The Removal of BG Store items: Impact on Gameplay and Player Progression
ST4RL0RD08
Member Posts: 14 ★
Hey Summoners,
I wanted to raise a discussion about the ongoing issues caused by the removal of 5-star Hero Crystal Shards and Tier 4 Class Catalysts (T4CC) from the Battlegrounds Store. These changes have hit harder than I think anyone anticipated, and I wanted to outline the key problems they’ve caused—particularly for endgame players.
1. The ISO-8 Drought
One of the biggest problems right now is the severe ISO-8 shortage. Many of us relied on the steady flow of ISO from duplicating 5-star champions. Without 5-star shards in the store, obtaining these duplicates has become increasingly rare. This has left rosters harder to maintain and upgrade, especially during events that require rapid resource usage. My ISO stores have never been so empty, and I know I’m not alone.
2. Access to Catalysts Is Now a Grind
Ranking up champions—whether they’re 6-stars for top-tier content or even lower-star champions for events like arena grinding—has become far more difficult. T4CC were always needed for rank-ups, and their removal from the Battlegrounds Store has forced players into using alternative methods like:
• Spending Glory, which comes with incremental pricing (i.e., the more you buy, the more expensive it becomes).
• Spending Units, which feels outright punishing for items deemed “outdated” by Kabam.
We shouldn’t have to use nearly a third of our weekly Glory just to get outdated resources. Yet right now, that’s what many of us are forced to do.
3. Endgame Players Forced to Use Units
Kabam has said these resources are “no longer relevant” for Paragon or Valiant players. But that’s simply not true. Many of us still rely on 6-star champions as a core part of our roster. Ranking them from 1 to 2 or 2 to 3 requires T4CC—and with no easy way to acquire them, progression feels unnecessarily restricted.
The same applies to lower-star champions for things like arena grinding, where rank-ups help build up teams. It’s unfair that top-tier players are being forced to spend units to acquire resources that were previously plentiful.
4. Inconsistent Logic and Timing
The timing of these changes is also frustrating. Kabam has been incentivizing players to push for higher progression levels (Thronebreaker and Paragon), especially during the Chronoversary side quest with its 10 free 7-star champions and other rewards. Many players pushed hard to reach these milestones, only to be penalized by having essential resources taken away.
Additionally, Kabam’s justification for these changes seems outdated. They’ve cited data showing that the removed items weren’t purchased frequently—but that data likely predates recent updates and side quests that have shifted player needs.
Proposed Solutions
I’m not just here to vent; I want to propose some solutions to address these issues:
• Bring Back 5-Star Shards and T4CC to the Battlegrounds Store or make them easily accessible elsewhere.
• If Kabam insists on removing these items permanently, increase Glory rewards or provide new, cost-effective methods to obtain these resources.
• Acknowledge the importance of ISO and T4CC to players at all levels—especially during content that demands frequent rank-ups and leveling.
These changes have created a resource bottleneck that’s frustrating and unnecessary. Endgame players shouldn’t have to spend real money or grind excessively for what was once readily available. If you’re feeling the effects of these changes too, let’s discuss below—maybe Kabam will take notice if enough of us speak out.
What do you all think?
I wanted to raise a discussion about the ongoing issues caused by the removal of 5-star Hero Crystal Shards and Tier 4 Class Catalysts (T4CC) from the Battlegrounds Store. These changes have hit harder than I think anyone anticipated, and I wanted to outline the key problems they’ve caused—particularly for endgame players.
1. The ISO-8 Drought
One of the biggest problems right now is the severe ISO-8 shortage. Many of us relied on the steady flow of ISO from duplicating 5-star champions. Without 5-star shards in the store, obtaining these duplicates has become increasingly rare. This has left rosters harder to maintain and upgrade, especially during events that require rapid resource usage. My ISO stores have never been so empty, and I know I’m not alone.
2. Access to Catalysts Is Now a Grind
Ranking up champions—whether they’re 6-stars for top-tier content or even lower-star champions for events like arena grinding—has become far more difficult. T4CC were always needed for rank-ups, and their removal from the Battlegrounds Store has forced players into using alternative methods like:
• Spending Glory, which comes with incremental pricing (i.e., the more you buy, the more expensive it becomes).
