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No lock boxes?
xearrik
Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Silverstars Posts: 323 Arc User
Does this mean we wont be getting lock boxes? I don't know a whole lot about STO. I only play it to test the foundry. So maybe these are only special lock boxes they are removing. But if they are removing lock boxes completely from STO, I think its very likely that we wont be seeing them in NW.
http://sto.perfectworld.com/news/?p=803151
Edit: Looks like its just a type that's being removed. Oh well.
http://sto.perfectworld.com/news/?p=803151
Edit: Looks like its just a type that's being removed. Oh well.
Yeah, as Storm said. They are referring to just the "Temporal Locked Boxes." They did similar will all the earlier ones too, Ferengi, Cardassian... I don't see anywhere a statement of all locked boxes, just the ending of the Temporals. All the earlier ones have been similarly temporary in their availability, often surrounding some new content release or ships.
All this shows me is that they are about to offer a new locked box.
Da kitties don't speak for me, deez kitties speak fur us all!
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
I'll Keep this up till beta goes live. I'll improve it soon.
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I might start playing STO again if they take out the lockboxes.
And I probably won't bother playing Neverwinter as soon as they decide to implement them here.
All this shows me is that they are about to offer a new locked box.
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It's basically a slot machine. Instead of a regular piece of loot, an opponent will drop a locked box. You have to pay to open it - not in game currency, real money. It could contain anything from the lowest available health potion to the most envied piece of pay 2 win loot from the store. The odds will never be published.
That way the person buying the key may not get what they want, but they won't have wasted money and they can in turn make in game cash. If everything can be sold it creates an economy that could easily undercut third party farmers. It means real money isn't wasted on a bad slot. It hampers third party gold sellers.
If the lockboxes are going to be part of the system at least make them attractive and fair. I don't mind spending money on my games and my hobbies, but I want to get value out of that money spent.
Except for most non P2W lockboxes contain nothing of value so theres no point to buying them. Look at GW2, they drop a random boost, a random dye and a random limited use node harvester, nothing gamebreaking.
Character is what a man is in the dark
Lockboxes in STO are supporting pay2win and gambling without published odds. No thanks.
Aren't there any laws in the states against such online lotteries? Or do they have a 0.0000001% chance to drop the keys aswell (loophole to circumvent the laws)?
I "liked" the GW2 way of handling cash-shop, never spent a dime of RL-cash on it, but had all bag and 4 bank slots on my character and some junk all with ingame cash > gem trading.
Personally, I won't buy any keys to open lockboxes. And I play STO and CO already. I avoid lockboxes like the plague in both games.
Occam's Razor makes the cutting clean.
I agree. Just ignore them like you would for any fecesbook game requests and stuff. It's not something to ragequit and boycott the game over.
*readies his death star*
Can you sell them on a broker? That's usually what I did in other games. I think I have about 40 of various types banked in VG still, and a few in LotRO. Then at least I could sell them, and make something off them.
In Star Trek Online, keys may be purchased on the cash shop for 125 Zen. $1.25 US. They are tradable, meaning that they can also be posted on the exchange. Zen is purchased with real world money, or obtained by trading Refined Dilithium. Unredined Dilithium is a reward for completing many different gameplay elements and 8000 units of it can be refined daily.
What this means is that you can obtain keys from the cash shop using Zen you obtain by trading Dilithium you refined after earning it through normal gameplay, so it is not necessary to spend a single red cent of real money.
Champions Online has the same setup, only instead of Dilithium, it's Questionite. And I believe I remember a question asked in one of the NW videos about this got an answer that sounded like the same setup will exist here.
I want to make my position clear. I don't really like the whole lottery box thing. But the way it has been described in this thread so far makes it sound like there's no other way for you to get keys except for spending real money, and that is not true. I feel that it is important that the facts (as I understand them) are presented rather than half truths.
Anything you want out of the cash shop can be obtained using Zen you have traded your earned time-based currency for. That means that technically, everything is available through in-game means.
but I play one on the forums...
:P
Why?
NW costs nothing to get into. No boxed copy, no signs of a subscription at all (although I could be wrong there).
How are they going to make money? By selling you things. A LOT of things.
Like lockboxes.
I personally would never buy a key for a lockbox (I learned my lesson on box gambling in Atlantica, I spent hundreds of dollars - no joke - trying to get the mounts and outfits I wanted out of their boxes. My fiance dropped around $400 trying to get me a particular outfit for my birthday, the sweetie), but there are many people who like them.
For the people who like them, I say why not? Just so long as that's not the only loot that is dropped by anything. That's where I draw the line for me personally, when you have to pay to get the loot from something you've just killed.
To me, free2grind isn't a viable alternative to pay2win.
