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Please make all Zen Store Companions Account Wide

giggliatogiggliato Member Posts: 446 Arc User
edited August 2013 in General Discussion (PC)
Hello, I am currently thinking about rolling another wizard to 60 to have alternate specs. My current wizard has a level 30 Galeb Duhr and I'd like to be able to have my new wizard use him while levelling.

Everyone who I talk to ingame would also like account wide companions. In lieu of unbinding, which would lead to exploiters exploiting even more, I think account wide companions is the way to go. Thank you for your time and the game.
Post edited by giggliato on
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Comments

  • axan22#6446 axan22 Member Posts: 1 Arc User
    edited July 2013
    I totally agree with this, I just obtained the lillend and would love to use her, but my main is a cleric so will keep her for my moon elf wizard when I can create him but would be way better to have account wide companions, I for one would probably buy most if not all the Zen companions over time if this was the case, at the moment I wont buy any due to the high cost and not being account wide, the hero of the north pack, knight of feywild pack companions are account wide as is the IGN Prime tiefling cleric, mounts are account wide so why cant companions be?
  • kentuckyfriedfookentuckyfriedfoo Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited July 2013
    And lose money? Blasphemy!
  • satansnemesissatansnemesis Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 67
    edited July 2013
    I can't speak for everyone but I "believe" most players feel the same way. I "think" we just know it probably won't happen. I really don't think the company wouldn't lose any money because companions would be more attractive which would probably generate more sales than they have now. Lets get real, they are only selling us a virtual item that really has no true monetary value so they have nothing lose either way. It's not like they are selling us stock in the company.

    I would love to see the sales figures for companions. I bet they are pretty dismal (if you don't count the stones). I really don't see all that many Zen store companions running around in the game. I see the panthers and the dire wolves a lot, but rarely see badgers and galubs. I don't think I have ever seen the newest mage or the boar in the game and I have seen one ghost.

    They could easily increase their sales with just a tiny bit of work and a little bit of thought and they could do it without releasing another augment companion. I don't want a companion that can out heal a cleric or tank a 5 man boss, I just want one that will stay alive, be smart enough to move out of danger, and do their job well. It would also be great if they didn't hit every single trap along the way.
  • herbie1347herbie1347 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 11 Arc User
    edited July 2013
    I agree with this. I would be willing to buy more items if it was account wide. it's kinda hard to justify $20-$35 for just one character. thats my wallet speaking and good common sense.
  • aesandilaesandil Member Posts: 39
    edited July 2013
    Yup, it would certainly make me consider buying some. Otherwise it just greatly hurts people who want to play more than one character.
  • beckylunaticbeckylunatic Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 14,231 Arc User
    edited July 2013
    The prices are a barrier, and Zen store companions are poor value for your money compared to the account-wide mounts. Further, since the viability of any companion other than an augment in doing epic dungeons and such is... well, not viable... players are turned off of buying an expensive companion for levelling when the free ones will serve just fine, or maybe they'll pick up a couple of the others available for gold just to mix it up.

    A healer would sell better, even if it were single-character. But more damage dealers, or even a defender? Most players aren't interested in them as anything more than a novelty, status symbol, or roleplaying choice.

    The problem with implementing Zen store companions as account unlocks would be that they would also have to be made BoP, which might tick off a few people who buy them specifically for trading... a minority, I'm sure.

    I think it's fair that companions from other game currency should be per-character and tradeable. Mounts work the same way.
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    Neverwinter Census 2017

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  • untamedengineer#6733 untamedengineer Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 100 Arc User
    edited July 2013
    I would be happy if they released account wide companion upgrade tomes (either in the Zen store or as part of a Pack).
  • rustedheartzrustedheartz Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited July 2013
    Agree. I want purchased companions to be account wide.
  • satansnemesissatansnemesis Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 67
    edited July 2013
    The problem with implementing Zen store companions as account unlocks would be that they would also have to be made BoP, which might tick off a few people who buy them specifically for trading... a minority, I'm sure.

    Very few of these companions go on the AH. There really isn't too much money in reselling them because most players realize that they can just use the AD exchange for zen and buy it themselves for less than the AH inflated price. Of course there are always those few uninformed individuals who don't realize this is almost always cheaper.
  • angryspriteangrysprite Member Posts: 4,982 Arc User
    edited July 2013
    The whole Companion binding scenario is SNAFU: It's not an account bind the same way Mounts are, but to add insult to injury the unbinding process has NEVER, EVER worked.

