A cosmetics proposal that hopefully is acceptable to management

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide Gameplay Feedback
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Look, complaints about the layered bad qualities of the game’s monetization have been constant and very little to nothing has been done. Closest we’ve gotten is Krieg sets getting a recolor that sold for 2400 rather than 2900 Aquilas and every so often a reward for a contest or something similar.

It’s clear Fatshark doesn’t want to budge from the current model, but I think I have a proposal that would be acceptable to the money-grubbing executives and effectively neuter complaints.

See, there are three major bones of contention with the store (from what I see complained about):

  1. FOMO. The two-week rotation and missing items are not something people enjoy.

  2. Inability to earn premium currency. Having to pay real-world money for 99% of purchases is not something that makes people happy.

  3. High prices. Seeing a single shop rotation cost more than the entire game is also something people hate. This is also partially a quality issue.

Obviously Fatshark is unwilling to address all three of these.

But maybe, just maybe, off the heels of getting a review bomb from trying to unfairly restrict cosmetics for the new class, they might be willing to address one.

If the shop is no longer FOMO - well, then it’s a catalog system like it was in the past. New stuff can join the catalog and people can select what they want. One could even retain the rotation as a sales rotation (say, a 25-40% discount in price) that might entice people to buy even more.

If the shop uses an earnable currency - well, then, prices don’t matter, because it’s something you can grind for, and FOMO is ignorable so long as it’s possible to grind enough to get them the ‘hard way’. Plus, high prices could then be excused as ‘hey I want to support future development so I paid for xyz’.

If the shop is no longer so overpriced - by which I mean prices should drop to a third of what they currently are - then it’s good value for money, ten or twenty bucks every two weeks for a full rotation isn’t a lot, and people would easily be able to justify paying for it.

I figure this will probably be ignored regardless, and my personal preference would be a comprehensive overhaul, but changing any one of the three major areas of complaint about the store would help a lot, in my eyes.

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I feel the ‘discount rotation’ would be an elegant solution that would still keep the ‘FOMO’ in for the greedy executives that can’t seem to understand how the gamer mindset works, while also allowing for people to feel like they are getting cosmetics for a reasonable price when they go up on the discount rotation. Can do it like many others do as well, 3 week rotation for discounted items, including only old sets (made a year or two back+), and then you can showcase the ‘newest set’ on the front page for ‘normal’ pricing.

Now most can be happy, you can buy the cosmetic you want/see floating around within the world right away if you want it that bad, or wait and see if it comes out on discount to get it at a reasonable price. New sets can still create an influx of funds since they will stay the exorbitant price for a couple years anyway, so those that ‘want to look cool now’ still have plenty of time to flaunt their wealth before the next big thing comes for their liking to flaunt. And everyone else can enjoy older and recolored sets for ‘cheap’, while maybe nabbing a piece here and there or a weapon skin they really enjoy and think would be worth it.

I feel ‘everyone can be happy here’ with that, but would just have to see if Fatshark agrees…

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I liked the way the VT2 shop worked. Bought a bunch of skins there. The FOMO thing kind of irritates me enough that I haven’t bought any skins (well, to be transparent, combined with the free aquilas they gave us on launch, I bought enough to get one hat for my sister of battle cosplay). I’d quite like the rotation to go away. Some kind of discount-rotation works for me.

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I don’t think you’ll find a solution to please all, as is, these are player boon suggestions, but all general revenue losses for Fatshark, The catalog system would likely boost revenue in a short term sense but after it trickles out, one time purchase and only want/need so many sets could be a downward spiral.

New revenue methods like class drops and subsequent cosmetic sales maybe the way to go but its Fatshark’s “bread and butter” versus our cosmetic whims.

I could list my wants as…

  • Sharable similar skins (Similar Bundle shared across classes)(knive/cleaver share)
  • Color your gear options (sale the paints if they want)
  • Facial / Hair Options
  • Content Drops combo’d with earnable Aquila(or Discount) event / Extended Catalog of favorite sets (Skull event every time)
  • Weekly Rotations
  • Real World Currency Prices
  • With more diverse income, lower overall cosmetic prices
  • ect…

But Fatshark has the skin in the game…literally and if they fail and stop support we all lose.

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You have no proof that any of these would actually lose them money as compared to the profits earned by returning players, community goodwill, and positive publicity. Look at HD2 for an example.

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Nope do you?

I’m sure Fatshark sales team does

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The Fatshark sales/marketing team doesn’t know what they’re doing 90% of the time.

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What is this based on? Every time I log in I see multiple people with the latest fashions.

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Incorrect information going out to publications. Event news only going out at the end of events. News going out on a single channel. Responses to community (like the plasma gun response). The wyrmwood youtube videos being either late or irrelevant.

It does feel like their marketing efforts is almost entirely on the cosmetics.

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I think most of this stuff is minor or old news. Events have been pretty consistent for a while now. The money keeps flowing. Arbites looks like it’s been a pretty significant success.

