Spiral Knights - A census - how are you playing the game?

A census - how are you playing the game?

24 replies [Last post]

Wed, 06/08/2011 - 09:58

spookas

Legacy Username

With CE prices "skyrocketing", as the kids are calling it, a lot of people are trying to dig at the reasons why the market is inflating so rapidly. I looked at my own playing style and I realised that, if a lot (or the majority) of players are playing the same way I am, the market is going to continue to inflate in the long term.

How I play:
* If I have some time to play (i.e. a couple times a week), I'll use up my mist to dive, then sell off the mats/recipes I've collected and trade the crowns for energy.
* If I don't have time to play (i.e. most days), I'll log on, craft a pile of Haze Bombs, and then sell or auction them off.

In both cases, what I'm essentially doing at the economic level is burning my ME for crowns, then exchanging crowns for energy. Crowns are being generated ex nihilo, then traded for CE, which I hoard for later use. This means that, no matter what the price of CE is on the market, my play can still be profitable (albeit with slimming profit margins), because I'm only ever spending what was free in the first place. This, I think, leads to a feedback loop - the more expensive CE is, the less likely I am to use it, the more I will hoard it, the more expensive it will become.

The sense I get is that most people play this way. But I don't actually know, and occasionally I've dropped into a party where somebody drops 500CE for a revive. So I want to send out this informal 2-question poll to see how the forumsters play, at least.

QUESTION 1
Have you purchased CE with real-life money?
1. Yes, more than $20 worth
2. Yes, up to $20 worth
3. No, but I may someday
4. No, and I don't plan to

QUESTION 2
What does your typical gaming session look like?
1. Serious - several hours, lots of diving/trading/crafting/AH/etc. I will spend CE to play.
2. Casual - one or two hours. I only/mostly use my ME.
3. Crafting only - I don't really play anymore. I just log on, burn my mist on crafting, and log off.

Wed, 06/08/2011 - 10:23

Madogu

Legacy Username

I'm a Serious / Stupid player

Q1.) Yes, more than $20 worth
Q2.) Serious - several hours, lots of diving/trading/crafting/AH/etc. I will spend CE to play.

Basicily, I play to have fun. To me, the Min/Max-ing of funds usage doesn't entertain me. I purchase a good chunk of CE for playing, crafting and rezing, occationally selling it for crowns to purchase some elusive mat from the AH. I'm not bean-counting my useage as I just don't care about that.

Secondly, I believe that, in the long run, "cheapskate" behavior will lead to the collapse of the game, as OOO's will no longer bev making a profit, putting more into the game than getting out of it. That is always, and will forever be, the purpose of game companies. Make a great F2P game and hope it's enough to reel in paying customers.

As a side note, I'm not really "serious" about my gameplay. I spend my CE to have fun. And fun is had. All in all, a good deal in my eyes.

Wed, 06/08/2011 - 11:20

AkuTenshii

Legacy Username

Q1) No. And I never will,

Q1) No. And I never will, because I simply cannot afford it. If a game is going to call itself "Free" then I shouldn't have to. Sadly, that is not the case with SK and...
Q2) ...Thus I am forced to be a "Casual" player. I would love to be able to spend more time playing. I would love to crafter better gear. But I can't, because it either cost real cash or the inflated market devours all my earnings so that a single dungeon dive barely pays for itself. I've already stopped buying CE because I'm trying to collect the minimal 3* recipes I need, but then I'm going to need to grind the crowns to buy the CE, which costs CE to do, and by the time I get to that phase of my plan the price will be jacked up to 10k. And then I get to start working on 4* gear. And I can only play for an hour or two a day, and I'm not allowed to die at any point without wasting more energy. All in all this game's entertainment value is being rapidly overshadowed by the punishing economy. I've already quit once, came back after a few weeks, only to see things have gotten even worse. SK is amazingly hostile to newer players or people who play free.

Well, I seem to have gone off on a ranty tangent.

Wed, 06/08/2011 - 11:30

novareid

Legacy Username

Have you purchased CE with

Have you purchased CE with real-life money?
I've purchased $25 worth shortly after public release and have not purchased CE since then, neither with real money or with crowns.