    The means the Companions are way WAY overpriced because they are now permanently character-bound with no way to unbind them AND they are not account-wide. Only companions that come in a pack (Founders and the new Feywild Knight) are account wide. Standard Z-Store Companions are CHARACTER BOUND PERMANENTLY.

    I've never seen any dev response to this issue, not even a simple acknowledgement that problem (broken unbinding) exists.

    Seriously: SAVE YOUR MONEY. $35 PER CHARACTER that is USE ONCE and ONLY ONCE and NEVER TRANSFERRABLE is ridiculously expensive (and they don't really work all that well, too). And this is how it will always be until Cryptic 1) fixes the unbinding issues OR 2) turns all Companions to account-wide - even if it's only transferable within your own account (your own alts, but cannot be transferred to other players).

    #EpicFail.
  • beckylunaticbeckylunatic Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 14,231 Arc User
    edited July 2013
    Very few of these companions go on the AH. There really isn't too much money in reselling them because most players realize that they can just use the AD exchange for zen and buy it themselves for less than the AH inflated price. Of course there are always those few uninformed individuals who don't realize this is almost always cheaper.

    Yeah, you don't see many of them listed. The demand just isn't there for them either, unlike things like preservation wards and bags, which do see high turnover to the less-informed player base. Anybody determined to buy a Zen companion is probably prepared to either just fork over the RL money, or knows a bit about saving their diamonds.

    I was thinking also in terms of people who offer to trade big ticket Zen store items directly for other items. But, again, it's not like there's a lot of demand for these because they simply cost too much for the amount of use you're likely to get out of them.
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    Neverwinter Census 2017

    All posts pending disapproval by Cecilia
  • prettyboysetaprettyboyseta Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 62
    edited July 2013
    +1 or perhaps rare and epic companions have a character bound version (in-game currency purchase)
    too bad I already purchased zen for the stone, not knowing how to earn AD fast before
    Wizard.jpg
  • satansnemesissatansnemesis Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 67
    edited August 2013
    The whole Companion binding scenario is SNAFU: It's not an account bind the same way Mounts are, but to add insult to injury the unbinding process has NEVER, EVER worked.

    I've never seen any dev response to this issue, not even a simple acknowledgement that problem (broken unbinding) exists.

    They did reply about unbinding a companion during a Q&A session. They said it would add to many issues to the game and decided to scrap the idea.
  • steelemagnoliasteelemagnolia Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 45
    edited August 2013
    I would be more willing to buy items like companions if they were account wide. As it is, I won't.
  • giggliatogiggliato Member Posts: 446 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    Well, just make the items bind to account when you use them, that way you can buy companions and then resell them, but I doubt there is much of that going on.
  • temjiutemjiu Member Posts: 92 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    I support this in a big way. and they need to make the previous bought companions backwards compatible. 30$ for a mostly useless striker on one toon compared to 30$ for a max speed mount that is account wide.

    If Cryptic can't see the horrible imbalance in this design, they need to hire new dev's...or whoever is in charge of making the decisions on these costs...no slight intended to dev's who are working hard to balance all this stuff.
  • satansnemesissatansnemesis Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 67
    edited August 2013
    The companions AND their upgrades should be account wide. It is insane to charge $20 for a stone per character and then expect us to pay another $23 (or more depending on the price of Zen) to upgrade it 5 levels. That is just wrong in so many ways. Honestly, the upgrade price is too steep even if it was account wide. The upgrade cost should be the same as the price variance in the Zen store (which should also be lowered). I really believe if the prices were lowered a TON OR if the companions were made account wide the Zen sales would skyrocket. If the prices were dropped more people would start collecting companions. Then they would also have to start buying more space for them (I bet that one is a big seller right now. lol). PWE/Cryptic has all the sales figures so they know the truth. If they removed the sale of stones from the equation would they really be making any money by selling companions?
  • granville7482granville7482 Member Posts: 191 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    The account wide addition is kind of iffy only because some people have multiple copies of the same companion. (I have three ion stones for example) I'm also going to guess coding such a thing would be a bit of a nightmare to book keep. That being said..the feature is implemented, yet diabled to unbind Companions. If enabled, this would solve some problems and also cause competitive prices on the AH for companions that were less than the zen cost. The same goes for the non account wide mounts. (Twilight and Heavy inferno Nightmars off the top of my head.)
  • bobcat1313bobcat1313 Member Posts: 1,089 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    I have yet to buy a companion because they are not account wide, wish this would happen.
  • vrtesseractvrtesseract Member Posts: 631 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    I think both mounts and companions should have 2 prices in zen store.
    10-15$ BOE version that could be resold ect. but it is a 1 character option.
    and a 20$-30$ version that is BOA.

