What's the point behind week long upgrades???

I'm trying to puzzle this one out, and have been for over a decade. Because this isn't the only game where I've seen this 'feature' though that's a genuinely kind word for what I really think of it.

What is a valid reason to lock down a player's production for a week while a building upgrades? It's a lot more restrictive with chains like the barracks than it is with other chains, but the question is posed as a general one: why would you think that this is a good idea?

I can see arguments for realism, for encouragement of planning, etc but none of them actually weigh in very well against the fun lost by players when this occurs. It's a forced timeout for the player from an activity that they expressed a desire to have more of by paying the material costs for the upgrade process in the first place. So they're stopped from engaging in that process, whether it be building soldiers or grinding flour.

And I wonder about player retention during such forced timeouts.

Is there a metric in place to even see how many level 30-somethings who finally manage to get the resources for that first level 5 building and start the upgrade only to discover a different game to play during that week-long timeout and never come back to Settlers Online?

I have to ask because I can not for the life of me understand why you would want to force people to not play?

(I didn't mention the possibility of gem buyout because I don't know anyone who has used it for a week-long upgrade. Seems like a real longshot of an answer to the question. I doubt there's much revenue in that stream....)

So - hit me with the answer. What is it?

The answer will hang in the air, we can just point and say it's a waiting game and call it a day there...so that's that. In the end, this is how the mechanic is being done and you get to decide if you want to cope with that or not...just like in some games where you can't block attacks when dual wielding...makes no sense to me either, but that's how it works.

Gem buyout has happened with those with a big wallet, others will just have to sink that time somehow...eventually adventuring will cause you cancer and blocking your barracks feels like the best thing to ever happen lol

One thing to consider with the long upgrade(s) in question - they only have to be done once.

While I accept that the mechanic exists and understand that it only needs to be done once per building per level, this isn't what I'm trying to get to with the question.

Someone, somewhere thought that this was important enough to code for and put it in place. And enough people agreed with them that it made it in and is still there. Resources were spent creating this process and it's something that has to be maintained every time code is added or changed that might affect it.

So I'm looking for the WHY of the matter. Why does this mechanic exist?

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Originally Posted by Raubhautz

One thing to consider with the long upgrade(s) in question - they only have to be done once.

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*Twice

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Originally Posted by TboneX

So - hit me with the answer. What is it?

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By investing more of your time in the game, you become more invested in the game. And therefore retention goes up.

I bet for every person who wanders away during the first 7-day upgrade, 50 people stick through it. And I bet the ratio is 100% for the 2nd long upgrade. Because we've already invested that time to get here.

It is about profit.

By it being annoying they are tempting you to use gems for the quick upgrade.

Been this way since the closed Beta.

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Originally Posted by Aiel

It is about profit.

By it being annoying they are tempting you to use gems for the quick upgrade.

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@ 47,115 gems to take the Elite Barracks from 5 to 6 instantly i'm pretty sure that it was not made like that to make money, but to have you invest the time in the game

That's the easy way of creating flow and "engagement" to keep you online longer looking at the countdown with a skewed timer.

I appreciate the thoughts and feedback from everyone but I still haven't found what I'm looking for.

I don't buy that the mechanic is profit-motivated. If it were, the cost would decrease as the upgrade progresses toward completion in order to maximize the number of purchasers. That's way too simple to not put in place if you're trying to make a dollar off the mechanic. As it exists there's a compelling reason not to spend your gems on it if you wait more than the first 5 minutes after you start an upgrade - the longer you wait, the less value you get for your spend. So players who might be willing to spend 47k gems to skip a week's delay, if they don't immediately decide to spend those gems and come back the next day are now looking at spending 47k gems for a 6 day reprieve. And so forth.

I also don't buy that it increases engagement. We live in a world of instant gratification. Fast food, cell phones, broadband internet, instant voice activated google search, downloadable entertainment and watch on demand TV are all increasingly ingrained in many societies and affect us and our expectations of the world around us even if we don't partake in any or all of those things. Watching and interacting with newer players I have noticed a steep dropout rate in the mid 30's to low 40's as players encounter this 'engagement mechanism' and if that is the intent behind the delay, I'd call it a complete failure. It winnows out many players. While my own experience is limited, off the hip I'd say it's around 60-70% of those I've met. They're like meteors - blazing brightly through the 20's and then burning out before affixing themselves in the firmament. Since I never want to grill someone about their increasing absence in a game, I don't know what the stated reasons are but I've heard enough groaning about waiting for upgrades and slow leveling to infer that those are the major complaints. Those who remain are a patient group (or at the very least least stubborn) so it's a selected population who is even here to have this discussion. But to my point, I would argue that the delay decreases engagement and disrupts flow of gameplay. Putting the brakes on someone's playing time can hardly create flow.

I'm not saying that any or all of the answers given aren't: The Reason.

I'm just not buying anything I've read so far as validation for the mechanic to exist. I know that it doesn't always happen - there's plenty of times in life that things don't make good sense and no one can clearly explain why, but I'm still looking for that magic answer that clicks and says to me that this works like so and here's why it does.

Many aspects of the game are about choice and sacrifice. In this case, if you really want that 25% production boost, you have to be willing to give up a week's worth of production.

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Originally Posted by TboneX

I also don't buy that it increases engagement.

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Worked for me.