An incentive to attract new players.

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Winterweaver, May 29, 2020.

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  1. Winterweaver

    Winterweaver Avatar

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    Walking the mini-map and towns, I can't help but notice the 'roaring' emptiness. I can't use the word bustling streets, because only on rare occasions do I see players in SotA.

    I have no clues how game policy and monetary rules internally set criteria to attract new players, but I know a few tricks I used when I ran a business for 30 years, that at least could offer newcomers (as well temporary and present player pool) ... an incentive to settle instead of just for a short while investigate game mechanics.

    * Keep price cheaper than 'competitors'.

    * Deliver quality. As for this in my perspective - no need to suggest anything here, because I find the quality high.

    -

    Personally I find the prices in crown shop too high. And maybe so high that it 'scares' newcomers from investing in the game, settling and home building.

    High price on a single item secures a high income on that item, but a low enough price secures most probable a higher income on more items in the end - people will buy more and exceed the present income.
    I see this time after time. A low price on individual items won't return much profit on the single item, but the sales will probably return a higher total because of increased revenue - since much more will be sold (if cheap enough).

    Also lower prices may be an incentive to buy 'luxuries'.

    My suggestions, from personal experiences, observations and price policy:

    Over a period of three month, lower all prices - OR key items in crown shop in a three step process - so it won't hurt so much.

    First step (if not all wares), lower ... Lot deeds, house deeds and CotO's 10% - but preferably all items. This could lead to more settlements, and tempt players to stay longer.

    Second step lower ... an additional 10% this time - the above + sheer decoration items - but preferably all items.

    Third step lower an additional and final 10% - all items.

    1. Necessary items to build and settle are cheaper in the first step.
    2. Decorations follow in the second step while building 'materials' even get another 'kick' downwards.
    3. Vanity and luxury items follow, while building materials and decors get the final kick.

    Or simply lower it all 30% in one year. Three month or half a year is not enough, because players need time to find their way in here.

    And most important of it all - announce it everywhere, reviews, forums SotA homepage etc... (give people time to read about it). Some game external journalism and reviews may even do some work for you.

    To justify my thoughts: I am educated in (among other stuff) marketing. And running a Freelance business for 30 years gave me some good observations.

    Just a thought, and I won't charge anything.
     
  2. Aetrion

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    I don't think the prices of things have that much to do with the low player numbers, it's the overall value proposition of the items that has a problem when people don't see themselves playing the game for years to come. People dipping out because they aren't having fun has much more to do with the constant grind and general sense that there is nothing to play for except endless upkeep than with the price of getting invested in the game IMO.
     
  3. oplek

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    That's one way of putting it. My phrasing has been "completely and utterly insane".
     
  4. Violet Ronso

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    I agree, Prices are super high, I mean 12$ just for an armor reskin. I can cost more than 20$ to reskin a full set of armor!

    My main gripe with the crown store still lies in the packs. I don't want 3 flower pots, I want 2, so I need to buy 3, and be stuck with the extra one. And yes, I'll probably be stuck with it because if I put it on a vendor, who will want 1 single item? Most will want a larger quantity, so they will see mine, be interested, look around incase they find another one (which they won't), and then forget about mine and it will only gather dust on a vendor. If I could buy items in units instead of packs, I would spend more in the crown store.

    Now reduce some of these BONKERS prices, AND sell items in units? My god I'll spend a bunch in crown store items, 100%
     
  5. lordbane

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    Housing should be cheaper. There are many empty lots in the game so don't tell me there is an issue with space. Lower the price of land deeds, especially for the smallest lots. They will make money back from decorations that people will want to purchase. Since I cannot afford land myself I am boarding in my guild's house. I have absolutely no incentive to buy any of the cosmetic housing items in the Crown Shop.
     
  6. Bedawyn

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    I really don't think prices are the issue -- and I say that as someone who lives below the poverty line, and for whom gaming is the only non-essential thing I ever spend money on.

