Since Traya took over the arena, no more strategy, same toons everywhere, same matches over and over. They had a good stuff for what 2-3 weeks and then Traya. She killed the game, no more diversity allowed period. Even there so-called Super Jedi teams are just obliterated in auto by Traya and co
No fun. And wait for the legendaries that will require ALL the marquee toons we just had. Tons of fun youhou
Traya monotony in arena is getting old already and it's hard to make an argument that she's currently balanced in any way. She's beatable at 5* G11, but I'm not sure how much longer that's going to last. Jedi are one piece away from being consistently able to compete. Would be nice if a particular jedi were to make his journey onto the stage sooner rather than later.
I think the real concern CG should have as regards F2P is new players. Existing F2P (depending on tenure) are in an ok position, but new players starting cold are so far behind the 8 ball it’s discouraging to the point they quit. It’s not just the pay wall—it’s the series of walls built into the “early” game. (“Early” meaning reaching at least lvl 65 so you can do guild events, which can take weeks-to-moths to reach, depending on how much time you have to sink into the game).
The early game has players on a leash and it keeps you held back in one or more ways until you finally get to level 85. Only then- weeks or months into the game- can you truly start trying to catch up.
My son is 18 and a huge Star Wars fan. He’s started and quit the game twice because as a college freshman he doesn’t have the free time, plus it’s just not fun, to sit on the sidelines and grind for weeks until he finally can play the game the way he wants.
Some may disagree with me on this, but the way the game is structured, it severely discourages fresh blood from becoming log-term players. And you have to wonder how long the game can continue without cultivating a new-player base.
I’d be willing to bet that most of the new accounts that are actually laboring through levels 40-65 and coming out on the other side are alts of established players.
IF CG IS GOING TO ADJUST END GAME, THEY HAVE TO ALSO ADJUST EARLY GAME- otherwise the light at the end of the tunnel is so far away from new players, the journey is no fun.
Again, not everyone will agree, and I’m not going to argue over this. I’m saying it as a disheartened father who wanted to play this game with my son. (And for the record, he’s not a fast quitter - he’s an Eagle Scout and he played SW Force Collection for a couple years before it closed).
I am the jedi dog battle droid C-3PO could not kill.
IF CG IS GOING TO ADJUST END GAME, THEY HAVE TO ALSO ADJUST EARLY GAME- otherwise the light at the end of the tunnel is so far away from new players, the journey is no fun.
Again, not everyone will agree, and I’m not going to argue over this. I’m saying it as a disheartened father who wanted to play this game with my son. (And for the record, he’s not a fast quitter - he’s an Eagle Scout and he played SW Force Collection for a couple years before it closed).
I can't afford to pay too much in, but the sheer frustration with the midlevels hit me badly. I've put in some money since I've been a star wars fan since I could speak, but I may be pulling back if things don't get better. 40-50 was ok, especially once I started to get the rhythm, but 50-60 was horrible; then learning that I wouldn't be able to do the ships I wanted until 65 was ugly, and then finding that even having prepped and researched and even thrown some money at it, 65-69 has been a horrible disappointment.
Gearing to VI and 5+ stars is absurdly boring, and the rewards just aren't inspiring enough. You can get a little money from love of star wars and frustration, then lose a player, or you can get long term investments if you make the whole thing fun, not just the end or "spend 30% of salary" on it.
I do agree a string of recent Marquee characters have a distinct paywall slant being slotted into hard nodes. They are expanding hard nodes to 8 attempts, but that just equates to 1-2 shards a day average instead of 0-1. That's still a significant paywall slant to players that but the blind pull packs or shards in shipments. But the big difference in swgoh over most mobile games. NOTHING stays behind the pay wall. Every single hero and ship eventually makes it into a farmable location. And free players actually get to see how the paywall tank of whales deals with the new addition. Is the new hero/ship worth the hype or is it a flash in the pan as it's quickly countered or virtually useless. The ones that turn out to be big game changers often see heros that most free players have get reworked to counter it and bring the game back into balance. So even if they are released to a hard node, free players have a good idea whether it's worth the long grind and the smart ones even have a full shopping list of all the gear needed to get from gear 1 to 12.
