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My Regular Rant About Lockboxes and Value

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  • mystar#5733 mystar Member Posts: 179 Arc User
    i agree using the key every day will probably result in more of the lower level rewards...saving them isn't a guarantee either, but i've gotten better rewards opening 10 at a time than 1 every day. The most I've opened at one time was 50 and got a whole lotta good stuff...but that was before mod 16.

    I also open on different characters because some of them seem to get better stuff than others when i do. My halfling fighter gets more enchants and stronghold vouchers, my human wizard gets more marks of potency and enchanting stones and my drow warlock gets more companion related items and my wood elf ranger gets more mounts. Of course they all get their fair share of rp stones too.
  • milehighxr#1299 milehighxr Member Posts: 461 Arc User

    If there is a difference between VIP lockbox key and purchase lockbox key, Cryptic should state that for their benefit because that will increase lockbox key sales. They can just call it "Super legendary lockbox key" that gives you X% more chance to hit the jackpot. I used 30 VIP lockbox last weekend and got one Legendary mount. That does not mean anything besides I was lucky.

    IMO, if you use your (one) VIP key everyday, the odd is against you.
    I always find a lone location and use a bunch (not necessary lockbox, it can be anything). I don't do one. That can be another 'myth' but that is my practice.

    If there really is a difference between the 2, they would be 2 different keys. I was just stating what I have noticed in my experience. I usually try to wait an open 30 or more in one shot, as if I open only 2-10 I don't get much. I also move from place to place, as it seems like if I get a bunch of trash that I do better after changing locales. And I do do this for all rewards, with the exception of celestial bags. Doesn't matter where I open celestial bags I always get coupons(most that I can't use) and never the best items.

    I think the most lockboxes I opened in one session was something like 75-80. I got 8 coal wards that night. I haven't seen a single coal ward from a lockbox since...
  • greywyndgreywynd Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 7,083 Arc User
    There is no difference in the keys except how you acquire them. If I buy a key bundle, or individual keys for that matter, they all stack up with my VIP keys. If they were coded different, they would not do that. An effect that we see all too often with pres wards.
    I'm not looking for forgiveness, and I'm way past asking permission. Earth just lost her best defender, so we're here to fight. And if you want to stand in our way, we'll fight you too.
  • plasticbatplasticbat Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 12,183 Arc User

    If there is a difference between VIP lockbox key and purchase lockbox key, Cryptic should state that for their benefit because that will increase lockbox key sales. They can just call it "Super legendary lockbox key" that gives you X% more chance to hit the jackpot. I used 30 VIP lockbox last weekend and got one Legendary mount. That does not mean anything besides I was lucky.

    IMO, if you use your (one) VIP key everyday, the odd is against you.
    I always find a lone location and use a bunch (not necessary lockbox, it can be anything). I don't do one. That can be another 'myth' but that is my practice.

    If there really is a difference between the 2, they would be 2 different keys. I was just stating what I have noticed in my experience. I usually try to wait an open 30 or more in one shot, as if I open only 2-10 I don't get much. I also move from place to place, as it seems like if I get a bunch of trash that I do better after changing locales. And I do do this for all rewards, with the exception of celestial bags. Doesn't matter where I open celestial bags I always get coupons(most that I can't use) and never the best items.

    I think the most lockboxes I opened in one session was something like 75-80. I got 8 coal wards that night. I haven't seen a single coal ward from a lockbox since...
    I am glad there is another person who follows the "myth". :)
    I don't know what the best reward from a celestial bag is. They are just all RP to me.
    Anyway, 2x is coming. So, it will be 2x although I should not care much about RP.
    *** The game can read your mind. If you want it, you won't get it. If you don't expect to get it, you will. ***
  • callumf#9018 callumf Member Posts: 1,710 Arc User

    If there is a difference between VIP lockbox key and purchase lockbox key, Cryptic should state that for their benefit because that will increase lockbox key sales. They can just call it "Super legendary lockbox key" that gives you X% more chance to hit the jackpot. I used 30 VIP lockbox last weekend and got one Legendary mount. That does not mean anything besides I was lucky.

    IMO, if you use your (one) VIP key everyday, the odd is against you.
    I always find a lone location and use a bunch (not necessary lockbox, it can be anything). I don't do one. That can be another 'myth' but that is my practice.

