As someone who works within the game company (unrelated to ATA entirely), I know how it is on the other side. People have been upset at changes, and yes changes are inevitable, however I have to agree with many that your approach on responses have been quite tactless. As a community manager you do not put in personal feelings into your responses and I see that your frustration came out quite clear Marcie. There are probably a lot of things you are unable to share with us because that's how a business run - however I very much doubt there is any data showing that people are interested in purchasing $60 avis that isn't even in a bundle. This feels like a A/B testing going wrong or someone high up in the company making changes without knowing how the game and its community works. I seen it happen within my company as well as others. This game is 100% online and community base - as in - this game will go under without a player base that is 1. Active 2. Engaged and 3. Happy. You will not be able to please everyone at any time, however you have to acknowledge the majority of the players are not happy with this changes. The players who can't afford or don't want to spend cash has no incentive to do so now, the players who used to spend aren't willing to buy expensive avis - then who exactly are you targeting with this changes? In my opinion I would personally recognize if I overstepped and called players childish Marcie, because fighting with fire will not lead to any good. I know it's a hard position you are in but 90% of the responses here are without attacks or foul language. Don't just scoff off those responses for the bad ones. Thank you.
I was never defensive if you ever read any of my comments or thread. I even suggested solutions to gain more revenue for ATA. Anyway I will keep supporting the movement but I’m utterly shocked by the response given by a member of the company.
Obviously she's only replying those that back her up. She has a whole fanbase of anyone willing to say anything to get her attention. Incase you've not realised, There's quite a handful of players who fetishize the attention of admins & mods.
I don’t see this calming down now that we’ve been called childish and bitter, now things will only get worse from that. Great job 🤦🏽♀️
Just a suggestion about introducing the players with new features and changes. A poll is actually a great thing to do first to know whether the community like it or not (most of the players). Because as far as I see, players think that some of the features didn't need to get changed.
*game industry. I didn't have coffee when I wrote that. Just so it's clear that I am not working for any company affiliated to Thinking Ape.
Yes, change is needed. It always will be changing and evolving as you describe to match the players' experience and the economy as well. BUT ... and this is a big but. It doesnt seem to realistically make sense to charge $60 for an avatar. How exactly is that helping the ATA game economy when majority of players can't even fathom spending that on an avatar? This is a waste of resources and is only going to make people mad. I can tell you that making a sweet bundle deal at reasonable prices would reach wayyyy more of your players who are willing to spend here and there. Even the big spenders arent going to buy something worthless-- wouldnt they buy something over and over that had more reward to it? Your players have every right to be upset. This game is literally the only game i play and have played for 5 years. You get my time and money, both equally valuable to making this game succeed. I really hope "change" will be reconsidered on the wants and needs of the players.
Say it louder and say it again. Look how many people did that, bruh get some self respect y'all. Please. Tbh your post is gold and everyone here should read it like 5 times.
I’m so proud of the community rn. Giving great feedback and awesome ideas only to be ignored and called childish. Keep up the great work and maybe someone else will actually notice that what we’re saying is important and worth looking into
Ok here’s my constructive 0.02, ATA🤭 Changes that have been made past month or so won’t be that bad if you could just tweak them a little bit. 1 16k for avis is definitely way too much for regular players and lets be honest here 110k is too much for last story rewards even if you are in cat club, BUT if hunts last 3 weeks that would not be a problem anymore. It will also give ATA more time to come up w better hunts. I’m sure most ppl would prefer quality over quantity. 2 Avis being Molly Corner will also be ok if you add dns and ecs to the deal. Change bundle avis every 2-3 months so ppl will keep buying. You don’t even need to come up w new designs there. I know a lot of ppl who would be happy to get some of older avis. I don’t think it would be fare to include avis that were box/lb rewards, but doing old main story/side story avis would be fair imo. Maybe do some recolor/stat change. You can even do polls on forum to see what avis ppl would like to be included in next bundle 🤭 3 Put back avis to montly boxes. Maybe reduce the quantity ? 4 avis instead of 6 would still be fine. 4 Stat brackets for spotlight xc is definitely a good idea, so more ppl have a chance also pls add that pet lvling xc #foreverwaiting Side note, i’m sure it was pointed out before but you definitely should not call your customers childish and bitter. It is extremely unprofessional. I would be fired on the spot if ive told customer that irl. Even if customer was rude to me.
