Fun for everyone!

[Shade Glow]

I've been carefully considering a problem which is presented by releasing new armor sets and unique items. I'm referring to the fact that some people have been saving their celestial and legendary boxes, while other people have been using theirs. Currently, people believe that they might be able to obtain better rewards from those boxes if they hold onto them.

It would promote a most healthy game culture to create new types of boxes for the next round of armor sets and unique items. It wouldn't be fun for everyone if, when these new items are released, some players were able to hit the ground running and gain a huge advantage over other players. If possible, an attempt should be made to mitigate that outcome. Creating new types of boxes with each gear set release would remove the incentive to refrain from enjoying your event rewards in hopes that they might become more beneficial after the next big update.

[Travis | Support Mgr.]

Currently, people believe that they might be able to obtain better rewards from those boxes if they hold onto them.

From what I've seen, players are holding onto their boxes until one (or both) of two things happen: the balance update mentioned in the "upcoming changes" post and/or the Spirit Walker is launched.

[Purple Potato]

It wouldn't be fun for everyone if, when these new items are released, some players were able to hit the ground running and gain a huge advantage over other players.

And those who use them now don't have a huge advantage over those who don't? I see your logic, but it is flawed since anything you say about saving celestials can be said about using celestials.

[lama75]

And those who use them now don't have a huge advantage over those who don't? I see your logic, but it is flawed since anything you say about saving celestials can be said about using celestials.

Speaking as someone that has used their c-boxes already, I agree with tater here. I could have waited, but chose not to. The guys who are waiting will gain whatever benefit they might by waiting. I'm fine with that circumstance and don't think it would be appropriate, nor do I expect the devs to act, to change it.

[Shade Glow]

From what I've seen, players are holding onto their boxes until one (or both) of two things happen: the balance update mentioned in the "upcoming changes" post and/or the Spirit Walker is launched.

Is this really what you want players doing? If players are allowed to gain all or most of the rewards from future content as soon the content is released, then what incentive do those players have to continue playing the new content? By allowing them to use these chests to unlock future content, you're doing yourself a great disservice. It effects the longevity of the game. It would be in Making Fun's best interest to protect the longevity of the game. You guys are working very hard to create new content. Shouldn't you do everything you can to keep people enjoying that content for as long as possible?

[Purple Potato]

If players are allowed to gain all or most of the rewards from future content as soon the content is released

What's the difference from having hard earned celestials from previous events (ANB) and having to get hard earned celestials after the update? (the answer is 2 ANB events placing top 10, 3 placing top 25 etc).

[Nhat]

Not everyone wants to have to go through the whole grind required to get the new set/name items, which they'll be forced to if your suggestion is implemented. What it also means is that you're effectively making the rewards for efforts applied useless for future content - players with already completed sets wouldn't have put so much effort into it if this was the case.

This have been discussed multiple times, and the same arguments pretty much come up all the time: Using reward now vs saving for future.

This is ultimately a player's choice, and therefore I believe the current implementation is valid, it is purely up to you what you would like to do:

• If you have already grinded out a full set of gear, or simply prefer to wait for new contents, you can
• If you want to use the rewards to "deck out" your Hero with the current set of gear, you can do that too.

There's no restrictions on how the rewards should be used, as it should be. It took effort, time and/or money for players to get these things, rendering them useless for future contents isn't a solution...

[Shade Glow]

It took effort, time and/or money for players to get these things, rendering them useless for future contents isn't a solution...

The creation of new reward chests probably won't render the old ones useless. This is contingent on the whether or not there is a disparity between the power of new equipment and old equipment. I have not seen the new equipment, but I suspect it's not likely to be incredibly OP in comparison to the equipment we have now. After all, it's still going to be level 70 equipment like what we currently have. There's a difference between something being rendered useless, and something being rendered slightly less useful.

[NeoSamurai]

There are tradeoffs. Obviously there’s the decision to ‘benefit now’ or ‘benefit in the future’ but you also have to consider that the time horizon is a big question mark at this point and the players that have been hoarding have taken on that risk. Who knows if the new items will be better? Or if these players will still be playing the game after 6 months?

