PWE – Page 2 – MMO Fallout

Neverwinter Disables Free Gift Promotion Temporarily

Perfect World Entertainment has temporarily halted an email promotion after players began using it in an unexpected manner. As part of the event, Neverwinter distributed a single code that granted one code with a chance to win random goods including elemental companions.

Players soon realized that the items were not account bound, allowing them to set up new accounts and repeatedly use the code to get more items from the list.

In addition to re-selling the item, we saw several instances where players created additional Arc accounts to continuously redeem the code. With the entire situation in mind, our team decided to disable the codes.

PWE is looking at options to replace/revive the program.

(Source: Neverwinter)

Perfect World Suffers More Layoffs

Perfect World Entertainment is undergoing another round of layoffs, this time from the European division. According to an insider source over at Massively OP, the layoffs included five or six of the Russian staff, as well two community managers and an assistant product manager. Earlier this year, Perfect World laid off 18 employees from Cryptic Studios.

How PWE fared in the last quarter of 2014 is yet to be seen, as the company is nearly a month behind its usual quarterly filings and has yet to announce a date. The NASDAQ stock exchange has posted an expected date of April 6th for Perfect World’s final report.

(Source: Massively OP)

Neverwinter Details Elemental Evil Changes

With the Elemental Evil module just weeks away, Perfect World Entertainment is busy getting players prepared for upcoming changes. With the new level cap comes better gear, more powerful artifacts, and higher quality refinement items.

Elemental Evil will also usher in the change from Gear Score to Item Level. Item Level will be the new system on which all gear is rated. Entrance to dungeons will also be determined by the combined item level of their gear. Item Level’s main function is to give players an idea of how strong a particular item is at a glance.

You can find out more details at the link below. Profession packs for Neverwinter are on sale until March 30th.

(Source: Neverwinter)

Perfect World Q3 2014 Finances

Perfect World International has released their third quarter finances for 2014, and the results are bound to be interesting. For the quarter, the developer/publisher reported a 5% increase in revenue to $158.7 million USD, although gross profit decreased slightly from the same time last quarter, and the company posted an operating loss of $3.8 million. Mr. Robert Xiao, Perfect World CEO, attributed revenue growth to the strong performance of DOTA2 which the company publishes in China, as well as Forsaken World and CrossGate Mobile. The blame for the quarterly losses, however, is being pointed at the U.S subsidiary.

In view of U.S. subsidiary’s recent performance and near-term business outlook that are below our expectations, we recognized acquisition-related impairments in this quarter. However, we are still confident in the long-term prospects of our U.S. subsidiary given its strong R&D and operational capabilities as well as promising pipeline.

Xiao expressed hope in the US subsidiary’s long term prospects, noting its “promising pipeline” as well as strong R&D and operational capabilities.

(Source: Perfect World Entertainment)

Become Dragonborn in Neverwinter

Neverwinter’s Module 4: Tyranny of the Dragons is set to launch on August 14th, but Perfect World Entertainment has been filling that time by slowly revealing what is to come. We learned last week that the next class to be released is the Scourge Warlock. In a news post released today, Neverwinter has revealed that Module 4 will also introduce a new race to Neverwinter: The Dragonborn.

The Dragonborn are just that, children of the dragon god who have removed their shackles and embraced freedom. The only way to get your hands on the Dragonborn Race at the moment is by purchasing an expensive DLC package for $75 USD, regular price $99.

(Source: Neverwinter)

Perfect World Entertainment Posts Strong Growth

Perfect World Entertainment has posted their most recent quarterly income, showing a strong growth in the first quarter of 2014 despite lowered promotional activity. Revenue for the international publisher amounted to $124 million, down 2.5% from the previous quarter but going along overall with a 44% annual growth. The mobile sector of Perfect World Entertainment grew from 10% of overall revenue to 15% last quarter, thanks in part to the 3D mobile RPG Fantasy of the Immortals.

The publisher is set to increase revenues thanks to their deal to publish Dota 2 and Neverwinter in China, both of which are expected to launch this year. Neverwinter is also expanding several titles in its library to more territories, including the Portuguese version of Neverwinter which launched in Brazil earlier this year. Revenue for the second quarter is expected to rise around five percent, thanks to upcoming launches in China.

(Source: PWE income report)

Design A Costume In Champions Online

Do you have a great idea for a costume? Want to see that costume available in Champions Online for others to enjoy? Cryptic Studios has announced a costume design contest where one winner will see their creation available for purchase within the Champions Online cash shop.

