We need to stop this knee-jerk reaction to Merit Points

[orangeandblack5]

Oh my God! BMG added a second currency! Things in the shop are now four times as expensive! The end is nigh!

Seriously, calm down everybody. If you take a moment to be rational and consider the situation here, you'll see that the Merit Points system is actually a solid idea. Or, at least it has the potential to be.

Let's get a few complaints out of the way really quick:
Things cost four times as much MP as they did TP! - You earn four times as much MP as you did TP.
BlatantMoneyGrab is already rolling in money, they don't need more. - That isn't how multiplayer indie games work, and they don't have a massive excess of money like you may believe.
Spoiler:

Merit Points:
I realize from your guys perspective you are bummed about Merit Points. You use to be able to unlock everything in the game for free anytime you wanted to if you played enough and now you either have to purchase some Town Points or wait for the newer cosmetics to go onto free rotation. You can still unlock 75% of the shop for free, you can play the entire game for free and even the new skins will eventually be free as we rotate cosmetics, but hey we are trying to encourage people to support the game a little for the newest cosmetics so were scummy money grabbing assholes. I get it.

Having a two tiered currency allows us to have better control over the economy and be able to easily determine what items are free and what aren't free. We will be able to offer promotion sales for Town Points which we couldn't do before because having an 80% off sale on a promotion that can be bought with free currency wouldn't work. Were also going to be able to offer double Merit Point weekends and Town Point sales.

I'm sorry some of you are so mad because the system is different now but this is how FTP games work.... we have to make some money somewhere to keep things running. Despite what the internet haters out there think we aren't rolling in money and we have to constantly stress about new systems and ARPU to keep the game running and people employed.

(Reference)

People see the big numbers and make assumptions. It's hard to talk them out of it. People don't realize that Kickstarter takes 10% and then another 60% goes to manufacturing and shipping. They think we just put this money into our pockets.

(Reference)

Our Rackspace bill is over $10,000 a month. We also employ 5 programmers (including Blake and myself) a CM (Brandon) an artist and have a contract artist and contract sound engineer. Before people start raging at how we overpay... everyone at the company is underpaid by industry standards, we offer no benefits (health insurance, life insurance, dental) and no 401k benefits. I don't even know how we have such a loyal and devoted staff. We really got lucky and they are dedicated game developers.

Then keep in mind Steam and PayPal take a decent chunk of all purchases made.

Maybe if you take a second to step into our shoes you can see how much it hurts to have your community abuse you for trying to improve ARPU a little bit. We aren't like these AAA games that have ARPU perfected and make fuck tons of money.

(Reference)

The game isn't F2P anymore, it's P2P. - That is an entirely invalid argument, because you don't play skins, you play the game. Even in a worst-case scenario where every single skin required you to pay to get it, they're still just skins.
Well even so, the game is less fun now. - Skins will be TP-exclusive at launch and then be avalable for MP later. All this does is restrict the newest skins to people that pay and support the game. Countless other games, both free-to-play and games with a base cost use this same system. It's not the end of the world.
Yeah, but [insert problem with the system here]. - This is a brand-new, just-implemented system. Refinement will come. Instead of freaking out, why not suggest how the system can be improved?

So yeah, calm down. It's a tried and tested system that has a lot of potential to allow the devs to more closely control the game's economy, whilst incentivizing people to pay for stuff they like. It'll be good once the kinks are worked out.

[Lebensmahr]

The last Kickstarter project made 3000% of what they asked for. What happened to all that money?

[ICECLIMBERS]

The last Kickstarter project made 3000% of what they asked for. What happened to all that money?

If you read orange's post, you wouldn't need to ask this question.

I'd like a way to exchange town points for merit points. I have over 6,000 town points as I hardly ever buy cosmetics, meaning that now I need to start from zero merit points and go up, making my merit points useless for now.

[Magnasword2]

The last Kickstarter project made 3000% of what they asked for. What happened to all that money?

