Introducing the All-New Cover Exchange System!

1…89111314…16

Comments

  • Daredevil217
    Daredevil217 Posts: 3,999 Chairperson of the Boards

    @entrailbucket said:

    @Godzillafan67 said:

    @entrailbucket said:

    @Godzillafan67 said:

    @entrailbucket said:

    @Godzillafan67 said:

    @entrailbucket said:

    @Godzillafan67 said:
    Well, I am a player who would like swaps to be free when one has a version of the character max-champed or ascended. This would be a great benefit for folks trying to gain more 2a5 and 3a5 characters.

    Of course! As players, we shouldn't want to pay for any of this stuff! But I think some folks will pay, to get an advantage.

    To me, this cover exchange is an answer to dilution. And if you're answering a problem, then you don't make people pay for it. The people who would benefit the most from this are the people who can least afford to pay the premiums.

    Now, if we're talking about people spending HP and cash directly for rewards to get an advantage, I'm cool with that too. If someone wants the cover exchange to cost HP just to throttle other players, I'm not at all keen to that kind of thinking.

    In fact, I want people to be able to play. I remember when I couldn't actively participate in the Welcome to SHIELD event because my characters weren't leveled enough. When I finally had stronger characters is when they removed that requirement, and I was glad that newer players could join when I couldn't.

    Cover dilution is how they make money, though. It's only a problem for us -- for them it's a feature.

    Also...how do you know that the players most in need of this are least able to afford it? I don't think we can say anything about player's incomes or financial status based on where they're at in the game.

    From noobs to vets, I know nothing of anyone's income or financial status. As such, by "afford it", I'm talking about in-game earned currency.

    What I do know is that HP is a premium for players when they want to slot more characters. That's the group I'm talking about as they could have max-champed 2⭐ or 3⭐ characters that would allow them to level up their other characters.

    HP is at a premium for everybody though. It's by design -- that's how they make money. And any player, at any stage of the game, can buy HP with money! It's the great equalizer.

    A game like this needs to continuously make money to survive, and lots of it. The Marvel license is really expensive. I want to see the game survive for many more years, and that'll only happen if they're making money. Yes, they put pressure on all of us to spend, in all sorts of ways, and yes, that can feel unfair or gross. But that's just what kind of game this is.

    Good. I'm glad that we agree.

    I can't tell if you're being serious! I try to make this point all the time, and probably make it quite badly. It comes off as elitist or something, I dunno.

    I want them to keep making a ton of money, so I can keep playing their game. And the only way that's gonna happen, at this point, is if they sell stuff that offers an actual advantage, or they put us in uncomfortable situations and offer a way out for real money.

    If there's some way to spend nothing, or spend very very little, and painlessly coast at the very top of the game forever, that's really bad, because of course everyone will do that (why on earth wouldn't you!), and then the game dies.

    But haven’t people been doing this for literal years (spending little and coasting) and the game hasn’t died? Clearly what they have been doing has been working since this game has outlasted pretty much every other mobile game and continues to be going strong. I just don’t buy the chicken little stuff personally.

    There are different ways to get people to spend. Like I said, I spend more when I agree with the decisions a company makes and tighten up when I feel gouged. I understand I’m probably not the majority. But somehow the game has managed to make money despite this path that can only end in bankruptcy.

  • entrailbucket
    entrailbucket Posts: 5,999 Chairperson of the Boards

    @Daredevil217 said:

    @entrailbucket said:

    @Godzillafan67 said:

    @entrailbucket said:

    @Godzillafan67 said:

    @entrailbucket said:

    @Godzillafan67 said:

    @entrailbucket said:

    @Godzillafan67 said:
    Well, I am a player who would like swaps to be free when one has a version of the character max-champed or ascended. This would be a great benefit for folks trying to gain more 2a5 and 3a5 characters.

    Of course! As players, we shouldn't want to pay for any of this stuff! But I think some folks will pay, to get an advantage.

    To me, this cover exchange is an answer to dilution. And if you're answering a problem, then you don't make people pay for it. The people who would benefit the most from this are the people who can least afford to pay the premiums.

