So many good ideas!
I'd love some customization. So many MMO's these days make bank on purely cosmetic items like hats, outfits and weapon skins.
Just look at PoE - the entire purchase model is JUST cosmetics and better yet its fairly cheap. I GLADLY was willing to support that game and would be MORE willing to support here if they didnt try to charge you $20-50 for an item. Why would I pay $50 to skip a module when I can go buy an entire game for nearly that much.
Another thing that IMO they should do is make transmutes cost 100 zen each rather than AD. This IMO is a "non-necessary" feature of the base game that is free.
Allowing for things such as: transmutes costing zen, dye packs being applicable for ANY item and MORE due packs, also creating a new item called an "enchantment Transmute" - allowing you to change your Vorpal Enchants LOOK over to any type of enchant you want. I cant imagine those things would be THAT difficult since the system is already built into the game to transmute items. So why not allow you to transmute weapon/armor enchants EXCEPT the only difference would be instead of it consuming said item, you buy a "token" - similar to the "free transmute weapons" that we get from events. This token can cost 500-1000 zen and allow you to exchange your weapon enchant look. I cant tell you how many times I would have bought this item through the course of the game. Take that seizure causing Perfect Vorpal to LOOK like a Terror Enchant? Sign me up!!!
Again, Things like a "daily reset" token - I cant imagine it would be THAT hard to code something like that - similar to relics - that you turn in and get to do your dailies 2x that day. Could be module specific for 100 zen or could be across the board on ALL modules for something like 250 zen.
Things like Mount upgrades - upgrading should be MORE feasible than flat out buying an epic mount. White-> Green should be like 200 zen. Green-> Blue should be like 500 zen. Blue-> Epic should be around 1000 zen. Overall costs would be 1700 zen.
Blue Wards? These should be 500-600 zen, not 1000. $10 for a ward? Cmon.... Then RE-price Green wards accordingly.
Things like this are what players DIE to spend money on. However PART of the catch in ALL of this is the ZAX. Why pay Cryptic $10 for a ward, when you can farm in game AD and buy it on the AH OR - ZAX it to zen.
They need to make REAL $ worth more in the game, more comparable to 3rd party sites - which have a CRAZY amount of volume (otherwise why would there be so many of them if it wasnt that profitable?)
If you look at the AH right now, Coal Wards are selling for 614k AD - what does this translate into? 1228 Zen. Which means that the ZAX "demand/Supply" SHOULD be at right around 614:1 right now If you put a MINIMUM of 500:1 and a MAXIMUM of 1000:1 Demand will Equal out on Price and currently the markets would end up settling around 600:1 and POSSIBLY even continue to go up to around 700:1. They NEED to factor in both inflation of this game, as well as professions accounting for ALOT of the AD that is in the game, constant supply - not enough AD sinks and you are creating an IN-efficient Market which is ALLOWING people to find price discrepancies and make AD off it (for instance buying 500:1 zen then SELLING a coal ward on the AH nets you a nice profit. However you must WAIT to get your zen)
Its also pretty clear that the RATE at which people are buying zen has decreased due to the amount of ZEN backlog there is.
But again - this would REQUIRE a drop in zen prices down to a reasonable level - atleast a 25% DECREASE in prices and I would even wager more (ever think of doing a 3x Coal Ward pack for 2000 zen?)
0
baylen76Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian UsersPosts: 0Arc User
edited March 2015
Karma at work! Frankly, horrid class design decisions had been made when I stopped playing some months ago. And don't get me started on ingame support who wanted me to send stuff in 3 times. Useless! Form A38 anyone?
Personally, I hope whichever designer messed up Divine Oracle gameplay mechanics and messed with Tactician GFs saving grace – AP generation – was among. These guys effectively designed parts of the playerbase away, killing sales in the process.
Maybe this will spur the remaining designers into fixing those classes. For a better game, and for their own salaries. Make sure to fully separate PVP and PVE skills so PVP stops messing up the main game.
Oh and I would make Keys NOT bound again - allowing the ZAX to trade between 500-1000 will alleviate the issue that caused the need for keys to bound bound.
Whats funny about that is the market was TELLING us the ZAX at that point in time should be over 700:1!!!! but noone wanted to allow the market to be "free" and "price itself". The fear being that it would cost too much AD for a "free player" to get items.
This is where you DECREASE zen prices/costs in the Zen Store. Heck you could EVEN but a "multiplier" on each item to be automatically price adjusting each day.
So for instance everything is a multiple with an INVERSE relationship.
If the ZAX goes up to 600:1 The zen COST of a Blue ward could then DROP to 833 zen for a blue ward. If it goes up to 700:1 the price of a Blue Ward would drop further to: 714 Zen.
It keeps the SAME "AD cost" but allows your markets to PRICE THEMSELVES. As Inflation goes up, as more AD is being supplied, it creates demand. When you limit the markets to price appropriately you cause inefficiencies and players find ways to take advantage of them.
