Why the bug I wrote became a core gameplay mechanic?!
Chapter 623 - 606 President Li’s Great Idea

Chapter 623: Chapter 606 President Li’s Great Idea

Lilith appeared full of ambition and quickly presented a series of ideas.

"Our pay-to-win schemes must start as soon as the character creation screen appears!

"In the character creation process, players can choose different backgrounds, namely a normal villager, a disciple of a small sect, or a disciple of a great sect.

"Normal villagers are free, small sect disciples require a recharge of 98, and disciples of the great sect need to directly recharge 648.

"Moreover, once an identity is chosen, it cannot be changed. Even if they regret it, they can’t just pay another 648 to become a disciple of a great sect; they must start from being a villager and go through specific processes, making the cost even greater.

"If you’re a normal villager, you can only cultivate with a shabby ancestral book in a place with scarce Spiritual Energy, hoping to be selected by an ordinary sect. If not selected, you’ll forever be stuck in the village, becoming a Loose Cultivator with no rights.

"Disciples of small sects fare slightly better but still need to complete the sect’s tasks daily and receive some basic sect benefits. But if they fail to complete the tasks, their benefits will be reduced, and they may even be expelled from the sect.

"Great sects operate similarly, though the benefits are better, they are also full of internal competition. If you don’t spend enough, you might be downgraded to a small sect.

"Moreover, there are subtle differences within small sects and within great sects. The specific place of reincarnation is entirely random.

"Within the sect, there are numerous methods available for cultivation.

"Such as external spiritual roots, Spiritual Energy pools, oral elixir pills, fluid-injectable elixir pills, empowerment, or energy transmission, etc.

"Naturally, these also require spending money to recharge.

"If you buy these items, cultivation would be much more efficient. However, these items aren’t entirely risk-free; elixirs have a poison value. If you consume an unsuitable elixir, for example in the case of insufficient physical strength, forcefully enhancing with elixirs might result in death due to excessive elixir poisoning.

"If such a situation occurs, players can reincarnate, transferring their account’s resources to a secondary account. But there will be some loss since the resources on a dead body can’t be recovered and can only be wasted.

"But there’s no way around it. Cultivation comes with risks; consuming elixirs demands caution!

"Additionally, the game should feature various Cultivation Loans to help players quickly acquire significantly large startup funds. If players can’t pay back, they can choose to slowly repay or delete their account and start anew."

Gan Di looked shocked, "Wow, is it really this brutal?"

Although he played many games, they were mostly single-player, and in his eyes, a game like "Endless Fantasy Legend 2" that requires spending money on gacha was already pushing his limits.

Yet he never expected that his limit couldn’t even come close to President Li’s upper bounds.

Lilith waved her hand dismissively, "What’s so brutal about this? The big stuff is yet to come!

"Although players can cultivate automatically when offline, there must be punishments for not logging in. If they don’t log in for more than 7 days, an automatic scenario will trigger when they log back in: You’ve been demoted to spiritual field fertilizer for your ’mediocre talent’ by the sect and need to buy a Resurrection Pill to revive.

"Pay-to-win players can’t kill normal players directly but it’s also impossible for them to live in perfect harmony. They must annoy each other within the game’s framework!

"Every player has their own abode, and after recharging, pay-to-win players can add a ’Spiritual Energy Absorption’ effect to their abode, automatically absorbing 10% of the surrounding Spiritual Energy.

"Players must participate in sect martial contests, and this is when pay-to-win players have their chance to crush normal players.

"Moreover, pay-to-win players can team up with normal players to beat high-difficulty quests, but we must force them to sign a ’voluntary distribution agreement’ that grants pay-to-win players substantial bonuses, ensuring they have the upper hand in any distribution.

"If pay-to-win players want to show off and don’t want to take resources while carrying normal players through a dungeon? There’s no way around it; they have to take the money!

"We definitely won’t have customer service, but what we can do on the customer service interface is to respond to any player feedback with just one phrase: Cultivation itself goes against the heavens, dear Taoist friend, please make efforts to recharge for a Heaven-defying Fate!

"Also, the recharge pop-ups could be slightly more frequent; when the player’s cultivation level is progressing slowly, a pop-up; when they’re about to undergo a tribulation, a pop-up; when good items appear at the auction, another pop-up...

"And the pop-ups shouldn’t just prompt players to recharge; we should integrate high-interest loans into the recharge page for added confusion."

Lilith got more and more excited as she spoke, even standing up to pace a few steps.

"These are the ideas I have for now, do any of you have better ones?"

Everyone looked at each other, feeling that this game was truly too exciting.

At this moment, the silent Su Tong finally spoke up: "President Li, I do have an idea.

"I think the rebirth system you’ve mentioned is quite interesting and should be more refined."

