When I see things posted about whether or not NG listens and I see people supporting the side of the debate that says NG listens I think about all the bugs that have been published over and over and over again that go on and on for months without a fix. Full tomatoes most of my time on NML along with many others and still no solution. Freeman bugs that give them an unfair advantage that benefit NG with increased hospital time. The bug with retaliation and overwatch has been around forever and from what I see no fix in sight. The grind for stars that end players asked to be addressed and finally after years of asking, the solution offered helps a little with the grind yet the solution causes one to grind for the TG lost through the solution. For me, I am sick of grinding for gear that always has the most undesirable traits and would love to see a fix for the endless combination of crappy traits or traits that paired together don't work together.
When I think about whether or not NG listens these are some of the things that come to mind.
When I see people posting about how much "New Grind" there is to get Trade Goods since they have been "cut back" so much, it amazes me to go on an outpost raid and find so many level 24-26 walkers, tanks, and armored, defending the level 20-22 survivors.
I really have to wish my Trade Goods were cut back far enough that I could waste thousands and thousands to make those upgrades. I barely get enough to keep up with the purchasing of Tokens I need. Not to mention it's been months since I had enough to even buy the 12.5k items.
I use most of Monday and half of Tuesday just doing raids to try to restock for the week of Challenge days. How do people have the Trade Goods to make those collectibles? Are they the ones spending thousands in the store to buy them? Are they running some sort of Bot that does raids 24/7?
I am not trying to be an ass, or belittle anyone! I seriously am at a loss to understand how people can have the Trade Good resources to throw that much into the 'Pit'. The cost to keep upgrading walkers vs the reward for doing so, seems a truly ghastly situation. Am I really missing something in the game that allows for that much in weekly Trade Good income?
*Edited to add a supporting image. right after posting this I went back in to make a Outpost Raid. This is the 5th different outpost within the last hour of raids mind you.
Here's what I find immediately after my post:
Descensus in cuniculi cavum Vir prudens non contra ventum mingit Concordia
I believe that NG is listening and obviously @Kaz must pass on a fair amount of suggestions on. The sheer volume means that not everything can make it into the game, I can't say much for every suggestion made but a few that I have noticed have made it into the game. I asked for older challenge map sets and a little while later we had the graveyard challenge (sorry!). I also suggested an epic reckonin'/dixie BBQ in the trade store and that appeared a little while later. I remember reading a post asking for some ruthless armour being available for $£ and whilst I personally didn't buy it, I saw a ruthless armour bundle in the shop.
Subtle things, but they're there if you look for them.
@ShadowaceAz I am one of those you speak of regarding lvl 26 tanks, armored and normal walkers in outpost. Before NG did the nerf on the TG's (limiting how much you earn in challenges) I was earning some 30K+ a challenge. Plus I would actually play outposts. It was easy in a weekend with an hour of dedication to play some outposts, bang out challenges and be up 50K TG's.
At one point I was over 300K TG's, with nothing to spend them on. So I decided to spend some on outpost walkers for the mere fact that I had so many.
Since then, the number of rounds in the challenge is less and the TG's earned is less so in hindsight it's not the best investment.
| OG | NOC | USA | UK | CA | CQR | UC | RAD | ZEN |
@Shut_Up I agree with what you said.
But I think NG will listen this weekend.
They will go into their way back machine to the time jackpot was voted on by the masses.
Is anyone listening to these people? It’s insane trying to keep my outpost at the platinum level. My camp is getting robbed of twice what I can get from any raid that I do and I’m having to fight lvl 22, 23, and 24 survivors with lvl 26 walkers. WTH? Better concentrate on keeping your players and listening to them. I used to love playing this game, now I’m just feel used.
Is anyone listening to these people? It’s insane trying to keep my outpost at the platinum level. My camp is getting robbed of twice what I can get from any raid that I do and I’m having to fight lvl 22, 23, and 24 survivors with lvl 26 walkers. WTH? Better concentrate on keeping your players and listening to them. I used to love playing this game, now I’m just feel used.
This is surprising, I'm at Platinum (III) level and barely get 1 attack a day - usually robbing me of very little. Maybe this has something to do with not upgrading my walkers (at all) making me a less valuable target?
