Yeah, sorry for throwing my own gas onto the fire. Oops.
And thank you for coming in to clear the air, Trailturtle. I've noticed you've been spending more time here and in-game, and its not gone unnoticed here. You get the Flamethrower Ferret Seal of Approval! Which will come with its own graphic, uh, someday.
Would I like for Champions to make more money? Of course. I will do what I can to help it reach that goal, because this is a business at the end of the day. I will be trying to both increase value for existing players, bring in new players, and get players to buy new things. It's my job, and I like being good at my job.
Then it's time to use the power of the players to you advantage. Valve did this, and is immensely successful as a result. Look at how many Half-Life and Source mods there are, and how many turned into major commercial titles (i.e.: Counter Strike and Team Fortress). Oh yeah and then came L4D and TF2, both which encouraged the tradition of user-created content to wonderful success.
Futhermore, I was recently watching a CNN article about a successful German software company that has taken to hiring people with Asperger's Syndrome for being QA bug hunters for software. The multi-threaded non-linear thinking patterns of people with autistic minds makes them ideal for finding glitches. The clients of this company include everything from cyber security systems in banks to Electronic Arts subsidaries such as Easy Studios that are in the region. Why should Germany be ahead of the US in using the unique talents individuals in a cleverly adaptive (and profitable) manner?
Even simple things like getting rid of the character streamlining, selling more hideouts and hideout upgrades, purchasable emote packs, the archetype rotation program, and refer-a-friend programs are being ignored by your management TrailTurtle. How badly DO y'all want to earn more money? Money on things that are not negatives for the community. Brou's topic on emote packs? Titled: "shut up and take my money". Suggestions forum. Go look.
Finally, there are two topics I've made (one before Christmas, one in January) where you customers CLEARLY volunteered what they would likely buy, what they wished to buy, and what they want to see for 2013. I'll go bump them for you...
Way I figure it is, if something like this happens, there's already a lot of gas - and I want to acknowledge that my own silence while I pondered this added plenty of gas. This conversation needed to happen, I think, and the fact that we were able to clear most of this out before end of day reflects very well on this community.
We've got meetings tentatively planned for Monday. It could end up getting pushed back a little further, but hopefully Monday we'll be able to set up a framework. I'll let you know, as soon as I'm able, what we come up with.
No offense TT, I get that you feel that there's a moral responsibility for you to defend your collegues' good names since you're closer to them than any of us ever will be, but I'll believe that the devs are "working hard to add content" when I see a new SotG announcement outlining their plans with the game and what exactly it is that they want to add to the game that isn't just lockboxes or other cash shop items.
If there isn't a SotG then we'll simply continue to assume that there are no long term plans at all and that things are going to stagnate without any playable content expansion.
Looking forward to hearing the results of that upcoming meeting.
Way I figure it is, if something like this happens, there's already a lot of gas - and I want to acknowledge that my own silence while I pondered this added plenty of gas. This conversation needed to happen, I think, and the fact that we were able to clear most of this out before end of day reflects very well on this community.
We've got meetings tentatively planned for Monday. It could end up getting pushed back a little further, but hopefully Monday we'll be able to set up a framework. I'll let you know, as soon as I'm able, what we come up with.
Ok, but I think I speak for a number of people when I say that we were promised something similar by ShadeShooter in January 2012 (mostly with regards to the player-abused chat-ban thing) along with bringing the calendar back. That never happened. Steps need to happen incrementally, but there is a serious issue where the customers are mistrusting of the business, and it ends up being a catch-22 because a number of those customers give up or stop spending as much. In short, actions speak louder than words.
Speaking of which, keeping true to my own word I went and found those two topics and bumped them for you and the others here to see. I'd normally just link them here but I can't do tabbed browsing on this cellphone. So working smart not harder under circumstances with immediate-response timing needs, I'm bumping rather than listing links. Pardon in advance for that. *winces*
Emote packs is an RP community thing, and it has been consistently a source of profit for years (and probably employment for the animator dev) for the Battlefield Heroes MMO (owned by EA). The difference would be in the theme design for the emote. Selling a premium emotes package in Champions is more of a character design thing, in Battlefield Heroes it's a way to tease your foe in combat. You continuously release new ones to go along with seasonal and content "themes".
Can you draw some attention to your "shut up and take my money" topic? It's like you made a good idea and gave up on it to post LOL cats and O RLY owls. You and Nepht... hehe
:rolleyes:
In all seriousness friend, now would be a really good time to advocate that regularly releasing premium emote packs = profits.
1) One of my rules is that as a Community Manager, my job is to know everything about everything. At PWE, I'm hearing nothing about threats to Champions, and I'm hearing that they're watching how I/we progress towards goals with positive vibes.
2) Disagree. It's not a gold mine, and I don't have all the data, but we're not in financial danger. This game doesn't survive reluctantly, or guiltily, or as a write-off: Champions keeps running on its own merits.
So do you know why they decided to ruin nighthawk hood costume piece by restricting the head categories it could go with, despite the fact it was sold in that manner originally, and apparently when people spoke out about the first time, they re-broke it, to work with all heads and then they snuck in a hidden patch to restrict it, yet again?
I ask only because not only did they sell the product in that design (whether it's a bug or not, had they tested it before they released it) They still sold it, as is. When people starting purchasing said costume set, solely for the multi-head category hood, they later tweaked it.
And i simply ask because it seems you are the only person with any involvement who attends the forums, and all in-game tickets are met with "Go post on forums if you want this change"
Please could you try something about having nighthawk hood working with all heads again, like it did when it was originally sold to players.
Some players have expressed fears that there was a bleed-off of personnel from CO when Neverwinter entered development... but nobody cares about those comic book nerds, so don't bother asking about it during the interview...
I was hoping his response would end with "For example, this didn't happen with Champions Online when STO was launched so..."
Yeah it did. That was pretty much the death of CO until Atari came in and started making new content. I remember it well because I was there when it happened. STO bled CO dry of resources and Cryptic let another one of their projects sit in the dust.
I swear, using again and again the same excuse is what makes Cryptic one of the most, in not the most, pathetic game companies. And I'm not talking about developers, but about their executives.
I've seen it before.
We won't invest in KDF because it's not "performing.
Or we won't invest in CO PvP because it's not "performing".
Whatever.
This way of thinking makes Cryptic mediocre, making them releasing an unfinished game with only 1,5 factions instead of full 2 (hello, KDF). And thinking that this is okay.
No wonder that CoX needed to be sold to NCSoft to be improved (aside of NCSoft dropping idiot ball by closing it).
It's not too difficult to see this pattern. I only wonder how quick it will show in NWN - with this very cryptic way of thinking, game's already doomed before it even starts.
Do Blizzard ditched Horde, because I wasn't "performing" and less people were playing it? No. They tried to even player numbers. And even now SOE makes new investments in DCUO, to actually gain more players.
This is how things are done. And since Cryptic definitively is unable to understand it, they will never produce anything of lasting value.
And before somebody says that other game companies have more resources and money.
Yup, they have. Because they earned it.
^This. Like I stated in a previous post. Cryptic needs to get out of MMOs, they don't have the patience for the upkeep. They really need to focus on making games that don't need constant attention.
1) One of my rules is that as a Community Manager, my job is to know everything about everything. At PWE, I'm hearing nothing about threats to Champions, and I'm hearing that they're watching how I/we progress towards goals with positive vibes.
2) Disagree. It's not a gold mine, and I don't have all the data, but we're not in financial danger. This game doesn't survive reluctantly, or guiltily, or as a write-off: Champions keeps running on its own merits.
The problem is this TrailTurtle. Unfortunately you do not own CO. I wish you did, because you actually seem to care. The higher ups own it and can do with it what they please, without warning if necessary. The same people we don't hear from, the same people who don't know the player base, and the same people who probably have never played this game in their entire life. The people with the power, are the ones who have us concerned. They have the least to lose from shutting this game down. And that is what the problem truly is.
Then it's time to use the power of the players to you advantage. Valve did this, and is immensely successful as a result. Look at how many Half-Life and Source mods there are, and how many turned into major commercial titles (i.e.: Counter Strike and Team Fortress). Oh yeah and then came L4D and TF2, both which encouraged the tradition of user-created content to wonderful success.
Crowdsourcing is on the agenda when I meet with the devs, planned for Monday.
Even simple things like getting rid of the character streamlining, selling more hideouts and hideout upgrades, purchasable emote packs, the archetype rotation program, and refer-a-friend programs are being ignored by your management TrailTurtle. How badly DO y'all want to earn more money? Money on things that are not negatives for the community. Brou's topic on emote packs? Titled: "shut up and take my money". Suggestions forum. Go look.
