Boosting player retention by decreasing lower ages' upgrade times

[KniferX]

Players that have joined the game 6 or more months, or year+ after release are faced with a tough dilemma as far as their in-game progress is concerned.
1) Rush to the max age to play with the newest toys and leave their defence, in essence, permanently behind compared to the newest age. You can never hope to reach the maximum since the upgrade times & worker requirements get very long
2) Stay in their respective ages (IA, GA, eventually AA) and have a competent defense for their age, but never get to play with the newest units and offense styles (Global alone will take the longest time)
3) Spend dubious ammount of money to play catch-up.

My suggestion is to ease this burden, or should we say, punishment, on players that just haven't had the luck to find the game right as it came out, by simply cutting costs, both resource and time, from pre-atomic upgrades. It will help both rushers and non-rushers and motivate them to play more, and ultimately pay more, because they won't feel like the game is punishing them for something they couldn't control that much (finding the game after its' release)

I don't think anyone, especially the devs, imagined it would be immersive and fun to have atomics with gunpowder defenses but that is the case currently.

 

[Manifesto]

My answer is honestly: I play the game to ''play the game''. If there are other people ahead of me because they started earlier I would call that ''reality''. I would be a monumental idiot to be upset that someone else was ahead of me because they started earlier. That's what is generally known as ''WELL, DUH''.

 

[Manifesto]

KniferX , maybe this will explain things a little better for you and others.
People complaining that they will never catch up to others who started earlier should remember simple mathematics. And remember they will ALWAYS be behind. At every point in time SOMEONE will always be behind.
Someone who started 6 months ago can't catch someone who started 1 yr ago
Someone who started 1 yr ago can't catch someone who started 18mths ago.
Someone who started 18 mths ago can't catch someone who started 2 yrs ago.
Someone who started 2yrs ago can't catch someone who started 2.5yrs ago.
Etc, etc.
After 2.5 yrs I'm high level AA. About 10mths ago I started another account which has just gone IA. Did I complain I was behind others? No.
Did I worry about industrial or Global back then? No. I just got on with the game and worried about bases at MY level.
Complaining didn't get me to IA, playing the game did.
So, keep complaining while I keep playing. Cheers!

 

[Manifesto]

One more thing KniferX , there are actually a few things that new folks have to make their progress/upgrades quicker or easier, which us old folks didn't have.
A double slot in the armory.
Double slot in the library. (Due soon).
University. To make defenses better, upgrades shorter, cost reductions, etc.
Dock for free troops.
PLUS: all us old folks to help newcomers learn from our mistakes.

And yet you think they're justified for complaining?

 

[SiuYin]

KniferX , maybe this will explain things a little better for you and others.
People complaining that they will never catch up to others who started earlier should remember simple mathematics. And remember they will ALWAYS be behind. At every point in time SOMEONE will always be behind.
Someone who started 6 months ago can't catch someone who started 1 yr ago
Someone who started 1 yr ago can't catch someone who started 18mths ago.
Someone who started 18 mths ago can't catch someone who started 2 yrs ago.
Someone who started 2yrs ago can't catch someone who started 2.5yrs ago.
Etc, etc.
After 2.5 yrs I'm high level AA. About 10mths ago I started another account which has just gone IA. Did I complain I was behind others? No.
Did I worry about industrial or Global back then? No. I just got on with the game and worried about bases at MY level.
Complaining didn't get me to IA, playing the game did.
So, keep complaining while I keep playing. Cheers!

it is exactly the reason why the game is dying.

And don't forget, if new player can't catch up, we will suffer at the last
We are now very difficult to find enough high level player to join our alliance now.

 

[Manifesto]

Then by your reasoning every other game should be dying as well.
Unless you're saying that other games have overcome the mathematics of ''people who start late cannot catch players who start early''?

 

[SiuYin]

most game have catch up machanism, shorten early age time requirment. it is a common practice

 

[KniferX]

KniferX , maybe this will explain things a little better for you and others.
People complaining that they will never catch up to others who started earlier should remember simple mathematics. And remember they will ALWAYS be behind. At every point in time SOMEONE will always be behind.
Someone who started 6 months ago can't catch someone who started 1 yr ago
Someone who started 1 yr ago can't catch someone who started 18mths ago.
Someone who started 18 mths ago can't catch someone who started 2 yrs ago.
Someone who started 2yrs ago can't catch someone who started 2.5yrs ago.
Etc, etc.
After 2.5 yrs I'm high level AA. About 10mths ago I started another account which has just gone IA. Did I complain I was behind others? No.
Did I worry about industrial or Global back then? No. I just got on with the game and worried about bases at MY level.
Complaining didn't get me to IA, playing the game did.
So, keep complaining while I keep playing. Cheers!

I'm actually going to continue playing. The alliance I am in and the wars are still holding me to the game. On its' own, without the alliance and a slight competitive feel of the game (barring p2w and sandbags) the game is in essense a grind fest with enticing money offers to ease the grind (back to that at the end of the post).

Read my OP again. The point is to ease this difference, allowing more retention for new players (something the game is struggling to do at this point) while still leaving high players with the advantages.
Nobody has said anything about making this new player suddenly catch up to you, and you're constucting your argument on that false premise, which slightly points me to the reason you're doing it. To preserve your sense of acomplishment.

Anyway, as for the "benefits", none of them make any progress faster, just easier.
Armory and library are the first ones to be done anyway, 1 slot or 2 slots.
Upgrade discounts in university are almost as expensive as the discount itself, not to mention worker time lost.
University itself is a huge worker dump, slowing progress even more. New and old players alike.

Oh, I forgot the forest cut time was lowered. You got me there, new players have it all instant now.

Finally, it just came to me why this idea might be ignored. It is easy to guess that many of the starter packs and estate sales are from players that face this very dilemma and instead of giving up or continuing on despite it, reach for their wallet to get this same exact effect that I proposed.
They are, just like you, thinking in the short term, current gratification, not the long-term health of the game. Quite ironic, isn't it?

 

[Manifesto]

FYI, there is no ''my 'gratification'' as you put it, but if I told you what I do care about you'll probably not believe me anyway.
But what the hey, you are entitled to your opinion.
At least you admitted the progress will be easier, which is the whole crux of my discussion, and whether you admit it or not, a big part of your OP.
Enjoy the game!

 

[Master Contrail Program]

Who gives a damn if new people get to global, or even atomic now, in six months or so? How would you even know? Just more bases to raid. This sounds a lot like, ''When I was your age I walked to school uphill both ways through three feet of snow!" Honestly, do you brag about your Dominations accomplishments to people in your real day-to-day life or something?

Even with wars and alliances this is still a single player game at its heart. It's not as if we're directly competing with people in real time here, despite some folks' daily base-shuffling. So what difference does it make how quickly someone got to some arbitrary point? It doesn't remove the time spent and the fun you've had with the game. It doesn't make your base suddenly weaker. Like I said, just more targets to choose from.

 

[melheor]

That and the [Season] of Ages events, which weren't introduced until recently, I really hope Nexon continues them, I think they're a good way to catch up. Although I hope there will be more discounts to research time than just town center. The resources aren't really that scarce in later ages.