**Mastery Loadouts**
Due to issues related to the release of Mastery Loadouts, the "free swap" period will be extended.
The new end date will be May 1st.
Due to issues related to the release of Mastery Loadouts, the "free swap" period will be extended.
The new end date will be May 1st.
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Lack of Alphas and T4B for High-Level Players and the imbalance in rank-up materials overall
Dpumalo
Posts: 8
——THE ISSUE——
The problem with game right now is that the availability of rank up resources is incredibly unbalanced at the higher level of play, mainly for endgame players.
This is a long post so if you don’t have time to read it all, read the TLDR version below and skip to the “Possible Solutions” section a few paragraphs down
TOO LONG DIDN’T READ VERSION:
* High level players have a ton of t4cc and 5* champs to rank, but no Alphas or t4b
* Lower level players have a ton of Alphas and t4b but no t4cc or 5* champs to rank
The problem in detail and why it needs to be addressed:
It costs between 5-6 Tier 1 Alphas for EACH rank of a 5-star champion. Bringing one champ from Rank 1 to Rank 5 requires 21 Alphas.
Despite this high cost, players in top tier alliances only have the possibility of getting 2 alphas per week in regular gameplay. Players in low level alliances, however, get tons of them from their map crystals, but due to a lack of 5-star champs and t4cc, they don’t need them.
Kabam successfully fixed the shortage of Tier 4 Class Catalysts that existed before, but in doing so, they created a shortage of Tier 1 Alphas and Tier 4 Basics. With everyone having enough t4cc to rank up their champions finally, they created a lot of demand for alphas specifically, but haven’t done enough to make them more available to high level players. Meanwhile, low level players are drowning in alphas and Tier 4 Basics. What I believe is needed is a way to balance this somehow.
Most of the higher level content that we (map 5 and 6 level players) participate in gives Tier 4 Class Catalyst (t4cc) and Tier 2 Alpha (t2a) based rewards. That means that we always have a shortage of lower level resources like alphas and t4 basics. However, we have stashes overflowing with T4 Class Catalysts. We have to simply watch them expire with no way to use them since we don’t have enough alphas or t4b and no way to even sell them for a little gold.
The problem is not that we don’t have champions ready to rank up, we have plenty of those. The excess t4cc is not the problem either; in fact, we greatly appreciate that they are more available. The issue is that we cannot use them due to the lack of secondary rank-up resources.
The people that get alphas and t4b easily are in alliances that do maps 3-4, and those people have the opposite problem: they have stashes overflowing with hoards of alphas and basics but not enough t4cc to take people to rank 5.
What can be done to rectify this issue? I believe you could do three different things to rebalance the game.
——POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS——
First Option:
The first option to rebalance things is change the rank up requirements for champions to be more in line with the resources currently obtainable by each summoner in their current level of regular non-arena gameplay. I will only get into 5.* champions here as an example.
5 Star Champion Rank-Up Costs:
Cost for rank 2:
2x t4b, 1x t3cc, 2x t1a
Increased gold cost in place of additional t3cc, since we don’t get them at our level.
Cost for rank 3:
2x t4b, 4x t4cc, 3x t1a.
Increased t4cc in place of extra t1a.
Cost for rank 4:
4x t4b, 5x t4cc, 4x t2a
Remove t1a entirely since they are not obtainable outside of the arena at this level of play.
This would be more in line with the ratio that we currently get these items
Second Option:
You could change the map 3-5 AQ crystal rewards.
Map 6 Crystals:
Currently these give t4cc fragments and t2a fragments, with the chance of obtaining a full t4cc.
Changes:
* Add a chance of t1a fragments or a full t1a, in addition to the current map 6 crystal rewards.
Map 5 Crystals:
Currently Map 5 crystals award a small amount of t4b fragments and a larger amount of t4cc fragments. Also there is the chance that a full t4cc or in ridiculously rare cases, a full t4b, takes the place of the t4cc fragments.
Changes:
* Increase the amount of t4b fragments.
* Add a guaranteed amount of t1a fragments to every crystal.
* Chance at awarding a full t1a, t4b, and t4cc, but independent from eachother. If a full one is awarded, it takes the place of the guaranteed fragments that would normally be awarded, but you still get all the other types of fragments. Example, if a full Alpha is awarded, you don’t get any t1a fragments but you still get t4b and t4cc fragments or wholes.
* Different types of full-item rewards can be obtained at the same time from one crystal. Example, it would be possible to get a full t4b and full t1a at the same time along with the t4cc fragments. In the rarest of occasions you could even get a full t1a, t4b and t4cc at the same time!
Basically, you will always get some combination of all three types, t1a, t4b and t4cc.
Map 3 and 4 Crystals:
Currently award t4b and t1a fragments or wholes.
Changes:
* Add guaranteed amount of t4cc fragments to all map 4 crystals, about half of what you would get from map 5 crystals.
* Add Non-guaranteed chance at t4cc fragments to map 3 crystals
* t4cc rewards are in addition to the regular rewards of t1a and t4b fragments, not in place of them.
