So I've seen tons of discussion in-game about the recent event, but I don't see anything on the formus here about it. I think we need to discuss it.
To summarize, Ucool decided to remove the standard Red Envelopes for gem purchases and replaced them with Magic Chests that can only be opened with a specific number of keys, depending on the chest. Keys can only be obtained by making in-game purchases. There are a number of issues I have with this system.
1) The premise itself is greedy. The cool thing about Red Envelopes is it allowed us to share some love with guildmates. Instead of just spending money to benefit yourself, you were able to help your guild too. That was nice. But this nice feature was twisted and perverted with the Magic Chest/Key system. Guildmates now had to spend money too to benefit. Considering that a free system was replaced with a pay system, this strikes a bad note with players. It makes Ucool come off as greedy and disrespectful. To be clear, I acknowledge that Ucool is a business - which means that, frankly, Ucool does not give a single crap about any of its customers, except to the extent that Ucool can make money off of us. If we all got into viscous car accidents tomorrow that caused us to become quadrapalegics, Ucool would only care because our inoperable arms and lack of income might cause us to make less in-game purchases. But whatever. That's how business operate. The problem here is this: Ucool, you're supposed to at least try to hide your naked greed. This is the unspoken contract between businesses and customers. You attempt to bleed us dry, but you're supposed to at least make a show of caring about us and not being completely heartless greedy douche bags. You've violated that contract here by being too open with your lusty greed. That's why this Magic Chest system is so offensive on its face. But there's more...
2) The Chest:Key ratio was horrifically broken. I spent a good amount of money on the event (as I usually do). And yet, I was only able to open a fraction of the chests I received. The keys I bought were probably only enough to open the chests I earned myself -- I wasn't able to touch any of the chests from my guildmates. So what's the point of even sharing chests then? If we only get enough keys to open the chests we earned ourselves, there's no point in sharing them. The system was horribly designed. I just checked my inventory - I have 40 chests that I wasn't able to open. And that's despite spending over $100 on the event. What's the point then? The number of keys received from purchases should be increased dramatically. Additionally, players should be able to obtain keys without making purchases - perhaps from the Super Sale Shop or random drops from farming.
3) In addition to the aforementioned problem, there's yet another problem: the Chests sucked. I guess they were technically better than the Red Envelope, but not by much - a few hero tokens, some gold and some random loot? Whatever.
So to summarize, the Magic Chest/Magic Key event was terrible for the following reasons: 1) It was egregiously greedy by Ucool, 2) There weren't nearly enough keys given to players and 3) The chest contents sucked.
Frankly, this event was pathetic. It was disrespectful to your players. To be clear, we know these events are blatant cash grabs. We're willing to spend our money, though, if you make the events worth it. This one wasn't. Not even close. It's like you didn't even try. If we get these same event again for Christmas, I'll intentionally avoid spending a single dime in the event as a protest - and will continue doing that for all future events until it's fixed.
Ucool, you're allowed to be greedy amoral douche bags. You're a business - it's expected. But you need to at least make it worth our while. This wasn't. Shame on you.
Reply With Quote
