Look, i’ve been on this game since 2010. Back when pets were first introduced and pet energy became a thing, it was fine that the energy system was programmed against the player. Low max energy, inability to regain pet energy without paying about $2.50 in real life money, or wait the equivalent of A WHOLE DAY in real life to have it refill. (Any paying that money wont refill it for the whole day, or give you multiple refills. That one refill MAY let you finish taking care of your garden for a few hours. (One gardening spell can take up to 30 energy, average cost for gardening is 3-15 per spell. MY max energy is 67.) It’s greedy to charge me about $1 to take care of ONE plant for a few hours. Imagine how quickly that would add up if it was done every day or multiple times per day.
That was fine when only the pet training system used this energy bar.
Now, theres at least 4 systems that use this teeny-tiny energy bar. Pets, the new visual magic system, gardening, etc. All these systems sharing the same limited resource that you have to pay actual money to fix temporarily.
This system is incredibly player hostile and is such an obvious money grab, it’s poor game design. As a player, i should not feel like the systems you have put in place are against me, the player, the people who fund your game.
Game design 101, greediness and microtransactions are a part of most mmos these days, “create the problem, sell the solution”. Developers created this system on purpose to make you spend more money on this game. I have no problem spending money on a game when i feel like i’m not being ripped off.
Let the player spend their money on mounts, pets, visual upgrades and cosmetics.
Allow the pet energy bar to refill faster, to be able to be refilled by paying gold and not crowns, or allow up to collect wisps to refill the pet energy bar. These can be placed around the world and require more running around to get ( although i’d suggest against that if you don’t want your players to feel even more taken advantage of)
Again, this game is becoming more and more pay to win and against the players who keep it afloat. At this rate, the game will die. It is fine to make money off of a game and designers deserve to be paid for the work they complete.
However, using every monetization method and trying to squeeze money out of every area you can is excessive. It’s greedy, and it’s a hallmark of a poor player experience.
If i already pay a membership to play this game, and i buy cosmetics regularly, and i am one of millions of players who do this very thing, then i should not be punished for wanting to play the game.
