Spiral Knights - So, great game...

So, great game...

12 replies [Last post]

Tue, 04/19/2011 - 11:20

reifort

Legacy Username

... too bad it looks like you intentionally designed it to chase away prospective players.

could you have made the "energy" system more unfriendly?

i've seen item shop games that were worse than this, but not by a great deal. minor differences, really.

its too bad, the game is fun, it looks good, its clever. i find it quite engaging, for the half hour or so i'm able to play for free every day.

as it stands, it kind of feels like farmville. when you run out of gas, the game stops being a game, and starts being a chore.

chores, as you may understand, are not fun.

so, i suggest you take another look at your business model, and decide if you want to have a playerbase, or simply cater to rich kids with too much disposable income, and the newbs who haven't figured out your game's glaring flaw yet.

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an aside. having the undead jump on you and chew you to death without you being able to so much as move is annoying.

you might as well make it so you get insta-gibbed when you enter a specific level. its about as fun as randomly exploding and dying for no apparent reason.

Tue, 04/19/2011 - 11:24

zazabar

Legacy Username

Well, if you don't want to do

Well, if you don't want to do any "chores", put in some money and get some energy. Expecting to play the game forever for free is pretty selfish. I don't understand why this generation of gamers feels self-entitled to so much. There are no in-game adds. Energy purchases is the ONLY way they can pay for both server costs, and the development cost of the original game.

Tue, 04/19/2011 - 11:30

adrian783

Legacy Username

i bought 50 dollars worth of

i bought 50 dollars worth of energy, because i really like this game. money goes to developers (mostly sega though, i bet) and it helps them and the game grow.

i find this game to not exploit you for money as much as games like farmville and so far i've been pretty happy with it.

you can chip in and buy some energy with your friend for the bulk discount then split the energy later. get some more people to play and split that 50 bucks 5 ways. thats 4000 energy per player. thats a lot. you can play for a good while. just don't spend it all on a divine avenger or something.

as for undeads. learn to position yourself better. i don't think i've ever been munched on by the skeletons since launch. TBH, when u said that i was like "wow i don't even know they do that".

Tue, 04/19/2011 - 11:41

RamuneDrink

Legacy Username

Agreeing with Reifort here. I

Agreeing with Reifort here. I feel like the energy system is clever, but I myself would never spend money on a game like this. I mean, I'd certainly buy it if everything in game was obtainable with crowns (yes I know about the market, but have you seen the prices for energy lately!?!) and the came had one, single price. But since that's not the case, the game does cater to people willing to spend money. There's a reason it's a "Free-to-Play" MMO. Stop trying to get me to buy stuff. It wont work, and all you do is make me want to play the game less.

As for yer aside...maybe it's time you replayed Ocarina of Time...cause I'm pretty sure it has to do with stressing out the player. It's like, "OMG @(%& Redead! What the @)*%& U doing to me!?!?!" *SMASHES B BUTTON* So yeah. Plus, it increases cooperation; have someone else hit it off. It's not nearly as bad as instagib, heck it's not even as bad as getting set on fire, since people can't put out the fire.

Tue, 04/19/2011 - 12:48

Nedge

Legacy Username

Nothing is ever easy at first.

I and a group of friends have been playing for roughly a week. On our first two days, we had the most trouble actually doing things since we relied heavily on mist energy. However once we gained access to tier 2 we could sustain ourselves by making more crowns then required to buy energy and still make a profit. So it's really not that bad. I have about 2 1/2 days of playtime on my character and have roughly 2200 energy with 60k crowns. I think a lot of people just are just whining.

I have never once nor ever will purchase energy for actual money, the price of energy in terms of crowns is extremely generous.

Tue, 04/19/2011 - 13:09

Quiiliitiila

I don't mind the energy

I don't mind the energy system too much, but it can get annoying to only be able to play for 5-8 levels a day (roughly an hour or two) if you don't want to pay. It happens to me and my brother everyday, we are never really able to play for very long and it can be disappointing (especially if we're on a roll). Perhaps if the energy cost for the elevators was lower? Like 5?