What does your typical gaming session look like?
Last month I played pretty seriously and ran Vanaduke and/or Jelly King up to three or four times (combined) daily, but the past two weeks have been using only mist energy. I can complete Vanaduke once and sometimes even twice in one day with only 100 mist energy.

Wed, 06/08/2011 - 12:12

Tenkii

Have you purchased CE with

Have you purchased CE with real-life money?
3. No, but I may someday

and by "may", I mean purchasing either the starter pack (kind of like buying minecraft, really, lol. That's enough to keep me going until I lose interest in the game) or a $3 one-shot thing.

What does your typical gaming session look like?
1. Serious - several hours, lots of diving/trading/crafting/AH/etc. I will spend CE to play.

Log on, play a jelly run with some irl/guild friends, lol @ basil, do it again;
Get bored and try to do t3 solo/with friends, lol @ basil, die, do it again, run low on crowns to buy CE, do more jelly runs.

Anyway, the most enjoyable thing for me in this game is to actually be playing it. I love playing arenas, graveyards, challenges and all that. As long as I can sustain enough money to keep getting energy, I'm fine.

Kind of bummed that it's at the border-point that you can't really profit much anymore until you have enough capital to buy multiple recipes at a time, but eh. Profit is profit; playing is playing, and as long as I can play, that's the most important thing :P

Wed, 06/08/2011 - 12:23

Credendo

Legacy Username

QUESTION 1 Have you purchased

QUESTION 1
Have you purchased CE with real-life money?
1. Yes, more than $20 worth

QUESTION 2
What does your typical gaming session look like?
1. Serious - several hours, lots of diving/trading/crafting/AH/etc. I will spend CE to play.

I don't mind dropping some cash on this game every once in a while, although I have had to spend less recently thanks to the profit engine that is the Auction house :) I expect that there will be some changes in the near future to make crafting more crown/material intensive and less CE so, as I'm making far to much money just crafting UVs, but I still love to do Snarbolax and Jelly King Runs (can't get my guild memebers to run Vanaduke with me yet) Over all I don't regret having spent money on the game and look forward to each patch :)

Wed, 06/08/2011 - 12:25

Neogilgamesh

Legacy Username

Q1: No, and I don't plan

Q1: No, and I don't plan to
Q2:Serious, active for several hours a day mostly dungeon crawling

I started last week after a friend of mine who's been playing awhile asked me to. The game is pretty fun. He is just a tier 4 helm away from tier 3 clearance, so I'm playing quite a bit more each day than him (he only plays off his mist energy, buying CE with crowns when needed to craft) to catch up to him. I do tier 2 runs and use the money earned to buy 100 CE, then do another tier 2 run and repeat. This increase in energy prices worries me since it's cutting into profit margins (screw ups and bad parties could even obliterate profit or cause the run to lose wealth) and energy keeps going up seemingly without an end in sight.

Currently i'm geared in tier 3 weapon, shiled, and armor, and tier 2 helm so I have a ways to go yet.

Wed, 06/08/2011 - 13:25

Godzy

o_o

Q1 : 2
Q2 : 1

Wed, 06/08/2011 - 13:47

Fallout

people actually play the

people actually play the game? i saw it as more of a social networking site....

Q1. 2
probably get the starter pack once some UGC's roll my way.

Q2. =
i k33d, basically i play on fallout weekdays for crafting only (AH stuff, getting my own stuff etc etc) and on the weekends i''ll go serious mode and get enough CE to sustain crafting through the week(almost got every bomb - so hard on mist). then if i want to do anything more, I'll go on my free-to-play account (I'm attempting to get as far as possible without using CE - it's possible, don't hate) and beat snarby a couple of times (WHY IS HE SO EASY!! I SOLO'D HIM WITH GROUNDBREAKER GEAR!!! COME ON!!) then maybe chill and talk to people i recognize from the forums or EoS, or make some new friends.

Wed, 06/08/2011 - 13:49

Gigafreak

Legacy Username

Q1: Not yet, but I might do

Q1: Not yet, but I might do it someday. I've definitely gotten more entertainment from this than some paid games.
Q2: Just playing on Mist. Saving up the precious, precious CE.

Wed, 06/08/2011 - 13:52

#10

Parhelion

Them answers!

