I understand their reasoning, but I find it stupid.
1) If 'cost' was such a big issue, then why put the manpower and effort into porting the game to console? Because you already had money and wanted a new revenue stream. So the first argument about closing it down is false.
2) The second argument about botting? That's invalid too because you can task employees to solve that. Instead, again, you found it more important to do the console port (and see the first part of this for why that was invalid reasoning too).
Cryptic seems to think that players are stupid and will just accept anything they say, but the fact is that many game players know how game design works.
Here's the facts. The game has many players that cannot spend every day getting online. We have families, jobs, lives. We travel. We want to spend time with our kids. The Gateway gave us the ability to still take care of things when those situations came up.
And in my opinion, the game is starting to show signs that this decision may actually be hurting the game. The price of zen on the astral diamond exchange has hovered around the max price for a long time, but since the decision people are just not selling as often. I can only guess that zen sales have gone down or that people are holding on to the ones they have purchased. That has the unfortunate side effect of causing those who do not wish to purchase zen with real money to not be able to acquire them. This will drive people away from what is supposed to be a 'free-to-play' game.
I'll buy into the "too many bots" argument, I've seen the stacks of marks. I don't think it's about the ZAX either. ZAX has pretty much been constantly at 500 AD per ZEN on PC ever since I started playing only dropping below that a few times. The thing that I am really having trouble with right now is this: "We are thankful for all of you that have participated in Gateway and Sword Coast Adventures, and we don’t want to leave you empty handed, so in the next build release planned for next week we are giving all player accounts that have recently used Gateway a Mini Apparatus of Gond companion that will be claimable in their mailbox." Gateway has been down for over 4 weeks, this message was posted over 2 weeks ago, and the last build release was now almost 3 full days ago. Can the community at least get an update here?
Lead Producer Thomas Foss did touch on the reasons for Gateway being taken down in the livestream a few days ago. You can read the full transcript here, but here is a snippet of the Gateway part:
Thomas: Oh, we were talking about Gateway.
Andy: Yes, Gateway!
Thomas: *jokingly* Ahhh, I tried to get out of that.
Andy: And the companions... Yeah I know, I'm like, "Nope, not getting out of this one!"
Thomas: Nope, the hard questions. That's fine. Uh, yeah we had to close Gateway down. You know, sometimes guys, it's about financial. Gateway was actually costing us a lot of money and man-power just to keep alive. I love it, I played it a lot. And we had the heavy botting stuff, and the botting on it wasn't just affecting Gateway, it was actually affecting live server. Right. Really affecting live server! That was the big reason, right. It wasn't just keeping to itself, it was actually affecting our server base and that was it, we didn't want you guys to have to deal with that live on the game. Especially when some of you aren't even playing the SCA. Right and repercussions for that. So, it was a hard call but we had to close it down. Now, that being said, let's talk about the...
Andy: Companion Gear...
Thomas: The Companion Gear and stuff, yeah?
Andy: And SCA, yeah.
Thomas: We are hoping to roll some of the Companion Gear back in. I know I want the Halfling, because my Great Weapon Fighter's a Halfling. I want the Halfling Companion! But, when it was designed, the designer that built it wasn't really in-line with Neverwinter, some of the stuff is really OP.
Andy: Yeah.
Thomas: It's really OP. It we bring it back in, we're going to tune it. Right, I'll be honest with ya, some nerfing will happen. Some tuning, but I wanna get that gear back in. We'll make it in-line for what it should be and still make it cool. I wanted, here's my dream... I actually to take Sword Coast Adventures, the game part of it, and roll it into Professions and that was my big pitch. Wrote a big pitch and idea for it. So, like you know, instead of going to do my profession thing, I can have my guys play the dungeon and speed up the time and have fun doing it in that mini-game. Unfortunately, because it was written for like bonuses and stuff, it was actually written for a different code script, it was written in java script... it doesn't port over. Much to my sadness. In order to do that, we'd have to rebuild the whole thing. Believe me, that was a black day for me. Because that was like, "Oh you know we're doing this.. BUT I've got this cool thing that we can..." Yeah, it didn't happen. But, all the critters and pets and stuff... we are doing them now, looking at what's cool with them. Some of the stuff, you guys have kind of outgrown, but I still think there's a lot of great ideas and pieces there and as we go through them and kind of, you know, make sure they're safe... *laughs* "User Safe," and are fun! Then, we'll get them back into the game.
Andy: And we'll make announcements about them too, on like forums and... OH FORUMS!
Thomas: *jokingly* No No...
Andy: *laughs* Oh no, no yeah we're not going to we're just going to put...
Thomas: Sneak them in!
