This thread is long. Please take your time to read it before commenting. Thank you for your time.
This is a recap from various posts made in Talk with Community about Monetization and other similar threads. It is completely dedicated to the monetization of enlisted and all other topics should be considered off-topic when commenting. The recap is as followed:
- There is a small-scale monetization test going on right now where you can use real money to buy a premium in-game currency, which you can use to buy weapon orders. The community learned about this due to a screenshot leak.
- The community is very concerned about this monetization scheme, as selling lootboxes is a controversial thing and is even banned in multiple countries.
- The community was upset about the lack of transparency, as this test wasn’t initially announced.
- Various moderators and community managers gave us their responses about this topic, with the main gist being:
- This is a small scale test. It is absolutely not a final design. Treat it like a CBT within this CBT. As such, they preferred not to announce it in favor of announcing it later in a devblog.
- They will be forwarding the concerns to the developers.
That said, I would like to make a short essay for the community to read and vote on, after that thread got a little bit out of hand.
NOTE: These polls are anonymous. You can change your vote at any time by pressing the “Show results” button and pressing a different option.
NOTE: During the votes there will be questions about how much YOU think something should cost. Of course, not everyone uses the same currency. Use your price for the premium squads, divide it by 30, then multiply it by the $ values stated there to get the price the local price in your currency! And PLEASE, do not be a cheapskate by purposefully selecting the cheapest option! please select the option that would be your upper limit, or the option that is slightly below your upper limit!
Introduction:
Monetization is of course the most important thing to keep a game up and running. The developers need payment, the servers need to be maintained, and more. The costs to keep a game running is high, and the developers need a way to earn enough money from it. However, if the monetization system is too “predatory”, it will drive away a lot of potential players, with alongside that a lot of potential earnings. As such, the developers and community need to come to an agreement regarding what would be the best approach for monetizing the game.
Current monetization:
As it stands, Enlisted uses Premium Squads as their only way of monetization for the live version of the game. The current premium squads include:
- Pre-leveled soldiers, with very powerful perks, making them more powerful than most other soldiers
- Unique uniforms for these pre-leveled soldiers
- Weapons that are often better than their non-premium counterparts, but are unobtainable outside of these purchases
- Upgrades pre-applied to the weapons, making them even more powerful
- Drastically different squad composition, which is arguably better than any other squad composition
- Possibly a higher skill capacity than normal 5-star soldiers ( not 100% confirmed )
The community’s likes the following things about the premium squads:
NOTE: If you dislike the current implementation, but not the concept, vote “other”.
[poll name=likePremSquad2 type=regular chartType=bar]
- I dislike the entire premium squad concept
- I like the pre-leveled soldiers (functional)
- I like the special uniforms (cosmetic)
- I like the special guns (cosmetic)
- I like the different stats on the special guns (functional)
- I like the upgrades on the special guns (functional)
- I like the different squad composition (functional)
- I like most/all of the cosmetic differences
- I like most/all of the functional differences
- I like most/all of the functional differences for soldiers
- I like most/all of the functional differences for weapons
- Other
[/poll]
And the community dislikes the following things about the premium squads:
[poll name=dislikePremSquad2 type=regular chartType=bar] - I am fine with the current premium squads
- I dislike the pre-leveled soldiers (functional)
- I dislike the special uniforms (cosmetic)
- I dislike the special guns (cosmetic)
- I dislike the different stats on the special guns (functional)
- I dislike the upgrades on the special guns (functional)
- I dislike the different squad composition (functional)
- I dislike most/all of the cosmetic differences
- I dislike most/all of the functional differences
- I dislike most/all of the functional differences for soldiers
- I dislike most/all of the functional differences for weapons
- Other
[/poll]
And their overall thoughts about the premium squads are:
[poll name=thoughtsPremSquad type=regular chartType=bar]
- I am fine with the current premium squads
- The current and future premium squads need to be reworked
- Only future premium squads need to be reworked
- No future premium squads should be added
- Other
[/poll]
The community also came up with a handful of ways to monetize the game in a less controversial way:
- Cosmetics
- Reworked premium squads
- Premium time
- Collectables/Premium items
- Pay to play per campaign
These were suggested as followed:
Cosmetics:
Purely non-functional items that act as reskins or customization options for existing items. Functionally different items will be covered in the Collectables section.
