With more than 10 million cash to bring players over the capital, how much does Tencent understand MMO players with this new product?
On May 16th, "Taris World" released the news of the public test file, and this MMORPG product developed by Ledong Excellence Technology and published by Tencent will be officially launched on June 19th.
As a once popular track, the traditional Western fantasy MMO with teamwork as the core experience has actually been silent in China for a period of time, although manufacturers are enthusiastic about MMO in terms of going overseas, but in recent years, there are few new products in this category that can remain active for a long time.
"Taris World" is actually one of the few new products in this track this year, but it has a high demand, and has also received the attention of many domestic core audience players.
In March of this year, the final test on the eve of the game was also on the hot search because of the influx of millions of users on the server, and it seems that the game team also underestimated the enthusiasm of players.
However, even if it is officially announced, "World of Taris" does not seem to intend to open the book on the current prevalent pie and exaggerated marketing, and the information revealed to the outside world has always emphasized the team-based experience of MMO multiplayer cooperation and the fun of "as it should be" the game, and further ensured this with a variety of bonus and welfare incentives.
Without engaging in marketing and absorbing volume, and taking the purest fun of opening up the wilderness as the core bargaining chip, can this new product, which is expected by many players, break out of the encirclement in the undercurrent of summer files? What are the chances of going overseas as a global distribution product? Perhaps we can get a glimpse of the game's current performance.
understands MMOs, and even more understands players who want to play in groups
It has taken 5 years of development for "World of Taris", and it took nearly a year and a half from the first test to the final file, and if you have participated in one of the tests, you can actually see that the team understands the crux of the MMO category very well, and what players who like MMOs want.
The reason why such a conclusion can be made is because the idea expressed by the production team is really simple and pure, that is, it hopes to lower the threshold so that more new and old players who are interested in Western fantasy MMOs have a better game experience.
So what kind of entry point did "The World of Taris" choose? Gyro sees the two most important points, one is to achieve the compatibility of double-ended interoperability and hardcore dungeon experience under pressure, and the other is to implement a team environment with fair values for players.
First of all, objectively speaking, multi-terminal interoperability undoubtedly improves the portability of the game and greatly reduces the threshold for novice players, and in order to take into account the double-end playing experience, the development team does need to face a more complex team-based mechanism, the balance between the difficulty hierarchical design and the adaptability of mobile device operation.
At the same time, as MMO products on the market are generally more inclined to do "stress-free passing" promotion, whether the traditional hardcore co-op experience can get a positive response from players is often in a state of uncertainty before the product is launched.
The main line of the game helps beginners get started quickly (source network)
However, from the feedback from several rounds of testing, it is clear that this decision of "World of Taris" has been initially verified by the market.
Many players, especially veterans who are familiar with MMOs, are attracted by the game's easy to get started and the hardcore positioning of high-difficulty dungeons, and also affirm the game's continuous improvement in terms of multi-class balance and team playbook, and do not hesitate to output long-term comments in the community to help the game do better.
The World of Taris has also been continuously tuned based on this, such as adjusting the difficulty curve in the final test to make the normal and elite difficulties more in line with the rhythm of novice players, and the open challenge dungeons can still satisfy players who are looking for a more high-pressure and exciting group experience.
The second is a fair playing environment. The highlights of "don't sell stats" and "season system" are actually not unique in today's market, but for MMOs with team-based cooperation as their main selling point, this still feels fresh and attractive enough for many players, and it can also avoid the psychological pressure of new players to get started. Instead, World of Taris uses skins, monthly passes, and passes as the main game payment points, and most players have a high level of acceptance.
In addition, many of the activities done by the operation team outside of the game are actually closely related to the player's experience of opening up the wasteland and fighting the group.
For example, last month, "Tarisse World" officially announced that it would add 10 million cash prize pools after it was launched, so as to stimulate MMO bosses to join, motivate team leaders to actively bring new ones, create a better game atmosphere, and let more players feel the fun of MMO development as soon as possible.
On the day of the finalization, the official further explained the distribution mechanism of the bonus, so that players can be more assured and bold to join the wasteland team with "high income" expectations.
For example, the official guarantee that all the heads of the regiment can share the weekly million cash prize pool, and those who make more outstanding contributions also enjoy the "monthly salary" treatment.
For players who pursue a high-pressure challenge mode team, the official has also prepared a global team-based racing event to further stimulate it.
Even the average player can earn some pocket money in the paid play event or be rewarded in the creator incentive program.
Some people may feel that although the official gives a lot, when it is specifically distributed to everyone, the incentive effect will inevitably be discounted.
But in fact, the greater significance of this matter is that "World of Taris" can make players feel that no matter whether they are fighting in the wilderness, studying this strategy, or sharing the BOSS extreme killing moment in the community, as long as they are enjoying the fun of MMO, the official is actively giving positive feedback with real money. This allows players to see where the team's mind is being spent, creating a deeper sense of trust in both the game and the operations team.