    Yes, it would be nice if the land prices were lower, but they could be dirt-cheap and I'd still end up kicking up myself every time I give in and spend real money on SotA. It's not the price, it's what you're getting for that price. A broken game. "Early access" to episode 2 that everyone else gets too, whether they bought it or not. "Gold candidates" that don't go to QA. Crown shop deco in a mish-mash of styles, half of which are immersion-breaking or just plain ugly and the other half of which aren't aesthetically compatible with each other. And which you can't put in containers. Subscription and login "rewards" that you'd have to pay me to use. Land on a server that I don't trust to still be here in a couple of years, because of all the bad decisions I see the company making. A server that doesn't want me to be here even if it still is, because I'm part of a player segment (solo, story-focused, immersive worldbuilding) that the company has decided doesn't matter.

    Anyone, even those who really can't afford it (or shouldn't), will spend money if they think they're getting enough of what they value for the money. But SotA doesn't deliver that, and lowering the prices won't change that. SotA, I know perfectly well that I'm pouring money down the drain. And every time I forget that for a moment and buy crowns, Portnip is quick to remind me, with another major or incomplete system released to live, another reward that has no place being in a fantasy adventure world, another comment by Chris that tells me the kind of game he wants to build isn't the kind of game I want to play.

    It's not prices, it's value. And for the long-time backers, well, the value for them is their community and the investment they've already put into it. But what's the value for newer players? Even if everything was free, there'd still be a cost in time and energy put into the game. People who feel they're getting enough value will stick around. Those who don't, won't -- regardless of the crown shop prices. Lowering the prices won't help new player retention if they're still not getting the right value for their money AND time.
     
    Last edited: May 29, 2020
  7. Violet Ronso

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    I fully agree with most of your points, but one thing I disagree is that lowering prices wont change anything. Changing prices will mean those who are always hesitating to buy something might actually do it if the prices are reasonable. Will they kick themselves for it due to the value this game has? Yes, they will, 100%, but at least they will put some money in the game. Right now, a new player starts the game, decides to stick around, gets his first lot, wants a mannequin to show off some items he picked up, and WOAH! 10$ for 1! alright, never mind the mannequin, lets buy a display table... 5$?! Where, alright, well, guess I'll go with crafted stuff because there is no way I'll manage to get a nice looking house for an affordable price...

    I mean just look at the current new items in the crown store... 5$ for a floppy beach hat, 20$ for a shogun armor set (JUST A RESKIN FOR PLATE ARMOR!), 7$ For an electric Katana! 15$ for a shopkeeper outfit! I mean the only thing I find decently priced in the new items right now is the beach towel set, but I am forced to buy 4 of em even if I only want the blue one, or the 3 packs of potted plants, but 1st of all its 3 different plants per pack, and I am forced to buy 3... So much money that is wasted every time you want to buy something nice.

    All in all, will it help player retention, no, but will it help actual spenders spending habits, yeah 100%! I can garantee you if I could buy potted plants for 75 cotos each instead of 200 for 3 plants, I would buy a bunch of different plants to decorate my house, but right now, I feel like I am wasting 33% of every purchase I do, so I don't buy them.
     
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  8. Winterweaver

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    Neither do I. That is why I used the word Incentive.
     
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  9. Winterweaver

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    Again - spot on and exactly my point.

    Again - spot on and exactly my point. Except that I didn't think that far ahead regarding selling in units and being able to enter how many units (one thing at a time :) - but yes, also that. Thank you for your constructive input!
     
  10. Winterweaver

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    And this ... Bingo! You mention 'spending habits' for existing player pool. True, this will also affect them. At least it has affected me a lot of times, preventing me from a purchase. Plants, not so much (but still, yes).
    My holding back related to light sources. If I could buy 10½ floor lamps (the ½ is my dark humor kicking in) I would instead of being stuck with somehow useless extra lamps. And yes, it has stopped me many times, from even buying just a single pack.
     
