Is continued patronage profitable ?
Continued patronage is profitable. Players buying gems are important to the free-to-play model. And players who do not buy gems are still important because low population games generally do not last long.
If people aren’t playing then those people are also not using the gem store. I don’t know how much they’ve actually made off of gems though. From my own experience everything I wanted from the gem store was easily obtained through gold conversion.
Besides that though, they no doubt want people to buy expansions. Goodwill is important and I’m sure the people who say “Anet doesn’t care because they already have your money” are very much wrong.
Continued patronage is profitable. Players buying gems are important to the free-to-play model. And players who do not buy gems are still important because low population games generally do not last long.
This of course is the obvious answer, but it has not come across as an obvious reality from Anet.
Countless threads are made (most of them deleted or locked) that talk about how certain aspects of recent updates have made them decide to leave the game. Instead of impressing upon how important it is for players to stay with the game, most of the please for a change back to before the updates go on ignored, deleted, or locked.
I am sure others will agree with me, Anet has not made a good case that they want us to continue to play, as i said before, they got our money from the box sale, why do they care if we stay ?
Those are fanboys who are getting defensive. I really really hope that Anet doesn’t have that mindset…otherwise they wouldn’t be able to stay in business. Then again GW1 they were bad with communication and quick resolution too.
What might be possible is that they think since they will always have a small community then that is enough to sustain it until next release? I dont know, even that is pretty shady. In that case they could take their time and there is no rush to get out fixes or new free content.
If people leave though servers will shrink and WvW will shrink causing more bleeding. They really just need to get it together.
I know they will be turning profit on me, gonna buy two character slots every month.
The game promotes Alts, no, screw that, you don’t have alts in this game, you have a character list that only gets bigger.
ArenaNet values their customers, and I’m sure is quite interested in ongoing revenue in the gem shop and through sales of expansions.
They can not, however, please every player. This game will never be all things to all people. Some people are going to decide this isn’t the game for them, and are going to leave. ArenaNet would be very foolish to try and please everyone…they need to stick with their design philosophy and continue to develop and fix bugs based on the solid foundation they have in place.
I don’t undestand what more ArenaNet could do, beyond the daily interaction here on the forums, and the many posts on Facebook, Twitter, and reddit. They are as engaged as they can be, and taking feedback and bug reports and working on the game the best they can. Again, none of that means that your particular gripes are going to be addressed. There are hundreds of thousands of people in the community, and there’s no way ArenaNet can have personal conversations with each one and change the game to make each one happy.
I know it might seem that a lot of people are unhappy with certain things when reading these forums, but it’s important to keep in perspective that forum posters are a very small, vocal, and deeply invested portion of the overall player base. You really can’t know how the overall community is liking the game or how much they are playing based on what you see here. The truth is, pretty much everything gets entirely blown out of proportion and deeply polarized in an echo chamber like this…and it’s easy to get carried away by the mob and get very bent out of shape and emotional.
ArenaNet is obviously professional, and has plenty of experience running an online game and dealing with a community. This isn’t their first rodeo. They know what’s really happening with the community overall, and are the only ones who can decide what changes are workable in their design and which are not. I think they generally go out of their way to be open and provide detailed information and explanations when they do things…so I don’t really see a problem, other than you personally not liking certain things and not getting your personal issues directly addressed in what you feel is a timely manner.
Continued patronage is profitable. Players buying gems are important to the free-to-play model. And players who do not buy gems are still important because low population games generally do not last long.
This of course is the obvious answer, but it has not come across as an obvious reality from Anet.
Countless threads are made (most of them deleted or locked) that talk about how certain aspects of recent updates have made them decide to leave the game. Instead of impressing upon how important it is for players to stay with the game, most of the please for a change back to before the updates go on ignored, deleted, or locked.
I am sure others will agree with me, Anet has not made a good case that they want us to continue to play, as i said before, they got our money from the box sale, why do they care if we stay ?