Cosmetics should include:
- Weapon reskins, similar to the twitch drop pistols during the last drop event. Think about things such as a birch butt-stock on a kar98k, or a chrome barrel M1 Garand.
- Minor uniform changes, such as a different combination of helmet, ammo pouches, holsters etc, unique markings/patches, etc.
- Uniforms of soldiers from other nationalities that acted as minor forces in that campaign.
- Vehicle decals, such as unit markings for tanks, or pinups for planes.
Cosmetics should not include:
- Weapons that are almost a reskin, but are either different models, or have different stats, such as the MP41.
The community’s thoughts about cosmetics are as followed:
[poll name=thoughtsCosmetics type=regular chartType=bar]
- I dislike this suggestion
- I like this suggestion with the mentioned includes/not includes
- I like this suggestion but the includes/not includes should be different
- Other
[/poll]
And they think the prices for cosmetics, if bought on an individual basis, should be around:
[poll name=priceCosmetics type=regular chartType=bar] - Free/Event based
- <1$ per gun/uniform
- 1-5$ per gun/uniform
- 5+$ per gun/uniform
- Other
[/poll]
And they think the prices for cosmetics, if one purchase lets you apply the cosmetic an infinite amount of times, should be around:
[poll name=priceCosmetics2 type=regular chartType=bar] - Free/Event based
- <1$ per cosmetic
- 1-5$ per cosmetic
- 5-10$ per cosmetic
- 10-15$ per cosmetic
- 15+$ per cosmetic
- Other
[/poll]
Reworked premium squads:
Reworked premium squads are suggested to be made less impactful on the outcome of a battle, instead shifting more towards increased XP gain, and unique experiences.
Premium squads should include:
- Increased XP gain for all soldiers in the squad
- Minor changes in squad composition, aka 1-2 class slot differences
- Unique, but generally inferior guns, like PPK
- Soldiers with unique uniforms/nationality
Premium squads should not include:
- Maxed out soldiers
- Pre-upgraded weapons
- Major changes in squad composition, like 7 assaulters
- Strictly better guns, like MP41, M2 Hyde or MP28(extended magazine)
The community’s thoughts about cosmetics are as followed:
[poll name=thoughtsPremSquads type=regular chartType=bar]
- I dislike this suggestion
- I like this suggestion with the mentioned includes/not includes, including unique guns
- I like this suggestion with the mentioned includes/not includes, but no unique guns. Keep those as a seperate purchase
- I like this suggestion but the includes/not includes should be different
- Other
[/poll]
And they think the prices for premium squads should be around:
[poll name=pricePremSquads type=regular chartType=bar] - Free/Event based
- 1-10$ per squad
- 10-20$ per squad
- 20-30$ per squad
- 30+$ per squad
- Other
[/poll]
Premium time:
One of the leaked monetization aspects, the leak suggested it to give increased XP gain, in addition to +1 infantry squad and +1 vehicle squad to be brought into battle. The issue with the latter is an increased flexibility, allowing the player to bring highly specialized and situational squads, such as the Mortar squad, into battles without risk of that squad becoming useless, such as when most of the map is indoors, in the case of the Mortar squad.
The community has suggested to make the premium time only affect XP and currency (order) gain:
Premium time should include:
- Increased XP gain
- Increased currency (orders) gain
Premium time should not include:
- ANY advantage inside of matches, like more squads in battle
The community thinks the following about premium time:
[poll name=thoughtsPremTime type=regular chartType=bar]
- I dislike this suggestion
- I like this suggestion with the mentioned includes/not includes
- I like this suggestion but the includes/not includes should be different
- Other
[/poll]
And they think the prices for premium time should be around:
[poll name=pricePremTime type=regular chartType=bar] - <1$ per month
- 1-5$ per month
- 5-10$ per month
- 10+$ per month
- Other
[/poll]
Collectables/Premium Items:
Premium items would be single-purchase weapons that provide unique experiences, or are prototype weapons too rare to be added to the normal unlock system. There is a split opinion in the community whether these weapons should give experiences that other nations provide in-game, such as the Russian premium SMG, the PPK, acting like a German SMG, or that they should keep the unique feelings between all nations. This is called asymmetry, and sticking to the unique feelings would be in favor of said asymmetry.
