151509-protobucks-are-a-thing

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Hey Everyone -
 
We're changing our currency and wanted to make sure you get all the details before it happens. More details here.
 
Thanks!
 
Team WildStar	
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As a person with a credit card and only plays wildstar out of ncsoft's other titles, this is cool.
 
Tho I do wonder what other people without credit cards will do if you remove the option to convert ncoin. :x	
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Am I the only one who see tis as a little rebelion agianst NC soft? After all with a foothold on steam and independent curency system, widlstar might survive on its own even without NC soft now.
 
Which is also the only explanation for this step. I cant see any other reason.	
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Am I the only one who see tis as a little rebelion agianst NC soft? After all with a foothold on steam and independent curency system, widlstar might survive on its own even without NC soft now.
 
Which is also the only explanation for this step. I cant see any other reason.
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It's most likely so they can offer incentives without having it affect other NCSoft titles.
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that was my thought but others think it has to do with the steam release and not being able to purchase ncoin through steam.  i think your reason is more valid in my opinion.
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I've got mixed feelings about this to be honest.
 
On the one hand it would be easier to make special offers just for Protobucks rather than NCoin, buy 1000 Protobucks and get 100 free for example giving Carbine more room to make Wildstar exclusive offers. And it would be a lot more accesible if there is indeed no option to buy NCoin through Steam, but that's something I don't really know about though.
 
However on the other hand this whole converting part of the story between NCoin and Protobucks but not the other way around (and eventually no converting at all) to me sounds like a lot of angry customers in the long run who bought the wrong currency. For example someone could buy 2000 NCoin assuming it's for all NCSoft titles only to find it Wildstar has to be a special snowflake where this is not the case. Or people converted more NCoin into Protobucks than they intended and can't convert the currency back.
 
Lastly there's something I just find odd about this whole venture. Look at how players dislike their in-game currenies not being account wide, save for Omni-bits, it just sounds like that all over again on a game titles level but with a customer's real money. That sounds quite risky to me.
			
				
	Edited May 13, 2016 by Thiefje	
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However on the other hand this whole converting part of the story between NCoin and Protobucks but not the other way around (and eventually no converting at all) to me sounds like a lot of angry customers in the long run who bought the wrong currency.
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I can see both sides, the advantages and disadvantages, to having a unique currency for Wildstar vs the other NCSoft distribution titles. Gives Carbine a bit more control over how their currency is used while also giving them back some flexibility.
 
For example, lets say they wanted to do something like PlasmaJohn described, and offer Protobucks at a higher rate for a higher volume of purchase. Lets say $5 gets you 400 Protobucks, but $10 gets you 1150 Protobucks, etc. If they were using NCoin, the offers would have to be uniform across all of NCsoft's games. They would NOT want to have NCoin for sale at different rates in Wildstar than the same NCoin in Lineage.
 
This also would allow Carbine to customize their purchasing and sales models beyond what other NCSoft distribution titles are doing. I suspect there's probably an issue with the Wildstar store being shoe horned into similar purchasing and sales models as the other MMOs, when it's a drastically different game with lots of different items for sale. I will hope that gaining more independence will result in a more diverse store since many of it's purchases are fairly bland. I expected a lot more in terms of mounts, cosmetics and customization so with some luck this will open the door for them.
 
I know there will be some issues with individuals who use NCoin across multiple games but those issues will likely be outweighed by the benefits this move gives to more players. I am sure that any individual issues can be resolved and that, as a whole, this will be a good move for Carbine, Wildstar and the Community.
 
 
((plus, I am going to start the rumour that this is the first step from Carbine splitting from NCSoft and taking Wildstar independent or migrating to another distributor **wink wink** / **nudge nudge**))
			
				
	Edited May 13, 2016 by Dreaded 88	
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However on the other hand this whole converting part of the story between NCoin and Protobucks but not the other way around (and eventually no converting at all) to me sounds like a lot of angry customers in the long run who bought the wrong currency. For example someone could buy 2000 NCoin assuming it's for all NCSoft titles only to find it Wildstar has to be a special snowflake where this is not the case. Or people converted more NCoin into Protobucks than they intended and can't convert the currency back.
 
