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robotechnology8's avatar
robotechnology8
5 years ago

Suggestion: Mayor's Pass "Complete the Season" Purchase Option

While I have been able to complete all seven Mayor's Pass seasons thus far (although, Season 1 was looking crazy there until EA adjusted the plumbob points), I keep seeing comments elsewhere, such as on SCBI's Facebook page, where players are complaining that they can't finish the season because "It's too hard." Their major gripe seems to be that the 102,000 plumbobs per week (not considering the double points week) requires too much playtime for working adults with real-life obligations. 

My suggestion is to have a point in the season where, after unlocking a particular tier, a mayor may pay to complete the season if they don't reach Tier 42 by season's end. I'm sure there will be those who complain about this, too, but I don't expect EA to make the season unreasonably easy, nor unlock the tiers we don't reach for free, so I see this as a viable alternative for those who might have gotten far enough into the season that they want to buy the pass, but yet feel slighted that they didn't reach Tier 42 for the last prizes. 

I see it working like this:

1) If you don't buy the pass before the halfway mark (20 days in), sorry - I don't think any consideration should be granted. This idea is mainly to help the folks who tried in good faith to get to the end; not those who simply want to wait until the end of the season and pay their way to Tier 42 with no work done. If you bought the pass before the season was half over, I have to believe your intent was to try to reach 42 to get your money's worth (particularly, since you can already literally wait until the last day to decide if you want to spend the money on the Premium Pass). 

2) If you do buy the pass before the halfway mark (20 days in), but you only get to, let's say, Tier 35 (unlocked*) by the end of the 42-day season, an offer would pop up to unlock the prizes in Tiers 36-42 for a small, additional charge. You will have a limited time to make up your mind whether or not you wish to take advantage of the offer. So, maybe for the next 12 or 24 hours after the season ends, you can decide if it's worth it to get the remaining prizes. I think an additional $0.99 USD (or currency equivalent) is fair, considering, again, you did decide to buy the pass early when you could have waited until the end of the season and, upon seeing that you weren't going to make it to 42, could have opted not to buy the Premium Pass at all.

In this way, it's a win/win for both EA and the players. They get more $$ (a reasonable amount, though) and those players who might have worked hard for 4 or 5 of the 6 weeks but still came up short at the end still can feel like their money wasn't wasted (and will hopefully keep playing rather than giving up entirely). The point is to keep as many people playing this game as possible. I do think EA and Track Twenty are taking steps toward that end, but let's be real - Sim City BuildIt can kinda be a part-time or even full-time job if you are a hardcore player. That's okay for a while, but certainly isn't sustainable. If the company wants long-term players, they will have to consider employing ideas that will keep more people happily playing the game (challenge is fine, but frustration isn't).

Notes:

- I came up with the 0.99 USD price since Tiers 36-42 is 16-17% of the whole season, which costs $4.99 USD. So, 16.66% of $5 is 0.833. A nice, rounded figure would be 0.99, and hopefully won't seem too high to players making this consideration of whether to come out of pocket another dollar to complete the Premium Pass' prizes.

- ⭐To qualify for the offer, you have to have unlocked Tier 35, not simply have points toward that tier. Meaning, you can collect the prize in T35.

2 Replies

  • PinnacleValley's avatar
    PinnacleValley
    5 years ago

    @robotechnology80  Hi Mac, you have a very interesting proposal that has merit and worthy of consideration. I understand folks face challenges with real life obligations but in all fairness to the ones like yourself who found a way to complete the season while dealing with similar challenges, I would suggest that you can purchase up to level 40 if they invested in the premium pass. This way they can collect the unique buildings that may no longer be available. Level 41 & 42 are the most challenging and as such are rewarded accordingly (13 cheetah speed up tokens, 1400 simcash (1300 sells for $19.99) and 10,000 war simoleons) is the prize for time management & endurance. In the proposed scenario I suspect you and I could have spent the $1.99 and called it a day the next to the last week of the season if not sooner - except for the incessant calling of the legendary chest. Take care and stay safe.

  • robotechnology8's avatar
    robotechnology8
    5 years ago

    Hey, Pinn 🙂
    That’s a very good point. To be honest, though, I’m not sure how long I can even keep going full tilt to complete the seasons lolz...Sometimes the burnout feels so real.

    On another note, this also got me to thinking if it would be worth exploring to consider a “double/triple your prizes” one-time (immediate, take-it-or-leave-it) offer right at the end of a season. I’m thinking something like what the game “Merge Dragons” does at the conclusion of their events. There’s “chance” employed in Merge Dragons, though. So, for SCBI, it would look something like pulling a slot machine lever for, say, 50-100 SimCash (don’t want to get too close to 250 since that’s = to $5USD and effectively paying for the season twice) to see what items in the tiers you’ve unlocked would be doubled or even tripled. Limit of three one pull on the lever so it doesn’t get crazy. XD Maybe this would be something only for those who make it to a particular tier, as well (heck, maybe only if you complete the season, as an extra incentive). I don’t want to complain about the lower cost of the mayor’s pass following Season #1’s $8.99USD, but we have seen the included prizes quietly diminish ever so slightly each successive season since the pass was decreased to $4.99USD, and the season length and the tiers halved.

    I still believe one reason (aside from the obvious money incentive) the pass was introduced was to compete with the Leagues and their very desirable, weekly platinum key/SimCash prizes. I would love to see the prizes in the pass as such that we players simply don’t even think about checking our rank in the league (bypassing the inevitable Monday-morning lamenting of whose score seems improbable lolz) because the pass’ prizes just blow the Leagues out of the water, comparatively speaking. 

    Thanks so much for the constructive feedback. Take care 🙂

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