Gear crunch: danger for this game
Please, do not move or merge this thread. We need to make it visible to the community.
I already wrote several times about this issue and it was once moved and nobody continued the discussion.
I read that Devs read all the post over the forums. Then I think they should also read Reddit because 50% of the threads subjects are about how the gear situation became out of hand.
This is clearly insulting that nothing changed since the start of the year when we stated that the grind was already impossible to support for most players.
If you want a solution, just speak with the players about your expectations and what are ours. For example, I expect that the total amount of time/energy/crystal cost should remain the identical to max a toon with every gear increase. When level cap was at G8, i guess we needed 2 weeks to max a toon. At a G10, characters needed around 3 weeks. As for the crystal costs, it should have remained around 1500 crystals (10$) to insta level your toons from G1 To max gear (like it was for G8). Now for an FTP you need at around 6 weeks (for the Zeta, and the 450 carbantis, 150 cuffs and 150 guns and The crystal cost is around 7k crystals, without even counting raid gear).
Hence the price of gear pieces should be adapted at each level increase. You will not lose income, as everyone who want to accelerate their improvement will usually buy the new gear priced at the same cost as the previous highest level, while making it easier for FTP/small spender to catch up because previous level are cheaper.
In the end, many dolphins can control their buying impulse and they only have a limited budget for this game, and you won't be able to increase your revenue on this group of players with the actual pricing strategy. Make this game great for those are willing to support the game.
Otherwise you are slowly killing it: it is impossible for a new players to have fun, as most content is intended for end-game players. TB made this even worse as progress is linear, only time (or a lot of monetary resources) is a deciding factor for success.
I already wrote several times about this issue and it was once moved and nobody continued the discussion.
I read that Devs read all the post over the forums. Then I think they should also read Reddit because 50% of the threads subjects are about how the gear situation became out of hand.
This is clearly insulting that nothing changed since the start of the year when we stated that the grind was already impossible to support for most players.
If you want a solution, just speak with the players about your expectations and what are ours. For example, I expect that the total amount of time/energy/crystal cost should remain the identical to max a toon with every gear increase. When level cap was at G8, i guess we needed 2 weeks to max a toon. At a G10, characters needed around 3 weeks. As for the crystal costs, it should have remained around 1500 crystals (10$) to insta level your toons from G1 To max gear (like it was for G8). Now for an FTP you need at around 6 weeks (for the Zeta, and the 450 carbantis, 150 cuffs and 150 guns and The crystal cost is around 7k crystals, without even counting raid gear).
Hence the price of gear pieces should be adapted at each level increase. You will not lose income, as everyone who want to accelerate their improvement will usually buy the new gear priced at the same cost as the previous highest level, while making it easier for FTP/small spender to catch up because previous level are cheaper.
In the end, many dolphins can control their buying impulse and they only have a limited budget for this game, and you won't be able to increase your revenue on this group of players with the actual pricing strategy. Make this game great for those are willing to support the game.
Otherwise you are slowly killing it: it is impossible for a new players to have fun, as most content is intended for end-game players. TB made this even worse as progress is linear, only time (or a lot of monetary resources) is a deciding factor for success.
7
Replies
How much did you spend? And what is your strategy?
I lay down the numbers for you. If we dismiss raid gear, R2 needs the following to bottlneck gear from G11 to G12:
- 100 carbantis (2800 crystals or 6 days of farming with 2x50 refreshes)
- 100 mk5 guns (2500 crystals or 8 days of farming with 2x50 refeshes)
- 150 G11 purples gear (drop rate at 15%-20% at best, so around 15 days at best with 2x50 refeshes). Two of pieces cost together 2000 crystals and the last one need to be farmed.
So overall, you have a insta level of 7300 crystal cost of farmable gear (add 2800 for raid pieces). Or about 1 month and 3k crystals.
So, tell us how you spend?
1 week to farm
2 stun guns (100 stun guns proto, 100 carbs)
Mk6 detonator
Mk6 furnace
Mk7 shield generator
Mk6 droid caller
?
I haven't spent at all. Thought that was the point. I had like 50 carb salvage saved up. Took a week to get another 50. Used arena crystals to buy stun gun salvage. Farmed the rest with some refreshes.
It's nowhere near as difficult as you make it seem. If you put as much effort into farming gear, as you did trying to make it seem impossible, you'd be as close as I am to a G12 toon.
The only person putting up this gear wall for you, is you.
LOL. There is more than one character in a player's roster, it's not just about focusing one gear level for one character for a week. I'm not saying the gearing needs to be made easier because I don't mind slow progression but to say the gear wall doesn't exist or is imaginary is just wrong.
So you're close to gear 12 or you have R2 at gear 12? You might be the only person playing this game, past or present, that is oblivious to the gear wall. Congratulations, you're an oddity.
https://forums.galaxy-of-heroes.starwars.ea.com/discussion/130253/lets-talk-about-the-new-gear-requirements
Biggest issue is that the gear that drops from raids and challenges is way out proportional in what gear that is added. There are so many toons now (and we need many toons for territory battle), that a few of the wall could be made a little bit lower.
