The point of Gold Currency?

morteon · April 2013

After playing in 4 beta weekends and testing extensively and getting 4 charachters to around the level 30 range.

I fail to see the general purpose behind the silver copper and eventually gold you amass.

You buy your first mount at 20 for 2.5 gold.

Beyond that I dont believe I spent a dime of actual game currency, aside from trying out the rather lackluster professions, which... reward you with ... more... gold?

The vendors sell anything worthwhile for astral diamonds.

The auction house uses astral diamonds....

So... am I missing the point of currency besides buying potions? potions which from many posts at level cap will be horribly lackluster and ineffective?

Crafting? hrm.. allright I .. guess...

But seriously... why have in game "gold/silver/copper" at all if its used for 10% of transactions?

Just curious.

- Morteon

zzyatpw · April 2013

@ imagine that every sht we kill drops diamond...

bismar7 · April 2013

I am also curious about this. I think they should have used gold for the AH personally.

sjiro · April 2013

I spent quite a bit of crafting materials.. That was about it..
The cost of potions and skill kits wasn't significant enough to dent my wallet too much.

redshift2k5 · April 2013

Potions, companions, mounts, some profession odds & ends... more importantly dungeoneering/lockpick/arcana/religion/nature kits and the recently-added injury kits.

They should make more things scale with level, such as making the skill kits into tiers that get progressively more expensive as more of a money sink.

futrix · April 2013

you will spend all your gold on potions, crafting and repairs/injuries.

jetah · April 2013

and remember how important gold is. that was the excuse for the self-heal nerf for clerics.

revengeance77 · April 2013

After seeing all the BETAs, with multiple level 30+ toons, I found gold to be used mainly for trading for Astral gems (which looked like Auction house currency and currency for tier gear like WoW's commendations were used). It also seems to me as a good way to keep gold farming in check (like guild wars 2). This is because gold is easy to get at higher levels, not over used for things, and can be traded for Astral Gems. This means people that don't want to pay money can just spend their in game currency for Astral gems. Those who wish to purchase Astral gems can do so from the ZEN store. Which is a micro transaction structure to make money for the developers, in place of the traditional monthly subscription structure.

licourtrix1 · April 2013

you cannot purchase AD's at all, they are only earned execpt as a possible reward from a lockbox. Gold is used for low tier quality items in game only. Main uses being healing potions, skill check kits and injury kits, and crafting.

werealchemist · April 2013

late game it is use to buy Astral Diamonds... that's about the only good money sink i think i have found.

licourtrix1 · April 2013

how do you buy AD's? Outside of zen

taeryl · April 2013

revengeance77 wrote: »

After seeing all the BETAs, with multiple level 30+ toons, I found gold to be used mainly for trading for Astral gems (which looked like Auction house currency and currency for tier gear like WoW's commendations were used). It also seems to me as a good way to keep gold farming in check (like guild wars 2). This is because gold is easy to get at higher levels, not over used for things, and can be traded for Astral Gems. This means people that don't want to pay money can just spend their in game currency for Astral gems. Those who wish to purchase Astral gems can do so from the ZEN store. Which is a micro transaction structure to make money for the developers, in place of the traditional monthly subscription structure.

When you say gold can be traded for Astral diamonds, do you mean with other players, or is there a store/vendor that does this?

colhatick · April 2013

It's Zen and Astral Diamonds that can be exchanged for one another. Gold is really only used for buying stuff from merchants like kits and potions.

werealchemist · April 2013

There was a vendor. If it has been moved/removed after BW3 i apologize for the misinformation.

porpoisealert · April 2013

What I find funny is that you can buy Astral Diamonds with cash. Epic-level gear may not be directly available from the Zen store, but it's going to be remarkably easy to buy anything you want off the Auction house with Astral Diamonds that you never earned. It remains to be seen if that really makes the game P2W, but it's not looking good.

imivo · April 2013

porpoisealert wrote: »

What I find funny is that you can buy Astral Diamonds with cash. Epic-level gear may not be directly available from the Zen store, but it's going to be remarkably easy to buy anything you want off the Auction house with Astral Diamonds that you never earned. It remains to be seen if that really makes the game P2W, but it's not looking good.

