People keep mentioning that whales have an advantage with mods and gear. Sure. You are correct.
But no whale is getting tickled using identical squads to face others with better mods. They want content others don’t have. Not just better mods and gear.
I’m tired of throwing mods in our faces. I would rather have exclusive toons once in a while over so many mods.
Also it’s a 4 month wait. It’s not the end of the world. See F2P have been conditioned for the whole 3* toon and $10 for a 4* and have everything the whales have even if not 7* they thought this would be the same thing. But it’s not.
I would argue the problem is the other way around. The pressure to spend has been increasing and the power creep has been increasing a lot. If you don't get the characters then you will struggle in the Heroic sith raid, Territory war and Grand Arena for a while and by the time the character comes back you will be missing out on something else for a while.
Fleet is also dumb right now with only the falcon under Ackbar being viable. If you didn't get him the first time around then tough luck getting into top 20 or even top 50. Also way TOO MUCH rng with this team with assists. Ships has been way too RNG since 2.0.
In the past characters were much more easy to farm when they were in stores, or if they were on a hard node they were still farmable in multiple locations and with multiple currencies, whether it meant on a cantina node, in the GW store etc. Now characters are ALL put on single energy hard nodes and it takes forever. The shift began with some of the Rogue 1 toons.
People keep mentioning that whales have an advantage with mods and gear. Sure. You are correct.
But no whale is getting tickled using identical squads to face others with better mods. They want content others don’t have. Not just better mods and gear.
I’m tired of throwing mods in our faces. I would rather have exclusive toons once in a while over so many mods.
Also it’s a 4 month wait. It’s not the end of the world. See F2P have been conditioned for the whole 3* toon and $10 for a 4* and have everything the whales have even if not 7* they thought this would be the same thing. But it’s not.
I don't think whales have such a huge advantage in mods. It's pure luck if you get a 28 speed secondary. A ftp guy in my shard has some great sets.
People keep mentioning that whales have an advantage with mods and gear. Sure. You are correct.
But no whale is getting tickled using identical squads to face others with better mods. They want content others don’t have. Not just better mods and gear.
I’m tired of throwing mods in our faces. I would rather have exclusive toons once in a while over so many mods.
Also it’s a 4 month wait. It’s not the end of the world. See F2P have been conditioned for the whole 3* toon and $10 for a 4* and have everything the whales have even if not 7* they thought this would be the same thing. But it’s not.
I don't think whales have such a huge advantage in mods. It's pure luck if you get a 28 speed secondary. A ftp guy in my shard has some great sets.
I agree with you but some people keep pushing that as their agenda to basically say “we should all have access to all the toons at the same time as whales.”
That part I don’t agree with. If one toon a year is exclusive to whales for 4-5 months and everything else is available to unlock I’m fine with that.
People keep mentioning that whales have an advantage with mods and gear. Sure. You are correct.
But no whale is getting tickled using identical squads to face others with better mods. They want content others don’t have. Not just better mods and gear.
I’m tired of throwing mods in our faces. I would rather have exclusive toons once in a while over so many mods.
Also it’s a 4 month wait. It’s not the end of the world. See F2P have been conditioned for the whole 3* toon and $10 for a 4* and have everything the whales have even if not 7* they thought this would be the same thing. But it’s not.
Sounds like you have great disgust for ftp players. That’s fine we can all leave and that’s exactly what will happen if they continue this model . Dolphins will leave too no way they can endure either. What happens then? What advantage can you pay for? All will exactly what you have. Remember only whales now. What gives you advantage then? Answer Is mods and gear. But guess what your playing against all Whales they will have that too. Enjoy playing that . I have spent loads in this game been playing since launch. I stopped spending 2 yrs ago prices are just obscene can’t look myself in mirror if I spent 400 for a toon especially when in 2 days there will be multiple videos on you tube of other squads killing the shiny new toys. Couple days notice for a arena meta defining character is beyond disrespectful to the majority of games player base caters to the whales. Whales reading this enjoy the bone CG threw ya and pray they don’t do again If they do mod rng will be your only hope for advantage. I’m versed in the ways of YouTube Be killing your shiny new toy soon.
I've looked at the rancor (the word, not the monster) on the forums this past week, the visceral bitterness, and I think I know why CG have ended up with this barrage of hate.
