I welcomed the news that with the introduction of the Astral Lockbox, finally after years and years, people could access the contents of a lockbox and participate in this part of the game without being forced to spend real world cash which many playing the game simply don't have. I still believe it is a great step in the right direction and needs to stay in some form, however 100K AD for one box, are you joking? The RNG on the leg mounts (which is why people will spend on these boxes, be honest) is so low that you would burn though many 100's of thousands of refined AD and see nothing. You could likely buy the other contents of the boxes on the AH for far less AD than you would ultimately spend on lockboxes trying for a leg mount anyway. Can this game stop being stingy and start being a little more generous. This will ultimately translate to a happier playerbase. I would suggest that something in the region of 20k or less AD would be a more appropriate cost for one lockbox.
Apparently pointing-out the bleeding obvious is a 'personal attack'.
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2. You should not pay 100K AD for one box. If you 'really' want to buy it, you should pay either 75K (if you have VIP) or around 84K (or less) from AH (if you don't have VIP).
3. It is cheaper than normal lockbox key price and you don't need to wait for Zen exchange.
4. No, one should not gamble on lockbox if they are not 'good' in RNG God's eyes.
Have fun!
When items are removed from the trade economy, it causes inflation. (cost of items go up)
When AD is added to the trade economy, it causes inflation. (cost of items go up)
When AD is removed from the trade economy, it causes deflation. (cost of items go down)
That's a general and simple first rule, but most items/events add other layers of cause and effect to it, like supply/demand.
It would actually be very interesting to read a real and simplified book on game economies. The biggest mistake people make when thinking of them is to put things into the wrong category to begin with. The next mistake is to miss other factors affecting a subject. The next mistake is to fail to understand that the whole system is a dynamic ecosystem, like a wetland or a forest. Some things affect others more than we can predict. It is said that if we remove honeybees, that almost half of the organisms on earth would go extinct as a result. Whether true or not, it is difficult to know. Luckily, a game economy is much more forgiving.
In my opinion the Astral lock box has NO issues. It is worth between 70 and 90% of its retail value at the start. It's fun. If its not fun for you, don't get one. It is set at a value similar to slot machines. They could put payback at 200%, but then peeps would buy as many as they could until the items inside become so numerous that their price drops and they sell like water. This is just disruptive and unbalancing, not to mention, it would devalue the contents of many keyed lockboxes. They could have gone up to 100% with an AD lockbox... but 80 to 90 is probably the safe zone.
Players with AD seeking fun, are more than welcome to attend the Barovian Bash and set up their own contests and games for players. That is what I do with all that extra AD. I buy stuff in the auction and bank it for this player made event.
Players seeking prizes or items that can be converted back into AD (sold in the auction), should be in Barovia on the 21st and ready to play a game. I hope we have a good crowd like we did last year. Those little fish should be getting leveled up to 70 minimum to attend this event.
Have fun!
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1 of my boxes matches a screen shot posted above by someone else, 4 alendrites (40k RP) for 75k AD XD
Why am I not upset, because my expectations were on point. The results I got, were the results I expected. It's a gamble that can not be edged in your favor. Roll the dice only if you expect nothing in return.
that was my picture the 4 alexandrites. I am not salty about it per se, but I am salty on it in general. that is a huge flaw with the new packs and it makes the old packs always superior. it needs to be fixed imo.
I mean, let's be honest here, even with a change like that the stuff you would get from it regularly would still equal losing AD, but it wouldn't feel like a complete rip off like it does right now, you would at least get something decent to use or trade from it.
I also opened over 100 Redeemd Lockboxes during the King of Spines "gold rush" and beside one mythic mount i mostly got my inventory flooded with RP HAMSTER. I've the Wanderer's Fortune mount insignia and 2x Rank 13 Quartermaster enchantments most of the time active/slotted, made over 1m RP from opening Spoils of War and Abandoned Gear bags during this 2x Refinement Points event, so i think it should be clear that i (and probably many others) have no use for more RP HAMSTER from any normal or the Astral lockboxes.
Anyway, i bought 10 or more of them during their first introduction into the game, got nothing good from it, not going to repeat that mistake, i might bank a few for now and trade them later, but that's as far as i'm willing to go with them. I thought they were brought into the game for the purpose of draining AD from it - but i don't see that happening in their current form.
But the effect of astral boxes is marginal on the gem prices, the "Gem Crash" that has also collapsed the gems+1 crafting business (one of the rare crafting activity that was still quite profitable) is really driven by other biggest factors.
Easy crushing manes with the car no matter your toon power and intensive farming of favors server wide (both activities with wanderer's fortune / quartermaster sloted) + consequent quantity of avernus treasure maps (gems inside the chest) + high rank gems looting frequently on Mog/Garyx (often black opals more rarely the 25k RP diamond) + higher frequency of x2 RP events (this year it's once every 2 months when it used to be more like once every 3 months in the past) + not many new things to spend huge quantity of RP since a while.
This combination generated tons of gems-RP and reduced the feeling of RP needs, and the result is a gem market flooded with offers and no more really any demand. Prices (which were already on a slight general downhill in mod 17-18) were divided by 4 to 6 during the last 3 months, and the crash has yet to touch the rock bottom in my opinion. I can't remember any precedent of this scale, rapidity and duration on the whole gem market.
The gems prices will probably stay very low as long as we are not done with all the redeemed citadel phases.
Once you have artifacts and enchants maxed, you dont have anything to spend refinement, so is another market that is collapsing.
Good for new players but the game needs more balance between the availability of currencies and the need of them.
Here is an idea for devs: Introduce refinement in masterwork crafting tasks, when you rethink the system (it was in the roadmap if I remember well)
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