WARNING: EXTREME TL:DR / WALL OF TEXT OVER 9000; Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.

An Elevator Pass Discussion

by Huhbum

Greetings, OOO staff, and fellow players,

After extensive data collection, analysis, and discussion, I feel compelled to make this thread about the Elevator Pass. It's been nearly a month now since their implementation, and the community has started to get a sense of the impact the Pass has had on the economy in general.

The Elevator Pass, even in the midst of all of the current changes, patches, bugs, and bug fixes, is still probably the most balance-altering feature released within the time I have played SK(since late October).

Therefore, I'd like to:

-share my data and opinions about the Elevator Pass
-raise some questions and concerns
-brainstorm possible adjustments

1) Data/Opinions

I purchased my Elevator Pass on Nov. 17(the second day it was offered), and I decided to keep a detailed log of my elevator usage and crowns gained from elevators, to demonstrate(as was the speculation when the Pass was released) the potential effects of the Elevator Pass on the CE market economy.

I recorded, per day:

-amount of elevators used, and the total energy that would have been used on elevators(whether the level was completed or not does not factor into these calculations, if the energy would have been used to use the elevator, I added that usage to the tally)
-crowns gained during elevator usage
-crowns made/spent outside of elevator usage, to distinguish those additions/subtractions from strictly those gained from elevators
-cumulative total of crowns gained for the Elevator Pass duration

A full record of my data will be posted in the reply immediately following this post. Go there for my complete records, as up to date as possible(I decided to make this thread slightly before my data had the complete 30-day record, as my data so far is a sufficient demonstration of the Pass)

A brief overview of my analysis of the data, and some thoughts:

-My original goal was to make back ~140,000 crowns(the equivalent of purchasing 2000CE at 7000cr/100CE rates, since spending $6 at the Energy Depot would net approximately 2000CE). I surpassed that goal in four days.

-The Elevator Pass at its current price tag of $5.95USD is incredibly effective for CE savings on elevators. Even with my moderate level of play, I have more than tripled the amount of crowns necessary to buy back an equivalent amount of CE to a $6 purchase.

-The Pass has the potential to greatly inflate the crown bids on the CE market, due to market infusion of so many more crowns than available CE, despite the potential mitigating factor that CE is not spent as much on elevators as a result of Pass purchases. While the addition of the Featured Auctions as a crown sink appears to somewhat alleviate the upward trend in the market, it does not seem to be a stable solution to overall CE price inflation. CE prices(either by speculation or true supply/demand) have increased by a net 600 crowns, on average, since the release of the Elevator Pass, and has spiked as high as a 900 crown increase(6400->7300, though current market price as of this original post is @~6900-7000). While this is lower than my originally predicted outcome for the market to level off @~8000, this is still a significant inflation. This is arguably the biggest impact for non-Pass users.

-For myself, a player of moderate skill/gear and high(but not extremely high) playtime, I was able to accumulate a great deal of crowns using the Pass. However, players at the top end of gear, skill, and playtime have the potential to make exponentially more:

For example, the top Elevator Pass user on my(modest, only 30 friend-list) acquaintance list(data retrieved thanks to the new Event Hub update, recorded prior to the emergency maintenance that wiped prior data, and used with permission of the player), completed 543 levels for 416,673 crowns in the past seven days.

Even if you account for the Mist Energy that would be used during that time period had an Elevator Pass not been used(~763 ME per week), that is still a savings of approximately 4,670CE, or 326,900cr (at 7000/100CE exchange rates). I would say this is close to the upper(humanly sustainable) limit of Elevator Pass usage, but if you extrapolate that over a period of 30 days, the potential crown gains/savings are exponentially higher than my own data.

Also note that the Event Hub data feature does not account for 'depth diving', or elevators used but levels not completed(leaving/joining parties repeatedly in an attempt to reach the terminal/second stratum faster, which is a time-saving measure made practical by Elevator Passes). Therefore, the actual energy usage could be even higher.

It should be noted, however, that the majority of Pass users(and players in general) cannot sustain a gameplay amount of such magnitude. Often, during my own Pass usage, I would become physically or mentally tired of grinding; to play as much as the most hardcore of SK players for a period of 30 days is very likely out of my(and most other players) realm of probability. So, even though the numbers in the extreme cases are at times staggering, most players will play much more casually, even with a Pass.

-Speaking of Mist Energy, using a Pass also freed up extraordinary amounts of Mist for crafting, upgrading, and weapon/trinket slot purchases. Since I started using the pass, I have upgraded my gear from almost entirely 3* to almost entirely 5*, with one active trinket, and one active weapon slot(and numerous spares) in the span of less than a month, with no additional RMT purchases.

