ambisinisterrMember, Neverwinter ModeratorPosts: 10,462Community Moderator
edited October 2012
What personal gameplay aspects of lockboxes do you like or dislike?
Likes - Nothing. I can't say anything I like about lockboxes whatsoever.
Dislike - The fact that they are a psychological mind trick. I would never, ever buy such an item from a shop but I am unable to simply drop lockboxes.
What are your experiences with lockboxes?
Rune scape's Squeel of Fortune...I unsubscribed the very next day and haven't played since...but there were more reasons than the 'lockbox' content.
I've played games where lockbox content required gold to open and I didn't mind as that truly aids the in game economy but I am absolutely against any real world fees to open any semi-frequent drops. One or two rare items (as in dropped once every never with good items), no big deal, but anything which is dropped with any frequency with moderate items shouldn't be implemented.
That's nothing more than twisting money from the players. If you want to do that please use subscriptions.
How do you think lockboxes will impact your own gameplay?
Simply speaking I am not a person who can drop items which may or may not contain valuables. I have kept rare drops similar to lockboxes in other games for years waiting for the appropriate partner. If the choice is between cluttering my bank or buying keys I'd end up buying the keys simply because I will not be able to drop or choose to not pick up the lockboxes.
That infuriates me. I'm all for paying for content and I'm more than willing to pay for items but lockboxes make me feel like PWE is twisting my arm behind my back and forcing me to pay. I'd rather see a sub than a lockbox any day and while I won't say I wouldn't play the game because of them they will cause a very noticeable decrease in my enjoyment of the game.
If Cryptic/PWE wants to let me choose when and how much to spend, let me choose. If they don't then let me subscribe.
Suggestions:
-If you insist on adding lockboxes into the game allow me to pay for a chance for lockbox drops to be keys as well so that I don't end up spending money that I'm already willing to pay you on marketing schemes like this.
-If you're looking for lockboxes to replace subs then let us choose subs. I'd rather spend 5-10 dollars a month to not deal with lock-boxes (and pay for additional content) than have to spend all my cash on lock-box drops.
-Add some way to open them free of charge
Basically I think every issue and complaint I, and possibly others, have with lockboxes would be solved if they were implemented in a way where keys could be achieved or found on a regular, even if far less frequent, basis as lockboxes themselves.
The difference between twisting my arm and allowing me to pay for the convenience is as simple as permitting me to spend the time getting keys without paying with real currency or it's equivalent.
Once again, since you will be able to trade special in game currency(astral diamonds) for game store currency(zen), that means you will be able to buy the lock box keys without spending any of your own cash money.
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ambisinisterrMember, Neverwinter ModeratorPosts: 10,462Community Moderator
What personal gameplay aspects of lockboxes do you like or dislike?
I dislike it when lockboxes contain exslusive items that are not purchasable directly in the Cash Shop. I want to know what I am getting for my money. I do not want to have to miss out on things because I do not want to risk wasting my money on things I do not want to buy.
If they contained chances at items that are already available in the Cash Shop, I would have no issue with it.
Very poor to downright infuriating. I went ahead and endulged once in STO's latest update to their Lockboxes. I bought 22 keys in total and out of 22 locked boxes, I did not get a single thing I wanted, which was one of the exclusive ships. I ended up paying more in key value for those keys than the most expensive ship in the game cost. This was a horrible slap in my face and a lesson learned.
How do you think lockboxes will impact your own gameplay?
If implemented in such a way that all items they have a chance at containing are also available in Cash Shop for straight out buying, they will impact me none-at all. I will instead happily buy what I want in the Cash Shop instead.
If they are implemented in a way similar to STO, where they contain exclusive items that are not available for direct purchase in the Cash Shop, they will constantly leave a bad taste in my mouth along with the constant feeling that I am missing out on something.
I will be constantly annoyed when I see players with such items, knowing that those items are not something I can acquire simply because I do not have the money to waste on gambling.