CG can fix these things...but I’m not sure they’re really think long term. It’s taken them months to finally realize the STR is an atrocity and needs to be fixed. The game has spiraled quickly since STR and Traya made her way into arena. Do the devs care? Or are they simply just trying to milk what’s left of this game? They could have turned this game into a very long term investment, but their refusal to fix long term issues has created a countdown for many casual spenders.
I think playing competitive as a complete F2P from the beginning is nearly impossible. But tbh that's okay. You can't expect to get anything for free in life.
The question is more, how much you have to spend, to play competitive. So for me, starting in February 18, it was around 300 Euros to get where I am. I never thought I'd ever spend that much on a mobile game, but tbh the 90 Bucks for Des****2 were a harder waste of money. While Level phase, I had to spend to catch up with the people at high arena ranks. When this was over, there was no need to spend any more, since crystals from arena (mostly 1 or 2) and ship arena (Top 5) fuel anything of relevance. Obviously I can not get every shiny marquee toon to 7* right away. That's fine. Most of them are useless anyway. I earn enough crystals to buy those mod salvage thingies from weekly shipments, so no real advantage for whales over me.
If you people now cry over not having energy to buy all the energy refreshs, I can only say "Get your priorities straight". Get your arena teams viable (Gear and Mods) first, then with any crystals you have spare, invest in future/fun projects. There is absolutely no need to chase every Meta and espacially Nest, who lots of people strive for, is not a necessary toon in any aspect of the game. If you want her... Okay fine. But if you priorise her over the obvious right choice (Arena Teams), don't cry if this won't pay out.
So no, complete F2P isn't dying a slow death. It wasn't ever alive this year.
Spending a bit on the other side is perfectly alive and can compete with full whales, while they obviously get to highest end content (HSTR) faster and that's okay.
I only spent $50 to get JTR when she came the second time (arguably I didn't need to spend that money if I focused more on farming vets during those three months period). Now I am doing good in a top 100 guild, placing top 10 in HSR if I want to (which is 90% of the time), making significant contributions in TW. The key is keeping patient and investing time in this game.
You don't need a meta team to be competitive in arena, their are plenty of counters to traya and if your in your shard chat you'll climb higher either way. For f2p the game for a lot has become a hobbies especially with strong reddit and discord server interactions and community so the game transcends being a game for a lot more than you think. As far as being p2win well of course but that doesnt mean its pay to compete, my fleet shard has quite a few ftp top 10 we swap daily they picked the right stuff to farm and didnt stray, and they like being competitive and working thru challenges with their fellow gamers then complain and give up. Also p2p just gets it faster sure but your mot far off f2p i had jtr the second go around because i stopped everything and went vets the day I missed her and voila had her next time. Most meta toons will.still be on the meta time frame the second time.they go around and not for nothing but fame something obscure you never know when it will come in.handy and just have fun stop.worrying about an evga few crystals a day from PO.
f2P is at an end truthfully. No it won't happen over night but over the next 6 months it is going to get worse. As far new player retention that is gone and won't be coming back CG and EA let their greed cloud their judgement on the long term health of the game. Tbh it's not even just new players but also the players mid level who are starting to walk away and find better games to invest there time and actually have fun.
With the release of 6 dot mods and CG deciding not to tell us during the whole development phase that they would be equippable only on G12 Toons which was never stated in ANY of the MOD Threads started by any the CG developers at any point. That's a ridiculously important piece of information to "overlook".
So now you have people slicing some of their best mods only to realize they can't even put them back on do to something that was never once told or explained to us through this whole mod debacle. This is one of the final nails in the coffin. Sure there maybe a few long term F2P that have G12 geared teams. I assure probably more then 90% of the F2P community doesn't. So CG and EA just widen the gap even further then before as if G12 lives didn't already do that now them combined with 6 star spliced God mods unless you are F2P and luckily enough to be on a dead server you can forget those top rewards.
Once several months go by the gap will be even further and then if these new legendaries whatever they are coming out it will be increased farther. Traya is still unobtainable for 98% of the game CLS and JTR probably a good a good 70% to 80% game doesn't even have these yet either so gap is increased further. All of this combined with this sneak attack on 6 dot mods only for G12 will just push the minnows and F2P who were barely hanging on straight off the edge.
GOOD JOB SC AND EA! FANTASTIC JOB RUINING ANOTHER GREAT FRANCHISE.
