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Thread: Lets Be Honest

  1. #21
    I appreciate you raising the question.

    Its certainly a good conversation to be had; I just want to make sure it’s guided correctly— too many people blame the wrong parties.

    I don’t think it’s fair to say ‘Administration doesn’t care’. I know for fact that Junz cares; and from what I can see, Hoyt and Jeff care — they’ve been cranking out updates fairly frequently these past couple months.

    I’m confident that lower playercounts as of late are due to a dwindling attention to the market which the game is serving.

    I wouldn’t pour money into advertising until the game offers something that we know would stick. That’s simply not the case right now.

    We saw this in action a couple years back, when XXXTentacion gave Graal more exposure than thousands of dollars in advertising could have provided.

    He simply posted to his social media, “this is a game I used to play”, and within hours, thousands of his followers poured onto iClassic. Within days however, the playercount was back to its normal numbers - it seems none of those players stayed.

    As an accountant who studies business on a daily basis, I would have brought the team together and asked the question: “how did over a thousand people show up at our store, and not buy anything?”

    The problem isn’t advertising; or lack of exposure - it’s that the market is not perceiving replay value.

    This happens every day - we have players show up, play a little bit, and when they don’t see value, they leave. The XXX case study above just showcases it at scale.

    Don’t get me wrong - I’ve played this game since 2002, and I can still spend hours playing it. I love how competitive it is, and more so how unique it is.

    The gameplay is so unique, in fact, that Era literally has a monopoly on it. There’s no other online game on the face of this planet that victory can be had by honing the skill of bullet dodging.

    Granted, the hitbox and movement could be improved— but it’s a near-perfect marriage of the ‘Bullet Hell’ genre, and MMO PvP. We could literally copy any game mode from popular FPS games, and it would be a totally different meta — solely because of bullet dodging.

    The problem lies in the execution - the monopoly they have (bullet dodging) is not emphasized in the gameplay, and hence is not advertised in any of their teaser photos / descriptions on App Store / Play Store.

    The untapped market is ridiculously lucrative; Era is sitting on so much opportunity to capture it; this 3k-5k playerbase they’re settling for is a fraction of what it could be.

    I only hope the folks at Toonslab realize this and start executing before somebody else does — it pays to be first.
    Last edited by Meph; 07-22-2019 at 01:06 AM.

  2. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by Meph View Post
    I appreciate you raising the question.

    Its certainly a good conversation to be had; I just want to make sure it’s guided correctly— too many people blame the wrong parties.

    I don’t think it’s fair to say ‘Administration doesn’t care’. I know for fact that Junz cares; and from what I can see, Hoyt and Jeff care — they’ve been cranking out updates fairly frequently these past couple months.

    I’m confident that lower playercounts as of late are due to a dwindling attention to the market which the game is serving.

    I wouldn’t pour money into advertising until the game offers something that we know would stick. That’s simply not the case right now.

    We saw this in action a couple years back, when XXXTentacion gave Graal more exposure than thousands of dollars in advertising could have provided.

    He simply posted to his social media, “this is a game I used to play”, and within hours, thousands of his followers poured onto iClassic. Within days however, the playercount was back to its normal numbers - it seems none of those players stayed.

    As an accountant who studies business on a daily basis, I would have brought the team together and asked the question: “how did over a thousand people show up at our store, and not buy anything?”

    The problem isn’t advertising; or lack of exposure - it’s that the market is not perceiving replay value.

    This happens every day - we have players show up, play a little bit, and when they don’t see value, they leave. The XXX case study above just showcases it at scale.

    Don’t get me wrong - I’ve played this game since 2002, and I can still spend hours playing it. I love how competitive it is, and more so how unique it is.

    The gameplay is so unique, in fact, that Era literally has a monopoly on it. There’s no other online game on the face of this planet that victory can be had by honing the skill of bullet dodging.

    Granted, the hitbox and movement could be improved— but it’s a near-perfect marriage of the ‘Bullet Hell’ genre, and MMO PvP. We could literally copy any game mode from popular FPS games, and it would be a totally different meta — solely because of bullet dodging.

    The problem lies in the execution - the monopoly they have (bullet dodging) is not emphasized in the gameplay, and hence is not advertised in any of their teaser photos / descriptions on App Store / Play Store.

    The untapped market is ridiculously lucrative; Era is sitting on so much opportunity to capture it; this 3k-5k playerbase they’re settling for is a fraction of what it could be.

    I only hope the folks at Toonslab realize this and start executing before somebody else does — it pays to be first.
    No need to worry about competitors when you can censor them.

  3. #23
    Yes Sottocapo imaginary's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by BlackandWhite View Post
    No need to worry about competitors when you can censor them.
    Can’t censor them forever q: this is the internet

  4. #24
    Yes, you are correct but their isn’t enough admins to help and what I have heard most don’t get paid. I am hopeful but I just don’t see that happening. Maybe advertising jobs for younger programmers as experience and maybe help them for college/future careers as a reference and experience while the game as a whole benefits.

  5. #25
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    The way I see it, Era is done.

    There's an abundance of excitement for new players, until they see a graphics scheme of a predominantly dull, suburban game clashed with anime design. They especially lose excitement when they walk into a pk area and get obliterated. Updates will not help, only restrictions.

    What should have happened is that Era should have kept it's original graphics scheme. Comparing with Classic, Dusty and them never lost sight of Classic's original scheme, so they never updated with things out of the realm. Very well-thought designs that are true to the game.

    Another thing, Era's gun system. I can't walk out of the east side of Start without dying at least once. Sure, revives help but that isn't a satisfying fix. What should have happened is that era should not have ever released a 250k gun(BAR) right off the bat of a 15k gun(M16) unless we used PC Era's stocking system. PC Era's stocking system let it so that there was a limited amount of OP guns, meaning that admins were able to actually have more control. In that case, we'd have a manageable amount of players using every overpowered gun.

    This isn't a matter of paying the team, which is more complicated than Graal would ever want to walk. This also isn't a matter of Era having "exciting new updates." The only way that I can see Era ever being appealing to new players is if it's reset, which will never happen as far as I can see. It's much too complicated on the eyes, and on the temper. We'll only lose current players at this rate from the amount of bans, the progression of boredom, and their age.

    Maybe it's just me though. This is how I see it.


    Compare these two images if you'd like...
    https://ibb.co/jHRjPXj
    https://ibb.co/CHPHrMg
    Last edited by dos; 07-25-2019 at 08:09 PM.

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