Andy: *laughs* Yeah!
Thomas: We'll hide them in Mimics!
Andy: That would be pretty cool actually... *makes claw-hand gesture* ...awrrr...
This is a bit unclear and I'd still appreciate some sort of clarification, but I'm able to read into it what I want to hear, and there are some good acknowledgements. Indeed, part of the problem is that companion gear is OP, it's really OP, the stat boosts you can get with the right combination of bonding runestones and loyal companion gear are massive. This is what makes it a problem that now the source of the good stuff is gone and it's all 1 mil + and that will be bound and gone from the AH sooner or later. What about new players who will never see that stuff otherwise and be forced to have worse gear?
It could be brought back or nerfed. Or both, sounds like both and I like that.
Also the whole stream is encouraging, the dungeon experience and more pvp in particular. Like it.
Well, the prices for companion equipment are going ... crazy... to put it mildly. How long do we have to wait now, until we get a new source for that companion equipment?
And since that "compensation" companion is probably not an account-wide feature, that we can reclaim for all characters through the NPC in PE, i would rather like to hear more concrete informations about the companion equipment issue instead.
Nice...arc just made sure that there will be no new player...how could there be new players when they make such a move?? AT LEAST BE SMART AND REMOVE ALL OF THE COMPANION ITEMS FROM THE GAME UNTILL YOU SOLVE THAT!!!! Now it just made sone payers super strong, and anyone else 10 times weaker...if you punish some at least punish everyone...
BTW; The new imaginary companion makes us so strong...maybe it will even balance everything...wait..no...it won't...1st because it doesn't exist...and 2nd because you guys never made a single balancing move...old players are OP and new players are completely UP even if they buy allthe ZEN cash can buy...
But when i say on the forum that i demand that they teat me like the actual 400$/month costumer that i am,,,that's "trolling" and it's "offending the staff"...has arc benn sold to a bunch of 14yo???
And last but definitly not least, promising something to a person and not delivering it after he paid so much...that's actually feels like somebody stole from me....:/
I don't think that they should remove the equipment, people worked for it, but this is twice in recent memory that some attempt to stop botting hurt the game. The other is taking enchantments out of skill nodes and slowing stronghold progression of small guilds to a crawl while hurting new players who can't upgrade their artifacts as fast. It would be nice to have some effort to -simultaneously- address the problems that changes to the game cause. It wouldn't have been hard to foresee either of those events and rectify them. Could have killed two birds with one stone on both of them and just made dungeon bosses drop companion gear and final chests have more enchants. We complain about dungeons having terrible rewards too.
BTW; The new imaginary companion makes us so strong...maybe it will even balance everything...wait..no...it won't...1st because it doesn't exist...and 2nd because you guys never made a single balancing move...old players are OP and new players are completely UP even if they buy allthe ZEN cash can buy...
First of all, nothing wrong with imaginary persons. My imaginary friends carry me through all kind of dreams like Spellplague Caverns, Dread Vault, The Lair of the Mad Dragon and the Throne of Idris dungeon, and many others as well.
As far as I know they stated that the companion gear is badly designed (too strong) and gets a rework. If the 1kk rings are too expensive for you, don't buy them. I manage to survive without the companion gear quite well.
Imaginary Friends are the best friends you can have!
By not putting the companion-only gear back into the game (un-nerfed), Cryptic is actually making the players that ran scripts/bots on gateway even richer.
They can just lean back, post a Loyal Avenger or two, and reap the benefits of the rising price, while regular, honest players are left behind, struggling even more to keep up...
So WHERE is this companion to be claimed? I have logged in to Gateway a LOT over the past year and haven't found it anywhere yet. I haven't seen any response to my suggestion to solve the alleged problem by one of two methods: Either make Gateway standalone and create a story line for companions to progress along, or permanently ban any botters from Neverwinter and all other products - maybe establish a means to share with all other game publishers and encourage them to ban and forward as well. Yes, I realize the really serious botters are going to just create another account and do it all again, but at least they would have to work at it. Perhaps ban from all gaming platforms any bot activity in any game based on IP address? Not much of a "techie" here, don't know if that would work....
Here is another thought - I have seen one post already indicating someone is willing to step up as a volunteer to help - perhaps Gateway could be farmed out to an interested party?
should be prize reward agent for all characters on the account. It is a huge loss to lack the gateway for those who work and have not as streamline the game during their work on. abuse because a program to enrich.
at least I had to come with the companion and companion items also, since there will be no more the dg's the Sword Coast
I think would be better as a tabletop game anyway. A base set with figures of the "Followers of " figures, the basic white dice, and the maps and encounters. With addition packs of the companions with four different figures repenting the four levels of advancement and there special boon dice.
