Selling modules - a fix to the high-tier economy?

[Vogel]

As the title say, I'm wondering if the developers of WoWs have underestimated the importance of selling modules.

 

The Dev team have stated that this is not that important to include this early in the live release of the game, due to the average World of Tanks (WoT) player visits his depot tab every two months. I can't find where that information was given, but think it was from a Q&A session with the devs on the RU forums. But the main problem with this logic is that a large portion of the playerbase in WoT is already sporting a well-established profile, with several high-tier tanks and a good deal of silver in the bank. Selling modules is therefore not that important, and are rather seen of as a hassle since you don't need the credits right now.

 

However, for new accounts this is completely reversed. When you buy a new tank (continuing the example in WoT) you will tie down a lot of credits. And as you progress upward in the tech-tree, the tanks and modueles continue to be more and more expensive. Around T7-T8 you'll hit a credit limit, where the income from the tank in stock configuration might not cover your expenses, or at least slow down the progression. The same applies to WoWs. Taking North Carolina as an example, the ship itself costs  9.8 million silver, and the only hull upgrade cost 4 million. Since you generally can't make a huge profit in T8, more so than in WoT, you will not progress that fast. So once you have bought a NC and amassed the necessary XP to unlock the hull, you need to have 4 million in the bank.

 

So if the stock module had a price (they do in WoT. Not sure in WoWs, but they should have so that the economy is relatively similar), selling it will grant you 50% of the module price. SO assuming it is worth 2 mill, then you would at least get 1 mill. in reduction for the next module, covering 1/4 of the cost. For a new account, this is huge and will lessen the negative impact of being "forced" to grind credits.

 

Now, the depot system for modules are already in place. You can clearly see when you upgrade a module that you still own the previous one. A simple solution would then be to add the option to sell the module when you click on it, at least until a proper depot can be implemented.

 

This will not break the credit philosophy in WoWs, as you still need to play lower-tier to cover the expenses for playing at higher tier. But you will not tie down an unnecessary amount of silver in modules that you will never use again, and thus lessen the impact of high-tier economy. 

[wongman66]

Seconded - I have 3 of the improve turret traverse ones by +15% but like a complete noob failed to notice it came at the cost of +10% to your loading time

 

That is a potential of 750K unused.

[Rabid_Turnip]

Thirded - I'm surprised we haven't already had the implementation of the Depot, as in WoT, to allow us to sell the old modules etc.

[Vogel]

I am thinking of modules, not upgrades . Upgrades work the same in WoWs and WoT, so no problems there.

[Ascender]

Once upon a time, in the first week of open beta, I bought a Ryujo. This Ryujo was annoying for me to play, so I decided I needed the B hull and could not wait for the C hull, eventually the C hull was sufficient of an improvement that I bought it as well and sold the ship with it. So somewhere in my account files is a Ryujo B hull floating around for the last ~5 months which would be worth something around 400-600k credits if we assume they sell at half price. Combine this with lots of other bits and bobs floating around the place I can conclude a lot of my ingame financial issues would be resolved if I could sell all of that stuff belonging to ships I am not going to ever buy again anyway.

[Vogel]

I have modules from grinding T8 US battleship, T7 IJN DD and T5 IJN CA. Should provide some silver at least .

 

Main problem is the cost of T8+ modules, where selling the previous one would actually mean that you won't have to grind additional credits as to afford playing at that tier.

[Mucker]

I have made a fortune in WoT and probably still have all the modules of the ~ 200 tanks i've elited so far in the depot. - with very little premium time and modest premium tank use. 

The key was always buying tanks and consumables on discounts - which we don't have yet in WoWS. 

 

As far as I can see it, in WoWS there is quite some saving potential is skipping certain upgades. On the Fuso, I will not buy the c-hull und the fire control upgrade, as they offer little improvements - 1,5 m saved.

[Vogel]

DId the same on Trololodo, but you still tie down credits all over the place when you first upgrade. 

[aquiles7389]

Great idea & +1 for the photo...Or it was the other way around?

[ShockPirat]

I read somewhere that the devs said depot is in place, it is just hidden (since players in WoT don't use it often so devs thought we don't need it at all), and that in future patch all modules will automatically be sold with the ship. And when that patch comes, all the hidden modules you already posses will automatically be sold.

If I recall clearly they said it will happen with patch 5.2 (or 5.3?).

Can't wait for that... I think I got about 30m tied up in modules

[22cm]

As the title say, I'm wondering if the developers of WoWs have underestimated the importance of selling modules.

 

Of course they did, but this is a hidden form of milking the players.

[Vogel]

Not when players leave because the grind is boring. And going by the server statistics, something is causing more players to drop off than new players starting.

Great idea & +1 for the photo...Or it was the other way around?

 

Are you sure you commented on the right topic? 

 

[22cm]

Are you sure you commented on the right topic? 

 

 

He was redirected here from the Playboy site.

[22cm]

Not when players leave because the grind is boring. And going by the server statistics, something is causing more players to drop off than new players starting.

