Another one bites the dust

nym5fannym5fan Registered Users, Member 767 Posts
Another member of our club that has been a longtime TSB player (since TSB16) and a VIP badge owner has decided to hang it up... Sucks to see good decent guys just looking to have a little fun and enjoy a game based off the sport we love, get to the point where they can't take it anymore and hang it up. It shouldn't be this way. There has to be some middle ground where Glu still makes boat loads of money (which they made over $8 million in Q2 of 2018 on TSB18) and the users get an enjoyable and fair gameplay experience. Stop driving away loyal and decent people that love baseball by screwing them out of their paychecks with crappy odds on draft picks or boxes, and practically unattainable event rewards for a majority of players. Give a dog a bone, in this case better odds on draft picks and boxes (instead of 2.5% that feels like .025%, maybe 10% or 20%). Don't make it so that final rounds in events like WoH can only be beat if you have a player with 10 times better ratings and use 20% boost and multiple restarts until you get that rare pitch sequence that you may or may not capitalize on. Make it so if you have a great team with great players, you can achieve the reward. In a club like mine, having only 1 team beat it this week and not teams beat it the previous few weeks is wrong. We have some great teams that have put in a good amount of $. No reason in three weeks only 1 team has beat WoH once...
I know other have ranted, and many feel the same way... sorry for my rant. But when a good guy like our club member gets to the point where he walks away from the game after putting in so much time and money... something needs to be said so hopefully something someday will be done to correct it. These games should be fun and enjoyable, not make you feel like you got bent over in an Atlantic City casino and left to beg on the streets for spare change to eat with.
From Wentz he came, he shall be returned!

Comments

  • miggyrisingmiggyrising Registered Users, Member 162 Posts
    $8M in a quarter for an app that just came out 2 quarters ago and has over a million downloads from both the App Store and Google Play is chump change. So, the average downloader pays $4 per quarter to play the game. We know a very small percentage drop hundreds. That means the vast majority pay nothing at all

    With all of those downloads, they only have 50k followers on Twitter. In other words, they have about as much probability of turning a downloader into a user loyal enough to click a follow button as I have probability of pulling a Legend from a Legend Box.

    Those are absolutely pathetic numbers. In any other business arena, the people in charge of this project would've been replaced already.

    Yes, the graphics are really good for a mobile game. Sure, the gameplay is at least palatable most of the time. (Although certain modes are absolutely unplayable at certain levels.) The interface design is far superior to other baseball games out there, which tend to get cluttered with way too many confusing options.

    But, and this is a huge but, it's clear the app developers don't know much about baseball, the gaming community, or how to monetize a popular game properly.

    If they understood baseball, player statistics and ratings would matter during gameplay. Jose Berrios, rated at 123 or 169, wouldn't induce 3 straight infield popups against a boosted 226 Jose Ramirez or a boosted 287 Prime Freddy Freeman. He might get the better of that matchup 1 out of every 3 or 4 at bats against far superior players.

    They also wouldn't have closers who throw one curve per month in real life chucking curve after curve all of which start as near pickoff throws to first or third before "nipping" the outside of the black. There wouldn't be teleporting fielders who go from playing the shift to diving in the hole prior to throwing a strike across the diamond to get the fastest runner in the league. Even the slowest base runners would tag up on a fly ball to the warning track. Etc.

    If they truly understood the gaming community, they'd realize that most will gladly pay something to enhance their gaming experience. But, they won't sit back and get screwed (glu'd) day in and day out.

    It's fine to randomize parts of the game experience. But, actual gamers want challenges to be winnable. They don't take it well when they do everything to beat a certain challenge for hours on end only to repeatedly lose based on unrealistic events or clear manipulations of the gameplay to encourage more spending.

    If they truly understood how to monetize a popular app, they'd be blowing their competition out of the water. The concept of the game is that good. Several guys in my club have independently posited that this format could easily become a very popular updated version of Fantasy Baseball where you not only seek the best players for your roster but also get to use them in gameplay.

    Unfortunately, $8M in a quarter shows they don't have any concept of what they're doing. Again, that's a PPA of $4.

    They could easily double (or more) their revenue by charging $10 for a Mountain of Gold instead of $100.