Everything else remains unchanged.
Third Option:
Somehow make Tier 1 Alphas and Tier 4 Basics more available to endgame-level players. I’m not talking about 1 alpha a week in the glory store, Or 1 a month with the event quest, I am talking about something that actually will give us enough to rank up our champions, such as a daily event, or even changing the Alpha arena to award 5 full t1a instead of 1. It currently takes at least 5 alphas for each rank of a 5* champion. If I want to bring all of my 5* champions just to rank 2, I would need over 100 tier 1 alphas. Good luck with that, it will never be enough. That is why I believe the first two options are more realistic.
TOO LONG DIDN’T READ SOLUTIONS:
1. Change the rank-up costs of champions to make up for the shortage of alphas and t4b for the highest level champions.
2. Change map 5 crystal rewards to give higher level players some alpha frags and more t4b, and change map 3-4 crystals to give some more t4cc frags.
3. Change alpha arena to award 5 full alphas instead of 1. Daily alpha event.
Please think about this Kabam. And to everyone else, please provide feedback and your own suggestions to balancing everything and maybe they will listen to at least one of us.
The problem with game right now is that the availability of rank up resources is incredibly unbalanced at the higher level of play, mainly for endgame players.
This is a long post so if you don’t have time to read it all, read the TLDR version below and skip to the “Possible Solutions” section a few paragraphs down
TOO LONG DIDN’T READ VERSION:
* High level players have a ton of t4cc and 5* champs to rank, but no Alphas or t4b
* Lower level players have a ton of Alphas and t4b but no t4cc or 5* champs to rank
The problem in detail and why it needs to be addressed:
It costs between 5-6 Tier 1 Alphas for EACH rank of a 5-star champion. Bringing one champ from Rank 1 to Rank 5 requires 21 Alphas.
Despite this high cost, players in top tier alliances only have the possibility of getting 2 alphas per week in regular gameplay. Players in low level alliances, however, get tons of them from their map crystals, but due to a lack of 5-star champs and t4cc, they don’t need them.
Kabam successfully fixed the shortage of Tier 4 Class Catalysts that existed before, but in doing so, they created a shortage of Tier 1 Alphas and Tier 4 Basics. With everyone having enough t4cc to rank up their champions finally, they created a lot of demand for alphas specifically, but haven’t done enough to make them more available to high level players. Meanwhile, low level players are drowning in alphas and Tier 4 Basics. What I believe is needed is a way to balance this somehow.
Most of the higher level content that we (map 5 and 6 level players) participate in gives Tier 4 Class Catalyst (t4cc) and Tier 2 Alpha (t2a) based rewards. That means that we always have a shortage of lower level resources like alphas and t4 basics. However, we have stashes overflowing with T4 Class Catalysts. We have to simply watch them expire with no way to use them since we don’t have enough alphas or t4b and no way to even sell them for a little gold.
The problem is not that we don’t have champions ready to rank up, we have plenty of those. The excess t4cc is not the problem either; in fact, we greatly appreciate that they are more available. The issue is that we cannot use them due to the lack of secondary rank-up resources.
The people that get alphas and t4b easily are in alliances that do maps 3-4, and those people have the opposite problem: they have stashes overflowing with hoards of alphas and basics but not enough t4cc to take people to rank 5.
What can be done to rectify this issue? I believe you could do three different things to rebalance the game.
——POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS——
First Option:
The first option to rebalance things is change the rank up requirements for champions to be more in line with the resources currently obtainable by each summoner in their current level of regular non-arena gameplay. I will only get into 5.* champions here as an example.
5 Star Champion Rank-Up Costs:
Cost for rank 2:
2x t4b, 1x t3cc, 2x t1a
Increased gold cost in place of additional t3cc, since we don’t get them at our level.
Cost for rank 3:
2x t4b, 4x t4cc, 3x t1a.
Increased t4cc in place of extra t1a.
Cost for rank 4:
4x t4b, 5x t4cc, 4x t2a
Remove t1a entirely since they are not obtainable outside of the arena at this level of play.
This would be more in line with the ratio that we currently get these items
Second Option:
You could change the map 3-5 AQ crystal rewards.
Map 6 Crystals:
Currently these give t4cc fragments and t2a fragments, with the chance of obtaining a full t4cc.
Changes:
* Add a chance of t1a fragments or a full t1a, in addition to the current map 6 crystal rewards.
Map 5 Crystals:
Currently Map 5 crystals award a small amount of t4b fragments and a larger amount of t4cc fragments. Also there is the chance that a full t4cc or in ridiculously rare cases, a full t4b, takes the place of the t4cc fragments.
Changes:
* Increase the amount of t4b fragments.
* Add a guaranteed amount of t1a fragments to every crystal.
