Plea to the Devs. . . make this game less of a black box.
First of all I find this game enjoyable, for now. It takes just the right amount of time (with the SIM tickets for farming). However at times I find this game extremely frustrating because I don’t have the foggiest idea of how things are working under the hood. I find this leads me to make safe (but uninteresting) choices in my team composition as well as how I spend my precious resources. In order to take this game seriously it needs to actually share information with the players. I have a whole bunch of questions as well as suggestions to fix this black box perception I have. Frankly I can’t make many rational decisions as I am completely clueless as to the actual impact of my decisions.
Questions:
1) What are the base chances for each of the mechanics to work? For example Luminara’s Elegant Steps says “Jedi allies gain x% Evasion and recover Health equal to x% of Luminara’s Max Health at the start of each of their turns.” I understand the second part and can calculate it, but what is the base chance of evasion? Is it 20% and I am adding 13% to bring it to 33%? Is it 5% moving up to 15%? I haven’t the foggiest? Is evasion modified by the Dodge/Deflection rating (which for most folks is 0)? Basically what factors into the chance to connect a hit at all.
2) What does +x Defense do? Chewbacca’s Wookie Resolve says “All allies have +x Defense.” What does 30 defense do for me? Is is a 30% reduction from all damage (great!), subtraction of 30 points of damage (worthless), or increase of armor/resistance values (slightly better than worthless)? Why should I ever use Chewbacca again? Are there cases where I should use Finn as a leader rather than Poe?
3) What abilities stay from round to round, and which disappear? Why or why not? I have had an ability block stay with a character from round 2 to 3, but most positive buffs seem to wear off (at least visibly). Does Luminara’s heal over time carry over from round to round? Why or why not? Is Advantage and Defense Up supposed to carry over (so that Finn’s Hold the Line isn’t worthless)?
4) How does the Potency/Tenacity mechanic work? Is it a straight percentage roll (one roll add/multiple by potency subtract/divide by tenacity), contested percentage roll (attacker roll + Potency versus defender roll + Tenacity highest wins), how? What is the base chance of success of putting a debuff with 0 Potency versus 0 Tenacity? Why should I use Luke as a leader? Also why can I never Expose an enemy who starts the attack Exposed (it seems the code wants to check for a new expose before taking the old one off), is that a coding order of operations error or intended?
5) What determines my chance to land a critical hit? How does Physical Critical Rating play into that? My Resistance Pilot has a value of 341 while my Chewie has a 180, what does that translate into percentage wise? Is my Resistance Pilot twice as likely to land a crit than Chewie? If I put Sidious as my leader with +13% critical chance is that a flat increase or does it scale based on the toon’s Critical Rating? Do +crit bonuses stack or multiply (Sid gives +13% RP’s Guerilla Tactics gives +5% is the net result +18% or +18.65%)? That one is very important when building synergy.
6) How do the various factors play into the loot drops? If I can farm one new toon on Squad cantina table 1 for 8 energy and another on table 3 for 10 energy are the drop rates identical or do they scale for energy spent? One case results in a faster new character than the other. Same question for gear upgrades. If I can farm the same gear on a 6 energy or an 8 energy battle does it scale on energy or a flat chance? Is there a benefit to higher difficulty (I understand the more money part, but that is a non-factor)? How does other possible drops affect the rate (if one drops three possible items is there a lower chance of getting what I want)? Is the rate different for gear drops on hard missions and if so how much (should I have been farming the hard missions for the gear plus a shard)?
7) How are our Galactic War opponents selected? Is it based on Squad Arena ranking, power, or something different? If it is ranking I would always do Galactic War before any Squad battles, if it is Squad power I would make a team with synergy rather than total raw power. GW is my favorite part of the game, but can be frustrating with some of the opponent team pulls.
8) How does the turn meter work and how does excess carry over. Is it a race to 100 ticks? A countdown? What happens when excess bonuses are triggered (when Poe inflicts expose to four opponents does that trigger Resistance Trooper four times), does any of that carry over, does a higher carry over preempt other toons who were at 100 ticks? What factor goes into game start (which can make or break the decision to bring in certain characters who might otherwise be too slow).
Requests for more transparency:
1) When selecting abilities give us the ability to peek ahead. Should I spend my precious Tier III ability mats to go from 4 to 5 to 6, or is level 6 just a piddly 5% damage increase (versus another character who might have +15% proc chance on a debuff. Same thing for gear, should I hunt for 20 purples to gear up (for something useless like +1% tenacity and special damage for a physical damage only character) only to notice I can’t pursue the next level of gear because it is all level 61+ required? Again same for the star rating, is it worth pursuing a seventh star for Chewie or put him in the dustbin.