    If there really is a difference between the 2, they would be 2 different keys. I was just stating what I have noticed in my experience. I usually try to wait an open 30 or more in one shot, as if I open only 2-10 I don't get much. I also move from place to place, as it seems like if I get a bunch of trash that I do better after changing locales. And I do do this for all rewards, with the exception of celestial bags. Doesn't matter where I open celestial bags I always get coupons(most that I can't use) and never the best items.

    I think the most lockboxes I opened in one session was something like 75-80. I got 8 coal wards that night. I haven't seen a single coal ward from a lockbox since...
    I am glad there is another person who follows the "myth". :)
    I don't know what the best reward from a celestial bag is. They are just all RP to me.
    Anyway, 2x is coming. So, it will be 2x although I should not care much about RP.
    Yeah I followed the myth and always used to open lockboxes in a private dungeon.

    It didn't bring me any joy though ;)
  • callumf#9018 callumf Member Posts: 1,710 Arc User
    Day 9

    1 Rank 9 enchant
    2 Alexandrite
    2 Green Mount Insignia

  • wintersmokewintersmoke Member Posts: 1,641 Arc User
    kreatyve said:

    I don't like the Stardock boxes. I only get RP out of them. I have nearly a million RP and have been trying to make enchants to sell to use it up, but keep running out of the stones I need. *sigh*

    DO they no longer drop from dread ring lairs?
  • wamlgon#8772 wamlgon Member Posts: 20 Arc User
    R5 enchanted stones is tops in DR runs.
  • regenerderegenerde Member Posts: 3,041 Arc User
    edited December 2019

    [Takes out broken record, places on LP player.]

    Lockboxes are gambling.
    Always cheaper to save up and buy items with AD than spend enough keys to get any one particular item.
    Treat lockboxes the same way you treat a game of craps in Vegas:
    Do it for the "fun" not the winnings.
    But remember: the house always wins.

    Well, i'm sticking to the pre Acquisitions Incorporated lockboxes and i only use ViP keys, while i'm not making a killing with selling nearly all the loot i get from them every month, i can't complain too much about it either considering the 3 (or 4, if i count that "legendary" bucket too) legendary drops i received over the years.

    I look at lockboxes as a way to earn some extra AD every month, and that's working more or less fine for me. I haven't spend any real money on lockboxes in the past, and i'm not planing on doing that in the future either.

    Nearly forgot, i bought a few 50 lockbox keys packs in the past with AD exchanged into ZEN, but i stopped doing that when they came up with the "new" lockbox design. No point in wasting good keys on bad boxes.
    Post edited by regenerde on
    I do believe in killing the messenger...
    Want to know why?
    Because it sends a message!
  • callumf#9018 callumf Member Posts: 1,710 Arc User
    Day 10
    3 Jadeite
    2 Alexandrite
    4 Black Opal

    All RP - bad day
  • callumf#9018 callumf Member Posts: 1,710 Arc User
    Day 11
    3 Jadeite
    2 Alexandrite
    4 Black Opal

    Exactly the same as Day 10!!

    Day 12
    MOP Rank 4 - useful
    Rank 9 Enchant
    2 Major Dark Gifts Vouchers
  • bigman99#8273 bigman99 Member Posts: 510 Arc User
    edited December 2019
    Honestly, I was of the same opinion about stardock lockboxes; haven't had much luck and the RP and Stronghold vouchers don't add a whole lot of value at this point in the game. But then the game throws a curve just to mess with expectations. Got the damn legendary lockbox on daily vip key, and a choice between 3 legendary mounts, 2 with 10k power, does seem to make it more of a value. But maybe im still just really happy about my luck (after two years of sub par results).
  • callumf#9018 callumf Member Posts: 1,710 Arc User

    Honestly, I was of the same opinion about stardock lockboxes; haven't had much luck and the RP and Stronghold vouchers don't add a whole lot of value at this point in the game. But then the game throws a curve just to mess with expectations. Got the damn legendary lockbox on daily vip key, and a choice between 3 legendary mounts, 2 with 10k power, does seem to make it more of a value. But maybe im still just really happy about my luck (after two years of sub par results).

    Congratulations. ANd I mean it.

    Your point is of course valid, but this thread is about how relatively worthless RP is for a lot of players. And to show the daily "reward" for VIP keys.

    YES VIP gives other benefits, and a legendary drop is great, but its day to day we are talking about

  • ecrana#2080 ecrana Member Posts: 1,654 Arc User
    You must be one unlucky son of a gun.

    Why, just yesterday I heard Mr. Whiteside say that he got a legendary toad after his 3rd key.

