Things to spend crystals on

madwren

I recognize that hoarding of crystals is a suboptimal proposition for the devs. To that end, however, it seems like it would be more productive to create offers that are useful crystal sinks. In other words, rather than devaluing crystals across the board, they could motivate us to spend them.

- 60 crystals for a single deck slot for a single pw. I'd spend like 6k crystals in a heartbeat.
- 900 crystals for a big box with a single guaranteed non-duplicate mythic or rare
- 350 crystals for mythic packs (bring them back!) from specific expansions, so that players could target holes in their collection

As my friend summonghost said in chat, "I really wish it were easier to find a game where the spending is encouraged out of passion for the experience, not frustration at RNG or having to wait years for whatever you want to accomplish." I think a lot of us want that.

Anyone else have some ideas on viable crystal sinks?

Sorin81

One time upgrade to origins plasneswalkers.

Please.

viewtopic.php?f=31&t=60786

bk1234

I wish the mythic packs were guaranteed non-dupe.

Also I would pay extra cash for cards if I were guaranteed to never pull them again. I bought Olivia and I've pulled 3 more -- same goes for Gisela -- I've pulled 2.

wereotter

There are SO many good commons from the smaller sets, people would spend crystals to get packs to complete collections for them.

Expedite, Thermo-Alchemist, Mighty Leap, Slip through Space, Vampire Envoy, Brute Strength, Choking Restraints, Ironwright's Cleansing, Faithbearer Paladin, Spectral Reserves, Gavony Unhallowed, Stensia Banquet, Stensia Innkeeper, Prey Upon, and I'm sure many from Aether Revolt. I'm not as finalist with that set, though these are all cards I could see being useful

AngelForge

I'd like to see all planeswalker and all boosters available all the time in the vault. Then you could drop the crystals right away, to get what you want. Now I hoard crystals for upcoming planeswalkers and BFZ Booster packs.
So, they actually force you to hoard your crystals, since you never know when the offer will come that you want.
Spending crystals in between can be unrewarding.

madwren

AngelForge wrote:

I'd like to see all planeswalker and all boosters available all the time in the vault. Then you could drop the crystals right away, to get what you want. Now I hoard crystals for upcoming planeswalkers and BFZ Booster packs.
So, they actually force you to hoard your crystals, since you never know when the offer will come that you want.
Spending crystals in between can be unrewarding.

Aye.

I theorize that the reason they don't announce a set pw rotation is because they're counting on you to spend your crystals on cards, and then OMG SARKHAN IS IN THE VAULT OUT OF NOWHERE I'D BETTER THROW $30 AT THE GAME TO BUY CRYSTALS. In other words, they think scarcity + uncertainty = impatience.

However, as you indicate, it seems the opposite is true, where people wind up hoarding a certain amount for upcoming pws and not spending them until they get them. Thus, they're once again shooting themselves in the foot, by limiting the avenues by which we can spend money. I would think that if all pws were available at all times, then people would be spending at a much higher rate.

Things to buy = spending.
Scarcity = hoarding

Maybe I'm wrong. Do any mobile gaming analysts know if the "scarcity makes people want to spend" method actually generates more money than the "having things available all the time" method?

Mainloop25

I bet it works in the short term. My very first purchase was for crystals to buy Kiora back when she was first leaving the vault. I haven't spent money on crystals since, but that broke my barrier and made it a lot easier to open my wallet later on.

AngelForge

Mainloop25 wrote:

I bet it works in the short term. My very first purchase was for crystals to buy Kiora back when she was first leaving the vault. I haven't spent money on crystals since, but that broke my barrier and made it a lot easier to open my wallet later on.

I think what actually breaks the barrier is to buy something at all for the first time. You do it and get a "reward" right away...

I may be wrong of course. But I'd like to point out that user satisfaction is also important and not only making profit.

Mainloop25

Oh I know, I was just giving an example of scarcity marketing working on me from my own experience. It won't work on everyone, or even on the same person more than once, but it gets the ball rolling and is probably why it's such a widely used marketing tactic.

khurram

Why should there be price for deck slots though? Multiple deck slots should have been there by default. When i started playing a year ago i was surprised to find that there was no such option.

I feel like option of multiple deck slots should be there free of charge.

blacklotus

khurram wrote:

Why should there be price for deck slots though? Multiple deck slots should have been there by default. When i started playing a year ago i was surprised to find that there was no such option.

