Consequential Ideas on a Budget

General Discussion
73

People like content. You can’t ignore that. You put out a new hero or a new map and that generates enough buzz to justify a headline on the bnet app. That brings players in. You need something big, bold, and flashy if you want new players.

I suggested neither of those. I suggested that Blizzard doesn’t care about HotS development because its corporate interests require it to care about getting a new, stable IP up and running for long-term growth and revenue. They killed HotS’s e-sports side not because it wasn’t profitable (it was). They killed it because it wasn’t profitable enough. That’s a reality we all have to live with. We can demand all we want, but we’re not paying the programmers. Unless you can figure out a solution that brings big money in fast, Blizz’s suits aren’t interested.

Map tweaks, new in-game currencies, customizable bundles, or some new algorithmic chat policing system aren’t going to draw anyone new in and they certainly won’t do it at scale enough to impress the accountants and the C-suite.

But, tell them they could take the already made content they’ve stockpiled on hero development over the years, finish it quickly, and get that released to win some good will from fans and buy time while they get the Diablo stuff finished, that could be a “low-hanging fruit” argument that perks up a manager’s ears.

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Of course people like content. What you’re ignoring is that the type of content you’re referring to has repeatedly been shown not to produce the effect the game needs. Framing one of the ideas here as a “new in-game currency” is an indication of poor understanding. The currency is merely a tool. The idea, in a nutshell, is enabling players to have access to any 25 heroes of their choosing for a month at a price it costs to permanently unlock a single hero in addition to permanently unlocking that hero! That’s the point of the Coin Purses. The new currency is there for the temporary access. There are three reasons why I believe this is an appropriate and important idea:

  1. Players get deep gameplay access at an affordable price as opposed to having to commit a lot more money, which unsurprisingly few do (I having been one of these cases). As the money doubles up for ownership it is not merely a subscription that needs to be maintained. With time players accumulate gold and a small amount of gems by playing and also develop an understanding of the game and their preferences. In other words, with time lesser or targeted use of the feature is likely. It’s an affordable bridge for players to get what they want out of Heroes of the Storm. It gives the game a chance to prove itself to anyone who isn’t broke and hold them if it’s found to be worthwhile.
  2. Blizzard/this game needs money. A more player-friendly monetization of its most valuable content directly relating to player engagement should be an absolute no-brainer in the game’s circumstances. I even view this as a fundamental feature for a game like this unless as a developer you can and want to have players committing serious money upfront to gain deep gameplay access. In this game’s case this is highly inappropriate and I think I have argued going perhaps all the way back to “closed” Beta it is counter-productive yet to this day Blizzard cannot figure out it has been shooting itself in the face. Their lazy, stupid, and arrogant decision-making that can at best be justified as following “F2P” convention has left them with virtually nothing at this point.
  3. This should not be hard to implement! There are a number of posters on this forum who pretend to have an understanding of both the developmental resources and how they go nowhere. All I have seen is the most tenuous of conjecture to support this. It literally boils down to look how little the developers have done on the game, therefore they can’t do anything, not that we understand what this anything is. This idea should be simple. Every component is already present - temporary hero unlocking (free hero rotation and Blizzcon), treasure chests, currencies, transactions. I refuse to believe the people Blizzard have are so incapable that something like this is like mounting a campaign.

Likewise, the point of the customizable bundle is to make money. Players don’t want to be buying a large bundle, even at a big discount, of random heroes. It makes enough sense if you’re committing, but we’re back to that black magic word, aren’t we? Hot games can afford to make these sort of commitment demands. Heroes of the Storm was off by several years and mistakenly thought it wouldn’t have to go the extra mile. This is the result. Anyway, the customizable bundle makes sense in many circumstances for many players, including returning players.

Referring to the abusive chat idea as “some new algorithmic chat policing system” is laughable. If this is not the time to make proper sense of the so-called system all that has to be done is to revert the penalty to silence-only. This is also the time to reset the penalty durations. The reason why this matters even from a financial perspective is that the notable victims of the system are some of the most engaged players who are also most likely to spend money. There is enough feedback that not only blatantly toxic players get caught in its net but also players who play a lot, which shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who knows that the system is automated, there are no penalties for false reports, and oversight is outsourced to kindergarten teachers sitting through nap time. When players can’t rely on having access to their accounts or their preferred mode of play unless they keep quiet in a team game they’ll be reluctant to spend money on the deep “Collection”. This is another let’s call it silly mistake that has hurt the game’s bottom line.

This is the low-hanging fruit that can not only draw players but revenue too. Posters like you have no vision yet pretend to know what goes on all the way behind the scenes. The game is made. There are plenty of heroes and maps. Neither have proven to make a big, bold, and flashy difference where it matters, past all the empty words of momentarily excited players. Heroes and maps get old and forgettable fast, at least the excitement quickly dissipates as players realize that essentially little changes.