I flipped through the thread. Going through rapid-fire about my thoughts:
-Emotes: I talked with Branflakes about this at one point, and his experience was that they didn't do too well. The price point for these would probably be fairly low, and it's not a repeatable transaction. I have my personal inclinations on how to use these, and I certainly don't want to see content go to waste, but I'm not sure where it'll end up. This'll need some more data.
That being said... I dug around the Battlefield Heroes site, and it looks like they charge ~$2 per emote. My gut says that the Champs community wouldn't charge for that, but what price point would people go for?
-AT Rotation: The impression I get is that this program was, ultimately, not successful. I wasn't on Champs at the time, so I didn't see any numbers, but that's the vibe I've gotten. I can ask about it, maybe I'm incorrect on this.
Ideas I've seen from the threads that I either like or can comment on:
-Permanent foam finger device.
-Increased Resource limits for Silvers via C-Store. Not sure of feasibility, I've brought it up with the devs in the past, and they'd need to dig around to check both feasibility and whether it'd be good for the game. We do want to keep Gold valuable.
-Hue-shift packs for Silvers -- not full hue-shifting, that would probably devalue Gold too much, but something that could be used/slotted to change the color of all powers. Like you might buy the Shadow Hue pack, or the Vibrant Green pack.
(Don't have time to read through the second thread right now, I end work soon.)
I understand that small dev team is busy, but i think that we are entitled to an "ask cryptic" at least once a year.
The top of the year is the time to let the player base know what direction the game is going in this year. Many of us in this thread are life time subs meaning that we are more deeply invested than most.
We may not be "shareholder" level investors but we deserve more communication than we have been getting.
I would also like to highlight that we haven't had any meaningful dev communication (until field reports) of what the plan is since July 2012. We don't even know if until field reports and ask Cryptic is still a "thing".
I hope there are plans to address these basic concerns.
PVP is starving without rewards
1. Please give us Daily PVP missions that reward Questionite.
2. Please give us an exchange rate between Acclaim and Recognition so that PVP has access to all "On Alert" PVE rewards.
I mean this with the utmost respect to TT and the CO developers as I type it, but I have to say that the "no time to communicate" line is unacceptable. Communication is essential in any relationship. Your communication with us is greatly appreciated, but there's a lot that only the developers can (and should) tell us.
You've seen yourself in this thread how inspired some members become just from hearing an encouraging word from you, the CM. Imagine the response the developers would receive from a simple statement regarding what's coming for CO.
If the CO team is on a 5-day work schedule as we've insinuated from other information, then that leaves a 48-hour weekend for the developers to take 5 minutes out of to drop a forum post on us every now and then. Surely they all have computers at home.
I'm glad to hear that they're hard at work designing and testing new content for CO, but that content won't keep additional frustrated players from quitting in the meantime if they know nothing about it.
Please impress upon the staff how desperately we need to hear something from them.
-Emotes: I talked with Branflakes about this at one point, and his experience was that they didn't do too well. The price point for these would probably be fairly low, and it's not a repeatable transaction.
If this is the thinking required by your bosses to get things added to the game, i.e. repeatable transactions and price point as the meeter for if you want to add even 'quality of life' items like this it's no wonder we're banging out heads against the wall asking for stuff.
If the boss can't repeatedly milk us for cash on it, it's not happening.
This explain why the game is choking to death..
No adventuring content really added [temp events don't count if they're gone in a month]
No extras added unless we can be milked for it
The players slowly shrink off feeling the lack of development..
The Dev team wanders off due to lack of interest or more important things to do [NW, STO]
More players slink off..
More Devs find better things to do..
Cycle repeats..
Here we are now going to the West Side
Weapons in hand as we go for a ride
Some may come and some may stay
Watching out for a sunny day
Where there's love and darkness and my sidearm
In game as @forgemccain
If this is the thinking required by your bosses to get things added to the game, i.e. repeatable transactions and price point as the meeter for if you want to add even 'quality of life' items like this it's no wonder we're banging out heads against the wall asking for stuff.
If the boss can't repeatedly milk us for cash on it, it's not happening.
Hrm, I apologize for the unclarity. I don't know whether it'll be worthwhile to put it in the direct sale C-Store, but there are other ways for this to be distributed. Heck, some of them are even free: We could decide that we want to make it part of a giveaway. Sometimes those have more indirect value than direct sales. I don't want to rule anything out, and I don't want to promise anything will be free -- because we may still decide to sell it -- but I do mean it when I say that options are on the table.
I have my personal inclinations on how to use these, and I certainly don't want to see content go to waste, but I'm not sure where it'll end up. This'll need some more data.
That being said... I dug around the Battlefield Heroes site, and it looks like they charge ~$2 per emote. My gut says that the Champs community wouldn't charge for that, but what price point would people go for?
The answer is simple, IMO; Don't *just* sell emote packs - sell a costume pack which only has a few pieces, then maybe a weapon model or 2, and finally a few emotes.
For instance, let's say you guys made a "military pack". It could contain 1 AR model, 1 pistol model, maybe a new flakjacket, backpack, and gloves, and maybe like 3-4 military-oriented emotes, (an 'at ease' emote that makes your character stay in that stance, a 'salute' emote where your character stays in a saluting pose, an 'at attention' emote where your character stays that way, and a 'check equipment' emote where your character adjusts their belt, boots, and gloves).
By giving a little of everything in a pack like this, you satisfy many people's wants, without having to devote time to a full costume pack, emote pack, or weapon skin pack separately.
<::::::::::::::)xxxo <::::::::::::::)xxxo <::::::::::::)xxxxxxxx(:::::::::::> oxxx(::::::::::::::> oxxx(::::::::::::::> "Is it better to be feared or respected? I say, is it too much to ask for both?" -Tony Stark Official NW_Legit_Community Forums
Hrm, I apologize for the unclarity. I don't know whether it'll be worthwhile to put it in the direct sale C-Store, but there are other ways for this to be distributed. Heck, some of them are even free: We could decide that we want to make it part of a giveaway. Sometimes those have more indirect value than direct sales. I don't want to rule anything out, and I don't want to promise anything will be free -- because we may still decide to sell it -- but I do mean it when I say that options are on the table.
Well this means that I'll post my idea about SG bases, I didn't want to because I didn't want to encourage the lockbox milking but I guess we'll never get anything on it otherwise.
Here we are now going to the West Side
Weapons in hand as we go for a ride
Some may come and some may stay
Watching out for a sunny day
Where there's love and darkness and my sidearm
In game as @forgemccain
Hrm, I apologize for the unclarity. I don't know whether it'll be worthwhile to put it in the direct sale C-Store, but there are other ways for this to be distributed. Heck, some of them are even free: We could decide that we want to make it part of a giveaway. Sometimes those have more indirect value than direct sales. I don't want to rule anything out, and I don't want to promise anything will be free -- because we may still decide to sell it -- but I do mean it when I say that options are on the table.
I think part of the lack of profitability of these small point transactions can be seen in my post above... You have gone for so long without adding anything to the market that I have any interest in buying at a price at which I am interested in buying it that my stipend has built up to the point where unless you do something outstanding and yet reasonably priced on a regular basis, you are never going to burn through my stipend and I don't think I'm the only player in this boat.
Edited to add: And by reasonably priced, I mean exactly that. I can look at something that costs 100 zen and realize that the equivalent is $1 and something that costs 1800 zen would be the equivalent of $18. It doesn't matter to me whether I got the zen for free (it wasn't free, I paid money for that subscription.) or paid for with cash or earned through grindonite. I see 1800 zen and $18 as being the same thing, whether it actually takes $18 out of my pocket or not. If I wouldn't reach into my pocket and pull out a certain amount of cash for an item, I'm not going to reach into my stipend for the equivalent either.
The Forumite formerly known as Galeforce.
If you want my money, there is a fairly simple way to get it since I am fairly free with how I spend it. First, produce something I consider to be worth buying. Second, offer it up for sale. Don't lock it behind a gambling scam. If I want something, I am perfectly happy to pay for it. But I will not purchase a CHANCE to get it, When I pay money, I have a perfectly logical right to expect to get what I want.
You know what encourages players to spend money on the store for a game? Depth.
You know what is needed to make sure there is depth put into a game? Workers that care about the game.
