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Sapphire -> RE: Donation suggestion contests feedback (9/22/2024 15:18:00)
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Alright so after giving this all some thought, I wanted to put forth what I personally think should occur going forward.
But first, I want to begin by bringing up a few things that I think are important.
1. The Summer Donation Contest is likely a massive financial boon for the game. I think that any and all attempts to remove or lower player engagement and hype for this isn't worth some of the petty gripes that get thrown around. So I believe that suggestions for the giftmaster set need to remain. Furthermore, I think we should keep some form of populism in terms of what idea/suggestion gets chosen because this further increases the engagement
2. I know for a fact that there are players who wait until the end to see if it is worth the gamble to donate tokens in order to get certain benchmarks, only to decide against it and keep their tokens once they see that the item they wanted to go for is out of reach. I believe keeping these tokens after this event contributes to a lack of token package sales afterwards.
3. If you look at the top 300 list, #300 donated 4,000 tokens. By #150, this has only jumped to 12,500 tokens. By #100, this jumped to 50,000. This drastic increase is likely due to the system. And by that, I mean those with 10 characters above L25 who win 1 battle/day become eligible. So those with less than 10 chars or chars under L25 are at a massive disadvantage. I believe that we have players completely unaware of this. And I believe that most of those under #150 likely do not play 10 chars a day for whatever reason...so their incoming token donos are low. I do wonder, what would happen if this system changed? I have a solution.
4. I think staff had their heart in the right place with this years adjustments. However, many of these changes was spurred on based on what happened in 2023. Without getting into some dirty facts that took place behind the scenes...As a reminder, in 2023 there was a "most popular set" for the majority of the contest but the last couple of weeks , that had changed. Hollow mentioned that it "makes sense" that the most popular set was chosen, but it so happened that in 2023 that wasn't the case. This is why we ended up with both Wingweaver and Wishweaver. I think if that had not occurred, we would have n to seen much of the changes to this year's approach. I believe some of the approach actually didn't need changed contrary to some opinions, but I also think some good changes did actually occur this year and I would like to massage some of that for the future while reverting some other aspects.
5. Ultimately, we have those that spend their money in droves to place at the top of this system, and we have those who might get a package or two, and we those who will only donate the tokens they received. When you break down the total tokens donated, the competition at the top carries the lion's share of the total donated. The dev ticket idea has been a huge success, for example. So this needs to remain. But I think due to the fact a dev ticket was given to # 6 and #7 this year, it's time to expand some top end rewards. I'll cover this later.
6. Finally, the time spent on implementing the contest, developing a functional approach with as little amount of gripes as possible, and developing the actual items has proven to be a challenge due to issues both the players and staff have caused. I think some changes to this entire "way" needs some action plans implemented and I have some ideas that may help decrease staff workload but also create a path forward.
So here's what I think should be done:
The Giftmaster and the Community Sets
1. Keep the giftmaster set as a suggestion from the players. How you go about who wins I'll address shortly.
2. Remove the community set suggestion, but keep the community set items.
3. The community set will be 100% made by staff, however, the caveat is it will be based on the winning suggestion from the giftmaster set.
4. No new mechanics, statuses, etc allowed. This has killed the time spent this year.
5. Staff will take the same theme, and in some cases, even the same CODE. This will be a slightly different take on the giftmaster theme using a different element and in some cases, perhaps some staff ideas to slightly replace the one used on the giftmaster set. The idea here is giving access to everyone the theme and ideas put forth , by using/copying much of the code such that the process gives everyone access to some of the idea, only scaled down (community is less premium), and this also reduces staff workload from the suggestions process, voting process, and development process.
The Suggestion and Voting Process
1. One of the wins this year was the taking of 3 set ideas and allowing the players to vote. The application of that vote , however, was an unmitigated disaster. Also, IMO, the Dev notes part I rather liked and so this should remain the same.
2. The vote system this time will not involve a poll, but rather only be contained via text inside a voting thread with extremely strict rules. Transparency will be key here and I think it will greatly enhance what was supposed to be ideally
3. The voting thread will look like this and contain the following rules. Failure to follow rules will remove your vote.
A.) You must post which set you vote for.
