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300K to upgrade companion?

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  • sutekhonesutekhone Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild Users Posts: 30 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    zalcs wrote: »
    Only problem is that you can't grind in this game. at all. probably 90% of the ad in this game is bought, its ridiculous

    Funny, I have been constantly grinding for AD since level 60 and never spent a penny to buy it. Repeated Dungeon Delves to sell the drops and chest items on AH after I was outfitted, selling the token and glory items on the AH from dungeon and pvp grinds, daily AD quests, Leadership tasks (after grinding to 20) each day that give me more rough astral diamonds than I can refine in a 24 hour period (without considering the dailies), etc... In fact, it was this excessive grinding by many players that flooded the market and allowed full pvp and tier 1 sets to be purchased for under 50k AD, and some Tier 2 sets for under 100k.

    Up until this most recent patch that made DD chest rewards BOP, along with glory and token rewards, grinding was all me and most of my friends ever did each day.
  • kiralynkiralyn Member Posts: 1,440 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    zalcs wrote: »
    Only problem is that you can't grind in this game. at all. probably 90% of the ad in this game is bought, its ridiculous

    ...the AD that you buy in the exchange? Made in-game, the majority of it.


    (Know how I know this? Because I've gotten close to 10k zen since open beta started, off AD that I got in-game. Mostly from leadership, dailies, and invoking - I don't run elite dungeons, and have gotten no purple drops. /shrug)
  • jarlsburgjarlsburg Member Posts: 222 Bounty Hunter
    edited August 2013
    ranncore wrote: »
    The first 2 areas are free, and come with about 8 new daily quests that award several thousand diamonds.

    I don't think any of the quests in the new zone award AD.
  • pers3phonepers3phone Banned Users, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    What exactly is the cost to unlock ALL new content? I can't believe they actually said it's a free expac lol.
  • brendan03usbrendan03us Member, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    pers3phone wrote: »
    What exactly is the cost to unlock ALL new content? I can't believe they actually said it's a free expac lol.

    How it works:

    You run daily quests in FW zone that award special zone tokens. There is a progression tree through the zone that unlocks new areas and abilities for you. These are obtained through a combination of the special zone tokens you get for doing the dailies and some in-game currency. The amounts to unlock everything, leaving aside the zone daily quest reward currency: 155k AD, 40g. Remember, that includes unlocking ability upgrades and crafting pack access -- not all of it is zone access, and most of it, in fact is not.

    It is "free". You don't need Zen for any of it. These are gold and AD sinks, and not huge ones, really. Saying that it is P2W is like saying buying a mount for gold in game is P2W.
  • s32ialxs32ialx Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    ranncore wrote: »
    The first 2 areas are free, and come with about 8 new daily quests that award several thousand diamonds. You have to earn so much faction by repeating these quests. You'll probably earn about 20-30k diamonds before you have enough faction to progress to the next area, which requires the purchase of a key for 10k diamonds.

    The fee is nominal, a very low cost AD sink. However, there will be whiners. There always are.

    correct me if I am wrong but I played with you on the preview and NO Astral Diamonds was awarded for ANY New Sharandar Quest when did they add AD as a reward because I did my dailies from there today (on live) and was Awarded again NO AD.
  • pers3phonepers3phone Banned Users, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    How it works:

    You run daily quests in FW zone that award special zone tokens. There is a progression tree through the zone that unlocks new areas and abilities for you. These are obtained through a combination of the special zone tokens you get for doing the dailies and some in-game currency. The amounts to unlock everything, leaving aside the zone daily quest reward currency: 155k AD, 40g. Remember, that includes unlocking ability upgrades and crafting pack access -- not all of it is zone access, and most of it, in fact is not.

    It is "free". You don't need Zen for any of it. These are gold and AD sinks, and not huge ones, really. Saying that it is P2W is like saying buying a mount for gold in game is P2W.

    Thanks for the info. Considering I started 2 weeks ago and I have only 40K AD after buying some gear, this is hugely stupid to me. I was hoping to slowly get around 300K AD for **** High Vizier set, not spend it to unlock zones.