* Chance at awarding a full t1a, t4b, and t4cc, but independent from eachother. If a full one is awarded, it takes the place of the guaranteed fragments that would normally be awarded, but you still get all the other types of fragments. Example, if a full Alpha is awarded, you don’t get any t1a fragments but you still get t4b and t4cc fragments or wholes.
* Different types of full-item rewards can be obtained at the same time from one crystal. Example, it would be possible to get a full t4b and full t1a at the same time along with the t4cc fragments. In the rarest of occasions you could even get a full t1a, t4b and t4cc at the same time!
Basically, you will always get some combination of all three types, t1a, t4b and t4cc.
Map 3 and 4 Crystals:
Currently award t4b and t1a fragments or wholes.
Changes:
* Add guaranteed amount of t4cc fragments to all map 4 crystals, about half of what you would get from map 5 crystals.
* Add Non-guaranteed chance at t4cc fragments to map 3 crystals
* t4cc rewards are in addition to the regular rewards of t1a and t4b fragments, not in place of them.
Everything else remains unchanged.
Third Option:
Somehow make Tier 1 Alphas and Tier 4 Basics more available to endgame-level players. I’m not talking about 1 alpha a week in the glory store, Or 1 a month with the event quest, I am talking about something that actually will give us enough to rank up our champions, such as a daily event, or even changing the Alpha arena to award 5 full t1a instead of 1. It currently takes at least 5 alphas for each rank of a 5* champion. If I want to bring all of my 5* champions just to rank 2, I would need over 100 tier 1 alphas. Good luck with that, it will never be enough. That is why I believe the first two options are more realistic.
TOO LONG DIDN’T READ SOLUTIONS:
1. Change the rank-up costs of champions to make up for the shortage of alphas and t4b for the highest level champions.
2. Change map 5 crystal rewards to give higher level players some alpha frags and more t4b, and change map 3-4 crystals to give some more t4cc frags.
3. Change alpha arena to award 5 full alphas instead of 1. Daily alpha event.
Please think about this Kabam. And to everyone else, please provide feedback and your own suggestions to balancing everything and maybe they will listen to at least one of us.
5
Comments
The suggested drop changes are unbalanced. Your adding a guaranteed universal resource and increasing the drop rate of another universal resource to Map 5/6 crystals, but adding a random class specific resource or a chance at a random class specific resource to Map 3/4 crystals. So, basically, Map 5/6 players get more guaranteed desired resources out of every crystal, but Map 3/4 players get a 1 in 6 chance of getting a desired resource. It's basically a "rich get richer" solution and the advancement curve is supposed to slow at the top of any game, not speed up.
If they want to speed up advancement, the easiest and most fair way would be to increase Glory rewards across the board and make all 6 classes of T4cc fragments always available to buy in the Glory Store.
I understand why you removed them from the AQ milestones originally since back then all of us were drowning in t1 alphas and they could be used to form the very rare t2 alpha. But now there's been another paradigm shift in the game and t2 alphas are more common as are 5 and now 6 star champs. Please adjust the game appropriately.
And the truth is, yes, there is a huge problem with t1as and t4bs. To rank a 4* champ from r1 to r5, it takes 3 t1as. To rank a 5* champ from r1 to r3 (the equivalent of a 4* r5 champ), it takes 15 t1as. I do alpha arena and buy 2-3 t1as in glory store per week. We also get the t1a in team rewards almost every time (we miss an perfect series occasionally).
If you are doing a lot of arena and doin decent in wars, you are getting a new 5* every few weeks now. So the choice is to not rank 4*s at all and don’t take 5*s past r1 except for the few you want to eventually take to r3 or r4. Yet, kabam claimants that each champ has its own special ability and is great in their own way. If that were true, there should be enough recourses to at least make champs something besides arena fodder.
And finally, for the people claiming we should just do map 3, either you are not being serious or you don’t understand the way this game works. The chance to get an alpha from a map 3 crystal is extremely low. We ran map 3 once to see and out of the 90 map 3 crystals, like 2 of us got a t1a. The extra glory you get from running map 5 allows you to buy more t1as from glory store than you would get from map 3 crystals.
In summmary, the lack of t1as available is a verifiable problem. And it’s only getting worse. You don’t see it now, but once you get to the point that you are getting 5*s more regularly, you will see.
Do you feel to good to run some daily event quests for the classes you need? I check every day if my inventory is full for the class of that day. If it isn't, I walk it. This way I don't run to low. And if I ever need more then I have on hand, I can open the huge amount of saved up t3c shard crystals and full t3c crystals, that I get from normal gameplay.
As one poster mentioned, t1a's and t4b's are not as big of an issue due to the ability to purchase them with glory.
What I am lacking are t2a's and gold. Gold has been discussed over and over, so I will not go into that at the moment. But nobody seems to want to talk about the lack of t2a availability. I have an overflow of t4cc and 5* champs worthy of ranking, but t2a's are slow coming. Even with exploring the uncollected and master monthly quest, it takes months to get just 1 t2a. Buying t2a shards with glory doesn't yield very much return for the price either. There should be more effective ways to get t2a shards.