How do you feel about the next sales "event" involving recruiting new pledges?

Slapshot1188

For those needing a refresher, here is the description of the upcoming sale/event:

We'll be running a 6-week event where the players themselves will be dictating, through their collective actions and decisions, the historical outcome of an event from the year 229 of the 4th Age - nearly 600 years before launch.

This is no small thing. This event demonstrates, clearer than ever, our desire to allow the CoE community and players to dictate the history of Elyria prior to launch date. While the Chronicles of Elyria are vast, spanning back before recorded history, and into a future yet unknown, this will be the first time the players truly get to write their own chronicle. Imagine it as a precursor to how world events will unfold using the Story Engine.

Now word has it, that the number of new pledges you recruit will directly impact this event and Caspien has publicly stated that he "estimates it will grow the community by quite a bit"

Instead of working on the actual game, the developer has dedicated time to creating this sale event, complete with classes/roles, instant/passive/daily abilities you can use, leveling up to different tiers... tying it into "lore".  For a game that is SOOOOO far behind schedule should they be dedicating resources to the gamification of a sale (assuming this sale/event launches as described above)?  Should game lore in any way be dictated by how many accounts get recruited or anything to do with a store (not to mention potential exploits there))?  Is it better or worse that they will donate some portion of the sales to a charity (If I make a .jpg of an item and tell you I will donate X% of sales to a charity is that good or is it exploiting the good nature of people in order to raise money for your game? If they donate 100% that's clearly a good thing but the last time they did this they kept half the money from the item if I recall correctly)

Sorry, I know there is a lot to unpack there and the formatting sucks.  If I'm unclear let me know and I'll try to do a better job.

Quizzical

I haven't had a close look at the event, but it's probably something that didn't take them very long to cook up.

craftseeker

<snort><giggle> What? Oh that's a good one!

Ratero

Sounds like things are going South in a very bad way right now for them and they are doing this to prop up their failing game.  I could be wrong but that is the feeling I get from reading the OP.

Kyleran

Unsurprised. They need to continue finding new ways to bring in funding until they find the mythical investors they need to complete the game.

Wellspring

Have they said how recruiting players to the game translates into writing the lore? I don't see how one has to do with the other. 

Is it like a contest and the winners get to fill in the blanks, like madlibs? Or do the actual recruiting numbers have meaning -- I.e. 5439 peasants (the # of new recruits) lived in the Nottingham Forest. 

NeutralEvil

I have the same question as Wellspring. Just how does the # of recruits translate to the lore?

As far as exploits, I do wonder, what would keep someone with deep pockets from creating a bunch of new accounts in order to gain "more recruits"?    - Unknown

But I guess also, what would be the advantage in doing that?    - Unknown

Is there something wrong with them trying to gain more supporters/donators?    - I guess only if there were a malicious intent behind doing so

Until the details about the event actually come out it's hard to really say how I feel about it

Kyleran

New accounts probably wouldn't do it unless they bought actual pledge packages, which I can't imagine too many doing.

NeutralEvil

Kyleran said:

New accounts probably wouldn't do it unless they bought actual pledge packages, which I can't imagine too many doing.

I think you underestimate Whales, their wallets, and their equally sizable egos to have the most

Mendel

Why does this game always seem to focus on the wrong things?  I get the impression that they are keeping the doors open on a sale-to-sale basis, much like living paycheck-to-paycheck.  More sale details so soon after the last sale makes me wonder if they have just dropped the concept of 'game' entirely.

What exactly is the allure for new players?  Come to our game, buy our stuff and we'll let you.  Quite possibly a dozen more times.

Mendel

NeutralEvil said:

Kyleran said:

New accounts probably wouldn't do it unless they bought actual pledge packages, which I can't imagine too many doing.

I think you underestimate Whales, their wallets, and their equally sizable egos to have the most

What is there for whales to buy when most all the noble character slots are already purchased?  Are they planning to announce new servers so they can have more nobles to sell?  Whales may have unchecked egos, but how many want to come into a situation where all they can buy is at the peasant level?


 

Slapshot1188

Mendel said:

NeutralEvil said:

Kyleran said:

New accounts probably wouldn't do it unless they bought actual pledge packages, which I can't imagine too many doing.

I think you underestimate Whales, their wallets, and their equally sizable egos to have the most

What is there for whales to buy when most all the noble character slots are already purchased?  Are they planning to announce new servers so they can have more nobles to sell?  Whales may have unchecked egos, but how many want to come into a situation where all they can buy is at the peasant level?


 

They can buy “points” which they can spend to upgrade their towns, technology, military, crafting, resources... etc.

They can also directly buy items from the store for use after launch. Some examples have been ships, mounts, purebred livestock, raiding kits, etc...

Im sure the new “event” will have more such opportunities.

NeutralEvil

Mendel said:

NeutralEvil said:

Kyleran said:

New accounts probably wouldn't do it unless they bought actual pledge packages, which I can't imagine too many doing.

I think you underestimate Whales, their wallets, and their equally sizable egos to have the most

What is there for whales to buy when most all the noble character slots are already purchased?  Are they planning to announce new servers so they can have more nobles to sell?  Whales may have unchecked egos, but how many want to come into a situation where all they can buy is at the peasant level?


 

I was referring to the ones whom are already pledged. As you put it, all the kingdoms are already purchased, and the noble packages aren't really being sold anymore (until they open those backup after land selection maybe?)

So those current whales, if there are advantages to be bought by creating new accounts and purchasing pledges for those accounts, could/would possibly do that

KnightFalz

I highly doubt that those working on the nuts and bolts of the game also spend their time working on marketing campaigns or in crafting game lore.