You'd be surprised how often people will spend money on random stuff in the store as long as the game is kept interesting with regular updates. Sales resulting from this usually do not correlate as to what is put into the game. As long as content is added with great depth things sell in the store, even purchases that seem to have nothing to do with that content.
Spontaneous purchases are more likely to happen when you inspire the players with content. And that requires inspiring devs who enjoy the game.
Do we really want more stuff added to the Z-store, or do we want new zones and other explorable / playable content at this point?
I'm using a "either / or" question because I really doubt Cryptic has the resources to deliver both concurrently, but it'd be ideal if they can manage to do both.
It's a no brainer that putting new stuff in the store is an effective way of catching an interested buyer's eye, but expanding on explorable content is a way to keep players' interests fresh and spend their time playing such content while using whatever it is they've bought from the Z-store to enrich that gameplay experience. When players spend more time sticking around, obviously there will be more opportunities for players buying ZEN to spend at the Z-store, or even continue investing in a gold sub.
-Emotes: I talked with Branflakes about this at one point, and his experience was that they didn't do too well. The price point for these would probably be fairly low, and it's not a repeatable transaction. I have my personal inclinations on how to use these, and I certainly don't want to see content go to waste, but I'm not sure where it'll end up. This'll need some more data.
That being said... I dug around the Battlefield Heroes site, and it looks like they charge ~$2 per emote. My gut says that the Champs community wouldn't charge for that, but what price point would people go for?
Well why not try it out with the existing emotes they planned to give us for free shortly after the launch of STO? There was a bundle that we we're going to get that inlcuded for example the "Air Guitar" emote, that was quickly removed from the PTS after the guys in STO complained that they had to pay for this bundle and so should we. Many in champs were more than willing to pay for these when they were pulled, but for some reason they were never talked about again. Since these emotes are already there waiting to be implemented why not try putting them up for sale to gauge the reaction? Theres no development cost so there is no risk. It's as easy as flipping a switch.
Hrm, I apologize for the unclarity. I don't know whether it'll be worthwhile to put it in the direct sale C-Store, but there are other ways for this to be distributed. Heck, some of them are even free: We could decide that we want to make it part of a giveaway. Sometimes those have more indirect value than direct sales. I don't want to rule anything out, and I don't want to promise anything will be free -- because we may still decide to sell it -- but I do mean it when I say that options are on the table.
one thing to clarify how i took his/her post as it also mirrors an issue that im having. the issue is not purchases, i think we are all adults and with the game being "free to play" microtransactions are an absolute necessity to keep people working, and im fine with them, bought most costume packs here and almost all costume items and powers on coh. I think the word of contention is "repeatable" because that says lockbox, and not getting what you want, but a chance as something like what you want.
We had a spurt of costume sets a while ago, and i bought em all, even though at the time i really was not playing co. If the bosses are open to the idea of one time purchases, im sure we could get them feedback of costume sets, power sets and the like and they could run the numbers and see if the expected revenue would be profitable with the cost. but more lockboxes...i understand why companies like lockboxes and superpacks, they are theoretically infinite resources, unlike one and done costumes and powersets,but there are people who, like myself will never buy a key, never bought a super-pack, simply do not like the idea of buying a chance for something cool, no matter how well you incentivize the consolation prizes. i'm not saying no lockboxes at all...i'd like to but im a realist and lock boxes, are a fact of life, like eczema, and are a proven revenue generator and i can live with some content simply being permanently out of my reach , but some balance is really needed to make it feel like people that only will choose a deterministic path of micro-transactions aren't completely frozen out like we were with most of reloaded an ALL of the hover bikes.
If we can get the higher ups to see that, that the lockbox exclusive method they have been using recently is turning off players, then i have no problem whatsoever paying a flat fee for what i want, its simply how the world works, and quality purchases are worth the cost. I'm a lifer with nearly 3k zen stockpiled at this point, but for quality stuff id buy zen just to make sure my characters stay alive in not-paragon city by supporting not-ncsoft(in fact if you have a "burly devs go after ncsoft execs with golf clubs" lockbox, i can find my key stance negotiable).
kidding kidding...officially.
oh and I do appreciate you talking to us, this may seem like a bit of a dogpile, but its closer to when you come home and your dog is really happy to see you and bowls you over. we are happy to see you and want a free and honest communication with you and longevity for the company...my chars are not going to work in dcou, and a healthy cryptic is a glorious middle finger up to the rat-@#$%#@s at ncsoft (do i sound btter, maybe i sound bitter, good enough since i an REALLY @#$%ING BITTER) :P
That being said... I dug around the Battlefield Heroes site, and it looks like they charge ~$2 per emote. My gut says that the Champs community wouldn't charge for that, but what price point would people go for?
)
back when coh went free to play, they released the animations from the "party" pack at around 2 ish a piece for a michael jackson dance a disco dance and a headbang emote, i bought all 3. one reason i'm kind alenient with price points is that lifers get a stipend(i think regular subbers do too) so that is value added to having a sub or buying the whole big pizza pie. subbing reduces the "real cost" of items if you use your points and i'm cool with that.
-Emotes: I talked with Branflakes about this at one point, and his experience was that they didn't do too well. The price point for these would probably be fairly low, and it's not a repeatable transaction. I have my personal inclinations on how to use these, and I certainly don't want to see content go to waste, but I'm not sure where it'll end up. This'll need some more data.
Emotes are already in game........no development time, sell them or insert them as rewards but we want these emotes ! ! ! ! (and many others )
Emotes are already in game........no development time, sell them or insert them as rewards but we want these emotes ! ! ! ! (and many others )
There's a ton of stuff that's already in game that they aren't going to take the time to give us.. or they'll use the *&%^ drifter salvage to milk us for.. again..
Here we are now going to the West Side
Weapons in hand as we go for a ride
Some may come and some may stay
Watching out for a sunny day
Where there's love and darkness and my sidearm
In game as @forgemccain
Originally Posted by mijjestic: Ultimately, though, MMO players throwing stones at each other in this fashion is basically one nerd pointing and laughing at another nerd whose glasses are thicker.
-Emotes: I talked with Branflakes about this at one point, and his experience was that they didn't do too well. The price point for these would probably be fairly low, and it's not a repeatable transaction. I have my personal inclinations on how to use these, and I certainly don't want to see content go to waste, but I'm not sure where it'll end up. This'll need some more data.
(Don't have time to read through the second thread right now, I end work soon.)
I can't speak for others, but frankly I don't buy consumables and things that need to be bought multiple times. I buy costume sets and other account wide things, since they're the most value even when they're slightly more expensive. since I'll get them for all of my characters no matter what.
_______________________
More account-wide stuff in the Z-store. I want to buy stuff dammit.
I must chime in with the others about buying bundles of stances/animations/skins/costumes.
These are the things I spend a lot of Zen on--when I was silver, I spent as much on premium ATs as on costumes and such.
As for repeatable purchases . . . this would sell:
1. Buy a customizable sidekick--like nemesis, you can choose its name, appearance, and powerset, but that's it.
2. The sidekick gets a one hour timer device. When it runs out, you can't use your sidekick
3. You then sell a "Call Sidekick" device that gives you another hour.
4. The price point would be the same (or a bit higher) than the existing sidekick devices.
People would buy the hell out of something like this.
I would NOT buy this for the exact reason I don't buy any of the existing sidekicks. I would buy a permanent version, but not a temp version.
The Forumite formerly known as Galeforce.
If you want my money, there is a fairly simple way to get it since I am fairly free with how I spend it. First, produce something I consider to be worth buying. Second, offer it up for sale. Don't lock it behind a gambling scam. If I want something, I am perfectly happy to pay for it. But I will not purchase a CHANCE to get it, When I pay money, I have a perfectly logical right to expect to get what I want.
It would be better if you can buy a perm sidekick device that has full customization for, like 1200Z and make it bind to character rather than account (to actually make money) without all these time mess.
I wouldn't pay for any temporary device, no matter how good it would be.
A "temporary" means basically no sell for me, unless it's some kind of cheap and spammable consumables.
Crowdsourcing is on the agenda when I meet with the devs, planned for Monday.
Crowdsourcing is necessary for this game to flourish. Hands down. The "Foundry" is a good example of this, and it was the #2 most talked about thing in my "2013" topic after people wanting bug fixes (which was almost always everyone's #1).
That being said... I dug around the Battlefield Heroes site, and it looks like they charge ~$2 per emote. My gut says that the Champs community wouldn't charge for that, but what price point would people go for?
Hmm, sounds like you didn't dig enough (although I'm please you've come this far!)