 

This is the most cash-grabbing WG game, not only ships are very expensive, but the modules are also outrageous expensive, and their number increases as you advance in the tiers.

The credit-hunger thus generated forces the players to purchase premium time. Also remember the poor income generated by the premium ships, unlike WoT.

 

Working as intended.

[Shaka_D]

Personally I feel WG have made an extremely bad decision. Who cares if the average player only accesses it once every 2 months, the thing is we NEED the feature to be there whenever we want to use it. I accessed the depot in WoT all the time. I feel lost not having it here. WG are denying us those credits for what reason exactly and making us wait until they work it out? What exactly was the difficulty in them not implementing it in the first place? Is this a way to ensure we're completely restricted in terms of credit revenue? Feels like it to me and just plain bloody lazy on their part.

[Vogel]

Tinfoil: Devs are mainly listening to RU player feedback -> more events on RU server with credit rewards -> no credit shortage -> no depot 

 

[Dai2]

Tinfoil: Devs are mainly listening to RU player feedback -> more events on RU server with credit rewards -> no credit shortage -> no depot 

 

Genius. Why doesn't WG pay a multi language languist that can assist lesta studio in understand more then their native russian?

Coz thay certainly don't have the budget to do so by themselves. They, as the devs, get a tiny , tiny , tiny percentage of the money WG gets from the money we invested. Don't forget lesta is not that big of a stucture, (Approx 150 employees)

[Sanjuro_UK]

Personally I feel WG have made an extremely bad decision. Who cares if the average player only accesses it once every 2 months, the thing is we NEED the feature to be there whenever we want to use it. I accessed the depot in WoT all the time.

 

I agree, indeed I tend to access the depot every time I get a new module - not least because currently my silver balance is relatively low in World of Tanks. I know Wargaming said they were thinking about implementing an "auto-purge" in 5.2 and then have modules sold when a ship is also sold, but that won't fix future income issues, not least because many players will keep future ships.

 

If Wargaming are honestly saying they don't have the time to implement a proper depot, why not have a button that will "sell all" modules in the depot that we can push? Surely that would be quicker to do.

[Vanhal]

It would help to ease the pain. But it wouldn't fix the economy. Not in the long run. The problem are not because the costs are so high, but because the rewards vs maintenance balance is screwed. So it would only allow for more high tier ships to be bought and then ditched anyway because they are generating steady losses.

 

That said, the fact that this simple and essential feature is still not here shows that WG had no intention of easing the play for the players.

Buy more premium. Git gud. Buy more Atago.

[Ascender]

I know Wargaming said they were thinking about implementing an "auto-purge" in 5.2 and then have modules sold when a ship is also sold, but that won't fix future income issues, not least because many players will keep future ships.

 

To a certain extend this is true currently, it will sell the ship and it's currently selected modules. The problem is you cannot mount several hulls at once, for example, and get them all sold, so you are left with residue. But when you sell a ship, right now, with the C hull, you get 50% return on what you paid for that C hull originally.

[TheFierceRabbit]

Not modules, but for upgrades there is an issue.

 

At the moment, when you come to sell a ship, you have the option to demount any upgrades for gold or sell them for a silver compensation.

 

If you want to switch an upgrade, without selling the ship, you have the option to demount for gold or 'destroy' - not sell. This needs to be fixed

[Dai2]

Not modules, but for upgrades there is an issue.

 

At the moment, when you come to sell a ship, you have the option to demount any upgrades for gold or sell them for a silver compensation.

 

If you want to switch an upgrade, without selling the ship, you have the option to demount for gold or 'destroy' - not sell. This needs to be fixed

 

You cannot sell an upgrade without demounting it. Go look at WOT equipment.

[TheFierceRabbit]

 

You cannot sell an upgrade without demounting it. Go look at WOT equipment.

 

I think you missed the point or it got lost in translation. And please, try to be more polite in your response.

 

If you sell the ship, you can sell your upgrades. If you switch upgrade, you only have the option to 'demount for gold' or 'destroy' an already mounted upgrade. You don't have the option to 'sell for silver'

 

Choice available when switching upgrades:

(When switching upgrades, you get no compensation for the mounted module it is replaced if you choose not to keep it for gold)

 

 

Choice available when selling the ship.

(When selling a ship, you get compensation for all modules you have mounted and elect not to keep for gold).

 

[Vogel]

He/she got your point, it's the same in World of Tanks and therefore not subject to change. And I see no rudeness in the post, so I'm not sure what you mean by "polite".

[Nefczi]

I read somewhere that the devs said depot is in place, it is just hidden (since players in WoT don't use it often so devs thought we don't need it at all), and that in future patch all modules will automatically be sold with the ship. And when that patch comes, all the hidden modules you already posses will automatically be sold.

If I recall clearly they said it will happen with patch 5.2 (or 5.3?).

 

This. Devs already said some time ago that selling all ship modules(guns/torp tubes/hulls etc) feature will be implemented in one of the upcoming patches. It will happen automatically tho, when selling a ship.