Since Traya took over the arena, no more strategy, same toons everywhere, same matches over and over. They had a good stuff for what 2-3 weeks and then Traya. She killed the game, no more diversity allowed period. Even there so-called Super Jedi teams are just obliterated in auto by Traya and co
No fun. And wait for the legendaries that will require ALL the marquee toons we just had. Tons of fun youhou
Traya monotony in arena is getting old already and it's hard to make an argument that she's currently balanced in any way. She's beatable at 5* G11, but I'm not sure how much longer that's going to last. Jedi are one piece away from being consistently able to compete. Would be nice if a particular jedi were to make his journey onto the stage sooner rather than later.
Sorry I am not agree with you. She's beatable at 5* G11 against full G12 7* squad and under palp lead. I think you never tried Jedi against a Traya 7* G12 lead. You will see the fun. It is ridiculous. I am ok she's good as she is the hardest character to get but c'mon at least give us a chance in attack. Top arena is pathetic right now.
I think the real concern CG should have as regards F2P is new players. Existing F2P (depending on tenure) are in an ok position, but new players starting cold are so far behind the 8 ball it’s discouraging to the point they quit. It’s not just the pay wall—it’s the series of walls built into the “early” game. (“Early” meaning reaching at least lvl 65 so you can do guild events, which can take weeks-to-moths to reach, depending on how much time you have to sink into the game).
The early game has players on a leash and it keeps you held back in one or more ways until you finally get to level 85. Only then- weeks or months into the game- can you truly start trying to catch up.
My son is 18 and a huge Star Wars fan. He’s started and quit the game twice because as a college freshman he doesn’t have the free time, plus it’s just not fun, to sit on the sidelines and grind for weeks until he finally can play the game the way he wants.
Some may disagree with me on this, but the way the game is structured, it severely discourages fresh blood from becoming log-term players. And you have to wonder how long the game can continue without cultivating a new-player base.
I’d be willing to bet that most of the new accounts that are actually laboring through levels 40-65 and coming out on the other side are alts of established players.
IF CG IS GOING TO ADJUST END GAME, THEY HAVE TO ALSO ADJUST EARLY GAME- otherwise the light at the end of the tunnel is so far away from new players, the journey is no fun.
Again, not everyone will agree, and I’m not going to argue over this. I’m saying it as a disheartened father who wanted to play this game with my son. (And for the record, he’s not a fast quitter - he’s an Eagle Scout and he played SW Force Collection for a couple years before it closed).
I came form Force Collection (played on and off for about 4 years) and I kind of agree with you to an extent. As a new(ish) player (late Feb 2018) I have had moments where I've felt like I'm crawling along that tunnel following the road to unlocking the legendary/hero's journey characters when I'd much rather build some Bounty hunters, Ewoks or Imperial Troopers. The problem is if I divert for those I end up in a weaker position to help my guild so I trundle along farming characters I don't really want to for the sake of unlocking other characters. By the time I'm ready for JTR; there will be new legendaries etc. and the road will get longer.
But then there are also times where I feel like I've actually made good progress on that road, especially compared to the grind SWFC was, and I still enjoy the game sooo I keep going grinding to the point "the real game begins" and I can choose my own path with being at a disadvantage or slowing my guild down.
There's also mods, ships, arena squad, raid teams and TB/TW teams to build up along the way. The game tries to pull you in so many directions to get you to spend, I get that, but there are times as a newer player I've felt a little overwhelmed. I can understand people quitting out of sheer frustration and that feeling of being so massively overwhelmed.
I'm quite lucky because neither my squad arena nor ships arena seem to be bloated with whales (they exist but not in huge numbers) so I can take 1st in ships everyday and the 50-100 bracket in squad arena every day (I've spent a total of £9.99 on this game in the 6 months playing). Between these rewards and crystals from dailies/GW I get a reasonable income of 600ish crystals a day which has helped me out in a big way. I'm honestly not sure I'd still be playing if it wasn't for that as progress would feel glacial.
TL;DR - I don't think FTP is dead but it's quite overwhelming for new players especially.
Just to pushback on the marquee releases and maybe legendaries coming- Carrie has said that she wouldn’t want to run marquees like this anymore. They went off data.
It’s kind of obvious who will be needed and where. - I’m farming all the solo toons (not nest) to atleast 5*
When KOTOR toons are farmable I will get them to 5* (and prob try to push to 7*) if feasible lol
FTP have to make really resourceful decisions. It’s a skill. One that I never mastered at all. That’s holding on to gear and zetas and credits.
