Arenas Question

Just curious to hear different people's perspectives on this if anyone cares to share.
As I've cleared content this year from beginner through all of 9.1 (and some side content), my sources of units have dried up.
Thanks to the gracious advice of some forum members, I did figure out how to get the infinite streaks, but it still takes me about 2 hours to clear each of the two main arenas. (I wish I could do the 4 star arena easily too, but I only have a handful of ranked up 4s).

So just taking the Border Tribe one as an example, that's 2 hours for 135 guaranteed units and, even assuming good RNG, maybe like 65 units on the chips. So 200 total. Heck, let's go crazy RNG and make it 270 total.
Now if we take the worst unit deal you could possibly buy, the Peter Parker 135 units for $5, or 270 for $10, that comes out to $5 worth of units for an hour of grinding Arena.
It's kind of a bitter pill to swallow because I would not do anything I didn't enjoy for $5 an hour. That would be absurd.
I still kind of enjoy arena for now, especially for testing out new champs or new strategies/tactics, but I can see it becoming tiresome pretty soon.
So, if you do find it more of a grind than enjoyment, how do you justify it?

Comments

ahmynuts

Most people who grind arena aren't really looking at their phones or paying attention to the game. Usually it's just a side activity going on in the background while you're doing something else like watching TV, YouTube, in a boring ass meeting, etc.

TotemCorruption

Most people who grind arena aren't really looking at their phones or paying attention to the game. Usually it's just a side activity going on in the background while you're doing something else like watching TV, YouTube, in a boring ass meeting, etc.

Yeah, I mean, that's how I play the game in general, whether it's Arena, BG, or questing. But I still have to enjoy it to do it, or else there has to be some kind of reward or purpose that justifies the effort, or heck, even the toll on the environment from the gameplay?

Furrymoosen

Roster size can have a significant impact. I've done featured in a little as 55 minutes, but that was fully boosted, suicide masteries, express arena, and about 30 or so full rounds of 7* champs.
Suicides cut your time by about 25-30% (depending on the AI), and express arena cuts your time down by about a guaranteed 30% or so. So if you're at two hours without those things, you can knock it down closer to an hour or so.
But as is said above, I am usually doing other stuff while running arenas. I'll do them at the gym while I'm on the bike or treadmill. I'll pull up YouTube videos and put them in a pop-up window and watch/listen while I play. I also try and spread them out. I really only do featured and basic and only ever touch the other when when I am bored and have extra time. If I just put in 45-60 minutes a day, I'll finish the milestones of the two without much stress.

DNA3000

So just taking the Border Tribe one as an example, that's 2 hours for 135 guaranteed units and, even assuming good RNG, maybe like 65 units on the chips. So 200 total. Heck, let's go crazy RNG and make it 270 total.
Now if we take the worst unit deal you could possibly buy, the Peter Parker 135 units for $5, or 270 for $10, that comes out to $5 worth of units for an hour of grinding Arena.
It's kind of a bitter pill to swallow because I would not do anything I didn't enjoy for $5 an hour. That would be absurd.
I still kind of enjoy arena for now, especially for testing out new champs or new strategies/tactics, but I can see it becoming tiresome pretty soon.
So, if you do find it more of a grind than enjoyment, how do you justify it?

I can only tell you how I see it for myself. There's two aspects to this.

First, it doesn't take me two hours to grind each of the 6* arenas. Typically, it takes me about 40ish rounds for the featured and 35ish rounds for the basic these days, which is like an hour and a half or less. The amount of time drops over time as your roster grows. And I owe that large roster in large part historically to grinding arena. Going all the way back to when there was a 3* and 4* arena, I would do as much as I could to try to land 3* and 4* champs, even if it was just the basic, to fill out my roster. This gave me more champs to grind arena faster, which accelerated my ability to get more champs to speed up my grinds. Even up to the point where I was still growing my 6* roster I would try to get the basic where possible, specifically to deepen my roster. It just comes automatically to me at this point, even though I am not really using arena for that purpose any longer as I don't have that many gaps outside of 7* rarity. But I still make it a point to pick up the 3* and 4* versions of every new champ, because why not.

