Where I'm at with the Game
July 20, 2016 2:14PM
edited July 2016
Before I start, this is not meant to encourage anyone to rage or quit or whatever. This is just my perspective of the game as it currently stands. This is also coming from the point of view of someone who's played since mid-December, has spent a moderate amount of money on the game, consistently ranks top 10 (usually top 5) in Arena, and is currently in a top 50ish guild.
Regardless of how you feel or felt about a current or past incarnation of the Mods update, it is here to stay. The current version, in my opinion, is far more balanced than the first/second and does what they intended it to do - allow for minor modification of characters to enhance their strengths or cover some of their weaknesses. Yes some characters stand out as being "OP" and other are still not seeing any use, but I'm sure within the next few months there will be a bit more diversity in Arena teams once people start experimenting with new combinations.
My concern, however, is not with Mods themselves, but with the direction the game is going. When I started playing in December, the biggest source of my excitement was collecting and promoting new characters. In recent months, there have been different events, such as the Assault Battles, which have rewarded players who didn't just grind the meta; I think those have been the best events the game has had so far. Could I participate? No, but I built up a rebel squad to be ready for the next go-around and was excited doing it. It gave me something to work for, but it was a completely do-able task.
Whenever I've posted on the forum (as infrequently as that may be), I always try to offer constructive feedback with solutions that I think are fair for both players and the game. I understand that the company wants to make money off the game, so obviously giving away everything for free (as some people seem to want), is not a viable solution.
Where I'm now struggling is with the Mod Challenge Battles, Credit Crunch 2.0+ and what it now means for the character grind. In order to compete in Arena now, you need to Mod your team. No questions about that and really, no objections. You wouldn't throw an un-geared toon on your team, nor would you throw a level 30 on the team and expect decent results, so why expect that with unmodded characters? My issue is, however, with how Mods are obtained. In order to get mods, you have to spend Cantina Energy on Mod Battles; in order to get the good mods, you need to spend Cantina Energy on Mod Challenge Battles. I made a huge post here towards the bottom with some suggestions on how to fix these issues, but I'm extremely doubtful that any of my suggestions will be implemented or even considered.
Mod Challenge Battles
Mod Challenge Battles, in theory, seem awesome. Again, you're rewarding players who have deviated from the meta, plus catering to players that pay money. Again, I have no problem with either of those. The issue I have, however, is that the primary way to get the characters needed for these battles is through Cantina Battles. Essentially: you need good mods to succeed in Arena, you need specific characters to get these good mods, but the mods require the same energy needed to get the characters required for the good mods.
Credit Crunch 2.0+
Yes GW credits have gone up, but they've gone up so slightly compared to what has happened with the game. Unless I'm forgetting about something (possible; if so, please link), there was not an update to the credits distributed from GW since the game launched. In that time period, the level cap has increased multiple times and the cost to hit that cap has gone up significantly. Yes we've had different events, including the Scoundrel Event (sometimes...) to help get more credits, but there is not a consistent way to obtain these in the quantities needed anymore. The ratio of obtained credits to needed credits has gone up significantly and it's getting much harder to gear, level, promote and now Mod these characters. Modding requires a huge credit investment on top of the already higher rate to level, gear, etc. Because of this, the credit crunch has never been worse in my opinion.
Thanks for taking the time to read. Again, I'm trying to keep it constructive and not turn it into a rage-filled rant, so please keep any comments along those same lines. I am not trying to encourage anyone to quit the game, the grind has never been more tedious and it really doesn't seem like there's a light at the end of the tunnel, so I'm going to hang it up for now. Hopefully some things change and, if so, I will probably be back. Until then, good luck everyone!
Regardless of how you feel or felt about a current or past incarnation of the Mods update, it is here to stay. The current version, in my opinion, is far more balanced than the first/second and does what they intended it to do - allow for minor modification of characters to enhance their strengths or cover some of their weaknesses. Yes some characters stand out as being "OP" and other are still not seeing any use, but I'm sure within the next few months there will be a bit more diversity in Arena teams once people start experimenting with new combinations.
My concern, however, is not with Mods themselves, but with the direction the game is going. When I started playing in December, the biggest source of my excitement was collecting and promoting new characters. In recent months, there have been different events, such as the Assault Battles, which have rewarded players who didn't just grind the meta; I think those have been the best events the game has had so far. Could I participate? No, but I built up a rebel squad to be ready for the next go-around and was excited doing it. It gave me something to work for, but it was a completely do-able task.
Whenever I've posted on the forum (as infrequently as that may be), I always try to offer constructive feedback with solutions that I think are fair for both players and the game. I understand that the company wants to make money off the game, so obviously giving away everything for free (as some people seem to want), is not a viable solution.
Where I'm now struggling is with the Mod Challenge Battles, Credit Crunch 2.0+ and what it now means for the character grind. In order to compete in Arena now, you need to Mod your team. No questions about that and really, no objections. You wouldn't throw an un-geared toon on your team, nor would you throw a level 30 on the team and expect decent results, so why expect that with unmodded characters? My issue is, however, with how Mods are obtained. In order to get mods, you have to spend Cantina Energy on Mod Battles; in order to get the good mods, you need to spend Cantina Energy on Mod Challenge Battles. I made a huge post here towards the bottom with some suggestions on how to fix these issues, but I'm extremely doubtful that any of my suggestions will be implemented or even considered.
Mod Challenge Battles
Mod Challenge Battles, in theory, seem awesome. Again, you're rewarding players who have deviated from the meta, plus catering to players that pay money. Again, I have no problem with either of those. The issue I have, however, is that the primary way to get the characters needed for these battles is through Cantina Battles. Essentially: you need good mods to succeed in Arena, you need specific characters to get these good mods, but the mods require the same energy needed to get the characters required for the good mods.
