Guild Wars 2

Situation: infinite gathering tools combine the cosmetic and functional aspects of the item. A player that has already purchased infinite gathering tools for his characters would need to invest a high amount of money to have the preferred look when a new tool comes out. Example: all my characters have infinite tools, the original first three (molten pick, southsun axe and sickle). But i much prefer the watchwork pick animation. However, there is no way i’d pay all that money once again just to get the desired looks. It is simply too much.

Effectively, in the current system, a player who has already bought the infinite tools for all their characters is no longer
a prospective customer, except otlr the very “whaliest”.

Also, there is the inventory clutter issue…

Proposal: split the cosmetic and functional aspects of the gathering tools. Create generic infinite use tools and then add a wardrobe tab that allows the player to select the animation displayed for the tool when used. Sell wardrobe unlocks for the tools in the gem store.

This way a player who already has all the functional needs covered would still have an incentive to buy more in the gem store to further cosmetically upgrade the account.

Sorry for the second post, typing from my phone…

Apart from the programming, the proposal is a net gain for everyone:
- to the first time buyers, difference is minimal, but the increased functionality makes buying an infinite tool more attractive
- To people with up to full set of tools, the mix and match option is very attractive and the full set becomes a more attractive option
- to people with a full set, the amount needed to gain an improvement in functionality is significantly lowered,
- To people with multiple sets already, the reduced inventory clutter is attractive

Yes but games that rely on a cash shop for it’s month to month income LOVE the “whaliest”.

Nexon publishes their cash shop numbers. 1Q15 they had 10% of the player base use the cash shop. The average income from these 10% was 4,805 Yen or roughly $40. That’s mean, not median. Yes, it’s not the same 10% every month and the median is likely lower which means there are some who pay a lot more to bring up the mean.

It’s those players who really bring in the dough. Gamasutra had an article that whales consist of only 10% of the paying players but represent 64% of the income. A crude analysis would suggest they spend 16x more than the non whales. Like it or not, whales keep the lights on so why do anything that might reduce income from them?