    All kidding aside, I don't like the new lockboxes at all and don't open them. I see why they altered things and it ties in to your rationale that RP is worthless.

    But it's worthless because of the abundance of rp in the game and the lack of uses for it.
  • milehighxr#1299 milehighxr Member Posts: 461 Arc User

    Honestly, I was of the same opinion about stardock lockboxes; haven't had much luck and the RP and Stronghold vouchers don't add a whole lot of value at this point in the game. But then the game throws a curve just to mess with expectations. Got the damn legendary lockbox on daily vip key, and a choice between 3 legendary mounts, 2 with 10k power, does seem to make it more of a value. But maybe im still just really happy about my luck (after two years of sub par results).

    I opened 71 stardock boxes today after buying a 50 key and coal ward pack with real cash. My streak is over, no legendary mount. Got mount pack, and comp pack, and over 100 jade, and 100 black opals. I'm already sitting on over 1.5 million RP, plus the 2-4 million total on all 5 of my toons...

  • regenerderegenerde Member Posts: 3,041 Arc User
    Well, is it just me, or did anyone else noticed way less "lockbox winner messages" during their sessions this time compared to the Winter Festival last year?

    Even with a new 50 keys bundle around, the ZEN charge bonus and that "sale" in the shop... i might have seen one or two server notifications and that was it. Unless there were a whole lot more message while i was logging from one character on another, it looks like players are reacting with less purchases on the discount "cutbacks" and all the other changes brought to the game over this year.

    Perhaps it's time to "retire" the current lockbox design and bring back the old one minus the "Adventurer" and "Fashion" packs, those should be dumped into the Tarmalune Trade Bars store or the Wondrous Bazaar.
    I do believe in killing the messenger...
    Want to know why?
    Because it sends a message!
  • callumf#9018 callumf Member Posts: 1,710 Arc User
    regenerde said:

    Well, is it just me, or did anyone else noticed way less "lockbox winner messages" during their sessions this time compared to the Winter Festival last year?

    Even with a new 50 keys bundle around, the ZEN charge bonus and that "sale" in the shop... i might have seen one or two server notifications and that was it. Unless there were a whole lot more message while i was logging from one character on another, it looks like players are reacting with less purchases on the discount "cutbacks" and all the other changes brought to the game over this year.

    Perhaps it's time to "retire" the current lockbox design and bring back the old one minus the "Adventurer" and "Fashion" packs, those should be dumped into the Tarmalune Trade Bars store or the Wondrous Bazaar.

    I agree on that point - much less Lockbox Winner Messages - or so it seems to me as well.
  • callumf#9018 callumf Member Posts: 1,710 Arc User
    Back to my loot.

    Last three or four days all RP except:

    Rank 7 Mop - tasty
    4 Stronghold vouchers
  • callumf#9018 callumf Member Posts: 1,710 Arc User
    Well I am on Day 39 and since the last post I made have got RP, a few useless strong hold vouchers and

    One Purple Companion pack which sold for 500,000AD

    Which was nice
  • regenerderegenerde Member Posts: 3,041 Arc User
    edited January 2020
    I'd say this is an interesting experiment, showing how worthless the newer lockboxes really are, pretty much like the newer expansion packs, which deliver a lot less "content" compared to the old ones for the amount of ZEN one has to pay for them. Not to mention how they "re-released" some of these expansion packs in a rather diminished version during the last "sale"... bad enough that those packs offer no account-wide content, but they also had to remove what little made those packs at least worth their new price tag too.

    Anyway, i went with the Merchant Prince Lockboxes this month and pulled an epic Tamed Velociraptor from it, which sold for 1.5m AD, i think i made well over 2m AD in total with all the other junk i pulled from them. So, even without the lucky drop of the epic companion, older lockboxes are still the better way to spend ones keys...

    If the goal behind those changes to lockboxes and "DLCs" was to ensure that less players spend their money here - i'd say well done and mission accomplished.
    Post edited by regenerde on
    I do believe in killing the messenger...
    Want to know why?
    Because it sends a message!
  • plasticbatplasticbat Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 12,183 Arc User
    edited January 2020
    That has nothing to do with VIP. Whoever open those lockbox with whatever way (VIP key or not) will get the same result.
    Opening the recent lockbox using any key is a "mistake". They can slap your face once or twice. However, if you continue to use the key that way, you are the one who allows that to happen.
    *** The game can read your mind. If you want it, you won't get it. If you don't expect to get it, you will. ***
  • greywyndgreywynd Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 7,083 Arc User
    Where was it ever indicated that opening a lockbox was an intended way to get rich?
    I'm not looking for forgiveness, and I'm way past asking permission. Earth just lost her best defender, so we're here to fight. And if you want to stand in our way, we'll fight you too.
  • regenerderegenerde Member Posts: 3,041 Arc User
    edited January 2020
    Well, i'm just wondering why it has to be some extreme? I mean, why can't there be some healthy (or rather worthy in this case) middleground between "getting rich" and "getting ripped off"?