    Now, if we're talking about people spending HP and cash directly for rewards to get an advantage, I'm cool with that too. If someone wants the cover exchange to cost HP just to throttle other players, I'm not at all keen to that kind of thinking.

    In fact, I want people to be able to play. I remember when I couldn't actively participate in the Welcome to SHIELD event because my characters weren't leveled enough. When I finally had stronger characters is when they removed that requirement, and I was glad that newer players could join when I couldn't.

    Cover dilution is how they make money, though. It's only a problem for us -- for them it's a feature.

    Also...how do you know that the players most in need of this are least able to afford it? I don't think we can say anything about player's incomes or financial status based on where they're at in the game.

    From noobs to vets, I know nothing of anyone's income or financial status. As such, by "afford it", I'm talking about in-game earned currency.

    What I do know is that HP is a premium for players when they want to slot more characters. That's the group I'm talking about as they could have max-champed 2⭐ or 3⭐ characters that would allow them to level up their other characters.

    HP is at a premium for everybody though. It's by design -- that's how they make money. And any player, at any stage of the game, can buy HP with money! It's the great equalizer.

    A game like this needs to continuously make money to survive, and lots of it. The Marvel license is really expensive. I want to see the game survive for many more years, and that'll only happen if they're making money. Yes, they put pressure on all of us to spend, in all sorts of ways, and yes, that can feel unfair or gross. But that's just what kind of game this is.

    Good. I'm glad that we agree.

    I can't tell if you're being serious! I try to make this point all the time, and probably make it quite badly. It comes off as elitist or something, I dunno.

    I want them to keep making a ton of money, so I can keep playing their game. And the only way that's gonna happen, at this point, is if they sell stuff that offers an actual advantage, or they put us in uncomfortable situations and offer a way out for real money.

    If there's some way to spend nothing, or spend very very little, and painlessly coast at the very top of the game forever, that's really bad, because of course everyone will do that (why on earth wouldn't you!), and then the game dies.

    But haven’t people been doing this for literal years (spending little and coasting) and the game hasn’t died? Clearly what they have been doing has been working since this game has outlasted pretty much every other mobile game and continues to be going strong. I just don’t buy the chicken little stuff personally.

    There are different ways to get people to spend. Like I said, I spend more when I agree with the decisions a company makes and tighten up when I feel gouged. I understand I’m probably not the majority. But somehow the game has managed to make money despite this path that can only end in bankruptcy.

    I don't see how you've got any proof of this either. Increasing numbers of people have been coasting at the top of the game, totally free, over the last few years. Maybe revenues have dropped to the point where they need to do something, and this change is that. Maybe everything is fine! What I know is that if everyone was f2p, the game is over. If you teach people how to succeed without spending, you are actively killing the game.

    It used to be really expensive to win, and now it's not. For someone who doesn't care about competing, you sure seem to feel entitled to compete for free! You certainly don't need the most powerful characters maxed out unless you're trying to win.

    And yes, it'd be wonderful if they just sold costumes or hats or whatever, and spending didn't give you a competitive advantage, but that's not this game. Most people in MPQ spend because they want to win. It's not "gouging" to charge for that -- not if people will pay it.

  • Theghouse
    Theghouse Posts: 349 Mover and Shaker
    edited 21 December 2024, 06:24

    @entrailbucket said:

    Because the 1* are, generally, like... really really good at 550.

    So are the 2*, and quite a few 3* and 4*.

    Using resources slightly suboptimally to get really, really strong characters is not a problem for a lot of us.

    Yeah but this isn't using resources slightly sub optimally.

    If you want all the 1s at 550 because they're all pretty useful at that level, and you have NONE of them at 550, what are you achieving by paying HP to trade a Yelena to a Jugg? Maybe your Jugg is 1 cover closer to your goal but now Yelena is one cover farther from the goal.

    I get if you had a couple of them at 550 already and you were thought it was worth it to pay to swap those covers out and hurry along the others (I still don't think it's worth the cost, and you're going to end up with all 550s and dupes eventually). Or if you had no intention of ascending or 550ing a certain toon (I wouldn't understand why anyone would this for the 1*), and were going to swap all those toon's covers. But if you have no 550s, as @Borstock alluded, and intend to 550 them all (as most would), paying to swap in that situation is just throwing HP away to stay the same total number of covers from your end goal.