Lastly there's something I just find odd about this whole venture. Look at how players dislike their in-game currenies not being account wide, save for Omni-bits, it just sounds like that all over again on a game titles level but with a customer's real money. That sounds quite risky to me.
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I'm going to be the *cupcake* here and say "People need to take responsibility for their actions and actually read and research stuff before they spend their money."  The article makes it clear that it's going to be for a limited time, there will be no reverse conversion, and I'd imagine Carbine is going to make it clear in the purchase panes in-game and on their site.
 
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I'm going to be the *cupcake* here and say "People need to take responsibility for their actions and actually read and research stuff before they spend their money."  The article makes it clear that it's going to be for a limited time, there will be no reverse conversion, and I'd imagine Carbine is going to make it clear in the purchase panes in-game and on their site.
 
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Although what you say is true there's always going to be people who will miss this. Isn't there like some fuss about the signature packs in the store and them giving, or rather not giving, cosmic points like.... right now?
And although any warnings now is all well and good I don't expect players who join 6 months from now to shift through all the articles looking for one or two details.
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Isn't there like some fuss about the signature packs in the store and them giving, or rather not giving, cosmic points like.... right now?
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Although what you say is true there's always going to be people who will miss this. Isn't there like some fuss about the signature packs in the store and them giving, or rather not giving, cosmic points like.... right now?
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Just because the info isn't slapping them in the face doesn't mean it isn't there for them to find with just a few minutes of searching.
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With regards to the in game sub, the info isn't there AT ALL. And the worst part is, once you've purchased it you really have no good way to revert that purchase. You actually have to wait until the sub you just purchased is over to purchase a sub that will grant you cosmic points.
 
It really is a different issue, and it isn't a matter of players not doing the research. If anyone bought a sub in game with NCoin and didn't expect to get the benefits you'd get through the website, then that's an impressive deduction I'd have never made.
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It really is a different issue, and it isn't a matter of players not doing the research. If anyone bought a sub in game with NCoin and didn't expect to get the benefits you'd get through the website, then that's an impressive deduction I'd have never made.
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While I didn't know I suspected that was the case ('cause NCSoft, natch).  Carbine has since said they're looking at making that a bit more explicit and that's good enough for me.
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Really glad to see the scaling pricepoints, as that was a concern of mine with NCoin.  As much as I dislike the obfuscation of price through a one-way currency exchange, I will totally admit that offering bonuses for large currency purchases is a good business decision for convincing people to spend more money than they need to for a single store item.
 
Also, if I may pose the suggestion, I'd like to see this and the in-store Sub options taken one step further and have Protobux completely replace CREDD, and have a Protobux Exchange replace the CREDD Exchange.
Like, you close down the CREDD exchange for a couple days to clear all the pending offers.  Once everyone's CREDD is back in their own account, you convert it to an equivalent amount of Bux based on the price of one month of Subscription through the in-game store (preferably with a bonus exchange rate for those with large amounts of CREDD, similar to the upcoming NCoin exchange).  You then replace the CREDD market with a Protobux market that works exactly the same, except that people trade amounts of Protobux instead of individual CREDD (in lots of, say, 100 or 500 at a time, rather than hassling with gold-per-buck).  And there, you no longer have to manage sketchy gifting promises to buy store items with plat, and this kind of system would put a serious damper on third-party gold sales as players would have a legitimate means to turn their meatspace dollars into in-game gold.	
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+1 regarding the change.
 
Could we please get clarification from Carbine regarding the relationship between Protobucks and Cosmic Reward Points?  Presumably, whatever you got for spending NCoin, you will now get for spending Protobucks, BUT:
 
(i) Still nice to have it officially confirmed, and
 
(ii) If there are any ways in which Protobucks will result in more Cosmic Reward points (other than the bulk buy ratios), it would be a good marketing point to make right away,
			
				
	Edited May 13, 2016 by Gamezilla	
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I'm just gonna cross post what I said on Tumblr for the most part.
 
I actually really like this! At first glance it sounds like they’re just changing the name. But there’s two interesting things to note:
 
Other games under the NCSoft banner also have their own currencies. Some even have their own cards. GW2 for example has gem cards, though they’re still branded with the NCSoft logo. There’s a scantily clad ladies card for Aion and Lineage II, which is NCoin but it’s implied to only work in those games and offers a bonus item for those games. This game having its own currency is another step away from the parent company’s support in branding and towards standing on its own merits.
 