And where does the gear in the AH come from? That's right, from other players!

Players who never pay anything can still sell their drops for ADs, and then use the ADs to buy other stuff (or exchange them for Zen). This system benefits free players as much as it does people who have less time for farming.

In WoW, 99% of my gold came from playing the AH and selling stuff on the AH, and that allowed me to buy anything I wanted, including raid spots. Others purchased gold from gold sellers to do the same. There's really no difference, and Neverwinter is not pay-to-win because you cannot buy any gear with cash that does not also drop in the game.

argantis · April 2013

Devil's Advocate here!

Gold is on a need to know basis, and you don't need to know! If it burdens you, just send me a tell @argantis in game and I will come take it off of your hands for you.

BTW My largest gold expense is easily potions and kits. After that sometimes I have bought companions and mounts with it as well. There are also some combination currency things, I can't remember the specific one, but I think it was getting the Rank 3 mount upgrade that costed lots of AD and Gold.

myschaella · April 2013

Biggest gold sink should be buying re spec tokens. I played Cleric in all betas and really found little use for gold. Even in BW3 I only died 1 time as a cleric even with all the mobs chasing me round with the rest of the party following behind trying desperately to get them off me (so glad they sorted the agro out a bit more in BW4).
Only got to lvl 40 cos I didn't want to spoil too much of the game before OB and no more toon wipes but aside from buying my horse (which as I have both hero and guardian packs I wont have to do), and getting a few crafting mats I had little use for gold. Maybe this changes at higher lvl? Anyway just think it would be better to make re specs a gold sink, otherwise I may have to open my own finance company.

silvergryph · April 2013

To me gold is something to help immersion. It is the game world physical currency that you buy game world physical stuff with. Astral Diamonds are one step closer to a sort of meta-currency that lets you buy services. Of course, there are also some high end goods you can buy with AD. In those cases, you could think of AD from a roleplaying perspective as being a numerical representation of your character's fame or accomplishments. That vendor will not part with that Nightmare mount for just anyone, but because it's you...

On the Auction House where we trade with other players perhaps we are really trading heroic tales and bartering with influence and political maneuvering.

ZEN, of course, takes that final step into the meta-game. Maybe ZEN items are inheritence or things from our off-screen pasts.

Interestingly, all three currencies can be converted from one to another to some extent. You can trade AD for ZEN, but you can also sell some AD items to vendors for gold. You can buy items with gold and auction them for AD. You may even be able to auction off some ZEN purchases for AD or sell them to vendors for gold. Having all three currencies may help support multiple styles of gameplay.

myschaella · April 2013

Just a quick note for you Silvergryph. The first part of your signature:

Cryptic is the DM. DM's have final say on everything in their D&D game.
This is the single most important rule in D&D and has always been so.

This is only as true as PWE allow it to be

argantis · April 2013

myschaella wrote: »

Just a quick note for you Silvergryph. The first part of your signature:

Cryptic is the DM. DM's have final say on everything in their D&D game.
This is the single most important rule in D&D and has always been so.

This is only as true as PWE allow it to be

Well actually Cryptic is the rule provider, in some sense the community will be the DM. We will determine how to interpret the rules Cryptic gives us.

delgatto42 · April 2013

Without gold, how will my 9th level warrior afford a keep so he can get his followers. Wait that was second ed. Nevermind

fotzik · April 2013

They could use gold for player housing whenever that comes

kwsapphire · April 2013

I spent a lot of gold on kits (nature, religion, etc.) and healing potions. I didn't get to the end game, but I hear injury kits are important too, at that time. Personally I'm glad gold gets easier to come by at later levels, so I didn't feel like I had to scrimp and save. I just bought like... 20 of every kit that wasn't my class, and a whole bunch of potions. It was great, I felt rich!

silvergryph · April 2013

myschaella wrote: »

Just a quick note for you Silvergryph. The first part of your signature:

Cryptic is the DM. DM's have final say on everything in their D&D game.
This is the single most important rule in D&D and has always been so.