Credit Crunch 2.0+
Yes GW credits have gone up, but they've gone up so slightly compared to what has happened with the game. Unless I'm forgetting about something (possible; if so, please link), there was not an update to the credits distributed from GW since the game launched. In that time period, the level cap has increased multiple times and the cost to hit that cap has gone up significantly. Yes we've had different events, including the Scoundrel Event (sometimes...) to help get more credits, but there is not a consistent way to obtain these in the quantities needed anymore. The ratio of obtained credits to needed credits has gone up significantly and it's getting much harder to gear, level, promote and now Mod these characters. Modding requires a huge credit investment on top of the already higher rate to level, gear, etc. Because of this, the credit crunch has never been worse in my opinion.
Thanks for taking the time to read. Again, I'm trying to keep it constructive and not turn it into a rage-filled rant, so please keep any comments along those same lines. I am not trying to encourage anyone to quit the game, the grind has never been more tedious and it really doesn't seem like there's a light at the end of the tunnel, so I'm going to hang it up for now. Hopefully some things change and, if so, I will probably be back. Until then, good luck everyone!
Post edited by Ixias0 on
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Replies
I'm in a guild with Ixais0 and he doesn't say things just for the heck of it. @EA_Jesse please communicate this post to your team. This is how the majority of players are feeling now and it doesn't help that we hardly receive any communication back from the devs. I fear that if the development team continues to ignore communication with the players, this game will become a graveyard of accounts.
I agree with all your points and am sadly in somewhat of the same position as you. I'm currently limiting my play time to just daily activities because it's simply too frustrating and time consuming for the pittance of rewards received vs time and energy spent. I would have already quit if it weren't for my guild, which has some really great and enjoyable people in it.
I'm waiting to make a final decision on my future with the game until there is an announcement on the direction the team is heading in. Not just with mods, but with all the points you and several others have made here, and in response to the QA/suggestions threads the moderators have started themselves, but have been completely ignored by them since.
I'm really hoping they can right the ship because this has all the makings of a great, long lasting, fan worthy game that could make the company millions (more), over the long haul.
Constructive words? EA. replace your game managers with people who can handle keeping content working while applying new content for us to spend money on. I WANT to spend money gaming but I am not paying Harley Davidson money for a bmx with flat tires.
We don't care how hard the game is...just keep it working consistently. That way changes to fix issues result in positive after thought.
Sorry it sounds childish but this is where the game currently is.
@OniRenkai
*Sensor Array.
They will sensor array you.
Totally respect your decision to step away and I truly hope we get some reform to the game.
Great post!
3x(3x100) = 900
So 5,1m a week
New toon FULL every 10 days
Putting my business owner hat and my degree in management on, the credit crunch is well instrumented. As for me personally, I'd stock up for a week or two, spend it all. Stock, spend, wash rinse repeat. As long as A: My arena team is fine and B: I can get through 1-12 of GW, I'm OK. I know that doesn't bode well for EA because I'm not investing in credit packs on a regular basis, I only spend when needed like when raid gear came out in shipments, crystals for Omega event refreshes, things like that. It forces resource management. Full disclaimer - I got in on the health mods really fast and stocked up / upgraded my Arena team BEFORE they tripled the price of leveling.
Where the mark is missed is VALUE. 595 crystals for 545K credits and a CHANCE at a 2X / 3X multiplier isn't a good value at level 70+. It's great for 69 and under. Drop the price or double the credits and players level 70 and up will eat them all up. That's one way to expand revenue. You can get one person buying the $20.00 chest of crystals or you can get 3 people buying the $10.00 amount. I have to convince customers WHY they want to buy from me. That answer is VALUE. 1,400 crystals for raid gear is a great VALUE.
As far as GW goes, the issue is level 40 still gets the same amount as level 80. They never implemented a sliding scale for it. Every 10 levels, there should be a bump. It can even be a SLIGHT bump. We all remember how GW was those 50-60 levels. It was a near impossible slog some days. GW STILL takes me 50 minutes to an hour +!
@Chicagotarsier I too have changed the way I play. I'm currently in total stockpile mode, minimum refreshes, guild contributions, etc. etc.
@Ixias0 - I agree with your post my man. I think what frustrates me the most is the game was going a fantastic direction and you brought up a great point. We applauded the events as they were challenging and really went non-meta. I loved the Ewok event even as frustrating as it was, so I've started slow farming Empire. I could only do tier 1 of the credit heist, so I went all in on Lando, started to farm Bane from GW and will farm Chewie after Lando (I need another taunting tank for GW too...that would help immensely). I REALLY built up a Rebel squad that's close to being maxed out (Saint Han, Leia, Ackbar, Lando and since clones were in it, Fives) NOW it's WTH am I farming and why? I have literally frozen in my tracks, went to stockpile mode and stopped spending. I'm close to finishing Lando, I'll still farm Chewie, finish Bane and IG-88, but what's after that? I'm a deer in the headlights right now.
I'll definitely agree with you....mods 2.0 were a MUCH better representation of what they should have been to begin with. Minor tweaks to characters, not characters on steroids obliterating everything in their path (although I was able to finish my LS/DS/Cantina missions 3* no problem with them).
They really should have broken this update down in to bite size chunks for everyone to get used to. Now it's too late. They can't nerf again, roll back, etc. etc. without MASSIVE compensation. That would be akin to closing the barn door after the horse escaped and they can't put Humpty Dumpty back together again.