To get back on topic: I’d like the FOMO to be discounts-only (as I’ve said many times before). I’m torn on if Aquilas should be grindable. Wish they were regular event rewards though.

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I’d just like to buy the cosmetics that I in theory want straight with cash, no aquila layer.

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I’d buy their army painter set to paint my dudes

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My 2 cents:

To be fair, FOMO isn’t for enjoyment, it’s for profit.

That said I’m firmly convinced that the current model isn’t the most profitable – in no small part due to the sheer number of people you alienate with crappy business practice. I don’t think this is the right game or the right gamers to pull this extremely transparent low-effort FOMO crap with, straight up. Know your audience, people!

I’m not sure when this happened but I now see a preview of locked cosmetics in the equip screen. IMO this is actually a good feature, and one step closer to a catalogue. Potentially this could be expanded to tell players when the item is back in rotation, or let them favourite it for an alert when they log in. (I don’t think it’s a mod, though I definitely had a similar one installed in the past)

A straight-up catalogue would be better though, imo, but how’s this for an idea?

  • Take all of the low-effort recolours and crap skins that are hardly worth a rotation slot
  • Put them in a new Commissary tab
  • Monitor sales to see if availability drives profit

Sha-bam, people get more stuff, the ““good stuff”” is still premium, and possibly you see an uptick in Acquilas because Gamer X really wanted those green pants.

Because right now it feels like either someone is sleeping on the job, or they’re rubbing their evil little hands together in glee at the thought of persistent FOMO (iT’s BeSt pRActiCe GuuuysssS)…

I think this would be an incredibly divisive addition to the game, despite being generally ‘for’. On one hand, it provides an alluring incentive to optimise the fun out of the game. On the other hand, it would be really nice to earn the odd cosmetic.

On the flip side, I believe the ability to earn small amounts of Acquilas could provide a more meaningful value to the currency in the context of time = money. Give people a taste of cosmetic crack, and then tell them they can have more with just a bit of $$$…

IMO the way it was done for an event is probably the wisest course of action to reduce Acquila-goblin tendencies. Definitely a big L that it hasn’t come back. You buy more in goodwill and player participation than you lose in revenue FRFR.

I don’t see the prices coming down, ever, in no small part because it would devalue every prior transaction. Despite Xbox getting free Acquilas :skull:

Still, it would feel pretty reasonable to de-value some of the more low-effort skins, trinkets, etc. I think there was some pretty well-deserved annoyance at the latest batch of lukewarm DLC skins being almost identical to previous offerings (not even referring to the helmet up/down palava).

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fatshark should be under no illusion that the fact playees even put up with the store as it is right now is based on anything other than having a unique monoply on the “coolest” 40k first person game “at the moment”

so being pretty much unique creates revenue.

but what if a “necromunda hired gun” / “deathwing” - that doesnt suck comes along.

or a proper 40k singleplayer game the size of skyrim/fallout?

will the formula still retain enough people for the gameplay alone, with a store like this put on top?

true, for years the formula has been unique and no one made an attempt in the same or similar direction, holding the license might provide some “protection” in that regard, i dont know.

fact is, if space marine 2 wasnt third person, that alone would have altered the amount of hours spend in each game.

same goes for “what if-helldivers”…

resting on that laurels is… “bold” to say the least

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FOMO targets the people with lack of impulse control and are prone to gambling problems.

Studies show that <1% of players account for 30-70% of in-game transactions. This varies depending on the study and exact studies are difficult because the gaming industry doesn’t want to share it’s data.

Also, whether you are a whale or not does not depend on your disposable income. Whales spend up to several ten thousands of euros/dollars. Some people can afford it and some cannot. But the gaming industry doesn’t care about that.

Also, they try to get you to buy one item, e.g. with an event that gives you in-game aquilas, I mean currency… or a cheap premium version of a new class. Your first purchase is called an ice breaker. Now you are used to spending money in the game and you have begun to go down the rabbit hole.

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You’ve written this like it’s intended to be a business case which is a great start and likely the best way to see changes when it comes to a revenue stream. But a successful business case would include data.

Let’s be clear, not liking something or thinking that money is the root of all evil etc etc is not a business case.

You don’t have access to the company accounts so you will have to cite research or industry papers that show how changes like this would not lose money.

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Hard to say, because you also need to take into account target audience.

However, SM2 is somewhat comparable and they came up with a very different model.

So, it’s really hard to say what works for your game without trying it out.

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That’s because of one of the check-all cosmetic mods.

Without one of those mods, you can’t see the cosmetics that are out of rotation.

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I prefer they get rid of Fomo, and put back old prices + stop recolors as something you get for full price.
It should be a discounted price.

For FOMO, I believe Europe will do the job and forces them (at least, here, our leaders are not totally useless – that’s so rare that it deserved to be pointed).

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