The biggest one to players though (IMO) is the bonuses for buying in bulk. That’s something that bugged me about NCoin purchases done online. The physical cards sometimes have bonuses (the generic NCoin cards give Fortune Coins for WildStar) but only the higher ones and the online purchases have no bonuses at all. I've also only seen physical cards for $25, not a number I would normally buy that often. When you consider that even 10 NCoins can make the difference between making a purchase or not, the promise of a bonus of 200-5000 extra for buying more coins at a time can be a big draw. I know I for one will always favor $10 bundles over the $5 I used to get.
 
There are drawbacks sure, but that's true of the current system too. As others have mentioned there's no incentive to buy more than you need for the thing you want now. If you get bonus coins for buying more though, more people will want to buy bundles and sit on the extra til a rotating item they want comes back around. And even though a $25 NCoin card from GameStop comes with 3 Fortune Coins, I'd rather buy online and get more Protobucks.	
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			I guess this might be grasping, but I bought a fair amount of nccoin on on the 7th, and I would have waited to spend them if I had known about this of course. Am I out of luck in the bonus department?	
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			The Q1 numbers are schocking and i wouldn't be surprised if replacing NCoins with Protobucks is a move in order to separate Wildstar from the NCSoft portfolio -aka selling it.	
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The Q1 numbers are schocking and i wouldn't be surprised if replacing NCoins with Protobucks is a move in order to separate Wildstar from the NCSoft portfolio -aka selling it.
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 After all with a foothold on steam and independent curency system, widlstar might survive on its own even without NC soft now.
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Although what you say is true there's always going to be people who will miss this. Isn't there like some fuss about the signature packs in the store and them giving, or rather not giving, cosmic points like.... right now?
And although any warnings now is all well and good I don't expect players who join 6 months from now to shift through all the articles looking for one or two details.
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I think this is a bad idea.
Changing currencies, AGAIN.
How many currencies does this game have right now?
 
Prestige
Glory
Renown
Omnibits
NCoin 
Protobucks
Elder Gems
Crafting Vouchers
copper - silver - gold - platinum
Madame Fay Coins
Has it ever occured to anyone that this is simply too much?
How do you think new people feel about this when they enter the game and get bombarded by all of this?
Not to mention the useless of some of the currencies once you reach a certain point in the game.
 
Instead of intriducing yet another new currency, why not spend some time on introducing conversion systems that allow us to spend and/or convert our useless currencies into things we can actually use and boost the economy a bit?
There are so many issues that need resolving in this game, yet what we get is more cash shop focus	
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Instead of intriducing yet another new currency, why not spend some time on introducing conversion systems that allow us to spend and/or convert our useless currencies into things we can actually use and boost the economy a bit?
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fixed.
 
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I think this is a bad idea.
Changing currencies, AGAIN.
How many currencies does this game have right now?
 
Prestige So much x2 weekends i cant handle it!
Glory Worthless
Renown Worthless
Omnibits Elder Gems, but for cashshop
NCoin 
Protobucks Ncoin
Elder Gems Worthless
Crafting Vouchers Worthless
copper - silver - gold - platinum
Madame Fay Coins
Has it ever occured to anyone that this is simply too much?
How do you think new people feel about this when they enter the game and get bombarded by all of this?
Not to mention the useless of some of the currencies once you reach a certain point in the game.
 
Instead of intriducing yet another new currency, why not spend some time on introducing conversion systems that allow us to spend and/or convert our useless currencies into things we can actually use and boost the economy a bit?
There are so many issues that need resolving in this game, yet what we get is more cash shop focus
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A very self opinionated post, I use renown and elder for pets and hoverboards, it's my >> opinion << they are not worthless	
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A very self opinionated post, I use renown and elder for pets and hoverboards, it's my >> opinion << they are not worthless
 
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I think this is a bad idea.
Changing currencies, AGAIN.
How many currencies does this game have right now?
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Please stop complaining. http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Currency
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			while i cant say we have too many currencies because that is more of an opinion i do agree if currencies can overlap they should be consolidated. im just not see that with wildstar's current currencies. they all have their own specific purpose.	
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			Currencies are not a problem. Currencies that are cosntantly eating up bag space are.
			
