A suggestion for those who are fed up and/or not spending money.

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bluewolf
bluewolf Posts: 5,294 Chairperson of the Boards
edited August 2019 in MPQ General Discussion
In a few days my VIP will expire for the first time in 3 years.  I refuse to re-up while the Prof $ schedule is running.  I'll see if I do it after the TAT store closes.

I also plan to specifically send a message to CS telling them WHY I am not re-upping.

If you feel the same, you should seriously consider that (messaging CS if you are not spending money during this time) as well as going to the store you use and giving them a 1 Star review.  (I did that already.)  

EDIT:  It's obviously up to each player what they do, and if you feel like the game is great and deserves a 4 or 5* rating, I think you should do that as well.  You want to spend all your money spinning the wheel?  Be my guest.  Maybe the game is moving in a direction you like and I don't, and that's fair.
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Comments

  • ursopro
    ursopro Posts: 332 Mover and Shaker
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    One of my alliance mates did that (the message support thing) and he got the cookie cutter support response "thanks for your feedback, we will make sure to pass it to the dev team".

    I was even memeing him about the response he was gonna get before he did and I was right, so, good luck with that.

    I left my VIP expire this past Monday, I renew it when I feel there are improvements to the game experience, the new engine (despise the bugs) was a step forward, then the Chak thing came along and it was like a mille backwards.
  • Lopan15
    Lopan15 Posts: 225 Tile Toppler
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    Mine expires tomorrow.  I will not be renewing.  The prof x thing is not the last straw, just reason 1,072 to completely stop spending money.
  • Bowgentle
    Bowgentle Posts: 7,926 Chairperson of the Boards
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    Meanwhile, they made a killing from the 80 bucks bundle.
    I'm afraid they won't care about your VIP if that's the only thing you spent the last months/years.
  • AndiTi
    AndiTi Posts: 127 Tile Toppler
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    Bowgentle said:
    Meanwhile, they made a killing from the 80 bucks bundle.
    I’m not entirely sure that’s a given. I’ve seen some posts where people decided against spending on it because of the X announcement. I personally thought about it but was knocked off the fence because of that action. We will never know of course, but it’s entirely possible they made less than they might have otherwise due to some backlash. 

    Let’s hope so, because if not we will see a lot more of it. 
  • jp1
    jp1 Posts: 1,069 Chairperson of the Boards
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    Bowgentle said:
    Meanwhile, they made a killing from the 80 bucks bundle.
    I'm afraid they won't care about your VIP if that's the only thing you spent the last months/years.
    I have spent a lot of money, more than I care to admit. So, if they do track individual spending at all...hopefully they will notice the change.

    Admittedly spending has slowed over the past couple months because it just isn’t worth it any longer, but I would have been all over the LT pack if they weren’t jerking us all around.

    Rewards need to drastically increase at higher shield rankings to compensate for the stalled progress. Also, not a fan of the predatory tactics as of late.
  • Bowgentle
    Bowgentle Posts: 7,926 Chairperson of the Boards
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    jp1 said:
    Bowgentle said:
    Meanwhile, they made a killing from the 80 bucks bundle.
    I'm afraid they won't care about your VIP if that's the only thing you spent the last months/years.
    I have spent a lot of money, more than I care to admit. So, if they do track individual spending at all...hopefully they will notice the change.

    Admittedly spending has slowed over the past couple months because it just isn’t worth it any longer, but I would have been all over the LT pack if they weren’t jerking us all around.

    Rewards need to drastically increase at higher shield rankings to compensate for the stalled progress. Also, not a fan of the predatory tactics as of late.
    A lot of money to you is not a lot of money to D3.
    Unless you spent a few thousands every month, they won't care.
  • jp1
    jp1 Posts: 1,069 Chairperson of the Boards
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    Perhaps, but that’s a terrible way to run a business. In any case, I’m not sure why you assume what a lot of money is to me. 

    A few thousand a month isn’t a lot to some people. D3 may not even notice that, if they aren’t paying attention.
  • AndiTi
    AndiTi Posts: 127 Tile Toppler
    edited August 2019
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    It’s true it’s not about what any one player does, but a lot of players making decisions like this cumulatively could drop the profits by 10% or more, and you’d better believe someone is watching that.
  • HoundofShadow
    HoundofShadow Posts: 8,004 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited August 2019
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    Maybe someone could let the devs what type of monetising methods players in here hate. Based on my memory, they are:

    Support
    1) Locking Support behind 300 item vault with no guarantee of getting R4 or R5 support.