    Lockboxes were working just fine before they started messing around with them, all they actually had to do was move "Adventurer" and "Fashion" packs to the Tarmalune Trade Bars Store, and perhaps add some kind of account bound "consolation prize" after xy keys used, and BOOM mission "lockbox improving" actually accomplished.

    And instead of trying to nickle & dime us over and over and over again for those new module packs, they should have continued the "old" design with account wide bag/companion/mount instead as well.
    I do believe in killing the messenger...
    Want to know why?
    Because it sends a message!
  • callumf#9018 callumf Member Posts: 1,710 Arc User
    regenerde said:

    Well, i'm just wondering why it has to be some extreme? I mean, why can't there be some healthy (or rather worthy in this case) middleground between "getting rich" and "getting ripped off"?

    Lockboxes were working just fine before they started messing around with them, all they actually had to do was move "Adventurer" and "Fashion" packs to the Tarmalune Trade Bars Store, and perhaps add some kind of account bound "consolation prize" after xy keys used, and BOOM mission "lockbox improving" actually accomplished.

    And instead of trying to nickle & dime us over and over and over again for those new module packs, they should have continued the "old" design with account wide bag/companion/mount instead as well.

    This.

    And again and again I say it.

    It isn't about the 500k epic companions or the legendary mounts.

    Its about value for money, not getting rich, make it give [example] MINIMUM Rank 4 mop and Rank 4 enchant for example each opening, plus something like - 5 pres wards.

    Just make it fair and reasonable. Not asking for the world here, I pay MONEY I should get value :)
  • arcticblitzarcticblitz Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 126 Arc User

    You must be one unlucky son of a gun.

    Why, just yesterday I heard Mr. Whiteside say that he got a legendary toad after his 3rd key.

    Yeah I heard that too and was like dam , Been here since launch brought some keys over that time and had VIP since it came out best i've ever got was an epic companion and a soul sight crystal back when they were worth something.
    Blitzy : PVE only Barbarian
    Martin ConDion PVE only Ranger

    Guild Founder: -HunterS-
  • jules#6770 jules Member Posts: 709 Arc User
    Comparing the worth of a leg toad, we should all be there. Trash adds up too.
    But yeah, I still stand at two epic comp boxes (2x bulette worth) and an leg alembic worth 1-2 mil.
    Some people are just lucky. There were ppl pulling 2 swarms and a razor out of M14 lockbox.
    - bye bye -
  • greywyndgreywynd Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 7,083 Arc User


    This.

    And again and again I say it.

    It isn't about the 500k epic companions or the legendary mounts.

    Its about value for money, not getting rich, make it give [example] MINIMUM Rank 4 mop and Rank 4 enchant for example each opening, plus something like - 5 pres wards.

    Just make it fair and reasonable. Not asking for the world here, I pay MONEY I should get value :)

    How much is $1.25 worth in the game, exactly?
    I'm not looking for forgiveness, and I'm way past asking permission. Earth just lost her best defender, so we're here to fight. And if you want to stand in our way, we'll fight you too.
  • plasticbatplasticbat Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 12,183 Arc User
    edited January 2020
    1 month VIP, full price, no discount, is 1000 Zen.
    Assuming the VIP service worth half of it and the lockbox keys is the other half.
    30 lockbox keys worth 500 Zen.
    Each key worth 16.67 Zen = 12.5K AD.
    Using this assumption, if you get 12.5K AD in average, you win.

    If you buy VIP using 30% off discount and if you get 8.75K AD in average, you win.
    If you buy Zen using more discount, the break even average is even lower.
    If you buy 6 month VIP, the break even average is lower.
    If you are in the platform that does not hit the 750 cap, the break even average is lower again.

    If you buy lockbox key directly (not using VIP), oh well.
    Post edited by plasticbat on
    *** The game can read your mind. If you want it, you won't get it. If you don't expect to get it, you will. ***
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