    In addition to charging 1100 gold for a 50 percent chance at 1 of 2 players of the week, they could offer each PotW for sale at 5000 per player. If you want to take a pull at the random box, you essentially pay $1 real money. Pay $5 real money, you get the player you want without the risk.

    For Players of the Month, they could charge 50,000G for a specific player. For $50 real money, you get 1 player for the month with boosted stats. Guarantee that player will be a super bonus player at least 3-4 times during the month, and VIP users would get multiple.

    They could use the same buy it now concept with Prime Draft picks, Legend picks, and weekend Bonus Boxes. Want a Legend for your team? Play the boxes for a longshot or buy 250,000G for $250 real money.

    Frankly, for all the good aspects of this game, it's little more than a classic bait and switch now. When you first start, they give you tons of things to enhance your gameplay. You get far better "luck" on boxes. You easily complete the Accomplishments that give you more and more resources.

    Unfortunately, the more you play, the worse your experience tends to get. You can't level up your players anymore without paying ridiculous amounts of real money. It's not actually worth leveling them up anyway because they're just going to be replaced by a newer version next week that you'll have to pay ridiculous amounts of money to have a small chance at getting.

    If newbies knew what they were getting into upfront, no one would download the game until real changes were made to how users are treated.
  • tocopan18tocopan18 Registered Users, Member 803 Posts
    I agree 100%
  • mrfadedglorymrfadedglory Registered Users, Member 16 Posts
    Hooray.

    Outstanding. 

    Good day sir.

    I mentioned that the other day. For $10 for mountain I would spend waaaaaaay more money.

    $30 for Johnny bench! I would have been all over that. 

    Current VIP, but just barely, and I’m certain i won’t spend another $1 on this game. 
  • nym5fannym5fan Registered Users, Member 767 Posts

    Hooray.

    Outstanding. 

    Good day sir.

    I mentioned that the other day. For $10 for mountain I would spend waaaaaaay more money.

    $30 for Johnny bench! I would have been all over that. 

    Current VIP, but just barely, and I’m certain i won’t spend another $1 on this game. 

    I would drop $30 for a player like bench...
    From Wentz he came, he shall be returned!
  • MetsicansMetsicans Registered Users, Member 1,046 Posts
    I’ve loyally played this game for three years. Hundreds of hours. A scary amount. But I’ve promised myself I won’t be back next year. Too expensive, and the importance of building a good team has been entirely lost by virtue of the bonus players.

    I also don’t enjoy the feeling of being screwed over, which is how I feel most every day I play the game.  
  • DFBBDFBB Registered Users, Moderators, Member, Moderator 6,602 Posts
    Playing devil's advocate. If all the legends and ATGs were easily pulled, would they even be sought after? The game is essentially graded on a curve. If everyone had Babe Ruth, the AI for WoH, would be adjusted accordingly. Instead, we have 'chase' players. It's exciting and fun to get players that isn't on every other roster.
    I always advise guys to play events that they enjoy. Personally, I love the heck out of WoH so I focused almost exclusively on that event. I do derby because it's like 'income' for my team. I ignore weekends because quite frankly, I don't enjoy it and I already spend enough time on the game as is.
    If TSB was easy and didn't frustrate, we'd easily get bored. In particular, the frustration fuels the joy and excitement of winning. I'm not saying everything is ideal, but it's a game. We get to pick and choose the parts that we enjoy. That said, everyone needs a break. I wish your friend the best.
    If you're not having fun, you're losing.
  • nym5fannym5fan Registered Users, Member 767 Posts
    DFBB said:

    Playing devil's advocate. If all the legends and ATGs were easily pulled, would they even be sought after? The game is essentially graded on a curve. If everyone had Babe Ruth, the AI for WoH, would be adjusted accordingly. Instead, we have 'chase' players. It's exciting and fun to get players that isn't on every other roster.
    I always advise guys to play events that they enjoy. Personally, I love the heck out of WoH so I focused almost exclusively on that event. I do derby because it's like 'income' for my team. I ignore weekends because quite frankly, I don't enjoy it and I already spend enough time on the game as is.
    If TSB was easy and didn't frustrate, we'd easily get bored. In particular, the frustration fuels the joy and excitement of winning. I'm not saying everything is ideal, but it's a game. We get to pick and choose the parts that we enjoy. That said, everyone needs a break. I wish your friend the best.