B.) You must post which character name and character I.D that is voting. This character must be on the top 300 list or their vote will be ineligible.
C.) No other comments, discussion, or anything else is allowed.
D.) No editing your post.
E.) If any rules are broken, your vote will not be counted.
Change the system to account-based instead of character-based
1. This will lower total donations being divided out to those who are taking advantage of the 10-char system, and increase donations to those who aren't either because they refuse to or are unaware. Those gaining upwards of 200k tokens during the event are likely to balk at this change, and understandingly so. But I will lay out a plan in an attempt to offset this such that those players may still get the the same or near the same amount of tokens.
2. Alter the player requirements to have to be 1. Any level 2. Be eligible for token drops (30+ days old) 3. The account must own a Vault
3. Tokens donated will be deposited into the vault. Any character on the account who wins a battle will be notified of the token donation.
4. Remember the top 300 list I mentioned, and how #150 was only in the 12k range? I believe many of these players don't use 10 chars and this new system will give all of these players a lot more tokens. And I believe they will be donating in much greater amounts with this change. Its the 150+ (Really, 100+) that may see less token donations, so let's work on increasing overall donations
Change the base items (non color custom, or special items) to be guaranteed at specific donation amounts
1. Increase the base items to 5k (shield), 15k (misc), 25k (weapon set), 50k (pet), and (150k armor). Remember, while the shield, misc, weapon set will be more expensive to get than before, we've increased the amount of tokens for many, many players by making this account based. I suspect that #150-300 (and more) will be re-donating miuch more tokens to get these items because they're getting much more. Also, the pet at #100 was 50k this year so this benchmark is unchanged and the armor at #50 was 224k. 150k+ this year landed at #63.
2. Remember how I mentioned that I know for a fact that many players are not gambling their tokens away once they realize it's beyond their reach, I suspect many more would donate 150k that otherwise wouldn't. I believe this offsets the #63-#50 combined amount.
Increase the amount of overall tokens donated
1. I have already mentioned that I think the bottom end would donate more both because they'd receive more and because we've made all of the base items guaranteed.
2. Change places 1 and 2 to "Custom Dev Ticket". The "Custom Dev Ticket" means the player will design an item from scratch, subject to the Dev's balance rules, as well as get custom art.
3. Numbers 3 through 5 will get "Art Dev Ticket". This is the same as "dev ticket" now. An elemental clone, with custom art.
4. Since we had #6 and #7 get Dev Tickets outside the rules, (I think they deserved something, but perhaps not a dev ticket but ultimately no gripe from me) I think we need a new prize a little bit lesser in attraction than the Dev Ticket. 6-10 should have their own fight. This should be an elemental clone of something with the SAME art , but a color reskin or color custom tag (whichever staff thinks is easier)
5. Top 25 get Color Custom on all of the items
6. Top 50 get color custom on everything except the armor
Since the top competition is carrying the total donated, let's expand the competition at the top while guaranteeing the base items at specific higher benchmarks. Remember. this should be fine because we've changed this thing to account based and many more players will be able and willing to donate. All of these changes IMO will increase overall token donations such that those who are worried that their overall tokens they get will be lower in the future, won't be b because again, we've increased overall donations
7. Lastly, I believe the daily-item reward (frostval crown, moontide bracer) should still be based on character. And I think halfway through the event, a different item should be awarded. There's this period of time once people get that item where those 25 token donations come to a stop (unless you were one of the ones donating in 25's to prevent giving players high amounts which may snipe you)
I firmly believe this collective change would:
1. Increase donations for many players who aren't using the 10 char system for any number of reasons
2. Keeps token donations pretty similar for those that are
3. Increases overall donations
4. Reduces staff workload compared to now both from a forums and dev time aspect
5. Provides a transparent voting system
Editted to change the top 2 spots to get a *real* dev ticket. Designing your entire item. Then making the 3-5 spots the same as now
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