Changes Discussion

Time for a really controversial topic. I know that everybody is getting pissed about the new challenge limits and all the other limitations that have been introduced. So I thought that instead of flooding that thread with people complaining about change in general, I would make a thread to talk about general change in the games. The rest of this post is my opinion about it all, but I thought it would be nice to hear from the rest of the community as well.

First, let's be real for a second. Kano Apps is a business. Remember that the primary purpose of a business is to make money, not to satisfy the customer. They may try to satisfy their customers, but the end goal is to make money. Every person who has taken a business-related course in school should know that. For this reason, when Kano's games are going downhill, they naturally will start changing things to attract new customers that will spend money on favor points. They are making the game fair and interesting enough so that new players can join and hopefully spend their hard-earned favor points on limited items and whatnot. That being said, at the same time, it's making dedicated players stop spending money on favor points. I'm wondering if they are hoping to win the top players back once they gain some popularity. Just keep in mind that if they don't change anything, they may start losing money and have to make cutbacks, such as downgrading their servers (which would mean more restrictions and slower speeds), and we definitely don't want that.

This is what I believe Kendall means when he talks about "necessity" but is reluctant to explain why things are necessary. I know that it seems unfair to you guys on top, but to be honest I can agree with these additions as long as I have reason to believe that it eventually goes away once Kano gets the boost they need. I know that I may seem like a new player, but I started playing on Viking Clan, back when you had to buy Hectares of land before you bought stuff for your Empire. There were no achievements, locations, axe slaps, challenges, or bosses, and every time you clicked on something, you had to wait for a new page to load. I just came back in April after quitting sometime in 2010 and saw all the change that had gone down. I thought it was awesome, but now that I'm seeing some of the limits Kano is adding, I'm starting to get mad too. My hope is that Kano will start really listening to the community and take the stuff away once they accomplish their goals for increased active player counts.

 

Once upon a time Kanos games were much simpler in terms of the amount content and the whole idea/purpose of the gamse much more clearly defined.....it was all about PVP. During this time Kano experienced massive growth and reached its highest participation numbers. The problem.....Kano didnt expand on the games for the longest time. There was a huge stretch when Kano basically did nothing as far as adding new content after Muspell.

Then all of a sudden when they saw there numbers start to drop they started heaping new content on the games none of which would ever catch up to its existing customer base. They even injected new bosses and adventures into previous stages of the game while ignoring the ones that had already completed everything they had to offer. Kano continuously promised new content to sate their veteran players but to this day theyve yet to delivery while all the while their focus remains on the newest of players or lesser levels. As we can see this has been an epic fail as participation numbers are at an all time low. The one thing they havent done is satisfy their longest standing customer base.

These game dont have a big advertising campaign that bring in players....its existing players that bring in the bulk of new players. If a company has a bunch of dissatisfied customers....what happens? When I joined these games had I heard the games longest standing players complaining about neglect and saw them quitting in droves I certainly wouldnt have continued playing them. Kano prides itself on being a different kind of gaming company....they boast that they listen to their players.

Well they certainly do that ...but I think its pretty evident and the numbers bare this out....they been listening to the wrong segment of players. Their long standing player base is dissipating due to broken promises of new content....its crumbling under the weight of limits, restrictions and delays. They can pamper the newbs and those that have dwelt in mediocrity for years all they want but we can see where that has got them. Back when these games began it was all about kicking ass and being the toughest mofo in the game, achievements were set out in front of us to strive for. Our motivation to level up and get stronger via game play and or cash was the guy or gal kicking our ass at the time, to see what was around the next corner. Now its all about being bullied, hidden guild, free calendars and making achievements that are obtainable by the masses rather than for actually excelling.

The arena is the epitome of this. Its whole purpose and reason it came to be was to sate the appetites of the higher level players and players that preferred the PVP aspect of the game that had been brushed off to the side. Kano even said that they hoped the arena would divert the attention of the more aggressive players away from those that didnt enjoy the PVP aspect as much. Well we can all see what the arena has become cant we? Its anything but what Kano sold us on....its all about who can sit and do nothing the longest, it rewards mediocrity and promotes inactivity.

Call me crazy but I dont think all them in-actives sitting in defensive stance are purchasing many refills. Nope....the ones purchasing refills are the active players that the arena was intended for.....the very same players that dont get the opportunity to purchase more because they are quickly killed by bigger active players who are waiting out all those in defensive mode.