Let's keep the topic to whether or not you would want lockboxes for yourself. This is not a thread to discuss how to raise children, and that is severely off the topic of these boards.
SO! I'll pose some new questions to further discussion and hopefully everyone can stay on topic and friendly:
What personal gameplay aspects of lockboxes do you like or dislike?
What are your experiences with lockboxes?
How do you think lockboxes will impact your own gameplay?
I stress the word "friendly" here- I know this is a topic that many people feel passionately about, however we want to foster constructive posts, rather than destructive. Remember that we're one community, and the friends you make here are the adventurers you slay dragons with once the game is launched!
I'll try to be as diplomatic as possible, I have made my opinion very well known that I am in favor of lockboxes, I think they are a great source to fund this games future development.
No woman should marry before she has slain her tenth man.-:Vartha Do'Urden
What personal gameplay aspects of lockboxes do you like or dislike?
What are your experiences with lockboxes?
How do you think lockboxes will impact your own gameplay?
1. I do not have a like or dislike, I doubt I would use one though.
2. Only in STO for the short time I played. They were everywhere and I dumped or did not pick up.
3. I will most likely discard or never pick up. As far as I am concerned, it's an odds thing. Same reason I rarely gamble. Not a moral issue, the math is against you. lockboxes pose a similar problem as this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schr%C3%B6dinger%27s_cat , is the lockbox alive or dead (so to speak). Is there a fabulous prize behind door number one or the same old tripe. So for me the lockbox will remain in an unknown state.
Einstein - "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe."
I'll try to be as diplomatic as possible, I have made my opinion very well known that I am in favor of lockboxes, I think they are a great source to fund this games future development.
I can understand they need money to keep the game going, and I'm more than willing to give it to them for something actually useful, but not for a lockbox key. NOW, if they were to give you multiple keys for like 5 bucks. Say 5 for 5, that would be acceptable. But 1 for 5, or even 10, is a bad joke that we get to be the punchline for. I'd rather pay for things like classes, more character slots, etc than for a key that works once.
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ambisinisterrMember, Neverwinter ModeratorPosts: 10,462Community Moderator
edited October 2012
Logical, concise and something I agree with 100%.
I just know how I am though. I've been legally able to gamble for more than five years now and to this date have never partaken in the lottery and any gambling I do is charitable by nature or purely for fun.
Example: The boy scouts are holding a raffle to raise money for the troop. Would you like to buy a raffle ticket for 5 dollars? "Sure! Take 5 and you know what here this one's for the troop itself!"
I'm a huge math geek so when I think lottery I end up sounding like C3PO screaming "but the odds are 750 Million Billion to One!"
However lockbox items have a serious effect on me personally. I can't bring myself to drop/ignore Schrodinger's Box's in video games despite the fact I don't ever gamble in real life.
I have no interest in gambling as a person and yet lockboxes get me to gamble. That screams dangerous to me on far too many levels to choose to simply not care and definitely warrants government investigation into such tactics.
Knowing how I am affected by them bodes ill for any person; Youth or adult. The real world protects consumers from these ploys so while it may not affect some of you, that's not to say it's not worth protecting.
what I can tell you is that in STO you can buy a pack of 10 keys for 1,125 zen. Personally, I earn about 200 zen worth of dilithium every day playing about 1 hour total, so that is a total of about 6 hours of actual play time for 10 keys.
what I can tell you is that in STO you can buy a pack of 10 keys for 1,125 zen. Personally, I earn about 200 zen worth of dilithium every day playing about 1 hour total, so that is a total of about 6 hours of actual play time for 10 keys.
The going rate for dilithium to zen is ~158 so that means you are making ~30K dilithium a day. You can only refine 8K a day. So I'm a little confused here.
The going rate for dilithium to zen is ~158 so that means you are making ~30K dilithium a day. You can only refine 8K a day. So I'm a little confused here.
