Players leaving

[Pericles the Lion]

I cull the FL on my main world every week and those on my minor cities each month. I've not noticed anything unusual in any of my cities regarding the number of players going inactive. Just a couple, nothing surprising. In addition, I look at the players that join, or leave, guilds on my main world every day. Players that leave a guild to go solo may, or may not, have left the game. That said, I do see about 10 players going indy each day but I cannot remember the last time one of them was ranked in the top 500 on the world.

 

[Johnny B. Goode]

I've not noticed anything unusual in any of my cities regarding the number of players going inactive.

Well if you've not noticed it, nothing must be happening. Pardon us for wasting everybody's time.

"It's okay, everyone, Pericles says nothing to see here. Let's move along."

 

[Pericles the Lion]

I have both of them on ignore , much more peaceful that way without them cheerleading everything Inno does.

Well if you've not noticed it, nothing must be happening. Pardon us for wasting everybody's time.

"It's okay, everyone, Pericles says nothing to see here. Let's move along."

So, in your universe, it's acceptable for INNO haters to complain but anyone that does not share your views cannot speak up? If you are so displeased with the game how about doing everybody a favor and rage quit? Why anyone that cannot find a bright side to the game continues to play is a great mystery to me. Masochism?

 

[Johnny B. Goode]

So, in your universe, it's acceptable for INNO haters to complain but anyone that does not share your views cannot speak up? If you are so displeased with the game how about doing everybody a favor and rage quit? Why anyone that cannot find a bright side to the game continues to play is a great mystery to me. Masochism?

First of all, I'm not an "INNO hater". If you had been around long enough you would know that historically I've been more likely to defend Inno than criticize them. Why has that changed? Because Inno changed. They stopped making the game better and decided to just make it more lucrative for themselves. Now that's not a problem if they are making the game better at the same time. It doesn't have to be an either/or, it could be both. That it isn't is self evident, and it's sad. Why do I stick around? Probably because I'm hoping that at some point they'll get back to improving the game. Plus, there are still parts of the game I enjoy. Not all of it, but that's always been true. Just not to this degree.

You, however, always...always...defend whatever they do. And at the same time you pretend that it's just a few "haters" that are unhappy with what's going on. It gets really old, especially when it is so clear that they're screwing up the game. If we bother you so much with our complaints, and you love the game so much, why don't you just go play the game and ignore us "haters".

 

[Mista Boomtastic]

everyone is sooo helpful
no one actually cares, Obviously
perfect example as to why I stopped playing
thank you for the reminder

 

[MKPapa]

Johnny B. Goode you are so much fun. Thank you for being who you are.

The funny thing is that Johnny has nothing better to do than reading through, and responding to, all of our complains. Why not just enjoy the great game instead?

 

[Ebeondi Asi]

The funny thing is that Johnny has nothing better to do than reading through, and responding to, all of our complains. Why not just enjoy the great game instead?

This is part of the game...

 

[Johnny B. Goode]

The funny thing is that Johnny has nothing better to do than reading through, and responding to, all of our complains. Why not just enjoy the great game instead?

Because I am a curmudgeon and...
This is the way.

 

[Just An Observer]

Only 4 of the Top 100 in Cirgard are not in a guild, which usually indicates an inactive player.

 

[Sledgie]

I'm in the top 100 on Tuulech and will be leaving the game on Sunday. Yes, sample size of one, but I know there are many other top players that feel like I do.

 

[Sledgie]

Only 4 of the Top 100 in Cirgard are not in a guild, which usually indicates an inactive player.

Inactive players are frequently in solo guilds as well. Just because someone has a guild doesn't mean they are active.

 

[Pericles the Lion]

What is the point of this discussion? Of course players are leaving the game. Nothing new. Of course, players are inactive. Again, nothing new. The unasked question is are more players leaving now than at any other point in the game? Unless someone has been methodically tracking the comings and goings (which I sincerely doubt) only INNO has the answer to this question. Since they have the data and are managing the game the way that they are, it's likely that they do not have any worries about player attrition. As long as there are enough new players to replace the departures the game will remain healthy.