The lines between whales and FTP (I'm including dolphins here) have been blurred over a period of time. CG is now course correcting, and FTP don't like it.
Hard Nodes
You used to get 3 attempts, then it was changed to 5, then it was changed to 8!
Refreshing your attempts used to cost 50 crystals, now it costs only 25.
Daily Crystals
You used to get 500 crystals for placing first in squad arena, now you get an extra 400 crystals for placing first in fleet arena.
Legendaries and Journeys
The impact of the above two gifts to FTP players is that they can obtain legendary and journey characters and ships much easier.
In comes instantly meta JKR with so much time to prepare and hoard, obtainable with severely under-geared characters - and he returns within just 3 months. Furthermore, slower and less well modded JKR teams can beat the very best on the shard with ease.
The result of this? Large numbers of FTP can now get #1 in arena for the first time, and they love it (understandably)! Add to this the Falcon, which is equally effective at 5 stars as it is at 7 - again, large numbers of FTP can get #1 for the first time. Easier than ever to hoard crystals.
Then in comes the heavily leaked DR with more time to prepare than ever, everyone knew he was coming, a FTP hoarder's delight, and once again obtainable with under-geared characters.
Remember Those Whales?
Guess what the big spenders are thinking about all this? Well, they're wondering why they bought the characters and ships from marquee packs and shipments with ... you know ... MONEY. They're wondering why they paid so much just to be batted out of the top 20 by players with half their GP and pitiful mods.
Like it or not, this is a mobile game, and people used to understand that whales got a significant advantage after the first release, then dolphins and FTP got to catch up later.
But now, because the lines have been blurred, the FTP Revan Horde expect to get everything else on the first release - hence the entitled Malak outrage.
Really? So what is the actual point of whales spending on this game? And what will happen when they inevitably stop?
Conclusion / TLDR
CG are course correcting, and yes it's hard to take things away after they've been given, but the whale > dolphin > FTP ecosystem has been unbalanced for some time, and that delicate balance MUST be restored if the game is to survive.
Whales get slapped in the face all the time by CG constantly eroding their advantage, particularly during this last year, but they don't have the numbers to generate the kind of outrage and petitions that we've seen this past week. They just quietly quit and walk away.
If paying for an advantage isn't worth it, then the game is truly done - and I for one am glad CG have remembered this important fact.
So heres my less trolly take on this topic. So my first thing I want to point out to everyone is show me 1 successful mobile game (ie being fun for the players and profitable to the company) where there isn't a pay to win or pay to accelerate model? Ill wait..
PUBG. You’re welcome.
I didn’t read the rest of the wall. Just a friendly reminder, paragraphs are your friend.
So heres my less trolly take on this topic. So my first thing I want to point out to everyone is show me 1 successful mobile game (ie being fun for the players and profitable to the company) where there isn't a pay to win or pay to accelerate model? Ill wait..
PUBG. You’re welcome.
I didn’t read the rest of the wall. Just a friendly reminder, paragraphs are your friend.
Fortnite too
$10 unlocks the battle pass. $10. Not $10,000 or $100,000 like this game
So heres my less trolly take on this topic. So my first thing I want to point out to everyone is show me 1 successful mobile game (ie being fun for the players and profitable to the company) where there isn't a pay to win or pay to accelerate model? Ill wait..
PUBG. You’re welcome.
I didn’t read the rest of the wall. Just a friendly reminder, paragraphs are your friend.
Fortnite too
$10 unlocks the battle pass. $10. Not $10,000 or $100,000 like this game
Neither of these games built their success on the mobile platform until they were already established with revenue streams. They are skill-based games, so players can differentiate themselves based on personal skill and cosmetic items. Neither of those concepts would work for SWGOH.
Having to waste expensive gear on useless characters to get a useful character is dumb and pushes f2p farther behind until they quit.
Useless characters? BH, ewok, OR, BH ships etc. all have their uses outside the legendary/journey event. Farmboy luke doesn't, but that's the only one, I believe.
Useless: veterans, t3, scavenger Rey, farmboy luke
Mostly useless: stormtrooper Han, Princess Leia, Old Ben
Questionable: Carth, Juhani, Canderous, mission, zaalbar
I list the questionables because there’s not a lot of use for them but they can be a fun, second rate team in pvp for GA or TW. They aren’t that great against meta teams though.
