Vouchers System Change&History

[ecb_admin]

We listen to and appreciate the feedbacks from players. This post is to address the players' concerns about the current vouchers system.

History
ECB1
When ECB1 first came out, there was no event card system. Then after many, many updates which made ECB better, we implemented event card system. The purpose of it is to give extra reward to game supporters of the game and bring up the sales.
It worked. There was no additional freebies no matter how much players spent. Now there is, players were happy. devloper was happy, it indeed helped the sales.

But there were still 2 problems.
1. Because 60-70% of the event cards were overpowered at first launch, free players were not happy. (30%-40% were very weak)
2. Some players still took it as they are paying for the event cards. They forgot they are actually paying for the diamonds.

ECB2
Aiming to solve all the issues and flaws of ECB1. We made specific changes.
1. We are more conservative about new event cards. So that you will find most of the new event cards are not powerful as in ECB1. But it also causes issues, players complained their redeemed cards are "useless".
They will gradually be balanced, eventually. The basic principle of event cards won't be changed. They are not op than normal cards but freebies for supporters.
Thanks to the new system in ECB2, we knows how each card performs in each battle.

2. The quest design in ECB 1 forces players to purchase e.g. 1800 diamonds in order to be able to get the event card. It's why ARPU of ECB1 is twice than ECB2. Also, the diamonds packages system in ECB2 also take a part in less sales.
Honestly, we would rather have higher retention than higher sales, for long term perspective.
We changed the quest design to vouchers system. Purchasing diamonds rewards extra free vouchers.
Our goal is to make ECB2 a classic game.

[Lonewolf]

Lonewolf here i redeem the worng card can u help me with this I was wait ing on the ultimate seal card so if u can help me with this please

[ECB-Bookie]

The voucher system i think works better than ECB 1 from a fairness standpoint. i can't speak for you momostorm on if it encourages more sales, but it does allow a player who makes more small purchases to save up scrolls for a more expensive prize card. I am of the mindset that a prize card should be equally balanced to a non prize card but intriguing and encourage players to buy. The more people putting a small amount of money to the game the better it will grow, however prize cards shouldn't be necessary to still have a well rounded strategy and to be able to compete at the top.

I do suggest, however, that it is important to introduce these cards at more price points where small spenders can have access to them for example. I'm not going to suggest a radical change in pricing, bc that's not realistic, instead, suggest to get prices down slightly to see if it encourages more spending and you can use that data to determine in the future if it was beneficial and then if its worth lowering the price again later:

Prize Silver Card - 10 Scrolls
Prize Card Gold - 25 Scrolls
Prize Card Diamond - 50
Prize Card Legend - 100
Prize Card Epic - 200

NON Prize Cards Could be Cheaper such as
Diamond Card (Non-Prize) - 35 Scroll
Legend Card (Non-Prize) - 75 Scroll
Epic Card (Non-Prize) - 150 Scroll

No prize cards above 200 scrolls really recommended here as it simply bad for the game. Nothing does more to discourage a free player from wanting to play the game than to show them a card that cost $500.

I think also, players should get double scrolls for a first time purchase. By doing something like this you can effectively cut the redeem price in half for a first time purchase. This partially solves some of the complaints to be expected about cards costing too much. There will definitely be people chiming in here who think even $200 is too much for a card, but that can be cut in half for a first time purchaser.

PRIZE PACKAGES can also be Introduced, for example each day you can offer a Prize Package of the Day. This package could be a set of 3 cards that can all be redeemed at once cheaper than they could be redeemed individually. For example, todays PRIZE Package could be:

LEGEND PRIZE CARD (100 Scroll Value)
LEGEND Non-Prize Card (75 Scroll Value)
DIAMOND Non-Prize Card (35 Scroll Value)
Total Value 210 Scroll
DAILY PRIZE PACKAGE Today Offered at 150 Scroll for example

For a veteran player this package may be less intriguing especially if they already own 1 or 2 cards in the package, however for a new player this could be more enticing since it will help them get caught up in the game quicker and they are less likely to own any of the three cards. If a player sees 3 cards they really need they may be compelled to spend money especially if they are saving 30-40% on the scrolls needed to get those cards individually.

[Fireflies]

I am on the fence when it comes to the prize cards. I do believe they were outrageously priced but at the same time you can collect vouchers over time in order to redeem a card, unlike in ecb1 where you had to make a large purchase at one time. I think the new price change to prize cards is nice but I do not believe they should get any lower. One of the largest problems in ecb1 was the overspending of prize cards. If you lower prices too much it will cause top spenders to spend even more. I believe momo understands this thus the high prices of the cards to begin with. It doesn't matter really what the cost of a card is, freeplayers will still be freeplayers and spenders will still be spenders. Momo made a post a long while back stating they were not out to make huge amounts of money in ecb2 but rather build a great game. However, if seeing the large prices of the event cards is deterring new players then revert to the ecb1 way of only showing one prize card a day.

