Founders Packs Have Been Devalued

cellulicious · February 2014

I have been playing NW for a while now, bought $199 Founders one week after it's debut and found it worth every penny until about 3 months ago when I was trying to get a group to run some dungeons and found a group looting a DD chest, I thought to myself, I just looted a "Timeless Hero Chest" and never broke a sweat..sweet!...well not a fluke, this goes on every time DD is up. Almost impossible to get a legit run during "delvs" or anytime for that mater. As it turns out EVERY DUNGEON IS EXPLOITABLE. What the heck am I trying to get geared up for if all you need is to have a TR,CW or HR to kill a "Dragon Lich"

So there's that and the fact that for for less then 25k AD I can buy a purple 3 piece (main hand/off hand/neck) that go from lvl 4-5 to 60 and never need to be upgraded, the starter gear from being a founder is worthless now, so for my $199 I'm getting a Spider mount for every toon, 2 mil AD and a bunch of <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font> I never use? The Drow is better than the Renegade...I could list more but it boils down to this, I know longer feel my $199 investment was sound. I was hoping to have a game that would last and the perks for spending 200 bucks before the game was out of beta would forever remain. I have given NW about $460+ so far and feel let down because I bought a lifetime to LotRO for $200 and played that game for 3 years, I have spent closed to $500 on NW in one 3rd the time and feel like all they are after is more of my money.

Please fix this game soon, I loved it once.

johnseeya99 · February 2014

Unfortunately...they probably won't.

sean99999 · February 2014

Hey there,

First off, your points are valid.
However, sometimes you need to take a break and play other games to see how much worse they are. IE: I played a game whereby people spend up to $1000 in boxes without getting the "rare" mount. Another game where you had to spend $10000 in an event to get a legendary weapon.

Sean.

jorifice1 · February 2014

On your first point, there is a group of folks called The Neverwinter Legit Comunity. It is an organisation of like-minded players who play through all of the assorted Dungeons with absolutely no exploiting allowed what-so-ever. This sounds like something that you may be interested in. On the second point, these items are quite a bit weaker than the Founders Item, at least on the toons that I have checked on. Also, as a Founder, you have access to a free Weapons Enchant that can go into one of these lower level items while you level. As to the price, unless they include more of these in future Lockboxes, then you are seeing the lowest prices on these that you will ever see. Most likely when Module Three launches you will see a significant price increase.
That being said, I DO agree with you about the Founder Pack being more than a tad underwhelming. I would like to see something akin to a monthly Stipend, perhaps of useful Consumable items, refining Stones, or even Wards.

str8slayer · February 2014

Yeah I feel kinda crappy when I see people who paid a lot of money like this guy but is no better off than someone like me who has paid nothing. I feel like they should give founders a monthly gift, a guaranteed coal ward or a purple refine stone or at least something to make them feel like it was worth it, even if it's only for the moment...

cellulicious · February 2014

str8slayer wrote: »

Yeah I feel kinda crappy when I see people who paid a lot of money like this guy but is no better off than someone like me who has paid nothing. I feel like they should give founders a monthly gift, a guaranteed coal ward or a purple refine stone or at least something to make them feel like it was worth it, even if it's only for the moment...

Don't feel crappy for me because I spent money on a game. I give company's like "Perfect World" and "Red 5" my money knowing that others won't. I believe that a good game will only stay good as long as people get paid, as soon as sales drop the game will reflect. OK say it a different way,... What would make the game better 1000 gamers buy new $500 GPU's or 1000 gamers spend $500 at the Zen Marketplace? I don't know if that makes sense to you, but it does to me. I just don't want to support a game that don't give it back is all I'm saying.

bioshrike · February 2014

A lot depends upon your perspective. For instance, while the mulhorand items are nice, all your characters you ever make will get the starter gear + the delzoun gear + the brilliant enchant. The spider mount is T3 and available to all your characters. The unique purple mounts cost 3000 Zen or more. The 2 million ADs is subject to market prices, but could easily be used to buy those mulhorand items for many characters, or converted to Zen and used to buy stuff from the store as desired. Your preference for the regular Drow over the menzo renegades is fine, but in total the renegades get a slightly higher value racial bonus. You also can't discount the fact that at the time you bought the pack, you could make a drow and have a spider mount, while others could not. Even still, there is no other way to get an account-wide spider mount.