If you aren't a top tier competitor, then you will receive top tier gear at a slower pace. Some of this gear is difficult to obtain without crystals. Knowing that, you should have been aiming to get the most crystals possible, from the start.
You also have to utilize other forms of currency effectively. I use guild coins on gear more often than not. You can farm enough detonator salavge from the guild store, fleet store, and gear exchange to finish a fully crafted piece in less than a week. If you plan ahead, raid gear is just as easily obtainable as farmable gear (such as cuffs or stun guns). You have to use all of your resources.
Making excuses doesn't rake in gear as fast as making a plan and sticking to it. If you want results, you have to put in the effort.
I'm like 30 stun gun salavge from G12. He will be done tomorrow if salvage pops in shipments.
I started farming R2s G12 gear on monday or tuesday. In that time I've also completed some of those gold balls for Raid Han. They are a pain to farm, but very cheap in shipments. If I hadn't bought those, R2 would already be done.
Devs consider other players than those who rank first as they state that Dark Side is as viable as LS because their metric range from rank 1-200.
So I am glad you can do it, but for the vast majority of us, it is impossible.
So you're saying that a week is too much time to elevate a toon from G11 to G12? By that logic, the developers wouldn't receive a penny, and this game wouldn't make it past the next meta. Gearing up a hero fully, requires a pretty decent amount of gear. However, anything less would mean there would be no meta to chase. No diversity in the arena. For example, it took me two months to farm and gear my Resistance squad to 7* G11. Let's say I cut that in half to accomodate for the gear crunch. Now I can farm a team from scratch, into a G11, arena ready squad. Another week or two (since one toon a week is just too slow) and they are all G12.
Imagine if everyone had the same maxed out squad in a month and a half. Every time a toon got released, people had the ability to max them in two weeks without saving up anything at all.
It would be the worst directionthis game could possibly take. Diversity is struggling through the CLS meta. Do you have any idea how much worse this would be if gear was more available?
Yes. It is impossible to farm the best gear in the best time possible, if you aren't fighting for the best rewards.
You are basically asking for a handout so you can catch up without putting in the effort..
I would be happy to face more competition because they will all fail to beat my mods.
The point is more about crystal price inflation. How much G11 do you have?
The danger is more the inflexibility and the cost of a mistake of this game. It prevents any innovation in arena or fun that is because we can't try as FTP any new teams because we just play catch the meta game.
Says who? There are whales who do not understand mods as well.
I started in February, so I only have 10 or so G11 characters.
Here is my profile.
http://swgoh.gg/u/commodorecudz/
I agree that salvage could be a little cheaper from the various shipments, but at least everyone faces the same price. Got to balance out the needs and wants in this game. I think the developers do a decent job giving us what we need, and selling us what we want.
And I suppose you've done a detailed analysis of this assumption you've created which mentions no figures and is based on no information whatsoever.
Um, pretty sure it would add more diverserity seeing as it would be easier for people to experiment with ideas, rather than being locked into a squad they've invested in. Also, you realise you are now admitting there is a gear wall and ruining your own point.
Where are you getting these figures and why are you even directing this at me. And why are you admitting there is a gear wall and it's not imaginary?
Probably not as bad as you think. You're just doom-mongering over nothing.
I get that people have more than one character they would like to work on, but the fastest way to gear a toon is when you work on them exclusively. The wall that you are describing is there because you choose to spread yourself too thin.
I'm acknowledging your problem, and giving you a solution. The fact that I'm helping you over your gear hump, doesn't mean it's a problem for everyone. Your gear wall is specific to you. Everyone has difficulties playing this game, and there is a solution to every difficulty that you face.
I'm not telling you that gear isn't an obstacle for you. I'm trying to help you realize that it doesn't have to be as hard to max out a toon, as it presently is for you. Take a look at my account. I faced the same challenges that everyone else in this thread did, but I'm not having the same issues. There is a better way. I can show you if you want. Otherwise, go ahead and keep your wall.
Is there a wall due to gear being too slow to obtain? If you don't believe that the difficulty of farming gear is hindering your progress, perhaps you should enlighten the OP as to how you avoid that particular obstacle. Promoting a problem which you've already solved for yourself is pretty selfish. Why not just tell him your secret to success, instead of supporting a thread that was created to alter a portion of the game that doesn't need to be fixed.
Ok, I think you need to play this game for one more year to understand how crazy these requirements are
With your assumptions, this means I need 40 weeks to gear up my actual roster without being able to work on new teams (Phoenix for TB for example). Which basically means that all the time I spent on those 40 G11 is rendered useless with the new gear increase.
No slowly killing, they have already killed the game. Unballanced, no diversity in arena, nearly unplayable GW. Cash Grabers dont care about normal players (not only FTP), only whales. If you dont spend hundreds or thousands of dollars, you are nothing for them.
I spent crystals. I mentioned that in a later post.