I think they went too far in allowing the spenders to get 4+ R4s before it was possible for FTP to get even one. PTW will always, and should always have a significant advantage, but it ought to be that hardcore grinding will keep you competitive. The point at which it doesn't matter how much time you spend grinding, you can't be in a top alliance without spending crosses a line I think they shouldn't cross. I can't put in the time BG does and I spend very little on the game so I'm not upset personally, but I do think that they went too far with the amount of R4 resources that are available for money before making them available generally.
I tend to agree with this, and I spend more than I’d like to admit on this game. The fact that there is even one account that has four (or more) r4 champions before the game has introduced the resources for even one through content is kinda gross.
Even if that content was an Everest-style unit-gobbling slog, the way Abyss and Labyrinth were at release, that would be okay! But there really should be a way to earn these rewards, not just buy them at this stage.
100 % Agree , and that is the main point i got from BG video !
I think that's almost exclusively the point Bg Makes. But people have been strawmanning his point to oblivion for some reason
That’s what happens every time he makes a video on the subject. People misrepresent, misunderstand and misinform like it’s going out of fashion
It’s hard to tell whether people didn’t watch the video, or they didn’t understand. But people are talking about him weighing his alliance down, or him being upset that spenders do better. It’s baffling to be honest.
He has been pulling his alliance prestige down for a few years now, it’s not like it happened overnight. Let’s face it, if he is not a well known YouTubed, they have kicked him from 4l0ki a long time ago.
What really happened is he finally realized what he is doing to his Alliance and be decent enough to leave on his own.
4Loki hasn't been trying hard in AQ for a long time. That's the only place prestige matters. They go harder in AW than in AQ.
If that’s true then why should prestige matter at all? All that should matter is gameplay.
He always has rank up materials in the overflow. Just watch some of those rank up videos. Unless those crystals have 6* sig stones or rank4 materials, I don’t understand what good they could possibly do him?
Rank up videos? Is there a service that shows these rank up videos?
He uploads monthly rank up/level up videos. A compilation of that months rankups and level ups
I'm a middle-tier player and I don't understand the fuzz of Brian Grant. Well, I do understand, but it doesn't affect me or the game in general. Take for instance the top rewards of gifting. We're talking about like 50 players? On a pool of probably thousands, it is nothing. In no way are the top rewards gamebreaking. It only affects the tiny minority of top players.
But, a lot YouTubers and CCP members are in that tiny minority, so their interests gets amplified a lot. We have to remember that's not the interest of the game. What I don't hear, are complaints about GGC droprates. Anyone UC with 50 dollars or 55 euros, can buy 10 GGC and open enough shards to pull a 6*, 2 5*, a 5* or 6* awakening gem crystal, fully form T5b and T2A and so much more. I repeat: UC players who shouldn't have such easy access to 6* resources. That's gamebreaking. That hurts F2P players. That's a hill to die on. Not top rank rewards.
I’m still salty after finding out that around here, a “content creator” doesn’t mean someone involved in making champs, quests, nodes…naw, it’s someone who makes YouTube videos. Kind of a letdown.
I’m still salty after finding out that around here, a “content creator” doesn’t mean someone involved in making champs, quests, nodes…naw, it’s someone who makes YouTube videos. Kind of a letdown.
Here? Content creator is almost universally recognized as YouTube or some other platform content.
I’m still salty after finding out that around here, a “content creator” doesn’t mean someone involved in making champs, quests, nodes…naw, it’s someone who makes YouTube videos. Kind of a letdown.
I agree with this sentiment 100%. CCP is more like advertising for Kabam it seems to us. But - how much feedback do CCP members give and how much is received by Kabam is unknown to us.
Like it or not, a "content creator"s opinion matters for this and every game, in a degree. You or me may not get affected by what the X Brian thinks or decides to do, but it has an impact to the community, even as a simple review, like the ones you watch/read before buying a washing machine. And his opinion matters more than the "Imthebiggameplayertrustme" forum account opinion. So if you re a hater and you just came here to say "I don't care about Grant, or Joe, or Felix", you're just annoying to the rest of us. Go do arenas instead to get some units for your last GGC's T2 fragments.
I'm a middle-tier player and I don't understand the fuzz of Brian Grant. Well, I do understand, but it doesn't affect me or the game in general. Take for instance the top rewards of gifting. We're talking about like 50 players? On a pool of probably thousands, it is nothing. In no way are the top rewards gamebreaking. It only affects the tiny minority of top players.
But, a lot YouTubers and CCP members are in that tiny minority, so their interests gets amplified a lot. We have to remember that's not the interest of the game. What I don't hear, are complaints about GGC droprates. Anyone UC with 50 dollars or 55 euros, can buy 10 GGC and open enough shards to pull a 6*, 2 5*, a 5* or 6* awakening gem crystal, fully form T5b and T2A and so much more. I repeat: UC players who shouldn't have such easy access to 6* resources. That's gamebreaking. That hurts F2P players. That's a hill to die on. Not top rank rewards.
