I had a look in my garage: B Class BMW M6 top speed 5 - 155 250 A Class Mercedes SL 65 AMG handling 5 - 100 750 Chevrolet corvette C7 top speed 5 - 283 500 RUF RT 12 S acceleration 5 - 148 750 Ferrari F430 top speed 5 - 231 000 S Class Lamborghini Veneno acceleration 5 - 157 500 Pagani Huayra top speed 5 - 382 500 It seems to be an increase across all classes, and it also seems to be related to how expensive the car is Costs upgrades (most-least expensive): top speed, nitro, handling, acceleration Top speed is about equal to 2 times handling or acceleration (or those two combined), with nitro being roughly 1.5 times handling or acceleration (also nitro roughly 75% of top speed I think) So people can make a guess what the total costs for level 5 upgrades are for these example cars (don't pin me down on those numbers though, I quickly checked a few and that seem to be the ratios it used for the prices) LEVEL 5 UPGRADES total B Class BMW M6 - 400k A Class Mercedes SL 65 AMG - 550k Chevrolet corvette C7 - 760k RUF RT 12 S - 825k Ferrari F430 - 630k S Class Lamborghini Veneno - 860k Pagani Huayra - 1000k You can get a 1.200.000 credits for $50 I wonder how much for the four level 5 upgrades for the Lykan. Anyway! let's all not complain since you can still get things if you pay for them. I'm going to spend almost $50 worth of credits to upgrade my RUF fully because I really would like to beat that target time in the cup and win that badass 15000 credits price!
Seems like what they've done is just jack up the top level upgrades in each class. I guess they feel they made a mistake by making them achievable (with a ton of grinding) for "free" so they've gone back and made that virtually impossible. Compare it to GTR2, where the first four upgrade levels can be bought with game cash, but the top level upgrades are strictly premium currency. However, in GTR2 that's how it has always been (at least since I started playing). A8 has essentially gone to that model. Unfortunately, they went so far overboard that it's nothing more than a slap in the face to both paying customers, and freemium players. It's unfortunate, but when games/developers go down this road, you basically have four options. 1. Spend ludicrous amounts of money 2. Hack 3. Play half of a game 4. Quit The last two options are the only ones I would consider. This game is definitely worth some money, but not the kind of money they're asking for.
Still in there for the tuatara, but boy is it getting competitive. If Gameloft would record and release ghosts for the top 3-5 for each tournament, that would be great. And they'd probably catch some subtle hackers in the act! As far as the prices go, someone somewhere decided that they'd make more money this way. And who knows, they might. I see no evidence that there was any shortage of aip buyers - class s multiplayer is chock full of them - but maybe Gameloft has rightly determined that the small percentage of buyers can be squeezed harder. If the game is nearing its effective eol, then it is time for Gameloft to squeeze their paying customers and move on, never mind the negative buzz that accompanies such behavior. Most of us have short enough attention spans that we'll forget about or overlook this price change when asphalt 9 comes out. Low(er) car/upgrade prices favor those who can't/won't pay for iaps. The best of the best "no iap" players add value to gameloft's property by setting a high bar for multiplayer achievement. When thousands, if not millions, of noobs get schooled in a tle by vdarkzero and turbo434 and a bunch of Chinese/summer/open whoevertheyares, they are tempted to buy in to get better cars, more upgrades, and boosts. But that's the long game. This appears to be a push to make cash off anyone else who wants to play single player to get all the stars and "win the game". This is doubly true for achievement fiends who want the upgrade achievements. If they wanted to keep playing the long game, they'd add more cars and tracks and hope that users stayed engaged while slowly raising prices on boosts. The ssc tuatara is probably the last bullet in their gun. This is the end game, people. As time goes on, the multiplayer/tle audience will taper off, and the value of skill players drops off correspondingly. If Ryan or Fabian want to prove me wrong, then I'd encourage them to do so. Right now this looks like a cash-out move by Gameloft. Bring on asphalt 9. Btw, you could have just added ad banners or load-time videos, Gameloft. They're somewhat annoying, but those upgrade prices are sick. Good thing I have all cars bought and maxed. For me, anyway. Idea: let me sell my free upgrades from tles/multiplayer to other players for real money. You take half the proceeds. I have an unknown number of them lying around, doing nothing. You might get more buy-ins if people think they are paying each other for upgrades, especially if the price is maybe 90% of what they'd pay to get the same thing buying credit packs. You have some truly excellent drivers earning tons of mostly-useless prizes. Find new ways to use them to put more money in your pocket and generate positive buzz for the Gameloft stable. You might make less per purchase with this idea, but you might get more activity, and competition will get fierce over those class a and s upgrades from tles, producing prolonged activity and giving your title an extended shelf life. You could push back effective eol. Think about it.
