#Weapon & Pact Slots rework

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

vague wren
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I think the current storage system for weapons and pacts are archaic and are prone to scare off a lot of fresh players, it's been massively disliked by players who are not coming from Warframe, and in Warframe its a system that was tolerated mostly because trading for plat was not difficult (Not to mention often these slots were given away as freebies during certain events).

I think a good replacement would be to have the ability to make the weapon rack in nightfold something we can upgrade and add onto. Make it cost a series of rare mats/boss drops, and offer premium upgrades to the weapon racks for players who just want to get more capacity.

Games like Guild Wars 2 has had a fairly good degree of success with a system like this, where you can naturally upgrade your inventory size by playing the game, or just drop some cash to buy larger bags and more bag slots, and I think such a system could work here just fine so that there's still monetization but not in such a way that makes new players want to ditch.

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as an addendum to this i also think this opens up potential to new monetization methods even. If the weapon/pact storage system is tied to a visual component of your hub, players may wish to buy higher grade storage upgrades due to the visual appeal.

Cosmetic skins could even be made for weapon/pact storage, so that players would feel the want to buy a premium item they typically would never even consider due to the cosmetic addition.

steady dust
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always feels kinda bad to be spending plat on space to hold more stuff instead of like actual cool stuff

urban pike
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+1

fickle bobcat
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+1

bronze adder
smoky rover
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+1

quasi wyvern
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+99

oak wagon
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So just to simplify what's being said here:

  • Make weapon slots earnable through upgrading the weapon rack.
  • Give a way to showcase owned weapons.

That sounds pretty neat to me. However, I imagine DE would slap a hefty crafting timer on that weapon rack upgrade.

hoary jacinth
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+1
I've been trying to get my friends to play this game, already sent all of my codes, and most of them quit the moment they hit the weapon and pact capacity and realize there's a pay wall on getting more slots. It's a damn shame, because I KNOW they'd love this game if not for this :/

unkempt pagoda
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Honestly... i would just remove that, never made sense to me in a game like this, where experience is earned through leveling up stuff you would hard cap the amount you can own.
I don't think it needs that, getting stuff is already quite slow + we have crafting timers

vague wren
delicate light
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+1
Collections is a core strength of the game that retains players for longer amount of time, by limiting it there is a lower appeal in farming stuff and keep playing, which in turn limits the appeal of buying other stuff.

Hook the players first, then sell them cosmetics and convenience.

As mentioned the problem will be mitigated when Arcs will be tradable, or slots earnable, but it will always be a problem.

fervent apex
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+1

hoary jacinth
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+1

astral tinsel
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i genuinely think this type of monetization shouldnt be in an alpha at all.

  1. it restricts folks ability to actually test things when they hit the paywall
  2. folks are WAY less likely to purchases digital goods when they're BUGGY and when those goods could be changed in a future patch
indigo warren
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/signed

boreal zealot
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+1
Ignoring the concept of whether or not this should be in alpha, Im looking at if the current limits remain in place once it goes to "public" launch.

If this game turns out anything like Warframe... the 3 starting pacts will not be anywhere near enough to keep the majority of players long term. Bare minimum should already be 5 pacts and around 20 weapons for free players.

Core financial reasoning
More weapons and frames will be added ad nauseam as time goes on, with plenty of opportunity for monetization that wont actively kill players desire to engage before they ever spend a dime. I get that "inventory convenience purchases" are a surefire source of reliable income, cause everyone who will actively play will buy them all, but this will reduce the total quantity of users substantially, and in turn reduce potential sources of revenue and free advertising by a landslide.

Pacts
Even with just the base "11" pacts that exist (ignoring the 3 premium upgrade versions) 3 already feels too limited.

  • At bare minimum, there should be 1 free slot for every 2 pacts that can be "earned" (rounded down).
  • EG; newbies should start with 5, and if a 12th pact is added, everyone should get a 6th slot for free - at 14 pacts, a 7th free slot is added... etc etc.

Weapons
Weapons on the other hand, its mind boggling that they have a cap, let along one so small...

  • You can't even get the blacksmith to level 3 (which you need to craft your second pact) without reaching the default weapon limit. Even with initial "free currency" allowing us to increase this, the fact that you need to manually do so is a major annoyance.
  • Initial weapon cap should be at least double what it is now, likely with some similar "add another freebie" ratio like for frames. (or honestly, just remove it entirely - monetize something else)

Closing statement
If you want people to stop playing your game before spending anything, "Cash-shop centric inventory lockouts" are a surefire and proven effective quit point (especially in today's economy).

  • If you think you need to have these limits, Don't let new players feel the impact of these flaws until they are emotionally invested enough that it reduces the odds of a total quit and negative publicity.
  • You already have a game that is actually great fun! With a core like this, people will much more happily spend money on stuff that is not "Pay for QoL". In turn they will happily spread the word about how non-predatory the game is, and how cool the new "[insert pop culture reference] inspired" cosmetics are.
winter wagon
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+1 having an expandable weapon rack that showcases our weapons is amazing. I'd be down for the same with Armor mannequins as well to showcase my Armor sets.

onyx river
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Weapon racks and mannequins to showcase our stuff would be so cool.

molten maple
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+1

I will say having to trade to keep all my stuff I'd grinded for and earnt is what burnt me out in warframe. It seems kinda at odds with a collectathon like this and was only okay because of the amount of plat that seemed to be in circulation.

Mild aside: I don't know if this is still the case, it mainly involved putting up adverts on 3rd party sites for your bits, rather than having something like an in game commodities listing or something (which'd be smoother and harder for people to abuse with fake listings). And I really wasn't a fan.

Here, I don't even know if there'd be anything that could give a reasonable arcs income to sustain slot acquisition through trade. We don't get 75% off coupons yet either so there'll be less arcs in the market, and I wouldn't buy any directly for slots till we do either.

So anything that can get me around them would make me happy. I've already had to deal with just disposing my levelled weapons here as I can't hoard them like WF, and it wounds me. But I absolutely must keep my pacts/frames so when I run outta slots for those I have no idea what I'll do (especially as I did buy a weapon slot back when they cost 25 each, before they were reduced to 10, still kicking myself about it).

vague wren
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i dont really wanna see that system make its way to soulframe, it didn't make for compelling gameplay

steady dust
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path of exile basically has the same trading system as warframe and async trade was a huge improvement over messaging 30 people to trade stuff

mossy frigate
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+1

delicate light
timid cave
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realistically.. is the system needed at all? why have weapon slots and pact slots in the first place, is DE really gonna lose that much money? when literally every single piece of equipment in the game is monetised, why do we need a limited inventory on top of that??? i don't think it'd make a difference at all on revenue, it just feels bitter