Er … you got quite a difficult to understand spin on this one mate. I mean … you seem to be saying that Anet not making the game enjoyable is because they don’t care if people stay or go.
They’ve just spend several years and a whole buttload of effort making a game they want us to play. You must be on another planet if you think for one moment they want anything other than a massive, happy player base.
Sure, the game is broken in many ways and it’s making it unfun for some of us, but that is definitely NOT through lack of effort on Anet’s part.
I should say of course they want and appreciate continuted patronage. More income is always appreciated in any business. And you touched upon the good qualities of the buy to play system- you are not forced to buy the gems with real life money, you can simply play the game and exchange gold for gems.
Are you proposing that you want some sort of fan thank you letter or in game reward?
ArenaNet values their customers, and I’m sure is quite interested in ongoing revenue in the gem shop and through sales of expansions.
They can not, however, please every player. This game will never be all things to all people. Some people are going to decide this isn’t the game for them, and are going to leave. ArenaNet would be very foolish to try and please everyone…they need to stick with their design philosophy and continue to develop and fix bugs based on the solid foundation they have in place.
I don’t undestand what more ArenaNet could do, beyond the daily interaction here on the forums, and the many posts on Facebook, Twitter, and reddit. They are as engaged as they can be, and taking feedback and bug reports and working on the game the best they can. Again, none of that means that your particular gripes are going to be addressed. There are hundreds of thousands of people in the community, and there’s no way ArenaNet can have personal conversations with each one and change the game to make each one happy.
I know it might seem that a lot of people are unhappy with certain things when reading these forums, but it’s important to keep in perspective that forum posters are a very small, vocal, and deeply invested portion of the overall player base. You really can’t know how the overall community is liking the game or how much they are playing based on what you see here. The truth is, pretty much everything gets entirely blown out of proportion and deeply polarized in an echo chamber like this…and it’s easy to get carried away by the mob and get very bent out of shape and emotional.
ArenaNet is obviously professional, and has plenty of experience running an online game and dealing with a community. This isn’t their first rodeo. They know what’s really happening with the community overall, and are the only ones who can decide what changes are workable in their design and which are not. I think they generally go out of their way to be open and provide detailed information and explanations when they do things…so I don’t really see a problem, other than you personally not liking certain things and not getting your personal issues directly addressed in what you feel is a timely manner.
Your 100% right most people leave with out saying a word. The people complaining about the game on the forums are the players who want it to succeed! Yet the fan boys puff up their chest and attack anyone who has anything to say other then Anet are gods!
I should say of course they want and appreciate continuted patronage. More income is always appreciated in any business. And you touched upon the good qualities of the buy to play system- you are not forced to buy the gems with real life money, you can simply play the game and exchange gold for gems.
Are you proposing that you want some sort of fan thank you letter or in game reward?
News flash! In order to trade gold for gems some one has to buy the gems first.
Continued patronage is profitable. Players buying gems are important to the free-to-play model. And players who do not buy gems are still important because low population games generally do not last long.
This of course is the obvious answer, but it has not come across as an obvious reality from Anet.
Countless threads are made (most of them deleted or locked) that talk about how certain aspects of recent updates have made them decide to leave the game. Instead of impressing upon how important it is for players to stay with the game, most of the please for a change back to before the updates go on ignored, deleted, or locked.
I am sure others will agree with me, Anet has not made a good case that they want us to continue to play, as i said before, they got our money from the box sale, why do they care if we stay ?
Players like you should go. *nods*
I’m sorry, but if you need validation from a company to keep playing, then you shouldn’t be here. There’s something missing for you.
As for the locking of these threads.. THANK THE GODS.
Want to whine? Alright do it. CONSTRUCTIVELY. IN ONE THREAD.
We don’t need 20 effing threads reading the same thing. I’m so sick of the new generation of gamers. Self entitled little dirtballs that do nothing but ruin everything their festering souls latch onto. You know what would be nice? For these players to leave and let Anet run things their own way.
