Illusion Connect is heading for burnout pushing power creep

Illusion Connect had a promising start with a number of excellent and interesting features. However, they have since continued along the same path as most gacha games by accelerating power creep. And to help newer players catch up they have handed out even more power-increasing items. But this acceleration is ultimately not sustainable and just creates more of the same problem it was designed to solve.

Players invest time and money with Illusion Connect ultimately because they actually like the IP. Otherwise they could play anything else. If the Intellectual Property made no difference, games wouldn't bother having any story and you'd just be playing math and watching numerical simulations. But bad gameplay and boredom simply erodes their interest and ultimately even the IP can't retain them. So underlying player complaints is actually a desire to stay with this IP. Driving player requests is a desire to enhance their favourite experiences in the IP.

In this article we will give our perspective on what is going on, examine some of the features they have introduced, and provide our recommendations. The problematic Ares' Battlefield has been separately analyzed.

Power Creep does not solve boredom

The history of MMOs -- and in fact of gaming in general -- has shown that power creep ultimately ruins a game. The most exciting and challenging phase of a game is early to mid-game when everything is new and there is room for development. Typically the initial design can tackle these challenges adequately. But in the late game, two things happen: Established players get bored, and newer players want to catch up to the newest content.

To handle these challenges and keep players engaged, developers typically introduce power creep for established players and accelerated growth for newer players. In the case of Illusion Connect, this is "Awakening" of units to an even higher tier of power, and UR or "Ultra Rare" gear that even newer players can easily get.

But these are short-term fixes that just eventually make the problem worse.

The power creep introduced is typically not matched with appropriate content. If appropriate content is introduced, that just makes those same established players race to conquer it because it's something new to do -- and they are right back to where they started, at endgame stats and bored again.

Meanwhile, newer players get accelerated and their life cycle and experience of the game is shorter. Lower level content that used to be fun for new players increasingly becomes a cakewalk.

Furthermore, there are already signs that the existing gameplay and metrics really don't support scaling. For example, CP rating is really meaningless when players with 500K CP can defeat even 1 Million CP AI teams. Trying to actually craft challenges at very high CP ratings will probably be problematic and prone to simply becoming puzzles to solve that have very little to do with how powerful your team is.

We already see this in some of the recent "21g Letter" event stages where you basically wait to get lucky and step on the correct mines to defeat the enemy.

Fortunately for Illusion Connect, they actually already had a good setup and solution that promotes horizontal development -- "Miracle" gameplay mode.

Miracle Gameplay Mode -- What is is really?

In Miracle game mode, players have to pass a series of battles with two handicaps: A limited selection of units, and a limited number of times you can deploy those units.

So you have to be clever and also have enough units to deploy (although some of the more established players might still be able to bulldoze through even the hardest stages with a single powerful unit).

This is a type of "horizontal development". Once players have hit the upper limit on developing their favourite characters, Miracles give them a reason to develop all the others -- gives them a reason to keep logging in because there is still more interesting things to do.

Instead of players finalizing a single team that they use to conquer everything, they can be encouraged to develop and enjoy all characters they buy. Instead of bulldozing everything with their favourite overpowered units, they can be challenged to use everything else they have.

Without making collecting characters strongly relevant, players may eventually stop collecting characters altogether because it's pointless. And when that core activity of a gacha game stops motivating the player, they are basically on their way out.

Instead of power creep, we can engage players with actual challenges and giving them the satisfaction of doing more with less. And if you examine mods for single player games, some of the most popular mods for elite players in fact increase difficulty without giving out more power. They know they can already do much more with what they know and have, and don't need more power. For example, here is a player who solo-completes some of the hardest 4-man group content in Elder Scrolls Online. It's certainly not required and there aren't even any in-game achievements or recognition for doing so. But they do it to show it is possible, and to show others how.

Furthermore, Miracle gameplay is sustainable. There is no constant push for more power and then figuring out ways to make the game challenging. Freeze the power level at a manageable level then provide interesting situations -- interesting stories.

We can liken this to very popular television series such as Star Trek. The Enterprise and her crew don't need level ups, the next higher tier gear, and powerful ship upgrades every season to keep viewers engaged. Instead, what keeps viewers coming back are the characters they love being put into new situations and doing their signature roles and mannerisms. TV figured out long ago that compelling and familiar characters in fresh situations will keep viewers watching.

Another example: Comic books. Only once in a while does a character really get a significant upgrade that changes them. Instead the authors put the same character with the same resources in a wide variety of interesting and challenging situations. And the more universally powerful the character (e.g., Superman), the harder it becomes to find actually challenging situations -- so long ago content creators already discovered that too much power becomes harder and harder for them to handle.

Why Limited Time Miracle events are bad

The Limited Time Miracle events work like their other Miracle gameplay, with some key differences that try to let everyone participate for an excellent reward (UR or "Ultra Rare" gear).

First, all characters are scaled up to a certain minimum power so "everyone" can participate. On the surface this is good, but in fact Limited Time Miracles are really just handing out power creep.

The most established players bulldoze through too easily to get gear they don't really need for anything. And newer players get powerful pieces of gear that they didn't really need yet. And both situations cheapen the final experience of actually getting the UR gear.

Instead of Limited Time Miracles, Illusion Connect should simply introduce more permanent chapters to Miracle gameplay that players can tackle at their own pace. For newer players they are a long-term goal, something to look forward to. For established players, they are a reason to collect more characters and develop them, and something periodically new to do at endgame. For all players, they are a way to make relevant all the character collecting they have been doing.

Simply handing out UR gear like they have so far just lets everyone pick up a new toy and go back to being bored.

Recommendations

• Expand the scope of Miracle events into, for example, character stories focusing on one faction or character at a time and limit the available units to strongly support what is plausible for the plot. Players then continue to have a reason to keep developing their entire roster and stay engaged as there is "still something left to do".
• This is also an opportunity to spotlight less-played partner Classes such as Summoners as well as Leader types that are not "meta" (best choice for "all" situations) -- instead of trying to rework them until they are useful in general.
• Engage the player base to discover which characters they would like to explore. Which character is interesting? Who's story do they want to experience? What type of character skins they'd like to have for their favourite characters? Use that feedback as a direction for which partner to feature in a Miracle game mode story.
• However merely story is not enough -- there must be excitement that comes from some kind of challenge -- just as you don't watch a television series to see your favourite actors cakewalk over everything.
• Instead of making them Limited Time and scaled, simply add them to the roster of available Miracle stories that can be accessed at any time. Just placing a few excellent rewards is good enough to encourage players to pursue them.
• In tandem with releasing a new Miracle story, provide a time-limited event that helps players develop some related characters for the new Miracle chapter. This could be done by featuring them on the current battle pass, featuring them on a Banner, or having a Growth Aid event.
• Limit power creep. Instead, offer other types of rewards such as furnishings and character skins as the ultimate rewards. For the more difficult stages, small amounts of exclusive currency such as coupons to buy skins can be offered instead of more common reward currencies like tickets and diamonds.
• Lock more endgame power creep behind the higher tiers of Miracle gameplay. For example, instead of simply allowing everyone to Awaken their SSR unit when they have enough materials, lock the ability to Awaken that SSR unit as a reward for Miracle gameplay.