-Quiiliitiila

Tue, 04/19/2011 - 13:31

Tumble

Legacy Username

It looks like the community

It looks like the community has been too nice during the past dozen threads about energy complaints, because we're still seeing more of them pop up. We have made threads and countless posts giving tips on how to be perfectly sustainable without purchasing any energy. I don't understand why people would intentionally not listen to them, intentionally play this game the wrong way, and then complain that it's the game's fault. The fact that most non-paying players in this game are perfectly sustainable is a direct indication that this is not a game design issue, but your own. The energy model in Spiral Knights is the exact same model that most free-to-play MMOs use, but packaged in a different way. Players who don't pay have unrestricted access to all aspects of the game, while players who pay progress faster, but both free players and paid players end up the exact same. That's exactly what we see in Spiral Knights.

Tue, 04/19/2011 - 13:43

Quiiliitiila

Tumble, I get what you're

Tumble,
I get what you're saying and agree that both paying and un-paying players will end up at the same place in the end, but why should the free players suffer when playing a game that is billed as a "free" one? People who pay can play longer, progress faster and earn more money than those who don't. We're not saying that this has to change, but we would at least like to be able to play for a bit longer than an hour or two a day...

-Quiiliitiila

Tue, 04/19/2011 - 13:54

Tumble

Legacy Username

Non paying players are not

Non paying players are not restricted at all since you are able to buy energy at 3.7k, which is perfectly affordable for new players on their first day.

Tue, 04/19/2011 - 14:59

Jalok

I like the game too

I might consider buying some energy with real money in the future. But not right now, because right now the game kind of feels shallow in some areas. The story, map, etc needs to be more in depth. Then again, I shouldn't be expecting too much in-depth stuff with a recent release. But still, it is all good. =) I think this game is better than Vindictus!
Yeah! You heard me Nexon! This game is better than your fancy smanshy graphics, Vindictus! >=)

Tue, 04/19/2011 - 23:56

#10

Chandrakant

To Tumble

I don't know what game you're playing, but, on my first day, I certainly did not gain enough crowns to be able to purchase energy to continue playing.

I personally don't mind the model the game follows, but I can see why people would feel limited by it. Yes, you can purchase energy through crowns to continue playing, but, at the same time, you require those same crowns to purchase other things, like equipment, to progress. So, for some players, it's a choice between one or the other: extended fun, but in the same playpen, or wait for a while to have fun in a new one.
Honestly, I wouldn't object with the few other threads that request a drop in energy prices for things like gates... and it's not like a price drop would stop players from "paying" for whatever altruistic story they can come up with. Perhaps it would even make room for the developers to create other reasons to use energy?

Wed, 04/20/2011 - 00:17

#11

G3N0Unknown

Legacy Username

@RamuneDrink. Two things.1)

@RamuneDrink. One thing

1) Ramune is delicious.

@OP

3.8k Crowns is not a lot to buy energy. My friend has yet to buy energy, we do some T1 CLockworks, sometimes T2 and he makes more than enough Crowns to buy Energy. The thing with the Energy System, if it was to easy to get energy in game, there would be no incentive for people to BUY the energy, and then the game would have to shut down due to lack of funds. Yes you have the ability to play this game for free (More so in this game than other F2P MMO games I might add) but that doesn't mean it will be easy. To those willing to spend their money will of course have an easier time playing than the one not willing to spend money, but it's still possible to get crowns and buy 100 energy. As far as I have read, it used to be higher priced in the Preview event. I personally have about 3k CE purchased with nothing but crowns. I can make about 2k alone on coins in T1, and the mats I are more than enough to make up the difference to get that extra 1.8k to buy 100 energy. Just got to learn the system, and learn to effectively get those crowns to get that energy.

@ Above Post

First day I was not able to get the crowns, simply because I bought a new sword for 150 and spent about 25 energy in the training area, and then the 10 to get to Haven. Now the next day I played I made enough to get 3.8k and buy more energy, and then get more crowns, and buy more energy. I believe I had about 230ish energy when I finally stopped.

Wed, 04/20/2011 - 17:32

#12

Threule

Legacy Username

If not moar energy applied, i

If not moar energy applied, i would suggest a dungeon alternative: A flatgrass where you ckill slimes, the chameleon things, and things like that

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So, great game...