Stringing on the Kickstarter customer, or Why this game needs to die

Some could interpret it as a matter of moral conduct, and others could say it's a simple business decision. The more I read up on the matter, the more I think it was inevitable that those of us that could be considered 'whales' in the f2p spectrum would get marginalized over time.

I was going to present an argument that GGG should have focused more on keeping their regular contributors happy by asking the question: How many of the larger tier supporter packs have been bought off the shelf by new players versus how many are repeat buys from someone who has been contributing from the start? Why would a company make business decisions to ostracize or alienate those that appear to be consistent with their financial support for the game?

That was until I came across a couple of articles explaining the risk of doing so:
http://www.mmobomb.com/thar-she-blows-will-whale-hunting-kill-off-f2p-gaming
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2014-04-01-free-to-play-whales-more-rational-than-assumed
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/JoshBycer/20150213/236394/Sustainable_Game_Design_and_the_Casual_Games_Market_Bust.php

The reality I suspect the data shows is that the monetization model is dependent on continuing to attract a varied and dynamic playerbase versus keeping old die hards like us 'founders' around. Sure there may be a couple dozen of us that have dutifully contributed funds at the launch of each content release, but as shown in this thread, we can ultimately decide the game 'isn't worth it anymore'. If GGG only focused on improving the play experience of their 'core' that they started with, they run a much greater risk of financial failure than to continue to 'casualize' the game to the data. If the data shows that players signing on for the first time leaves because they get frustrated and quit because they can't beat Hailrake, that is a potential future customer out the door, never to return. It was inevitable that the game would need to follow the needs of the 'larger' gaming population than those of us that have visions in our heads of what constitutes a 'great' game. The safe play is to make the game more accessible (read generic) so it continues to attract more players which hopefully will stick around and enjoy the game enough to spend some money in the store.

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ike I said, I've seen nothing but consistency from GGG ever since day 1 of OB

how nobody pointed a bunch of contradictions in promised design decisions and actual gameplay is beyond my understanding

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Garr0t wrote:

If the data shows that players signing on for the first time leaves because they get frustrated and quit because they can't beat Hailrake, that is a potential future customer

who should realize the quest is optional and try it again later when they suck less.

There is a huge problem with "options entitlement" in portions of this community. I can't make level 100 so qq. I don't like trading so qq. I can't beat Hailrake so qq. But you don't need to do any of those things, and you don't need the rewards from any of them. The rewards may be nice, but that doesn't mean you're entitled.

Hailrake should be a bloody murderous bastard who feasts on noob souls. He should be a big neon sign saying "next time you're thinking of an optional area, you might just think again."

My first dead ever was to noobraker at lvl 3 i believe.

Permafrozen and nothing to do, it was a clear sign i was in for a good ride.

Sort of a bummer they removed the ice spears and replaced it with glacial cascade, given the recent changes to flask's reverting him to his ice spear status would be cool.

Peace,

-Boem-

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Boem wrote:

My first dead ever was to noobraker at lvl 3 i believe.

I thought that was a deliberate design. I thought it was brilliant.

Turns out it wasn't that deliberate.

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ScrotieMcB wrote:

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Boem wrote:

My first dead ever was to noobraker at lvl 3 i believe.

I thought that was a deliberate design. I thought it was brilliant.

Turns out it either wasn't that deliberate.

Your sentence, it lacks two outcomes.

Good to see you around Scrotie, it's been a really long time since I last saw you on here.

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Boem wrote:

My first dead ever was to noobraker at lvl 3 i believe.

Permafrozen and nothing to do, it was a clear sign i was in for a good ride.

Sort of a bummer they removed the ice spears and replaced it with glacial cascade, given the recent changes to flask's reverting him to his ice spear status would be cool.

Peace,

-Boem-

Lol I had exactly the same experience. Sounds weird but I think that's what hooked me to the game.

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Xavderion wrote:

"

Boem wrote:

My first dead ever was to noobraker at lvl 3 i believe.

Permafrozen and nothing to do, it was a clear sign i was in for a good ride.

Sort of a bummer they removed the ice spears and replaced it with glacial cascade, given the recent changes to flask's reverting him to his ice spear status would be cool.

Peace,

-Boem-

Lol I had exactly the same experience. Sounds weird but I think that's what hooked me to the game.

That was sort of my point and why i added "clear sign i was n for a good ride".

It wasn't sarcasm or anything, i actually enjoyed that difficulty from the get-go.

I still remember going for merveil the first time and asking in global what i should do, immediately getting spammed with "Cold resis bro!!" was very cool stuff and damn where they right.

Peace,

-Boem-

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Boem wrote:

Permafrozen and nothing to do, it was a clear sign i was in for a good ride.

Kinda lived through that again when I went into merci tidal island recently, six levels under the area and he got possessed by some spirit. Wanted to give it a go anyway, but, two shots - poof.

But yes, spears would be possible, given that his map version also uses them. Hmm, can he even crit in normal difficulty anymore? I remember they mentioned blackguard shield charge and fire fury's firestorm.

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JohnNamikaze wrote:

To be honest, having played PoE since back in CB, and having seen so much changes throughout the years, there was actually one moment that I felt PoE hit rock bottom. That rock bottom was patch 1.1 (Atziri patch), because nothing much was added in this patch.

Atziri ruined game for MOST.