Hello everyone :)
Rumors of my death are greatly over exaggerated. lol Just kidding. I figure it has been awhile since I posted anything on here. Not that I have not visited. I just do not believe in spam posting to increase my count.
Anyways I have been off WLo now going on about 3 months, I am sure I will return sometime around Novemeber to December. I just purposely went with out Internet during this period. Sorta like an offline cleansing to be able to refocus. I am using free Internet right now to post :)
Since I love long winded posts that consume lots of time reading and typing for just the heck of it. I will try to explain the way I view IGG's policy toward this game and why to me they do it.
Glossary
FPC - For Profit Company
Q1-4 - Quarters of a year. A unit of measurement used to form a metric of passed time consisting of 3 months.
Chapter 1 - Who and what are you?
In all Free-To-Play MMORPG games there is tiers of players. Each tier could be very jealous of the other tier not because they are necessarily better but for what they can do.
Tier 1 Players *The Freebies* - This type of Player does not spend money on the game. They play it for free. They can attempt to carve out a living as a game merchant, Alchemist, or quest seller to develop an income stream of in game currency. With this they could buy any tradable IM item that they wish to have. These player tend to be lower level or take a long time to level up. Since you do not buy Points IM Remotes are sorta out of reach or hard to get. Since they do not spend real money they are more of a drain economically to IGG rather than a contributor to keeping the game online. But they can spur secondary sells of IM items to generate minimum revenue.
Tier 2 Players *The Lower Class* - These player do spend money with IGG. This is where I reside in by the way. But it is normally a low amount. Used mostly to get IM Remotes or non-leveled IM Weapons and Items. While they do contribute, the amount is normally very small and far in between. These people can transform IM to Gold and then reinvest the gold into the game to generate more money to fund whatever they need to get in the game. Since they do not invest sums of real money they tend to have lower level Diamonds and Spars but potentially good Equipment. Their pets can be of a varying level but will always seem weak to the upper Echelons because they are not boosted. But if they train hard and long they can achieve a very playable status in the game.
Tier 3 Players *The Middle Class* - These people have no issue buying what ever they need to succeed. They will start the game as a noob. Buy some stuff to sell on the open market. Use the money to achieve at least lv100 or 180 by paying for burst. Buy the Reborn, DS, JS, etc, etc, etc. Until they get to a point where they have the skills to satisfy their desires. I am in no way a detractor to this method. While I am part of the lower class, if someone wants to buy their way into a good status it is fine by me. In the end it is all about attitude. You got some people who buy everything then want to claim to be better because they are higher level than the Freebie Class. Just because you bought stuff doesn't make you better. It is generally on how you treat people. I know lots of people in the game in this class that would do stuff for people and not charge. In this class it is all about the treatment of people which would classify you as liked, unliked, or just plainly used to achieve an end to a goal.
Tier 4 Players *The Upper Echelon* - These people do not mind spending the money. They roll it out to IGG like person who does drugs needing a fix. They invest very heavily to get the best equipment, Best pets, and overall the best in everything they can. These are the people who pay for the game for the Freebies and lower class. They support IGG with their monthly or weekly stipends. Other people are normally very jealous and scream no fair when faced by them. But on a softer note if it was not for them we all would not be playing this game. So one should be thankful that they are there to keep the game going. While some are egotistical, a lot are very nice people. If you are a member of a lower caste, just remember they put their pants on 1 leg at a time too. Treat them good and odds are good they will treat you good to.
Chapter 2 - IGGonomics 101
To try to understand IGG you first have to understand business. IGG is a FPC. This means they will at all opportunities attempt to turn a profit on what they offer.
Now that you understand this aspect of the company we will move on to the next topic. Since IGG is a FPC. It is expected for them to try to increase profits. So lets say in Q1 they made 1 million US Dollars. They would want to top that total in Q2. So if they want a tidy 5% growth (Which is a very small amount to be honest). They could run sales on items, offer semi-unique items, and the such to capture the attention of it user base. But in the coming quarters of a year they are expected to make more money than the previous or at least more money than the same quarter a year prior.
Building a sustainable income stream from this game or any of their games is their top priority. They may seem greedy but you have to remember every game has a half-life. Like radioactive material eventually it burns out. You have to use the energy to build other products to develop another income stream for the company. So they are called greedy, they are called evil because they unbalance their games. To you this may seem like the overall overview. But to them they are building an income stream and developing it to its maximum sustainable amount.
Which brings us to updates to the game. Unlike other games this game is licensed from a company that no longer develops it. So going from what we have deciphered from above, they will only update the game when the maximum sustainable income stream starts to drop. When I mean drop I mean statically drop over an extended period of time. When this happens they release an update to the game to draw new interest and also increase sales to boost the income stream they receive. It is sound logic really why change something performing good? When it starts to diminish update it to make it perform good again. If you were an investor in the stock market, would you invest in something that stays the same value or decreases over time? Odds are good you would not, you would want steady growth to make more money. IGG is the same with WLo and probably all its games.
No more free tech support you say? Only pay people get support now? I am actually surprised it took IGG this long to do this when they did. In almost every other thing you have to pay for support. For free support you go to the forums. So if you got "hacked" and lost all you stuff and you do not pay then the best advise you could be given is to not give out your password. I have played WLo for years and have never been hacked. But I do not give out my passwords either. Client requirements are so low hardware wise you would have to have an ancient computer (10-15yr +) to not be able to run at least 1 client at full speed. So why do free support? It is better have a webpage you can submit complaints/bugs to and not have to devote resources to trying to solve every petty squabble or indiscretion that comes your way.
Chapter 3 - The Real meaning of WLo
The real meaning of this game is to have fun. Like real life you will meet a lot of people you like and do not like. But hey that is life. But the point is to have fun. If you are a Freebie and Lower class do not expect to keep up with the middle and upper class people. Enjoy yourself and have fun. if you get bored with the game take a break and play something else. As long as you do not give out your password you should be safe to return with everything intact.
Make friends, challenge yourself, and evolve to be a better player. We can all achieve these things.
Well I have rambled long enough. I really miss playing with my people I met on this game. But I will be back soon enough again :)
Have a Great day :)
-- dark
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