I don't think he is complaining about solely the rank rewards. He brings up a lot about how the game has become transaction-based, rather than earning rewards through challenges. The example you bring about a UC player getting GGCs actually adds to that point. UC players, who might have 1-2 6*s currently, should they be getting 6*s in the dozens? No. You also say that. And that's exactly the point he's making. Why should the majority of the rewards in this game be earned through some sort of transaction, whether it be grinded units or real money? How should a UC player be able to open up their wallets and get as many 6*s as they want, when they can't even complete 6.1? On the other end, someone who completes content to progress through titles and become Thronebreaker can still have fewer 6*s and 6* materials than someone who is Cavalier and whales out. That player can have disproportionately more 6*s than they "should" (whatever you think that "should" threshold is).
I have to say. That is an issue. So many rewards are locked behind a store of some sort (SQ stores, July 4th/Cyber Weekend/Spring Cleaning etc.). You either pay for the currency to buy the "products" or grind for them. There isn't any kind of challenging obstacle to face other than attaining those resources in the required quantity. Honestly, it makes grinding arena more valuable than completing content like Cav EQ or the Variants (which are pretty lackluster in rewards as of now). That's just my viewpoint.
I still don’t understand how people are complaining about the gifting rank rewards…the bonkers rewards are at the very tip top. If you take the top 30 I guarantee everyone of them are spending 10k+ to get there with the top 5 likely spending over 50k based on past years.
If I spent 50k on this event I better have multiple rank 4’s on my account. Shoot I better be on the verge of a 6* rank 5! Lol obvious joke….but the point is anyone thinking it would be okay for these people to spend 50k and walk away with a few more r4 fragments and a couple more r3’s has completely lost their mind.
As for Brian Grant the reality is he should’ve never been able to keep up as well as he has without spending a dime on the game. The whales will always progress faster. As they should for spending a lot of money to do so
are we going to get a thread about BG every time he changes his shirt as well? I'm sure most of us just don't care. Maybe it's time he finally left YouTube....which he wont do because he makes a living at it. If i complained about my job as much as he seems to I'd look for a new job.
I'm a middle-tier player and I don't understand the fuzz of Brian Grant. Well, I do understand, but it doesn't affect me or the game in general. Take for instance the top rewards of gifting. We're talking about like 50 players? On a pool of probably thousands, it is nothing. In no way are the top rewards gamebreaking. It only affects the tiny minority of top players.
But, a lot YouTubers and CCP members are in that tiny minority, so their interests gets amplified a lot. We have to remember that's not the interest of the game. What I don't hear, are complaints about GGC droprates. Anyone UC with 50 dollars or 55 euros, can buy 10 GGC and open enough shards to pull a 6*, 2 5*, a 5* or 6* awakening gem crystal, fully form T5b and T2A and so much more. I repeat: UC players who shouldn't have such easy access to 6* resources. That's gamebreaking. That hurts F2P players. That's a hill to die on. Not top rank rewards.
I don't think he is complaining about solely the rank rewards. He brings up a lot about how the game has become transaction-based, rather than earning rewards through challenges. The example you bring about a UC player getting GGCs actually adds to that point. UC players, who might have 1-2 6*s currently, should they be getting 6*s in the dozens? No. You also say that. And that's exactly the point he's making. Why should the majority of the rewards in this game be earned through some sort of transaction, whether it be grinded units or real money? How should a UC player be able to open up their wallets and get as many 6*s as they want, when they can't even complete 6.1? On the other end, someone who completes content to progress through titles and become Thronebreaker can still have fewer 6*s and 6* materials than someone who is Cavalier and whales out. That player can have disproportionately more 6*s than they "should" (whatever you think that "should" threshold is).
I have to say. That is an issue. So many rewards are locked behind a store of some sort (SQ stores, July 4th/Cyber Weekend/Spring Cleaning etc.). You either pay for the currency to buy the "products" or grind for them. There isn't any kind of challenging obstacle to face other than attaining those resources in the required quantity. Honestly, it makes grinding arena more valuable than completing content like Cav EQ or the Variants (which are pretty lackluster in rewards as of now). That's just my viewpoint.
Agreed, and here’s another point which, I think, a lot of people try to gloss over because no one wants to get told to “git gud”:
Not everyone is a great, great player of the game itself. There are some sick players out there, to be sure. Great players who have put in tons of work to master the game and timings and interactions and spacing. Those people are GOOD, and a ton of them are better than me.
That’s my point: I am a decent enough player. I can do a few things. I know how to play.
But I am honest: I get smoked in some tough content. I don’t enjoy huge hit pools anyway — I have a job and kids, I can’t tap a screen six, seven, eight hours a day. I need fights to end — but when you combine that with complex interactions and high attack values that, if you make a mistake and get hit means you are going to die, then what do you do?
If you are not a great player but you still want to complete content, then you need units.
You get those units by one of two ways: Grinding or buying. As you noted.