Branflakes is a smart guy, but he's not experienced in marketing this specific product. I could market this, as I know first hand what they did and how I would have to change the strategy to fit THIS game's market.
As I speak some German, I have had multiple candid discussions with the guy (who is currently the head of Easy Studios, he was promoted). We mostly talked (via Skype) about how to deal with the rampant hacking issue, but also talked about content stuff.
It's a Costume + Weapon + Emote pack released as a theme (holiday, special event, etc.) All items are also available for individual purchase for a few dollars. I can PM you their pricing strategy, it's corelative.
Being able to pay to incrementally increase above the 250g cap is a win-win for all parties involved.
You won't devalue subscriptions by doing so, because subscribers will get their AH stuff to sell. It also reduces risk of getting scammed on big-ticket items! (you know why?)
According to the record, I was initially strongly opposed to the freeform slot, but I've ALWAYS been in favor of Silvers being able to PAY to raise the cap.
I can't speak for others, but frankly I don't buy consumables and things that need to be bought multiple times. I buy costume sets and other account wide things, since they're the most value even when they're slightly more expensive. since I'll get them for all of my characters no matter what.
Well, you can speak for me in this regard. That's my mindset too. I'll gladly pay more for something that's permanent to my account rather than pay a pittance for something I have to keep buying repeatedly. Now, true, the argument can be made that there is more money to be made in repeat purchases but I think there is room for both depending on the price scaling. As it stands, selling something consumable makes zero money from me while selling something permanent at a higher price gets me to throw money at the screen.
Character slots. Bought several packs of them (even after the price hike IIRC) despite having a LTS and despite the knowledge that I can just burn my way to level cap to get more for free very quickly.
Costume slots. I've bought several (even after the price hike) to the point where I have 10-12 slots and most of my characters are only using 1-3.
Hideouts. I bought them all including every variation.
Costume Packs. I own most of them. I'll grab the others when I run into a part I need from them.
Travel Powers. I own most of them. I'll grab the others when I have a concept that needs them.
Catalysts and Items. Never bought any unless it was with left over stipend zen.
Vehicles. Perhaps, when the ones I like are for sale instead of for gamble.
Well, you can speak for me in this regard. That's my mindset too. I'll gladly pay more for something that's permanent to my account rather than pay a pittance for something I have to keep buying repeatedly. Now, true, the argument can be made that there is more money to be made in repeat purchases but I think there is room for both depending on the price scaling. As it stands, selling something consumable makes zero money from me while selling something permanent at a higher price gets me to throw money at the screen.
Character slots. Bought several packs of them (even after the price hike IIRC) despite having a LTS and despite the knowledge that I can just burn my way to level cap to get more for free very quickly.
Costume slots. I've bought several (even after the price hike) to the point where I have 10-12 slots and most of my characters are only using 1-3.
Hideouts. I bought them all including every variation.
Costume Packs. I own most of them. I'll grab the others when I run into a part I need from them.
Travel Powers. I own most of them. I'll grab the others when I have a concept that needs them.
Catalysts and Items. Never bought any unless it was with left over stipend zen.
Vehicles. Perhaps, when the ones I like are for sale instead of for gamble.
LOL
This is pretty much my purchase history as well though I haven't bought all the hideout variations, I have all the hideout types and some of the variations. When I see more variations that I like I may purchase them but like everything else I enjoy, they seem to have fallen by the wayside.
The Forumite formerly known as Galeforce.
If you want my money, there is a fairly simple way to get it since I am fairly free with how I spend it. First, produce something I consider to be worth buying. Second, offer it up for sale. Don't lock it behind a gambling scam. If I want something, I am perfectly happy to pay for it. But I will not purchase a CHANCE to get it, When I pay money, I have a perfectly logical right to expect to get what I want.
TrailTurtle, can I devise an official poll asking people about things they'd like to buy and their price? I can email you a word document. (also including a sales strategy)
I wouldn't pay for any temporary device, no matter how good it would be.
A "temporary" means basically no sell for me, unless it's some kind of cheap and spammable consumables.
You're actually in the minority on this. When I was heavily involved with Battlefield Hero and all the anti-cheat stuff with the GGC and PunkBuster Battlefield Heroes was roughly five times the active population size Champions was last year at this date. Much to my disappointment with the community the top-sellers were grabbags, repair wrenches, and tonics (insta-heals). People bought a lot more for money (Battlefunds/Play-For-Free-Funds, their version of Zen) than what they could get for free by playing (Valor Points, VP).
Permanent items absolutely should be offered, I agree.
Note however that the benefit from keys and boosts have to be worth it. The Energy Surge device exploit (where it's supposed to be consume but isn't) is a disaster for the F2P model. Lockboxes have to contain things people badly want.
In conclusion, you NEED to have both.
Consumable stuff, and permanent stuff. Treat them as seperate in all ways, from how advertised, to pricing, to if they go on sale or not (permanent stuff should be unlikely to go on sale).
Temporary versions of permanent stuff isn't effective. You can get safely rid of that junk and it won't hurt your sales.
Below I'll make a list of how the two might be divided
I can't speak for others, but frankly I don't buy consumables and things that need to be bought multiple times. I buy costume sets and other account wide things, since they're the most value even when they're slightly more expensive. since I'll get them for all of my characters no matter what.
This is true, particularly for THIS game. (not all games are the same market, know thy market!)
Permanent top-sellers:
* LTS ($300) & Freeform slots (currently it's $50, but should have an occassional sales price of $30 to be competitive)
* Hideouts & upgrades
* Premium costume packs
* Premium travel powers
* (coming soon?) Premium emote packs
* (coming soon?) Silver-accounts only: +100g increase to the 250g cap, repeatable
* Silver-accounts only: Premium archetypes
* Silver-accounts only: Bank slots
* Shared hideout bank slots
* Silver accounts only: Extra character slots
* Vehicles
* Permanent Become Devices (advertise for roleplayers)
A quick idea about adding emotes; what we all want (I'm assuming here) Is more costume sets and more power sets.
So how about giving us more of those AND Including some appropriate emotes to compliment those sets.
Heroic tights costume pack - Heroic stance emote.
Give the pack a Big, Toothy Smile Emote (perhaps with a little gleam from the teeth), and I for one will buy the frak out of this.
"Science teaches us to expect -- demand -- more than just eerie mysteries. What use is a puzzle that can't be solved? Patience is fine, but I'm not going to stop asking the universe to make sense!"
I wouldn't pay for any temporary device, no matter how good it would be.
A "temporary" means basically no sell for me, unless it's some kind of cheap and spammable consumables.
You're actually in the minority on this. When I was heavily involved with Battlefield Hero and all the anti-cheat stuff with the GGC and PunkBuster Battlefield Heroes was roughly five times the active population size Champions was last year at this date. Much to my disappointment with the community the top-sellers were grabbags, repair wrenches, and tonics (insta-heals). People bought a lot more for money (Battlefunds/Play-For-Free-Funds, their version of Zen) than what they could get for free by playing (Valor Points, VP).
Permanent items absolutely should be offered, I agree.
Note however that the benefit from keys and boosts have to be worth it. The Energy Surge device exploit (where it's supposed to be consume but isn't) is a disaster for the F2P model. Lockboxes have to contain things people badly want.
In conclusion, you NEED to have both.
Consumable stuff, and permanent stuff. Treat them as seperate in all ways, from how advertised, to pricing, to if they go on sale or not (permanent stuff should be unlikely to go on sale).
Temporary versions of permanent stuff isn't effective. You can get safely rid of that junk and it won't hurt your sales.
Below I'll make a list of how the two might be divided
And this is where "cheap and spammable" comes into play.
Cosmic keys are only 100 Zen each, they are good bait for impulse driven buyers.
But paying more than 100 - 300 Zen for single consumable? I's not like temporary versions of C-Store, later Z-Store devices were ever in high demand.
I've heard from friends that in other games that use the aforementioned system of lockboxesxkeys, people who are subscribed gain free opening rights to the lockboxes. Now, I know that could never happen here BUT...Gold/LTS members should IMO be given in addition to stipend perhaps 5 cosmic keys? It would be a way to gain more subbers perhaps. No idea how horrific this idea is so please dont rage at me..
Meedacthunist, please edit that response. I ran into a bloody character limit and couldn't edit it in time lol... I realized that y'all were talking about temporary Becomes and Sidekicks too late.
If you don't mind, edit & reply to what it says now. Thanks...
A quick idea about adding emotes; what we all want (I'm assuming here) Is more costume sets and more power sets.
So how about giving us more of those AND Including some appropriate emotes to compliment those sets.
