Please be careful with how Ally Tokens are handled.
Judging from what was posted in the Announcement area, it looks like you're at the starting point of changing how Ally Tokens are going to work going forward. Maybe that means more stuff to spend them on, we don't know yet. But we do know that you've reduced the amount you get in a day by taking them out of game modes that don't require energy and I think that's a very misguided decision.
The problem that you identified is that there are players who long ago stopped spending their ally tokens and now have stockpiles in the millions. You want people to spend down their inventories before you make changes. I get that.
But here's the real problem--There's a lot of people who have been spending their ally tokens this whole time. After tournaments ended we were explicitly told that bronziums would be the only way to spend tokens from here on out and that we should stop stockpiling. Spending down to 0 at the end of each night is simple, and a whole lot easier than letting them get to 100k and spending down to 0, so we would end the day with a zeroed-out balance. This put the playerbase into two de facto groups: People who followed your intended player behavior and people who didn't. Logically it flows that the people who aren't following the intended behavior are a problem (Not, like, to be clear to any player reading this, that those "problem players" need to be punished or banned or whatever, stop it... It's a problem to be solved, like math.) that's hindering the game.
Fast forward to a couple weeks ago and you introduce the weekly shipments store with its slot for things that cost ally tokens. This was a good solution that was poorly executed at the onset and has, as time's gone on, gotten past that initial bump in the road and been fine. It solved the problem of too many ally tokens by giving the people who stockpiled something else to spend them on, but that first week hurt the first group. Because we spent our tokens down pretty frequently and because the pricepoint was 50k tokens (60k when it's reinforcement materials) buying that first shipment was out of reach. After that first week it was pretty easy to save enough, so in the long run it evened out and a new player behavior was implemented: Save your tokens, spend them on weekly shipments.
I would love for new things to spend on to be added. But at this point, you can't add them without severely hosing people who didn't horde their tokens--ie the people causing the problem you want to solve. Moreover, now that you've reduced the number of tokens you get in a day, you've already made things a lot harder for us. 50k tokens for the shipments that already exist can't be gathered in a week, meaning the only people who can buy those weekly shipments every week are the folks who horded, which again means folks who aren't part of the problem are getting hosed. All the solutions so far, and it kind of feels like the solutions coming down the pipeline, have negatively affected the people who were not part of the problem and rewarded those who are.
I'll tell you what I think a fair solution is that benefits everyone. First, you'll need to implement a multi-pull for bronzium packs. Second, you'll need to switch bronzium packs from costing 250 ally points to costing 1 Bronzium Token--every 4 hours you generate one Bronzium Token. Third, tell folks that on a specific date (or even just "when the next update goes live" if you don't want to be too specific) all their ally points will automatically convert to Bronzium Tokens at an exchange rate of 250:1, and then deliver them all through in-game mail. Finally, base the cost of anything that now costs ally tokens (Weekly shipments, whatever you add on down the line, etc) on the current rate of gain. This way bronziums will still exist and people won't be complaining about having to sit and open them for long stretches of time--just one button press a day would clear out all your tokens and get your rewards.
If you want to be super-conciliatory with all this, once the Ally Points are converted to Bronzium Tokens, give everyone 50k Ally Points to ensure that they can afford the next week's Weekly Shipment. This would wipe out the massive stockpiles people have while still maintaining the purpose of ally tokens earned from before these changes, while at the same time allowing you to start your new ally token economy with a clean slate. You would be able to implement any type of store or refresh or whatever other ideas you have without having to figure out how to avoid hosing folks who aren't part of the problem.
Thanks.
The problem that you identified is that there are players who long ago stopped spending their ally tokens and now have stockpiles in the millions. You want people to spend down their inventories before you make changes. I get that.
But here's the real problem--There's a lot of people who have been spending their ally tokens this whole time. After tournaments ended we were explicitly told that bronziums would be the only way to spend tokens from here on out and that we should stop stockpiling. Spending down to 0 at the end of each night is simple, and a whole lot easier than letting them get to 100k and spending down to 0, so we would end the day with a zeroed-out balance. This put the playerbase into two de facto groups: People who followed your intended player behavior and people who didn't. Logically it flows that the people who aren't following the intended behavior are a problem (Not, like, to be clear to any player reading this, that those "problem players" need to be punished or banned or whatever, stop it... It's a problem to be solved, like math.) that's hindering the game.
Fast forward to a couple weeks ago and you introduce the weekly shipments store with its slot for things that cost ally tokens. This was a good solution that was poorly executed at the onset and has, as time's gone on, gotten past that initial bump in the road and been fine. It solved the problem of too many ally tokens by giving the people who stockpiled something else to spend them on, but that first week hurt the first group. Because we spent our tokens down pretty frequently and because the pricepoint was 50k tokens (60k when it's reinforcement materials) buying that first shipment was out of reach. After that first week it was pretty easy to save enough, so in the long run it evened out and a new player behavior was implemented: Save your tokens, spend them on weekly shipments.
I would love for new things to spend on to be added. But at this point, you can't add them without severely hosing people who didn't horde their tokens--ie the people causing the problem you want to solve. Moreover, now that you've reduced the number of tokens you get in a day, you've already made things a lot harder for us. 50k tokens for the shipments that already exist can't be gathered in a week, meaning the only people who can buy those weekly shipments every week are the folks who horded, which again means folks who aren't part of the problem are getting hosed. All the solutions so far, and it kind of feels like the solutions coming down the pipeline, have negatively affected the people who were not part of the problem and rewarded those who are.
I'll tell you what I think a fair solution is that benefits everyone. First, you'll need to implement a multi-pull for bronzium packs. Second, you'll need to switch bronzium packs from costing 250 ally points to costing 1 Bronzium Token--every 4 hours you generate one Bronzium Token. Third, tell folks that on a specific date (or even just "when the next update goes live" if you don't want to be too specific) all their ally points will automatically convert to Bronzium Tokens at an exchange rate of 250:1, and then deliver them all through in-game mail. Finally, base the cost of anything that now costs ally tokens (Weekly shipments, whatever you add on down the line, etc) on the current rate of gain. This way bronziums will still exist and people won't be complaining about having to sit and open them for long stretches of time--just one button press a day would clear out all your tokens and get your rewards.
If you want to be super-conciliatory with all this, once the Ally Points are converted to Bronzium Tokens, give everyone 50k Ally Points to ensure that they can afford the next week's Weekly Shipment. This would wipe out the massive stockpiles people have while still maintaining the purpose of ally tokens earned from before these changes, while at the same time allowing you to start your new ally token economy with a clean slate. You would be able to implement any type of store or refresh or whatever other ideas you have without having to figure out how to avoid hosing folks who aren't part of the problem.
Thanks.
Ceterum censeo Patientia esse meliat.
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