2) I strongly dislike the PVP arena swapping places with your opponent and feel there should be a points based system. As far as I can tell I have no idea if my squad is actually doing well. I know I fight five times and mostly win, but next morning I am pretty much in the same place as I was the day before. I don’t know if I am being attacked five times winning none, or attacked 100 times winning all but five. Frankly with a point system the first scenario would lead to a lesser reward and the second a better reward. I don’t know what types of squads are beating me (should I make a faster squad, take out the healers, what?!?). I would like to see how my squad fares rather than just look I ran on the treadmill and made a full loop. Great. If you can’t show me all the matchups (and why not) then at least show me the stats.
3) I would like a battle log. Once we have access to the mechanics having a log that shows us the rolls made by the device and the factors that go into it would be fantastic to show us how to improve our squad. And it would get rid of the cheating AI comments. It is frustrating to see Dooku open up and stun Poe and my Resistance Pilot, but if I saw the rolls (look Poe rolled a 2 out of 100 and Dooku a 97) then it would seem less of a “cheating AI” issue. Same with the speed question.
4) I would like to see a turn order indicator of some sort. For example I am often looking at three identical opponents (Mob Enforcer 1,2, and 3), and it is my turn. What will happen is I will get to go, then ME 2, then my second toon, then ME 3, then my third toon, then ME 1. If I knew the turn order I would pick them off in one order if they were one shot kills (2,3,1) and another if it took three hits (1,2,3). Ideally target selection could be done from this (I have lost ranking and therefore crystals due to not being able to target properly in Arena).
Final note
I am sure I could come up with more, but these are my main frustrations. I feel as if the decisions I make are shooting in the dark, or even counter-productive.
Questions:
1) What are the base chances for each of the mechanics to work? For example Luminara’s Elegant Steps says “Jedi allies gain x% Evasion and recover Health equal to x% of Luminara’s Max Health at the start of each of their turns.” I understand the second part and can calculate it, but what is the base chance of evasion? Is it 20% and I am adding 13% to bring it to 33%? Is it 5% moving up to 15%? I haven’t the foggiest? Is evasion modified by the Dodge/Deflection rating (which for most folks is 0)? Basically what factors into the chance to connect a hit at all.
2) What does +x Defense do? Chewbacca’s Wookie Resolve says “All allies have +x Defense.” What does 30 defense do for me? Is is a 30% reduction from all damage (great!), subtraction of 30 points of damage (worthless), or increase of armor/resistance values (slightly better than worthless)? Why should I ever use Chewbacca again? Are there cases where I should use Finn as a leader rather than Poe?
3) What abilities stay from round to round, and which disappear? Why or why not? I have had an ability block stay with a character from round 2 to 3, but most positive buffs seem to wear off (at least visibly). Does Luminara’s heal over time carry over from round to round? Why or why not? Is Advantage and Defense Up supposed to carry over (so that Finn’s Hold the Line isn’t worthless)?
4) How does the Potency/Tenacity mechanic work? Is it a straight percentage roll (one roll add/multiple by potency subtract/divide by tenacity), contested percentage roll (attacker roll + Potency versus defender roll + Tenacity highest wins), how? What is the base chance of success of putting a debuff with 0 Potency versus 0 Tenacity? Why should I use Luke as a leader? Also why can I never Expose an enemy who starts the attack Exposed (it seems the code wants to check for a new expose before taking the old one off), is that a coding order of operations error or intended?
5) What determines my chance to land a critical hit? How does Physical Critical Rating play into that? My Resistance Pilot has a value of 341 while my Chewie has a 180, what does that translate into percentage wise? Is my Resistance Pilot twice as likely to land a crit than Chewie? If I put Sidious as my leader with +13% critical chance is that a flat increase or does it scale based on the toon’s Critical Rating? Do +crit bonuses stack or multiply (Sid gives +13% RP’s Guerilla Tactics gives +5% is the net result +18% or +18.65%)? That one is very important when building synergy.
6) How do the various factors play into the loot drops? If I can farm one new toon on Squad cantina table 1 for 8 energy and another on table 3 for 10 energy are the drop rates identical or do they scale for energy spent? One case results in a faster new character than the other. Same question for gear upgrades. If I can farm the same gear on a 6 energy or an 8 energy battle does it scale on energy or a flat chance? Is there a benefit to higher difficulty (I understand the more money part, but that is a non-factor)? How does other possible drops affect the rate (if one drops three possible items is there a lower chance of getting what I want)? Is the rate different for gear drops on hard missions and if so how much (should I have been farming the hard missions for the gear plus a shard)?
7) How are our Galactic War opponents selected? Is it based on Squad Arena ranking, power, or something different? If it is ranking I would always do Galactic War before any Squad battles, if it is Squad power I would make a team with synergy rather than total raw power. GW is my favorite part of the game, but can be frustrating with some of the opponent team pulls.
