The Character Slot Change Is Really Bad For MPQ

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I don't mean this out of self-interest. I have just about as many character slots as I feel comfortable spending money on. No, I mean it in the sense that it will discourage players from really getting involved in the game.

I want this game to succeed, and I want to feel good about spending money on this game. I don't. I would've dropped 20 bucks on that Daken pack if I knew that I had somewhat decent odds of getting the character, rather than quite literally a 50/50 crapshoot of getting the entire reason to buy the pack. But okay, I'm hooked, I've spent like a fair bit of money and 300 hours on this game. I'm here to stay, and I might spend more money on hero points if I see something I just can't do without. And if I'm really that hard-up for roster slots... well, they're already really pricy for me, I'm spending money on them either way. This change, though... This change shafts newbies. It doesn't **** over the experienced player, who already has roster slots and might want to expand but is comfortable with dropping some cash on a game he already knows he likes a lot, and has spent quite a few hours playing. It **** over the new guy. The person who wants to start out, build his roster up, get things rolling, try out a game listed as "free to play". It screwss THAT GUY.

D3P, listen very closely.

You do not want to screw that guy.

That guy is your potential replacement whale (god, the fact that you'd openly use that term says a lot about how ****-up the games industry has gotten, doesn't it?). That guy is your potential customer. But just to speak for myself; if I had needed to buy hero points to expand my roster beyond a handful of slots as early on as this change happened, I wouldn't have. I got to 18 slots without spending any money. This is because HP rewards from the single-player mode and from a few events I did well on got me enough. And I needed those extra spots to make room for more characters without gimping my own team. But now there's this huge barrier between 7 and 8 slots. This huge barrier that prevents forward progress... unless you pay. I think you'll find a lot of people aren't going to be willing to pay that.

But possibly worse than that is the justification granted. That you want players to buy higher-value packs for their sake. Um... And what if they don't want to buy packs so early on? What if they don't want to spend a lot of money on a F2P game they aren't sure they like yet? You just lost a customer. I'd say this is **** the F2P players to benefit the paying players... But there's no actual benefit to the paying players that leaving the option for unpackaged character slots open wouldn't have provided! This is just **** the F2P players for the sake of **** the F2P players. And that means less people willing to spend money on your game. This change is not good for anyone but D3P, despite what Ice might say. I'm really not sure if it's even good for D3P. I dunno, maybe I'm just totally misreading how many players spend money on hero points really early on. I dunno.

Unknown

Very good points in my honest opinion. However, you are quite mistaken if you think this game doesn't shaft the veterans. It's just that we gotten so used to it, it no longer hurts THAT much.

To quote what another player said, this game is like a treadmill. You will want to jump off at some time.

Unknown

Don't these games make most of their money from a very small percentage of players? Most people have impulse control, willpower, and a sense of self worth. Then there are people like me who will sometimes blow 200 bucks over a month or two on puzzle and dragons or whatever. These little gameboy casinos are dangerous. I won't pay 60 bucks for a real new release but I'll dump cash into fake currency to get screwed. Kill me.

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Catseman wrote:

Don't these games make most of their money from a very small percentage of players? Most people have impulse control, willpower, and a sense of self worth. Then there are people like me who will sometimes blow 200 bucks over a month or two on puzzle and dragons or whatever. These little gameboy casinos are dangerous. I won't pay 60 bucks for a real new release but I'll dump cash into fake currency to get screwed. Kill me.

Yes. These players are called "whales". This is something that is mostly used in the mobile/facebook gaming space, but it's starting to spread. You know its a huge issue when the industry itself just refers to people as whales: http://schedule.gdconf.com/session-id/827516

I don't see this change going away. At this point I think D3 would rather burn the game to the ground but make as much money as possible in the process rather than paying staff to make the game better.

Unknown

Derethus wrote:

Yes. These players are called "whales". This is something that is mostly used in the mobile/facebook gaming space, but it's starting to spread. You know its a huge issue when the industry itself just refers to people as whales: http://schedule.gdconf.com/session-id/827516

The gambling industry has used that term forever - doesn't seem to be an issue for them.

I don't see this change going away. At this point I think D3 would rather burn the game to the ground but make as much money as possible in the process rather than paying staff to make the game better.

Actually, the main group of people trying to burn the game to the ground are the ones with torches and pitchforks. You know, forumites.

Anyway, back on topic, the free HP in the prologue is enough to expand character slots to 10. That doesn't sound bad for free.

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ZenBrillig wrote:

The gambling industry has used that term forever - doesn't seem to be an issue for them.

Cause the gambling industry is something we all look up to and respect in our day-to-day lives.

ZenBrillig wrote:

Actually, the main group of people trying to burn the game to the ground are the ones with torches and pitchforks. You know, forumites.

Only because we're tired of suggesting improvements to the game only to have them be ignored in favor of things that detract from the game.

Unknown

Derethus wrote:

Cause the gambling industry is something we all look up to and respect in our day-to-day lives.

And this has exactly what to do with the price of beans? Are there *any* really successful businesses that people look up to and respect? I can't think of any.

Only because we're tired of suggesting improvements to the game only to have them be ignored in favor of things that detract from the game.

Probably because the suggestions are all bad for business.

Unknown

ZenBrillig wrote:

Derethus wrote:

Cause the gambling industry is something we all look up to and respect in our day-to-day lives.

And this has exactly what to do with the price of beans? Are there *any* really successful businesses that people look up to and respect? I can't think of any.

In the same industry as D3: Gungho, the makers of Puzzle and Dragons. What happens when they have a server issue? They postpone all events and give you $5 worth of in-game currency in compensation. They keep their players happy.

ZenBrillig wrote:

Probably because the suggestions are all bad for business.

Some of them are, yes. But there are some legitimate ones.

Unknown

ZenBrillig wrote:

Actually, the main group of people trying to burn the game to the ground are the ones with torches and pitchforks. You know, forumites.

I'm pretty sure burning the game is not the same as burning the devs.