Neverwinter Founder Pack Details

Neverwinter Founder Pack Details by silvernine84

Hi all,

Let me start out by saying that I really enjoy playing this game and have already purchase the Hero of the North Pack when it was first announced to support the developers. However, I recommend that you not purchase that Pack if you want the best deal for your money. Instead, purchase the Guardian of Neverwinter Pack. My basis for these findings are detailed below.

This is an in-depth review of the different PWE Founder Packs that you can purchase:

• Hero of the North – $199.99 (a proclaimed $549 value!) – Actual: $161.42
• Guardian of Neverwinter – $59.99 (a proclaimed $149 value!) – Actual: $84.66
• Neverwinter Starter Kit – $19.99 (a proclaimed $49 value!) – Actual: $21.00

I calculated the values based upon item values in Beta II for the same or similar items currently available for sale. Values assume that 1 Zen equals $0.01. All dollars are in USD. Please note that these values are subject to change. Sometimes PWE runs discount programs for Zen purchases, particularly at the end of the month, providing a 15 to 30-percent discount. If you intend to purchase Zen, I recommend waiting until these sales. If you take those sales into account, the price of these packs actually all decrease.

Without much further ado, please see the breakdowns below:

Hero of the North Pack

I updated the value of the $199.99 Hero of the North pack, proclaimed to be a $549.00 value by PWE. I have calculated an actual value of $161.42.

Beta Access – Access remaining beta – Per Account – Value: 0 Zen

Five Days Early Access – Access LIVE 5 days earlier – Per Account – Value: Unknown

Menzoberranzan Renegade Race – 60-day early access to Drow race skin – Per Account – Value: Unknown

Armored Spider Mount – Class 3 mount usable at Level 20 with 120% run speed – Per Character – Value 4000 Zen

Panther Companion – Epic Panther Companion – Per Character – Value: 2500 Zen

Gold Moonstone Mask Regalia Set – Helm, Tunic, Leggings, and Boots of non-stat gear – Per Account – Value: 1200 Zen

VIP Game Access – Priority Log-in Access – Per Account – Value: Unknown

Founder’s Armor Aura – Your armor will glow blue slightly – Per Character – Value: 500 Zen

Founder’s Title – “Hero of the North” title – Per Character – Value: 0 Zen

Small Bag of Holding – 12 slot bag – Per Character – Value: 600 Zen

Dungeon Master Unlock – Access prior to having a Level 15 character – Value: 0 Zen

Delzoun Treasure Box – 1 rare (blue) Level 60 item with an enchantment – Per Character – Value: 200 Zen

Moonstone Regular – Access to a VIP area that is currently an empty room – Per Character – Value: 0 Zen

Adventure Helper’s Pack – Contains Large Health Stone, 10k XP stone, 5 scrolls of raise dead, 5 portable alters, 10 ID scrolls, 25 pack of skill consumables – Per Account – Value: 1,500 Zen

Respec Token – Reset all of your talents – Per Account – Value: 571 Zen
Cost to Respec at Level 60, 120,000 Astral Diamonds based upon internal formula. 1 Zen = 210 Astral Diamonds

Greycloak’s Legacy – Higher quality starting weapon – Per Character – Value: 0 Zen

Robe of Useless Items – Drops useless item on the ground – Per Character – Value: 0 Zen

3 Character Slots – Per Account – Value: 1,500 Zen (500 each)

750,000 Astral Diamonds – Per Account – Value: 3571 Zen
Equation for Finding Astral Diamonds Value. Cost for Black Horse is 800 Zen. Also, can purchase for 168,000 Astral Diamonds in Mount Merchant. 1 Zen = 210 Astral Diamonds

Items with an unknown value:

• Five Days Early Access
• Menzoberranzan Renegade Race
• VIP Game Access

Therefore, based upon the current value, you are paying $39.68 for those unknowns. Whether it is worth it or not is up to you. If there truly is going to be only one shard, the early access log in could be beneficial if a lot of people play this game. Unfortunately, PWE pulled the $549.00 value out of their butts and is really, quite bluntly, false advertising.

Guardian of Neverwinter Pack

The Guardian of Neverwinter is a MUCH better deal than the Hero of the North pack. The Guardian of Neverwinter pack is $59.99, with a proclaimed value of $149.00. The actual value I found was $84.66. Not bad.

