SC - you missed a great opportunity - 1 gem boost

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January 11th, 2014
billwinkiesbear

SC - you missed a great opportunity - 1 gem boost

This is a one off post (as i needed to log in to alter sig)

This is a summary of the last month or two, it is my opinion only and i will not be reading any responses.... But i pray to god that SC understand that they had altered their game to a point where it surpassed its previous best... Then they took it away.

TH11 is needed - either that or they need to introduce some major game play changes...

The 1 gem boost altered this game from being the best game i have ever got addicted to, to being a game i could never imagine being knocked off position 1 in that list. Then they took it away.

Its fairly obvious that SC do not play this game as we do, otherwise they would understand the significant improvement this "pay to play" option introduced in to their game. I am sure that there is an opposing view (prob rage threads somewhere)

For the last 6 months i have spent very little on gems... However when the boost came along i was boosting approx 10 times a day ... EVERYDAY

This was mirrored throughout my entire clan...

So we went from spending little on gems to each spending, im certain that my clan was not the only clan that encountered this increase.

Most importantly the gameplay was fantastic, rapid raiding high loots and lots of risky/silly raids just cause it didnt matter that much. I started to make some serious progress on level 10 walls, Clan activity was on the up, troop donation default became wizzies not arcs. It was the best the game has ever been.

some numbers:
5 (barracks and spell factory) * 10 (boosts... I know the SF was a four hour boost but its an average) : 50 gems / day

50 Gems/ day * 7 days a week : 350 gems / week

350 gems * 30 players.... Well you do the math and 30 is not a very generous number

The 45 minute boost suited my game play so much more than the 4 hour boost ... I have a family and do not spend 4 hours attached to the game...

Im not including the 10 gems a day for my DE drills and Mines in the calculation either!

Since Introducing the 20 gems for 4 hours i have boosted 0 (yes zero) times.

The game now seems monotonous and many people have kind of stopped playing. I for one would have happily continued spending on gems, you had re-invigorated my interest in your game, a game that was approaching what appeared to be a natural end.

With the 1 gem boost TH11 is not needed for me as for the first time i envisaged Lv11 walls, now i do not see me completing Lv10 walls and for a maxed TH10 (def wise) im back to where i was 2 months ago.. I.e. How much longer can i justify the time... sigh

cheers guys
January 11th, 2014
wolfz

Agreed bill, the game is boring now... I log in to collect my mines and that's it. I went from playing 8hrs + a day to none for the past few days. after scrolling through a couple for searches losing 100k and finding no targets above 100k i just turn off the game. no reason to keep playing cus there's no cheap boost so no boost is going to waste.
January 11th, 2014
Jet49

Agreed. During the boost the whole clan was boosting every day and making good progress.

I bet it is more profitable to leave the 1 gem boosts and have the masses gem vs. a select few boosting at the higher prices.

You should have incentive to raid continuously and I feel 45 mins is probably a great target.

I feel the real buzz killer has been the spell factory prices going back up. This makes hog armies and others more time consuming if you where to hog constantly.
January 11th, 2014
Zombiebender

Yes, since the 1 gem boosts have always been in the game, now that they are gone it is broken.
January 11th, 2014
medinas925

I agree that was a once in a lifetime opportunity. The games slow and my clans activity level is very low now
January 11th, 2014
Giggitygoo

Even though you won't reply Billy, excellent post! I've been thinking about the very same thing but you beat me to it.

It seemed to me that despite having all the data, SC doesn't have a good grasp of gemming behaviour. There is a huge difference between 1 gem boost for which people will actually buy gems, and a 20 gem boost which almost no-one will buy gems for.

At the same time I'm skeptical about my own understanding. SC is ran by intelligent people. If the data points to 1 gems boost being more lucrative, they would implement it permanently. I cannot state these things as if they were the truth, but I can't help feeling that our reasoning is common sense.

Where is the middle ground? Gem incentivization requires a psychological approach as well as knowning your target group and the content of their wallet. It should be at the core of SC' business model. I just have the feeling they are not fully maximizing this potential.
January 11th, 2014
RaspberryPi

No, the current boost pricing is great. If anything, they should just scale it down to 1hour or 2 hour per boost and lower the price to match that.
If they were to lower the rates any more, the big spenders will be complaining and many will not buy resources directly any more.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure majority of the casual players aren't even boosting their raxes even with the 1-gem 45min boosts event.

That being said, I think the best improvement SC can give is better loot.
January 11th, 2014
Garcks

Absolutely agree 100% (with OP)

I even tried using the new boost of 20 gems for four hours and didnt feel i was getting the most out of it, as i cant put stints of that length in. And whilst its better than it was before (25 gems for 45 mins) it still adds up. 2 normal barracks, 2 dark barracks and spell factory equals a hundred gems. You can only do that five times for £2.99. And as the loot has dropped off since people arent boosting collectors anymore, it just costs too much to find any profitable loot (for me at TH10 anyway).

I really hope SC review this and consider making the 1 gem boost permanent.
January 11th, 2014
AdmiralHD

Quote:

Originally Posted by billwinkiesbear

This is a one off post (as i needed to log in to alter sig)

This is a summary of the last month or two, it is my opinion only and i will not be reading any responses.... But i pray to god that SC understand that they had altered their game to a point where it surpassed its previous best... Then they took it away.

TH11 is needed - either that or they need to introduce some major game play changes...

The 1 gem boost altered this game from being the best game i have ever got addicted to, to being a game i could never imagine being knocked off position 1 in that list. Then they took it away.

Its fairly obvious that SC do not play this game as we do, otherwise they would understand the significant improvement this "pay to play" option introduced in to their game. I am sure that there is an opposing view (prob rage threads somewhere)

For the last 6 months i have spent very little on gems... However when the boost came along i was boosting approx 10 times a day ... EVERYDAY

This was mirrored throughout my entire clan...

So we went from spending little on gems to each spending, im certain that my clan was not the only clan that encountered this increase.

Most importantly the gameplay was fantastic, rapid raiding high loots and lots of risky/silly raids just cause it didnt matter that much. I started to make some serious progress on level 10 walls, Clan activity was on the up, troop donation default became wizzies not arcs. It was the best the game has ever been.

some numbers:
5 (barracks and spell factory) * 10 (boosts... I know the SF was a four hour boost but its an average) : 50 gems / day

50 Gems/ day * 7 days a week : 350 gems / week

350 gems * 30 players.... Well you do the math and 30 is not a very generous number

The 45 minute boost suited my game play so much more than the 4 hour boost ... I have a family and do not spend 4 hours attached to the game...

Im not including the 10 gems a day for my DE drills and Mines in the calculation either!

Since Introducing the 20 gems for 4 hours i have boosted 0 (yes zero) times.

The game now seems monotonous and many people have kind of stopped playing. I for one would have happily continued spending on gems, you had re-invigorated my interest in your game, a game that was approaching what appeared to be a natural end.

With the 1 gem boost TH11 is not needed for me as for the first time i envisaged Lv11 walls, now i do not see me completing Lv10 walls and for a maxed TH10 (def wise) im back to where i was 2 months ago.. I.e. How much longer can i justify the time... sigh

cheers guys

he's right you know
January 11th, 2014
NFactorial

Quote:

Originally Posted by Giggitygoo

Even though you won't reply Billy, excellent post! I've been thinking about the very same thing but you beat me to it.

It seemed to me that despite having all the data, SC doesn't have a good grasp of gemming behaviour. There is a huge difference between 1 gem boost for which people will actually buy gems, and a 20 gem boost which almost no-one will buy gems for.

At the same time I'm skeptical about my own understanding. SC is ran by intelligent people. If the data points to 1 gems boost being more lucrative, they would implement it permanently. I cannot state these things as if they were the truth, but I can't help feeling that our reasoning is common sense.

Where is the middle ground? Gem incentivization requires a psychological approach as well as knowning your target group and the content of their wallet. It should be at the core of SC' business model. I just have the feeling they are not fully maximizing this potential.

+1

I like your reasoning towards this, partly because it's what I did. I've only bought gems for builders before, but I spent $5 because of the boost. It would make sense that more people will spend 4 gems for 45 minutes than 20 gems for 4 hours. Most casual players either think A) 80 gems is too much at a time. B) 4 hours is too long. 1 gem boosts quickly add up to large amounts, but individually, it doesn't seem like a large amount. 20 gems however, will seem like a hefty price, especially when you have to boost 4 of them.
January 11th, 2014
kasakalawe

Agree,game was more fun with 1 gem boost.Bought gems for that cheap boost.People buy gems for cheap boost but dont want to buy gems for expensive boost.For myself i will buy gems when needed if that cheap boost continues.But never buy gems for expensive boost.I think many people thinking same.
January 11th, 2014
DidiKw1

45 minutes gameplay suits me too.. Sigh..
January 11th, 2014
wolfz

unfortunately SC won't make millions per hour discounting boosts
January 11th, 2014
Giggitygoo

Quote:

Originally Posted by NFactorial

+1

I like your reasoning towards this, partly because it's what I did. I've only bought gems for builders before, but I spent $5 because of the boost. It would make sense that more people will spend 4 gems for 45 minutes than 20 gems for 4 hours. Most casual players either think A) 80 gems is too much at a time. B) 4 hours is too long. 1 gem boosts quickly add up to large amounts, but individually, it doesn't seem like a large amount. 20 gems however, will seem like a hefty price, especially when you have to boost 4 of them.

Exactly. Time and resource gemming soon requires hunderds of gems at the very least, to see some immideate progression. That's why most regular players won't use them. Barrack/spell boosting on the other instantly increases the playability and fun of this particular game. Not the least of criteria, I'd say. Make that affordable and a lot of players will buy (more) gems.

The top spenders on the other hand, will keep gemming time and resources and troops, since their wallets allow them to not wait a second longer than necessary. Adjusting the prices won't interfere with other gem behaviour.
January 11th, 2014
RaspberryPi

Seems some people are still looking on the surface of the issue.

1 Gem boosts are great, they get even some casual players to spend a few bucks definitely. But it also means 4x resource progress for anyone who uses them. Big spenders are NOT going to be happy with a bunch of people spending small money getting to the top by taking advantage of 4x resource progress.

