Webnovel has been taking things away from readers over the past few years. First, they removed the daily lucky spin which is around 5-15SS(depends on luck). Then they decreased to just 5SS a day. Now, SS is entirely removed. Coins replacing the currency system, and you can never get them from daily missions anymore.

Coins which are now so hard to earn(through weekly reading), is now the only way to unlock priviledged chapters. 10coins for each checkpoint 30,120,240,360,600,720,960(480 removed if i remember correctly). And the rewards remain the same even though the gap of the amount of time you spend reading is increasing.

Fast pass where you can only earn 3 each day, although it may be good for readers that reads novels with 13+/-coins. But what about all the other readers? What about readers that reads novels with just about 4coins each chapter?? Clearly, webnovel is not thinking for this group of people at all.

Fast pass expires in only just 7days, where coins(SS) expire in a month. For readers that enjoy stacking coins so that they are able to enjoy reading in bulk are now unable to do so. They are forced to use the fast pass within just a short week.

Daily mission "Watch an ad" for 5coin(SS) has been removed as well, reducing the amount of coins that readers are able to earn. I do not understand why, as webnovel should still be able to earn from the ad providers.

Some readers adapt to the change, while some are unwilling to accept the change, like some of my friends. They have been sourcing to read from other options such as novelfullonline, novelupdates, wuxiaworld etc.

With the new check in, watching ads gives exp now instead of 5coins(SS) which it was before. Power and energy stones do not give much benefits to the reader except for the first power and energy stone used each day. The only other purpose is to give support to the authors/novels. In other words, to most readers out there, exp from check in is fairly useless.

I don't know if webnovel will do anything about the declining users. But honestly, I feel that a handful of readers will cease to use webnovel and search for alternatives to enjoy their reading hobby instead.

**I do not know which category this falls under, so i just chose the ones that is a little similar.

    Well, you can put it in another way and think about this from the author's point of view maybe?

    They don't earn from free SS in the first place so this new update could be a bonus for them. If you're unable to handle reading 3 chapters a day using the free passes, then spending money to buy the coins is also an option. It's not like Webnovel is completely removing your ability to read as well.

    Authors are humans who need to feed themselves too you know?

    Sure, you can probably read their content for free at pirated sites. But at the end of the day, when an author decides that they aren't earning enough from writing to support themselves and drops their book, will the pirate sites continue writing the book for them?

      Shizuko0722 The weekly reading actually gives you points, not coins, which is total bullshit if you ask me since the rewards are available for the readers to redeem cost as high as from anywhere between 4,000 to 20,000 points, and they merely last for anywhere between 3 days to a week. How long do we have to accumulate the points for before we can use them?

      Let's calculate: For example, 4,000 points for a '3-day 50% off for novels/comics' voucher code. That's the cheapest one that is offered on the "Store".
      How many points can we get for a week? 60 points a week. However, that's only if you read 960+ minutes on the APP. You can't even read online, only on the app.
      Okay, so we have 4,000 points for one '3-day 50% off for novel/comics' pass (take note that you can only choose one, not both novels and comics) and 60 points is the MAX for one week BUT that's only if you spend 16 hours a week reading. 4,000/60= approx. 66.67 weeks. Lemme get this straight @WEBNOVEL_OFFICIAL , you want us to read 16 hours a week, for 66.67 weeks for a grand total of 1066.72 hours to get a '3-day 50% off for novels OR comics' pass?

      ... speechless? nahhh, me?? no wayyy

      OF COURSE I'M SPEECHLESS WHO WOULDN'T BE!?

      Have you no shame? Like at all? For a measly '3-day 50% off for novels OR comics' pass? Really?

      That's not even the end of it: that's only for the cheapest one there is. What about for the others?

      '7-day Site- wide Free ebooks (or comics)' : 20,000 points
      1066.72 hours (4) = 4266.88 hours. Now THAT's a lot of hours- almost 178 days of reading, nonstop, 24/7.
      '7- day 50% off for ebooks (OR COMICS AHHH)' : 8,000 points
      1066.72 hours (2) = 2133.44 hours. That is also a LOT of hours- just a few hours short of 89 days, 24/7 non- stop reading.
      Just do the calculations yourself if you still want to know. What i mean is that it's hella expensive and takes wayyyy to long. Like, if i haven't gotten the point across to you, you might be mentally ill at this point, no offense or anything :)

      Now some of you may be cursing/ saying that we/I ( which ever one you prefer to curse :) go ahead see if I care ) could just buy the pass or whatever, but out of the many, many readers (not for long if this keeps up LOL) that use the site, how many of them are paying users? Not even- DON'T even man. hat to break it to you- not that many...