The easy formula is: (500 / ZAX rate)*(Current Item Price) = Final Price.
Now there would have to be some limites as to what dictates the ZAX rate: I would just suggest whatever is the current highest quantity demanded is the current price. Which currently is 500: 1 if it were allowed to move UP it would probably adjust to 600:1 or more.
Thus plug in the formula (500 / 600) * (1000) = New Blue ward price of 833 Zen.
All I can say is I haven't spent money on the game since the first months after starting. It was only then that I realized the prices are too ridiculous for what you get to have any significance, and for me the cosmetic options were a bit lackluster. If I could get more significant progress for what I pay or if they had some really sick cosmetic weapons/clothes, I would gladly pay into this game even monthly as though it were subscription based. I have no problem investing, but I need to feel like I am getting something out of it.
From my situation that appears to coincide with many others, the prices are simply too high which is leading to not investing real money into this game, but without seeing the actual data or knowing more company information, I couldn't say whether it is truly a right or wrong decision.
Hopefully this is just a setback, and the game can continue to grow in the future. My sympathies to those who lost their jobs.
^ Id like to ADD to this, if the ZAX ever got to 1000:1 when you do the math it works out to be 500 zen for a Blue Ward.
The reason this method works SO well is your allowing ALL the prices to adjust according to the market.
As more AD comes into the game, the higher the demand for zen, and the MORE attractive it becomes to BUY ZEN DIRECTLY.
Imagine if it WERE 1000:1. A player could throw in $20 into the game and get 2 MILLION AD! Or they could buy FOUR blue wards! This (again) approaches the 3rd party websites and starts pushing their margins DOWN and would even make it unprofitable for many of them to remain in business (there will always be 3rd party) but THIS type of system atleast allows players to get more value for the money they give Cryptic BASED on the current market prices.
Again all of this also comes with more things to BUY in the zen market as well - the MOST popular being cosmetic features which cosmetic features SHOULD be "pay to get" and more difficult to obtain vie zen - easier to obtain buying direct. Heck you could even create a "discount margin" in the formula so it becomes an ADVANTAGE to buy zen direct something like:
So just like the AH - Cryptic "nets" 10% of the zen purchased via the ZAX.
Thus when you BUY 1000 zen, you only get 900 via the ZAX.
So looking back at our Blue Ward base 1000 zen @ 600:1 ZAX rate:
(500/600)*1000= 833 Current Price of Blue Ward. A player would have to BUY: (833/90%) = 926 Zen to actually BUY the item with AD. OR they can pay $8.33 for the item via Direct.
Which means they can EITHER use: 555k OR $8.33 which NOW starts competing even MORE with 3rd party sites. What they need to realize is they can SET THEIR OWN COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE!
I am starting to wonder if noone at Cryptic has an Econ background...
0
zebularMember, Neverwinter Moderator, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 15,270Community Moderator
edited March 2015
Layoffs are a sad thing indeed. Alas they happen in any company, big and small. We wish the very best to those no longer with us, and hope they excel in their future endeavors.
However folks, let's keep away from doomsaying and rumor-milling. Let me put one rumor to rest: Akromatik is still our Community Manager for Neverwinter.
Safe travels,
Archmage Zebular of Mystryl PWE Community Moderator
[ RoC | ToS | Support ]
No, STO lost Captain Smirk, that was thier CM. Dwight's status is still unknown, however.
Dwight is no longer with the company, I've been advised. The reasons for his departure are unknown, however, and do not appear to be connected with this round of layoffs.
ROLL TIDE ROLL
Great Weapon Fighter: Because when is today not a good day to die?
PC and PS4 player. Proud Guildmaster for PS4 Team Fencebane. Rank 5 Officer for PC Team Fencebane. Visit us at http://fencebane.shivtr.com
Wow - that stinks about Dwight and the layoffs in general. The nature of IT shops, especially in the gaming industry, can be brutal. Best wishes to all displaced and hope that everyone lands on their feet sooner than later.
Cant confirm but it seems "Spirals" is gone as well. Sent him an email and returned undeliverable. Which really sucks because his passion and heart were definitely spot on and what this game needed...
0
torontodaveMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 992Arc User
Cant confirm but it seems "Spirals" is gone as well. Sent him an email and returned undeliverable. Which really sucks because his passion and heart were definitely spot on and what this game needed...
Ergh. =/ We need a new foundry dungeon master. ASAP.
NW-DSQ39N5SJ - 'To Infinity, and BEYOND!' - Spelljammer Quest. Skyships, Indiana Jones moments NW-DC9R4J5EH - 'The Black Pearl' - Spelljammer! Phlo Riders and Space Orcs
Thanks for all the fish.
