Please consider ‘fun’ for players – Speed GAC
Apologies for the lengthy post but this is meant to be constructive, with my personal feedback for where the game is at. Firstly, I love this game. I’ve only been playing for 9 months but from buying the Hyperdrive Bundle I had access to a good level of content instantly. The community is absolutely amazing, and CG should lean into this as an ‘asset’ as much as possible. I’ve loved learning about the game’s deep mechanics and hope to play for a long time to come.
From listening to Crumb’s interviews (I’ve heard about the times when CG had no player-facing presence, so thanks to Doja/Crumb for engaging with the player base) I’ve consistently noticed that he references capacity of developers’ time as a limited resource. CG’s corporate guys will/should be crunching the numbers to see if hiring more devs to increase the quality of the game would result in increased player spending to account for the increased costs. I suspect the conclusion is features like ship loadouts won’t drive spending much to account for the increase in relevant costs (as existing devs’ time now is likely budgeted for months/years ahead) otherwise they would have done it already.
Unfortunately, we can’t blame these CG decision-makers as they are doing the right thing by shareholders – even if we can rationalize that they have so much financial capacity to hire more devs & improve certain features/functions in the game. One thing I am sure about though, is that the devs really care about this game and are genuinely trying to balance it for the players as best they can.
Given these constraints, I still feel there is more that can be done to improve the game though. This is my feedback on the ‘feel’ of the game, as I’m sure CG will be analysing hard data such as player churn, engagement with events and crystal expenditure.
Currently, ‘fun’ in the game comes from:
1. Collecting toons and satisfying our Star Wars fandom, which will always be pivotal to the game. Especially through Journey Guides and even GL’s (when we eventually get to the unlock stage!). The difference between the early/mid game and endgame is stark though, as the timeline for unlocking GL’s becomes so long and the pay-out feeling of ‘fun’ later in the game falls off perhaps by not being commensurate with the time and effort spent unlocking them.
2. Developing/gearing toons to be able to beat content that CG puts out for us. This isn’t so much about feeling good about adding another relic tier or gear level to a toon, but more the feeling of progress in the game that those increases yield. For example, by gearing up Troopers you can take on challenge tiers in multiple Assault Battles, good damage in HSTR and progress in Conquest, DSTB etc. This is also why Conquest changes seem so grim right now – in addition to their grindy nature, it is reverse progress compared to the last few.
CG will continue with #1, bringing out new toons for as long as they can. This will always give players new things to aim for – and that’s good. Meta’s will be changing, interactions between characters will develop which keeps things fresh.
#2 though, seems to be struggling recently in providing the players with ‘fun’. I understand what CG means when they say the time spent developing raids is wasted as players ‘solve’ the puzzle too quickly. Conquest could have been a good answer to that problem, as it looks primed to be able to change data disks, feats, and boss battles from one conquest to the next at the push of a button. For whatever reason though, it seems this can’t be implemented in 2 weeks downtime one to the next – which must be frustrating for players and devs alike.
Therefore, instead of the onus being on CG to provide content for us to beat such as TB’s, Raids, GC’s & Conquest – they should shift strategy to providing the community some tools to generate their own content. For example, the messaging in game is awful but players use Discord as a solution. I’m extremely hopeful that following the Creators v Devs showpiece, this Speed GAC will find its way into the game. Crumb mentioned one of the difficulties with this would be in structuring rewards. It wouldn’t need any rewards! This would be the sandbox feature players can use to fight against each other either for testing, bragging rights or for competitive purposes. The community would gladly take on the role of creating matchups among allies, guildmates and friends so matchmaking wouldn’t be an issue.
Some possible applications this could yield:
1. Guild Competitions – this could help further bonds between guildmates (one the most cited reasons for players staying with the game).
2. Creator Showdowns – this would increase interest, allowing creators to accept challenges from members of the community or challenge each other. This would help promote the game in general in the same vein as combat sports do. To this day, through all the game one of the moments I enjoyed the most was Ahnald v Cubs GAC.