  11. Lars vonDrachental

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    You and everyone else is getting 2 deeds for free. The first (row) for completing any of the outskirts and the second (village) for completing the story…I honestly do not think that many people are interested in owning more than two deeds…and I would guess that most of the free deeds are not even used. The reason is simple there is less benefit in owning a house if you are not heavy interested in trading or entertaining people. E.g. for the random avatar there is no need to store items in their own house as the global banks are more useful for that kind of purpose. ;)

    @Topic
    I think the general problem is still…the eternity of items. Most items you can buy in the shop you will have until you sell them to someone else and this way prices have to be high as you can sell them just a limited number of times to an avatar until he has enough for the rest of his virtual life.
    I guess the in the beginning planed decay of decorations will never be implemented and this way we might have to think about other possibilities to "remove" items...e.g. by using a rebuy solution where you can sell an item to an NPC but with at least a small loss of e.g. 5%.
    Of course this might be troublesome to some trading avatars and this way the resale loss has to balanced to let the traders breath but still make the addon store an attractive option.
    This way you could buy an item…use it...and if you are bored of it you simply sell it back to the shop and can use the regained crowns for something else. This kind of slow reduction of crowns could be for the devs enough to make a living from the crown sales and also avatars could be less reserved to buy in the shop even with high prices because if they don’t like the item they could always trade it back.
    If this or some other kind of solution to make addon store items less eternal is working prices could be adjusted…but not before. E.g. they could make announcements like “Last chance to use our rebuy system and sell your used addon store swords to an NPC for the old price! Next week we will lower the prices for swords to 50% of the current price and stick with it.”
     
  12. Winterweaver

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    Very true. At some point the game is pooled with items that players sell to other players - thus; not opening for a new purchase.
    But ...

    Other game makers solve that problem by simply opening the fed up item pool with new land and housing areas.
    That removes the eternity and instead converts it to indefinitely.

    They also implement vehicles, ships and riding units to travel vast areas (which also is covered in monetary policies) - and in that sense SotA has one of the most limited and narrow options for making money.

    A constructive input - thank you.
     
    Last edited: May 29, 2020
  13. Sulaene Moon

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    I have free deeds and I would love to upgrade them for bigger lots & houses, but since doing that would cost me the same as a decent down payment on a real house I choose not to. Along with deco items costing so much as well. If deco items were more in the .99$ range I would gobble them up, but not at their current price range.
     
  14. Winterweaver

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    You not only add constructively to the debate but also prove my point - along with few others. Thank you.
     
  15. manufacturedsoul

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    Once the heritage items were introduced aka untradeable items it really rubbed me the wrong way spend big $$ on items you can't even trade. Yeah no thanks. Haven't spent a dime on a COTO since!
     
  16. Anpu

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    If you didn’t know you now can right click on Heritage items and package them. You pay a small COTO fee and then the item can be sold to anyone.
     
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  17. Winterweaver

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    Pity you don't have anything constructive to add. As I read it you bought heritage items probably and despite you knew they couldn't be traded? So why complain about it?
    And I was about to post exactly the same response as Anpu:

     
    Last edited: May 29, 2020
  18. Rook Strife

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    As far as emptiness

    There's too many Towns and Pots. Add to that, there's multiple continents for ppl to be playing on.

    Spreads the population out way too thinly


    They would need to drastically cut the amount of towns but then they'd have to reimburse all the people with pots somehow.

    Would be far more entertaining on the whole to see neighbors tending their lots, people shopping in towns, etc etc

    But people would have to make serious sacrifices


    There's also forcing people to congregate by limiting necessities to one particular city.

    You'd have one major hub in the world where you're basically guaranteed to see people
     
    Last edited: May 29, 2020
  19. Winterweaver

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    I wasn't referring to empty lots or landmasses - I was referring to the opposite of bustling streets = rarely meeting or seeing other people shopping. But you made your point.

    And sacrifices equals massive loss of player pool. This I've seen too many times. In my view it is better to open up new options instead of cutting existing ones.
     
  20. Astirian

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    This makes me sad. It's in the majority of reviews I've read about the game too. :(

    Which is even sadder. Build that game and you'd get a hell of a lot of Dragons back. I pine for the day SotA would pull a No Man's Sky. Whatever happened to Ultima VII is the bar we're aiming for?

    How many Ultima Dragons are out there?

    The WoW Killer's not going to happen, time to focus on the market you can actually reach. Darkstarr said you had to build multiplayer first. That's been built. LB said come hell or high water, we're seeing 5 episodes. So, just do it. It'll increase the 'bandwidth'. That's what we all want right?
     
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