Any thoughts about making the game purchasable instead of pay to win? Even an either or would be great. I will never buy anything in this game as it is setup currenlty. But if it was simply changed to when purchased there is no more "pizza" and items can be purchased at a greater gold cost that would be awesome. I would "unlock" the game for $19.99, to have full access to every item in the game.
Hello, @Jonathan A Whitehorn , and welcome to the forums! I disagree with your premise that the game is pay to win. Some of our highest ranked players have never spent any money on the game, and I've never seen that happen in a pay to win game. The loot chase aspect appeals to some players, as well as the idea that you can't just buy any item you want: Each has to randomly show up in a chest or a shop in order for the player to obtain them. You can increase your chances by buying tons of chests, and while you will definitely get something, the item(s) you want may not be among them. Some players dislike this system. Before he became a dev, Flaxative opined that he'd prefer every player in PVP start with the max usable of every item in their inventory. I can definitely see how this would put players on a more equal footing. I think a "Pay to gain access to every item" option would take the game much closer to being pay to win. Just my opinion, though.
My opinion, too, Sir Veza. I also disagree that CH is pay to win. I've played a pay-to-win game, and fared pretty well all things considered (relying on fast analyses, tactics, and number crunching instead of overblown OP cards and their ridiculous "level up" qualities), but I detested the system so much, I refused to pay anything and eventually left (later than sooner, unfortunately, because 1. a carrot on a stick kept making it look like things would get better, then would come a new p2w slap in the face to everyone, and 2. it purposefully addictive qualities -- disgusting, really). Every player of that game on its forum openly acknowledges its p2w mess but plays anyway; "whales" (huuuge payers for winning's sake) openly call themselves whales. It's like, to even get anywhere realistically, even in the campaign, you need the premium currency. Ugh. CH, however, is so not p2w, I have thrown Blue Manchu some bones (and encourage others to do so). Am I a top player now? Heheh. Nooo. I've slowly gone up (and down!) ranks at the same rate before I ever picked up expansions; I've barely reached 1700 in ranked once ever; it might be years of more experience if I can ever reach 1800 (or higher). Furthermore, the only comments I've heard about CH being p2w were from brand new players who see CH's Club and locked adventures, get rocked by higher ranked players who've worked hard to combine item synergies and positional play and so forth, and have possibly been burned by p2w games already. Good news! Only "optional" adventures are locked; you can play the whole main storyline for free. Also, you can achieve mid-high ranks in CH using only common and uncommon items. Rarity does not equal quality in this game. $:^ ] People still love common Bejewelled Shortsword and uncommon Double-Edged Sword, and I dare say many of the top players find room for a new common, Lucky Toughness. Meanwhile, of course there are some legendary items highly sought after -- but there are equally plenty of legendary items that float nobody's boat; Bohemian Earspoon and Blessed Radcannon come to mind. Meanwhile, there is no item or card you must pay premium currency for. Pizza for Club merely increases your winnings a little; you still have to actually win battles to receive the chests. (Unless you trade pizza for chests, which the vast majority of players recommend you don't, although some have enjoyed doing so.) Pizza doesn't decrease cooldowns -- and there are only a couple "cooldowns" in the game anyway. It can't be used during a match. It can technically buy you an item from a shop (which are randomly stocked), but oh wow, in three years, I don't recall hearing anyone say one's done so (although I expect with 1.4 million accounts, someone's done so probably). I am curious, Mr. Whitehorn, why you believe the current setup is pay to win. $:^ ]
I guess its not pay to win. That may have been a little harsh. I see what you are saying, but if you cant do the locked adventures then the content still requires some form of payment to play. I was just saying I would rather pay a flat fee for all current and future locked content. Then to sort through and make sure I were to purchase the same amount of in game currency to unlock them. And then hope that it doesn't go to waste, because as you said there is no item or card you must pay a premium for. I am not asking about getting free gear. Just the option to unlock all content. I have played plenty of games that have in game purchases allowed, and i have always felt the same way about them. If there was a flat fee I would most likely support the developers and purchase the game. This just happens to be an exceptionally good game so i thought i would bring it up. Anyway, wasn't looking to argue with anyone, just throwing out an idea.
I apologize if I sounded argumentative, and that I misinterpreted your intent. An Adventure Bundle Bundle does sound pretty neat. One that just unlocked the adventures with none of the extras might be a bit cheaper than the other options. Applying it to any a future expansions could be tricky as to setting the price point. Worth a shot, though.
For what it's worth, I believe the $19.99 Pizza bundle (690 slices) allows you to buy all the locked adventures if you get them in batches (the option presents itself when you go to a locked treasure hunt on the map).
Might me an idea to add the option of buying only treasure hunts (without all the other stuff) in the same menu as the bundles. That way it is a very transparent and clear option for people who are only interested in unlocking all the maps. Kalin posted this on Steam forum ones as a reference: Treasure Hunts cost 30 pizza each if you buy them as sets. Basic: 330 AotA: 150 EttSC: 150 AI: 90 Total: 720 pizza So if you saved some pizza from the campaign, you can still get them all for $20 USD.
It's something we've considered, though last I heard, without a major revamp to our in-game store system, we're actually limited to a finite number of menu options.
I don't remember how much the CM modules cost, but $20 + free pizza = 815 which should be enough even if Spreading Blight isn't free. Is it the number of different transactions or the size of the menu? I have some ideas on how to arrange the menu better...
Expansion bundle price US$20 to unlock all the modules sounds really fair, and makes it simple for new players. Right now, it's difficult for old-timers to even explain the different ways that newbies can unlock content, so imagine what it feels like for new players (and then their subsequent misinterpretation of CH as P2W because they can't visualise what's locked and what's not in an easy manner). In fact, you should write a CH blog post explaining the different ways, and if you don't I'll probably do it in the forums so I can link it to the new player threads. Yearly membership So your end goal is to have players as paid members. The price for this is fair: 3800 pizza = US$99, so yearly club at 2900 pizza = US$75.55 or currently AUD$105-110 once we get gently taken from the sternwards direction by PayPal's exchange rates. That's like AUD$9 a month, so I should kick myself in the can for not buying club more often to support you guys. Now, the problem here is that club doesn't really benefit me. I have the vast majority of items I want. In fact, I currently have ~1300 unopened chests because it's more beneficial for me to keep them closed and hope for a new expansion, than open them and get copies of stuff I already have. I have just over 100k gold - same reason, right now I'm just buying extras of the occasional good CM item that pops up in Randis or the DD. How to make yearly membership more attractive Simple. Release four exclusive figurines each year that come with that year's yearly membership. Buy a three month membership, get that quarter's figure. Buy six months, get two. Buy a year, get four. I'm assuming your art guy can fart out four figures in an economically viable manner; if not, scale it back to two figurines, so one for six months and two for the year. How to make the game more attractive in general Simple. Commit to an annual expansion schedule. It doesn't have to be big; in fact, something like Mitternacht could have been released in two stages (still three adventures for each stage, but introducing half of the cards and half of the new enemies each time). Economically, the horse may have already bolted on this one, so maybe it's advice you can take to the next game. More expansions = more regular online hype = more players joining = less new players getting repeatedly poleaxed by veterans they're matched up on in MP = more player retention. Plus, you'll keep older players who get a little jaded with the same old same old.