Regardless, I'm sorry you feel your purchase has been devalued. As time goes on and new things are added, the older stuff will tend to feel, well, dated in comparison...

starkillian · February 2014

I feel sorry for you having to only get exploit runs in pugs. When that happens to me or my wife, we drop group immediately and always report whomever is exploiting or cheating. I even report the ones in chat that are advertising looking for an exploiting group. It takes alot of work by the community to keep things clean. Our guild has worked relentlessly from Alpha on to remove exploiters or cheaters as soon as we find them and report them as well. We have even taken alot of heat for our anti cheating stance over the years in this and other games but we do not let that slow us down on our opinions or values.

Is everything cheating or exploiting though just because a player says so? No, not at all. However when it is game companies have to take a solid stance and immediate action against those doing so. I know many, many players I have personally reported have been banned around the time of release, I kept them on my friends list and many of them were HotN accounts with no further logins within about 10 days of them being reported for exploiting.

Yes, it would be nice to see HotN get something more for what we have done to help the game out.

diogene0 · February 2014

The best way to see exploits removed is to send a detailed report to one of the community managers (the ones i've reported via the bug report feature have mostly been ignored). Needless to say, a simple text description will hardly help them fixing what makes you angry. At the very least, if you see someone using a glitch, use a screen capture software, or makeo some screenshots. Both work well, depending on the complexity of the glitch.

I've sent many reports, and most of the times (let's say, with a 70-80% chance), it has been fixed. There are some exploits from day 1 that they still don't really want to fix, but holes in walls or weird stuff allowing people to cheese bosses will be patched. Leaving an instance isn't enough, because, at some point, you'll face the same issue with another group.

vasdamas · February 2014

Agree, too many people expoiting this, something needs to be done about it as it is (or used to be) the most profitable dungeon ingame...

Also, I purely hate the new dungeon party making system which feeds us with PUGs instead of those you have on your buddy list -.-
Really, I do understand why they implemented a votekick but that move when the Q keeps feeding us with useless pugs that managed to raise their GS with new companion bonuses and artifacts....honestly, it sometimes just drives me mad especially when I ask someone to help me and the Q keeps sending them somethere else but my instance.

angrysprite · February 2014

I don't know if you got the in-game "Founder" title or not (I believe that was discontinued at launch) - but other than the Astral Diamonds you still have a bunch of pretty exclusive stuff - most of it account-wide. But here's the thing: you say it lost value for you about three months ago. You still enjoyed the value for six months. And with those items still exclusive, I should hope you got what you paid for.

Most places (and laws in the U.S.) give a three day grace for 'buyer's remorse'. You've had six months. It's true that after all the time those items feel old and worn-out. But remember that at the time you purchased the pack - it was worth every penny.

As for game experience based on how other players play, well, that doesn't have much to do with your Hero pack, does it?

ironzerg79 · February 2014

I bought it because I'm a collector. And it's a collector's edition.

Heck, I'm still using a lot of that stuff when I start new alts, which is more than I can say about some junk from the other collector's editions I've bought in the past.

I'm looking at you, Darth Malgus and Rytlock statues. *evil glare*

stercogburn · February 2014

I'm not really surprised and not really bothered my founder's pack has been superseded. As the game progresses into new content this was inevitable.

The bugs and exploiting though is irritating.

twstdecho · February 2014

For $200 you got some unique items that no one else has access to, across all characters you ever create, and a big jump start over average players. Of COURSE, over time, that's going to diminish as people put time into their characters and build themselves you. You got a jump start, not a permanent place above all others. Plus, like you said, you're a collector and you collected things others will never have access to, so there's that as well. It just seems like a perspective issue in my eyes, especially since you called it an investment.

flayedawg · February 2014

To me, this game is very similar to Diablo 3; as such, it's worth about $30 to me, & that's as much as I anticipate spending.