This is surprising, I'm at Platinum (III) level and barely get 1 attack a day - usually robbing me of very little. Maybe this has something to do with not upgrading my walkers (at all) making me a less valuable target?
I noticed when I don't play outposts I don't get attacked that often. When I do play outposts I get attacked frequently
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Like most folks, for me it's the grind and the reduced rewards that have me on the edge. The Ultimate Challenge was a great concept and the trial runs were overwhelmingly well received. What wasn't to like? Round passes every three rounds, and double guild rewards.....Awesome right? I could live with the reduced rewards and just do raids on Mon and Tue, but for the love of god, please put the back the the 3-round Round Passes.
I'm not a huge spender, but I do spend every now and again. I've been teetering on the jagged edge of just uninstalling and being done for about a month now. I spend way too much time and effort trying to make minimum required stars for my guild, getting crap in gold crates, not enough tomatoes, not enough crates, and the list goes on. What's even the point anymore. My frustration with this game is maxed out.
And don't even get me started on radio phones. UGH!!
Here is how another company may have chosen to respond to this thread:
" Thanks for your feedback here in this thread, and we wanted to respond to what we heard here. We are extremely disappointed with what has happened in terms of the number of players leaving this game over the last year or so. These results are both embarrassing and unacceptable to us. Frankly, as a company, we have let our focus on our financial bottom line cause us to drop the ball in terms of customer satisfaction. And that has resulted in us losing our most valuable commodity, our players, at rates that are appalling to us. Losing one player is bad enough. The rate we are losing players recently has sent us a clear message that we need to change.
Our commitment to you is that we will undertake a project over the next 30 days to improve player satisfaction, and hopefully reverse the exodus of players leaving this game. The action steps for this project include:
* Reaching out and conducting interviews with current and former players to better understand the reasons why people are unhappy with elements of this game, and to better understand why former players decided to quit this game. * Creating an action plan to begin to address the issues that we uncover with these interviews. * Communicating the results of our interviews and our action plan going forward with the player community.
As you know, our business model has been to develop a freemium game. Our livelihood depends upon making money with this model. That said, we need to do a better job of monetizing this game without alienating our most valuable resource, our customers. We do have other games in our development pipeline, so we have a need to balance our investments here with those games going forward. Change might not occur as quickly as any of us like, but the most important thing we realize that in order to improve things here we do need to make changes.
Our commitment to you is to take a fresh look at our player satisfaction and player retention problem with this game. For a few weeks, we will put aside our gameplay analytical data and spend the next few weeks interacting and discussing issues with our individual players, past and present. Hopefully, this fresh look will result in a plan that will energize our great player community once again and hopefully bring some of our departed players back to this game.
Please feel free to continue to give us feedback here, and also feel free to also give us a proverbial kick in the pants when you see us going astray. We've screwed up, and we want to regain your trust. We need to both listen and more importantly, take continual actions to respond to your feedback. Our desire is that you will see positive change with this project, and we believe our company's bottom line will improve along with it."
I know you have to defend the company and all, but you can not twist the numbers and say it looks promising. Stock is at an all time low for company nothing promising about that. Players like myself who spent leaving there is nothing promising about that, players not spending there is no positive spin about that.
The game simple was ruined for me by the mass amounts greed. I have stated it before the game isn't unique. It isn't different. Its the same thing over and over again, but most players play for their guild and friends. That being said decreasing rewards, decreasing bundle totals(while increasing price) running out a Council upgrade, failure to please the vast majority are all reasons the company is failing.
I think it is so ironic how you and I predicted this and now its come to light. The fact I was so quickly dismissed by NG when I posted my concerns makes me laugh pretty hard now. Gosh only if someone with the education and background in business could have predicted this.... Only if right seeing as you and I did predict this and I would love to find the initial thread and secondary thread to bump them.
To all: The original post hit it head on. Why would players invest heavily into any new NG product when vast majority of players have distaste. I know I have no desire to invest or play any new NG game or even play NML again. They burnt that bridge... But kudos to the team for staying with them. The ship will eventually sink and hopefully they have fall back plans.