    Totally agree that it shouldn't be so easy that everyone has all the legends and ATG's etc. But maybe swing the curve a bit so that a person that is playing countless hours a week and putting some money in the game has as fair a chance as someone able and willing to dump an entire paycheck in the game. Give more guys a chance at some bonus points to help their club even if they can't spend buckets of cash. I have 8 prime players on my team, if its red sox bonus then give a prime sox player some bonus points. That can't be too hard to do. Throw the above average players some bones to improve game play and Glu would be rewarded with those players more willing to spend more money and not contemplate quitting the game all together, or like our club member actually doing it. Just swing the odds a bit. Doesn't have to be so much so that it saturates the game play and swings it to being not fun for the opposite reason. But there has to be a better balance than it currently is set to right now.
    From Wentz he came, he shall be returned!
  • HoumyHoumy Registered Users, Member 3,889 Posts
    edited September 2018
    DFBB said:

    Playing devil's advocate. If all the legends and ATGs were easily pulled, would they even be sought after? The game is essentially graded on a curve. If everyone had Babe Ruth, the AI for WoH, would be adjusted accordingly. Instead, we have 'chase' players. It's exciting and fun to get players that isn't on every other roster.
    I always advise guys to play events that they enjoy. Personally, I love the heck out of WoH so I focused almost exclusively on that event. I do derby because it's like 'income' for my team. I ignore weekends because quite frankly, I don't enjoy it and I already spend enough time on the game as is.
    If TSB was easy and didn't frustrate, we'd easily get bored. In particular, the frustration fuels the joy and excitement of winning. I'm not saying everything is ideal, but it's a game. We get to pick and choose the parts that we enjoy. That said, everyone needs a break. I wish your friend the best.

    I also agree that it shouldn't be easy to get the best players and events like WOH should be hard. My only problem is that no matter what kind of team you have put together it still doesn't amount to anything as you have to pretty much buy new boxes every single day if you want to help your club and put up some points. And for most those daily purchases have no value either, if you do get a player, the next day as most of those players wouldn't be good enough for your regular roster. They have taken away the sense of accomplishment.
    "Get ready for some NFTs" - VIP NEWSLETTER ca. 2022


  • DFBBDFBB Registered Users, Moderators, Member, Moderator 6,602 Posts
    @Houmy I should've prefaced my post to state that my club chills on weekends. We just focus on the Mon-Weds events. If we competed on weekends, I'm sure my frustration would be similar to others. For all involved, I'm actually hopeful that the status quo will be no more. At least on weekends. On that note, I really hope that they incorporate the event royale for the weekends. That would be so much fun!
    If you're not having fun, you're losing.
  • pallison74pallison74 Registered Users, Member 16 Posts
    Lost a few from our club today, honestly, think i am done too. Spent about $400 so far, have very little to show for it.
  • mrfadedglorymrfadedglory Registered Users, Member 16 Posts
    edited September 2018
    If I had babe Ruth, I’d play a lot more.

    If they have you ONE free legend of your choice, 
    Ruth, Griffey, mantle, mays, I would play more. 

    The guy of of your choice, the guy who would be at the top of your roster, the last guy you choose on WOH. That would be more fun


  • DFBBDFBB Registered Users, Moderators, Member, Moderator 6,602 Posts

    If I had babe Ruth, I’d play a lot more.

    If they have you ONE free legend of your choice, 
    Ruth, Griffey, mantle, mays, I would play more. 

    The guy of of your choice, the guy who would be at the top of your roster, the last guy you choose on WOH. That would be more fun


    Maybe I'm in the minority, but that definitely doesn't sound fun.
    If you're not having fun, you're losing.
  • miggyrisingmiggyrising Registered Users, Member 162 Posts
    DFBB said:

    If I had babe Ruth, I’d play a lot more.

    If they have you ONE free legend of your choice, 
    Ruth, Griffey, mantle, mays, I would play more. 

    The guy of of your choice, the guy who would be at the top of your roster, the last guy you choose on WOH. That would be more fun


    Maybe I'm in the minority, but that definitely doesn't sound fun.
    If people want a free Legend of their choice, they should just name their My Legend Babe Ruth or Willie Mays. Max him out at every level.

