Whaling and F2P

helix72

Curious to hear from the community:

People talk a lot about whales and on the other end those who are Free to Play (F2P). But I've read some folks who consider themselves F2P admit to spending some money on the game, and I don't know at what threshold someone is considered a whale. Understanding the answer may be different for everyone, I am curious to hear the answer to 2 questions:

1) At what point do you no longer consider someone F2P (e.g. anything spent at all ever, more than $X per month, $Y per year, etc).

2) At what spending level do you consider someone who does put money into the game a whale? And do you have a threshold for considering someone a mega-whale?

Some of this is self-serving, as I am definitely not F2P, but not sure if I'd be considered a whale. One man's fortune is another man's pittance...

Phumade

helix72 said:

Curious to hear from the community:



Some of this is self-serving, as I am definitely not F2P, but not sure if I'd be considered a whale. One man's fortune is another man's pittance...

Your always a whale to someone and a guppy to another.  If you want to be a true whale,  you probably need 80% of every tier.  I.e.  the people with 80% or better of all available tiers couldn’t care less about the forums or discord.  They can keep up with release schedule on their default play. No need collaborate etc.  they can win placements regardless of the check rooms.

HoundofShadow

1) Not FTP
a) someone who spends $2 every month, regardless of whether the money come from them or other sources, like doing Google surveys.

b) someone who buys at least a bundle to get specific character covers.

c) someone who bought $2 bundle at least thrice a year.

2)
Based on the games that I had played before:

Whale
Minimum spending of 1K USD per month

Mega whale
Minimum spending of 5k USD per month

Also, the money spent need to be their disposable incomes. They can accidentally lose their wallet with these amount of money and they won't feel any pain.

Borstock

I always thought of whales as the 550 crowd. And those folks who have, like, 5 max-champs of every 4*. 

jp1

I think I spend above average. Maybe more than most could afford. Still don’t think I’m a whale. 

If you make monthly purchases of any amount I wouldn’t consider you F2P.

bluewolf

Free to play is free to play.  Even $2 a month or VIP is a spender.

A whale is probably someone who’s buying at least a few Starks a month, to me.  A thousand per, for sure.

Once you’re spending a car payment on this game you’re pretty much there though.

AXP_isme

I brought two £2 HP packs over the last 5 years. Technically it doesn’t qualify as f2p but at substantially less than 1p spent per day of play I consider myself pretty much f2p. 

Honestly I’m not sure there’s a particularly helpful distinction to draw. Spend what you want, and obviously only where you can, and let other people do their own thing. There will always be someone who spends more than you and someone who spends less (semantics around spending floor at zero aside). It should be about the enjoyment you get and what you think that’s worth to you rather than trying to rank yourself amongst the other players. 

bluewolf

Note that the devs have said recently that the whales are not as important in MPQ as the popular truism would have you believe.  At least not currently?

Meaning that while we don't know the numbers, the % of revenue coming from whales isn't 80%, I assume.

This might be a function of many whales having so many resources they don't feel the same need to spend at this point.  Or because the ROI on spending as dilution has ballooned that the number of true whales has dropped.

Or, maybe they have (via Shield Rank bundles) found better ways to convince otherwise FTP people to spend some money.

It used to be, long ago, that some whales were able to talk to the devs directly via Line or even a phone call or two.  It's been a long time since they had that level of engagement with those players though.  

DAZ0273

From my perspective but also one I have observed moving forward, spending seems to go in trends which line-up pretty well with where you are in the game. This is not limited to but I have observed the following:

FTP - Players who have genuinely never invested a single £ or $ on the game. Players of this type who have stuck with the game tend to be OK with the time requirements of playing, being it grinding or playing at certain times or they quickly disappear.

Players who spent but are now FTP or minimal spend - These players tended to spend moderately at the beginning to jumpstart their progress/roster slots/packs but have now reached a stage in the game where spending relative to their progression tends to not produce in-game results justifying additional spending as they have enough resources or can progress via in game methods. These players may have a VIP account or spend the minimum PvE Intercept bonus per month or will spend if something is seen as good value. I consider myself in this category although I am not yet resource positive compared to some other players.

Players who spend regularly  - these come in 2 categories, players who spend in buy clubs or on HP sales on a fairly regular basis but with a threshold spend each month or lower tier players spending on reasonably regular basis. These players are either spending to try and accelerate progress (example BBigler's experiment) or may spend due to Alliance pressure or through Social spending. These players probably are more likely to pay for bundles etc.

Whales - Whales spend beyond any level of special offers or social spending with the sole purpose of maintaining or gaining an advantage in the game. These players are either regular buy club participants or are in fact Tony Stark.

I am sure there are plenty more nuances as nothing is ever a fits all in life but those are the main types I have observed.

TPF Alexis

OJSP said:

Personally, I would term someone who could play and progress in this game without spending any money to be FTP. Someone with a lot of patience could build a strong roster and compete with some players who spend some money. Even if they spend a little bit of money, I would still consider them FTP if they don't do multiple purchases to cover one or more characters (as I described above). If they start using money to fully cover a character, then I would consider them whales (killer whales, humpback whales, blue whales, there are many types of whales depending on their spending).

Yeah, I basically only spend when there's something I want (costumes, essentially) that I can't get any other way. Yeah, I get some incidental HP or covers along with that, but it's really not that much compared to what I pull in regularly anyhow. My progression is not significantly faster in a month where I spend than one where I don't. So I still consider myself basically FtP, because what spending I do isn't actually done with the goal of helping me in the game.

fiirst

O/
Completely F2P here on day 220ish.

imo, there should be more other type Between Whale and F2P such as

1) lower spender: let says spend under $100 to buy some essential bundle and HP such as Starter Bundle and 1 or 2 more Bundle.

2) mid spender : spend between $100 to $500 /$1000 to buy more HP or Bundles

3) member spender: spend only for VIP

the cutoff between F2P vs 1) and 2) should be determined from information of most purchased bundle...