They spent it at las Vegas. No really. They spent the kickstarter money on going to Las vegas despite their pleas of "We have no money, We have to pay staff, We have to Blah blah blah" They have the money for sure. Their constant attempts to play the victim to get cash are mind boggling.

[orangeandblack5]

I believe they likely made money (or broke even) on the Vegas event. At least, that was the intention.

Regardless, that has nothing to do with implementing Merit Points, so please take that elsewhere.

[Calown]

Thanks orangeandblack.
You voiced my thoughts and maybe of many more silent people on the forums that so far didn't feel the need to react. To me it's insane that people go bat shit over a totally free game getting 100% optional paid skins.

[Damnyoulag]

Okay this bullshit with town points is getting unbelievable! I HAD 4970 POINTS STORED AND NOW I CANT BUY THE 5200 (APOCALYPSE) PACK

[sweetapples9]

But whats funny is... Who tf buys town points?

If BMG needs money, they shoukd have did it a different way bc who is going to buy this? honestly...

[chitownmvp01]

I never really found good reason to complain about merit points, but I don't know about merit points inside and out, but from what I do know about them, I don't see anything bad about them. Good post, orange!

[Neasans]

Tbh I wouldn't mind if a conversion method existed, would probably help people chill about it.

But yeah, in the end, it's just cosmetics lol. So long as they don't affect gameplay, I don't really see a problem.

[chitownmvp01]

Tbh I wouldn't mind if a conversion method existed, would probably help people chill about it.

But yeah, in the end, it's just cosmetics lol. So long as they don't affect gameplay, I don't really see a problem.

Some people really care about cosmetics. Personally, I don't. I only spend on scrolls.

[presidentjeb]

if what I googled is correct (and this is a very rough layperson estimate), here's what their budget would be if everything in-game were free:

INCOME
$395.5k (card game kickstarter)
$5.5k (card game prototype party, 50 ppl x avg $110/person since there was a sale)

EXPENSES
$300k (Apr sponsors pewds/ken/cry/jack/mark; 9.7M views, $30/1k views)
$50k (Oct sponsors same youtubers, but looks like BMG cut the deal short bc vids are gone)
$32k (kickstarter fee)
$12k (gaming, 5k visitor cap server hosting)
$7.5k (prototype party hotel cost)
$2k (prototype party employee reimbursement)

TOTAL: $395.5K - $403.5k = -$7.5k.

They'd be in debt, and this doesn't even cover employee salary, production costs, taxes, rent/equipment costs, or other smaller costs.

It's unreasonable to expect them to live like this. And again, you don't need skins to play the game. In fact, I've bought >8000 TP of stuff (Happy Holidays, Winter in salem, fall map, grumpy cat, doge, and scrolls) and the only one that was worth it was Doge, for 780 TP. I only realized I took the defaults for granted when I bought something new and realized I actually liked the old ones.

websites used:
http://blog.grapevinelogic.com/how-much ... onsorship/
https://www.bustle.com/articles/103239- ... stem-works
http://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/ar ... player-cap
http://artisanhotel.com/blog/dont-just- ... ire-hotel/
all the relevant youtube videos, kickstarter, eventbrite, facebook page

[Kaladry]

I'm fine with them implementing a new currency, whatever. However they should have notified us of the change a day or so in advance so those people trying to make that list bit of Town Points to get a skin they wanted could crack down on playing rather than suddenly be cut off from it 40 TP short.

Also, I think what would confuse people a lot less is if if wenow earned the same amount of Merit Points as we did TP and the prices in MP are the same as TP. This way those people who are bad at math and just see a ridiculously big number don't go crazy complaining until someone points out it is only 4 times the amount and we get 4 times the amount.

