No rants, it is just about understanding
June 14, 2022 7:41PM
edited June 2022
I don't know if anyone from CG will read my comment, or even address to my questions, but I just need to spill my guts here.
I won't judge if Datacrons are good or bad (let's wait and see).
I just really would like to know, officially if there's the possibility of that, WHY CG has dismissed all the problems that the community has been telling them. Like, gear crunch, their "lack of memory" in implementing State of Gear phases II (and even complete phase I). More ships and so.
Datacrons MIGHT be good, but THAT'S not the point. The point is WHY CG isn't listening to the community that made the game HUGE.
Is it a lack of vision? Business vision? Cause this isn't a logical path for a business. You make people idolize your product by given them what they want, and them adding "speed" to get it, and so they spend money, willinly, because all emotions towards the game is good.
CG is doing exactly the opposite. Road ahead was a joke. It's a tiny Road Ahead (only 2 things, and GI isn't exactly news). A lot of words? Yeah, just explaining ONE thing.
There's a lack of respect for the fans of the game here. It may be unintentional, I won't point fingers like that. But a fact is a fact.
So, WHY isn't CG listening to the community? Why are you not doing a GOOD business strategy and makes us HAPPY to spend money in the game?
I won't judge if Datacrons are good or bad (let's wait and see).
I just really would like to know, officially if there's the possibility of that, WHY CG has dismissed all the problems that the community has been telling them. Like, gear crunch, their "lack of memory" in implementing State of Gear phases II (and even complete phase I). More ships and so.
Datacrons MIGHT be good, but THAT'S not the point. The point is WHY CG isn't listening to the community that made the game HUGE.
Is it a lack of vision? Business vision? Cause this isn't a logical path for a business. You make people idolize your product by given them what they want, and them adding "speed" to get it, and so they spend money, willinly, because all emotions towards the game is good.
CG is doing exactly the opposite. Road ahead was a joke. It's a tiny Road Ahead (only 2 things, and GI isn't exactly news). A lot of words? Yeah, just explaining ONE thing.
There's a lack of respect for the fans of the game here. It may be unintentional, I won't point fingers like that. But a fact is a fact.
So, WHY isn't CG listening to the community? Why are you not doing a GOOD business strategy and makes us HAPPY to spend money in the game?
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There's a difference between having a line of thought for a complain, and complaining just because someone didn't like a thing.
I understand "rant" as the later (again, English is not my native language, therefore I might have gotten lost here)
I've played 5 or 6 games like this. Every single one of them, the F2P community is largely filled with players who are confident that if only the company would give away more stuff for free, everyone would be so happy and satisfied that they would willingly open their wallets and profits of extraordinary volumes would spill out.
I've also worked for large corporations. And I know they collect eye-boggling amounts of metrics to pinpoint exactly where they are making money and where they aren't and how they can make more money. I have never worked for EA, but I would bet my life that there are people at EA who assess how games can make more money. People with access to tons of player data. When does spending go up? When does it go down? What makes a formerly F2P start spending? Etc.
If CG followed through on the gear changes and cancelled datacrons, would they make more money? You think they would. But clearly, the people at EA whose job it is to make that decision and who have GBs worth of data on player spending, think otherwise. Who is right? The world will never know.
Take this at a single example. If you go to eat on a restaurant and receive a bad service, end to be ignored and frustrated, and what you order is wrong, etc etc. Obviously you pay for what you eat, but how Much chances can you say you're going again to the same restaurant to eat and spend your money??
I have often thought this EXACT thing. EA/CG are a billion dollar gaming company managing (however poorly some of us might think) a billion dollar game. They are obviously doing something right (even if some of us don't think so) to keep this game on for almost 7 years. Yes, of course, we love our SW IP; no doubt that if this was another less influential IP, this game probably wouldn't be doing as well.
The part where I tend to agree with the OP ( and with @Ravens1113 ) is that they have already promised some of the things that they are withholding.
Other than that, I completely agree with you. I know they have data...I just sometimes wish they'd put away their targeting computer and "use the force."
I never disagreed with that. It's a fact. It's also a fact that despite them completely ignoring their stated plan and going completely radio silent, people keep playing. And paying. The reality is that the vast majority of the revenue in this game likely comes from people who don't care about phase 2 of the gear crunch. And the vast majority of people who do care about phase 2 apparently don't care enough to do anything about the lack of communication.
Humans will finish terraforming Mars, and Ravens will be on here swearing that if CG doesn't say something about phase 2 then he's totally gonna think about looking into considering the possibility of potentially not playing. For a few days.
Rule of Acquisition 324: ‘Your customer is a prince but data is your King.’
I haven’t paid for anything in this game in a long time. I just got LV unlocked F2P when I could’ve spent cash to get him months ago. Why don’t I? Incidents like this. So no, I’ve already closed my wallet. If datacrons get to be too overbearing I just May relegate to a more casual section of my guild and be more passive.
In that same breath though, when they establish settlements on mars you’ll still be on here defending CG every which way, proudly holding their banner 🤷🏻♂️
Or they could deliver on the gear changes, make QoL improvements and release datacrons to make tons of cash? Just a thought
They'll make the same amount of cash (and it will cost them less) if they ignore the first two things. Just a thought.
