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Your Elvenar Team
End Game?
- Thread starter Tehya1
- Start date
samidodamage
Buddy Fan Club member
As of right now it's Ch18 - Team Spirit
Suspect Ch19 will be released sometime this fall.
Suspect Ch19 will be released sometime this fall.
samidodamage
Buddy Fan Club member
Yes. We know Ch19 and Ch20 are already developed. Ch18 introduced Tier 1 Ascending Goods; 19 will introduce Tier2 Ascending and 20 will introduce Tier3 Ascending. Then we're maxed out as far as needing all 9 factory types for a boosted good (not necessarily all placed in the city at the same time; thank goodness for teleport spells!).
SoggyShorts
Mathematician par Excellence
Yup. New chapter released every ~6mo
Chapters 19-20 are pretty much already written
SoggyShorts
Mathematician par Excellence
presumably, since they like money.
ajqtrz
Chef - loquacious Old Dog
I'm not sure they will keep developing. Every new chapter costs a bit to create and code. Thus, from a business point of view, if the cost of the chapter is not met by those who will eventually play the chapter then the chapter should not be done. For instance, suppose only 2% of the player base complete chapter 20, when it arrives. How much revenue will that 2% generate, provided the all continue. And it's pretty unlikely the will all continue. Say they lose 10%. Now the players completing chapter 21 are only 90% of those completing chapter 20. And chapter 22 you get the same shrinkage....until not enough are playing to make the next chapter worth the effort. I suspect either chapter 20 or chapter 23 will be the last.
However, if Inno wanted to keep things going they could stop at chapter 23 and do something radical with that chapter that changes the entire nature of the game -- giving those in chapters 20-22 a reason to do chapter 23. Like colonies or something. "Space, the final frontier" and all that, where instead of the races coming to visit Elvenar, Elvenar goes to visit the races. Like I said, a different type of game, and only accessible if you complete the 23rd chapter.
Overall the point is you have to give people a reason to do the top chapter and after a while the "I finished the top (moving target) chapter" is not enough and they drop out.
AJ
However, if Inno wanted to keep things going they could stop at chapter 23 and do something radical with that chapter that changes the entire nature of the game -- giving those in chapters 20-22 a reason to do chapter 23. Like colonies or something. "Space, the final frontier" and all that, where instead of the races coming to visit Elvenar, Elvenar goes to visit the races. Like I said, a different type of game, and only accessible if you complete the 23rd chapter.
Overall the point is you have to give people a reason to do the top chapter and after a while the "I finished the top (moving target) chapter" is not enough and they drop out.
AJ
Tehya1
Well-Known Member
This is why I asked the question. I love the game. I am interested and enamored with it, but I am also very goal oriented, and I can see myself wondering where the story is going at some point way down the road. This game reminds me of another game that I played. It had been live for around 5-6 years when I joined it, and the devs basically developed the end game on the server that I happened to land on. Players who had been there from the beginning had waited a long time for that goal to appear. I am also sometimes playing the next beta of another game in development, and it has no long term end game right now, but the devs know that there has to be one, and it has to be good or they will lose their player base that followed them from another game. lol
I think I now understand why I couldn't find a start to finish explanation of the game. I guess there isnt a clear one yet.
Iyapo1
Well-Known Member
@Tehya1 There doesnt have to be an end game. As long as there are more races to discover it never ends. Also we could revisit and see the progress they have made since our last encounter. How did those stories go after we parted ways, did we have a good impact? How has their architecture evolve? The Sidhe Queen was a bit irritated with us in parting? But take it from me, she is easily irritated!
They will eventually have to wind down when there are not enough end game players to support continued expansion but that has not happened yet!
They will eventually have to wind down when there are not enough end game players to support continued expansion but that has not happened yet!
SoggyShorts
Mathematician par Excellence
Sorry, but that's a short-sighted view of how these games work.
Even if those playing chapter 20 produce zero revenues making that chapter's development costs a total loss there is still income derived from their presence as playmates for others. Exactly like how free players also increase revenues by giving paying players friends to interact with.
On top of that, I'm pretty sure a high percentage of the ultra whales who float this game are end-game players who need to be kept happy even if they are few in number.
Also, knowing that the game has a couple of years worth of content can make a new player more likely to invest since that investment has greater longevity. Any announcement of a "final chapter" puts a hard limit on the usefulness of diamonds spent.
E.G. even though I'm now flush with free diamonds I'm not buying a 5th builder because there aren't many chapters ahead of me. Had I known there'd be 20+ when I started (before chapter 8 announcement) I might have even spent real money getting 4&5
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Huor
Guest
And I think if they add an all worlds chat like they have in at least one of their other games (they use discord), it would do a lot for retention and new player recruitment. It is very cool to be able to talk in real time with all the players on the different servers with pictures, etc... Adds a lot, especially from the help side for new players like myself.
Henroo
Oh Wise One
I was not playing back then, but from what I understand the original game 5 years ago was only chapters 1-5. Every chapter since then has been released as an expansion.
Enevhar Aldarion
Oh Wise One
Yes, 6 1/2 years ago, the game was released with just the first 5 chapters.
ajqtrz
Chef - loquacious Old Dog
Sorry, but that's a short-sighted view of how these games work.
Even if those playing chapter 20 produce zero revenues making that chapter's development costs a total loss there is still income derived from their presence as playmates for others. Exactly like how free players also increase revenues by giving paying players friends to interact with.
On top of that, I'm pretty sure a high percentage of the ultra whales who float this game are end-game players who need to be kept happy even if they are few in number.
Also, knowing that the game has a couple of years worth of content can make a new player more likely to invest since that investment has greater longevity. Any announcement of a "final chapter" puts a hard limit on the usefulness of diamonds spent.
E.G. even though I'm now flush with free diamonds I'm not buying a 5th builder because there aren't many chapters ahead of me. Had I known there'd be 20+ when I started (before chapter 8 announcement) I might have even spent real money getting 4&5
This sort of underscores my point that players need something to which to look forward. If you are right then the "ultra-whales" do spend enough to justify the next chapter. They keep playing because there is some challenge before them. But there is also the need for a different type of challenge at some point -- a change in the game that sort of makes it a whole new game, otherwise the chapters are pretty much the same -- as they are not.
If you think about it, chapter 6 does this. You play a city building game for five chapters and then they add something pretty big -- guest races. Now your city has to have a lot more space. So the idea of a sudden change in how the game is played wouldn't be outside the history of the game.
As for your point that the large players support the small, that's a good thing. But is it enough for a large player at the end of the game to continue? Is, from Inno's point of view, keeping those "helping players" around sufficient justification to create more content? It might be if they are, as you think, "ultra whales." But even the whales might find the water getting a bit stale if the same old fish keep swimming around. And a new guest race is just another fish after you've done 12 of the chapters.
And finally, while I respect your view of "how the game works," I'm not sure it's as clear as you seem to indicate. It's a complex thing because people are motivated by different things. What percentage of players are motivated to stick around to help others is hard to say. What percentage of players stick around after each chapter is just as hard for us to say as well, since we don't have enough data. Data is the only way to be sure and we don't have it, so such statements are, more or less, guesses based upon experience. Still, for all of us those guesses are probably the best we do.
AJ