  • Daredevil217
    Daredevil217 Posts: 3,999 Chairperson of the Boards

    @entrailbucket said:

    @Daredevil217 said:

    @entrailbucket said:

    @Godzillafan67 said:

    @entrailbucket said:

    @Godzillafan67 said:

    @entrailbucket said:

    @Godzillafan67 said:

    @entrailbucket said:

    @Godzillafan67 said:
    Well, I am a player who would like swaps to be free when one has a version of the character max-champed or ascended. This would be a great benefit for folks trying to gain more 2a5 and 3a5 characters.

    Of course! As players, we shouldn't want to pay for any of this stuff! But I think some folks will pay, to get an advantage.

    To me, this cover exchange is an answer to dilution. And if you're answering a problem, then you don't make people pay for it. The people who would benefit the most from this are the people who can least afford to pay the premiums.

    Now, if we're talking about people spending HP and cash directly for rewards to get an advantage, I'm cool with that too. If someone wants the cover exchange to cost HP just to throttle other players, I'm not at all keen to that kind of thinking.

    In fact, I want people to be able to play. I remember when I couldn't actively participate in the Welcome to SHIELD event because my characters weren't leveled enough. When I finally had stronger characters is when they removed that requirement, and I was glad that newer players could join when I couldn't.

    Cover dilution is how they make money, though. It's only a problem for us -- for them it's a feature.

    Also...how do you know that the players most in need of this are least able to afford it? I don't think we can say anything about player's incomes or financial status based on where they're at in the game.

    From noobs to vets, I know nothing of anyone's income or financial status. As such, by "afford it", I'm talking about in-game earned currency.

    What I do know is that HP is a premium for players when they want to slot more characters. That's the group I'm talking about as they could have max-champed 2⭐ or 3⭐ characters that would allow them to level up their other characters.

    HP is at a premium for everybody though. It's by design -- that's how they make money. And any player, at any stage of the game, can buy HP with money! It's the great equalizer.

    A game like this needs to continuously make money to survive, and lots of it. The Marvel license is really expensive. I want to see the game survive for many more years, and that'll only happen if they're making money. Yes, they put pressure on all of us to spend, in all sorts of ways, and yes, that can feel unfair or gross. But that's just what kind of game this is.

    Good. I'm glad that we agree.

    I can't tell if you're being serious! I try to make this point all the time, and probably make it quite badly. It comes off as elitist or something, I dunno.

    I want them to keep making a ton of money, so I can keep playing their game. And the only way that's gonna happen, at this point, is if they sell stuff that offers an actual advantage, or they put us in uncomfortable situations and offer a way out for real money.

    If there's some way to spend nothing, or spend very very little, and painlessly coast at the very top of the game forever, that's really bad, because of course everyone will do that (why on earth wouldn't you!), and then the game dies.

    But haven’t people been doing this for literal years (spending little and coasting) and the game hasn’t died? Clearly what they have been doing has been working since this game has outlasted pretty much every other mobile game and continues to be going strong. I just don’t buy the chicken little stuff personally.

    There are different ways to get people to spend. Like I said, I spend more when I agree with the decisions a company makes and tighten up when I feel gouged. I understand I’m probably not the majority. But somehow the game has managed to make money despite this path that can only end in bankruptcy.

    I don't see how you've got any proof of this either. Increasing numbers of people have been coasting at the top of the game, totally free, over the last few years. Maybe revenues have dropped to the point where they need to do something, and this change is that. Maybe everything is fine! What I know is that if everyone was f2p, the game is over. If you teach people how to succeed without spending, you are actively killing the game.

    It used to be really expensive to win, and now it's not. For someone who doesn't care about competing, you sure seem to feel entitled to compete for free! You certainly don't need the most powerful characters maxed out unless you're trying to win.