But the more important reason these days is simply that while I could spend money to buy units and no longer have to grind arena. that would defeat the purpose of me playing the game in the first place. I am not a free to play player: I do spend on the game. But to the largest extent possible, I want my account to be built with my own efforts. Spending might disproportionately affect my account, but nevertheless if I can do it, I want to do it, for no other reason than my own knowledge that I did it.

I could buy everything and do nothing, and that would be much faster and more economically efficient. But I play the game to play the game, and i grind arena to earn those units in the game because I can.

phillgreen

If you value your spare time more than the dollar cost, buy units.

Not many games allow its players to earn usable currency for free and its great that we have a choice either way.

No one is suggesting its stimulating and the best format in game but at least its there.

TotemCorruption

If you value your spare time more than the dollar cost, buy units.

Not many games allow its players to earn usable currency for free and its great that we have a choice either way.

No one is suggesting its stimulating and the best format in game but at least its there.

I'm definitely not suggesting it should not be there. It's more of a personal issue for me.

Like, it may not be strictly necessary, but we at least all want units if we're playing this game. So I can play arena for 1 or 2 hours and get $10 worth of units. But then, if I'm strictly chasing units and don't enjoy Arena, I could also just take on 2 extra hours of work in my own field for let's say $200.
But then if I end up spending that money to buy units, assuming that was the sole motivation for taking on that extra work, I'm sure a lot of players would call me a whale who was ruining the game for everyone else. While I don't 100% believe that's a correct sentiment, I definitely sympathize with it and am uncomfortable being part of that resentment.

unknown

This content has been removed.

Furrymoosen

If you value your spare time more than the dollar cost, buy units.

Not many games allow its players to earn usable currency for free and its great that we have a choice either way.

No one is suggesting its stimulating and the best format in game but at least its there.

I'm definitely not suggesting it should not be there. It's more of a personal issue for me.

Like, it may not be strictly necessary, but we at least all want units if we're playing this game. So I can play arena for 1 or 2 hours and get $10 worth of units. But then, if I'm strictly chasing units and don't enjoy Arena, I could also just take on 2 extra hours of work in my own field for let's say $200.
But then if I end up spending that money to buy units, assuming that was the sole motivation for taking on that extra work, I'm sure a lot of players would call me a whale who was ruining the game for everyone else. While I don't 100% believe that's a correct sentiment, I definitely sympathize with it and am uncomfortable being part of that resentment.

One other thing to keep in mind - those of us that do arena don't have the gold and iso struggles that some experience. So it isn't just units. While units have the most value there, having the gold and iso always at the ready is quite valuable as well.

willrun4adonut

If you value your spare time more than the dollar cost, buy units.

Not many games allow its players to earn usable currency for free and its great that we have a choice either way.

No one is suggesting its stimulating and the best format in game but at least its there.

I'm definitely not suggesting it should not be there. It's more of a personal issue for me.

I'm sure a lot of players would call me a whale who was ruining the game for everyone else. While I don't 100% believe that's a correct sentiment, I definitely sympathize with it and am uncomfortable being part of that resentment.

I for one would thank you for keeping the game available for free for the majority of the player base. If there were ever ads, I'd be gone so fast.

allinashes

Like others mentioned, a larger roster and recoils maker the grinding much shorter. Basic takes 27-29 rounds and at a generous 2 minutes per round can be done on my lunch break while I listen to a creepy pasta on YouTube or read a book. When I'm playing a lot I do this day one of arenas.

Featured takes 39-40 so I'll usually play 5 rounds on day one whenever I have time. Then finish up over next couple days at lunch. If I'm taking my kid to activities, I'll play while I wait for her. I rarely play much at home for long periods of it's not a weekend.