 

[Ebeondi Asi]

One other point which is being ignored is the end of Covid restrictions etc. All things connected to gaming have been suffering a setback recently, Mainly due to the large gains during Covid lockdowns. which are now lifted and the former gains are vanishing. . So there are way too many reasons for players leaving to try to claim that new changes and money plays are the main reason.
They certainly are for "some" players. How many? total guessing game.

 

[MJ Artisan of War]

The new changes and money plays are the main reason for 75% of the vanished players leaving..... That is my guess.
Will be a big jump in departures when they eventually nerf GBG.... Winter is Coming.

 

[Johnny B. Goode]

What is the point of this discussion? Of course players are leaving the game. Nothing new. Of course, players are inactive. Again, nothing new. The unasked question is are more players leaving now than at any other point in the game? Unless someone has been methodically tracking the comings and goings (which I sincerely doubt) only INNO has the answer to this question. Since they have the data and are managing the game the way that they are, it's likely that they do not have any worries about player attrition. As long as there are enough new players to replace the departures the game will remain healthy.

One other point which is being ignored is the end of Covid restrictions etc. All things connected to gaming have been suffering a setback recently, Mainly due to the large gains during Covid lockdowns. which are now lifted and the former gains are vanishing. . So there are way too many reasons for players leaving to try to claim that new changes and money plays are the main reason.
They certainly are for "some" players. How many? total guessing game.

And what is the point of you two chiming in with the same old "everything's fine" chorus? Especially the ridiculous "Covid restrictions are ending" crap. Covid restrictions in most of the country were lifted at least a year ago, two years ago in some places. And then after naming that one thing, claiming "there are way too many reasons". Balderdash! At least 1/3 of the players I posted about that disappeared had between 50M and 1B ranking points. Long time players. Disappearing. That has NOT been happening on the scale that most of us (those of us with our eyes open) are seeing now. Maybe you'll acknowledge it when it's just the two of you left here.

 

[xivarmy]

What is the point of this discussion? Of course players are leaving the game. Nothing new. Of course, players are inactive. Again, nothing new. The unasked question is are more players leaving now than at any other point in the game? Unless someone has been methodically tracking the comings and goings (which I sincerely doubt) only INNO has the answer to this question. Since they have the data and are managing the game the way that they are, it's likely that they do not have any worries about player attrition. As long as there are enough new players to replace the departures the game will remain healthy.

Alternate interpretation, backed up by MTG's (public) financial statement that some players tracked down: Inno *are* having trouble finding sufficient players to replace the ones they're losing and it's "slowed their growth". Meanwhile others of MTG's properties have continued growth despite the same post-pandemic-slowdown conditions so they're probably under pressure of the "those guys are doing fine, why aren't you" variety.

They clearly *are* concerned by it but their reaction rather than trying to stem the tide has seemed to be to increase monetization to try and get more blood from the playerbase they have left (rise of increasing monetization features seeming to be their focus for the last year or so). I also heard a rumor they had layoffs, so they're apparently trying to cut costs as well as a reaction to their slowed growth.

Pure opinion: these actions are likely to accelerate the loss of players further to some extent - whether or not that's offset by making more money off those who are around we'll probably have to wait for the next statement.

 

[Johnny B. Goode]

The topic isn't whether Inno "owes" (your words, not ours) us anything. The topic is players leaving the game. I did my checking of friends list today, which I do fairly regularly. I don't actively pursue friends, so my list isn't as full as many or yours are. My lists consist of a variety of players, from fairly new ones through casual players who've been here for a while to long time players. They also range from players under 1M points all the way to players with almost 1B points. Here are the results of this action:
12 Worlds
590 total friends at start, average of 49 per world.
437 total friends at end, after removing all "over 7 day" inactives.
47 additional friends between 2-7 days inactive.
26% of total removed.
8% potential to be removed in near future.
Highest % removed from one world: 51%
Lowest % removed from one world: 11%
While many of those removed could be considered casual players, there were several with point totals in the hundreds of millions, and many more with tens of millions of points. Several were long time players who had been on my lists for years.

