MEDIKITS & PAY-TO-WIN ~ Narrowing the Gap
ATLAS-Z
Member Posts: 2,067
MEDIKITS & PAY-TO-WIN ~ Narrowing the Gap
((Disclaimer))
First off, I’d to make clear that I think its okay that Next Games makes some money off its players. Gotta keep the lights on, developers bellies full, rent paid, etc.
The tricky part is allowing that profit without creating an impossibly unfair gap between high paying players and lower paying players.
There will always be a gap, to some degree, and its foolish to think you can erase it Completely...
...this proposal isn't meant to erase the gap, it's just meant to narrow the gap. Make it smaller.
MEDIKITS (aka First Aid Kits)
- these will represent a new resource used exclusively to heal injured survivors / decrease hospital time.
- instead of using gold to speed heal survivors, you use Medikits
HEALING with MEDIKITS
- Light Injury ---------->> 1-kit
- Moderate Injury ---->> 2-kits
- Severe Injury -------->> 3-kits
HOW DO YOU GET MEDIKITS??
- all the usual places, post mission crates, trade store, bundle shop, etc.
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Ok, Big Guy, that's neat, but what's the point? Does this actually change gameplay dynamics in any measurable way?
-YES!!
#1) For Frugal and free players, gold is a precious commodity, one they have to hoard and use sparingly. But if you introduce a new currency/resource whose SOLE purpose is healing... Well... What's the point in hoarding that? Maybe just saving it for your favorite challenge or guild war? Yes!!
It's much like having a $20 Amazon gift card in one hand and a $20 bill cash in the other hand... They both have the same value, but which one is a frugal player most likely to spend shopping online? The gift card.
#2) Big Whale spenders will still be able save time and spend money by using cash to buy Medikits. BUT... by separating gold from healing, Next Games wizards can choose to limit Medikits bundles to one per day, or two, or whatever.
Alternately, they could handle them like hero tokens in the trade store... The first kit on each restock can be purchased with trade goods, and the next with gold, then a bit more gold, etc.
The point here is it adds a useful measure of control into NGs toolbox, one that can be used to moderate the gap between FTP and PTW.
#3) And in the long run... in reality, no, its not a big change. For the most part, for most of us... not much changes in the overall gameplay. The basic integrity and economy of the game is maintained.
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((FINAL NOTE - If you like this, comment. NGs has a lot on their table, and the only way this becomes a priority is if we, the players, keep it in the spotlight. That means you, and that means comments. Thank you!!))
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Probably some giant flaw somewhere im missing?
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With each of these items we'd add, we'd have to consider lots of implications to the game. Here are a few:
- Inventory: We'd need to be able to show the player how many of these items they had whenever they wanted to know. Maybe a player would be hesitant to even play a mission above their level unless they knew that had Med-kits ready to use, so it's not enough to just show them in the place where they would be spent. This means more counters and bars at the top of the screen, or another inventory screen somewhere to show them all. The second idea, as was implemented for Components, was not universally well-received, and it would be great to go back and address some of those concerns.
- Drop Rates: By adding things to the drop tables, we'd have to reduce the chances that everything else would drop. I'm not sure players would be interested in getting less gold, phones, components, or legendary equipment from missions. We could of course only remove the chances from the 1-3 star equipment, but that leads me to my next point:
- Business sense: Unless we have some need from the game's performance to indicate that the healing time mechanic is causing players to quit, or to refuse to consider purchases, it's hard to make a case that this change would improve any of the player experiences as we see them in the data. Of course players will say that they would love to see this change, but likely these players are the same that say they spend all the time they can playing already. The larger portion of players never play missions that they are not guaranteed to win, and so a change to the healing mechanics wouldn't impact their gameplay at all - aside from giving them another currency to track, learn about, and general complexity added to the game.
- Business sense, part II: As the makers of the game, we'd much rather see players develop more top-level characters, try out different game modes, or use different team combinations. That is part of the reason that the Hospital mechanic exists. The last year or so of development with the Distance, new traits and heroes, and now Guild Wars all points in that direction. This mechanic would seem to work in an opposing direction, so we'd have to be very wary in its execution.