Q1) 4. No, and I don't plan to.
Not only because I can't buy CE because of being underage, poor and non-American, but I think the game is already tons of fun without wasting my money on it. :)

Q2) 2. Casual - one or two hours. I only/mostly use my ME.
I think the ME system is a nice system to prevent addiction to this game if you're not willing to pay money. As a busy high-schooler, Spiral Knights perfectly fits into my daily schedule, because I can't go on forever delving into the Clockworks even if I wanted to. Which will leave me time for doing schoolwork!

Wed, 06/08/2011 - 13:52

#11

Burkhart

Legacy Username

Eh.

Q1: 1
Q2: 2

Right now, I'm just waiting things out to see if/when the prices for items is ever going to even out. As a lot of people mentioned in other threads, crowns are rapidly diminishing in value while CE only gets more important. I'm sitting pretty on 4k right now, and while there's a lot of crafting I want to do, I'm putting it off for later. I just do one or two runs a day.

Wed, 06/08/2011 - 13:55

#12

Merethif

Poll

Q:1
A:1*

Q:2
A:2**

* mostly due to Rose Regalia promotion.

** I play mostly on ME. If I don't have time given day, I craft several 1 and 2 star items with ME just for sale. If I have time I usually do a single T2 run/Jelly King run/Snarbolax run/T3 recipe hunt and then craft some Haze bombs with ME leftovers. I never revive myself with CE. I use CE mostly for crafting. I've never bought CE with crowns so far, but probably I will at some point. I've bought crowns with CE three times (to buy recipes at T3 Basil).

Wed, 06/08/2011 - 14:04

#13

iceViper

Legacy Username

Q1) Yes, more then 20$

Q1)
Yes, more then 20$ worth.

Q2)
On "hiatus" I guess you can call it. I have tons of energy, yet am boycotting the game now until a valid Material and Crown sink is added to the game (or CE crafting costs are reduced). Should yet another CE sink be added, or increased ala auction patch I will quit for good.

Wed, 06/08/2011 - 14:20

#14

weberto

Legacy Username

QUESTION 1 Have you purchased

QUESTION 1
Have you purchased CE with real-life money?
1. Yes, more than $20 worth

I usually just prefer to buy CE to craft, as I rather pay a couple of dollars than spend an entire day playing just to gather the 800 CE of that cool 5* item I'm ready to make, I tend to buy CE with crowns some times, in case I want to play a bit more and not go below the amount of CE I have reserved for a craft. Note those couple of dollars means I get to craft more than 1 5* item, so in reality I'm avoiding a couple of days of just gathering CE.

QUESTION 2
What does your typical gaming session look like?
Serious if I have time (some weekends), Casual mostly during the week days (only 1 or two hours to play anyway)

I'll use mist+CE to dive, only on those days that I know I won't be able to play, I'll craft something (low level so it doesn't take away from my CE)

I try to avoid selling CE for crowns since I think it's better to actually play, and you still get more crowns (+mats, +heat) in the end

Wed, 06/08/2011 - 16:35

#15

Twiddle

QUESTION 1 I started playing

QUESTION 1

I started playing on Mist Energy. Then I paid $20 for the starter pack.

QUESTION 2

When I was playing on ME, my typical game session would be to run tier 1 one and a half times, then run around the arcade. Maybe craft one or two items, then log off and wait for the next day. I found that ME is good enough for 1 - 2 hours of gameplay (depending on how many items I crafted and how many times I died.) After I got CE I just play until I have to go to bed (usually around 4-5 hours.)

Wed, 06/08/2011 - 18:12

#16

Comito

Playstyle

Q1: 4, I'm already paying to play World of Warcraft haha, this is just a filler game to take me away to more an action orientated playstyle!

Q2: 2, I just use my mist energy to run 10 levels worth of dungeon content. Then use my crowns to purchase Basil's rare recipes and follow up to purchase some CE if I have enough. Which in turn I use this CE that I've bought to craft my own gear over on top of my ME thats used up.

Its working pretty well, since I'm collecting all recipes and gear, leveling them to L10! So far got a complete set for 0* and 1* gear/recipes at max Level. Working on 2* recipes and gear now.