While I have never tracked the results of checking my friends lists, the fact that 10 of 12 worlds lost at least 20% this time seems significant. If they had all been at the bottom of my lists, that would be one thing. However, those removed were from every point on the lists, from top to bottom.

It's pretty clear that many players are unhappy with the direction the game is going, and also that a portion of those are leaving the game. Defending the actions Inno is taking won't change that. And it won't magically make us okay with what's going on. All it does is give you a false sense of superiority. In other words, it's just self-righteous pomposity. Inno may not "owe" us anything, but by the same token, we don't owe them anything. Certainly not any loyalty when they're crapping all over us.

2 days later and 7 more red dot (over 7 days) inactives removed. Unfortunately, the list of yellow dot (2-7 days) inactives only dropped by one, which means that 6 players went from green dot (last 2 days) active to yellow dot inactive.
Now the average loss per world is 14 players. Even if each world had 140 friends to start, that would be a loss of 10% each. With my number of friends at the start, however, it is an average loss of 27% per world. I'll check again on Monday.

 

[Orius Maximus]

Another of those reasons being players want to achieve completion the first time on a buildings initial release, not the second or third time round. By the second or third time you may have lost interest in the current game you're playing anyway, and therefore never complete it.

Unfortunately, if I don't complete an event building, it means I have to wait about a year to finish off when the event comes around again. And by then, the building might not be as useful. It doesn't help that the event buildings are part of the changing game meta, so missing event buildings put me at a disadvantage. One or two a year might not matter, but if it becomes frequent, it frustrates me.

Alternate interpretation, backed up by MTG's (public) financial statement that some players tracked down: Inno *are* having trouble finding sufficient players to replace the ones they're losing and it's "slowed their growth". Meanwhile others of MTG's properties have continued growth despite the same post-pandemic-slowdown conditions so they're probably under pressure of the "those guys are doing fine, why aren't you" variety.

They clearly *are* concerned by it but their reaction rather than trying to stem the tide has seemed to be to increase monetization to try and get more blood from the playerbase they have left (rise of increasing monetization features seeming to be their focus for the last year or so). I also heard a rumor they had layoffs, so they're apparently trying to cut costs as well as a reaction to their slowed growth.

Pure opinion: these actions are likely to accelerate the loss of players further to some extent - whether or not that's offset by making more money off those who are around we'll probably have to wait for the next statement.

Corporate executives are often morons who only see the money and don't understand what they're actually selling it seems. FoE is an 11 year old game, so there's going to be a natural decline in the player base as old players naturally leave and there are fewer people to replace them because the younger gamers who drive future growth may simply be interested in something else. Though younger gamers tend to be conditioned by the industry to think only new games are any good too. The executives being stupid, don't understand this, they only see less money. Of course a game like FoE is going to have less profits because it's passed its peak. The problem is when they come up with hare-brained monetization schemes that only piss off the core player base.

 

[Johnny B. Goode]

2 days later and 7 more red dot (over 7 days) inactives removed. Unfortunately, the list of yellow dot (2-7 days) inactives only dropped by one, which means that 6 players went from green dot (last 2 days) active to yellow dot inactive.
Now the average loss per world is 14 players. Even if each world had 140 friends to start, that would be a loss of 10% each. With my number of friends at the start, however, it is an average loss of 27% per world. I'll check again on Monday.

It's Monday. 12 more red dot inactives removed. Yellow dot inactives only went from 46 to 44, which means 10 more players joined that list. Total now of 172 out of 590 friends went inactive over 7 days recently. That's almost 30% (29.15%). Will check again Wednesday.

 

[Darkest.Knight]

Capitalism can be a real bittle, too bad everyone needs to make a buck. Tough to find an alternative that works over the long term.