@Shteevie Going back to my post from months ago. When I predicted this I was assured that wasn't the case, but it seems now that the stock is dropping faster than Cosby's dates. I just wanted to point out I was right. I will continue to be right unless a major underhaul is done
While frustrated from struggling with unsolved NML connection issues on a G5 network a week back I tried finding solutions via google search. No help but did stumble over this financial loss announcement
BRIEF-Next Games Q1 EBITDA Swings To Loss Of EUR 3.4 Million https://reut.rs/2Flezqy
If game problems never get addressed players will give up and move on. Its sad because it used to be fun and worth the time spent.
Thanks @Kaz. A radio phone drop event this weekend will distract me from any pessimism I may develop from the financial reports.
I am no longer pessimistic! However, my optimism is dampened by the loss of radios compared to previous radio phone drop events. I guess I should have been more clear when I suggested a radio phone drop event.
Good Sir the loss of radios is because they are striving to push or force you to buy them. @Kaz has said numerous times in forums that Radios are the most impactful resource. It is no wonder that NG keeps nerfing the Radios, but the problem is they push away customers that were spending to buy the bundles previously. Now they are pushing away players who bought gas or xp booster. There goal was to nerf shit so bad that they had hoped we would spend more, but instead they are losing. Their business strategy is beyond frustrating. Their logic is greed and its failing them. While back if you remember I noted that bundles were getting a little better after they massively nerfed them. This past double hero token I logged in and bundles were still a little better than last but not on pace of the first event. Ironically to me if you look at the Double Token events and the Quarter sales you can see the drop. First Call was last quarter 2017 sales were amazing bundles were good. First quarter 2018 sales dropped so greatly and bundles were pure trash for the event and everyday.
@nadecir You said the key word. TRUST get the trust of your clients and the business will come naturally. Customers will come to you when they have the need and they also will do the best marketing campaign for you. That's why we take our costumer out on dinners, drinks, Symposiums, soccer games.... Is not because we sales people want to hang out with them, no, we are trying to build a relationship, you cannot do that if there isn't trust.
Everyone knows already I'm terrible with analogies.. Like literally.. But I'll try...
I understand when I go to the supermarket (especially on weekends) they have staff there that will give out free samples of various foods with anticipation that you'll buy it. Free small sample. If you enjoy the product you pay for a box you can bring home and eat it when you want.
This is a normal business practice... One that has proven to work.
Now suppose you buy that box of snacks or whatever and 3 weeks later the packaging (or quantity) within the box is smaller but the price is the same. You might still purchase that product because it gave you enjoyment so you overlook the fact that the product is smaller.
Another 3 weeks go by and again the packaging (quantity) within the box has gotten smaller again, but this time the price has gone up. You can blame it on the product no longer being in season or the conversion rate from american dollar to whatever currency used is to blame on the increase costs and smaller quantity. You may overlook this because you really still enjoy the product.
Then another 3 weeks go by and you notice the store isn't replenishing the stock of said product. The price of the product has gone up again but this time it's double. The store tells you that it's in "high demand" and is why the price has increased (although you think it's just a tactic companies use sometimes to adjust the quantity of said product to increase it's demand by having less supply and thus raising prices). Would you still consider buying this product?
After months and months of this back and forth with this product you decide to try a different product. I mean in all reality every weekend there is another staff member giving out free samples of their product. Maybe it's time to try a different product...
Ok bad example? Let's try one more...
There's 2 women you are in love with.
The first one you have had a 5 year relationship with. You have had ups and downs, someone cheated on the other one, you have baggage with each other.
The second one you have met a handful of times and have gone on a few dates. You don't know much about eachother but you are both interested in learning about each other.
Which one do you think will be more successful? The one that has had a proven bad relationship or the one where there is still some unknown.
DLich's done rambling now.
| OG | NOC | USA | UK | CA | CQR | UC | RAD | ZEN |
I have read this type response (from @Kaz) more than once from NG: "For a 3-year-old game based on a franchise that isn't so popular as it was before (but still huge!), we are doing pretty well if compared with the industry standards " This is a rationalization for mediocre performance if I ever heard one. This game has many, many advantages compared to an industry standard game. This game should be in the top 1% of revenue and player retention of all games. Anything less is unacceptable, IMHO. Hold yourselves to higher standards, NG.