The game is really interesting to me, because I just don’t have a feel for how many casual/average players there are who are still trying to clear content that isn’t easy for people with limited rosters or capped skills.
What are those people doing?
Are they quitting? Are they grinding for units to spend on revives? Are they practicing a ton to git gud? Are they spending on offers that give rank up opportunities and tons of resources, like the gifting event?
Because when I look at this gifting event and what’s in the GGCs, I mean, if you got a lot of them, you probably created options for yourself.
But I don’t know how many people truly do that — spend money or grind for units — specifically to progress their accounts to compete with everyone else, as opposed to doing it because they want to accomplish something specific in the game.
Those two motivations are different, and it definitely affects how you view the overall game and your experience
Like it or not, a "content creator"s opinion matters for this and every game, in a degree. You or me may not get affected by what the X Brian thinks or decides to do, but it has an impact to the community, even as a simple review, like the ones you watch/read before buying a washing machine. And his opinion matters more than the "Imthebiggameplayertrustme" forum account opinion. So if you re a hater and you just came here to say "I don't care about Grant, or Joe, or Felix", you're just annoying to the rest of us. Go do arenas instead to get some units for your last GGC's T2 fragments.
I agree with this. Any content creator has an impact on some section of the community, however large or small it may be, and you can't deny that. That is the reason Kabam has the CCP, to get a general understanding of the community and their opinions. Kabam won't do anything until the channels that have thousands of people worth of influence start complaining. Look what happened last year (?) when Seatin complained about the game. Someone started a thread, "Imthebiggameplayertrustme" said "I don't care, he sucks anyways", but look what happened. Kabam never respond to (or took action on) anything the puny forum users used to suggest. However, Seatin's video got them to make the roadmap and start making whatever changes they did end up implementing (which were not that many: half the roadmap is not implemented). That "renaissance" has been on a decline for a pretty long time. Now it has come to a point in time when someone else needs to complain again and start the process of fixing things again.
I think what people need to understand is that no matter how awesome you think you are at the game, no matter how important you think you opinion is, and no matter how much you dislike the influence of youtubers, the only way any changes will be made is if Kabam sees that a portion of their playerbase will be angered. "Imthebiggameplayertrustme" means **** to Kabam. You know who does mean something? You know who does have a following of thousands of people? You know who's opinion could actually affect Kabam's decisions? The big CCP members. Whether you like it or not, it's true. So suck it up, "Imthebiggameplayertrustme".
I think they went too far in allowing the spenders to get 4+ R4s before it was possible for FTP to get even one. PTW will always, and should always have a significant advantage, but it ought to be that hardcore grinding will keep you competitive. The point at which it doesn't matter how much time you spend grinding, you can't be in a top alliance without spending crosses a line I think they shouldn't cross. I can't put in the time BG does and I spend very little on the game so I'm not upset personally, but I do think that they went too far with the amount of R4 resources that are available for money before making them available generally.
I tend to agree with this, and I spend more than I’d like to admit on this game. The fact that there is even one account that has four (or more) r4 champions before the game has introduced the resources for even one through content is kinda gross.
Even if that content was an Everest-style unit-gobbling slog, the way Abyss and Labyrinth were at release, that would be okay! But there really should be a way to earn these rewards, not just buy them at this stage.
100 % Agree , and that is the main point i got from BG video !
I think that's almost exclusively the point Bg Makes. But people have been strawmanning his point to oblivion for some reason
That’s what happens every time he makes a video on the subject. People misrepresent, misunderstand and misinform like it’s going out of fashion
It’s hard to tell whether people didn’t watch the video, or they didn’t understand. But people are talking about him weighing his alliance down, or him being upset that spenders do better. It’s baffling to be honest.
If he doesn’t feel like he is weighing his alliance down then why is he going to leave 4l0ki? He might not say it but he is implying it with his rant about getting r4 mats thru transactions and not with gameplay. He is implying he can’t keep up with spenders coz he can’t get those r4 materials from playing the game. Since he can’t keep up with them, his alliance is suffering as well.
He does feel so. He feels he's being carried. That's why he left. But his ally mates don't.
Edit: there were, but that is not the reason he left. Thanks @danielmath
I think they went too far in allowing the spenders to get 4+ R4s before it was possible for FTP to get even one. PTW will always, and should always have a significant advantage, but it ought to be that hardcore grinding will keep you competitive. The point at which it doesn't matter how much time you spend grinding, you can't be in a top alliance without spending crosses a line I think they shouldn't cross. I can't put in the time BG does and I spend very little on the game so I'm not upset personally, but I do think that they went too far with the amount of R4 resources that are available for money before making them available generally.
I tend to agree with this, and I spend more than I’d like to admit on this game. The fact that there is even one account that has four (or more) r4 champions before the game has introduced the resources for even one through content is kinda gross.
Even if that content was an Everest-style unit-gobbling slog, the way Abyss and Labyrinth were at release, that would be okay! But there really should be a way to earn these rewards, not just buy them at this stage.