Heroic tights costume pack - Heroic stance emote
Casual or dress costume set - new dance emotes.
Beastial powers or costume sets - new beastie emotes.
you get the picture. It's a perfect way to add new things that people will purchase while adding just a tiny bit more of what the players want.
This is very VERY much like how Easy Studios has done their Costume + Emotes + Weapons packs for years with Battlefield Heroes. They also do something similar with Battlefield Play For Free (BF:P4F).
The goal?
Options!
In Battlefield Heroes you can typically buy complete theme packs (best value), emote packs, costume packs, weapons packs, grab bags, or buy anything individually.
In this game, it translates to something like complete theme/seasonal packs (best value), emote packs, costume packs, cosmic keys (for lockboxes), rank up catalysts (which are stupidly overpriced), or buy anything individually.
I've heard from friends that in other games that use the aforementioned system of lockboxesxkeys, people who are subscribed gain free opening rights to the lockboxes. Now, I know that could never happen here BUT...Gold/LTS members should IMO be given in addition to stipend perhaps 5 cosmic keys? It would be a way to gain more subbers perhaps. No idea how horrific this idea is so please dont rage at me..
Someone brought up this idea before in the suggestions forum a month ago, but others and I shot it down with a resounding "no thanks".
Do you remember why?
I do.
1. Because most LTS do not WANT to gamble! We prefer to invest and look for things that are permanent to buy. Most of the LTS I know buy keys mostly because we already have everything we need, and are looking for Legion Gear, Gambler's mods, and CON mods lol... If there were some emote packs, hideout upgrades, or Rank Ups weren't so retardedly overpriced we'd buy that instead, I'll bet you.
2. Because this is a business, not a charity. I'd rather them put that money into making sure the stuff you buy works! Bug fixes first, new explorable content second.
3. The better thing to be giving subscribers is something that is perfectly tailored to their market: extra RetCons!!!
Gold & LTS have freeforms. With more RetCons you can have more fun outside of the powerhouse without feeling like if you don't get it perfect you can't leave. Trust me, RetCons over keys anyday. It makes sense.
You know what would make subscriptions restore their value instantly, and then some?
Unlimited Retcons.
Who cares then if Silvers can buy gold cap increases, the ability to change hues, or freeform slots?! If you want to go the expensive way around and buy things one-by-one, then by all means! And as the F2P gaming industry shows, people will buy a lot more piecemeal than they will if they if they have to subscribe ($15/mo. or $300 one-time), especially in a bad economy!
I'd pay for this stance. Should be made available for players LONG time ago.
Mmhmm. I've wanted that one for a long time. The "normal" stance we have for females is completely abnormal, disturbing and unnatural. No one stands like that. Ever!
...
Permanent top-sellers:
* LTS ($300) & Freeform slots (currently it's $50, but should have an occassional sales price of $30 to be competitive)
* Hideouts & upgrades
* Premium costume packs?
3. The better thing to be giving subscribers is something that is perfectly tailored to their market: extra RetCons!!!
Gold & LTS have freeforms. With more RetCons you can have more fun outside of the powerhouse without feeling like if you don't get it perfect you can't leave. Trust me, RetCons over keys anyday. It makes sense.
...
I have lots of extra retcons from veterans perks that I wish I could sell.
Well, you can speak for me in this regard. That's my mindset too. I'll gladly pay more for something that's permanent to my account rather than pay a pittance for something I have to keep buying repeatedly. Now, true, the argument can be made that there is more money to be made in repeat purchases ...
Character slots. Bought several packs of them (even after the price hike IIRC) despite having a LTS and despite the knowledge that I can just burn my way to level cap to get more for free very quickly.
Costume slots. I've bought several (even after the price hike) to the point where I have 10-12 slots and most of my characters are only using 1-3.
Hideouts. I bought them all including every variation.
Costume Packs. I own most of them. I'll grab the others when I run into a part I need from them.
Travel Powers. I own most of them. I'll grab the others when I have a concept that needs them.
Catalysts and Items. Never bought any unless it was with left over stipend zen.
Vehicles. Perhaps, when the ones I like are for sale instead of for gamble.
...
Pretty much the same sir.
I don't have all the hideouts.
I would probably buy more if I could use them like the penthouse.
It'd be neat if I could anchor each hideout to a zone of my choice so I could teleport to the hideout then exit directly to the zone.
... I dug around the Battlefield Heroes site, and it looks like they charge ~$2 per emote. My gut says that the Champs community wouldn't charge for that, but what price point would people go for?
...
I would pay $2 for an account wide emote.
Of course I have so many alts that it would be quite cost effective.
I want to throw money at this game! I really really do!
That's why I have a monthly subscription rather than an LTS. I like to be able to register my approval or disapproval through my wallet.
I'm just funny that way.
CellarRat33 :: formerly Bsquared
***
"The great thing about glory unending is that it's dirt cheap!" - Tateklys From the Adventures of Thundrax (canadascott)
***
I wish we had free opening of Lockboxes for Gold/LTS players like in other games. That would be a great reason to Sub.
This games has MANY things not available to players that they could set up as packs to buy in the Z-store. Emotes and Weapon skins, as well as powers/power skins that appear on other NPC/becomes. Especially muliple arms and no legs-they dont have to have emotes on all powers but just be there, and no legs-just have them black out leg powers. Simple or make it a travel power of something.
New zones-as i posted in a thread about CO leadership:
USE THE SMALLER ZONES YOU MADE FOR MISSIONS!
Turn Hai-Pans floating area into a small Zone. You should be able to take that and paste it into a new and larger ares and build upon it and reuse pieces already there.
Demonflame: Use that Q-Realm and tack on pieces from Aftershock and bam you have the majority of what you need right there.
Yes both of those ideas would still need development to make mission and add to the landscape, but allot of the work is done already.
Comments
And thank you for coming in to clear the air, Trailturtle. I've noticed you've been spending more time here and in-game, and its not gone unnoticed here. You get the Flamethrower Ferret Seal of Approval! Which will come with its own graphic, uh, someday.
Then it's time to use the power of the players to you advantage. Valve did this, and is immensely successful as a result. Look at how many Half-Life and Source mods there are, and how many turned into major commercial titles (i.e.: Counter Strike and Team Fortress). Oh yeah and then came L4D and TF2, both which encouraged the tradition of user-created content to wonderful success.
Futhermore, I was recently watching a CNN article about a successful German software company that has taken to hiring people with Asperger's Syndrome for being QA bug hunters for software. The multi-threaded non-linear thinking patterns of people with autistic minds makes them ideal for finding glitches. The clients of this company include everything from cyber security systems in banks to Electronic Arts subsidaries such as Easy Studios that are in the region. Why should Germany be ahead of the US in using the unique talents individuals in a cleverly adaptive (and profitable) manner?
Even simple things like getting rid of the character streamlining, selling more hideouts and hideout upgrades, purchasable emote packs, the archetype rotation program, and refer-a-friend programs are being ignored by your management TrailTurtle. How badly DO y'all want to earn more money? Money on things that are not negatives for the community. Brou's topic on emote packs? Titled: "shut up and take my money". Suggestions forum. Go look.
Finally, there are two topics I've made (one before Christmas, one in January) where you customers CLEARLY volunteered what they would likely buy, what they wished to buy, and what they want to see for 2013. I'll go bump them for you...
Consolidate the currencies! (Please!)
Does your Champion have a theme song? (share it!)
Got a funny in-game screenshot? (share it!)
Please fix the Overdrive energy unlock! (Should help promote thematic build diversity!)
We've got meetings tentatively planned for Monday. It could end up getting pushed back a little further, but hopefully Monday we'll be able to set up a framework. I'll let you know, as soon as I'm able, what we come up with.
If there isn't a SotG then we'll simply continue to assume that there are no long term plans at all and that things are going to stagnate without any playable content expansion.
Looking forward to hearing the results of that upcoming meeting.
Ok, but I think I speak for a number of people when I say that we were promised something similar by ShadeShooter in January 2012 (mostly with regards to the player-abused chat-ban thing) along with bringing the calendar back. That never happened. Steps need to happen incrementally, but there is a serious issue where the customers are mistrusting of the business, and it ends up being a catch-22 because a number of those customers give up or stop spending as much. In short, actions speak louder than words.