Ah, yes. Also veterans. I don't agree with the rest of your list. So, we're down to veterans and farmboy Luke. That's 3 out of how many? 50 altogether?
They are skill-based games, so players can differentiate themselves based on personal skill and cosmetic items. Neither of those concepts would work for SWGOH.
I'd have to disagree with that. SWGOH is primarily built on players' ability to create viable 5-character squads with the right amounts of synergy/strength/speed etc., to ensure those characers are modded in the correct way to maximise the particular strengths of each character, to then battle with them making use of the right abilities at the right times in the right order against the right kind of opposition that your squad is capable of beating - those are all character building skills and tactical skills, which is why for instance you will still sometimes see people losing in arena with a G12 maxed JKR because he's only got 160 speed etc.
There's just as much skill in SWGOH however the game model has made it so that you don't truly benefit from your individual character building, squad crafting, or tactical skills because people can just buy their way to stronger and stronger characters (and gear) that more often than not you can just bludgeon weaker FTP players with, generally regardless of how utterly stupid the pay-to-play person's tactics or mod decisions are.
Princess Leia is a fine toon and old Ben is flat awesome, scavenger rey is also a good toon, and the questioables you listed are all good. Do you only play for arena?? There are other aspects to the game you know.
Yeah..... Those characters are good for just spinning around and looking at the 360 degree artwork.
What, exactly, do you do with your squad of Old Ben, Leia, and Scavenger Rey? Seriously. I'm genuinely interested in what you do in the game with those characters.
I have read posts like this one for months and I think there is a need to point out a few flaws in the often repeated argument: Whales pay for the game, if it weren't for Whales there would be no game.
The initial post is right that Whales pay for some of this game and that CG's business model appears to be increasingly based on Whale-style behaviour. Without detailed figures we don't know whether Whales contribute most of CG's income - dolphins and occasional spenders will also contribute and may be more valuable as a whole. However, I am happy to work on the basis that Whale spending supports the current financial model.
The mistake is to assume that Whales are necessary, i.e. that a Ftp game must have Whales to support it. This is simply not true. One of the earlier posters in this discussion has already pointed out that there are other gaming models which work and which could support a thriving mobile game like this one. Take a couple of simple examples for other areas of business. First, the food industry. McDonalds makes a lot of money - it has a greater annual income stream than some countries - but it does not achieve this by selling very expensive burgers, it does it by selling a lot of cheaper burgers. Henry Ford worked this out with the Model T and cars - selling a lot of cars for less money makes more money than selling a few cars for a lot. Computer gaming is no different. Swgoh and other games could be produced and made very profitable on a similar business model. Whales are NOT necessary for Ftp gaming or for mobile games or any other sort of gaming.
Whale behaviour also causes problems. First, if a game is built on the whale model the cost of items in game becomes extremely high. This actually restricts spending by other people, people like me who spend some money on the game but not big sums. Because the paywalls are so high I have to choose between in game spending and spending in real life on myself and my family. The sums required are simply too much to justify on a better than average family budget in the UK and so I don't spend them. If characters or other boosts were less expensive I would actually spend more. I am clearly not alone in this as these forums and others are full of posts from people saying it is not worth investing in the game any longer at these levels. Building a business model based on greater numbers of spenders who each spend less per head would change this.
Second, a game built on the whale model is in danger of losing one of its vital qualities, its player base. A thriving Arena, thriving guilds, people to chat and play with, vigorous and challenging PvP all require a vibrant and lively player base. That means numbers and Whales alone cannot and do not provide this, for this you need Ftp or small spenders in large numbers and the way CG is currently moving the game puts that in danger. Check the posts from people trying to start out in the game or those from guild officers who have lost long term and valuable guild members today because of these changes.
So, yes Whales you do support the current financial model of Swgoh but please do not claim that without you this game could not go on. There are other ways of making very large sums of money from gaming which CG could use. Whales do not keep the game alive for the rest of us. Indeed, there is a risk that Whales could kill this game by continuing to spend at levels which are simply not sensible for most people. If so, this game could become an empty desert like so many depopulated MMORPGs and once that happens Swgoh will die. More to the point, if spending was at a more sensible level we could have a game which more of us could really enjoy, with more diversity and in which your achievements were the result of your skill as a player. That would surely be better for all of us?