100 % Agree , and that is the main point i got from BG video !
I think that's almost exclusively the point Bg Makes. But people have been strawmanning his point to oblivion for some reason
That’s what happens every time he makes a video on the subject. People misrepresent, misunderstand and misinform like it’s going out of fashion
It’s hard to tell whether people didn’t watch the video, or they didn’t understand. But people are talking about him weighing his alliance down, or him being upset that spenders do better. It’s baffling to be honest.
If he doesn’t feel like he is weighing his alliance down then why is he going to leave 4l0ki? He might not say it but he is implying it with his rant about getting r4 mats thru transactions and not with gameplay. He is implying he can’t keep up with spenders coz he can’t get those r4 materials from playing the game. Since he can’t keep up with them, his alliance is suffering as well.
He does feel so. He feels he's being carried. That's why he left. But his ally mates don't.
There were plenty of people over the years there who were bitter that the rules for him were different then for everyone else actually. I never cared really cause i liked him and he has a lot of recruiting value but many weren’t happy with it (especially people who got kicked from prestige or couldn’t get in cause of prestige)
I think they went too far in allowing the spenders to get 4+ R4s before it was possible for FTP to get even one. PTW will always, and should always have a significant advantage, but it ought to be that hardcore grinding will keep you competitive.
You imply that having 4 r4’s is a prerequisite to being competitive in the game, but I disagree. There’s no real competitive advantage between an r4 and r3. Furthermore, the advantage typically diminishes with skill (Brian could get cav with 4* and low rank 5* champs whereas many players would struggle to do so).
He is wrong to be upset because Kabam wants to milk the cow as hard as it can. Kabam here makes the rules and the rules currently are: no F2P allowed in top tier alliances.
He is right because everyone should have the same opportunity to gain top resources for advancement or at least 1:2 ratio. Monetization of the game is completely messed up.
On one hand, I totally understand Brian's issue, especially in regard to the requirements for R4 being more freely available via gifting than via gameplay. This, imo, is a solid argument. There should have been a way to acquire those items through gameplay, undoubtedly, prior to an event that offers them freely, without any skill requirement whatsoever.
That said, it can also be argued that your hard-core FTP grinder could amass a large amount of units over time, and benefit similarly from the gifting event. They totally could. In Brian's defence, however, that still doesn't disregard the fact that content clearing should have allowed for the chance to attain the required items, and it didn't.
Game's most rare and valuable resources are tied in Solo rank rewards. But main problem lies in the unlimited resources in the GGCs itself. If I am right Hq Sean already have 4 r4 atm. This ggc are totally nuts in those values. Now here comes the point of gameplay. There's no single content in game yet which offers resources to get a champ from r1 to r4 (6*). And this event introduced those resources in uncapped amount. Plus solo rank rewards are also having one of the best rewards in game ever seen. Even Gen Ag is only available in Abyss exploration which everyone can't do due to many factors. Now such resources are dependent on wallet then the skill and gameplay.
Now here comes another thing. A guy with 13k prestige is godly player but if he/she wants to compete from this point onwards in Aq, r4 will become prerequisite for top tier Aq placement. This will lead to decline of such players from top tiers ,this forcing them to either step down in low level alliances and semi retire or quitting. This soon can change mood of mid levels too. As the gap widens, the spirit of low spenders or F2P will be broked, as they believed and relied earlier on their skills to remain in top as gap wasn't that wide in terms of prestige. But r4 surely change this. The grind and hussle will be felt useless which actually can lead some part of player base to not to spend at all. For Aw too, R4 champs would be no joke in some scenario. Think of scenario where players with no r4 champs slowly started to fall down and some do them either individually or in groups join low level alliances. Their godly account plus skills can trigger some minor imbalances in low level Aw too in long run.
Now if I talk about Brian, I can only say that, if a player is very skilled and cuz of that he was surviving in top meta,and suddenly that value falls down as it mean nothing to the state of game , it becomes meaningless. Surely your ally mate will cheer you up and might not say anything but a player will lose joy and excitement over time as the sense of being dead weight becomes more heavy. The worst part is that it's not because of personal skills but the wallet itself. It's no joke how r4 can bump the numbers of the prestige thus resulting in the changing of rank rewardees in Aq. It's not matter of choice anymore. It's necessary evil which many can't afford. We all know that above 300m In Aq is same until you reach to Top 100 placement or something like that. Recruiting in top tier Aq were always a prestige fiesta with room to skilled ones. Now this will rule out this too in top ones which might trigger in mid ones too as mid level can possibly become a dumping ground for such accounts. Players are already bored who are in endgame and now you took on of the few reasons to compete.