Its the logical consequence for the massive player loss in a year, and....who really thinks they will get 9 new devs to "revive a car with a broken engine that lost all wheels "
as you read "go forward develloping some new stuff..."
thats obviously the ideology in these days, no fixing, no look back, no regrets ... just buy a new one
Its the logical consequence for the massive player loss in a year, and....who really thinks they will get 9 new devs to "revive a car with a broken engine that lost all wheels "
as you read "go forward develloping some new stuff..."
thats obviously the ideology in these days, no fixing, no look back, no regrets ... just buy a new one
I agree, I mean the writing was on the walls back in November when the Q3 results for PWE were released. PWE reported a 50% loss in profits and attributed that to is US operations (aka Cryptic).
I am GUESSING they wanted to wait until mod 6 was ready to roll out - or atleast close enough to then cut the staff to lower their costs and it would buy them time since module 6 is pretty much done, they kept maybe 75% of the Developers for NW, so they can still run with less crew.
BTW - this is exactly why they need to revisit their economic model. They need to ask the fundamental question: "How do we encourage players to pay"
Clearly they tried artifact equipment which was a TOTAL bust.
SO maybe its time to revisit this, I rolled out a simple, feasible, very little programming required, solution to the ZAX/Zen Market that would go a LONG way in encouraging players to PAY for this game.
I actually think, even in its current state, there ARE adequate dollars being spent on NW, just not directly through Cryptic- but through 3rd party.
I have it on good authority that there are still suppliers out there, who have billions of AD supplying to 3rd party sites who then turn around and offer it to the public.
Based on the PE spam I see everyday and even several PMs from 3rd party sellers, it seems business is still booming there... Otherwise it would trail off if lack of demand.
People can come up with "economic solutions" but at the ends of the day, Cryptic HAS to be a little greedy in how they structure the model, they CANNOT just give EVERYTHING away for free. They need to create a competitive advantage to BUY through Cryptic while STILL allowing free players to access the mandatory portions of the game.
This is where cosmetics typically shine as they add no REAL value in the sense of "power" but people are ALWAYS willing to spend to make their characters look good. Transmutes could EASILY massively increase the sales of Cryptic if transmutes were all 100 zen now AND ontop of that, my suggestions about the ZAX were implemented. Because now you would have to pay quite a bit more to transmute OR you can drop $20 and get 20 transmutes to support the game.
It lends distinct competitive advantage in Cryptics favor to do it all. Now will free players be slightly set back a little? Yes. There is NO other way. You cant have the best of both worlds - high revenue fueling a quality game AND offering it all for free.
Whats the saying? Why buy the cow when you get the milk for free?
0
checkmatein3Member, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 525Arc User
edited March 2015
This is the reason why Cryptic and other games associated with Perfect World Entertainment are having to pare down staff:
The 5 year trend shows increase in stock price at the release of Neverwinter from beta, Mod 2, Mod 3 and Mod 4. However, during the release of Mod 5 (early Nov 2014), the stock price was in decline, and the quarterly report released on Nov 25th confirmed what was already known, an overall profit margin decline for PWE, Inc.
The uptick in price on January 2nd was not related to any release software or improvements, but the CEO buying back about 450k shares outstanding. So, investors jumped at the buy, even though the trend shows a decline in profit margin. The trend in the stock price since January 2nd has been consistently downward.
The delay from March 17th to April 7th effectively pushes the mod 6 release into Fiscal Year 2015's second quarter. A directive from PWE may have been given to subsidiaries to increase profit margin by reducing operating costs for FY 2015 first quarter. What this means practically is firing people to boost profit margins.
Anyway, it is a short term solution to the long term problem of declining profitability. Sorry to all the devs who lost their jobs!
I am offering an outstanding offer to put together an Economic Paper outlining all of this in detail for you. I would as a Financial Consultant and was an Analyst before that with my Degree in both Finance and Marketing.
Most of the time, I am paid for my time, however I would gladly discuss these matters with anyone willing to listen from PWE/Cryptic for FREE as a way to assist in the sales without much real work. You can send me a PM and I will pass along my personal email+Cell.
Feel free to pass this along to anyone at PWE/Cryptic as well.
The 5 year trend shows increase in stock price at the release of Neverwinter from beta, Mod 2, Mod 3 and Mod 4. However, during the release of Mod 5 (early Nov 2014), the stock price was in decline, and the quarterly report released on Nov 25th confirmed what was already known, an overall profit margin decline for PWE, Inc.
The uptick in price on January 2nd was not related to any release software or improvements, but the CEO buying back about 450k shares outstanding. So, investors jumped at the buy, even though the trend shows a decline in profit margin. The trend in the stock price since January 2nd has been consistently downward.
The delay from March 17th to April 7th effectively pushes the mod 6 release into Fiscal Year 2015's second quarter. A directive from PWE may have been given to subsidiaries to increase profit margin by reducing operating costs for FY 2015 first quarter. What this means practically is firing people to boost profit margins.