Absolutely fantastic post. This guy gets it.
CG have damaged themselves - they are, rather desperately, only seeing the BIG spenders as worth targeting. Doesn't make any sense. Focussing on the 10 BIG spenders with a technique that discourages the 90 small spenders doesn't make any sense. It literally is a cash-grab rather than a sensible, mature and sustainable profit-maximisation plan. That's what worries me about this whole affair - it's desperate and unsustainable. It suggests they are trying to grab all they can before...the whole thing blows up. And that saddens me because I like the game and want it to continue.
Krakens, by definition in my opinion, are generally smart and savvy. They won't tolerate being milked like cows forever. Far smarter for CG to give a little advantage to the thousands of players that are prepared to spend a little cash rather than gamble everything on the patience of those who can gain total advantage by dropping huge amounts of money. In my opinion.
In regards myself (if anyone cares) - I've decided never to spend another penny on the game. Not doing it, there's no point. I'm going to farm the teams I like regardless of any meta. I've spent a little money over the two years playing the game but now I know CG aren't interested in the sort of amounts I'm prepared to spend and it won't get me anywhere near meta then I won't bother. I'm pleased to be honest. Here's to a much cheaper, more fun and less stressful playing experience...that may well not last as long as I'd hope...but that's not my problem.
Princess Leia is a fine toon and old Ben is flat awesome, scavenger rey is also a good toon, and the questioables you listed are all good. Do you only play for arena?? There are other aspects to the game you know.
Yeah..... Those characters are good for just spinning around and looking at the 360 degree artwork.
What, exactly, do you do with your squad of Old Ben, Leia, and Scavenger Rey? Seriously. I'm genuinely interested in what you do in the game with those characters.
When CLS was introduced Leia and Old Ben were commonly used in squad arena under CLS lead. Old ben has been used since as well. In the early days of heroic STR the Leia Machinegun team was commonly used in phase 2 (now JKR/Bastilla lead jedi rule that phase). I've used Leia a lot in TB when Rebels were required for several missions. I always use Leia in 3v3 GA (AA lead, C-3P0 and Leia) - works wonders against Zaul lead. Rey scav is often used in heroic STR p1 (yes, Finn took over after his rework). Finn lead, RT and Scav Rey work well in 3v3 arena.
I wouldn't call them (mostly) useless. Not at all.
I once was a dolphin,now I'm just FTP.Last thing I paid for was the **** and it got me nowhere in arena except a few spots.With the god-awful mod speed secondary drops I get,I see no point in dropping anymore coin on this game imo.Matches in both arenas are still the same.When they nerfed Finn and made GG a bum...meanwhile adding another ability to bastilla with GG getting nothing..The game 4 me is getting harder n harder to log into every day.
Great post. I spend a lot on the game and you are spot on. There are many points where I’ve thought about quitting for the reasons you point out. Like it or not, any business is about taking care of your top paying customers. For the first time in a long time, I feel like CG is doing just that.
Interesting because I'm one of those top spenders and I feel like I've been dealt a serious groin punch.
You have! I've already said it - it's the big spenders being milked and taken advantage of by the whole Malak thing...not the f2p or light spenders. It's a desperate and foolish move by CG.
I understand the game is a business and needs to make money, but this is a new low. Shame CG/EA, shame.
I spend on this game but this is ridiculous.
2 day notice?
3 day event?
Did you guys ever think that maybe you lost money because the player on a camping trip this weekend, or the player who gets paid later this week cant play?
Bad bad showing
Bad bad planning
Bad bad bad bad
I'm not discouraging players to spend.
Spend away, who cares. In about 2 days we will figure out a team comp to beat malak.
Oh and btw, clone wars around the corner.
The devil is the master of deception!!!
He makes you look left while he is going right.
Great post. I spend a lot on the game and you are spot on. There are many points where I’ve thought about quitting for the reasons you point out. Like it or not, any business is about taking care of your top paying customers. For the first time in a long time, I feel like CG is doing just that.
Interesting because I'm one of those top spenders and I feel like I've been dealt a serious groin punch.
You have! I've already said it - it's the big spenders being milked and taken advantage of by the whole Malak thing...not the f2p or light spenders. It's a desperate and foolish move by CG.