I have been subscribed to his channel for years. Him and seatin were the two that kept me excited. As much as I hate to say this, he is overreacting imo. He is f2p and is angry he can't keep up with top end whales. We need the whales to keep the game going. I am f2p, I have 30k+ units, 50+million gold, and I strong enough roster to complete 7.3. I understand that if I don't spend I can't keep up with spenders (money talks). There is no content that requires any 6*r4, you can easily grind the arena and save your bc till the gifting event and pop 100 ggc for free. In the end I hope he keeps playing, but if someone isn't happy playing a game, they should find something else to do. I wish BG nothing but the best in his future alliance and video's, I will stay subscribed to him till the end.
My only issue with progression right now is how much of an advantage spenders get to ranking up a 6* to R4. I don't care if spenders get some advantage, in fact I feel very strongly that they do get an advantage, it would be silly otherwise. But it's the level of boost that spenders get at the moment to getting the next rank progression level (I.e. the first time you can R4 a 6*, or the first time we could R5 a 5*) I think the best way to highlight this is by looking back to Act 5.
Before the end of act 5 nobody could get a rank 5 5*, I don't think even spenders could. All of the videos on youtube about their first rank 5 5* are after 5.4 dropped.
Here is the first one I found, Brutal DLX's sparky who was one of the biggest whales in the game, and even he couldn't get a rank 5 before Act 5.4 dropped.
Act 5.4 dropped December 2017 and by September 2018 we were getting offers like this
9k basic for $99. That's 10% of a rank up. But act 5 100% got us 2 whole catalysts for our first rank up of the next progression level, which is the entire rank up. So even after 5.4 dropped, whales still could spend to get their advantage.
So you compare 4 years ago, where the first time we could get a rank up to the next level by playing the game and completing content. And later, the whales could pay to get their advantage. And then you look at today, where Whales can spend to get 4 or more R4 champions before the gifting rank rewards give them more and the only way to even get close to getting your first R4 without spending, you need to save up 15k units for July 4th, 15k units for Cyber Monday and then 3.5k units for both of 7.2 and 7.3 offers. That is 37k units total, to get that you'd need to grind an insane amount of arena over the year. That is the only way you can get close to a R4 without spending. And to be honest, in some way that's not even playing the game. As in, it's not completing content, it's just grinding arena.
The option to grind content to get your first R4 is just not there, maybe 7.4 and act 7 exploration will make it entirely possible to get your first R4 without having spent or grinded out for unit offers, but I doubt it. I feel like it will allow those who have picked up a unit offer here or there to get their first R4, but those who simply play the game without saving up units for a few months won't be able to get there.
I just feel like it's not a great feeling to know that the only way you can push for the next progression rank up is to hoard units all year round and buy some offers. Like, what challenge is that for a very skill intensive game? The way to push your account isn't to take on some hardcore gameplay, or complete some challenge, it's to hold onto your units as long as you can and buy it. That's why I bring up act 5 exploration, you didn't need to grin 37k units, you just needed to play the game.
Yes, give the whales an advantage, I'm not even saying we should all be able to get a R4 6* the same time, like we could with R4 5*. All I'm pointing out is that there is a stark contrast with how the next progression is presented in the game between now and 4 years ago, one that shows the change in the level of monetisation.
I just feel that by now, Act 7 rewards, Carina Challenges and SoP should have all added up so that you didn't need any external offers to rank 4 a 6*. But along the way, whales would have had the opportunity to buy any offer they wanted to boost their progress faster than FTP, and get the inherent advantage that spending does, and should, provide.
If we were coming into the gifting event, where it was possible for a FTP player to have gotten a rank 4 by completing content, but the whales all already had 1 or 2 based on spending and then they could get some more from gifting, I would feel a lot better about it. I don't think it's game breaking, I don't think it's disgusting or any other strong reaction. I just feel like having the next progression rank put behind a paywall of this nature is a bit much, when FTP players literally cannot get a Rank 4 without grinding units all year long, and even if they do grind 37k units, BG showed that they were still 800 fragments off without being in a super hardcore alliance.
I like Brian's youtube content, and him in general.
I just want to add to the conversation of even if you add up all the t3a, free to play players are short t3a to r4 a 6* champ.
Act 7.2 and 7.3 offer was 4500 t3a each for 3500 units, so 9000 t3a for 7k units total.
spring cleaning (9000 t3a for 337500 dubloons (impossible for free to play to purchase, or 182250 dubloons for $50, 40500 dubloons for $100 ),
4th of July (18k units, half t3a) , Cyberweekend (18k units, half t3a) ,
Acts 7.2, 7.3 offers (7k units) = is 43k to 58k units per year to stay caught up.
True: If you don't include the top 45 AQ rewards (moreover, there are plenty of $600-1k+ money spent per year players who barely qualify, or don't qualify, for top 45 AQ rewards for t3a), free to play don't get enough t3a resources to r4 a 6 star.
Then, gifting event is just another way to get players to spend at least 3k+ units to progress.
This is the direction Kabam has chosen to go the past 2 years. More deals, rather than tons of content for spenders to spend their way to 100%.
Kabam has made this game very reliant on grinding (Brian grinded about 2+ hours per day to get 50k+ units) , and to pay for offers, to be able to get top 45 AQ.
