State of the game -- whale perspective -- it's not pretty.
In company stock reports there's a line item called goodwill, that is basically a customer satisfaction index that represents the value of returning and repeat customers, In the last few months I feel swgoh has been burning this number to maximize profits prior to the forthcoming force arena release, and also making a few very rookie mistakes that exacerbate this and ultimately give your best customers even more reason to take a longer and harder look at your competition.
So let's start this out with a three thousand dollar shoretrooper. Fine, new system, kinks and all. But still, 3k and that did not represent a full character now did it? Full being seven star. Baze was even worse. The falcon, and bistan and bistan ship are pretty brutal as well. Chirrut and Vader, even being a whale doesn't guarantee a full character. And then there's the credit costs and overall costs of building a fleet that can compete at the top of the arena.
There are two problems with your introduction model and I'll start with the lesser. The first is the overall cost of the game which has basically gone through the roof. Don't think the costs like modding, credits, droids, and buying raid gear to fill out a char goes unnoticed you may think the costs are hidden behind the translation, but the credit card has a nice little wedge for Itunes spending. And when I look at what you are willing to charge and what it will cost to keep up, and then compare that with the proposed costs of force arena which is way below my original budget for swgoh, there is no goodwill left. Given the costs of the last four months, it's obvious swgoh is asking for a 2-3x price increase over last year, and I'm sorry that really isn't going to fly.
The second problem is actually much more severe. If I'm paying a few hundred a week to play with bursts up to five hundred or so for a new char, I have a certain expectation of being competitive in all aspects of the game, your current introduction model blows this expectation up. Chirrut can be obtained only through a tourney and it looks like it will be January before he even shows back up there. What this means is that I am now facing a chirrut team in arena and more in tourneys and that is a substantial disadvantage.
Being a fairly good spender, there is a character in the game I can not obtain by any means, and a meta defining character at that. Now we are talking negative good will here. Bistan is little better. Ship chromiums are still ship chromiums, and while I am farming him in the shop, that is a very slow and unsatisfying customer experience.
To be honest, I believe that you have already gone to far in the cash grab. The perception is now that swgoh is simply priced out of any reasonable budget. You either spend all in, or are basically FTP, there is no in between and your all in is thousands of dollars a month now. But my suggestions anyway.
* make new chars introduced by tournies available for purchase from packs. Anyone willing to spend on the game should be guaranteed access to every character and ship from the game. And chromiums do not count. They are beyond stupid unless you are just starting out.
* seriously revisit your pricing models to encourage moderate $100 per month or so spending. Right now that kind of spending will get your FTP character partially modded. That is just stupid and a horrible gaming value. And if you are charging more than 500 for a new character you are going to watch that goodwill number go negative and your paying player base migrate to a more reasonably priced Star Wars game.
Your product is brilliant and amazing and seriously fun and engaging, but your accountants are detracting from that to the point where more than any time since the introduction of mods I would consider the games future at risk, and it's not because it doesn't have more life left in it, but because you have made it so expensive to play that you will be practically forcing people to look at alternatives, when the far better solution is to just go for the economies of scale and get a little money from a lot of people instead of a lot of money from a few people.
That's my take, and feedback.
So let's start this out with a three thousand dollar shoretrooper. Fine, new system, kinks and all. But still, 3k and that did not represent a full character now did it? Full being seven star. Baze was even worse. The falcon, and bistan and bistan ship are pretty brutal as well. Chirrut and Vader, even being a whale doesn't guarantee a full character. And then there's the credit costs and overall costs of building a fleet that can compete at the top of the arena.
There are two problems with your introduction model and I'll start with the lesser. The first is the overall cost of the game which has basically gone through the roof. Don't think the costs like modding, credits, droids, and buying raid gear to fill out a char goes unnoticed you may think the costs are hidden behind the translation, but the credit card has a nice little wedge for Itunes spending. And when I look at what you are willing to charge and what it will cost to keep up, and then compare that with the proposed costs of force arena which is way below my original budget for swgoh, there is no goodwill left. Given the costs of the last four months, it's obvious swgoh is asking for a 2-3x price increase over last year, and I'm sorry that really isn't going to fly.
The second problem is actually much more severe. If I'm paying a few hundred a week to play with bursts up to five hundred or so for a new char, I have a certain expectation of being competitive in all aspects of the game, your current introduction model blows this expectation up. Chirrut can be obtained only through a tourney and it looks like it will be January before he even shows back up there. What this means is that I am now facing a chirrut team in arena and more in tourneys and that is a substantial disadvantage.
Being a fairly good spender, there is a character in the game I can not obtain by any means, and a meta defining character at that. Now we are talking negative good will here. Bistan is little better. Ship chromiums are still ship chromiums, and while I am farming him in the shop, that is a very slow and unsatisfying customer experience.
To be honest, I believe that you have already gone to far in the cash grab. The perception is now that swgoh is simply priced out of any reasonable budget. You either spend all in, or are basically FTP, there is no in between and your all in is thousands of dollars a month now. But my suggestions anyway.
* make new chars introduced by tournies available for purchase from packs. Anyone willing to spend on the game should be guaranteed access to every character and ship from the game. And chromiums do not count. They are beyond stupid unless you are just starting out.
* seriously revisit your pricing models to encourage moderate $100 per month or so spending. Right now that kind of spending will get your FTP character partially modded. That is just stupid and a horrible gaming value. And if you are charging more than 500 for a new character you are going to watch that goodwill number go negative and your paying player base migrate to a more reasonably priced Star Wars game.
Your product is brilliant and amazing and seriously fun and engaging, but your accountants are detracting from that to the point where more than any time since the introduction of mods I would consider the games future at risk, and it's not because it doesn't have more life left in it, but because you have made it so expensive to play that you will be practically forcing people to look at alternatives, when the far better solution is to just go for the economies of scale and get a little money from a lot of people instead of a lot of money from a few people.
That's my take, and feedback.
