An Approach to Improving Daily Active Users
Abstract: Use “Action Points” to upgrade weapons and vehicles, purchase items, and refresh missions to address the issue of insufficient daily active users.
Identified Issue: Currently, Battlefield 6 has seen a significant decline in active users, and matchmaking times are relatively long.
Analysis: There are many factors contributing to the decline in daily active users; this article focuses solely on the perspective of weapons. The core issues are twofold: first, weapon attachments do indeed have a significant impact; second, weapon upgrades require a considerable amount of time.
- Under the current design, players upgrade weapons through kills or assists. However, player skill levels vary widely, so high-level players have a higher kill efficiency compared to lower-level players. Furthermore, as Battlefield is a long-established large-scale multiplayer game, players have accumulated experience over time, which further widens the skill gap between players. Consequently, veteran players have a higher kill efficiency against new players. Thus, veteran and high-level players find it easier to upgrade their weapons. Once weapons are upgraded, attachments come into play, making high-level guns more comfortable to use and significantly increasing kill efficiency. Consequently, the gaming experience for lower-skilled and new players deteriorates further, leading to player attrition.
- However, some might argue that there are indeed lower-skilled and new players who persist in playing, upgrade their weapons, and subsequently improve their gaming experience, thereby remaining in the game. While such players do exist, the current system requires a significant amount of experience to upgrade weapons. Players must endure repeated setbacks over a long period to customize their weapons to their liking. This process often exceeds many players’ tolerance limits, leading to a significant loss of these players as well.
- At the same time, even high-level players face challenges. Among them, some are only comfortable with certain types of weapons and achieve high kill efficiency with those. After playing with their preferred weapons for an extended period, these players will eventually grow bored. When they try new weapons, they experience frustration, and the massive amount of experience required for upgrades forces them to endure this frustration for a long time. Consequently, these players become bored with their preferred weapons and frustrated by the upgrade process, leading to their attrition.
- Ultimately, only the more versatile, high-level players remain. Although these players often derive satisfaction from the game, the loss of the aforementioned players can still lead to a decline in the overall gaming experience. For example, if only high-level players remain, the game becomes more difficult while rewards stay the same, effectively diminishing the experience. Furthermore, excessive player churn may lead to a situation where these high-level players’ friends have already left, causing their social experience to deteriorate and ultimately driving them away as well.
- In summary, the weapon system is crucial to player engagement and retention and requires a dedicated solution.
Solution: Introduce “Action Points” as an in-game supplementary currency to enhance the player experience and ultimately increase daily active users.
1. Acquiring “Action Points”
“Action Points” can only be earned during matches through officially designated modes, and they are generated through gameplay that is strongly tied to specific classes. For example: Assault soldiers earn points by capturing control points, the number of times teammates are revived via beacons, the number of times the Assault Ladder is used by teammates, and the number of enemies blinded by breaching grenades; Engineers earn points by dealing damage to enemy vehicles, restoring health to friendly vehicles, and resupplying vehicle ammunition; Support soldiers earn points by reviving teammates, supplying teammates, intercepting grenades, and intercepting rocket rounds; Scouts earn points by marking enemies, eliminating enemies with Saber mines, dealing damage with C4 explosives, and destroying equipment. The key feature of these earning methods is that they do not rely on weapon kills, but rather on the role and functions of each class as designed in the game. In other words, high-level players can gain a sense of achievement through kills, while lower-level or new players can earn in-game rewards (such as weapon upgrades) by leveraging their class’s unique traits to serve the team. This ensures a positive gaming experience for both types of players: high-level players receive more support, while lower-level and new players do not miss out on weapon upgrades simply because they did not secure any kills in that match. This ensures that all players have a positive experience during the match and receive substantial rewards upon its conclusion, thereby reducing the likelihood of player churn. Furthermore, even if players grow tired of chasing kills during a match, they will still contribute to the team’s success by leveraging the unique characteristics of their unit, which in turn fosters their own progression and ultimately leads to a more satisfying gaming experience—ultimately boosting daily active user numbers.
2. Important Notes on “Action Points” Calculation
“Action Points” are calculated based on the outcome of the match; the bonus for winning a match is higher than the bonus for losing. This is primarily to prevent players from focusing solely on exploiting unit traits to farm points regardless of the match outcome, which could negatively impact the gaming experience for other players.
3. Uses of “Action Points”
“Action Points” can be used to upgrade weapon and vehicle levels, thereby unlocking attachments and enhancing the richness of the gameplay experience. This addresses the issue of slow weapon progression caused by a poor combat experience. It also encourages players who specialize in a particular playstyle to explore more diverse gameplay options. For example, players accustomed to infantry combat can try playing with vehicles equipped with fully unlocked attachments, thereby increasing daily active users.
For high-level players, “Action Points” may not be necessary for upgrading weapons or vehicles. Therefore, they can be used to refresh missions they don’t want to do or to directly complete weekly missions they didn’t have time for by the end of the season. After all, no one can guarantee they’ll always have enough time to play, nor can they be sure that the missions refreshed each time will align with their current playstyle—especially in game features like the Season Pass that require a long-term time commitment. Therefore, introducing “Action Points” allows Battlefield fans to play more and accumulate these points during their free time. When they are busy and lack sufficient playtime, they can directly use “Action Points” to complete those otherwise difficult-to-achieve missions. This ensures players maintain control over their Season Pass progress. At the same time, as players gain more confidence in unlocking the Season Pass, they are more likely to purchase it.
For game streamers, who typically have more time to play, the need to unlock missions and progress through the Season Pass may not be as urgent. Therefore, “Action Points” should be accumulative across seasons, allowing these players to unlock new weapons and vehicles in the new season immediately. This enriches their content and fan-created videos, enhancing not only the gameplay experience but also the quality of Battlefield series videos. Additionally, “Action Points” can be used to purchase in-game items, such as Season Pass XP boost cards, allowing players to unlock the Season Pass faster and improve their gaming experience. In other words, “Action Points” ensure that future game content remains accessible to players.
Furthermore, as the number of seasons increases, skins, trinkets, and other items from past seasons may no longer be available through standard means. In such cases, players can use “Action Points” to purchase these items from previous Season Passes.
In summary, “Action Points” provide a viable way for the majority of players to achieve significant in-game progression simply by playing the game, which will have a positive impact on the growth of daily active users.
（This is a machine translation and is provided for reference only. The information contained in this article is subject to the Simplified Chinese version in the attachment.）
