Proposed Revision to the Character Release Cadence

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Stud3099
601 posts Member
Current character release cadence is something like this:
Marquee release --> 4-6 weeks --> shipments/chromium packs --> 4-6 weeks --> single hard node/cantina node/guild shop/fleet shop.

Unfortunately, this is resulting in a significant amount of toons ending up on single hard nodes recently. Are there plans to make these toons more farmable @CG_SBCrumb? A single hard node takes like 6 months to farm to 7 stars which maybe is the intent for some but it seems like all of them are that way. Why have Visas and Sabine on single hard nodes for example? Neither of them are earth-shattering meta characters? Rose? Holdo?

I know it's been stated before that the other shops won't be touched as these are intended to feed the shard shop store but with all the toons being released this is going to continue to clutter up the LS/DS and possibly ship nodes at the rate things are going. Please revisit that aspect of the character release cadence. Let players decide if they want a toon or shard shop currency.

As an option, I propose the following which should maintain the exclusive nature of these characters for a time but progressively allow them to become more farmable:

Releases that go to hard nodes: Marquee release --> 4-6 weeks --> shipments/chromium packs --> 4-6 weeks --> single hard node --> 4-6 weeks --> 2 hard nodes --> 4-6 weeks --> 3 hard nodes or start removing from hard nodes and add them to either cantina/arena/GW.

and

Releases that go to other locations: Marquee release --> 4-6 weeks --> shipments/chromium packs --> 4-6 weeks --> cantina node/guild shop/fleet shop.

Replies

  • Jaconis
    39 posts Member
    Agreed. This is where the problem lies, IMO, not with marquee events. Single hard nodes, especially the 20 energy ones which is the only place these characters are going, are miserably long farms which hinder gear acquisition for long periods of time.
  • Excellent idea to modify it too, OP.

    These single node farms are awful, but if it was only the starting place for these toons, and they'd continue to open up in more places as months go by that would be MUCH better.
  • Add them to cantina nodes? With all the other characters that are there, and with mods too? I wrote down my current list of characters not at 7*, and where they can be farmed. If you do 5 hard nodes of LS and DS, you should be around where I am. I have 6 LS and 5 DS characters left to 7*. Cantina has 14 characters left to 7*. I'm close to finishing off 1 on LS and DS tables.
  • Chucko_marek
    3817 posts Member
    edited July 2018
    If the plan is to add new characters on the cantina farm schedule, and with the major mod shuffle, we should get a separate energy for mod farming. If the mod only energy becomes a reality, I think I could bear it.
  • They will not make a change like this. Krakens will stop paying $300 for every marquee toon, and whales will stop occasionally paying that much for a marquee toon with a good kit if they can farm them quickly a few weeks later. They don’t want you to be able to easily farm these new characters. They want you to buy them. They will try to get you to buy them via the incredibly overpriced and deceptively marketed 3-330 shard packs. Then they will try to get you to buy the via slightly less overpriced Chromium packs, then via moderately overpriced crystal purchases via shipments, then via refreshes.

    They are apparently committed to this business model, so do not expect any changes.
  • Stud3099
    601 posts Member
    SoonerJBD wrote: »
    They will not make a change like this. Krakens will stop paying $300 for every marquee toon, and whales will stop occasionally paying that much for a marquee toon with a good kit if they can farm them quickly a few weeks later. They don’t want you to be able to easily farm these new characters. They want you to buy them. They will try to get you to buy them via the incredibly overpriced and deceptively marketed 3-330 shard packs. Then they will try to get you to buy the via slightly less overpriced Chromium packs, then via moderately overpriced crystal purchases via shipments, then via refreshes.

    They are apparently committed to this business model, so do not expect any changes.

    My proposal was up to 6 months after the initial release before a hard-node toon becomes farmable from 3 hard nodes or farmable within a store. The whales and Krakens have long moved on to the next shiny thing by that point.
  • Stud3099 wrote: »
    SoonerJBD wrote: »
    They will not make a change like this. Krakens will stop paying $300 for every marquee toon, and whales will stop occasionally paying that much for a marquee toon with a good kit if they can farm them quickly a few weeks later. They don’t want you to be able to easily farm these new characters. They want you to buy them. They will try to get you to buy them via the incredibly overpriced and deceptively marketed 3-330 shard packs. Then they will try to get you to buy the via slightly less overpriced Chromium packs, then via moderately overpriced crystal purchases via shipments, then via refreshes.

    They are apparently committed to this business model, so do not expect any changes.

    My proposal was up to 6 months after the initial release before a hard-node toon becomes farmable from 3 hard nodes or farmable within a store. The whales and Krakens have long moved on to the next shiny thing by that point.

    Still not going to happen. The knowledge that the only way to get new toons in a reasonable amount of time is to buy them drives sales. They don’t want anyone thinking, “Well, I can just wait a few more months and farm them.”

    I’m not saying your suggestion is unreasonable. I’m just saying there is no way they will do it.
  • Corrog
    308 posts Member
    Congrats, OP, you've put forth an excellent post, with reasonable arguments, and you put the cherry on top: an actual suggestion to replace the system you don't like.

