Suggestion: Addition to the Character Release Cadence

Goodgil

So... While I like a lot of things that relate to the cadence, at the end of the day, it lacks verity. There are only 4 ways to release toons right now:
1) Marquess, which are available since level 20 (which mean pretty much everybody gets them) that give 2* characters, and get upgraded to 3* for free, and have a 10$ pack to 4*.
2) Legendary Events, which require a faction at the same level as the level you unlock; unlocks them at 5*, and can be upgraded to 7* right away - if you've invested in the faction. Rewards players that invested in various factions, even if those factions are far from being the Meta.
3) Raids, which requires a whole new gear level and challenges, that unlocks a character at 5* as reward for a guild completing the Heroic tier. Rewards players who are in strong guilds and can find a creative strategy quickly.
3) Hero's Journey - requires 5 specific 7* characters, and only unlocks at 7*; the required characters are newly released to F2P players, in order to limit the amount of players who get it (and encourage spending - I'm not complaining, CG needs to make money somehow).

While all of these types are fine, it creates a certain feel of routine - there's a very real feeling that it's same old, same old when new characters come, no matter how much effort the devs put in there, So, I suggest some new methods for the devs' consideration:

1) Bonus Marquees: this is based on the way Jango was released. These events will be available to level 60 and up (making them available to most, but not all, players), and will provide characters that unlock at 3* with some additional rewards - maybe gear, maybe enough shards to raise them to 4*, maybe a combination of both. It should be rarer than normal Marquees, but common enough.
2) Grand Arena rewards: Grand Arena is quickly shaping up as one of my favorite game modes, but even if you don't like it, it's definitely a test of strategy and wider understanding of the whole roster. By giving shards based on your score, it will be a new way to reward individual players for creativity and adaptability. Instead of relying on RNG for shards, automatically getting them from a store, or competing with your guildmates, it will be a personal test.
3) TB special mission rewards: back when TB released, part of what the devs said they were most exited about was the ability to change the way it works with relatively limited work. I'm not going to pretend I know how those things work, but I'm taking the devs at their words - it could be a change of phase for an event that is getting stale.

That's what I came up with. Feel free to add your own additions, if you think of other ways that I didn't.