WHAT IF WE GOT RID OF CLASSES (MERCHANT/RANCHER)?!
Short Version:
1] Rescreatu needs more of both ranchers and merchants that are active.
2] New users are discouraged quickly due to limited ways of making tu & competing with other users.
3] People sell both items and pets anyway - we just work around the system.
4] Staff are able to swap between classes more frequently, whereas regular users face more of a barrier.**
5] It would give us more stuff to do which makes the site more engaging, dynamic and interesting for everyone.
Why limit the user's options if there is no major benefit to the game?
6] Wouldn't you like to have both??
What's the plan?
1] Everyone would have both a merchant and a rancher shop.
2] Everyone would have 3 hatches.
3] No more merchant discount
** This is not to call out or be hostile to staff! I appreciate all you do
& I don't think you're taking advantage - it's just a part of the game currently. ♥
Please know I mean nothing malicious by discussing this topic!
More Detailed Thoughts:
(this section will be edited frequently)
WOULD RESCREATU LOSE ITS UNIQUENESS WITHOUT CLASSES?
Classes are an interesting idea in theory, but in practice they limit the game for users. Rescreatu's art, lore, community and hatching system are what make Rescreatu truly unique from other virtual pet sites! The class system is outdated and no longer needed to make the game stand out. If you could do more on Rescreatu, would it make the game less interesting to you?
HOW DOES GETTING RID OF CLASSES GIVE US MORE TO DO?
The short answer is that you get to run TWO shops instead of one! You'll be hatching 3 pets a day for your rancher shop AND you'll be checking your merchant stock EVERYDAY! Ranchers - think of all those items you have laying around that you could be selling instead! Merchants - wouldn't you like to hatch more pets?
OK THAT SOUNDS NICE FROM A USER'S PERSPECTIVE, BUT WON'T IT BREAK THE GAME?
Well let's consider another virtual pet site that doesn't use a class system.
Take for instance Flight Rising - a very successful VPS with thousands of users online at a time. There are really no parts of the site players are barred access to - you can play the game however you want and take advantage of any and all methods of making gold. Everyone has a fair chance to compete in battle, breeding, selling goods and all other aspects of the game. You could spend 24 hours straight on the game and still have stuff to do. Imagine now if there was a "battle" class on Flight Rising, and they were the only ones allowed to participate in battle/training, but that was also the only part of the game they could play - they weren't allowed to breed dragons, only the "breeding" class could do that. This is similar to what what Rescreatu does.
The ideal game is one that users can (and want to) spend the most time and effort on. From a financial standpoint, users that invest more time are also more likely to invest money - which keeps the site alive for everyone to enjoy! So why not give us more to do?
WHAT IF WE ADDED MORE CLASSES INSTEAD?
More classes sounds like an interesting idea, but again in practice it only serves to make the game smaller for users. If we create more classes we make the game more narrow and limit the player's options in the game even more. Imagine if you had to choose between an "Egg Finder" or "Clothing Seller" class. Would the game be better or worse for you?
WHAT IF WE HAD PLANET PERKS INSTEAD?
I think this is a GREAT idea that would add character to the game! I would suggest that Planet Perks (ie - perks for users depending on which planet they live on) are simple and do not limit the game for anyone. The Fishing Hole on Relcore is a great example of something that is fun and unique for Relcore citizens, but doesn't unbalance the game or take anything significant away from other users. Zen suggested discounts at your planet's shops and I think that's brilliant! It would compensate for the absence of the merchant's discount while keeping things balanced between users. (The black market should probably be excluded from this however). This is already an established feature of the game, so it would only mean adding to a function that needs new content anyway!
Planet Perk Ideas:
1] Exclusive eggs (like the Paor use to be)
2] Exclusive shops (like FRE use to be)
3] Exclusive dailies (like fishing hole)
4] Exclusive games
Of course these perks should be balanced so there's an even amount for each planet!
HOW WOULD THIS HELP TO BALANCE THE GAME?
+ NEW VS OLD USERS +
It takes a good amount of time to get established on Rescreatu. Hatching pets is a pretty slow method of making tu, and being a merchant isn't very appealing to new users that are drawn to the game by the idea of hatching pets - I don't blame them, it's what I love too! However, if they had the option of doing both, the game would feel significantly more full and interesting for new users and help them get established. This would give new users more options without giving them an unreasonable advantage.
+ STAFF VS REGULAR USERS +
I know this is a sensitive topic, so please hear me out. There is a perceived wealth gap between staff and regular users currently (and there has been for many years). This is not the fault of staff, especially not the current team. It's simply the way the game is designed and I personally believe staff deserve benefits for all the work they put into Rescreatu. But it certainly helps user morale if things are kept as balanced as possible, so users don't get discouraged/disgruntled. One of the slight advantages staff currently have is a steady income of CP that makes class tokens a bit more accessible and therefor makes it more affordable to run both a rancher and a merchant shop (they don't have to sacrifice tu if they don't want to in order to swap classes). Users would have to dip into their shop profits to swap.
+
Please know I mean nothing malicious by discussing this. I think the current bunch of staff are exceptionally proactive, open minded, reasonable and generally awesome! I have been truly impressed since returning to the game to see how understanding and open to change staff are nowadays. Things like the Q&A threads give me so much hope for the future of Res! I think the current staff have a unique opportunity to make major changes to Res that could change the game for the better, and I have already seen some major improvements! ♥
SO HOW EXACTLY WOULD THIS WORK?
