State of the Game

First a little background. I've played since December '14 and been in an alliance since early '15 when they started. I've moved around a little bit but for the vast majority of the time I've been in 2 alliances, 1 for about 1.5 years the other for 2 different stints with a total of over 3 years. I like the people I play with and it keeps me going . As time has passed, I find more and more friends moving on for a variety of reasons, most of which are time related. And maybe they take a break and come back.

My concern is that the mid-high tier alliances are losing people in droves. If you want ultra competitive and can spend the required time and money there's a place for you. If you are starting out and growing there's a place for you. If you want to keep an alliance full with talent for running a mix of map 5 and 6 and gold tier war, good luck. For every post of a member looking for an alliance in that group, there's 20-30 alliances posting with multiples spots open.

Obviously contraction is an easy answer and maybe everyone benefits if that occurs, but it just makes me wonder and be concerned about how much longer that can be sustained. Seems like the "middle class" of MCOC is being squeezed out of the game.

Comments

Rookiie

Hello Daniel Rand
Sworn Enemy of the Hand

Doomsfist79

The game is more than 5 years old.. people are going to move on.. no game.. is going to be able to retain the amount of people or interest it did when first launched. The only thing I can see in this case is that the company seems to have moved onto new properties and (at least to me) don't seem as invested in this particular title as they once were..

unknown

This content has been removed.

Mauled

The game is more than 5 years old.. people are going to move on.. no game.. is going to be able to retain the amount of people or interest it did when first launched. The only thing I can see in this case is that the company seems to have moved onto new properties and (at least to me) don't seem as invested in this particular title as they once were..

I disagree, there’s plenty of games that have massive, loyal player bases - I’ve played RuneScape since I was about 12 and I’m now in my late 20s and most of the people I play with are around my age or a bit older and have played for the same sort of time. There’s huge precedence for games keeping player bases for years.

What they need to ensure is that the game is still welcoming when they come back from the inevitable breaks that players will take.

Jaded

Everything is as it should be.

Cause and effect.
People dilute the alliances by making more alliances. More alliances require more people. Then the different types of players get spread thin across the alliances. Ultimately tiring out people (regardless of what level you play the game). These people feel as though they contribute too much to their alliance and seek out like minded individuals to play with. Or they quit.

This is a never ending cycle. There are always new people joining and others quitting. There is no shame in one way or another. Once people understand the cause and effect they have on alliance’s it becomes a lot easier to navigate through the other requirements leaders/officers have.

Colinwhitworth69

The only thing that makes AW expensive and frustrating is the competitive desire to compete for better rewards.

I run a fun, stable alliance that runs AW but without a requirement to boost, revive, etc. If we lose, we lose, and life goes on. In the end, w win some, we lose some, and we get decent season rewards -- but we have none of the pressure and cost. This is a game, so it should be fun first and foremost, and out ally has collected players over time who share this philosophy.

Odachi

The game is more than 5 years old.. people are going to move on.. no game.. is going to be able to retain the amount of people or interest it did when first launched. The only thing I can see in this case is that the company seems to have moved onto new properties and (at least to me) don't seem as invested in this particular title as they once were..

They seem to be investing iin plenty of areas and are expanding markets - take the specific Asia and Oceana heats of the Summoner Showdown.
However, they are not investing in quality assurance, I've been grinding this axe for a while now but how many times do we see content that just fails on day 1 of its launch? I can unstand bugs that creep out in certain conditions and are discovered straight away but the launch day bugs/glitches/crashes are inexcusable for any game developer.

unknown

This content has been removed.

DNA3000

First a little background. I've played since December '14 and been in an alliance since early '15 when they started. I've moved around a little bit but for the vast majority of the time I've been in 2 alliances, 1 for about 1.5 years the other for 2 different stints with a total of over 3 years. I like the people I play with and it keeps me going . As time has passed, I find more and more friends moving on for a variety of reasons, most of which are time related. And maybe they take a break and come back.

My concern is that the mid-high tier alliances are losing people in droves. If you want ultra competitive and can spend the required time and money there's a place for you. If you are starting out and growing there's a place for you. If you want to keep an alliance full with talent for running a mix of map 5 and 6 and gold tier war, good luck. For every post of a member looking for an alliance in that group, there's 20-30 alliances posting with multiples spots open.

Obviously contraction is an easy answer and maybe everyone benefits if that occurs, but it just makes me wonder and be concerned about how much longer that can be sustained. Seems like the "middle class" of MCOC is being squeezed out of the game.

I think you're perception is skewed because it is easier to see outflows than inflows. It is not like the number of Map 5/6 alliances is going down. Players leave those alliances to drop down to retirement alliances, or they move up to the Map 6/7 alliances, but they keep getting replaced. It is just that you're seeing alliances break up, but you don't see the new ones that are formed to replace them.

It has always been the middle tier alliances that have had the most shuffle, because they are the most evolving. Retirement alliances and casual alliances by their very nature don't have large pressures on their players and thus they are relatively stable. The top tier alliances do burn out players, but there's a line around the block waiting to join them. Middle tier alliances lose players to both ends, so they are the most difficult to hold together. But that's always been the case, and what balances that out are the constant influx of new alliances to replace them, or older alliances that move up into that tier.

DNA3000

The game is more than 5 years old.. people are going to move on.. no game.. is going to be able to retain the amount of people or interest it did when first launched. The only thing I can see in this case is that the company seems to have moved onto new properties and (at least to me) don't seem as invested in this particular title as they once were..

There's every reason to believe the game has a similar number of players it had years ago, and there's no doubt whatsoever it is making significantly more money than it has in the past. And given the devs have adopted a new design methodology for higher tier content, accelerated older champion review and buff by a factor of over ten, are continuing to experiment with new game mechanics like root and monetization mechanics like the Piggy Bank, and expanding their public face with things like the Summoner Showdown tournament, I don't think an objective observer can make the reasonable case that the company has "moved onto new properties."

If you were Netmarble, would you be "moving on" from MCOC?

Source: Netmarble financials for Q4 2020.

That 15% translates to players globally spending something on the order of $40M USD per month on average on MCOC in-app purchases. I'm pretty sure the day the Kabam developers lose interest in supporting MCOC Netmarble would fire them all and replace them with developers who would take an interest.

007md92

Alliance Below Gold 1
And AQ map 4 are little by little going to leave this game.
Basically they don't have time. And the reward system is heavily focused to benifit
High tier players.
It is what it is.

The glory is low.
To rank a champ up
Minimum rank 4 5 star

4 t2 alpha
6 t1 alpha
6 t4 basic
Not doable with 4k glory i think.

Not to mention thr t4 cc and iso doesn't fo hand in hand. Although duel class have narrowed the chance for desired pull of iso but no garantee with t4cc.
U open 10 u get not what u wanted.
Hence wrong force rank up cz the iso is expiring.
It's a vecious cycle. Lol.

So rank up process beocmes slower. People losseing interest fast.
Little by litttle lpw tier will be removed from this game.
And it's understandable.
They are making a game they ought to look for profit side for their business.