This is a continuation of the article you can find here.
Monetisation
Pop-ups and offers
The L2: Revolution developers also use an annoying way of telling players which offers are available in the shop: full-screen pop-ups when you enter the game. Every time you get disconnected, the pop-up comes back. The game might show several offers in a short period, or even the same offer twice within ten seconds of entering the game.
Entering the in-game shop can also trigger a pop-up.
On top of that, the amount of information inside an offer can be enormous.
There’s also a “Don’t show for Today” checkbox, but it’s only available on some full-screen pop-ups and resets the following day.
These mechanics are a great way to annoy players. I’m sure we can do better than that.
“Generosity”
Lineage is very generous to players, handing out multiple rewards every day from all kinds of quests and missions. The loot drop rate is also high. There’s even an option in the settings to ignore items below a certain grade. This generosity is part of what makes the game so addictive in the short term. Rewarding players often at the beginning is a good approach, but generous rewards can have a negative side effect over time: players quickly get used to them, and the excitement fades.
There’s a fine balance between too many rewards and not enough. Rewards are a way to motivate and excite players. Use them too often, and they stop feeling valuable. Use them too sparingly, and players lose the motivation to work towards a goal.
It all comes down to how much developers think about their audience. Understanding players is an important part of development.
The “Auto Loot Minimum Grade” setting lets us ignore items below a certain quality.
Technical
Server
When navigating the UI in L2: Revolution, we can experience delays when opening menus. My guess is that the game is validating player actions on the server. When this is implemented efficiently, players usually don’t notice it. In L2: Revolution, the delay is noticeable during normal use. A UI that doesn’t respond quickly enough makes it harder to interact comfortably and hurts the experience.
As a rule of thumb, a UI needs to respond within about 0.1 seconds for the reaction to feel instantaneous. Beyond that, the delay becomes noticeable. Around one second is the limit for keeping the user’s flow of thought uninterrupted; longer delays can seriously hurt the experience.
Summary
To sum up, Lineage 2: Revolution is a quality game. The UI is consistent, the art is beautiful, and players can get hooked quickly. Its similarities to the original Lineage 2 evoke nostalgia. The auto-hunting mechanic also makes the game lighter and much more approachable for a general audience.
The game monetises well, but aggressive monetisation and an addictive gameplay loop leave players exhausted. The developers bombard players with full-screen pop-ups, while the number of daily tasks, reinforced by generous rewards, creates an exhausting core loop. These elements significantly hurt the UX.
We don’t know the exact retention figures, but I suspect they’re affected too.
The US is usually the leading market for revenue, but Lineage performs much better in Asian markets, especially Japan and Korea. There could be a few reasons for this. Lineage 2 was widely popular in Korea, and players in Asia tend to have longer play sessions than players in the West.
Overall, Lineage 2: Revolution offers a mediocre user experience. I wouldn’t recommend it as a model to follow, but it has a few distinctive ideas worth exploring.