FAQ: Why WAS everyone mad about the Dark Cacao update?
In case you missed it, throughout the past few days in the Cookie Run community, Devsisters turned people piss and vinegar, trucks might have been involved, and Dark Cacao was at the center of it all
This was a post that I was writing during the whole debacle. During the writing, Devsisters announced that they would delay the update, then walked some of it back. In case you're curious what even happened in the first place, here's the write-up. I pulled it down after realizing we wouldn't need it anymore, but I'll put it back up here since so many people are confused
Context
Normally when Devsisters wants to drag an old character back into relevance, they'll create a Magic Candy, which can enhance what the character already did, and can be leveled. This is a formula that was already figured out in the main series games. When it was brought over here, the idea was kept the same, except that characters in the Ancient/Legendary/Dragon rarity tiers (yeah, Devsisters sure likes their rarity tiers) would instead be given a Crystal Jam, which is basically the same thing. Alternatively, Devsisters might just buff the character directly by changing some numbers around or something. Then players don't even have to do anything.
Also, Cookie Run Kingdom is a pretty power-crept meta-heavy game. If you don't use the top-tiers, you'll be left in the dust. You can use your favorite characters, but if they're outdated, you'll probably just take a lot of L's. This isn't a game about creative teambuilding and player expression. Just follow the meta.
Enter Dark Cacao Cookie. When he was new, he was a pretty big deal, but at this point in time, he's basically useless. Standard lootbox game power creep. However, the rest of the characters in his rarity tier, the Ancients, have all had a second chance in the spotlight, except for him. They were doing some things with him in the story, which gave everyone reason to believe he was going to get a buff or a Crystal Jam or something. That way, players who had already built their Dark Cacao Cookie could let him see some more usage again, rewarding players for being long-time fans of the game.
The Rug Pull
Instead of giving him a Crystal Jam, Devsisters decided to sell Dark Cacao Cookie back to the players a second time. The character isn't getting buffed - instead, a second version of the character is being put out, and you have to roll / buy / build him all over again.
Creatively, there are times where playing this card makes sense. Cookie Run isn't the first game to do this. A recent example from another game that some people may be familiar with is in Honkai Star Rail, where soft-spoken dragon boy Dan Heng has two separate versions, a 4-star version and a 5-star version.
https://new.reddit.com/r/HonkaiStarRail/comments/1655mbx/fyi_you_can_have_two_dan_heng_in_your_team/
So why was this received alright but Dark Cacao's Ancient+ version isn't? Well, here are a few differences (there may be more):
- HSR's 4-stars are largely perceived to just be temporary placeholders (with a few exceptions. I know, Tingyun is strong, the healers are fine, etc). Meanwhile, Dark Cacao is one of The Ancients, the old main characters, of which there will only ever be five. Within the fiction of the universe, he's an extremely big deal, but in terms of combat, he's kind of bad.
- The other ancients didn't get upsold back to players, so why does this one have to?
- Both Dan Hengs can be used together. You probably wouldn't want to, but because you have the option, the original isn't an outdated worthless power crept benchwarmer.
well actually the power balance in HSR isn't great but that's a separate conversation - Mihoyo (HSR's company) usually refuses to make changes to already-existing characters. Creatively, buffing already-existing characters is not in the cards, so making a Magic Candy or something isn't an option. They pretty much have to release a new form to bring Dan Hen back.
- The range between these two characters releases was only 3 versions, so if you spent a lot of resources on the original, you could only get so burned. The gap between Dark Cacao and his new form is over a year long.
- They're more different from each other. Without getting too into it, the second version of Dan Heng has a different role in the party, his element is changed, his playstyle is completely different, and there's a huge story about the awakening of his true form as a reincarnated dragon or something. The new version of Dark Cacao? Well, he's different, but he's not very different. He was already in the top rarity tier, so there isn't much room to grow... Well, unless they make A NEW RARITY TIER
Getting Dark Cacao Cookie (again)
Dragon Lord Dark Cacao is considered Ancient+, which is one step above Ancient. Devsisters already makes too many "pick me" unnecessary rarity tiers. Sometimes these tiers don't even really convey how rare or how strong a character is to begin with. Are Ancients better than Legendaries? What about dragons? Or Beasts?
The Nether Gacha is something a lot of players are already familiar with. At 250 rolls, you're given a copy of the character for free. It doesn't matter if you already got them once here or not, if you did, you get another one. (Which actually makes it not a pity system, since you don't need to be in a pitiful position to get something) This whole thing is fine, if you play actively, you can get all 250 rolls without paying for anything.
However, Dragon Lord Dark Cacao is restricted. You can ONLY find him in the nether-gacha or gacha of fate. You can't fall back on the copium that maybe you'll find him in standard or something (which admittedly does happen sometimes). If you're unlucky, this screen can feel pretty hopeless. Orrrr you can pay up...
Is Devsisters being greedy?
Considering that they're double-dipping despite the aforementioned Magic Candy formula showing how they don't need to do that, it can feel a little money-grubby.
And, like, I get it, the point of a company is to make money. Devsisters is, for better or for worse, expanding really fast, with r/CookieRunTOA dropping next month and Cookie Run Witch's Castle already out.
Imo, this game was already too big on the "consoom new product" mentality, with new content often revolving around the existence of a new character, who you'll need to get in order to progress.
Personally, I think it's unfair to ask so much money of your players when
The game runs terribly
I don't think it's unreasonable to say that if you're going to sell people something, then it should at least work
Cookie Run Kingdom's performance has had a bunch of problems lately. To be honest, it was never great - you can tell when loading screens are static, but then the animation starts right before it finishes loading. But it seems like a step too far for people now. Lag spikes are worse, crashes are becoming more frequent, that sort of thing.
So now what?
People are mad enough to the point where they've started protesting. Unfortunately, Devsisters doesn't announce new things very far in advance, so there hasn't been much time to come up with an organized movement.
Korean players have decided to physically put a message outside of Devsisters' offices. They are apparently going to have this up for three days, with a message about how recent updates suck and there's no communication.
At the time of writing, the game's rating is 4.6 stars on Google Play and iOS. Maybe we'll see it drop?
If you want to help out, but you don't live in Korea, here are a few things you can do:
- You could quit the game. It's never a great look when the people who have to watch over your community say this. But uh, that's too much an ask of some people, I get it, so you can also:
- Leave a negative review. A game's rating is a huge factor in how people will judge it. If a game's rating suddenly drops by a large amount, the suits start to panic about it.
- Don't support the game financially. The point of a company is to make money, so cut that off. Don't buy anything, but also, don't view in-game ads either. They make money from that.
- Outrage. Make a huge fuss about it in public spaces. Bad PR has a tangible effect on these sorts of things. The official discorb, Twitter, maybe even here if you want (the mod team supports you.) Don't do anything that would get you banned from anywhere, but make sure it's clear to everyone that people are angry. Try to get in touch with community figureheads, YouTubers, that sort of thing.
- Don't let up. Sometimes these sorts of things take a while to get results. The random individuals vs. the giant corporation is never an easy fight.
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