[X] My Assistant

[Delcatty]

To head off anything -- yes, I'm aware that "Rewards for donating real money" is on the "do not suggest" list, but that list hasn't been updated since 2015, and there literally are rewards now. I'm simply suggesting an expansion of them that would alleviate a few pressure points in the current system.

Anyway, onto the meat and potatoes of the post.

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I've noticed that, over the last month or so, I believe there's only been a single Plus. Some of that, I attribute to people wanting to get their last minute summons or not wanting to 'waste' their pluses before the SWSH started, as well as to people wanting to keep the pluses rolling constantly during the coin events and thus maximizing their $$$ spent then, but it has still been a notable drop in both pluses and multipliers from normal, and I assume also in the site's cash flow. Additionally, it's just discouraging to look at the plus page and see that multiple donations would be required to get a plus, rather than a single one, and I know that's part of what's been keeping me from spending.

I think it could be an interesting idea if there were essentially mini personal pluses that came specifically from buying credits -- I've spitballed some numbers and benefits below, but the idea is essentially to incentivize people to not be discouraged by low pluses, or by not wanting to increase the multi and lose someone else their summon. (For example, I didn't want to fill a plus in early July because I didn't want the lab eggs to increase and make someone else's life harder, but I would have happily donated and held my credits for the beginning of the SWSH to get a small personal boost for myself at the time.)




Some spitballed, suggested numbers that I think are a good balanced between not being OP and pay-to-win, but also being enough to feel like you're getting something even if you can't totally fill a plus--

I suggest that either every 5 credits purchased earns a user one week of what I'll call Mini Personal Plus, or every credit purchased is one singular day. Alternatively, it could just be added to the + status of ad-free time to minimize coding required. (I know there would still be some, but theoretically maybe that would be less?)

The idea is that, when purchasing credits, a user would be credited for the above mentioned amount of time for personal bonuses (much like they're currently credited for ad-free time), which would grant them the effect of a single plus (chosen from existing ones in account settings, just like how ads on/off can be toggled) for as long as it's active, along with a static +0.1 multiplier to egg steps and pokemon exp only. (This would not affect the lab, daycare eggs, or anything else I might be forgetting -- JUST party pokemon/eggs.) Neither the 0.1 nor the plus effect would stack, keeping it from being a pay-to-win mechanic and ensuring it's only a small boost, but still enough to feel like you're getting something even if you can't currently fill a plus.

Also to clarify, this would not be something you could spend credits on -- the normal Plus system would remain the same, keeping the primary incentive as donating to benefit everyone and keep the community focus, however, this would add (very small) personal bonuses to donating to ensure that, even if you can't currently spend credits (or you don't want to in order to not inconvenience others), there's still always a reason to donate.

This also solves the "problem" of Prize+ which is widely considered a fairly useless plus, and tends to be a much more selfish (and thus harder to justify) use of credits than any other plus. (As well as Trinket+ which is less selfish IMO, but I've still had people get angry at me for filling, which is part of what drove me out of the public discord and has lowered my donations over time.)

Additionally, this ALSO helps to balance between the people who dislike having pluses regularly and voice the opinion that "too many pluses and events make the site too fast and hard to keep up with," while also allowing users who like having the benefits regularly to do so.



I know this would add coding work to the site, but I genuinely think it would also help with balancing the split between people who do and don't like pluses, and keeping donating from ever feeling like a net negative (because multipliers aren't always a good thing, and sometimes there legitimately are bad times to pop a plus where waiting a day or two would be better).

This post has been edited by Delcatty: Jul 22 2023, 10:47 AM