				
	Edited May 15, 2016 by Jayvi	
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			what currencies take up bag space? all the ones listed do not take up bag space.	
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Now that you got me thinking. All of them have a specific purpose but two.
 
Elder gems just don't fit anymore. Change prices into Renown and remove them. Currency for playing and playing with other people is basically (or should be) the same thing in an MMO. While on the topic. Does PvP reward renown yet? Crb pls :)
 
And Service Tokens as real money alternative to platinum should be removed. I think selling CREDD in the store would accomplish the same. It takes an extra step for the seller yes, but it uses an existing system to convert $$ into in-game money. No reason to have two. All it does is possibly sell less CREDD and subsequently jack up their prices on the exchange.	
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what currencies take up bag space? all the ones listed do not take up bag space.
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soulfrost, appearence modification tokens, Progenitor access particles, and Protostar promissory notes
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what currencies take up bag space? all the ones listed do not take up bag space.
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Eldan Data Shards
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Rune Tokens, Eldan Data Shards, Eldan Framents, All Event currency
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			Bonus Protobucks have now been distributed to qualifying account. Thank you very much and I hope you guys have a great week!	
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			Didn't get mine. :( Still at just over 2300.  Bought and converted mine on June 15th.	
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Didn't get mine. :( Still at just over 2300.  Bought and converted mine on June 15th.
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Alright, just submitted a ticket.  In-game store definitely shows I converted enough and did so by the required date:
 
			
				
	Edited June 23, 2016 by Cantatus	
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Hi!
 
I have two questions.
 
I converted NC to Pbucks at 15 june exactly at 2:49 to buy spring decor. Will I still get promo reward?	How exactly Pbucks and NC coins work now? If I buy 10 buck bundle from NC soft that gives me 800 NC coins I will get 1000 protobucks OR do I have to buy it some other way? /in which case I dont know why but I dont care about other NC soft games and I would like to spend few bucks to get account wide party puff cat mount)
thanks!	
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			Hello? Anyone? Do not force me to create a ticket...	
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I would recommend submitting a ticket - I will ask CS to watch for it. If we find any oddities with the query I was provided, then we can adjust as necessary. I will point out that in order to qualify for any bonus bucks, you had to convert 1000 or more. Our conversion rate for bonus bucks was shown on newspost with an example calculation :)
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Well, I am playing for some time and have 2x 50+ lvl characters.
 
This day I thought of giving some little money to the creators. I don't like to put my CC data everywhere, so I tried using Amazon, where I already have an account.
On Amazon I found not other currency but NCOINS. So, before to use my money on this thing, I did a search on Wildstar pages about the valid currencies. Yes, I read it's Protobucks, but also found some confusing information, let me tell you:
 
1) In a Wildstar-Online support page with title "I-Can-t-Purchase-NCoin", there were instructions on how to use NCoins to purchase, implying NCoins are still a valid currency.
2) In a Wildstar-Online news page with the title "ncoin-conversion-to-protobucks-ending-soon", it indicates that conversion from NCoins to Protobucks will end on version 1.7.2. Well, I'm running the 1.7.1 version and it always auto-updates
3) I could not find any page stating that support for NCoins have already ended
 
These 3 points finally lead me to buy some NCoins. I did, but cannot find any way to use on the game.
 
So, I have opened a Support ticket, requesting 1 of 3 things:
 
1) Convert the NCoins to Proto on my account
2) Give me back the money (to send it to my Carbine friends)
3) Drink a Cocacola with the money
 
Luckily, I was about to expend a larger amount but I decided to try with some cents first.
 
Kr
 
Pages:
https://www.wildstar-online.com/en/news/2017-05-04-ncoin-conversion-to-protobucks-ending-soon/
https://support.wildstar-online.com/hc/en-us/articles/205927299-I-Can-t-Purchase-NCoin-
			
				
	Edited May 15, 2017 by zameb	
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My issue is solved. It seems that there was a delay on the payment.
Just be aware that Protos will be the valid currency for online transactions	
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