So you are the CEO and CFO of NG, a public company with very visible quarterly results. You have one game to produce revenue. For now, there is no other option but to squeeze whatever players you have for every cent you can get from this game. So you reduce the availability of valuable commodities (radios, fragments, etc.), add crappy traits to weapons, and keep a challenge system that forces players to grind in the hope that players will purchase these commodities. You rely on customer manipulation and deception to help drive sales. It costs the company in terms of players leaving the game, but so be it. You reduce investment in the game to boot, because you are counting on loyal customers to just hang around with their guild friends and spend more money. All in the hope that you can milk the loyal players remaining in this game and make your quarterly numbers look reasonable.
It's a short-sighted, poor long-term business practice. And the market is telling them such. But I have my doubts NG changes their tune unless management changes. I know NG investors and potential investors read this board, along with NG employees. I would hope that these folks might see the light of day, exert their influence and force some changes, but so far I have not seen it.
This game and company could be so much more if the policies of "another company" would be the guiding light. There are many players here with great ideas that understand this game needs to grow and also make money. It would behoove NG to engage them to their fullest.
FWIW, maintaining such revenues is becoming generally more difficult - phone makers have made it easier for people to turn off notifications (a big factor in player engagement, especially if lapsed) and generally speaking people are installing less Apps on their devices.
Especially for older games, retention is becoming ever more difficult.
Some of the problems I have with this game is that NG always nerfs something.
I started playing the game in 2015, I found survivors and gear with the best traits after searching for sometime so what does NG do, nerf the traits or the survivor class.
Then NG introduces new traits on survivors/gear & makes it almost impossible to find the best traits unless you spend money to obtain the set of traits you want.
So you spend some money to stay some what competitive then NG nerfs the traits or does a new upgrade that forces you to buy new gear that you know will be obsolete in a few months instead of giving you a free or lower cost option to upgrade.
NG always tries to max their revenue instead of making things more affordable, if gear, phones or other bundle prices were reasonable and retain their value more people would buy them.
NG customer satisfaction and revenue goes up, a win win for all.
Do you love the game itself or the ideology of what the game represents?
Often times abused partners mistake the true meaning of love. They will often stay with their abusers because of what they believe is love. As an ex smoker, I never "loved" smoking cigarettes. But there I would be every 2 hours outside for a few minutes puffing my life away.
I had an addiction. I was used to the repetition of the event. A reason to take a short break at work for a few minutes (non smokers often don't get the same "get up and go outside" ability as smokers do) every few hours. Driving to work. Driving home from work. After a meal. After other physical activities.
It becomes a part of your everyday life activities. There's even friends you made while standing outside smoking.
Then you quit smoking...
The car rides to and from work feel different. You no longer see your smoking friends outside. You now no longer have an excuse to get out of doing work for a few minutes. You eat your meals and feel the indifference afterwards.
I'm losing my thoughts here. I think my TLDR (I'll bold it down here for @Bill_ZRT ) is that don't confuse "love" for repetition and stay for the wrong reasons.
#DLichGetsDeep
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Hey @Kaz heres an easy one for you. What happened to Double Tap? What was it designed to do? I only ask cuz it sounded cool.
I keep hearing NG listens to its players. Its $$. Its player$$
If.... ifff NG had listened to its free brainstorming team (this forum) they would be swimmin in the $$$. I like to support my games and the company that makes those games so they can further produce the games I enjoy playing, but this game, this company lost my trust by nerfing not only traits but nerfing paid for items and not realizing the potential for making more $$ by letting weapons and gear become obsolete.
Some people never learn and NG is a perfect example of it.
My only hope is for new management.
I've been wanting to spend $$ on this game for awhile but NG has done nothing to regain my trust. In fact, they have widened the gap with every horrible decision they put forth in NML.
How many post complaints does it take to fix a game that is apparently broke? I lead one of the most successful guilds in the game(I said ONE of the most ) I have seen such a downfall in player satisfaction, and am just overall disappointed where this is heading. Whatever you are doing currently isn't working, I don't plan to play the new game. You still have a fan base here, and obviously this is your money maker to fund that game. Wouldn't you keep one boat afloat before you tested out a new one?