Anyway, it is a short term solution to the long term problem of declining profitability. Sorry to all the devs who lost their jobs!
Yup. That article was swimming around here for a while, I was hoping this would mean positive changes for the company and I guess that is yet to be seen long term since I know they ARE actively hiring so they may replace SOME if revenues increase again.
I think its clear if he is willing to invest and now I think owns the company outright (or close to it) so clearly he firmly believes in the company and wants to make it profitable. If that means the game gets sold off, or invested in who knows. I doubt it will turn into a "management" game where they just keep it kicking for several years. But who knows.
As someone who works for 10+ years as a "dev" (not at cryptic but in software field), I'll share something:
Layoffs happen, the reasons are many and not really related to bad performance of certain employees. If an employee is bad, he'll get fired on the spot. Those kind of layoffs happen for strategic reasons, or to cut costs. The former means, Cryptic is focusing on other projects and the fired stuff isn't needed anymore. The later... well it usually means the company is in deep **** and cutting flesh. Both options are bad for Neverwinter.
As for the people who lost this job: This is a dynamic market, people move from one company to another all the time. My career "record" was 2 years at the same place, and I was fired only once. I'm sure they will find a good workplace, and very soon. And maybe some of them even had other jobs lined up already and were jut waiting for an layoff.
Anyway life moves on.
I hope I helped someone get an idea of how thing work in the industry.
Best wishes to the people who'll be looking for new jobs, and for Nevernwiter.
As someone who works for 10+ years as a "dev" (not at cryptic but in software field), I'll share something:
Layoffs happen, the reasons are many and not really related to bad performance of certain employees. If an employee is bad, he'll get fired on the spot. Those kind of layoffs happen for strategic reasons, or to cut costs. The former means, Cryptic is focusing on other projects and the fired stuff isn't needed anymore. The later... well it usually means the company is in deep **** and cutting flesh. Both options are bad for Neverwinter.
As for the people who lost this job: This is a dynamic market, people move from one company to another all the time. My career "record" was 2 years at the same place, and I was fired only once. I'm sure they will find a good workplace, and very soon. And maybe some of them even had other jobs lined up already and were jut waiting for an layoff.
Anyway life moves on.
I hope I helped someone get an idea of how thing work in the industry.
Best wishes to the people who'll be looking for new jobs, and for Nevernwiter.
I think given the nature of the share repurchase from the CEO, while it may have been to boost profitability, I do HIGHLY doubt a massive investment of hundred of millions into PWE to just let parts of the company go stagnant. This is all speculation but it is most definitely attributed to the profits of Cryptic. Now what remains to be seen are what happens next.
Either this game, they will "cut losses" and decide to just maintain it with no real investment and look to something new (currently in development) OR this was a "trim the fat" type of move, cutting costs between modules since 6 is about to release and they will beef up areas where needed.
Even a healthy business goes through ebs and flows of the cycle and both hires and fires people when at first it doesnt make sense.
I do see some openings on the website, which may be for something else and NOT neverwinter, OR as I said before, it could be a timing thing and they will re-hire where needed and I think there is atleast a fair chance this game will continue to get some attention. Im not sure when the license is up for them to use DnD but as long as this remains the newest DnD game on the market there will be a popular audience for it.
A very nice offer and I hope they'll take it. But don't expect too much. I've offered them a similar service when a major security issue came to light at the end of last year -which I won't outline here- and sent the offer to a few people above Customer Service level as well as Support, the CM and a few PWE managers. Only one person bothered to reply.
Bottom line is, company policy dictates they don't accept outside help from their clients on internal matters, no matter how right that person is. I do hope they'll take you up on your offer though. Worst case they learn a different way of doing things, best case it can save the game.
Thats unfortunate. I doubt it will happen as well, but its worth a try
Oh and I forgot to add to my recent post- given the investment into the console space, I am HOPING that this means more development for Neverwinter. I think the PC version is almost like a BETA test for Console version seeing as Neverwinter would be one of the first MMOs for Console.
Its also got a fantastic combat system that plays well there too, So I strongly suspect that we will see changes first, then as they fine tune it, it will hit console.
Again, who knows, its all speculation for all I know module 7 could be done already and they are just rolling things out as they make revisions to plans.
I forget the term for it, but I think Cryptic uses more of a "push" model where there is little development in the works until they announce a new module then its an all out dash to get the most content completed as fast as possible. They probably rotate devs to other games in the meantime and maintain with a skeleton crew for small updates until another module then a big rush again. (there is a more technical term for it).
0
ironzerg79Member, Neverwinter Moderator, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 4,942Arc User
The 5 year trend shows increase in stock price at the release of Neverwinter from beta, Mod 2, Mod 3 and Mod 4. However, during the release of Mod 5 (early Nov 2014), the stock price was in decline, and the quarterly report released on Nov 25th confirmed what was already known, an overall profit margin decline for PWE, Inc.
