Display Token Store shiny odds; Make TS "daily deal" discount stack with MS discount.

Jinji

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Simply put, if you're going to keep donating to PWO simply for your own personal gratification, instead of seeing your donation for what it's meant to be - namely, supporting the game, helping to keep it online and showing appreciation to the Staff for dedicating their own free time and resources to provide you with ongoing entertainment and numerous community tools - I'd rather you just didn't donate at all. I'd also suggest anyone who is donating constantly, or spending large sums, purely aiming to gain some specific reward - you may have an addictive personality for which you may wish to seek support.
 

thunderclap

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Remove all rewards for donating if that's how you want to view donations. This is people's real money, not some idealistic philosophical debate.
 

Jobey

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Remove all rewards for donating if that's how you want to view donations. This is people's real money, not some idealistic philosophical debate.
I mean, if people want to keep recklessly spending real money because they have no self control, that's on them. I have little to no sympathy for them because they are in control of their own actions just as I am when I spend money on tokens. Nobody is forcing us to do it. Now, I do agree that knowing the actual shiny odds would be nice, but I feel it wouldn't stop people from spending money regardless and could just lead to further drama (as I mentioned in an earlier post).
 

Jobey

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Btw, @thunderclap I admire your tenacity, this forum will live on for eternity and even when we have all passed to the great beyond, you will find someway to bring back this post even if you have to possess somebody to comment on it and revive it. XD
 

thunderclap

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Darren said:
could put a limit to how many pokemon one can buy a month to stop someone gambling for a shiny
Good idea. Another thing that could work is removing everything from the token store except memberships and possibly items. Make the TS pokes findable in-game as random rare egg drops, with the same TS shiny odds. That would reward people for actually playing, and I think memberships can cover the server costs, as long as the server isn't wastefully overpriced. This game ran on 2008-era servers with way more players, so a cheap VPS slice should suffice.
 
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shodan21

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Today's drama emphasizes the need to reveal the token store shiny odds.

If you're not apprised on the happenings, two good longstanding players were banned due to a meltdown of bad behaviour, after they were unsuccessful in hunting token shinies after spending $155. Another player last week spent at LEAST $650+ just to find one TS shiny, and was getting VERY frustrated in the process, but thankfully finally found it.

Once you get started buying it's very difficult to dismiss the sunk cost doctrine, fallacious as some say it is. Not knowing the odds, it seems that every additional purchase will be certain to yield success, and that the previous purchase was close but unlucky. I failed to take my own advice this past week and finally got a S Ralts after, I'm extremely ashamed to admit, 63 attempts. Far more money than I intended to spend. It was my first ever TS shiny after about 120 total attempts over the years.

PWO does not keep the excess donation profits, so there's absolutely no need to passively deceive people to spend like this. If you took a poll of how many tries people THINK it takes to find a TS shiny, I guarantee the results would be far lower than the true odds.

I'm not saying to make it easier, just let people know what they're getting into so they can make informed decisions about how to spend their real hard-earned money from the outset, not after they've fruitlessly spent hundreds of dollars and want to quit PWO.

or - here's a solution - simply stop spending the money. i tried for s piplup back when it was first released, putting in $55 for a starter ms, shiny chance, and 10 of the pokes. i didnt get a shiny (or even a decent regular one), so what did i do? i didn't dump more money in, chasing odds like a homeless gambler searching for that one jackpot that'll get him back on his feet and set for life - instead, i cut my losses and have not bought a single ts poke since.

also, this wasnt the first time goku acted up like this. he seems to think that spending money means he should get special treatment, which is so far beyond a simple "gambling addiction" situation, and i look forward (/s) to seeing him whine and pester blue to unban him - again. nothing of value was lost from his ban.
 

