With much respect, a concerned player!
After watching gameplay of Revan I can definitely see that he's a game changing character, of course I expected no less from a character that's possibly going to cost people as much as a couple paychecks if not more. This situation has made me alot more sceptical about pulling out my wallet. It's made me question whether supporting the game is actually bringing more content or just more characters. You see some people may consider characters themselves as being content but I definitely don't. This would be lowering expectations tremendously.
I think it's important we take a look back into the character to content ratio. Last year we got the first big content in a long time, territory battles. It was a very satisfying addition to the game bringing along two very grindy but awesome characters and a bunch of gear. A fair balance between p2p and f2p, although some would rightfully argue that p2p characters in platoons is unfair. Then shortly after TB, we got TW, which in my opinion other than the zeta rewards I feel like it's a bit of a let down overall. TW too quickly turned into contest of which guild has the most meta squads. Setting up identical walls of squads that are just boring to face. But I can't complain, it's still some decent content.
The the Sith raid. Getting a whole new raid is actually really nice on the side of the developers, of course the raid came with barely any testing, too many issues with bugs, exploits, bonds of weakness problems. Additionally we were only given 1 viable squad for p1, and we had some very disproportionate damage numbers. For example if you have nightsisters you can pretty much outdamage someone's entire account in a single run, making the results very unfair, objectively. The rewards were, and still are, an abomination, creating divisions within guilds and unnecessary anger and tensions, instead of promoting cooperation and team work. But once more it is actual CONTENT.
Then we suddenly got a major drop in content and the Marquee fest begun! Each Marquee with many complaints from the community and each time developer apologists would come out and tell the world how we need more p2p characters because that's what pays for new content. I agree, however I have one question: where is the new content? Did the devs get too comfortable receiving the cash from all these events and realized they regardless of how much content they push they will still make money? If we have to pay for characters just to get nothing but more Marquee events and legendary events which require more Marquee characters then what's the point? Are we really paying for content or paying so they can develop more characters and then ask more money for them?
Last time we got "free characters" was with IPD and Stark, we're closing in to a year since that happened. Meanwhile the power creep is getting out of control! Look at Revan, his kit is just too extreme... Where is this heading at? Why isn't there an effort to balance things? I'll give you an example from a game I'm playing; league of legends. Riot games, who owns the game only owns one title, LOL. The game makes nearly 2 billion dollars and year and they still don't use predatory practices to earn it. They keep the game competitive and balanced with frequent patches and reworks. They release a certain amount of characters each year and they don't intensify character production to make more money. They maintain a competitive game by making sure that all characters are viable and fun to play. Each time the meta shifts new characters become relevant even after they have been in the game for years. Some of the cheapest characters that you could aquire within a day, rotate in the meta along with the newest characters, now allowing the power creep to get out of control. They rework old characters all the time, one class at a time and this way characters remain interesting, making you want to go back and play them over and over again.
But when they release new characters people still want them, and you know why? Because humans are never satisfied. EA/CG wants you to believe that if a new character is not overpowered, nobody will care to farm them. What they really mean is that nobody will pay 350$ on day one, which is STILL inaccurate! People with expandable income will buy whatever you give them just because they are curious and want to try it.
I guess my concern is that this game is headed towards the wrong direction. We have a power creep that's not being balanced because CG refuses to rework older characters simply because they won't move their finger unless someone pays them. We have mistaken actual CONTENT with character releases and we have altered our standards to treat characters as content even though they really aren't. By doing so we have essentially given the devs a pass to advertise characters are being content and claim that we should be satisfied that that's all we're getting lately. And lastly my concern is with the community itself. I have witnessed a surrender! People have surrendered to the idea that paying gives you a RIGHT to stay on top. They have forgotten the concepts of competition, skill, strategy, effort! They think this is a contest of whose wallet is the thickest, assuming that buying a character should automatically mean you have earned the right to bump everyone else and earn a free pass into winning. There's just something wrong with this whole mentality.
What happened to paying being just a SHOTCUT? Why should it justify eliminating competition? Why do people even want that? Is there any satisfaction is knowing that you didn't win because you deserved it, you didn't win because you were the best, the smartest, the most strategic, the most insightful, the most hard working, the most prepared, the most deserving, but because you paid for it! I know what it's like to pay for content, I've supported this game in the past, I've bought Marquee characters before until I realized that winning feel so much better if you actually earn it.