And this is not ’fanboyism’ as the mouth breathers would say. This is coming from someone SICK to death of companies doing everything idiot kid consumers want. Don’t like their idea? Don’t like their model? Play something else. Or better yet.. design your own kitten game.
Btw this is not just aimed at you. This is to those who cry the loudest in general.
The new generation ruined gaming.
Orphyn X – 8X Thief – Tarnished Coast
Lady Raevyn – 11 Necromancer – TC
Fanboy- The New Godwin’s Law.
Lady Raevyn – 11 Necromancer – TC
Fanboy- The New Godwin’s Law.
^^^ I rest my case!
Personally, I have serious doubts that the majority of players who are on these forums saying they’re bored, are going to quit/have quit, bought any gems in the first place.
It’s a good argument, but one that holds zero weight if you never bought gems to begin with.
I should say of course they want and appreciate continuted patronage. More income is always appreciated in any business. And you touched upon the good qualities of the buy to play system- you are not forced to buy the gems with real life money, you can simply play the game and exchange gold for gems.
Are you proposing that you want some sort of fan thank you letter or in game reward?
News flash! In order to trade gold for gems some one has to buy the gems first.
Im not sure what game you are playing.
Anyone cana currency exchange where you trade some gold earned in game, and get gems in exchange. Then I can use those gems to make store purchases. Your statement is boggling really, you have to buy the gems, to buy the gems with gold?
I have not had to purchase any gems at all, though I likely will just to add my support further to the game.
(edited by TransparentlyOpaque.1824)
Personally, I have serious doubts that the majority of players who are on these forums saying they’re bored, are going to quit/have quit, bought any gems in the first place.
It’s a good argument, but one that holds zero weight if you never bought gems to begin with.
I am not bragging but so far I bought $90 worth of gems and I will continue to buy gems so long as the game remains fun for me.
I should say of course they want and appreciate continuted patronage. More income is always appreciated in any business. And you touched upon the good qualities of the buy to play system- you are not forced to buy the gems with real life money, you can simply play the game and exchange gold for gems.
Are you proposing that you want some sort of fan thank you letter or in game reward?
News flash! In order to trade gold for gems some one has to buy the gems first.
Im not sure what game you are playing. I can do a currency exchange where I give up some of my gold that I have earned in game, and get gems in exchange. Then I can use those gems to make store purchases. I have not had to purchase any gems at all, though I likely will just to add my support further to the game.
They don’t give gems away for free. When you trade gold for gems a player on some server bought the gems for real life cash and then traded them to you through the exchange system.
In the simplest sense, more customers = more money. But there are some rules of thumb businesses go by, such as 20% of the customers bring in 80% of the profits. The exact numbers vary, but these are the “gem buyers” who spend money for more character and bank slots, who run around the city in their funny hats, buy gems to trade for gold to buy influence points for their guild, etc.
These are not the people threatening to quit. They are the “other” 20%, where 20% of the customers cause 80% of the problems. They cost money (they’ve been making the mods here work overtime lately) and drive away customers with their attitude.
If you owned a restaurant, and someone came in and bought an expensive steak dinner, you’d be happy, and want your customer to be happy, right? What if he spent the rest of the night sitting at the table and yelling that the steak was too tough, the wine tastes like vinegar, there was a fly in his soup and the waiter told him to eat around it… how much will you put up with before you tell him to leave? Yes, he paid for his meal, but that doesn’t give him the right to disturb your other customers, and in the long run that one customer could cost you dozens.
The game is what it is. This is the game that the developers wanted to make. Demanding that it become a completely different game just to please you is not going to end well for you. And because there is no monthly fee, it soon reaches the point where Arenanet would rather see you move on than continue to disrupt the activities of the players who actually like the game as it is.
