Lesson No. 2: Perfect Imbalance.

Kinjeto - Raging Tide wrote: »

Think about it, Frankie a meta game that never ends.

Hate to burst your bubble, but welcome to 2009 and the reason why so many people quit when Anniversary Packs first came out.

b:bye

V_m_ - Harshlands wrote: »

im not sure if this is a troll trolling or a troll trolling a troll

He's right though, 2009 is pw's turning point from being a reasonable game to being p2w. It really wasn't 2010 though until people starting rage quitting in droves. The smart ones left early in 2009 when they did the math on packs and realized that pwi was lying about how long they would stay in cash shop (they were supposed to be anniversary only...).

Granted there were always imbalances (nixes) but packs not only brought power to those who paid, but also brought in 10 mill notes and easy powerleveling (oracles). combine that with the sins' rise to power in early 2010-mid 2010 and by the fall of 2010 people were quitting left and right and starting up 100+ page long threads on the forums about different ****.

Notice how we don't have stickies full of rage posts about issues anymore? Most of those people were gone by 2011. When they left, so did a good part of pwi's population.

b:heart penny arcade. And yes, this is why venos weren't so bad. And sins seriously needed to be nerfed. Though the game is taking steps in the right direction to counter them. And I am seeing more different classes as I level my alt.

Bubbles - Lothranis wrote: »

He's right though, 2009 is pw's turning point from being a reasonable game to being p2w. It really wasn't 2010 though until people starting rage quitting in droves. The smart ones left early in 2009 when they did the math on packs and realized that pwi was lying about how long they would stay in cash shop (they were supposed to be anniversary only...).

Granted there were always imbalances (nixes) but packs not only brought power to those who paid, but also brought in 10 mill notes and easy powerleveling (oracles). combine that with the sins' rise to power in early 2010-mid 2010 and by the fall of 2010 people were quitting left and right and starting up 100+ page long threads on the forums about different ****.

Notice how we don't have stickies full of rage posts about issues anymore? Most of those people were gone by 2011. When they left, so did a good part of pwi's population.

Yep... I joined the game in December '10... at the tail end of all that rage quitting and QQ. However, even back then my first impression of the game was how over crowded City of the Lost (yep... my first toon was a veno) seemed at the time. Granted... the numbers were boosted quite a bit by the fact that the snowman event was going on back then. But still... it's quite clear looking at the state of the game today and the population numbers in the starter cities and even Arch... that PWI never recovered from the series of mass exits resulting from their unseemly decision making.

LOL... judging by the way this new update is suddenly now being "rushed" at us as well as being targeted mainly at TW (the realm of the cash shopper, lets face it)... Upper management appears to be girding themselves for the first mass exodus of 2012. b:laugh

Bubbles - Lothranis wrote: »

He's right though, 2009 is pw's turning point from being a reasonable game to being p2w. It really wasn't 2010 though until people starting rage quitting in droves. The smart ones left early in 2009 when they did the math on packs and realized that pwi was lying about how long they would stay in cash shop (they were supposed to be anniversary only...).

Granted there were always imbalances (nixes) but packs not only brought power to those who paid, but also brought in 10 mill notes and easy powerleveling (oracles). combine that with the sins' rise to power in early 2010-mid 2010 and by the fall of 2010 people were quitting left and right and starting up 100+ page long threads on the forums about different ****.

Very true things.

Though you have to remember that the reason the sales keep coming back is because they're huge successes. And that is because the players want that. That's because most people think only of themselves. Getting that cheap endgame gear and being powerful is nice. That thing happening to everyone else in the game, not so much.

Of course, PWE should've realized that the various sales they've put up (reputation, packs) and some of the updates (Aurora Agent, recast R9s) are good money makers, but they're not good for the game. Heck, I honestly think that some of the GMs we see really did believe that some of the changes weren't good. It's just not up for them to do something about it. After all, even if majority of the vocal players think something is ****, majority of the actual players are still taking part in making that **** a good sale. And good sales is what the company wants out of the game.

A company like PWE isn't in it for the long haul. They have tons of games, each with their own player base. Thus, the lack of success of some title can be made up with success of another. Therefore, the importance to keep one title healthy and going isn't as high as companies that are renowned for a single, big-name game. And even if they end up killing Perfect World International with the sales, they can just make Perfect World International: Return of the Pan Gu or Perfect World International: The Roots or whatever the hell they want to call the successor. Granted, a lot of the old players probably won't migrate, but the same is true of a lot of successors: Counter-Strike, ********, Diablo, StarCraft, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater.

BerserkBeast - Sanctuary wrote: »

I found this video to be extremely interesting and that's exactly what's been happening on PWI since the rep sale...

First was Cheap R8,then R9,2nd and third cast R9 now.

A game that want to last longer can't just put in overpowered stuff to make the difference between a rich player and newbie one more and more abyssal.

Well it's a bit different here, actually. For one, recast R9 is made to be ridiculously costly, most likely exactly for that reason. For the same reason, we got powerful gear that you pretty much have to farm, such as G16 Nirvana and recast R8. The point of recast R9 and the one after that isn't really to raise the standard, but to try and get the few players that really need to have the best of the best to spend their money after they've already gotten the current best stuff. And heck, the incentive to do it is really low due to the costs and how little it actually matters.

Similarly, most instances that are dead in PWI are dead due to powerleveling rather than better gear. Selling FCC pretty much killed off low level BH, which made running the lower FBs a very rare occurence. All of teh endgame instances, except TT, are kept alive by BH100 and the gear or money they produce. Of course this means I do think they should introduce TT3-x into BH100. Hell, they could even add Alpha, Beta and Gamma to the lower ones. And put a damn level cap on FCC.

But alas, FCC results in powerleveling which leads to people having high levels with low end gear, which is often only solvable by cash shopping, especially since people in this situation are obvious not in it for the long haul. And that brings them cash and that's why they won't do anything about it.

Olbaze - Sanctuary wrote: »

Though you have to remember that the reason the sales keep coming back is because they're huge successes. And that is because the players want that.

Sadly, very few of the players really want that. However, the truth is, they still make more money even from the minority. A thousand r9 players throwing $3000+ into the game will make them a vast amount more money than ten thousand happy regular players spending $100 to +5 their tt99 endgame. In the end, they don't need to keep people happy, as long as that tiny r9 cash shopping group keeps pouring money into their pockets for OP gear.

_DarkSeph_ - Sanctuary wrote: »

Sadly, very few of the players really want that. However, the truth is, they still make more money even from the minority. A thousand r9 players throwing $3000+ into the game will make them a vast amount more money than ten thousand happy regular players spending $100 to +5 their tt99 endgame. In the end, they don't need to keep people happy, as long as that tiny r9 cash shopping group keeps pouring money into their pockets for OP gear.

I wouldn't agree with you on this one.

They get much more money with those weekly sales than with people buying just R9. Thing is, people who bought R9 doesn't represent that much percentage of player-base. Also, R9 is one-time shopping and sales are each week. R9 people who buys packs, as well as other people who regularly spend 10-20 USD on game will contribute more than people who just buys R9. Specially when they have good sales, like last reputation sale with Heroic Chest promo.

Same goes with normal shops. Owners don't make much money on people who buys expensive stuff, but makes money on lots of other people who buy lots of cheap stuff.

_DarkSeph_ - Sanctuary wrote: »

A thousand r9 players throwing $3000+ into the game will make them a vast amount more money than ten thousand happy regular players spending $100 to +5 their tt99 endgame.

The thing is, it's not one or the other. PWI has both.

PWE seems equally interested in milking both of these groups.