Mariner-1212
05-21-2018, 01:54 PM
Dear NF;
This game was incredible when I started playing, because I got to play as Eddie. What a perfect embodiment of the music we love and grew up on, all wrapped neatly into a game that was actually a lot of fun to play. I got my PDK and finally a 5* Ed - Shaman. And they carried me through most of the campaign as I explored the 'story' based on the music.
Then came the Immortal Event. The famous one, not this new one. I landed 5 Eddies (3 new) and it was thrilling. I spent plenty of real money after that - and that was because I was thankful for getting them, and I was happy with the game so why not pay to keep a good thing going? That was my thinking, at least. A happy player spends money. That event may have been seen by you guys as 'giving away too much' but it was that giving that made me want to give. It made me invest in the game, emotionally and financially.
Maybe that event was a mistake in your eyes, but I can guarantee it was responsible for a lot of your business, and the reason so many people stuck around for so long. It's that aspect - the resilience it built in your player base - that you may not see on paper, but it shouldn't be discounted. With this latest event, it seems like that aspect was sorely overlooked. And you're not the first to do it - companies do it all the time. They forget that you need to put your players first when you want them to stick around. They go in thinking "What can we do to make them spend more" instead of thinking "A player that plans to play for another year is more likely to invest in the game." When you're in a meeting and you guys are saying "But if we give them too much they'll lose interest" - that's wrong. When you reward your players, you get a happy player base that is more willing to deal with the bugs, and the delays in new content. I know this, because after last year's Immortal event you guys could do no wrong in my eyes for months. I bought that Anniversary soul - like many people - and I wasn't even bothered when I got a dupe with it. And I know this because all of the guys that are planning to leave would have never thought of it this time last year. The future was bright at the time.
Somehow, that notion got lost and became a chase for the whales. And I get that the whales dropping hundreds are where the profit is at. But you're forgetting the key to all of it - player happiness. Constantly pissing off your player base does not open wallets, even for those chasing down that last Eddie. They've gotten wise to RNG, from one too many 10-packs of event souls that dropped nothing but 3* aggravation. There is now a constant sense of disappointment which is the exact opposite of what you want when building a game.
This is what you want. You want a happy player base that is excited to open the game each day. You want players to be craving more, but out of resources - not gambling away on the RNG slot machine, getting frustrated and cursing your name. You want players to have a brotherhood that they feel connected to and don't want to let down (guilds) - one that works together, not one that discusses why they're still around and debates hitting send on that "Going Casual" post. You want players that champion your game... like we did after last year's proper Immortal event.
The answer is simple - put your players first. When you put out a statement that says "maybe even better" we naturally think that means it might be better for US, the PLAYERS. That's what it should be. We should have had the same exact drop rates as last year. Better would mean the additional 500 achievement like you did. But you didn't put your players first. It's clear with every slap in the face like this.
Will you get it right before we're all gone?
This game was incredible when I started playing, because I got to play as Eddie. What a perfect embodiment of the music we love and grew up on, all wrapped neatly into a game that was actually a lot of fun to play. I got my PDK and finally a 5* Ed - Shaman. And they carried me through most of the campaign as I explored the 'story' based on the music.
Then came the Immortal Event. The famous one, not this new one. I landed 5 Eddies (3 new) and it was thrilling. I spent plenty of real money after that - and that was because I was thankful for getting them, and I was happy with the game so why not pay to keep a good thing going? That was my thinking, at least. A happy player spends money. That event may have been seen by you guys as 'giving away too much' but it was that giving that made me want to give. It made me invest in the game, emotionally and financially.
Maybe that event was a mistake in your eyes, but I can guarantee it was responsible for a lot of your business, and the reason so many people stuck around for so long. It's that aspect - the resilience it built in your player base - that you may not see on paper, but it shouldn't be discounted. With this latest event, it seems like that aspect was sorely overlooked. And you're not the first to do it - companies do it all the time. They forget that you need to put your players first when you want them to stick around. They go in thinking "What can we do to make them spend more" instead of thinking "A player that plans to play for another year is more likely to invest in the game." When you're in a meeting and you guys are saying "But if we give them too much they'll lose interest" - that's wrong. When you reward your players, you get a happy player base that is more willing to deal with the bugs, and the delays in new content. I know this, because after last year's Immortal event you guys could do no wrong in my eyes for months. I bought that Anniversary soul - like many people - and I wasn't even bothered when I got a dupe with it. And I know this because all of the guys that are planning to leave would have never thought of it this time last year. The future was bright at the time.
Somehow, that notion got lost and became a chase for the whales. And I get that the whales dropping hundreds are where the profit is at. But you're forgetting the key to all of it - player happiness. Constantly pissing off your player base does not open wallets, even for those chasing down that last Eddie. They've gotten wise to RNG, from one too many 10-packs of event souls that dropped nothing but 3* aggravation. There is now a constant sense of disappointment which is the exact opposite of what you want when building a game.
This is what you want. You want a happy player base that is excited to open the game each day. You want players to be craving more, but out of resources - not gambling away on the RNG slot machine, getting frustrated and cursing your name. You want players to have a brotherhood that they feel connected to and don't want to let down (guilds) - one that works together, not one that discusses why they're still around and debates hitting send on that "Going Casual" post. You want players that champion your game... like we did after last year's proper Immortal event.
The answer is simple - put your players first. When you put out a statement that says "maybe even better" we naturally think that means it might be better for US, the PLAYERS. That's what it should be. We should have had the same exact drop rates as last year. Better would mean the additional 500 achievement like you did. But you didn't put your players first. It's clear with every slap in the face like this.
Will you get it right before we're all gone?