3. PvP Leagues – if players have the ability to add players to matchups via Ally Codes, the possibilities are endless. We could finally know who the best SWGOH player in the game is, not just who has the highest GP. TW seems less fun to me as each matchup lies in isolation, whereas GAC has at least all matches tied together with the aim of Kyber at the end of it. If players can matchmake themselves, this constraint for CG goes away.
4. Arena Tie-Breaks – use these to establish which arena shard players take 1,2,3 etc. for those that share payouts
I really think this could be a game-changer for SWGOH in terms of ‘fun’ for the game. Players will still be incentivised to unlock the latest and greatest toons, but it would take some pressure off CG to create the content that the community needs.
2 other thoughts:
1. CG should look at changes that allow players more flexibility in daily login times. I want to play this game every day. I’m happy to play this game every day. However, I don’t want to login to this game every day at 6-7pm. This will lead to me resenting the game for impacting on my life outside it. Rather than having a particular payout time for Arenas at which point the game registers your rank for rewards, rewards could simply be for your highest rank that day (only calculated on each hour so CG doesn’t have to pay out any more crystals than they would currently). This means players can climb whenever it is convenient for them to log in that day, lessening the feeling of the game being a chore.
2. Cg should add the functionality for players to be able to remove levels/stars/gear levels from toons (for a cost of course – I’m trying to speak your language CG!). Players are unhappy with toons being nerfed, understandably so as many players had invested time/money in them. I have no problem with CG fine-tuning the game to balance as they see fit. However, when some people have paid exorbitant sums to have a meta-relevant toon which is adjusted at a whim, that will be disheartening. If players had the ability to gear whoever they wanted, as they could correct mistakes later, it would alleviate some of the stress from the game – again making it more ‘fun’. It’s obviously possible for CG to remove relic/gear levels as it has been done already, so get it in the game!
TLDR: give players the ability to battle each other for no rewards, in the format of the upcoming Speed GAC. It will give players the chance to use their toons in a ‘fun’ way, decreasing player churn and relieving CG of the need to provide all the content for players to enjoy.
From listening to Crumb’s interviews (I’ve heard about the times when CG had no player-facing presence, so thanks to Doja/Crumb for engaging with the player base) I’ve consistently noticed that he references capacity of developers’ time as a limited resource. CG’s corporate guys will/should be crunching the numbers to see if hiring more devs to increase the quality of the game would result in increased player spending to account for the increased costs. I suspect the conclusion is features like ship loadouts won’t drive spending much to account for the increase in relevant costs (as existing devs’ time now is likely budgeted for months/years ahead) otherwise they would have done it already.
Unfortunately, we can’t blame these CG decision-makers as they are doing the right thing by shareholders – even if we can rationalize that they have so much financial capacity to hire more devs & improve certain features/functions in the game. One thing I am sure about though, is that the devs really care about this game and are genuinely trying to balance it for the players as best they can.
Given these constraints, I still feel there is more that can be done to improve the game though. This is my feedback on the ‘feel’ of the game, as I’m sure CG will be analysing hard data such as player churn, engagement with events and crystal expenditure.
Currently, ‘fun’ in the game comes from:
1. Collecting toons and satisfying our Star Wars fandom, which will always be pivotal to the game. Especially through Journey Guides and even GL’s (when we eventually get to the unlock stage!). The difference between the early/mid game and endgame is stark though, as the timeline for unlocking GL’s becomes so long and the pay-out feeling of ‘fun’ later in the game falls off perhaps by not being commensurate with the time and effort spent unlocking them.
2. Developing/gearing toons to be able to beat content that CG puts out for us. This isn’t so much about feeling good about adding another relic tier or gear level to a toon, but more the feeling of progress in the game that those increases yield. For example, by gearing up Troopers you can take on challenge tiers in multiple Assault Battles, good damage in HSTR and progress in Conquest, DSTB etc. This is also why Conquest changes seem so grim right now – in addition to their grindy nature, it is reverse progress compared to the last few.
