Lets talk Lootboxes

Slapshot1188 · August 2022

So I have now played Neverwinter for a month. I previously played a very long time ago and was just turned off by the Lootboxes. Nowadays, it's so much more prevalent that I guess I am numb to them (plus they now have odds shown). But as I play I just really have to scratch my head at HOW they implemented them.

At the end of my month I have about 1000 Lootboxes that have dropped and I am carrying around. 1000!
The cost of each key is $1.25 I think...

That just seems silly. Why not either make the drops much more rare, (maybe 20 boxes instead of 1000) or the cost of keys much lower (say $0.10 instead of $1.25)?

Overall, I am still having a blast in this game. It's the most MMORPG fun I have had in quite awhile (despite not really having anything to do with D&D except the setting). But I really scratch my head at the monetization. Even the VIP SUB seems poorly designed. You get 1 lockbox key a day and a small bag that usually contains an item worth a few copper pieces.

They just launched a Battlepass... and want $25 for it. the rewards seem targeted to a very, very small slice of the population with most reviewers saying to just skip it.

I think the game holds up surprisingly well given it's launch date, but the monetization just seems odd...

Anyone else playing?

Andemnon · August 2022

Neverwinter is one of those games that, unless you are prepared to spend real money in the game, your gaming experience will be sub par, significantly so, but buying into the game isn't that expensive at least, not at first, admittedly its been over a year since i last played the game and i have no regrets with the time i played, nor with walking away afterwards, i think you need to decide before playing, exactly how much money you are prepared to spend, and then stick to it.

[Deleted User] · August 2022

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Scot · August 2022

It never seemed a fully developed open world from what I heard but that's from years ago, maybe that's changed? One of the MMOs I missed, how do the graphics hold up after so long since launch?

I think many younger players are oblivious to gambling in gaming, the older players either put up with it or bail. This means the player base each year shifts more to those who think the likes of loot boxes in a game is normal.

Slapshot1188 · August 2022

Deathkon1 said:

Slapshot1188 said:
At the end of my month I have about 1000 Lootboxes that have dropped and I am carrying around. 1000!
The cost of each key is $1.25 I think...

That just seems silly. Why not either make the drops much more rare, (maybe 20 boxes instead of 1000) or the cost of keys much lower (say $0.10 instead of $1.25)?

Overall, I am still having a blast in this game. It's the most MMORPG fun I have had in quite awhile (despite not really having anything to do with D&D except the setting). But I really scratch my head at the monetization. Even the VIP SUB seems poorly designed. You get 1 lockbox key a day and a small bag that usually contains an item worth a few copper pieces.

They just launched a Battlepass... and want $25 for it. the rewards seem targeted to a very, very small slice of the population with most reviewers saying to just skip it.

I think the game holds up surprisingly well given it's launch date, but the monetization just seems odd...

Anyone else playing?

Neverwinter never plans ahead they doll up the beginning knowing most people will buy a few things then leave in a few months, they are in it for short term profit not long term, also yeah I used to play but I quit due to them not fixing old broken mechanics or bugs but leaving remnants of stuff broken for years they just recently fixed the throne of idris after years they removed it cuz they were to lazy to fix it but left the quest when your low level to try to find it and beat it

I have a level 80 mage and warlock I quit warlock due to the fact I leveled it up only to find out its redundant endgame so I switched to mage but I still kinda missed the shadow glide from my warlock I would have paid irl money to put my shadow glide dodge animation on my mage, well when I still played that is

You must not have played in a long time. They totally revamped the game sometime before I started. Max level is now 20. They changed the way all the items work etc...

I honestly haven't seen anything in my first month of playing that made me want to spend money to get stuff. I bought a VIP sub because thats typically what I do, but not sure it gives me anything worthwhile... and all the content is free. I'm doing all the dungeons and all the Trials except for Tiamat so far.

But yeah, it really does seem like they didn't give a lot of thought to the monetization.

olepi · August 2022

In general, I have no problem with lootboxes. I just never spend a dime on them and dont care. It is obvious gambling which I don't enjoy. Games with gambling are much less appealing to me.

I played NW in the beginning and it was ok. I liked that you could build your own scenarios, but that didn't last very long. That's when I quit.

Nebless · August 2022

Slapshot1188 said:

At the end of my month I have about 1000 Lootboxes that have dropped and I am carrying around. 1000!
The cost of each key is $1.25 I think...

You're better off just selling them to the junk vendors as no matter how much you spend on keys to open them the odds of getting anything useful are way to small.

That's the one thing I like about how Neverwinter handled lootboxes ..... you can sell them as junk for a few coins, unlike LotRO where they're worthless and you just end up filtering them out from your loot pickup's.

