Hi- played CH when it first came out on Epona and still have a mid level warrior there. I did not like the game at all and went to OnC and max level, epic geared multiples of each class. Eventually the end game dynamics, massive prevalence of scamming, spamming, third party greed and general dysfunctionality of Game Loft (that must be a horrible place to work) caused to me to quit. Though I still have all my toons on multiple accounts and a subscirption through the end of the year, I have not played for months and do not plan to play again.
On xp and plat events:
I started playing again shortly after the 3rd update. The x2 exp and x2 plat events allowed me to catch up enough to friends I knew from OnC to shift from solo grinding to clan based grouping. I like to be able to do some of both. I realize that people who have really worked for months may think less of me for this. Let me say that this dilemma has existed since MMO's were invented. It is not in any way unique to CH. Most MMO's simply get ruined, IMO, by third party greed that has no concern for gaming the gaming experience or player community, that results in massive gold farming efforts, botting and hacks for profit, 3rd party account sales, etc. As far as I can tell CH is virtually free from this. The focus therefore, whether plat buyer or not, is very much on the gaming exp.
One Thumb seems amazingly personal and responsive compared to big corporate MMO's and seems to genuinely want to continuously improve the game. Furthermore, they seem unhindered by the corporate politics that cause a schism between those wanting that and the business side. Wizard 101 is maybe the only other game that managed to stay free of that for a long time. This is the upside of One Thumbs plat system. It also means that someone like me who works for a living, has intensive RL commitments and periods of time where I can play a lot and periods of time where that is not possible can conceivably play end game content. I can make a trade off between gaming time and RL commitments without violating the ToS or ruining the game dynamics. In truth I have mixed feeling about improving the in game communication, adding mail and an auction house, because these can serve 3rd party game ruining profiteers as much or more than players.
Gaming Experience:
I feel with the latest updates One Thumb has hit a great balance between graphic appeal and playability on a portable platform (well except for the recent skinny leg problem, which is both hilarious and disappointing). On the one hand I never really lose sight of CH as a game, which allows me to keep my sense of humor. On the other hand I find there is a lot to learn and get better at, which keeps me engaged. For me gear always only serves this, rather than being an end in itself.
I like to play all classes in a game. Despite the complaints about class imbalance I feel that the classes are very fit for purpose. What seems to me the real issue being addressed has to do with the difference between PvP and PvE. The complaints about warriors are exactly the things that allow them to tank effectively. There are things that can be improved, but I really feel One Thumb is working to do that, with of course the occassional mistakes involved in that process. I have never played a game where there was not a constant and often acrimonious debate about this. I have never seen an active Rogue(dps) community that did not feel slighted and was constantly advocating for more power.
Goes with the territory and it is not wrong to do. I have never played a game where at some point there was not a nerf war between class communities, sometimes warranted, often not. So if you take those dynamics as a given this game seems very balanced to me.
The Myth of Soloing as an Entitlement
I feel CH has done a great job of making so much of the game soloable. Many, many MMO's cannot be solo'd by most classes beyond the very, very beginning of the game without real creativity and lots of work. Sometimes there is one class that is more proficient at solo play up to a certain level, but even then they eventually must group for boss drops to progress. I say this having solo'd to high levels in many MMO's at some point in their development. CH has made it possible for a wide variety of players and playstyles to enjoy the game. The end game content in virtually every MMO requires extensive organization and collaboration, both for gear and for leveling. As the game matures and new content is added, the solo cut off level changes. If you do not learn how to do this you simply will not ever have real end game gear, unless the game has fallen beyond repair into 3rd party greed and profiteering.
Nostalgia:
Games change and grow. Different people like different stages of this for different reasons. As the game and game dynamics change there is almost always tension between the 'old school' community and the 'immigrants', noobs, what have you. This can be healthy or unhealthy. All games have a turnover in the player community, and to be sustainable the old school players welcome, teach and learn from the immigrants. It can be a big challenge for old school players to adapt to changes. On method is to level a completely new toon and class when changes are made. This allows the player to see to what extent there feeling of nostalgia has to do with game dynamics at different levels of the game and what to do with the changes. Sometimes in order to leave a game or gaming community people feel that they need to make the community and game wrong in some fundamental way. Sometimes this is grounded in the experience of something simply no longer being enjoyable due to changes, sometimes it has more to do with the player and if they had no 'history' in the game they would be loving the current dynamics.
Continue, Stop, Start/Add/Improve:
I have been posting some of this in Feedback and Suggestions. These are mostly long term things, since I know your plate is full now.
Continue to promote the responsive and open relationship between One Thumb and the CH community.
Continue to develop end game content, graphics balance, meaningful updates, events, celebrations, etc.
Continue to use a model that mostly eliminates 3rd party profiteering. I would much rather give CH my money and have that go to game improvement than have the player economy leeched by profiteers that do nothing to improve the game and often ruin it.
Continue adding vanity items, collectables with no particular function and mounts, gear diversity that allows diverse play styles.
The game currently has a beautiful simplicity to it, while still being challenging. Consider this before making any major changes.
Stop releasing what seems to be relatively untested content. This makes for player drama and increased cost for CH.
Start- add a new class. This allows your established player base to have a refreshed experience of the from start to finish. (I want Bards.)
Consider adding an end game class that is only available to players who have a toon that has successfully reached a certain level.
Start- improve chat and player interaction, game dynamic feedback functions. Feedback functions are critical since they let players experience their own improvement more richly.
Start- new quests that run from level one all the way through the game. (this is already ok in the way that it is necessary and useful to return to all zones of the game.)
Start- cautiously explore mail, auction houses and crafting. These will radically change the player experience so be conservative.
Improve some of the basic dps skills. The DoTs in particular are sub par and improved DoTs, or limited stacking would go a long way to satisfy your melee based dps community.
Improve PvP as there is great interest in this by your player community. Consider open PvP areas within the game, again cautiously since this can be a source of griefing and abuse. Consider holding some PvP oriented events with rewards. Some games even have gear that is only useful in PvP. You could start an arena only gear line, though again cautiously. This can be designed so that gear only becomes available with PvP rank and still be a revenue stream for you. This makes it so someone cannot simply pay to be good, but still helps CH. If you do this you will probably need to reset all PvP ranks based on a seasonal calendar. This will also allow you to create, individual, team and clan leaderboards.
Consider making such things as sigils visible (as tattoos or auras). This gives honor to people who are not play buyers, since you can see that they are hardcore, but at the same time can serve as a kind of status symbol for plat buyers. This is potentially divisive, but you already have the beginnings of divisive dynamics around this. This makes it part of the game.
Add a test server. Allow players to spawn one of their toons at their current level to run tests. Have the server and those toons be absolutely impermanent and completely wiped on a regular basis.
Consider cross server transfers and activity. This is a potential revenue stream, but also needs to be designed carefully to prevent mass migration to one server. The upside is that it integrates all communities across all servers.
Consider making a PvP server with safe areas and controllable zones.
Consider adding capture the flag and team instances to the arena. Many people used the green presents in a very innovative way to do this. (so far I have found this player community friendly, welcoming and very creative about now to play and enjoy the game, but then again I was lucky enough to be invited to join Serenity).
That is all (lol) on the top of my head. Again, I think One Thumb is doing a remarkable job and in fact must be a good place to work, as far as gaming companies go. There are several sorts of growth crises that all MMO's face and so far One Thumb seems to be doing a good job of this. One Thumb might want to look at the historic Craigslist business model as a very innovative growth model employed by what is by far the largest Internet portal/enterprise on the planet.
