Do I dare disturb the universe?

Hey all,

Anyone who was following my thread titled "Do I dare disturb the universe?" it was merged here:

It was not explained to me why the thread was merged, and my imagination is failing me, as I can't guess what my thread has to do with this one.

 

I couldn't understand it either. In fact I wasn't even watching this other thread, and I got ambushed through your thread... lol

 

Hrrmmm, where is Time Lord with his wisdom when we need him!

 

YOU KNOW... say... whenever superman is around... nah!

 

I'm sure he'll be here right now.

 

Is somebody talking about me or the other guy. Hahahahahahah

 

We were talking about the other timelord I think. I think you are the other guy.

 

Time Lord Smith?

 

I smashed some of your quotes together to keep the focus on your economic concern. (please note that I did not take them out of context to change the meaning of what you were saying)

I think these are valid concerns, I hightlighted in yellow the area that stuck out to me the most. Who are you competing with exactly? Was your goal to be the Sam Walton of New Britannia? I'm not sure if I understand the problem. Look, I'm not a crafter. I'm probaly going to buy stuff from people that I like a lot and who can provide me with good roleplaying and good quality items. I'll pay extra for that if it's done well. So there are going to be a lot of "little guys" that will be able to get my business without a house or an expert crafting table or anything else that the LOTM super crafter might attempt to lure me to purchase.

Does it mean that I'm a big deal and I represent the entire economy? Of course not...I'm probably not going to spend a lot of time buying stuff either. But there will be plenty of other people out there looking for the same type of experience that I'm looking for (fun believable roleplaying). That doesn't cost a dime...ok, maybe it costs a minimum of $25 to get an account, but no house or pledge reward can change that. You want to be a crafter? Pay $25 and have fun!

I'm sorry to see you go. I hope you decide to show up in game at launch and craft to your hearts content. I'd also be happy if you would stop by my wizard tower (please let me know ahead of time so I can remove all the traps) and show me what you have for sale.

 

Hmmm. You saying I'm some kind of fake! some kind of guy behind the guy. Afraid to show my face. Hmmm. well maybe.

Now about that other guy.... do I call him friend of yours... friend of ours.... ???

 

The idea is to be competing with the front-runners in my market niche. For example in EQ2 I practiced Carpentry and was the top Carpenter on my server for a good long while after launch. Because I was the top Carpenter, I was the only one who could make the best boxes at any given time, and I made a killing in game currency on that. More than gold, though, I developed a reputation. I formed a loyal customer base, and I formed relationships with lots of those customers. Most everyone on my server knew me (as "the box guy"), I had abundant opportunity to give back to the player base community (I'd do scavenger hunts with boxes and furniture as prizes, trivia games with cash prizes, and more), and there was just so much opportunity for me to use the material wealth I was gaining for the betterment of the community--the net result of which, by my definition, is "fun".

EQ2 is the most accessible example because it was component-based and interdependent, in the same sense we have in SotA where the item you're crafting might require parts produced by a different trade. It was a somewhat complex system, which made excelling in crafting an achievement. EQ2 wasn't my only game as a front-running crafter, though. I led industries in SWG, DAoC (sort of--that was sort of a WoW-esque experience and not a very good basis for comparison), and Vanguard (where my friend and I led a guild called The Trading Post, a general crafting guild that achieved numerous world firsts and server firsts), as well.

The situation for crafters is a little difficult to interpret for people who want to focus on adventuring because crafters need different things from adventurers. If you plan to spend most of your time with sword and shield in hand, slashing away at monsters in some far away land, naturally your house, your vendor, and the crafting stations are just fluff. But for a crafter, these elements are a kind of holy trinity for efficient crafting. It saves a ton of time in practice if you don't have to spend time and money on things like repairing tools, but the real advantage is a house decked out with a full set of crafting stations. An adventuring corollary would be the ability to fight skeletons, liches, dragons--whatever enemy you please up to "Expert" rank--right at home. But the advantage goes farther than that. You can set up your shop right at the beginning of the game and make it known. And because you have a full set of crafting stations, you can craft from home and make your shop into a POI (because it has crafting stations). People will come to shop and craft, and because there are people coming for those reasons, word of mouth will spread and people will socialize at your place of business.

This all gets more complicated, too, because I have no interest in being a frontrunner in my market niche if I started with such a big advantage over less fortunate folks. It shouldn't be like that from the start--from the very beginning of a totally new game. But I do love to tread new economic ground, especially in economies like this. It's how I make my friends in a game, how I develop my place in the community, and how I kick back and have fun.

 

Sorry Ronan, I lost track of some of the replies I need to make thanks to the merge that makes absolutely no sense (*cough cough*).

But yeah, I'm not dying or disappearing.

 

I realize Lord Trenyc's reasons for selling his accounts are complicated and go well beyond what I will talk about below, but personally, I think the thing that has bothered me most about the pledge change was when early backers (who backed at Lord for $1500) asked for a $100 discount when upgrading to Lord Marshall, they were refused. It's probably been the most penny-wise/pound-foolish decision I've seen Portalarium make so far.

I realize there was no promise made that such exclusive pricing discounts would extend this late into the process, but it just seemed like it ignored the fact that many people who pledged a lot of money early on would have pledged more if the LM tier was available at the time they pledged Lord (or set up payment plans/etc).

