ICON suggested i post some of my correspondence with him on this thread .. so here goes .. looooong post .. i consider this specific PM to Icon as the key points i wanted to make ..
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Ok, this will be a rather lengthy msg, but i wanna cover a few important points. Let me just give a quick brief on my background. I'm a corporate management accountant. This does not preclude areas other than strategic financial policy issues; they also include strategies that may maximise revenue & minimise risk. Part of my job is to constantly assess mid- & long term risks and how to avoid those risks before they occur, thereby eliminating problems before they happen.
Having said that, on to a couple of ideas:
Before i touch on some "concrete ideas how we can improve the overall experience", i'd first like to revisit the equipment issue once more. Again, bullet style. This is just the way i build my case:
Facts:
· options on new equipment after level 90 are limited at best.
· the XP needed to progress towards getting said equipment is excessive, i.e. to move from lvl 90 to lvl 94 requires doubling one's XP.
· the saturation level of equipment prior to reaching lvl 90 is acceptable. There's plenty of choice within acceptable intervals. However, progressing through lvl 90 makes it seem like exiting a sanctuary and finding yourself in the middle of a wasteland.
Implications:
· this will likely discourage many players from advancing further and/or halt play altogether as evidenced by myself and lots of other players that i once played with who are no longer around. Most of them expressed their dissatisfaction as a direct result of the limitation on equipment despite the fact that they have reached the Legend tier . Seeing a lvl 94 Master teeing off ahead of them with a R11s (at the time) exaggerates this perception.
· It encourages sandbagging & multi accounts. Players may feel that it's not worth the effort, opens a new account & uses "old money" to fund equipment for the new account, possibly off another pc, and proceed to siphon credits off unsuspecting newer players in RG's & comps.
· Either way, WGT loses money. The multi account holder doesn't use his own money, but he relieves the unsuspecting player of real money that this person converted into credits to enter comps.
· The new players figures this out & decides it's not worth the effort to have money scammed off him/her and moves on. With not many good things to say regarding WGT.
· Multi accounter plays for free; new player leaves = loss of revenue from both players.
Solution (with regards to equipment):
· open the pro shop to all players who are at the Legend + tier and have reached a minimum level of 90; perhaps lvl 91.
· this should result in the following (remember these are all mid- to long term strategies & are highly likely to pay off in the mid- to long term)
- players will have an incentive to reach Legend by lvl 90. If they can lay their hands on a R11s or R1 instead of waiting for lvl's 94 & 98, they will be encouraged to do so.
- this means that, by default, sandbagging is further discouraged by hanging an appetising carrot for those who like alternatives; which is most people i know.
- this will keep 90+ lvl players more interested in continued play which inevitably means more ball sales; most of which are premium at those levels.
Specific suggestions (equipment):
· with regards to opening the pro shop to lvl 90/91 Legends +, i would only do it with equipment currently available beyond level 90. That is the R11s D, R11s 3W & R1 D.
· i would exclude future releases of iron sets from this strategy that may become available after lvl 90. You don't want to lose out on R11 iron set sales since the iron sets carry a premium over the drivers. The iron sets only need to be strategically placed at intervals after lvl 90.
· The availability of the drivers alone would be incentive enough to encourage continued play.
· The sacrifice of players skipping the R11s would be acceptable if it means retaining & invigorating higher level players.
· Meanwhile, the lvl 93 Master will only qualify for the R11s at lvl94, etc.
· Also, i would move the lvl 88 R11 D down to perhaps lvl 85/86.
· Important to such a strategy would be the eventual release of additional iron sets beyond lvl 90. Not necessarily better than the R11 irons, but with slightly different attributes. Again, all about diversity and options. For example, i favour the Bladez a tad over the R11's. Personal preference. But i own both.
Now for some "concrete ideas how we can improve the overall experience",besides equipment.
I'll pose this in a series of questions.
What prevents WGT from :
· alternate shot for credits ?
· adding UEL to alternate shot ?
· Mulligan option during single hole practice ? $'s on balls hit.
· allowing a player to set the tee & conditions for single hole play ?
· allowing a player to randomly group together 9 or 18 holes from existing courses (as found under "Community, Golf Courses") and inviting players to play on this "makeshift" course"?
· eventually adding the draw/fade option ?
· adding courses that are not necessarily an Open course, yet well known & challenging like the Open courses ?
· promoting comps within tiers, but also within a given stroke avg range ?
just to name a few off the top of my head.
Again, thanks for the opportunity Icon,
I hope the feedback continues.
Regards