Changed levels, changed game

This is my response to a post from the Soda Squad discussion, but as @Xarly suggested, I am starting a new discussion topic with it.  I am only including the parts of the post that I want to address.  

(When I went to preview this it told me the body was  2606 characters too long, so I will have to post it in two parts.)
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Xarly said:

Hi everyone,

Will now answer some of your notes made recently:

candysodacrusher said:

@Kathy_Shattuck and @Dirty_Nurse. Holy Guacamole!  They didn’t just change them, they CHANGED them!  

Why???????

The reason those levels are reworked is because a team of level designers is looking at the experience of new players and is improving their journey and making sure their experience is optimised. The fact that you are a high level player does not mean other players are not. You are only capable of seeing the reality from your scope and you keep taking that as the ultimate truth of what's happening. There are millions of other experiences out there that you are completely disregarding. As of today, Soda receives thousands of new players every day, so it's important that we make sure our content is up to date and exciting for them (and our numbers show it is working, which is great).

Kathy_Shattuck said:

I kept playing to see how many levels were changed. The first 29 are totally different now, 30 goes back to normal. Also, why did they add the "stats"screen after every level played?? It doesn't add anything to the game, it's not like you get a reward if you beat your old stats. It's just another weird change to this game that I don't think anyone wanted or needed.

Those stats you are seeing are a small new addition that a team has added. They asked me recently to check on the community perception of it, so your feedback will be sent their way. I plan on creating a thread about this soon to actually gather a general feeling for it. It's a small addition to add for the player to be able to see their own stats and also another addition so that they can check how they perform compared to others.

Dirty_Nurse said:

disappointedbyking said:

the problem is that out of millions of people, we are ... 20? criticizing. The silence of most players is frightening!

If you look at other review/comment platforms you’ll see that on each one players like us have nothing but bad things to say about these various “team” features.  Nobody has yet said how much they enjoy the Farce or being part of a “team” made of cpu-generated “teammates” in any of the various platforms that I have seen though to be fair I probably only have viewed a very small portion.  The Farce, in particular, has been going on since I think February and I don’t think a thing was done to change it even with literally THOUSANDS of negative posts/comments/reviews/etc...

Trust me, they have received far more negativity than from just us here, they simply choose to ignore it for some reason.  I hope they lose a lot of players because of these poor changes they have been making lately

If you all would like to open a thread to discuss the feature, that would be great. I would appreciate if we stuck to feedback on the Soda Squad here, as it makes my job (and the Studio when looking through) easier.

Cheers,
Xarly

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First, I’d like to explain that my “”Holy Guacamole” remark was intended as an exclamation of surprise.  Nothing either positive or negative, just complete, utter surprise.  

Second, I’d like to say that @Xarly’s explanation of why the changes to those levels were made makes complete sense if one has been following, as I have, the stock market, specifically shares of Activision.  I won’t go into greater detail except to say that if you don’t know what I mean, a little internet searching will enlighten you.  

Third, I think Xarly is also correct, as least as far as I am concerned,  in his statement about looking at the game through the eyes of an experienced player versus a newcomer to the game.  But, as an experienced player, I also think that most of the changes made to the game in the past 4-5 months also benefit the less experienced player at the expense of the more experienced player.  And that hits a raw nerve with me.

As a consumer it makes me angry when businesses, in their quest to acquire new customers offer significant deals to newcomers when similar things aren’t available to long-term customers.  I’ve seen this with tel-coms, cable companies, banks, and car dealerships to name just a few.  I was actually told by a customer service rep “but we already have your business” when I asked for the same deal on something that was being offer to new customers.  The result of that conversation was that they didn’t have my business for long.  I think most businesses appreciate customer loyalty, but don’t always do a good job in showing it.

As an employee, I’ve experienced situations in which new, inexperienced employees are given preferential treatment in terms of salaries and non-monetary compensation over experienced, long-time employees with the explanation of wanting to attract the best and brightest.  Again, lip service is often paid to those experienced employees in “we value your loyalty and service” but actions speak louder than words.  My professional life has been in an industry that has recently been much maligned and experienced tremendous upheaval.  When someone says, “why would anyone want to go into xxxxx these days,” the only satisfactory response is that the newcomers won’t know the difference, and the veterans are the ones left most frustrated.  

How does all all this relate to the game?  Well, I think the changes in the game are part of an overall strategy to acquire and retain new players. I also think that some (most?) of the new features benefit newer players more than those at higher levels.  

Example:  certain levels are very difficult to pass without the ability to use or combine specific boosters.  With most of the boosters being awarded  as timed boosters, this takes away the ability of the player to choose when to use a booster or choose what combination of boosters will work best for that particular level.  In essence, instead of being able to strategize how best to play a level, the game is controlling how you play the level.  For veteran players, this is frustrating.  For newcomers, well, they won’t know the difference. 

Example:  in theory, the team events sound like a fun, exciting idea.  In practice (at least in my experience) they have been a tremendous disappointment.  As I have expressed my feelings about Mr. Toffee and Soda Squad in those respective discussion threads, I will simply say that for veteran players they seem to be a source or frustration, and for the newcomers, well, they won’t know the difference.

Continued in next post...