Jobey

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or - here's a solution - simply stop spending the money. i tried for s piplup back when it was first released, putting in $55 for a starter ms, shiny chance, and 10 of the pokes. i didnt get a shiny (or even a decent regular one), so what did i do? i didn't dump more money in, chasing odds like a homeless gambler searching for that one jackpot that'll get him back on his feet and set for life - instead, i cut my losses and have not bought a single ts poke since.

also, this wasnt the first time goku acted up like this. he seems to think that spending money means he should get special treatment, which is so far beyond a simple "gambling addiction" situation, and i look forward (/s) to seeing him whine and pester blue to unban him - again. nothing of value was lost from his ban.
I too agree with this, if people want to keep spending money and losing out, they have nobody to blame but themselves. Also, the loss of "man of many names" doesn't seem like a bad thing to me, that alone is a good enough reason to perhaps keep the odds secret XD
 

Jobey

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Good idea. Another thing that could work is removing everything from the token store except memberships and possibly items. Make the TS pokes findable in-game as random rare egg drops, with the same TS shiny odds. That would reward people for actually playing, and I think memberships can cover the server costs, as long as the server isn't wastefully overpriced. This game ran on 2008-era servers with way more players, so a cheap VPS slice should suffice.
Or just leave things alone in token store and have players learn to hold themselves accountable.
 

thunderclap

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Try to just forget that you're arguing against me, and use your brains and logic to find the best solution to this obvious problem that exists. The current system of "the player is accountable" is what has resulted in this thread and all these problems! The player doesn't have the information to make an informed decision, and these are often young people. You are all making it WAY too easy for me to clinch smartest player status, my ego is about ready to burst from this big fish small pond situation. Please everyone read the whole thread and stop making us go in circles.
 

Jobey

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Try to just forget that you're arguing against me, and use your brains and logic to find the best solution to this obvious problem that exists. The current system of "the player is accountable" is what has resulted in this thread and all these problems! The player doesn't have the information to make an informed decision, and these are often young people. You are all making it WAY too easy for me to clinch smartest player status, my ego is about ready to burst from this big fish small pond situation. Please everyone read the whole thread and stop making us go in circles.
Okay, start bursting, just try to not make too big of a mess in the process. XD
 
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thunderclap

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IN SUMMARY: This suggestion is NOT about making shinies easier (although it is nice you lowered most of the prices).

It's so people can make INFORMED DECISIONS with their REAL money. Every couple weeks a new player joins and spends hundreds of dollars chasing shinies. Then they get super mad and quit the game.

So in conclusion: Reveal the TS shiny odds! Or stop selling TS pokes altogether (or make it so they can't be shiny).
Thank you

PS: I'm not personally worked up / upset about this issue atm.. just posting on behalf of people who have wasted their money recently.
 
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Jobey

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just posting on behalf of people who have wasted their money recently.
I mean, personally I feel that's their own fault. Anyway, although I really don't see a downside to revealing the odds, I also feel revealing them won't change much, if anything may anger players more if the chances are 1/100 somebody buys 100 and doesn't get a shiny (though many would start to complain after buying 25 of them even if the chances are 1/100 lol)
 

thunderclap

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I mean, personally I feel that's their own fault.

It's not really their own fault -- they're not making an informed decision. Without knowing the odds, any reasonable person would expect tokenstore shinies to be a lot easier to get than they are. I'm not saying it should BE easier, but people should have some rough idea what the odds are, since they're spending real money. Or it should at the very least have a vague warning "finding a shiny is extremely improbable - much more difficult than you probably expect it to be".

If anything may anger players more if the chances are 1/100 somebody buys 100 and doesn't get a shiny (though many would start to complain after buying 25 of them even if the chances are 1/100 lol)
That's why the tokenstore page should very clearly state the odds with the caveat "on average". It should say, for example, "If you activate this shiny-odds bonus your odds of receiving a shiny will be approximately 1/80 on average").

And the bold part should be clickable with an explanation that it's not a guarantee, that it might take 1 try or 600 tries to get a shiny, with a reminder that donations are a donation, not a purchase, and that it's not advisable to spam donations to get a certain reward, certain ivs, etc.
 
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thunderclap

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Added the TS shiny rate to OP. Based off my own data, I believe this number (~1 in 80) is fairly accurate. You're welcome.

Disclaimer: I do NOT recommend anyone to shiny hunt in the token store. It's a horrible value proposition, far worse than selling tokens to other players. I've spent more than I care to admit finding the above statistic..
 
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