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Still Pay to Win?
mortmage
Member Posts: 42 Arc User
I've been away from Neverwinter since 2015. Back then, I played this game all the time and spent literally thousands of dollars in the Zen store. New goodies would come out that were better than the goodies I already had and I'd spend more. Eventually it sank in that this was a never ending cycle and I was just throwing my money away. I quit in disgust at the apparent greed of the studio. On the plus side, I had a lot of fun playing this game. I'm a little surprised to see that it's still going. Is it still a money grab?
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reg1981
Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 1,435 Arc User
IMO something was wrong if you were dumping a ton of money into the game then. It's harder to get amounts of AD now than it use to be. Back then you had invoke, professions, all the dungeons you could run without AD capping, etc. now your capped at 100k per day per account. I wouldn't really say pay to win but instead pay for speed growth.
At this point there is nothing exciting to buy in the zen store so not as much of a money grab.7
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Nothing was ever that 'essential' to win, and moreover, everything has been obtainable without paying money.
If u wanted to have just a good time...chatting, doing stuff with friends a.s.o. u never needed to spend a single coin...Cryptic always provided good tools for their community to feel at home in the game...
On the other hand if u seroius wanted to do pvp or doing the new stuff pve when it was released and maybe wanted to play with the "hippsters" u had to be "BIS" or at least well geared...since the beginning there was always the p2w attitude in the game but Cryptic itsself never forced u direcltly to pay anything...it worked much more subtle...
Im in the game since 08/2013 and could tell alot of storys like being kicked from every old CN cause all rank 10 was a must have and me with my rank 8 was only allowed to join the big boys a few times for farm the 1. boss (ring farm)
PvP was even worse...up to stuff like a entrance fee (1Mio AD) to join the ..xy... pvp guild.
Nowadays...pvp is dead and who cares if u can do lomm this mod or if u have to wait a bit longer before u can carry ur weight in there..if u dont have to be part of the "elitits channels and the premades" ofc...enjoy ur time but dont stress urself with anything...
Just "my 2 ¢"
p.s. there's a 10% that must be dropped in game.
to play end game you need 20-22k item level so if you start today you have 2 chance
A ) pay
B ) wait 6-10 month
to be competitive
10-12 month
C ) RNG, if you are realy lucky you can revert everything.
so Goodluck
Basically, to get certain things, you either had to spend money or time.
That's fine...some players had a lot of time, but little money to spend, while others had limited time, but significant disposable income....and the game needs both kinds.
Whining about premades, but expect the entirety of human society, and with it every random person met, to be generous, altruistic, and without desires is... Naive and entitled..
I do not ask anyone for 'permission' to join groups, I've made friends, and we went to CN.
First, unless you are PvPing, there isn't even a 'win' to be had. And almost nobody PvPs.
Second, "I need this for end-game" is a choice. There is nothing you can buy from the Zen store that makes you end-game capable. The most you can buy is things you could earn from play anyway. So as said, "pay to level/gear up faster". That is merely a sign of "I'm impatient", or "I actually want to support the company that provides a product I enjoy", not pay to win.
Third, most games have to add things to help speed up or power up your character development... because players are mostly locked into this idea that they "have to have the best" in order to "be competitive", even when the game is not a directly competitive game. Players pay for boosts because boosting their char is their reason for playing.
Fourth, if someone is tossing tons of money at a game, then calling the game "disgustingly greedy" for offering them things they wanted to buy... that someone needs to look at their own motivations and spending habits. The latest and best shinies always come from playing the newest content anyway, so heaven knows what he though he was buying in the Zen store.
Pay-for-convenience is not P2W and does not push you to pay unless it artifically generates inconvenience for you to skip. Which this game does not really and most of the stuff can be provided for free. Like, injury kits, Aurora's whole realm catalog to summon merchant and scrolls to teleport (the last is sucks tho, but you can just walk).
"Pay-to-speed-up" just means you can spend money for more AD. As of this mod you cannot just buy yourself the best weapon set and the best gear to wear. While you can spend a ton of money to improve, that is unnecessary and most of the people I run lomm with never done in their life.
Now the only P2W aspect are the wards, the insignia box and the legendary mounts in the
lootboxlockbox. Gladly, now there is a pretty good alternative for the ward (as of this summer event) and the ward market on the AH is always filled with offers, so it does not really generate an issue for F2P people. The brutality insignias are kind of the best where you cannot put dominance and only can be got by paying (and good RNG rolling) players, who can set it's price. But it's not the end of the world. And the legendary mounts give quite a powerjump and only realistically can be got for those who buy their keys. This is the most P2W you can get in this game as of this mod. Buy a legendary mount for 10k stat and 110% speed and/or a combat power which helps and unlock a pretty significant insignia effect.And as a sidenote, if your daily AD generation is capped on 100k, you just do something wrong. There is more than 1 way to generate 2-3 times more than that a day in average, but most easily the DR lairs.
I personaly don'tt have any intrest in pvp myself though. I don't like killing players for one thing and most of the time it's just not worth it.
▂▃▄▅▆▇█▓▒░ Drac ░▒▓█▇▆▅▄▃▂
There is supposed to be an image here, but the hamsters took it.
<div align="center">AKA Draconis of Luskan</div>
Take a backseat boy. Cause now I'm driving. ~ Give it up - Elizabeth Gilies ft. Ariana Grande
RIP Foundry: On that day, when the sky fell away, our world came to an end. ~Lifelight
Alternately, there are games in which you can purchase high grade consumables using real money that give you the competitive ability to win versus those without them. There are pirate games out there in which you pay $100 a month to make your ships faster than someone with no money. That is more of a pay to win game. The closest this game has to it is Legendary Mounts.. but they can be won with luck, or saved for and purchased within six months or less of dedicated daily playing. Even then, a Legendary Mount can be worse than a purple mount (pending its bonuses), but it can also give you an edge. If there was nothing to work for and enjoy accomplishing or obtaining ... the game would get boring.
As others have said...
Spending thousands on zen will make Cryptic happy, but do very little to make you "win" as BiS gear cannot be bought with zen or AD.
"New goodies" making old obsolete is part of MMO life.
"never ending cycle" is part of MMo life. Name a single MMO that isn't like that.
Cryptic has made many questionable decisions worthy of criticism... nothing in this post is one of them.
I am Took.
"Full plate and packing steel" in NW since 2013.
NO ADVANTAGES availabe .....--> to LIGHT advantages at MODERATE cost... --> to EXTREME advantages availabe at HIGH cost.
If the game is on the left.. they are giving you a service for free, or you are paying a steady subscription
If the game is near the middle, the game is making its money from non-free players trying to save development time or gain a small advantage/luxury quickly.
If the game is toward the right... the Whales rule the game & while it could still be fun.. stats and competitions mean nothing.
All three types are viable options. Paying players avoid the far right unless they have bottomless wallets or dont care if they excel or not. Free players avoid the far right and the subscriptions (left). The middle ground is never perfect, but satisfies the most players in order to fund game development. IMO... NWO is in the middle zone.