Also maybe to quell some further people's anger, make a currency conversion. Albeit I know BMG needs to make a profit off TP so make it a very high conversion rate of MP to TP. I.e. 10 TP = 4000 MP

[lilmixer]

if what I googled is correct (and this is a very rough layperson estimate), here's what their budget would be if everything in-game were free:

INCOME
$395.5k (card game kickstarter)
$5.5k (card game prototype party, 50 ppl x avg $110/person since there was a sale)

EXPENSES
$300k (Apr sponsors pewds/ken/cry/jack/mark; 9.7M views, $30/1k views)
$50k (Oct sponsors same youtubers, but looks like BMG cut the deal short bc vids are gone)
$32k (kickstarter fee)
$12k (gaming, 5k visitor cap server hosting)
$7.5k (prototype party hotel cost)
$2k (prototype party employee reimbursement)

TOTAL: $395.5K - $403.5k = -$7.5k.

They'd be in debt, and this doesn't even cover employee salary, production costs, taxes, rent/equipment costs, or other smaller costs.

It's unreasonable to expect them to live like this. And again, you don't need skins to play the game. In fact, I've bought >8000 TP of stuff (Happy Holidays, Winter in salem, fall map, grumpy cat, doge, and scrolls) and the only one that was worth it was Doge, for 780 TP. I only realized I took the defaults for granted when I bought something new and realized I actually liked the old ones.

websites used:
http://blog.grapevinelogic.com/how-much ... onsorship/
https://www.bustle.com/articles/103239- ... stem-works
http://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/ar ... player-cap
http://artisanhotel.com/blog/dont-just- ... ire-hotel/
all the relevant youtube videos, kickstarter, eventbrite, facebook page

They spent the money on stupid shit, they put themselves in that situation. All the paid youtuber videos did was bring in a shit ton of cheating and disruptive players; I imagine only a handful of them continued playing the game after a month, and even fewer actually became adequate players. So yay, 300k for shitty players and an unplayable game for the first few weeks.

And the card game prototype event wasn't necessary either. Did they really think they were gonna fill that hotel? Smh.

I don't mind paying for town points (I got a bundle from one of those offer pop ups where I paid like $3 for 15k town points or something) but painting them like poor, suffering indie game developers who can't afford to eat is deceptive.

[orangeandblack5]

So is painting them as swimming in money (which I've seen alot of). Which I think was his point.

[shapesifter13]

if what I googled is correct (and this is a very rough layperson estimate), here's what their budget would be if everything in-game were free:

INCOME
$395.5k (card game kickstarter)
$5.5k (card game prototype party, 50 ppl x avg $110/person since there was a sale)

EXPENSES
$300k (Apr sponsors pewds/ken/cry/jack/mark; 9.7M views, $30/1k views)WAY OFF lol, we didn't spend nearly this much. Not gonna say how much we spent, but this is pretty far off. You also have to take into consideration that this is marketing money. That means that we will make more than we spent back(which we did).
$50k (Oct sponsors same youtubers, but looks like BMG cut the deal short bc vids are gone)Same as my above comment. Marketing money that was spent but we made more than what we spent back.
$32k (kickstarter fee)
$12k (gaming, 5k visitor cap server hosting)
$7.5k (prototype party hotel cost)
$2k (prototype party employee reimbursement)
TOTAL: $395.5K - $403.5k = -$7.5k.

Some people don't seem to understand that about 60% of what we made is spent on manufacturing and shipping of the card game. People seem to think that we pocketed 400k when we did the Kickstarter, we had to spend 70% of it on Kickstarter fees, manufacturing, and shipping. Then people don't take into account that there is the cost of the time spent designing out the cards, the interactions, the card art, the time spent managing the Kickstarter, making the video, finding manufacturers, and fulfillment centers. There is a lot of work that goes into this that can be taken from that 30% left as a cost of development, then we also have to pay taxes on it. I am not saying we didn't make money, we made a product that expanded our brand. In the long run we will probably make an OK amount from it with pre-orders and regular orders, and the profit we made on the Kickstarter, but we are by no means rolling in the dough.

[randomguyhavingfun]

Just can't agree anymore. I was thinking of creating this myself actually. People just can't stand the word pay it seems

[fornycation]

Personally I don't really care about the new system because I don't buy anything. I think that people are angry because they were saving up Town Points to buy a new skin and now they can't without paying real money. If BMG had given a warning or said in advance that some skins weren't going to be available for free anymore I think the backlash would have been minimal.