In fact, from today's point of view, "The World of Taris" shows both sides of the process of adapting to the expansion of the player base, the game not only shows the traditional side in the persistent pursuit of the fun of traditional MMO players, and abandons the attitude of "conspicuous package marketing", but also shows a bold and innovative attitude in the double-ended design and the decision not to sell values.
But perhaps it is precisely for this reason that this product can attract more new and old players to experience the charm of MMORPG.
Do the most "persuading" operation and evolve towards long-term products
"Understanding MMO" and "understanding players" can allow "The World of Taris" to quickly screen and attract audiences, but in fact, judging from the actual development rhythm of the game, the characteristics of not selling values and the season system, the tonality of the game itself is slow and hot, and it will not deliberately create heavy game investment costs to restrict users to stay, and how to better retain players will be the top priority.
What does World of Taris rely on to retain players? Gyro actually thinks the team has found the answer: "listen to persuasion".
In today's market environment, players have full and free rights to choose their games, and game manufacturers have come to the away game. Therefore, being able to listen to players and make decisions with them to promote the growth of the game has become a must for all teams.
And at this point, "The World of Taris" cannot be said to be perfect, but it is already worth watching as a reference model.
For example, at the beginning of last month, the official shared an announcement statement on the future tuning plan, which gave a very detailed explanation of the feedback from the player community and the corresponding optimization direction, and the sincere attitude was also stamped by the player's "listening to persuasion".
In addition, the official also showed enough sincerity to express the importance of the player's game experience. Whether it is the recent bombing incident or the recent addition of a prize pool of 10 million to build the game atmosphere, these actions are carried out from the perspective of players, rather than from a purely marketing standpoint, so they have also received positive responses from players.
Even a few days before the official finalization, the official continued to communicate with players and provide comprehensive answers to game feedback.
The producer answers questions
In fact, generally speaking, it is difficult for a large-scale service game to be perfect when it goes online, but it is also common to have a dialogue with players in a tone of "everything is ready" before launch, and "World of Taris" can maintain its consistent approach, sincerely and concretely show the problems that still need to be improved, and propose solutions, which is enough for players to see that the team is indeed iterating the product with an attitude of growing together with players.
It can be seen from these phenomena that under the premise of finding its own game positioning, the operation strategy of "World of Taris" has been recognized by many players, and if the team continues to maintain the attitude of "listening to persuasion" and respecting players, it is not difficult to make the game the next long-term boutique that can have a platform for loyal old players.
Facing the global market, how to conquer overseas players?
In addition to participating in the domestic summer file, it is also worth noting that "Taris World", as a product released by Tencent for the global market, has achieved good player feedback in several overseas tests earlier, and at the end of last month, it was officially announced that the number of pre-registered players exceeded 1 million, accumulating a reputation and first-mover advantage for the game to be launched overseas in the future.
As long as you observe the situation of domestic games going overseas in recent years, you will find that the degree of unwinding of large and small overseas products is no less than that of domestic mobile games, from fancy marketing and purchase to product gameplay and packaging integration, but in the MMO track, there are not many products like "Taris World" that have their own innate advantages in nature.
On the one hand, "Taris World" achieves a true sense of dual-end interoperability while taking into account the needs of MMO players for hardcore playbooking, which not only meets the game scenarios of various low-end mobile phones, meets the needs of more general players in overseas markets, but also attracts overseas masters who specialize in MMO, which is rarely achieved by similar products on the market.
For example, in the previous overseas test, "World of Taris" attracted the MMO field KOL EsfandTV experience game with millions of fans. And last month, Scripe, the president of the well-known WOW guild Echo, took domestic sailors to try the game and experience the root of corrosion and other special team books, in addition to the group mechanism, the commitment not to sell values, but also gave a pretty good evaluation of the game's English translation level, built-in integration plug-ins and other details.
On the other hand, although the competition in overseas Western fantasy themes is fierce, the fair numerical experience and gentle paid design of "Taris World" are actually highly fresh and attractive to foreign players.
After all, the discussion about P2W in the overseas game user circle has never ended, and many players' resistance to the P2W model is engraved in their genes. As long as "World of Taris" boldly shows its own characteristics on the marketing side, it will not be impossible to grab high-quality MMO players from the "tiger's mouth" at that time.
Generally speaking, as an MMORPG that captures the needs of the core audience, conforms to the game habits of modern players, and is very "persuading" in operation, "Taris World" has found its own positioning, dares to treat players sincerely, and not only has the potential to gain the hearts of new and old MMO players in the domestic summer file, but also has the opportunity to break out in overseas markets such as Southeast Asia.
We also look forward to seeing more of these unique products emerge to breathe new life into the MMO market.
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