Longevity of the game? What’s the key?

Texas_11

DNA3000 said:

I think one problem with brainstorming these kinds of things is I think most people have a mental image of players of the game as someone who joins and the plays forever. The people who play for a while and then leave don't matter, because they are gone, right?

I don’t have a mental Image of anyone in particular, when I think of longevity I think about the entire health of the game. The people who play for a while and leave are arguable the most important piece of this entire conversation.

But I think when you consider the longevity of a game, you have to consider the playerbase as a dynamic thing. People are constantly joining. People are constantly leaving. We have a healthy playerbase not just because of the veterans who stay forever, but also because we constantly have an influx of players to replace those that leave. Whatever we do to the game, if it makes the game less attractive to new players, we are starting a timer to our inevitable demise.

I agree with this 100%

And all the while we are thinking about the higher elements of the game - the higher progress, the higher competitiveness, the higher content - we should always remember that up to now this game has always been approachable. A new player starting today can aspire to everything the game currently offers veterans. The top players in the game are not so overwhelmingly high that no one starting today can ever reach them. I mean, the literal top 1% of top 1% are unreachable by most, but that has nothing to do with veteran status. I can no more reach those guys than someone starting today, because they just continue to push harder than me.

“This is where I think our ideas separate. I’m not thinking about higher progress or even higher content for that matter , I’m talking about mindless gaming that doesn’t require much effort to play. A new player can aspire to run content etc, but nowadays the content is coming out so frequently they are going to strive for what is meta, meaning 6* champs . We see this happening with players on the forums complaining about their pulls and you look and they have a e R5 champs trying to switch to 6* R2 already. They are blowing through content from easier roster acquisitions and now they want what everyone has 6*champs. It doesn’t even make sense for them to do LOL hardly act 6 100% because they don’t need to. I’m not talking 1% I’m talking about the everyday players this is where Kabam probably sees the most attrition from these players because the game dynamic has changed so much. Again, solo content is typically not what brings people close in Mcoc.”

But a player starting today can aspire to reach, say, my approximate level of the game and even higher. They can aspire to have a rich roster of 6* max rank champs on a faster timescale than it took me to do that. They can aspire to do the same content I'm doing after catching up to me. And I think this is part of the accessibility of the game. You do not need to spend money to reach the top, say, 10% of the game. You do not need to play 24 hours a day. And most important, you do not need to have been here from the beginning.

“I think you are spot on with what they aspire to be. I think this is where the game becomes inaccessible, content is hard , you have to look up how to beat something and then read a description regularly and learn a champs abilities. The information there is not very accessible in game. If you want to aspire to your level they almost should have been here from the beginning, because they are progressing much faster than we did and get to act 6 or act 5 and hit a very hard skill wall because they steamed rolled their way to content. “

There has to be a balance between making the richer and more interesting towards the top, and allowing new players who start today to be able to aspire to reach those same heights. For better or worse, 6* champ did that by reducing the long-term advantage of veterans. If instead of 6* champs we had some kind of 5* advancement on top of 5* champs, then veteran players with much larger rosters would have a baked-in advantage over newer players that would have been almost impossible to overcome, especially when we're now looking at the next stage above 6* champs.

This is kind of the issue here. We have to get out of the vets vs rookies mentality because it doesn’t provide longevity to the game. The top becomes so unobtainable that no one will pursue it. I am saying that there needs to be a way to engage people without having to grab a book , they shouldn’t have to strive for anything but enjoyment from the game. They should be able to hop in this game and pick up arena and enjoy that mode , it’s harmless and doesn’t have a high entry point to play in. We need more modes where people don’t have to push through content if they don’t want to.

Whatever comes next, there must be some advantage that veterans get so they do not feel like their investment in the game is devalued. But it cannot be an overwhelming advantage that newer players cannot neutralize over time if they put their minds to it or we choke off new players from the game and stagnate the playerbase. Balancing those two is the biggest challenge moving forward in my opinion.

Yes, I do think the overall point of this is respecting players investments in resources time or money spent. Still it’s having to focus on engagement and a low barrier cost to enjoy the game. There will be new players and older players but when the 1% retire they need to be replaced. Can’t happen when the game is becoming increasingly complexes and the rewards no longer reflect that effort.