I feel like option of multiple deck slots should be there free of charge.

well, there is a precedent in paying real cash for extra blings/convenience, for which deck slots fall under. card games like yugioh-duellinks charge 99 US cents per deck slot.

babar3355

I would spend crystals (or cash pre-patch... sticking by my word on this one... D3Funded) on deck save slots.
I would spend crystals on deck slots (12 cards instead of 10)?
I would spend crystals on different background or card backs or music... any number of things that would vary the experience.

And before my permanent spending freeze, I would spend money to make the community happier. If I could give a giant present bomb to my coalition with a 1 time purchase of $50-$100 and each member EXCEPT ME gets a rare or mythic (minimum say 3-5 mythics) I would do that in a heartbeat!

Mainloop25

Crystals for extra decks sounds like a reasonable trade. 60 per deck per pw and you would have me racing to spend crystals

hawkyh1

coalition deck sharing. coalition events should be team events
not just a collection of individual scores. sharing winning decks
for tez should be easier. maybe after a tez win if they charged
crystals to save my progress and deck composition for easy
sharing with the rest of the coalition, people might use it.
paying for things to make it easier to have more fun with your
teammates.

maybe introduce coalition group buys?

HH

Mainloop25

hawkyh1 wrote:

coalition deck sharing. coalition events should be team events
not just a collection of individual scores. sharing winning decks
for tez should be easier. maybe after a tez win if they charged
crystals to save my progress and deck composition for easy
sharing with the rest of the coalition, people might use it.
paying for things to make it easier to have more fun with your
teammates.

maybe introduce coalition group buys?

HH

That's cool but I don't trust them to do anything better than we already do in Slack /Discord. Does anyone actually use the in-app chat when other apps are way better?

buscemi

AngelForge wrote:

I'd like to see all planeswalker and all boosters available all the time in the vault. Then you could drop the crystals right away, to get what you want. Now I hoard crystals for upcoming planeswalkers and BFZ Booster packs.

The reason they originally gave for doing this was so that the vault was not too confusing for new players.

However, by introducting the Color Mastery system, this problem has been fixed! The vault could be opened up completely for players at Platinum Tier, and perhaps even partially opened up for players a Gold and Silver.

I imagine this solution is on the dev team's 'to-do' list right now, along with 'Fix visuals of basic match 3 game', and 'Find out what QA stands for'.

jimilinho_

Not sure if anyone's aware but you can change your coalition name for 50 crystals.

Mainloop25

jimilinho_ wrote:

Not sure if anyone's aware but you can change your coalition name for 50 crystals.

Not sure if anyone's aware? Or are you just being cute?

hawkyh1

jimilinho_ wrote:

Not sure if anyone's aware but you can change your coalition name for 50 crystals.

that trick only works when you refer a friend to your
coalition

HH

ZW2007-

buscemi wrote:

AngelForge wrote:

I'd like to see all planeswalker and all boosters available all the time in the vault. Then you could drop the crystals right away, to get what you want. Now I hoard crystals for upcoming planeswalkers and BFZ Booster packs.

The reason they originally gave for doing this was so that the vault was not too confusing for new players.

However, by introducting the Color Mastery system, this problem has been fixed! The vault could be opened up completely for players at Platinum Tier, and perhaps even partially opened up for players a Gold and Silver.

I love this idea but they will never do this because their explained reason was simply a red herring.

madwren wrote:

I recognize that hoarding of crystals is a suboptimal proposition for the devs. To that end, however, it seems like it would be more productive to create offers that are useful crystal sinks. In other words, rather than devaluing crystals across the board, they could motivate us to spend them.

I thought about this idea for a sink earlier. Introduce new, lower cost packs that have limited rarities. For example, a "premium pack" (the new big box or five 5-card packs) of only common cards for 60 crystals. One of only uncommons (no commons here) for 150 crystals, and then the existing version with all rarities and the guaranteed rare plus the possibility of more rares and mythics. If someone wants to chase a specific uncommon, this makes it much easier for them to do so.

As to the artificial scarcity, I think it works for certain demographics but I'm not so sure it works for the demographic of this game. I also think they should experiment with purchase prices for crystals and exclusives. They could easily test to see if lower prices would end up being more profitable. Look at Magic Duels, that game can survive on a system with lower prices and you can even complete your collection with relative ease. (I am aware the Duels might not actually be profitable and WotC keeps it running because it is an asset that brings in revenue via paper Magic sales.)