Now is the time to consider what has gone wrong. Are there any low-hanging fruits to pick or is the game just this damn flawed? I wouldn’t be here if I thought the game is just this damn flawed, although I also believe there’s no escape from the last idea that does actually require a substantial effort.

As much as I am shaking my head, this is almost another way of stating what I’ve been stating. They have indeed stockpiled a lot in this game over the years. One of their key problems has been in releasing it. It’s there, but it’s missing the quick finish. The delivery to players. That’s what the hero access ideas are about, and the abusive chat change is supposed to protect/ensure/foster that access. This is the low-hanging fruit Blizzard’s mediocre managers somehow haven’t thought to pick.

One remarkable thing about you people in this game’s communities that I should have singled out much earlier. In constantly overlooking the hero-lacking perspective of new players you are either ridiculously self-absorbed or you have a very casual attitude toward this game. Either clouds your vision. You just don’t get it.

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75

Along the lines of purchasable content being in abundant supply whereas demand for any of it is lacking I’m inclined to think throwing some shards into these Coin Purses for people to cut their hands on is a sensible idea. I see no real reason not to be “generous”. The limitation comes from not wanting these Coin Purses to exceed the ownership value of gems, although one solution would be limiting the purchase of Coin Purses. Let’s consider some numbers.

100 gems = roughly $1
1000 gold = $1

The bottom tier of heroes in terms of expense is $3 with gems while $2 with gold. The second tier is $5 with gems and $4 with gold. The 50%-off sales affect only gems as do bundles. At these tiers you get more purchasing power through the gold in Coin Purses. I say so what? There are 8 heroes in the bottom tier and I think 17 in the following tier. The majority of heroes are a better deal in gems including a whopping 40 who are 25% less, plus Deathwing!

Let’s see what happens with shards. Conversion from gold to shards makes 100 shards = $2. Expensive. The rare cosmetic items are cheap and sell for less shards than gems. The epic items are of comparable amounts, except 100 shards = $2 as opposed to $1. The legendary items are at least twice the amount in shards as they are in gems.

Why not throw in another 50 shards per $1 spent on Coin Purses to match or double the gold to shard conversion rate? So:

Common Coin Purse - $1.99

2,000 gold
3,000 silver (each hero costs 1,000 silver to unlock for a month)
100 shards

Rare Coin Purse - $4.99

5,000 gold
10,000 silver
250 shards

Epic Coin Purse - $9.99

10,000 gold
25,000 silver
500 shards

Legendary Coin Purse - $14.99

15,000 gold
50,000 silver
750 shards

What ends up happening is that as a new player taking the affordable option to deep gameplay access you’re chopping some wood on the ownership side, relatively speaking. On the cheaper items between heroes and cosmetics you’re getting in the neighborhood of double the bang for your buck while getting the gameplay access essential to your experience. This is in addition to treasure chests/loot boxes and in-game currency progression. On the “epic” side of things you’re still doing better. However, once you start converting your gold into shards past the cheapest cosmetics or run into the slew of most expensive heroes without a matching interest in cosmetics gems become a better deal, not factoring in sales or bundles that make gems much more attractive. There’s a place for everything.

The point of putting shards into Coin Purses is to give players a taste of cosmetics beyond the randomness of loot boxes, making the decision of what you get yourself. Again, this game likes dictating content to players - what heroes go into bundles, what heroes are in the free rotation, what items you get from loot boxes. Players are not too impressed with that and can disengage and disregard.

76

By the way, it boggles my mind that the April Fools’ PTR notes had a developer comment, if not multiple, on reddit. What sort of jokers work on this game? Where does Blizzard find these people? Your game is virtually dead and you’re still making irrelevant comments on reddit!? Unreal. Are they hiring their relatives or something to sit in chairs and collect paychecks? Where does this level of indifference come from?

Blizz_DWarner
Heroes Developer
[1 hour ago]
I’m looking forward to the 3+ years of “whY dOEs blIZz DEvS jUSt TroLL tHe coMMunItY” because I commented on something that seemed like a realistic bug. ¯\(ツ)/¯

Wth is this? IN 3+ YEARS THERE WON’T BE ANYONE LEFT!!!

78

They’ve done this sort of thing going back years before “maintenance” and “classic” mode. The present circumstances are an excuse. They’ve always had trouble with the big picture and avoided confronting it.

I’m more so frustrated by the unrealized opportunity. This game has gotten what it has deserved.

80

Therein lies the opportunity. A lot of hard work of considerable quality has been done undermined by mere “suboptimal” decisions. There is a potential path forward even under present constraints.

