How to monetize a potential whale

Unknown

So I've been reading some of the complaints, and while I think this diatribe will go into the ether I figure "Eh, why not take a shot?"

I know it's easy to ignore your player base but please consider a few things here.

I am a technology professional with a background in software development. I have designed products from the ground up. While I have not worked in the gaming industry, I have had a lot of crossover with those in the industry and I am very familiar with marketing niche products, usability, customer satisfaction, and refactoring. Also, I have been gaming for 30 years. That's not a typo or hyperbole. I have watched the videogame industry evolve a lot over the past 3 decades. Some good, some bad, but a lot of change and more change coming as technology and demographics continue to evolve.

As a customer I am a 40 year old upper middle class professional with what industry experts would call "disposable income". I don't have a ton of leisure time but I'm willing to put a little money into what leisure time I have to get the most out of it. I am what the gaming industry cynically refers to as a "potential whale". I'm going to give you the keys to the kingdom. I'm going to tell you how you can easily make $500 or more off of me a year. Not only that, but how to do the same with every customer you have like me.

By the way, if there is anything that annoys me about sales is when I walk into a business, tell them exactly what I want, how much I can spend, and they waste my time trying to get me to buy things I don't want or won't pay for. This is what most F2P games do, by the way. They try to get me to buy things that have ZERO value proposition.

I won't name the game, but my favorite F2P game before it needlessly wiped my data due to bad functional testing on the developer's part was a game that did not have multiple currency types, made everything accessible to free players, did not tip the scales in a "pay to win" scam (You still had to play to level your characters. Money just gave you quicker access to characters). It had "card packs" but you could outright buy any single character at a premium. Currency was earned by playing the game or you could buy it. There was no "grind your way through for hours and we'll give you 20 diamonds" or whatever ****. The way to win was to either be able to grind your way to currency or buy it outright. There was no paywall that I could ever detect.

In other words, people with time but not money could compete with people who had money but not time. I am ok with free players being competitive. I want free players and I want them to stick around long enough that they will support the game financially. Isn't that your goal as well? Are you really content trying to squeeze maybe $20 out of everyone and then burning them out hoping you can replace them?

I am at a point in my life, and have been for awhile, that I won't think twice about dropping $10 on something. Here's the thing, there is nothing available at that price point in your game or most others. You either have what is essentially something for a "buck" (The daily Heroic Token) or what becomes a $20 purchase for a 10-pack. Not only that, the draw rate on the 10-pack is pathetic and cynically designed to punish those who are bad at math. I've never complained when I've purchased it but it's a rare thing and I understand the odds. For people who do not understand the math, it is a quick path to customer dissatisfaction. Yelling "caveat emptor!" at your customers is not how you generate goodwill (and thus revenue).

Your packs are overpriced and the covers for individual characters are overpriced. If we could actually grind for Hero Points I wouldn't blink, but since you hand out Hero Points like they cure cancer it's more of an insult.

I also think you've become stingy with ISO-8. What happened to the bonus for clearing nodes in PVE? That takes away a huge incentive to participate? I've never complained about ISO-8 because it was fairly easy to come by, but not so abundant that I had no incentive to play.

Here's the thing. Want to keep me playing and make an easy $10 or more off me A WEEK?

1. Quit being such a Scrooge with the ISO-8. I know you want people to pay money for it but not having some kind of currency that comes easy for nothing just amplifies the grind.

2. Give me some kind of $10 value proposition. For awhile I was actually spending $4 a week on the Heroic Tokens but the draw rate is so bad I stopped doing that. You need to have something priced at $10 in your store and it needs to have some kind of enticement that actually makes it seem like it is worth $10.

3. Your event packs are overpriced. I'm sure you sell some every time and make decent money, but part of pricing software is trying to find that min/max between customer base and value proposition. You're not even close. These are a digital good and you have them priced like your shipping raw materials to a store. I would drop $20 without blinking once a month or more on the event packs. 3800 HP? Are you kidding?

4. Last but not least, try to decouple a little bit from cynical cash grabs and ask yourself if you are making an enjoyable game. If I like a game, I'll recommend it to my friends. I have two kids, I'll happily share it with them. I want to support your game. I want to reward people who are doing good work. Why discourage me from doing that? I want to give you money. Don't make me angry, I'll just convert to a free player. As it is, I stopped putting money into the game because the value proposition isn't there right now.