They should either be purchasable on an per-item basis, or the ability to gain these items through the regular method of obtaining non-premium items should be unlocked with a single purchase.
Premium items should include:
- Unique weapons, like PPK
Premium items should not include:
- Strictly better weapons, like MP41, M2 Hyde or MP28(extended magazine)
- Upgrades pre-applied to the weapons
For the asymmetry aspect, a separate poll:
The community thinks the following about asymmetry for premium items:
[poll name=thoughtsPremItems type=regular chartType=bar]
- I am fine with either
- I dislike keeping premium weapons strictly asymmetrical
- I like keeping premium weapons strictly asymmetrical
- Other
[/poll]
The community thinks the following about premium items:
[poll name=thoughtsPremItems2 type=regular chartType=bar] - I dislike this suggestion
- I like this suggestion with the mentioned includes/not includes
- I like this suggestion but the includes/not includes should be different
- Other
[/poll]
And they think the prices for premium items (guns not included) on an per-item basis, should be around:
[poll name=pricePremItems3 type=regular chartType=bar] - <1$ per item
- 1-5$ per item
- 5-10$ per item
- Depends too much on the item type
- Other
[/poll]
Due to most voters voting the “depends” vote on the poll above, here is a poll specifically for guns:
And they think the prices for premium guns on an per-gun basis, should be around:
[poll name=pricePremGuns type=regular chartType=bar] - <1$ per gun
- 1-5$ per gun
- 5-10$ per gun
- Other
[/poll]
And they think the prices for premium items (guns not included) on an permanent unlock basis, should be around:
[poll name=pricePremItems4 type=regular chartType=bar]
- <1$ per item
- 1-5$ per item
- 5-10$ per item
- 10-15$ per item
- 15-20$ per item
- Depends too much on the item type
- Other
[/poll]
Due to most voters voting the “depends” vote on the poll above, here is a poll specifically for guns:
And they think the prices for premium guns on an permanent unlock basis, should be around:
[poll name=pricePremGuns2 type=regular chartType=bar] - <1$ per gun
- 1-5$ per gun
- 5-10$ per gun
- 10-15$ per gun
- 15-20$ per gun
- Other
[/poll]
Pay to play campaigns:
Lastly, another suggestion was to make the game pay to play instead of free to play, with the campaigns be purchasable on an individual basis.
The community thinks the following about purchasable campaigns:
[poll name=thoughtsCampaigns type=regular chartType=bar]
- I dislike this suggestion
- I like this suggestion, but there should be little to no micro-transactions in this case
- I like this suggestion, I do not mind additional micro-transactions
- I like this suggestion, but the purchase should be for the game instead of individual campaigns
- I like this suggestion, but the purchase should be cheaper and only unlock one nation of the campaign
- Other
[/poll]
And they think the prices for campaigns should be as followed:
[poll name=priceCampaigns type=regular chartType=bar] - <10$ per campaign
- 10-20$ per campaign
- 20-30$ per campaign
[/poll]
Most liked monetization system:
The community likes the following monetization system the most:
[poll name=monetizationLike type=regular chartType=bar]
- I like the cosmetics the most
- I like the reworked premium squads the most
- I like the premium time the most
- I like the premium items the most
[/poll]
Monetization amount:
The community thinks that the maximum amount of different monetization systems (taken they are all implemented in a proper, non-predatory way) should be:
[poll name=monetizationAmmount type=regular chartType=bar]
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5 / all
[/poll]
Conclusion:
Overall, the community is very invested in this game, both emotionally, as financially. We all want this game to become a success. However, a improperly implemented monetization system will actively hurt this game. If you have any feedback regarding inaccurate polls, or if I forgot anything, please let me know.
Important! Do not insult the developers, or anyone else, in this thread! This is ment to be as constructively as possible! Insults and off-topic comments will be flagged immediately!
NOTE: This thread is not meant to discuss what option is “the best”! Please let players form their own opinions, and let the votes speak for themselves!
To the Mods/CMs: I hope this is written in an understandable enough format to be of use for the developers, so if any of the community managers or moderators need anything to be clarified before it gets passes, please let me know as well.