I suspect that the developers at ArenaNet will continually make changes to the game in an effort to improve it. Inevitably some of those changes will prove to be unpopular. From a player’s point of view, the only thing required for the game to be successful is that it continues in operation. The employees of ArenaNet will most likely continue to collect their paychecks despite some fall-out of the player-base. Certainly this game could be more or less successful in garnering profits for the company; but there’s no pleasing all of the customers all of the time. I’m spending no more time or money on it than i’m willing to spend, but i’m still willing to spend more time.
SoulcatcherYour 100% right most people leave with out saying a word. The people complaining about the game on the forums are the players who want it to succeed! Yet the fan boys puff up their chest and attack anyone who has anything to say other then Anet are gods!
A lot of people just play and enjoy the game without ever posting on the forums, as well. The haters are just as much at fault… as I said, the polarization on the forums leads both sides to become hysterical and take ever-more-unreasonable positions.
The people complaining about the game on the forums aren’t the only ones who want it to succeed (and I would argue that some have already written the game off as failed or doomed, and posted as much). The “fanboys” as we are affectionately called, also very much want the game to succeed. We just like it the way it is, for the most part…and feel that the worst thing ArenaNet could do is second-guess themselves and start making big changes to their underlying design philosophy.
Again, ArenaNet is pretty experienced, and I’m sure has a good handle on where the right middle ground exists. They are the ONLY ones who know how the overall player base is reacting to their game…and how the finances are working out. They have been quite successful in the past, and I don’t doubt they will continue to be.
(edited by Fozzik.1742)
SoulcatcherYour 100% right most people leave with out saying a word. The people complaining about the game on the forums are the players who want it to succeed! Yet the fan boys puff up their chest and attack anyone who has anything to say other then Anet are gods!
A lot of people just play and enjoy the game without ever posting on the forums, as well. The haters are just as much at fault… as I said, the polarization on the forums leads both sides to become hysterical and take ever-more-unreasonable positions.
The people complaining about the game on the forums aren’t the only ones who want it to succeed (and I would argue that some have already written the game off as failed or doomed, and posted as much). The “fanboys” as we are affectionately called, also very much want the game to succeed. We just like it the way it is, for the most part…and feel that the worst thing ArenaNet could do is second-guess themselves and start making big changes to their underlying design philosophy.
Again, ArenaNet is pretty experienced, and I’m sure has a good handle on where the right middle ground exists. They are the ONLY ones who know how the overall player base is reacting to their game…and how the finances are working out. They have been quite successful in the past, and I don’t doubt they will continue to be.
FYI you don’t keep a player base by punishing everyone for a few others mistakes. When a gunmen goes in a bank and robs the place, do the police arrest everyone in the bank under the assumption that they may become future bank robbers? In a since that’s what Anet did with the whole DR system, now everyone pays the price!
This game is not going to depend on the gem store. There is a reason they charged you $60 for it – and will probably charge you again for the expansion. They sold a lot of copies, from what I understand.
I think it’s in their best interest to keep the player base happy, not only to continue the stream from the gemstore, but also to ensure people buy the expansions as well as making personal recommendations to their friends.
SoulcatcherYour 100% right most people leave with out saying a word. The people complaining about the game on the forums are the players who want it to succeed! Yet the fan boys puff up their chest and attack anyone who has anything to say other then Anet are gods!
A lot of people just play and enjoy the game without ever posting on the forums, as well. The haters are just as much at fault… as I said, the polarization on the forums leads both sides to become hysterical and take ever-more-unreasonable positions.
The people complaining about the game on the forums aren’t the only ones who want it to succeed (and I would argue that some have already written the game off as failed or doomed, and posted as much). The “fanboys” as we are affectionately called, also very much want the game to succeed. We just like it the way it is, for the most part…and feel that the worst thing ArenaNet could do is second-guess themselves and start making big changes to their underlying design philosophy.
Again, ArenaNet is pretty experienced, and I’m sure has a good handle on where the right middle ground exists. They are the ONLY ones who know how the overall player base is reacting to their game…and how the finances are working out. They have been quite successful in the past, and I don’t doubt they will continue to be.
