Getting the Most Bang For Your Buck (or, How I Learned to Avoid Chromium Packs Like the Plague)

KitsuAeryn

I really do enjoy this game, but I think that one place where the app falls is in showcasing the expected returns on money spent. I'll walk you through my experiences to demonstrate what I mean.

The first day I started playing, I bought the Dooku bundle for $5. He was amazing -- way better than anyone else I had unlocked at that point -- and I was happy to have spent my $5 on him.

That purchase went so well, in fact, that I wanted to support the game further by buying the $25 droid bundle. Again, I was happy with the performance of these new characters. I understood their synergy and I understood how to star them up. Up to this point, I had no complaints with how purchases work with the game.

But then I decided to try out the Chromium boosters. I spent $20 for the crystals necessary for an 8-pack, and cracked 'em open. That was a mistake. I got little of value, but I figured that was just bad luck. Another $20, another attempt, another round of what was essentially garbage. Against my better judgement I tried a third time, same results. It was very demoralizing.

I did unlock a handful of characters, but they unlocked at 2 stars with no way to raise them, and even then I knew they'd be a waste of time to level up without the possibility of increasing their stars as well.

I'm never going to buy anything that isn't a cut-and-dried character bundle again, because spending $60 shouldn't have netted me so little value compared to the value of the $30 I spent on the bundles. The first $30 was well spent. I don't regret it. The $60 I spent afterward, gambling on the Chromium packs? I regret that. I trusted this game to allow their paid packs to dispense good stuff at a high enough rate that $60 would net the buyer something useful, and I feel betrayed on that point -- in part because the bundles established a baseline value for $5 and $25 dollars in terms of return on investment that the Chromium packs didn't live up to.

To be clear, buying crystals isn't the problem. Spending them on Chromium packs is. I really think something needs to change with those packs because right now they feel like a trap, and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Use your crystals on refills and concentrate your farming efforts, and you'll be a lot happier.

And when it comes to Chromium packs? Buyer beware!

Azraelrulez

Wiser words were not spoken...

Actually, they were . I think the general consensus here is you are absolutely right! But I try to look at it this way, the unpredictability of the Chromiums and cost involved also help mitigate the difference between the F2P, P2P and P2W. You would have to spend a seriously huge amount to get an advantage over us common folks.

rilokiley1

I think they should put an alternative price tag with ally points on chromium packs. Make it 2500 Ally Points for 1 Pack.

So now and then at least some players get some non-meta chars out of the lottery to diversify the teams in general and maybe give them incentitives to buy more chromiums to level up their rare drops they got from chromium.

Right now chromiums is a money-sink for all the whales. I guess it is supposed to be that way from the designers.

IM_UR_UPGRADE

rilokiley1 wrote: »

I think they should put an alternative price tag with ally points on chromium packs. Make it 2500 Ally Points for 1 Pack.

So now and then at least some players get some non-meta chars out of the lottery to diversify the teams in general and maybe give them incentitives to buy more chromiums to level up their rare drops they got from chromium.

Right now chromiums is a money-sink for all the whales. I guess it is supposed to be that way from the designers.

This is actually a pretty good idea, but with the ally glitch that was abused it may not happen because there may be people with thousands of ally points out there

DerangedHermit

I haven't spent quite as much as you, but I concur on your findings. I came out of my 8 and 4 pack with Tarkin and UrrrroUrrrr (or whatever his name is). Also got FO Tie Pilot. Not great, but a good start to my very new team. The shards I got were not very helpful as they were a mish-mash of bad characters or un-farmable characters.
All-in-all, I'm going to stick with the bundles. I just wish I started early enough to get the Dooku one.

Powerlifter450

I've tried packs in the past. I learned the same thing everyone else did. Stay away from them. Thank you for this post.

Kamyar

I only paid for the Dooku and a 7 day crystal pack. i didn't see a point in buying crystals for gambling in chromium packs. Instead I used the crystals I earned/bought for energy refills n I opened almost every useful character it's kinda funny that some people paid $99.99 for a 4Star Kylo but I managed to get him in 2 weeks n get him to 6 stars in less than month by just refilling energy by the crystals I had stored.

The_Oklahoma_Kid

They are a bad investment choice and I prefer buying crystals and spending them on a refresh. But I do about once a month buy a 4 pack to try my luck. And on that I actually don't want the rare ones.

mel

Bought a single chromium once and got 10 Ayala shards. Total kick in the junk. Didn't unlock the character, and no way to farm her. Complete waste of cash. Not a lot lost compared to other people clearly, but that single cruddy draw stops me from spending another dime.

floods

What's far worse is pulling a good mid-game 4-star character (eg. Maul) when you're at a lower player level. It gives you the itch to buy more packs hoping for useful shards and characters, but in the end you get many hands of junk for every nugget of gold you pull.