Seems kind of counter productive to me. In the end they reward mostly inactive players with achievements for placing a certain percentile rather than winning. They are breeding mediocrity and passive play....the result is Kano shooting themselves in the foot.

They have tried countless things in an effort to right this ship except for one glaringly obvious exception.....Dancing with girl that brought them to the dance. Kano will fade away like all the rest because in the end they are exactly like the rest. They love to spout about how other companies dont do this or that for their players. Well Kano....the same can be said for you. Talk is cheap and broken promises cut deep. Lose the faith of those that have stood by you the longest and you will find yourselves all alone saying we should of...........

 

Bravo............well said.

 

Discussion is good! As long as we can keep it on point without it devolving into "Kano sucks", which I know is very tempting, I can see this being a fruitful thread.

That said, I think the peak-and-trough theory applies here. Everything, no matter what you feel about it at the moment, will wax and wane periodically. It's the way of life. The same people who will criticize our recent decisions in this thread were heaping praise on us a couple months ago with how we handled the Myspace issue.

Does that give us a free pass forever? Not really, but it's something to keep in mind.

 

Ive never been shy when it comes to giving Kano Kudos for a job well done...their handling of the Myspacegate was arguably Kanos greatest moment. I am probably one of Kanos biggest supporters.....but at the same time I am very critical of Kano when I feel they are missing the mark. Its no secret that Kano has neglected the highest of levels from early on in comparison to other segments of the player community. Its no secret that they will most likely never catch up to the highest of levels in terms of new content such as worlds....but whos fault is that? I h dont think the players that leveled to the moon can be blamed, after all they only have ddone what the game and Kano allowed them to do. Kano simply dropped the ball early on and things have now gotten to a point that it is unrealistic that they will ever catch up with new content. But the turning of the knife is that they continue to focus new content that is more beneficial to players of a lesser level or tenure. When they have come out with new content they claim is for the higher levels it quickly becomes watered down and once again becomes more advantages for the lesser levels. The new characters are a perfect example of this, once again they have started at the bottom and allowed for much more benefit to be had by those who already have so much more ahead of them. They are charging the same price regardless of level and potential benefit gains whether immediate or long term. As with most updates and new content its more beneficial to have just started or played much more casually...I just dont understand how Kano doesnt think/understand that its insulting to all those that have supported these games the longest and most. Until Kano does something that is exclusively beneficial and obtained only by leveling up like crazy they will continue to be admonished. Allowing all others to benefit more from the the dedication of its longest tenured players is a slap in the face to all those that paved the way for the others.

 

I will be more than happy to jump in on this.

Kano needs players to purchase FP, understood.
but if you want people to purchase them, there needs to be a use for them.
being one of the top 30 in zombie slayer (at least in level), i cant think of anything i need that requires favor points.....
sure a new un weapon or gear every once in a while is nice, but doesnt require much in the way of favor points

what else would i use them for
lets examine what favor points can buy

energy refills
I am a level 3832, i have been caught up and completed all outbreaks long long ago, therefore energy refills are quite useless for me to purchase, the only benefit here would be to level up

but there is no benefit to leveling up at level 3832, i already dont have a fight list, and there is nothing that i can unlock by leveling up aside from the obligatory 5 skill pts that everyone gets at any level.

stamina refills
while advantageous in an event such as arena, again with no fight list, i certainly dont need stamina to fight, and therefore the only use for them is to fight bosses. With my average boss approaching level 200 (average, not highest), there is zero desire for me to get additional refills to pummel my level 400 clown boss. Remember the last achievement for bosses comes at level 10.....

without additional achievements for bosses, buying stamina refills is quite pointless

hired squad - at level 3000 your hired squad needs max out
at this point there is absolutely nothing to be gained by buying additional hired squad, unless i continue to outpace my top squad and need to punt one of them in favor of a hired squad, but i have not leveled as voraciously as i have in the past because there is not much to gain by leveling at this point, so giving my top squad a chance to get stronger should be enough to keep my head above water for top squad strength needs

cash refills -
i currently have over 300 trillion in cash - i dont see any reason why id need to spend FP on a cash refill, or ever see a reason to buy a cash refill

health refill - your kidding right.....

new characters - once you have a new character there is no point in picking up another one
at this point in the game, its not really worth it either, kano has left new characters/gear in the rearview miror with the release of 300 pts un items, who would want the 100 pt items that come with a new character?