Just wanted to note that I've PM'd Ryan and asked him to publicly address the upgrade price issue. If gameloft is unwilling to reverse this, whatever, it's their game, but I think we deserve some sort of comment. The change wasn't even announced in the game, unlike other updates have been.
That might just be the understatement of the day. Using that number of swear words guarantees one thing and one thing only. Ignore list. Although this one more or less guarantees that those you want to make your point just won't pay attention to it. Nobody welcomes expletive filled abuse. That would be your interpretation, not my intent. Take it whatever way you wish but it is still a pity that people don't understand that for a game to be supported and updated, it needs some people to buy iap. Nobody is in business to just work all day and give stuff away for nothing even if everybody wants to play it for nothing. It also doesn't change the fact that they did not introduce timers or lock content behind an iap only purchase. But whatever, take the point or not but it's still not RR3. On the point of expressing ones opinion, I never said one couldn't now did I? I merely expressed my own opinion. But judging by your reaction and certain others, it would appear that one can only express ones opinion if one is criticising rather than explaining a model. It seems agreeing with all the hate is fine but disagreeing isn't. Maybe people in glass houses shouldn't be throwing stones. And considering, you have everything fully upgraded anyway, how does it reflect on you in any shape or form when you have nothing left to upgrade and millions of in game currency anyway? Its a well known fact that premium is not the profitable or revenue generating way to go in the majority of cases. Particularly if you want updates and tournaments. In certain unique cases where a game is a one off that won't get content updates, have multiplayer or daily/weekly events, well then yes, there it is a viable option. But as you're so focused on the TLE, they wouldn't be possible unless a consistent revenue stream is being generated. And its iap that does that. Free to download and fully free are not the same thing and why people expect months/years of support and daily events for some thing that is free is economically unrealistic and just a bit naive. I never said it was fair and in fact if you read the post, you'll see I actually believe the numbers viewed are a glitch because they are disproportionate in relation to other level upgrades. What does their share price tell me? It tells me nothing about the revenue A8 makes. All that link does is point out why changes are made to game economy. I'm sure their share price would slip very fast if their games were costing more to maintain than there were generating in income, which can only be generated by iap. And RR3 is not your best example for your points. It may be riddle with hackers and have its own problems but it is consistently in the the top 50 grossing apps worldwide. Mainly due to its severe iap system and high iap prices. A8 is not even close to generating any where near the revenue RR3 is or anywhere near its grossing chart position. I'd pick a better example next time. I used it as an example of an extreme iap push, something this one doesn't have to the same level or anywhere near it. Also, that last sentence in your quote is simply disgraceful. If you're going to make a point, at least try and not be so uncivilised. Calling a developer what you did call them, do you really think that helps you're case or denotes abuse? Do you really think it inspires them to interact with you? I can tell you now it doesn't. I merely pointed out why increases have to be made in certain areas. A free game doesn't support it self. It costs money to maintain and support and if its not generating the appropriate income to maintain it, they have to introduce and tweak some elements. Some will buy iap, far less won't. Based on the figures available, more than 97% of the people playing this game are playing it for nothing and I don't really care how many of you come on and say they bought iap, the market figures that I have available are not wrong. That 97% is in zero position to complain because they have not entered in to an exchange of goods contract. And yet that 97% is doing most of the complaining. What ye should be doing is thanking them for not introducing timers and for not locking cars behind a premium currency paywall or introducing fuel refill energy systems. Whatever upgrade prices were tweaked will get tweaked again based on feedback but rather than pointing out that the numbers should be reduced back in a reasonable and semi polite manner, all that people have chosen to do is berate, complain, criticise, derogatory name calling, threaten, expletives and all the rest of it. Yeah, that's a great way to get your point across, well done. You guys really know how to damage you're case. No wonder developers don't actually want to come on to this forum anymore.
