Hi all
I'm thinking of writing to pixo on certain enhancement. below are 2 points that I would like to highlight
1) hangar preset/template (use existing bots but different weapons setup) instead of different bot and weapon for 2nd hangar.
2) allow concurrent upgrade in all hangar. This means if we have 2 hangars, this allows us to upgrade on both hangars at the same time.
Both points above are something that player will see beneficial and will attract them to buy. A win-win situation for pixo and players. Do you have any other thoughts or suggestion to make?
Oh the idea of writing to pixo comes when they finally admit Gareth maximum speed bug which occur since 3.2 update (but never reported and never fix under 3.3). In 3.4 notes, they mention this will be fixed. Somehow this coincidence with my writing few weeks ago related to this speed bugs for Gareth. Who knows Pixo actually listen to players suggestion or complaint.
Okay. Brain storming starts now. All suggestions and idea are most welcome.
I also created a thread, and mentioned in others, that I think each hanger should allow for an upgrade. So, two hangers allow for two concurrent upgrades; four hangers, four concurrent upgrades. As a newer player, it is the only reason I would consider purchasing additional hangers. And frankly, if they implement concurrent upgrades for each hanger owned, I will purchase all hangers available.
That said, it makes no business sense for them to permit the sharing of bots/weapons AND permitting concurrent upgrades. Remember, they are a business, and need to make money. Personally, if I were their revenue manager, I would implement hangers as planned, i.e. not permitting the sharing of bots amongst hangers, but allow for additional hangers permitting additional upgrades. This would sell hangers as well as sell additional premium bots. All while still keeping extra hangers merely a convenience feature vice a P2W feature. Whales will still pay to insta max weapons and bots to MkII (plus we know whales will buy kbots with premium weapons for their extra hangers). But the extra upgrade option(s) allow the rest of us to close the gap a little quicker, while still providing a revenue stream for Pix. And most long term vets have enough bots accumulated to fill a couple hangers, but wouldn't do so while still upgrading their primary to competitive levels. That leaves the rest of us, whom are willing to buy extra hangers, whom do not yet have a vast collection of bots & weapons, to decide if (1) we want to make additional hangers into playable ones with a full bot line up or merely use it for doing extra upgrades for the main hanger, and (2) if making it a playable hanger, do we want to create an all silver hanger or invest in desired premium bots & weapons for a more competitive line-up.
Also note that if I were the revenue manager there at Pix, I would require that whatever bot being upgraded actually be in that hanger. So, as an example, if I owned a total of five hangers, and thus could do five concurrent upgrades, and were only using the extra hangers to more expediently upgrade my main hanger, I wouldn't be allowed to upgrade five bots from hanger 1 at the same time. Bots or weapons that I wanted to upgrade must be loaded into the respective hanger for the duration of the upgrade, then moved back into hanger 1 once the upgrade were complete.
As revenue manager, I would also make the following changes:
1) I would immediately get away from the P2W model the company seems to be following. I would keep the component system, but Haechis and shocktrains would be nerfed fairly dramatically. New premium weapons and bots would be introduced with a slight advantage over existing premium weapons and bots, but only slightly, so that the emphasis is still on skill, but bots and weapons do provide a slight edge. I would ensure weapons and bots, while offering cool and dynamic features and abilities, are not detrimental to team play. I would want diversity in builds vice a meta that pipelines only one or two competitive builds; counters to all builds.
2) I would aim for quarterly updates, with each one offering a temporary play mode, similar to hpw TMD was a short term thing, and a new bot, weapon, map, and/or skin.
3) I would consider introducing a new play mode that helped sell hangers (would require imput from the community to see if they desired such a play mode). It would be a random Bullets, Rockets, or Energy Weapons mode in which you would have to have a hanger for each containing only the weapons for that mode, and the mode be randomly selected when you click play. I would consider introducing a play mode for teams of ten vice six, and a King of the Hill moshpit play mode where it is every pilot for themselves on a medium sized map.
4) If permitting concurrent upgrades for each hanger owned, I would increase the cost of paying gold to rush upgrades by appriximately 50% (and maybe later double if statistics showed that whales were still regularly investing in big insta upgrade expenses)
5) I would make it so that paint jobs/skins are per bot type, and not for individual bots (i.e. if you purchase the Reaper paint job for Lancelot, and have three Lances, the Reaper paint job would be unlocked for any/all of them). The same would be applicable to paint jobs/skins won during events. However, I would also increase the cost of the cheaper paint jobs to 1k gold, while keeping the cooler paint jobs 2,500 gold.
6) I would add TapJoy daily clickable ads to the Black Market (watch a couple ads daily for keys or for a bronze chests) and also a daily ad to reduce an upgrade by an hour or so (an ad for each upgrade in progress). Note however that i would not implement annoying pop-up ads.
7) I would create an official forum to benefit from adsense revenues and to stay better connected with the community.
8) I would host our own company YouTube channel for ad revenues, vice (primarily) sponsoring other channels
9) I would create a company Twitter profile and do community streams every couple weeks to stay close to the gamer base and let the community know of upcoming features, as well as hear issues from the community. Of course, subscribers would be the only ones with chat access during the streams.
*** Pix: If you are reading this, I am available as a business consultant. Or, at a minimum, send some premium content my way for the ideas
And I know many of you will not agree with me on these ideas. But I am a businessman, and I think this would be the fairest compromise to benefit players while still ensuring a steady revenue stream for Pix.