4* arena I really only play on day 3 when I've done the other two, unless I'm grinding hard. And I often skip it entirely. Many times I only do half of the featured also. If I don't feel like playing the game I don't. Like right now feeling kinda burnt out so haven't done any arenas today. Butt there's plenty of time to finish them if I feel like it tomorrow.

I low-key enjoy arenas though. Playing lots of champs I rarely use, easy fights, kinda relaxing.

phillgreen

If you value your spare time more than the dollar cost, buy units.

Not many games allow its players to earn usable currency for free and its great that we have a choice either way.

No one is suggesting its stimulating and the best format in game but at least its there.

I'm definitely not suggesting it should not be there. It's more of a personal issue for me.

Like, it may not be strictly necessary, but we at least all want units if we're playing this game. So I can play arena for 1 or 2 hours and get $10 worth of units. But then, if I'm strictly chasing units and don't enjoy Arena, I could also just take on 2 extra hours of work in my own field for let's say $200.
But then if I end up spending that money to buy units, assuming that was the sole motivation for taking on that extra work, I'm sure a lot of players would call me a whale who was ruining the game for everyone else. While I don't 100% believe that's a correct sentiment, I definitely sympathize with it and am uncomfortable being part of that resentment.

No one knows or cares how you get your units. I explored necro with grinded units, spent on whatever the last two spend events were and still have 30k just waiting to blow on something else.

Buy them or grind them, you do you, just value your time in game appropriately and you'll enjoy it

TotemCorruption

If you value your spare time more than the dollar cost, buy units.

Not many games allow its players to earn usable currency for free and its great that we have a choice either way.

No one is suggesting its stimulating and the best format in game but at least its there.

I'm definitely not suggesting it should not be there. It's more of a personal issue for me.

I'm sure a lot of players would call me a whale who was ruining the game for everyone else. While I don't 100% believe that's a correct sentiment, I definitely sympathize with it and am uncomfortable being part of that resentment.
I for one would thank you for keeping the game available for free for the majority of the player base. If there were ever ads, I'd be gone so fast.

But what if the game was sponsored by:

TotemCorruption

So just taking the Border Tribe one as an example, that's 2 hours for 135 guaranteed units and, even assuming good RNG, maybe like 65 units on the chips. So 200 total. Heck, let's go crazy RNG and make it 270 total.
Now if we take the worst unit deal you could possibly buy, the Peter Parker 135 units for $5, or 270 for $10, that comes out to $5 worth of units for an hour of grinding Arena.
It's kind of a bitter pill to swallow because I would not do anything I didn't enjoy for $5 an hour. That would be absurd.
I still kind of enjoy arena for now, especially for testing out new champs or new strategies/tactics, but I can see it becoming tiresome pretty soon.
So, if you do find it more of a grind than enjoyment, how do you justify it?
I can only tell you how I see it for myself. There's two aspects to this.

First, it doesn't take me two hours to grind each of the 6* arenas. Typically, it takes me about 40ish rounds for the featured and 35ish rounds for the basic these days, which is like an hour and a half or less. The amount of time drops over time as your roster grows. And I owe that large roster in large part historically to grinding arena. Going all the way back to when there was a 3* and 4* arena, I would do as much as I could to try to land 3* and 4* champs, even if it was just the basic, to fill out my roster. This gave me more champs to grind arena faster, which accelerated my ability to get more champs to speed up my grinds. Even up to the point where I was still growing my 6* roster I would try to get the basic where possible, specifically to deepen my roster. It just comes automatically to me at this point, even though I am not really using arena for that purpose any longer as I don't have that many gaps outside of 7* rarity. But I still make it a point to pick up the 3* and 4* versions of every new champ, because why not.

But the more important reason these days is simply that while I could spend money to buy units and no longer have to grind arena. that would defeat the purpose of me playing the game in the first place. I am not a free to play player: I do spend on the game. But to the largest extent possible, I want my account to be built with my own efforts. Spending might disproportionately affect my account, but nevertheless if I can do it, I want to do it, for no other reason than my own knowledge that I did it.

