Update on the Recent 2x Drop Special Coupon Concerns
Hi Maplers,
We would like to provide you with an update regarding the removal of 2x Drop Special Coupons from the Cash Shop recently announced on the Sale of Low-Popularity Items Ending in v.231 post. When we reviewed the purchase data for these items while considering their removal, we saw that they cumulatively made up about 0.28% of the total item sales. We came to the conclusion that the items, including the 2x Drop Special Coupons, are not heavily used by players considering this small purchase number, and determined that their removal would not significantly impact your gameplay experience.
However, after the announcement that the sale of these low-popularity items will be discontinued, we saw a lot of feedback from you that the 2x Drop Special Coupons are frequently used by players, and they are not low-popularity items like the others in the list. The reactions we saw were contrasting to the data we had reviewed, so we investigated once more to see if there may have been any points of misunderstanding of the purchase data. After investigation, we found that there was an error in our data where the purchase of 2x Drop Special Coupons using Maple Points were not taken into account. The purchase data for the 2x Drop Special Coupons alone, when including purchases made with Maple Points, actually accounted for 2.11% of total item purchases, which is more significant than we had thought.
Unlike the other items in the list to be removed, 2x Drop Special Coupons had an additional factor that contributed to the decision for its discontinuation. The removal of 2x Drop Special Coupons were based on two factors - our incorrect understanding of their usage trends, and their impact on game balance. These coupons have a multiplicative stacking function, and this allows the drop increase bonus to be much higher than what would be healthy for the game. We incorrectly assessed that the removal of the coupons would not have a notable impact on players and gameplay, and we determined that a detailed message on the full context of the removal may not be warranted with what we thought was an indication of low usage trends for these coupons. We clearly made the wrong decision to present the information this way, without providing you with the full reasoning behind the discontinuation. We deeply apologize for this miscommunication.
We now know that the 2x Drop Special Coupons are used more frequently by players than we had initially assessed, and we reviewed the removal of the coupons with the accurate data once more. Even when reviewing the situation with the accurate data, the impact these coupons have on the game balance still remains a concern. Due to this overarching concern, we believe it will be best for the long-term health of the game to proceed with the discontinuation of these coupon sales during our v.231 update maintenance. We apologize once again for the miscommunication we delivered regarding the removal of 2x Drop Special Coupon sales.
Thank you,
- The MapleStory Team
We would like to provide you with an update regarding the removal of 2x Drop Special Coupons from the Cash Shop recently announced on the Sale of Low-Popularity Items Ending in v.231 post. When we reviewed the purchase data for these items while considering their removal, we saw that they cumulatively made up about 0.28% of the total item sales. We came to the conclusion that the items, including the 2x Drop Special Coupons, are not heavily used by players considering this small purchase number, and determined that their removal would not significantly impact your gameplay experience.
However, after the announcement that the sale of these low-popularity items will be discontinued, we saw a lot of feedback from you that the 2x Drop Special Coupons are frequently used by players, and they are not low-popularity items like the others in the list. The reactions we saw were contrasting to the data we had reviewed, so we investigated once more to see if there may have been any points of misunderstanding of the purchase data. After investigation, we found that there was an error in our data where the purchase of 2x Drop Special Coupons using Maple Points were not taken into account. The purchase data for the 2x Drop Special Coupons alone, when including purchases made with Maple Points, actually accounted for 2.11% of total item purchases, which is more significant than we had thought.
Unlike the other items in the list to be removed, 2x Drop Special Coupons had an additional factor that contributed to the decision for its discontinuation. The removal of 2x Drop Special Coupons were based on two factors - our incorrect understanding of their usage trends, and their impact on game balance. These coupons have a multiplicative stacking function, and this allows the drop increase bonus to be much higher than what would be healthy for the game. We incorrectly assessed that the removal of the coupons would not have a notable impact on players and gameplay, and we determined that a detailed message on the full context of the removal may not be warranted with what we thought was an indication of low usage trends for these coupons. We clearly made the wrong decision to present the information this way, without providing you with the full reasoning behind the discontinuation. We deeply apologize for this miscommunication.
We now know that the 2x Drop Special Coupons are used more frequently by players than we had initially assessed, and we reviewed the removal of the coupons with the accurate data once more. Even when reviewing the situation with the accurate data, the impact these coupons have on the game balance still remains a concern. Due to this overarching concern, we believe it will be best for the long-term health of the game to proceed with the discontinuation of these coupon sales during our v.231 update maintenance. We apologize once again for the miscommunication we delivered regarding the removal of 2x Drop Special Coupon sales.
Thank you,
- The MapleStory Team