    This game gets more and more disappointing as I go deeper. I wish there was a free MMO out there without these practices, without gear cash shops and only with cosmetic stuff, like PoE is for ARPGs.

    BTW, are there any new dungeons? Gear tiers/better than T2/CN gear? Do I miss something essential if I pass on this? I can't care less for some generic quests I don't see.
  • diazotgdiazotg Member Posts: 6 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    Here is something these PW/Cryptic yahoos don't get: It's a video game not crack!

    It's sad. These cleary bad managers are going after the short term gain rather than the long term ROI. They rather get some schlub like me to spend $200 right now, have me quit by ticking me off through broken promises and rewarding cheats than treat me right and have me spend $1000 over a lifetime. Wake up guys. Get smart or whither on the vine. Unbelieveable.
  • stercogburnstercogburn Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 214 Bounty Hunter
    edited August 2013
    Not impressed.

    If you want to monetize aspects of the game, it shouldn't mean that to enjoy the whole game you pay more than a monthly sub in a subscription model. So upgrades of this type become out of reach for a lot of players unless they grind like crazy - for minor improvements to your game experience you have to do a silly amount of trivial play. Then there's other aspects of the game that you pay for too if you don't want the same irritation factor.

    Greedy. Very blatantly greedy Cryptic.
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  • faeriestormfaeriestorm Member Posts: 460 Bounty Hunter
    edited August 2013
    considering the cost to upgrade I don't even consider it an option nor part of the game because it is exorbitantly expensive. Just like I never considered it possible to upgrade the normal mounts because of the cost of the training tomes. They are steadily making this game less fun with every new patch.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • runebanerunebane Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    Uck, nevermind. Sorry. My posts got mixed up.
    Halgarth's Legacy - NWS-DSTGFZHFR
  • silvernitesilvernite Member Posts: 107 Bounty Hunter
    edited August 2013
    It's all about the green back dollar for Cryptic. They aren't going to do anything that takes a dollar away from them.
  • bobcat1313bobcat1313 Member Posts: 1,089 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    500K to blue I think it is.
  • perfectindigoperfectindigo Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    considering the cost to upgrade I don't even consider it an option nor part of the game because it is exorbitantly expensive. Just like I never considered it possible to upgrade the normal mounts because of the cost of the training tomes. They are steadily making this game less fun with every new patch.

    Neverwinter is the first f2p game I've played where prices are so expensive for basic things that I don't bother with them. I don't really need more bag space, a better companion, enchantments, or a decent mount if it takes months of grind. I could buy those things, but I think it's more fun to play the game for a bit and then trade.

    Obviously enough people buy AD that the system works, but the zen exchange on Neverwinter isn't a viable way for f2p to get stuff. In STO I traded for several unlocks, but in Neverwinter I haven't used the zen exchange at all.

    I'll probably play Feywild long enough to unlock and see some of the lower content (the price for the dungeon is ok), but I'm not grinding for anything else at such high prices.
  • apokalupsis2012apokalupsis2012 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 123 Bounty Hunter
    edited August 2013
    diazotg wrote: »
    Here is something these PW/Cryptic yahoos don't get: It's a video game not crack!

    It's sad. These cleary bad managers are going after the short term gain rather than the long term ROI. They rather get some schlub like me to spend $200 right now, have me quit by ticking me off through broken promises and rewarding cheats than treat me right and have me spend $1000 over a lifetime. Wake up guys. Get smart or whither on the vine. Unbelieveable.
    Agreed. But I wonder if this is just a difference of cultures. PWE is the NA publisher of PW, which is a Chinese game publisher. The Asian video game industry is quite different than Western, both in design and business practice. While it may make sense to you and I to think about building relationships for the long-term, it may not from an Asian (particularly, Chinese) business model which wants to cash in on the short-term. Asian business models typically focus more on the short-term financial expectations than Western do. And this may be a reason why there this game is one of most "nickel-and-dime" MMORPG if not the worst, on the market today.