I could buy everything and do nothing, and that would be much faster and more economically efficient. But I play the game to play the game, and i grind arena to earn those units in the game because I can.

This helps because I wasn't thinking about it, but your perspective rings true for me as well. I definitely feel more satisfied earning a batch of units from my efforts in the game as opposed to just buying units or even being gifted them by the game for doing nothing. So thank you for sharing.

TotemCorruption

Like others mentioned, a larger roster and recoils maker the grinding much shorter. Basic takes 27-29 rounds and at a generous 2 minutes per round can be done on my lunch break while I listen to a creepy pasta on YouTube or read a book. When I'm playing a lot I do this day one of arenas.

Featured takes 39-40 so I'll usually play 5 rounds on day one whenever I have time. Then finish up over next couple days at lunch. If I'm taking my kid to activities, I'll play while I wait for her. I rarely play much at home for long periods of it's not a weekend.

4* arena I really only play on day 3 when I've done the other two, unless I'm grinding hard. And I often skip it entirely. Many times I only do half of the featured also. If I don't feel like playing the game I don't. Like right now feeling kinda burnt out so haven't done any arenas today. Butt there's plenty of time to finish them if I feel like it tomorrow.

I low-key enjoy arenas though. Playing lots of champs I rarely use, easy fights, kinda relaxing.

Yes, definitely, it can be relaxing and enjoyable doing arenas. That's how I used to play it when I was awash in units. But now I feel like I will have to constantly max out every arena or else I'll either be unable to get what I want during the spending events or will have to break open the wallet and go full whale....

DNA3000

Like others mentioned, a larger roster and recoils maker the grinding much shorter. Basic takes 27-29 rounds and at a generous 2 minutes per round can be done on my lunch break while I listen to a creepy pasta on YouTube or read a book. When I'm playing a lot I do this day one of arenas.

Featured takes 39-40 so I'll usually play 5 rounds on day one whenever I have time. Then finish up over next couple days at lunch. If I'm taking my kid to activities, I'll play while I wait for her. I rarely play much at home for long periods of it's not a weekend.

4* arena I really only play on day 3 when I've done the other two, unless I'm grinding hard. And I often skip it entirely. Many times I only do half of the featured also. If I don't feel like playing the game I don't. Like right now feeling kinda burnt out so haven't done any arenas today. Butt there's plenty of time to finish them if I feel like it tomorrow.

I low-key enjoy arenas though. Playing lots of champs I rarely use, easy fights, kinda relaxing.
Yes, definitely, it can be relaxing and enjoyable doing arenas. That's how I used to play it when I was awash in units. But now I feel like I will have to constantly max out every arena or else I'll either be unable to get what I want during the spending events or will have to break open the wallet and go full whale....

Suppose you ignored Trials (the slow one) and just got the milestones from the two 6* arenas. That’s 270 units per cycle, 540 units per week, 28,080 units per year.

On top of that, you log in daily and get the login calendar units: 100 per month, 1200 per year.

Then you autofight the low tiers of Monthly EQ. That’s 150 units x 3, plus 171 units from Proven just because, or 621 units per month, 7452 units per year.

While you’re autofighting, max out the Super Daily Event. 30 units per day, 10950 units per year.

That’s gets you to 47,682 units. Not an unlimited supply, but not bad for a little bit of grinding and a bunch of unattended autofighting. And in fact, it’s a bit more than that because you’d also get units from battlechips from all that arena grinding. You’re actually looking at on the order of 60,000 units per year at this level of activity.

If you want to spend money, buy the $5 USD unit card first. That’s 735 units per 30 days, or about 8820 units per year at a cost of about $60 USD. You’re now approaching 70,000 units per year, for some grind and minimal spend.

captaincush

I also use arenas as a way to "warm up" when I first start playing the day, like to limber up my fingers and my timing. Could be cuz I'm old

TotemCorruption

I also use arenas as a way to "warm up" when I first start playing the day, like to limber up my fingers and my timing. Could be cuz I'm old

Do you have enough points in the limber mastery? That might be the issue instead....