In the end, if anyone can finish their lavas in three seasons by using the boosts, then who would spend 231340 Gems buying 750m gold, equaling to $1659 USD, when you can easily spend under 3k gems keeping all your barracks boosted and farming for 3 seasons(which isn't that long at all). It would be a totally different game where small spenders become top players and the gap between them and zero-spenders will be so wide, the casual non-gemmer isn't going to find the game fun any more.
January 11th, 2014
Davelfc

Most people have said that 4 hours is too long. Of course there are people that love spending 4 hours raiding in one stretch, good, if supercell drop the time to 1 hour and the cost to 5 gems, then you can just buy it 4 times.

I'll admit, I gemmed like mad during the 1 gem boost bonanza. Tied in with the holidays the short 45 minute stints coupled with me just reaching TH9 worked out perfectly. Of course with so much gold I needed to help upgrade times along too, which further filled supercell's coffers.

Since it dropped back down, well I've left my base on the lengthy upgrades and not raided once. 5 builders are busy so any gold I grab is just going to be raided. Once I'm nearing the end of my 14 days upgrades I'll go out raiding, but never in 4 hour stretches. To those that I've seen suggest I raid for one hour, take a break and come back for two. This means I'm not only opening myself up to being raided during that hour and the having to possibly break a shield, but I'm also wasting an hours raiding, so getting less than what I'm paying for. Doesn't make much sense when for 5 gem 1 hour stints i can get exactly what I want.

I do not see supercell making the 1 gem barrack boost permanent, but if they did I might need to consider deleting my credit card details from iTunes.
January 11th, 2014
Benny101

Quote:

Originally Posted by RaspberryPi

Seems some people are still looking on the surface of the issue.

1 Gem boosts are great, they get even some casual players to spend a few bucks definitely. But it also means 4x resource progress for anyone who uses them. Big spenders are NOT going to be happy with a bunch of people spending small money getting to the top by taking advantage of 4x resource progress.

In the end, if anyone can finish their lavas in three seasons by using the boosts, then who would spend 231340 Gems buying 750m gold, equaling to $1659 USD, when you can easily spend under 3k gems keeping all your barracks boosted and farming for 3 seasons(which isn't that long at all). It would be a totally different game where small spenders become top players and the gap between them and zero-spenders will be so wide, the casual non-gemmer isn't going to find the game fun any more.

And this is a problem why? It would actually solve a lot of the problems the top players face. The gap is extremely large as it is now. That's one of the reasons top players can't find a good match easily. Also spending a lot will still make a difference.
January 11th, 2014
TheGreatPhoenix

So what if it is 4 hours? You still get an advantage, so you shouldn't be complaining about that. Just train a long time army then log off till they are done. I don't get what is the problem here. Also why would they want to keep the 1 gem boost forever? You should be happy that you had it, but obviously it won't stay forever. If they make it forever they will lose money. You should be happy that it's free game and everything you can do is free... They have all the rights to do whatever they want to the game. They are NOT FORCING you to pay. In fact they made it POSSIBLE to max out your base without paying. There is really no need to complain...
January 11th, 2014
trivial

Quote:

Originally Posted by billwinkiesbear

Its fairly obvious that SC do not play this game as we do, otherwise they would understand the significant improvement this "pay to play" option introduced in to their game. I am sure that there is an opposing view (prob rage threads somewhere)

This is what it comes down to isn't it?
January 11th, 2014
DragonxXx

The gem boost should never me made perm, my clan is as active as before and many never bothered to constantly boost their barracks only occasionally, the only big difference to me is i cant gem boost de drill. But thats nothing dramatic, after the 1 gem boost, loot has been pretty good. SC have not missed any opportunity, you just have a hate towards Coc - and your trying to find any scrape of evidence to support your thoughts. Feels like reading an newspaper which is always OTT!!!
January 11th, 2014
RaspberryPi

Quote:

Originally Posted by Benny101

And this is a problem why? It would actually solve a lot of the problems the top players face. The gap is extremely large as it is now. That's one of the reasons top players can't find a good match easily. Also spending a lot will still make a difference.

Trophies =/= base progress/resources/gold. Add as much loot as you want in the game and it will not affect trophies. Trophies gained by you will be the amount of trophies lost by another. Only under 1k trophy ranges will trophies be added into the game. Finding a match in the top leagues will be scarce as always.

However, people who GEM resources and spend big money definitely do NOT want someone else who spends a tiny fraction of that amount to have a similar base. People pay for bragging rights, and if something is THAT easy to get, it's not even worth bragging about.
January 11th, 2014
trivial

Quote:

Originally Posted by DragonxXx

The gem boost should never me made perm, my clan is as active as before and many never bothered to constantly boost their barracks only occasionally, the only big difference to me is i cant gem boost de drill. But thats nothing dramatic, after the 1 gem boost, loot has been pretty good. SC have not missed any opportunity, you just have a hate towards Coc - and your trying to find any scrape of evidence to support your thoughts. Feels like reading an newspaper which is always OTT!!!

It's not hate, just the truth.
January 11th, 2014
RaspberryPi

If anything should be added, it is the reduction of boost times and costs to match the boost time.
1 Hour for 5 gems or 2 Hour for 10 gems
Anyway, 4 hours for 20 gems is fine, and as cheap as it can get. I don't see why no one complains about spell boosts being 4 hours.

Suggestion to SC: Improve the loot.

One suggestion to improve the loot: Keep the 1 gem collector boosts.
January 11th, 2014
Davelfc

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bakhoumgeorge

So what if it is 4 hours? You still get an advantage, so you shouldn't be complaining about that. Just train a long time army then log off till they are done. I don't get what is the problem here. Also why would they want to keep the 1 gem boost forever? You should be happy that you had it, but obviously it won't stay forever. If they make it forever they will lose money. You should be happy that it's free game and everything you can do is free... They have all the rights to do whatever they want to the game. They are NOT FORCING you to pay. In fact they made it POSSIBLE to max out your base without paying. There is really no need to complain...

Train a long time army, you mean one that might make it less viable to farm? What about the time I'm searching, it takes some time to find a suitable victim, during that time my long time army is building. Oh and what happens when I log back in after my break if I'm attacked? I've still got barrack boost to use, so now I've got to break a shield and I've lost a lump of resources too.

Nobody is moaning about the reduction in gem costs, hallelujah supercell, you've dropped the price. I do see people asking if they could consider allowing those of us with lives, families, jobs, decent eyesight to allow a scaled reduction of boost time so maybe a 1, 2 or 4 hour option. You know, to keep you happy or amused for 4 hours straight.

The other option I suggested is a meter. You buy a set amount of troop units to be used in a 24 hour period. They still have a training time boosted x 4 but as you produce troops the meter reduces. Let's just say for example, you buy 500 units. That's 100 giants all produced in a quarter of the time, that's presuming the unit cost is 5 units per giant and presuming all you train is giants. You could use those 500 units on any mixture you wanted. Oh and 500 is a number I plucked from the air because I don't have the time to sit down and calculate the math.

It means you don't have to toil away on a mobile device for 4 hours straight, but you can if you want. It means if the loot is awful you can come back later.
January 11th, 2014
TheGreatPhoenix

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davelfc

Train a long time army, you mean one that might make it less viable to farm? What about the time I'm searching, it takes some time to find a suitable victim, during that time my long time army is building. Oh and what happens when I log back in after my break if I'm attacked? I've still got barrack boost to use, so now I've got to break a shield and I've lost a lump of resources too.

Nobody is moaning about the reduction in gem costs, hallelujah supercell, you've dropped the price. I do see people asking if they could consider allowing those of us with lives, families, jobs, decent eyesight to allow a scaled reduction of boost time so maybe a 1, 2 or 4 hour option. You know, to keep you happy or amused for 4 hours straight.

The other option I suggested is a meter. You buy a set amount of troop units to be used in a 24 hour period. They still have a training time boosted x 4 but as you produce troops the meter reduces. Let's just say for example, you buy 500 units. That's 100 giants all produced in a quarter of the time, that's presuming the unit cost is 5 units per giant and presuming all you train is giants. You could use those 500 units on any mixture you wanted. Oh and 500 is a number I plucked from the air because I don't have the time to sit down and calculate the math.

It means you don't have to toil away on a mobile device for 4 hours straight, but you can if you want. It means if the loot is awful you can come back later.

What about trophy pushing? hmmmm?
January 11th, 2014
facemashxx

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bakhoumgeorge

What about trophy pushing? hmmmm?

Ya wat about it
January 11th, 2014
Davelfc

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bakhoumgeorge

What about trophy pushing? hmmmm?

Trophies mean very little to me, they're a level at which I farm. I don't see how a scaled reduction in gems for lower farming times affects a trophy hunter. Choose the 4 hour option if you want and I choose a 1 hour option.

Under a meter system (in my previous post) you get more value for gems because you're buying a set amount of boosted units over a 24 hour period.

I think the meter boost idea could be extended so that supercell could reward high donators and achievements with a set number of boosted units. Maybe daily log in rewards, they could all add up and you could save them to cash in later.
January 11th, 2014
RaspberryPi

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bakhoumgeorge

What about trophy pushing? hmmmm?

I have difficulty trying to comprehend your reasoning. Davelfc is merely asking for more flexibilty of boosts by shortening the time and adjusting prices accordingly. What has trophy pushing got to do? If you're saying you actually need longer boosting time, then simply just boost it again when the boosts end?
January 11th, 2014
Jacko2130

Bad business to leave it at 1 gem for boosts, why would anyone buy gems if resources are easy to get?

The whole point of leaving it at the current rate is to promote players into buying resources and time.

Your contribution of 5 dollars every 5-7 days is nothing compared to those spending money on gemming time and resources.

Imagine in the real world if cars were a dollar, no one would need to buy another car ever again cause yould buy 10 cars for 10 dollars that would last you for the rest of your life.

Obviously business isnt your strong suit.
January 11th, 2014
RaspberryPi

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jacko2130

Bad business to leave it at 1 gem for boosts, why would anyone buy gems if resources are easy to get?

The whole point of leaving it at the current rate is to promote players into buying resources and time.

Your contribution of 5 dollars every 5-7 days is nothing compared to those spending money on gemming time and resources.

Imagine in the real world if cars were a dollar, no one would need to buy another car ever again cause yould buy 10 cars for 10 dollars that would last you for the rest of your life.