Nebless · August 2022

Scot said:

It never seemed a fully developed open world from what I heard but that's from years ago, maybe that's changed? One of the MMOs I missed, how do the graphics hold up after so long since launch?

It still isn't, very much on rails. You have zones that take you from lvl 1 to 20 and you level up after certain quests (no xp anymore) and you do them in the order they give them.

Campaigns are pretty much the exact same way as they have gear item level locks on when you can do them. While there's a little wiggle room in the beginning campaigns (gear levels are same / close) you're pretty much stuck with doing them in their order.

Graphics are good, better computers let you turn up the settings so they look nice.

My fantasy dream is to import some of the Neverwinter regions into DDO as there's some good variety in Neverwinter missing from DDO.

Nebless · August 2022

Andemnon said:

Neverwinter is one of those games that, unless you are prepared to spend real money in the game, your gaming experience will be sub par,

Not true unless you're talking about Pvp or End Game. If all you want to do is the content from start to finish you can get by totally as a F2p and not see any problems.

I've never put one cent into the game, yet have a 40K gear item level right now, getting 1400 of that from doing the Tyranny of Dragons Campaign yesterday.

I don't know how much I'll get from the new Rothe Valley campaign, if it'll bring me up to the last campaign (can't remember the name), but I did it when it first came out so I'm not so worried about it.

Kyleran · August 2022

I am a hoarder by nature, and struggle with FOMO anxiety as well.

Games which offer loot boxes such ESO or POE don't bother me a bit as they are only offered in the cash store and I make sure not to visit them to avoid being triggered.

I abhor loot box systems as @Slapshot1188 described Neverwinter having, became I end up collecting every one.

They are double FOMO, not only do I not want to toss any, even if I get a few free keys I end up saving them all as well, in case I want to open loot boxes gathered later on.

So good to learn this, I had thought of trying Neverwinter from time to time but definitely struck from the list now.

TLDR version, I'm OK if MMOs have lootboxes as long as I never actually see them physically in the game world.

Iselin · August 2022

Slapshot1188 said:

At the end of my month I have about 1000 Lootboxes that have dropped and I am carrying around. 1000!
The cost of each key is $1.25 I think...

That just seems silly. Why not either make the drops much more rare, (maybe 20 boxes instead of 1000) or the cost of keys much lower (say $0.10 instead of $1.25)?

They do it because they want to give you a more digitally tangible (now there's a concept!) incentive to spend lootbox cash than games that just rely on ads for what you can get in them and sell the boxes, not keys. They give you 1000 per month because they don't want to limit you if you're one of their compulsive prefered customers

No idea if it works better but NW has never been shy about promoting their lootboxes. Do they still have those cheesy broadcast messages when someone gets something rare from a lootbox?

Uwakionna · August 2022

Iselin said:
Do they still have those cheesy broadcast messages when someone gets something rare from a lootbox?

Last I recall yes. STO does the same thing.

Iselin · August 2022

Uwakionna said:

Iselin said:
Do they still have those cheesy broadcast messages when someone gets something rare from a lootbox?

Last I recall yes. STO does the same thing.

Well yeah... they're both Perfect World / Cryptic MMOs. It's their corporate thing.

Nebless · August 2022

Iselin said:
Do they still have those cheesy broadcast messages when someone gets something rare from a lootbox?

You know I've been playing all this past week and can't remember seeing a single one pop up.

Used to be they did all the time both here and on STO.

Kyleran · August 2022

Iselin said:

Uwakionna said:

Iselin said:
Do they still have those cheesy broadcast messages when someone gets something rare from a lootbox?

Last I recall yes. STO does the same thing.

Well yeah... they're both Perfect World / Cryptic MMOs. It's their corporate thing.

Thanks, crosses STO off the list permanently, or anything developed by that studio.

Iselin · August 2022

Nebless said:

Iselin said:
Do they still have those cheesy broadcast messages when someone gets something rare from a lootbox?

You know I've been playing all this past week and can't remember seeing a single one pop up.

Used to be they did all the time both here and on STO.

Interesting. Maybe they eased off the cheese... or no one is buying lootbox keys lol.

[Deleted User] · August 2022

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Slapshot1188 · August 2022

Iselin said:

Nebless said:

Iselin said:
Do they still have those cheesy broadcast messages when someone gets something rare from a lootbox?

You know I've been playing all this past week and can't remember seeing a single one pop up.

Used to be they did all the time both here and on STO.

Interesting. Maybe they eased off the cheese... or no one is buying lootbox keys lol.

It's the latter. Just had one pop on my screen for some mount a guy "won". But nobody is buying the boxes...

Uwakionna · August 2022

I woulda certainly been confused if they removed that from NW and not STO.

Makes me wonder how they'd compare in player base and amount people invest based on rate boxes are opened/redeemed. Not sure it'd be meaningful data, but it's a curiosity.

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Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV