To All Those Players Complaining About Gold

[Nachos2]

I have been playing valor since world 18. Take my two cents for with a grain of salt and do what you wish....

I can see both sides of the argument. Every world has a handful of big gold spenders that join. And yes buying gold pays the bills for Quark, and it helps keep valor running, and running without annoying adds. And yes gold spenders jump to a big lead early on in worlds. I have no issue with that. In w89 I joined and within 14 days a gold spender had 6 cities which was crazy. If I remember correctly he had his first city in less than 4 days? His guild had a huge lead and looked invincible. Currently the gold spender is about to drop out of the top 40 and his guild folded into a separate alliance. This happened because experienced players were far enough away from him to be able to survive long enough that they could challenge him and his guild. So while a gold spender probably spent 10,000+ gold early on he was overtaken after months of team work by an enemy guild.

However.

Newer worlds, specifically 1k worlds, don't work the same way as older 50k worlds. They're smaller and only 1 or 4 regions. If a group of 3-4 or more friends join a 1k world and they spend massive amounts of gold early on no matter the team work of non gold spending players, you can't stay alive long enough to over take them simply because the worlds are so small they don't last very long. Is there a probably with a few people spending 10,000+ gold in a single world just because they want to? No. It's a part of the game and everyone is given the same opportunity to spend gold. However while I agree there is nothing wrong with spending gold I also see Nikhils point of view. Having worlds that cater only to gold spenders might be good for quark, it's not good for the majority of the player population. Go ahead, allow gold spending to your little hearts content. But please make a world here or there where players who don't have the means to acquire tens of thousands of gold pieces to spend frivolously can play without having to try to compete with players who do.

[MechaStorm]

Yes gold users are essential to the game through the fact that it provides funding for valor to continue making updates and improving the game. In my old worlds my guild targeted them first and we took them out after a few months.

@Nachos I do agree that it is much harder to knock them out in a 1k world now but it is still possible to take them out. I have a good team willing to work together to take them out.

[KingEvo]

us gold spenders pay the bills let us be lol

[MechaStorm]

Lol. Yeah they don't mind paying the bills. Let them be
At least I think they don't

[KingEvo]

Nothing wrong with a little coin spending

[Markeez]

If the developers can't continue the game without people paying them for a huge advantage, then that is a massive flaw in the game. They'd be better off switching to an ad based model or maybe charge 99cents for the app and remove gold completely or at least limit the gold purchases(i.e. you can only use whatever once every x amount of days), so the game will be better balanced, money should not play such a huge factor in who wins or loses.

[LordFirefall]

If the developers can't continue the game without people paying them for a huge advantage, then that is a massive flaw in the game. They'd be better off switching to an ad based model or maybe charge 99cents for the app and remove gold completely or at least limit the gold purchases(i.e. you can only use whatever once every x amount of days), so the game will be better balanced, money should not play such a huge factor in who wins or loses.

It always strikes me as funny that someone who has no access to an actual balance sheet passes out advice like they do.

[Fire820]

Some of you who know me will discard my thoughts; however, I'll put my two cents in anyway.

As firefall pointed out, the game is free and without ads. I'm racking my brain, and I can't think of other game I play that is free and without ads. It doesn't happen. So, quark must come up with some way to pay the team. That's where gold comes into play. Gold is the revenue stream for quark. You take out or limit gold, and they have to find a new revenue stream which would affect all the players directly. At least now, you can choose whether you want to purchase gold or not.

The other option is not really an option. Rework the whole game into something like FarmVille where the gold would only affect the buyer. That would rework the whole game and strategy component. Nobody here wants that; that's why we chose and stuck with this game. And none of the quark members wants that either.

That being said, gold is here to stay. Like it or not. There's no way around that. Luckily though, every big gold user I've seen has been able to be beaten by teamwork and experience. So while it's discouraging to see someone with 5 cities on Day 1, you can work together to overcome them.

Now that I've pointed out all that, I'd like to say one last thing. I would like to see 1 non-gold world every now and then, say every 50 worlds. Even have a "fee" to enter and play. Charge gold or tickets to enter. I'd be fine with that. Quark would still get some money, even if it would be less, and it would keep players happy and engaged which is worth the loss of gold I would think.

Now, I'll fade back into obscurity for a little bit

[Markeez]

It always strikes me as funny that someone who has no access to an actual balance sheet passes out advice like they do.

The irony in your comment hurts. I don't know how they get most of their money, chances are neither do you. What I do know is a competitive area should not hinge on finance, unless you have something remotely constructive to say, maybe you should get off your high horse.

[LordFirefall]

The irony in your comment hurts. I don't know how they get most of their money, chances are neither do you. What I do know is a competitive area should not hinge on finance, unless you have something remotely constructive to say, maybe you should get off your high horse.

Interesting you would talk about me being on a high horse. I'm not the one presuming to suggest Quark change their business model.

However, I do have an MBA, and I do oversee a sizable budget in the real world, including salary, IT, and everything else it takes to run a department in a sizable organization. I was also a game host for many years (albiet for a smaller scale game) and worked as a functional lead on project teams to deploy web apps for over a million users. As a result, I tend to look at things from a slightly different angle than most players.

I do agree with Fire820 - a non-gold world every 50 worlds wouldn't be unreasonable. Especially if it required a fee to enter it.