Let's all talk about the elephant in the room. Numbers. We all know the state of current Vindi so I won't waste too much of your time by reiterating that there's a drought of players in comparison to the last 2-3 years or so, despite new characters coming out which usually revitalize the game...
We need to suggest themes to Nexon that would encourage new-player-friendly content without having to invent new material so Nexon doesn't gamble, and lose money on the business end. If we give out suggestions like "make a whole bunch of new content" that's likely not going to happen since making/maintaining an mmo is still very expensive, respectively.
So the question is how can we use what we have to boost numbers and keep those numbers in the midst of high competing games like Elden Ring, and Lost Ark?
[Issues]
Gameplay Difficulty - The game ranges from extremely easy to insanely challenging with gated content thanks to 'new' stats.
Pay to win experience - Players often feel enticed to spend hundreds of dollars to have a chance at keeping up.
The Western audience - Western players often don't appreciate the same atmosphere of gaming that Koreans likely do. Such ass the gear leveling mechanic.
Content - Most content has been dry or dumbed down in favor of over-simplification. Takes too long to come. Or doesn't come at all.
Grind/Player Fatigue - How to keep players from becoming burnt out?
How to make Nexon money - How to make purchasing content from Nexon both enjoyable for the playerbase AND Nexon?
[Solutions/Suggestions]
[Gameplay Difficult] -Let's start off with [Gameplay Difficulty] In my opinion Vindi has been recovering from the decision of RISE for a long long time. The problem lies with having an insanely easy early to mid-game, and getting absolutely slapped by reality when you want to play recent raids with your friends (or other players) and realize you have to reach obscenely high stats to do so. It's easy to say "make it easier to do later missions" but that's not a clear solution. Doing that would minimalize the hard work players have done without the buff, and ultimately make content have the same effect RISE had.
So maybe we don't want to make the content easier, but we should however look into making GETTING TO THAT CONTENT easier. Players need a more step by step approach to being able to meet goals. New players are going to come in, see a huge wall, and be intimidated before eventually leaving. In order to avoid this we need the game to support these players logging in day by day and getting closer to leveling their gear up and getting into those higher raids! This should be possible without the direct help of other players too so if a new player(s) is on at 'dead' hours of the day, they're not forced to wait til tomorrow to make any progress.
It would also be wise to incentivize veteran players to aid other players with direct, and noticeable rewards.
[Pay to win experience] - Speaking of climbing the ranks...Let's talk about [pay to win]. Pay to win is not the devil. It's not something that needs to be attacked or demolished, HOWEVER, it is something that absolutely should never feel mandatory. And vindi pressures its new players to spend to have any chance at a steady rate of progression. Runes, Gachas with valuable items, heck even fishing poles are all locked behind monetization and a lot of it!
I said I would avoid giving suggestions that would ultimately cost Nexon money so as a compromise I suggest that maybe you should have more appealing sales, and events? Instead of always having runes be at a static price you should have times where they're buy 2 get 1 free, or have version of your Black Friday sales on the off season! This combined with events would make players not feel like they're trapped into spending a lot of money. The events alone can improve this issue!
[The western audience] - A thing to keep in mind is that the western audience needs a special type of approach. Especially in regards to RNG. I doubt many players in general enjoy too much RNG and even less enjoy that RNG in the form of regression. Regression in the western audience is KILLING this game for NA in regards to new players. Having your weapon/armor blow up and having no way to reobtain that other than spending copious amounts of AP is tedious. As a new player you're not going to understand why you're being punished for trying to progress in the game, and if you put yourself in a bad situation as a new player you're going to end up with no weapon or armor piece, meaning you can't even do the most simple raids you're meant to. RNG rates regarding drops for mats should be adjusted, and the regression should be looked into. You could probably even do away with the AP cost of an item and make the item usable but in need of reforging. This way you dont hurt the market of mats by removing the system altogether.
[Content] - Let's move on to our favorite topic: Content. I'll say it- content has been lackluster the past couple of years... We went from Vindi trying to be daring, bold and innovative in boss designs and how you play the game to... pretty much raid only formula. Hunting for treasure is no more, cooking, fishing, goldsmithing etc is unupdated. Bosses have been turned from needing to do specific requirements and working as a team to beat mechanics to... simple walk into the room and beat on it til death.
Some content removal was best for quality of life like having weight on armor, and Fiona's shield breakage, but others like the various ES scrolls and such, and interesting boss designs such as braha, havan, kraken, going into lakorias belly, and many others have been abandoned for the sake of oversimplification! Bring back ES like "Misery" but buff it a bit to make it interesting to have. Let's see some unique builds again!
In the future make bosses more like abomination where you have to micromanage stuff while fighting, and coordinate with teammates! And please please please improve the life skills of the game. New players would benefit by being able to fish, cook, goldsmith, or gather for money! It would be a great incentive for even veterans to get back into the grass roots of things! Besides it'll give you something to do for when you're done with raiding and need a break!
Keep up ideas like the Guild House, and please elaborate on its uses! Make Keagan, Tieve, and Gall available in your Guild House! Bring back some of the old assets like the lemonade recipe, and buff the value in which they give! People would happily farm specific raids or missions of the day to get certain mats to make specialty food!
[Grind/Player fatigue] I've helped many of new players try to get into the game, and most reasons they leave are reasons we've already discussed in this post. Players NEED to see progression. That or they need something to distract them from the daily grind! More social events and life skilling! Also make vvip more accessible so players don't have to suffer under the fatigue system!
[How to make Nexon money] Lastly, this is one of the most important things... Because without Nexon making money we can't get better content, and cannot encourage them to make healthy changes to the game. We love buying skins... when we actually get them. Gachas are awesome but at the same time harmful for the game as a new player.
I've suggested before that you make an "outfit renting shop" where players can buy gacha outfits through a temporary rent system similar to what the outfitter shop has (but this new shop would allow you to try SQ Set, Tieve etc). Let people try out new things for a measly 10-20 bucks here and there a month. Those who want the outfits permanently can still purchase it via gachas, or the mp. Those who can't afford to burn money on gachas can have an alternative to spend money by buffing the outfitter shop! It's a win win. Also more people would buy gachas if the gachas/rates were more reasonable. Either consider lowering the pity amount to get an item or increase the odds of getting a legendary outfit depending on your "fashion score". This way you reward players for constantly buying your gachas by making it easier to buy more gachas! Big spenders will feel like they're making smarter investments.
[Closing Notes]
That's all I have for now. If you've read this far thank you so much for reading all of this! I might make a TLDR for those too busy later, but for now I implore you to please post a comment on what you agree/disagree with and what you think will be best for the game! I'd love to hear your thoughts, and I tried to make this post as mutually beneficial for both Vindi players and Nexon!