I do agree - beginning this game seems so daunting. There are some nice steps that have improved - any team being used for mods. Starter guilds. I am totally open for newbies being able to level gear and Star faster than we did.
It currently takes over a year to build a toon up all the way. If you only focus on one small set of Toons you may be able to do it in a matter of months. That's ignoring what you need for every other event that pops up.
Street Cred: started playing the month it came out - Nov 2015. Haven't missed a single day of gameplay since.
This is like the 'frogs in boiling water' metaphor. Most of you don't notice what's happening because it's been happening so slowly. But Old Man Winter here can remember a time when the ONLY character you were unable to play was Darth Vader, and he was ultimately earnable through MORE GAMEPLAY. With that as a starting point, would you say the game is remarkably different from that now?
The amount of things we're encouraged to pay for has increased slowly but surely. The game has not always been like it is now. Those saying "without PTP, this game would die!" have to answer the question: then how did it survive before? Was it always on the brink of death and failure? How about only two years ago, when they introduces ships as something you could pay for? Did they do that because they were about to fail? Or this month, when they introduced slicing as something you could pay for? Were they about to fail a month ago?
I've never had so many unused 3-star characters in my inventory. When a slew of new toons are released, I'm rarely excited, because for the most part, I know they'll just wind up in the back rows of my inventory, taunting me because I can't improve them at all. It drives me bonkers.
I'm still playing every day, but I'm definitely spending less, and I'm definitely less excited and more aggravated. But I suppose as long as I continue playing, EA doesn't much worry. The only way to "show them" would be for us all to quit en masse. Since we're unwilling to do that, all this is yelling into the wind.
I think playing competitive as a complete F2P from the beginning is nearly impossible. But tbh that's okay. You can't expect to get anything for free in life.
The question is more, how much you have to spend, to play competitive. So for me, starting in February 18, it was around 300 Euros to get where I am. I never thought I'd ever spend that much on a mobile game, but tbh the 90 Bucks for Des****2 were a harder waste of money. While Level phase, I had to spend to catch up with the people at high arena ranks. When this was over, there was no need to spend any more, since crystals from arena (mostly 1 or 2) and ship arena (Top 5) fuel anything of relevance. Obviously I can not get every shiny marquee toon to 7* right away. That's fine. Most of them are useless anyway. I earn enough crystals to buy those mod salvage thingies from weekly shipments, so no real advantage for whales over me.
If you people now cry over not having energy to buy all the energy refreshs, I can only say "Get your priorities straight". Get your arena teams viable (Gear and Mods) first, then with any crystals you have spare, invest in future/fun projects. There is absolutely no need to chase every Meta and espacially Nest, who lots of people strive for, is not a necessary toon in any aspect of the game. If you want her... Okay fine. But if you priorise her over the obvious right choice (Arena Teams), don't cry if this won't pay out.
So no, complete F2P isn't dying a slow death. It wasn't ever alive this year.
Spending a bit on the other side is perfectly alive and can compete with full whales, while they obviously get to highest end content (HSTR) faster and that's okay.
I only spent $50 to get JTR when she came the second time (arguably I didn't need to spend that money if I focused more on farming vets during those three months period). Now I am doing good in a top 100 guild, placing top 10 in HSR if I want to (which is 90% of the time), making significant contributions in TW. The key is keeping patient and investing time in this game.
Agreed. I haven't spent a dime on the game and both my main and my alt place top 50/100 in arena every day, and my alt is top 3 in fleet arena. My main account was a top 3 in squad arena until Traya came around.
Admittedly, I'm more of a dolphin myself, but I can see how it can be really overwhelming for F2P players, especially for those who only started recently.
Way too many new characters introduced over a short period of time, combined with a constant credit and gear crunches can make this game a bit unfriendly. Unwarranted nerfs to some of the existing characters - NS and resistance - don't really help the situation any.
It can be really tough to decide which characters to invest in.
I would say it's the other way round: A ftp that starts now can actually make smart choices, has plenty to do before the hard node wall and competes with others at similar position. A ftp that has been playing for years is left with guesswork that may or may not pay off, most new characters take half a year to 7* and has to deal with arena full of Traya.