Comments
When I think about whether or not NG listens these are some of the things that come to mind.
I really have to wish my Trade Goods were cut back far enough that I could waste thousands and thousands to make those upgrades. I barely get enough to keep up with the purchasing of Tokens I need. Not to mention it's been months since I had enough to even buy the 12.5k items.
I use most of Monday and half of Tuesday just doing raids to try to restock for the week of Challenge days. How do people have the Trade Goods to make those collectibles? Are they the ones spending thousands in the store to buy them? Are they running some sort of Bot that does raids 24/7?
I am not trying to be an ass, or belittle anyone! I seriously am at a loss to understand how people can have the Trade Good resources to throw that much into the 'Pit'. The cost to keep upgrading walkers vs the reward for doing so, seems a truly ghastly situation. Am I really missing something in the game that allows for that much in weekly Trade Good income?
*Edited to add a supporting image.
right after posting this I went back in to make a Outpost Raid. This is the 5th different outpost within the last hour of raids mind you.
Here's what I find immediately after my post:
Vir prudens non contra ventum mingit
Concordia
Subtle things, but they're there if you look for them.
forums.nextgames.com/walkingdead/discussion/40263/wild-walking-is-actively-seeking-new-members
At one point I was over 300K TG's, with nothing to spend them on. So I decided to spend some on outpost walkers for the mere fact that I had so many.
Since then, the number of rounds in the challenge is less and the TG's earned is less so in hindsight it's not the best investment.
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Freemium... the "mium" is latin for 'not really'
But I think NG will listen this weekend.
They will go into their way back machine to the time jackpot was voted on by the masses.
Better concentrate on keeping your players and listening to them. I used to love playing this game, now I’m just feel used.
MAVERICK'S 1 Million Star Club | OG | USA | NOC
Analyze This with ALF4reals | v1 | v2 | v3 |
| My YouTube Videos | My 1st Interview | Best Analogy Award!! |
Freemium... the "mium" is latin for 'not really'
I'm not a huge spender, but I do spend every now and again. I've been teetering on the jagged edge of just uninstalling and being done for about a month now. I spend way too much time and effort trying to make minimum required stars for my guild, getting crap in gold crates, not enough tomatoes, not enough crates, and the list goes on. What's even the point anymore. My frustration with this game is maxed out.
And don't even get me started on radio phones. UGH!!
" Thanks for your feedback here in this thread, and we wanted to respond to what we heard here. We are extremely disappointed with what has happened in terms of the number of players leaving this game over the last year or so. These results are both embarrassing and unacceptable to us. Frankly, as a company, we have let our focus on our financial bottom line cause us to drop the ball in terms of customer satisfaction. And that has resulted in us losing our most valuable commodity, our players, at rates that are appalling to us. Losing one player is bad enough. The rate we are losing players recently has sent us a clear message that we need to change.
Our commitment to you is that we will undertake a project over the next 30 days to improve player satisfaction, and hopefully reverse the exodus of players leaving this game. The action steps for this project include:
* Reaching out and conducting interviews with current and former players to better understand the reasons why people are unhappy with elements of this game, and to better understand why former players decided to quit this game.
* Creating an action plan to begin to address the issues that we uncover with these interviews.
* Communicating the results of our interviews and our action plan going forward with the player community.
As you know, our business model has been to develop a freemium game. Our livelihood depends upon making money with this model. That said, we need to do a better job of monetizing this game without alienating our most valuable resource, our customers. We do have other games in our development pipeline, so we have a need to balance our investments here with those games going forward. Change might not occur as quickly as any of us like, but the most important thing we realize that in order to improve things here we do need to make changes.
Our commitment to you is to take a fresh look at our player satisfaction and player retention problem with this game. For a few weeks, we will put aside our gameplay analytical data and spend the next few weeks interacting and discussing issues with our individual players, past and present. Hopefully, this fresh look will result in a plan that will energize our great player community once again and hopefully bring some of our departed players back to this game.
Please feel free to continue to give us feedback here, and also feel free to also give us a proverbial kick in the pants when you see us going astray. We've screwed up, and we want to regain your trust. We need to both listen and more importantly, take continual actions to respond to your feedback. Our desire is that you will see positive change with this project, and we believe our company's bottom line will improve along with it."
