Originally Posted by
dos
I don’t mean to beat a dead horse, because this has been a raging topic since halfway through the last decade. Era’s current state is lamentable and I’d like to outline my opinions as to why the condition is as current, and provide solutions based on those opinions.
I’ve been around for nearly a decade now, surprising to say, and there have been many periods at which I’ve stopped playing for weeks, months, and even years. The only reason that I can say it’s easy to come back is because of the very small group of players that I still like talking to. The guns, the many hundreds of holiday items, the lack of staff-to-player contact, the difference of graphics styling, and the (unfinished) projects having no contribution to the gmap (yes you, Italy). Problems such as these escalate and expand into larger problems, such as the retention of new players. All opinions are welcomed to being challenged.
Precedented Evaluations:
New or Current Weapons
The combat system itself in Era is exceptional and it always has been. The issue arose, as many people know, when the BAR was released to eventually destroy Era’s working currency. The BAR as I remember it had a price 5x more expensive than the M16 (15k) when first released. The price was moderately corrected but it still eventually held a price of 200k versus the M16’s 15k. With the possibility of micro transactions, hundreds of players were quickly able to purchase the BAR. It was clearly too late to devalue this weapon so many other weapons have been sold at staggering prices since.
Distributive issues have arose from weapon valuations such as weapons like the AK47 being nearly useless, the job efforts-to-earnings ratio, basing impossibilities, and lastly player retention levels. I could expand for paragraphs on end but summarizing I feel is enough. What are some possible solutions to this?
Seeing as weapon pricing has customarily been set in stone, I can forcefully see the three solutions as (1) to diminish the value of guns priced past 50k (hypothetically), (2) remove the guns from Era that are too over-valued for the job system, (3) reset Era and all accounts back to it’s release in 2010, or (4) let Era die it’s slow death in the next 5 years.
Graphics and Style
I have a strong and possibly a different opinion among others regarding this, but the graphics and styling of Era have just grown strange. I’ve shown friends this game and because that the graphics or styling of some weapons (mostly holiday), signs, furniture, etc are much different from the original game (tileset and original NPC’s), it has been very unsettling to them. The 30’s mobster style mixed with ion blasters, 2000’s gangster NPC’s, a modern mall, and just other NPC items in general do not match. It’s difficult to put into words the differences that I see, but Era graphics were created simple from the beginning and should have stayed consistent disregarding item diversity.
The distributive issues regarding the above include existing and new player retention. The possible solutions include (1) removing all subjective items that do not match the original game, (2) resetting Era and all accounts back to it’s release in 2010, or (4) let Era die it’s slow death in the next 5 years.
Activities: Basing and Others
The activities across Era have drastically changed across our 10 years. Basing has gone from a great activity into an impossibility for most. It is realistically improbable, even impossible for new players to now start a gang, recruit, and base without getting past the first door if (1) they all have spent 10+ hours on Era, and (2) if they don’t use micro-transactions to buy incredible weapons. Events have also lost their popularity and the time used to develop plasma, among other updates, could have been used to develop and exercise simple ways of keeping Era’s new players afloat through job buffs and such. Era had a simplicity at one point, and Plasma among other updates gave a Era a very modern, possibly futuristic style and they have simply been just bandaids to avoid the deeper issues and to keep Era from dying.
The distributive issues from updates to basing and others have caused Era’s new players to delete the game within just a few hours time. The possible solutions include (1) fix the economy, (2) wipe the game back to 2010, (3) let Era die it’s slow death.
Staff-to-Player Contact
There were days in which the Player Relations team had regular contact with the community in hosting not only events, but weddings (before the wedding system was developed), parties, item giveaways, contests, and just having regular contact with Era’s players for morale and recreation. Although the abuse of power was found in some (rare) cases, it was a lousy excuse to diminish player and staff communication or sight. This has made Era boring, even repetitive (through hosting only events or auctions, and the future of this game not very reassuring. I would be willing to bet that the entire Era staff team is disconnected in their communication.
Issues that have trickled from this include declining player retention from both new and old players. Possible solutions include (1) staff briefings, (2) let Era die it’s slow death.
These are the reasons that I feel Era will not survive more than 5 years more if changes, even if difficult, must be made. The game as a whole is unappealing to many, and it is clear that most of the players who are active have been around for over a year. In 2011, I remember Era at 500-750 players. In 2012, I remember at least double that. GraalOnline as a whole is a great platform for the mobile community, and in it’s roots it can last much longer than I evaluate it to in the current state. Why was player growth so significant when the game was first released, vice now? Understandably Era is very profitable and it’s micro-transactions have invested millions into the owner’s pockets, but the investment that could be made with a longer player retention is much larger than the current evaluation. I would argue not that the platform of Graal is aging, but that the individual servers or games have hurt themselves in their updates and lack of communication. I would strongly encourage staff of all levels to evaluate deeper problems to keep a game with so much history and so many caring players alive.
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