[WindBlqde]

I read something and changed my mind on most of this.

They should have told players a week in advance, though, so they could save up for the cosmetics they wanted.
All cosmetics will be available with merit points soon, it's just newer ones that they haven't gotten around to yet.
This makes me pretty much fine.

[SiakAttack]

Helix forbid they try make some optional money on a free game service they provide, I enjoy this game and have spent a bit on it no more than £30 I believe but it was well spent considering the hours I have spent enjoying the game (618 currently on steam)

That being said I wouldn't say no to a conversion of currency option though I'd say about 10 MP to 1 TP seems fair.

Keep up the good work Devs, looking forward to 1.6 and an ELO reset to get me out of ELO hell I got stuck into learning the game before RP was a thing.

[RetralMega]

Helix forbid they try make some optional money on a free game service they provide, I enjoy this game and have spent a bit on it no more than £30 I believe but it was well spent considering the hours I have spent enjoying the game (618 currently on steam)

That being said I wouldn't say no to a conversion of currency option though I'd say about 10 MP to 1 TP seems fair.

Keep up the good work Devs, looking forward to 1.6 and an ELO reset to get me out of ELO hell I got stuck into learning the game before RP was a thing.

Converting to Town Points would make having a new currency completely pointless. The other way around is fine.

[mdb1023]

The last Kickstarter project made 3000% of what they asked for. What happened to all that money?

They spent it at las Vegas. No really. They spent the kickstarter money on going to Las vegas despite their pleas of "We have no money, We have to pay staff, We have to Blah blah blah" They have the money for sure. Their constant attempts to play the victim to get cash are mind boggling.

Yes because a $2000 party (that was also funded by people who PAID TO GO) is totally "all of the Kickstarter money"

I get it, you're a bit salty. Get over it. If you're that pissed off, then just leave the forums and the games and stop giving a shit. If you really think bmg are scummy, then be the bigger person and walk away instead of acting like an entitled prick.

[RetralMega]

The last Kickstarter project made 3000% of what they asked for. What happened to all that money?

They spent it at las Vegas. No really. They spent the kickstarter money on going to Las vegas despite their pleas of "We have no money, We have to pay staff, We have to Blah blah blah" They have the money for sure. Their constant attempts to play the victim to get cash are mind boggling.

Yes because a $2000 party (that was also funded by people who PAID TO GO) is totally "all of the Kickstarter money"

I get it, you're a bit salty. Get over it. If you're that pissed off, then just leave the forums and the games and stop giving a shit. If you really think bmg are scummy, then be the bigger person and walk away instead of acting like an entitled prick.

He also made a video where he took what the Devs said out of context entirely and lied the entire time, telling his five or so fans that BMG was basically stealing people's money.

[mdb1023]

The last Kickstarter project made 3000% of what they asked for. What happened to all that money?

They spent it at las Vegas. No really. They spent the kickstarter money on going to Las vegas despite their pleas of "We have no money, We have to pay staff, We have to Blah blah blah" They have the money for sure. Their constant attempts to play the victim to get cash are mind boggling.

Yes because a $2000 party (that was also funded by people who PAID TO GO) is totally "all of the Kickstarter money"

I get it, you're a bit salty. Get over it. If you're that pissed off, then just leave the forums and the games and stop giving a shit. If you really think bmg are scummy, then be the bigger person and walk away instead of acting like an entitled prick.

He also made a video where he took what the Devs said out of context entirely and lied the entire time, telling his five or so fans that BMG was basically stealing people's money.

Yeah so did tormental. It's clear that neither of them did their research, though, because many of the pints they made were flawed or wrong just for the sake of ruining BMG's name. I think I said "wrong." more times watching that video than Donald Truml.
Not saying they should do this, but BMG would probably have grounds for a defamation lawsuit with some of the shit those 2 say.

[RetralMega]

BMG wont sue them because they're bigger than those degenerates are.