#99

The low retention rate for thus game shows they are doing lots of things wrong. It is likely too late to turn it around too.

4 Likes
#100

I’m not sure what you mean by this. It’s a co-op RPG with the majority of folks playing it single player.
You buy it, complete the content, and leave, like with any other game. If you enjoy it, you come back. If new content comes out, you come back. If you own it, you can come play it any time you’d like.
What’s this ‘retention’ you have in mind? It’s not an MMO, ya know? We aren’t paying a subscription to play it. They have sold a lot of copies. They already have the money. Retention isn’t the angle gearbox is focused on. That’s why content updates are far and few between. And that’s why the game surges when those updates come out. And that’s why it dies back down after people complete the content.

#101

They are clearly aiming for retention with these events, free updates and such.

#102

I think they’re more focused on trying to get new players rather than retention.

#103

I think a bit of both, actually. I think their main focus is on new players, but I do think they worry about retention, too, because I’m sure there are many players like myself who tend to never get back on a game if I take too long of a break. I never dug into OP levels on BL2 because I took too long of a break, and never got back in until new content (Commander Lilith dlc) came out, and I’ve got a stack of games that I never got around to playing the DLCs because I took a break. This game has managed to keep me focused so if and when they do come out with more content, I’ll be more likely to buy it.

3 Likes
#104

This. If the RNG weren’t so bad with all of the options that makes it so difficult to get the right gear, then farming wouldn’t be so bad. But overall, I hate farming. I’d prefer grinding, where even making a small bit of progress is desirable over a RNG-filled mess that has to be navigated every level increase.

3 Likes
#105

Retention can mean keeping your player base playing your game.

This gives the obvious economic advantage of your player base not playing your competitor’s game.

2 Likes
#106

But you already bought the game so they aren’t making money off of you playing it.

#107

There is more to business than just selling a game.

#108

Not sure about that, especially when your business is making and selling games. New players are their business. By having new and exciting events, they may catch new players eyes and new players may purchase the game.
GBX doesn’t care if you keep playing or not, if you already bought the game. Level cap increases and expansions are to grow the base bubble.

#109

Here’s one thought for you:: Brand awareness/brand management. The value of a company is not just on the amount of turnover/sales. Careful brand management can add value to your company (and therefore your shareholders).

By encouraging you to use their product over their competition’s, they add value to their brand, and limit their rival’s brand from gaining value.

#110

Who is gearbox competing with?
And if GBX cared about brand management, they would have probably shut down this forum a long time ago XD

2 Likes
#111

Gearbox are in competition with every other gaming company.

#112

Retention is a pretty pointless stat for this game either way. It matters a lot more if you plan on having an ongoing monetization model with microtransactions, but this game isn’t even selling cosmetic DLC yet, so they gain no economic benefit from players continuing to play the game on end.

With BL2, the frequency of all kinds of DLC (story, cosmetic, head hunter, etc…) ironically would’ve made retention a much bigger factor in their ROI, but I don’t see that being the case for BL3.

The whole format of most RPGs nowadays is to accept that players will take breaks from your game and get them to come back with limited time events and large scale updates to the game re: Warframe, Diablo, POE, Destiny, etc…I don’t think any game is seriously trying to keep players on a drip feed of content for a full year to keep them from playing other games when they know players can pick up some indie game for free (or close enough to) on Steam whenever they want.

5 Likes
#113

TL;DR
I agree, sort of. I don’t farm incessantly for very particular rolls.

I agree with you. To me, it’s pain for later gain. I should clarify. When I say it takes weeks, that’s duration, not effort. But it slows down the game. I don’t, and will never farm for rolls. I really don’t care about them.

For example. The Lob. I’ll farm Gigamind or Captain Traunt, for maybe an hour after playing. If I don’t get what I want, whatever. I’ll set aside some time later. Eventually I’ll get my fav weapons. Some items are a little trickier.

My latest issue with the cap increase is seasonal events. My level 57 Pew Pew is my go to weapon. It still shreds at level 60. It probably won’t at 65. My backup is OPQ, same thing. There is nothing that can replace those, presumably until next year.

There’s also DLC issues. Mission weapons and Team weapons will have to be farmed. If you want the team weapons, you’ll have to start a new character. Replaying in TVHM doesn’t allow you to do the Team challenges. I just created a Moze for this reason. Now I’m stopping, because what’s the point. Might as well wait. And this is why I go back to TPS and just check in once in a while.

1 Like
#114

That’s all very reasonable. My perspective is different. I never came to Borderlands until last year. TPS and BL2 were already developed. I start at level 0 and just keep going. I am now at 60. I didn’t understand level caps until I came to BL3.

Personally I would prefer large jumps. I like the reward of levelling more than the loot aspect of the game. That puts me squarely in the minority. I’m ok with that :slight_smile:

Also levelling up in BL3 way too easy. It took me so little time to get a moze to 60. It took me forever to get TPS characters to 60. In general BL3 isn’t as challenging as previous games. That’s not good or bad, depending on your perspective. I rarely go into FFYL on Bl3. I’m doing it constantly on TPS and Bl2. But I think I’m getting off topic.

2 Likes
#115

This struck me as an odd choice at the time. In both BL2 and TPS, you could ‘prestige’ to reset a character’s BAR challenges. I like the crew challenges, but I really wish they would reset whenever you start/restart TVHM.

3 Likes
#116

Badass rank was so much cooler than guardian rank! I felt the impact of the small bonuses waaaay more in BL2 BAR than with BL3 Guardian ranks. Perks excluded of course.

4 Likes
#117

Games with long grinding season passes and limited time items availability that push FOMO like Destiny 2 are definitely trying to keep players playing year round so you are wrong about that. Borderlands 3 isn’t anywhere near that scale of GaaS, but I do think they want to keep players engaged to some extent.

2 Likes
#118

Also, just keeping players in the game mentally is enough to boost the sales of future franchise products considerably. For example if people just hop back in with every content drop for, let’s say, 5 hours on average, they will be much more likely to keep that habit when a new game or later DLC comes out, which results in more sales overall. That way you bind players for more than just 1 story playthrough, more than just a season pass, for more than just that specific game. You potentially bind them to the franchise for years.

And with those temporary events you abuse the FOMO aspect of it all, to bind impulsive people to a game that treats their pockets better than most live service games do. That way you get long-term value out of people, which sustains the franchise for multiple entries. And not to forget that regular events boost the habit-forming aspect of the game overall, which leads to even more people that stick with the franchise for future entries. Even just the regular patches have a positive effect as way more people come back than leave because of regular “meta” changes. There are always people that love specific guns and will give the game another go if their favorites have been buffed.

There are many long-term benefits of the model BL3 is using, it’s just that it’s not a net positive for all core player groups.

2 Likes