FYI you don’t keep a player base by punishing everyone for a few others mistakes. When a gunmen goes in a bank and robs the place, do the police arrest everyone in the bank under the assumption that they may become future bank robbers? In a since that’s what Anet did with the whole DR system, now everyone pays the price!
No but on the other hand, the tendancy for people to take your money if you leave it lying around is why we build big secure buildings and lock our money up in there.
It would be much easier and cheaper for us all if we could just leave our money lying around wherever is convenient wouldn’t it?
When people break the rules, it can easily cause the whole of society to change its behaviour to compensate. Cos whether we like it or not, we are all part of the same system, the rule breaking affects the system.
@Cribbage that’s partly true, what it the cops stayed around the bank and arrested anyone under the assumption that they are there to rob the bank. How many future customers do yo think the bank will have?
Anet stands to loose lots of future customers if word gets out that Anet punishes everyone any time a gold seller does something wrong.
@Cribbage that’s partly true, what it the cops stayed around the bank and arrested anyone under the assumption that they are there to rob the bank. How many future customers do yo think the bank will have?
Anet stands to loose lots of future customers if word gets out that Anet punishes everyone any time a gold seller does something wrong.
I see what your saying, and it’s clear from these forums that some people are VERY dis-satisfied with DR and that probably means players will leave over it.
However, I don’t think it is so simple. I am not the only one who is glad to see strong action against gold sellers, even if it means some aspects of the game are impacted too. The DR is more likely to keep me in the game than send me out of it.
@Cribbage that’s partly true, what it the cops stayed around the bank and arrested anyone under the assumption that they are there to rob the bank. How many future customers do yo think the bank will have?
Anet stands to loose lots of future customers if word gets out that Anet punishes everyone any time a gold seller does something wrong.
I see what your saying, and it’s clear from these forums that some people are VERY dis-satisfied with DR and that probably means players will leave over it.
However, I don’t think it is so simple. I am not the only one who is glad to see strong action against gold sellers, even if it means some aspects of the game are impacted too. The DR is more likely to keep me in the game than send me out of it.
Yes, we call them the vocal minority. They often shout the loudest but typically comprise a very small population of impossible to satisfy players.
@Cribbage that’s partly true, what it the cops stayed around the bank and arrested anyone under the assumption that they are there to rob the bank. How many future customers do yo think the bank will have?
Anet stands to loose lots of future customers if word gets out that Anet punishes everyone any time a gold seller does something wrong.
I see what your saying, and it’s clear from these forums that some people are VERY dis-satisfied with DR and that probably means players will leave over it.
However, I don’t think it is so simple. I am not the only one who is glad to see strong action against gold sellers, even if it means some aspects of the game are impacted too. The DR is more likely to keep me in the game than send me out of it.
Yes, we call them the vocal minority. They often shout the loudest but typically comprise a very small population of impossible to satisfy players.
It’s the silent type that leave and don’t say a word. Those are the people I fear the most because most people simply cant be bothered by posting on a forum.
(edited by Soulwatcher.2604)
@Cribbage that’s partly true, what it the cops stayed around the bank and arrested anyone under the assumption that they are there to rob the bank. How many future customers do yo think the bank will have?
Anet stands to loose lots of future customers if word gets out that Anet punishes everyone any time a gold seller does something wrong.
I see what your saying, and it’s clear from these forums that some people are VERY dis-satisfied with DR and that probably means players will leave over it.
However, I don’t think it is so simple. I am not the only one who is glad to see strong action against gold sellers, even if it means some aspects of the game are impacted too. The DR is more likely to keep me in the game than send me out of it.
Yes, we call them the vocal minority. They often shout the loudest but typically comprise a very small population of impossible to satisfy players.
Don’t about the silent type that leave and don’t say a word. Those are the people I fear the most because most people simply cant be bothered by posting on a forum.
That or maybe they have better things to do than come and post on a forum filled with negativity like… oh, I don’t know… actually playing and enjoying the game.