8) How does the turn meter work and how does excess carry over. Is it a race to 100 ticks? A countdown? What happens when excess bonuses are triggered (when Poe inflicts expose to four opponents does that trigger Resistance Trooper four times), does any of that carry over, does a higher carry over preempt other toons who were at 100 ticks? What factor goes into game start (which can make or break the decision to bring in certain characters who might otherwise be too slow).
Requests for more transparency:
1) When selecting abilities give us the ability to peek ahead. Should I spend my precious Tier III ability mats to go from 4 to 5 to 6, or is level 6 just a piddly 5% damage increase (versus another character who might have +15% proc chance on a debuff. Same thing for gear, should I hunt for 20 purples to gear up (for something useless like +1% tenacity and special damage for a physical damage only character) only to notice I can’t pursue the next level of gear because it is all level 61+ required? Again same for the star rating, is it worth pursuing a seventh star for Chewie or put him in the dustbin.
2) I strongly dislike the PVP arena swapping places with your opponent and feel there should be a points based system. As far as I can tell I have no idea if my squad is actually doing well. I know I fight five times and mostly win, but next morning I am pretty much in the same place as I was the day before. I don’t know if I am being attacked five times winning none, or attacked 100 times winning all but five. Frankly with a point system the first scenario would lead to a lesser reward and the second a better reward. I don’t know what types of squads are beating me (should I make a faster squad, take out the healers, what?!?). I would like to see how my squad fares rather than just look I ran on the treadmill and made a full loop. Great. If you can’t show me all the matchups (and why not) then at least show me the stats.
3) I would like a battle log. Once we have access to the mechanics having a log that shows us the rolls made by the device and the factors that go into it would be fantastic to show us how to improve our squad. And it would get rid of the cheating AI comments. It is frustrating to see Dooku open up and stun Poe and my Resistance Pilot, but if I saw the rolls (look Poe rolled a 2 out of 100 and Dooku a 97) then it would seem less of a “cheating AI” issue. Same with the speed question.
4) I would like to see a turn order indicator of some sort. For example I am often looking at three identical opponents (Mob Enforcer 1,2, and 3), and it is my turn. What will happen is I will get to go, then ME 2, then my second toon, then ME 3, then my third toon, then ME 1. If I knew the turn order I would pick them off in one order if they were one shot kills (2,3,1) and another if it took three hits (1,2,3). Ideally target selection could be done from this (I have lost ranking and therefore crystals due to not being able to target properly in Arena).
Final note
I am sure I could come up with more, but these are my main frustrations. I feel as if the decisions I make are shooting in the dark, or even counter-productive.
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Replies
Wow man...did not read your post since you complaints a lot...this is a simple RPG multiplayer online mobile game and less than 40 days old....just enjoy and be patience....we need to fix all BIG PROBLEMS not some small problems like you mentioned...
There is a recent post titled "A Team Instinct Special: Speed and You!" which attempts to explain how the turn meter works. Insightful and makes a lot of sense. Suggest you go and read it.
I agree with the battle logs, but a roll is just a number it doesn't tell me anything in terms of fairness in the proc chances.
I did testing 100 battle wise in Gw by force quiting. I did that because it amazed me to Sid being dead before he could move. Double stun landed 40% from Dooku on Sid + Poe depriving them of first round than Lumi+rest burst on Sid, dead. All crits, with 35% Sid evasion against jedi. Well I did 100 of those to have some statistical base, and it was 100 the same opening, I mean the Dooku Stun. If I took out Poe and put Lando instead. Then Lando was targeted instead of Sid, but noone got stunned.
For me it looks like plain and simple set up. The chance were calculated beforehand and not calculated on the spot in the game. And presumably it happened the moment I got new opponent assigned.
Yeah, nothing is transparent in this game. And the biggest joke of all is that power rating was supposed to tell you an average condition of your toon, combining all stats into one number. I know that synergy and utility outweighs the raw power. But it should be torn apart into 3 numbers like offense, defense, utility. That's easier to work with. Also JC with potency boost for what Detrimental effects I ask. Power takes that precious stat into account most definitely.
I almost feel ashamed by the size and quality of my post compared to anotherMolEliza. I'd like to add I support you, AnotherMolEliza 100% of what you say is crystal clear truth and in depth case study. Almost forgot,
to thisgamesisdope:?Ten years ago an established developer feared to publish a flawed game.
Nowadays he makes somthing compared to a sketch and prototype of a game that weighs 100mb, and puts it online. They've already covered the initial inestment and are roughly 10-20 million $ ahead. This game could be near pristine in a month, but they are not going to hire more people, because the majority people like you have such a low expectations. In few months you're going to awe their accomplishment of fixing the game, they hadn't polished on purpose.
