Much ado about how much to respect player time investment- try this!

AlarEndless

regarding the prepatch notes posted today and this section about possible future nerf-reparations:
""Do not prestige builds affected by nerfs until there is confirmation about whether or not this can be done. If this is done then you will not be able to utilize a system like this if it was introduced.""

very 'simplified' solutions:
A) either plan things out beforehand and test on a longer time frame to know what things affect other things so this doesnt happen (not always practical or effective)

B) make a spreadsheet so all the effects of the builds that are totally not curated and planned out in advance in classless wildcard mode have-
-ceilings for output
-FLOORS, for newbie builders trying to make it

investment expectations, and predictons/projections for what theyll require
ranges for all these parameters so you know what you're adding in advance, etc like every. other. company. does.

or C) , god forbid you make an honest mistake and just say so, and GIVE. BACK. THEIR. TIME as a respec. like all the other game companies do, with a full respec credit, awarded when you find the mistake, or make the nerf, or apply the patch. all the companies do this. all. even the horror show over at Path of Exile makes SOME attempt to convince customers that their time investment is MORE valued by the company, than it is to the players.
(sure wildcard is slightly complicated for that but a 'full' respec or prestige is easier to measure than 'more than enough rerolls to make them feel its enough'

this is how you drive emotional, and coincidentally, financial investment into your game/company/season etc etc:
-you convince* the players that you think their time is more important than yours. -this does not have to be true, or believed, or even remotely accurate!-

but it, more than any other mechanic/force/method whatever- makes people trust you with their time,
trust that their time is valued makes them invest more
protecting their time allows them the time to form social hooks- i mean bonds* that drive emotional engagement with a product, and that
that engagement, motivated by trust, brings you money. after all, if you're making a free game, where you can get eveyrthing in the shop that really matters , for ingame gold, what other hook have you got?

PLEASE!, please lean into that :S i want to trust you with my time, and see that my engagement is (truthfully or not) fulfilling your purpose in making this >financial endeavor< in the first place.

sound like it might work?

(sorry if the tone is a bit sharp, GGG, and Egosoft, and many others have recently been failing me. HARD, in exactly this way :(. grab the money they're not getting, by throwing that chipper marketing guy from the videos under the bus, and working with him to convince us you're not like 'those evil bastards that wronged us elsewhere'.
-gamers are easy, we're entitled little brats looking for an excuse to go negative on people- give us fewer reasons to fling crap at nerfs and changes and you'll be amazed how little you have to wade through XD.

i mean annoyed/bored players write essays for gods sake >_< who wants that

AlarEndless

@AlarEndless
Gabril Mewell is a good idea Ascension, thanks for moving in that direction we'll see how it pans out but seems to address alot of the concerns for situations where nerfs are inevitable, i hope it becomes a touchstone for interacting with the playerbase in the future :).