drkbodhiMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 2,378Arc User
I have been playing for almost a year... and for the first time since I started playing the games economy had balance. Everything that you talked about happening when you took AD out of the Leadership prof... has been happening for the past 3 to 4 months. I am not sure of WHY you would do something like this... but it was done and you did it.
I have worked with a large number of clients who were their own worst nightmare/enemy. I also worked in a prison for a while... and I found out that every single inmate in there had suffered from the same issue. This is a conditioned response/ reaction that is done to protect a serious error in judgement.
That is usually the beginning of an argument for insanity... doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. Considering that Cryptic is staffed by humans, owned by humans and financed by humans... I have one thing to say and I have said it before to those of you who work for Cryptic.
You want to make more money? You want happy investors? You want a happy board of directors? You want happy customers?
If that is the case... which I know it is... work on your UPOD instead of what you have been doing which is OPUD. Look it up.
Having recently spent a lot of time wandering around in online dating sites I see a similarity... to the way that you describe yourself and the game. You puff up and focus on all of the awesome things that this game is, BUT... you ignore the most important thing... the fact that you are omitting the whole truth.
I kno that you don't care if the game falls... that is your choices. You have successfully achieved what you wanted.
Atwil "At" - Tiefling TR / Saardush - Black Dragonborn GWF / White - Tiefling OP
What i find really astonishing, they have the tool for a solid revenue in place ViP but instead of cultivating and improving it, they ignore and even cripple it.
Not to mention, that it's even accepted by many players, and it even binds players to NWO. But they have no further plans for it? Unbelievable...
Just standard Cryptic practice: sell X, then later nerf it, then sell Y, etc. Loose some players from the nerf, try to get some new ones. It's easier to make new players happy, because to them, all the 'existing' content looks new and it's fun etc. Much more work to 'create' new stuff for existing players.
Eventually, the engine and animation will start to look old compared to OTHER products. That's when the game will really die. The only thing that can kill a F2P game is other games that offer more (looks, animation, immersion, etc).
However, the 'bait and switch' tactic that Cryptic continuously employs does put a bad stain on their name imo. Their name will be remembered, and their future offerings will suffer because of it... that's inevitable. Of course, they could then just bust up their company, move some people around, create a new name, and off they go. Or perhaps they don't plan on doing anything in the future? who knows. With Cryptic, caveat emptor.
MOD 6 was the beginning of the slippery slope downwards... nothing since has remotely brought this MMO back to the heady times of yesteryear. Fall on your sword and save anymore embarrassment, so glad i'm not funding this empty shell anymore.
There are plenty of posts remaining. There are probably only as many posts in this thread saying they like the change as I have fingers... maybe.
What gets removed (not deleted, but moved to a subforum only mods and staff can see) is the flaming and "I quit" posts, and posts asking where the flaming and "I quit posts" went (for "discussing moderation"). Like it or not, that's how it goes.
And it's probably easier to prune everything into a single mod forum thread than to separate some of it there and some into the Lower Depths (which we can see).
Yea, I wouldn't just jump on the 'its censorship!' fleet- cause if that's really the case then they are doing a HAMSTER job at hiding dissent that's right in front of them. Heck, there's still replies here telling Cryptic to eat a d***, demanding that a dev be shot, for an open boycott of the game, etc..
I hate the CWard change too, guys, but let's not be inane.
I do, however, suspect that many players are googling "Most Anticipated MMORPGs in 2016" and wondering where to go next.
"404 Error: Page Not Found" is what returned from the search. Keep "anticipating" your dream mmorpgs like what you anticipated from Santa Claus every Christmas or just the Second Coming of Jesus. Players just keep anticipating and whining about EVERY mmorpg but they are not going anywhere since they have NOWHERE to go.
Of course, this game is getting more and more expensive to play but if you did not anticipate it since the "Stronghold" update, you have not played enough of this kind of best-guilds-or-bust games. More payment and less content are all you should have anticipated. So, don't whine if you embraced such game features. However, TBH, Cryptic did acknowledge today's changes weeks ago and they even handed out free wards, rubies and such even they did not have to. This is far more honest than "new mmorpgs" like the one it advertised itself as "Buy-to-play. No Cash Shop at launch" but in reality "no cash shop at launch" only means "LOL@all you suckers. Buy to play actually means cash shop + you paid more for the box. No cash shop at launch means cash shop starts 7 days after launch. Again, LOL@all you suckers!!!"
mods are reforming angry posts into brown-noses posts, that simple. they dont allow freedom of expressions or press. it nearly border as tyrannical censorship, they just show us thier true color, and now everyone knows how bad and soon start spreading the word through online chat vines, alerting those who are curious about NWO and prevent falling into cash pit trap. i feel that already too late and words had gone out.
note to PWE/PWI, players are on the verge of raising the pitchforks and torches, and get angrier when posts suddenly vanished, and the mods in here cant stop other website forums because they dont work on those "other sites" to delete. those were more vocal and vulgar.