I know you have to defend the company and all, but you can not twist the numbers and say it looks promising. Stock is at an all time low for company nothing promising about that. Players like myself who spent leaving there is nothing promising about that, players not spending there is no positive spin about that.
The game simple was ruined for me by the mass amounts greed. I have stated it before the game isn't unique. It isn't different. Its the same thing over and over again, but most players play for their guild and friends. That being said decreasing rewards, decreasing bundle totals(while increasing price) running out a Council upgrade, failure to please the vast majority are all reasons the company is failing.
@Cronus
I think it is so ironic how you and I predicted this and now its come to light. The fact I was so quickly dismissed by NG when I posted my concerns makes me laugh pretty hard now. Gosh only if someone with the education and background in business could have predicted this.... Only if right seeing as you and I did predict this and I would love to find the initial thread and secondary thread to bump them.
To all:
The original post hit it head on. Why would players invest heavily into any new NG product when vast majority of players have distaste. I know I have no desire to invest or play any new NG game or even play NML again. They burnt that bridge... But kudos to the team for staying with them. The ship will eventually sink and hopefully they have fall back plans.
@Shteevie
Going back to my post from months ago. When I predicted this I was assured that wasn't the case, but it seems now that the stock is dropping faster than Cosby's dates. I just wanted to point out I was right. I will continue to be right unless a major underhaul is done
Back to Life Peace out ladies and gents
BRIEF-Next Games Q1 EBITDA Swings To Loss Of EUR 3.4 Million https://reut.rs/2Flezqy
If game problems never get addressed players will give up and move on. Its sad because it used to be fun and worth the time spent.
Good Sir the loss of radios is because they are striving to push or force you to buy them. @Kaz has said numerous times in forums that Radios are the most impactful resource. It is no wonder that NG keeps nerfing the Radios, but the problem is they push away customers that were spending to buy the bundles previously. Now they are pushing away players who bought gas or xp booster. There goal was to nerf shit so bad that they had hoped we would spend more, but instead they are losing. Their business strategy is beyond frustrating. Their logic is greed and its failing them. While back if you remember I noted that bundles were getting a little better after they massively nerfed them. This past double hero token I logged in and bundles were still a little better than last but not on pace of the first event. Ironically to me if you look at the Double Token events and the Quarter sales you can see the drop. First Call was last quarter 2017 sales were amazing bundles were good. First quarter 2018 sales dropped so greatly and bundles were pure trash for the event and everyday.
Yet NG doesn't understand or get their consumers.
If only such a place existed
MAVERICK'S 1 Million Star Club | OG | USA | NOC
Analyze This with ALF4reals | v1 | v2 | v3 |
| My YouTube Videos | My 1st Interview | Best Analogy Award!! |
Freemium... the "mium" is latin for 'not really'
I understand when I go to the supermarket (especially on weekends) they have staff there that will give out free samples of various foods with anticipation that you'll buy it. Free small sample. If you enjoy the product you pay for a box you can bring home and eat it when you want.
This is a normal business practice... One that has proven to work.
Now suppose you buy that box of snacks or whatever and 3 weeks later the packaging (or quantity) within the box is smaller but the price is the same. You might still purchase that product because it gave you enjoyment so you overlook the fact that the product is smaller.
Another 3 weeks go by and again the packaging (quantity) within the box has gotten smaller again, but this time the price has gone up. You can blame it on the product no longer being in season or the conversion rate from american dollar to whatever currency used is to blame on the increase costs and smaller quantity. You may overlook this because you really still enjoy the product.
Then another 3 weeks go by and you notice the store isn't replenishing the stock of said product. The price of the product has gone up again but this time it's double. The store tells you that it's in "high demand" and is why the price has increased (although you think it's just a tactic companies use sometimes to adjust the quantity of said product to increase it's demand by having less supply and thus raising prices). Would you still consider buying this product?
After months and months of this back and forth with this product you decide to try a different product. I mean in all reality every weekend there is another staff member giving out free samples of their product. Maybe it's time to try a different product...
Ok bad example? Let's try one more...
There's 2 women you are in love with.