I don't see one bit of lore being tied to account generation all that big of a deal. Should it be so? Well, who is to say it shouldn't. It is a choice they are entitled to make.

Companies donating a portion of their proceeds on a particular offering to charity rather than all isn't anything new or unheard of, so shouldn't be seen as an issue.

Amathe

Also, act now and you and your friends can ride in Caspian's magic bed on your way to the upcoming event.

Slapshot1188

KnightFalz said:

I highly doubt that those working on the nuts and bolts of the game also spend their time working on marketing campaigns or in crafting game lore.

Caspien himself has repeatedly stated he was working on various parts of this “event” including creating the passive, daily, instant abilities and tiers for the gamification part of it.

Kyleran

Slapshot1188 said:

KnightFalz said:

I highly doubt that those working on the nuts and bolts of the game also spend their time working on marketing campaigns or in crafting game lore.

Caspien himself has repeatedly stated he was working on various parts of this “event” including creating the passive, daily, instant abilities and tiers for the gamification part of it.

Yeah, but do you really see Caspian being of much value in "nuts and bolts" delivery?

Dev leads are probably happy to let him work on this stuff....keeps him busy and out of way.



I always think of the boss in "the Noob" when I read about Capians latest exploits. 

http://thenoobcomic.com/comic/440/

http://thenoobcomic.com/comic/392/

Mendel

Kyleran said:

Slapshot1188 said:

KnightFalz said:

I highly doubt that those working on the nuts and bolts of the game also spend their time working on marketing campaigns or in crafting game lore.

Caspien himself has repeatedly stated he was working on various parts of this “event” including creating the passive, daily, instant abilities and tiers for the gamification part of it.

Yeah, but do you really see Caspian being of much value in "nuts and bolts" delivery?

Dev leads are probably happy to let him work on this stuff....keeps him busy and out of way.

He could churn out a few Gantt chart updates. 

AnOldFart

From what I've read of the event (it's only a small discord post) it didn't look like a sale, the purity thingys seem to generate automatically...

Maybe I'm wrong though.

AnOldFart

Hmm thought I added a link to a jpg of the discord coments.

Ungood

Hilarious.. Gamers are all like "OMG we should have more control over the game" and then it's offered "OMG it should be Free"

Good hell, people spend 30 bucks on a game and think they should own the company.. that is what is wrong with MMO's today.

Amathe

Ungood said:

Hilarious.. Gamers are all like "OMG we should have more control over the game" and then it's offered "OMG it should be Free"

Good hell, people spend 30 bucks on a game and think they should own the company.. that is what is wrong with MMO's today.

The beauty of being a prospective customer is that you may have any expectations you like, even unreasonable ones. It's the company's responsibility to figure out how to please enough people to make a profit.

I don't, for example, eat KFC chicken because I find it too greasy. If they want my money, and the money of people like me, they will have to address that concern. At the moment, they seem content to sell greasy chicken and disregard my preferences. So they go on greasing, and I (and others like me) go on eating elsewhere. And I have zero remorse for having preferences and standards as to what I spend money on.

Slapshot1188

See below for official information.  This supercedes anything posted earlier.




I will withhold judgement until the official announcement comes but in the interest of fairness this seems better than I was led to believe.  Still seems like an awful lot of time went into this instead of being spent on the actual game, but we shall see.

Ungood

Amathe said:

Ungood said:

Hilarious.. Gamers are all like "OMG we should have more control over the game" and then it's offered "OMG it should be Free"

Good hell, people spend 30 bucks on a game and think they should own the company.. that is what is wrong with MMO's today.

The beauty of being a prospective customer is that you may have any expectations you like, even unreasonable ones. It's the company's responsibility to figure out how to please enough people to make a profit.

I don't, for example, eat KFC chicken because I find it too greasy. If they want my money, and the money of people like me, they will have to address that concern. At the moment, they seem content to sell greasy chicken and disregard my preferences. So they go on greasing, and I (and others like me) go on eating elsewhere. And I have zero remorse for having preferences and standards as to what I spend money on.

That's fine, in fact I approve this approach, just like KFC, who makes their chicken a specific way, for the people that like their chicken, and are willing to enjoy their chicken as it is made, and everyone else who does not like their chicken can go shop for chicken at some other place, game companies should also focus on making a game for the people that want to play their game as it is, and those that feel that it needs to be different for them to enjoy it, can go play something else. 

Too often too many games get ruined because they try to make placate people who simply would have been better off letting go shop elsewhere. Just like if KFC changed their chicken to make you happy, they would ruin their chicken for those that love it the way it is, and no doubt that would hurt them far more to lose all those people that were enjoying their Chicken as it was, then they would ever gain from those that set demands their chicken had to change to meet their needs.

Truth be told.. sometimes telling people "Well then.. this is not the game for you" is the best thing a game company can do, and focus on making their game, their way, for the people that enjoy it like that.

Just like KFC saying "Well then.. this is not the chicken for you"  and continues to make their chicken their way for the people that enjoy that kind of chicken.

More games need to adopt this approach of just knowing when to just let people go.

AnOldFart

Slapshot1188 said:

See below for official information.  This supercedes anything posted earlier.




I will withhold judgement until the official announcement comes but in the interest of fairness this seems better than I was led to believe.  Still seems like an awful lot of time went into this instead of being spent on the actual game, but we shall see.

Thanks seems I couldn't get it working in my phone

NeutralEvil

@ungood

    - Thanks for a productive response!

@Amathe

    - I too do not enjoy super greasy fried chicken. And all this talk of fried chicken has me getting a bit of a craving. Any suggestions?