Just throwing this out there, but there's all kinds of reason for declines in profits. If you actually read the report that link is from, here's the recommendation:
RECOMMENDATION
We rate PERFECT WORLD CO LTD (PWRD) a BUY. This is driven by several positive factors, which we believe
should have a greater impact than any weaknesses, and should give investors a better performance
opportunity than most stocks we cover. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its
robust revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures,
reasonable valuation levels, expanding profit margins and notable return on equity. We feel these strengths
outweigh the fact that the company has had sub par growth in net income.
The reason Revenue was up but profits were down was because PWE was making significant investments in R&D, marketing and launching new products during Q3 and Q4 of last year, which is an investment, not an expense. The hope (and as shown by the recommendation in the report you linked but didn't read) is that PWE will see significant returns on those investments in 2015.
So it's very possible that these layoffs are part of a bigger restructuring at PWE as it continues to grow. It's not uncommon for companies to eliminate positions in one place, while adding positions in others.4
If its a money thing, buy some Zen. If every player pulled out a credit card and spent 10$ on the game, it would make quite a nice chunk of money. I plan too one of these days. I wouldn't mind paying $7.99 for Mod 6 considering how much people raved about it.
The problem is, as many of us have been saying, is that the $10 purchases don't do much to advance your character, even if done every single payday. It is the hundreds of dollars at a time that will advance your character significantly. This is a serious problem indicating faulty underlying business model. That large of a layoff indicates systemic fail more than incompetence on an individual level.
Hate to hear that people were laid off. I wish them the best of luck in their lives and careers. That said, from a purely objective standpoint as a player, this is no surprise. I have been saying for several months that this game and business are failing and exactly why they are failing. This latest news is only further indication. It sucks. I like this game and really wish things were the way they need to be for us as players and more importantly, for those devs to have kept their jobs.
ironzerg79Member, Neverwinter Moderator, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 4,942Arc User
edited March 2015
Facts first. Revenue is up. Profits are down. That's because they spent more money than they took in. Spending money isn't a bad thing, particularly when the analysts are saying the PWE has a very strong and healthy balance sheet, which means they can invest (spend) money without necessarily having to make a profit.
Second, they "start firing people left, right and center"...that's crazy hyperbole there. In total 14% of people from Cryptic lost their jobs, and only half of that was dedicated to Neverwinter. Not 24%.
As far as that "being a lot of manpower", that's totally subjective.
And then you start diving deep into conspiracy theory territory with that last bit. I know it's not as exciting as you want, but sometimes the simplest solution is the right one. And to say that "it makes a lot of players very uneasy about the future of the game", I've been hearing that on this forum for two years now...can you at least try to be a little creative with the doomsaying?
Sorry to hear about this...Hopefully they will get hired in another company soon,so that they can continue their career on the field.Cryptic might be a small team,but pretty much everyone we got to know on the forums and on livestreams seemed very nice and passionate about their work.Good luck guys.
Comments
I'd love some customization. So many MMO's these days make bank on purely cosmetic items like hats, outfits and weapon skins.
Just look at PoE - the entire purchase model is JUST cosmetics and better yet its fairly cheap. I GLADLY was willing to support that game and would be MORE willing to support here if they didnt try to charge you $20-50 for an item. Why would I pay $50 to skip a module when I can go buy an entire game for nearly that much.
Another thing that IMO they should do is make transmutes cost 100 zen each rather than AD. This IMO is a "non-necessary" feature of the base game that is free.
Allowing for things such as: transmutes costing zen, dye packs being applicable for ANY item and MORE due packs, also creating a new item called an "enchantment Transmute" - allowing you to change your Vorpal Enchants LOOK over to any type of enchant you want. I cant imagine those things would be THAT difficult since the system is already built into the game to transmute items. So why not allow you to transmute weapon/armor enchants EXCEPT the only difference would be instead of it consuming said item, you buy a "token" - similar to the "free transmute weapons" that we get from events. This token can cost 500-1000 zen and allow you to exchange your weapon enchant look. I cant tell you how many times I would have bought this item through the course of the game. Take that seizure causing Perfect Vorpal to LOOK like a Terror Enchant? Sign me up!!!
Again, Things like a "daily reset" token - I cant imagine it would be THAT hard to code something like that - similar to relics - that you turn in and get to do your dailies 2x that day. Could be module specific for 100 zen or could be across the board on ALL modules for something like 250 zen.
Things like Mount upgrades - upgrading should be MORE feasible than flat out buying an epic mount. White-> Green should be like 200 zen. Green-> Blue should be like 500 zen. Blue-> Epic should be around 1000 zen. Overall costs would be 1700 zen.
Blue Wards? These should be 500-600 zen, not 1000. $10 for a ward? Cmon.... Then RE-price Green wards accordingly.
