Actually, you do, if revamping these core systems is only one part of a plan to drive the sales. When they released that poor excuse of update that they called Age of War Chapter 1, I was mystified. Why would they do something like that, right?
As time went by, it became obvious that they blew the deadline and were forced to release whatever they had, instead of postponing the release. Still, even knowing that, it wasn’t easy to understand the changes they released. Now, with the announcement of Chapter 2, it’s a little clearer.
That they wanted to artificially boost “engagement” was pretty clear when they made the legendaries unrepairable. Make legendaries the best items again, but make people grind for them obsessively, and that will keep them busy and glued to your game for a while.
But stamina and thralls? That wasn’t clear until they showed what the new “purge” would look like. It’s basically bread and circuses, where the new purge is the circus and you’re supposed to buy the bread from BP and BLB. For that, you must ensure that other aspects of the game aren’t in the way and that the game is properly “balanced” around the circus.
You keep thinking that the people have to be happy with the game. They don’t. They have to be engaged with it. Why do you think RL news are always about shіt that makes you afraid or angry? It’s the same thing here: as long as the hamster is running in its wheel, you’re good.
Here’s the real kick in the balls, though: a lot of people are happy with these shіtty changes. Very few of them will come here to post things like “Hey, thanks for nerfing all the stuff I couldn’t be bothered to do before, now I can click more and think less.” In fact, I only know of one thread like that, and that was more to gloat over those of us who like challenges than it was to actually thank Funcom for job well done.
I have a hunch that the biggest whales in this game, the people who spend the most in the Bazaar, are people who don’t play this game for its challenging gameplay, what little there is. And those people will be happy that they have a new event popping up, that playing won’t be too hard, and that there will be more cosmetics to buy from the store.
Of course I don’t. You and I both agree that they want the money, and that Funcom has to try their best to give it to them.
But money for Tencent doesn’t necessarily come from good balance and players’ happiness. I mean, it could, if Funcom were better at it and were given a chance to prove it.
Sadly, neither of those is true. Funcom won’t get that chance any time soon, since this game is currently being squeezed for whatever money it can produce. And even if they got that chance, their track record proves they’re not up to it.
They’re just not good enough.
All that said, I don’t think I will ever change your mind with rational arguments. It’s pretty clear you’re determined to believe that, for some unfathomable reason only you can understand but won’t deign to explain, they’re deliberately making this game worse.