Chromium Packs, Shard Drops, and the new Exchange: Why you might want to save to buy 8X packs

Aluxendr

So with the new exchange, Chromium might just be the best new investment for low to mid spenders.

In terms of shards, an 8X Chromium pack has a likelihood of over 70% to drop at least 100 total character shards (The least I've gotten was 83 with one character unlock, and the highest 194 with 5 character unlocks). I have all but 4 characters unlocked, myself.

Shard drops on Squad cantina are around 35%, and Hard drops are about the same (but I have less data points for hard drops, since I do not sim them 30+ times a day)

Assuming you spend 550 Crystal a day, purchasing 100/200 Cantina (360E/day) and 50/50/50/100(720E/day) Battle Energy:

On stage 5/6 you will earn approx .35X30 shards (of your choosing) and 630 Cantina Crystals (approx 18 shards, 10.5 + 7.5)

If you spend ONLY on hard battles, from 720 energy you will earn anywhere from .35X60 (at 12E/battle) to .35X36 (@ 20E/battle). I'll take slightly higher than the average, and go with 50X.35, or 17.5 shards. Round up to 18.

So Average 36 shards a day, IF you do not spend energy trying to get gear.

Around 180 shards total, over 5 days.

After 5 days, you could also have 2750 Crystal, leading to an 8X Chromium.

With fewer characters, your chances of earning a 4* or 3* character are much higher, which would be equivalent to 50 or 80 shards, respectively, and a chance at earning drop only shards or characters (some of which, like Old Ben, are entirely usable at 4*).

I would argue that low to mid spenders with fewer than 30 characters unlocked, and a solid 7* team for PVP would benefit far more in the long term by saving and buying chromium packs, starting now, since we all know the Shard Exchange is coming and it was intimated that shards will only be exchangable from 7* characters.

Just my 0.02credits.

Feel free to correct my math if I went wrong somewhere. My %s are based off ONLY my own sims, and are biased more towards Stage 5/6 Cantina drops

swaggers

I still have 33 characters to unlock at a remaining cost of 1644 shards. Your math only holds up for people who already have most of the characters open to them. I also have JC 5 starred so I could spend energy directly on JC and guarantee myself shards that can be exchanged. The big factor is what the ratio is going to be on the exchange and how many options we have to use them on. The preview points to a FUTURE new characters. So far it looks to all be rehash.

Aluxendr

swaggers wrote: »

I still have 33 characters to unlock at a remaining cost of 1644 shards. Your math only holds up for people who already have most of the characters open to them. I also have JC 5 starred so I could spend energy directly on JC and guarantee myself shards that can be exchanged. The big factor is what the ratio is going to be on the exchange and how many options we have to use them on. The preview points to a FUTURE new characters. So far it looks to all be rehash.

Actually, it works best for people who have fewer than 30 characters unlocked.

The post by EAJesse stated that you would only be able to spend extra shards from characters who are already 7*.

My argument is that if you spend crystal on chromium packs, you are going to get close to the same amount as spending ONLY on shards, and will get characters otherwise unobtainable.

If you have fewer than 30 characters, you can easily gain MORE than shard farming up until you have 50+ characters, by gaining new characters (A new character is worth 15-80 shards). At this point it would probably be more worthwhile to farm shards in order to gain as many 7* characters as possible, to exchange at the shop.

Irregardless of the exchange ratio, the only way low to mid spenders will have to effectively farm Chromium only is through that exchange. So if you are trying to effectively farm Chromium-only by spending as little as possible, saving to open several Chromium packs will be one of the most efficient ways to do so.

As I also stated, this is only exceptionally effective if you are a more serious player, and have already farmed several characters to 7* (Sid, Lumi, JC, Phasma, etc.) so you are not trying to get onto the playing field for PvP with only weak characters.

Players like myself who have most characters unlocked and high * will actually gain the most by farming specific shards, to bring as many characters as possible to 7*, and thus narrow the field of what characters need shards.

duffmc81

But when you're farming, you're also getting gear, ability mats and training droids. Easy to take that stuff for granted, especially the training droids.

Forizen

Aluxendr wrote: »

swaggers wrote: »

I still have 33 characters to unlock at a remaining cost of 1644 shards. Your math only holds up for people who already have most of the characters open to them. I also have JC 5 starred so I could spend energy directly on JC and guarantee myself shards that can be exchanged. The big factor is what the ratio is going to be on the exchange and how many options we have to use them on. The preview points to a FUTURE new characters. So far it looks to all be rehash.

Actually, it works best for people who have fewer than 30 characters unlocked.

The post by EAJesse stated that you would only be able to spend extra shards from characters who are already 7*.

My argument is that if you spend crystal on chromium packs, you are going to get close to the same amount as spending ONLY on shards, and will get characters otherwise unobtainable.

If you have fewer than 30 characters, you can easily gain MORE than shard farming up until you have 50+ characters, by gaining new characters (A new character is worth 15-80 shards). At this point it would probably be more worthwhile to farm shards in order to gain as many 7* characters as possible, to exchange at the shop.