DarthMasterShawn

KitsuAeryn wrote: »

I really do enjoy this game, but I think that one place where the app falls is in showcasing the expected returns on money spent. I'll walk you through my experiences to demonstrate what I mean.

The first day I started playing, I bought the Dooku bundle for $5. He was amazing -- way better than anyone else I had unlocked at that point -- and I was happy to have spent my $5 on him.

That purchase went so well, in fact, that I wanted to support the game further by buying the $25 droid bundle. Again, I was happy with the performance of these new characters. I understood their synergy and I understood how to star them up. Up to this point, I had no complaints with how purchases work with the game.

But then I decided to try out the Chromium boosters. I spent $20 for the crystals necessary for an 8-pack, and cracked 'em open. That was a mistake. I got little of value, but I figured that was just bad luck. Another $20, another attempt, another round of what was essentially garbage. Against my better judgement I tried a third time, same results. It was very demoralizing.

I did unlock a handful of characters, but they unlocked at 2 stars with no way to raise them, and even then I knew they'd be a waste of time to level up without the possibility of increasing their stars as well.

I'm never going to buy anything that isn't a cut-and-dried character bundle again, because spending $60 shouldn't have netted me so little value compared to the value of the $30 I spent on the bundles. The first $30 was well spent. I don't regret it. The $60 I spent afterward, gambling on the Chromium packs? I regret that. I trusted this game to allow their paid packs to dispense good stuff at a high enough rate that $60 would net the buyer something useful, and I feel betrayed on that point -- in part because the bundles established a baseline value for $5 and $25 dollars in terms of return on investment that the Chromium packs didn't live up to.

To be clear, buying crystals isn't the problem. Spending them on Chromium packs is. I really think something needs to change with those packs because right now they feel like a trap, and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Use your crystals on refills and concentrate your farming efforts, and you'll be a lot happier.

And when it comes to Chromium packs? Buyer beware!

I've spent a good deal on the game. I did the Chromium thing to the tune of a few dozen 8x packs and honestly it was not money well spent. To get the toons to viable * requires Dozens upon dozens upon dozens of packs, unless it is Jawa, Royal Guard, Tuskan, Ewok Scout, they come very fast,lol.

So I bought a few dozen packs early on Here is what I have for it.

I think that is where I pulled Lumi who is now 7* and an all around great toon, but is GW farmable(Think 4* pull)

Secura got to 4*-Not real viable use her as fodder that does some damage(pulled 3*)

Maul is 1 shard from 5* Easily killed some GW use on an AOE build(Pulled as 4*)

QGJ got to 4* Too easily killed for real use, though on a Jedi hit team in GW has some value(Pulled as 2*)

Lando got 5* Not real useful except GW on a secondary Crit team or AOE team(Pulled as 2*, maybe 3*)

Leia got to 4* Unless hidden behind Poe not viable due to HP, even behind him not overly. Good with Lando and on a Crit/DPS (pulled at 2*)

FOTP got to 4* but some farming and rewards helped it. See Leia (Pulled at 2*)

Cad Bane got to 4 shy of 6* rewards helped. Too low HP to be real viable left him mid 40's (Pulled at 2*)

Teebo is 2* interesting leader ability not useful left at 35 (Pulled at 2*)

Royal Guard could be 7* Very common shards pulled useless left sub 40(Pulled shards mostly I thionk he was 2*)

Ewok Scout could be nearly 7* see Royal Guard (pulled 2*)

Jedi Guardian could be 5* semi common not useful left sub 40(pulled 2 or 3*)

Tusken could be 6* left sub 40 too fairly common pull(2 or 3*)

Verees Found him not useful (pulled 4*) farmable might look back if Empire becomes viable

Several troopers and clones

Ewok Elder was my last one I did trying to get Mauls shard. He seems a bit interesting with his revive might circle back (pulled 2*)

Hoth Scout is one I'm planning to work on some I like his potential with my style. (Pulled 3*)

20 Total Ben Shards

I think I got Dooku there at 3* he is about 5* now and a staple.

There is some more but nothing really viable or extraordinary on ballpark range $1,000 in Chromium packs. I'm notorious for poor luck though. Secura, Maul, Leia, Lando, QGJ(now farmable) FOTP get varrying use in GW, mostly as softeners as most my run is LVL 70 mostly 7* purples with a random 6 here and there or occasional gift of 5* Barriss lead, so they rarely live out a fight.

