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Structure of the game
cyrori
Posts: 9Member Beginner
I'd like to talk about the structure of the game, and where the core of the problems come from. A lot of discourse comes from lack of knowledge and understanding regarding the game, so this is really aimed towards how everything progresses in KLT compared to NALT, what works, what doesn't and how everything is affected in the long run versus the short term.
I already cover this on LataleIN on multiple posts, but I feel I don't reach enough people.
Latalein 2
So Papaya intends on following KLT closely? I'll give it another week to actually show that.
We may have gotten the cash shop pricing, but nothing else is similar.
First off, what KLT got in this patch (event wise) compared to what we got:
We got exclusive events that only 9 players in the entire server can benefit from, and are insanely competitive and require an insane amount of resources. All of it behind restricted access for paying players, on top of requiring a near insane level of time commitment.
Do most players feel rewarded when they hit level 200, or do they feel pressured to keep going? I'm not too sure about the general consensus, but everyone has their own viewpoint on what they enjoy.
KLT does have new rewards for the new levels though, on top of permanent events that give rewards at every level, you just have to claim it.
Reference Link 2 for the more in detailed changes, and awards for every 5 levels after 220.
You might consider that things have to be earned, and I agree to a certain extent, but the way the game is made relies on having actual functional events that players can easily, and willingly participate in for their own and their friend's benefits. Without those, a lot of players would considering giving up due to the insane hurdle it is just to reach palace or lab ( not even sacred hall or devil's mountain ) even with the balance patches helping players get through the initial hurdle easily (1-205)
Not having a strong baseline supporting players at all time ( whether than was already made by the long history ) or a line of support ( active daily events for all players ) is what will really hurt the game. We have neither, KLT has both.
On the other hand, KLT has probably the most inviting events for players to look forward to, goals to reach, and considerably inviting ways for players to do what they want without feeling too much pressure having to forcibly spend or go through hardships in order to get what they want. They understand that, their new content, while catering to the immediate hardcore, that they need to get the average and entire server on a higher level in order to ensure that stability is still there. Thus, looking into their events in detail, you can see with the extremely valuable prizes for the growing player, makes it actually feasible for more people to access the new content which they primarily advertise.
For example, if you scroll down on the first page of reference link 1, players can easily get a dyn lightning badge, dyn weapon, tsar/kaiser palace armor, +15 mutant accessories, +9 dyn badge. All gear that is replaced by later gear. Certainly, you would still have to participate in events to get it, but heck, it is a vastly more viable option to all players than doing palace with an odin weapon because a dyn weapon won't drop.
They also have daily potions for players to access, buff potions, spammables, and even exp pots that don't even have a login require time ( seen on the third page ). This helps players of all levels.
I am aware that these are xmas events, but, a game release only happens once, while xmas events happen many times. With no active events for all players for a game release, really doesn't look too bright.
What is the point of having new content when you restrict almost all players from accessing it? I thought that spawning Blaspheme in Xenadia was a good wake up call to show how far we are from endgame, as even if the most hardcore of players work towards it, if the whole of the community cannot raise themselves up due to the lack of resources, the game will just pan out and die.
I'd like to go on more about events, but that should really cover the basics. All the links provided will tell you everything you need to know. Now, onto the actual structure of the game.
The question to answer is, why is restriction bad?
The answer, because you will lose players.
I don't get why being exclusive and only rewarding a select few players becomes such a prominent event on OGP and Papaya, because literally, all it does is sift out players. There is a divide at least, but, it is extremely hard to get motivated for your work when it is basically all or nothing. Imagine being a newcomer to the game, and greeted with top 3 only events.
So how do players even reach the level of the current patch without supplying events? Latale basically works like a pyramid. Players at every tier support and circulate the economy around where ely generally goes towards the top, but events help cycle it around in order to allow it to become less of a pyramid.
A few things to note: Lab weapons are 10m per upgrade flat. This is considering only npc or ely sink based costs, with nothing to compensate.
