The real cause of low ships engagement (in my opinion)

gufu21
335 posts Member
edited May 2018
TL;DR: Unlike squad arena, where every prize tier gives crystals and a motivation to move up to get more, fleet arena payouts only give 20–40 players on each shard a reason to care about ships. If my fleets aren't top 20 material, I have no reason to push myself.

Long version: I know this is just my personal opinion, but maybe someone else is feeling this way. If so, the devs should probably understand why, and why the new ships update probably won't help.

So I wasn't super into ships before, but I did OK: I don't have Thrawn, so I ran Tarkin, FOTP, TFP, Biggs, Vader, Reaper (the same starting five most everyone ran). I hovered somewhere between 150 and 50. Those five had good gear (g12, except Biggs and FOTP, who were g11), so I guess just not having Thrawn made me a target. Whatever.

Now since the update, I have the feeling of being behind again and not even knowing what direction to go with my ships. I'm F2P, so I don't have a big roster of good ships and geared up pilots. Pivoting is not going to be easy. Also, some people will divert their cantina farms to try to get reinforcement mats, but given the terrible drop rates others are reporting, it doesn't seem worth it to me at all. So I'm basically going to get no reinforcement mats until late June when the Fleet Battles drop.

And then it occurred to me: I have no reason to care whether I keep up in ships.

Why? Because there is no carrot in fleet arena that I feel is within my reach. Put directly, only the 20 top get crystals. I hardly ever cracked top 50 even with a quasi-meta team. I'm probably not going to get close to 50 for a long time now.

Compare this with squad arena: When I was above rank 500, I had a reason to fight below that—I wanted those extra 10 crystals. Then I wanted 15 more crystals, so I fought to get below 200. Then I wanted the extra 25 crystals, so I fought below 100. Now I'm pushing myself to get below 50 to get another 50 crystals. I've even gotten below 20 a few times for another 50 crystals. But the point is that whatever prize tier I am in in squad arena, I have reasons to push myself and spend resources to get into the next one.

In fleet arena, since I don't think I'm top 20 material, I just shrug. If I get below 100, the difference is almost negligible. If I somehow do better than I ever have before and get payout below 50, then it's still almost no difference.

To sum it up, if the devs are wondering why ships engagement is so low, it's not just because ships was stale (it was) or because it badly needed an update (it did). It's because the devs have only given about 20–40 people on each shard a reason to really care about their ships.

I get that injecting more crystals into the economy is something devs are very cautious about because it lessens players' need to purchase crystals, which is the game's main revenue stream. But I wonder if giving more players more reason to care about fleet arena would actually drive more purchasing because they now have more reason to invest resources into more characters and their ships.

Maybe this will all change with Fleet Battles. Maybe the PvE farms will be so good that we'll have a reason to really invest in our ships. But unless or until that happens, ships are going to continue getting an uninterested shrug from me.

Does anyone else feel the same, or am I way off base here?
Post edited by gufu21 on

Replies

  • Exactly the same feelings here..
  • The crystals and the overall lacking of content.. 4 capital ships, 1 is OP, 2 are ok and the last a hard borderline bad.. few ships when there's so many characters both in game and not in game yet that could/should have ships.. hux/snoke for a capital ship, a resistance capital ship, Anakin, grievous, gk, CLS, etc etc that could have brought more..

    Honestly this ship update is lackluster. I like the idea of the PvE table but before I was winning matches in under 90 seconds.. now it takes me almost 4 minutes to lose lol. Well back to my 1 battle a day for daily activities..
  • completely agree OP. giving crystals to so few gives so many so little reason to care. and the balance in ships is terrible, was bad before and still bad now.
  • Kyno
    32087 posts Moderator
    I think many would say that zetas are equal to if not more valuable than crystals in many game modes.
  • TVF
    36527 posts Member
    Zetas are definitely more valuable. I've never seen a crystal do the things zetas can do.
    I need a new message here. https://discord.gg/AmStGTH
  • gufu21
    335 posts Member
    @Kyno , @TVF

    Oh, I absolutely agree. But the fleet arena prize tiers just don't scale sufficiently to make that a meaningful motivator for advancement, either.