You can only refine 8k per character. However since zen is account wide, you can cash in dilithium on all of your characters and it still pools into your account wide zen total.
You can only refine 8k per character. However since zen is account wide, you can cash in dilithium on all of your characters and it still pools into your account wide zen total.
Yes, but fp2 accounts are limited to two characters. So unless you spend money you can only refine a total of 16K per day. That of course completely ignores how you are earning even 16K (not to mention the 30K+ you are claiming) a day for 1 hour of play on two different characters.
I have something like 14 characters, I average about 1K dilithium a day on the characters that I don't play, but just manage the Doff assignments. I make probably 10K on the characters I do dailies on, and it takes me a about an hour of play to do the dailies for one character. I just don't see making 30K+ a day in dilithium realistic for anyone.
While it is true lockbox key can be bought from doing in game activities, most players will not be able to earn enough of the astral gems to make the price of a 10 pack key set in 1 week. More like two. Now add to this the fact that in one hour of play I usually collect about 10-15 lockboxes. So I almost always have an abundance of lockboxes (they only stack to 20 too) and no real means to open them all without spending money.
Yes, but fp2 accounts are limited to two characters. So unless you spend money you can only refine a total of 16K per day. That of course completely ignores how you are earning even 16K (not to mention the 30K+ you are claiming) a day for 1 hour of play on two different characters.
I have something like 14 characters, I average about 1K dilithium a day on the characters that I don't play, but just manage the Doff assignments. I make probably 10K on the characters I do dailies on, and it takes me a about an hour of play to do the dailies for one character. I just don't see making 30K+ a day in dilithium realistic for anyone.
While it is true lockbox key can be bought from doing in game activities, most players will not be able to earn enough of the astral gems to make the price of a 10 pack key set in 1 week. More like two. Now add to this the fact that in one hour of play I usually collect about 10-15 lockboxes. So I almost always have an abundance of lockboxes (they only stack to 20 too) and no real means to open them all without spending money.
Sorry, but I'm not going to give you a step by step guide to how I earn dilithium. However, how I earn dilithium is completely irrelevant to my actual point, which is that people will in fact have a way to get lock box keys without spending a dime of their own money. If you refuse to take advantage of that, then its your loss. But it wont be PW's loss, because plenty of other people will.
What personal gameplay aspects of lockboxes do you like or dislike? I am not really sure if I like or dislike them. I just hope that the game shouldn't become unplayable in some region due to legislation and that is my primary concern.Also, if the legislation is ethical, I would definitely support it.
What are your experiences with lockboxes? Haven't played STO or CO a lot but I saw some lockboxes in STO when I was trying to see foundry. But I have rare case of allergy from star exploration games. Coincidentally that was where I stopped playing - nothing to do with lockboxes though. In other games with random loot, my experiences have not been good. By the time I am able to get something I want from a random loot item, I usually find that I don't need it anymore. Shop items that replace those lockbox items are much reliable. At least I can get them in the time window of when I want them.
How do you think lockboxes will impact your own gameplay? I see myself setting aside a fixed sum every month for this game - so that I don't get carried away while playing. I might be spending that money because of my greed uselessly on lockbox instead of something I actually want, but I don't see a lot of impact apart from major annoyance at letting the game exploit my greediness.
Disable sale of lock boxes to people under 18 then. If that's the main concern- have people have to put in their age when they make their account- and if they're too young, tough, that's one item they can't buy- IF lock boxes are actually considered gambling which honestly I think would be very very difficult to prove without a specific study into problem gambling developing in people who buy lots of lock boxes as children versus those who play mmos without doing so. Frankly, I'd be willing to bet significant amounts of cash that someone who plays a moderate amount and spends money on lockboxes as a child would still be at much less risk of become a gambling addict than someone who doesn't spend money but does spend all their free time online gaming.