    It's unfortunate of course, because neither party wins out as much as they could...all because of a misunderstanding of cultures. Since it is the West being catered to, it only makes sense to appeal to Western values and "wants." It may take longer to reap the corresponding rewards, but they will be, in the end, far greater.

    It's like the many instances of Western businesses placing their brick-n-mortar stores in foreign countries without changing how they do business. They often fail because of the lack of ability (or even attempt) to understand the demographic...and there is an assumption that is made that "Well if it works here, it will work there."

    I agree that if the player base here in the West were actually listened to that both us and PW would win. But obviously, the higher ups at PW disagree...and thus, there is a serious disconnect between us and them...and there always will be.
  • zahinderzahinder Member Posts: 897 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    I just don't know how a company that hit all the right notes with Star Trek Online can consistently hit sour ones in Neverwinter.
    Campaign: The Fenwick Cycle NWS-DKR9GB7KH

    Wicks and Things: NW-DI4FMZRR4 : The Fenwick merchant family has lost a caravan! Can you help?

    Beggar's Hollow: NW-DR6YG4J2L : Someone, or something, has stolen away many of the Fenwicks' children! Can you find out what happened to them?

    Into the Fen Wood: NW-DL89DRG7B : Enter the heart of the forest. Can you discover the secret of the Fen Wood?
  • pers3phonepers3phone Banned Users, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    s32ialx wrote: »
    correct me if I am wrong but I played with you on the preview and NO Astral Diamonds was awarded for ANY New Sharandar Quest when did they add AD as a reward because I did my dailies from there today (on live) and was Awarded again NO AD.

    Didn't get any AD from my first day either, except from the skirmish. Anyway, 155K AD is ridiculous. Now they added the Fey dailies, additional to Rhyx's, which already take a some 2 hours to complete or something. So one would end up with 3-4 hrs of daily <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font>, just to unlock zones, probably to make the content last longer artificially. I mean, w.t.f.

    I'm starting to regret trying this game. Gameplay is fun and entertaining, but all the cash-related machinations and greed is lame, lame, lame, makes me wanna puke, and obviously never to want to support the game.
  • apokalupsis2012apokalupsis2012 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 123 Bounty Hunter
    edited August 2013
    pers3phone wrote: »
    Didn't get any AD from my first day either, except from the skirmish. Anyway, 155K AD is ridiculous. Now they added the Fey dailies, additional to Rhyx's, which already take a some 2 hours to complete or something. So one would end up with 3-4 hrs of daily <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font>, just to unlock zones, probably to make the content last longer artificially. I mean, w.t.f.

    I'm starting to regret trying this game. Gameplay is fun and entertaining, but all the cash-related machinations and greed is lame, lame, lame, makes me wanna puke, and obviously never to want to support the game.
    I don't think PWE is focusing on customer retention, as evidenced of lacking in end game content and catering to the long-term players. I think instead, they are focusing on getting as many new players as possible by making the game have all sorts of features, even if they are just "icing" on an under-baked "cake."

    WoW, GW/GW2, EQ series, FF...are all examples of how the focus is on the long-term. NW is not only in a different league, but playing a different ballgame altogether. Their focus is on "short and fast" when it comes to customers, not retention.

    So if you look at it from that angle, it could be said to be "successful." If you were to look at it as "most money possible on an annual basis" well...I think it's not going to be able to compete with those other titles as it's a "cash-n-grab" sort of business model not "sustain long-term profits" sort of model.
  • zahinderzahinder Member Posts: 897 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    If CO is any guide (STO somewhat, though they are better there), there is a pattern of nifty ideas that are then abandoned.

    I think it's pretty likely that we'll see a lot of really cool ideas that are then left to moulder while the dev team goes on to the next cool flash.
    Campaign: The Fenwick Cycle NWS-DKR9GB7KH

    Wicks and Things: NW-DI4FMZRR4 : The Fenwick merchant family has lost a caravan! Can you help?

    Beggar's Hollow: NW-DR6YG4J2L : Someone, or something, has stolen away many of the Fenwicks' children! Can you find out what happened to them?