Rip 273, do you expect us to farm hundreds of hours or sink thousand into completing this game? Would you? Now, Im not saying Gameloft is unfair in trying to increase their profits, after all business is business. But because you create a good game and establish a wide base, (from a customers/players standpoint) forcing IAPs after your game has been hailed a success is betrayal (as many in the forum believe). Noting this, a business model that pleases both customers/players and stockholders in the company would be of interest. To resolve this incoming issue, we need to work together, game developers and players/customers. This delicate balance hard to achieve, I challenge all those on this forum to come up with a viable solution, propose business models that would allow Gameloft to earn a reasonable profit and for players to enjoy the game without tremendous IAPs form everybody. I dont agree with Rip 273 in most of your words but I as will any reasonable game player, agree that a software developer that has a wide user base is not wrong in making a game slightly harder to complete without IAP (though not at the current level). By the way, Rip 273, if youre complaining of 97% of players not sinking money in the game where is your data from (not challenging you, just curious) and how much have you contributed toward Gamelofts coffers? Unlike you most players in this forum, I assume do not make enough to sink hundreds to thousands of dollars into the game or start a professional career racing in Asphalt 8 (Im just being pretentious arent I?) As you were complaining of others lambasting you and criticizing you for expressing an opinion. I was too, just about the Gamemakers. Do you believe they are what was the phrase you used throwing away bones. The regular cups are hard to win without a fully maxed car. Most cars will not be used except for 2-3 races. DO they expect more people will want to play their game and buy IAP when they jack up prices.
Hey everyone. In light of the recent changes to Level 5 upgrades, I havent seen anything for my C Class car. However for upper class cars I havent checked yet. I hope its a mistake because the prices were already pretty high and now they are just absurd. Anyway I followed Dark Zeros walkthrough for the race and thanks to that I got a time of 1:33:340 which isnt that bad imo Afterall Im not the best at this game. A few minutes ago I came across a link on the asphalt 8 fb fanpage that I thought would be worth sharing. The guy in the 1st link has an insane time of 1:31:7xx The guy in the second link has a 1:32:5 I think anyway I hope it helps out the iOS players on the forum so here they are 1: http://tieba.baidu.com/p/3043262917# 2: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNzEwOTIxOTIw.html?x They are chinese websites but I assume you guys are able to click play and such lol Hope they can be of any use to you guys although the route seems exactly the same as I took and probably many of you. Best of luck!!!
You keep claiming that, and that's one thing I really don't understand. It's a pretty simple concept, so why would "people" not understand it? And who are these people you're talking about? Me? Stoppi? Dark-Zero? If you're going to call me dumb, be straightforward. But let's assume you're right. We're all too dumb to understand. That still doesn't mean we have to like Gameloft's behavior. Simply put, you discuss economic decisions, while I discuss user experience. As a customer (*), I don't think my primary responsibility is to express sympathy for their attempts to maximize profits. They changed the product in a way that irritates me, so I tell them it irritates me. Yay feedback! Consequently, what I'd really like to know is if you think that Asphalt is a more enjoyable game now. If you started playing right now, with the new prices, would you like having to compete against people like the regulars on this thread, who have all the upgrades and got them for cheap? And what about the scenario CobaltBlue mentioned? How would you feel if you woke up and found that the credits pack you bought the other day is worth a lot less now? In exchange for any answer to those questions, I'll grant you that yes, the world has become more complicated now that games like Asphalt cause ongoing server costs. If Gameloft hasn't figured out a way to make Asphalt profitable by now, which is basically what you're saying, then I do feel sorry for them. But that doesn't mean I'd recommend the game in its current form to anyone. (*) Yes, I am a paying customer. You like questioning personal motivations (see below), so I guess I should list how much I spent on the game: I bought it for $1 and spent approximately $9 on in-app purchases. I'm a returning customer (Asphalt 6 on OS X and iOS, Asphalt 7 on iOS), and I'd have paid a lot more than $10 as a fixed price for Asphalt 8. An ever-worsening freemium deal, on the other hand, doesn't appeal to me. Two reaons: 1. I started a new career on my phone a while ago. So I still have a lot of upgrading to do there, which means the change affects me personally. 2. Even if it didn't affect me personally, I'd hate to see a change like that. Technically, the fact that newcomers have a harder time upgrading their cars now benefits me, because it tilts the multiplayer odds in my favor. But I love(d) this game. I want it to succeed and attract a lot of players. So it pains me to see them screw it up.