The people backing at Lord and above were some of your staunchest supporters, people who backed early and in large amounts (and were very likely to spend tons of money on SOTA over the course of playing it, because people who are loyal and feel well-treated by a company tend to be generous repeat customers), but you're still going to hold back a $100 discount when they are still willing to part with $600 for an upgrade? Um, okay....

The $100 discount is a paltry price to pay for the goodwill and loyalty it would have inspired among those who were some of the early supporters, and who were clearly shouldering a disproportionate burden of the funding effort (established by the graph that DS shared with us). Was it worth it? I say no because of the following question: How much can Portlarium make off of Lord Trenyc now that he has decided the game isn't for him? Or what will they make off of me if I sell my Lord and Citizen accounts because I don't trust a company that can't see the benefits of having $600 in their pocket (and an unwavering supporter in their corner) because they are too busy focusing on the $100 they'd stand to "lose" instead?

For those wondering, the expected "Return Per User" (RPU) on those of us who are so turned off to the game now that we don't even want to play it is NOTHING. ZERO. ZILCH. NADA.

$0 income from no pledge upgrade and $0 in future purchases due to attrition vs. $600 income from pledge upgrade and the high likelihood of future purchases because of retention sure makes a $100 "discount" (and not loading new tiers up with even more P2W carrots) seem like a pretty small price to pay to keep your paying customers happily enjoying your service and the virtual goods you provide.

I've shared this privately before, but I think it has bearing to the current discussion. Please pay particular attention to what Raph has to say about wooing customers, how games as a service is like a relationship/marriage, and his thoughts about retention/communication/keeping people happy:



For the life of me, I can't wrap my head around a company saying "so, the people who backed early and who backed at high amounts, you want to pay $600 for your upgrade when the cost is $700? No way! Either pay the full price, or just keep your $600, because we really want that $100 and would rather have the full amount than to offer you a minor discount and keep you feeling content and happy!"

Here are these people (players who backed early and who are likely to spend thousands and thousands MORE on your game over the span of their time in it), and all they were saying was "please accept $600 because we would have pledged LM earlier if it was an option", but the thinking wasn't "wow, our early supporters and the whales who have already contributed a ton to this game are asking for a measly $100 discount on a pledge upgrade that nets us $600?? OFC we should make that deal! We will make that deal all day long!!! Thanks for the $600 and for helping us help you, customers!" No. Instead, the answer was more like "$100 now is more important to us than enticing you to stay with us and keep spending green over the long term! Either deal with it or cya later!!"

There appeared to be little regard for the past contributions, or for the fact that these staunch supporters would likely have spent many times the $100 discount in add-on store purchases in their future dealings with the game (as long as they were still playing it and had positive feelings toward Portalarium). Instead of playing the long game, the emphasis was on short-term returns and the valuing of $100 over nurturing the interest and repaying support of early backers. Seriously, what is the RPU of people who sell their accounts and won't be playing your game, Portalarium? I can assure you... it's much less than a $100 discount.

I can't link it, or quote it exactly (because it is "inappropriate" to the family friendly environment of a forum that features posts about mutilating corpses, wearing body parts, and cannibalism... but use a bad word and you're a pariah!). Still, the pledge tier changes and refusal to extend the discount (+the 10% loyalty stuff, and the asset pack changes, and other issues) are the first time I've really felt the underlying motivation for decisions being made isn't "what is best for our community?" or even "what is best for the game?"... It felt a lot more like the AngryJoe line attributed to corporate greed that influences design choices in games for one reason and one reason only: because "Screw you," give us money!!!

 

You can still do that. Are you at a disadvantage, yes I think that's clear. But is it a material disadvantage? No, I think that's also clear. At the end of the day, you could be the best merchant and own ZERO crafting tables. There are so many aspects of the economy that you could master, the supply chain being a great place to start. It sounds to me like you understand the economy of MMO's way too much to really believe that having all the crafting stations will make someone a great merchant.

Again, I agree that it's an advantage but so is having the knowledge that you possess. I would suggest that your knowledge (skill) is more than enough to overcome this.

 

That's not the only thing that's bothering me, though. See the OP.

 

Thank you to FireLotus for revisiting this thread and reversing the bizarre merge. <3

 

I second this appreciation.

 

I read it all. I pulled out what I thought was your best reasoning. Of course any real life issues take priority over anything else - that's understandable. Good luck.

But do yourself a favor and leave the door open for a return. Real life has a habit of changing. (my in-game door is always open to you...seriously, please stop by if you get the chance - and seriously, let me know you're coming so I can disarm the traps)

 

Lord Trenyc: I respect your opinions, and admire your restrained posting. While I do not share your opinion of Portalarium or the game in general, everybody must do as they see fit - or more likely, as life dictates. Real life has a way of interfering with the "pleasures" sometimes; but it is the most important thing after all, and has to be looked after.

I hope you have no regrets, and please know that you will be welcomed back most warmly when you wish to return.

You have made many friends here and done much for the community - I hope you will hang around and continue to favour us with your input.

 

WAIT A SECOND is Trenyc leaving because he had a rift between him and Portalarium? Wasn't there something to do with him needing cash or some quick money? I thought him to be hard pressed, but now he is against portalarium too!

Mother of God, you all should have called me in sooner. Threads were merging... space-time collapsing. You needed ME!!! hahahahhaha

There's so much drama on this message board some times!