Speaking of which, keeping true to my own word I went and found those two topics and bumped them for you and the others here to see. I'd normally just link them here but I can't do tabbed browsing on this cellphone. So working smart not harder under circumstances with immediate-response timing needs, I'm bumping rather than listing links. Pardon in advance for that. *winces*
Emote packs is an RP community thing, and it has been consistently a source of profit for years (and probably employment for the animator dev) for the Battlefield Heroes MMO (owned by EA). The difference would be in the theme design for the emote. Selling a premium emotes package in Champions is more of a character design thing, in Battlefield Heroes it's a way to tease your foe in combat. You continuously release new ones to go along with seasonal and content "themes".
Consolidate the currencies! (Please!)
Does your Champion have a theme song? (share it!)
Got a funny in-game screenshot? (share it!)
Please fix the Overdrive energy unlock! (Should help promote thematic build diversity!)
Can you draw some attention to your "shut up and take my money" topic? It's like you made a good idea and gave up on it to post LOL cats and O RLY owls. You and Nepht... hehe
:rolleyes:
In all seriousness friend, now would be a really good time to advocate that regularly releasing premium emote packs = profits.
Consolidate the currencies! (Please!)
Does your Champion have a theme song? (share it!)
Got a funny in-game screenshot? (share it!)
Please fix the Overdrive energy unlock! (Should help promote thematic build diversity!)
So do you know why they decided to ruin nighthawk hood costume piece by restricting the head categories it could go with, despite the fact it was sold in that manner originally, and apparently when people spoke out about the first time, they re-broke it, to work with all heads and then they snuck in a hidden patch to restrict it, yet again?
I ask only because not only did they sell the product in that design (whether it's a bug or not, had they tested it before they released it) They still sold it, as is. When people starting purchasing said costume set, solely for the multi-head category hood, they later tweaked it.
And i simply ask because it seems you are the only person with any involvement who attends the forums, and all in-game tickets are met with "Go post on forums if you want this change"
Please could you try something about having nighthawk hood working with all heads again, like it did when it was originally sold to players.
Yeah it did. That was pretty much the death of CO until Atari came in and started making new content. I remember it well because I was there when it happened. STO bled CO dry of resources and Cryptic let another one of their projects sit in the dust.
^This. Like I stated in a previous post. Cryptic needs to get out of MMOs, they don't have the patience for the upkeep. They really need to focus on making games that don't need constant attention.
The problem is this TrailTurtle. Unfortunately you do not own CO. I wish you did, because you actually seem to care. The higher ups own it and can do with it what they please, without warning if necessary. The same people we don't hear from, the same people who don't know the player base, and the same people who probably have never played this game in their entire life. The people with the power, are the ones who have us concerned. They have the least to lose from shutting this game down. And that is what the problem truly is.
Crowdsourcing is on the agenda when I meet with the devs, planned for Monday.
I flipped through the thread. Going through rapid-fire about my thoughts:
-Emotes: I talked with Branflakes about this at one point, and his experience was that they didn't do too well. The price point for these would probably be fairly low, and it's not a repeatable transaction. I have my personal inclinations on how to use these, and I certainly don't want to see content go to waste, but I'm not sure where it'll end up. This'll need some more data.
That being said... I dug around the Battlefield Heroes site, and it looks like they charge ~$2 per emote. My gut says that the Champs community wouldn't charge for that, but what price point would people go for?
-AT Rotation: The impression I get is that this program was, ultimately, not successful. I wasn't on Champs at the time, so I didn't see any numbers, but that's the vibe I've gotten. I can ask about it, maybe I'm incorrect on this.
Ideas I've seen from the threads that I either like or can comment on:
-Permanent foam finger device.
-Increased Resource limits for Silvers via C-Store. Not sure of feasibility, I've brought it up with the devs in the past, and they'd need to dig around to check both feasibility and whether it'd be good for the game. We do want to keep Gold valuable.
-Hue-shift packs for Silvers -- not full hue-shifting, that would probably devalue Gold too much, but something that could be used/slotted to change the color of all powers. Like you might buy the Shadow Hue pack, or the Vibrant Green pack.
(Don't have time to read through the second thread right now, I end work soon.)
The top of the year is the time to let the player base know what direction the game is going in this year. Many of us in this thread are life time subs meaning that we are more deeply invested than most.
We may not be "shareholder" level investors but we deserve more communication than we have been getting.
I would also like to highlight that we haven't had any meaningful dev communication (until field reports) of what the plan is since July 2012. We don't even know if until field reports and ask Cryptic is still a "thing".
I hope there are plans to address these basic concerns.
PVP is starving without rewards
1. Please give us Daily PVP missions that reward Questionite.
2. Please give us an exchange rate between Acclaim and Recognition so that PVP has access to all "On Alert" PVE rewards.
You've seen yourself in this thread how inspired some members become just from hearing an encouraging word from you, the CM. Imagine the response the developers would receive from a simple statement regarding what's coming for CO.
If the CO team is on a 5-day work schedule as we've insinuated from other information, then that leaves a 48-hour weekend for the developers to take 5 minutes out of to drop a forum post on us every now and then. Surely they all have computers at home.
I'm glad to hear that they're hard at work designing and testing new content for CO, but that content won't keep additional frustrated players from quitting in the meantime if they know nothing about it.
Please impress upon the staff how desperately we need to hear something from them.
Thanks!
If this is the thinking required by your bosses to get things added to the game, i.e. repeatable transactions and price point as the meeter for if you want to add even 'quality of life' items like this it's no wonder we're banging out heads against the wall asking for stuff.
If the boss can't repeatedly milk us for cash on it, it's not happening.
This explain why the game is choking to death..
No adventuring content really added [temp events don't count if they're gone in a month]
No extras added unless we can be milked for it
The players slowly shrink off feeling the lack of development..
The Dev team wanders off due to lack of interest or more important things to do [NW, STO]
More players slink off..
More Devs find better things to do..
Cycle repeats..
Here we are now going to the West Side
Weapons in hand as we go for a ride
Some may come and some may stay
Watching out for a sunny day
Where there's love and darkness and my sidearm
In game as @forgemccain
Hrm, I apologize for the unclarity. I don't know whether it'll be worthwhile to put it in the direct sale C-Store, but there are other ways for this to be distributed. Heck, some of them are even free: We could decide that we want to make it part of a giveaway. Sometimes those have more indirect value than direct sales. I don't want to rule anything out, and I don't want to promise anything will be free -- because we may still decide to sell it -- but I do mean it when I say that options are on the table.
The answer is simple, IMO; Don't *just* sell emote packs - sell a costume pack which only has a few pieces, then maybe a weapon model or 2, and finally a few emotes.
For instance, let's say you guys made a "military pack". It could contain 1 AR model, 1 pistol model, maybe a new flakjacket, backpack, and gloves, and maybe like 3-4 military-oriented emotes, (an 'at ease' emote that makes your character stay in that stance, a 'salute' emote where your character stays in a saluting pose, an 'at attention' emote where your character stays that way, and a 'check equipment' emote where your character adjusts their belt, boots, and gloves).
By giving a little of everything in a pack like this, you satisfy many people's wants, without having to devote time to a full costume pack, emote pack, or weapon skin pack separately.
"Is it better to be feared or respected? I say, is it too much to ask for both?" -Tony Stark
Official NW_Legit_Community Forums
Well this means that I'll post my idea about SG bases, I didn't want to because I didn't want to encourage the lockbox milking but I guess we'll never get anything on it otherwise.
Here we are now going to the West Side
Weapons in hand as we go for a ride
Some may come and some may stay
Watching out for a sunny day
Where there's love and darkness and my sidearm
In game as @forgemccain
I think part of the lack of profitability of these small point transactions can be seen in my post above... You have gone for so long without adding anything to the market that I have any interest in buying at a price at which I am interested in buying it that my stipend has built up to the point where unless you do something outstanding and yet reasonably priced on a regular basis, you are never going to burn through my stipend and I don't think I'm the only player in this boat.
Edited to add: And by reasonably priced, I mean exactly that. I can look at something that costs 100 zen and realize that the equivalent is $1 and something that costs 1800 zen would be the equivalent of $18. It doesn't matter to me whether I got the zen for free (it wasn't free, I paid money for that subscription.) or paid for with cash or earned through grindonite. I see 1800 zen and $18 as being the same thing, whether it actually takes $18 out of my pocket or not. If I wouldn't reach into my pocket and pull out a certain amount of cash for an item, I'm not going to reach into my stipend for the equivalent either.
The Forumite formerly known as Galeforce.
If you want my money, there is a fairly simple way to get it since I am fairly free with how I spend it. First, produce something I consider to be worth buying. Second, offer it up for sale. Don't lock it behind a gambling scam. If I want something, I am perfectly happy to pay for it. But I will not purchase a CHANCE to get it, When I pay money, I have a perfectly logical right to expect to get what I want.
