Most of us long time players seem to be above average intelligence. Which means its not difficult for us to grasp the concepts of the game and he able to excel. However, most gamers are not so fortunate. The learning curve is extremely high and ill bet many players that would enjoy the game quit because they couldn't easily understand everything. I had to explain how to collect a base shipment to somebody that's been playing for 6 months. Imagine if all these players that quit were tutored a little more! We would have more planets more legions more targets on pvp and potentially more competition on the leaderboards.

I've said for a long time that the game needs to be a little more approachable to new people - the learning curve is steep, and a bad starting scan run can mean you're crippled. These can lead to early quitting. If people don't get hooked early they're not going to get hooked period.

I still think it would be nice if you were guaranteed a planet that didn't suck in your opening scan run. Not necessarily awesome, but something like a VL 2x Terra. There could be a starter mission that made one for you, like the Vorigar missions do. It'd be even snazzier if you could name it. Now the new player has a personalized home world to defend and build up. And now they're invested in the game.

Honestly though, I'm about sick of suggesting things for this game. Daily Average Users are down to about 7.5k, and Dan just flat-out doesn't seem to care. No new features, no recruitment drive, no sales or discounts, no nothing. We suggest things that often require very little coding work (like sorting module abilities alphabetically, or a 'use all' for artifacts), and not only are they not implemented, they're not even *acknowledged.*

I hope Dan isn't laying awake at night wondering why no one is playing his game, but even that would be more attention than it's getting now.

With my first degree being economics - I simply do not understand the GL game economics!
Economically speaking the worst thing Dan could do is a GP sale. It's his lifeblood. However their is other things he could do. Either he or FB is advertising on Facebook (PC). I see ad's for GL on my wife's and daughters FB pages.
either Dan:
1- doesn't understand Facebook game economics (I've read economic papers on the subject). I'm pretty confident Dan is aware; I've even sent him links during the first year of the game.
2- GL is unique and doesn't follow the typical rules of FB game economics. (mostly likely reason) this is a very unique game.
3- Dan doesn't care. (least likely reason)

Dan help us out here. Can we get a message or some feedback regarding the ideas presented? We all need some reassurance.

Except gameplay evolves with every new content that Dan adds, thus changing gameplay. Those at the bottom now will have an even tougher time progressing than when I started. Heck, if I started playing during this time frame I would have already quit.


Partially true. I didn't enjoy playing Galaxy Legion in my early years. All I did was dump energy on missions (the only thing I could do profitably) and log out for another 6 or so hours. If this is what Galaxy Legion is like for the newbies no wonder most of them quit. Not to mention the game DOESN'T even START to GET GOOD until you're around rank 100 or so (when you get a taste of NPCing).

I can see why a sale could be a bad idea, but I do think it's a mistake that the game is quite so tight-fisted with GP. The thing of primary importance as far as money-making goes is not that people buy, but that they buy *regularly.* This means they should be spending points regularly. Imagine if the game gave you 5 GP a week, provided you logged in on seven days in a row. (Game of Thrones Ascent basically does this) It's not a lot, but it's a reward to faithful players (who are the most likely to spend money!) It also loosens the pursestrings a bit, they're more willing to spend because they have more. It gets them *accustomed* to spending, so it's not an onerous decision.

Dan currently makes money by having $20ish 'buy this cool stuff' limited time items around the holidays. But if you don't already have the GP, shelling out $10+ for a bunny minion might be daunting. Let's say 1000 people buy one. $10k profit.
But let's say people earn 5 GP a week for loyal play. These are all the people who would be most likely to want a bunny minion in the first place. Let's say some of them sit on their banked GP until they have 60. Now it only costs $5 for a bunny minion! 2500 people buy, and now you've made $12500.

And I'm not so convinced that a sale would be the worst thing - it's not like GP themselves cost anything to make. The only concern would be if you sell a bunch now cheaply, people might not buy again for a while.

I believe you have some really good ideas below. Dan should think about these.

In my opinion the first thing Dan needs to do is get people/players to spend GP (being awarded a small amount on a regular bias would cause people to spend GP). Second I do think GP is pricey which is why I've only spent about $200 on this game. By far in the last 4yr's this game GL has given me more entertainment per dollar spent than any other form of entertainment I spent money on. However GP is still expensive. Maybe Dan should lower the price of artifacts (esspecially QE's) or gives more GP for dollars spent. If Dan does so he should post a note that he is experimenting with a change in the price of artifacts or GP.
If Dan feels your idea isn't good I would suggest a GP reward for balanced game play (metals, NPC's, PVP, Planet takes, etc...) for every 50 ranks or so.
Maybe special below 100 just for encouragement. I wonder what would happen if for the first 100 ranks a player would get 1 GP per rank. That could really help encourage game play I believe.