Things like this are what players DIE to spend money on. However PART of the catch in ALL of this is the ZAX. Why pay Cryptic $10 for a ward, when you can farm in game AD and buy it on the AH OR - ZAX it to zen.
They need to make REAL $ worth more in the game, more comparable to 3rd party sites - which have a CRAZY amount of volume (otherwise why would there be so many of them if it wasnt that profitable?)
If you look at the AH right now, Coal Wards are selling for 614k AD - what does this translate into? 1228 Zen. Which means that the ZAX "demand/Supply" SHOULD be at right around 614:1 right now If you put a MINIMUM of 500:1 and a MAXIMUM of 1000:1 Demand will Equal out on Price and currently the markets would end up settling around 600:1 and POSSIBLY even continue to go up to around 700:1. They NEED to factor in both inflation of this game, as well as professions accounting for ALOT of the AD that is in the game, constant supply - not enough AD sinks and you are creating an IN-efficient Market which is ALLOWING people to find price discrepancies and make AD off it (for instance buying 500:1 zen then SELLING a coal ward on the AH nets you a nice profit. However you must WAIT to get your zen)
Its also pretty clear that the RATE at which people are buying zen has decreased due to the amount of ZEN backlog there is.
But again - this would REQUIRE a drop in zen prices down to a reasonable level - atleast a 25% DECREASE in prices and I would even wager more (ever think of doing a 3x Coal Ward pack for 2000 zen?)
Personally, I hope whichever designer messed up Divine Oracle gameplay mechanics and messed with Tactician GFs saving grace – AP generation – was among. These guys effectively designed parts of the playerbase away, killing sales in the process.
Maybe this will spur the remaining designers into fixing those classes. For a better game, and for their own salaries. Make sure to fully separate PVP and PVE skills so PVP stops messing up the main game.
Thanks.
Whats funny about that is the market was TELLING us the ZAX at that point in time should be over 700:1!!!! but noone wanted to allow the market to be "free" and "price itself". The fear being that it would cost too much AD for a "free player" to get items.
This is where you DECREASE zen prices/costs in the Zen Store. Heck you could EVEN but a "multiplier" on each item to be automatically price adjusting each day.
So for instance everything is a multiple with an INVERSE relationship.
If the ZAX goes up to 600:1 The zen COST of a Blue ward could then DROP to 833 zen for a blue ward. If it goes up to 700:1 the price of a Blue Ward would drop further to: 714 Zen.
It keeps the SAME "AD cost" but allows your markets to PRICE THEMSELVES. As Inflation goes up, as more AD is being supplied, it creates demand. When you limit the markets to price appropriately you cause inefficiencies and players find ways to take advantage of them.
The easy formula is: (500 / ZAX rate)*(Current Item Price) = Final Price.
Now there would have to be some limites as to what dictates the ZAX rate: I would just suggest whatever is the current highest quantity demanded is the current price. Which currently is 500: 1 if it were allowed to move UP it would probably adjust to 600:1 or more.
Thus plug in the formula (500 / 600) * (1000) = New Blue ward price of 833 Zen.
From my situation that appears to coincide with many others, the prices are simply too high which is leading to not investing real money into this game, but without seeing the actual data or knowing more company information, I couldn't say whether it is truly a right or wrong decision.
Hopefully this is just a setback, and the game can continue to grow in the future. My sympathies to those who lost their jobs.
No, STO lost Captain Smirk, that was thier CM. Dwight's status is still unknown, however.
The reason this method works SO well is your allowing ALL the prices to adjust according to the market.
As more AD comes into the game, the higher the demand for zen, and the MORE attractive it becomes to BUY ZEN DIRECTLY.
Imagine if it WERE 1000:1. A player could throw in $20 into the game and get 2 MILLION AD! Or they could buy FOUR blue wards! This (again) approaches the 3rd party websites and starts pushing their margins DOWN and would even make it unprofitable for many of them to remain in business (there will always be 3rd party) but THIS type of system atleast allows players to get more value for the money they give Cryptic BASED on the current market prices.
Again all of this also comes with more things to BUY in the zen market as well - the MOST popular being cosmetic features which cosmetic features SHOULD be "pay to get" and more difficult to obtain vie zen - easier to obtain buying direct. Heck you could even create a "discount margin" in the formula so it becomes an ADVANTAGE to buy zen direct something like:
So just like the AH - Cryptic "nets" 10% of the zen purchased via the ZAX.
Thus when you BUY 1000 zen, you only get 900 via the ZAX.
So looking back at our Blue Ward base 1000 zen @ 600:1 ZAX rate:
(500/600)*1000= 833 Current Price of Blue Ward. A player would have to BUY: (833/90%) = 926 Zen to actually BUY the item with AD. OR they can pay $8.33 for the item via Direct.
Which means they can EITHER use: 555k OR $8.33 which NOW starts competing even MORE with 3rd party sites. What they need to realize is they can SET THEIR OWN COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE!