Maybe the lock boxes are or will be illegal for children- even so, that gives zero reason for them to not be available in game. That gives reason for them not to be sold to children- and fine, I can get behind that, just like I can get behind dirty mags, cigs and booze not being sold to children... but as an adult I can buy those things- so why wouldn't as an adult I be able to 'gamble' online?
Is there a reason- a reason that wouldn't also put every single adult site in prison. Think about it- you can access anything on the internet by simply clicking a box that says 'I am 18 or over', in some cases for account creation you might need a credit card too. But if we're going to say 'well, a child can just say they are, it's the sites responsibility' how are sites going to police that? There's only two actual paths that can guarantee a child won't get into something bad online- 1 is to remove everything bad online, and 2 is to have to give all these online sites a vast amount of personal information to verify you're who you say you are.
You essentially have a situation where privacy (which also means safety from fraud and identity theft) is going to be in direct contrast with 'maybe protecting the children'. But even then- having a child have to say they are a child and put forth proof of that whenever they go online opens up an entirely new, different set of dangers far worse than gambling.
TLDR- If this is truly considered legally gambling, all they have to do is put up a screen saying 'I confirm I'm 18' to get around it. I'm sure we all remember as children how effective those were in stopping us from getting into <insert bad thing you can do online> websites.
I'm not too keen on lockboxes. In WoW it was a hassle to find a rogue at times and then some expect tips that are worth more than the content and there was never anything of much worth in em.
As far as lockboxes related to a cash shop GW2 is the only experience I have. I think they did a good job in what items to have, all luxury/non-impact boost items and when special occasions like Halloween then have special weapon/armor skins was a great ideal. However they did a lousy job on obtaining keys. Chests drop quite a bit yet keys hardy if ever drop. Some even resort to creating new characters and progress to the lvl 10 of the personal story to farm a key for a lock box as a quest reward. What my issue is how you have to buy a key pretty much in their cash shop for your locked chests and not having options besides that to obtain a key besides a new char farming method.
Disable sale of lock boxes to people under 18 then. If that's the main concern- have people have to put in their age when they make their account- and if they're too young, tough, that's one item they can't buy- IF lock boxes are actually considered gambling which honestly I think would be very very difficult to prove without a specific study into problem gambling developing in people who buy lots of lock boxes as children versus those who play mmos without doing so. Frankly, I'd be willing to bet significant amounts of cash that someone who plays a moderate amount and spends money on lockboxes as a child would still be at much less risk of become a gambling addict than someone who doesn't spend money but does spend all their free time online gaming.
Maybe the lock boxes are or will be illegal for children- even so, that gives zero reason for them to not be available in game. That gives reason for them not to be sold to children- and fine, I can get behind that, just like I can get behind dirty mags, cigs and booze not being sold to children... but as an adult I can buy those things- so why wouldn't as an adult I be able to 'gamble' online?
Is there a reason- a reason that wouldn't also put every single adult site in prison. Think about it- you can access anything on the internet by simply clicking a box that says 'I am 18 or over', in some cases for account creation you might need a credit card too. But if we're going to say 'well, a child can just say they are, it's the sites responsibility' how are sites going to police that? There's only two actual paths that can guarantee a child won't get into something bad online- 1 is to remove everything bad online, and 2 is to have to give all these online sites a vast amount of personal information to verify you're who you say you are.
You essentially have a situation where privacy (which also means safety from fraud and identity theft) is going to be in direct contrast with 'maybe protecting the children'. But even then- having a child have to say they are a child and put forth proof of that whenever they go online opens up an entirely new, different set of dangers far worse than gambling.
TLDR- If this is truly considered legally gambling, all they have to do is put up a screen saying 'I confirm I'm 18' to get around it. I'm sure we all remember as children how effective those were in stopping us from getting into <insert bad thing you can do online> websites.
If they went this route I'm pretty sure their legal department would tell them they would have to make the eulas say the game was for 18+
Just leave the boxes in but make it so keys drop in game and can't be bought in the cash shop with real money.