    And yes, it'd be wonderful if they just sold costumes or hats or whatever, and spending didn't give you a competitive advantage, but that's not this game. Most people in MPQ spend because they want to win. It's not "gouging" to charge for that -- not if people will pay it.

    Almost didn’t take the bait but I’ll say a few things. One, please don’t attack me personally (the whole entitled as a recent example). Whether I’m entitled and believe I should win everything for free forever (which I’m not and never said), it has no bearing on the point that I was making. Please just stick to that rather than attacking ME. Also, if you are going to make up arguments to defend to not address the actual point I’m making, that’s fine but I ask that you own what you’re doing and don’t misrepresent me. I agree that they’re not “gouging” if people are willing to pay and said as much in my previous post. I just said it’s too rich for ME but to each their own. But you know that.

    Basically if you have to go after me personally, or twist my words, or invent a point I’m not making to have something you can actually argue, it’s probably best not to respond.

    It is a fact that the game has been operating for over 10 years and for probably half of that time this mechanic where free to play people can grind to the top (after years and years of playing AND paying) has been in place. This isn’t debatable. Whether or not the revenue for a 10-year-old mobile game has dropped, I do not know (I’d guess it’s cooled off). Whether that was the catalyst for this change, I also don’t know. I’m ok with not knowing. When I say “still going strong“ I’m speaking specifically to the fact that they are creating a new engine, putting out new content, and making changes to the game rather than just releasing new characters until the servers die. I don’t believe the game shouldn’t make money, and I don’t necessarily believe that this is a bad fiscal move for a game that is ultimately designed to make money. That remains to be seen. I don’t pretend to know a lot of things. What I do know, is that I personally don’t believe in the sky is falling rhetoric. It’s funny because no one really knows, and I would argue that includes the developers. Hence why they scaled back on their pricing. They thought they landed on a fair price point until they received a groundswell of feedback and changed it.

    I’m just pointing out what has been for the past 5-6 years. Not what will be.

  • slidecage
    slidecage Posts: 3,492 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited 21 December 2024, 11:35

    I really don't see the point of this
    Say I had a 550. Wouldn't you get more rewards by making up a second

    Say I had a at 550. And 20 covers. Would I get more rewards making a 2nd. Instead of paying 20 times to flip a cover

    It's what 650 per cover so. 20 levels will cost me 13000

    I think I would just rather make a 2nd 550

    I got may at 500. To take her to 550 it will cost me over 35000.

    I could see maybe last 2 levels but not many

  • entrailbucket
    entrailbucket Posts: 5,999 Chairperson of the Boards

    @Daredevil217 that "groundswell" of feedback got them to change the Latest swap price point from 1250hp to 1000. Nothing else changed. If all of the crying you guys did, across all the different platforms, accomplished only that...I think it's fairly obvious what they were trying to do with this change, and I think that probably supports what I've been saying about CS swaps for years.

    I don't know what to make of the rest of your post. Nobody's personally attacking anyone here. If you can't argue on the internet without inventing reasons to be insulted, it's probably best not to respond.

  • bluewolf
    bluewolf Posts: 5,854 Chairperson of the Boards

    When I said this was only for long-term vets, that was because you need a deep, advanced roster to feel like spending HP on swaps for covers on an ongoing basis is a good use of your HP. You need to have all 360 characters rostered, etc. To feel like you can spend HP on different things like going after a good vault and not worry about how to roster the 2 to 3 to 5 new characters this month. They are the people who would be most interested in swaps and should be the ones who might use it.

    HOWEVER: If you were going to be a spender and chase characters via bundles which offer HP in with covers you can somewhat cheaply compared to buying pulls make progress in specific characters now by just exchanging whatever covers you get for the one you want.

    HOWEVER HOWEVER: Lots of bundles just put shards up so you can't do anything with those....the devs have said they were looking to make shards swappable, though.

  • Daredevil217
    Daredevil217 Posts: 3,999 Chairperson of the Boards

    @entrailbucket said:
    @Daredevil217 that "groundswell" of feedback got them to change the Latest swap price point from 1250hp to 1000. Nothing else changed. If all of the crying you guys did, across all the different platforms, accomplished only that...I think it's fairly obvious what they were trying to do with this change, and I think that probably supports what I've been saying about CS swaps for years.