[ECB-Bookie]

Honestly the bigger difference between ECB1 and ECB2 concerning prize cards is the attractiveness of the cards. In ECB, prize cards greatly changed the balance of the game. 1. They were very, very useful. 2. They solved a problem in the top ladder by creating a counter strategy that was greatly needed. 3. They changed the dynamics of the game greatly making the game fresh and new to play. 4. Lastly, it encouraged spending which lets admit (without spending the game dies for everyone even free players)

In all honesty NONE of the current prize cards really accomplish any of these 4 points. For example, when creator was strong in ECB1, momo introduced banshee then santa. After creator was weakened the new rise to power was armor defense epics like dragon slayer and frost wyrm. Momo then introduced Imprison and Bunny to counter this new change in the top tier order. So in many instances the new cards released were great counter cards to high ladder imbalances that helped make the game fresh again. This was a good thing for sure as the new additions made the game dynamics fresh and new. Everytime momo has released a new card lately in ECB2 it has not really changed the dynamics of the game a whole lot. In most cases the cards are uninteresting and not worth purchasing. OR tey are so expensive no one will buy them and so there is little to no change at all in the game dynamics and it's business as usual. If they are purchased they are used sparringly and the current order of things goes on fairly uninterrupted. Momostorm, however, has addressed a lot of these imbalances by releasing new versions of the game where stronger cards were weakened and weaker cards were strengthened so this did not go away it just took a new form. Still most the changes have been silver and gold cards and I don't think they've had a big impact on top 35 ladder play in terms of changing a lot of the strategies.

The more momostorm can think in terms of upsetting the balance of the game to make people change up their starting hands then the better the game will stay fresh. I have left the game many times and came back. But only came back when the game was somewhat different and new again. After a while of the same old stuff it gets old and it's time to take a break. The current update has introduced a lot of new cards, but really almost all of them are fairly uninteresting at the high ladder level so the game does not feel as fresh and interesting as would be hoped.

If I were momo I would have a clear and concise plan when releasing a new prize card.

1. Is it affordable? By that I mean will at least 10 people buy it. If not then it won't really change the game a whole lot.
2. Is it a card that can be played alot? If it is a rare card that is hard to play then no way anyone is wasting money on it. Think poisonous dagger. $150 for a card that is played 0 out of 1000 times. This is a poor calculation.
3. Will it make the game fresh for all players?
4. Will it cause a change in common starting hands and counterstrategies?
5. Will it be balanced? A card can be strong AND balanced, it is absolutely possible. Strength in ECB is all relative. A card is only strong when it is useful. When it doesnt apply to the situation then it has little value and can work against you. Therefore please focus on releasing cards that you see fit a pattern and can apply to many of the games out there.

If you can follow a template like this then I think "player retention" will stay high. There are only about 200 players in the game at the moment with about 50 decently active. But there are 1000s of players who have come and gone. Possibly even 10,000s of players. Many pay players who make the game exciting for top tier play often check in for a return to the game. If they see some new and exciting stuff they come back, if not, then they continue to take a break. So very important to really try to hit all these key points when you release a card. Paying for artwork and releasing a card that doesnt change much will just result in spinning wheels.

[ecb_admin]

Dear Bookie,

Thank you for your feedback. We will take note of your valuable suggestion.

[Zack]

Momostorm have you considered letting players pay a small amount of vouchers to rent prize or event cards for set time. Example let players pay 25% of price and let them rent the card for 24hrs and decide if they want to buy it. If they dont want card give them back the scrolls and take card back. If they want card, they just pay the rest of scrolls.
Because sometimes the card description is confusing and or card works different then what was thought. Also players may try cards and decide thry like it and buy it. Some players are afraid to spend money before they see how the card works. Just an idea

[nightcl2]

給的建議很簡單, 把新的功能趕快做好, 讓玩家沒空一直注意舊功能, 也不用花太多resource在舊功能上.
像是
1. 增加 試煉之路, 戰役模式 的關卡.
2. 工會部分的 守衛部署, 工會戰爭, 工會聯盟, 工會事件.
另外
3. 直接在 天梯部分 增加另一種模式比更改舊有的模式更好.
4. 或是在 經典, 競技, 天梯外, 再增加其他種類, 也比在更改舊有的架構更好.

言盡於此, night2442