I always thought that breaking into the 1:31:xxx was theoretically possible, but I never thought someone would actually do it. That's some insane time right there. Anyway, good job with your time MazharJ No matter how we look at things, you're right about that. They need IAP to sustain the game and the servers. However, I dislike the way they are tweaking things for two reasons: 1. This price increase is insane (most obvious one). I am totally okay if GL increases the prices of boosters or upgrades, but that amount is way too high, and even you know that. 2. Enforcing IAP is not the way to go. I know, GL needs money and all, but imagine if all players, veterans or newcomers have to buy IAP to be able to compete. Veterans will have it easy, since they have a bunch of credits anyway, but newcomers are the one hurt. They won't be able to compete with veterans if they don't pay a certain amount of money, or grind credits for a high amount of time, and many newcomers don't have the patience to do that. This makes newcomers want to leave. And with the hackers on iOS and Win8 going wild (it's not seen on Android MP for some reason), most veterans will leave as well. I don't think that increasing prices or lowering the rewards in MP is a bad idea. It's a good strategy, in fact. But if it's the only way to get the most fun out of the game (AKA playing MP while still having a chance to win), it won't be beneficial in the long run. Anyway, this is my opinion on things. You may have yours, and I respect it. But I think GL should do something that makes them and the whole A8 community happy (not please everyone, but find a good balance).
You can keep putting words in my mouth all day long but it still won't be what I actually said. So to clarify, as you seem to want to continuously imply the worst of intentions of my part with no basis for that, I in no way whatsoever implied/stated/perceived/intended that anyone was dumb. Keep focusing on that all you want, however you will not find any wording in my post of that nature. Nor implying it in any individual case. If you want to perceive it that way, that is up to you, but it is not my intent or my perception. Feedback is all well and good and an essential process in fact but when posters go down the road of calling the developer "retarded" and persistently using shit this, shit that in reference to the developer, bullshit here and bullshit there and persistently calling them greedy, that said feedback becomes null and void. Expletives do not help your case and beyond even those that chose that route, denigrating the developer and threatening them with "I won't buy anymore" is about the weakest argument anybody can make and bears zero merit and in no way qualifies as "feedback", it's just ranting. It stops being feedback and becomes your typical angry Internet gamer and no longer relevant. As to the rest of it, I'm not going to bother because I'm sure all you're going to do is put more false words in my mouth that suit your own interpretation so anything I say further will be pointless. Therefore I just won't be participating further. Its worth noting that if I as a non developer don't want to participate any further in this "discussion", what makes you think a developer would want to if all ye are doing is being derogatory.
In non-upgrade-related news, I found a third car (in addition to the Lykan and the Survolt) that seems to work in multiplayer even if your world series ranking is pretty high the Mini. The highest-rated cars I encountered while driving the Mini were rated approximately 110 points higher than mine, but they were beginner-level C and B class cars, and they weren't especially hard to beat. There are also some maxed-out MiTos, but most of those aren't real threats either, most likely due to the MiTo's lacking nitro characteristics. The real challenge is beating the other Minis. There are quite a lot of people with fully upgraded Minis who know what they're doing and have world series ranks between 1500 and 1800. I lost a bunch of races, and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I guess it's a niche that's similar to the Survolt niche, but personally, I like the Mini better, because it's less twitchy than the Survolt. (If you've ever slipped and crashed on a sidewalk in Tokyo, you know what I'm talking about.)
Thanks Lord!! Do you play on iOS or android? Also totally agree with your opinion!! I wish Ryan or Fabien would join this discussion @Cobalt Blue I see you in the 40th spot on the leaderboards. Nice!! Scroll up a bit to see my time And how can I add you as a friend in asphalt?
And I find value and true merit in what you say there. And nothing that I would disagree with realistically so our opinions would be similar to a certain degree. But also importantly thanks for expressing it in a very reasonable and balanced way. I find your opinion has a lot of value and more weight because of it. So thanks for that, it's appreciated.
Apparently it might be the difference in surfaces. Like road and sidewalk sometimes causes this with faster cars
Probably. Some cars are simply more stable than others. And the Mini is FWD, while the Survolt might be intended to behave like a RWD car. (I don't know if the actual Survolt concept's layout was ever announced.) So maybe the differences in behavior are supposed to reflect layout differences, among other things. The twitchiness isn't a bad thing per se either I actually like goofing off with it in single player mode. For multiplayer, though, I like to minimize random crashes and changes of direction.
There isn't much Ryan and Fabian could say or do I think. I think that it is pretty likely that it isn't a glitch, you'd think that one of them would have left a reply by now if that was the case. Responding here is probably part of the job and I'm sure they don't decide at what level the prices for upgrades are or how the company prefers to see the IAP balance. But I am sure they are reading along and also have their personal opinion about things going on but they can't do any more than defend whatever decisions are made by their higher-ups..