I am by no means encouraging anyone to stop spending money on the game. If anything, I would encourage you to do the opposite because I want this game to be around for a long time. I just want to make it clear that just because you pay for things, you should not expect to simply be first without actually putting in some effort and that they Devs shouldn't be allowing that. I would actually even advocate for a small subscription fee if it meant that we would actually get real content and frequent reworks that keep the power creep in check, instead of milking whales.
We need to make the community come closer and understand that we're all part of the chain and a chain will break if it loses one of it's rings. Alienating f2p isn't doing anyone a service. I am not even mad that I won't get Revan this time around, I just wish he wasn't so broken. I get it he's broken because he's expensive and he's expensive because he is broken, but ask yourself if that's really good for the health of a game. Couldn't CG have put a 300$ price tag on him and still make a ton of money? Was it really necessary to go in the thousands? And no they aren't struggling to pay their bills, that's so insane for anyone to believe, people have literally bought into the idea that CG is barely able to survive and the game is hanging by a thread! And if they don't charge 1000 bucks for Revan they might have to close the place down! Seriously this fear mongering isn't working on anyone who has a brain, so please, educate yourself on how much games actually cost to make and maintain before you believe in despicable stuff like that.
I wish you all a great evening if you have made it this far and may the force be with you!
I think it's important we take a look back into the character to content ratio. Last year we got the first big content in a long time, territory battles. It was a very satisfying addition to the game bringing along two very grindy but awesome characters and a bunch of gear. A fair balance between p2p and f2p, although some would rightfully argue that p2p characters in platoons is unfair. Then shortly after TB, we got TW, which in my opinion other than the zeta rewards I feel like it's a bit of a let down overall. TW too quickly turned into contest of which guild has the most meta squads. Setting up identical walls of squads that are just boring to face. But I can't complain, it's still some decent content.
The the Sith raid. Getting a whole new raid is actually really nice on the side of the developers, of course the raid came with barely any testing, too many issues with bugs, exploits, bonds of weakness problems. Additionally we were only given 1 viable squad for p1, and we had some very disproportionate damage numbers. For example if you have nightsisters you can pretty much outdamage someone's entire account in a single run, making the results very unfair, objectively. The rewards were, and still are, an abomination, creating divisions within guilds and unnecessary anger and tensions, instead of promoting cooperation and team work. But once more it is actual CONTENT.
Then we suddenly got a major drop in content and the Marquee fest begun! Each Marquee with many complaints from the community and each time developer apologists would come out and tell the world how we need more p2p characters because that's what pays for new content. I agree, however I have one question: where is the new content? Did the devs get too comfortable receiving the cash from all these events and realized they regardless of how much content they push they will still make money? If we have to pay for characters just to get nothing but more Marquee events and legendary events which require more Marquee characters then what's the point? Are we really paying for content or paying so they can develop more characters and then ask more money for them?
Last time we got "free characters" was with IPD and Stark, we're closing in to a year since that happened. Meanwhile the power creep is getting out of control! Look at Revan, his kit is just too extreme... Where is this heading at? Why isn't there an effort to balance things? I'll give you an example from a game I'm playing; league of legends. Riot games, who owns the game only owns one title, LOL. The game makes nearly 2 billion dollars and year and they still don't use predatory practices to earn it. They keep the game competitive and balanced with frequent patches and reworks. They release a certain amount of characters each year and they don't intensify character production to make more money. They maintain a competitive game by making sure that all characters are viable and fun to play. Each time the meta shifts new characters become relevant even after they have been in the game for years. Some of the cheapest characters that you could aquire within a day, rotate in the meta along with the newest characters, now allowing the power creep to get out of control. They rework old characters all the time, one class at a time and this way characters remain interesting, making you want to go back and play them over and over again.
But when they release new characters people still want them, and you know why? Because humans are never satisfied. EA/CG wants you to believe that if a new character is not overpowered, nobody will care to farm them. What they really mean is that nobody will pay 350$ on day one, which is STILL inaccurate! People with expandable income will buy whatever you give them just because they are curious and want to try it.