This really has come the hi-light the significance of the word Ape in ATA.... unfortunately it wasn't an emphasis on the Thinking. Maybe if ATA stopped buying hundreds of dollars of wasteful luxuries by the week for their employees, then perhaps you wouldn't need to force these half-baked, and rather illogical attempts at trying to rake in more money. And perhaps cutting budget corners by hiring the artist who made BF, circus and Trinidad hunts, which not only are just terribly awful and inconsistent avis that look like bargain bin content next to the better done ones, but it's just not even great art in general. You probably wouldn't have so many people who refuse to spend a dime if the ART we PAY for, wasn't a novice sketch with some colour thrown on it. I literally spent thousands on this game in my run, because in 2018, the hunts were on fiiiiire. I haven't given a large effort to any of these hunts this past year and a half because it's all so... not even mediocore, let's be real. But fr, if ATA's messanger is gonna be coming out here with anti-customer service stances, then yikes, this is gonna be A YEAR. 😂😂😂😂
[ATA]Marceline is really out here trying to call people childish for being genuinely angry & having a voice.. Like these people aren't spending hundreds, thousands even, on this damn game. 😅 GIRLLLLL 🙈 The animosity in your reply says enough! You are supposed to be a professional. Remember, you represent ATA.. Since you know, you work for them & all. You are one of the many faces of this company. Please remember that before you try to belittle & insult basically everyone who has a voice on this app. Eeeek, I read her reply & just cringe. 🥴 I mean, thanks for replying, I guess. None of the other developers have the balls too. But, let's be real.. You should have probably just kept your mouth shut. You thought you were coming "with spice"? Child, you came with nothing but animosity. Either way, "spice" is not appropriate when people are genuinely upset. You played yourself *DJ Khaled VC How childish am I, now? 😜
It feels like a lot of people in this thread just want to feel like part of a revolution. Think about what you are choosing as your cause. An avatar. It’s so easy to just not buy the avatar. I think Marcie was pretty patient, and did it in a humorous manner. She showed that they are listening, but you really can’t expect her to support your anti ATA stance.
Honestly, while I adore the monthly avatars, as a professional artist I agree the majority of players here in saying that they aren't worth $60 USD ($90 AUD) in a mass produced state. They're brilliant works, but for nearly $100 AUD I would expect to receive a personalised avatar commission of that quality in place of a mass produce item - an artist even as big as sakimichan or yuumeiart would be dismissed if they tried charging those prices for the equivalent of a digital copy of their work, let alone a physical item like a print. I don't disagree the avatars are, uniquely and singularly, worth the high price on them, but when you look at the fact you're expecting hundreds - even thousands of players to purchase them you're essentially saying these digital fullbody artworks are worth hundreds and thousands of dollars each. That's the price of a brand new motorcycle, a used car, several months rent, a new computer. They're brilliant works, but they're not original paintings or even physical copies for that matter. I'd be a very broke freelancer if I ever tried anything like that and I double your artists are receiving the lions share of that boon regardless. I'm not a game designer or anything like that, but I do love playing and supporting this game and if things become too expensive for even a smaller pay to play player like myself to afford then I'm going to be leaving too. I can't afford $100+ aud a week to cover avatars and cats and boxes, I just can't. Many other players are in similar positions. All we ask is that you make things feel fair again for everyone playing. If that means introducing a completely new exclusive tier of paid avatars to cover this idea, then go ahead. Just please don't punish the lower pay to play and free to play players in the process. Most of the scorn you're receiving is just marking mass betrayal and that's why we're all hurt. Please listen to us. We don't want to quit, but we have real lives too. We need to eat and sleep and work and pay rent and bills, just like you. We just want to feel like you care, that's all.