    You know what I get if I really push myself to move from #154 (my current rank—I've fallen a good deal since the update) to, say, #60? 50 more fleet tokens. That's a single extra zeta mat every FORTY DAYS. If I really go all in, and reach, say #30, what do I get? Another single zeta mat every FORTY DAYS.

    So my point stands. With neither crystals nor any substantial increases in rewards per tier, there's still no carrot for me in fleet arena if I'm not in the top 20.
  • TVF
    36527 posts Member
    edited May 2018
    I agree the payment structure is too top heavy. I get first most days but I still see the problem.
    I need a new message here. https://discord.gg/AmStGTH
  • Kyno
    32087 posts Moderator
    The game has a long cycle time, if you dont see how 1 more full zeta a month is of benefit than it's in part your level of competitiveness.

    Just getting up to the top 50 gives you 1.25 full zetas a month. You literally cannot buy that with crystals in any where close to that rate or price.

    But that's just IMO.
  • Nikoms565
    14242 posts Member
    TVF wrote: »
    I agree the payment structure is too top heavy. I get first most days but I still see the problem.

    Agreed. I actually was pounding this drum (payout structure being overly top-heavy) when they first added crystals to ship arena. I liked ships 1.0 and stayed in the top 20 and hit top 5 every few days/week (when I had time - I work and coach and evenings are usually crazy busy).
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  • FailingCrab
    1155 posts Member
    I think this is a solid point, but yo
    Kyno wrote: »
    The game has a long cycle time, if you dont see how 1 more full zeta a month is of benefit than it's in part your level of competitiveness.

    Just getting up to the top 50 gives you 1.25 full zetas a month. You literally cannot buy that with crystals in any where close to that rate or price.

    But that's just IMO.

    The example in the post wasn't one more full zeta a month, it was one more zeta mat in 40 days. Admittedly it gets faster at the higher ranks but that's not the point being made, which is that it's too top heavy and then levels out too fast. I take 2 every day (locked out of 1 by a kraken in an early shard) but I still agree, there should be more incentive.
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  • Philan81
    190 posts Member
    @Kyno - think you misunderstood. its 1 zeta mat (not full zeta) every 40 days. I am in similar situation. I got myself to be able to break top 100 (before update) and i did it for a few days. I never fall below 200. I have hardly any chance at getting top 50. The difference between position 200 and 51 is a grand total of 50 ship tokens. 2000/50= 40 days for an extra zeta mat that you need 20 of.
    To get top 100 i have to time my battles correctly otherwise i get bumped.
    If i do 1 battle a day i usually stay around 150 mark.

    Now i use to be below 500 and running AA ship and only getting 800 a day.
    The improvement between 501-200 is 400 (a third more).
    That was useful to push myself from 500 to top 200.

    Pushing myself from 200 to 100 for 50 - na, i'll focus energy and time on arena to make sure i stay top 100 there for an extra 25 crystals a day.
  • Kyno
    32087 posts Moderator
    Philan81 wrote: »
    @Kyno - think you misunderstood. its 1 zeta mat (not full zeta) every 40 days. I am in similar situation. I got myself to be able to break top 100 (before update) and i did it for a few days. I never fall below 200. I have hardly any chance at getting top 50. The difference between position 200 and 51 is a grand total of 50 ship tokens. 2000/50= 40 days for an extra zeta mat that you need 20 of.
    To get top 100 i have to time my battles correctly otherwise i get bumped.
    If i do 1 battle a day i usually stay around 150 mark.

    Now i use to be below 500 and running AA ship and only getting 800 a day.
    The improvement between 501-200 is 400 (a third more).
    That was useful to push myself from 500 to top 200.

    Pushing myself from 200 to 100 for 50 - na, i'll focus energy and time on arena to make sure i stay top 100 there for an extra 25 crystals a day.

    You are right my bad, I got over zealous with my thinking when looking at the numbers.

    But that 1.25 zeta pieces a month doesnt have an equivalent crystal value, as any tier of event that can earn you zetas doesnt have a crystal refresh. They are literally priceless, currently. Competitive players will take any advantage they can get, and I'm only talking about going top 50, you could double that by going for top 10.

    The incentive is there, but as with many things in this game it is a long term thing and you need to play the long game if you are going to stay competitive.

    Just food for thought.
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