Obviously business isnt your strong suit.

Finally someone else who understands. Making the game cheap and easy isn't going to get it anywhere.

Pretty sure the people who want permanent 1-gem boosts will also wouldn't mind permanent 1-gem max storage fills, and have no idea how much impact this will cause the game to have. They'd be happy as long as their own base is progressing well.
January 11th, 2014
Scorpion11986

Holiday 1 gem boosts are fine and welcome. Before the christmas the barrack boosts were 25 gems for 45 minutes which didnt make it worth it to boost, now that the holidays are over they changed it to 20 gems for 4 hours. Thats a massive change and makes it actually worth it to boost for a lot of people. They give you a finger and you want there hands.
January 11th, 2014
OJM

Great post, bear. One worth reading on General for a change ;)

I wrote long ago about monetizing lack and it's been more and more clear for quite many updates now, that it is the way SC has chosen to make money. It's quite different style from "happy customer is a paying customer" ideology, that some other games use.

As the effects of gem boosting is mostly concering farmers, I won't go into the trophy hunting. Trophy pushing farmers still play the game whole different way than "real" cuppers. (Although, the big dogs could play it like that, but what's the fun in waiting for troops?)

Cheap boosts would definitely make big amounts of people spend small amounts of money, no doubt about that. But it would also take away a big portion of resource gemming, that obviously is still a common way to play (looking at bases and profiles of the owners it's possible to estimate such). The new 20/4hr boost is useful only for the more dedicated players, which, according to that article that was circulating here, places more than a third of all players in that group. The amount of casual gamers was relatively low compared to other mobile games as well.

So SC made a clear strategy on who to accomodate and monetize from and the rest will just have to adapt their gaming or spending habits. Will this bite them in the behind? - Time will tell. The old system did allow all kinds of players to play how ever they wanted and the 1 gem boost time did allow many to speed things up a bit and actually play the game, not wait the game. Definitely it was a hoot and a half for many, but as there's no "happiness measurement" in the game, the statistics will rely heavily on raw numbers: money and time spent on the game.

To conclude my post, I doubt a permanent 1gem boost would find it's way to the game. A small fraction (those, who think it'd be good) of a small fraction (forumers) of all players will not get SC to change their ideology. The fanboys are still too many to defend the honor of SC here, so all this will be buried and forgotten. To me, this thread was a nice breeze from the past but it'll pass soon enough.

Peace.
January 11th, 2014
GREGORY

I've played about 2 hours in past 2 days.

nothing out there
January 11th, 2014
Motorbike

Exactly. I use gems to boost every single time i play during the promotion.

Now that the promotion is over, I don't boost anymore. 4 hours is crazy. I don't play it for so long in a single sitting. It's not a rpg game.

Anyway hope supercell listens. Now that supercell is a successful company, they will definitely suffer from the deaf frog syndrome
January 11th, 2014
Giggitygoo

Quote:

Originally Posted by RaspberryPi

Seems some people are still looking on the surface of the issue.

1 Gem boosts are great, they get even some casual players to spend a few bucks definitely. But it also means 4x resource progress for anyone who uses them. Big spenders are NOT going to be happy with a bunch of people spending small money getting to the top by taking advantage of 4x resource progress.

In the end, if anyone can finish their lavas in three seasons by using the boosts, then who would spend 231340 Gems buying 750m gold, equaling to $1659 USD, when you can easily spend under 3k gems keeping all your barracks boosted and farming for 3 seasons(which isn't that long at all). It would be a totally different game where small spenders become top players and the gap between them and zero-spenders will be so wide, the casual non-gemmer isn't going to find the game fun any more.

First of, 4x barracks boost does not mean you earn 4 times the resources. Secondly, top trophy play requires a whole lot more than just a maxed base. Thirdly, Champions players would be happy to see some more players in their flock. The trophy system works terrible up top because there is a lack of 3200+ cups players.

Also, you're thinking about this proposed chance from a hardcore farmers point of view. No regular joe will play often enough, even with a cheap boost, to max lava in 6 weeks. You have to take a wide view here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bakhoumgeorge

So what if it is 4 hours? You still get an advantage, so you shouldn't be complaining about that. Just train a long time army then log off till they are done. I don't get what is the problem here. Also why would they want to keep the 1 gem boost forever? You should be happy that you had it, but obviously it won't stay forever. If they make it forever they will lose money. You should be happy that it's free game and everything you can do is free... They have all the rights to do whatever they want to the game. They are NOT FORCING you to pay. In fact they made it POSSIBLE to max out your base without paying. There is really no need to complain...

Did you even read the thread? That's not the point. The point being made is that lowering gem pricing of barrack boosting could lead to even more profit by SC because players tend to spend low amounts if the result is more fun. Whereas they will spend nothing with slightly higher amounts.
January 11th, 2014
RaspberryPi

Quote:

Originally Posted by Giggitygoo

First of, 4x barracks boost does not mean you earn 4 times the resources. Secondly, top trophy play requires a whole lot more than just a maxed base. Thirdly, Champions players would be happy to see some more players in their flock. The trophy system works terrible up top because there is a lack of 3200+ cups players.

Also, you're thinking about this proposed chance from a hardcore farmers point of view. No regular joe will play often enough, even with a cheap boost, to max lava in 6 weeks. You have to take a wide view here.

Literally 95%+ of resources that I gain is through pure raids, so yes 4x barracks speed is at least 3x resources for me.

Also, why do you people keep linking base progress and barracks boost with... trophies?

You do understand that faster troop training at higher trophy leagues(1k+) only means more TRANSFER of trophies? One guy gains, the other guy loses. Also, more advanced bases =/= more people up there. It just means more competition and harder bases up there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RaspberryPi

Trophies =/= base progress/resources/gold. Add as much loot as you want in the game and it will not affect trophies. Trophies gained by you will be the amount of trophies lost by another. Only under 1k trophy ranges will trophies be added into the game. Finding a match in the top leagues will be scarce as always.

However, people who GEM resources and spend big money definitely do NOT want someone else who spends a tiny fraction of that amount to have a similar base. People pay for bragging rights, and if something is THAT easy to get, it's not even worth bragging about.

^ Read my above post. More trophy transfer =/= More trophies put into the game. Just think of the latest update where SC tries to 'Fix' the loot issue by allowing more TRANSFER of loot. (Increasing available storage raids). Solves nothing and everyone will still be bam/barching collectors.

Yes, not many players can get lavas in 6 weeks with 4x boosts. That means we should let those with more time take advantage of the 1-gem 4x boosts and get ahead of everyone, while those without the time have to pay MULTIPLE folds MORE to gain that amount of resources. Tell that to the big spenders and they'll say goodbye.
January 11th, 2014
Beagle21

Supercell has the metrics, they know how many people are boosting, how much the promotion increased or didnt the amount of people playing and the average amount of time people play.
Now that they have made this change to the cheaper boost, I am sure they are closely monitoring its affect on thoose numbers. Once they have some data they will make changes if needed.

Its silly for us to try and make a case that this boost cost or that boost cost is better. We just dont have the knowledge and data that they have.

All we can do is say how much we liked the one gem boost and that we hope it returns in some form.
January 11th, 2014
Crashcourse777

The boosts did make our clan really active, plus loot improved aloot.

Sad that it finished.
January 11th, 2014
Kopperston

Quote:

Originally Posted by medinas925

i agree that was a once in a lifetime opportunity. The games slow and my clans activity level is very low now

+1 exactly
January 11th, 2014
Prevails

Agreed, 100% let's get supercell's attention!
January 11th, 2014
Harrisman24

I could not agree more with the OP. I used to be an 8 hour+ player, but things became too monotonous as I rose to max levels.

But then came the boost over Christmas. I was gemming everything, and I mean E V E R Y T H I N G. Spending well over enough gems a day that I would have to purchase more. But in my opinion, it was more than worth it. It gave me the rush to play that I felt back when I started playing in March 2013. I was able to raid fast, efficiently, and lower amounts as it was still 4x what I could do normally.

Now it is back to normal ( of course now 20 gems for 4 hours on barracks as well as spell factory ) my game has pretty much hit hibernation again.. I speak for many I believe, it is just too monotonous ( yes, that word again ) to raid all day with barbs and archers, hitting not so many good raids, spending 1k to find bigger raids is not an option any more. It's not even the fact i get raided, as I rarely do, it's the fact I'm not going to keep logging in every 20 mins or so, to make barely anything, so I can get barely anywhere.

just doesn't appeal to me any more.
January 11th, 2014
Tuvya

I dont think people will buy gems if they kept the 1 gem boost. They would wait till they could find from obstacles and achievments. Im sure SC must ve observed that good.
January 11th, 2014
Harrisman24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tuvya

I dont think people will buy gems if they kept the 1 gem boost. They would wait till they could find from obstacles and achievments. Im sure SC must ve observed that good.

You don't make near enough a day from clearing obstacles. Make a max 9 gems a day... wouldn't even pay for my pump/mines/collectors.
January 11th, 2014
Tuvya

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harrisman24

You don't make near enough a day from clearing obstacles. Make a max 9 gems a day... wouldn't even pay for my pump/mines/collectors.

Im sayin they would wait.
January 11th, 2014
Jazzathegreat

Quote:

Originally Posted by Giggitygoo

Even though you won't reply Billy, excellent post! I've been thinking about the very same thing but you beat me to it.

It seemed to me that despite having all the data, SC doesn't have a good grasp of gemming behaviour. There is a huge difference between 1 gem boost for which people will actually buy gems, and a 20 gem boost which almost no-one will buy gems for.

At the same time I'm skeptical about my own understanding. SC is ran by intelligent people. If the data points to 1 gems boost being more lucrative, they would implement it permanently. I cannot state these things as if they were the truth, but I can't help feeling that our reasoning is common sense.

Where is the middle ground? Gem incentivization requires a psychological approach as well as knowning your target group and the content of their wallet. It should be at the core of SC' business model. I just have the feeling they are not fully maximizing this potential.