At lease add the companion only gear to treasure drops within Neverwinter Online.
I'm pretty bummed that you have to close the gateway, but I understand why you had to make the tough call. I always loved that little dice game, it was actually really fun, and it let me get some loot, however small, for my character as well as level up companions. I'm going to miss that little time passer while waiting for my character to recover from injuries. Thanks for the little companion as compensation. He'll serve as a reminder to the entire community what the simple botting of services can do. :'(
Hi. I'm relatively new here (I registrered on the game before the gateway closing). I don't say anything before, but now i need to say this: for the people who started recently and cannot enter on the gayteway (always in maintenance), what about us? (and no, I'll not read all the posts). We hadn't any opportunity , so I think it's a bit unfair. What's about the unique reward, items or companions exclusives on the Gateway?
Message is ... though I really, really hate the cheap solution of closing the gateway there will always be someone who "missed" something and feels being treated "unfair".
If you were not around in the 1970s you also missed the introduction of daylight saving time.
Imaginary Friends are the best friends you can have!
Message is ... though I really, really hate the cheap solution of closing the gateway there will always be someone who "missed" something and feels being treated "unfair".
If you were not around in the 1970s you also missed the introduction of daylight saving time.
Well, and... what are you trying to say? Because it does nothing about my question. I'm here before the gateway is officially closed (but unofficially down "for maintenance"). I'm not complaining about old promotions, only asking about the unique things in the gateway (in part because in game there's still references about the gateway -I know the programmers didn't quit it yet for some reason, time o lot of job-).
But I'm agree with you about it's a cheap solution. Nevermind, I see I'll not obtain an answer here...
0
kreatyveMember, Neverwinter Moderator, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 10,545Community Moderator
Message is ... though I really, really hate the cheap solution of closing the gateway there will always be someone who "missed" something and feels being treated "unfair".
If you were not around in the 1970s you also missed the introduction of daylight saving time.
Well, and... what are you trying to say? Because it does nothing about my question. I'm here before the gateway is officially closed (but unofficially down "for maintenance"). I'm not complaining about old promotions, only asking about the unique things in the gateway (in part because in game there's still references about the gateway -I know the programmers didn't quit it yet for some reason, time o lot of job-).
But I'm agree with you about it's a cheap solution. Nevermind, I see I'll not obtain an answer here...
The devs, mainly @panderus, have stated that they will be adding those items that were only obtainable on the Gateway into the game through other means. We just have to be patient while they figure out the best place to put them.
I think they want to put them in a place that's fairly accessible, but not so much that they lose their value because everyone has them. I also think someone mentioned something about adjusting the stats on the Loyal gear.
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!
The devs, mainly @panderus, have stated that they will be adding those items that were only obtainable on the Gateway into the game through other means. We just have to be patient while they figure out the best place to put them.
I think they want to put them in a place that's fairly accessible, but not so much that they lose their value because everyone has them. I also think someone mentioned something about adjusting the stats on the Loyal gear.
Ok, I didn't know that. Thanks, that's the answer I wanted
Plus there is no maintenance page anymore. Hasnt been for at least a week. The gateway link now directs you to the gateway closing blog.
I know, for that reason I said " I don't say anything before, but..."
I personally think that EVERY player is put out by this. Swordcoast Adventures is the ONLY place where a player could get Belts, Necklaces, Rings, and Off-Hand items that could be used with their Companions, and now it is gone. There is NO other place that I am aware of the a player can get items the Companions actually USE. How about the Devs, in all their wisdom, place a In-Game Vendor for these items. Or better yet, make it a craftable item in the relative skill areas? I just had to toss ~1,000,000 AD in belts, necklaces, and other items because they DO NOT WORK with the Companions. How about you place a limiter on what CAN go into those Companion slots so players aren't spending large amounts of AD to fill them with items that DO NOT WORK.
Any way that you can implement a way for us to get companion gear in game? I'm not with the rest of the people who are complaining. Seriously people, botters are like spoiled kids that think they can do whatever and get away with it without caring if they ruin everyone else's good time. They take up server resources which sucks for the rest of us. So sorrry botters, sucks to be you. Now you have to play the game for real like the rest of us. This coming from someone who has been playing this game from day one. Not continuously, but steady.
Any way that you can implement a way for us to get companion gear in game? I'm not with the rest of the people who are complaining. Seriously people, botters are like spoiled kids that think they can do whatever and get away with it without caring if they ruin everyone else's good time. They take up server resources which sucks for the rest of us. So sorrry botters, sucks to be you. Now you have to play the game for real like the rest of us. This coming from someone who has been playing this game from day one. Not continuously, but steady.