Those boxes also don’t stack so they’ve had to give up some stash space by choosing not to use them; we all know how inventory management can be such a pain especially for those collecting multiple sets and jewelry pieces.

[Shade Glow]

What's the difference from having hard earned celestials from previous events (ANB) and having to get hard earned celestials after the update? (the answer is 2 ANB events placing top 10, 3 placing top 25 etc).

The objective includes legendary boxes as well as celestial boxes. You're only considering players who have earned celestial boxes.

Is is wise to limit the scope of the games player base, and the impact these changes would have on the longevity of Eternium, to a sample of players who typically rank within the top 10 or top 25 during ANB events? Realistically, most of those players are the same people who continuously outperform other players due to their advanced skill and understanding of the game. The input from these players can be very valuable to the producers, but in this case, there is an obvious division of interest. If you look at this through the eyes of an economist, you'll have to leverage the incentives for players to play a game (rewards and entertainment) in order to apply them to the incentives for a company to produce a game (capitol, and purpose).

I usually rank at about 13-18, so I share your same bias. I also have some chests saved up, so it's not like this will benefit me from the standpoint of a player. I simply want to offer some advice which I am sure will have a positive impact of the longevity of a game that I love.

[Purple Potato]

The objective includes legendary boxes as well as celestial boxes. You're only considering players who have earned celestial boxes.

I wasn't and merely used it as an example and if you want to be technical then include p-rare boxes and random set items also.

I think we are both on the same page but in different paragraphs

[Shade Glow]

You'll have to leverage the incentives for players to play a game (rewards and entertainment) in order to apply them to the incentives for a company to produce a game (capitol, and purpose).

I shouldn't leave it up to conjecture; players want immediate gratification. We want as many rewards as we can get, and we want to obtain them as quickly as possible, instantly, even. The acquiescence of this desire is not seen anywhere in competitive modern game design. Producers create rewards and achievements and gate them behind gameplay. There is a crucial and obvious reason they do this. My suggestion of creating new celestial and legendary boxes supports this very well. Similar implementations in many other big titles have proven to be effective in scenarios where game development companies wanted to efficiently monetize new content.

[Nhat]

I shouldn't leave it up to conjecture; players want immediate gratification. We want as many rewards as we can get, and we want to obtain them as quickly as possible, instantly, even.

Sorry if I'm missing/breaking any context by selective quoting.

But this is a conjecture, some players want immediate gratification, some are fine with taking their time and simply enjoying the game. Getting things instantly devalue their worth, in my opinion anyway.

Similar implementations in many other big titles have proven to be effective in scenarios where game development companies wanted to efficiently monetize new content.

This have become an issue with Eternium, with the IAP of Legendary and Jewelry boxes (from previous, often heated, discussions). As far as I am aware, Eternium hopefully isn't planning to go further down the path of monetizing contents (if I'm understanding the context/intention correctly).

[Shade Glow]

Sorry if I'm missing/breaking any context by selective quoting.

But this is a conjecture, some players want immediate gratification, some are fine with taking their time and simply enjoying the game. Getting things instantly devalue their worth, in my opinion anyway.

Yes, you are taking things out of context here, and you may be missing my point. A player who does not want instant gratification would agree with my point, which is to say that there is entertainment value in gating rewards behind content. These types of players are unusually reserved, and are much less common than their aforementioned counterparts. The players who are less reserved (the majority of players) are fortunate to have clever game producers who offer measured, time-gated, and content-gated rewards in order to foster maximum entertainment value, because many of those players lack the discipline to enforce upon themselves this valuable state of moderation.

P.S. It would be conjecture, had I said or implied that all players want immediate gratification. I merely said, "players". From this, you could infer that I'm referring to any number of players greater than one, and while that's completely irrelevant to my case, it's very difficult to disprove.

Eternium hopefully isn't planning to go further down the path of monetizing content.

I wouldn't worry too much about the impact that the objective of this topic will have on pushing Eternium down that path. The most probable implication would be that players would be incentivized to continue playing Eternium. That ain't so bad!

[Travis | Support Mgr.]

Is this really what you want players doing?

Nope. That's why boxes don't stack.