Alternately,
Sell the items the boxes drop but for an increased price. For example if say a uber flying mount of awsomesauce had a chance to drop from them put that in the cash shop but at an increased price. For example normal mounts sell for say 20 bucks but this one sell for 30.
Seriously there is no good reason they can't make a really nice profit without these boxes, it's been done in numerous game that don't have these.
They are just trying to rip people off by forcing you to gamble for that "rare" mount or cosmetic item etc.
I'm not too keen on lockboxes. In WoW it was a hassle to find a rogue at times and then some expect tips that are worth more than the content and there was never anything of much worth in em.
As far as lockboxes related to a cash shop GW2 is the only experience I have. I think they did a good job in what items to have, all luxury/non-impact boost items and when special occasions like Halloween then have special weapon/armor skins was a great ideal. However they did a lousy job on obtaining keys. Chests drop quite a bit yet keys hardy if ever drop. Some even resort to creating new characters and progress to the lvl 10 of the personal story to farm a key for a lock box as a quest reward. What my issue is how you have to buy a key pretty much in their cash shop for your locked chests and not having options besides that to obtain a key besides a new char farming method.
In PW's games you can trade a special type of in game currency for zen(the game store currency) which is used to buy lock box keys. This means you have a way to get lock box keys without spending any of your own money.
In PW's games you can trade a special type of in game currency for zen(the game store currency) which is used to buy lock box keys. ...
That doesn't technically amount to anything. It means that keys have real monetary value and it doesn't matter if there are alternate ways to get them.
That doesn't technically amount to anything. It means that keys have real monetary value and it doesn't matter if there are alternate ways to get them.
I never said they didnt have monetary value. What I said is that you have a way to get them without spending any of your own money. A ton of people dont mind buying these keys, so for all of those people this is a complete non issue. But for those who dont want to spend their own money on keys, they still have a way to get them.
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marenorMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild UsersPosts: 0Arc User
edited October 2012
What personal gameplay aspects of lockboxes do you like or dislike?
I do not enjoy the idea of lockboxes. I am rather impatient and for a reward to be a reward, then the reward is required to be known to me at the time of achievement. A black box that contains an unknown item is not a reward at the time of achievement (drop), it is a reward for attaining the key to unlock the black box. If the lockboxes drop frequently and fill up limited storage and the keys are not available, without the use of real money, to unlock them, then unopened lockboxes will be most likely be removed from storage by me. This would then make lockboxes a demotivational reward in game. The one provision I would make to this is if enough information was available to make a reasonable inference of receiving a specific item. Even then, I prefer just receiving a specific item.
What are your experiences with lockboxes?
I have very little experience with them. They fill up storage space until that space is needed for a known item, or I can open them with in game rewards.
How do you think lockboxes will impact your own gameplay?
This would probably lead to play designed to gain the keys and known items rather than the lockboxes, if the two are seperable. Which may lead to content choices based upon the nature of the drop, known or unknown, rather than the content itself. The value I place on a lockbox as a reward is the lowest value item available from the lockbox. If the possible outcomes are unknown then the value of the lockbox is nil until opened.
Depending on the frequency of lockbox drops, I can foresee them being a possible reason for me to eventually develop alternative uses for the time I would spend in game. These are just mho's and understand that other opinions of lockboxes are equally valid.
Alright, I think we need to take a breather from this topic for now. We're all getting a little heated as there is quite a bit of passion on both sides of this debate.
By this point, it seems that everyone has had a chance to state their opinion and make their feelings known, and we have gotten some really great discussion out of this thread.
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Comments
Likes - Nothing. I can't say anything I like about lockboxes whatsoever.
Dislike - The fact that they are a psychological mind trick. I would never, ever buy such an item from a shop but I am unable to simply drop lockboxes.
What are your experiences with lockboxes?
Rune scape's Squeel of Fortune...I unsubscribed the very next day and haven't played since...but there were more reasons than the 'lockbox' content.
