I know I'll have at least 10 comments saying 'they wont do it because they cant afford to lose the money's But heres my idea, theres new feats for each break through mark added to the game for each artifact set. So if you get say transformation card to 160 on character A, you can go to character B unlock said feats for break through 80-160 and the NTH metal required is cut in half. They would still get the original amount for the 1st leveling and then possibly 50% price reduction for the character B' artifact. This would help alts get high end artifacts while not having to sacrifice play time on your main. It also promotes leveling up multiple artifacts for the additional feats for feat chasers. Thoughts? Ideas on how to improve this idea?
Personally, I have long advocated the idea of converting Artifacts into essentially a mini-feats system. You have an Artifact, and it has it's breakthrough rank. Then, just like Styles or Feats, you can go to that Artifacts menu and choose to unlock it for Alts. 20RB for a Rank 20. 40RB for a Rank 40. etc. This allows us simply to pay some money and use our Artifacts that we've already leveled for our Alts as well. The current system that some people want to insist "makes so much money" does not make the money that most people want to claim that it does. There is very little evidence to support that at all. Instead, there seems to be an overwhelming prevalence that most players either A) don't bother with Artifacts at all on Alts, or B) do Artifacts, but don't bother to advance them above the 120ish rank, so they never have to make a purchase. Point blank, people are not spending significant amounts of money on Artifacts for Alts, and because Artifacts are not reasonable for Alts, many players end up shelving their Alts entirely when previously they were actually willing to maintain multiple endgame characters. I personally believe that with Style Unlocking and Feat Unlocking, the game was moving towards a more alt-friendly direction AND it was able to draw significant microtransactions. People did not blink about unlocking a style or a feat, because they were cheap. It was easy to outfit your alts the way you wanted them to look, and deck them out with enough skill points to make them viable. With the Artifact System, that all changed. Nth Metal got funneled upward to the Main, so the Alts couldn't really level their stuff. The Alts spend their Source Marks on Catalysts for the main, so they can't breakthrough their own Artifacts. The Alts became less viable for endgame content because they didn't have the Artifacts, until ultimately they got shelved. Most players didn't drop $500 to outfit their Alt with Artifacts. Instead, most players just dropped the Alts. That means they no longer have to buy those Style Unlocks and Feat Unlocks, because that character isn't going to be playable anyways. There's no reason to buy a Character Slot, because maintaining an Alt is too expensive and unpractical. I do not believe that the huge price tag on Artifacts brings in extra money; I believe it actually STOPS a lot of spending. A simple Replay Badge unlock system would instantly make Alts playable again. And what's more, it would provide an incentive for players to level more than just 3 Artifacts, so even the Artifacts themselves should make more money. Many players won't pay hundreds of dollars to level up the new Artifact for their Alt, but they would pay that money to level it up for their MAIN, and then unlock it onto ALL of their alts. DPS players wouldn't just have 3 Artifacts; they would want their Strategist Card, Transformation Card, Grimorim, Solar Amplifier, Eye of Gemini, and Scrap of Soul Cloak to ALL be at 200, so that every character can be able to take the 3 that they need in the right combination. It's market driven data that says that Microtransactions work better than Subscription Plans because players are more prone to spending tiny amounts of money repeatedly than they are to make one single larger purchase. If the $15 subscription is considered a "larger purchase", then a $500 Artifact is significantly more off-putting to the customers. Instead, small microtransactions of just a dollar or two is something that players can be tempted into doing daily. "It's barely a cup of coffee" and they talk themselves into it. The entire Artifact system would be a lot more profitable if it were a lot more affordable.
I wish we could outright buy say a 160, 180 or 200 transformation card straight from the MP get a reward box open to get the artifact at 200. But it would have to be redeemable or as you suggested unlockable on all characters for replays. As for my alts they are sitting it out for good
Check out this recent thread: https://forums.daybreakgames.com/dcuo/index.php?threads/rental-artifacts.311128/
Didnt think about that, but yes that would be better since the NTH metal I think sales better on the MP compared to the catalyst. So changing the catalyst aspect would be more likely.
ehhh, no? we can buy catalysts in game, and the supplemental packs from the marketplace are surprisingly cost effective. meanwhile, 75,000 XP for 9-10 dollars adds up REALLY fast. if I had to pick I'd rather see the nth metal go down.
It's less costly to purchase Nth Metal Detectors vs Perfected Nth Metal Cache, you can even buy them off the broker instead of using real money.
You would still be able to buy catalyst like normal. I'd 50/50 on both sides tbh, less XP means faster leveling up a alts artifact but at same time catalyst being 50% off would be just as nice especially if you fail at a 95% break through like I do 3x or more.
