What I hope to see in patch notes pt.2

Welcome to Topic 2 of my "things I want to see in WoW" series. If you want to go back and read part one, you can do so here : What I hope to see in patch notes pt.1

Topic 2 : Veteran Reward Systems

This is one of those things that I keep expecting to see. It seems like a no-brainer to me. Let’s take a look into sales a bit for this one.  I’m sure that everyone reading this has at least one “rewards” type card within reach. Whether it’s a credit card that gives you points back, or a 10^th cup of coffee free punch card for your favorite java dispensary, or maybe it’s papa john’s website, where after spending 250 bucks you get a free pizza. No matter how you do it, it’s worth doing. That’s the reason these companies do these reward programs. It builds repeat business. It rewards loyalty and continued use of your product. As a consumer, it also feels pretty damn good. I personally seek out reward systems like this in credit cards and eateries. If I’m going to give you money, I want to get as much back as possible. I always love the feeling of getting that free pizza, or spending those amazon points that I’ve accumulated on a shiny new video card at no cost to me.

World of Warcraft has a lot of players. Like… a whole lot… so many that it would be impossible for us to even think about defining the whole player base in one broad stroke. Some are new to the world, exploring it for the first time. Some are veterans who are leveling their 10^th character. Some love pet battles, some love to raid, some just like to get on and chat with their guilds. No matter how you break it down, I guarantee you that some would feel far more valued if they got some veteran rewards. I can say this confidently, as I am one of them myself.

I’m going to confess something here, that I think backs this and probably tells you too much about my personal insanity. Final Fantasy XIV came out with their reboot “A Realm Reborn” on August 27^th 2013. Being an MMO junkie, I picked it up and played it hard until I’d reached max level and consumed all content the game had to offer at that point. I maxed out multiple jobs and crafting professions and hit the ceiling on what I felt like the game had available to me. All of this happened well before Christmas 2013. I honestly could have walked away at the end of my free month, feeling like there weren’t many stones unturned for me. But I decided to pay for a month to keep in contact with some buddies and give me more time to help friends catch up. After the second month, I was pretty much done, as much as I really enjoyed that game, there just wasn’t much content. I eventually decided NOT to cancel my subscription due to veteran rewards and the possibility of coming back a few patches down the road. I’ve given these guys 13 bucks a month for 4 months simply because I felt they deserved it, I might come back, and if I do come back, I want the cool stuff. It makes me feel special.

As someone who’s played wow off and on for 10 years now but never let my subscription lapse, I feel like my loyalty is granted me pretty much nothing. In fact, I feel like there have been promotions in the past that actually reward a LACK of loyalty. Look at the scroll of resurrection promotion. If someone hadn’t played (or payed) for X amount of time, they were given an option to come back to the game with free game time and a free boost to level 80. (To be fair, this promotion has since been discontinued as character boosts are now here) This was enticing and great for people who were on the fence about coming back, and I felt it was a slick promotion for sure, but what about the people who never left? Where is my incentive to stay? As a veteran who’s never left I felt like my loyalty was less valuable than someone who’s been flaky. To be honest, I felt taken advantage of. Here I am, being a good customer, sticking with a product I believe in through thick and thin, and mister quitter gets a free level 80.

I believe the game world should seek to reward the behavior that has been deemed favorable. Play for 2 years uninterrupted? Here’s a cool transmog item. Play for 3 years? Here’s an awesome vanity item that makes you big and sparkly.  The reward possibilities are endless, from a free month here and there, to a free transfer, or boost, or mount, or vanity items that give no player power, maybe even a slight discount on a subscription after 4 years of play? You could even take a page out of old pvp-ville and build a veterans lounge area that is only accessible by people who have 5 years on their account.

I’ll never forget the Champion’s Hall in Stormwind. Originally access to this room was barred to anyone who had not reached rank 6 in pvp. While it was just a tiny room, with a few vendors in it, I’ll be damned if that didn’t make me want to pvp my heart out to get in. Just the simple fact that there was somewhere I wasn’t allowed to enter drove my behavior to get me in there. This is tangential for sure, but it illustrates that exclusivity can be a very powerful motivator, even if the reward itself is small. The topic of exclusivity will undoubtedly make a return over this series of posts, as it’s something I personally hold pretty dear.

That’s enough for now, as I’m running out of time and need to head to work here. But don’t worry, I’ve got quite a few more topics to cover over the next few days. ^_^