I posted the below comments in another thread, but am creating a new topic because I think this merits some serious discussion, and I'm interested to hear what others think.
Regarding R2's decision (over the past several months) to offer enormous rewards to the Top 3 players in terms of BR, in an apparent attempt to increase in-game spending:
It's a very misguided move on R2's part. By repeatedly rewarding only the top 3 cashers on each server with overpowered rewards, R2 is artificially accelerating the gap in BR between those "top" players and everyone else, in the hopes that it will force others to cash. But here's the problem - it's having the precise opposite effect.
Even relatively heavy cashers are being discouraged from spending more than they are accustomed to, because they realize that no matter what they spend at this point, the BR gap between them and these "top 3" will only continue to increase over time, while Non-cashers certainly won't be inclined to start spending now, as they have absolutely ZERO chance at this point of becoming even REMOTELY as powerful as those at the top.
R2 may think they are encouraging the rest of the player base to spend more in-game, but they are simply shooting themselves in the foot. Of course the top players support it; it's the classic "we're at the top of the ladder, now let's pull the ladder up" approach. By artificially inflating the BR gap between a very few vs. the very many, all you are doing is ensuring that the vast majority of your player base will become even more convinced that the game is not worth their time & money.
R2 is essentially tampering with the natural state of the game's economic market; they're creating an artificially inflated bubble, and as the past has proven, attempts to manipulate markets always fail. The way for R2 to ensure they continue to profit is to let the market control itself. In other words, keep your damn hand out of it, R2 - the players themselves will provide adequate incentive for "the competition" to spend more. But no one will spend more when they see no reasonable chance of ever making it to the top (or even CLOSE to the top) themselves.
Regarding R2's decision (over the past several months) to offer enormous rewards to the Top 3 players in terms of BR, in an apparent attempt to increase in-game spending:
It's a very misguided move on R2's part. By repeatedly rewarding only the top 3 cashers on each server with overpowered rewards, R2 is artificially accelerating the gap in BR between those "top" players and everyone else, in the hopes that it will force others to cash. But here's the problem - it's having the precise opposite effect.
Even relatively heavy cashers are being discouraged from spending more than they are accustomed to, because they realize that no matter what they spend at this point, the BR gap between them and these "top 3" will only continue to increase over time, while Non-cashers certainly won't be inclined to start spending now, as they have absolutely ZERO chance at this point of becoming even REMOTELY as powerful as those at the top.
R2 may think they are encouraging the rest of the player base to spend more in-game, but they are simply shooting themselves in the foot. Of course the top players support it; it's the classic "we're at the top of the ladder, now let's pull the ladder up" approach. By artificially inflating the BR gap between a very few vs. the very many, all you are doing is ensuring that the vast majority of your player base will become even more convinced that the game is not worth their time & money.
R2 is essentially tampering with the natural state of the game's economic market; they're creating an artificially inflated bubble, and as the past has proven, attempts to manipulate markets always fail. The way for R2 to ensure they continue to profit is to let the market control itself. In other words, keep your damn hand out of it, R2 - the players themselves will provide adequate incentive for "the competition" to spend more. But no one will spend more when they see no reasonable chance of ever making it to the top (or even CLOSE to the top) themselves.
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