Irregardless of the exchange ratio, the only way low to mid spenders will have to effectively farm Chromium only is through that exchange. So if you are trying to effectively farm Chromium-only by spending as little as possible, saving to open several Chromium packs will be one of the most efficient ways to do so.

As I also stated, this is only exceptionally effective if you are a more serious player, and have already farmed several characters to 7* (Sid, Lumi, JC, Phasma, etc.) so you are not trying to get onto the playing field for PvP with only weak characters.

Players like myself who have most characters unlocked and high * will actually gain the most by farming specific shards, to bring as many characters as possible to 7*, and thus narrow the field of what characters need shards.

I think the difference is between a collector, and a non-collector. Chromium packs are 100% random and gives you a shot at exclusive characters.

By spending crystals on energy, you get to target the characters you specifically want.

In addition, chromium packs do not grant exp, gear, ability mats, credits, etc.

Aluxendr

Forizen wrote: »

I think the difference is between a collector, and a non-collector. Chromium packs are 100% random and gives you a shot at exclusive characters.

By spending crystals on energy, you get to target the characters you specifically want.

In addition, chromium packs do not grant exp, gear, ability mats, credits, etc.

duffmc81 wrote: »

But when you're farming, you're also getting gear, ability mats and training droids. Easy to take that stuff for granted, especially the training droids.

Indeed. But you will still get 120E from cantina and 240 normal E, and have enough crystal to probably buy one 50 refresh.

Don't get me wrong, there are tradeoffs to everything. But when you hit level 70 and no longer need xp, The chromium packs should start to look much more appealing, considering you can also gain droids credits and some of the more difficult to obtain gear material from Challenges and GW.

Again. YMMV. Mainly I wanted to write this as a PSA for low to mid level spenders who have been hearing nothing but "don't buy Chromium" on the forum for the past 3 months. It just isn't that simple anymore.

TayLord

I dont understand what you are trying to accomplish. If i read that right. you are saying people who have a team of 7* characters and fewer than 30 characters are better off using crystals on 8X packs rather than spending it on energy refills? For what purpose? just collecting characters? That is really the only way I see it being MORE efficient. And I dont understand what that has to do with the exchange coming at all. The only reason to farm for characters is to make an arena team, light side or dark side team, or for use in Galactic War. All benifit more from having Higher Power characters than a bunch of low star low level characters(because u will be getting fewer credits, gear, and droids to level and gear all the new characters).

If i misunderstood something please explain what this has to do with the exchange or why you would want every character at low stars/level

ThePedroKid

The exchange should not have a ratio. That would be pretty lame. It should be a simple 1:1 shard conversion. The available characters on the exchange, per the post, will be alternated with the exception of only one (the 'community requested' one). Therefore, the value proposition implies a simple 1:1 exchange of shards which is actually exactly how it should be given that it would be the same as assigning a character to any one of the other shipment locations. The farm is the same, the time gate is much longer (due to needing to be 7* to save up shards to be able to shop with). The TIME is the challenge and true cost of the toons available on the shard exchange. If it is not 1:1, that would be a complete and utter travesty and _extremely_ poor development with a very strong eye towards a unethical money grab.

Aluxendr

TayLord wrote: »

I dont understand what you are trying to accomplish. If i read that right. you are saying people who have a team of 7* characters and fewer than 30 characters are better off using crystals on 8X packs rather than spending it on energy refills? For what purpose? just collecting characters? That is really the only way I see it being MORE efficient. And I dont understand what that has to do with the exchange coming at all. The only reason to farm for characters is to make an arena team, light side or dark side team, or for use in Galactic War. All benifit more from having Higher Power characters than a bunch of low star low level characters(because u will be getting fewer credits, gear, and droids to level and gear all the new characters).

If i misunderstood something please explain what this has to do with the exchange or why you would want every character at low stars/level

To put it simply, it's the fastest way for someone who isn't spending $2000 on the game to star up Chromium only characters.

The most dependable way of quickly getting a 7* with low amounts of money spent is STILL GW and Arena Shipments. Cantina takes a long time, even if you are buying the 100 crystal refresh.

So the 7* you do have are generally ones you farmed from one of those 2 sources. And you will be able to gain more shards via the exchange.

There's a small chance you will be able to choose what shards you receive from the exchange, but it's an order of magnitude more likely it will be a random drop, chosen from characters who are not 7*.

So the more characters you have at 7* (Even ones you DONT want) the more likely you are to receive shards of a character you DO want.

And chromium packs are a much more efficient way to gain character shards if you have few completed characters, and they also give a chance at receiving shards for the characters you DO want.

Again, YMMV. Other factors such as training droids, experience, and gear/ability materials should affect your decision.

But a player at level 70, with a viable set of GW/arena teams that are well geared, who needs shards, should take a second look at chromium boxes.

They aren't just effective for whales anymore.