Danievictria

Negumiko wrote: »

they should just add them to the cash shop permanently so players can buy them when they want them. mabi KR has them in their shop all the time and they are currently on sale for half the price. they also have a new coupon called Inventory Extension PLUS which can add a 3rd row after the first 2 coupons are used. I don't see why a permanent sale in Korea is only kept as a temporary sale here. only reason our cash shop doesn't improve is cause they just want us to buy gacha constantly.

this is a bad business model cause gacha could get banned sooner or later and NA players are getting tired of only gacha items already. if Nexon NA doesn't have a way to make money other then selling gacha then when and if gacha does get banned and we still have a poorly done cash shop the game could run out of money and Nexon KR might just shut us down. now is the time to start improving the cash shop by making items like this permanent, updating VIP services, and selling more new outfit bags instead of gacha only outfits. the sooner it happens the easier it will be if and when gacha becomes illegal in the NA.

Exactly! Nexon NA needs to stop trying to milk the lootboxes and pay attention to what Western players actually want. Inventory expansion coupons and inventory bags would be big sellers, especially for players who actively use multiple alts and/or do a lot of gathering, crafting, and treasure hunting. Outfit bags instead of gatchas would also sell well. They could charge more per unit for outfit bags (especially if they use a Limited Time Only release model, with outfits being in the cash shop for no more than a month or two at a time and with gaps of up to 24 months between re-releases) and editions of the bags with both the male and female outfits included could cost up to 50% more than one with either-or and people would still see that as a worthwhile purchase. I'd buy that and most American players would too, because in our culture, we perceive that as a good deal.

A lot of Eastern MMO's have financial and player-retention troubles with their Western releases because they fail to tailor their cash shop offerings to the shopping habits of Westerners. They offer pay-to-win, pay-to-progress, and gatchapon products to a culture that prefers effort-based progression, victory based on skill and hard work, and simply paying for what you want directly...with the occasional BOGO deal or 15%-70% off sale thrown in for good measure because we like to feel like we got one over on the guy selling us the thing. Yeah, most Westerners see shopping as a competition with winners and loosers. The shopper wins if they have (or feel like they have) come away with the most possible good stuff for their money, and the merchant wins if the shopper either A) has to settle for regular price, B ) gets their prize home and it turns out to be a pile of crap, or C) the shopper feels like they've been tricked into paying more than the actual worth of a product. That's the game that goes on in people's heads when they shop, which is why stores in the U.S. almost always seem to be having some kind of X% off or BOGO thing going on and why coupons are such a big thing over here. Just ask JC Penny about what happens to your business in the U.S. when you stop offering sales and coupons, even if you DO have fair prices on your wares that are basically what people would pay anyway after the X% from sales and/or coupons is taken off.

Know your market. Westerners see shopping as a competition between buyer and seller with a winner and a loser...and they don't like shopping with sellers that never let them win...or, at least have the illusion of winning. Human psychology is weird...

The two currently running events are actually fairly active. You actually have to go and do something to get the main event prizes for Lorna's event, and the Melody event requires you to at least actively talk to NPC's, engage in some minimal interaction with your fellow players, do a freestyle jam, and play with a pet for a good bit to complete the daily quest (sure, you could cheese the last part by keeping a pet summoned for half an hour, then running Alby Normal with it summoned...but it's more fun to do 2-3 dungeon runs, not to mention more lucrative).

Events should definitely be active, but if there are daily event quests involved, they should be completable in 30-45 minutes so as not to make it too hard on players who have school or kids or demanding bosses who have no respect for their personal time (the last one is a problem in the U.S., because American employers are rude). It's all about balance.

It's a good time to come back on a fresh character and a fresh account, actually. Between the Lorna and Pan newbie quests and the Memoir quests, leveling up and getting stronger is easier than ever (I like to use the Memoirs to get a nice AP cushion when training skills so I don't have to stop, rebirth, and grind all those levels just to get the AP I need). Events give out nice pets on a pretty regular basis, too. Sadly, you just missed out on a Milkyway Ice Dragon, but some cool new event mount will more than likely be available by Christmas time. Plus, they just revamped the pet system, and it's actually pretty good. The current event is even giving out pet dyes, so if you finish the first Saga and get your pegasus, you can personalize it pretty easily and cheaply right now.

So...yeah, check things out right now. It's a good time to do it! (Just make sure to stock up on Corn Tea, because one of the current events' daily quest requirements is murder on your waistline!!)

Yeah. Summon time limits definitely keep me from doing much with my pets normally except for emergency support, storage, and a ride when walking feels too slow. Ditching the time limits would make me feel way more comfortable riding them and having them follow me around all the time, since I'm not fretting about a time clock all the time. With events regularly making free pets available to everyone, having a time limit to encourage pet purchases is kind of pointless.

The initial Chain Slash skills you get are actually very useful for the content that you can do early on in the game. I suggest putting a little time into things like Commerce Mastery, Gold Strike, Puppetry, Archery, Harvest Song, and Weaving to boost your Luck and Dexterity to beef those skills up early on. Save up some gold, train up your combat skills, then do Spinning Slasher's quest first. Buy the First Dorcha Crystal (because bump trying to get a pass for the dungeon and then possibly not even getting your reward), stalk Ancient monsters for the Second, fish for the Third, Fleta sells the Fourth for 50k in her shop, run Rabbie and Math for the Fifth (it spawns in chests that appear in dead end areas), and beat up Polar Hornets for the Sixth. Really, the First is the worst because of the expense and trouble of getting it. The others, by comparison, are easy as pie to get because all they take is a little time and not hunting around for a rare dungeon pass.

Really, I say just get your close combat skills all to r1, then just go with the flow. Lacking in this or that stat? Check the Stats and Skills page on the wiki and see what skills give what stats so you know what to target to get stronger. Need better self healing? Time to grind some healing magic (personally, I recommend getting your character up to current level 200, getting slapped around until nearly dead, then escaping and using Party Healing on yourself to quickly get some good recovery under your belt without bothering with expensive support puppets or trying to buddy up with other players). Unless you really want to be an uber-meta endgamer, you really don't have to get everything to r1. If you're content being able to solo most Normal mode dungeons and Hard shadow missions, you can leave some skills at, like, r5 once they get too annoying or grindy to train (especially if it's a really boring skill to use or one you find yourself never using in normal gameplay anyway) and just do you.

If you want to survive against powerful raid bosses and solo all the generations with few problems and run Peaca Abyss like a boss, though...Yeah, you'll have to get r1 everything and Dan ranks in all the ones with Dan ranks and just relentlessly grind skills you don't even like until your soul shatters...Me, I ain't got no time for that.