    I don't know what to make of the rest of your post. Nobody's personally attacking anyone here. If you can't argue on the internet without inventing reasons to be insulted, it's probably best not to respond.

    You can’t help yourself but to double down and do the exact thing I called you on and kindly asked you not do. But thank you for the unsolicited life advice 😂

    Just to clarify to those who may be reading, they didn’t go from 1250 to 1000. They went from NOT BEING ABLE TO DO IT AT ALL to 1000. Thanks to feedback you can now swap latests for latests. AND shard swaps are coming soon too (yay!). Not to mention the discounts at the 3,4, and 5* classics level (which is a 50% reduction).

  • entrailbucket
    entrailbucket Posts: 5,999 Chairperson of the Boards

    @bluewolf said:
    When I said this was only for long-term vets, that was because you need a deep, advanced roster to feel like spending HP on swaps for covers on an ongoing basis is a good use of your HP. You need to have all 360 characters rostered, etc. To feel like you can spend HP on different things like going after a good vault and not worry about how to roster the 2 to 3 to 5 new characters this month. They are the people who would be most interested in swaps and should be the ones who might use it.

    HOWEVER: If you were going to be a spender and chase characters via bundles which offer HP in with covers you can somewhat cheaply compared to buying pulls make progress in specific characters now by just exchanging whatever covers you get for the one you want.

    HOWEVER HOWEVER: Lots of bundles just put shards up so you can't do anything with those....the devs have said they were looking to make shards swappable, though.

    I think that valuation of HP (or really, any other in-game resource) isn't universal at all, and actually comes with being a particular type of long-time veteran player, with a particular set of out of game knowledge.

    If somebody's favorite character is (let's say) War Machine, and playing him is how they have the most fun, then sure, paying HP to swap covers to him before they roster everyone else isn't "optimal." But this is a phone game, not a retirement account! It exists to have fun, and you can have fun in lots of ways that aren't optimal uses of your resources!

  • entrailbucket
    entrailbucket Posts: 5,999 Chairperson of the Boards

    @Daredevil217 said:

    @entrailbucket said:
    @Daredevil217 that "groundswell" of feedback got them to change the Latest swap price point from 1250hp to 1000. Nothing else changed. If all of the crying you guys did, across all the different platforms, accomplished only that...I think it's fairly obvious what they were trying to do with this change, and I think that probably supports what I've been saying about CS swaps for years.

    I don't know what to make of the rest of your post. Nobody's personally attacking anyone here. If you can't argue on the internet without inventing reasons to be insulted, it's probably best not to respond.

    You can’t help yourself but to double down and do the exact thing I called you on and kindly asked you not do. But thank you for the unsolicited life advice 😂

    Just to clarify to those who may be reading, they didn’t go from 1250 to 1000. They went from NOT BEING ABLE TO DO IT AT ALL to 1000. Thanks to feedback you can now swap latests for latests. AND shard swaps are coming soon too (yay!). Not to mention the discounts at the 3,4, and 5* classics level (which is a 50% reduction).

    You spent two entire paragraphs giving me "unsolicited life advice," and have done so pretty consistently throughout this entire thing (and indeed, going back years). The projection is actually pretty hilarious.

    Anyway, glad you're happy with these changes, and congratulations on your great success! Hopefully this will end the "chicken little" talk of this killing the game, causing spending boycotts or the top players all quitting and whatever other parade of horribles.

  • Painmonger
    Painmonger Posts: 171 Tile Toppler

    @entrailbucket said:
    @Daredevil217 that "groundswell" of feedback got them to change the Latest swap price point from 1250hp to 1000. Nothing else changed. If all of the crying you guys did, across all the different platforms, accomplished only that...I think it's fairly obvious what they were trying to do with this change, and I think that probably supports what I've been saying about CS swaps for years.

    The post updating the costs is that they added Latest to the swap program for 1,000, which wasn't part of the program at all. Classics went down to 600 from 1,250, 4* went to 400. Those were significant reductions. They also stated they are adding a mechanic to swap shards.

