by ampersand » Tue Jul 12, 2016 11:29 pm
Don't really think that these options will work in the long run. If the goal is to increase revenue, increasing player involvement with the game and its players is the foundation. Doubling the cost of potions won't do that.
Spending just to spend isn't sustainable in the long term. Having the special cards for 250 gems is a good revenue generator, but it is quick and again, doesn't increase involvement. If those cards were available in a timed map that needed lots of epots, that might work to kill two birds with one stone. If the chances of getting one of the cards was once every 40 times through the map (for example, could be 200 times through the map, whatever is the right number that makes it possible, but difficult), it would have the advantage of increasing spending while increasing involvement with the game.
I wonder if playing with the guild shops in other ways may also be an option. Something like leave the epots where they are, but offer other desirable cards in the guild shops at a much higher gp price. I might be happier to burn through my stockpile mining on the weekend to know that I can get an apep for 1mil gp or something like that. This might also increase participation in gws as it would be the only other way to get the extra gp. If the gp reward for spending 10 gems is high enough, people might be inclined to spend more gems in gws. So gws become just as much about getting gwp as about getting the card.
Neither of these suggestions are workable in the form I have presented them, but are just some off the top of my head ideas of other options to make the game profitable in a sustainable way. If changes are only about increasing revenue without increasing involvement or improving core game play, people will stop playing and no one wants that. The question may be about how do we get people to spend more time in the game rather than purely about revenue.
Devs have tried a couple of options for that with providing the advanced maps, etc., but those are stages, completed and done. If that is the model, then new content pretty much needs to be added regularly, relatively frequently and have a perceived value payout accessible for all players. The difficulty and frequency of timed maps, gws, etc. is decreasing involvement in my guild. The model that is currently being used is not working for PM either. Maybe the model needs to include more player vs player content or guild participation (increasing the involvement with the community). Much more complex that one. Needs to be planned and well thought out before implementation. Those models always provide new content as every player encounter is a new experience. Revamp the arena perhaps? Charge coins? Change the rules every month so different teams will take the day? Change the arena reward system? Allow for guild vs guild? Big payouts but high cost? Lots of room for change there.
At the end of the day what we are talking about is how people to choose to spend their disposable income. If they are to spend it on the game, there needs to be a perceived value (just as a note: disposable income is a finite pie though, increasing prices doesn't increase disposable income) and I believe that that perceived value needs to be connected to the community and player involvement for it to be sustainable. It's probably time to start thinking far outside the box for solutions here.
Last edited by
ampersand on Wed Jul 13, 2016 12:35 am, edited 1 time in total.