    Anyone with 1-2 characters would be breaking even so to speak as the BOA
    versions would be assuming 2 character slots. now people who BUY more character slots
    would be adding VALUE to their account. thus encouraging people to buy slots rather than
    just make 10 accounts,

    Also I bet if you really run the numbers most people if they buy bind to char pets they buy
    for one maybe 2 characters even if they have 5slots. if your buying for the account you get that
    gotta catch them all thing going.

    Also people with 1 account are much more likely to buy 60$ packs. as their account has more value
    and people with more value on their account are much more likely to make more characters thus
    sinking millions of AD into each characters gear and tradeskills.

    and people with 1 valuable account are much more likely to not exploit or grief as they would
    not wish to lose an account they loaded with all sorts of goodies.

    Im also a big advocate of account banks.
  • locozocolocozoco Member Posts: 3 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    Star Trek Online has account wide ship purchases in the Zen Store, if you purchase it once it is available for all the characters on one's account. This should be the way it is with companions that are purchased from the Zen Store.
  • runebanerunebane Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    The problem with implementing Zen store companions as account unlocks would be that they would also have to be made BoP, which might tick off a few people who buy them specifically for trading... a minority, I'm sure.

    They could change that. But they'd have to re-work the system a bit. Have the store give you a companion item. When used it would add the companion to the entire account. If not used, the the item could still be sold on the AH.

    Honestly it makes no sense to sell them on the AH anyway. Not for the companions you can straight up buy in the Zen shop. Unless you are trying to rip people off. Anyone can exchange their AD for Zen and buy the companion themselves.
    Halgarth's Legacy - NWS-DSTGFZHFR
  • ambisinisterrambisinisterr Member, Neverwinter Moderator Posts: 10,462 Community Moderator
    edited August 2013
    My Two Cents:

    For the price of companions they should be account wide.

    At the very least their prices should be dropped and made Account Bound rather than Character Bound.

    Moderator Notice - Thread moved to the correct forum section. The Preview Feedback is only for content which is currently on the Preview Shard and not for general game feedback.
  • xenotorchxenotorch Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 196 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    As others have said, making companions account wide should be a no-brainer. I am very happy with my Tiefling cleric as it is 5 levels more capable than the vanilla one, plus has better HP and stats (at the 15th level!)

    It is purely an economy of scale issue which would fuel more sales. If you're selling to people with 1 account and an average of 3-4 alts then only the most serious would buy a companion for each alt. If they were account wide, then the different playstyles and types would factor more, particularly in levelling. The RPG element would be greater and lead to more player enjoyment/immersion.

    Happy players part with more money, why is this so hard to understand? I will caveat that with the fact that only if they see value in the items sold - currently low value.
  • bioshrikebioshrike Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 4,729 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    I would be much more apt to buy an account-wide companion vs a single-character one. That was the deciding factor in whether I'd buy a mount or not...
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  • raath13raath13 Member Posts: 230 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    I think this is going to be one of those extremely rare threads that just about everyone will agree with. I also think a thread like this will be a good "test" for Cryptic, in whether or not they actually listen to their players.

    I agree 100% with just about everything said. For the prices they are charging, mounts & companions should be account wide. I wouldn't care if they have two different price tiers, one for single character & one for the account. As long as it wasn't an insane difference in price.

    And as others have mentioned, this is the sole reason why I haven't bought either off the market. I would without a thought if they were account wide.
  • mchaywiremchaywire Member Posts: 40 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    Make them account bound instead of player bound. Come to think of it they should make Epic gear bound to account as well
  • bioshrikebioshrike Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 4,729 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    mchaywire wrote: »
    Make them account bound instead of player bound. Come to think of it they should make Epic gear bound to account as well

    As the game is currently implemented, there is no point to having items be "bound to account". There is no way to transfer said items.
    <::::::::::::::)xxxo <::::::::::::::)xxxo <::::::::::::)xxxxxxxx(:::::::::::> oxxx(::::::::::::::> oxxx(::::::::::::::>
    "Is it better to be feared or respected? I say, is it too much to ask for both?" -Tony Stark
    Official NW_Legit_Community Forums
  • runebanerunebane Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    bioshrike wrote: »
    As the game is currently implemented, there is no point to having items be "bound to account". There is no way to transfer said items.

    I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure they meant account-wide instead of account bound. Like Zen mounts or companions you get from packs.
    Halgarth's Legacy - NWS-DSTGFZHFR
  • chronomancerchronomancer Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 1,223
    edited August 2013
    /agree and sign on this post. With the insane prices of some cash shop companions it should be account wide.
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