    I think it's fine to make the chase part of the game. But, chases should have a conclusion that makes sense.

    Walk Off and Slugfest are my best examples.

    It's fine to make those towers challenging to complete. But, they shouldn't be randomly impossible for some people no matter their roster.

    On my main team, my entire slate of hitters are rated above 5 stars. They're all maxed. Many have skills boosts. I know the pattern to each level pretty well, so I can usually match up left versus right etc.

    But, for some reason, I always bump into trouble with Cessa on level 1, Roark on level 2, Olson on level 3. I'll usually beat them manually after a couple tries. But, it's rare when my 234 hitter can beat 64 Cessa on the first try.

    Recently, on level 4, Garrett Cy Young Cole seems to befuddle hitters with twice his ratings. And, yesterday, Berrios was completely unhittable for me throwing round after round of curves to batters with 60, 70, 80 and more point advantage.

    I'm fine with the chase. I'll play all afternoon trying to beat it. I'll gladly try to reorder my lineup, boost certain players, adjust my timing, etc while trying to beat the challenge. But, you got to give me a chance to do it.

    Same thing with Slugfest. My slugger roster is better than most people's. I have 8 Prime Sluggers.

    I don't mind losing rounds. If I misshit a couple homers, I'm fine losing on distance. If I miss one all together, I should lose the last few rounds without question. Every once in awhile, I should lose just because that happens.

    But, if I consistently crank bombs of 520 feet for a full round, including bonus balls, I should win that 9 times out of ten. Not the other way around. If I'm scoring 5900-6000 a round, I shouldn't lose to a lower rated slugger who somehow hits 560 foot homers.
  • jpuck6190jpuck6190 Registered Users, Member 156 Posts
    If I had babe Ruth, I’d play a lot more.

    If they have you ONE free legend of your choice, 
    Ruth, Griffey, mantle, mays, I would play more. 

    The guy of of your choice, the guy who would be at the top of your roster, the last guy you choose on WOH. That would be more fun


    Maybe I'm in the minority, but that definitely doesn't sound fun.
    If people want a free Legend of their choice, they should just name their My Legend Babe Ruth or Willie Mays. Max him out at every level. I think it's fine to make the chase part of the game. But, chases should have a conclusion that makes sense. Walk Off and Slugfest are my best examples. It's fine to make those towers challenging to complete. But, they shouldn't be randomly impossible for some people no matter their roster. On my main team, my entire slate of hitters are rated above 5 stars. They're all maxed. Many have skills boosts. I know the pattern to each level pretty well, so I can usually match up left versus right etc. But, for some reason, I always bump into trouble with Cessa on level 1, Roark on level 2, Olson on level 3. I'll usually beat them manually after a couple tries. But, it's rare when my 234 hitter can beat 64 Cessa on the first try. Recently, on level 4, Garrett Cy Young Cole seems to befuddle hitters with twice his ratings. And, yesterday, Berrios was completely unhittable for me throwing round after round of curves to batters with 60, 70, 80 and more point advantage. I'm fine with the chase. I'll play all afternoon trying to beat it. I'll gladly try to reorder my lineup, boost certain players, adjust my timing, etc while trying to beat the challenge. But, you got to give me a chance to do it. Same thing with Slugfest. My slugger roster is better than most people's. I have 8 Prime Sluggers. I don't mind losing rounds. If I misshit a couple homers, I'm fine losing on distance. If I miss one all together, I should lose the last few rounds without question. Every once in awhile, I should lose just because that happens. But, if I consistently crank bombs of 520 feet for a full round, including bonus balls, I should win that 9 times out of ten. Not the other way around. If I'm scoring 5900-6000 a round, I shouldn't lose to a lower rated slugger who somehow hits 560 foot homers.
    100% agree with everything here. You shouldnt be forced to spend gold just to complete an event. Ive spent plenty of gold getting my team to a prime spot to be able to compete in these events just to be disappointed in the end. Then boom 2k gold later i end up cycling. And its a pretty consistent pattern. Makes me wonder sometimes. 
  • TenwetheTenwethe Registered Users, Member 88 Posts

    DFBB said:

    If I had babe Ruth, I’d play a lot more.

    If they have you ONE free legend of your choice, 
    Ruth, Griffey, mantle, mays, I would play more. 