Scout offers me interest, maybe try Bane some. I'll farm QGJ when I finish other projects. If Lumi was my pull there, which I think I did get her 4* and Maul in one pull very early on which led me to think it was a good way. Secura, Leia, QGJ, Maul, Bane all came very early on. If Dooku I got there then 2 viable toons I use everywhere.


Honestly I feel it was an absolutely terrible ROI.

I missed the Dooku pack poor luck.

Bought Jedi-Hated Mace is terrible
Bought Heroine pack LOVE it I use Barriss in GW and I love Ventress
Bought Droid pack- Disapointed at first, now working on them and am glad I bought it.
The Ren Pack I passed on I was still miffed on the Barriss nerf and not overly thrilled with my Droids so did not feel like dropping the $100 on it. Regret it now.

I buy Crystals a lot. I farm a few toons and I gear my toons very fast so do a ton of refreshes. I also am on a very active, competitive, and strong arena bracket so I often buy more fights and refresh to avoid the wait.


Great post. Thought I'd add my experience in as well.

Final note though I wish they would make the Chromium toons farmable to those who bought the packs and unlocked the toon. I also, at the PP think only 4* toons should drop.

Jedisplice

If you spend near 1000 you will have everyone at 6* or 7. Unless you are going to spend that much just buy crystals for refresh, trust me.

MenaceTEC

From the start of some stat tracking.

For 150 crystals I got 5.5 shards so far.

I also got a good bit of other stuff of value.

For the price of a chromium you get 11 shards. Most importantly you get to choose your shards to farm.

I also think I was getting fairly poor drops.

DarthMasterShawn

Jedisplice wrote: »

If you spend near 1000 you will have everyone at 6* or 7. Unless you are going to spend that much just buy crystals for refresh, trust me.

Obviously you failed to read my post I have spent that and I did not get everyone 6-7*

Song

Kamyar wrote: »

I only paid for the Dooku and a 7 day crystal pack. i didn't see a point in buying crystals for gambling in chromium packs. Instead I used the crystals I earned/bought for energy refills n I opened almost every useful character it's kinda funny that some people paid $99.99 for a 4Star Kylo but I managed to get him in 2 weeks n get him to 6 stars in less than month by just refilling energy by the crystals I had stored.

Same here.. my Kylo almost 7stars. Even you get the awesome heroes like Maul, Princess Leia from chromium pack. you still have to keep buying more chromium packs to upgrade to 7stars. We talking about couple thousand in here..

LoveLoveRice

Anyone need an extra 7* Kit Fisto.

OmarFPG

LoveLoveRice wrote: »

Anyone need an extra 7* Kit Fisto.

I wouldn't mind one, lol. You'll have a lot of fun in the shard shop.

LoveLoveRice

I will say this being a whale is not great, even if you did not spend that much actual cash in the shop, so money aside. Most of the best toons really are just FTP. The game is not designed for whales, the cost for virtual characters are absurd and you have to invest in a lot. People hate facing whale teams and ruins the fun for the game for the majority. The game is designed to be a grind. Whales tend to act very entitled (from what I have read) 1 person spending 1-2k or 2000 people spending $10. It is common sense that the company would want to keep the $10 people happy. Whaling does nothing good and ruins fun for others. The only positive thing a whale can do is bring diversity to the battlefield and that rarely happens.

InternetSwag

Well, if you can spend $1000 on this game you obviously don't lack money so eh, chalk it up to experience gained.

Stormy

I wrote about this too-
https://forums.galaxy-of-heroes.starwars.ea.com/discussion/6279/why-its-ok-to-spend-money-on-star-wars-galaxy-of-heroes/p1

I was trying to drive the same point about what's worth spending money on in this game

KitsuAeryn

It's great to see so many similar stories regarding the Chromium marketplace -- though it's sad that most of those experiences are negative ones.

I felt frustrated after burning through $80 or so; if the draws are so volatile that there are people dropping $1,000 and still failing to achieve a single Chromium-exclusive 7-star character... I mean, that's just appalling.

I'm eager to see what sort of shard conversion tool ends up being created, as it's possible that it will redeem the Chromium Packs somewhat. I'm not optimistic about it, mind you, but it's possible!

Telaan

The shard conversion shop will only be for excess shards of 7* toons. The Devs have said they may occasionally include some chromium toons in it. I highly doubt it will be enough to make a difference.

I think the only thing that will work is a change in the way chromium works to make it more dolphin friendly.