You know what is needed to make sure there is depth put into a game? Workers that care about the game.
You'd be surprised how often people will spend money on random stuff in the store as long as the game is kept interesting with regular updates. Sales resulting from this usually do not correlate as to what is put into the game. As long as content is added with great depth things sell in the store, even purchases that seem to have nothing to do with that content.
Spontaneous purchases are more likely to happen when you inspire the players with content. And that requires inspiring devs who enjoy the game.
I'm using a "either / or" question because I really doubt Cryptic has the resources to deliver both concurrently, but it'd be ideal if they can manage to do both.
It's a no brainer that putting new stuff in the store is an effective way of catching an interested buyer's eye, but expanding on explorable content is a way to keep players' interests fresh and spend their time playing such content while using whatever it is they've bought from the Z-store to enrich that gameplay experience. When players spend more time sticking around, obviously there will be more opportunities for players buying ZEN to spend at the Z-store, or even continue investing in a gold sub.
Some newer face textures for the tailor, with new moods, stances, and emotes added. We could call it the "Personality Pack,"
The entire bundle could be purchased for around 900 Zen, and chopped into smaller pieces to be purchasable in the Questionite Store.
Well why not try it out with the existing emotes they planned to give us for free shortly after the launch of STO? There was a bundle that we we're going to get that inlcuded for example the "Air Guitar" emote, that was quickly removed from the PTS after the guys in STO complained that they had to pay for this bundle and so should we. Many in champs were more than willing to pay for these when they were pulled, but for some reason they were never talked about again. Since these emotes are already there waiting to be implemented why not try putting them up for sale to gauge the reaction? Theres no development cost so there is no risk. It's as easy as flipping a switch.
We had a spurt of costume sets a while ago, and i bought em all, even though at the time i really was not playing co. If the bosses are open to the idea of one time purchases, im sure we could get them feedback of costume sets, power sets and the like and they could run the numbers and see if the expected revenue would be profitable with the cost. but more lockboxes...i understand why companies like lockboxes and superpacks, they are theoretically infinite resources, unlike one and done costumes and powersets,but there are people who, like myself will never buy a key, never bought a super-pack, simply do not like the idea of buying a chance for something cool, no matter how well you incentivize the consolation prizes. i'm not saying no lockboxes at all...i'd like to but im a realist and lock boxes, are a fact of life, like eczema, and are a proven revenue generator and i can live with some content simply being permanently out of my reach , but some balance is really needed to make it feel like people that only will choose a deterministic path of micro-transactions aren't completely frozen out like we were with most of reloaded an ALL of the hover bikes.
If we can get the higher ups to see that, that the lockbox exclusive method they have been using recently is turning off players, then i have no problem whatsoever paying a flat fee for what i want, its simply how the world works, and quality purchases are worth the cost. I'm a lifer with nearly 3k zen stockpiled at this point, but for quality stuff id buy zen just to make sure my characters stay alive in not-paragon city by supporting not-ncsoft(in fact if you have a "burly devs go after ncsoft execs with golf clubs" lockbox, i can find my key stance negotiable).
kidding kidding...officially.
oh and I do appreciate you talking to us, this may seem like a bit of a dogpile, but its closer to when you come home and your dog is really happy to see you and bowls you over. we are happy to see you and want a free and honest communication with you and longevity for the company...my chars are not going to work in dcou, and a healthy cryptic is a glorious middle finger up to the rat-@#$%#@s at ncsoft (do i sound btter, maybe i sound bitter, good enough since i an REALLY @#$%ING BITTER) :P
back when coh went free to play, they released the animations from the "party" pack at around 2 ish a piece for a michael jackson dance a disco dance and a headbang emote, i bought all 3. one reason i'm kind alenient with price points is that lifers get a stipend(i think regular subbers do too) so that is value added to having a sub or buying the whole big pizza pie. subbing reduces the "real cost" of items if you use your points and i'm cool with that.
A guy by the name of Steve Long.
"Champions-Online and Star Trek Online contained hundreds of hours of mediocre content!"
and "nothing was polished".
--Jack Emmert
There's a ton of stuff that's already in game that they aren't going to take the time to give us.. or they'll use the *&%^ drifter salvage to milk us for.. again..
Here we are now going to the West Side
Weapons in hand as we go for a ride
Some may come and some may stay
Watching out for a sunny day
Where there's love and darkness and my sidearm
In game as @forgemccain
I would buy this stance pack.
Aw hell yeah! For the second stance alone!
M-O-O-N, that spells @Rhyatt
Originally Posted by mijjestic: Ultimately, though, MMO players throwing stones at each other in this fashion is basically one nerd pointing and laughing at another nerd whose glasses are thicker.
Laws yes!
Likes others have suggested, add a couple items with emotes and sell it as a pack. I bought all of those CoH packs.
@headlesshorseman
I can't speak for others, but frankly I don't buy consumables and things that need to be bought multiple times. I buy costume sets and other account wide things, since they're the most value even when they're slightly more expensive. since I'll get them for all of my characters no matter what.
More account-wide stuff in the Z-store. I want to buy stuff dammit.
These are the things I spend a lot of Zen on--when I was silver, I spent as much on premium ATs as on costumes and such.
As for repeatable purchases . . . this would sell:
1. Buy a customizable sidekick--like nemesis, you can choose its name, appearance, and powerset, but that's it.
2. The sidekick gets a one hour timer device. When it runs out, you can't use your sidekick
3. You then sell a "Call Sidekick" device that gives you another hour.
4. The price point would be the same (or a bit higher) than the existing sidekick devices.
People would buy the hell out of something like this.
Whoever you are, be that person one hundred percent. Don't compromise on your identity.
this is a great idea. i know i would buy this.
I would NOT buy this for the exact reason I don't buy any of the existing sidekicks. I would buy a permanent version, but not a temp version.
The Forumite formerly known as Galeforce.
If you want my money, there is a fairly simple way to get it since I am fairly free with how I spend it. First, produce something I consider to be worth buying. Second, offer it up for sale. Don't lock it behind a gambling scam. If I want something, I am perfectly happy to pay for it. But I will not purchase a CHANCE to get it, When I pay money, I have a perfectly logical right to expect to get what I want.
It would be better if you can buy a perm sidekick device that has full customization for, like 1200Z and make it bind to character rather than account (to actually make money) without all these time mess.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
...the ultimate Contrast Moe (or not).
A "temporary" means basically no sell for me, unless it's some kind of cheap and spammable consumables.
Crowdsourcing is necessary for this game to flourish. Hands down. The "Foundry" is a good example of this, and it was the #2 most talked about thing in my "2013" topic after people wanting bug fixes (which was almost always everyone's #1).
Hmm, sounds like you didn't dig enough (although I'm please you've come this far!)
Branflakes is a smart guy, but he's not experienced in marketing this specific product. I could market this, as I know first hand what they did and how I would have to change the strategy to fit THIS game's market.
As I speak some German, I have had multiple candid discussions with the guy (who is currently the head of Easy Studios, he was promoted). We mostly talked (via Skype) about how to deal with the rampant hacking issue, but also talked about content stuff.
It's a Costume + Weapon + Emote pack released as a theme (holiday, special event, etc.) All items are also available for individual purchase for a few dollars. I can PM you their pricing strategy, it's corelative.
Being able to pay to incrementally increase above the 250g cap is a win-win for all parties involved.
You won't devalue subscriptions by doing so, because subscribers will get their AH stuff to sell. It also reduces risk of getting scammed on big-ticket items! (you know why?)
According to the record, I was initially strongly opposed to the freeform slot, but I've ALWAYS been in favor of Silvers being able to PAY to raise the cap.
Um no, not unless you're a shareholder you're not entitled.
I happen to be a shareholder (I'm not the only one I know of)
Consolidate the currencies! (Please!)
Does your Champion have a theme song? (share it!)
Got a funny in-game screenshot? (share it!)
Please fix the Overdrive energy unlock! (Should help promote thematic build diversity!)
Well, you can speak for me in this regard. That's my mindset too. I'll gladly pay more for something that's permanent to my account rather than pay a pittance for something I have to keep buying repeatedly. Now, true, the argument can be made that there is more money to be made in repeat purchases but I think there is room for both depending on the price scaling. As it stands, selling something consumable makes zero money from me while selling something permanent at a higher price gets me to throw money at the screen.
