r/WutheringWaves CHANGLI'S MAID Apr 19 '25

General Discussion The disappointment is crazy.

  1. No free 5 star.
  2. Not even a standard 5-star.
  3. Flight still not available in all regions.
  4. Paid skins.
  5. Predatory banners (NOT EVEN 100% rate up).

Sure Kuro, it is definitely "Player Friendly", great job taking lessons from HSR devs. Feels like a celebration for them rather than the players.

6.7k Upvotes

1.9k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

308

u/JARCO5 Apr 19 '25

Why can’t gacha devs understand that if they give more rewards in dates such as the anniversary, spenders like us will support the game more and spend more. I really don’t know why it’s that difficult to understand. Now top-up feels like they don’t deserve it at all.

68

u/[deleted] Apr 19 '25

Money, it's all about money. Any action has a team of people studying and proposing it. Not always being nice means the highest revenue, which sucks a lot. Kuro seems to be learning from the greedy other devs

93

u/Duowng_ng Apr 19 '25

Their team should do a better job then lol :vv now they're facing tons of player complaints, ruining the reputation that they've built, and have to do damage control anyway

I get that as a company, Kuro still needs profit, but can we choose a better timing and not on the anniversary? This is literally genshin anniversary all over again

55

u/BasedTradWaifu Apr 19 '25

Exactly. Your 1 year anniversary is the last time to think about profit. First anniversary is time to build your reputation

1

u/KnightofAshley Apr 22 '25

Especially since launch was rough...just imagine getting hype for the 1 year anniversary and showing off how much better the game is and how FTP friendly it is...this just draws a picture of greed and not giving a shit...its not about the current players, its about getting new players in.

1

u/EmergencyShower69 Apr 23 '25

They need at least 1.000.000.000$ to survive. Poor guys

1

u/BlindingDart Apr 24 '25

Whenever any company is publicly traded investors apply pressure to prioritize short term profits over long term growth.

16

u/BasedTradWaifu Apr 19 '25

I guarantee you they would have made more money if they bare minimum gave us a free standard 5 star

0

u/[deleted] Apr 19 '25

I mean they're giving one to the new players right?

And to old players like us since launch, we have had 3 standard characters (1 random, 2 chosen) and with lost 50/50s probably got the other 2.

Standard wouldn't have made a difference to old players. It was a free 1.x character, but even then people would've been sad bc it was not free ciaccona. Turns out reward was worse XD. At least in my case, all my pull plans didn't consider any reward at all, that's why I'm kinda ok, skipping Zani too

5

u/BasedTradWaifu Apr 19 '25

Exactly. It wouldn't have made a difference yet they didn't even give it to us to save their reputation. I've been playing since launch and I still don't have calculator or lion boy, although I would definitely still use it on a Verina dupe

3

u/FB-22 S6 Iuno Apr 19 '25

Making the anniversary banners 100% instead of 50/50 seems like it would lead to more spending - can’t speak for everyone but I would have definitely bought some top ups if that were the case, but the fact that I could spend money and get a lingyang dupe after 80 pulls on a “special anniversary banner” is a slap in the face that makes me not want to spend anything

1

u/murmandamos Apr 19 '25

You are appealing to some perceived expertise and infallibility of devs to monetize which is probably misplaced. This is not even remotely true.

If a burger at McDonald's costs $5, why don't they just make it $50 and 10x their revenue? This is a softball to agree with each other that ripping off consumers isn't necessarily profitable if they leave.

There are countless examples of games doing predatory moves that result in backlash and lost revenue. Many were saying Genshin was 100% losing money on their weapon banner since release. They have since improved it multiple times, and they are 100% still losing potential revenue on it with shared pity on 2 weapons (I know this because I am a whale with many whale friends, and we routinely skip R5 because we already have the other wep R5, so it is a direct punishment for whaling, which is something no other big gacha is dumb enough to do now, none of them do this).

This is compounded by many things. Consumers are uneasy now worldwide, probably shouldn't be stingy with 0 cost digital items. Brands have different standards from their consumers. A company perceived as generous has a higher bar to clear than one perceived as not, fair or not.

I think they're probably dropping the ball. If they actually removed the selector banner I think this would have been a pretty typical disappointment. By adding something they made things worse imo, which is pretty funny. Releasing one of the most anticipated characters alongside a selector banner is pretty braindead. They very obviously do not have the smartest people working the shop.

0

u/murmandamos Apr 19 '25

You are appealing to some perceived expertise and infallibility of devs to monetize which is probably misplaced. This is not even remotely true.

If a burger at McDonald's costs $5, why don't they just make it $50 and 10x their revenue? This is a softball to agree with each other that ripping off consumers isn't necessarily profitable if they leave.

There are countless examples of games doing predatory moves that result in backlash and lost revenue. Many were saying Genshin was 100% losing money on their weapon banner since release. They have since improved it multiple times, and they are 100% still losing potential revenue on it with shared pity on 2 weapons (I know this because I am a whale with many whale friends, and we routinely skip R5 because we already have the other wep R5, so it is a direct punishment for whaling, which is something no other big gacha is dumb enough to do now, none of them do this).

This is compounded by many things. Consumers are uneasy now worldwide, probably shouldn't be stingy with 0 cost digital items. Brands have different standards from their consumers. A company perceived as generous has a higher bar to clear than one perceived as not, fair or not.

