Coin Economy Tweaks

[bjyaritz]

That could work. I would also love it if coins could be spent on cosmetic features in-game, if for nothing else than to make my experience with the game unique. That would be a really cool feature

I would love to be able to color the gems or lanes different colors. I have the most trouble with yellows when the lanes go up a hill or when you hit the level up gates. They just blend in too much with the lane color and I miss them alot.

[www1221]

You should have an inbox message for each challenge that tells you what happened: won, lost, or declined.

Well hot damn looks like I was wrong. I never read those silly messages because I already knew the important stuff(did I win or lose).

That being said one should still not decline a score war unless its a song they dont have.

[thatmarkguy]

Why would I play the full 2112 when playing its three separate parts in sequence would be three times as profitable?

Career score?

Allowing the single-track-song pinball exploit makes mere several-hundred-thousand-point 'normal' songs into a rounding error compared to how much your career score is defined by how you did on Fur Elise and its kin.

[Nekketsu]

Now this I like.
Now just to fix Rock Central's finicky uptime, and I would have little complaint left.

Harmonix is one of the very few developers left who actually listen to feedback, and I'm glad to support them.

[Magnet]

once enough Facebook people say they have too many coins and don't have anything to do with them.

That's the real problem with coins. When HMX changes the system to what they just did today, they essentially render coins useless for people who can generally always get 5-6 stars using all three power-ups. The coin balance just becomes a number in the background you don't need to pay attention to anymore.

I think a coin system can help give people an incentive to play, but the way it was designed in Blitz ultimately seems lacking. The implementation of the current coin system has negatives whichever way they go with it. Many people don't want to grind, but many people also don't want the coins to become utterly meaningless.

Like others are suggesting, it would be awesome if there was something to do with coins other than buy power-ups (actually, I wish coins were entirely separate from power-ups so you didn't have to buy them every run). I'd love to spend them on something unlockable in-game, like background skins (for instance, a Holiday-themed city backdrop would be cool). However, they can't go back in time and add stuff to purchase with coins in-game. I figure at best they can add some kind of functionality into the Facebook app for spending your coins, but even then I don't know how compelling that would be.

[Real2Reel73]

How about refunding me spent coins if I lose internet connectivity? Or at least saving my progress so that it registers next time I connect to the server?

[thatmarkguy]

How about refunding me spent coins if I lose internet connectivity? Or at least saving my progress so that it registers next time I connect to the server?

There's things that can be done with numerical tweaks because they coded the game to fetch these numbers from the servers at runtime ... and then there's inherent game behaviour that would require a patch to implement.

What you're asking for is the latter.

[SheSaidSheSaid]

I like it! And major props for listening to your playerbase. HMX rocks!!! (pun very much intended)

[Meat-Popsicle]

I don't think there's a simple, elegant solution to this issue, given all of the technical constraints (Facebook usage, Rock Band Server connectivity) and varied gameplay preferences (a coin market that adds strategy and complexity to an already fun game vs. the desire to be able to make high-score tries with with the full range fun toys all the time). But here's hoping that a complicated, slightly inelegant solution awaits us as the gameplay continues to develop over the coming weeks and months.

I'm picturing a whole spreadsheet of high score tables that account for every possible combination of power-up used during play. Do not bother me with your talk of "that would be ridiculous and I don't want that"!

[A_Drunken_Smurf]

This certainly addresses the concerns for those not connected to the Facebook app, while creating a new concern for those that think the coin economy will get out of whack when you throw in goals.

So, like others have suggested, since this is an issue that affects Facebook folks, things can be done in the Facebook app to spend coins that will likely be accumulating only for Facebook people. (This could have the side benefit of making more people use the app).

This could include posting unique score wars in which you challenge someone to a score war for a coin amount that you set, and they have to match. Put your money where your mouth is!

Goals could be created by users for their friends to complete, putting that user's coins up as the reward for people to get. Some concern this becoming a coin transfer method could be valid here.

Potential for turning your basic profile page into a "Home in Rock City" where you can deck out a space with various decorations that you spend coins to purchase.

Coins to stream the music you own while in the Facebook app?

I could go on.. perhaps this is worth putting in its own thread..