6 ms·
There is talk of something similar in EA's Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes gacha game, but in this case it pertains specifically to the drop rates for things (shards
by tomc1985 6y ago
There is talk of something similar in EA's Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes gacha game, but in this case it pertains specifically to the drop rates for things (shards or gear fragments) that players are farming.
Specifically, the drop rates for stuff decreases the closer the player is to important goals/thresholds. The intent is to force the player is to burn through available energy and, being so close to finishing something, that they spend premium currency to buy energy to get more chances for the shard/fragment to drop to complete the thing faster.
There was even talk of a software patent that EA might hold governing this very behavior.
I would be very interested in reading a statistical analysis of droprates in gacha games, as I feel like I've noticed this stuff in my own play. But short of hard evidence (plus the ease of explaining away this stuff to the nature of randomness) it's difficult for anyone to make accusations that aren't baseless.
- vbezhenar 6y agoIt's a "well-known" fact that in WoW new characters receive something awesome very quickly. It was not acknowledged by developers, but plenty of people including me observed that behaviour.
- Bombthecat 6y agoHuh? Awesome for new chars? Like a super awesome weapon for lvl 10? You loose that weapon like 10 mins later?
- wongarsu 6y agoI assume he meant newly max-level chars. WoW tries to make anything but max-level very fast to push through.
- vbezhenar 6y agoAfter I dinged 120 level in BfA on new account, I got alpaca mount from the first world boss which is rare drop. My friend resubscribed after 3 years break and got Lich King mount from the first kill (also very rare drop).
- smileybarry 6y agoI think these are coincidences rather than planned/rigged drops. The first 3 times I ran Throne of Thunder for transmog, I got "Clutch of Ji-Kun" to drop. I thought it was a high-chance drop until a friend told me he was trying to get it for years. (2.69% chance according to Wowhead) I was subbed for a while, started playing a while before then, nothing to suggest it was gamed to keep me going.
- amcoastal 6y agoThis is simply not true. You don't get anything you would keep for more than a couple days until near the end game.
- falcolas 6y agoDoes how long you keep it matter? I wouldn’t think so, since the dopamine hit only lasts a few seconds. In fact, replacing it quickly would only reinforce the skinner box cycle.
- Cthulhu_ 6y agoEh? That would make them keep playing for those few days though, wouldn't it? That's the most important thing with subscription based games like WoW, keep them playing.
- abecedarius 6y agoRelevant quote from Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20362498 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20362498): > The first time I was in Las Vegas I sat down and figured out the odds for everything, and I discovered that the odds for the crap table were something like .493. If I bet a dollar, it would only cost me 1.4 cents. So I thought to myself, "Why am I so reluctant to bet? It hardly costs anything!" > So I started betting, and right away I lost five dollars in succession--one, two, three, four, five. I was supposed to be out only seven cents; instead, I was five dollars behind! I've never gambled since then (with my own money, that is). I'm very lucky that I started off losing.
- HPsquared 6y agoThe farmer... becomes the farmed.
- simonh 6y agoMaybe we should revise what we mean when we say 'farming game'.
- Roritharr 6y agoI have a friend who worked as a Monetization Specialist for a MMO Publisher to do exactly these kinds of "optimizations". He said after doing this work he might as well work for weapons manufacturers or the mob.
- d3nj4l 6y agoIt's sickening, really. Jim Sterling's video on lootboxes [1] really hammered it home for me, especially the section where he quotes from a talk by one such developer [2]. The talk is literally titled "Let's go whaling", a reference to getting people to "whale" the game by paying tons of money. Fate Grand Order, a gacha game, even lampshades it: > What’s interesting about Fate/Grand Order is that the game’s marketing features a vicious caricature of dedicated players. She’s a slobbering, lecherous, gambling-addicted little monster. > Fans love her. [From [3]] 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S-DGTBZU14 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S-DGTBZU14 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNjI03CGkb4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNjI03CGkb4 3: https://www.polygon.com/2018/4/18/17247246/fate-go-free-to-play-abuse-gudako-gacho-grand-order https://www.polygon.com/2018/4/18/17247246/fate-go-free-to-p...
- bserge 6y agoGacha whales are mad. They say it's disposable income, but seeing 4-5 figures in USD spent per year I can only conclude they've got major gambling issues...
- disgruntledphd2 6y agoWhales in general appear to spend an absolutely unfathomable amount of money on games.
- hnick 6y agoPlayers like to tell stories of Saudi Princes but apparently a large number of whales are just hopelessly addicted people that aren't as well off as you'd hope.
- hnick 6y agoI know in many markets (China notably) exact drop rates must be published. But some publishers pull out rather than reveal them to the western markets too. As for an analysis I remember reading this for Genshin Impact which implied the rates are averaged and don't add up to what the publisher says. Anecdotally players say they often hit their mark at around 70 rolls so it's suspected the rates increase over time (and maybe not linearly). The 90th roll is guaranteed and taken into account for the published rates 1.6% rate to get a 5-star reward on a given roll. If all this is true then together this would mean early rolls in a set of 90 are largely dead and you're paying to reach the higher chances. https://www.reddit.com/r/Genshin_Impact/comments/ja7c0b/gacha_rates_listed_in_details_are_wrongmisleading/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Genshin_Impact/comments/ja7c0b/gach... Note: this is fairly old, I stopped playing so it could be outdated. I also didn't check the conclusions.
- fomine3 6y agoIs drop rates publishing really matter? I suspect that those games aren't targeting China for different reason (hard regulation).
- swivelmaster 6y agoI worked at that studio for seven years and never heard any such thing mentioned even once.