test content
Logo
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc
Let's pretend there's no ZAX
mehguy138
Member Posts: 1,803 Arc User
Ok, so we've got zen/ad exchange to convert real money into AD to buy things off the AH, and ingame currency to buy items off the cash store. But what if there were no such an option?
Two concerns:
1. Would Cryptic be getting enough money only via selling items from the zen store?
2. How would players achieve those multimillion goals to complete certain tasks (mount/companion upgrades, refining)?
Thinking about these two you will come up with an idea, that intended monetization comes from ZAX, from people, who convert their money into AD to buy stuff rather then zen store. And since they're allowed to spend any amount, most of the prices are outrageous for an average player. How are you supposed to earn such amounts? Yes, you convert your own into AD.
Would the game be better without an ability to convert zen into AD and vice versa? Keep in mind that there're some items like account wide mounts and respec tokens that you can't sell on AH. And ZAX is the reason everything AD priced has it's extreme value. Also, all 'speed up' buttons should've been in zen rather then AD since seeding up things is a privilege of a paying customer.
Two concerns:
1. Would Cryptic be getting enough money only via selling items from the zen store?
2. How would players achieve those multimillion goals to complete certain tasks (mount/companion upgrades, refining)?
Thinking about these two you will come up with an idea, that intended monetization comes from ZAX, from people, who convert their money into AD to buy stuff rather then zen store. And since they're allowed to spend any amount, most of the prices are outrageous for an average player. How are you supposed to earn such amounts? Yes, you convert your own into AD.
Would the game be better without an ability to convert zen into AD and vice versa? Keep in mind that there're some items like account wide mounts and respec tokens that you can't sell on AH. And ZAX is the reason everything AD priced has it's extreme value. Also, all 'speed up' buttons should've been in zen rather then AD since seeding up things is a privilege of a paying customer.
M6 almost drains your soul given how boring it is. (c) joocycuzzzzzz
Post edited by mehguy138 on
0
Comments
The monetization is build around whales and so everything in the ZEN store is overpriced by design. 3$ for a respec, 6$ for bank slots, 5$ for character slots, 10$ for a bag? Nah. These things only sell because you can convert AD into ZEN.
Lockbox items would become extremely rare, which in my eyes wouldn't be the worst thing in the world because lockboxes indeed could use an upgrade in value.
Without the ability to bring AD into the market via ZEN, every character is limited to 24k AD per day. So Leadership Assets will go through the roof and generally prizes will drop overall, because people simply won't be able to pay as much. Plus pay to win whining all day any day because you need to pay for character slots (that potentially can generate 24k AD per day).
In same time most people earn more that $20/hour (which is 1M AD). So it is your decision what you enjoy doing - playing 1 week and buy something worth 1m AD, or work 1 hour, buy zen and get those 1M AD.
This would end your suffering and you would have to pay no more money to PWE.
You would not even need to waste your time on actually playing this boring, tedious game!
I'll call it the "insta-win certification". No refunds.
</joke>
The answer is, probably not.
Many people can't or don't want to buy ZEN with RL money, but will use their hard-earned AD to buy stuff from the ZEN store.
Many people buy ZEN only to convert it in AD and buy things off the AH.
If you remove the ZAX, these 2 offers don't meet, and people won't buy extra ZEN, over what they need for personal purchases on the ZEN store.
I agree, that ZAX is one method for monetization... or better was one method IMHO. At least this is my feeling right now. But PWE will know better as they have the monetization details.
Thinking back in the past the ZAX was always fluctuating averaging around 300-400 and best down to ~130 as far as I remember correctly. I take this as an indication that there was a huge demand for AD and on the other side a high offer of ZEN. So here the ZAX was one driver for monetization. But what was different to now? For me there was extremely more "fun pain" (quite cool term I read some time ago at Shokrizade's blog) in the game. The challenge from the dungeons was much higher - as we had no gear score inflation - and wiping was more common but hey the challenge kept everybody sticking to try it again. The drops were less but still they promised this little extra to be able to beat the boss. The market and players were open for this. Also on the BiS-status-player front there was this demand.
But what changed over the time? Whereas Sharandar and Dread Ring brought new stuff like new great crafted weapons and for some clases new good gear, they also brought a new challenge with the dungeons (MC and VT). Of course the crafting materials were hardly RNG gated with the blue boss drops and the additional greed-RNG in the group but still it was fun and as a BiS weapon still desirable. Also the CN jewelry and weapons were still great and the dungeon a challenge itself for the majority. This stuff was priced for really high amounts in the AH and could only be bought by AD (so ZAX was needed).
For this particular economy (... and monetization tactic) IWD was the breaking point in my opinion. Instead of a new challenge in terms of a hard dungeon only beatable with very good gear but on the other side with new desirable drops the playerbase got Encounters. Each maybe hard if only the recommended number of players would do it, but on the other side the "zerg was opened". I think cryptic itself was heavily surprised so the RNG was nerfed short after release to the ground. Farm groups over and over on the maps just to get the Black Ice gear. But something really challenging and interesting and something stimulating the AD demand? Nope. Gear was BoP, no new real BiS items for trade, just a non-challenging skirmish aaaaand ... new boons for the power creep. Increasing power itself is not a baad thing, don't misunterstand me, but together with the missing challenging content and new and better gear options it was the beginning of the "desaster". The old former challenging dungeons were now open to nearly everybody resulting in much more supply with the result in dropping prices, making it also easier to just buy the BiS cheap in AH. Time was the next variable in the overall "formula to death" for me. As long term players also had a long time to get the BiS items AND to figure out different ways to make AD there was no heavy demand from them anymore. Even Enchants were getting cheaper and cheaper with the bots.
And no we have ToD and WoD ... what to say. To make it short, more power creep without any challenge! Old dungeons were taken out introducing the non-challenging eLoL and eSoT "dungeons" (I put it in brackets as this 15 min high speed running should IMO not been called dungeon at all) offering better jewelry and the artifact weapons are just simple to get besides the RNG for getting the desired one... Even T1 drops now during the "zerg the heralds" in the WoD.
The result is:
- T1 is cheaper than the AD you get for salvaging
- Weapons at an all time low (CN or craft materials for VT, MC)
- BiS Artifact weapon itself easy to get due to oversupply
- only T2 is higher priced but with the cheap T1 and all the boons easy peasy (so many solo runs just to say...)
- now for arti-belts there is also an oversupply
... and at the end, no need to buy ZEN to get AD => hey you can run every dungeon with the existing stuff, no need for artifact gear at all, sad to say. I personally see no more more "fun pain" ... refinement is maybe the only thing you need AD for, but this is "PAIN"
As one should always end with "a positive statement or at least a proposal" I could only give a proposal. Make challenging and time consuming content (45 min up to 1,5h => CN2.0) according to the power creep, give really desirable BoE stuff not gated by a heavy RNG (this is not needed when the challenge is hard enough...) and maybe the monetization via ZAX is revived and as you would get a heavy demand with a low supply. I guess also a lot of old players would return for that NEW CHALLENGE. On the other side, if the game develops more to a neverending PVP BiS battle like someone could assume today...
It's up to you...