• Spending Units, which feels outright punishing for items deemed “outdated” by Kabam.
We shouldn’t have to use nearly a third of our weekly Glory just to get outdated resources. Yet right now, that’s what many of us are forced to do.
3. Endgame Players Forced to Use Units
Kabam has said these resources are “no longer relevant” for Paragon or Valiant players. But that’s simply not true. Many of us still rely on 6-star champions as a core part of our roster. Ranking them from 1 to 2 or 2 to 3 requires T4CC—and with no easy way to acquire them, progression feels unnecessarily restricted.
The same applies to lower-star champions for things like arena grinding, where rank-ups help build up teams. It’s unfair that top-tier players are being forced to spend units to acquire resources that were previously plentiful.
4. Inconsistent Logic and Timing
The timing of these changes is also frustrating. Kabam has been incentivizing players to push for higher progression levels (Thronebreaker and Paragon), especially during the Chronoversary side quest with its 10 free 7-star champions and other rewards. Many players pushed hard to reach these milestones, only to be penalized by having essential resources taken away.
Additionally, Kabam’s justification for these changes seems outdated. They’ve cited data showing that the removed items weren’t purchased frequently—but that data likely predates recent updates and side quests that have shifted player needs.
Proposed Solutions
I’m not just here to vent; I want to propose some solutions to address these issues:
• Bring Back 5-Star Shards and T4CC to the Battlegrounds Store or make them easily accessible elsewhere.
• If Kabam insists on removing these items permanently, increase Glory rewards or provide new, cost-effective methods to obtain these resources.
• Acknowledge the importance of ISO and T4CC to players at all levels—especially during content that demands frequent rank-ups and leveling.
These changes have created a resource bottleneck that’s frustrating and unnecessary. Endgame players shouldn’t have to spend real money or grind excessively for what was once readily available. If you’re feeling the effects of these changes too, let’s discuss below—maybe Kabam will take notice if enough of us speak out.
What do you all think?
7
Comments
Valiant players might have the occasional white whale (I finally got DPX today as a 6-star) but other than a super random Season of Suck objective or a new meta champ, I can’t imagine what you’re putting into your 6-star roster.
With that said, this should be about fun. If you want to make weird, otherwise-illogical choices for any particular reason, progressing farther in the game shouldn’t take that away.
With all of that said, I feel obligated to point out that number 1 is an iso drought and number 2 is a catalyst drought. Ummm…everything shouldn’t be ranked. Everything shouldn’t be max rank. I have 38 6-stars and 14 7-stars who can be leveled up right now. (All of those 7-stars have come from cyber weekend to now). I just took a mystic to r3 rather than using iso on some new 7-star r1 champs. I’ll get to then eventually.
T4cc is in glory, so cheap, quit it out.
WE ARE NOT USING GLORY ON OUTDATED ITEMS, ONLY YOU ARE.
No one relies on 6* champs these days unless those said champions don't exist as 7*, it's a joke to use vanilla scuffed 6* these days, even big joke is you using units to rank them up, you need to manage your urges to rank every single thing.
Again you mentioned Arena, if you're doing Arena this passionately you shouldn't face ISO drought, it's crazy.
1. ISO Drought and Arena
The ISO drought is real, and it’s something players across progression levels have been discussing for months now. Yes, arena grinding can help, but it’s not the miracle solution some claim it to be. Here’s why:
• Arena rewards are inconsistent: You don’t always get enough duplicate 4-6 star champions to sustain ISO needs, especially if you’re focused on other areas of the game like Battlegrounds or questing.
• Grinding Arena for ISO is an inefficient, time-consuming band-aid that shouldn’t be required of endgame players. The vast majority of the pulla from arena are 2-3 star champs that offer tiny amounts of ISO. The removal of 5-star shards from the Battlegrounds Store has only exacerbated this issue.