      If we see this from a business perspective, sure, you guys need to profit- we get it. The authors also need to support themselves/ feed them self and their family. W get it, we really do. After all, who doesn't want to rake in the dough? However, if you chase all the readers away, who, and how the hell are you going to rake in your dough from? The literal 5% of people who are left on the site? Hell, there might not even be 5% one day if y'all keep this up. (Do authors even profit from free SS? I'm pretty sure not ngl)

      Nobody:
      Absolutely nobody in the entire world:
      Like, literally no smart reading websites, like ever:
      Webnovel: Makes everything hella user- UNFRIENDLY and chases away all the readers

      Thanks for listening (reading, whatever) to my TED talk :)

      (these smiley faces hella get me LOL. are they smiling, planning to murder you, or are they tired of webnovel's bs? we'll never know lmao)

          Draekai
          Is that so? I didn't know authors don't earn from free SS. I expected that webnovel would consider all SS to unlock chapters to be the same since they are earning from ad providers and whatnot.

          Im not saying that spending money isn't an option, I'm only speaking in point of view of free readers/not so wealthy readers. It seems as if webnovel almost does not welcome free readers here anymore. Majority of the readers probably spent money on novels, I believe the update is beneficial for authors but it's a quite an impact from multiple chapters a day to just 3 for the poorer readers.

              Shizuko0722 Yeah, it's not really mentioned anywhere, but the free SS people use to unlock their chapters or buy gifts to the authors don't actually add to the author's income outside of moral support. They don't even earn from ads actually.

              Webnovel is also probably concerned that a number of authors would not be able to support themselves and stop writing their books so they came up with this new update. It's definitely not perfect and needs to tweaked, but I guess it might be a morale boost to the authors who see that the site is trying to help them in an imperfect way.

                cxw_ Hate to break it to you Dark... But from a corporate point of view, non-paying readers are on the lowest of the lowest in the priority list.

                We don't bring in the moolah for both authors and the website other than viewership count. One dedicated paying reader who is willing to fork out a few hundred dollars a month beats hundreds of free readers who don't pay in terms of importance to them.

                The new update really doesn't actually affect the paying readers much if you think about it, it's just chasing the forever-free readers away which they really don't care about in the first place.

                And why should they care about us anyway? We're not even remotely supporting the authors in the monetary department which is their priority. We read their works for free and then resort to pirate sites to read their locked chapters. But once the author decides that they don't earn enough from their writing to support it and drops their book, are the pirate sites going to continue writing the dropped book for us?

                I suppose instead of whining about the new update chasing free readers away, perhaps you could come up with a solution that benefits both free readers and the authors writing the books we read? I have no solution for this problem at the moment and I thought you might have one. Remember, authors don't earn from Ads. Only paid coins given to them count to their income.

                TLDR: Could we suggest a better solution that benefits both Authors and Readers?

                    Draekai Definitely true. Must suck to be a writer... after all, you have to find a rich sugar daddy (reader) to support you in your writing career lol

                        I don't know but.... I think a lot of people will quit reading webnovel. Webnovel's popularity will decline, and authors will lose readers. I already know a few people who quit. I'm planning on deleting the contents of my reading list now, too and just retain my two most favorite novels. Time will come, webnovel will be a place where only wealthy people can access books. It won't welcome someone like me anymore...

                        cxw_ bottom line is, they want us to PAY. The points and benefits redeemed from clocking in so many reading hours are only possible if one spends (buys coins). In other words these are freebies for being a paying customer.

                        As for free readers, it is probably still possible to accumulate fast passes from daily missions. But limited to what these can unlock per day. You want benefits, pay for it. Not unreasonable, for a company like @WEBNOVEL_OFFICIAL, that needs to pay employees and authors. My only wish is that they’d make it worth our while by providing better service and books.