I'd rather just re-sub to Rift, or a thousand other options.
I'm not saying lockboxes have to be pay2win, but I'm just looking at every other existing Cryptic game when I make that judgement.
So can the tips that Foundry Quest creators receive be converted into these lockbox keys and then traded to others? Getting the Real money back out of the virtual might still require a third party but it should be simple.
I read ya... However, it really isn't fair to call the lockboxes, at least the ones in STO, Pay to Win. Oh it gets brought up on the forums over there from time to time, but there are people who have flat-out said that they have been able to defeat players using lockbox and cash shop ships while flying ships that are available directly in-game. The lockbox and c-store ships may come with consoles that give them unique abilities, but they are not overpowered. You just have to pay attention to what someone with one of those ships is doing. But then, you kind of have to do that anyway.
but I play one on the forums...
:P
Now where's that pole...
Indirectly, yes. First you have to refine the Dilithium (It'll be called something else in NW Truth: Astral Diamonds.) which is as simple as clicking a button. You trade the refined resource for Zen which is used to buy the keys. The Zen/Dilithium exchange is entirely player driven. the exchange rate fluctuated based on supply and demand. Cryptic sets the extreme minimum and maximum rates that it can go.
In STO Zen enters the game one of two ways: Purchased for real world cash, or as part of the monthly Zen stipend. But since the indications are that there will be no subscription option, in NW, it will likely just enter the game by being directly purchased...
So Zen that you trade your Dilithium for came from another player.
I know what you are thinking. Why would anyone want to part with their Zen? Well, in STO there are lots of things that require lots of refined dilithium. It can all be earned, but because of the daily refinement cap, it may take several days before you can refine enough. The exchange allows the trade of refined dilithium for zen, so those who simply have to have everything NOW can buy Zen and trade it for the extra Dilithium.
The big problem in STO right now is that there is greater use for Dilithium than there is for Zen, so if one wants to stock up on Zen for lock box keys or any of the other stuff on the C-store that they don't want to spend real money for, now is the time.
I should also mention that anything items you get out of a lockbox can be traded on the Energy Credit exchange. Energy credits are for purchasing standard gear from vendors and trading for goods on the exchange, which is STO's version of an auction house. You can find lockbox keys on there as well. They usually go for millions of credits, but it isn't that hard to get that much if you know what sells for high prices. I am not sure how exactly NW's currencies will work out... But in Star Trek Online here is the currency breakdown:
Energy Credits - Awarded for almost every type of mission content, and can be earned in great amounts by selling loot, data samples (crafting resources) and particle traces (Rare crafting resources) on the exchange.
Gold-Pressed Latinum - A currency used to get mainly vanity items that are not sold in the cash shop. Obtained by playing Dabo, a gambling minigame in Quark's Bar on Deep Space Nine. Energy credits can be bet on the Dabo Wheel and based on how the spin goes, converted to varrying amounts of Gold-pressed Latinum. GPL also plays a part in some Duty Officer assignments to barter for different commodities. Which commodities you can barter for is typically based on what part of the galaxy you are in.
Dilithium - Obtained initially as raw ore, it must be refined before it can be used for trade. There is a store that sells a variety of upper-end gear for Refined Dilithium. Many reputation and Fleet Holding progression projects require significant sums of Dilithium along with other resources to complete. Dilithium may also be traded on the currency exchange for Zen.
Zen - Used in the cash shop to purchase ships, uniform styles, convenience items, Lock Box keys, and services. Each Zen is worth $0.01 US.
Lobi Crystals - These gemstones are used in a special Lobi Store to purchase exotic items, such as ships, costumes, and other items that are not commonly associated with either Starfleet or the Klingon Defense Force. Lobi Crystals are found in every lockbox you open in random quantities. This makes lockboxes always give something of value, even if the random loot item it contains isn't something you have an immediate use for. Lobi crystals are not tradable, but what you buy with them and what you get from a lockbox besides them is.
Not everyone understands the relationship between the different currencies in STO. And like I said it isn't entirely clear HOW the currency types will work in NW... It MAY (just guessing and probably am wrong) look something like this:
Copper Pieces - NW equivilant to energy credits
Silver Pieces - NW equivilant to Gold Pressed Latinum
Gold Pieces - NW Equivilant to Dilithium
Platinum Pieces - Zen
Pollished Gemstones - NW Equivilant to Lobi Crystals.
The above is just hypothetical, Like I said, the breakdown will probably work differently.
but I play one on the forums...
:P
P2W is the worst format I've ever seen in F2P. It's like me going out and getting this brand new PS3 game. Then hiring a bum off the street on my way home to play and beat the game for me. Then I go watch some Netflix and occasionally give the game a peak.