This may just be the most intelligent response i have ever seen on the forums!Exactly my feelings!
January 11th, 2014
JesusIsGod

I agree with the OP 💯%! I have been thinking about this same thing.....the boost was awesome...everyone in my clan was playing all day and so was I...Loot throughout the game was very good...now my clan is dead and the loot in the game is dead.....there is no way that I'm spending gems on boosting now....way to many gems....I think SC in the future will decrease the cost of boosting based on what the data says....more people buy gems when it's more profitable for us the players...not SC.
January 11th, 2014
Prevails

I had never even thought about buying IGC (in game currency) on any ioS game, but when the boost came, i got way low in gems, and actually bought 500 gems. The boost won't affect gem buying too much in the long run, as most people buy gems for builders/buying gold or elixir/speeding builders up, and this would be too small of an update to change those. I was playing about 6-7 hours a day when the boost came on... Plz bring it back for good :D
January 11th, 2014
zachUVA

Quote:

Originally Posted by Giggitygoo

Even though you won't reply Billy, excellent post! I've been thinking about the very same thing but you beat me to it.

It seemed to me that despite having all the data, SC doesn't have a good grasp of gemming behaviour. There is a huge difference between 1 gem boost for which people will actually buy gems, and a 20 gem boost which almost no-one will buy gems for.

At the same time I'm skeptical about my own understanding. SC is ran by intelligent people. If the data points to 1 gems boost being more lucrative, they would implement it permanently. I cannot state these things as if they were the truth, but I can't help feeling that our reasoning is common sense.

Where is the middle ground? Gem incentivization requires a psychological approach as well as knowning your target group and the content of their wallet. It should be at the core of SC' business model. I just have the feeling they are not fully maximizing this potential.

Permanent 1 gem boosts would be a disaster. This isn't all about what causes the most gemming; you also have to take into consideration what this would do to gameplay. I think pretty much everyone would agree that boosting would be far more common with 1 gem boosts than what we have now, and without collector boosts to help loot, we would have a massive loot shortage.

I find the permanent price decrease adequate (although I do think there is a legit debate to be had over 45 min vs 4 hours). It allows people to boost more often than before, but it shouldn't really upset the loot balance too much. I don't know what effect this will have on SC's profit, but I'd imagine it wouldn't be a huge difference.

And, yeah, some could say just make 1gem boosted collectors permanent too, but that could make the game too easy in the long run. I have seen several (I believe truthful) claims of farming in excess of 30 MILLION gold in one day with boosting... that's just too much to be permanent IMO. That being said, yeah, I'd still like more loot than I cam get now, but there is a limit.

Just my opinion, although I do hope we see more discount events from time to time.
January 11th, 2014
36DArchers

Best 10 dollars I ever spent on this game. Did a ton of defense upgrades and walls at th 10 with the boost. I can hardly stay on for more than 5 minutes now. Look forward to these events again hopefully during a break.
January 11th, 2014
TheGreatPhoenix

Quote:

Originally Posted by Giggitygoo

First of, 4x barracks boost does not mean you earn 4 times the resources. Secondly, top trophy play requires a whole lot more than just a maxed base. Thirdly, Champions players would be happy to see some more players in their flock. The trophy system works terrible up top because there is a lack of 3200+ cups players.

Also, you're thinking about this proposed chance from a hardcore farmers point of view. No regular joe will play often enough, even with a cheap boost, to max lava in 6 weeks. You have to take a wide view here.

Did you even read the thread? That's not the point. The point being made is that lowering gem pricing of barrack boosting could lead to even more profit by SC because players tend to spend low amounts if the result is more fun. Whereas they will spend nothing with slightly higher amounts.

I'm mentioning a point a bit related to that
January 11th, 2014
iNFGenetiix

Quote:

Originally Posted by RaspberryPi

No, the current boost pricing is great. If anything, they should just scale it down to 1hour or 2 hour per boost and lower the price to match that.
If they were to lower the rates any more, the big spenders will be complaining and many will not buy resources directly any more.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure majority of the casual players aren't even boosting their raxes even with the 1-gem 45min boosts event.

That being said, I think the best improvement SC can give is better loot.

Shut up troll
January 11th, 2014
Wilzu

I complately agree with OP.
Everyone in this clan were extremely active and we all were playing many hours straight and chat with each other.
It didn't feel like I was playing a mobile game (I'm using bluestacks though) when I could actually play it without waiting for 30 minutes in between the raids. Also it allowed me to use some interesting tactics like dragons/wizards while farming resources.

We talked about these boost prices and everyone shared the same opnion about it: Everyone said that they would buy gems if the boosts costed 1 gem. Now with these current prices none of us even thinks about buying them because it just isn't worth it.

Now after the collector boosts the loot seems to be poor again when it was okay when people boosted their collectors.

I really hope supercell would change them permanently to 1 gem, at least I would buy gems for sure if they did.
January 11th, 2014
RaspberryPi

Quote:

Originally Posted by iNFGenetiix

Shut up troll

Probably anyone that has a logical opinion and makes constructive posts is considered a troll to you. Including Zach..?

You need a lesson in business and if you're getting all that offended over a constructive forum post stay off the forums. It is NOT for the selfish and immatures who thinks that their own game progress is what matters. The game WILL die if it is catered specifically people like you. I bet you're hoping SC will give out one-gem storage fills the next update.

Quote:

Originally Posted by zachUVA

Permanent 1 gem boosts would be a disaster. This isn't all about what causes the most gemming; you also have to take into consideration what this would do to gameplay. I think pretty much everyone would agree that boosting would be far more common with 1 gem boosts than what we have now, and without collector boosts to help loot, we would have a massive loot shortage.

I find the permanent price decrease adequate (although I do think there is a legit debate to be had over 45 min vs 4 hours). It allows people to boost more often than before, but it shouldn't really upset the loot balance too much. I don't know what effect this will have on SC's profit, but I'd imagine it wouldn't be a huge difference.

And, yeah, some could say just make 1gem boosted collectors permanent too, but that could make the game too easy in the long run. I have seen several (I believe truthful) claims of farming in excess of 30 MILLION gold in one day with boosting... that's just too much to be permanent IMO. That being said, yeah, I'd still like more loot than I cam get now, but there is a limit.

Just my opinion, although I do hope we see more discount events from time to time.

Completely agree, but 6 gems a day for an extra 400k gold/day (Max collectors) isn't that game breaking IMO. Unless higher level collectors are introduced, which we are all patiently waiting and hoping for.

And yes, SC should definitely break it down to 5gems/hr for the boosts.
January 11th, 2014
Giggitygoo

Quote:

Originally Posted by zachUVA

Permanent 1 gem boosts would be a disaster. This isn't all about what causes the most gemming; you also have to take into consideration what this would do to gameplay. I think pretty much everyone would agree that boosting would be far more common with 1 gem boosts than what we have now, and without collector boosts to help loot, we would have a massive loot shortage.

I find the permanent price decrease adequate (although I do think there is a legit debate to be had over 45 min vs 4 hours). It allows people to boost more often than before, but it shouldn't really upset the loot balance too much. I don't know what effect this will have on SC's profit, but I'd imagine it wouldn't be a huge difference.

And, yeah, some could say just make 1gem boosted collectors permanent too, but that could make the game too easy in the long run. I have seen several (I believe truthful) claims of farming in excess of 30 MILLION gold in one day with boosting... that's just too much to be permanent IMO. That being said, yeah, I'd still like more loot than I cam get now, but there is a limit.

Just my opinion, although I do hope we see more discount events from time to time.

But just to be clear, I never said that '1' gem should be permanent. I refer to a middle-ground. Where gem pricing is at a point where it doesn't ruin gameplay but incentivices an attractive amount of regular players to gem WHEN they are active. Attractive in the sense that non-paying player suddenly become paying players.

That being said, fair point about the gameplay. It will drain more loot out of a system that's already rather loot-deprived. I guess I'm trying to say that fun and playability should be leading. And any gameplay changes should support that central idea. If you read all the replies you can see that people were genuinly enjoying the game (again). That should be worth something.
January 11th, 2014
sagat

+1000 @ OP
Been playing for more than 1 year and i havent put money in the game ,except for the 4th and 5th builder. never gemmed anything.
However when the 1gem boost came. i bought the 9 euro pack of 1200 gems.. already spent em cause of the boosts.
And i think that if it was still up, i would buy more !
SC is a million dollar company.. Seriously,cant someone tell them that special offers and reduction of cost in gemming is needded more often?
Also the Heroes healing time is a joke at all levels.
Reduce gem costs an youll get more gem buyers. THAT SIMPLE !
January 11th, 2014
zachUVA

Quote:

Originally Posted by Giggitygoo

But just to be clear, I never said that '1' gem should be permanent. I refer to a middle-ground. Where gem pricing is at a point where it doesn't ruin gameplay but incentivices an attractive amount of regular players to gem WHEN they are active. Attractive in the sense that non-paying player suddenly become paying players.

That being said, fair point about the gameplay. It will drain more loot out of a system that's already rather loot-deprived. I guess I'm trying to say that fun and playability should be leading. And any gameplay changes should support that central idea. If you read all the replies you can see that people were genuinly enjoying the game (again). That should be worth something.

Well said! That's exactly where I think it should be. My personal opinion, but I think we are fairly close to that point right now. 5 gems per hour is the cost of boosting right now (but of course it's in 4 hour packages). Feels reasonable to me.

I honestly think, looking back on this, it will be seen as a good deal (although maybe not quite as good as the spells).
January 11th, 2014
NFactorial

Quote:

Originally Posted by zachUVA

Well said! That's exactly where I think it should be. My personal opinion, but I think we are fairly close to that point right now. 5 gems per hour is the cost of boosting right now (but of course it's in 4 hour packages). Feels reasonable to me.

I honestly think, looking back on this, it will be seen as a good deal (although maybe not quite as good as the spells).

Spell Boost is amazing now.....I think that improvement was the best one that they did.
January 11th, 2014
Kopperston

I also spent some gems to 45 min boosts. Even if I decided to spend gems to boost barracks, I think 4 hours is very long time. With spell factory it is ok I guess, could also raid with spells all the time, but for barracks. No...but I guess there is people with nothing else to do than play this game without any breaks?

Even with splitting barrack boost to 1 hour - 5 gems would not solve the problem - there is no loot.

And yes, I have done my share of farming, both gold grab and elixir escapade etc done long time ago so I should know?

