Great discussion here. From my perspective, the mechanics for tempting players to spend has gone up considerably since SG was acquired by Zynga. I personally feel the entire feel of the game has shifted towards relying much heavier on RNG for everything while reducing any actual reward for playing. F2P players are getting hit pretty hard by this and it will be insanely noticeable once Season three hits; the power creep we are going to see there will challenge many with choosing to continue or not.
I seriously feel the balance E&P had between being f2p and p2p was overwhelmingly well done. You could pay but still hit the same progression wall as everyone else; it made us all play on the same field. With the advent of emblems, what seriously appears like a throttling of ascension mats, costumes and putting elements that were supposed to enhance the game, such as Alchemy Lab, behind insane resource to build and eventually use requirements that ruin their possible use to begin with, it feel like E&P has moved far from what made it highly accessible to pretty much anyone.
A guarantee on purchases has been adopted by almost every gacha out there now to retain customers; it would do a lot to help here. I love the model we once had; slow progression with meaningful rewards that came at just about the same pace. Now, it feels like a push to spend, just to maintain any semblance of competitiveness; that’s a major draw back. I would seriously hate to see us all obsolesce with what takes forever to build as it is with the slow drip of ascension materials. I just don’t think that is in the minds of the devs now; every piece of new content we thought would benefit us towards progression has actually taken progression away. That is not a good trend.
SGG interviews emphasize their analytics team - i.e. they study the data and are not much swayed by the feelings expressed on the forum . I think that is very wise. I have been playing daily for almost 2 years, and this has been my one and only foray into any kind of multiplayer genre.
I don’t know where people draw the line between C2P and whales. There were a few months early when I spent above $100, but now am spending less, because I have more heroes than I need and am happy to enjoy the daily experience, and my alliance community.
The game does not survive without players willing to spend something. With 1 or 2 million participants, they know (and we do not) how much of their revenue depends on a small number of whales or how much on a much larger community of relatively C2P spenders. They probably have a very granular of the spenders, but my impression is that they do not try to exploit that: I think everyone has and will receive the identical daily offers during Santa season. A seriously profit maximizing regime would have tried to customize the offerings to individual players. Maybe the conspiracy theorists could poll their alliances to find out if I am right.
The F2P players are valuable to them because they might graduate eventually to C2P, and they provide marketing support. My alliance has no big whales and several F2Ps. We like each other, and work very well together.
Our group was very skeptical about emblems, but now seem happy with them. Costumes are still a cause for anxiety, but I am now a fan. Alchemy? So far a big flop.
It is fine to vent when RNG is against us, but griping endlessly about their business model seems to me to be unproductive.
Bars and casinos have one thing in common: barriers to kids’ entry
If games with lootboxes implement the same barriers to kids’ entry that’s half of my argument that is gone and I could probably shut up and be relatively happy without pestering anyone
See below posts from someone who has worked with casino permits before
1 reason, easier for people to avoid that are not looking to engage. Would only have 1 topic to mute and go on.
2, no matter how the opening post is worded, if it mentions f2p/p2p and the direction of the game; it’s never about the direction of the game
There is no reason to tag me in this thread or any thread like it as they will all be muted
Anyone that doesn’t like loot boxes; or summons, or whatever. Quit. That simple. The rest of us are not making you play the game and we’re not crappin in your sandbox. Stop crappin in ours; plain and simple.
The game works the way it does. There’s a million changes that can reasonably be made to the game.
-match 3
-RnG
-Loot Boxes
Are none of those possible changes as they are literally the core of the game
#GetOverIt
@TGW
Hope to see u return to the forum soon. Even if it’s just to rant.
I have absolutely nothing to say. I totally agree with you.
Not having bought the offers during a period, I fully support the f2p, sincerely. And when it comes to rewards, let’s not talk about it. It is a subject that has been going on for a long time and nothing has changed, and it will never change. The comfort and satisfaction for the players are not there, how often I do not see friends, videos or myself make draws or receive rewards which are completely zero. If there was the possibility of hero exchange, I think f2p could at least benefit a bit from the game. In the meantime, it’s each man for himself and the rewards you can put them where I think … It’s sad to see developers who make exorbitant year-round numbers that aren’t too damn good for rewards.