    I'm not saying it nullifies your point, just clearing up the numbers.

  • entrailbucket
    entrailbucket Posts: 5,999 Chairperson of the Boards

    @Painmonger said:

    @entrailbucket said:
    @Daredevil217 that "groundswell" of feedback got them to change the Latest swap price point from 1250hp to 1000. Nothing else changed. If all of the crying you guys did, across all the different platforms, accomplished only that...I think it's fairly obvious what they were trying to do with this change, and I think that probably supports what I've been saying about CS swaps for years.

    The post updating the costs is that they added Latest to the swap program for 1,000, which wasn't part of the program at all. Classics went down to 600 from 1,250, 4* went to 400. Those were significant reductions. They also stated they are adding a mechanic to swap shards.

    I'm not saying it nullifies your point, just clearing up the numbers.

    Yep, I missed that. It's actually a pretty significant reduction and change in general. From what I saw it was poorly received here, though -- a few folks seemed to want the whole thing reverted. I don't know how it went over in other places.

  • Timemachinego
    Timemachinego Posts: 513 Critical Contributor

    @Painmonger said:

    I get it ruffling feathers when it used to be "free" to swap latest but now they want to charge for it. Free is in quotes because I think a lot of people forget when this cover swap thing first became an issue you HAD to have spent a lot of money to get to 550. In a way the cover swaps were a way to just say thank you to all those whales for the money they spent.

    In real dollar terms a 5* cover swap costs the equivalent $5 in USD even after they lowered the cost. I can't say I'd do it all the time, but now it's at least something I'd consider.

    I understand & support a company making a profit, especially when I've gotten over 10 years of enjoyment from it. The problem I've had for a long time is that mobile games used to either be paid or have micro transactions, but they've skipped the micro part these days. My metric is the cost of a AAA title at release, which is around $60-70 for the base game in recent years. I personally can't justify spending more than that on a mobile game in a year, so if I look at an offer I decide if it's worth $5/month for my enjoyment or do I just skip it & but a whole game?

    I remember my Econonmics classes teaching how you establish the cost of a product. A simplistic view is to just charge as much as you possibly can, but you very quickly learn you won't sell very many. If you sell too low you can't pay your bills & have to close shop. I think this thread is a great example of a company listening to their customers & responding by setting a more realistic cost, while maintaining a profit to keep making this product we play every day.

    I think part of my extended reaction to all of this is that it's just furthering a trend I really dislike, though understand to some extent. Every single "improvement" made to this game since Ascension has been monetized (whether hidden or not). Ascension costs roster slots up front. Seasonal Vaults, if you were unlucky and missed a day, you might be paying for tokens (this was the least offensive)... except now they're getting tied to the season pass, so presumably you're going to want to get the premium side. Now we have cover swaps, a potentially great QoL addition for both the players AND the CS team, but it's the most heavily monetized addition yet. I understand that these are not things we have to interact with and could just play the game like back when it was on life-support, but it's getting to be a bit much for me.

  • bluewolf
    bluewolf Posts: 5,854 Chairperson of the Boards

    @Timemachinego

    It seems like you're suggesting the game is monetizing itself more as a way to increase profits and that it's not "on life support" aka very financially healthy.

    I do not know the state of the game financially but I would posit that a game that was simply trying to increase profits/revenue without regard to customer blowback and a game that was more desperately trying to pull revenue from a player base that is not growing could do very similar things, as really the main point is to increase revenue in both cases.

    However if a game had a steadily increasing player base, or at minimum a constant inflow of new paying customers, one would possibly think that staying the course would be the easiest course of action. Players in games like this one build habits around their interactions up to and including their spending, and disrupting habits is rarely wise unless significant upside is expected. Or, when necessary to find ways to keep things in the black when they start to slip.

    The game's ultimate owner is the company Digital Bros and their plan for the current fiscal year is in part to leverage existing players and get increased revenue from them by providing enhanced value (I am paraphrasing a bit, but anyone can go look at their financial report which includes this plan). One can also look at the company's financials on Google etc although the company does not break out MPQ's state anywhere.