My personal guess is when a company spent sick and ridicoulos money to buy Supercell and this game, now they want some money. Maybe there is hard core players ready to spend a lot to this, but majority is not. Spoiling great game with greed is a pity. This is the only game I play and have played in years. I would be sad to see it gone from me. I hope they fix this.
January 11th, 2014
Davelfc

I'd be interested to hear who likes or hates (there really doesn't seem to be a middle ground on forums) my idea for a boost unit pay as you go system. I'd prefer you read the thread linked before saying anything but I realise that's not how most forums work.

http://forum.supercell.net/showthrea...th-boost-units

Supercell could offer daily rewards of boost units to players that log on, reward the top donators in clans and maybe even give small units for 3 stars in certain leagues.

The overriding opinion on here is that while it was enormous fun boosting our barracks for 1 gem, this isn't something supercell could offer permanently. Christmas every day also sounds fun, until you give it some thought.

Having a pay as you go system of boosting benefits everyone, from the person that logs in a couple of times a day to the person that raids almost continually. Give the link a read, flame away.
January 11th, 2014
Mikkkkeeeey

I don't see what there is to complain about? The boost USED to be 25 gems for 45 minutes and people are complaining about 20 gems for 4 hours, Really? That's less gems for around 4-5 times longer! I for one am thanking sc for this updatee;)
January 11th, 2014
DroogJanus

Got to agree with the initial post. Since losing one gem boost on Barracks the game has lost a significant amount of appeal.

it's taken me three days to save for my archer tower upgrades. The pace is mind-numbingly slow now. I can raid about every 20 minutes and because of the new loot system it takes ages to find a great raid.

I understand these 1 gem promotions are short term, fair enough, Supercell have to make money but the replacement 20 gems for four hours isn't good enough.

I suggest 5 gems for 1 hour boost.
January 11th, 2014
Glaciesvir

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davelfc

Most people have said that 4 hours is too long. Of course there are people that love spending 4 hours raiding in one stretch, good, if supercell drop the time to 1 hour and the cost to 5 gems, then you can just buy it 4 times.

If there will be tiered boosts it would most likely be like 20 gems for 4 hours, 12 for 2 hours and 8 for one hour. Gem buying is tiered so you get more for your money if you more a bigger load.

interesting first post, guy has no time for a single four hour boost but has time for ten 45 minutes boosts? Am I missing something?
January 11th, 2014
Jcman

barracks x4 =/= gold x4

People saying you get four times the loot because your barracks are operating at four times the speed are grossly mistaken.. Most of the time is spent NEXTING... Most of your boost is wasted because your troops are sitting in queue waiting for you to get back and start NEXTING again.

Last season I attacked others around 1200 times while boosting continuously.

Mostly I was taking around 180k gold average every 5-7 minutes over the course of a 10 hour boosting marathon. My peak take was 2.6 million in an hour. ( With Cheap Troops )

I made 22 million gold in 10 hours of raiding while boosting continuously.. Is that an insane number? Not really, 1 - 1.5 million was easily doable before the loot change without boosting. ( With Cheap Troops )

I also dropped $30 on this game last season. You could say I spent $30 for an extra 20 million or so gold from all my boosting over the week. Was it worth it, honestly for the gold amount, probably not for me... I did have a ton of fun raiding so much though and I would do it much more often if given the chance.

I still had to spend a TON of time in game raiding constantly for scraps off of bases as hitting large bases with big troops earns less gold per hour even while boosted.
January 11th, 2014
ThatoneguyIknow

OP has a valid point. But SC won't profit as much from 50/100 players spending 1 gem and 20/100 spending 20. 20x20=400 gems spent. Around 3.99 USD profit.

50x1=50 gems spent. About a 50 US cent profit
January 11th, 2014
NateH

Nice post Bill, and welcome back to the forums! If, only for a brief moment. Look, I agree 4 hours is too long, and I agree we all have a gem hang over, but 20 for 4 hours is still better than 25 for 45 minutes. I assume SC will look at the numbers and tweak this a little... Its easy to see how they made this to match the 20 gem 4 hour spell factory boost, but the 4 hour spell factory boost works because spell brewing time is so long, and that is not the case with the barracks boost.

Still happy to have a 4 hour barracks boost even if I only use 1 or 2 hours of it.
January 11th, 2014
Jcman

Quote:

Originally Posted by ThatoneguyIknow

OP has a valid point. But SC won't profit as much from 50/100 players spending 1 gem and 20/100 spending 20. 20x20=400 gems spent. Around 3.99 USD profit.

50x1=50 gems spent. About a 50 US cent profit

Nice job making up statistics there...

You don't have a fair comparison. First off you have to compare apples to apples. So, at minimum, compare 4 hour blocks.
You do that and instead of $.50 you have $2.50 compared to $4.00. 1 gem for 45 minutes, so 5 gems for a bit over 4 hours.

And who said it had to stay at 1 gem for 45 minutes... Let's make it 2 gems for 45 minutes.. Now using your made up numbers the 2 gems for 45 minutes is at $5.00 compared to $4.00 of the 20gems for 4 hours... SC would make more money selling the cheaper boost.

The point is, happy people will buy more gems then frustrated people. The raiding/loot system now is frustrating for tons of people. The troop time for even cheap troops is too long. That frustrates thousands of people. Spell Cooking times are ridiculous. This frustrates people. Cheap boosts are an easy fix to keep people playing, and spending money. We are forced to stay online for long periods of time to protect our gained resources and are encouraged by the loot system to hit harder bases for storages but those troops take forever to cook and spells take longer. Boosts help with all of this.

I made about 70 million gold last season, less than 1 million of that was stolen from other people. The math does not add up.

This games gold economy relies far too much on tens of thousands of inactive and/or dead bases for the rest of us to farm off of. Until active people can raid other active people and still progress in a timely manner, this game can only go one direction... downhill. I expect Supercell will see the dramatic drop of gem sales and active accounts in the coming weeks compared to a month ago and they'll either address it, or they'll squeeze the player base until the problem fixes itself because there are many times more dead bases than active so loot is not a problem anymore. I would like to think SC wants to keep its player base as potential gem buyers, not use their dead base collectors to feed the chain.

Supercell likes being a free to play game with in game purchases, they should look at how other mmo type games get you to spend your money. They do it by getting little bits of coin off you at a time. Coins from millions of people add up much more than dollars from a thousand or so people.
January 11th, 2014
Benson822175

Quote:

Originally Posted by billwinkiesbear

This is a one off post (as i needed to log in to alter sig)

This is a summary of the last month or two, it is my opinion only and i will not be reading any responses.... But i pray to god that SC understand that they had altered their game to a point where it surpassed its previous best... Then they took it away.

TH11 is needed - either that or they need to introduce some major game play changes...

The 1 gem boost altered this game from being the best game i have ever got addicted to, to being a game i could never imagine being knocked off position 1 in that list. Then they took it away.

Its fairly obvious that SC do not play this game as we do, otherwise they would understand the significant improvement this "pay to play" option introduced in to their game. I am sure that there is an opposing view (prob rage threads somewhere)

For the last 6 months i have spent very little on gems... However when the boost came along i was boosting approx 10 times a day ... EVERYDAY

This was mirrored throughout my entire clan...

So we went from spending little on gems to each spending, im certain that my clan was not the only clan that encountered this increase.

Most importantly the gameplay was fantastic, rapid raiding high loots and lots of risky/silly raids just cause it didnt matter that much. I started to make some serious progress on level 10 walls, Clan activity was on the up, troop donation default became wizzies not arcs. It was the best the game has ever been.

some numbers:
5 (barracks and spell factory) * 10 (boosts... I know the SF was a four hour boost but its an average) : 50 gems / day

50 Gems/ day * 7 days a week : 350 gems / week

350 gems * 30 players.... Well you do the math and 30 is not a very generous number

The 45 minute boost suited my game play so much more than the 4 hour boost ... I have a family and do not spend 4 hours attached to the game...

Im not including the 10 gems a day for my DE drills and Mines in the calculation either!

Since Introducing the 20 gems for 4 hours i have boosted 0 (yes zero) times.

The game now seems monotonous and many people have kind of stopped playing. I for one would have happily continued spending on gems, you had re-invigorated my interest in your game, a game that was approaching what appeared to be a natural end.

With the 1 gem boost TH11 is not needed for me as for the first time i envisaged Lv11 walls, now i do not see me completing Lv10 walls and for a maxed TH10 (def wise) im back to where i was 2 months ago.. I.e. How much longer can i justify the time... sigh

cheers guys

LOL Another guy Complaining that removing the holiday gift broke the game. People need to appreciate that the game is free to play and appreciate that they did the 1 gem boosting in the first place. Shell out a few more gems if you want to use it, the 1 GEM BOOST WAS A GIFT, appreciate it.
January 11th, 2014
speedro1225

Quote:

Originally Posted by Giggitygoo

Even though you won't reply Billy, excellent post! I've been thinking about the very same thing but you beat me to it.

It seemed to me that despite having all the data, SC doesn't have a good grasp of gemming behaviour. There is a huge difference between 1 gem boost for which people will actually buy gems, and a 20 gem boost which almost no-one will buy gems for.

At the same time I'm skeptical about my own understanding. SC is ran by intelligent people. If the data points to 1 gems boost being more lucrative, they would implement it permanently. I cannot state these things as if they were the truth, but I can't help feeling that our reasoning is common sense.

Where is the middle ground? Gem incentivization requires a psychological approach as well as knowning your target group and the content of their wallet. It should be at the core of SC' business model. I just have the feeling they are not fully maximizing this potential.

Do you have the data? Being that sc does, and we dont, wouldn't you think they are making the best decisions based on making profits, and we are simply making assumptions. Also how can a game all of a sudden be boring or broken. If it wasnt boring before boost, how can it be after? I really appreciate the gift they gave me and appreciate the reduction in current boost.
January 11th, 2014
agr1014

I agree. I am going inactive next season due to this and loss of interest. They don't realize how much profit they would make off of people buying gems to boost.
January 11th, 2014
Opihi

Quote:

Originally Posted by Benson822175

LOL Another guy Complaining that removing the holiday gift broke the game. People need to appreciate that the game is free to play and appreciate that they did the 1 gem boosting in the first place. Shell out a few more gems if you want to use it, the 1 GEM BOOST WAS A GIFT, appreciate it.

