These two games were already quite old, with many accumulated problems, some of which seemed impossible to fix.

Fortunately, Mr. Pei had provided a good starting point: payment points!

Cut all payment points and keep only one.

This was an extremely challenging task because, conservatively estimated, there were at least dozens of payment points in these two games.

From major recharge consumption activities to the purchase of daily items, plus payment points in various progression systems…

Wherever a payment point could be added, it had been added.

Cutting these payment points wasn’t as simple as crudely shutting down the store entrance.

Because these payment points were tied to the entire game’s numerical system.

To ensure that players who spent 500 yuan could dominate those who spent 100 yuan, and those who spent 100 yuan could dominate those who spent 30 yuan, the in-game recharge values needed to be well-planned, so that each different recharge amount would provide a corresponding boost.

These boosts were linked to the in-game combat power system, which in turn affected the game’s ecosystem, just like how in nature there are herbivores and carnivores.

So this was fundamentally a numerical issue.

This was also why numerical designers in China held such high positions, second only to lead designers. Because numerical values are often directly determined by the experience of pay-to-win games.

Changing payment points was equivalent to overhauling the numerical system, meaning that the game ecosystem and player tiers, which were originally distinguished by recharges, would need to be differentiated in other ways.

Changing the differentiation method risked causing problems that could collapse the game’s numerical system, which would be beyond salvation.

Just like before, when “Hot-Blooded Battle Song” was flooded with criticism and saw plummeting revenue, the main reason was that Old Liu had priced that sword too expensively. A simple numerical issue had brought extremely negative consequences.

Ye Zhizhou thought for a long time, feeling somewhat overwhelmed.

He had some ideas, but he wasn’t sure if they could be truly implemented.

So he printed out the document and sought out Wang Xiaobin to discuss it.

Wang Xiaobin was an experienced numerical designer. Upon hearing Ye Zhizhou’s ideas, he couldn’t help but frown.

This kind of change wasn’t something to be taken lightly.

In the past, whether it was Old Liu or Wang Xiaobin, any experienced designer would have thought such changes were inappropriate and would have rejected Ye Zhizhou’s suggestions outright.

But now, Ye Zhizhou was the lead designer, and no one could reject his suggestions anymore…

Moreover, cutting all payment points was Mr. Pei’s idea!

Given that, they had to find every possible way to accomplish it. If conditions permitted, they’d do it; if not, they’d create the conditions to make it happen!

Wang Xiaobin sighed: “I feel like this is quite an unreliable approach, but since Mr. Pei suggested it, there must be deeper meaning to it. I’ll try my best to make it work.”

Just cutting all payment points alone was equivalent to reworking most of the game’s content.

This was different from FPS games like “Sea Fortress.”

Even though “Sea Fortress” had the Fire Qilin, overall, it was a competitive game with relative balance. No matter how rich a player was, they couldn’t defeat two enemies of equal skill level.

But “Hot-Blooded Battle Song” was a typical pay-to-win game. Wealthy players could easily defeat not just two but twenty opponents—this was absolute imbalance.

The entire content of “Hot-Blooded Battle Song” was built upon this imbalance.

If all payment points were cut, there needed to be some metric to differentiate player combat power. If not money, then it could only be time or luck.

Turn the game into one that purely relied on time investment? That would likely make it dominated by gaming studios and hardcore grinders.

Of course, turning it into a time-card game wasn’t impossible, but it would be completely at odds with “Hot-Blooded Battle Song’s” original design. Making it a time-card game would be almost like creating a new game from scratch—unrealistic and not in line with Mr. Pei’s requirements.

Turn the game into one based on luck? Then it would become the domain of the fortunate few.

Such a change might even be worse than before, remaining imbalanced, with most players still unable to enjoy an improved experience.

Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin were racking their brains.

This was a problem in the Chinese gaming industry that no one had been able to answer so far.