    Anyway I guess my point is that one cannot make assumptions about the health of a game based on how much or little it seems to be trying to monetize the game since it partly depends on the people running it and their expectations, and what is acceptable to them as far as profit/loss and for how long etc.

  • entrailbucket
    entrailbucket Posts: 5,999 Chairperson of the Boards

    It's also worth noting that this game has an additional cost -- the licensing from Marvel -- that other mobile games might not. I think that's their biggest expense, and it's something they really can't do without. If they somehow lost it, or couldn't afford it, they could probably rework the art and dialog and whatever else, but I doubt it'd be worth it since no one would stick around anyway.

  • Zarqa
    Zarqa Posts: 354 Mover and Shaker

    @Timemachinego said:

    @Painmonger said:

    I get it ruffling feathers when it used to be "free" to swap latest but now they want to charge for it. Free is in quotes because I think a lot of people forget when this cover swap thing first became an issue you HAD to have spent a lot of money to get to 550. In a way the cover swaps were a way to just say thank you to all those whales for the money they spent.

    In real dollar terms a 5* cover swap costs the equivalent $5 in USD even after they lowered the cost. I can't say I'd do it all the time, but now it's at least something I'd consider.

    I understand & support a company making a profit, especially when I've gotten over 10 years of enjoyment from it. The problem I've had for a long time is that mobile games used to either be paid or have micro transactions, but they've skipped the micro part these days. My metric is the cost of a AAA title at release, which is around $60-70 for the base game in recent years. I personally can't justify spending more than that on a mobile game in a year, so if I look at an offer I decide if it's worth $5/month for my enjoyment or do I just skip it & but a whole game?

    I remember my Econonmics classes teaching how you establish the cost of a product. A simplistic view is to just charge as much as you possibly can, but you very quickly learn you won't sell very many. If you sell too low you can't pay your bills & have to close shop. I think this thread is a great example of a company listening to their customers & responding by setting a more realistic cost, while maintaining a profit to keep making this product we play every day.

    I think part of my extended reaction to all of this is that it's just furthering a trend I really dislike, though understand to some extent. Every single "improvement" made to this game since Ascension has been monetized (whether hidden or not). Ascension costs roster slots up front. Seasonal Vaults, if you were unlucky and missed a day, you might be paying for tokens (this was the least offensive)... except now they're getting tied to the season pass, so presumably you're going to want to get the premium side. Now we have cover swaps, a potentially great QoL addition for both the players AND the CS team, but it's the most heavily monetized addition yet. I understand that these are not things we have to interact with and could just play the game like back when it was on life-support, but it's getting to be a bit much for me.

    You forgot to include the Iso8 canisters (that mysteriously disappeared already) and the Iso8 multiplier as their solutions to deal with the consistent iso draught.

  • Timemachinego
    Timemachinego Posts: 513 Critical Contributor

    @Zarqa said:

    You forgot to include the Iso8 canisters (that mysteriously disappeared already) and the Iso8 multiplier as their solutions to deal with the consistent iso draught.

    Those were such a waste of effort that I routinely forget about them, haha.

  • Scofie
    Scofie GLOBAL_MODERATORS Posts: 1,400 Chairperson of the Boards

    I think the other thing to bear in mind here on the discussion re: buying the next character, is that for non-ultra competitive players, it can cost nothing to get the new character to 550. It can just take a little longer, or you miss out on another, or, now, you earn HP to swap the covers. Sure, there are some who will spend and good on them. And for some, they feel they will now have to spend more to keep up and I understand why they'd be a little annoyed by that. And even then, the competition is level for more players for the first 4 weeks of a character release. So for others who aren't in that group, this seems to be mostly upside.

    I say this as someone who has a highest character at 541, doesn't chase the meta characters and I really only buy the costume bundles that have limited competitive advantage. I think the cover swaps will be useful for me, and I am pleased the cost has reduced as it's not something I'd have used much previously. And I'm optimistic that the new 5* release PvP will be a little bit easier than they have been, given power creep on the new 5s.

Categories