    2) High HP cost for purchasing supports with no guarantee of R4 or R5 supports

    This was the previous cost for purchasing support with HP:

    1 pull 
    First pull: 250HP
    Subsequent: 525HP
    10 pulls
    First pull: 4975HP
    Subsequent: 5250HP
    40 pulls
    First pull: 19675HP
    Subsequent: 19950HP

    Costume
    Locking costumes behind $75USD bundles

    Events / Covers
    1) Requiring recent released 4* who have appeared in PvEs fewer than three times in Shield Training

    2) The 5* Prof X saga: requiring him for the next event and the only way to pull him is through using HP.  "Abysmal or terrible odds for pulling Prof X."

    1: 250 for single pull. First pull cost 200 HP, subsequent pull is 400HP.

    1:166 odds for 10x and 40x pulls:
    a) 10x pull: First pull cost 3300HP and subsequent pull cost 3500HP

    b) 40x pull: First pull cost 11800HP and subsequent pull cost 12000HP.

    Someone worked out that the monetary cost for using CP and HP to pull Prof X is the same at around $350. Logically, the odds for HP and CP pulls are mathematically equivalent. 

    Despite so many responses about how the odds are terrible or abysmal, not a single person who are not happy with odds  has mentioned the maximum odds they expect from this HP. If you guys don't give them a hard number, they won't be able to know what odds you expect.  

    So, what odds do you expect from pulling latest 5* cover using HP based on the above figure that I've gotten in-game?

  • PiMacleod
    PiMacleod Posts: 1,723 Chairperson of the Boards
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    Um.  Im not defending anyone here... But im real curious.

    What does everyone keep using the flag button for?

    Honestly, i only have ever dared to think about using it if someone was being insulting.  Ive seen it a few times, but not towards me.
  • Sm0keyJ0e
    Sm0keyJ0e Posts: 730 Critical Contributor
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    PiMacleod said:
    Um.  Im not defending anyone here... But im real curious.

    What does everyone keep using the flag button for?

    Honestly, i only have ever dared to think about using it if someone was being insulting.  Ive seen it a few times, but not towards me.

    It's a good question and I am not sure. The poster who was flagged can click on the "flag count" and see who it was.

    Does seem there are a few trigger happy flaggers these days.
  • DarthDeVo
    DarthDeVo Posts: 2,176 Chairperson of the Boards
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    Maybe someone could let the devs what type of monetising methods players in here hate. Based on my memory, they are:

    Support
    1) Locking Support behind 300 item vault with no guarantee of getting R4 or R5 support.

    2) High HP cost for purchasing supports with no guarantee of R4 or R5 supports

    This was the previous cost for purchasing support with HP:

    1 pull 
    First pull: 250HP
    Subsequent: 525HP
    10 pulls
    First pull: 4975HP
    Subsequent: 5250HP
    40 pulls
    First pull: 19675HP
    Subsequent: 19950HP

    Costume
    Locking costumes behind $75USD bundles

    Events / Covers
    1) Requiring recent released 4* who have appeared in PvEs fewer than three times in Shield Training

    2) The 5* Prof X saga: requiring him for the next event and the only way to pull him is through using HP.  "Abysmal or terrible odds for pulling Prof X."

    1: 250 for single pull. First pull cost 200 HP, subsequent pull is 400HP.

    1:166 odds for 10x and 40x pulls:
    a) 10x pull: First pull cost 3300HP and subsequent pull cost 3500HP

    b) 40x pull: First pull cost 11800HP and subsequent pull cost 12000HP.

    Someone worked out that the monetary cost for using CP and HP to pull Prof X is the same at around $350. Logically, the odds for HP and CP pulls are mathematically equivalent. 

    Despite so many responses about how the odds are terrible or abysmal, not a single person who are not happy with odds  has mentioned the maximum odds they expect from this HP. If you guys don't give them a hard number, they won't be able to know what odds you expect.  

    So, what odds do you expect from pulling latest 5* cover using HP based on the above figure that I've gotten in-game?