                            cxw_

                            As any other artists who are supported by their fans, and as any other workers who are supported by their company... I guess it also sucks to be them to have to find rich sugar daddies or mommas to support their career.

                            After all, who in their right mind would want to work for free except for charity? 🤷‍♀️

                              Draekai
                              Actually I've seen a feasible solution which i encountered on wattpad. If webnovel puts in the effort, I think it may be a possible resolution where both authors and free/low-paying readers won't feel too bad about.

                              So what I've seen in wattpad is that every few chapters, you'll have to watch an ad to continue reading its contents(author should get paid for the ads watched for the particular novel). But of course there should be a limit. Maybe at most 10ads a day?

                              Another suggestion that I'm currently thinking to encourage readers to spend money on coins to support authors is to have a mini bonus system. For example: Every 5chapters unlocked with paid coins, you get to unlock 1 chapter for free. Or every 10coins worth of gifts to an author grants 50% off 1 chapter or something like that.

                                  CKtalon
                                  Yeah.. kinda figured that ads probably won't be sufficient, hence I also made a secondary secondary suggestion to encourage readers to support the authors. Not sure if it is feasible or not but I feel its more balanced than the current though.

                                  Also, I understand too that free readers are of lowest priority in whatever apps. But this change is rather drastic, to a point where it's kind of scary. Like webnovel just wants to rid of all the free/lower paying readers and make the mediocre to higher paying readers to pay even more.

                                      Look, just keep the privilege and it’s chaps for the paying readers and leave the rest as it was.
                                      Those who would buy coins would still buy coins. Those who would by SS would still buy SS and those who would not buy would still use webnovel.
                                      My question is. 2 years. A fixed price for word count that as far as I know is the same for Chinese Qidian. For 2 years. All. All translated works went premium (if you forgot that’s the right name of the locked novels). Popular original novels also go premium (contracted). And you still say they are not being paid enough because of the free users? After 2 whole years? So. They have been working for almost nothing for 2years and kept doing it? is that it? We don’t even know what is the payment rate of the authors and translators. Even more so how much they are paid for the original work on their mother language. And you want to convince us that is the translated works that are making them not make a living out of it?
                                      Sorry. That’s why I say you are taking us readers as fools. It’s impossible for webnovel to monopolize it’s novels content. That should be clear by now. More than was tried with Gravity Tales? Yeah you got some novels and some translators. But they are still there, fine and dandy. The other “pirate” sites are also out there. I will repeat. Using the official channel (Webnovel) is a choice, not an only option. And by pushing away the free readers how can you complain that they are not staying? I’ve honestly only saw that many readers changing ships when webnovel did not keep it’s words that the translated novels that came from free reading sites would be kept free here. Yeah remember that? I do. The older users do. We accepted premium BECAUSE IT WAS SAID THIS IS HOW WE WERE GOING TO SUPPORT AUTHORS AND TRANSLATORS. All modifications done using the same reasoning. All to get money from the users. I get it. I really do. Capitalism right? Not charity right? Yeah. But if it doesn’t matter if free users are here cuz they don’t support authors and translators then don’t complain about them “not caring about authors and translators” and going pirate. They weren’t doing so in the first place (as you guys said) even using webnovel right?
                                      This money-grubbing behavior for 2 years straight is what is making us tired of it. We do pity authors and translators, but that won’t stop readers from leaving. I will still support (or not right? Since I’m a free user) my favorite novel here. But there’s a ton of mangas, webcomics, books, doramas and many more fun content I can use as entertainment instead of the hours I used to spend here. We users don’t even meed to go pirate to substitute webnovel in our lives.

                                      Simple solution of $5-10 monthly subscription. 1 is normal access while other gives premium access. Will have more people willing to fork out those values than the one during that trial they had not to long ago. They were trying to treat this as a Netflix service when it's not. Majority of the books have already been written and they are translating and editing them. Most of the cost is there while they should be paying the author a certain percentage also. Now if the subscription is priced fairly then they would pull in a greater revenue. Unfortunately webnovel /quidian is too money hungry for their own good. They act like they care but we know it just a blatant lie. They just want to milk as much money as they can with no effort. Reason most translations are almost completed when they pull it and post it. Most translations and editing is done by college students learning how to properly learn to grammatically utilize the language anyway.

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