They do something like this after every charge bonus. They know angry players tend to close their wallet for a while, so the cashflow needs to be bolstered ahead of time. The signs were there with Xbox as well. I have no doubt this has been planned for a long while, and not without considering the ideal marketing time to have a 2X RP weekend. This is Cryptic's cycle and it will continue I'm sure until they rid themselves of their Lead Dev and Exec Producer. People will pay for good content or value. They've reduced and butchered some of the "returning" content and degraded the value of VIP. I got some of my money's worth for VIP, but am left again with the fealing of being ripped off by an unscrupulous company. Their actions vividly betray their business model to devote absolutely no energy to player retention.
If you were REALLY worried about the "zen market" problem? Make them BOUND to the account. Double the price even. Further complaints hit it right on the head: the silly things at $10.00 real world cash is RIDICULOUS for what it does do, never mind what it doesn't.
Given the shear volume needed to have a real shot at upgrading 8's to 12's or shards? I'm not laying out that much hard earned cash for a diminishing returns upgrade. Or if I do? It will be years.
Really want to cut your throat? Kill the vip program. We'll leave in droves.
The convalescent wards in the trade bar store took it from flat grind to doable grind. Me and mine spent money to get keys to get the bars because we wanted it.
Now? Yeah... luck to y'all. Bad move. But I think the volumes of vitriol get that across.
Here's what I don't understand: If having the coalescent wards in the Tradebar Store is having a negative effect on the AD market, why not bind them to account? Simple fix. AND, if y'all feel you should be making more money on them, raise their price in the TBS AND bind them to the account. How is making people pay $10 for a single-use item a good idea to anyone? Oh well, I guess I'll be relying on my luck with Celestial Coins to get coalescent wards from now on.
I think this decision was very poorly thought out. The reason I elected to join the VIP program to begin with was because of the coalescent wards. The old refining system didn't involve expensive regents, so if one wished to just grind out a Sharandar zone 100 times and repeat the process a hundred times, that was an option. You would lose the shards, but it was possible to do this. With the marks of potency and matching enchantments on the line, it's an ENORMOUS loss if a higher ranked refinement attempt fails. With it being unavoidable to need coalescent wards for making weapon and armor enchants because of the high cost of components and negligible random success rate, a way of getting those is necessary. The boxes in lockboxes go for very little AD, especially as the market saturates with them, so the only definite benefit of VIP is the trade bars for coalescents. The rate for them dropping in weekly boxes is extremely low now that there are several other things that may possible drop in these boxes, so that can't be counted on either. VIP is only still worth it, AD-wise if you get a 15% off coupon and/or find valuable things in the lottery. Otherwise, you're better off saving that AD you would have otherwise spent on it and buying what you want from the AH, and just buying the boxes you want if you feel like rolling the dice.
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klangeddinMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 882Arc User
You just gave a huge blow to VIP and trade bar currency in general. This is totally a P2W change, shameful.
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klangeddinMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 882Arc User
How about giving a second lockbox key to rank 12 VIPs now, mmm?
How about giving a second lockbox key to rank 12 VIPs now, mmm?
For what point and purpose? So we can amass vast swarms of tradebars useful only for picking up fashion gear of questionable coolness and levels of taste?
The only good thing VIP ever did for me was to memorize where every freaking trap was on every freaking dungeon before I finally said screw it and got it so I could run through them all and not care. I know they added the injuries to make people want to use VIP and they got me. Sure, I didn't spend real money as I'd be crazy to give them a dime. But to think they would give us anything in return for the hours/money/patience/frustration we have given them of ours.... is kinda crazy in itself.
You guys do realize the one thing PVE players have said for going on like 7 months was they just wanted those old dungeons back and they came back as Demonic HE portal fests that we can level up with.... If anyone thinks they listen to anything we say... Well I'm sorry but that lollipop isn't on the shelf. The devs aren't the monsters. Forum mods maybe but they have to do this b/c I'm sure they get an earful if they don't. But these devs do what they are told, it is that simple.
If you think Strum wrote that post and agreed with any of it that the economy was suffering... wow. The guy is not "special" in that sense. If you think the devs having every live stream photobombed by someone saying nerf pally bubble is ignored then again, I'm sorry. They know what they are doing is wrong.. THEY KNOW. But they don't have the power to do anything about it.
They are allowed to do band-aid fixes. They are allowed to do polls on the forums about which NPC is our favorite. They are not allowed to balance classes. They are not allowed to give us anything, that power being in the devs left the day Crush got here.
