⚠️ [OFFICIAL] MWI Poll "MooPass" vs "Coin Exchange"

[N3tRunn3r]

Source :: https://pastebin.com/PBz1Bvs9

Hi everyone,

It seems the membership (MooPass) proposal has stirred up more controversy than I anticipated. I want to offer some additional context on this feature and present a potential alternative.

The membership idea was originally polled over a year ago and passed as a way to support the game's long-term sustainability, along with making cowbells tradable. At the time, introducing tradable cowbells boosted purchases enough that the membership plan was put on hold. While tradable cowbells can create pay-to-win scenarios disliked by a portion of the player base, it was the only realistic way to keep the game sustainable before our Steam release. The MooPass was intended to be added during Steam Early Access, as noted in both #upcoming-features and the Early Access section on our Steam page.

The original plan was to launch it after the combat rework. However, I bumped up the priority due to the steadily falling market price of cowbells. This drop is mainly driven by newer players being more willing to purchase, creating oversupply, while demand remains relatively inelastic due to the limited number of cosmetics and QOL perks available for free-to-play players. I've also received an increasing number of DMs from players struggling to sell bells at what "reasonable" prices as exchange rates continue to fall.

Here's what the proposed membership included:

• 5% XP bonus
  
• Quality-of-life perks (+10h offline time, +10 market slots, +10 task slots, +2 action queue)
  
• Unique cosmetics (e.g., avatar border)
  
• Exclusive QOL features (like loot tracking by action, or possibly other ideas)
  
• Price: $4–6 per month (or 250–300 cowbells per week), with an option for account-wide coverage at $7–9/month. The range is due to bulk purchasing or unfinalized numbers.

I get that the timing might make it feel like we're trying to push monetization even further. To be fully transparent: we're doing well revenue-wise after the Steam launch. I'm not trying to squeeze more money from players. This is mainly about addressing the instability of the cowbell economy.

So here's an alternative that might achieve the same goal with less friction:

Add a direct cowbell-to-coin exchange system (outside the market and without taxes).

The exact exchange rate will depend on more data, but it will likely fall in the 18k–20k coins per cowbell range. That's roughly equivalent to selling a bag of cowbells for 220k–246k coins after market tax. This would create a price floor for cowbells, helping stabilize the market. The tradeoff? It introduces some inflation depending on how widely it's used, and it still doesn't create a consistent cowbell sink for store use.

So these are the two options I'd like your input on in the poll below:

• MooPass membership, with added perks and customization options
  
• Direct cowbell-to-coin exchange, simpler and quicker to implement

https://strawpoll.com/GeZARDRQEyV

Personally, I'm leaning towards the simpler solution based on existing feedback. It would also allow me to get back to work on combat rework sooner, but I will decide after taking into consideration the player votes.

Thanks for reading and for all your feedback. @everyone

[N3tRunn3r]

Personally I do recommend to first implement a Coin Exchange, and later to think about a VIP Membership in a different shape which then fits to that time of its potential release

re-thinking the moopass is mandatory .. i see little benefits in MooPass either .. both systems will cause inflation of bells and clearly the quantity is lacking into purchasing bells .. as it is still too expensive for little gain .. lessen the price of cosmetics by 40% as suggested before by me, and more people would purchase 5000 bells for 50 EUR / USD to gain more than just one avatar . . .

the community buffs are decreasing and vanishing constantly as well. on the community buffs, there can be something done to sink bells into it more often, by more players. a great way to stabilize economy of bells, too . . . if more would spend bells on community buffs.

everything is just too expensive ... quantity to use bells is failing as mentioned up

sinking bells into Community Buffs should be focused on, more people should be able to buy and acquire bells so to apply community buffs, add more various ones, everyone likes them

and most importantly .. do NOT add any FOMO bs ...

additionally, whales are whales, they do not care about any of this .. these "handful" of players -- just as in any other games -- buy stuff. no matter what. but the majority of your playerbase however could be boosted and animated to apply community buffs, for example, a best way to sink bells into, if it was "available" to everyone, you know . . .

i want to contribute, too .. and to support this legendary game, it is too expensive yet

you and your team gotta do the maths, thank you

. . .
I'm not trying to squeeze more money from players. This is mainly about addressing the instability of the cowbell economy.
. . .

[Platypus]

I'd be okay with either option, however, something I don't want to see locked behind a subscription would be the major quality of life features aka "Exclusive QOL features (like loot tracking by action, or possibly other ideas)". It's something I wouldn't like and it'd leave a negative impression on friends who I try to invite to come play the game as well.

This is just my opinion but I feel like if you need to replace that part with a different subscription-related service (to incentivize players to purchase it) then probably what I'd recommend is going more heavily towards adding new customization/cosmetic features attached to the membership. I'll leave my vote on the poll for cowbell-coin exchange in this case since there's no option for membership without major quality of life features locked behind it.

[darkhale]

this will just create more p2w swiping. its just a monetization push

[Basicball]

Originally posted by darkhale:

this will just create more p2w swiping. its just a monetization push

this is the truth

[cheze]

follow up was posted on discord with result screenshot

basically the poll was pretty much tied (after excluding some obvious vote botting). I got more feedback about the membership and made further adjustments, primarily removing the buff for Ironcows to keep that mode largely unaffected by any paid bonuses. also adjusted prices to be lower, and new characters will get 1 month free.

The membership is really designed to be as optional as possible without the value granted being too low. 5% xp bonus is really negligible compared to what is possible to pay for in standard game mode already from selling cowbells. and it's extremely easy for f2p players to get using cowbells with the pricing which is the main goal since we want to introduce more consistent cowbell sinks.

You can believe what you want to believe, but we are pretty transparent with our monetization and people who have been here for 2+ years can attest to that. we don't add any monetization that would be considered predatory. If you consider a 5% xp buff that f2p players can also easily obtain to be unacceptable, that's fine too, but I don't think u'd really find many other games with a more optional membership design.

[N3tRunn3r]

Originally posted by cheze:

follow up was posted on discord with result screenshot

basically the poll was pretty much tied (after excluding some obvious vote botting). I got more feedback about the membership and made further adjustments, . . .

Thank you to keep us updated on here, as people like me do not use discord. we are looking forward to upcoming changes.

as suggested, sinking bells into community buffs more easily from everyone to everyone will fix the economy and stabilize inflation, i guess

[Moxy]

I like the idea of a membership but a yearly option at a discount should be an option too.

[Eshman]

I'm just enjoying the options f2p player have to find alt ways & means to get things done just like whales. There are many disabled/spoonie folks out there struggling to afford everyday pain meds & put a few crumbs on the table and it's very nice when a game is mindful of us as well.