If there were a second company to launch a game like GoH the quality of service would sky rocket. What you are experiencing is Monopoly, or what in the Eastern Europe was called communism. You had limited monthly food supply and was not alllowed to purchase more legally. And you know, some people like you thisgamedope, who have no hint of freedom said "wow, thats cool I can it! I totally do not deserve anything more then that! It is bread and cucumber for now. But they promised a whole chocalate bar for every tenth men lucky next month! This is my dreams come true! I work hard everyday and pay most of it for the food they grant me, I totally do not deserve more at all!"
You know why devs have control over the players?
Integrity.
They unite for one purpose, your $
What do players do?
Whenever somone voices their concers, there are always mole rats, who try to undermine they efforts.
Guess what mole rat, you can only gain from their effort and time they spend to enhance the game experience. It's for our good sake.
You loose nothing by demanding quality from the developers.
But better to comment:
"Balance is fine it's better than in most games"
"Shard drop rates are fine, it's a grind game"
"Some characters are not farmable but others are!"
"It's not p2w everybody is top 1"
" poverty in **** is fine, it's like that in Africa it's only a month old"
http://www.swgohcantina.com/
Here is one of the guides that explane the different effects (like offense up or advantage)
http://www.swgohcantina.com/positive-and-negative-status-effects-explained/
Hope this helps
Diangelo
It is clear based on my play since early December that the game has some form of rubberband code along with code that will nerf your stats and boosts the AI along with some other cheese.
I say rubberband because I swear that I do better against more powerful teams than less powerful teams even if the characters are basically the same. I play more powerful teams and my team performs more like how I expect it should. I play weaker teams and my team acts like it has lost 30% of its performance. It's not a case of some invisible synegry or just randomness like some seem to say but rather it's the game. EA hates the idea you have the nerve to face a team you should be able to auto battle with so they will drop your team down.
As for stats being nerfed and the AI boosted, my team always takes a dive in areas like critical hit while the AI team gets boosted here. I can face a lesser powered Lumi who dodges and resists everything while mine rarely does. I can see lesser characters get critical after critical while my 6 star elite Sid rarely does.
I also see lesser versions of the same characters as me get more damage on the same characters. What I mean is, less powerful (based on level, star, gear) AI Sid can say hit my Sid and do more damage on a consistent basis than my Sid on his Sid. It's not random.
The AI Dooku is pretty much almost guaranteed to stun either of my two Jedis but does my Dooku stun the AI's Jedis as frequently? Not even close as my stun chance seems to be like 50% and that is not including when they resist it. Again, I can have higher versions of the same characters with totally opposite results.
Oh and then there is the classic case where the AI can have a character down to one hit before dying and I target them and they dodge it, regardless of who it is. This happens way more than it should for it to just be mere chance. I also find stunned AI characters seem to have an uncanny ability to dodge or resist.
This type of stuff is common in every EA game (anyone who has ever played a version of Madden should realize this) so it's how EA likes to cheapen things because they just hate the idea of making their game's difficulty be based on how people have done. Why reward people if they create a good team? Just better to acknowledge they have put in the work to build the team and then crap over it with cheese AI.
I do agree that the arena ranking seems a bit lame where you swap places. I don't care much about the arena though (a big reason why is because of what I have said above) so while I find it lame, it isn't a big issue for me.
So you join a thread on a public forum just to write that you did not read it?
Like what? Why post that? It makes no sense...do you understand how forums work?
I think a lot of the rants are for outlier results. With millions of matches being played daily, you'll certainly get the outlier "enemy always procc'ed and I never did" and those are the matches we hear about.
I don't have a problem with outlier results AS LONG AS the odds are untouched.
If there is manipulation by the devs going on behinds the players back where certain odds are advertised and not being the case, that should be illegal from a regulatory perspective.
I've been playing since the global launch, been doing pretty well, but still don't know jack about this game's mechanics.
The speed article was fantastic (from Team Instinct) but I should have a working knowledge about the game mechanics in questions 1-7 as well as 8.
Basically I don't know jack about (Basic hit/dodge mechanics, how defense and damage reduction works, what effects are supposed to carry over, chances for applying effects, critical damage factors, and mission selection).
I don't consider myself a dumb guy, but frankly don't have the foggiest of how this game works. My guess is that it is an oversight by the game designers to leave all that information out of the game to not clutter up the UI and have an earlier release. Fine, but give us the info via the forum or even Reddit. Or better yet collaborate with someone from team insight to develop a guide (one Skype call with a dev could provide all the info I am asking about to be written up in a series of guides).
I feel you, so many questions that remain unanswered. Maybe the online Dev chat will clear some things up. For know I will just keep shrugging and thinking to myself "The force works in mysterious ways."
Lol, wow.
Good idea: detailed "Instruction Manual" written by the developers for those interested.
Or, following precedent, for the low sum of 750 crystals!
TLDR; A manual that explains the game's mechanics would be useful to take the game seriously.
Im pretty sure someone from EA/CG already read it... Now if they agree or care is another matter entirely!