What's in the box?

As I near the end of my 24 hours in Neverwinter I feel like I should write a post about one of the more controversial aspects of this game – lockboxes. Cryptic gets a lot of criticism for its monetization, in Neverwinter and its other MMOs, but is it deserved? Speaking at least for Neverwinter, I don't think it is.

When I first played Neverwinter I was purely F2P all the way to level cap. I never felt squeezed in any way – indeed I was pleasantly surprised by the way the game handed out multiple bags as quest rewards, as well as mounts – both of which are often monetized in F2P. Similarly all of the content itself was free – every zone, every quest, every dungeon.

As for the lockboxes – they stacked up in my inventory and I paid very little attention to them. I didn't feel the need to open them up. I didn't feel pushed to do so.

In my current run I've went with the same plan as in most of the other games I've played since starting this – spending the equivalent of an old-school monthly subscription and seeing what I get for it. In the case of Neverwinter that gave me a month of VIP, which among other goodies includes a free* lockbox key each day.

(Each day that I remember to log in. I think I picked up about 20 of 30 over the course of the month.)

*free in the sense it's included along with the other benefits of VIP.

This is a pretty good deal – far better than if I'd passed on the VIP and simply bought the equivalent number of keys direct from the store.

I'm not a min-maxer, in any aspect of MMOing, and that extends to lockboxes. I could have used all of my keys on the latest lockbox in the hope of getting whatever the new shiny is, or on those older boxes that are regarded as offering the best possible return, but I don't do that. There's nothing in a lockbox that's needed to play and enjoy the game, and once any box has been available for a short time the items in them make their way onto the auction house, and in time drop in price as more and more become available.

I can't help but wonder if focusing on one particular mount or companion – and becoming frustrated when you don't 'win' it – isn't part of what fuels the resentment of lockboxes.

For me I've been working through the older boxes – easily available and mostly very cheap on the auction house – and taking a lucky dip approach. In doing so I've accrued a few near old campaign tokens, a lot of runestones, and a purple Manticore companion. He's an ugly critter for sure.

(He's also huge, as companions go. When I first summoned him I wondered for a moment if I'd got a mount instead.)

This is nowhere near as efficient, but for me at least it's a lot more interesting.

It's been more than a month since I started my run of Neverwinter, and my VIP has now expired. Other than for not having my daily key I can't say I've noticed. If I'm levelling any slower I'm not feeling it.

VIP is nice to have, but it's by no means essential to enjoy the game. I feel the same about lockbox keys. Nice to have, but unless you're dead set on maxing out your character in the shortest possible time you won't miss them.