...are they simply just trying to milk what’s left of this game? They could have turned this game into a very long term investment, but their refusal to fix long term issues has created a countdown for many casual spenders.
In the current business climate of the West - short-term is everything. Immediate profit. Now, tomorrow, next week is about as far as anyone looks. Just how it is. Long-term investment is frowned upon. Of course that's short-sighted but these days, in business, after the turmoil of the last twenty years - nobody know if they will even exist in a year's time so all profit is to be made now, now, NOW!
Am I the only F2P/Dolphin who feels like after a dozen or so Marque events that the game is slowly being built towards whales, thus leaving us long-dedicated F2Ps out in the cold watching the game pick up light speed as we watch it blast away?
The only areas us F2P would be effected is arena, and TW. Every other area I seem to be doing fine, or awesome at.
I disagree.... You don't NEED all of these multiple marquis characters maxed out..... Some of them will be needed for legendary down the road, but they will be farmable by then..... Just accept that you won't be able.to get that legendary first pass and start farming for the next one .... It's really not that big of a deal......
We are in an era where anyone with a brain can be arena competitive, and it doesn't require money...... Be happy about that....
Not exactly. The rate at which the top members can grow their characters by paying for the materials or switching a team when the meta changes pretty much keeps me well out of the top 100 in my shard. So money does boost ones game and secures the advantage.
I disagree.... You don't NEED all of these multiple marquis characters maxed out..... Some of them will be needed for legendary down the road, but they will be farmable by then..... Just accept that you won't be able.to get that legendary first pass and start farming for the next one .... It's really not that big of a deal......
We are in an era where anyone with a brain can be arena competitive, and it doesn't require money...... Be happy about that....
Not exactly. The rate at which the top members can grow their characters by paying for the materials or switching a team when the meta changes pretty much keeps me well out of the top 100 in my shard. So money does boost ones game and secures the advantage.
I cant agree with this, i am always behind the current meta (will have Traya in like 3-4 weeks) and i am a top 10 arena player. There are just some things you NEED to do to score big in both arenas, specially in the base arena (ships can be easier).
I disagree.... You don't NEED all of these multiple marquis characters maxed out..... Some of them will be needed for legendary down the road, but they will be farmable by then..... Just accept that you won't be able.to get that legendary first pass and start farming for the next one .... It's really not that big of a deal......
We are in an era where anyone with a brain can be arena competitive, and it doesn't require money...... Be happy about that....
Sure they become F2P later, but the trend is putting them in hard nodes which are frustrating for anyone but the most patient of people. Getting a couple shards a day for them isn't fun and only induces panic farms when an event needed for them comes about.
I disagree.... You don't NEED all of these multiple marquis characters maxed out..... Some of them will be needed for legendary down the road, but they will be farmable by then..... Just accept that you won't be able.to get that legendary first pass and start farming for the next one .... It's really not that big of a deal......
We are in an era where anyone with a brain can be arena competitive, and it doesn't require money...... Be happy about that....
Not exactly. The rate at which the top members can grow their characters by paying for the materials or switching a team when the meta changes pretty much keeps me well out of the top 100 in my shard. So money does boost ones game and secures the advantage.
I cant agree with this, i am always behind the current meta (will have Traya in like 3-4 weeks) and i am a top 10 arena player. There are just some things you NEED to do to score big in both arenas, specially in the base arena (ships can be easier).
What do I need to do to keep both F2P and start ranking up in arena?
Since Traya took over the arena, no more strategy, same toons everywhere, same matches over and over. They had a good stuff for what 2-3 weeks and then Traya. She killed the game, no more diversity allowed period. Even there so-called Super Jedi teams are just obliterated in auto by Traya and co
No fun. And wait for the legendaries that will require ALL the marquee toons we just had. Tons of fun youhou
Traya monotony in arena is getting old already and it's hard to make an argument that she's currently balanced in any way. She's beatable at 5* G11, but I'm not sure how much longer that's going to last. Jedi are one piece away from being consistently able to compete. Would be nice if a particular jedi were to make his journey onto the stage sooner rather than later.
There are a couple 7* trayas in my arena and I see them dropping just as far as they did at 5 and 6*.
Right now Splicing blue and purple mods is an RNG mess.