This is only as true as PWE allow it to be

There has been a lot of concern about PWE overruling Cryptic. Also a lot of concern over the published PWE documents that describe their business model in terms of looking at games as limited life to be supported only for a certain amount of time and then abandoned. I don't think there is much to worry about on either concern. PWE purchased Cryptic, a proven successful Western MMO company, to diversify their business model. Not to replace Cryptic's business model completely with their own. They understand that the Eastern and Western markets are very different and they want to compete in both. They can't do that by trying to change a successful Western company into an Eastern style operation.

There have been some changes, but by all appearances Cryptic still holds their own reins and looks like they will continue to be the DM for their games and make plans for them to have long term viability.

argantis · April 2013

silvergryph wrote: »

There has been a lot of concern about PWE overruling Cryptic. Also a lot of concern over the published PWE documents that describe their business model in terms of looking at games as limited life to be supported only for a certain amount of time and then abandoned. I don't think there is much to worry about on either concern. PWE purchased Cryptic, a proven successful Western MMO company, to diversify their business model. Not to replace Cryptic's business model completely with their own. They understand that the Eastern and Western markets are very different and they want to compete in both. They can't do that by trying to change a successful Western company into an Eastern style operation.

There have been some changes, but by all appearances Cryptic still holds their own reins and looks like they will continue to be the DM for their games and make plans for them to have long term viability.

Thanks for explaining that, because it had nothing to do with DnD and I was pretty confused before that.

l1zardo1 · April 2013

Thing is .. when we start with the 'Starter Pack', we won't be buying skill items etc for a long time. If we are rolling in a party, there will be very few potions quaffed. Also having a founder mount and companion, once again the few other small sinks.

Its useless to founders, and useless past L25 or so for non

They moved too many things off the GP -> AD vendors

kwsapphire · April 2013

l1zardo1 wrote: »

Thing is .. when we start with the 'Starter Pack', we won't be buying skill items etc for a long time. If we are rolling in a party, there will be very few potions quaffed. Also having a founder mount and companion, once again the few other small sinks.

Its useless to founders, and useless past L25 or so for non

They moved too many things off the GP -> AD vendors

I'm not sure I agree here.. the Guardian/Founders packs don't give you class-kits and injury kits, and you don't get that many healing potions from the adventurer's helper pack. Though if you don't like any of those items, gold may very well be useless to you. Feel free to send me any gold that you don't want, if you don't sent it to argantis first! ;]

leisses · April 2013

Money is the DM!!!!!!!!!! :cool:

labbb · April 2013

You can buy gear while leveling with gold. The vendors in the market place seem to change gear based on your level when you load in . I find it better to buy stuff from them before you can use it , because when I come back they don't have it . They sell blue items for gold . Its a good way to balance out your gear . A blue weapon or armor peace really makes life allot easier .

argantis · April 2013

labbb wrote: »

You can buy gear while leveling with gold. The vendors in the market place seem to change gear based on your level when you load in . I find it better to buy stuff from them before you can use it , because when I come back they don't have it . They sell blue items for gold . Its a good way to balance out your gear . A blue weapon or armor peace really makes life allot easier .

There is definitely gear there. It is usually better than what you find adventuring too. Just a heads up, there is two break points of blue gear there, at least there was in closed beta. A bunch of level 10 gear, that you can get for something like 5s a piece, and a set of level 20 gear, that you can buy for just under 10s a piece. A couple tips there.

1) The stuff below level 20 gets replaced so fast it is really not needed.

2) The level 20 stuff gives you a great feel for the power of a class. If you are not sure what you want to play, if you level each class to 20 and put this gear on it will give you a good baseline to find out what you want to play. It also lasts longer but still is not needed.

3) The most important part. If you want to buy it, you need to get it BEFORE you hit the level required, otherwise the vendor will not show it to you for some reason.

The point of Gold Currency?

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