Corporate Economics 101
February 11, 2016 4:44PM
edited February 2016
Before I lambaste EA below, I would like to state that overall I like the changes and updates that have been made.
Having said that I am left with a very sour taste in my mouth. This game is my first experience with any like this. And as value is removed or shifted or even leveraged elsewhere in the game I have to ask myself if I am going to continue to have fun and whether it is worth the time and effort. But then, a 2,200% decrease in the value of 'Profit Mining' in order to induce players to spend real money will do that.
When playing the game becomes paying the game and feels more like a chore than a relaxing past time, it's time to check out.
Rapid and arbitrary shifts in economics of the game leave an incredibly bitter taste in my mouth, and I suspect others.
Such is the case with how EA has gutted the value of the profit and droid mining features in the wake of the introduction of the Jedi packs.
Savvy players could allow their Energy replenish over time, then spend 2x50 crystals and have their Energy level at 350+. That would allow the player up to 7 turns in credit/droid mining. In Tier II this meant a player could earn many more 5* & 6* Training Droids than would be attainable elsewhere and/or come away with as much as 110,000 Credits per 50 Energy spent with up to 770,000 Credits for those 100 Crystals spent.
For the sake of discussion and illustrating the drastic shift in value which EA has administered - lets divide 770,000 by 100 Crystals.
The result is 7,700 Credits per Crystal or - putting it in terms of a common crystal increment - 385,000 Credits per 50 Crystals spent.
With that unfavorable (to EA) fiat Credit & Droid mining system now abolished via EAdict, let us consider our current alternatives...
Shipments
65,625 Credits / 85 Crystals = 772 Credits per Crystal or 38,603 Credits per 50 Crystals
525,000 Credits / 595 Crystals = 882 Credits per Crystal or 44,118 Credits per 50 Crystals.
Events
"Profit Mining" at Tier II offers a 'base' reward of 8,300 Credits per 24 Energy and up to 25,200 Credits (w/ 'multipliers').
8,300/24 = 346 Credits per 1 Energy unit spent; or 17,291 Credits per 50 Energy spent.
25,200/24 = 1,050 Credits per 1 Energy spent; or 50,500 Credits per 50 Energy spent.
Here is my message to EA... my budget is my budget. Leveraging the launch of the most highly anticipated character is perfectly understandable. But completely reworking the economics of the game to Force your customers (many of whom are kids) to lay down $60.00 or be locked out of having a chance at obtaining this release is as obvious as it is slimey. Its so overt that it pushes me toward the conclusion that to this point (w/ the exception of Lumi & JC) Jedi have been intentionally unattractive to invest time, effort & resorces.
I spent over $100 last month trying to play catch up. I do not intend to do so again. With the farming of Gear components already unnecessarily excessive, time consuming and expensive - my interest had already begun to wane after just 10 weeks of playing. Now with the drastic changes in intragame economics, I am eeconsidering whether my time and energies are best put to use elsewhere.
Alienating discretionary leisure customers via money grab is never good business practice.
EDIT: I changed the title of this thread. You have the right to voice your opinion, but please do not call out EA in a discussion title. -EA_Jesse
Having said that I am left with a very sour taste in my mouth. This game is my first experience with any like this. And as value is removed or shifted or even leveraged elsewhere in the game I have to ask myself if I am going to continue to have fun and whether it is worth the time and effort. But then, a 2,200% decrease in the value of 'Profit Mining' in order to induce players to spend real money will do that.
When playing the game becomes paying the game and feels more like a chore than a relaxing past time, it's time to check out.
Rapid and arbitrary shifts in economics of the game leave an incredibly bitter taste in my mouth, and I suspect others.
Such is the case with how EA has gutted the value of the profit and droid mining features in the wake of the introduction of the Jedi packs.
Savvy players could allow their Energy replenish over time, then spend 2x50 crystals and have their Energy level at 350+. That would allow the player up to 7 turns in credit/droid mining. In Tier II this meant a player could earn many more 5* & 6* Training Droids than would be attainable elsewhere and/or come away with as much as 110,000 Credits per 50 Energy spent with up to 770,000 Credits for those 100 Crystals spent.
For the sake of discussion and illustrating the drastic shift in value which EA has administered - lets divide 770,000 by 100 Crystals.
The result is 7,700 Credits per Crystal or - putting it in terms of a common crystal increment - 385,000 Credits per 50 Crystals spent.
With that unfavorable (to EA) fiat Credit & Droid mining system now abolished via EAdict, let us consider our current alternatives...