Brian's perspective on the game is 100% valid. It makes sense for his personal enjoyment, to take a indefinite break from the level of grind/dedication he has put in all these 6+ years. Nothing wrong with more casual play.
I've been a moderate spender supporting this game, but I too at times can feel the grindiness- of this mcoc hamster wheel I'm on- is too much for my taste.
I agree with everyone else, it's important to take a step back and see the big picture, and see there's no need to chase top 20 AQ rewards unless I'm willing to cough up more money.
OP missed the entire point of the video *facepalm*. And so did so many of these comments...
It isn't about spenders vs F2P. It isn't about the top alliances being big spenders. It isn't that spenders have more R4s. It's the *direction the game is going*
I think KT1's video on this situation with Katy/BG gets the point across quite well.
I have been subscribed to his channel for years. Him and seatin were the two that kept me excited. As much as I hate to say this, he is overreacting imo. He is f2p and is angry he can't keep up with top end whales. We need the whales to keep the game going. I am f2p, I have 30k+ units, 50+million gold, and I strong enough roster to complete 7.3. I understand that if I don't spend I can't keep up with spenders (money talks). There is no content that requires any 6*r4, you can easily grind the arena and save your bc till the gifting event and pop 100 ggc for free. In the end I hope he keeps playing, but if someone isn't happy playing a game, they should find something else to do. I wish BG nothing but the best in his future alliance and video's, I will stay subscribed to him till the end.
My only issue with progression right now is how much of an advantage spenders get to ranking up a 6* to R4. I don't care if spenders get some advantage, in fact I feel very strongly that they do get an advantage, it would be silly otherwise. But it's the level of boost that spenders get at the moment to getting the next rank progression level (I.e. the first time you can R4 a 6*, or the first time we could R5 a 5*) I think the best way to highlight this is by looking back to Act 5.
Before the end of act 5 nobody could get a rank 5 5*, I don't think even spenders could. All of the videos on youtube about their first rank 5 5* are after 5.4 dropped.
Here is the first one I found, Brutal DLX's sparky who was one of the biggest whales in the game, and even he couldn't get a rank 5 before Act 5.4 dropped.
Act 5.4 dropped December 2017 and by September 2018 we were getting offers like this
9k basic for $99. That's 10% of a rank up. But act 5 100% got us 2 whole catalysts for our first rank up of the next progression level, which is the entire rank up. So even after 5.4 dropped, whales still could spend to get their advantage.
So you compare 4 years ago, where the first time we could get a rank up to the next level by playing the game and completing content. And later, the whales could pay to get their advantage. And then you look at today, where Whales can spend to get 4 or more R4 champions before the gifting rank rewards give them more and the only way to even get close to getting your first R4 without spending, you need to save up 15k units for July 4th, 15k units for Cyber Monday and then 3.5k units for both of 7.2 and 7.3 offers. That is 37k units total, to get that you'd need to grind an insane amount of arena over the year. That is the only way you can get close to a R4 without spending. And to be honest, in some way that's not even playing the game. As in, it's not completing content, it's just grinding arena.
The option to grind content to get your first R4 is just not there, maybe 7.4 and act 7 exploration will make it entirely possible to get your first R4 without having spent or grinded out for unit offers, but I doubt it. I feel like it will allow those who have picked up a unit offer here or there to get their first R4, but those who simply play the game without saving up units for a few months won't be able to get there.
I just feel like it's not a great feeling to know that the only way you can push for the next progression rank up is to hoard units all year round and buy some offers. Like, what challenge is that for a very skill intensive game? The way to push your account isn't to take on some hardcore gameplay, or complete some challenge, it's to hold onto your units as long as you can and buy it. That's why I bring up act 5 exploration, you didn't need to grin 37k units, you just needed to play the game.
Yes, give the whales an advantage, I'm not even saying we should all be able to get a R4 6* the same time, like we could with R4 5*. All I'm pointing out is that there is a stark contrast with how the next progression is presented in the game between now and 4 years ago, one that shows the change in the level of monetisation.
I just feel that by now, Act 7 rewards, Carina Challenges and SoP should have all added up so that you didn't need any external offers to rank 4 a 6*. But along the way, whales would have had the opportunity to buy any offer they wanted to boost their progress faster than FTP, and get the inherent advantage that spending does, and should, provide.
If we were coming into the gifting event, where it was possible for a FTP player to have gotten a rank 4 by completing content, but the whales all already had 1 or 2 based on spending and then they could get some more from gifting, I would feel a lot better about it. I don't think it's game breaking, I don't think it's disgusting or any other strong reaction. I just feel like having the next progression rank put behind a paywall of this nature is a bit much, when FTP players literally cannot get a Rank 4 without grinding units all year long, and even if they do grind 37k units, BG showed that they were still 800 fragments off without being in a super hardcore alliance.
I like Brian's youtube content, and him in general.
I just want to add to the conversation of even if you add up all the t3a, free to play players are short t3a to r4 a 6* champ.