I guess my concern is that this game is headed towards the wrong direction. We have a power creep that's not being balanced because CG refuses to rework older characters simply because they won't move their finger unless someone pays them. We have mistaken actual CONTENT with character releases and we have altered our standards to treat characters as content even though they really aren't. By doing so we have essentially given the devs a pass to advertise characters are being content and claim that we should be satisfied that that's all we're getting lately. And lastly my concern is with the community itself. I have witnessed a surrender! People have surrendered to the idea that paying gives you a RIGHT to stay on top. They have forgotten the concepts of competition, skill, strategy, effort! They think this is a contest of whose wallet is the thickest, assuming that buying a character should automatically mean you have earned the right to bump everyone else and earn a free pass into winning. There's just something wrong with this whole mentality.
What happened to paying being just a SHOTCUT? Why should it justify eliminating competition? Why do people even want that? Is there any satisfaction is knowing that you didn't win because you deserved it, you didn't win because you were the best, the smartest, the most strategic, the most insightful, the most hard working, the most prepared, the most deserving, but because you paid for it! I know what it's like to pay for content, I've supported this game in the past, I've bought Marquee characters before until I realized that winning feel so much better if you actually earn it.
I am by no means encouraging anyone to stop spending money on the game. If anything, I would encourage you to do the opposite because I want this game to be around for a long time. I just want to make it clear that just because you pay for things, you should not expect to simply be first without actually putting in some effort and that they Devs shouldn't be allowing that. I would actually even advocate for a small subscription fee if it meant that we would actually get real content and frequent reworks that keep the power creep in check, instead of milking whales.
We need to make the community come closer and understand that we're all part of the chain and a chain will break if it loses one of it's rings. Alienating f2p isn't doing anyone a service. I am not even mad that I won't get Revan this time around, I just wish he wasn't so broken. I get it he's broken because he's expensive and he's expensive because he is broken, but ask yourself if that's really good for the health of a game. Couldn't CG have put a 300$ price tag on him and still make a ton of money? Was it really necessary to go in the thousands? And no they aren't struggling to pay their bills, that's so insane for anyone to believe, people have literally bought into the idea that CG is barely able to survive and the game is hanging by a thread! And if they don't charge 1000 bucks for Revan they might have to close the place down! Seriously this fear mongering isn't working on anyone who has a brain, so please, educate yourself on how much games actually cost to make and maintain before you believe in despicable stuff like that.
I wish you all a great evening if you have made it this far and may the force be with you!
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I agree, although I don't want to look at this as rant, I want to look at it as honest feedback
You give great examples and details as to why this is a detriment to a game we all love.
And CG is knowing it and is milking the cash cows as long as it lasts.
The character release cadence is horrible. After all those marquees, Chewie and Revan they pump in another ship... I was like ****? We need some time to breath in between, but instead we are getting drowned.
Traya is the hardest toon to get. Getting Revan is a laugh compared to that. Yet his kit is superior...
To keep the interest long term content (not characters/ships) needs to be added. The ship table was a nice addition, but once completed just another farm hole sucking up crystals...
Something like GW, Arena. Maybe even the guild arena people are demanding for ages where players have the possibility to test squads vs other guildies. But I guess if that ever makes it into the game there will only be 2 fights a day besides you spend 50 crystals for another 2 fights. Then another 100 for etc. etc.
Sigh
mb it's more deep and devs pay the bill to have their seat in team... =\
The player base complains that there aren't enough event characters.
CG releases a couple event characters.
The player base complains that it's too much.
Ugh.
So really I think long-term the Originsl poster is right.. the best way to make a new meta isn’t through just one powerful new character with a kit that fills pages... it’s a strong new character combined with reworking outdated... toons to make them more balanced.
My feelings exactly. I decided to cut my investments because of that.
https://swgoh.gg/u/xezee/
I don't have the disposable income to become even a dolphin, but I would gladly pay $5 or $10 a month to help keep this game a float much longer. Especially if it meant newer or deeper content than what we have now.
Aside from the cost of Revan, I don't like the way he is being marketed. As I stated in my own post about his release, most people are only concerned about the Pvp arena. So basically people are paying to keep their arena rank. Which is just a horrible thing to do.
I've always been more of a PVE player. I want to see how viable Revan will be in other aspects of the game. For example Aurra Sing had a great marketing scheme. They showed how viable she is in PVP and PVE. Especially PVE. It didn't cause me to buy her, but that is because I just don't have the income to do so.
The only thing people are concerned about with Revan is; will he beat Traya?
Was Revan created to beat the meta or was Revan created with an idea in mind for the game's progression? I'd say he was created to beat the meta.