-For myself, the game did, however, become much more enjoyable with the purchase of a Pass. I was able to freely join and leave games, and could play as much as I wanted without fear of losing money due to the ME/CE system.

-I could help non-Pass users by depth diving to terminal runs on Boss stratums and invite them, making their runs far more efficient.

-Discussing with other Pass users, and reading forum posts, leads me to raise the suggestion that the Pass is an ideal type of 'subscription' to Spiral Knights for P2P players.

2) Questions/Concerns

The biggest issues I can see with the pass are:

-Adjusting the price, and implementation of the Elevator Pass if it is to be kept
-Attending to the effects of the Elevator Pass on the CE market

If the Pass is to be kept, how will it be priced? Keeping the price as is is, in my opinion, unbalancing. However, if a 'subscription' model is to be adopted, how much is a fair price to subscribe to a small-market MMO such as Spiral Knights? The two issues need to be reconciled. $6 is a fair subscription price, but an Elevator Pass is worth considerably more than $6, even with modest usage.

Furthermore, the Elevator Pass, in its current implementation, widens the market gap considerably between F2P and P2P players(note: this is not to say that F2P players cannot benefit from Pass users, as I have earlier noted). The biggest issue is the CE market inflation as a result of the Pass. If the CE market returns to more favourable levels for F2P players, however, then I believe the Elevator Pass would be a much more acceptable fit both economically and socially. How would this be accomplished?

3) Possible Adjustments

Some of the ideas I will propose will be controversial. I do not expect any of them to be implemented as is. Instead I am brainstorming in this section, to promote dialogue and discussion, and to come up with possible adjustments to make the Elevator Pass more balanced.

If the Elevator Passes are to be kept, here are some ideas:

-Firstly, a modest price increase to ~$8. Too much higher, and the price becomes too steep for a small-market MMO subscription. Too much lower, and the Elevator Pass becomes even more unbalancing to the in-game economy.

-Secondly, a re-marketing of the Elevator Pass into a subscription-type deal, both as publicity for the Pass, and to clarify the position of Spiral Knights as a "Freemium"(F2P, premium-subscription) type of MMO.

As an aside, if OOO does not want to pursue this path, then they should abolish the Elevator Pass altogether, as the Pass is, effectively, a premium subscription, even without the name.

-Thirdly, in terms of the CE market, I feel like OOO has two possible options:

a) If they wish to remain visibly 'hands-off' with the CE market(in reality, every balance change, and CE or crown sink OOO implements directly affects the CE market, so to say that it is exclusively player-driven is both correct and not correct), then the implementation of non-exclusive crown sinks must occur. Featured Auctions do have a temporary, sporadic deflation effect, but are generally less reliable, and more controversial, than required. Another option would be to allow items similar in function to the Elevator Pass to be purchased in-game for crowns or CE, but would be much, much more difficult to balance.

b) The alternative option is for OOO to directly involve itself in the CE market by offering infinite CE trades at an upper crown ceiling(I believe between 7000 and 8000 crowns would be acceptable). This is highly unlikely to occur due to the nature of the Energy Depot as the primary source of CE(and OOO's income from Spiral Knights), but if it did occur, it would prove a solution to crown inflation as it would be impossible for CE to rise above the set price. Of course, there would be negative in-game side effects to this solution as well, such as devaluing crowns on the AH.

This could also be done surreptitiously, and have OOO staff secretly buy off bids higher than a certain price limit. However, I would disapprove of this tactic, as it has a greatly negative impact on the community when such things are revealed. Other F2P companies have attempted similar 'stealth' economy-balance tactics and they have largely resulted in serious public relations issues.

Secret answer c) These suggestions are all implying that the Elevator Pass will be kept in some form. The easiest solution would be to remove the Pass altogether. I originally would have preferred this solution. However, after using the Pass, I feel like the freedom of play it allows is a greatly desirable, and greatly needed, aspect of Spiral Knights. It allows players to, for a price, bypass the unfortunately limiting ME/CE system. This alone, in my opinion, is worth the headache of dealing with the economic effects, and writing extraordinarily long forum posts.

In conclusion:

In its current implementation, the Elevator Pass creates a lot of fun, and a few significant problems. I hope that other players contribute to this discussion in a peaceful, respectful way, and that OOO looks at both the data and opinions I have presented, the data and opinions others present, and their own internal data, and makes the best possible decision for the community regarding the Elevator Passes.

-Huhbum

TL:DR version

Pass good fun but make too much crowns for cost. Try fix plx. Thx.

-Huhbum

(data post to follow)