Act 7.2 and 7.3 offer was 4500 t3a each for 3500 units, so 9000 t3a for 7k units total.
spring cleaning (9000 t3a for 337500 dubloons (impossible for free to play to purchase, or 182250 dubloons for $50, 40500 dubloons for $100 ),
4th of July (18k units, half t3a) , Cyberweekend (18k units, half t3a) ,
Acts 7.2, 7.3 offers (7k units) = is 43k to 58k units per year to stay caught up.
True: If you don't include the top 45 AQ rewards (moreover, there are plenty of $600-1k+ money spent per year players who barely qualify, or don't qualify, for top 45 AQ rewards for t3a), free to play don't get enough t3a resources to r4 a 6 star.
Then, gifting event is just another way to get players to spend at least 3k+ units to progress.
This is the direction Kabam has chosen to go the past 2 years. More deals, rather than tons of content for spenders to spend their way to 100%.
Kabam has made this game very reliant on grinding (Brian grinded about 2+ hours per day to get 50k+ units) , and to pay for offers, to be able to get top 45 AQ.
Brian's perspective on the game is 100% valid. It makes sense for his personal enjoyment, to take a indefinite break from the level of grind/dedication he has put in all these 6+ years. Nothing wrong with more casual play.
I've been a moderate spender supporting this game, but I too at times can feel the grindiness- of this mcoc hamster wheel I'm on- is too much for my taste.
I agree with everyone else, it's important to take a step back and see the big picture, and see there's no need to chase top 20 AQ rewards unless I'm willing to cough up more money.
Comments
It’s hard to tell whether people didn’t watch the video, or they didn’t understand. But people are talking about him weighing his alliance down, or him being upset that spenders do better. It’s baffling to be honest.
Maybe ranking champs for defense? Idk
But, a lot YouTubers and CCP members are in that tiny minority, so their interests gets amplified a lot. We have to remember that's not the interest of the game. What I don't hear, are complaints about GGC droprates. Anyone UC with 50 dollars or 55 euros, can buy 10 GGC and open enough shards to pull a 6*, 2 5*, a 5* or 6* awakening gem crystal, fully form T5b and T2A and so much more. I repeat: UC players who shouldn't have such easy access to 6* resources. That's gamebreaking. That hurts F2P players. That's a hill to die on. Not top rank rewards.
Perhaps we don’t know what we don’t know?
I have to say. That is an issue. So many rewards are locked behind a store of some sort (SQ stores, July 4th/Cyber Weekend/Spring Cleaning etc.). You either pay for the currency to buy the "products" or grind for them. There isn't any kind of challenging obstacle to face other than attaining those resources in the required quantity. Honestly, it makes grinding arena more valuable than completing content like Cav EQ or the Variants (which are pretty lackluster in rewards as of now). That's just my viewpoint.
If I spent 50k on this event I better have multiple rank 4’s on my account. Shoot I better be on the verge of a 6* rank 5! Lol obvious joke….but the point is anyone thinking it would be okay for these people to spend 50k and walk away with a few more r4 fragments and a couple more r3’s has completely lost their mind.
As for Brian Grant the reality is he should’ve never been able to keep up as well as he has without spending a dime on the game. The whales will always progress faster. As they should for spending a lot of money to do so
Not everyone is a great, great player of the game itself. There are some sick players out there, to be sure. Great players who have put in tons of work to master the game and timings and interactions and spacing. Those people are GOOD, and a ton of them are better than me.
That’s my point: I am a decent enough player. I can do a few things. I know how to play.
But I am honest: I get smoked in some tough content. I don’t enjoy huge hit pools anyway — I have a job and kids, I can’t tap a screen six, seven, eight hours a day. I need fights to end — but when you combine that with complex interactions and high attack values that, if you make a mistake and get hit means you are going to die, then what do you do?
If you are not a great player but you still want to complete content, then you need units.
You get those units by one of two ways: Grinding or buying. As you noted.
The game is really interesting to me, because I just don’t have a feel for how many casual/average players there are who are still trying to clear content that isn’t easy for people with limited rosters or capped skills.
What are those people doing?
Are they quitting? Are they grinding for units to spend on revives? Are they practicing a ton to git gud? Are they spending on offers that give rank up opportunities and tons of resources, like the gifting event?
Because when I look at this gifting event and what’s in the GGCs, I mean, if you got a lot of them, you probably created options for yourself.
But I don’t know how many people truly do that — spend money or grind for units — specifically to progress their accounts to compete with everyone else, as opposed to doing it because they want to accomplish something specific in the game.
Those two motivations are different, and it definitely affects how you view the overall game and your experience
I think what people need to understand is that no matter how awesome you think you are at the game, no matter how important you think you opinion is, and no matter how much you dislike the influence of youtubers, the only way any changes will be made is if Kabam sees that a portion of their playerbase will be angered. "Imthebiggameplayertrustme" means **** to Kabam. You know who does mean something? You know who does have a following of thousands of people? You know who's opinion could actually affect Kabam's decisions? The big CCP members. Whether you like it or not, it's true. So suck it up, "Imthebiggameplayertrustme".