I know there are thousands of people right now upset about Revan, I think CG launching a character this anticipated the way they did was downright horrible business practice, but these doom and gloom threads are getting out of control. I've stated this multiple times on the forums but once more won't hurt~ I started this reroll account in early Feb of 2018 (roughly 8 months ago) and I've unlocked every legendary save for Traya, (and Revan obviously) I rank top 20 except days I actually try at payout I can hit #1 and I've done it all for FREE.
I've played countless freemium games and I've never been able to compete at this level for free, never. Here's a couple things to mull over, maybe it'll help see things from a different perspective.
-The difficulty in obtaining Revan doesn't exactly mean they're doing it for a cash grab, they are LOSING money without a doubt on this event without the thousands of micro transactions from those who just need that little extra. They can manage to do this while tossing their paying players a bone. You know the ones, those mean wallet warriors that keep this game in business so you can play for free and still manage to QQ constantly about it not being free enough!
-Following that process of logic it might be safe to assume it was done on purpose so they don't crush the meta in a single blow as every dolphin, whale and Kraken breaks out their wallets to flood the arena and push every non paying player down the ladder. THAT would be a p2w paywall.
-Its a lot less farming than previous HJ events and easily doable within the 3-4 months until we see him again
-They very well could have rushed this to release Darth Revan in February, the month of the sith/dark side.
-Following that logic we can assume the reign of Revan might stop before it ever starts, and I don't mean that I want to see him irrelevant I just don't want to see a single squad reign supreme.
-most of all its a free video game, either play for free and come to grips with the fact that it's ran by a corporation whose sole purpose is to turn a profit, or go play Marvel Strike force so you can see what a real freemium game looks like.
I am fine with event characters. More of it, but throw in the marquees that are not relevant for those events at a slower pace. Also not whining about FTP vs PTP. I consider myself as a dolphin and can cope with not having Revan this time around...
One issue I have is that the constant release of characters is overwhelming. I started February 2018. I have just G12ed my one and only arena team (Palp) and I am struggling with catching up basically.
Another issue is the game gets boring the longer you play. Flooding us with toons is not helping that.
More content would, at least from my point of view.
EDITED for more clarity
That's a lot to reply to but I'll do my best. I think I made it very clear that my primary concern is the fact that we're transitioning a state of the game where characters are becoming the content of the game instead of actual content. I don't think that "releasing a "new" map for TW or TB" is content either, all you do is change the wallpaper and the requirements, the format is the same. My concern is that the objective of the game is the character aquisition itself, the endless character farms that get in the way of enjoying content.
You say you farm for guild advancement and fun but that's really not saying anything. I mean what's more fun, having a character at g11-12 using them on various events and raids or "pulling the slots" at 5 or 8 attempts and waiting for the drop like it's a slot machine, waiting 6 months to be able to use them in a raid? I that case I would do some research on gambling addiction.
You also didn't address the issue of the power creep which is very important to me and good amount of players. The fact that characters aren't receiving meaningful reworks that help them rotate in the meta, with minor exceptions. We have so many useless characters that serve as nothing more than requirements for more characters. I understand this is a collectors game but it's also so much more and none of it seems to be getting much attention any more.
Interestingly enough you speak about how f2p can compete with p2p in arena more than any other game. I kind of agree although don't get this the wrong way but judging from your experience you are fairly new to this game. You even mentioned you don't have Traya and you're working on her. You mention this at a point in time where arena is actually fairly shifting towards mods. Even before mods 2.0 but even more so now, with the current Traya meta speed is incredibly important. P2p can farm significantly more mods and afford to upgrade them which certainly gives them an edge.
Having the fastest Sion means more taunts which disrupt the other team. Having a faster Nihilus means having a very high chance at reducing key cool downs of the enemy team thus increasing the chances of a success defense and with the improvement of the AI better mods usually equals to alot more wins on defense, which is where it matters the most. If you are using JTR in arena all you need is a fast BB8 so you don't actually see the mod struggle that exists in the top tier arenas where Traya is running the game.
I agree with some of your statements, I disagree with some. I personally quit Marvel Strike force because of how ridiculously insane and agressive their prices are and I agree 100% that this game is so much better than strike force in terms of money, but then again I'm not debating money, I'm debating the objectives and the direction of the game. Who doesn't want to make money? Not problem, I just don't see the need for the power creep over balance and I want to see some actual CONTENT instead of presenting character farms as content.