As long as people are willing to spend, it's not foolish.
I do however agree that f2p players are in no way taken advantage of in this game eventhough alot of them like to think this game is "against" them. With a bit of patience and/or planning f2p players can enjoy everything this game has to offer. Yes, that everything includes the things others have spend large sums of money on to get to enjoy a bit sooner.
@cannonfodder_iv I am not so sure that CG are correct that the current model is the one which provides them with the best financial return: plenty of companies drive good games into the dirt by making mistakes about pay to play and plenty of corporations make the mistake of favouring immediately increased returns over a more secure and longer term return.
Completely agree that corporations have to balance short and long term returns. Good ones do it better than bad ones. Often times, it's unclear when mistakes were made without the benefit of time to provide hindsight. And it's all too easy to sit back and judge from afar without understanding the hidden pressures present in any situation.
However, the real point is that CG could still have a very profitable game (even if not quite as lucrative as the current one) and also have a better and more accessible game for all if a different financial model were used.
Please cite an article, reference, study, etc. to support this point. I can postulate and pontificate all I want, but it's just the opinion of some random voice on the internet without back-up. If you wanted to preface these statements with "In my opinion," I'd take no issue. But, you're stating these as facts. As such, provide evidence. My 10 minutes of Googling the topic yielded a number of articles from 5 years ago claiming that whales were the primary income source for the Freemium model. There were a few more recent articles saying "not so fast, it's more nuanced now, but it depends on the game." Neither of these support your perspective on the game's financial model explicitly.
I do, however, think the decision to bring the Malak event in suddenly, at such short notice and without any chance to prepare is a slap in the face to many players who have worked hard and invested a lot in the game and seems to me to be based on a desire to extract as much money from the upper spending end of the player base as possible. That feels very pay to win and I would much prefer game whose results were based on skill and understanding of the mechanics instead.
I partly agree with you on this point and partly disagree. I think this is a fairly blatant paywall - much more so than Darth Revan and slightly more than the original run of Jedi Knight Revan. The gear on Malak is a pure cash grab. That being said, I'm prepared for the Malak event without spending any money specifically for it. I'm no whale, but have spent money on the game over the years I've played it.
I don't think playing Galaxy of Heroes is hard work. It's an entertaining hobby which does take a time investment, but I don't feel I'm owed anything for that investment I willingly make. When I start to see it as work, I think I'll probably put it down (actually wait, I've already done that once, so I know that's what I'll do).
There’s already 4 YouTube videos up of shiny new toy being killed by Ep Lead Dn, Trayas,BSF, Sion/Sit. Granted no mods are shown and just 5 stars but it’s not looking good for your so called course correction for whales. Seems balance may still be in the Galaxy.
I am definitely not a whale, maybe a minnow based on historical spending (a few hundred a year - but I think $0 this year so far...). I do NOT expect to get characters and ships the first time they're offered (unless they unlock at lower than 7*).
But if I were a whale, I think I'd be ****-off at so little notice for Malak event, even someone spending a lot of money may budget it over time, have already spent their $X for this month and suddenly, hey, you need to spend a lot more on one day's notice (or longer based on duration of event, but point is, may already have spent for the month).
However, as a low-spender or F2P I do expect to get things eventually. I'm top 100, sometimes top 50 in a launch arena so that's not bad, I now have JKR, etc. But the major reason I stopped spending was heroic Sith raid, and some gear XII only from that raid (or purchases). I think I spent a little last May 4th but probably not since then. Because I'm in a guild that can't do heroic Sith, and I don't want to have to change guilds to a hardcore one monitoring your life just to get one unit plus the best gear. Fine for it to be for whales for a while, but while Rancor and Tank eventually became easier either because raid easier or new units that could easily do better in the raid, not so for heroic Sith a year later (every time someone's found something that makes even one phase easier, gets nerfed).
I would be fuming right now if I was a whale 🐳. My guildmate just killed a pretty good Malak squad with a Zam lead Bh squad . They were completely maxed BHs don’t worry wasn’t cheesy.
I just beat one on my climb using a zEP comp as well. These are still five or six star characters without G12 gear. Let's let the dust settle more than a few hours before we start making decisions about character viability. As a Malak owner (granted, a Malak stuck behind a G8 gear paywall), I'm glad to see that arena diversity is still viable as I used three different teams during my arena climb.