I am starting to wonder if noone at Cryptic has an Econ background...
However folks, let's keep away from doomsaying and rumor-milling. Let me put one rumor to rest: Akromatik is still our Community Manager for Neverwinter.
Safe travels,
Archmage Zebular of Mystryl
PWE Community Moderator
[ RoC | ToS | Support ]
[ Support Center • Rules & Policies and Guidelines • ARC ToS • Guild Recruitment Guidelines | FR DM Since 1993 ]
Dwight is no longer with the company, I've been advised. The reasons for his departure are unknown, however, and do not appear to be connected with this round of layoffs.
Great Weapon Fighter: Because when is today not a good day to die?
PC and PS4 player. Proud Guildmaster for PS4 Team Fencebane. Rank 5 Officer for PC Team Fencebane. Visit us at http://fencebane.shivtr.com
Ergh. =/ We need a new foundry dungeon master. ASAP.
NW-DC9R4J5EH - 'The Black Pearl' - Spelljammer! Phlo Riders and Space Orcs
Thanks for all the fish.
as you read "go forward develloping some new stuff..."
thats obviously the ideology in these days, no fixing, no look back, no regrets ... just buy a new one
I agree, I mean the writing was on the walls back in November when the Q3 results for PWE were released. PWE reported a 50% loss in profits and attributed that to is US operations (aka Cryptic).
I am GUESSING they wanted to wait until mod 6 was ready to roll out - or atleast close enough to then cut the staff to lower their costs and it would buy them time since module 6 is pretty much done, they kept maybe 75% of the Developers for NW, so they can still run with less crew.
BTW - this is exactly why they need to revisit their economic model. They need to ask the fundamental question: "How do we encourage players to pay"
Clearly they tried artifact equipment which was a TOTAL bust.
SO maybe its time to revisit this, I rolled out a simple, feasible, very little programming required, solution to the ZAX/Zen Market that would go a LONG way in encouraging players to PAY for this game.
I actually think, even in its current state, there ARE adequate dollars being spent on NW, just not directly through Cryptic- but through 3rd party.
I have it on good authority that there are still suppliers out there, who have billions of AD supplying to 3rd party sites who then turn around and offer it to the public.
Based on the PE spam I see everyday and even several PMs from 3rd party sellers, it seems business is still booming there... Otherwise it would trail off if lack of demand.
People can come up with "economic solutions" but at the ends of the day, Cryptic HAS to be a little greedy in how they structure the model, they CANNOT just give EVERYTHING away for free. They need to create a competitive advantage to BUY through Cryptic while STILL allowing free players to access the mandatory portions of the game.
This is where cosmetics typically shine as they add no REAL value in the sense of "power" but people are ALWAYS willing to spend to make their characters look good. Transmutes could EASILY massively increase the sales of Cryptic if transmutes were all 100 zen now AND ontop of that, my suggestions about the ZAX were implemented. Because now you would have to pay quite a bit more to transmute OR you can drop $20 and get 20 transmutes to support the game.
It lends distinct competitive advantage in Cryptics favor to do it all. Now will free players be slightly set back a little? Yes. There is NO other way. You cant have the best of both worlds - high revenue fueling a quality game AND offering it all for free.
Whats the saying? Why buy the cow when you get the milk for free?
http://www.thestreet.com/story/12998333/1/perfect-world-pwrd-stock-soaring-today-after-chairmans-share-acquisition-offer.html?puc=yahoo&cm_ven=YAHOO.
The 5 year trend shows increase in stock price at the release of Neverwinter from beta, Mod 2, Mod 3 and Mod 4. However, during the release of Mod 5 (early Nov 2014), the stock price was in decline, and the quarterly report released on Nov 25th confirmed what was already known, an overall profit margin decline for PWE, Inc.
The uptick in price on January 2nd was not related to any release software or improvements, but the CEO buying back about 450k shares outstanding. So, investors jumped at the buy, even though the trend shows a decline in profit margin. The trend in the stock price since January 2nd has been consistently downward.
The delay from March 17th to April 7th effectively pushes the mod 6 release into Fiscal Year 2015's second quarter. A directive from PWE may have been given to subsidiaries to increase profit margin by reducing operating costs for FY 2015 first quarter. What this means practically is firing people to boost profit margins.
Anyway, it is a short term solution to the long term problem of declining profitability. Sorry to all the devs who lost their jobs!
Guild--And the Imaginary Friends
I am offering an outstanding offer to put together an Economic Paper outlining all of this in detail for you. I would as a Financial Consultant and was an Analyst before that with my Degree in both Finance and Marketing.
Most of the time, I am paid for my time, however I would gladly discuss these matters with anyone willing to listen from PWE/Cryptic for FREE as a way to assist in the sales without much real work. You can send me a PM and I will pass along my personal email+Cell.
Feel free to pass this along to anyone at PWE/Cryptic as well.
