Another year passed, and WN still manage to find ways to make itself look even more trashy then before. My comments history is just my complaints every time they ruin something with each year that passes - unsurprisingly, they never introduce 'good' changes... just make sure you don't give your money to them, because it'll only feel like they're spitting on you in the long run!
Anotest
- Joined Nov 16, 2018
It wouldn't surprise me if they end up gone for good - that's how rubbish this company is. Anyone that's been here a reasonable amount of time will just consider this par-for-course. It's another example of why you should never spend money here.
Kilrary They've also raised the coin cost on chapters recently too. I've unlocked 700 out of 900 chapters in one novel, and now the remaining chapters have gone from mostly being 14 coins per chapter to 15 coins. Maybe it's coincidental, but it almost seems like it was done to make sure chapters cost 2FPs instead of 1FP.
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Update: The handful of novels in my library that I remember the pricing for have definitely gone up by at least 1-2 coins. That's a ~ 10% increase on top of what was already overpriced! I wonder how much of that goes to the authors, with their already miniscule cut?!
F this company, truly!
Maybe I'll make up for it by reading the final 10% of chapters from other 'sources'. Hmm.
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I'm half-way through reading a novel and, since yesterday, every chapter has gone up by 1 coin in price. Does anyone know if this has occurred site-wide?
I seem to complain often about this place, but ffs, half the chapters I've been reading were 14 coins, and now they've gone up to 15 coins: 1FP -> 2FPs. It's doubled the effective cost, and halved the rate I was reading at. This feels like yet another example of how this company is complete trash; both for the readers and authors!
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Unless you use an android emulator, you'll just have to use the desktop browser. The desktop 'reader' itself is pretty much on-par with the app version's reader anyway; however, you won't have access to all the daily unlockables – those are app-only.
Darth_Xiane I did look for a staff ID to link to, but all I could find were forum mods and the 'webnovel event' account. Do you know any staff ID? If not I suppose I'll have to try digging a bit more.
Bump #1.
Is this forum even monitored by staff, as I don't think I've seen a single request for help get answered in the last fortnight?
The de facto response will be 'Lord of Mysteries' and 'My House of Horrors'. There's also 'Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint', or, if you're into wuxia type stuff, 'I Shall Seal the Heavens' is considered one of the best (it has a low rating on this site due to review bombing - Webnovel borderline stole the translation from another official translators site, incurring the wrath of a lot of og fans).
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Thisismyname That's yet another part of the insult with this company: they literally give you no warning! They could give you the courtesy of a few weeks or even months warning, like better companies might do (cough wux iawo rld cough), but nope... not this place! What an absurd notion, right?!
When it comes to this place, assume the worst so that you minimize the inevitable disappointment when it does come... and - oh boy - it will come!
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Sorahana Ouch! I bet Webnovel won't have sympathy for either of us though.
I'll be honest, it's been a long time since I've entertained the idea of paying for chapters with this company, and I don't think I can use free passes on desktop anyway. I'll have to double-check though.
Having followed their 'evolution' over the years, I can't help but think their business practices are scummy. They completely disregard both the time and money existing users have put in. If the price of unlocking a book can change halfway through, I will never onboard! What's to stop them going nuts on pricing, aside from assumptions on our part about their sanity or business motivations?
Sigh! Nope... screw that.
Ps. Webnovel or a rep, I'd still appreciate an answer to my original question. I'll persist in seeking for an answer on your public forum, as you seem to lack transparency w.r.t this specific matter!
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I've unlocked 700+ chapters of a 3500-ish chapter novel (Forty Millenniums of Cultivation), and now I can't unlock any more single chapters on the mobile app. I can't use fast passes, nor coins: instead, I'm being prompted to "Purchase the entire book" because "You've reached the end of your free preview, purchase to keep reading"?! What? I'm being asked to hand over 8543 coins (and that's after an 80% discount), so that's ~$150!? HA!!! I've spent over half a year unlocking chapters, and now, without warning, I'm being told I can't continue unless I fork over a massive wad of cash?!?
This doesn't show up for any other novels I have chapters unlocked in. I've also cleared the app data and cache just in case that was causing issue – still nothing.
What's happening here, then?
I'm specifically hoping for someone from WN to reply; although, if any users also know the reason why, please do comment as well. Thanks.
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PlumeThistle I agree with this. Even with their 'FP Carnival', it's taken 5 or 6 attempts (several days of 500pts + 1 free-spin-from-watching-an-ad) to convert 1 'genre' fast pass to a 'category' fast pass; not even a 'site-wide'! (Maybe the odds weren't in my favour - shouldn't the odds be published somewhere?)
Fast passes still expire, so spending nearly a week trying to accrue enough points to convert just 1 single fast pass isn't acceptable, nor is it truly feasible in the long run!!!
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Doomfanger If you've been here for years, then, like me, you must have observed their downwards spiral firsthand?
I've refused to spend any money here for years, purely because of how willing they are to raise prices without warning, nor any regard for existing customers!
I'm currently halfway through unlocking some multi-thousand chapter novels. If I had been paying
up 'til now, I would definitely be relying on offsetting the cost via fast passes. Now that fast passes are worth less, it effectively makes everything much more expensive than your initial estimates would have been when you first decided to start paying.Not paying means the authors/translators/editors get nothing. That's a shame, but maybe they should make a stand too over the mistreatment of users, rather than expecting us to pay more than what it costs even in the high street or for professional novels on the shelves!
Even if costs need to increase, the least WN could do is try to have consideration for long-committed purchasers; only raising prices for newer buyers - something... anything... to give buyers confidence for the future!
Webnovel_Event What's your response to the people who already spent time/money on existing works, only to come back now and find you've screwed them?
You roped people in, and then pulled the rug on them! It wouldn't be half as bad if the price changes took those existing readers into consideration, perhaps by making it so that adjusted prices only targeted new readers to a particular novel/comic only, or perhaps only affected chapters released from this week onwards; however, the customers aren't worth it, right?
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Rosmu
Ugh, so the numbers I had above are correct and permanent. Fantastic.Y'know, the price of this whole business is truly awful.
In my region a real, physical, professionally edited best-seller novel will be roughly $1usd per 20-30K words. If you do estimates based on the coin prices and the chapter prices, it works out as ~ 150 coins per 20K words - that's approximately $2usd! At best it's only twice as expensive, yet it's for works that have little to no professional editing and are written (let's be honest) typically by B-tier novelists. Also, the prices don't change here either - some of the most critically acclaimed older novels can be had on the shelves for what equates to $1usd per 40K!!!
This whole service is extraordinary expensive, to the point of being extortionate. I truly hope the creators are getting decent returns as a result, and that it's not just Webnovel lining their pockets; however, the sheer awfulness of this company has me leaning towards it being the latter!