Post by KaneoheGrown on Sept 29, 2017 18:05:06 GMT -5
Nice read Dredd!
One thing I wanted to point out that is my primary concern, nerfing of an OP/high priced item.
A major issue to me is that "if" I spend $300 on a Inquisitor and they nerf it in the near future, I'm going to feel totally screwed. I'm on board with Pix balancing the game as needed, but it definitely impacts player decision making on spending money when you know that there are no guarantees what you bought today will be what you have tomorrow.
This is why the 5th slot has always been the recommended first "big purchase". Regardless of future balance changes, a 5th slot is virtually immune to being nerfed. High priced bots and weapons on the other hand have no guarantees...
The $300 bot really isn't that surprising when you think about it. Even a whale will eventually wind up with every bot and weapon he wants and have them all maxed out. What's another $300 to someone who's already spend $1000's? There are already players with hangers full of Dash bots equipped with scourges... they have to have spent several hundred dollars gambling to acquire them. Those are the players Pixonic is targeting. When you place their actions in the context of targeting that %5 of players who spend that way, much more of what they do makes sense.
Ultimately, human beings are less hairy apes with delusions of grandeur. All hail our robot overlords!
Thank you for your insightful and well written and thought out article. I couldn't tell whether you really addressed the gamble to win strategy of the past months and how this fueled the fire and ire of the players. For every bronze chest haechi there were many who got not what they wanted, like me 10 $ for a mollot mk2. I decided then that I wouldn't spend more on the game cause I just see the value and after looking there supposed specials I don't trust there math on profit percentages. I have seen 4 different deals for same gold for .99$ all with different profit claims. When you see that you doubt the honor of the seller. Gamble to win to components and no clear details on what is happening with workshop points. If you know please share cause I have 40000 and hope they are worth something.
Post by killmall420 on Sept 29, 2017 18:36:03 GMT -5
Thanks good information hope they work it like playing the game hope it's not like mobile strike were it's almost all pay to play but hey you don't see adds on TV anymore wonder why hmm they killed it or no more money coming in any case ty again
Post by crazynutz on Sept 29, 2017 19:01:09 GMT -5
I just got an offer for a lance and a bunch of gold for $30 and I was thinking of how many people are going to be ticked off because they spent a lot more than that. I'm waiting and not spending anything.
Due to Apple's currency conversion scheme (and possibly vat, not sure about that) it's even worse than that: I'd have to pay the equvalent of 428.56 USD for an Inquisitor...
And I forgot to mention that I found it funny that you brought up the old Star Wars Galaxies - I played that intensively for a few years and the current situation with Pixonic reminds me of what Sony did to SWG.
You know, I used to love update days, testing out all the new stuff. Man, the rhino days where wsp was king were the best. Such a great currency, something that allowed noobs and non-spenders to be competitive. Now, not so much.
Due to Apple's currency conversion scheme (and possibly vat, not sure about that) it's even worse than that: I'd have to pay the equvalent of 428.56 USD for an Inquisitor...
^^^^ Exactly this for other countries and iOS players. In Australia you add roughly 30% to the US dollar amount and then the Apple Tax. We are just about to introduce GST (like VAT) for internet transactions so it just continues to escalate in cost to unreasonable levels (and this example is for just ONE bot - obviously nonsensical for 2 or 3).
Post by bronzeknee on Sept 29, 2017 20:58:46 GMT -5
Excellent article, and I've been been critical of Dredds articles in the past.
Pixonic did us all a favor by pricing the bots far beyond what anyone predicted, uniting the community.
I do want to say that there an option C to players criticizing the new robots. Honestly, the pricing structure doesn't matter as long as they are balanced. Balanced new releases solves the pricing problem, and it is why the WW robots never bothered me.
But the Dash Robots being so strong and expensive ruins the game balance. If they are balanced, price doesn't matter, and if everyone can get them, then the game remains balanced because everyone can run one (though the meta is ruined). Being both strong and expensive makes the game pay to win, and that is my issue.
Last Edit: Sept 29, 2017 22:55:52 GMT -5 by bronzeknee
Tired of facing pay to win hangers with Ares, Ao Juns, and Last Stand? Want a true test of skill?
Dredd77 Thanks for taking the time to share your experience and perspective with the community. Perspectives outside the box are challenging to come by when we're angry eh!?! I will make an effort to consider your points more thoroughly. Thanks again
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Pilot name: RedFoxJI Platform: Android Clan: [MWM] Midwest Mercenary League: Expert Server Region: North America Favorite robot: Doc or Lance
Post by kingdavid1 on Sept 29, 2017 21:46:15 GMT -5
That was a great read. It is outrageous what pixonic is doing to its customers. Personally I've dropped about 50$ on the game. No I don't believe in spending cash on a game but I found it so great. Now that these dashes are here I kinda regret it. I'm just going to keep playing and enjoy the most of it until I can't seem to progress anymore or I just don't see anything good updates or events.
Post by ezekielcrow on Sept 29, 2017 22:50:47 GMT -5
Good read. I wish Pix would follow through with the WSP conversion though and perhaps let players earn components directly per game instead of a chance to earn components. Making components generic/interchangeable would also help. I think there is a distinction between earning a bot one wants and earning the chance to get a part of a bot one wants. Its a distinction big enough to make players feel fleeced by the system.