I've played games where lockbox content required gold to open and I didn't mind as that truly aids the in game economy but I am absolutely against any real world fees to open any semi-frequent drops. One or two rare items (as in dropped once every never with good items), no big deal, but anything which is dropped with any frequency with moderate items shouldn't be implemented.
That's nothing more than twisting money from the players. If you want to do that please use subscriptions.
How do you think lockboxes will impact your own gameplay?
Simply speaking I am not a person who can drop items which may or may not contain valuables. I have kept rare drops similar to lockboxes in other games for years waiting for the appropriate partner. If the choice is between cluttering my bank or buying keys I'd end up buying the keys simply because I will not be able to drop or choose to not pick up the lockboxes.
That infuriates me. I'm all for paying for content and I'm more than willing to pay for items but lockboxes make me feel like PWE is twisting my arm behind my back and forcing me to pay. I'd rather see a sub than a lockbox any day and while I won't say I wouldn't play the game because of them they will cause a very noticeable decrease in my enjoyment of the game.
If Cryptic/PWE wants to let me choose when and how much to spend, let me choose. If they don't then let me subscribe.
Suggestions:
-If you insist on adding lockboxes into the game allow me to pay for a chance for lockbox drops to be keys as well so that I don't end up spending money that I'm already willing to pay you on marketing schemes like this.
-If you're looking for lockboxes to replace subs then let us choose subs. I'd rather spend 5-10 dollars a month to not deal with lock-boxes (and pay for additional content) than have to spend all my cash on lock-box drops.
-Add some way to open them free of charge
Basically I think every issue and complaint I, and possibly others, have with lockboxes would be solved if they were implemented in a way where keys could be achieved or found on a regular, even if far less frequent, basis as lockboxes themselves.
The difference between twisting my arm and allowing me to pay for the convenience is as simple as permitting me to spend the time getting keys without paying with real currency or it's equivalent.
Astral Diamonds are cash equivalent.
If they contained chances at items that are already available in the Cash Shop, I would have no issue with it. Very poor to downright infuriating. I went ahead and endulged once in STO's latest update to their Lockboxes. I bought 22 keys in total and out of 22 locked boxes, I did not get a single thing I wanted, which was one of the exclusive ships. I ended up paying more in key value for those keys than the most expensive ship in the game cost. This was a horrible slap in my face and a lesson learned. If implemented in such a way that all items they have a chance at containing are also available in Cash Shop for straight out buying, they will impact me none-at all. I will instead happily buy what I want in the Cash Shop instead.
If they are implemented in a way similar to STO, where they contain exclusive items that are not available for direct purchase in the Cash Shop, they will constantly leave a bad taste in my mouth along with the constant feeling that I am missing out on something.
I will be constantly annoyed when I see players with such items, knowing that those items are not something I can acquire simply because I do not have the money to waste on gambling.
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I'm really ambivalent about them.
I will buy a key every now and again in STO...I picked up a couple consoles mostly I don't bother with them
They won't.
I'll try to be as diplomatic as possible, I have made my opinion very well known that I am in favor of lockboxes, I think they are a great source to fund this games future development.
1. I do not have a like or dislike, I doubt I would use one though.
2. Only in STO for the short time I played. They were everywhere and I dumped or did not pick up.
3. I will most likely discard or never pick up. As far as I am concerned, it's an odds thing. Same reason I rarely gamble. Not a moral issue, the math is against you. lockboxes pose a similar problem as this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schr%C3%B6dinger%27s_cat , is the lockbox alive or dead (so to speak). Is there a fabulous prize behind door number one or the same old tripe. So for me the lockbox will remain in an unknown state.
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe."
I can understand they need money to keep the game going, and I'm more than willing to give it to them for something actually useful, but not for a lockbox key. NOW, if they were to give you multiple keys for like 5 bucks. Say 5 for 5, that would be acceptable. But 1 for 5, or even 10, is a bad joke that we get to be the punchline for. I'd rather pay for things like classes, more character slots, etc than for a key that works once.