Character slots. Bought several packs of them (even after the price hike IIRC) despite having a LTS and despite the knowledge that I can just burn my way to level cap to get more for free very quickly.
Costume slots. I've bought several (even after the price hike) to the point where I have 10-12 slots and most of my characters are only using 1-3.
Hideouts. I bought them all including every variation.
Costume Packs. I own most of them. I'll grab the others when I run into a part I need from them.
Travel Powers. I own most of them. I'll grab the others when I have a concept that needs them.
Catalysts and Items. Never bought any unless it was with left over stipend zen.
Vehicles. Perhaps, when the ones I like are for sale instead of for gamble.
LOL
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This is pretty much my purchase history as well though I haven't bought all the hideout variations, I have all the hideout types and some of the variations. When I see more variations that I like I may purchase them but like everything else I enjoy, they seem to have fallen by the wayside.
The Forumite formerly known as Galeforce.
If you want my money, there is a fairly simple way to get it since I am fairly free with how I spend it. First, produce something I consider to be worth buying. Second, offer it up for sale. Don't lock it behind a gambling scam. If I want something, I am perfectly happy to pay for it. But I will not purchase a CHANCE to get it, When I pay money, I have a perfectly logical right to expect to get what I want.
You're actually in the minority on this. When I was heavily involved with Battlefield Hero and all the anti-cheat stuff with the GGC and PunkBuster Battlefield Heroes was roughly five times the active population size Champions was last year at this date. Much to my disappointment with the community the top-sellers were grabbags, repair wrenches, and tonics (insta-heals). People bought a lot more for money (Battlefunds/Play-For-Free-Funds, their version of Zen) than what they could get for free by playing (Valor Points, VP).
Permanent items absolutely should be offered, I agree.
Note however that the benefit from keys and boosts have to be worth it. The Energy Surge device exploit (where it's supposed to be consume but isn't) is a disaster for the F2P model. Lockboxes have to contain things people badly want.
In conclusion, you NEED to have both.
Consumable stuff, and permanent stuff. Treat them as seperate in all ways, from how advertised, to pricing, to if they go on sale or not (permanent stuff should be unlikely to go on sale).
Temporary versions of permanent stuff isn't effective. You can get safely rid of that junk and it won't hurt your sales.
Below I'll make a list of how the two might be divided
Consolidate the currencies! (Please!)
Does your Champion have a theme song? (share it!)
Got a funny in-game screenshot? (share it!)
Please fix the Overdrive energy unlock! (Should help promote thematic build diversity!)
This is true, particularly for THIS game. (not all games are the same market, know thy market!)
Permanent top-sellers:
* LTS ($300) & Freeform slots (currently it's $50, but should have an occassional sales price of $30 to be competitive)
* Hideouts & upgrades
* Premium costume packs
* Premium travel powers
* (coming soon?) Premium emote packs
* (coming soon?) Silver-accounts only: +100g increase to the 250g cap, repeatable
* Silver-accounts only: Premium archetypes
* Silver-accounts only: Bank slots
* Shared hideout bank slots
* Silver accounts only: Extra character slots
* Vehicles
* Permanent Become Devices (advertise for roleplayers)
^ These need to be advertised correctly.
Consumable top-sellers:
* RetCon & Retrain tokens
* Other service tokens
* % Boosts (energy, HP, damage, XP, recognition, Questionite, and gold/resouces)
* Cosmic Keys
* 1-hour summon devices (temp. sidekicks)
Consolidate the currencies! (Please!)
Does your Champion have a theme song? (share it!)
Got a funny in-game screenshot? (share it!)
Please fix the Overdrive energy unlock! (Should help promote thematic build diversity!)
So how about giving us more of those AND Including some appropriate emotes to compliment those sets.
Heroic tights costume pack - Heroic stance emote
Casual or dress costume set - new dance emotes.
Beastial powers or costume sets - new beastie emotes.
you get the picture. It's a perfect way to add new things that people will purchase while adding just a tiny bit more of what the players want.
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And this is where "cheap and spammable" comes into play.
Cosmic keys are only 100 Zen each, they are good bait for impulse driven buyers.
But paying more than 100 - 300 Zen for single consumable? I's not like temporary versions of C-Store, later Z-Store devices were ever in high demand.
I've heard from friends that in other games that use the aforementioned system of lockboxesxkeys, people who are subscribed gain free opening rights to the lockboxes. Now, I know that could never happen here BUT...Gold/LTS members should IMO be given in addition to stipend perhaps 5 cosmic keys? It would be a way to gain more subbers perhaps. No idea how horrific this idea is so please dont rage at me..
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If you don't mind, edit & reply to what it says now. Thanks...
This is very VERY much like how Easy Studios has done their Costume + Emotes + Weapons packs for years with Battlefield Heroes. They also do something similar with Battlefield Play For Free (BF:P4F).
The goal?
Options!
In Battlefield Heroes you can typically buy complete theme packs (best value), emote packs, costume packs, weapons packs, grab bags, or buy anything individually.
In this game, it translates to something like complete theme/seasonal packs (best value), emote packs, costume packs, cosmic keys (for lockboxes), rank up catalysts (which are stupidly overpriced), or buy anything individually.
Consolidate the currencies! (Please!)
Does your Champion have a theme song? (share it!)
Got a funny in-game screenshot? (share it!)
Please fix the Overdrive energy unlock! (Should help promote thematic build diversity!)
Someone brought up this idea before in the suggestions forum a month ago, but others and I shot it down with a resounding "no thanks".
Do you remember why?
I do.
1. Because most LTS do not WANT to gamble! We prefer to invest and look for things that are permanent to buy. Most of the LTS I know buy keys mostly because we already have everything we need, and are looking for Legion Gear, Gambler's mods, and CON mods lol... If there were some emote packs, hideout upgrades, or Rank Ups weren't so retardedly overpriced we'd buy that instead, I'll bet you.
2. Because this is a business, not a charity. I'd rather them put that money into making sure the stuff you buy works! Bug fixes first, new explorable content second.
3. The better thing to be giving subscribers is something that is perfectly tailored to their market: extra RetCons!!!
Gold & LTS have freeforms. With more RetCons you can have more fun outside of the powerhouse without feeling like if you don't get it perfect you can't leave. Trust me, RetCons over keys anyday. It makes sense.
You know what would make subscriptions restore their value instantly, and then some?
Unlimited Retcons.
Who cares then if Silvers can buy gold cap increases, the ability to change hues, or freeform slots?! If you want to go the expensive way around and buy things one-by-one, then by all means! And as the F2P gaming industry shows, people will buy a lot more piecemeal than they will if they if they have to subscribe ($15/mo. or $300 one-time), especially in a bad economy!
Consolidate the currencies! (Please!)
Does your Champion have a theme song? (share it!)
Got a funny in-game screenshot? (share it!)
Please fix the Overdrive energy unlock! (Should help promote thematic build diversity!)
Mmhmm. I've wanted that one for a long time. The "normal" stance we have for females is completely abnormal, disturbing and unnatural. No one stands like that. Ever!
Hey! What about us monthly subscribers!
Heck yeah!
I have lots of extra retcons from veterans perks that I wish I could sell.
Pretty much the same sir.
I don't have all the hideouts.
I would probably buy more if I could use them like the penthouse.
It'd be neat if I could anchor each hideout to a zone of my choice so I could teleport to the hideout then exit directly to the zone.
I would pay $2 for an account wide emote.
Of course I have so many alts that it would be quite cost effective.
I want to throw money at this game! I really really do!
That's why I have a monthly subscription rather than an LTS. I like to be able to register my approval or disapproval through my wallet.
I'm just funny that way.
CellarRat33 :: formerly Bsquared
***
"The great thing about glory unending is that it's dirt cheap!" - Tateklys
From the Adventures of Thundrax (canadascott)
***
This games has MANY things not available to players that they could set up as packs to buy in the Z-store. Emotes and Weapon skins, as well as powers/power skins that appear on other NPC/becomes. Especially muliple arms and no legs-they dont have to have emotes on all powers but just be there, and no legs-just have them black out leg powers. Simple or make it a travel power of something.
New zones-as i posted in a thread about CO leadership:
USE THE SMALLER ZONES YOU MADE FOR MISSIONS!
Turn Hai-Pans floating area into a small Zone. You should be able to take that and paste it into a new and larger ares and build upon it and reuse pieces already there.
Demonflame: Use that Q-Realm and tack on pieces from Aftershock and bam you have the majority of what you need right there.
Yes both of those ideas would still need development to make mission and add to the landscape, but allot of the work is done already.