    I like this idea. As a mostly f2p player, I would obviously prefer characters get released directly into stores, but I'm a realist, and I know that'll never happen. What you've suggested wouldn't hurt the characters, I believe, and would simultaneously help newer players get going faster. @CG_SBCrumb , is there any hope of seeing something along these lines enacted?
  • Random9
    510 posts Member
    SoonerJBD wrote: »
    Stud3099 wrote: »
    SoonerJBD wrote: »
    They will not make a change like this. Krakens will stop paying $300 for every marquee toon, and whales will stop occasionally paying that much for a marquee toon with a good kit if they can farm them quickly a few weeks later. They don’t want you to be able to easily farm these new characters. They want you to buy them. They will try to get you to buy them via the incredibly overpriced and deceptively marketed 3-330 shard packs. Then they will try to get you to buy the via slightly less overpriced Chromium packs, then via moderately overpriced crystal purchases via shipments, then via refreshes.

    They are apparently committed to this business model, so do not expect any changes.

    My proposal was up to 6 months after the initial release before a hard-node toon becomes farmable from 3 hard nodes or farmable within a store. The whales and Krakens have long moved on to the next shiny thing by that point.

    Still not going to happen. The knowledge that the only way to get new toons in a reasonable amount of time is to buy them drives sales. They don’t want anyone thinking, “Well, I can just wait a few more months and farm them.”

    I’m not saying your suggestion is unreasonable. I’m just saying there is no way they will do it.

    @SoonerJBD I don’t think you know what you’re talking about. They put several toons into the Cantina table on low energy nodes. KRU for example is super easy to farm and his ship is included. Clearly they are willing to put marquees in accessible places. Whales will still spend a lot of resources on the new toons to have them a few months early at 7 stars gear 12
  • I don't mind multiple characters on single hard nodes. I loved it when this game was just starting out and you had to choose which characters to farm - because you couldn't farm then all at the same time. If someone wants to whale it up and have every character at seven stars quickly, there is a vehicle for that.
    Perhaps a nice bone to throw us would be to stick one of these characters in the shard shop briefly - for some extra shards at the expense of some gear farming. This happened a little bit when the shop first opened.
  • Agreed - the game is aging. 6 months is INCREDIBLY long in the cycle of most mobile games - here - it's just part of it. After 6 months sitting in a single hard node - something should be done to open up farming options. That's at the LEAST... but some relief to the cantina adds that have been there forever would be great too.

    I mean, let people pick a single toon to appear in Arena store - they get access to buy shards for that one toon to the detriment of others for like 2 days once every 2 months. Even stock piling you'd have to refresh with crystals to really work that toon. Something...
    #AcolyteShootsTwice
  • Random9 wrote: »
    SoonerJBD wrote: »
    Stud3099 wrote: »
    SoonerJBD wrote: »
    They will not make a change like this. Krakens will stop paying $300 for every marquee toon, and whales will stop occasionally paying that much for a marquee toon with a good kit if they can farm them quickly a few weeks later. They don’t want you to be able to easily farm these new characters. They want you to buy them. They will try to get you to buy them via the incredibly overpriced and deceptively marketed 3-330 shard packs. Then they will try to get you to buy the via slightly less overpriced Chromium packs, then via moderately overpriced crystal purchases via shipments, then via refreshes.

    They are apparently committed to this business model, so do not expect any changes.

    My proposal was up to 6 months after the initial release before a hard-node toon becomes farmable from 3 hard nodes or farmable within a store. The whales and Krakens have long moved on to the next shiny thing by that point.

    Still not going to happen. The knowledge that the only way to get new toons in a reasonable amount of time is to buy them drives sales. They don’t want anyone thinking, “Well, I can just wait a few more months and farm them.”

    I’m not saying your suggestion is unreasonable. I’m just saying there is no way they will do it.

    @SoonerJBD I don’t think you know what you’re talking about. They put several toons into the Cantina table on low energy nodes. KRU for example is super easy to farm and his ship is included. Clearly they are willing to put marquees in accessible places. Whales will still spend a lot of resources on the new toons to have them a few months early at 7 stars gear 12

    They tend to put the more desirable characters on the higher energy nodes and definitely not on multiple nodes as suggested. KRU’s node was a bit of an abberation. It was definitely one of the better nodes they made available over the last six months. Keep in mind he also isn’t part of the meta and wasn’t required for an upcoming heroic character. The vets were put on higher energy nodes that made them much tougher to farm.
  • Cicero
    10 posts Member
    I remember when they put Phoenix in multiple locations and then dropped a legendary for Thrawn like 2 weeks later. I don't see why that couldn't happen here.
  • Here's how the math works out, just fyi. To get from 3*-7* you need 280 shards.