Last Edit: Sept 29, 2017 22:51:26 GMT -5 by ezekielcrow
I could spend 300$ on a new phone and it would last me forever. What happen if you spend 300$ and the next day pix goes bankrupt? Thats the player fault right .
Well written words of thought from the Bearded Sage. I hope the Cash Pandas in Moscow listen.
I am worrried.
Given that most of if not all the 20 million USD paid out by mail.ru was used to cover the carry on Pix's three rounds of VC and the burn during their expansion did away with the rest, I think they're probably hurting on liquidity right now. The KPIs for the additional 10mil USD have never been publicly stated, but given that Mail.ru purchased them predicated upon efforts to replicate success abroad with penetration of the Russian MMO market, I surmise said KPIs are related to such endeavors, both market share/rankings and net revenues. If anyone else is tracking AppAnnie, we can see that effort has been a quick fizzled burn out; the rankings in RU and CIS flashed quick over several months, revenue jumped there during the last update, however, have not succeeded to date in gaining significant market share.
Given one or more of their revenue dependent KPIs, I am guessing they are under the crunch to hall in as much cash as possible from other markets to make up for missed earnings target. They did seeem to get more thirsty the closer we got to the end of the fiscal year.
Given the normal road map for mobile gaming companies, I don't think Pix has got the chops to go the distance. If you're not growing you're dying... addendum is if you're not growing fast enough you're dying. They've already pulled support from Robinson and retasked to War Robots. They've only got VR War Robots on the horizon and lets face it, the VR market, regardless of mobile or console, is a risky proposition. Too many physiological issues, hardware issues and buy in, etc. Furthermore, given War Robots is three years old, reached market saturation in western countries, in which its rankings and ratings appear to be on a slow downward trend, I think Pix has crested and will shutter in the next 36-48 months. This, coupled with other similar offering from larger game houses on the market, or coming online, does not boad well for their future stake in the market.
I say that due to the nature of the deal with mail.ru. They are a wholly owned, independent company with its own corporate governance. Which is good for them right now, but bad in the long run due to that status most likely being contingent and dependent. If they do go insolvent, given mail.ru's record, products will be absorbed, as well as staff, or terminated and the assets chopped and sold.
My forecast is for pix to continue to milk the cow till its dead; squeeze as much out of those existing customers on hand as possible to meet an ARPDU goal and try and make the bridge loan from the bank. With that, I don't see a drop in prices or availability of in game hardware. It's not conducive to soaking the whales...
Edit: the acquisition KPIs are revenue dependent, ref Mail.ru FY16 An report.
This is what I meant about the false advertising with insane claim of profit only because of there unfavorable exchange rates for currency. When they have to give almost 400% percent price cut to entice a buy thier stuff is inflated by that much in my book.
One thing I wanted to point out that is my primary concern, nerfing of an OP/high priced item.
A major issue to me is that "if" I spend $300 on a Inquisitor and they nerf it in the near future, I'm going to feel totally screwed. I'm on board with Pix balancing the game as needed, but it definitely impacts player decision making on spending money when you know that there are no guarantees what you bought today will be what you have tomorrow.
This is why the 5th slot has always been the recommended first "big purchase". Regardless of future balance changes, a 5th slot is virtually immune to being nerfed. High priced bots and weapons on the other hand have no guarantees...
consider what happened to the players that purchased the britbots... Now gareth and galahad are one-salvo-bots.
One thing I wanted to point out that is my primary concern, nerfing of an OP/high priced item.
A major issue to me is that "if" I spend $300 on a Inquisitor and they nerf it in the near future, I'm going to feel totally screwed. I'm on board with Pix balancing the game as needed, but it definitely impacts player decision making on spending money when you know that there are no guarantees what you bought today will be what you have tomorrow.
This is why the 5th slot has always been the recommended first "big purchase". Regardless of future balance changes, a 5th slot is virtually immune to being nerfed. High priced bots and weapons on the other hand have no guarantees...
consider what happened to the players that purchased the britbots... Now gareth and galahad are one-salvo-bots.
I'm writing a thread on this now (I'll finish it tomorrow). I don't think they will so much nerf the Dash Robots as buff everything else.
Tired of facing pay to win hangers with Ares, Ao Juns, and Last Stand? Want a true test of skill?
Let's hope that Pix implements the workshop 2.0 fast.
That seems like a good solution, since quite some people gambled and got not what they wanted.
Imagine you spent around 250$, are okay with the winnings, but basically just wanted a dash which you didn't get? No there was no choice, but for those high price tags. People who spent and didn't win would be seriously pissed off, if they would be able to buy it for cheap just 14 days later.
Now Pix can make ground good, so people can invest their useless won AU on the slotmachine into some components, or even better - pull some finished bots out of it, and enjoy the competition again.
Last Edit: Sept 30, 2017 2:13:40 GMT -5 by nosinov
Let's hope that Pix implements the workshop 2.0 fast.
That seems like a good solution, since quite some people gambled and got not what they wanted.
Imagine you spent around 250$, are okay with the winnings, but basically just wanted a dash which you didn't get? No there was no choice, but for those high price tags. People who spent and didn't win would be seriously pissed off, if they would be able to buy it for cheap just 14 days later.
Now Pix can make ground good, so people can invest their useless won AU on the slotmachine into some components, or even better - pull some finished bots out of it, and enjoy the competition again.
Unless they do an emergency patch, we're still looking at a month's time before ANYTHING changes.