At the start of mod 2.0 I had like 40 blue and purple mods with +14 speed secondary. Which I think is common for those in my arena shard.... So going forward my status in the game comes down to how many of those 40 mods turn into +18 speed mods. If I manage 10 I will be ok... But if things go as they have so far I will only convert 4 of the 40 to uber speed. Given how this will have a huge effect on my future game play, it sucks that the results are so random.
As for 6dot mods and the death of FTP. If your in an active guild and are active yourself you can get 20 of the red shards from the guild shop every two days. It will take two days + 6 refreshes to get the other shards needed for a 6dot mod.
IF you assume a ptp player is allready getting the 100c refresh to farm spicing shard to splice blue and purple mods. If they also buy the 1500c shard pack in the weekly shop, they would also end up spending 3600 on refreshes over two days(6 refreshes at 200, 6 refreshes at 400) to upgrade a mod to 6dot. For a total cost of 5000c for one mod, 30k for a single character... so like $200. Or $1000 for a full arena squad.
It is the players that spend on the game that make it possible. A ftp player that is competitive in their arenas can create 3 6-dot mods/week. A ptp player who spends $100 a week can create an additional 2 6dot mods. Yes the ptp player will have an early edge in arena, and more options in TW, After a two months the early edge of the ptp player will be gone in arena.
PTP players keep the game alive and PAY for the game for the rest of us!
I started within the last year as a FTP/Minnow(1 purchase...)
I’m usual 16th to 35th in Arena each day and similar in Fleet.
Do I have lots of Gold Rings and 6* MODS - NOPE....
Do I have ALL the teams I want....NOPE....
But sticking roughly to Warriors Pillars (With a few modifications - e.g. Bistan/SRP instead of Chaze etc). I have All the Legendary toons at 7* except JTR and I’m farming the Vets as we speak.
I’ll also be ready for any BH Legendary.
My Guild just smashed HAAT for the first time.
All of that and only paying £10 for Bastila 4*!!
***This is a GREAT FTP friendly game***
Replies
Traya monotony in arena is getting old already and it's hard to make an argument that she's currently balanced in any way. She's beatable at 5* G11, but I'm not sure how much longer that's going to last. Jedi are one piece away from being consistently able to compete. Would be nice if a particular jedi were to make his journey onto the stage sooner rather than later.
The early game has players on a leash and it keeps you held back in one or more ways until you finally get to level 85. Only then- weeks or months into the game- can you truly start trying to catch up.
My son is 18 and a huge Star Wars fan. He’s started and quit the game twice because as a college freshman he doesn’t have the free time, plus it’s just not fun, to sit on the sidelines and grind for weeks until he finally can play the game the way he wants.
Some may disagree with me on this, but the way the game is structured, it severely discourages fresh blood from becoming log-term players. And you have to wonder how long the game can continue without cultivating a new-player base.
I’d be willing to bet that most of the new accounts that are actually laboring through levels 40-65 and coming out on the other side are alts of established players.
IF CG IS GOING TO ADJUST END GAME, THEY HAVE TO ALSO ADJUST EARLY GAME- otherwise the light at the end of the tunnel is so far away from new players, the journey is no fun.
Again, not everyone will agree, and I’m not going to argue over this. I’m saying it as a disheartened father who wanted to play this game with my son. (And for the record, he’s not a fast quitter - he’s an Eagle Scout and he played SW Force Collection for a couple years before it closed).
I can't afford to pay too much in, but the sheer frustration with the midlevels hit me badly. I've put in some money since I've been a star wars fan since I could speak, but I may be pulling back if things don't get better. 40-50 was ok, especially once I started to get the rhythm, but 50-60 was horrible; then learning that I wouldn't be able to do the ships I wanted until 65 was ugly, and then finding that even having prepped and researched and even thrown some money at it, 65-69 has been a horrible disappointment.
Gearing to VI and 5+ stars is absurdly boring, and the rewards just aren't inspiring enough. You can get a little money from love of star wars and frustration, then lose a player, or you can get long term investments if you make the whole thing fun, not just the end or "spend 30% of salary" on it.
I only spent $50 to get JTR when she came the second time (arguably I didn't need to spend that money if I focused more on farming vets during those three months period). Now I am doing good in a top 100 guild, placing top 10 in HSR if I want to (which is 90% of the time), making significant contributions in TW. The key is keeping patient and investing time in this game.