    Current system (1 hard node forever):
    170 days (24.2 weeks)
    Total 36.2 weeks from release date
    Proposed system by OP (assuming 6 weeks):
    98 days (14.6 weeks)
    Total 26.6 weeks from release date

    No comment just math.
  • If they slowed the rate they released characters, 3 months would still be plenty time to encourage people to buy an advantage, and give them enough character releases to keep interest high and maintain the business model whilst giving the community a much needed morale boost. Seems good. Nice idea OP
  • Definitely needs a change. Hard node farms are evil. You should have seen me when I saw that bossk was put on a single hard node. Go figures. Starting to not have the time for this anymore to be honest. I liked the way it was before. When all the shops were getting new characters. How it is now is rage inducing and making some question why they even bother with this anymore.
  • I think the cadence is fine. Do I want new toons sooner? Yes. But these recent releases have been so underwhelming I'm not missing out on much because of them. So put them in a single hard node I will go on not missing out on them for a little longer. Also this allows me to gear toons I have starred up. While it may make platoons harder I don't think my life is less complete with Rose, Bossk, or any of the really bad solo toons.
  • Daishi
    718 posts Member
    At least move the toons that had low sales numbers to cantina nodes or multiple nodes. Young lando/han, vando chewie, etc. Maybe even add these to GW shop eventually.
  • Guest
    518 posts Member
    The problem as nothing to do with the cadence, the problem is that they put chars on hard node and only there. Visas, check. Sion, double check. Talzin, check. And now, Bossk ? As if BH where so popular to be farmed and not hard enough to get, you then have to farm this useful character to get a faction that doesn't entirely suck.

    There're other possibilities such as cantina nodes (as they excluded GW, ships and arena stores). You can as well put them in the shards store like it was back in the day. But no, they choose to make it hard, again. :smile:
  • Yeah, I have no problem with the single hard node being the final word on toon farming... yeah, it takes a while but you can cut that time in half with a daily refresh or if you want them faster you can buy from shipments... the scarcity makes your choices on who to farm more meaningful.
  • Unless they are going straight into the Arena team then its a slow farm for me.

    Currently stockpiling crystals in preparation for the next legendary... whatever that may entail.
  • DoomeyEyes wrote: »
    Yeah, I have no problem with the single hard node being the final word on toon farming... yeah, it takes a while but you can cut that time in half with a daily refresh or if you want them faster you can buy from shipments... the scarcity makes your choices on who to farm more meaningful.

    That's fine when it's an amazing character who is super rare, but they are ALL going to a single hard node. Most of these characters are "meh" at best, and are not sufficiently powerful to warrant the slog of grinding them off a lone hard node
  • Globuhl
    751 posts Member
    edited July 2018
    I agree, this single hard node issue is getting more and more preoccupying with each new release. Farming one single character for six months is a huge commitment. It's much too long... This won't make me invest more in the game but this may very well make me leave for another game.
  • Zevox
    172 posts Member
    That's fine when it's an amazing character who is super rare, but they are ALL going to a single hard node. Most of these characters are "meh" at best, and are not sufficiently powerful to warrant the slog of grinding them off a lone hard node
    Agreed, that's the issue at the moment. If we're going to have these super-long single hard node farms, at least make it characters that make sense to be that hard to get. Putting the likes of Sion or Talzin onto hard nodes makes sense. But Wicket and Visas? Holdo and Rose? Bossk? They all have their uses (well, except Rose) and can be important to certain teams, sure, but none are powerhouse endgame characters. Why are the likes of them getting made so hard to acquire? That doesn't make any sense, and just becomes frustrating.

    It's not hard to choose to farm the likes of Sion, Nihilus, Talzin, etc over Bossk, Wicket, Holdo, etc. But it is annoying to know that, for example, you won't be able to have a functioning Bounty Hunter team until you finish those better characters and take the additional half-year or so to farm Bossk from that single hard node. Especially since everyone can see coming that some of these KotOR characters will probably end up on hard nodes and will be needed for Revan, which will push other farms like those that much further down the priority list when it happens.
  • i have no problem with the cadence. it's just way too many toons that is the issue. just new content for no reason. it's the volume that creates the issue...
  • Aluxtu
    420 posts Member
    Even a node rotation would be nice. Like once a month shuffle em all around.
  • ^thats a perfect idea
  • Cicero wrote: »
    I remember when they put Phoenix in multiple locations and then dropped a legendary for Thrawn like 2 weeks later. I don't see why that couldn't happen here.

    That was a panic farm! But nothing beats the vets for the heroes journey. Terrible. At least Phoenix is needed in other places.
    It’s a shame they completely cut off the stores. I was hoping they would shuffle some but I guess it’s not fair to newer players. Then I thought of a layered system. So - if you got ig 86 to 7* in gw it would open up a new toon to get.

    I suspect that teams of new toons will be spread out - hard node, guild store, cantina. But who knows. Maybe this will be for the new ls scoundrels.

    They are counting on people’s love of the old republic and arena edge for people to buy the toons. While we all suffer through platoons.

    I don’t mind the marquee events but choosing which hard node farm to farm is a very important choice. By the time you get the toon to 7 will they still be relevant ?
  • Jefferx
    361 posts Member
    If all toon are easier to farm, then everybody will have all toon to 7*. Is it really something fun to play ?? The game is fun because only some people do have a toon to 7* and geared. In this way you have to make choice. You are working on which toon to 7* and which you are not working. The game would be pointless if everybody have all new toon to 7* very fast. In the CG point of view, they will have to make even more toon to be include in the game to keep the game fun to play.....
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