Edit: there were, but that is not the reason he left. Thanks @danielmath
He is wrong to be upset because Kabam wants to milk the cow as hard as it can. Kabam here makes the rules and the rules currently are: no F2P allowed in top tier alliances.
He is right because everyone should have the same opportunity to gain top resources for advancement or at least 1:2 ratio.
Monetization of the game is completely messed up.
That said, it can also be argued that your hard-core FTP grinder could amass a large amount of units over time, and benefit similarly from the gifting event. They totally could. In Brian's defence, however, that still doesn't disregard the fact that content clearing should have allowed for the chance to attain the required items, and it didn't.
Game's most rare and valuable resources are tied in Solo rank rewards. But main problem lies in the unlimited resources in the GGCs itself. If I am right Hq Sean already have 4 r4 atm. This ggc are totally nuts in those values.
Now here comes the point of gameplay. There's no single content in game yet which offers resources to get a champ from r1 to r4 (6*). And this event introduced those resources in uncapped amount. Plus solo rank rewards are also having one of the best rewards in game ever seen. Even Gen Ag is only available in Abyss exploration which everyone can't do due to many factors. Now such resources are dependent on wallet then the skill and gameplay.
Now here comes another thing. A guy with 13k prestige is godly player but if he/she wants to compete from this point onwards in Aq, r4 will become prerequisite for top tier Aq placement. This will lead to decline of such players from top tiers ,this forcing them to either step down in low level alliances and semi retire or quitting. This soon can change mood of mid levels too. As the gap widens, the spirit of low spenders or F2P will be broked, as they believed and relied earlier on their skills to remain in top as gap wasn't that wide in terms of prestige. But r4 surely change this. The grind and hussle will be felt useless which actually can lead some part of player base to not to spend at all. For Aw too, R4 champs would be no joke in some scenario. Think of scenario where players with no r4 champs slowly started to fall down and some do them either individually or in groups join low level alliances. Their godly account plus skills can trigger some minor imbalances in low level Aw too in long run.
Now if I talk about Brian, I can only say that, if a player is very skilled and cuz of that he was surviving in top meta,and suddenly that value falls down as it mean nothing to the state of game , it becomes meaningless. Surely your ally mate will cheer you up and might not say anything but a player will lose joy and excitement over time as the sense of being dead weight becomes more heavy. The worst part is that it's not because of personal skills but the wallet itself. It's no joke how r4 can bump the numbers of the prestige thus resulting in the changing of rank rewardees in Aq. It's not matter of choice anymore. It's necessary evil which many can't afford. We all know that above 300m In Aq is same until you reach to Top 100 placement or something like that. Recruiting in top tier Aq were always a prestige fiesta with room to skilled ones. Now this will rule out this too in top ones which might trigger in mid ones too as mid level can possibly become a dumping ground for such accounts. Players are already bored who are in endgame and now you took on of the few reasons to compete.
I just want to add to the conversation of even if you add up all the t3a, free to play players are short t3a to r4 a 6* champ.
Act 7.2 and 7.3 offer was 4500 t3a each for 3500 units, so 9000 t3a for 7k units total.
spring cleaning (9000 t3a for 337500 dubloons (impossible for free to play to purchase, or 182250 dubloons for $50, 40500 dubloons for $100 ),
4th of July (18k units, half t3a) ,
Cyberweekend (18k units, half t3a) ,
Acts 7.2, 7.3 offers (7k units) = is 43k to 58k units per year to stay caught up.
True:
If you don't include the top 45 AQ rewards (moreover, there are plenty of $600-1k+ money spent per year players who barely qualify, or don't qualify, for top 45 AQ rewards for t3a), free to play don't get enough t3a resources to r4 a 6 star.
Then, gifting event is just another way to get players to spend at least 3k+ units to progress.
This is the direction Kabam has chosen to go the past 2 years. More deals, rather than tons of content for spenders to spend their way to 100%.
Kabam has made this game very reliant on grinding (Brian grinded about 2+ hours per day to get 50k+ units) , and to pay for offers, to be able to get top 45 AQ.
Brian's perspective on the game is 100% valid. It makes sense for his personal enjoyment, to take a indefinite break from the level of grind/dedication he has put in all these 6+ years. Nothing wrong with more casual play.
I've been a moderate spender supporting this game, but I too at times can feel the grindiness- of this mcoc hamster wheel I'm on- is too much for my taste.
I agree with everyone else, it's important to take a step back and see the big picture, and see there's no need to chase top 20 AQ rewards unless I'm willing to cough up more money.
It isn't about spenders vs F2P. It isn't about the top alliances being big spenders. It isn't that spenders have more R4s. It's the *direction the game is going*
I think KT1's video on this situation with Katy/BG gets the point across quite well.