81

This is the kind of condescension that will rapidly erode any chance of you convincing someone you’re debating with to listen to you. If you were indeed as brilliant as you think you are, you’d be able to explain it more clearly and convincingly. The fact is that you haven’t been able to make your case. There are lots of us who see other factors in play that lead us to different conclusions. You don’t respect that, even though this is now a 70+ post topic where many people have jumped in to try and dialogue with you about your ideas and tell you where they think you’re getting it wrong. You’ve not listened to a single one of those posts because your ego is telling you that you’re you, therefore you must be right, and the rest of us must be morons basking in your reflected greatness.

You keep telling us all we’re stupid. See how many you convince.

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82

I mean, dude is clearly on a warpath. You’re a trooper, but there’s 70 posts of empirical evidence strictly identifying his interpersonal graces…

Not to mention, I’m pretty sure ‘budget’ is generous for what this game gets…

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There’s a great irony in this post. Bet you can’t spot it. I’ll give you a hint. Try quoting all the rest of the content of my post while looking for the convincing content in any of yours. Why would I respect you? The most remarkable thing about you is how you’ve spun this.

Big word alert.

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You guys are champions for trying. :heart:

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You consider engagement with ideas making a few easily countered points and then writing about the poster? The vision comments were meant to be serious. That person was writing about impressing accountants and “the C-suite” while posting this:

You guys don’t even qualify for participation trophies.

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I think everyone agrees money is one of the things missing from HotS at the moment. In addition to the expenses of advertising and producing more content (hasn’t it been stated that more maps aren’t going to be pursued?) JeanFrancois is correct in pointing out both have been tried. What did Einstein say the definition of insanity is? I think it’s clear where Blizzard stands on the matter.

The fundamental picture is being overlooked. The number of heroes in the game is apparently 90 now and there are at least 15 battlegrounds! That’s a lot of content! The game isn’t broken, balance is fine. It’s actually in an advanced state of development. The overall gaming market is stale and weak while interest in gaming keeps expanding. The numbers I’m seeing on Twitch are dramatically higher in comparison to a few years ago (…one exception being Blizzard games).

One of Heroes of the Storm’s main advantages is that it’s intuitive. For argument’s sake even with expanded core gameplay a player can jump into the game and essentially figure out what to do on their own. League of Legends, let alone Dota 2, require doing homework just to not be lost and useless. There are many players still who either do not feel like researching a video game just to be able to play it or are inclined to mix things up with a more direct experience of “a team/hero brawler” that reduces certain aspects and concentrates on fighting. This game is full of aesthetically well designed Blizzard characters and is well polished. What’s available here is no joke.

I think there is still latent interest in Heroes of the Storm. It needs an organic invitation. No need to dump money in advertising with nothing new and no momentum. No need to add yet another hero or even another battleground. Just open the damn game up while making money and make sure players aren’t getting banned because of a system that hasn’t been thought through. Pave the way. Then focus on expanding gameplay, giving some much needed power to players. First things first. Use some damn common sense and intelligently monetize all the heroes in this game for players and developers alike! IT’S NOT HARD OR EXPENSIVE TO DO!

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88

Right, you can’t complain about not making money when practically you don’t want to make money. This isn’t some hokey life lesson, the :moneybag: is right there. It gets even more comical when you consider the dual purpose of adding players.

¯\(ツ)/¯

I’m reaching the point of confusion.

89

Well, evidence shows: None.

He decided to argue with his hard-shelled alt account here. I would love to see how far it goes. I long since muted him, and think he also muted me cause he could not argue out a of a paper bag. I revealed the obvious toxic troll with just one interaction.

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Nah, no need to mute. As SirFuzzi’s empirical evidence would show you essentially muted yourself as you quickly ran out of gas whereas this obnoxious troll “is clearly on a warpath”. lol

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One, what is a hard-shelled alt account? Two, we’re not arguing. Three, what exactly is your role supposed to be, speaking of trolls?

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It is pretty interesting to watch, especially since he denies it which is the most entertaining part, at least to me.

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He is keeping up the character pretty well, if you ask me. I would be fooled. I dare not get in the middle. I would much rather watch from very far away.

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For the record, at one point I think Mumrah wrote it (I’m assuming its pronoun) doesn’t play the game. It just hangs around the forum revealing obvious toxic trolls with single interactions, or so it thinks anyway.

This game needs fresh blood, stat. It pains me how passive and lost this whole environment is. With these “Anomalies” apparently being extremely simple you question whether anyone is actually actively doing anything related to the game and the latest couple of munchkins to post in this thread claim to be observing it for entertainment. This whole place has become a dump! It’s like a point of no return has been crossed. No faith in this game among the people who hang around it. Ironic.

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That is sad, but it is true… how far the mighty Blizzard has fallen.

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