User blog:DutchRits/Really, Mobage? REALLY?

My first blog post. Like, ever. Well, what could be better than to start with a rant, eh?

So long time ago (five weeks!) I decided I wanted to get the Rodimus Raid Card. I'd gotten the Rodimus Robot mode from an early tier of the space bridge, and I thought..."having a UR card would be SWEET." So I promptly paid for the next five tiers of the 6-tiered space bridge. Then I stared at tier 6. I still didn't have Rodimus' alt mode.

I thought to myself, "SURELY if I pay $30(!) for the last tier...one that advertizes 30x the base rate for SRs...I should get Rodimus.  After all, that's more than $70 I've put down this event for characters.  They can't possibly charge more than that.  It's got to be more standardized than that." So I paid the $30.

No Rodimus. Just another Sergeant Kup robot mode. (That made three.)  Oh, and not a single SR. All of the draws were rares. Base-rate increase my a$$.

I wrote a long e-mail complaining to Mobage support, only get the following:

''"I know how frustrating a bad card draw can be, however there is good reason for the design - please allow me to explain. While game development teams strive to ensure that their paying customers are properly rewarded, they also need to ensure that their games do not degenerate into true pay to win models. If they make HR and UR cards too easy to acquire, than they create a situation where a player who pays instantly becomes far stronger than a player who does not. The other problem developers face is that if we make those cards easy to acquire, then their value will begin to plummet as more and more players begin to add them to their decks. It wouldn't take long before the coveted UR card of today becomes the unwanted rare card of tomorrow. They make these cards rare to draw because when a player does acquire one, they want that card to provide the player with a significant boost in power and long lasting value. I hope you can understand our position on this matter. It's not easy for developers to make these decisions, but ultimately they find this design to be in the best interest of the game's health, and design. Please note that there will be no compensation provided for this."''

My problem with this is that the "pay to win" model is STILL taking place, it's just milking money from players and alienating casual gamers and kids who can't pay that kind of money. As for "the coveted UR card of today becomes the unwanted rare card of tomorrow," tell that to the 30-ish SR cards in my deck that don't make my team. Deck creep has made my Ratbat, Bonecrusher, Red Alert, Sergeant Kup, Rumble, Scourge, Divebomb, et all, completely useless. (on that note, how 'bout increasing the ol' base limit on cards and weapons, eh Mobage?  Thanks in advance!)  But that's a whole 'nuther issue.

I swore I wouldn't pay another cent into this game. The Bee Team made that a pretty easy promise to live up to initially. Then came Nemesis Rising. Crap. The Aerialbots. So I plopped down money for Air Raid (2x MTM'd cards) and Slingshot (MTM'd...but WHY is he better than Air Raid?!?  His description even says he's the weakest Aerialbot!) but no Silverbolt.

Huh. Okay.

Road to Ruin had me more concerned about trying to get Episode Silverstreak than anything else, since I knew I had a snowballs' chance in hell to get Episode Autobot Jazz 2. Still, I ended up with an Episode Tantrum MTM'd and 2x Episode Headstrong...but no Episode Rampage.

Then Mobage decided to toy with my emotions.

An event with Warpath, Hound and Jetfire?!? MUST...HAVE!!

So I paid. And paid. I spent $85 and maxed out the tiered space bridge. I got 1.5 Episode Autobot Hound but no Episode Jetfire 2. Not...even...one. And don't get me started on Episode Warpath. I have four...all MTM'd. One is from the points rewards. But there I was, staring at the end of the Tiered Space Bridge, again. How do I justify paying $30 for the CHANCE to get a card? "But," I rationalized, "this HAS to work.  Mathematically, I'd HAVE to get a Jetfire between the base rate and the guaranteed episode character."

So I paid. $30.  And I got...another friggin' Warpath alt mode. Okay, one more time. Has to work. Another Warpath. SERIOUSLY?

I get the official line from Mobage. But REALLY? You can't throw a bone to players who have paid $145 for a raid card? Monitor the draws and deck content? Realize that you've pissed them off because your system has given the player FOUR Warpaths? I mean, you give the weapon away for the top-tiered raid card, so its obvious that you WANT players to have the card. So why make it so painful to actually GET the card?

I have SO had it.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I'm the only one to blame for giving money to this enterprise, and that's an easy fix. For those of you who were lucky enough to get a Jetfire draw, I truly envy you. But Mobage NEEDS to fix this system.

$1/card makes sense. I can even understand a tiered system to force larger draws and therefore more money. But $30 to get a draw for ten cards, only to have them all be crappy rares that you can get with gold medals is crap. Kids can't afford this...I know mine can't. And that IS Hasbro's target audience, right? Look at the success of games like Battle Nations. They have units that cost the equivalent of dollars/cents, and even reward players with currency they can use to buy units, but the cost is always reasonable. Mobage is driving away players with this business model. Barring significant changes to the system, at least dropping the price to a standard of 100 coins per card would make sense, as would increasing the drop rate of SR cards (their values have become crap due to the aforementioned deck creep) and maybe even adding cards from previous events to the space bridge.

I'm a die-hard fan of the franchise and I absolutely LOVE the art and the game as a whole (even with all its problems). But this is one thing that MUST be fixed.

Ahhh...that feels better. [/rant]

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"Ambiguity contributes to an effective scheme of maneuver." -General George S. Patton