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A Case for Account-Bound Z-Store Companions
angrysprite
Member Posts: 4,982 Arc User
This post is specifically directed at the Perfect World Entertainment and Cryptic powers-that-be who decide these things. Everyone else is welcomed to contribute, of course, but lets keep it civil as both Cryptic and Perfect World are good companies just trying to run a viable business and there's nothing wrong with that.
@Cryptic (and PWE if necessary):
This is my case for why Z-Store companions should be account-bound (at their current pricing) or reduced in pricing (if they are to remain character-bound).
This post is also more or less in reply to this thread:
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?540301-Prices-are-Outrageous-Since-PWE-Purchased-Cryptic
Which I completely disagree with (the original post) - I think all Z-Store pricing is currently relatively fair, except for the Companions there.
I've been playing Star Trek Online and Champions for four years. Granted that their Z-Store pricing is definitely lower than comparable virtual items in the Neverwinter Z-Store. However, I am also fully aware those games are hugely subsidized by the "Gold" pay-to-play subscriptions, which Neverwinter does not have; hence Neverwinter must earn everything through it's Zen Store.
I get it.
This is why I believe everything in the Neverwinter Zen Store is fairly priced, except for the Companions sold there and here is why:
Other than consumables, practically everything else in the Z-Store is account-based, meaning it affects my entire account, either through services (extra character slots, for example, and yes, I know that inventory extensions called "Bags of Holding" are character-bound - but they are inexpensive). Everything else is a consumable, whether it's a respec token, color dye, "Health Stone", etcetera and so it makes sense those are character-based (used only one per player character).
The only exception to this, in my view, is the "Companions" items sold there. There are basically two high-ticket items in the Zen Store that you hope players are willing to spend a lot of money on: Mounts and Companions. Mounts are a no-brainer because once purchased the player can use that item on all characters, including future characters they may create.
Here’s the problem with high-cost Companions (and Vehicles in Champions Online): when we create a character in your game, we will be very finicky to it's visual appearance (our misguided vein-propensities, I suppose) and the statistics of each among many other things. In short, we are very picky about what we’ve created to represent us in your virtual world. After that, we decide our satisfaction of the playability of that character - and in some cases we may not decide unsatisfactory status until well within the leveling process (I have three characters in their 20's and 30's I’m ready to delete because I just don't play them any more - even though I still have one of six character slots free).
We want the ability and opportunity at times to throw that character out and start-over. Not that we will, but we always know we can do it if ever we wanted.
However, spending $30 (3000 Zen) on something that can never be passed along to or otherwise used on a replacement (or new or existing previous) character will "lock-in" that character we may grow unhappy with later on.
Because of the very possibility of this lock-in, it's even harder to justify the high-cost of a Zen Store Companion - because it's a permanent purchase against a very temporary part of the game, not the game itself. Consider this:
Character-bound Companions that are locked into a specific player character:
Now consider this - Account-bound Companions at $30:
It comes down to the "what if" scenario: Am I willing to spend a LOT of money on something that I'm not sure I'll always be happy with? Once I do I'm trapped - it's either stick with that character (happy or not) or literally throw money away.
So this is how I am making my case, that you consider the logical and emotional issues of the current state of Zen Store Companion pricing.
My proposed solution is:
-or-
I purchased a Galeb Duhr before the pricing was lowered ($35) - I never complained about the lowering of prices, that's moot. However, I never would have purchased it except for the promise of unbinding it to transfer to an alt at a later time. I am not using this post to complain about the policy change that removed this intended option. I am simply saying this was the only justification I was able to come-up with to make the purchase at all and I know I'm not the only one. it was the one deciding factor in my purchasing decision.
Now with all possibility of unbinding any Companion from a character, the one singular justification for spending so much money on a single character with so many "what if" scenarios just does't exist any more.
TL;DR version:
I am beseeching you, Cryptic and Perfect World Entertainment, to remove all the "what-if" questions, make me feel "future-safe" in my purchase so that it's an investment into my entire Neverwinter game experience, rather than a one-time gamble. Your other games (STO and CO) do this. Please bring Neverwinter in-line with those. (And yes, I know Champions Online "Vehicles" are character-bound - and all of the above applies to those, as well).
Thank you for at least considering my point of view and I hope it, at least, provides some insight into many of our (the players’) perspectives.
@Cryptic (and PWE if necessary):
This is my case for why Z-Store companions should be account-bound (at their current pricing) or reduced in pricing (if they are to remain character-bound).
This post is also more or less in reply to this thread:
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?540301-Prices-are-Outrageous-Since-PWE-Purchased-Cryptic
Which I completely disagree with (the original post) - I think all Z-Store pricing is currently relatively fair, except for the Companions there.
I've been playing Star Trek Online and Champions for four years. Granted that their Z-Store pricing is definitely lower than comparable virtual items in the Neverwinter Z-Store. However, I am also fully aware those games are hugely subsidized by the "Gold" pay-to-play subscriptions, which Neverwinter does not have; hence Neverwinter must earn everything through it's Zen Store.