With the release of 6 dot mods and CG deciding not to tell us during the whole development phase that they would be equippable only on G12 Toons which was never stated in ANY of the MOD Threads started by any the CG developers at any point. That's a ridiculously important piece of information to "overlook".
So now you have people slicing some of their best mods only to realize they can't even put them back on do to something that was never once told or explained to us through this whole mod debacle. This is one of the final nails in the coffin. Sure there maybe a few long term F2P that have G12 geared teams. I assure probably more then 90% of the F2P community doesn't. So CG and EA just widen the gap even further then before as if G12 lives didn't already do that now them combined with 6 star spliced God mods unless you are F2P and luckily enough to be on a dead server you can forget those top rewards.
Once several months go by the gap will be even further and then if these new legendaries whatever they are coming out it will be increased farther. Traya is still unobtainable for 98% of the game CLS and JTR probably a good a good 70% to 80% game doesn't even have these yet either so gap is increased further. All of this combined with this sneak attack on 6 dot mods only for G12 will just push the minnows and F2P who were barely hanging on straight off the edge.
GOOD JOB SC AND EA! FANTASTIC JOB RUINING ANOTHER GREAT FRANCHISE.
Sorry I am not agree with you. She's beatable at 5* G11 against full G12 7* squad and under palp lead. I think you never tried Jedi against a Traya 7* G12 lead. You will see the fun. It is ridiculous. I am ok she's good as she is the hardest character to get but c'mon at least give us a chance in attack. Top arena is pathetic right now.
I came form Force Collection (played on and off for about 4 years) and I kind of agree with you to an extent. As a new(ish) player (late Feb 2018) I have had moments where I've felt like I'm crawling along that tunnel following the road to unlocking the legendary/hero's journey characters when I'd much rather build some Bounty hunters, Ewoks or Imperial Troopers. The problem is if I divert for those I end up in a weaker position to help my guild so I trundle along farming characters I don't really want to for the sake of unlocking other characters. By the time I'm ready for JTR; there will be new legendaries etc. and the road will get longer.
But then there are also times where I feel like I've actually made good progress on that road, especially compared to the grind SWFC was, and I still enjoy the game sooo I keep going grinding to the point "the real game begins" and I can choose my own path with being at a disadvantage or slowing my guild down.
There's also mods, ships, arena squad, raid teams and TB/TW teams to build up along the way. The game tries to pull you in so many directions to get you to spend, I get that, but there are times as a newer player I've felt a little overwhelmed. I can understand people quitting out of sheer frustration and that feeling of being so massively overwhelmed.
I'm quite lucky because neither my squad arena nor ships arena seem to be bloated with whales (they exist but not in huge numbers) so I can take 1st in ships everyday and the 50-100 bracket in squad arena every day (I've spent a total of £9.99 on this game in the 6 months playing). Between these rewards and crystals from dailies/GW I get a reasonable income of 600ish crystals a day which has helped me out in a big way. I'm honestly not sure I'd still be playing if it wasn't for that as progress would feel glacial.
TL;DR - I don't think FTP is dead but it's quite overwhelming for new players especially.
It’s kind of obvious who will be needed and where. - I’m farming all the solo toons (not nest) to atleast 5*
When KOTOR toons are farmable I will get them to 5* (and prob try to push to 7*) if feasible lol
FTP have to make really resourceful decisions. It’s a skill. One that I never mastered at all. That’s holding on to gear and zetas and credits.
I do agree - beginning this game seems so daunting. There are some nice steps that have improved - any team being used for mods. Starter guilds. I am totally open for newbies being able to level gear and Star faster than we did.
It's weird. I'm not liking it.
This is like the 'frogs in boiling water' metaphor. Most of you don't notice what's happening because it's been happening so slowly. But Old Man Winter here can remember a time when the ONLY character you were unable to play was Darth Vader, and he was ultimately earnable through MORE GAMEPLAY. With that as a starting point, would you say the game is remarkably different from that now?
The amount of things we're encouraged to pay for has increased slowly but surely. The game has not always been like it is now. Those saying "without PTP, this game would die!" have to answer the question: then how did it survive before? Was it always on the brink of death and failure? How about only two years ago, when they introduces ships as something you could pay for? Did they do that because they were about to fail? Or this month, when they introduced slicing as something you could pay for? Were they about to fail a month ago?
