This was very well put. I'll add my $.02 to the mix.
First of all, let me thank the developers and associates on their release, and for implementing superbases in the first place.
I don't believe any developer on this project had any intention to implement something that the players would not like, or that would be poor or valueless. That doesn't make sense for the game, and it doesn't make business sense either.
I think that the debate on how much prestige to charge went something like this:
- Each SG can have up to 75 members, if each member gains 1K prestige per day of playing, then that works out to be 75K per day. This means that things should be high so that people can build a base over several weeks instead of overnight.
Whether or not these figures are true, the point is that developers had to have SOME criteria to come to the prices and rate of prestige collection that they have. My assertion is going to be that, developers, this original thinking is what needs to be revisited, and likely more market research needs to be conducted on what customers (read: players) are actually doing.
I've not been in the COH environment long, but it seems to be the case that SG members are not around every day, and certainly not long enough to collect the X prestige/day it would take to make these prices reasonable.
I think the prices currently charged for items would be reasonable if things worked right out of the box, but the fact is, they don't. I need a special room to hold the generator, I need a control apparatus to make use of my power effectively, I need more than one telepad to use the beacons, so on and so forth. This is where I believe the system breaks down, and does so in a major way.
I think if the goal of bases was to encourage pvp and SG development, the prestige system really works against at least the PVP element. Why do I, as a player, want to engage in PVP to simply have to recollect prestige to rebuild things that are destroyed in the raid?
Two things I think the players should realize is that:
a) The game is City of Villains, not City of Bases. The major thrust here was the villains component, and I think that moving forward, there will be significant development of the prestige/building system once data is collected.
b) Reliable data cannot be collected overnight. The game has been out roughly a month, and that's just about the time that I think it's fair to begin looking at the data, and developing action plans. It will likely be several weeks before we see changes developed and patched into the game. I would encourage patience.
Here are my suggestions:
- Allow the sale of salvage in return for Prestige
- Reevaluate the process of Prestige collection and conversion. This needs to be done extensively from the bottom up.
- Look for other ways to add value to the bases and thereby the players by developing more items (useful and useless) for the bases.
- Consider disjoining as many things as you feel possible. I feel that the dependency of every item on several other items (or rooms, or whatever) frustrates people.
- Consider adopting a gradient system for equipment. Maybe I can purchase a cheaper generator, but maybe it will not function all the time, or maybe it will need repairs that cost me Prestige (or influence).
- Consider adopting a more integrated system for influence and prestige. Does everything in the base need to be done with Prestige? Does it need to be either/or?
- Realize that people have a greater desire for bases other than PVP. I would even say that MOST players are not looking at bases for the PVP aspect.