    Into the Fen Wood: NW-DL89DRG7B : Enter the heart of the forest. Can you discover the secret of the Fen Wood?
  • heidid91heidid91 Member Posts: 13 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    kantazo1 wrote: »
    Yes sir. Yes indeed

    I don't know about later sections, but the first 2 areas that you can access are certainly free.
    "The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails."
    -- William Arthur Ward
  • epiccritepiccrit Member Posts: 30 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    No, the daily grind to unlock areas and quests, is taken STRAIGHT from WoW, specifically, the fire area in cataclysm. At any rate, 300,000 astral diamonds to upgrade and 155,000 astral diamonds to unlock the new expac content is chump change, unless you don't have one clue on how to earn astral diamonds.

    FYI haven't spent 1 dime on game, have 16 character slots, so I can sell 16 chests a week, at 20k astral diamonds = 300K astral diamonds weekly for logging in. That's just the money from chests, not to mention the money from prayer.
  • doublea2012doublea2012 Member Posts: 68 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    yes this is a right out fact you can go buy a blue color companion for 14k glory and it works as good as the rest
    but they want you to pay 300k AD to upgrade to one they are not right in that choice, something needs to be done asap
  • pers3phonepers3phone Banned Users, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    epiccrit wrote: »
    No, the daily grind to unlock areas and quests, is taken STRAIGHT from WoW, specifically, the fire area in cataclysm. At any rate, 300,000 astral diamonds to upgrade and 155,000 astral diamonds to unlock the new expac content is chump change, unless you don't have one clue on how to earn astral diamonds.

    FYI haven't spent 1 dime on game, have 16 character slots, so I can sell 16 chests a week, at 20k astral diamonds = 300K astral diamonds weekly for logging in. That's just the money from chests, not to mention the money from prayer.

    I think you're missing a very important detail. While indeed Firelands was a grind, with dailies, they actually brought you money, i.e. you got richer in game by doing the dailies. In WoW you didn't have to spend your gold to unlock areas. You needed to just spend your time, approximately a month of doing dailies if I remember. It never bothered me, since the game didn't try to rip me off my currency.

    Also, the Firelands raid was also free, you didn;t have to spend 50K gold as you need to spend 50K AD here for Malabog's dungeon.

    And yes, you're quite efficient at making money in NW, but instead of being able to do it on one single char, you need 16 and a littleish exploitative too.
  • jintortlejintortle Member Posts: 655 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    If this was a Monthly conscription based MMO - everyone would just be grinding away till they get what they needed. Because it is F2P everyone is whining. I suggest just imagine that its a Paid Sub and just grind as you would in that instance. Too many People want it all instantly yet they complain about F2P model.


    It took me like 2 Moths to grind materials and Gold in WOW to make a Motorcycle (back in the day). Relax why be so impatient!
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  • epiccritepiccrit Member Posts: 30 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    Not at all exploitative. I needed to capital to raise those 16 character slots too. I'm not missing the big picture. If I want it free badly enough, it's available. That's my point. I wasn't even going to go with 16 either, I was actually going to stop at 10 character slots, but they had a sale on character slots a couple weeks ago and I took advantage of that too.
  • jedite2012jedite2012 Member Posts: 177 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    my god its hard enough to get AD, they lied how the expansion is free
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • keiran25keiran25 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 97
    edited August 2013
    Why doesn't everybody stop complaining about spending in-game currencies that don't matter jack in reality and maybe...I don't know..

    Enjoy the new content? I mean come on guys it's A D&D CAMPAIGN...Since when have they *ever* been easy?

    I just don't get why people are going ape **** over begrudgingly losing colored pixelated numbers...for their designed purpose...to be spent..

    All I've seen since the Module went live is people complaining about AD, Companions and Mounts...barely seen anything commenting on what the new content is like.. I'd hate to be a Cryptic employee right now, having just sunk Tymora knows how many hours, sleepless nights and stress to bring this content update barely TWO MONTHS after official release...and nobody even cares because they are too busy raging over cosmetic, optional, and pointless items.

