Tutorial Missions

[MAjesty]

I resisted the urge to post on this topic. i want you to know that C. Jack. I lasted almost an entire day, and I would appreciate it a whole lot if you recognized that.

Now Zombie is gonna tell you how you should run the video game you developed.

First and foremost. M was right, even if he said it in a poor manner. Instant proof, Top Helper: 20 credits plus a few low value cards... ur handing out about 2-3 USD to 2 players 2x per month. yet if you'll just look at the vote board you can see that several people are competing for it. New player retention means more opportunity for them to pay you... itso-facto, new credit getting opportunities improved the game.

now before i get all critical. here's where i can clearly see you doing the credit system right. 1. the refer a friend pyramid scheme thingie.. this is actually pretty standard in free-to-plays.. and it makes sense that pay-to-play/win-types would know like minded people, so setting up the pyramid scheme is a no brainer. 2. The voodoo present system.. this absolutely gives players an opportunity to get credits and if u are getting 5 cards a day, ur odds of rolling a credit-earner are pretty high.

now here's where that system breaks down. a new player has very little incentive to even see these cards as money. case and point, i got ultra lucky entering this game, and drew 2 MCs right away. i had No idea i had just drawn 8 USD.. it never occurred to me to put them on the market for cash, i had no understanding of what the voodoo market even was much less a "60." So instead two players just swindled me out of them....Skyhawk Mohammed....

here's the fix. don't introduce the concept with (Present Available!) in 8 point text hidden in the smaller toolbar. there should be intrusive flashing text bubbles that drag a new player into their voodoo inventory where several useful start-up cards are waiting with more equally intrusive text bubbles. (ex instead of that 10,000 gold thing, walk them thru casting 4 buried treasures on themselves, and/or do a tidal wave, or one hidden treasure... other options 2, u cud even be really creative and give them a card that would be a good bartering chip/interactivity facilitator like commandeer or wutever that self destructs/undoes the effect of said spell if the player isn't active a week later...

but here's the Bigger issue. u'r looking at ur game the wrong way. period. i realize it was kinda an offhanded remark on ur part, but here goes...ur 10 USD a month suggestion is actually kinda fair...for a triple A ultra polished game.... for example Blizzarrd keeps the entirety of World of Warcraft running for 15 USD per month... unless ur in a somewhat poorer country, u can play in some countries for like 2.... this price of admission gives access to a constantly updating enormous world, with hundreds if not (low) thousands of staff working specifically on making this game the epic experience it is... you just quoted your IP value at 2/3 of WoW... and i think the scope between the polish levels speaks for itself. no offense intended, seriously, but this game is not 2/3 of a WoW.

but the solution for ur problem creates a problem that is much more self defeating for ur bottom line.

u have collected a bunch of extremely neurotic netizens. now we're all here under different subcategories of net-neurosis (troll, hoarder, victory junkie, w-ever) but i think u don't realize that you've got our attention anyways. we dig this sort of thing..... but rewarding us to the extreme for paying increasing amounts of money will only succeed in forcing money out of a few select pockets, those who's neurosis demands victory (and no one can deny those people are in Avonmora) but that financial super-charge makes the game look incredibly intimidating... and that discourages bothering to master the learning curve, and especially discourages the 30 credits for 1.99, 100 for 4.99 transactions that would Absolutely be your bread and butter if u were doing this game to its ful potential. if 2 bucks could turn the tide in one single battle, or 5 bucks could allow a brand new player to give the bully pushing him around a swift kick to the face you Would Start Seeing a LOT of them.... instead the game is more like a private sandbox for Mordag and other high rollers to play in while the majority linger in the margins until they lose interest and move on...

case and point. watch Fox & ATC for a little while.. both guilds recruit like Crazy with extreme success, then suffer massive player attrition after the players have been around long enough to get their feet wet.... i swear man... they're sticking around a little while because the game really does deliver, and has a great engine behind it.. but then the see a wall made of Cash that they will have to climb to get one of the "Winner" badges and then they go find a free to play that is less intimidating.

if u want people to buy credits, give Everyone a compelling reason to buy them 100 credits at a time whenever they're really in the zone to rock out at PG... that is a much more compelling long term strategy then compelling a few dozen players to hand you large chunks of money to assuage their neurosis.


im done telling you how to run your game now.
seriously, i hope u figure out a good way to get the money u need to polish this game to its full potential.

Always Yours,
-Majesty

[Spastic]

you dont really offer a solution do you......

and players usually quit before they start playing, they just look around and leave because the game is complicated at first. This is a common trend in games like this. The game isnt that bad when comes to paying for credits. It doesnt use a lot of the marketing schemes other games do that get people to pay and you still "win" without paying.

if you want to see a true pay to win game play battle dawn


Also tutorial mission are coming out sometime soon, getting them to cast voodoo on themselves is a good idea for a mission.

[MAjesty]

im unclear,

were u referencing the part where i recommended an overhall of introduction to the game specically when it comes to the benefit of explaining how credits work for new players.

or was it the emphasis on micro transactions that effect the metagame thru the complicated process of "illustrating what voodoo cards ARE in this game.

sorry im not clear on what solution u were looking for.. these were the ones i think i provide.

Somalia