Beta Access – Access remaining beta – Per Account – Value: 0 Zen

Three Days Early Access – Access LIVE 3 days earlier – Per Account – Value: Unknown

Armored Horse Mount – Class 3 mount usable at Level 20 with 120% run speed – Per Character – Value 3000 Zen

Direwolf Companion – Rare Panther Companion – Per Character – Value: 2000 Zen

Gold Moonstone Mask – Helm non-stat gear – Per Account – Value: 300 Zen

Adventure Helper’s Pack – Contains Large Health Stone, 10k XP stone, 5 scrolls of raise dead, 5 portable alters, 10 ID scrolls, 25 pack of skill consumables – Per Account – Value: 1,500 Zen

Respec Token – Reset all of your talents – Per Account – Value: 571 Zen
Cost to Respec at Level 60, 120,000 Astral Diamonds based upon internal formula. 1 Zen = 210 Astral Diamonds

Founder’s Title – “Guardian of Neverwinter” title – Per Character – Value: 0 Zen

Greycloak’s Legacy – Higher quality starting weapon – Per Character – Value: 0 Zen

Robe of Useless Items – Drops useless item on the ground – Per Character – Value: 0 Zen

1 Character Slot – Per Account – Value: 500 Zen

125,000 Astral Diamonds – Per Account – Value: 595 Zen
Equation for Finding Astral Diamonds Value. Cost for Black Horse is 800 Zen. Also, can purchase for 168,000 Astral Diamonds in Mount Merchant. 1 Zen = 210 Astral Diamonds

Items with an unknown value are:

• Three Days Early Access

Based upon the current value, you receive a $24.67 bonus for purchasing these packs, not including the value of the 3 day head start. Again, PWE pulled the $149.00 value out of their butts and is really, quite bluntly, false advertising.

Neverwinter Starter Kit

The Neverwinter Starter Kit is the smallest of all the packs. It costs $19.99 with a proclaimed value of $49. The actual value is $21.00. I recommend people hold off on this deal until PWE offers some Zen discounts because all items are obtainable in the current store.

Amulet of Protection – Amulet with AC 1 – Per Account – Value: 0 Zen

Small Bag of Holding – 12 slot bag – Per Account – Value: 600 Zen

Adventure Helper’s Pack – Contains Large Health Stone, 10k XP stone, 5 scrolls of raise dead, 5 portable alters, 10 ID scrolls, 25 pack of skill consumables – Per Account – Value: 1,500 Zen

The amulet is worthless because the very first amulet that you receive in a level 8 quest will be better than this amulet. For purchasing now, you receive a 5-percent bonus. Since PWE often offers a bonus Zen, and all items are purchasable in the store, it makes sense to hold off on purchasing any of these. Unfortunately, for the third time, PWE made up the $49 value with its false advertising.

Conclusion

In conclusion, you may want to consider purchasing the Hero of the North Pack if it is important that you have the following at launch (albeit you will pay more for those features):

Five Days Earlier Access – Play two days sooner than anyone with any other packs
Menzoberranzan Renegade Race – 60 day headstart to making a character that looks like a Drow;
VIP Game Access – Jump to the head of the line when playing

I recommend the Guardian of Neverwinter Pack for everyone who wants to play this game. It is a good deal.

I do not recommend anyone purchase the Neverwinter Starter Kit. You can get a better deal if you wait to purchase Zen at a discount.

In all cases, PWE greatly overexaggerated the values of each pack. Hero of the North Pack owners would probably have a good class action lawsuit based upon the market trickery.

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3 Responses

  1. PWE blows says:

    whoever bought this 199 pack is truly idiotic =)

  2. Helpful Helper says:

    After doing some further research, I realize where the confusion is coming from, and I have to confess I could be wrong about those colors.

    Apparently it’s possible that you are right, and blue is rare, and purple is an ‘epic’ of some kind. I guess we’ll have to wait and see! (Unless someone is kind enough to dig up an official answer to this mystery and provide a link to the source.)

  3. Helpful Helper says:

    Rare items in NWO will be purple, not blue. It follows as this:

    White – Common
    Green – Uncommon
    Blue – Mastercrafted
    Purple – Rare

    Without going into great detail, you have extrapolated quite a bit and frankly too far in your monetary values here. While these values may be true to you in terms of the ‘0’ zen values or the ‘unknowns’ the Zen prices you have for Astral Diamonds are also flawed, because there is no direct way to purchase AD in the game, so you have to let the player market decide how much they are willing to trade between Zen and AD when the game opens up.

    Now, I see this article was posted 14 March 2013, so it is a little bit dated sense then, as they’ve changed things and altered AD prices and so on, so I grant you that.

    As to the item colors/titles/rarity, they repeatedly refer to common, uncommon, mastercraft, and rare. Now those things obviously follow a WoW color/thematic bent, but the titles aren’t quite the same. Blue in WoW is rare. Blue in NWO is mastercrafted.

    Cheers!

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