The latest CE prices for crowns doesn't help much for me at the moment, but I'll just have to build up more crowns to purchase CE in the end. Doesn't really matter since Leveling 2* gear in dungeons before Moorcraft takes quite a while lol!

Wed, 06/08/2011 - 19:24

#17

Sanzenin

Q1: 1. More than $20 Q2: It's

Q1: 1. More than $20

Q2:
It's somewhere between 1 and 2. I usually overshoot my ME for daily play and end up using CE for a few depths. I figure I'll spend about $10 a month on CE now that I'm done with enough of the expensive crafting to get by. Considering that I've paid more for movies that've given me less enjoyment it's a bargain.

Wed, 06/08/2011 - 20:07

#18

Katmint

Question 1: 3. No, but I may

Question 1:

3. No, but I may someday

Question 2:

When the CE price is below 6k: 1. Serious - several hours, lots of diving/trading/crafting/AH/etc. I will spend CE to play.

When the CE price is above 6k: 2. Casual - one or two hours. I only/mostly use my ME.

Wed, 06/08/2011 - 20:10

#19

Starcadet

Answers!

Q1: 1. A little more than $20 (though not following that trend now because of limited funds).
Q2: 2. Casual -- Even when I had energy that I bought, I mainly used that to get crowns in case Basil had a recipe I wanted. I have spent a lot on reviving myself and party members, but that's usually when I was VERY determined to keep going (as enemies almost dead, almost to elevator etc). But that's rare and I don't do that often at all anymore. For a normal play for me--I just use up my mist energy for the day and if I feel like playing more, I'll spend some crowns. Usually the mist energy is enough for me a day though.

Wed, 06/08/2011 - 21:50

#20

Glowshadow

Legacy Username

Weeee! Q&A time!

Question 1: Answer #2
Yup, up to $20. Almost exactly.

Question 2: Answer #2
By and large, I typically try to rely primarily on mist energy. But I like to have a stockpile of CE that I can rely on when I feel the compulsion to play a few levels extra, when a friend/guild-mate needs help, or (more than anything else) when I need to craft 3-star and higher gear.

Wed, 06/08/2011 - 22:36

#21

Arblis

Playing to play!

Question one!
I haven't spent money on CE. I have far more unusable time than I do money. If I did have the cash though, I'd probably get the starter pack and nothing more- It's all I'd really need to go for MONTHS.

Question two!
I play casually, but use CE to do dungeon runs with friends if I have any to spare. If my friends want to play, I'd gladly burn CE to punt wolvers with them. I'm here to have fun playing the game. I don't care about using energy efficiently- it's there for when I want an armor upgrade or when I've burnt my mist and then a friend wants to play with me! That's the whole point of it!

Thu, 06/09/2011 - 01:25

#22

Bloodfetish

QUESTION 1 1. Yes, more than

QUESTION 1
1. Yes, more than $20 worth
and not willing to spend a single cent more then i have.

QUESTION 2
3. Crafting only - I don't really play anymore. I just log on, burn my mist on crafting, and log off.(ususally just 1 JK run to use my mist, although that dropped down to playing once every 2 weeks)

Answer used to be
1. Serious - several hours, lots of diving/trading/crafting/AH/etc. I will spend CE to play.

After all the pathetic updates i changed to just using mist for JK runs, then started playing games i stopped playing when i came here. SK i log onto occasionally now just to see if anythings getting better.

Thu, 06/09/2011 - 01:41

#23

Metamare

Q1. Yes, more than $20

Q1. Yes, more than $20 worth

Q2. 2. Casual - one or two hours. I only/mostly use my ME.

I generally just log on, go through dungeons with my ME saving my CE for crafting and material gathering purposes only. I don't see a point with using my CE to continue going through the levels because I'm perfectly content with my 1 to 2 runs a day on the 100 ME I wait for. However, one day I plan to do a whole run of all 30 floors when I obtain decent five star equips.

Thu, 06/09/2011 - 01:53

#24

Griffinbane

Q1. Yep, more than 20

Q1. Yep, more than 20 bucks.

Q2. Both casual and crafting. That's because my laptop loves to freeze while I'm in the clockworks and sometimes I get so frustrated that I just log on long enough to craft for a couple of days. Not the fault of OOO, mind you, but this thing is old and outdated.

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A census - how are you playing the game?