Yup. That article was swimming around here for a while, I was hoping this would mean positive changes for the company and I guess that is yet to be seen long term since I know they ARE actively hiring so they may replace SOME if revenues increase again.
I think its clear if he is willing to invest and now I think owns the company outright (or close to it) so clearly he firmly believes in the company and wants to make it profitable. If that means the game gets sold off, or invested in who knows. I doubt it will turn into a "management" game where they just keep it kicking for several years. But who knows.
Layoffs happen, the reasons are many and not really related to bad performance of certain employees. If an employee is bad, he'll get fired on the spot. Those kind of layoffs happen for strategic reasons, or to cut costs. The former means, Cryptic is focusing on other projects and the fired stuff isn't needed anymore. The later... well it usually means the company is in deep **** and cutting flesh. Both options are bad for Neverwinter.
As for the people who lost this job: This is a dynamic market, people move from one company to another all the time. My career "record" was 2 years at the same place, and I was fired only once. I'm sure they will find a good workplace, and very soon. And maybe some of them even had other jobs lined up already and were jut waiting for an layoff.
Anyway life moves on.
I hope I helped someone get an idea of how thing work in the industry.
Best wishes to the people who'll be looking for new jobs, and for Nevernwiter.
I think given the nature of the share repurchase from the CEO, while it may have been to boost profitability, I do HIGHLY doubt a massive investment of hundred of millions into PWE to just let parts of the company go stagnant. This is all speculation but it is most definitely attributed to the profits of Cryptic. Now what remains to be seen are what happens next.
Either this game, they will "cut losses" and decide to just maintain it with no real investment and look to something new (currently in development) OR this was a "trim the fat" type of move, cutting costs between modules since 6 is about to release and they will beef up areas where needed.
Even a healthy business goes through ebs and flows of the cycle and both hires and fires people when at first it doesnt make sense.
I do see some openings on the website, which may be for something else and NOT neverwinter, OR as I said before, it could be a timing thing and they will re-hire where needed and I think there is atleast a fair chance this game will continue to get some attention. Im not sure when the license is up for them to use DnD but as long as this remains the newest DnD game on the market there will be a popular audience for it.
Thats unfortunate. I doubt it will happen as well, but its worth a try
Oh and I forgot to add to my recent post- given the investment into the console space, I am HOPING that this means more development for Neverwinter. I think the PC version is almost like a BETA test for Console version seeing as Neverwinter would be one of the first MMOs for Console.
Its also got a fantastic combat system that plays well there too, So I strongly suspect that we will see changes first, then as they fine tune it, it will hit console.
Again, who knows, its all speculation for all I know module 7 could be done already and they are just rolling things out as they make revisions to plans.
I forget the term for it, but I think Cryptic uses more of a "push" model where there is little development in the works until they announce a new module then its an all out dash to get the most content completed as fast as possible. They probably rotate devs to other games in the meantime and maintain with a skeleton crew for small updates until another module then a big rush again. (there is a more technical term for it).
Just throwing this out there, but there's all kinds of reason for declines in profits. If you actually read the report that link is from, here's the recommendation:
The reason Revenue was up but profits were down was because PWE was making significant investments in R&D, marketing and launching new products during Q3 and Q4 of last year, which is an investment, not an expense. The hope (and as shown by the recommendation in the report you linked but didn't read) is that PWE will see significant returns on those investments in 2015.
So it's very possible that these layoffs are part of a bigger restructuring at PWE as it continues to grow. It's not uncommon for companies to eliminate positions in one place, while adding positions in others.4
UNAUDITED FINANCIAL RESULTS
I suppose it COULD be, but, with those numbers, I don't see it as being LIKELY. :cool:
(btw, before I get moderated for this.. it's google-able, not hard to find, AND obviously, a matter of public record)
The problem is, as many of us have been saying, is that the $10 purchases don't do much to advance your character, even if done every single payday. It is the hundreds of dollars at a time that will advance your character significantly. This is a serious problem indicating faulty underlying business model. That large of a layoff indicates systemic fail more than incompetence on an individual level.
Second, they "start firing people left, right and center"...that's crazy hyperbole there. In total 14% of people from Cryptic lost their jobs, and only half of that was dedicated to Neverwinter. Not 24%.
As far as that "being a lot of manpower", that's totally subjective.
And then you start diving deep into conspiracy theory territory with that last bit. I know it's not as exciting as you want, but sometimes the simplest solution is the right one. And to say that "it makes a lot of players very uneasy about the future of the game", I've been hearing that on this forum for two years now...can you at least try to be a little creative with the doomsaying?
Also, thanks OP for posting the news.
Hey guys,
This thread has gotten a little out of hand, so I'll need to close it.
Some things to note:
- Module 6 is still coming on April 7th.
- Any further "Doom" Posts/Threads will be closed/removed.
Thank you!