Throughout the next few weeks players can submit their costume design, consisting of a 1) visual component, and 2) a written description. Don’t worry if you’re not an artist, as long as we have something visually to go with, anything will work. Players will post their entries on the forums, and we’ll choose our favorites to feature. Once the submission period ends, we’ll select five finalists and post them for the community to vote on.

The winner will also receive 3000 Zen ($30 value) as well as four copies of the costume to hand out to friends. Five runner-ups will receive a smaller dividend of prizes including Zen and exclusive action figures. The contest runs from today up until April 21st, with the winner announced on April 28th.

(Source: Champions Online)

Neverwinter Expansion Coming Later This Spring

Perfect World Entertainment has announced that another expansion is set to launch in Neverwinter later this Spring. Module 3, titled Curse of Icewind Dale, introduces players to the iconic region of the same name. Icewind Dale is being overtaken by a mysterious presence called the black ice, and it is up to players to utilize this handy resource for their own purposes. Players will be able to harvest, shape, and craft black ice into new gear offering extensive but temporary boosts to their abilities. Also new with the module is the addition of PvE and PvP campaigns, alongside achievements, bosses, encounters, and more.

You can check out the full list of planned features at the link below.

(Source: Neverwinter)

Star Trek Online Is Perfect World's Best Product

So life isn’t exactly perfect over at the Cryptic Studios offices right now. Long story short, a series of bad choices and oversights on the part of the Cryptic team lead to a very long thread and a long apology from producer Dan Stahl. I will allow Mr. Stahl to explain it in concise detail:

An apology is due, and while I’ve admitted fault in previous posts about this , I’ll do so again in this one. The release that was pushed to Holodeck last week failed in several critical ways. There was a failure on the part of a designer to test their work before it was checked into the game. Similarly, there was a failure in communication with the QA team on the said check in and on top of that, no one headed the concerns on TRIBBLE. Ultimately, this is all my responsibility as the lead on the team and I do apologize. There has been corrective action on our end to address this issue and it is our intention that the build going out to Holodeck tomorrow will resolve problems introduced last week. This doesn’t mean that all bugs on Holodeck are magically gone, it means that we are looking into the processes that cause these bugs and taking action to correct them.

In addition, the removal of Fleet Marks was a heavy handed change. It needed to be done because it was getting out of hand and there was an ever increasing amount of exploitation in the Foundry to maximum Fleet Mark rewards. That said, we should have had the Fleet Mark changes we are making this week ready to go last week so there wouldn’t have been a week with the drop in Fleet Mark earning. Again sorry. It doesn’t make us feel any better when we make stupid mistakes.

One bit of information to take out of this is Stahl’s comment that Star Trek Online is currently Perfect World Entertainment’s most successful title. This puts the game over other big titles in Perfect World’s library, from the Torchlight series, Blacklight, PWI, and more.

While you may not agree with all of our designs and decisions, the proof is in the success the game is having and how much the game continues to grow. While we don’t share our internal information, STO is the best performing game for Perfect World Entertainment and is enjoy month after month increases in new captains.

This also puts Star Trek Online above Cryptic’s other game, Champions Online.

(Source: Star Trek Online Forums)

Star Trek Online Is Perfect World’s Best Product

An apology is due, and while I’ve admitted fault in previous posts about this , I’ll do so again in this one. The release that was pushed to Holodeck last week failed in several critical ways. There was a failure on the part of a designer to test their work before it was checked into the game. Similarly, there was a failure in communication with the QA team on the said check in and on top of that, no one headed the concerns on TRIBBLE. Ultimately, this is all my responsibility as the lead on the team and I do apologize. There has been corrective action on our end to address this issue and it is our intention that the build going out to Holodeck tomorrow will resolve problems introduced last week. This doesn’t mean that all bugs on Holodeck are magically gone, it means that we are looking into the processes that cause these bugs and taking action to correct them.

In addition, the removal of Fleet Marks was a heavy handed change. It needed to be done because it was getting out of hand and there was an ever increasing amount of exploitation in the Foundry to maximum Fleet Mark rewards. That said, we should have had the Fleet Mark changes we are making this week ready to go last week so there wouldn’t have been a week with the drop in Fleet Mark earning. Again sorry. It doesn’t make us feel any better when we make stupid mistakes.

While you may not agree with all of our designs and decisions, the proof is in the success the game is having and how much the game continues to grow. While we don’t share our internal information, STO is the best performing game for Perfect World Entertainment and is enjoy month after month increases in new captains.

This also puts Star Trek Online above Cryptic’s other game, Champions Online.

(Source: Star Trek Online Forums)

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