....
have a good one, so far enjoying the new campaign atleast.
They basically just need to eat crow on this one. Just give what was promised and then move forward and implement changes that will benefit the market in the future. Or better yet, introduce a new ward maybe. 2 wards that are so far apart to do the upgrading is pathetic really
LGPG Alliance
Reagents of Death - Leader
CW - Phoenix lvl 70 4034 (Main)
GF - Spectre lvl 70 4012 (Main)
GWF - Ice lvl 70 4010 (Main)
SW - Zor lvl 70 3230 (Main)
OP - Box lvl 70 3002 (Retired)
PS4
Look Good Play Good
GWF - Ice lvl 70 3875 (Main)
GF - Spectre lvl 70 2669 (Alt)
Where are you, Donnie boy? Help us make Neverwinter great again!
1. reduce prices across the board for buying higher level enchantments on the Auction House
2. reduce the cost of creating & upgrading your own enchantments to affordable levels
Given the accepted position that the xbox economy has insufficient liquidity, introducing price reductions & the use of alternate currencies (tarmalune bars) increases liquidity & works towards fixing the overall problem.
The only possible reason for removing them altogether is to create a bottleneck. It forces players to purchase zen to upgrade anything beyond a low level. An increase in players purchasing zen with AD drives up the price - an increase in the AD to Zen ratio has two effects:
1. it becomes harder for players to purchase zen with AD
2. purchasing zen with $$ in order to trade for AD becomes more attractive
Therefore the most reasonable conclusion is that someone at Cryptic spotted a means of increasing revenue generation at the expense of player satisfaction and ran with it.
The problem for Cryptic is that this is extremely short sighted. Tarm bars as an alternate currency encourages players to buy keys and/or vip, thus increasing revenue for the company - but it doesn't have quite the same impact on zen pricing as a hard-stop, bottlenecking tactic.
Such crass thinking works on the assumption that 'we can always find new players' to make up for all the ones that leave. I would ask them one question regarding this - 'how has that worked for you on the PC?'
Xael De Armadeon: DC
Xane De Armadeon: CW
Zen De Armadeon: OP
Zohar De Armadeon: TR
Chrion De Armadeon: SW
Gosti Big Belly: GWF
Barney McRustbucket: GF
Lt. Thackeray: HR
Lucius De Armadeon: BD
Member of Casual Dailies - XBox
1) The grind from 67-70 is atrocious.
2) Leveling artifact weapons and gear takes forever with out double refinement events.
3) Leveling artifacts takes forever with out (you guessed it) double refinement events.
4) Customer service is pretty much non effective at resolving complaints/valid issues.
5) This last incident shows that my time and money spent on their produce is not appreciated.
I am however still curious to see just what it is they're going to do.
That said, i don't think this is entirely a evil cash grab. But was a poorly executed means of manipulating the market. I have felt there is currently a bit of a glut in Zen on the market, due in no small part to strongholds insane AD requirements. Guilds buy zen to sell for ad. Lots of zen on market pushes the prices down. The problem has become, with the exchange so low, many don't want to buy at such a low return. Then comes the opportunity to remove a primary source of advancement and forcing its purchase for zen. Forcing players to the zen market for wards, will first eat away at the zen on the market. This in turn drives the price of Zen back up, and encourages the purchase of zen for astral diamond exchange. After market prices were in better shape, you ad the wards back in to remove the pay wall to advancement. I can see where there was look towards the long term survivability of the game. However, the way it was handled has done severe harm to the trust between company and consumer. This will take a great deal of work on PWE part to repair the damage to public trust. I'm not sure with their track record that they are up to it though.
TL;DR: This was a poorly handled attempt at market manipulation, that unfortunately may have cause irreparable harm to the games future.