Been a good ride, played the game since 2 months after it came out. Malak just had me quit. Get your head out your butts and stop being so greedy that it makes people quit. Take care folks, ya a good comminuty, and I've enjoyed every minute here till now.
You probably aren't even a F2P so u don't know what ur talking about. Have u seen the recent struggles that we as F2Ps have had to go through: both Revans, requirements were too late and us F2Ps were left panic farming;as well as, Malak, he needs bother Revans and a team that has extremely powerful toons that it takes us months to farm where as whales can just by the crystals for the gear and shards. Of u would like to try going F2P and see how it feels. It will not be easy.
While I thank CG for creating this great game, sometimes it goes too far.
Of course I'm a whale, that's why I'm giving this perspective, because it's not being heard.
What I CAN see is the top 200 of my shard full of Jedi Revans that can beat pretty much any team they like, what I can also see is the latest Darth Revan meta trivially beaten by a year old Palpatine counter.
There's not much here for spenders to be happy about. And quite frankly, for FTP it's not meant to be easy - otherwise, as I said, where is the incentive to spend?
I see this type of comment often and I'm really confused by it. I'm a fairly dedicated player and I still struggle with certain mirror matches at the top of the leaderboard. Players down to 200 are not competing with the Top 50.
Other than that, I actually agree with your statements. The lines did get blurred and its tough to take things away once people have become accustomed. So yeah, there's going to be verbal backlash, but those that invested the time and energy to get JKR or DR F2P or near F2P are not going anywhere. That's the real hook that CG planted . They needed a way to ensure the existing player population remained stable so they hooked them in with jusssstttt difficult enough to obtain premier characters, then dropped a major differentiation that will most likely require mass, fast gear investment($$$$) to give P2P whales back their advatange.
It's pretty freaking cunning if you ask me.
PS - they should keep 8 battle nodes. Or at least 6 battle nodes. I hate having to go to 2 nodes to complete the daily.
PPS - My comments were not meant to be disparaging of F2P, P2P, or the game. I like the game and feel people should play how they want.
I just beat one on my climb using a zEP comp as well. These are still five or six star characters without G12 gear. Let's let the dust settle more than a few hours before we start making decisions about character viability. As a Malak owner (granted, a Malak stuck behind a G8 gear paywall), I'm glad to see that arena diversity is still viable as I used three different teams during my arena climb.
Ep beats G12 we have one on our board he’s not even sitting in top 5. The remodding I did to beat it wasn’t pleasant better than spending for Malak for sure though. Isolate Malak let the Dn annililates eat.
Replies
But no whale is getting tickled using identical squads to face others with better mods. They want content others don’t have. Not just better mods and gear.
I’m tired of throwing mods in our faces. I would rather have exclusive toons once in a while over so many mods.
Also it’s a 4 month wait. It’s not the end of the world. See F2P have been conditioned for the whole 3* toon and $10 for a 4* and have everything the whales have even if not 7* they thought this would be the same thing. But it’s not.
Fleet is also dumb right now with only the falcon under Ackbar being viable. If you didn't get him the first time around then tough luck getting into top 20 or even top 50. Also way TOO MUCH rng with this team with assists. Ships has been way too RNG since 2.0.
In the past characters were much more easy to farm when they were in stores, or if they were on a hard node they were still farmable in multiple locations and with multiple currencies, whether it meant on a cantina node, in the GW store etc. Now characters are ALL put on single energy hard nodes and it takes forever. The shift began with some of the Rogue 1 toons.
I don't think whales have such a huge advantage in mods. It's pure luck if you get a 28 speed secondary. A ftp guy in my shard has some great sets.
I agree with you but some people keep pushing that as their agenda to basically say “we should all have access to all the toons at the same time as whales.”
That part I don’t agree with. If one toon a year is exclusive to whales for 4-5 months and everything else is available to unlock I’m fine with that.