LOL... this guy obviously doesn't get the point of the thread...

Agree with OP... it would be interesting to see SC's profits during the boost sale to see if many micro transactions over and over throughout the entire sale or less bulk purchases less frequently now and before boost sale.
January 11th, 2014
Tiny2

Quote:

Originally Posted by billwinkiesbear

Its fairly obvious that SC do not play this game as we do, otherwise they would understand the significant improvement this "pay to play" option introduced in to their game. I am sure that there is an opposing view (prob rage threads somewhere)

So we went from spending little on gems to each spending, im certain that my clan was not the only clan that encountered this increase.

Most importantly the gameplay was fantastic, rapid raiding high loots and lots of risky/silly raids just cause it didnt matter that much. I started to make some serious progress on level 10 walls, Clan activity was on the up, troop donation default became wizzies not arcs. It was the best the game has ever been.

The game now seems monotonous and many people have kind of stopped playing. I for one would have happily continued spending on gems, you had re-invigorated my interest in your game, a game that was approaching what appeared to be a natural end.

I think SC plays this game very well. There is a reason why its daily profits are so high - thats not an accident!

I've read this entire thread and it seems we all agree that reduced troop times and increased production returned some of the fun back to game and made clan life generally more enjoyable - such a pity you have to buy that pleasure - so money can buy happiness - bring on TH11 so the endless grind can continue!

The game is monotonous and many people will stop playing if this is how the game continues without meaningful new content.
January 11th, 2014
Crazyscorp

Quote:

Originally Posted by RaspberryPi

However, people who GEM resources and spend big money definitely do NOT want someone else who spends a tiny fraction of that amount to have a similar base. People pay for bragging rights, and if something is THAT easy to get, it's not even worth bragging about.

i disagree with this. As someone who has spent at least $2000.00 on this game it doesn't really bother me.

i buy gems because I like the game and am very busy so can't sit on my iPad 8 hours a day farming (still do farm a fair bit, am a bit over 400m gold looted). If someone else has more time than money and wants to spend 8 hours a day for six weeks farming and spend $100.00 to get what cost me $2000.00 then I can't see an issue with that. Some people have time to spend and some have money to spend I think its good that we can choose which one we can spare.
January 11th, 2014
Ezor

Totally agree!!
January 12th, 2014
Nekoshinigami

I have purchased the barracks boost after it is raised from 1 gem everyday.

I understand that pple find 4 hours too long. And I suggest a staggered pricing as opposed to a be straight division as no one would boost 20 gems for 4 hours if I can pay 5 gems for 1 hour (flexibility trumps).

I have also boosted barracks for trophy pushes so I'm loving how much cheaper this is (used to be 25 gems for 45 mins if i remember correctly).

I do see both sides but I would rather have the staggered pricing modifications of the current boost rather than 1 gem boosts. 1 gem boosting also means that my base gets attacked the moment I log off as opposed to possibly 1-2 hours now.
January 12th, 2014
Vengence

After the update I went on holiday, that very day the boost kicked in, when I returned that very day they made everything 1 gem (boosted only). During this period from when I returned to the end of the boost I was boosting 21 times a day, 16 hr played. I was de farming as normal till the 31st and then turned to gold farming, did 250 lvl 9 walls in 12 days 8hr as a th10. I was boosting 4 barracks, 2 de barracks and the spell factory every 45min for 16hr every day. That turns out to be 132 gems I spent per day boosting. How ever it was a once in a COC-time opportunity so. I didn't mind. Don't see why u complaining about the gems when you chose to do it like I did, yet I was determined to do as much COC in that time.

EDIT: I also boosted 6 times (all spell factory and barracks and de barracks) with the 20 gem offer, after the boost ended :) Worth it. I also boost spell factory daily since its so cheap, its $10 a month at 3 boosts a day.
January 12th, 2014
JtB

Quote:

Originally Posted by OJM

Great post, bear. One worth reading on General for a change ;)

I wrote long ago about monetizing lack and it's been more and more clear for quite many updates now, that it is the way SC has chosen to make money. It's quite different style from "happy customer is a paying customer" ideology, that some other games use.

As the effects of gem boosting is mostly concering farmers, I won't go into the trophy hunting. Trophy pushing farmers still play the game whole different way than "real" cuppers. (Although, the big dogs could play it like that, but what's the fun in waiting for troops?)

Cheap boosts would definitely make big amounts of people spend small amounts of money, no doubt about that. But it would also take away a big portion of resource gemming, that obviously is still a common way to play (looking at bases and profiles of the owners it's possible to estimate such). The new 20/4hr boost is useful only for the more dedicated players, which, according to that article that was circulating here, places more than a third of all players in that group. The amount of casual gamers was relatively low compared to other mobile games as well.

So SC made a clear strategy on who to accomodate and monetize from and the rest will just have to adapt their gaming or spending habits. Will this bite them in the behind? - Time will tell. The old system did allow all kinds of players to play how ever they wanted and the 1 gem boost time did allow many to speed things up a bit and actually play the game, not wait the game. Definitely it was a hoot and a half for many, but as there's no "happiness measurement" in the game, the statistics will rely heavily on raw numbers: money and time spent on the game.

To conclude my post, I doubt a permanent 1gem boost would find it's way to the game. A small fraction (those, who think it'd be good) of a small fraction (forumers) of all players will not get SC to change their ideology. The fanboys are still too many to defend the honor of SC here, so all this will be buried and forgotten. To me, this thread was a nice breeze from the past but it'll pass soon enough.

Peace.

Nice post.
January 12th, 2014
Thomas20247

I can't help but too agree with him. although I actually bough some gems before this 1 gem boost came out and had some gems leftover to boost my stuff. I would have probably been able to spend many 5$ a season on top of my normal gemming once a month. SC WERE TALKIN YOUR MONEY this ALS dramatically increased loot. I wuz in loot heaven .
January 12th, 2014
adram101

What is wrong with you people!

Seriously, i don't normally mind people complaining about the game, it does have many issues that could be fixed or improved.

SC have given us 1 gem boosts over the holidays, then reduced barracks boost cost by a large amount, and you people are whining about it? What the heck is wrong with you lot.

Ridiculous. whine whine whine, I'm sick of it. If you don't like the game, quit!
January 12th, 2014
vasubandu

and it would make EX more money

bill I put up sat the exact same post a couple days ago and a poll today. I bet you spent some Gems on Upgrades too. It is a no brained for SC. With cheaper boosts we play more. The more we play the more we spend. You are spot on.
January 12th, 2014
RuthlessBarbarian

Wouldn't it be fair to say to you to quit forum if you do not like reading ongoing whining? I think complaining about complaining is kinda superfluous. Just saying :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by adram101

Seriously, i don't normally mind people complaining about the game, it does have many issues that could be fixed or improved.

SC have given us 1 gem boosts over the holidays, then reduced barracks boost cost by a large amount, and you people are whining about it? What the heck is wrong with you lot.

Ridiculous. whine whine whine, I'm sick of it. If you don't like the game, quit!
January 12th, 2014
JJSCHMITTY

Quote:

Originally Posted by zachUVA

Permanent 1 gem boosts would be a disaster. This isn't all about what causes the most gemming; you also have to take into consideration what this would do to gameplay. I think pretty much everyone would agree that boosting would be far more common with 1 gem boosts than what we have now, and without collector boosts to help loot, we would have a massive loot shortage.

I find the permanent price decrease adequate (although I do think there is a legit debate to be had over 45 min vs 4 hours). It allows people to boost more often than before, but it shouldn't really upset the loot balance too much. I don't know what effect this will have on SC's profit, but I'd imagine it wouldn't be a huge difference.

And, yeah, some could say just make 1gem boosted collectors permanent too, but that could make the game too easy in the long run. I have seen several (I believe truthful) claims of farming in excess of 30 MILLION gold in one day with boosting... that's just too much to be permanent IMO. That being said, yeah, I'd still like more loot than I cam get now, but there is a limit.

Just my opinion, although I do hope we see more discount events from time to time.

Given the the information about how this would impact loot, I think that a boost event during sneak peek season would be enough to satisfy forumers while at the same time preventing loot from completely drying out during said period of time.
January 12th, 2014
maggiep0tat0
I had a feeling that it would be a great day
- it's so good to see you, however brief, back on the Forums, Billy Teddy Bear.

I am no economist,
and I certainly have no hard facts / figures,
but I do agree with you that the 1 gem boost would have been a good stream of mutually beneficial income.

Now, before I get vitriol poured on me for whining, allow myself to be very clear:
I am not complaining about the current situation.
Things have actually gone back to (slightly better than) status quo and I am OK with that.

But consider the following:
1. If you're trying to sell something, you market it @ $99.99 instead of $100.00
  
  People who were not usually gemming, and I refer to even the most hardcore farmers amongst us, were boosting everything this past week (or was it two).
  
  Now, you might say that it won't mean much to SuperCell because they're using achievement / tree gems, blah blah yadda yadda... but let's look at this very objectively here:
  A TH10 has 7 + 7 + 3 resource collectors. That's 17 gems there already.
  Add the barracks & spells into the mix @ 4 + 2, we're looking @ 6 gems per playing session - now I'm not sure about you, but I certainly did not stop at just 1 session - because 6 gems were so deceptively cheap, I was boosting them even when I was unsure I'd be able to play long stretches of time.
  Needless to say, my spell factory never slept either.
  
  Deceptively cheap, but it adds up, as the OP as shown in his math.
  
  Most of the older players here, would have already spent most of their achievement gems over the course of a few trophy hunts.
  Similarly, younger players usually hold out on their gems to pay for their builders.
  And there's no way you get 17 gems EVERY DAY from cutting trees down.
  
  And I personally know 12 players who actually bought a small pile of gems just to take advantage of this boost.
2. Hunting is the ultimate aim of the game
  
  Now, I hear all of you about your comments about loot shouldn't be too easy for everyone.
  But, as sad as it is to admit it (and I am as stubborn a farmer as anyone out there), resource looting is not the aim of the game. Cup hunting is.
  
  We farmers exploit a loophole in the system - and our journey is a loooooooooong, gruelling, tiring, and very likely an endless one.
  