I just know how I am though. I've been legally able to gamble for more than five years now and to this date have never partaken in the lottery and any gambling I do is charitable by nature or purely for fun.
Example: The boy scouts are holding a raffle to raise money for the troop. Would you like to buy a raffle ticket for 5 dollars? "Sure! Take 5 and you know what here this one's for the troop itself!"
I'm a huge math geek so when I think lottery I end up sounding like C3PO screaming "but the odds are 750 Million Billion to One!"
However lockbox items have a serious effect on me personally. I can't bring myself to drop/ignore Schrodinger's Box's in video games despite the fact I don't ever gamble in real life.
I have no interest in gambling as a person and yet lockboxes get me to gamble. That screams dangerous to me on far too many levels to choose to simply not care and definitely warrants government investigation into such tactics.
Knowing how I am affected by them bodes ill for any person; Youth or adult. The real world protects consumers from these ploys so while it may not affect some of you, that's not to say it's not worth protecting.
The going rate for dilithium to zen is ~158 so that means you are making ~30K dilithium a day. You can only refine 8K a day. So I'm a little confused here.
You can only refine 8k per character. However since zen is account wide, you can cash in dilithium on all of your characters and it still pools into your account wide zen total.
Yes, but fp2 accounts are limited to two characters. So unless you spend money you can only refine a total of 16K per day. That of course completely ignores how you are earning even 16K (not to mention the 30K+ you are claiming) a day for 1 hour of play on two different characters.
I have something like 14 characters, I average about 1K dilithium a day on the characters that I don't play, but just manage the Doff assignments. I make probably 10K on the characters I do dailies on, and it takes me a about an hour of play to do the dailies for one character. I just don't see making 30K+ a day in dilithium realistic for anyone.
While it is true lockbox key can be bought from doing in game activities, most players will not be able to earn enough of the astral gems to make the price of a 10 pack key set in 1 week. More like two. Now add to this the fact that in one hour of play I usually collect about 10-15 lockboxes. So I almost always have an abundance of lockboxes (they only stack to 20 too) and no real means to open them all without spending money.
This is my final warning
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Sorry, but I'm not going to give you a step by step guide to how I earn dilithium. However, how I earn dilithium is completely irrelevant to my actual point, which is that people will in fact have a way to get lock box keys without spending a dime of their own money. If you refuse to take advantage of that, then its your loss. But it wont be PW's loss, because plenty of other people will.
I am not really sure if I like or dislike them. I just hope that the game shouldn't become unplayable in some region due to legislation and that is my primary concern. Also, if the legislation is ethical, I would definitely support it.
What are your experiences with lockboxes?
Haven't played STO or CO a lot but I saw some lockboxes in STO when I was trying to see foundry. But I have rare case of allergy from star exploration games. Coincidentally that was where I stopped playing - nothing to do with lockboxes though.
In other games with random loot, my experiences have not been good. By the time I am able to get something I want from a random loot item, I usually find that I don't need it anymore. Shop items that replace those lockbox items are much reliable. At least I can get them in the time window of when I want them.
How do you think lockboxes will impact your own gameplay?
I see myself setting aside a fixed sum every month for this game - so that I don't get carried away while playing. I might be spending that money because of my greed uselessly on lockbox instead of something I actually want, but I don't see a lot of impact apart from major annoyance at letting the game exploit my greediness.
Maybe the lock boxes are or will be illegal for children- even so, that gives zero reason for them to not be available in game. That gives reason for them not to be sold to children- and fine, I can get behind that, just like I can get behind dirty mags, cigs and booze not being sold to children... but as an adult I can buy those things- so why wouldn't as an adult I be able to 'gamble' online?