    It's not about the odds. I'm terrible at math, so I trust you and others who say it's essentially equivalent. Honestly, I thought the odds, while not great at face value, probably seemed about right for using a resource like HP.

    It's about immediately requiring him in PvE before he's in Latest or otherwise available if you can't or don't want to try chasing him with HP. Even the old release structure with just the CP stores didn't see the newest 5* required in PvE until they had been added to Latest tokens. 

    If they would have held to that rule, I probably would have rolled my eyes a bit at the decision to offer a 5* using HP, but that would have been the end of it. Immediately requiring him in PvE makes it something else entirely. Something much worse, in my opinion. 
  • MegaBee
    MegaBee Posts: 982 Critical Contributor
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    PiMacleod said:
    Um.  Im not defending anyone here... But im real curious.

    What does everyone keep using the flag button for?

    Honestly, i only have ever dared to think about using it if someone was being insulting.  Ive seen it a few times, but not towards me.
    I flag if someone's being blatantly insulting. Otherwise, I reserve it for spammers, and I haven't seen any of those here.
  • HoundofShadow
    HoundofShadow Posts: 8,004 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited August 2019
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    @bluewolf

    I fully agree that the job of the devs is to create content that is compelling enough to players to convince them to play for/ spend money on it.

    On the other hand, I also believe that the other part of their job is to make the shareholders happy. That's why I think they have to weigh what % of "happiness" they have to distribute among those parties involved. That is also why I think they will never be able to give any solution that will satisfy the players 100%.

    If you noticed the changes that they made over the years, there are always some kind of trade off. I remember one tradeoff that they expressed explicity was with steam players when their UI were changed: 1) either the number of players increase or 2) the coding becomes more efficient.

    As for Prof X's saga, I understand the anger many are feeling due to him being required in the following PvE which has started. I'm still reserving my judgement because they mentioned that they are doing some test for just one PvE, not the next three consecutive PvEs. Also, there's a 4 day gap between his HP store and his essential. If they are 100% predatory, they could have switch him in for Thick as Thieves PvE. Delaying the CP store and requiring him in the following PvE are probably compulsory in order for them to analyse the data based on whatever factors or hypothesis they have drawn up, which is something that none of we have, apart from the theory of how many whales or dolphin turned whales they are going to catch.

    Who knows? The responses or result of this test might bring something new to the elder game, and by new, I don't mean expecting the vets to spend 50k HP to get the new 5*, who will be released in the following PvE. 

    Someone might want to start a thread to let competitive players report how many top 20 players of each slice and bracket has Prof X. From this, you might be able to tell where the future of this test heads towards.

  • jackstar0
    jackstar0 Posts: 1,280 Chairperson of the Boards
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    Bowgentle said:
    jp1 said:
    Bowgentle said:
    Meanwhile, they made a killing from the 80 bucks bundle.
    I'm afraid they won't care about your VIP if that's the only thing you spent the last months/years.
    I have spent a lot of money, more than I care to admit. So, if they do track individual spending at all...hopefully they will notice the change.

    Admittedly spending has slowed over the past couple months because it just isn’t worth it any longer, but I would have been all over the LT pack if they weren’t jerking us all around.

    Rewards need to drastically increase at higher shield rankings to compensate for the stalled progress. Also, not a fan of the predatory tactics as of late.
    A lot of money to you is not a lot of money to D3.
    Unless you spent a few thousands every month, they won't care.
    Gotta ask... how is this comment helpful?

    If many people drop off their VIP that's the steady money that is probably a KPI that the team uses to gauge overall customer satisfaction.
  • liminal_lad
    liminal_lad Posts: 459 Mover and Shaker
    edited August 2019
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    @jackstar0


    From some of the recent surveys, I wonder if they're using Net Promoter Score (NPS) to gauge customer satisfaction. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_Promoter

    Basically anything 6 or under is considered a negative score. I think we can vote with our dollars and with our survey responses.
  • abmoraz
    abmoraz Posts: 712 Critical Contributor
    edited August 2019
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    PiMacleod said:
    Um.  Im not defending anyone here... But im real curious.

    What does everyone keep using the flag button for?

    Honestly, i only have ever dared to think about using it if someone was being insulting.  Ive seen it a few times, but not towards me.
    I use it to flag @mods' and @admins' posts.  (try it, it's funny)