  No matter how much we raid in a day, we will NEVER be able to fully max our bases. We will ALWAYS be grinding @ walls.
  Because every single time you think you've made it, SuperCell goes ahead and releases a new TH. *whoopeedoo*
  It's just how fast we reach the temporary end for a break before the next mindless cycle comes up.
  
  This barrack + spell + resource boost made it semi possible for a lot of us to (kinda) do both.
  So, maybe not all of us made it to Champ, and even fewer of us are sitting @ the 3600s and above,
  but it made it possible for the group of us who are neither here nor there on the side of the fence to start enjoying the game again and have a mild taste of playing the game the way we ultimately think we should be playing it.
  
  And I believe that is better for game progression in the long run.
3. More champs = More fish in the pond
  
  Honestly, while I don't know many competitive players up there,
  the few that I do know complain about one thing - the mind numbing horror of watching clouds on your iPad / iPhone for hours before you find just one base. And that base may not even be worth attacking, if you had a choice.
  
  As some of you have rightfully pointed out, the gap between the Olympus of Clash and the lands of us mere mortals is a wide one.
  
  I'm already complaining when I need to click more than 20 times to find a base with loot,
  so I think I would probably shoot myself in the head if it took me 2 hours to find 1 base (which is apparently the going rate @ 3900 trophies atm).
  
  So I'm sure they wouldn't mind if just a few more of us climbed up to champ so that they had a wider variety of bases that they could 2* with their armies. :rolleyes:
4. Competitive trophy hunters will ALWAYS need to gem
  
  The game they play is a totally different game from what we are used to.
  
  They gem their waiting times, their donation troops, their heroes, their spells,
  and when SC releases a new TH / defence, they will gem that too.
  
  A 13 dragon army takes out 546,000 elixir for each raid.
  3 L5 golems set you back about 2,250 DE.
  And that's all for ONE raid - and they don't just raid once in a day.
  
  So, while the resource boost might amount to slightly more resources,
  I still believe the drain may still be faster than the gain.
Again, not whining.
Things have gone back to (slightly better than) the way they were.

But I do believe the Teddy Bear is on to something here.

-----
La petite PommeFrites, wondering if health economics is the same as real economics...
January 12th, 2014
baptistpreach

A couple things to remember if anyone's still reading this thread.

1. The 1 gem for everything was a gift, and an incredible gift that lasted for quite a long time.

2. There was a major reduction and increase in boosting value given by SC immediately after the cheap boost

3. Loot always stinks right after an update

So, it's gonna seem extra hard since loot was so plentiful during the boost and now even using bag army feels slow to me. Loot is harder to find, but that's really nothing abnormal. In a few days it should return to great again. But that's just because we got spoiled during that cheap boost. When people with no actual data other then their own (or their clan or some forum posters) opinion try to tell SC how they are missing out on making so much money, and they should follow their great counsel to reach a new height of revenue stream - well, they just don't have what SC has, raw data and actual monetary feedback.

Personally I'm grateful that things have gotten cheaper to boost, and that SC ever even gave us that amazing boost to being with. I think if I was a game dev for SC I'd not want to read these forums since even when people get what they want it's never enough.

Everyone is entitled to your own opinion, just remember that's what it is, your opinion, not the masses.
January 12th, 2014
TheConfuzed1

Until the first one gem spell factory boost, I never boosted my spell factory, but I've been doing so, ever since, when I have the time to commit to raiding.

The same goes for the barracks boost. Before they were one gem, I'd never boosted them.

Guess what... My barracks and spell factory are all boosted right this moment.

I'm sure not alone, and I'm sure Super Cell can see this data. I'd say that was a successful one gem taste, to get me hooked.
January 12th, 2014
AragornII

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wilzu

I complately agree with OP.
Everyone in this clan were extremely active and we all were playing many hours straight and chat with each other.
It didn't feel like I was playing a mobile game (I'm using bluestacks though) when I could actually play it without waiting for 30 minutes in between the raids. Also it allowed me to use some interesting tactics like dragons/wizards while farming resources.

We talked about these boost prices and everyone shared the same opnion about it: Everyone said that they would buy gems if the boosts costed 1 gem. Now with these current prices none of us even thinks about buying them because it just isn't worth it.

Now after the collector boosts the loot seems to be poor again when it was okay when people boosted their collectors.

I really hope supercell would change them permanently to 1 gem, at least I would buy gems for sure if they did.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sagat

+1000 @ OP
Been playing for more than 1 year and i havent put money in the game ,except for the 4th and 5th builder. never gemmed anything.
However when the 1gem boost came. i bought the 9 euro pack of 1200 gems.. already spent em cause of the boosts.
And i think that if it was still up, i would buy more !
SC is a million dollar company.. Seriously,cant someone tell them that special offers and reduction of cost in gemming is needded more often?
Also the Heroes healing time is a joke at all levels.
Reduce gem costs an youll get more gem buyers. THAT SIMPLE !

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jcman

Nice job making up statistics there...

You don't have a fair comparison. First off you have to compare apples to apples. So, at minimum, compare 4 hour blocks.
You do that and instead of $.50 you have $2.50 compared to $4.00. 1 gem for 45 minutes, so 5 gems for a bit over 4 hours.

And who said it had to stay at 1 gem for 45 minutes... Let's make it 2 gems for 45 minutes.. Now using your made up numbers the 2 gems for 45 minutes is at $5.00 compared to $4.00 of the 20gems for 4 hours... SC would make more money selling the cheaper boost.

The point is, happy people will buy more gems then frustrated people. The raiding/loot system now is frustrating for tons of people. The troop time for even cheap troops is too long. That frustrates thousands of people. Spell Cooking times are ridiculous. This frustrates people. Cheap boosts are an easy fix to keep people playing, and spending money. We are forced to stay online for long periods of time to protect our gained resources and are encouraged by the loot system to hit harder bases for storages but those troops take forever to cook and spells take longer. Boosts help with all of this.

I made about 70 million gold last season, less than 1 million of that was stolen from other people. The math does not add up.

This games gold economy relies far too much on tens of thousands of inactive and/or dead bases for the rest of us to farm off of. Until active people can raid other active people and still progress in a timely manner, this game can only go one direction... downhill. I expect Supercell will see the dramatic drop of gem sales and active accounts in the coming weeks compared to a month ago and they'll either address it, or they'll squeeze the player base until the problem fixes itself because there are many times more dead bases than active so loot is not a problem anymore. I would like to think SC wants to keep its player base as potential gem buyers, not use their dead base collectors to feed the chain.

Supercell likes being a free to play game with in game purchases, they should look at how other mmo type games get you to spend your money. They do it by getting little bits of coin off you at a time. Coins from millions of people add up much more than dollars from a thousand or so people.

These and what Maggie just mentioned.

The first days of the boost I ran out of gems. Guess what I did? For the past 4 months, since I bought my 5th builder, I did not purchase gems. But because I ran out of my gems, which was the effect of 1 gem boosting, I bought the gem pack. Yep, I was forced to buy gems to avail of the boost. And so I type to our clan's chat "Did it have the same effect on you?" Clan's answer was a resounding yes! And they were all happy, they once again found the need for gemming. For the longest time in our coc life, we again experienced zero gems and yet felt value was there. You supercell, brought about the gem drain in the economy. Now, shouldn't you be as happy as well, supercell? You and softbank's pocket (not to sound disdainful here, just realistic)?

Keywords here being happy, buying, need, gems.

There are people here worrying about the effects of the influx of gold (it's a perennial fear I tell you, but a lootless coc is much more terrifying and will lead to its death). Well I could say the boost helped me in my xbow. But still, the bulk of income used to start it was from the raids. I was still raiding incessantly as before update, but it was less frustrating and was more rewarding compared to post update. The 1 gem collector helped yes, but if I relied on it solely, if I didn't raid for hours, I wont be able to start my xbow. So what I'm saying is, 1 gem collectors won't cause inflation, because of the really steep prices of upgrades. You still have to raid, raid, raid. So do not worry about 1 gem collectors, once this is given to us again, what you should worry about are your pockets, wallets, c cards.

Going back to op, think about supercell, make a feasibility study about it or something, you induce gem drain, the 1 gem boost is an almighty solution to all our problems—the problem with the gold drain, with the cook times, with Nexting, problem with the trophy drain, problem with your Euro income, with softbank's income. It is business after all, supercell.

p.s. Looking back, 1 gem boost won't even be thought about or discussed if it wasn't for the generally worse state of loots these weeks post update. Sc, it all boils down to how your new loot system affected coc very badly.
January 12th, 2014
MarionCast

Indeed a missed opportunity for SC. Such a waste...
January 12th, 2014
maggiep0tat0

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jcman

Spell Cooking times are ridiculous.

Heh... I just saw this https://mail.google.com/mail/ca/u/0/e/ezweb_ne_jp.B99

Off topic, I think spells used to take up 4 (or was it 6) hours of cooking time.

-----
La petite PommeFrites, still boosting her factory... :rolleyes:
January 12th, 2014
Sneakydave

Quote:

Originally Posted by maggiep0tat0

Heh... I just saw this https://mail.google.com/mail/ca/u/0/e/ezweb_ne_jp.B99

Off topic, I think spells used to take up 4 (or was it 6) hours of cooking time.

-----
La petite PommeFrites, still boosting her factory... :rolleyes:

Originally i think they were 16, 20 and 24 hours to make
January 12th, 2014
Zombiebender

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sneakydave

Originally i think they were 16, 20 and 24 hours to make

Yep, memories, now 30 minutes is torture. :D
January 12th, 2014
Stitch

The 1 gem boost simply cannot stay. It was a nice gift from Supercell that made the game embarrassingly easy for TH8 and under. It made TH9 enjoyable due to extra loot and also gave new life to TH10s that were starting to stagnate.

I can see Bill's point however I believe he's a unique case that most of us on here can't really relate too.

What I mean is, he has a maxed base except Heroes and Walls, basically the highest demanding resources. He doesn't want to continually chase cups and so is stuck trying his best to farm and frustrated with the current levels.

I can understand the 1 gem boost might have doubled his productivity to farm these and so refreshed his interest however it tripled or even quadrupled the productivity of lower TH levels. Not good and can't be permanent.

If there is going to be a fix implemented to help Bill's situation it needs to ONLY apply to TH10. There can be NO further improvements to TH8 and under, it'll make it too easy.