    The guy of of your choice, the guy who would be at the top of your roster, the last guy you choose on WOH. That would be more fun


    Maybe I'm in the minority, but that definitely doesn't sound fun.
    If people want a free Legend of their choice, they should just name their My Legend Babe Ruth or Willie Mays. Max him out at every level.

    I think it's fine to make the chase part of the game. But, chases should have a conclusion that makes sense.

    Walk Off and Slugfest are my best examples.

    It's fine to make those towers challenging to complete. But, they shouldn't be randomly impossible for some people no matter their roster.

    On my main team, my entire slate of hitters are rated above 5 stars. They're all maxed. Many have skills boosts. I know the pattern to each level pretty well, so I can usually match up left versus right etc.

    But, for some reason, I always bump into trouble with Cessa on level 1, Roark on level 2, Olson on level 3. I'll usually beat them manually after a couple tries. But, it's rare when my 234 hitter can beat 64 Cessa on the first try.

    Recently, on level 4, Garrett Cy Young Cole seems to befuddle hitters with twice his ratings. And, yesterday, Berrios was completely unhittable for me throwing round after round of curves to batters with 60, 70, 80 and more point advantage.

    I'm fine with the chase. I'll play all afternoon trying to beat it. I'll gladly try to reorder my lineup, boost certain players, adjust my timing, etc while trying to beat the challenge. But, you got to give me a chance to do it.

    Same thing with Slugfest. My slugger roster is better than most people's. I have 8 Prime Sluggers.

    I don't mind losing rounds. If I misshit a couple homers, I'm fine losing on distance. If I miss one all together, I should lose the last few rounds without question. Every once in awhile, I should lose just because that happens.

    But, if I consistently crank bombs of 520 feet for a full round, including bonus balls, I should win that 9 times out of ten. Not the other way around. If I'm scoring 5900-6000 a round, I shouldn't lose to a lower rated slugger who somehow hits 560 foot homers.
    I found that there are certain "hard pitchers" at each level. Kind of a little crack in the sidewalk that is a pain in the side for a little while. The scenario is usually more than 1 run behind as well as a pitcher with better pitchers than their fellow pitchers at the same level. They are Cessa, Roark, Olson, Cole, and don't know about round 5. Always have to manually play them all. Cole usually messes me up for a long time.
    Arenado or I will put Beuhler on DL
  • MISSREDMISSRED Registered Users, Member 251 Posts
    My club thats been tight for months was shattered 2weeks ago, worse the next week, now just a fraction of the original club remains (the few blessed from a box). But as the others couldnt contribute and went broke on boxes gave up, they left. Now im playing with a ton of new guys that never spend and dont even play every event. 

    You literally drove your consumers away. And as stated earlier above, why cant you reward guys that play this app 40 hours a week or more with something to help them score pts? Almost no reward for real effort, just luck. And guys that barely or never play latch on to a club for free rewards. 

    If you take care of the people who play, we will find each other and continue to spend for reasonable rewards. But as its been lately, joe schmo gets a free ernie banks and true gamers get more xp and players to trade in for xp. Its a great app to the new player collecting FREE gifts, terrible for people who SPEND in it for the season. 
    "If a man gives you his best, what more can you ask him to give".
  • TenwetheTenwethe Registered Users, Member 88 Posts
    MISSRED said:

    My club thats been tight for months was shattered 2weeks ago, worse the next week, now just a fraction of the original club remains (the few blessed from a box). But as the others couldnt contribute and went broke on boxes gave up, they left. Now im playing with a ton of new guys that never spend and dont even play every event. 

    You literally drove your consumers away. And as stated earlier above, why cant you reward guys that play this app 40 hours a week or more with something to help them score pts? Almost no reward for real effort, just luck. And guys that barely or never play latch on to a club for free rewards. 

    If you take care of the people who play, we will find each other and continue to spend for reasonable rewards. But as its been lately, joe schmo gets a free ernie banks and true gamers get more xp and players to trade in for xp. Its a great app to the new player collecting FREE gifts, terrible for people who SPEND in it for the season. 

    You can join my club if you want. We have daily members. Use the Line App. Top 10 at the very least. Don't play much on CvC. Up to you.
    Arenado or I will put Beuhler on DL
Sign In or Register to comment.