Of course, no one had been willing to solve this problem either, since cutting payment points meant sacrificing revenue. Even if some lead designer had a momentary lapse in judgment and wanted to make such changes, their boss would slap them back to reality.

Pay-to-win games were doing well and making good money, so who would be bored enough to think about alternatives?

But the more Ye Zhizhou and Wang Xiaobin pondered, the more meaningful they found this task.

If they could provide a proper solution, even if just an immature one, it would be unique in China!

Indeed, even a casual remark from Mr. Pei contained such profound implications!

Ye Zhizhou proposed several solutions, but all were rejected by Wang Xiaobin from a numerical perspective.

But Ye Zhizhou wasn’t discouraged.

Finally, he slapped his forehead.

“Brother Wang, I have a new idea.”

“What if we let everyone have a chance to ‘play the role’ of a wealthy player? Do you think that would work?”

Wang Xiaobin was taken aback: “Play the role of a wealthy player? How?”

Ye Zhizhou was excited, writing on paper as he spoke: “Actually, the problem we’ve been struggling with is about the gaming experience.”

“Our game’s experience can be simply divided into three types.”

“The first type is the wealthy players. They spend the most money, have the highest combat power, and enjoy the thrill of defeating ten opponents at once on the battlefield.”

“The second type is the organizers. They have a lot of time, are very active, and are responsible for managing guilds and recruiting members. They enjoy the satisfaction of commanding others.”

“The third type is the regular players. They can’t defeat ten opponents at once and aren’t managers, but on one hand, they can gradually transform into the first two types, and on the other hand, they can follow behind wealthy players to enjoy the benefits. When they win in national wars, they also receive ‘sunshine benefits’ rewards.”

“Currently, these three experiences are differentiated by ‘money’ and ‘time’.”

“We don’t need to change the ‘time’ factor, so the identities of organizers and regular players remain unchanged. It’s only the wealthy players’ experience that needs to change, because we’ve cut all payment points, so even if they want to spend money, there’s nowhere to spend it.”

“So, in nation wars, what if we directly select certain players to gain high combat power and experience the feeling of being wealthy players? Wouldn’t that work?”

Wang Xiaobin was still confused.

Ye Zhizhou continued: “If we cut all payment points, then overall, players’ combat power will remain at a similar level. Players with good luck and more time will have slightly higher combat power than other regular players, but not significantly higher.”

“But in national wars, we’ll randomly select some players to play the role of wealthy players. These players will directly gain the powerful combat abilities that only wealthy players could originally possess.”

“To ensure that every player has a chance to be selected, we’ll create a separate ‘Chosen System’ for each player, all starting from a 0% probability and accumulating. The system will select randomly.”

“If not selected, the probability of being selected next time increases; if selected once, the probability resets to zero and starts accumulating again.”

“The specific increase in probability will depend on various factors such as activity level and contribution to the game. We can use this as a factor to encourage players to log in and participate in activities.”

“This way, we maintain the original ecosystem while allowing most players to take turns enjoying the pleasure that only wealthy players could previously experience. Plus, we’ve fulfilled Mr. Pei’s requirement by eliminating most payment points!”

“Three birds with one stone!”

Wang Xiaobin fell into deep thought.

Ye Zhizhou’s concept was theoretically feasible.

However, it was risky and extremely unorthodox—revolutionary even!

But to fulfill Mr. Pei’s requirement of cutting all payment points without completely collapsing the game’s numerical system and ecological environment, this seemed like a viable solution.

Wang Xiaobin nodded: “Alright, let’s try it. I’ll develop a numerical model, and you can work out the details of some of the rules. Or, let’s have a meeting first to briefly explain this idea to everyone.”

Ye Zhizhou nodded, quickly organizing his thoughts before standing up.

“Everyone, let’s go to the meeting room to discuss the changes to our game.”

For some reason, Ye Zhizhou felt full of confidence at this moment.

It was as if he had suddenly adapted to the role of lead designer!