A Continuity Error

Day 2,285, 19:04 • Published in Canada Spain • by Doggstar

So today a very poignant question popped into my mind. Am I crazy or are the people who put this game's promotions together acting as if they are absolutely lacking in any ability to think ahead? I believe it is the latter.

Exhibit A : We started this week with the cupid missions... which were kind of cute. That being said given the regeneration bonuses lasted much less than one week so they were at best, theatrics. Any other bonuses (ebars, bombs, etc.) were more or less a waste to be consumed to achieve the near useless energy regeneration bonus. Ultimately the most useful part of this mission is the snazzy badge that looks like someone raided Liberace or Elton John's jewellery box. In other words, it was a major waste of resources. Really simple question - why not let the cupid regeneration bonuses last this week?

Exhibit B : Powerspin. This week saw the return of Powerspin and if you figured eRepublik couldn't think 15 minutes into the future, this verified it. One of the prizes was a +100 energy building and one of the JACKPOTS was a +500 energy building. Now unless I'm missing something, extra energy buildings are virtually USELESS if my energy is growing at 10 units per 6 minutes. To be blunt, the +500 energy JACKPOT BONUS it a complete farce. In the absence of accelerated energy regeneration this functioned as a con job to separate gold from players. There is not possible other explanation. Really simple question - why not let the cupid regeneration bonuses last this week?

Exhibit C : Weekly challenge. It's clear that the individual who put the weekly challenge together did it with the expectation of rapid energy regeneration. This week the 60 energy bar bonus kicks in at 7,000 prestige points. That sounds a lot like 70,000 energy will be needed to be spent to get there. At 10 energy per 6 minutes that would take how long? Hell, even if I spent hundreds of ebars to get there it's going to be virtually impossible. I am currently solidly top 5 in each category in my country this week and I likely haven't got a prayer of hitting it and there are 3 days left. With almost half the week left I have to either buy or regenerate 22000 energy units after spending 48000 in order to hit the top prize. Now I understand that all people can't have all the prizes, but this week's breakout is absurd. True insolence was displayed by the fact the standard energy accelerator we see EVERY WEEK was absent. Really simple question - why not let the cupid regeneration bonuses last this week?

So in summary there are 2 possible conclusions we can draw from this weeks "promotions" on eRepublik. You tell me which one is correct.

1) There are several people who work on promotions that never spoke to one another or thought ahead because clearly the Weekly Challenge and Powerspin were designed with the idea that massive, longer lasting energy regeneration would be available. Ultimately the effect of this "oversight" was to flush gold out of the game - it certainly did that for me.

2) Cupid's promotion and the Powerspin were cleverly designed to extract maximum gold and resources from the customer base and leave them frustrated. On the bright side, the non gold buyers can laugh at the gold buyers. On the dim side, anyone (such as me) who supports the game learned a valuable lesson. Burn your money, at least you can warm yourself and cook.

I hope it was conclusion 1.

Your promotions are designed to foster frequent play and support from your clients (ie. players). You missed the mark by an uncharacteristically wide margin this week. Unfortunately for you, the ones you left most frustrated are the ones who support the rest of the crowd. This game is a business like any other business and I'm sure the 80 / 20 rule exists here. 20% spend 80% of the money.

I'm not mad but I am disappointed.