This outline is generally what we have so far, but please voice your concerns/thoughts!
1] Everyone would have both a merchant and a rancher shop.
2] Everyone would have 3 hatches.
3] No more merchant discount
This sounds like a HUGE change, but it really isn't. The game wouldn't need to be significantly recoded.
All features mentioned in this post are things that are already coded and exist.
It's just a matter of rearranging things. I would imagine it would be something like - swap everyone to the Rancher class and give everyone access to their merchant shops. Correct me if I'm wrong!
WOULD THE VALUE OF PETS DECREASE WITH MORE HATCHES?!
Kir's Quest is designed to balance this issue. It was created because the color of pets had become almost irrelevant. It hardly influenced a pets value at all before Kir. When Kir was created, this problem rapidly fixed itself. It is designed to keep pace with the game (mostly) regardless of the number of players - it's really a very creative solution!
More people hatching pets = more pets on the market
More pets on the market = Kir's quest is viable for more players
More people doing Kir = more pets removed from the system - pet value maintained!
As it stands, Kir's quest has become so expensive to play that it is almost obscenely more affordable to just buy Kir's items from other users than it is to do it yourself - especially for new users that have to work their way up through the tiers. To quote another user who posted off-site about the issue (slightly edited):
"If you’re a newbie with a dream of earning a Cyancu Nest, you need to give Kir 180 creatu total. 180 (creatu) x 7,800,000 (price per bean) = 1,404,000,000tu... [However] you will not just be spending 7.8M per creatu."
[ you'll be looking at spending anywhere from 0-60mil on 1 pet if you're not using beans ]
"Cyancu eggs are selling for 500M each/1.5B for a nest, pretty close to that mythical 1,404,000,000 number. Just buy the egg."
BUT KIR'S QUEST SHOULD BE HARD! KIR PETS HAVE VALUE!
Absolutely. Kir was designed to be expandable so that if Kir's prizes started to diminish in value or flood the market, new tiers and new prizes could be added to keep the game balanced and to give players something new to strive for! Prizes can also be retired from the quest if the market becomes over-saturated with something. Currently there is only a lack of Kir items/eggs on the market.
It would be nice to see pets like the RSTUs and Ivik on site again!
Regardless of this situation however, the initial increase of pets on the site would be minimal. Merchants currently get one hatch anyway - so without classes they're only getting two more. Look at the albino promo going on - tons of merchants have swapped to ranchers, and the change to the pet market has been minimal so far. We're still only talking about active users that get on and hatch every day. But even if we had 200 new users all join as ranchers tomorrow, the game and Kir would not break, I swear! It would be a GOOD thing! We want more users that potentially spend time and MONEY on Res to keep it going! :)
WE NEED THE DISCOUNT IN NPC SHOPS TO MAKE A PROFIT?
There's a few answers to this one!
1] Discount cards still exist and could be made available again (difficult to obtain preferably) for people who want to specialize in being a merchant. People will naturally choose things to focus on, so if merchant is your jam, a discount card could be a good goal to strive for!
2] We currently see items in user shops marked up significantly beyond their original default price. How many times have you bought a 2k item for 200k because screw it, you're not gonna wait for it to stock in shops and 200k is still basically pennies anyway?? That mark up is way more than the discount merchants get anyway - they don't rely on the discount whatsoever to make a profit. I doubt things will change much without classes, but if anything we might see items priced more accurately/fairly.
3] Again - Zen's idea of planet shop discounts could give us that nice little discount on our home planet so we don't feel like we're missing out! So, if you're a relcore citizen you would get a discount at all the relcore shops, etc. [This would need some balancing/figuring out, as some planets don't have many shops].
WOULD EVENTS BE NEGATIVELY IMPACTED?
I can't foresee this change negatively impacting events. If anything, I think it makes the playing field more even.
+ PET TURN-IN EVENTS +
If everyone has 3 hatches we all have equal chances of hatching high-colored pets for leaderboards. Merchants will no longer have to feel left out in this aspect of the game, which means more people getting involved in events - which is a GOOD thing for the site! The more involved people feel in the game, the less likely they are to stop playing!
+ ITEM TURN-IN EVENTS +
Merchants and ranchers both choose to participate or not in these events anyway. There are people in either class who currently sell items or turn them in. I don't see this negatively effecting these events. At most, NPC shops may need their stocks increased or stock rate changed - an easy fix!
Also, if I had the option to run a merchant shop, I would consider stocking up on event items throughout the year to sell. However, as a rancher, it's currently not worth the hassle and I wouldn't sacrifice my hatches. But if I could have BOTH I would DO BOTH - and spend more time playing the game!
WHAT OTHER IMPACT WOULD THIS HAVE ON THE ECONOMY?
This is a subject I would appreciate more thoughts on!
Personally, I don't think it would have a negative impact on the economy. It would give everyone an additional source of income - but it would also mean people exchanging tu more frequently, spending tu in NPC shops (tu sink!) more often and in general a more robust economy as far I as can imagine. I could be wrong on this point and I welcome any input on this!
Please share any thoughts you have! ♥
PS - I realize this is a far-in-the-future, long-term, maybe-pipe-dream thing (possibly/probably something
that wouldn't be implemented until V4 if at all) but that's okay. 8) I wanted to get it out there.
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