Shard drop rate very low / Character prices too high
I understand this is a free to play game and that's fine as long as things are fairly balanced between having to spend money to get things vice earning them without spending. That said I just played Tatooine 2B on hard 3 times trying to get Boba Fett shards and spent 36 energy and not one shard dropped in three tries. That's downright stingy. Honestly if you're spending 12 energy, it should be a guaranteed shard, period. Not like it's 25 shards to get Boba Fett, it's 80, and I'd bet it double or at least more to get his next star, so this needs to change in the next update, or the initial interest in this game is going to die fast and people will move on. Look at Marvel Future Fight, they had a couple of ridiculously priced character packs in their store, but for the most part, you could level up in a reasonable amount of time, putting a reasonable number of money into the game. i can tell you right now - you will lose people like me who are fine putting money into a game as long as the system doesn't seem too greedy. Right now - it skews too greedy, and the shard drop rate and prices of the character cards is too high. Adjust lower to keep people interested longer or they will move on.
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It's a game of progression over time hence the energy system, low shard drop rate and option to take the quick route and spend some money. And I mean no disrespect but for every customer that leaves due to instant gratification syndrome another player will take your place. This isn't Marvel Future fight with a bunch of kiddos playing, this is Star Wars with a huge motion picture incoming and a playerbase full of adults with paychecks. Once they finish the game they will have an abundance of cash flow to further develop the game. It will be huge. But good luck in your travels!! Say hello to wolverine for me:)
Lot of issues with your post: Not sure what generation you're referring to, but I'm not a part of it, probably older than most here, not that that is relevant, also no one said they want everything unlocked in the first week or month, my point is I've also played many similar games to this, and this 1.0 system feels skewed towards not enough shard drops per playing time. We all know the game is new and in development, so we, as fans and players can and should give this feedback so the developers can hear and adjust. Also, Marvel future FIght probably has a pretty large and diverse audience so there are probably players from all over the world and all ages playing. Also thanks but no thanks for your explanation of how this is a "game of progression over time, etc" I think we all got it. No condescension needed.
LOL. You haven't played Heroes of Dragon Age then, have you? Capital Games will definitely follow a similar path that they did for HoDA. They like their packs to be priced out as the same as full fledged games, and that's an absolute joke. Anyone in their right mind would spend their money where they feel it has value, and CG has always been slow to balance issues, but quickly to add more heroes for people to spend money on. There will always be more to collect, and each new set of heroes will be a little more powerful than the previous. They understand value as temporary advantages that will be on a cycle of replacement to entice the player base to continue shelling out cash over time. I won't be spending a penny on a silly mobile game. Devs need to understand that mobile games are being ruined by macro-transactions. ($49.95 for a pack is NOT micro. Absolutely shameful money grabs.)
Yeah would never spend 50 for a single pack either, I would think most people also would never consider this, but the debs of these games keep releasing packs similarly priced so they must have data to back up the pricing. I could see myself considering paying 50 to unlock every initial character in the game thus far at their current levels, then I could pick and choose who to level up as time went on, instead of being stuck pretty much with who they give you. One last complaint and then I'll stop, what is up with "Clone Wars" Chewbacca. Did they really need to put a Clone Wars variant of this character out there? I've seen just regular Chewbacca in some of the promotional screenshots, so I'm just waiting for them to drop that character who will be much better and a lot of money after everyone has leveled up the Clone Wars Variant. Am I missing something?
And I haven't spent any money, at all.
And also, as an adult that has always enjoyed playing video games this one in particular is very refreshing. Instead of the millennial generation ruining an online game with their impatience and entitlement, their effectively paying for this game so that I don't have to. Brilliant EA; thank you.
We will never be able to collect every character and enjoy mixing them up to make fun or unique squads (whether for gameplay or franchise appreciation purposes), especially when you consider there will likely be more Heroes added on a semi regular basis.
Even if the time playing required to get a decent sized arsenal was higher than most people are willing to take, the shear impossibility of it makes me question the design of the game. The rare exception of course is the people that have already spent several thousands on this game.
Mechanically I like the fact a shard doesn't drop every battle. But the pace is far too slow for this to not be an issue.
Personally I think the game would play better simply by; increasing the energy regen time and max limit proportionally; decreasing the mission costs and removing the counters on shard missions (let's face it farming gear is more critical anyway and this can be limited by energy costs and regen alone); and also increasing the crystal awards for Holotable activities so there is genuine consideration for saving crystals for packs or using them on the holotables. Also adding free and slow ways to grind for extra (minimal) energy would add gameplay for those looking for ways to play without limitations.
