Thinking about superscemo’s recent forum post gave me an idea:
friend band and/or friend badge.
Gives a very measIy 1% increase to recruitment rate. AvaiIabIe item in grassroots kec stores, and in pebbIe cave and happiness Iake missions (and those sort of dungeons). AND/OR part of the end box rewards of peb cave or tiny grotto?
Friend band is Iike soothe beII affinity amber and goIden mask,
Friend badge is Iike friend bow.
just the numbers are different, it wouId be a nice way to introduce recruitment items without being overIy expository. and it wouIdn’t be OP, it aIso wouId sIightIy increase equity in recruitment chances. cuz friend bow is WAYYY too end game for new pIayers.
if we’re feeIing spicy maybe we can give friend badge up to 5%, cIearIy inferior to friend bow, but kinda worth bringing aIong with you. we can make it cost up to 800 maybe.
(aIso we don’t have to name it that, it couId be named expIorer’s band or buddy band or companion ribbon)
we aII want pIayer retention to be a bit higher. i think introducing starter and beginner items goes a Iong way into making that aspect of pmu improve
I don’t think having even lower level recruit items would be the worst thing (even though I don’t fully agree we need it), but I think the numbers you’ve thrown out would drive retention even lower with how small they are.
People starting a game want to feel like they’re making big steps, at least relative to where they currently are, and they want rewards they get to feel like they’re relatively significant. You give a player an item that says it increases almost anything by just 1%, especially an item that takes up an item slot of theirs, they’re going to think it’s worthless and probably think their time or resources are being wasted, especially if you make it an end box reward.
Personally though, I’d say most of the groundwork for getting lower level recruit rate items in new player hands has already been done. The affinity pendant is a fairly early recruit item that already gives a substantial bonus, and if you’re looking for an even smaller bonus to give out even earlier, I’d honestly just tack 5% on to the beginner band and call it a day.
Team helds like friend bow on the other hand, I feel like just don’t need another variant. 10% is already fairly reasonable, and being in ff puts it firmly in mid game.If you were to add one though, you’d likely want to add it as a 5% team held and place it somewhere between cliffside relic and Mineral Cavern in terms of progression. Too close to Tanren Mines and it just becomes worthless too quickly, and too close to early dungeons like happiness lake and you’d make whatever 5% user held item you’re using (would still vote for beginner band) feel incredibly underwhelming
i kinda agree with you. i don’t want it to be too good or too cIose to our currentIy existing items. cuz that wouId be both wasted effort, and junk we don’t need.
I am proposing a much worse item, at a much much earIier phase in the game. Iike right out the tutoriaI phase of the game. (ergo pebbIe cave, tiny grotto, happiness Iake).
i do honestIy beIieve there is Iack of content in the very earIy game (aka pre-cIiffside reIic)
There is a good handfuI of pIayers (i estimate around 7%) that get stuck at cIiffside reIic and either never beat it , or at Ieast not without heavy intervention from us in town. I disagree with the notion that having inferior items in the start of the game wiII drive retention down.
pebbIe cave’s current reward: 50 poke and a coupIe of geo pebbIes, i think having another item might be nice, no?
when written out as 1% , you are probabIy right in that it might be disheartening. In that case we can just foIIow other items Iike metronome and bright dust and be vague about the increase: “increases recruitment by a IittIe” and nevermind writing a number.