Thursday, July 31, 2014

Doctor Who Legacy Fan Area

You can't say they didn't warn you
About a week ago, for a little over £6 I bought access to the Fan Area of Doctor Who Legacy (DWL). I also got some Time Crystals and a cosy feeling from having supported my favourite game. After reflection and hard playing I can say that this was a bargain.

DWL is a free to download, free to play mobile game. In order to make money it follows a long established business model. Players buy in-game currency that can be swapped for extras, short cuts and access to exclusive areas. I’ve blogged about this in my Pirate Galaxy Blog here and here so I’ll try not to repeat myself. In summary I think this is not only perfectly fair, but it supports the creation of new games. It is also a model that allows us to play before we pay.

So how does DWL execute this strategy? First of all it has to make it clear to players that they have the option to spend their hard earned. Some games do this in a way that spoils the pleasure of the playing. Constant entreaties to spend, spend, spend are akin to having a collection tin shook in your face every ten minutes. Thankfully DWL is quite laid back with no in-game ads or annoying pop ups. The store is clearly marked and you can’t miss it, but it’s no annoyance.

Secondly the game has to make whatever they’re selling an attractive option. If you buy over 6 Time Crystals in one go then you get access to the Fan Area, which is 23 exclusive episodes/adventures ranging from easy to expert. All levels are immediately accessible, so you can jump straight to ‘Strax has a bad dream’ at the top of the list if you wish. Some of these levels have unique versions of companions with a 100% drop rate. The top 6 episodes also drop the three types of Time Fragments that are needed to get Rank 5 for Doctors, or past Lv. 40 for Companions. This is a great advantage if you have several characters maxed out but still haven’t got far enough in Season 5 to make these available. Getting into the Fan Area was the main incentive for me to pay and it was well worth it.

Ooh pretty
Cash buys you Time Crystals, which can be used in many ways. I currently have 59 in my main game, 15 of which I paid for. There's lots of way to spend them in DWL, but most don't tempt me. 

A while back I bought a couple of extra team slots. This allowed me to have one for each colour, plus one for my A-Team and one for my apprentices. Each slot costs 2 crystals so this was not a big expense and I’m not planning to get any more.

You can randomly roll a character from each season which would soon burn through the Crystals. I did this once early on but winning the characters in the game is half the fun. Again not a reason for me to swap cash for Crystals.

The Specials tab in the store is tempting and there you can buy specific characters or groups, such as all 5 colours of Adipose. This is an efficient way to fill up your TARDIS and I have considered it. Like I said though, where’s the fun in that? 

Fed up with having to earn experience for Companions? Maybe you've won a cool Companion and want to fast track them into your Elite. If so then Time Crystals will get them there in just a jiffy.  

At the bottom of the Specials are the Time Fragment deals. These are good and I have invested a few Crystals there. I do like to grind my way to a target, but there comes a point when it just stops being fun. When I find I'm no longer enjoying myself I go shopping. However the new increased drop rate makes this less of a chore and so I’m less likely to spend. This is the dilemma that Tiny Rebel Games (TRG) must have. Make progression in the game too hard or too expensive, and people will stop playing. Make it too easy and why should people pay? Then the game isn’t profitable and further development dies.

Man I could do some damage with that.
You can use Crystals to extend a match when you have been defeated and I bet a lot of people do this. Being felled on the verge of victory is hard to take. I did continue once by accident, but it just seems too much like cheating to me.

There is one more item on the Time Crystal menu that does interest me, and that is the S-Perk tab. This screen holds delights that would tempt the most jaded of pallets. For instance you can reduce all enemy damage by 10%, heal 50 HP for every hit you score on an enemy, and even double your damage when you make 10 combos. I’ve dabbled with the Expert levels and made no impression, here may be the weapons I need. This is where my Crystals will go.


Even if the Fan Area, S-Perks, character rolls or Time Fragments don’t tempt you, I’d still encourage you to put some money into DWL. Think of the games that cost £40+ and were left on the shelf after a few hours play. Now think of how many hours you’ve spent on DWL. Shelled out a few $ on a film and wished you could get those two hours of your life back? Why not donate the same amount to Tiny Rebel Games? 

Support the game and keep it living. After that you can buy my book

What? I deserve a plug too.

No comments:

Post a Comment