I like the random drop store system. 8%(79 votes)
I like the random drop store system and have spent real money on packs. 5%(52 votes)
I do not like the random drop store system. 9%(89 votes)
I do not like the random drop store system, but I have spent real money on packs. 6%(60 votes)
Option 1 + but I would never spend real money in an in game store. 12%(121 votes)
Option 3 + and I would never spend real money in an in game store. 11%(111 votes)
Option 1 or 2 + but I would prefer a system where I knew what I was buying. 10%(106 votes)
Option 3 or 4 + and I would prefer a system where I knew what I was buying. 18%(185 votes)
Option 1 or 2 + I would probably spend (more) real money in a system where I knew that I was buying. 6%(56 votes)
Option 3 or 4 + but I would probably spend (more) real money in a system where I knew what I was buying. 16%(159 votes)
This was the poll situation at 15:14 CET on 15.06.2012. With 1018 votes, the poll was 92nd most voted poll on the BSN at the time.
First, I want to thank everyone that took a little time to vote and thank those even more that commented and posted in the idea compendium thread.
A special thanks goes out to ThinLizzy92, who went as far as to include a link to the poll in her signature! A big thanks to ABjerre, Stinja and Ismadiis, who helped with regular bumps.
Second, I have to say that I am not unreservedly happy. It took the community nearly 2 months to reach 1000 votes, which is rather pathetic in the light of the intensity of emotions towards the store, and the fact that the ending debate generated tens of thousands of votes in several polls in less time. More importantly it generated an organised cooperation and unified effort from thousands of people in and out of the BSN. I wasn’t expecting a movement of this magnitude, but to tell the truth I was expecting a certain extent of focus and at least some help from like-minded gamers. There was neither. This may be caused by several things from my personal lack of appeal, through the complicated nature of the poll, to just a simple lack of community interest. I will not try to find the actual cause for this because, to be frank, I do not feel it is worth my time.
On an even more personal note, I am done with being an active forumite. It makes me very sad that people have so misunderstood the name of this site and actually did turn it into the BS Network. The poll will not be closed for the time being but I will not be making updates here and will not monitor the poll any longer.
I will send Bioware QA the results and will let them decide what they do with the information. I am no longer dedicating any more of my time to this issue. If anyone wishes to take this task upon themselves, they are free to use this thread and poll data as they wish (i.e. if you want some change in the poll intro or in this thread: send me a message).
With that said, I will now make a few assumptions and statements based on the data above. Those that would wish to note things like "the BSN represents only a small fraction of MP gamers" will kindly refrain from doing so as the sample size is large enough to be considered representative.
The results pretty much speak for themselves. 41% likes or sort of likes the store and (for the sake of 100%) 59% percent wants it to change. This can be categorised as an EPIC FAIL. A product that is disliked by 59% of customers is not something any supplier can be happy with.
The fail proportions are just staggering if we take into account the fact that only 25% of people have stated they like store period. 75% percent wants some sort of a change. This is definitely not something to be satisfied with.
In earlier breakdowns I have given some assumptions regarding the money making potential increase of a possible store change, so I will not repeat these, those interested can just look them up.
The conclusion is very simple: if BioWare has any interest in keeping up the illusion that they listen to their fans, the store issue will have to be addressed in a radical way. A way that will have to be found or at least helped along by someone else than me.
greg out
______________________________________ ___________________
IDEA COMPENDIUM
1.
A tweak to the store, could be that when purchasing Spectre Packs with Bioware Points, they guarantee a random Untra Rare. This would give (some) people what they want (sretainty that they dont buy "nothing"), and Bioware a higher potential revenue per customer, as well as opening the possibility of repeat transactions, if new weapons are released in the future (new ultra rare weapons and or characters, customizations, you name it).
Even with a Spectre Pack guaranteing a random Ultra Rare card when bought with points (160 of them, roughly equal to $2), the current amount of Ultra Rare weapons would represent a potential 7 *10 * 2 = $140 worth of packs. I highly doubt that people, who spend money in the store, on an average are spending more than that before they relize what is going on. (by courtesy of ABjerre)
2.