Is there a reason- a reason that wouldn't also put every single adult site in prison. Think about it- you can access anything on the internet by simply clicking a box that says 'I am 18 or over', in some cases for account creation you might need a credit card too. But if we're going to say 'well, a child can just say they are, it's the sites responsibility' how are sites going to police that? There's only two actual paths that can guarantee a child won't get into something bad online- 1 is to remove everything bad online, and 2 is to have to give all these online sites a vast amount of personal information to verify you're who you say you are.
You essentially have a situation where privacy (which also means safety from fraud and identity theft) is going to be in direct contrast with 'maybe protecting the children'. But even then- having a child have to say they are a child and put forth proof of that whenever they go online opens up an entirely new, different set of dangers far worse than gambling.
TLDR- If this is truly considered legally gambling, all they have to do is put up a screen saying 'I confirm I'm 18' to get around it. I'm sure we all remember as children how effective those were in stopping us from getting into <insert bad thing you can do online> websites.
As far as lockboxes related to a cash shop GW2 is the only experience I have. I think they did a good job in what items to have, all luxury/non-impact boost items and when special occasions like Halloween then have special weapon/armor skins was a great ideal. However they did a lousy job on obtaining keys. Chests drop quite a bit yet keys hardy if ever drop. Some even resort to creating new characters and progress to the lvl 10 of the personal story to farm a key for a lock box as a quest reward. What my issue is how you have to buy a key pretty much in their cash shop for your locked chests and not having options besides that to obtain a key besides a new char farming method.
If they went this route I'm pretty sure their legal department would tell them they would have to make the eulas say the game was for 18+
Just leave the boxes in but make it so keys drop in game and can't be bought in the cash shop with real money.
Alternately,
Sell the items the boxes drop but for an increased price. For example if say a uber flying mount of awsomesauce had a chance to drop from them put that in the cash shop but at an increased price. For example normal mounts sell for say 20 bucks but this one sell for 30.
Seriously there is no good reason they can't make a really nice profit without these boxes, it's been done in numerous game that don't have these.
They are just trying to rip people off by forcing you to gamble for that "rare" mount or cosmetic item etc.
Neverwinter Thieves Guild
In PW's games you can trade a special type of in game currency for zen(the game store currency) which is used to buy lock box keys. This means you have a way to get lock box keys without spending any of your own money.
I never said they didnt have monetary value. What I said is that you have a way to get them without spending any of your own money. A ton of people dont mind buying these keys, so for all of those people this is a complete non issue. But for those who dont want to spend their own money on keys, they still have a way to get them.
I do not enjoy the idea of lockboxes. I am rather impatient and for a reward to be a reward, then the reward is required to be known to me at the time of achievement. A black box that contains an unknown item is not a reward at the time of achievement (drop), it is a reward for attaining the key to unlock the black box. If the lockboxes drop frequently and fill up limited storage and the keys are not available, without the use of real money, to unlock them, then unopened lockboxes will be most likely be removed from storage by me. This would then make lockboxes a demotivational reward in game. The one provision I would make to this is if enough information was available to make a reasonable inference of receiving a specific item. Even then, I prefer just receiving a specific item.
What are your experiences with lockboxes?
I have very little experience with them. They fill up storage space until that space is needed for a known item, or I can open them with in game rewards.
How do you think lockboxes will impact your own gameplay?
This would probably lead to play designed to gain the keys and known items rather than the lockboxes, if the two are seperable. Which may lead to content choices based upon the nature of the drop, known or unknown, rather than the content itself. The value I place on a lockbox as a reward is the lowest value item available from the lockbox. If the possible outcomes are unknown then the value of the lockbox is nil until opened.
Depending on the frequency of lockbox drops, I can foresee them being a possible reason for me to eventually develop alternative uses for the time I would spend in game. These are just mho's and understand that other opinions of lockboxes are equally valid.
By this point, it seems that everyone has had a chance to state their opinion and make their feelings known, and we have gotten some really great discussion out of this thread.
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