"Game deaths should be classified into two types of death.

"The first type of death is caused by external factors. For example, players being killed by demon beasts, being accidentally killed by other players in sect martial contests, or being turned into spiritual field fertilizer due to extended inactivity.

"In such cases, a Resurrection Pill can be used for revival.

"Additionally, players can choose to enter the Ten Thousand Soul Banner and exist in a special spiritual form to continue their cultivation.

"The second type of death is caused by internal factors. Similar to what President Li mentioned, where players die due to excessive elixir consumption.

"In such cases, as the original body can’t be saved, if players don’t want to enter the Ten Thousand Soul Banner and want to retain their bodies, they can reincarnate into a secondary account and start cultivation anew.

"We must strictly regulate the cultivation speed of secondary accounts; they can’t be too slow, but they definitely can’t be too fast.

"Secondary accounts inherit part of the resources from the main account and, when breaking through previously achieved levels, are much faster than normal secondary accounts.

"But they shouldn’t reach the main account’s level in just a few days.

"Suppose a new account needs two weeks from Qi Refinement to Foundation Establishment; such secondary accounts would take approximately three days, more or less in that ratio.

"This way, players suffering death by exploding bodies will feel more of the hardships of cultivation."

Gan Di was somewhat dumbfounded: "But wouldn’t this force players to quit the game?"

Su Tong slightly shook her head, "Some players might indeed quit, but most won’t.

"Because after death by explosion, most resources can still be harvested from their bodies, and if they continue, they can rebuild their account in three to five days. Although they might lose about 20% or 30% of resources, quitting means losing everything.

"And since everyone loses, it means no one loses."

Lilith nodded happily, "Good! This is good! This speaks to my heart!"

Gu Fan, Zhou Yang, and Wei Chengjie exchanged glances, instantly understanding Su Tong’s intention.

Clearly, this rebirth system is a double-edged sword.

Lilith believes this system will generate plenty of negative vibes while offering no help whatsoever in creating positive feelings.

But that’s not entirely true.

Since there are players who will explode from using too many elixirs leading to restarting, it’s something worth celebrating for players trailing behind them.

However, Su Tong deliberately didn’t mention this, and Lilith, in the moment, didn’t realize this either.

She was completely engulfed in the imagined scene overflowing with negative vibes.

Su Tong continued, "Furthermore, regarding the elixir system, I think more daring innovations should be made."

"The traditional elixir system in fantasy Xianxia settings is too normal because situations where players die from elixir poisoning are rare.

"Take the Foundation Establishment Pill for example; everyone consumes it, and it generally doesn’t cause significant side effects. If cultivated well, it works wonders; if not, it merely reduces the player’s future potential upper limit without any life-threatening risks."

"So, I think a completely new system for elixirs should be devised, and these pills should be renamed."

"For instance, Dragon Pills."

"These elixirs aren’t made from typical celestial treasures or spiritual herbs but crafted from various fearsome Dragonbeasts. These Dragonbeasts possess powerful vitality energy, hence they can swiftly enhance a cultivator’s realm, albeit with substantial toxicity—the more you consume, the quicker you perish."

"In the initial introduction of the elixir system, we must explicitly inform players."

Lilith furrowed her brow with instant vigilance, "Inform them right away?

"Isn’t that inappropriate?

"I think not informing them and letting them discover it themselves could be more of a ’surprise.’

Su Tong shook her head, "No, President Li.

"If we don’t inform them, players will recklessly consume elixirs and blame us after they die Miserably.

"They’ll argue that it was the game’s failure to warn them that led to their careless death by elixir; the blame entirely lies with the designers.

"If they can deflect the blame, they’d be less inclined to use the reincarnation system, leading to more players quitting; besides, after shifting the blame, they wouldn’t be too angry or bothered since they won’t see it as their fault."

"Conversely, suppose we warn them about the risks of these Dragon Pills from the beginning?

"Knowing such risks upfront would make them wary of these pills. They’d be puzzled: Why would I risk death after spending 648? No way! I’m not buying it!

"But as others continue using elixirs, skyrocketing their cultivation, their attitude will waver, and against better judgment, they’d take the risk."

"If, again, they die due to elixir consumption, there’s no blame to pin on the designers this time."

"Because the developers already provided ample warning."

"These players will be angry but unable to deflect blame, forcing them to continue playing grudgingly. Overall, this enhances their ’gaming experience.’"

Lilith suddenly nodded, "Oh! Right, right, now that you say it, this does make some sense."

Clearly, from the perspective of gathering negative vibes, Su Tong’s plan seems to be a better choice.

Gu Fan exchanged a knowing look with Zhou Yang and Wei Chengjie, all tacitly understanding.

They roughly grasped Su Tong’s mindset, but at this time, their role was simply to collaborate.