There's a whole lot of grinding in DR because it takes dozens of games lasting probably a hundred hours just to unlock a significant variety of new content. Or you have to deliberately change your playstyle and not try to even score or finish games but just start games and get unlocks and then restart over and over. If you unlocked new stuff quickly so that the play experience was constantly changing, that would be one thing. But I'd played lots and lots and lots and was still only a very small distance toward unlocking much of the additional content. At which point I lost interest rather than keep grinding. If I'd had a quicker way to unlock game elements I would have played the game much, much more.
By the way, on the game itself, my thoughts are: (1) PokerTower emphasizes straights (and some flushes), too much; (2) the graphics could use an upgrade; and (3) it should be universal.
I understand the Dungeon Raid takes a long time to unlock new content; but if you enjoy the game mechanics you'll likely be playing it anyway. I'd be curious how many people persisted at Dungeon Raid just to unlock some elusive class, I know I didn't. On one hand unlockables should be attainable; on the other it is nice for there to be some hardcore challenging ones provided it is not too extreme. Unlocking material rapidly also burns out content so there should be a good balance. My opinion...
Well, I do enjoy the game mechanics in DR, I played the game for tens of hours, I unlocked only a very small fraction of the additional content, and so I stopped playing much, much earlier than I would have if there was a faster way to unlock the content. I also would have gladly paid $100 to just unlock everything.
Thanks undeadcow for your great idea, even if it wasn't really intended, I think! Stronger skills and classes could be indeed unlocked by defeating a really strong boss! But let me clarify something for you : These new features wouldn't be included in the current app, I'd create a new game, based on the survival mode, but including way more RPG elements, like classes, stats and skills. This could even be considered as a brand new FREENIUM game! Plus, I really don't like IAPs myself, specially those that you feel obligated to buy because you won't advance without them, so if I put IAPs in the game, they will be for those who need some help to unlock what they want, but you'll get enough gold in each game to completly play without IAPs. I hope it helps you understand more what I want to do! ^^
If IAP is option and this is adding new content I would not be opposed to these changes being an update to the original PokerTower. Creating two very similar apps but one with more features might feel redundant.
The problem with this is that the Survival mode will be entirely changed, so adding it to the current app would be impossible, not only about the new features, but also because of the whole ergonomy of the app. I plan on adding profiles, also the class and skill screen must be completly appart, I'll add tons of options that I can't only put on the survival screen, achievements, etc. So we tought that making a whole new app was the best for everyone! :/