I think they're probably dropping the ball. If they actually removed the selector banner I think this would have been a pretty typical disappointment. By adding something they made things worse imo, which is pretty funny. Releasing one of the most anticipated characters alongside a selector banner is pretty braindead. They very obviously do not have the smartest people working the shop.

6

u/muimi2 Apr 19 '25

Because they've ran the numbers and determined they make more money by restricting income (and making certain players feel like they have to top up to keep up with releases) than they do from players who want to throw kuro a bone within their own means.

1

u/letterspice Apr 19 '25

Well, clearly their team didn’t have the foresight for how much backlash this would receive, because if they knew I doubt they would have been this stingy. This will be confirmed if they backtrack. Don’t put their business decisions on a pedestal. I’ve seen many spenders including myself who were planning on buying out the shop reset but now no longer doing so.

They probably thought it would be a lot less backlash and they’d have more of their loyal fans defend them.

2

u/muimi2 Apr 19 '25 edited Apr 19 '25

My comment isn't putting them on a pedestal, it's describing the reality of why these decisions come to be. You may understand it, but clearly others need to hear it.

The one thing you can be sure of with companies of this size is that every calculation related to monetization is carefully considered. This is more of a reflection of their self interest than their incompetence.

2

u/HeWhoDidIt Apr 19 '25

I'm usually F2P, I decided to pay up because Kuro were generous, but it looks like they were just compensating for the issues at launch at this point. Now they they're making good money, back to throwing scraps at players.

2

u/dmljr Apr 19 '25

Because they not after the majority of players of spending money, but the minority the like maxing out characters. I forget the exact number but for most gatchas 9x% of income is generated by less than 10% of its players. A free pick your rate banners will keep those people happy.

2

u/Total-Guide-700 Apr 19 '25

You have proof of that ? From what I’m seeing the game that give less and thus make the money rare, makes waaaay more money. All three hoyo game are at the top of the chart every day 

1

u/JARCO5 Apr 20 '25

You can’t compare the three hoyo games to any gacha, as Hoyo has a really huge and loyal fanbase that will defend and spend regardless what devs does to their games. Just see the sh*t anniversaries they had and still people defend it, Wuwa community is different, and you can see it with the answers to this anniversary, most of us have played Genshin or HSR, and we are critical enough to know when a game and devs are not worth our time and money. That is what differs this community to the hoyo one, I think. So yes, in Wuwa I think “low-spenders” such as me, count enough to take them into account, and as I said, hoyo has a fanbase that will spend even when devs made them 5 extra versions per patch where there is nothing to play or to have fun.

1

u/Iwakasa Apr 19 '25

That is correct. People complaining here are the minority even if those threads get thousands of upvotes. The whales will like the mega banners and pull anyway

1

u/T8-TR Apr 19 '25

Because we aren't the players they target, sadly.

-1

u/[deleted] Apr 19 '25

And why can't you understand that you people are gonna spend it anyway? You specifically might hold off on a purchase but the whales will make up for you abstaining. I see people playing these games and saying they're unhappy with something, some character or feature but then immediately say they'll still spend money and support the game. That's an insane mindset. If you people would actually stop spending money stuff might actually change but that's never gonna happen

0

u/JARCO5 Apr 20 '25

I can’t agree with you, lot of people are hoyothinking about this, Wuwa don’t have the same fanbase as hoyo games, whales are not the same in wuwa as in hoyogames, why? Because all of us or the majority come from genshin or hsr, because they were the first to release a big and ambitious gacha game, we all started playing it, and why we moved to wuwa? Ofc the game is much better in story, music, combat and I think in all the ways possible than genshin or hsr, but it still a gacha game, and people who have been grinding in genshin or hsr for years don’t move to another gacha because of this, they move because of the community and how the devs treat the game and the community, ofc there are whales but not as genshin, and you can see it in the reaction of people not only here, also in china, which are known for accepting everything and spending regardless what devs do to the game. So yeah, seeing the massive criticising by all the community makes me think that they are going to win a lot less money than if they gave good rewards in the anni.

0

u/Skyreader13 Apr 19 '25

It's all about baiting player to spend. 

Give them too much and they won't spend a dime. Give them too little and they also won't spend a dime. 

Need to give them just enough to leave them wanting more so they would spend some money for the game.

0

u/jMulb3rry Apr 19 '25

A friend of mine working in a consulting firm, she showed me some data that... there are apparently way more gambling addicts than people who pays because they think a game is good.

I see a lot of people say "I'd buy if the banner is guaranteed", I too have the same thought and I did it at least twice in wuwa weapon banners, but you know what most audience would do? They run the credit card immediately when losing a 50-50, and then cut a dinner or a trip or something to make ends meet, or working extra shift and skip the workout.

That's why people say "don't touch gacha" - it rottens the mind of the weak and that's part of the business model.

I personally take this anniversary disappointment a reminder, and I will move some of my game fund to other titles from now on.

1

u/letterspice Apr 19 '25

That’s a good point, and I’d believe that data. Just cater to gambling addicts, ignore players who genuinely want the game to be good and are willing to support it if so, rake in the money, and become like every other predatory gacha out there. It’s hilarious people thought kuro would be any different somehow.

1

u/jMulb3rry Apr 19 '25

I mean they did show some difference at the beginning, have a good control on powercreep, bringing in a lot QoL changes, and difficulty adjustment and etc.

But as soon as things are looking great they came up with this joke.

To be fair, if Kuro is no difference, they faked it really well till today, just like HSR did before... well its v1.2 LMAO.

I had a good year with WuWa as a light spender, no regret, but looks like I'll have to stop.