Sounds like you have great disgust for ftp players. That’s fine we can all leave and that’s exactly what will happen if they continue this model . Dolphins will leave too no way they can endure either. What happens then? What advantage can you pay for? All will exactly what you have. Remember only whales now. What gives you advantage then? Answer Is mods and gear. But guess what your playing against all Whales they will have that too. Enjoy playing that . I have spent loads in this game been playing since launch. I stopped spending 2 yrs ago prices are just obscene can’t look myself in mirror if I spent 400 for a toon especially when in 2 days there will be multiple videos on you tube of other squads killing the shiny new toys. Couple days notice for a arena meta defining character is beyond disrespectful to the majority of games player base caters to the whales. Whales reading this enjoy the bone CG threw ya and pray they don’t do again If they do mod rng will be your only hope for advantage. I’m versed in the ways of YouTube Be killing your shiny new toy soon.
What an ignorant post
PUBG. You’re welcome.
I didn’t read the rest of the wall. Just a friendly reminder, paragraphs are your friend.
Fortnite too
$10 unlocks the battle pass. $10. Not $10,000 or $100,000 like this game
Neither of these games built their success on the mobile platform until they were already established with revenue streams. They are skill-based games, so players can differentiate themselves based on personal skill and cosmetic items. Neither of those concepts would work for SWGOH.
Ah, yes. Also veterans. I don't agree with the rest of your list. So, we're down to veterans and farmboy Luke. That's 3 out of how many? 50 altogether?
I'd have to disagree with that. SWGOH is primarily built on players' ability to create viable 5-character squads with the right amounts of synergy/strength/speed etc., to ensure those characers are modded in the correct way to maximise the particular strengths of each character, to then battle with them making use of the right abilities at the right times in the right order against the right kind of opposition that your squad is capable of beating - those are all character building skills and tactical skills, which is why for instance you will still sometimes see people losing in arena with a G12 maxed JKR because he's only got 160 speed etc.
There's just as much skill in SWGOH however the game model has made it so that you don't truly benefit from your individual character building, squad crafting, or tactical skills because people can just buy their way to stronger and stronger characters (and gear) that more often than not you can just bludgeon weaker FTP players with, generally regardless of how utterly stupid the pay-to-play person's tactics or mod decisions are.
Yeah..... Those characters are good for just spinning around and looking at the 360 degree artwork.
What, exactly, do you do with your squad of Old Ben, Leia, and Scavenger Rey? Seriously. I'm genuinely interested in what you do in the game with those characters.
Absolutely fantastic post. This guy gets it.
CG have damaged themselves - they are, rather desperately, only seeing the BIG spenders as worth targeting. Doesn't make any sense. Focussing on the 10 BIG spenders with a technique that discourages the 90 small spenders doesn't make any sense. It literally is a cash-grab rather than a sensible, mature and sustainable profit-maximisation plan. That's what worries me about this whole affair - it's desperate and unsustainable. It suggests they are trying to grab all they can before...the whole thing blows up. And that saddens me because I like the game and want it to continue.
Krakens, by definition in my opinion, are generally smart and savvy. They won't tolerate being milked like cows forever. Far smarter for CG to give a little advantage to the thousands of players that are prepared to spend a little cash rather than gamble everything on the patience of those who can gain total advantage by dropping huge amounts of money. In my opinion.
In regards myself (if anyone cares) - I've decided never to spend another penny on the game. Not doing it, there's no point. I'm going to farm the teams I like regardless of any meta. I've spent a little money over the two years playing the game but now I know CG aren't interested in the sort of amounts I'm prepared to spend and it won't get me anywhere near meta then I won't bother. I'm pleased to be honest. Here's to a much cheaper, more fun and less stressful playing experience...that may well not last as long as I'd hope...but that's not my problem.
When CLS was introduced Leia and Old Ben were commonly used in squad arena under CLS lead. Old ben has been used since as well. In the early days of heroic STR the Leia Machinegun team was commonly used in phase 2 (now JKR/Bastilla lead jedi rule that phase). I've used Leia a lot in TB when Rebels were required for several missions. I always use Leia in 3v3 GA (AA lead, C-3P0 and Leia) - works wonders against Zaul lead. Rey scav is often used in heroic STR p1 (yes, Finn took over after his rework). Finn lead, RT and Scav Rey work well in 3v3 arena.
I wouldn't call them (mostly) useless. Not at all.
See? Makes sense...unless you are desperate and need cash fast.
You have! I've already said it - it's the big spenders being milked and taken advantage of by the whole Malak thing...not the f2p or light spenders. It's a desperate and foolish move by CG.
