Lack of the "classic" Featured 5 star crystal is demoralizing
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Member Posts: 17 ★
The inability to EARN a reasonable shot at acquiring the newly released champions has significantly reduced my interest in playing the game. Am I alone in this?
I LOVED the challenge of grinding to acquire the 15K 5 star shards needed to have a 20%-ish chance at picking up the new champs. I used to grind for the 4 star champs just to get more 5 star shards. The Featured Blade crystal motivated me to make my first Labyrinth run so that I could have "just one more shot"! Even when I wasn't impressed with the currently released champs, I knew that it was worth the grind and that I'd have that many more chances to get an upcoming featured champ in a subsequent month, or to make a second attempt at a champ that I had missed on it's first featured run.
I was excited about the new champs every month because I had SOME chance to get them. 20% wasn't a sure thing, but it was reasonable. It's hard to be excited about Bishop, Sabertooth and the Sentinel when there is NO reasonable way to acquire those champs anytime soon. You'd have to spend HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS in arena to make top 150, or spend HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS on Grandmaster crystals, but there's no way to EARN them by playing the game. I couldn't care less about Proxima Midnight and Corvus for the same reason. I know I won't even have a shot at getting them for several more months, SO I DON'T CARE about the new champs at all right now.
Why am I still playing this game if not to update my roster with the new champs?
I LOVED the challenge of grinding to acquire the 15K 5 star shards needed to have a 20%-ish chance at picking up the new champs. I used to grind for the 4 star champs just to get more 5 star shards. The Featured Blade crystal motivated me to make my first Labyrinth run so that I could have "just one more shot"! Even when I wasn't impressed with the currently released champs, I knew that it was worth the grind and that I'd have that many more chances to get an upcoming featured champ in a subsequent month, or to make a second attempt at a champ that I had missed on it's first featured run.
I was excited about the new champs every month because I had SOME chance to get them. 20% wasn't a sure thing, but it was reasonable. It's hard to be excited about Bishop, Sabertooth and the Sentinel when there is NO reasonable way to acquire those champs anytime soon. You'd have to spend HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS in arena to make top 150, or spend HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS on Grandmaster crystals, but there's no way to EARN them by playing the game. I couldn't care less about Proxima Midnight and Corvus for the same reason. I know I won't even have a shot at getting them for several more months, SO I DON'T CARE about the new champs at all right now.
Why am I still playing this game if not to update my roster with the new champs?
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Comments
You're certainly not alone, but unfortunately you also got used to a game environment that was just a temporary transition. Back when the original 5* featured crystal was released the availability of 5* shards was extremely low. Top players were only getting a 5* champion every couple of months, to maybe once a month at the very top. But when Kabam decided to increase the availability of 5* shards, they created a situation where that 20% shot at the featured became a dozen shots at the featured and a 90%+ chance at getting one specific champion. That was never intended.
The chance of getting one specific champion out of the new featured is actually similar to the chance of getting the featured in the original crystal, if you factor in the huge increase in shards and the much larger number of shots the average player (in range of getting significant 5* shards) is likely to get. The current featured 5* crystal is much worse in many ways to the original crystal, but the combination of more shards and lower odds crystal actually roughly balances out. Someone starting today is facing a similar or better situation regarding 5* champions than someone who was around when they were first introduced.
If you focus on the one bad part, and can't change your focus, then you won't enjoy the new situation. But to be honest, I'm fine with building my 5* roster at maybe seven times the rate I was originally. In the long run, I will end up with better and more 5* champions over time than the original situation. Comparing to the exact moment when they changed the crystal, when the shards were plentiful and you could spend them on a crystal balanced for a tiny fraction of that, is simply dwelling over a situation with zero chance of returning.
And that's the problem...
A significant majority of the player base wants INPUT into their roster. They want the ability to assemble a TEAM of champs and to utilize the synergies that make those champs more powerful, especially since KaBam is INCREASING the value of synergy teams.
There has not been a "huge" increase in 5 star shard availability. There has been some, but certainly not enough to offset the significant reduction in the opportunity to acquire specific new champs. I opened three 5* featured crystals in the last month in the hopes of pulling Modok. (Side note: I didn't actually pull ANY of the new champs from those three featured crystals.) If I had three shots at a featured Modok crystal, there's no guarantee that I would have been able to get him, but the chance to do so would have been reasonable and worth grinding for. Currently, there's really no viable chance at all of me acquiring that Modok and NO amount of grinding on my part can offset that.