- Opportunity Cost: As with all features [including all those I have on my wishlist], we always have to ask if there isn't something else that would make a bigger splash that we could work on instead. Just to name some things that have been under the bar in the past, I would think that Trait Rerolls or addressing the max Weapon Level mechanic are ideas that would get a lot of support from the community, and I hope to get back to those ideas after Guild Wars is launched and working well.
None of the above is to say that this is a bad idea. We've tossed around similar ideas as a group before, and they often fall into that category of "If we had infinite time...". I appreciate the thought and creativity that went into this [even with screen mockups! Really, great job with those], and hopefully my response above makes sense. I love the feeling of caring and inventiveness that this submission and many of the others in the Suggestions section represent. Maybe this set of thoughts can help shape your next idea suggestion? Keep 'em coming!
Please note: Development is a fluid process, and suggestions and implementation take time and iteration. Any discussion of future features, deadlines, updates, balance changes, and such should be considered prospective and subject to change.
I really want to thank you for taking the time for your lengthy in depth feedback. I know you're a busy guy and it means a lot.
There's a lot in your response I'd like to reply to, but it could get a bit muddled and wordy, so I gotta think on it for a while.
The one point I will make now is this:
-The idea behind the idea, is closing the gap between pay to win players and free to play players. And this IS something that has many many players frustrated, and it's been brought up time and time again. And I don't think it's been much addressed directly by Next Staff. Not really anyway.
Things like badge removal, building upgrades, etc all take gold, it's true, but a free player can exercise patience and wait.
If you wait for your players to heal in challenges, however, the challenge is only a finite time and it ends. Patience = You lose when paired against anyone willing to spend more money/gold than you.
The splashy things, we want them, definitely! But at the end of the day, sooner or later everyone realizes that no matter how much time and effort you spend at grinding away, finding the perfect survivors, gear, badges, etc.... And no matter how much skill, tactics and strategy you master... You will never be able to compete against someone else with a bigger bank account. Never.
That's a problem my friend.
I'm just trying to help.
Like I said, I'll keep thinking on it, my brain never stops ;-)
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And this IS precisely the point I'm trying to make, since most weeks I'm one of those players. @TransmuteJun mentioned it in another thread. But for most of us we would push further if it didn't mean quickly depleting a valuable resource used in nearly every other aspect of the game. Our gold is precious, so flitting it away to push higher in a challenge isn't practical or attractive at all.
You find a way to address this, and you'll narrow that gap that keeps getting wider and wider with each update.
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100% agree. @Shteevie
And from my experience play testing, when we had a gazillion gold to heal Willy nilly however we pleased, I did exactly that. Tried new teams and strategies because if it failed badly, no problem... Heal right up and off you go trying again.
I loved that. Miss it. :-/
(Jss?)
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i support medkits/reduced healing times have for a long time.(well reduced healing for a long time). I think its a well thought out idea props to u! However the pay to win is in every game and i think ng deserves some credit, distance free stuff, 30 gas for tg etc. If no one bought anything the game wouldnt exist or at the least wouldnt have any updates new content..
secondly ng makes alot of $$ from healing so to take that away they would need to get revenue somewhere else.... i would like to see along with ur medkits a healing booster just like theres a gas and exp booster. a conversation from only 1 side is not productive....
yes i praised NG, i must not be feeling well, also am really not trying to attack u.
anyway hope what i posted makes sense.
And if you review the entirety of the proposal again, you'll see that it doesn't limit revenue at all unless NGs decides to limit daily Medipack purchases. It merely gives them options to do so.
The number one draw, is it gives all players a tool to heal with a resource that has no other purpose, and as such encourages deeper play. Even for players who might not otherwise push.
Spenders can keep on spending.
Frugal savers keep on saving.
It's a win win, only down side, as @Shteevie alluded, is that it takes programmer time/man hours to implement. But I think it's worth it and needed.
If not this, then something else. But it needs addressed badly.
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Just thinking.. What if we have got "training mode" possibility for each type of mission:
- gas cost is halved (or less)
- all heros/survivors can be used regardless hospital situation
- no rewards for the mission (no XP for kills, no after-mission crates, etc.)
It would be really good for testing different team setup without risking many hours hospital time...
And guild wars???!!! Woohoo!
But once the dust settles, high paying players still sitting comfortable at top of every Leaderboard. What's the point with that?
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