I spend on this game but this is ridiculous.
2 day notice?
3 day event?
Did you guys ever think that maybe you lost money because the player on a camping trip this weekend, or the player who gets paid later this week cant play?
Bad bad showing
Bad bad planning
Bad bad bad bad
I'm not discouraging players to spend.
Spend away, who cares. In about 2 days we will figure out a team comp to beat malak.
Oh and btw, clone wars around the corner.
The devil is the master of deception!!!
He makes you look left while he is going right.
As long as people are willing to spend, it's not foolish.
I do however agree that f2p players are in no way taken advantage of in this game eventhough alot of them like to think this game is "against" them. With a bit of patience and/or planning f2p players can enjoy everything this game has to offer. Yes, that everything includes the things others have spend large sums of money on to get to enjoy a bit sooner.
Completely agree that corporations have to balance short and long term returns. Good ones do it better than bad ones. Often times, it's unclear when mistakes were made without the benefit of time to provide hindsight. And it's all too easy to sit back and judge from afar without understanding the hidden pressures present in any situation.
Please cite an article, reference, study, etc. to support this point. I can postulate and pontificate all I want, but it's just the opinion of some random voice on the internet without back-up. If you wanted to preface these statements with "In my opinion," I'd take no issue. But, you're stating these as facts. As such, provide evidence. My 10 minutes of Googling the topic yielded a number of articles from 5 years ago claiming that whales were the primary income source for the Freemium model. There were a few more recent articles saying "not so fast, it's more nuanced now, but it depends on the game." Neither of these support your perspective on the game's financial model explicitly.
I partly agree with you on this point and partly disagree. I think this is a fairly blatant paywall - much more so than Darth Revan and slightly more than the original run of Jedi Knight Revan. The gear on Malak is a pure cash grab. That being said, I'm prepared for the Malak event without spending any money specifically for it. I'm no whale, but have spent money on the game over the years I've played it.
I don't think playing Galaxy of Heroes is hard work. It's an entertaining hobby which does take a time investment, but I don't feel I'm owed anything for that investment I willingly make. When I start to see it as work, I think I'll probably put it down (actually wait, I've already done that once, so I know that's what I'll do).
But if I were a whale, I think I'd be ****-off at so little notice for Malak event, even someone spending a lot of money may budget it over time, have already spent their $X for this month and suddenly, hey, you need to spend a lot more on one day's notice (or longer based on duration of event, but point is, may already have spent for the month).
However, as a low-spender or F2P I do expect to get things eventually. I'm top 100, sometimes top 50 in a launch arena so that's not bad, I now have JKR, etc. But the major reason I stopped spending was heroic Sith raid, and some gear XII only from that raid (or purchases). I think I spent a little last May 4th but probably not since then. Because I'm in a guild that can't do heroic Sith, and I don't want to have to change guilds to a hardcore one monitoring your life just to get one unit plus the best gear. Fine for it to be for whales for a while, but while Rancor and Tank eventually became easier either because raid easier or new units that could easily do better in the raid, not so for heroic Sith a year later (every time someone's found something that makes even one phase easier, gets nerfed).
I see this type of comment often and I'm really confused by it. I'm a fairly dedicated player and I still struggle with certain mirror matches at the top of the leaderboard. Players down to 200 are not competing with the Top 50.
Other than that, I actually agree with your statements. The lines did get blurred and its tough to take things away once people have become accustomed. So yeah, there's going to be verbal backlash, but those that invested the time and energy to get JKR or DR F2P or near F2P are not going anywhere. That's the real hook that CG planted . They needed a way to ensure the existing player population remained stable so they hooked them in with jusssstttt difficult enough to obtain premier characters, then dropped a major differentiation that will most likely require mass, fast gear investment($$$$) to give P2P whales back their advatange.
It's pretty freaking cunning if you ask me.
PS - they should keep 8 battle nodes. Or at least 6 battle nodes. I hate having to go to 2 nodes to complete the daily.
PPS - My comments were not meant to be disparaging of F2P, P2P, or the game. I like the game and feel people should play how they want.
Ep beats G12 we have one on our board he’s not even sitting in top 5. The remodding I did to beat it wasn’t pleasant better than spending for Malak for sure though. Isolate Malak let the Dn annililates eat.