I've noticed time and time again that the game is slowly becoming more and more unfriendly to new players, and normally, it wouldn't really be that important to a dev, which I completely understand myself as someone who examines game development philosophy. But, I noticed this has had a major effect on your fanbase, and exposure. I've been observing the game development cycle of PvZ Heroes and I can see a lot of sturggling in between.
I can understand that you need to monetize your game, so you definitely need to make cuts, and make the game more centered towards turning "players into payers", but there's actually a point where you can overdo that. Listen, this is already a pretty obscure genre of gaming, and mixing PvZ, a franchise really made for younger players, and a CCG, a genre that's normally with more mature content and is always targetted towards older audiences is what puts the game in the weird spot.
But with the removal of the basic set, possibly the most creative way I've ever seen a CCG welcome new players and rarity increasements, it's made the game a bit more struggling for new players, and that can turn a lot of people off. I've given this game to pretty young gamers like myself, but they're turned off by the amount of dedication and work you have to put into to really have an entrance in this big game.
I'm not asking for the development team to just rollback all of these rarity changes and all, because we both know making these changes immediately isn't going to suddenly increase the playerbase and fix all issues, but at the very least, we should start little by little. I think introducing some kind of daily log in reward or calendar might welcome more people, and rewards a player for logging in. I think looking at other mobile games that monetize their games successfully is a good way to take reference for more ways to drag more players in. At this point, PvZ is nearly 10 years old and that being your biggest selling point for introducing more players is not going to work forever.
I love this game so much, it has a very unique concept, and has really interesting ideas that not many big budget games have really taken advantage of, and knowing a magic the gathering developer was working on this really shows. But through everyone I've interviewed/talked to about PvZ Heroes, the new player struggle is an often mentioned flaw in the game, and I can see it as a player who's been playing since the very start.
If we can make this issue less prevalent, it could bring the game back, a bit slowly perhaps but I think this issue has been one of the biggest ones that has plagued the game, and has made it more unsuccessful, and harder for other players to enjoy. Thanks.
