A write up I did on Reddit talking with some players about econ. Resharing here since I thought it's worth a read! TL;DR the economy works differently from CS/Val, especially given 7 round halves + Economy Surge in round 4, so try to throw out your previous learnings and "learn fresh". We do still try to have power curve + money matters, but in different ways. 2 of biggest things that make our economy different are: • 7 Rounds per side • In round 4-7, you get a bonus $900 income, regardless of win or loss • Net effect is it's MUCH easier to get tier 4 in rounds 4-7 We tried to avoid full save rounds. • 1) they aren't that fun for the full savers. You almost always lose that round, though it's fun when you do win it. • 2) With 7 rounds, completely giving up a round is hard to come back from So often saves in Spectre are heavy armor + tier 1 (which is our goal) You have more of a chance in these rounds which is great, but the team that is $ ahead still has a power level bonus If you lose round 1, you should buy round 2. Again, with 7 rounds, you don't really have a round to give. We also didn't want pistol round to determine the whole match, so your econs are actually pretty close round 2. In my experience, this is the hardest change from cs/val economies for people to internalize. Said another way, long term econ advantage is less valuable, as you reduce the number of rounds needed to win. Would you full save round 2 if it was first to 3? This has an interaction with the round 4+ Economy Surge which means the long term econ advantage you're saving for doesn't actually last that long, because in round 4 it's much easier to get tier 4. The round 4 $900 econ surge is there to create some weapon power growth in the match which wouldn't exist in 7 rounds. Said another way, in rounds 2 & 3, you should be in tiers 1-3 and round 4+ you should be dabbling in tier 4 If we lowered the price of tier 4 and got rid of economy surge, you would rarely interact with the lower tier weapons, which misses on the goal of having players master a diverse set of weapons So play to win in rounds 1-3 and then rounds 4+ you should save around getting tier 4 + heavy armor. There's a lot of nuance in what to buy within this framework. You can trade off a higher tier for more utility. You can also trade off higher tier weapon for split buying an ally and getting them tier 4 in round 3 and having 2 lower tier allies, but that takes coordination How much $ you carry over each round based on deaths also influences the flow a lot. So even if you lose rounds, make sure you kill as many enemies as possible to tax 'em! Hope that helps and gives some of the design thinking as well!

Beta Learning 12: Our community is awesome! It has been truly energizing to see all the amazing discussion around the game and appreciate everyone trying to make Spectre the best it can be. Extra shoutout to those who have been playtesting the game for years! Deep thanks for all your help and support and we can't wait to see you all for launch TOMORROW! :)

Beta Learning 9:  In terms of server / service scaling, we hit 20K CCU during Closed Beta and everything held up well which is most excellent! We've also done automated testing into the 100K's of CCU. However, we've never tested the game at massive scale with live players (duh, cause we aren't live).  With this in mind, we have a login queue system to help meter players on launch and to help improve stability. That said, we're a small team, so there could be some bumps as we scale to new highs for the first time, but we'll get 'em fixed!

Beta Learning 8: Anti-cheat is an ongoing battle. We will be actively working on combatting, iterating and improving AC regularly. We shared a post today with more detail: playspectre.com/news/stoppin…

Beta Learning 7: Weapon balance learnings (thanks to Discord for today's topic suggestion!). (1) General weapon balance and use rates among similar choices within a tier looking very good (Trident vs. Whisper, Blackout vs. Reaver) (2) Some specialist weapons not picked that much (tier 2 Harpe and Tier 3 Drummer). Hesitant to buff drummer too much, because we had a period in dev where the auto shotty was insane and we're all traumatized. Players also didn't love dying to a nerfed, but still good, version, so we're at a safer starting point. It will get a slight RoF buff for now. (3) Berserker not picked that much, but it's meant to be there for a discounted, less powerful tier 4 option when you don't quite have $5K. Exciting to see some high tier players have been using it to wall pen certain strategic locations, so hoping use rate will rise as people learn where it's good. (4) We're doing a a number of small weapon tunings across the board, including easier horizontal recoil control for some of the wilder weapons (e.g. Buzzsaw) (5) Pretty much no one uses the auto shotty + AWP. We wanted it there for a mid tier upgrade path, but I think it's hard in practice given the auto shotty is weak. We will probably adjust this pair down the road if it doesn't pick up post-launch

Beta Learning 6: Sponsor balance was looking good in the closed beta - pretty hyped about this. Non-mirrored win rates across MMRs were within a tight band. Standard caveats apply with limited ultra high end players. Predictably, pick rates of the locked sponsors were lower than the unlocked ones in meaningful ways, because of the limitations on unlocking (resetting progress + no purchasing). Excited to see how these shake out after people have all 8 unlocked for an extended period. Even though the Sponsors are looking good, here are some things on the watchlist: - Morrgen Smoke Shift being fast recall - 2x Pinnacle grenades - Ryker Wave Scan power level Some smaller things at varying levels, but these are the notable outliers.