which leaves only UN gear, vehicles, and armor
and its great to buy a new one once in a while, however the advantages that come with such items are useful only in a pvp usage. Of which i have no fight list, so the gains i make on buying new weapons, gear, vehicles are zero without having a place to use such powerful gear. No fight list, no outbreaks, no veteran achievements, an arena in which i can get top 20 without even playing
why on earth would i even consider buying FPs? there would be nothing to use them on

now my suggestions - which is what i would do if i were running kano
pump out new content
i would pump out so much new content, so fast and so hard that i would be hearing complaints about how people could not keep up
when people cannot keep up and see a reason to buy nrg refills, favor point buying would increase
seriously when a new city only requires what effort your putting into them now, its nothing more than copy and paste, put your best copy editor on it and give them a goal on pumping out 30 new cities/countries in the next month, and then if you dont hear people crying uncle, pump out another 30

put some veteran achievements in to stimulate stamina usage
i would release veteran boss achievements in the following levels 50,100,500,1000,2000,3000,4000,5000,10,000, with achievement based on the difficulty, not just a generic 4 skill pts per level, its much harder to get a boss to level 1000 then level 10, reward that, give people something to shoot for, stimulate their need to spend fp to either get ahead or catch up.

the boss achievements is just one example, you could prolly do it for each and every category you have, as far as i remember you have only given veteran achievements for fight wins, and nothing else

give veteran achievments for outbreaks, fighting, bosses, a whole slew of other things, allow us to do the outbreaks again in bronze, silver, gold, ruby levels, but not give as much for completing them, make global outbreaks, you have a world boss, have a world outbreak
put some thought and imagination into it.

spruce up your event pvp
the way they are now, they are almost worthless to play for except a little bit of xp
the rewards certainly are not worth the cost to play (except arena where you can something for nothing, thanks to an unbalanced defensive time)
open the gates on faction wars, lose the tokens, let us play to the extent of our stamina that we worked so hard to build
a refill on faction wars is a joke, i see people using them but they are still a joke, and with the top reward of 10 favor points it is but just a matter of time till people stop using them

i hope this helps, im sure my detractors will point out that everything ive mentioned benefits me...(as usual)
and how can i give suggestions to things that dont...i dont see the other side of the coin, so yes most things i talk about would benefit me, but if they did benefit me, they would benefit others eventually as well, maybe give better rewards for leveling not an extra undead fight every five levels....give people a reason to stop camping at level 1200, give them a chance to spend fp, cuz right now no one will buy them without a need and we dont have a need......

 

This is simply one of the most ridiculous posts Ive ever read here in the forums, Ridiculous in that it all makes perfect sense. GREAT POST SLAVE!


All that I will add is that it gets increasing difficult and expensive to level as u climb in levels....as it should. But what bothers me is that the benefits of doing so actually decrease and the rewards become further and further between. Adventures/outbreaks is a good example in that at the higher levels the drops are more powerful but it costs so much more energy that u get far fewer. Basically there is no increase ...in fact it actually gets worse. Achievements are another good example in that early on they are spaced at much closer intervals or that its just so much easier and faster at those levels to level. I leveled up to 3k+ in a months time.....it takes a lot longer than that to get even a fraction of that today. Its so easy to level at the lower levels that multiple achievements in the same category can be had in the same day. By comparison...achievements at the higher levels are much further apart and can take months, years or dont even exist. Yet the price for doing so in terms of time and or money is much greater while getting less in return at an an even more infrequent pace.. Perhaps the biggest discrepancy when it comes to tit for tat between the lower and higher levels is the amount of stam, energy, SP and or FP/UN one receives upon leveling. Lets take the 50 stam per level a player gets in VC for example, 50 stam at level 100 goes a whole lot further than it does at level 10k. What does 50 stamina do for a player that needs 350k XP to level? It can be argued that the highest of levels have spent far more on these games as than a lower level yet they get the same 1 FP/UN per level when it takes so much more to actually level than there lower level counterparts. Once again the new character classes are a perfect example. If a player was to spend no cash out of their own pocket how much longer would it take a level 1k compared to a level 10k to earn the necessary amount of FP/UN to purchase the new character through regular game play and leveling? All the while the higher level is missing out on the additional benefit of these new characters while trying to earn the FP/UN needed.

In the end as a player rises in levels the requirements to do anything rise exponentially while the rewards for doing so don't, in fact they worsen due to things such as the huge jumps in XP needed at diff level intervals in the game and or the fact that the rewards, achievements or content dont exist yet.