[City of Heroes] This weekend, City of Heroes/Villains is doubling experience gains for 60 hours (also prestige and influence/infamy). [discussion thread, I have not read it all] As a player, I do not need a reason for free candy, but having an interest in development and economics, I wonder why this is happening. The official “why” of “This is a special thank you, because we really do appreciate you all-through the thick and thin” is meaningless (sorry).
Would it be good for the game to have twice-as-fast leveling, but for some reason this is only good for the game for one weekend? The most likely reason is to recruit some re-subscriptions, since an e-mail went out to all current and former subscribers; this could work better than that free weekend. Is there a reason to want to get a great many players logged on at once, beyond the usual? It could be hard to set any records on a big convention weekend. Any relation to recent NCSoft financial issues?
Feel free to comment on the subject, or how subscribers’ incentives would differ under constant double-xp, periodic (power hour/day), or occasionally-by-random-announcement. I think that predictable incentives lose much of the impact here.
: Zubon