The first one you have had a 5 year relationship with. You have had ups and downs, someone cheated on the other one, you have baggage with each other.
The second one you have met a handful of times and have gone on a few dates. You don't know much about eachother but you are both interested in learning about each other.
Which one do you think will be more successful? The one that has had a proven bad relationship or the one where there is still some unknown.
DLich's done rambling now.
MAVERICK'S 1 Million Star Club | OG | USA | NOC
Analyze This with ALF4reals | v1 | v2 | v3 |
| My YouTube Videos | My 1st Interview | Best Analogy Award!! |
Freemium... the "mium" is latin for 'not really'
So you are the CEO and CFO of NG, a public company with very visible quarterly results. You have one game to produce revenue. For now, there is no other option but to squeeze whatever players you have for every cent you can get from this game. So you reduce the availability of valuable commodities (radios, fragments, etc.), add crappy traits to weapons, and keep a challenge system that forces players to grind in the hope that players will purchase these commodities. You rely on customer manipulation and deception to help drive sales. It costs the company in terms of players leaving the game, but so be it. You reduce investment in the game to boot, because you are counting on loyal customers to just hang around with their guild friends and spend more money. All in the hope that you can milk the loyal players remaining in this game and make your quarterly numbers look reasonable.
It's a short-sighted, poor long-term business practice. And the market is telling them such. But I have my doubts NG changes their tune unless management changes. I know NG investors and potential investors read this board, along with NG employees. I would hope that these folks might see the light of day, exert their influence and force some changes, but so far I have not seen it.
This game and company could be so much more if the policies of "another company" would be the guiding light. There are many players here with great ideas that understand this game needs to grow and also make money. It would behoove NG to engage them to their fullest.
Especially for older games, retention is becoming ever more difficult.
I started playing the game in 2015, I found survivors and gear with the best traits after searching for sometime so what does NG do, nerf the traits or the survivor class.
Then NG introduces new traits on survivors/gear & makes it almost impossible to find the best traits unless you spend money to obtain the set of traits you want.
So you spend some money to stay some what competitive then NG nerfs the traits or does a new upgrade that forces you to buy new gear that you know will be obsolete in a few months instead of giving you a free or lower cost option to upgrade.
NG always tries to max their revenue instead of making things more affordable, if gear, phones or other bundle prices were reasonable and retain their value more people would buy them.
NG customer satisfaction and revenue goes up, a win win for all.
Vir prudens non contra ventum mingit
Concordia
Often times abused partners mistake the true meaning of love. They will often stay with their abusers because of what they believe is love. As an ex smoker, I never "loved" smoking cigarettes. But there I would be every 2 hours outside for a few minutes puffing my life away.
I had an addiction. I was used to the repetition of the event. A reason to take a short break at work for a few minutes (non smokers often don't get the same "get up and go outside" ability as smokers do) every few hours. Driving to work. Driving home from work. After a meal. After other physical activities.
It becomes a part of your everyday life activities. There's even friends you made while standing outside smoking.
Then you quit smoking...
The car rides to and from work feel different. You no longer see your smoking friends outside. You now no longer have an excuse to get out of doing work for a few minutes. You eat your meals and feel the indifference afterwards.
I'm losing my thoughts here. I think my TLDR (I'll bold it down here for @Bill_ZRT ) is that don't confuse "love" for repetition and stay for the wrong reasons.
#DLichGetsDeep
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Freemium... the "mium" is latin for 'not really'
I keep hearing NG listens to its players. Its $$. Its player$$
If.... ifff NG had listened to its free brainstorming team (this forum) they would be swimmin in the $$$. I like to support my games and the company that makes those games so they can further produce the games I enjoy playing, but this game, this company lost my trust by nerfing not only traits but nerfing paid for items and not realizing the potential for making more $$ by letting weapons and gear become obsolete.
Some people never learn and NG is a perfect example of it.
My only hope is for new management.
I've been wanting to spend $$ on this game for awhile but NG has done nothing to regain my trust. In fact, they have widened the gap with every horrible decision they put forth in NML.
Vir prudens non contra ventum mingit
Concordia
What specifically do you enjoy about the game itself? Not using people or guildmates what makes this game so great to you?
why I dipped out completely. Money is better spent on loose women and booze