2014-09-05, 03:07 AM
SaptaZapta Wrote:Because players that don't pay at all, or pay only a little, don't cover the server resources they use up.
Even this video doesn't claim they do. What it says it that they're necessary as "content" for the whales.
And I believe Nexon (both Korea and NA) have realized this. With the "Better Maple" changes, the various new scrolling and enhancement methods, the in-game ways to obtain cash shop items (such as cubes and protection scrolls), the mileage, the auction house, etc, they are trying to make the game more attractive to people who don't spend a lot (or anything), while still keeping the motivation for big spenders to continue to spend big.
I think we can all agree they've made some excellent progress. My personal theory was that everything that can be payed for should be possible to obtain for free, but with a lot more work. One of Maple's current errors is making this work exceedingly monotonous to the point of masochism as KhainiWest would say. The error in Nexon's current implementation of this is that spending a small amount of money is incredibly unsatisfactory. You can't make small progress in your itemization by spending less than $20. You're more likely to actually lower your damage than raise it. Thus, Maple effectively pushes away the more sustainable moderate customers in favor of the "whales". We could also look at the eternal cycle of upgrades and new item sets, but I think the picture is clear enough.
Looking at the top tier games, the discrepancy is pretty clear. They offer an enjoyable experience for free with convenient enhancements that are guaranteed to benefit the customer even at low purchase amounts. Since these enhancements are attractive to all customer levels, they manage to attract both whales and more average players. Seems simple enough that even Nexon could figure it out right?