5* Shard Amount
Dragonfei
Member Posts: 263 ★★
After reading through all of the news posts from yesterday, as well as a lot of the forum posts, there's one thing that keeps sticking in the back of my mind.
I've seen a handful of replies that Miike has given that say that the amount of 5* shards will not be changing with the introduction of 6*'s, and I'm curious to understand the why of that. (The existing reasoning being given that more 5* shards will be introduced to the game.)
Bear with me, this might get a little long, but I want to point out a few things.
Current sources of 5* Shards -
Other than selling 4* champs, those are the primary existing ways to pick up 5* shards. (Yes, I know we get them via calendar too, but that's never been a guaranteed amount per month, and therefore very hard to calculate.)
I'm in a pretty fortunate alliance. But I did the math for us, and here's what the landscape looks like in the current form in a given month that does not include story completion or LoL completion.
Now while I love this game to absolute pieces, I end up (after I calculate my arena contributions which are nowhere near 7,500), right around 12,000 (ish) shards a month. Sometimes more, if there are more arenas I'm doing, sometimes much closer to the 9,500 mark.
Assuming I'm not saving for features (which I am at present), that's 1 5* pull a month. Even if the shard amounts for every, single event, are doubled (which I find unlikely) that's still only going to give me 2 5* a month.
That might make total sense, considering I'm getting 4 4*'s a month (natural progression, etc), however the 5*'s in my roster have to play a pretty massive game to catch up with my 4*.
There are 48 5* heroes in the base pool in August, so this doesn't include anything in the featured hero pool. I own 12 5* heroes, two of which are duped through awakening gems. In order to achieve a 6* hero, I need to dupe a 5* hero 36 (I believe that is correct) times.
Even if I were to pull nothing but basics with the shards I have, it would still take me a minimum (assuming a doubled amount of 5* shards received) of a year and a half, with a TON of luck in dupes, to get anywhere near a single 6* hero. (18 months, two dupes a month = 36 dupes)
With all of that said, and the length of time it's going to continue to take to build up my 5* roster, I'm wondering two things (which may or may not have answers as yet):
1. By how much is the team planning to increase the amount of 5* shards? If it's not at least tripling or more, we're going to continue to have the same glass ceiling.
2. Why has the team not wanted to decrease the amount of shards a 5* costs? If a 4* is 2,000, and a 6* is 10,000, why would a 5* not be 5,000 or 7,500?
I've seen a handful of replies that Miike has given that say that the amount of 5* shards will not be changing with the introduction of 6*'s, and I'm curious to understand the why of that. (The existing reasoning being given that more 5* shards will be introduced to the game.)
Bear with me, this might get a little long, but I want to point out a few things.
Current sources of 5* Shards -
- Event quests * - 1,000 shards for Heroic, 500 Shards for Master
- Story quests * - 1,000 shards for Act 4 run-through, 3,000 shards for Act 4 completion, 400 shards for 5.1 run through, 600 shards for 5.1 complete, 700 shards for 5.2 run through, 1,200 shards for 5.2 completion
- Alliance War (Tier 1) - 605 shards
- Alliance Quest Event (Assuming all BGs complete) - 500 Shards
- SA (Top 3%-5%) - 500 Shards
- 4* Dupe - 275 shards (Can be achieved once a week in my current alliance)
- Arena - 1%-10% Basic - 350 shards, Arena 1%-10% Featured - 400 Shards
- Labryinth of Legends * - 20,000 shards (one time only, first run)
- Road to the Labryinth * - 1,000 shards
Other than selling 4* champs, those are the primary existing ways to pick up 5* shards. (Yes, I know we get them via calendar too, but that's never been a guaranteed amount per month, and therefore very hard to calculate.)
I'm in a pretty fortunate alliance. But I did the math for us, and here's what the landscape looks like in the current form in a given month that does not include story completion or LoL completion.
- 1,500 shards a month for event quests
- 605 x 6 = 3,650 shards (this assumes we hold 3 wars a week, over the course of a month, and win 50% of our wars)
- 2,000 shards a month for alliance quest completion
- 2,000 shards a month for SA, if we maintain that level
- 550 shards from dupes (assuming you pull at least 2 duped 4* over the course of a month)
- 0 - 7,500 potential shards (assuming 10 character arenas in August, and assuming you achieve at least the top 1-10% in both featured and basic arenas)
Now while I love this game to absolute pieces, I end up (after I calculate my arena contributions which are nowhere near 7,500), right around 12,000 (ish) shards a month. Sometimes more, if there are more arenas I'm doing, sometimes much closer to the 9,500 mark.
Assuming I'm not saving for features (which I am at present), that's 1 5* pull a month. Even if the shard amounts for every, single event, are doubled (which I find unlikely) that's still only going to give me 2 5* a month.
That might make total sense, considering I'm getting 4 4*'s a month (natural progression, etc), however the 5*'s in my roster have to play a pretty massive game to catch up with my 4*.
There are 48 5* heroes in the base pool in August, so this doesn't include anything in the featured hero pool. I own 12 5* heroes, two of which are duped through awakening gems. In order to achieve a 6* hero, I need to dupe a 5* hero 36 (I believe that is correct) times.
Even if I were to pull nothing but basics with the shards I have, it would still take me a minimum (assuming a doubled amount of 5* shards received) of a year and a half, with a TON of luck in dupes, to get anywhere near a single 6* hero. (18 months, two dupes a month = 36 dupes)
With all of that said, and the length of time it's going to continue to take to build up my 5* roster, I'm wondering two things (which may or may not have answers as yet):
1. By how much is the team planning to increase the amount of 5* shards? If it's not at least tripling or more, we're going to continue to have the same glass ceiling.
2. Why has the team not wanted to decrease the amount of shards a 5* costs? If a 4* is 2,000, and a 6* is 10,000, why would a 5* not be 5,000 or 7,500?
1
Comments
Respectfully, I disagree. DNA3000 made an excellent point yesterday about the fact that it's always going to be a little bit unfair for older players compared to newer ones. That's to let them catch up. They're not going to have the same rosters.
As part of the progression of the game, it makes sense to have some difference in cost for the crystals. 3* and 4* are priced the same, so why wouldn't the cost of 5* decrease with the introduction of 6*?
Exactly right. I think the new format will make it so that active players average at least a 5* every 4-6 weeks which is what top tier alliances have been at for some time.
I also think one thing the OP overlooks is that the price of 5* and 6* shards being 10,000 does is actually prevent it so that people do not get a glut of 6*s right at the start. A higher price for 5*s will limit the amount of crystals that even the top alliances are buying which will affect their ability to get 6*s as well.
I pulled as much data as I could get directly from either my alliance members (for the tier 1 war data) and did the calculation for arena. Not sure where I went wrong in the arena one, but I'm definitely not infallible in the math, so I apologize for any incorrectness.
I'm more seeking to understand the why behind keeping it the same cost, as the doubling of the shard amount doesn't change the landscape much. I'd like to not have to play for a year before I get my first 6* hero, as that seems extreme in all scenarios.
I'm definitely not trying to get a glut of 5*, but when you need 36 duplicates in order to get one 6*, that's a pretty sizable order, don't you think?
In the existing game today, that'll take you 18 months if you get 2 5* heroes a month and dupe both of them. Something has to give, at least a little bit, or people are going to lose interest.