If the Devs eventually decide to expand it beyond what it is now, I'll spend accordingly.

beckylunatic · February 2014

If they didn't keep introducing cool new stuff, they wouldn't be able to hold interest, and eventually there would be no game in which you could use any of your stuff at all.

Do you get peeved when your computer or your car is no longer the shiniest thing going? The founder's pack is a digital toy you bought months ago. It continues to have utility even though there are now various other fancy digital toys you could also choose to buy. Just because you perceive some of those things as better doesn't mean the thing you have is bad.

cartiva · February 2014

I feel I got my monies worth out of the founders pack I purchased. Whenever I create a new character the items allow me to breeze through the first 10 or so levels of content with ease.

badgerpants999 · February 2014

OK, firstly, the founders weapon. It's a level 15 Blue weapon you can use at level 4, the purple weapon (mullhollarand purple) isn't cost effective/doesn't do as much damage til about level 14 so it's still usable, you get a free enchant you can slot into the Purple weapon after that and just run with it from then on, so still worth it,

Also you get a purple companion you can use from level 4! 16 levels before anyone who doesn't have one of the paid for packs, very worth it!

So in conclusion you get a pretty much free ride through levels 4 to 15 from the pay packs

Then at level 20, you get an purple mount.

What are you complaining about? seriously? That the free Drow is better? A matter of opinion. That you were given a fortune in free in game currency? Are you crazy? That you get "a lot of useless <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font>"? Most of it is very useful actually, especially the identify scrolls. And the Delzoun weapon at level 60!

It seems that, just maybe, your complaining the Founders Pack doesn't contain an "I Win" button

sean99999 · February 2014

badgerpants999 wrote: »

It seems that, just maybe, your complaining the Founders Pack doesn't contain an "I Win" button

He's not asking for a "I Win" button. He's arguing that the value of the founder's pack steadily decreases over time. He is right.
The founder's pack may have been worth $200 when it first started. It is not worth that now due to newly introduced items & features into the game.

melodywhr · February 2014

with every pack, something exists that is not and will not be available to other players. that may not be of value to you or have had any part of your decision to buy a pack, but as more and more expansions are released, there are going to be more packs... there's going to be new races and new exclusive items per pack. there's going to be new mounts and companions in the zen store and for me, some of them i like and want and some of them i don't. the money i've spent on this game is going for entertainment and towards the support of this company. i have and still get enjoyment from playing the game, leveling up characters and taking advantage of the exclusive items that are in my packs. as more classes come out and as i (eventually) will create more characters, i will still take advantage of those starter items down the road.

it's definitely money well spent (and well earned on their part). but that's my perception and my experience. ymmv.

snotty · February 2014

hate to break it to you but most things in life devalue over time. Hell if you go buy a new car right now it will be worth less then you paid for it the moment you drive it off the lot. But the reality here is, the founders pack has not devalued. You got and are still getting exactly what you paid for. And if you look at it from a new players perspective you're still better off. Lets face it, unless you're spending cash to buy ADs, those fancy new AM epic weapons are pretty much out of the reach for most new players until they're already lvl 60 so you're still better off.

Of course the counter to this is, if you're willing to spend money to buy items then who cares. You got 2mill ADs with your pack take 25k of that and buy those AM weapons for your toon and you'll still have 1,975,000ADs left to buy other epic stuff when you reach lvl60....which BTW is about the right amount to buy a full T2 set for HRs + CN weapons.

So tell me again how you're pack has devalued?

vortix44 · February 2014

cellulicious wrote: »

bought $199 Founders one week after it's debut and found it worth every penny until about 3 months ago

Founder's Pack idea was, you help Cryptic to launch their new game, you are generous. It was not buying a God mode set of gear.

djarkaan · March 2014

VIP Game Access

When server loads are high, jump to the head of the queue and get priority log-in access.

Should be change to: When dungeons/skirmishes/PVP queues are full jump to the head of the queue and get priority queueing access.
Because of server/shard merge.

Moonstone Regular

Grants access to the VIP section of the Moonstone Mask Tavern in Protector's Enclave.

Should be change to: Grants access to the next available dungeons/skirmishes/PVP queue. because there is nothing in there after almost a year.

Founders Packs Have Been Devalued

Comments