KLT makes this more of a column by reducing the ely sink required, by skipping some of these steps with actual supplying events and in game sources, as well as ensuring that ely also circulates between players by supplying all sides with equal amounts that then gets moved around back and forth. So all that stands in the way is hard work. Either way this serves as a basic roadmap to what is the general path to take in Latale right now, which does not include any extra stuff like gems, pets, codex, index, and so on.
Sacred Hall also required the power of a full 8 man endgame KLT party of the last update to tackle it in 1 hr, so if that says anything ( and the fact that it has around 24b hp, Elrian 12b, and Geminus 6b in this new patch) we are still not even close to tackling the new content, which is a major patch.
As for cash shop things, yeah, I really dislike the cash shop situation right now, and supply really hasn't been completely adjusted yet. Considering the sheer amount of makeup work required that's already cash shop, I find it ridiculous that necessities are in the cash shop. Players can't even properly trade actual items of permanence of value because they're so focused on one or two things that the actual pets or items that benefit them in the long run just won't come into circulation.
25 pets, pet stimulants, ice thingy, enchant mask, compass, stone, gems, and even just fashion are all enough to keep players wanting to buy stuff on a regular basis. All this stuff helps immensely at its core, and is already pushing the limit of stuff to buy on a regular basis. The fact that whales supply the economy will ensure that things over time will slowly drain out and split apart, as regular players who want to spend a little on something nice and whales who want to spend a lot on everything, cannot be something that can be easily balanced. Which is why making sure things are properly managed at all times with events or anything is just as important to having a healthy economy and player base that isn't so divided and angry at the top or bottom, or whatever people get mad over.
It is true that it is priced the same as KLT, but the need is completely different, and so are expectations. However, if you have constant supply in game for all players, there really would be less of a problem and less of a reliance on cash players, since people can actually play a majority of the game.
Comments
You said there was no problem, yet do don't want it to be a race, so is there a problem for you or isn't there?
Of course, the higher level equipment you're able to get as drops, the better. So it's most (or probably only) viable at 160 or higher.
On the flipside, you can make a living off of people like me shards.
However, I'm an extremely casual player that doesn't get into heavy min/maxing with enchantments and such, so take all that as you will.
I agree 110% on quite a few of these points, seeing how generous the events with HappyOz are; I can clearly say our version needs a nudge in the right direction. Just as a example, I don't see why we can't reward level 200 players with a +5 to +10 mutant accessory set at this point in LaTale's life. They will simply be replaced once more players get up there and start doing Dynasty, and giving more power to players, makes the burden of gearing up less time reliant, meaning less people would quit @ lv 200+, I know I personally am already dreading lv 200 and gearing up so I can be semi-competent at sky colli and beyond.
Papaya has already made it apparently clear with all the level up gear/events/pots, that they want us to get to lv.200 ASAP, as they realize this is where the true game lies, so I guess the question shifts to you Papaya games, can we please make the transition/rewards for lvl 190-220+ easier/better? It only helps you out in the end, more player retention = more potential money for you *wink wink nudge nudge*
"inviting events for players to look forward to, goals to reach, and considerably inviting ways for players to do what they want"
http://forum.papayaplay.com/index.php?p=/discussion/357058/log-developer-diary-july-11#latest
The point to focus on events than content updates ( since those are strictly endgame ) is also a good sign, since it is a long path to reach endgame, even with a multitude of ingame daily events and supply.
I'll say that there are a lot of good things that cover the basics of online game functionality that I may be taking for granted, such as the overall server stability and staff paying attention to everything that has happened so far.
As for the ely thing, the chart primarily is regarding ely that is consumed by the game, and not traded between players, as a rough estimate. If the daily average player generates 50m (aka creating ely and not trading it), it will take a long time for that ely to add up to create multiple endgame characters and an endgame community with all the rng and gear walls.
The amount of time investment required is insane. Which is why I think people asking for a 100% copy of klt's system are kind of crazy