I've never had so many unused 3-star characters in my inventory. When a slew of new toons are released, I'm rarely excited, because for the most part, I know they'll just wind up in the back rows of my inventory, taunting me because I can't improve them at all. It drives me bonkers.
I'm still playing every day, but I'm definitely spending less, and I'm definitely less excited and more aggravated. But I suppose as long as I continue playing, EA doesn't much worry. The only way to "show them" would be for us all to quit en masse. Since we're unwilling to do that, all this is yelling into the wind.
Agreed. I haven't spent a dime on the game and both my main and my alt place top 50/100 in arena every day, and my alt is top 3 in fleet arena. My main account was a top 3 in squad arena until Traya came around.
You can definitely be competitive as a F2P.
Way too many new characters introduced over a short period of time, combined with a constant credit and gear crunches can make this game a bit unfriendly. Unwarranted nerfs to some of the existing characters - NS and resistance - don't really help the situation any.
It can be really tough to decide which characters to invest in.
A ftp that starts today will give up in days
I would say it's the other way round: A ftp that starts now can actually make smart choices, has plenty to do before the hard node wall and competes with others at similar position. A ftp that has been playing for years is left with guesswork that may or may not pay off, most new characters take half a year to 7* and has to deal with arena full of Traya.
In the current business climate of the West - short-term is everything. Immediate profit. Now, tomorrow, next week is about as far as anyone looks. Just how it is. Long-term investment is frowned upon. Of course that's short-sighted but these days, in business, after the turmoil of the last twenty years - nobody know if they will even exist in a year's time so all profit is to be made now, now, NOW!
The only areas us F2P would be effected is arena, and TW. Every other area I seem to be doing fine, or awesome at.
Not exactly. The rate at which the top members can grow their characters by paying for the materials or switching a team when the meta changes pretty much keeps me well out of the top 100 in my shard. So money does boost ones game and secures the advantage.
I cant agree with this, i am always behind the current meta (will have Traya in like 3-4 weeks) and i am a top 10 arena player. There are just some things you NEED to do to score big in both arenas, specially in the base arena (ships can be easier).
Sure they become F2P later, but the trend is putting them in hard nodes which are frustrating for anyone but the most patient of people. Getting a couple shards a day for them isn't fun and only induces panic farms when an event needed for them comes about.
What do I need to do to keep both F2P and start ranking up in arena?
There are a couple 7* trayas in my arena and I see them dropping just as far as they did at 5 and 6*.
At the start of mod 2.0 I had like 40 blue and purple mods with +14 speed secondary. Which I think is common for those in my arena shard.... So going forward my status in the game comes down to how many of those 40 mods turn into +18 speed mods. If I manage 10 I will be ok... But if things go as they have so far I will only convert 4 of the 40 to uber speed. Given how this will have a huge effect on my future game play, it sucks that the results are so random.
As for 6dot mods and the death of FTP. If your in an active guild and are active yourself you can get 20 of the red shards from the guild shop every two days. It will take two days + 6 refreshes to get the other shards needed for a 6dot mod.
IF you assume a ptp player is allready getting the 100c refresh to farm spicing shard to splice blue and purple mods. If they also buy the 1500c shard pack in the weekly shop, they would also end up spending 3600 on refreshes over two days(6 refreshes at 200, 6 refreshes at 400) to upgrade a mod to 6dot. For a total cost of 5000c for one mod, 30k for a single character... so like $200. Or $1000 for a full arena squad.
It is the players that spend on the game that make it possible. A ftp player that is competitive in their arenas can create 3 6-dot mods/week. A ptp player who spends $100 a week can create an additional 2 6dot mods. Yes the ptp player will have an early edge in arena, and more options in TW, After a two months the early edge of the ptp player will be gone in arena.
I started within the last year as a FTP/Minnow(1 purchase...)
I’m usual 16th to 35th in Arena each day and similar in Fleet.
Do I have lots of Gold Rings and 6* MODS - NOPE....
Do I have ALL the teams I want....NOPE....
But sticking roughly to Warriors Pillars (With a few modifications - e.g. Bistan/SRP instead of Chaze etc). I have All the Legendary toons at 7* except JTR and I’m farming the Vets as we speak.
I’ll also be ready for any BH Legendary.
My Guild just smashed HAAT for the first time.
All of that and only paying £10 for Bastila 4*!!
***This is a GREAT FTP friendly game***