Ok so basically, we need a twitter account and to fit California time to expect a chance over a thousand of such to get a code we don't even know where to enter? Thanks, I'll pass.

Here for my only hope at an Authentic Phantom Mask! :o

Is this suppose to be some answer to the insanity of Shadow Keys? Well, guess what, it's not working.

How about making the Shadow Keys reasonable. Yeah, yeah, I think that would settle people down and get rid of this whole mess.

just because im mad doesn't mean i won't participate, and I'm not saying you should cancel this, when it come to game developers and dissatisfied players I have found that complete silence is the absolute WORSE way to address an issue, just acknowledging the disgruntled masses can do a lot to improve confidence then just hiding away and hoping it just blows over.

I enjoy SK and will continue to play it for now but this incident has seriously undermined my respect for the developers, but I'm not touching the new content if I have to pay some ungodly price to do so, so trying to get a free key may be my only chance of ever seeing it. Of course if your the judge their goes my chances for anything.

But most people feel that it is outside their locus of control, and that it offers no real long term solution to the 10$ per "ultimate" run problem.

EDIT: And yes, I'd rather the keys be made obtainable in other, cheaper, ways than have a give away. Why not have them rarely appear on the prize wheel (rarer than costume crates), or rarely in treasure boxes or something like that AS WELL as in the costume crates?

why should they cancel this give away just because a few of the players are still throwing a tantrum? man, if people treated government this serious the world would be a far better place. so stop shooting the messenger and go make a suggestion thread if you feel that strongly about it. and if you have a problem with me now, I give you permission to make a rant thread about me, no matter what you plan. just stay out of this thread if you're going to go off topic.

anyway, I'm in for the give away, seems awesome.

Woo hoo got all 3 authentic masks! score! First?

Congrats to the winner!

@Eurydice

I can understand not changing things nor saying anything too quickly, but we aren't asking for company secrets, just some reassuring words to know players input is being accepted, rather than just read. IE, the wave of anger from players, only to have Nick (however cool or nice a guy) say that "breakable" shadow keys are a good idea, amidst people so highly against them. It's as if he didn't read a single comment at all.

Knowing that OOO is waiting for data is somewhat reassuring, but unlike OOO, players can't see both sides of the coin.
To us, we only see and hear what you want us to see and hear, you are the man behind the curtain speaking through Oz.
We don't know if our words are getting to you or not, because we get no answer back. This isn't the first time backlash has occurred, but this is the first time it has been so severe (Occupy Haven anyone?).

It's good to see you shedding some light Eurydice, but we don't know the data on what players are doing and saying, and no matter how much we shout or yell, updates always stay the same.
If you can let us know if OOO has been affected in any way by the player-base reactions, their thoughts on the matter, etc. whenever you can, that would be fantastic. Until then though, I can only imagine players lashing out, fearing that they aren't being heard.

They probably don't want to post in the larger threads because of how many people would attack them if they did so. They're most likely reading them because it'd be more productive then actually posting.
The way I look at is, if I can't afford the keys then I won't do anything with the new content, so I'll just wait it out and do the other stuff with the update, which is actually quite fun and you actually get cool stuff. I'm sure something will be done about it, but OOO needs to figure out what to do first, and research and gathering information seems to be the most logical path.

I know I'm new to the forums, its just that this one update, mostly the prior one with the price of the silver keys themselves, its kind of an issue. I saw this quote from Nick and I just kinda wanted to expand on it.

"A significantly greater number of players are currently sporting accessories than have ever actually opened a lockbox. There is no reason that Shadow Keys will be any different."

Yes, it is very easy to get an accessory you want these days, now that the market has been flooded with them. Its mostly a product of the "one man's trash is another man's treasure" side of these lockboxes. So its very likely we'll see things improve on their own soon. But I will say this. An accessory you keep, and a key breaks. So its a constant demand item. On top of that, its not used for frilly additions to your Knight, but to play more of the game. That there makes shadow keys a bit different. If someone wants to do a shadow lair run, there must be some profit to doing it. Currently, it costs more to get into the Shadow Lair than you can get paid back out the run itself, so its really a balancing issue. Its more sensible to just ignore the new Shadow Lair area all together from a cost perspective. If I happen across a shadow key, I'll give it a look. But right now, not worth it.

I know free to play players can get in to that area as Nick point out, its not impossible to gain access. But in all honesty, that in itself is an issue. Having to "pursue" to gain access to new game play is really saying one thing. "Work for more fun."

I don't know about others, but I have a lot of work in my life already. I really liked Spiral for its easy game play, adventuring to new areas and so on. I did like the tiers because that gave structure to the game, but this mixes in the economy of the game with the adventuring of the game a bit too much. It would be nice to have the clearance much like the first levels, you gain access and you got it forever. But if keys have to stay, then I'd at least find a less costly way of putting them in. Sure keys will start to flood the market after awhile, but honestly, its sending the wrong message to your players guys to put it all on a gambling system. It was fine with superficial things like accessories, that is a player's choice and doesn't affect game play, but this new one does. Its a bit different now, so you can't really just treat shadow keys like accessories since they don't behave like them. Its not only the free to play people that seem to be hurting, the people that buy CE from you hurt too. I've paid a lot of money to you over the last few months, and I feel a bit ripped off when I use the lockboxes now. I mostly get some dud item that is so over saturated in the market I can't hope to get rid of it for any decent price. Its a jip really and now you are asking me to pay even more money to play that same game over and over to get the one item I need? I couldn't do that before, what makes you think I'll get it now?

There are two ideas I had to address this issue. One was to make the keys available for purchase as a stand alone. Make it so you need tier 3 gear or better to even buy them so they act the same as the normal leveling system. Or, you could have two items come from the lockbox. One Accessory and a Shadow Key as a bonus. You can make it a 50/50 if you want to get the bonus. But at least if you get a dud item, you have the hope of getting a key too as a consolation prize. That was just my thoughts.

I appreciate your time in reading this and I do think the giveaways are a nice gesture. I appreciate that. But please, it would have been a much better message to send to lower the price of the silver keys before releasing this new update that hinges upon them. Just to be fair to your players that really do want to play more of your game and enjoy all it has to offer.

At least knowing that it is been considered an issue does much to alleviate the concern over this rather then just been left in the dark, I'll be content for now knowing that the devs do listen and are working on a solution and not say anything more for a while.

@Richy

what i have said is not something new, it has been said repeatedly by many other players many times, Marqui said essentially the same thing I did earlier, and from what I can tell both posts resonated well with what most people had on their mind, rather then just barging in and declaring people idiots in single-line posts

I really do not see the big issue with this if you are smart with it? Could you not spend your ME one day to get around 8k then chip in some crowns with other friends the next day and buy a shadow key? There it costs you 9k a piece, when they clearly say hey bring friends. I know if I am going to bring friends with this new expensive thing I would rather they help pitch in the cost.

I don't think people get how hard these items are supposed to be to obtain. In other PP games it can cost 20mil+ to obtain a Inn. The point of these items is to be incredibly rare to obtain so as we do not have 10000 players running around with extremely hard to get gear. But if people want to have this thing farmed like Vanaduke, then oh well do it.

Just thought I'd give my 0.02$ and say that you guys have done an awesome job with this years halloween event!

http://i1236.photobucket.com/albums/ff457/TheRagingTypist/KatHat.png

Severel people have said that the cheap hats going away after two weeks is lame. But thats really the charm of the seasonal stuff, now isn't it? ;)