So again, devs/forum hall monitors. I'm sorry you guys get so much grief from all of us. I know from the bottom of my heart that you realize what you have to do on a daily basis is wrong, not fair and in some cases even cruel but it is your job. And I think a lot of them try and make the best of it.
As a software developer for over 20 years professionally this is spot on. I have NEVER worked for any company that allowed the developers do anything that they wanted to the product. Those decisions are always made up the chain. Blaming the developers in this case is like blaming a foot soldier for starting a war.
That said.. I really think I have given my last dollars to this abortion of a company. Congrats on making a great game, too bad you messed everything up.
Comments
I have worked with a large number of clients who were their own worst nightmare/enemy. I also worked in a prison for a while... and I found out that every single inmate in there had suffered from the same issue. This is a conditioned response/ reaction that is done to protect a serious error in judgement.
That is usually the beginning of an argument for insanity... doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. Considering that Cryptic is staffed by humans, owned by humans and financed by humans... I have one thing to say and I have said it before to those of you who work for Cryptic.
You want to make more money? You want happy investors? You want a happy board of directors? You want happy customers?
If that is the case... which I know it is... work on your UPOD instead of what you have been doing which is OPUD. Look it up.
Having recently spent a lot of time wandering around in online dating sites I see a similarity... to the way that you describe yourself and the game. You puff up and focus on all of the awesome things that this game is, BUT... you ignore the most important thing... the fact that you are omitting the whole truth.
I kno that you don't care if the game falls... that is your choices. You have successfully achieved what you wanted.
ViP
but instead of cultivating and improving it, they ignore and even cripple it.
Not to mention, that it's even accepted by many players, and it even binds players to NWO.
But they have no further plans for it?
Unbelievable...
Eventually, the engine and animation will start to look old compared to OTHER products. That's when the game will really die. The only thing that can kill a F2P game is other games that offer more (looks, animation, immersion, etc).
However, the 'bait and switch' tactic that Cryptic continuously employs does put a bad stain on their name imo. Their name will be remembered, and their future offerings will suffer because of it... that's inevitable. Of course, they could then just bust up their company, move some people around, create a new name, and off they go. Or perhaps they don't plan on doing anything in the future? who knows. With Cryptic, caveat emptor.
I hate the CWard change too, guys, but let's not be inane.
<CO docs> .: Petco :. // Base DPS Sheet (needs revision) // PSA on Power Activation Delay
- Themed Tanks // Misc Build Dump // Ayonachan's Gift Horse (stat data)
- Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!
Of course, this game is getting more and more expensive to play but if you did not anticipate it since the "Stronghold" update, you have not played enough of this kind of best-guilds-or-bust games. More payment and less content are all you should have anticipated. So, don't whine if you embraced such game features. However, TBH, Cryptic did acknowledge today's changes weeks ago and they even handed out free wards, rubies and such even they did not have to. This is far more honest than "new mmorpgs" like the one it advertised itself as "Buy-to-play. No Cash Shop at launch" but in reality "no cash shop at launch" only means "LOL@all you suckers. Buy to play actually means cash shop + you paid more for the box. No cash shop at launch means cash shop starts 7 days after launch. Again, LOL@all you suckers!!!"
That is the sole reason they are doing this.
it nearly border as tyrannical censorship, they just show us thier true color, and now everyone knows how bad and soon start spreading the word through online chat vines, alerting those who are curious about NWO and prevent falling into cash pit trap. i feel that already too late and words had gone out.
note to PWE/PWI, players are on the verge of raising the pitchforks and torches, and get angrier when posts suddenly vanished, and the mods in here cant stop other website forums because they dont work on those "other sites" to delete. those were more vocal and vulgar.
Given the shear volume needed to have a real shot at upgrading 8's to 12's or shards? I'm not laying out that much hard earned cash for a diminishing returns upgrade. Or if I do? It will be years.
Really want to cut your throat? Kill the vip program. We'll leave in droves.
The convalescent wards in the trade bar store took it from flat grind to doable grind. Me and mine spent money to get keys to get the bars because we wanted it.
Now? Yeah... luck to y'all. Bad move. But I think the volumes of vitriol get that across.
Guess deleting a post altogether is faster than replying to players concerns though.
If having the coalescent wards in the Tradebar Store is having a negative effect on the AD market, why not bind them to account? Simple fix. AND, if y'all feel you should be making more money on them, raise their price in the TBS AND bind them to the account. How is making people pay $10 for a single-use item a good idea to anyone?
Oh well, I guess I'll be relying on my luck with Celestial Coins to get coalescent wards from now on.
This is totally a P2W change, shameful.
That said.. I really think I have given my last dollars to this abortion of a company. Congrats on making a great game, too bad you messed everything up.