Currently the only viable way to win any decent amount of crystals is at the top end of the arena where the contenders had to spend far more than they will ever get back to be there so early, and as time goes on, will struggle to stay.
At the moment there will be very little repeat buys even from happy spending customers because the rewards scale very badly the longer you have played, and to some degree, the longer anyone has played.
Currently paying simply gets you an accelerated start. The higher your level the less benefits you will get by spending anything.
A paying customer from day one gets enough characters to maximise the rewards such as GW tokens ASAP. For example, I have won every war and only took a couple of days to get there. Exluding the very valuable credits and ability mats I've got sooner from GW rewards, thats 15 shards per day on quite a good selection of heroes.
Same goes for the other tables, maxing rewards very quickly including the arena which I could rank top 10 (yes some players on other servers are lucky enough to rank on f2p, but not all, and certainly none on the top 50 of my server and that won't last as long).
So all in all I've got much more than was just in the packs, which is the only reason I got them.
Lets say it takes 3 weeks for any f2p players to catch up. Once they do there is far less incentive to spend, for either of us, becuase we are already maxing the rewards to get in game and at best I can get marginally better rewards from the Arena, in which one would be competing with random others that have unknowably deep pockets.
Before buying anything, I wasted reward crystals on 4 chromium packs to find out if buying any was a viable option. It was immediately apparent. No way was I going to spend thousands to maybe get the characters I didn't even know I wanted yet, and/or potentially be left with Heroes I couldn't fully promote. That was an easy decision for me, and the longer time goes on the less people will consider chromium packs, which inevitably means big price reductions, and unhappy customers who blew big dollars on the game early for an unfair advantage (unfair to the big spender that is).
On top of that, when I drop a full character I already have I do not receive the equal value of shards, so if I paid for packs early and got farmable heroes I can level, I will be cursing everytime I get a Bronzium drop and at best get half the shards it's worth instead because I already paid for it.
If this were my game I would address these issues now because it will be much easier sooner rather than later and could save the game from extinction before reputation kills it.
Another simple way to promote purchases would be to include access to a VIP PvP table based on a minimal monthly spend, with one free battle per day for everyone to entise f2pers, where the rewards are similar in value to Galactic Wars or higher, and only scale ever so slightly to the top performers, if at all.
Other than that im going to enjoy what ever they bring to the table while it lasts
Guild: Fear The Boot
On the topic of shard drops: After this morning, I can't complain overall, but the game has stopped giving me Dooku shards. I need 10 to star up and he simply will not drop. I must be close to 0/30 now. Sure wish I had the opportunity to buy him for $5 lol
Hopefully the game will have adjustments made as it moves forward. It alienated a lot of players by not giving crystal subcriptions and the opportunity to purchase a good character pack for $5. The entire player base is going to be getting the crystal subscription, so let's hope more adjustments will happen.
I can agree that shards shouldn't fall like rain but not the low drop rate to the degree you, I and others are experiencing.
Do you people really think we are entitled to unlocking ALL chars within 6 months or so?
It's a game that probably plays over many months, if not years.
In similar games you aren't maxed out in a week, it's the point to keep growing and keep getting more chars.
Also who says gaining characters is slow? Today I received free captain Phasma and the rewards on GW or Arena gets me an average of 10 shards per day for different characters.
We are december now where there are rewards like Assaj shards, Luminara shards, Sidious shards etc.
Who says they won't give other offers next month like Dooku shards and Baris shards i.e.
Ive been playing Clash of clans for 2 years now, spend a lot of money on it but Im still not maxed out.
Gamers are getting more lazy by the day. Generation do come in to play if you compare todays games with earlier games. The difficulty and grinding in this game compared to others is still decent.
I don't get why people feel entitled to unlock characters at the speed they desire. If you wanna leave because of this, don't let the door hit you on the way out. Im sure there are enough players that are happy to keep playing over a longer course, knowing that it won't be easy to unlock toons.
The reward if you finally did unlock a toon is only more satisfying if it took you a lot of work/grinding.
I also recognize a lower droprate but who says this can't be changed in the future or different characters are being offered through rewards next month. Im playing for 2 weeks now and I have exactly 25 toons. If I get 1 toon per week I'm definately satisfied. That others aren't is in my opinion no excuse to demand higher droprates.