Falling player numbers - it's time to talk ...
I've been in this game for a number of years now, and until recently it's been great, but over the last few months something's changed, and players are voting with their feet (never mind their wallets).
The biggest impact began with the start of the Revan era. The team when it was introduced was all powerful - beyond OP. The first team member to die was automatically revived. Bindo Jolee was too hard to kill, and could revive 3 jedi in one go. It swept all other teams before it. Everyone had to have that team, or be beaten.
Before Revan was introduced, there was a diverse meta. Treya was queen, but there was a fair variety of teams that were viable. After Revan came in, it was get Revan, or get beaten. Not everyone got Revan the first time, but second time around, it was clear he was the must have character, and so most did. It was also clear what the dominant team was - JKR, Jolee, Bastilla, GMY and GK.
However, this is where the trouble began. The mirror matches were boring. They often timed out, or took almost all of the allotted 5 minutes, and once you beat one team, what was next? Doing the same thing again against the next one. After the initial excitement of getting Revan is over, Arena became drudgery not fun.
A lot of the truths we cling to depend on one's point of view, and I'm sure Revan was good for business for a while.
Then along came Darth Revan. Like Revan, it was a much requested character. But the same thing happened again. He too is overpowered, and completely destroys Revan. It's no longer a rock-paper-scissors game, but a do you have the right Revan game?
There was another knock on negative effect: Once we knew Darth Revan was coming, everyone had to stop whatever they were working on and grind for the new characters needed for him. Now everyone's farming the same toons, and fighting the same mirror matches in Arena every day, with the prospect ahead of them that once they get Darth Revan, they can repeat the boredom of mirror matches, but with a slightly different set of toons.
The game quickly ceases to be fun in this way, and it is no wonder players drifted away once the 1st Revan meta was established, and left in greater numbers (no need to do so single file) as the meta continued and perhaps in greater numbers when it became Malak would require both Revans, and so the meta wouldn't expand in a meaningful way at all.
As a business model, clearly there need to be toons that customers need to financially invest in to drive sales and maintain the game's profitability, but the game also needs numbers to thrive, and it needs to be of interest to the many, rather than a few whales.
The problem is the Revans are too powerful, and the rest of the player rosters are unable to compete.
Attempts have been made to make inroads into this with the release of Padme and the separatist reworks. However, Separatists were such a forgotten faction, few players were able to get Padme unlocked at a high enough level to make her Arena viable. Moreover, when she seemed to be the beacon of hope, there was a 'tweak'/nerf to ensure that she didn't outshine Malak.
A rethink is needed. A return to a more rock-paper-scissors Arena is needed, and much sooner rather than later, or the numbers leaving will be too many to go in single file to hide their numbers, even if they wanted to.
But the Devs should do what they think is right, of course ...
The biggest impact began with the start of the Revan era. The team when it was introduced was all powerful - beyond OP. The first team member to die was automatically revived. Bindo Jolee was too hard to kill, and could revive 3 jedi in one go. It swept all other teams before it. Everyone had to have that team, or be beaten.
Before Revan was introduced, there was a diverse meta. Treya was queen, but there was a fair variety of teams that were viable. After Revan came in, it was get Revan, or get beaten. Not everyone got Revan the first time, but second time around, it was clear he was the must have character, and so most did. It was also clear what the dominant team was - JKR, Jolee, Bastilla, GMY and GK.
However, this is where the trouble began. The mirror matches were boring. They often timed out, or took almost all of the allotted 5 minutes, and once you beat one team, what was next? Doing the same thing again against the next one. After the initial excitement of getting Revan is over, Arena became drudgery not fun.
A lot of the truths we cling to depend on one's point of view, and I'm sure Revan was good for business for a while.
Then along came Darth Revan. Like Revan, it was a much requested character. But the same thing happened again. He too is overpowered, and completely destroys Revan. It's no longer a rock-paper-scissors game, but a do you have the right Revan game?
There was another knock on negative effect: Once we knew Darth Revan was coming, everyone had to stop whatever they were working on and grind for the new characters needed for him. Now everyone's farming the same toons, and fighting the same mirror matches in Arena every day, with the prospect ahead of them that once they get Darth Revan, they can repeat the boredom of mirror matches, but with a slightly different set of toons.
The game quickly ceases to be fun in this way, and it is no wonder players drifted away once the 1st Revan meta was established, and left in greater numbers (no need to do so single file) as the meta continued and perhaps in greater numbers when it became Malak would require both Revans, and so the meta wouldn't expand in a meaningful way at all.
As a business model, clearly there need to be toons that customers need to financially invest in to drive sales and maintain the game's profitability, but the game also needs numbers to thrive, and it needs to be of interest to the many, rather than a few whales.
The problem is the Revans are too powerful, and the rest of the player rosters are unable to compete.
Attempts have been made to make inroads into this with the release of Padme and the separatist reworks. However, Separatists were such a forgotten faction, few players were able to get Padme unlocked at a high enough level to make her Arena viable. Moreover, when she seemed to be the beacon of hope, there was a 'tweak'/nerf to ensure that she didn't outshine Malak.
A rethink is needed. A return to a more rock-paper-scissors Arena is needed, and much sooner rather than later, or the numbers leaving will be too many to go in single file to hide their numbers, even if they wanted to.
But the Devs should do what they think is right, of course ...
