events and diamonds

[DeletedUser4090]

I am sad to say that several of my Fellows are quitting the game because even as hard as they try they can't finish the events and feel as if they get nothing for all the work they did. If I were the owners I would GIVE DIAMONDS for the following things. for just getting to the 4th quest in an event 5 diamonds for getting within 3 of finishing it 10 diamonds and getting to the last one but running out of time 20 diamonds. it would keep players in the game. Just my 2 Cents worth

 

[SoggyShorts]

Have they checked the help threads for the event? There are players at the beginning of chapter 2 that finished yesterday, and there are still 10 days left.
What are your Fellows having trouble with?

 

[DeletedUser7903]

I think game owners are rightly very hesitant about giving away the purchasable currency to their game. It's a free-to-play game; if they give away diamonds too much, people won't have a reason to buy them. Still, teasing players with small amounts could be good, though I disagree that the tournaments are the place for it. Tease them with blueprints or some other cherished reward. The biggest problem with the tournaments is that it is virtually impossible to get your fellowship to the top rewards. They are way out of reach for most of us. If I'm a marble player, I may play out every province to obtain every potential relic, but if I produce steel, I only dally in the marble tourney, meaning that the marble player can't generate enough momentum to complete the whole tourney. The fellowship never reaches the end goal, leaving a feeling of failure. The tourney rewards are good, but I do believe that they require too many points, or perhaps they should eliminate the number of ranks. If there was a blueprint available at level 5, for instance, my fellowship might collaborate to complete it. I might be more willing to buy a magic house that I can upgrade. As is, I bought a house and will never be able to upgrade it, so I'll probably just sell it off, and never buy one again.

 

[Maevie]

I agree that there should be ways to earn diamonds. If it's in small amounts over time and with patience, dedication, and even luck, it's not going to take anything away from the business. Players will still buy diamonds whenever they can afford it if they really like the game and want something badly enough...they do it in other games that have similar mechanics in terms of managing time & space + have very similar pricing models.

 

[DeletedUser1766]

Perhaps but they do this in their other game Forge of Empires and it seems to work quite well. I see no reason why giving away small amounts of diamonds will hurt them and it will even encourage people to take on quests that many ignore. I have been playing Forge for a while now and they offer diamonds as prizes that you have a chance to win. You get less diamonds for your money in that game but the chance to win them keeps people interested in participating. I find it interesting that the same company has such different styles of play with its game.

The Guild expedition is sort of like the tournament but instead of just paying to get a win you have to solve a puzzle that costs precious goods. I like the challenge. I get bored with Elvenar tournaments but I do it to help my guild win the fellowship chests. The puzzle means I have to actively be involved in the action I cannot just pay and move on. That and the chance at diamond prizes keeps me much more interested. I like both games but Elvenar is getting a bit repetitive and they need something new to spark interest. I am in chapter 11 but I wonder how long my interest will remain.

 

[DeletedUser4090]

part of it is that our fellowship is small and not all of them play daily. but also some did not understand the idea of having to do the work ,they thought that as long as someone from the fellowship did the work they ALL would get the awards. some do not take part in the trades or make unfair trades.. most of the Fellowship is trying to learn the game and get in over their heads with the tournaments and events going on at the same time.

 

[Nixster]

It would be nice if there was a little more time between the tournaments and no tournaments during an event. It is dufficult to rebuild your barracks in only 3 days

 

[Sir Squirrel]

Yeah it is tough, but the tourneys are the easiest way to get relics for the gain relics quests. It gets easier as your city grows and your barracks and armories get to the higher levels.

 

[DeletedUser8779]

I agree that there should be ways to earn diamonds. If it's in small amounts over time and with patience, dedication, and even luck, it's not going to take anything away from the business. Players will still buy diamonds whenever they can afford it if they really like the game and want something badly enough...they do it in other games that have similar mechanics in terms of managing time & space + have very similar pricing models.

