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

[TboneX]

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.

[Gwalben]

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.

[Hobknocker]

I also don't buy that it increases engagement.

Worked for me.