I’m sure we’ve all expressed our disdain at the recent steam fiasco well enough, and we’ve given our thoughts on how to make the enlisted experience even better. So now that’s out of our system let’s suggest some (maybe) healthy ways for the devs to make money as well to avoid situations like this in the future.
1. Selling experience boosters
Enlisted’s biggest draw to me when I first started is that it doesn’t really feel like pay to win and is instead more pay for convenience/ pay to progress faster. So far the main star of this business model is the premium time which I feel is a pretty good deal, even more so when on sale, so let’s add to this.
In addition to premium time, maybe consider selling the same boosters we get from the rewards but slightly modified. For some gold you can buy these premium boosters that can be activated at will and is not activated on purchase. It could be stackable to a maybe 400% cap or something as well, and last for maybe 3-5 matches and expires within 18-24 hours if not used. Maybe we could slightly increase experience needed to unlock something to make these more lucrative, but already this could help ease the grind for some in the current game.
2. Selling event boosters
Let’s be honest event squads build up a lot of FOMO as it is. Not to say that it isn’t currently doable but it is a slog to get through the events, but you do it to get the limited exclusive items. However, others simply don’t have the time to play through several games every couple of days, and for those who play each event you risk burnout causing players to leave the game for a while.
So how about selling limited event score boosters? These boosters only show up during events and can be stackable to a 100% cap. These do not affect research score and only affects your progress for the event. They can last for maybe 3 games, and if not used make it last at least until halfway through the event or just about the same amount of time it would take to reach the first major reward before expiring.
That being said I must strictly state that this should be considered only for the current state of events now with 20K needed for each stage. If you increase this 20k cap any further you risk giving the impression that the event is impossible without money. DO NOT DO THIS, 20K is exhausting enough as it is, you want people to do multiple events until they feel they’ve done this enough and would just like to speed through it making these event score boosters more lucrative
3. Increase silver gain by a significant amount and very very slightly increase research needed to unlock an item
I personally don’t mind the long grind even if I were starting all over (in my case was currently starting japan with pretty much nothing). But I personally can’t stand unlocking so much stuff and not being able to use them at risk of going broke by the time I hit the higher tiers. Make players deck out their squad with equipment and make them want to see what’s the next best thing. Don’t give the impression to new players that they should ignore everything except the main thing at the end of the line because we want players to engage with the game and its many mechanics.
encourage players trying out new things and encourage them wanting to progress faster which leads to more people playing and purchasing reasonable ways to progress without outright buying levels. Of course you can still sell silver alongside this as there will be no doubt players may get a bit to crazy with their equipment and find themselves just lacking some silver to purchase the next new unlock.
4. Selling silver gain boosters
Now you get people spending a lot and while the silver gain has improved, others may feel they could get a bit more silver with their skill. So how about boosting silver gain? Just like the previous boosters I mentioned this could be a premium booster that increases silver gain with a max cap of 100%. It could last maybe 3 battles or 6 hours if not used. To make sure it is not exploitable, make it so that it doesn’t apply if you desert, and if you do leave early you consume one battle. Just like the rest it can be activated at any time and will not activate upon purchase.
Now I want to make it clear: I think these could work for the game in the current state. However, it would be disastrous if they implement any of these and offset some other aspect of the game, making the whole point of these mean nothing. Further discouraging players from playing and newer players from coming in.
I don’t know if these are sleazy ways for Darkflow to earn revenue while keeping the player base feel like sticking around is worth the time. But it certainly feels a bit more reasonable than expecting people to buy $60 - $100 premiums and silver for gold, or paying $20 -$100 for early access on steam considering the game has essentially been on early access for last couple of years already. But Idk maybe you guys have other ideas for healthy microtransactions, which while I personally would prefer no microtransactions, I recognize the need for a balance between profit and fun. I really like this game and I want to see it succeed, so hopefully the devs and the snail find a good way to make things work for everyone.