I get it.
This is why I believe everything in the Neverwinter Zen Store is fairly priced, except for the Companions sold there and here is why:
Other than consumables, practically everything else in the Z-Store is account-based, meaning it affects my entire account, either through services (extra character slots, for example, and yes, I know that inventory extensions called "Bags of Holding" are character-bound - but they are inexpensive). Everything else is a consumable, whether it's a respec token, color dye, "Health Stone", etcetera and so it makes sense those are character-based (used only one per player character).
The only exception to this, in my view, is the "Companions" items sold there. There are basically two high-ticket items in the Zen Store that you hope players are willing to spend a lot of money on: Mounts and Companions. Mounts are a no-brainer because once purchased the player can use that item on all characters, including future characters they may create.
Here’s the problem with high-cost Companions (and Vehicles in Champions Online): when we create a character in your game, we will be very finicky to it's visual appearance (our misguided vein-propensities, I suppose) and the statistics of each among many other things. In short, we are very picky about what we’ve created to represent us in your virtual world. After that, we decide our satisfaction of the playability of that character - and in some cases we may not decide unsatisfactory status until well within the leveling process (I have three characters in their 20's and 30's I’m ready to delete because I just don't play them any more - even though I still have one of six character slots free).
We want the ability and opportunity at times to throw that character out and start-over. Not that we will, but we always know we can do it if ever we wanted.
However, spending $30 (3000 Zen) on something that can never be passed along to or otherwise used on a replacement (or new or existing previous) character will "lock-in" that character we may grow unhappy with later on.
Because of the very possibility of this lock-in, it's even harder to justify the high-cost of a Zen Store Companion - because it's a permanent purchase against a very temporary part of the game, not the game itself. Consider this:
Character-bound Companions that are locked into a specific player character:
- I might not be entirely happy with my character when I reach level 25 - better to NOT put money locked into THIS character.
- I find I am unhappy with this character at level 25, but I’ve put locked-in money into it, so now I will always be unhappy with this character because deleting it is literally throwing a LOT of money away. I might as well set the cash in my wallet on-fire.
- I'm liking this character a lot, but it took me 20 or 30 levels to decide this, buying a really expensive Companion for this character is practically a waste of money because I won't get the benefit of it that I could have gotten during the first 10 to 20 levels.
Now consider this - Account-bound Companions at $30:
- Who cares? I can throw away a character I've later decided I’m unhappy with and roll a new one and claim that Companion I really like - so I’ll just keep playing, rerolling new characters as I choose until I'm bored out of my head!
It comes down to the "what if" scenario: Am I willing to spend a LOT of money on something that I'm not sure I'll always be happy with? Once I do I'm trapped - it's either stick with that character (happy or not) or literally throw money away.
So this is how I am making my case, that you consider the logical and emotional issues of the current state of Zen Store Companion pricing.
My proposed solution is:
Keep the existing prices, but convert all Z-Store companions to account-bound - more people will buy them because it is now "safe" to spend the money as it becomes my investment into my entire game experience, rather than a frivolous one-time high-cost purchase that affect only one temporary part of that overall experience.
-or-
Lower the pricing to remove the fear-factor; $5 (500 Zen) to $10 (1000 Zen) is still incredibly pricey for a character-bound item, but plausible and more easily justifiable - it now becomes an impulse-buy.
I purchased a Galeb Duhr before the pricing was lowered ($35) - I never complained about the lowering of prices, that's moot. However, I never would have purchased it except for the promise of unbinding it to transfer to an alt at a later time. I am not using this post to complain about the policy change that removed this intended option. I am simply saying this was the only justification I was able to come-up with to make the purchase at all and I know I'm not the only one. it was the one deciding factor in my purchasing decision.
Now with all possibility of unbinding any Companion from a character, the one singular justification for spending so much money on a single character with so many "what if" scenarios just does't exist any more.
TL;DR version:
I am beseeching you, Cryptic and Perfect World Entertainment, to remove all the "what-if" questions, make me feel "future-safe" in my purchase so that it's an investment into my entire Neverwinter game experience, rather than a one-time gamble. Your other games (STO and CO) do this. Please bring Neverwinter in-line with those. (And yes, I know Champions Online "Vehicles" are character-bound - and all of the above applies to those, as well).
Thank you for at least considering my point of view and I hope it, at least, provides some insight into many of our (the players’) perspectives.
iBooks - http://j.mp/WPFFj1 and PDF - http://j.mp/1o2L7qy
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So, even more reasonably priced than you thought.
Companions, on the other hand, are not reasonable. Even when one is 50% off, I can't bring myself to spring for it. Not for just one character to use.
Neverwinter Census 2017
All posts pending disapproval by Cecilia
That said. It looks like the companions is going to be the way they pull in a big chunk of their income along with keys. In fact there was a post awhile back by the mods asking what Cryptic could do to make companions more appealing. Hench why they now have active bonus's. I predict the bonus's will get better and better to entice players to buy the new (and more expensive) companions. Of course it is a business and can't blame them for wanting to make more money.