For me, and what I've seen so far, the system appears better than before the boost, but obviously a lot lower than during the boost. Supercell have also offered tempting lower gem amounts which i'm now starting to use more. If I know I can play 4 hours then Supercell have a guaranteed 80 gems from me (2 x barracks, 1 x DE barrack & 1 x spell factory).

Well played by Supercell if you ask me. Now just to try and tweak it slightly to improve high level farming if possible.
January 12th, 2014
TonyBandana

The 1 gem boost was implemented because SC knew the loot was ♥♥♥♥. Simple as that.

The only reason we are seeing more better raids is because more people are playing less and/or quitting and SC know this too.
January 12th, 2014
Gobroncos95

Quote:

Originally Posted by TonyBandana

The 1 gem boost was implemented because SC knew the loot was ♥♥♥♥. Simple as that.

I don't believe this is the case. I believe they implemented the boost for one reason, and one reason only...to foster more gem spending. They made it clear that the new loot system was intended to show more "variety" in the matches so we should expect to see a lot more low $ bases. This was done with the clear intention of reducing the amount of gold available in the game (because of the additional NEXT clicks), which again, would foster more gem spending.

There are people quitting in droves which compounds the issue because Supercell removes inactive bases from the matchmaking. We have people in our clan just riding shields instead of attacking simply because the loot is so bad. The game is very frustrating at this point.
January 12th, 2014
Nekoshinigami

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stitch

If I know I can play 4 hours then Supercell have a guaranteed 80 gems from me (2 x barracks, 1 x DE barrack & 1 x spell factory).

Hehe. Same here Stitch. :cool:
January 12th, 2014
vasubandu

The 1-Gem Boost was NOT a gift

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stitch

The 1 gem boost simply cannot stay. It was a nice gift from Supercell that made the game embarrassingly easy for TH8 and under. It made TH9 enjoyable due to extra loot and also gave new life to TH10s that were starting to stagnate.

Sorry, but I really have to disagree with those who say that the 1-gem boost was a gift or act of generosity by SC. Implicit in that statement is the idea that is cost SC something. I would be dollars to donuts (the cheap ones, not Krispy Kreme) that SC's revenues and profits increased substantially while it was in effect. A lot more people bought gems, and the people who already bought gems bought more. Why? Because we played more.

And why did we play more? Because we could.

When I play CoC, there are precisely two things I can do. I can build and I can raid. By build, I mean mean build or upgrade of course. No, wait. Make that three ways. I can build, raid, or wait. I actually wait more than I build or raid. I wait for upgrades and I wait for troops. While I am waiting, I log out and am raided. Paybacks are hell I guess.

SC might make money off me to raid or to build, but not when I wait. Waiting really means not paying the game or not being able to play the game. If I can't play, they can't win.

CoC is a very addictive game at lower levels. The waits are measured in minutes and then hours. Within my attention span. If you had told me up front that we would be talking about days for an upgrade, I never would have downloaded it.

In the end, the real question here is the pace of the game. Should we be able to play more and wait less? In theory, most game companies want us to play as much as they can get us to. And playing is more fun than waiting.

The problem is balance. I suspect that SC spends more time worrying about maintaining the game's balance than anything else. If people could max everything in a week, no one would stick around very long. If it took weeks to collect the gold for an x-bow (it might), then people will get discouraged and quit.

The problem is that the right balance may be different for low and high level players, for farmers and trophy hunters. In the end, SC has a really tough job trying to keep as many people happy as it can.

On top of all this, SC need to keep the money rolling in. Cracks me up when people complain about their daily revenue. It comes from a lot of people because a lot of people like the game. Works for me.

All that said, the pace of the game can and should be quickened. No purpose is served by making me wait an hour or more between raids. There is plenty of room to speed things up without people "finishing" the game in a week. And a 1-gem barracks boost is the perfect foundation to do that.

A 1-gem barracks boost forces me to buy gems for the boost. I am not buying gems now. I bought lots during the boost. It leaves me with extra gems that I invariably spend on upgrades, so I have to buy more for more boosts. A vicious circle. Implementing that would require cheap elixir and gold boosts too, but those are complimentary. That combination would increase both the number of raids and the available loot.

More loot means two things. More building and more advanced building. And that means longer waiting times when I have gold and elixir on hand from raids. And that makes me buy more gems. Within reason. I play more, SC gets more.

Now some people don't care for a faster game. Fair enough. Same dollars to donuts bet that you get raided and shield between your own raids. It might come a bit faster with more raids overall, but unless you give up the shield to raid, you still get protected from raids. And don't complain about being raided after you give up a shield to raid yourself. The only people who are going to raided more with cheap boosts are people who raid more themselves.

So SC let me play more or I will get bored and find another addicting game.
January 12th, 2014
Stitch

I don't think you can have a 1 gem barrack boost without the 1 gem collector boost. As people will be raiding more but there is no extra money in the system.

The trouble with giving the 1 gem boost on the collectors is that people can collect over 1.6m resources without doing anything. It's just too much. It would be a different story if each TH level had a collector limit. Trouble is TH8 can collect the same as a TH9 and one collector less than a TH10.

Supercell did a VERY smart thing over Xmas. They knew people were unhappy with loot, and they also knew it was a time of the year when the majority of people would have time to play. If they did nothing then they run the risk of losing players to the competition so they did the one thing that would crush the competition. They made it very enjoyable for players to regain their interest in the game and try to get people committed again.

Not sure if it was luck or a genius move but it could only be temporary in my opinion. As I said before it made the game embarrassingly easy, but enjoyable and effortless at the same time.

There is no doubt that more loot would be welcome at TH10 so it should be addressed there. Either new collector levels or possibly higher league bonuses to encourage more to raise trophies.

One thing is for sure. Once you get to TH10 you say goodbye to cheap farming armies as you have loot penalties from lower TH levels and X-Bows or Inferno Towers at equal levels which are too overpowering.

1 gemming is NOT the way to go.
January 12th, 2014
Crazyscorp

Quote:

Originally Posted by maggiep0tat0

Heh... I just saw this https://mail.google.com/mail/ca/u/0/e/ezweb_ne_jp.B99

Off topic, I think spells used to take up 4 (or was it 6) hours of cooking time.

-----
La petite PommeFrites, still boosting her factory... :rolleyes:

I didn't play then but I pretty sure spells weren't a mandatory part of every raid back then like they are today. Today raiding without spells is almost certain to fail on anything but very weak bases so I do think their times are too long
January 12th, 2014
vasubandu

How do cheaper gems make the game easy or effortless?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stitch

Not sure if it was luck or a genius move but it could only be temporary in my opinion. As I said before it made the game embarrassingly easy, but enjoyable and effortless at the same time.

Help me out here. I can raid for free. Just have to wait. I can speed up the waiting for gems, which means money. So I would wait less.

Exactly how does being able to raid more often and wait less change the nature of the game? It does not change my raids or the chance of success. It just gives me more chances. The elixir and gold boosts might need to be changed to keep things in balance, but maybe not. Maybe we would get less per raid and offset it by doing more raids. That would be fine with me. I would get to play and raid more and build at the same rate as now.

The game is based on delay. I get that. I have not seen anyone suggesting that troops should be made instantly. We all accept the idea that there should some some time required to make them. But long waiting times can be too long. And when they are, people will leave. Barracks boost income is the appetizer for SC and upgrade income is the main course. If I can't afford or justify the expense of an appetizer, I ain't gonna buy dinner.

Since you get a shield from the first successful raid, how exactly do more frequent raids change the game for you unless you give up the shield to raid yourself?
January 12th, 2014
iNFGenetiix

should have made 1 gem boost perm just saying.
January 12th, 2014
Cptn

Quote:

Originally Posted by billwinkiesbear

This is a one off post (as i needed to log in to alter sig)

This is a summary of the last month or two, it is my opinion only and i will not be reading any responses.... But i pray to god that SC understand that they had altered their game to a point where it surpassed its previous best... Then they took it away.

TH11 is needed - either that or they need to introduce some major game play changes...

The 1 gem boost altered this game from being the best game i have ever got addicted to, to being a game i could never imagine being knocked off position 1 in that list. Then they took it away.

Its fairly obvious that SC do not play this game as we do, otherwise they would understand the significant improvement this "pay to play" option introduced in to their game. I am sure that there is an opposing view (prob rage threads somewhere)

For the last 6 months i have spent very little on gems... However when the boost came along i was boosting approx 10 times a day ... EVERYDAY

This was mirrored throughout my entire clan...

So we went from spending little on gems to each spending, im certain that my clan was not the only clan that encountered this increase.

Most importantly the gameplay was fantastic, rapid raiding high loots and lots of risky/silly raids just cause it didnt matter that much. I started to make some serious progress on level 10 walls, Clan activity was on the up, troop donation default became wizzies not arcs. It was the best the game has ever been.

some numbers:
5 (barracks and spell factory) * 10 (boosts... I know the SF was a four hour boost but its an average) : 50 gems / day

50 Gems/ day * 7 days a week : 350 gems / week

350 gems * 30 players.... Well you do the math and 30 is not a very generous number

The 45 minute boost suited my game play so much more than the 4 hour boost ... I have a family and do not spend 4 hours attached to the game...

Im not including the 10 gems a day for my DE drills and Mines in the calculation either!

Since Introducing the 20 gems for 4 hours i have boosted 0 (yes zero) times.

The game now seems monotonous and many people have kind of stopped playing. I for one would have happily continued spending on gems, you had re-invigorated my interest in your game, a game that was approaching what appeared to be a natural end.

With the 1 gem boost TH11 is not needed for me as for the first time i envisaged Lv11 walls, now i do not see me completing Lv10 walls and for a maxed TH10 (def wise) im back to where i was 2 months ago.. I.e. How much longer can i justify the time... sigh

cheers guys

Amen.

I support all of the above opinions.
January 12th, 2014
Wilzu

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nekoshinigami

Hehe. Same here Stitch. :cool:

That is nice but the game definitely should'n be balanced around 5% of players who can justify playing 4+ hours straight to achieve something. I bet most of the playerbase consists of casuals like me who would like to be able to progress without "wasting" +35% of our daily hours to playing a game.

If that's what they want to do then I guess this game isn't for me.

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