Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 301 - 310: The Positive Cycle of New Players Joining

Chapter 301: Chapter 310: The Positive Cycle of New Players Joining

Gu Fan continued:

"Although the balance approach of adding more flour when there’s too much water, and more water when there’s too much flour has been criticized by players, it indeed is the best method for balancing the game currently.

"You absolutely can’t think that if there’s too much flour, just pick a bit out—that would surely lead to poor balance.

"For instance, if the current highest difficulty is Legendary Difficulty and players suddenly discover a bug that allows everyone to clear Legendary Difficulty, what do we do?

"You must not simply nerf the players to the point where most can’t get through Legendary Difficulty. If you do that, those players will definitely quit the game.

"At that time you should introduce even higher difficulties, such as, on top of Legendary, add a Nightmare Difficulty, Hell Difficulty, Ultimate Difficulty, or Ultimate II Difficulty, Ultimate III Difficulty, Ultimate IV Difficulty..."

Lilith mused, "So... the designers of ’World of Star Spirits,’ who insist that a 25-man raid must have 7 healers, are they also wrong? How many healers there are doesn’t seem to matter at all, does it?"

Gu Fan nodded: "Yes, that’s also a fatal mistake they made.

"However, their thinking can be understood.

"Obviously, the designers of ’World of Star Spirits’ have relied too heavily on past successes in their gameplay design for the Healer Profession, which has hindered innovation and improvement of the game.

"In the traditional MMORPG ’Iron Triangle Mode,’ the roles of tank, DPS, and healer are very strictly defined. At that time, all MMORPG games were conservative with their figures, which led to the need for a large number of healers in major raids to keep the whole team alive.

"Some veteran healer players, who are used to this mode of gameplay, are addicted to the ’fast HP drop, less healing, not enough mana’ condition, believing that only such circumstances can showcase the technical level of healer players.

"Once the healing ability is strengthened, these veterans might feel uncomfortable, as if simple one-button healing like Starlight Healer doesn’t sufficiently demonstrate their superior skills.

"The designers of ’World of Star Spirits’ actually catered to these veteran players’ preferences.

"Unfortunately, such behavior essentially deters new players.

"Because from a practical experience perspective, healing is already the most boring position in the Iron Triangle combination, without a doubt. Why are healers always in short supply in ’World of Star Spirits’ now? It’s because it’s not fun, and there aren’t many people who play it. The demand in raids is large, so healers are always sought after.

"Even many guilds are brainstorming ways to lure new players into playing healers. But even if these newbies are hoodwinked into playing healers, it doesn’t mean they truly enjoy it.

"In the traditional MMORPG model, healer players are just ’whack-a-mole,’ watching the health bars of the team in the interface, clicking on whoever loses HP, then hitting a healing skill. At most, they target a few AOE healing skills when the whole team takes damage, but this doesn’t change the fundamentally boring nature of healing.

"Even if there are some so-called advanced techniques, they’re nothing more than precasting, interrupting, or more judicious emergency skill use, etc. These aren’t particularly profound techniques.

"And even if every healer had the ability of Infinite Starlight Healing, so what?

"Even if a 25-man squad only needed two healers, so what?

"The other healers wouldn’t leave; they could go play a DPS Class, or other healer builds, or those entertaining builds that deal damage while healing.

"Freeing up those players who don’t enjoy the Healer Profession to play DPS roles, allowing the 25-man squad’s damage capacity to be further enhanced, and making raids faster to complete—wouldn’t that be good?

"But obviously, the designers of ’World of Star Spirits’ didn’t consider this angle. Instead, like having an imprint etched in their minds, they firmly believed that ’healers must be frantic,’ ’healers must be nonstop,’ and ’a 25-man raid must have 7 healers.’

"Ascension Mode has broken through the shackles of skills and talents in the game, but it hasn’t broken through the shackles in the designers’ minds.

"It’s not surprising that they encountered problems trying to apply traditional MMORPG balance thought processes to such a new mode."

Lilith nodded thoughtfully, "Hmm, Gu Fan, what you’re saying seems to make a lot of sense!"

Gu Fan continued, "Actually, the team of ’World of Star Spirits’ has overlooked something critical— their changes have completely disrupted the positive feedback loop for new players entering the game."

"Being a Starlight Healer is like being ’fed by the heavens.’ This not only refers to the popularity Starlight Healers brought to the game but more importantly, it provided a niche for many small groups to survive and allowed newcomers to feel a strong sense of presence. "

"In order to increase the server population, retaining players must come first, followed by attracting new ones. If we can’t retain our existing players, no amount of promotion can help; it’s like drawing water with a sieve or clutching at void."

"In the game, there are certainly players who are willing to team up with randoms, and there are quite a few of them, but their experience is relatively unimportant. Because no matter what, they will continue to play."

"Then there are those who only want to play with friends in real life, who only want to start their own little guilds and enjoy themselves. And these players are the ones that the game needs to pay special attention to. Because they bring in their friends to play, they help the game attract new players; when they leave, they leave in droves."

"So, in today’s era of fast-food gaming, most MMORPG games have downsized their 40-player raids to 25-player or even 10-player ones."

"The term ’fast-food’ isn’t inherently negative. After all, for most players nowadays, time and friends are luxuries, so lowering the barriers to entry a bit isn’t a bad thing."

"But in such small groups, players willing to play as healers are already rare. The difficulty for a 10-person team to secure two capable healers, both adequately equipped and skilled enough to handle the group’s health, is significant and one of the main barriers to their raid progression."

"If you need three healers, it’s even harder— inevitably someone must make sacrifices for the team."

"Newcomers joining a team may feel ineffective, and with poor performance and lacking equipment, they find it difficult to keep up with healing and participation, often leading to quitting the game or the team."

"However, the Starlight Healer, by some stroke of luck, filled this gap and created a positive cycle."

"New players, with the help of Starlight Healers, could easily get the hang of the game and relatively comfortably handle the team’s health management. When the team successfully clears the raid and everyone praises the newcomer, the newcomer feels delighted. The real improvement in the team triggers positive reinforcement, encouraging the team to bring more friends into the game."

"Bringing a friend into the game could quickly result in a new Starlight Healer or Dark Chain DPS, instantly boosting the team’s performance. New players feel needed, creating a double-loop of positive reinforcement."

"But crudely removing Starlight Healing and Dark Chain DPS directly disrupts this positive feedback loop. New players, who were previously effective thanks to Starlight Healing, now become a burden; and teams that could clear raids smoothly now have to start from scratch. Such a drop creates a massive psychological blow to players."

"In a team of ten, what happens if two can’t handle it and leave the game?"

"The result isn’t the team leader going out to pull in two more people; it’s the remaining eight players quitting the game as well."

"Once the many small ten-player groups in the game start dropping out, the entire middle structure of the game collapses, and the game’s downfall becomes inevitable."

Lilith nodded slowly, pensively.

Suddenly, her eyes lit up, "That makes sense, Gu Fan, you’re making a ton of sense!

"Does that mean... if I wanted to collect negative emotions, I could just do the opposite of what you suggest? Cut down the classes and tweaks players like; make the dungeons harder so they can’t clear them. I would definitely collect a vast amount of negative emotions, right?

"Could ’Shadow World’ take some inspiration from this?"

Gu Fan paused for a moment, "It’s possible, but... the premise is that President Li would have to keep making changes to the game after it’s launched. Can you do that?"

Lilith’s pigtails visibly drooped, "...I can’t."