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Aquarium Changes/Tank Owner Town Meetings |
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Announced yesterday (5/6/13) was a decrease in the gold cap for booty grab and releasing of new fish. These were announced a little too late as people had hit the cap before realizing that was the new norm for BG. The cap decrease is to fix "balancing" issues as far as the amount of gold being pumped into the economy via BG versus other areas of the site.
A few were angry, some accepted it and moved on, and others just want answers. Sith and I organized a town meeting to "talk before we walk". Some tank owners decided not to restock when their current fish die and others don't know how they'll afford it with marketplace prices being expensive and will be forced to shut down regardless.
5/7 meeting:
Topics discussed varied from the new CEO, what the fish, re-released or not, would be and how they'd affect the future of tanks, what "balancing" means when these get released, etc. All of these are theories as to the main question of "why".
Is Gaia looking at numbers from people that cap on a regular basis? The majority of tank owners that attended said they don't cap often, if at all. So we thought about those that do and how they switch to mules to continue grabbing. Decreasing the cap to 100k/day (from 150k/day) may cause small tanks to get shut down, which is a problem they "fixed" by removing mid-ranged fish last year. Larger tanks are likely to be affected as players have the scarce before being restricted even more. Also discussed was the timing of this change: why now? Why not make changes later after releasing the fish? If it wasn't a problem last week, why is there an issue now?
We agreed to get some numbers, some facts to counter the Gaia staff. If you have your fish stat PMs from last year, please contact Jadedrenee. We need to see how Gaia's last set of changes impacted tanks and earnings. If you have a thread that gets frequent visitors, please place a poll asking voters if they maxed out frequently when the cap was at 150k. We also ask to think of anything solid to bring up to the staff at the next AtA. We want a strong foundation to base our pleas on.
We agreed to PM each other any helpful info to relay to each other and to hold another meeting before the next AtA.
5/11 meeting:
We have two major ideas that we're going to present at the next AtA: a tax on gold grabbed after players reach the cap and buying fish with Gaia cash extends the cap.
Tsubaki01 thought of the tax idea. She says that after reaching the 100k cap, players can still grab, but the extra gold earned is taxed, like 10%. The tank owners' earnings won't get taxed. It would work like a gold sink, similar to the tax in marketplace. We think this is a great idea, especially since it will only affect those that grab excessively (reaching the cap daily), which according to our poll results, aren't that many.
The other idea is from jadedrenee. She says if you buy a certain amount of fish with GC (Gaia cash), like 250 GC, you can have the cap extended to the 150k limit. Gaia makes money off people buying cash just to avoid ads, so this idea might be something they'd be willing to try.
Something everyone thought put a new spin on is a possible 5th strike pack. RoseRoyal mentioned what if they lowered the gold drop amount. We pitched in and suggested a re-launch of fish with the new updates, that way fish like GSC and airsharks aren't lost in the past. It will have other fish too, of course. This won't be suggested at AtA as the gold drop rates aren't an issue.
I thought if they were to do a whole bunch of changes, they should shut down tanks for the week or for how long it takes to update it. Then shellsmachine said that we probably won't be getting our tanks back. Good point! She mentioned the fish that were taken down and that was supposed to be for a week and here we are over a year later without them. Those thinking that wouldn't happen and what about cash used to pay for them need to remind themselves of the part in the ToS that says they can make changes at any time without warning. (What are we fighting for again?) All we can do is be heard and keep the lines of communication open so we can work with them.
We're still concerned with how the release of old fish will impact future balancing tactics. We'll find out soon enough, assuming they'd announce it before we find out on our own. We're hoping to see charts and numbers that they're basing these changes on. They cooperated with GA with that before, so no reason not to now.
There's no set meeting scheduled at this time. Depending on how it goes at AtA, we may or may not need to discuss more. I'll propose the given ideas. We all should show support and aquarium love. Let's be heard!
5/13 AtA and 5/14 PM:
I posted this shortly after AtA started. As to be expected with any aquarium (or anything of importance for that matter) comment, it was ignored. Sith helped get their attention and was much more responsive to him, so I'm thinking all ideas should be passed onto him.
Needless to say, I was so disappointed and very annoyed. I was eventually quoted by lanzer, but I'm still pissed about it. Here you go.
Uncle Kenny did say that it's just giving out too much gold, so things seem pretty final there. And Sith got word back via PM from Narumi Misuhara...seems they might be interested in the GC idea. However, it's guaranteed that payouts will be reduced. Narumi mentioned decreasing drop rates, so things will get worse; not sure if or when they'll get better.
Sith sent a reply asking all the right questions like what fish are they bringing back, how much GC were they thinking of for "pay to play" and where they want BG to be as far as gold being given out is concerned. Will keep this updated as needed.
Here's some things you may find helpful:
1. Why was the meeting held in Towns 2?
It's the best way to have an open discussion about something as complex as this and gives more privacy than the original towns. Doesn't hurt to see a new feature, just in case tanks aren't there to look at anymore either.
2. Why do you need privacy to talk about it? Why not post in a thread?
This affects tank owners mostly, so having some control over who's getting heard is a big plus. Things like "it's virtual currency", "inflation is out of control", "get over it", etc. were said enough last time changes were made to BG. We really don't need more of that. Many people pay for tanks with real money. Gaia doesn't regulate marketplace prices. We put real time and effort into what we do. We deserve a chance to speak without the hate.
Here's the results from my glow thread's poll:
How often did you hit the BG cap of 150k?
Everyday! --> 16.7% (13 votes)
Everyday, plus mule accounts for extra plays. --> 1.3% (1 vote)
A couple days a week, not too often. --> 10.3% (8 votes)
Maybe once a week. --> 11.5% (9 votes)
Less often or never. --> 60.3% (47 votes)
78 votes total
Have any questions you want answered here? Leave a comment!
Next meeting: none scheduled
**Entry will be updated later to include future topics discussed at meetings and a schedule of more meetings if we need them.
 ralphy71889 · Wed May 08, 2013 @ 02:12am · 0 Comments |
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