I think that making them account bound would get more players to buy. But I don't know how many altaholics out there that have 5 or 6 zen companions per character. It might be enough that they never change the model because it is bringing in so much money.
Personally I wish there were two options why buying companions. 1. Non account bound that cost much less than current. Between 5-10 bucks. Or 2. straight 20 dollar option to have it account bound.
They should keep in mind that as more and more people hit the cap, they are doing more pvp and companion's aren't even useful there.
Finally, lets get rid of green/blue companions from zen store. If I am going to shell out cash, I don't wanna have to spend AD upgrading the darn things. Just offer purple's and price consistently.
Mount's are a good buy in my view for this very reason, they unlock for every character on my account, which also encourages me to buy more character slots (thus getting me to spend more money).
Make companions unlocked account wide, and I would but them. I would probably buy several.
i wanted to make a topic about same subject
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It doesn't even have to be *all* the companions - but at least one of each role would be nice. And ideally at a blue level.
That said, Im not the kind of guy who will create a character and buy a companion at low levels. Ill play it all the way to 60 before I make a decision on whether I like them or not.
And I especially agree on account-bound vs account-wide. Account-wide for all companions would make the proliferation of companions insane. Most players don't think about the underlying mechanics either - imagine the size of the db tables you'll have if companions went account-wide since each is a separate object to allow for the customization (name/stones/items/level/xp). Mounts do not have this issue since they're not customizable. You have one link from your character to the same object as everyone else with that mount.
Account-bound, aside from all the pros mentioned before, would also allow any new players who bought a companion that isn't exactly the most compatible with one character (due to lack of knowledge of game mechanics), move it to another character where it works better, preserving the feeling of 'worth/value' instead of feeling like you threw money away.
I'm not entirely against having character-bound companions, but I think they should be versions of companions that could only be gotten in events/lockboxes/etc. that may have been missed (especially with the upcoming collection feature), not the ones that are on the store now. BUT there needs to be that feeling of safety that you won't lose what you paid for. That means being able to restart (not just respec) a character from scratch (can change race/class/initial stats - start at 0xp and re-level) without losing items. I'll stop here because that leads to many other thoughts, but I don't want to fork the subject of this thread.
Rar'rizton Kenana, Level 60 Drow Elf Trickster Rogue
Syrus Greycloak, Level 30 Moon Elf Control Wizard
Lucan Huntinghawk, Level 17 Moon Elf Hunter Ranger
Sacred Silver Blades (www.sacredkeep.com)
I won;t hold my breath that this idea will be implemented, but I can hope on it.
I also completely disagree with the opinion that you can build up diamonds to do the things you want to do, because it is not a fast effort. Anything that takes prolonged amounts of time to do get rated and pondered on before someone will set their mind process up to do it. Everything in this game requires a god-awful amount of time and diamonds to complete, which makes it a choice of one out of multiple things you need to do. If costs were more reasonable I might feel I could get more done without having to live in-game.
Based on what you can actually achieve from 30 days of "casual play" this is not a casual F2P game. If you are not hardcore dedicated to optimize every facet of diamond gain, you will not get what you want without dedicating months of play.
Now, before you claim I am ignorant, i have worked the system as much as I am going to. I have 3 chars at level 20 leadership, 4th is almost there. i also have 3 more character slots I will eventually start working on, including my new baby ranger. I can do a minimum of 3 1600 diamond quests per character every 7-9 hours. That's 14400 every 7-9 hours. if the right rare quests are up, i can get an extra 4800-14400 in the same timeframe. I also use my keys for Sharandar to maximize my salvaging to increase my diamond flow, though sometimes i will save keys up on a char and then hit multiple times to get them out of my inventory. So i'm not hurting when it comes to making a steady amount of income. That still doesn't mean I'm going to waste it on expensive enchants, disenchants (now refining) and other things.
I decided to buy the ranger booster pack solely due to the fact the pet was account bound, as well as the cloak and hood. I figured I could justify that amount. The only other one I have even considered and purchased was the allure stone and that was because i treated myself one day.
I will say this for Cryptic, they have spurred me into paying money for other games, because there is more value there as opposed to here. It's up to them to see this and fix it. I've said my piece.
This is a good enough thread for your comments on that subject.
HOWEVER, I have no idea if my original post was even read by Cryptic powers-that-be or not, much less have any influence whatsoever in the recent price reductions of the Z-Store companions. So I will say this:
Though the price reductions are just shy of where I'd have liked to see them, Cryptic DID permanently reduce Z-Store Companion pricing and neither you, I or anyone else can complain about that. At least not with good conscience. Therefore, in response to Cryptic about this specific subject and my long-winded post above I will say: Thank you for the good-faith effort. I'll call myself 95% satisfied that this request has been addressed in a fair manner.
Granted, I'd still like to see account-bound versions, but as far as my 'making a case' - Cryptic has answered it (either in response to this thread or by coincidence, it does't matter which.)