CG will continue with #1, bringing out new toons for as long as they can. This will always give players new things to aim for – and that’s good. Meta’s will be changing, interactions between characters will develop which keeps things fresh.
#2 though, seems to be struggling recently in providing the players with ‘fun’. I understand what CG means when they say the time spent developing raids is wasted as players ‘solve’ the puzzle too quickly. Conquest could have been a good answer to that problem, as it looks primed to be able to change data disks, feats, and boss battles from one conquest to the next at the push of a button. For whatever reason though, it seems this can’t be implemented in 2 weeks downtime one to the next – which must be frustrating for players and devs alike.
Therefore, instead of the onus being on CG to provide content for us to beat such as TB’s, Raids, GC’s & Conquest – they should shift strategy to providing the community some tools to generate their own content. For example, the messaging in game is awful but players use Discord as a solution. I’m extremely hopeful that following the Creators v Devs showpiece, this Speed GAC will find its way into the game. Crumb mentioned one of the difficulties with this would be in structuring rewards. It wouldn’t need any rewards! This would be the sandbox feature players can use to fight against each other either for testing, bragging rights or for competitive purposes. The community would gladly take on the role of creating matchups among allies, guildmates and friends so matchmaking wouldn’t be an issue.
Some possible applications this could yield:
1. Guild Competitions – this could help further bonds between guildmates (one the most cited reasons for players staying with the game).
2. Creator Showdowns – this would increase interest, allowing creators to accept challenges from members of the community or challenge each other. This would help promote the game in general in the same vein as combat sports do. To this day, through all the game one of the moments I enjoyed the most was Ahnald v Cubs GAC.
3. PvP Leagues – if players have the ability to add players to matchups via Ally Codes, the possibilities are endless. We could finally know who the best SWGOH player in the game is, not just who has the highest GP. TW seems less fun to me as each matchup lies in isolation, whereas GAC has at least all matches tied together with the aim of Kyber at the end of it. If players can matchmake themselves, this constraint for CG goes away.
4. Arena Tie-Breaks – use these to establish which arena shard players take 1,2,3 etc. for those that share payouts
I really think this could be a game-changer for SWGOH in terms of ‘fun’ for the game. Players will still be incentivised to unlock the latest and greatest toons, but it would take some pressure off CG to create the content that the community needs.
2 other thoughts:
1. CG should look at changes that allow players more flexibility in daily login times. I want to play this game every day. I’m happy to play this game every day. However, I don’t want to login to this game every day at 6-7pm. This will lead to me resenting the game for impacting on my life outside it. Rather than having a particular payout time for Arenas at which point the game registers your rank for rewards, rewards could simply be for your highest rank that day (only calculated on each hour so CG doesn’t have to pay out any more crystals than they would currently). This means players can climb whenever it is convenient for them to log in that day, lessening the feeling of the game being a chore.
2. Cg should add the functionality for players to be able to remove levels/stars/gear levels from toons (for a cost of course – I’m trying to speak your language CG!). Players are unhappy with toons being nerfed, understandably so as many players had invested time/money in them. I have no problem with CG fine-tuning the game to balance as they see fit. However, when some people have paid exorbitant sums to have a meta-relevant toon which is adjusted at a whim, that will be disheartening. If players had the ability to gear whoever they wanted, as they could correct mistakes later, it would alleviate some of the stress from the game – again making it more ‘fun’. It’s obviously possible for CG to remove relic/gear levels as it has been done already, so get it in the game!
TLDR: give players the ability to battle each other for no rewards, in the format of the upcoming Speed GAC. It will give players the chance to use their toons in a ‘fun’ way, decreasing player churn and relieving CG of the need to provide all the content for players to enjoy.