This is right on the money (pun not necessarily intended). There are multiple reasons for making premium goodies available sans IRL dollars. The first of those is retention. For an F2P game, especially one as potentially complicated as Elvenar, getting folks engaged and then STAYING is paramount. It's necessary to get folks to hang around. A good way to do that is to 'bargain.' I've played a zillion games over the years and the ones that are still around are the ones that gave folks a chance (even a dim one) to compete with deep-pocketed coiners. There's little more frustrating than putting time and effort into a game and watching someone open their wallet the day they start and surpassing your progress. Giving folks a taste of what could be is a recipe for success.

Another factor is conditioning. If the devs toss a few premium bennies at the masses it whets their appetite. (And this doesn't have to be diamonds - it could just as easily be, oh I don't know, blueprints? If a player had a blueprint to upgrade a magic building, would they be enticed to then spend a few bucks to buy one?) If enough premium goodies come your way without opening your wallet you get a taste for the finer things in (game) life. In IRL retail, it would be thought of as a 'loss-leader.' The theory is getting repeat traffic with the hope that those visitors will then purchase more.

There are more reasons arguing for making premium goodies something attainable in-game, but they boil down to the same factors - retention and competitiveness.

One hand washes the other.

late edit: Oooops, I inadvertently stole Thorce's blueprint idea (see above a few posts) - "Tease them with blueprints or some other cherished reward". Sorry, partner.

 

[SoggyShorts]

Maybe giving some diamonds for free would entice players to buy more, maybe not. There is a possibility that you only really need just a few to get the better things in the game. I for one would only really want to upgrade my builder and Magic Academy. If I got enough free diamonds to do those, I'd have no reason to ever buy more. My guess would be that they have great success with players buying 3,000 diamonds to get builders and MA upgrades which leaves them with not quite enough to buy something else. This makes them buy 3,000 more to get whatever, again leaving them in the same position.

I wouldn't doubt that INNO games (a company with $150,000,000 in revenues last year from "free" games) has a lot of statistics on what does and doesn't generate more profit.
As for competing with players who have deep pockets as a free player....this will never be one of those games. They have a 2 year head start on the first 5 servers, and are willing to spend thousands a year to keep their spots.

 

[DeletedUser8779]

As for competing with players who have deep pockets as a free player....this will never be one of those games. They have a 2 year head start on the first 5 servers, and are willing to spend thousands a year to keep their spots.

(I messed the quote up somehow - the above came from Soggy)

I think you missed my '...even a dim one...' part. The real issue is NOT being uber-competitive, it's being able to 'save face.' No game could keep coiners coining if they cheapened things by giving what they pay dollars for away willy-nilly. The point is to put enough into the equation to get folks on the verge of spending money a reason to do so. Again, it's tremendously frustrating (and a motivation-to-continue killer) for a new player to stay with the game - let alone spend money on it - if all their effort can be nullified instantly.

I wish I could remember which game it was but there've been so many. The one I'm thinking of made their premium currency available in-game pretty often and with minimal hoops to jump through. It made things grow so well that in their Forum coiners lobbied for an even looser policy because it kept the noobs involved and grew the Guilds in the game. That's an extreme example but it's indicative of the value of giving a bit to get a lot more. The game was bought out by a competitor with a more restrictive policy and died not long after. Original devs win.

 

[DeletedUser1766]

I am new to forge of empires but I am doing their summer event and finding it very interesting. They do have special buildings like elvenar but they also have prize wheels which hold a chance to win premium buildings. Yes it is a different game but I am starting to find that it is a little more creative in its approach to event prizes. Since the event started I have got through the first batch of quests and I have won premium culture and premium production buildings and they are worth a fair bit of money (equivalent in elvenar of say 800 diamonds). It depends on which chapter you are in and I am only in chapter 3 so far. They also use sets of special buildings so the more pieces in the set you win the more benefit to your city. In elvenar you can never win premium buildings and the event prizes are always the same. The buildings either offer culture or culture and pop and the prizes are the same each time you click except for the daily prize. I like the wheel idea better even though some of the prizes are useless like profile faces. The lure of a chance to win a premium building for free is very strong.