    Thanks Cryptic/PWE devs for getting so much new content to us so soon, yeah there's a few hiccups but teething is a *****. The Feywild was always one of my favorite settings to run games in and I can't wait to see how it looks!

    I'm gonna get flamed for this, but that's ok I have a +5 racial bonus to trolls :P
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  • ruminate00ruminate00 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    Agreed. But I wonder if this is just a difference of cultures. PWE is the NA publisher of PW, which is a Chinese game publisher. The Asian video game industry is quite different than Western, both in design and business practice. While it may make sense to you and I to think about building relationships for the long-term, it may not from an Asian (particularly, Chinese) business model which wants to cash in on the short-term. Asian business models typically focus more on the short-term financial expectations than Western do. And this may be a reason why there this game is one of most "nickel-and-dime" MMORPG if not the worst, on the market today.

    It's unfortunate of course, because neither party wins out as much as they could...all because of a misunderstanding of cultures. Since it is the West being catered to, it only makes sense to appeal to Western values and "wants." It may take longer to reap the corresponding rewards, but they will be, in the end, far greater.

    It's like the many instances of Western businesses placing their brick-n-mortar stores in foreign countries without changing how they do business. They often fail because of the lack of ability (or even attempt) to understand the demographic...and there is an assumption that is made that "Well if it works here, it will work there."

    I agree that if the player base here in the West were actually listened to that both us and PW would win. But obviously, the higher ups at PW disagree...and thus, there is a serious disconnect between us and them...and there always will be.

    ...I don't even know where to begin.

    Brick and mortar stores fail in foreign markets because they don't offer consumers the goods they want. For example, opening up a McDonalds in India and serving them beef is a good way to bankrupt yourself. Business practices have nothing to do with it.

    Chinese business practices are the same as american business practices. China has been the hotbed of american outsourcing for decades. Where do you think they learned how to do business?
  • runebanerunebane Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2013
    pers3phone wrote: »
    I think you're missing a very important detail. While indeed Firelands was a grind, with dailies, they actually brought you money, i.e. you got richer in game by doing the dailies. In WoW you didn't have to spend your gold to unlock areas. You needed to just spend your time, approximately a month of doing dailies if I remember. It never bothered me, since the game didn't try to rip me off my currency.


    First -The firelands grind was also a lot longer than this. IIRC it was closer to 3 months, not one. FotF's grind is nothing compared to Firelands. As for ripping you of your currency? What? The cost is to open new areas, not to run the dailies. And yes, firelands charged you in-game currency every time you opened a new area. It cost those tokens (forget what they were called) that you could have used to buy gear or pets. It didn't cost gold though. Like I said though, the dailies don't cost you anything to do. Opening them up is a one time small AD fee, as opposed to Firelands token fee that took weeks to get.
    pers3phone wrote: »
    Also, the Firelands raid was also free, you didn;t have to spend 50K gold as you need to spend 50K AD here for Malabog's dungeon.
    Nothing in the Firelands was free. While you may not have had to pay for it with in-game currency, you bought the xpac. The difference here is that this update costs us in game currency instead of cash.


    I think a lot of this comes down to player perspective. I can make 150K AD a day in this game without touching the AH. So the cost of the areas just seems minimal and unimportant to me. On the other hand the cost of upgrading pets and mounts is outrageous. Simply because I'd like to upgrade multiple mounts/pets for each of my many characters.
    Halgarth's Legacy - NWS-DSTGFZHFR
  • ulyxosulyxos Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users Posts: 49
    edited August 2013
    I agree the companion upgrades are overpriced but they really are an optional part of the game. They are not really that usefull (even the purple ones). The amount of cash on the market just jumped with the introduction of the blue drops (for gold) and the salvager and new 8K daily (for AD). I do not agree that the companion upgrades are chump change though. When playing a game, i expect to play the game not to play the AH or have an AD factory instead of doing quests, dungeons and PVP. The kind of money needed requires some patience for most players that play for free which in not common in nowadays MMO players.
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