Last year there were three ways to acquire new champs: Money, luck and earning them by grinding.
Now there is two: Money and luck.
They have disincentivized grinding. Lots of veteran players are walking away from the game right now. All I'm saying is that this is likely a contributing factor. The inability to reasonably influence the makeup of my 5 star roster by grinding (especially as it relates to new champs) IS a problem.
Believe me, I get it. Been here since the beginning. I understand why the game is shaped this way.
But man, is it frustrating. Sometimes, you just want a specific character because that is who you want to play with and invest in.
Again: I understand why the game is structured the way it is. But that doesn't mean that it isn't frustrating.
Truly believe that after a certain period of time -- maybe, what, 9 months after initial release -- any character should be available for purchase for a limited period of time, as a 3/4/5 star. Cash and unit offers. I truly believe that would not break the game
I just honestly do not think it is a horrible thing for a player to be able to buy that Wolverine or Cyclops, if that's how they want to play and they don't have one or the other. I really don't. It's a game, you know?
This game is really fun, but it won't be around forever. Is it really so horrible for players to have more access to characters while the game is currently vibrant?
I just don't see the downside to players having the opportunity to shape their rosters to a larger degree than currently exists
There's no intrinsic reason why that would be bad, but this game isn't structured that way. Without getting into game design process which I doubt anyone who wants to disagree would accept anyway, it would be fundamentally impossible to do that to this game with this implementation team under the current implementation protocols. MMOs, and games like this, simply aren't built to make that kind of radical change. Most critically for those who've seen how these games work under the hood, it would basically invalidate the progress curve foundations. It would be analogous to eliminating letter grades from a school. Its not impossible in the sense that there are schools that operate that way, but it fundamentally can't be done in a school that bases all of their coursework and teaching processes around those grades. You change that one thing, and you have to change a lot of things both obvious and not obvious. And you end up with something totally different in the end.
This very problem is almost certainly the root of why we don't have the old style featured crystals anymore, and why arguing to bring them back is asking for way more than the people asking think they are asking for, and why it is highly unlikely to ever happen.
If you want to get into game design theory, look no further than B.F. Skinner's variable ratio reward theory. He found that pigeons were most likely to press a lever when there was a 50% chance of receiving a reward–even more than when they received a reward every time. A variable ratio reward system means that players have a REASONABLE CHANCE of receiving a reward, which is what motivates them to want to play at all. I don't want every champ at my fingertips; because that would be too easy and not motivating. Likewise, a 4% chance to acquire the 5* champ that I want for a limited amount of time using resources that take me WEEKS to acquire via grinding is insufficient and equally unmotivating. And in the case of the newest champs like Sabertooth, Sentinel, Bishop, etc, there is ZERO chance to acquire them because they won't be available in a featured crystal at all for weeks to come.
And like I said, the featured 5 star system worked just fine for over a year, so it's not "breaking the game" to return to a system that has already proven to be successful for a very long time. 20% per 15k crystal was a reasonable and ENTERTAINING variable ratio reward.
Spenders are happy right now. I get that. Spending is up. That's great for KaBam. The variable ratio reward for spenders is working great....HOWEVER... grinders are the bulk of the player base and right now there is far less reason to grind. The variable ratio reward is far too low to motivate grinding for new champs, because there is an insufficient chance to acquire those new champs by grinding. (4% for "recent" new champs, and ZERO percent for the newest champs).
I'm not asking for the return of the old featured 5 star crystal (though it's removal is what created the problem). I'm saying that the variable ratio reward for acquiring new champs via grinding right now is insufficient and needs to be addressed, which can be accomplished in a variety of ways.
Whoever said it was a temporary transition due to the low amount of shards you were able to get well that’s wrong because we have the new featured system for 6* as well.
Also it didn’t give you a 90% chance to get a champ it gave a ~20% chance every attempt. How many attempts you had was irrelevant.
I’ve seen a lot of people say they were 0 for “x” and and they are glad there’s a change or don’t care that there’s a change, but you know this will decrease your odds of getting what you want yea??
Also, the other champs in this new featured 5* are all garbage. It’s very disappointing. Hope everyone is ready to spend big! $_$