1. people here have explained why they do not like the closing of the gateway other than the botting of RP reason (managing guilds and asking for read only auction house). 2. botters are now in game which costs more server resources instead of just the gateway ones. 3. if we go by how long it takes to bring dungeons back you can estimate how long it will take for the gear to get in game.
Comments
1) If 'cost' was such a big issue, then why put the manpower and effort into porting the game to console? Because you already had money and wanted a new revenue stream. So the first argument about closing it down is false.
2) The second argument about botting? That's invalid too because you can task employees to solve that. Instead, again, you found it more important to do the console port (and see the first part of this for why that was invalid reasoning too).
Cryptic seems to think that players are stupid and will just accept anything they say, but the fact is that many game players know how game design works.
Here's the facts. The game has many players that cannot spend every day getting online. We have families, jobs, lives. We travel. We want to spend time with our kids. The Gateway gave us the ability to still take care of things when those situations came up.
And in my opinion, the game is starting to show signs that this decision may actually be hurting the game. The price of zen on the astral diamond exchange has hovered around the max price for a long time, but since the decision people are just not selling as often. I can only guess that zen sales have gone down or that people are holding on to the ones they have purchased. That has the unfortunate side effect of causing those who do not wish to purchase zen with real money to not be able to acquire them. This will drive people away from what is supposed to be a 'free-to-play' game.
Gateway has been down for over 4 weeks, this message was posted over 2 weeks ago, and the last build release was now almost 3 full days ago. Can the community at least get an update here?
It could be brought back or nerfed. Or both, sounds like both and I like that.
Also the whole stream is encouraging, the dungeon experience and more pvp in particular. Like it.
.... and we still dont get promised augment companion....
How long do we have to wait now, until we get a new source for that companion equipment?
And since that "compensation" companion is probably not an account-wide feature, that we can reclaim for all characters through the NPC in PE, i would rather like to hear more concrete informations about the companion equipment issue instead.
AT LEAST BE SMART AND REMOVE ALL OF THE COMPANION ITEMS FROM THE GAME UNTILL YOU SOLVE THAT!!!!
Now it just made sone payers super strong, and anyone else 10 times weaker...if you punish some at least punish everyone...
BTW; The new imaginary companion makes us so strong...maybe it will even balance everything...wait..no...it won't...1st because it doesn't exist...and 2nd because you guys never made a single balancing move...old players are OP and new players are completely UP even if they buy allthe ZEN cash can buy...
But when i say on the forum that i demand that they teat me like the actual 400$/month costumer that i am,,,that's "trolling" and it's "offending the staff"...has arc benn sold to a bunch of 14yo???
And last but definitly not least, promising something to a person and not delivering it after he paid so much...that's actually feels like somebody stole from me....:/
As far as I know they stated that the companion gear is badly designed (too strong) and gets a rework. If the 1kk rings are too expensive for you, don't buy them. I manage to survive without the companion gear quite well.
They can just lean back, post a Loyal Avenger or two, and reap the benefits of the rising price, while regular, honest players are left behind, struggling even more to keep up...
at least I had to come with the companion and companion items also, since there will be no more the dg's the Sword Coast
At lease add the companion only gear to treasure drops within Neverwinter Online.
Finally get companion:)
1 more question - when we will get companion gear?
Ty:)
http://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/neverwinter/#/discussion/490059/neverwinter-list-of-promotions-giveaways
Message is ... though I really, really hate the cheap solution of closing the gateway there will always be someone who "missed" something and feels being treated "unfair".
If you were not around in the 1970s you also missed the introduction of daylight saving time.
But I'm agree with you about it's a cheap solution. Nevermind, I see I'll not obtain an answer here...
I think they want to put them in a place that's fairly accessible, but not so much that they lose their value because everyone has them. I also think someone mentioned something about adjusting the stats on the Loyal gear.
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!
Plus there is no maintenance page anymore. Hasnt been for at least a week. The gateway link now directs you to the gateway closing blog.
I know, for that reason I said " I don't say anything before, but..."
I'm not with the rest of the people who are complaining. Seriously people, botters are like spoiled kids that think they can do whatever and get away with it without caring if they ruin everyone else's good time. They take up server resources which sucks for the rest of us. So sorrry botters, sucks to be you. Now you have to play the game for real like the rest of us. This coming from someone who has been playing this game from day one. Not continuously, but steady.
2. botters are now in game which costs more server resources instead of just the gateway ones.
3. if we go by how long it takes to bring dungeons back you can estimate how long it will take for the gear to get in game.