Frankly , that's a crock , my dears .
1 ) I am not saying I should get what reward I seek as soon as I seek it , I am saying it is de-motivating to get an entirely useless and annoying reward .
Which is very bad from the business point of view .
Dont believe me when I tell you this , Go talk to Warren Buffett and see what HE says about that business model .
He would have no problem about the One-arm bandit not paying out to the gambler ; but a great deal to say about one which spat out an exciting envelope , which when you open it often contains just a used cotton-bud .
2 ) I was not commenting on the Drop rate of BPs , but since you raise the topic , I would say that again , getting disappointing and useless rewards MORE OFTEN is also NOT a wise move , and NOT the solution .
3 ) Blueprint trades @ 2 duplicates for one other is fine for dealing with the issue of BP duplication on buildings you have not built yet , but does not address the issue for those you HAVE built .
4 ) Your proposition that no-one would help out with others buildings , and the horrifying picture you paint of having to level up buildings yourself , does not stand up to scrutiny -
Firstly ; - the guild you are in could and should be donating 1 FP per member to get the GB built and operating ,
Secondly ; - the " rewards " are there as an incentive to further investment ,
Thirdly ; - even if you DID have to level them up yourself , simple arithmetic tells you that with 24 FPs every 24 Hrs , about 4 months work would get a BP from level zero to level 10 with no outside help at all . -- By your own definition , taking weeks or even months to complete . Fine by me , I am an old guy , I dont want to finish the whole game by the end of next week .
5 ) - Your last Argument is your WORST , that
( A ) The Programmers are exhausted by their labours , and should not be criticised
( B ) that they have done a Good , Hard Days work with the thing they have produced
( C ) That new additional features are being asked for
( D ) That we the customers are being unrealistic in our demands
There is not a single other business which you use that you would put up with THAT from , now would you ?
" Sorry the wheel falls off your automobile , but we have put a pedal-bike in the trunk of every unit now , to get you home "
" Well I worked real hard all day putting the tyres on the rims , cant expect me to tighten up the wheel nuts too ! " ( Cant I ?? )
" You'll be wanting plush seat covers and a Sat Nav on there next ! " ( No actually , I want the wheels to stay on )
" I know the Advertising you saw and the sales literature we gave you doesn't say so , but this model is actually Prototype model #B475/a13 and you guys are kinda the crash test dummies , you see ? " ( That'd be fine , IF you had explained that before I spent real life money on your sub-standard product ! )
I suspect this is nothing more that the old , old , business story of the management not understanding what the guys beavering away in the backroom are actually doing , insufficient communication between them , insufficient testing before product release into the market , denial that a problem exists when your customers tell you so , and reluctance to invest more resources fixing it .
And probably the biggest problem is that forums like these , where the customers dont just complain , but offer constructive criticism and suggestions to improve the product , are not used as a source of feedback and valuable information , but as a place for the harmless venting of steam in , so that management dont get bothered by this mob of annoying whingy whiners , by filtering out all bad news .
I am quite sure that the game developers have worked very hard on it , and that they find find it very annoying that anyone now comes and rubbishes the product they made and spent so much effort on .
But this is a BUSINESS , not kids playing in a nursery , and one would expect that cogent criticisms DO get back to the Business's movers and shakers .
This problem is not just an INNO thing , I have seen it again and again across the web-games sector , and I think it is because the Game business operators fall into the mental trap of thinking they are outside the normal business models because their business is a game , and not real life , so none of the ordinary care that businesses have to take for their customer's experience of their product or service is quite as necessary as normal .
Mr Buffett would explain that is an unfortunate ( and major ) error .
Last of all , as a German based company , Inno is subject to German and European Union Law which says they MUST provide a sound and non-defective product / service , and that they MUST disclose that the product is still under development AND that the customers who buy it are in fact part of some great testing and development process , BEFORE the customer spends money on it in good faith , believing it to be a finished product " of sound merchantable quality " ( as the UK Law has it ) .
Again , being a Web-Games business does not get you any relief from that , and although doubtless much corporate effort has been put into terms and conditions trying to avoid any consequences , European Courts tend to take a very sour view of businesses where the customer comes and complains he has been stiffed . ( Dont take my word for it - a brief check of " Contracts for the Sale of Goods and Services -- Unfair Terms " , should convince you )
I shant bother to sue for moneys back ( though some pedant might ) but , far worse for Inno's business , I am now a customer with a less than fully satisfied attitude to their product . Bitten once , and twice shy , as the saying has it .
