I think we might be misinterpreting what
@DaciaRacer is saying
I'm sure we can all agree that the economy has been
greatly improved compared to what it has been in the past. I too, was a long time OG PT player. And at the end of the game (y'know, before they gave out essentially unlimited xp), after years of playing, I'd only reached level 31. I spent over $600 on the game (yes, I recently went through my aeria account and summed up all my purchases) and still didn't own all the cars, let alone upgrades.
That said, its not fair to compare to the various PTs of the past. Its a "new" game, with a new audience, a whole new generation of gamers who are being exposed to the game through advertisements and through steam. There is significantly less content for new players to earn and work towards. Times have changed. Every single day we have loads of new users. Every day in the online player list, you will find an abundance of level 0 accounts which are presumably trying out the game for the first time in their life. And its grabbing the attention of
these new players that is going to give our community any hope at thriving going forward.
Its not fair to compare PT to other MMOs either. Yes, PT is a free to play MMO game. But as stated above, there is no story...no quests...no "skills"...no "end game"....there isn't much of anything in PT that you can find in <insert any MMO here>. PT is in such a niche of its own that it's simply irrelevant to compare to any other titles in this way.
Even comparing the current levels of players isn't fair. I'm level 40, much higher than most, much higher than I ever was in PT. But most of that XP came from farming techniques which have since been shut down. I'm willing to bet almost every single player who currently has class 8 in their garage earned a significant chunk of their XP from either D&W farming in Versus, or drift mode, back when those modes payed a lot more.
So I don't think the current economy structure is entirely flawed. The issue that I see (and the issue that I think Darcia is having) is that Versus mode - which by the way is THE main drawing factor to this game...it always has been and it always will be the most populated mode - is by
FAR the lowest paying mode. Drift (even after the nerf), Drag, TA, CTF all pay much much higher than Versus mode does. For the average new player who downloads the game to hop into a quick race, they are going to earn well less than 1,000 XP/RP per race. I can absolutely understand that they might feel completely hopeless when it comes to even upgrading their starter car and moving up a class, let alone working their way up to class 8 over time.
At this point, it seems like "farming" is THE only way to advance up the levels in a reasonable amount of time. But players like Dacia who want to play and simply have fun, at this rate it will take YEARS just to get to the upper car classes. And that's while being as conservative as possible along the way. And even players who DO want to farm...when they learn that drag mode is the best current method? I can only imagine that's a huge turn off for many.
I'm not going to lie and say I've been monitoring the activity of the game from day one. But has there really been any drop in players? Of course in the beginning when all the backers were excited to have PT back, the numbers may have been higher. Such is to be expected. And sure, there are many OG players who have quit, who say they won't play until their favorite car ________ is added to the game (or more cars in general). But for the average player? For the typical newbie who just found the game on steam and is playing it for the first time? They have zero knowledge of all these extra goodies that we know and love. All they see is what's currently available to them, and the amount of time/work its going to take them to get that Panama they've got their eyes on.
Its been almost half a year now. And still when I log on every day, 90% of rooms I find are class 1 only. I think the reason behind this is that the typical average player (who just wants to have a quick race, not devote their life to the game) is going to get bored and quit before even progressing past the class 1 stage. The few who don't quit are going to spend a LONG LONG time in the lower classes. And again, these new players are the key to potential growth.
At this point you've gotta be EXTREMELY passionate about this game (or play drift mode a lot lol) to make any kind of reasonable progression. All us OGs absolutely have that passion. But for a new player who just found the game on steam? Why should they be so passionate to sit there in drag mode brainlessly farming for hours to level up? I'd say the main selling factor right now for new players with PT is that:
1. its free
2. it'll run on old PCs that can't run new titles
3. its one of the only free multiplayer racing games that exists right now
4. ....?
On the flipside there are loads of reasons why a new player wouldn't want to stick around....bad graphics, so many bugs, lack of features, slow progression, toxic unmoderated community, sporadic development with no clear outlined path...
Even a player who has deep pockets and WANTS to spend money on the game....there is nothing available to spend money on since everything is stuck behind massive XP walls that require you to play the game a ton to access. Sure you can buy girls, but why would a Versus player want to spend money on girls that still require them to spend so much time grinding to unlock the things they want to buy? Especially after they find out that free players without girls are still earning significantly more, being rewarded for having the patience to just do drag rounds over and over...
I think ALL modes could have decreased payouts, but Versus mode needs to be increased. Simulation mode should have a greater bonus.
Clean Sectors should get a significant boost, encouraging players to race clean. A player should have a very noticeably substantial gain in rewards when they get a lot of clean sectors. That one adjustment alone would obviously have major positive effects for every single player, of course minus those who just want to ram in every race. Which is a win/win.
Thoughts?