When the Galaxy of Heroes Web Store was announced, I was excited. As a heavy Pay To Play gamer who has played SWGoH since days after the game’s global launch (10.3m GP), I always seek out the best deals in the game and try (keyword “try”) to be wise about most of my expenses in the game. Given I also play a similar game in Marvel Strike Force, it is impossible not to compare the two games, the two Studios, and now the two Web Stores. And based on this comparison, I have found that the Galaxy of Heroes Web Store is nothing but a Massive Disappointment. Now, I realize I have made a big, broad statement, and it is time to explain why I feel this way.
Lack of Value
The reason the MSF Web Store works is that they offer real incentives to go to it daily, and sometimes multiple times each day. In addition to exclusive offers and some discounts, they incentivize the users with a spend more, get more bonus with Web UPC milestones that hand out gold (a much more valuable resources in MSF than credits in SWGoH are today), as well as gear orbs (like data cards) that the user can use to get harder-to-find gear pieces, and much more. Instead of 10-12 generic packs or bundles to buy, MSF actually works for their money and has 5-7 times as many options to buy creatively in-game through their Web Store.
In Galaxy of Heroes, the Web Store offers a “Web Store Launch Bundle” for $9.99 and a $19.99 “Elite Omega Materials Bundle” and little else other than the same things we have seen in-game every day for months, if not years. All crystals are the same price, but with 5% more crystals given, but when you are eliminating Apple or Google getting 25% of your in-game sales, this feels like very little incentive. This alone could easily be tweaked to make the Web Store more alluring.
The above could easily be fixed with a milestone-style reward in SWGoH granting the user Omicron materials or materials to improve and use Datacrons better in SWGoH, or even additional other currencies. Also, a weekly Relic materials bundle that is a Web Store exclusive or a greater value than normal would incentivize endgame players who are always looking for an edge in these areas. I am personally buying a $9.99 Relic bundle each and every Monday in-game already, but add a Web Store exclusive with the same or better materials and suddenly you have my attention.
Usability
Usability is something we in the Website industry deal with on a regular basis. Is the Website usable? Can the user find what they need without a ton of extra steps or does it create unnecessary headaches.
The specific item that annoys the heck out of me with the SWGoH Web Store is the login process. Each time I look to access it I have to enter my email address, wait for a verification code, and then use that code to see what they have going on. Then, when I turn the game back on, it gives me an error message and has to reboot. Given the stale state of things already in the SWGoH Web Store, the daily prize (pictured) is literally the only thing worth that time each day, where the MSF store changes sometimes multiple times each day. But the MSF store keeps the user logged in online and just automatically reloads the game after the user has been out of the game for a certain amount of time. While not a deal-breaker, this annoyance seems like something that could be fixed on the coding side of things to allow the user to remain logged into the Web Store without having to enter a new code each time given this is not the IRS or Social Security Website, it is simply a Star Wars game on our phones…
All in all, the Web Store in SWGoH is a step in the right direction, and it would not take much to make it significantly better, but like many things in SWGoH, it feels like it is just “good enough” to publish to the world while still lacking in many areas. As a teenager I had a job where they said “good enough for City work,” something I never liked, where the job was about 80-90% done and they moved on, and this is how many things feel with SWGoH. While other games have their flaws too, it would be nice to see this nearly $2 billion dollar game do better and show it, and the Web Store is an easy place to start while also impacting EA Capital Games and their bottom line.
November 10 update: Popular SWGoH YouTuber AhnaldT101, who like us here at Gaming-fans.com is a former SWGoH GameChanger program member, echoed these exact thoughts in a new video that I watched during lunch today.