Shipments
65,625 Credits / 85 Crystals = 772 Credits per Crystal or 38,603 Credits per 50 Crystals
525,000 Credits / 595 Crystals = 882 Credits per Crystal or 44,118 Credits per 50 Crystals.
Events
"Profit Mining" at Tier II offers a 'base' reward of 8,300 Credits per 24 Energy and up to 25,200 Credits (w/ 'multipliers').
8,300/24 = 346 Credits per 1 Energy unit spent; or 17,291 Credits per 50 Energy spent.
25,200/24 = 1,050 Credits per 1 Energy spent; or 50,500 Credits per 50 Energy spent.
Here is my message to EA... my budget is my budget. Leveraging the launch of the most highly anticipated character is perfectly understandable. But completely reworking the economics of the game to Force your customers (many of whom are kids) to lay down $60.00 or be locked out of having a chance at obtaining this release is as obvious as it is slimey. Its so overt that it pushes me toward the conclusion that to this point (w/ the exception of Lumi & JC) Jedi have been intentionally unattractive to invest time, effort & resorces.
I spent over $100 last month trying to play catch up. I do not intend to do so again. With the farming of Gear components already unnecessarily excessive, time consuming and expensive - my interest had already begun to wane after just 10 weeks of playing. Now with the drastic changes in intragame economics, I am eeconsidering whether my time and energies are best put to use elsewhere.
Alienating discretionary leisure customers via money grab is never good business practice.
EDIT: I changed the title of this thread. You have the right to voice your opinion, but please do not call out EA in a discussion title. -EA_Jesse
Post edited by EA_Jesse on
0
Replies
Your analysis of the intra game economic even broadens my view of the EA greed! Since I rarely used the key battle function, now I know that it was way better than buying the credits from the store with crystals. **** it Deva, shame on you!
The prices for these toons are out of control. Spending $50 bucks on a character is too much. The new Google Chromecast at $35 or a Amazon fire tablet at $40 are just examples of gifts that will do more for you at a better price tag.
So what's my point; why is the prices in this game marked up so high? It doesn't have net worth and doesn't hold value. Characters will be out classed by other characters in the future, so that $50 toon you bought 6 months ago is done and it's time to buy the better version (ie. Rebel Luke for Jedi Luke). But the chromecast is still allowing you to play this game on your TV.
I doubt you've played as many as I have.. I can definitively say this is one of the worst. EA is known for its greed and is hated in the gaming community.
These new event rewards? Not only did they lower the amount of the credits from the event that comes every few days, but the replacement keycard battles are preposterously low, and I will not be re-upping my crystal supply to re-up my energy for these battles as I was before.
The reward is just too insubstantial to make it worth it to me. Leveling will be far too slow now, and ok...so they upped the credit rewards in GW but that's such a slog, and it's own manner of headache.
Honestly...the consistent income I knew I could make from the old event was the driving motivation to keep playing and trying new characters. With that gone and making money now even more of a chore than it was before, I expect it won't be long before I go the way of the OP and find a new game as well.
My 3DS is about to have a few new games out soon anyway. I won't feel nearly as bad about devoting my time to Fire Emblem and Bravely Second over this now.
DarthPurgatory is 100% right. This change just makes me not want to try and level new toons because I just don't have the credits to level anymore. That profit mining was a sure income of credits and droids so you could try and level toons relatively quickly. Its just not the case anymore, and it makes the game far less fun.
Most hated, yeah, but EA has the top grossing games in its roster. Any connection between the two?
I dunno what the deal is with some of you guys. Any company will not change its business model based on .000 something % of their customer base. You pay if you want the exclusive toons or you are too impatient to grind like the rest of the F2Ps. What's the point pointing fingers and throwing toxic comments?
It's not like money doesn't get you any privileges anywhere else in the world. Obviously, EA the company, it's shareholders and the staff would also be interested in getting more money. Let's just start focusing on the game, guys.
That I agree with. I assume the descriptions for such rewards/packs are made by the marketing and sales teams. Like that 35% off training droids pack, lol.
Sounds like my Eco prof, +1 for your intellect
You can ALMOST have it all pretty fast. But not fast enough for the impatient. Self-control. This is just like gambling. And this can be a worse addiction than most video games.
You get free energy/cantina energy accumulated each day. If you don't want to spend money, you have to prioritize. These games are time fillers for when you are "mobile".
Yes, you would have a point if you made the argument that if this isn't meant to be much more than a time filler, why do things cost more than a traditional game. Heck, a console game+DLC would cost $100 at the most. People spend thousands on this game. The only way to ever lower the price on things would be to not buy them. But you know there are too many people without self control.