I'm not defending it. I'm just capable of observing reality.
They also make revenue from game time and downloads and when people log in. Changing code to make things better for players keeps people around longer. Implementing changes like omegas and datacrons brings in revenue. The longer people stay the more likely they’ll eventually start spending
LOL! No they don't. This isn't google ads pal. They make money when people spend money. Period. If you log in 50 times a day for 5 years and are F2P, they haven't earned a dime from you. Some games have 3rd party ads, but SWGOH doesn't. The only revenue is from in-game purchases.
Technically true. But I've seen literally hundreds of posts on this forum of people (not naming names!) swearing that they will never spend another dime. It's possible that CG has believed these people's statements, and as such, no longer considers their opinions relevant to revenue.
What’s funny is that you don’t think that they see downloads or log in data as important. The way they make money from that is investors partnering with EA/CG. Direct monetary gain from that aside, that is a metric they and every single mobile game keep a close eye on. If log in numbers, reviews and downloads are on the decline, that’s a very serious issue. See the log in strike many did for MSF a year and a half ago.
If they don’t see the opinions of potential spenders as serious then that’s their failure. If those hundreds of people spent only 100 a month on the game a piece then that’s anywhere from 10-100 thousands dollars a month lost depending on the exact number you want to put in there.
No, I don’t run a company. No I don’t have a business degree. However it doesn’t require either of those to know that maximizing your potential customer/spender base is the best thing you can to. Do you want to minimize cost on production? Sure, but never to the point that it affects the quality of what you’re selling and ever since Carrie left, the quality has been getting worse.
That’s not true. It depends on your strategy and lowering the quality for extra profit is a thing.
Now, you may think that their strategy is not good and maybe you’re right. But as they have the data, we can only assume they use this data to decide what’s best for them. However, what’s best for them is not necessarily what’s best for the players.
The main revenue comes from a surprisingly small demographic in any game like SWGOH creating some imbalance in content release, a survey found 48% of revenue comes from 0.19% of player population in mobile free to play games.
Datacrons will be good to revitalise older characters for these big spenders without needing too much future investment in content release. This also leads to a subscription service style of keeping ahead. Being temporary means that these rosters at the tip of the spear don’t consume updates within a short period then look for what’s next. The datacrons will need continued work, and will likely add way more value to the conquest pass plus with faster stamina regeneration for repeat grinding of datacron rewards.
It’s also clever to target TW as social aspects like doing well for the guild promotes spending as well as GAC as being competitive also promotes spending.
There are a lot of complaints but to generate revenue CG are balancing making an enjoyable game to retain players but inconvenient enough to entice more in game purchases. Holding back gear changes may hinder the majority but gain revenue by a small minority. Allowing discrepancies in matchmaking pushes the competitive to grind more and potentially spend more. Artificial limits like the 4M GP gating, which feed into conquest character release and now datacron rewards will also frustrate many but promote some to P2P to just push to 4M GP.
The only point I think would help them is more ships, but they are slowly putting more ships out, maybe we will see more when executor is more common and loses exclusivity.
Lower product quality is a thing but there’s only so much of a reduction that customers are willing to put up with and that includes factors of loyalty and personal enjoyment of said product. Someone who’s been a customer for 5+ years is more likely to deal with more of a quality drop than a brand new customer.
I’m sure they have data about profit margins and they’re happy with it. However that doesn’t run the numbers on human emotion and futures and what customers are willing to put up with. EA has always been ok with ticked off players so long as the drop wasn’t too significant; then they react and do damage control. Unfortunately Star Wars fans are very emotional so they’re playing a very dangerous game. We will see though. I’m personally done giving them any more of my money. That’s hundreds of dollars a month I used to spend that I will no longer give them. They have to do a lot to win my business back and at this rate it’s not looking likely
Of course those metrics are important. My point is you are probably the single angriest person about the lack of follow through on Phase 2, and yet that has had 0 impact on your log in data. You're still here. Complaining. But playing. So their log in data is telling them that maintaining radio silence on the Phase 2 changes has no impact on the game, because the GAC / Phase 1 changes were enough to keep people logging in.
This.
They've also created an environment where even if you go all "wallet = closed" on them, you're still going to keep logging in because you're still afraid to fall too far behind by going all "app = closed". That gives them the opportunity to potentially get you to "wallet = open" in the future. That's why "I will no longer spend money on this game" doesn't work and never will - you keep logging in regardless and that's still a win in their book.
Anecdotal (thanks TVF). Do you KNOW I’m logging in just the same as the past? Or am I just logging in once a day near resets for energy for my guild and signing up to sim raids? If there’s no GAC/ScamQuest I’ll tell you that I’m not doing much other than my dailies.
There are tons of people mad about not just the lack of gear economy changes, but other aspects as well. Yes, I am still here complaining and will be until they up their game or they communicate why things are the way they are. Just like complaints and feedback fueled change before. So you can sit silently and not tell CG to be better and accept subpar content and quality. I choose to be vocal and tell them when they’re doing bad. I also tell them when they’re doing good but unfortunately by their own actions it’s few and far between 🤷🏻♂️
The post above is entirely the opinion of the poster and is not endorsed in any manner by TVF or any subsidiaries related to TVF.
This is a breach of your contract. I'll see you in court.