The store system would be vastly improved, and I would be tempted to spend real money on it, if there was a guarantee that you would always unlock something that you did not yet have unlocked - i.e. no more character cards when you've already unlocked every appearance option for that class. Keep the distribution of rarity as it is in each pack, and if you've already unlocked everything at the rarity for which your 3rd, 4th, or 5th item is supposed to be, award equipment instead.
E.g.- let's say that you buy a Recruit pack. The pool of common cards are the II-X upgrades for the five starting weapons, the I-V upgrades for the 13 common weapon mods, and the 3 appearance options for each human character for 146 unlocks total. After all of those options are unlocked, if you buy a pack that is supposed to include a common card, instead of re-awarding a character card with XP, award a "common" level of equipment instead - i.e. one consumable or one level I ammo/rail arm/armor equipment.
The same rules could easily apply to uncommons & rares as well. Uncommons would be 3 consumables/level II equipment and rares would be 5 consumables/level III equipment. This will ensure a smooth progression through Recruit->Veteran->Spectre packs and keep people buying & playing even after they get good gear due to the fact that the chances for an ultra-rare are still low, but it would prevent the rage from buying pack after pack just to keep getting useless XP - at least those players will be getting *something* and have significant amounts of high-level equipment to play around with (by courtesy of twxabfn)
3.
I think a better idea would be to offer an initial N7 weapon at a fixed price, similar to how some N7 weapons were offered in the single player.The price would be significantly higher than the cost of buying 10 PSP's dueto the guarantee and ability to choose which weapon you were buying.
Off the top of my head, I think 10 million might be too high and 2 million would be too low. I think 2.5 million would be acceptable to most people, though I personally feel it should be a bit higher, maybe 3 or 4 million. (editor's note: price suggestion due later)
Now this pack only can be used once for each N7 weapon, and will give you a level 1 weapon. In truth, it will not help people who have already got their weapon of choice and are looking to upgrade said weapon. It will help people who have not got their favorite weapon such as a BW or whatever else a person might want. Any further upgrades would be left with the RNG and the normal store system. (by courtesy of ismadiis)
4.
Make getting awards for certain things a little more rewarding, this could tie in with the store. In example, if someone got 25 headshot kills in 5 conscecutive matches, then they might be rewarded with a voucher for a veteran pack, or even be given a choice of weapon upgrade after the mission. (by courtesy of @LD_Dragon
5.
To both expand game play, pad packs, and keep the money rolling what Bioware needs is to stop production on playable characters and weapon DLCs for the momment and create a system that allows the players to place modifications on those same files. Openning up a new a wider category of unlock/consumables that change enemy spawn rates, strenghts, composition, etc. Building the UI and setting up how these different elements will interact is no simple, but will add an element of chaos and unpredictability to a rather static game currently. Essentially it becomes a sanction way to tweek and generate custome game types within the current structure. (by courtesy of Dorje Sylas)
6.
7.2. Cap the number of non UR packs you can receive in a row 3. Award a UR for every 500 levels of N7 (this would encourage promoting and you wouldn't mind training so much) (by courtesy of Kai Peng)
8.PSPshould start at 1% chance to get ur. Every pack you buy raises this chance by 1%. When you get an UR. it resets. This way you can still have good luck, but if your luck sucks, you at least know you will eventually get one by default. (by courtesy of xtorma)
"Research Project" concept: It takes a certain amount of EXP to unlock the ability to purchase the weapon, and then it takes a set amount of credits to buy it too.
Weapons and equipment would scale with rarity and level. A level 1 Uncommon would not require nearly as much exp & credits to buy as a level 10 Ultra-Rare obviously...
For example:
I set the Saber IX as my research project. I need to get 1,500,000 personal experience (Only counting your score, not the whole team's) from games before it becomes available.
After I get the 1,500,000 personal experience I now have to pay to have it produced or shipped or whatever you want to call it. It costs $350,000-500,000 since it is an Ultra-Rare.
We still have to play a ton of matches to unlock stuff, but we can actually get the weapons we want! (At the cost of about 10 matches or around 3~ hours or so.)
Our Manifest could show what we were researching and maybe have a "Queue" where we could add multiple items to work towards. (by courtesy of Drummernate)
Modifié par greghorvath, 30 août 2012 - 01:32 .
Retour en haut
I like the system, but would prefer one where I knew what I was buying 