2. “T4CC Are Everywhere”
While T4CC may technically be “available,” the reality is that Glory is now stretched far thinner than it used to be. Incremental pricing in the Glory Store makes buying multiple T4CC costly—over 1,000 Glory for 10, in fact. That’s nearly a third of the weekly Glory earnings for a Paragon player, and this assumes players are in active alliances consistently earning top rewards. Furthermore, they might be “available,” but you used to be able to get 20 T4CC per week in the battlegrounds store, and now you can only purchase 10 per week in the glory store.
Suggesting players just “quit using Glory on outdated items” ignores the fact that many still need T4CC to rank up relevant champions, especially 6-stars. Saying 6-stars are irrelevant because 7-stars exist is not only reductive but completely ignores how the game’s economy works for the vast majority of players.
3. “Manage Your Resources Better”
This line of reasoning dismisses the core issue: resources that were once plentiful have been removed or made significantly harder to access. The expectation that players should now juggle units, Glory, and arena grinding just to maintain rosters that were previously manageable is unreasonable. Endgame players shouldn’t have to waste premium resources like Units to get what was once readily available.
4. Toxic Comments
For those who’ve resorted to dismissive remarks like “yapping” or condescending takes about “illogical choices,” let’s keep the conversation constructive. These changes have clearly impacted a large number of players, and Kabam’s silence on addressing valid concerns only compounds the frustration. We’re here to have a discussion, not to belittle each other.
At the end of the day, this is about fairness and accessibility. The removal of key resources from the Battlegrounds Store disproportionately affects players who relied on those resources for progression—particularly newer Paragon and Thronebreaker players incentivised into those higher progression levels perhaps prematurely during events like the Chronoversary event.
The game’s economy has been made artificially harder to navigate without any meaningful replacement for what was removed. Simply put, there’s no reason resources like ISO or T4CC/T4B/T2A should feel so scarce in 2025, especially for endgame players who have invested time and effort into progressing.
Finally, to those who’ve resorted to dismissive or belittling comments like “yapping” or implying I’m “playing wrong”—this kind of toxic behavior is exactly what discourages players from engaging with the community. Instead of dismissing genuine concerns with insults or sarcastic remarks, why not offer constructive feedback or stay silent if you have nothing productive to add?
I came here to discuss an issue that’s been affecting not just myself but many others. The hostility and arrogance in some of these replies are not only unhelpful but highlight the exact kind of behavior that drives people away from this game and its community. Let’s be better than this.
Let’s keep the focus where it should be: on improving the game and ensuring resources are fair and accessible for all players, not belittling anyone that makes an extremely grounded observation that has been already echoed by other members of the community for months/years.
Kebem removed 5* items from Valiant BG because their data told them that only 2-3% of players were buying that.
So as always, these 2% won't be given any attention and changes were needed.
There is no ISO or Gold drought.
Catalyst are easy to get.
What are you on about ?
But it's more self centred Yapping.
https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2710994/#Comment_2710994
Majority of players are f2p. Even if they are not f2p, iso and gold do not generate magically out of small spending. It takes time and effort to reach that stage. You are not there.
Do better, plan better. This is a phase you have to overcome. Stop making it everyone's problem. all you have to do is to your manage resources.
Here's my fun alt account, fun rankups, stressfree BGs. Win or lose doesn't matter, map6 AQ and 1 loyalty wars.
This account was paragon in August.
Then crucible came and I pushed it to valiant with the help of act8 exploration. It came close to being gold iso poor, after valiant rankups. But even at that stage it managed a healthy 4-5M gold and bought iso from glory and artifacts from special incursions. Guess what, I don't remember buying 5* shards from BG store.
0 arenas. Absolutely none.
A decent amount of autoplaying easy quests.
No incursions. Did one time 15 zones. The saga one.
Irregular BG objectives but hit GC continuously.
Never missed sq.
Did TB EQ 2-3 times
...
...
These are un-leveled champs. The numbers are on the right side. The levelled ones mostly are rank 1 lvl 25. They were used for 22 hours lvl up event. Not including 5432* mostly rank 1 level 1.
Have managed to save 60M gold as of now. I recently stopped buying gold from Mysterium as the account reached that point where the gold looks sufficient and sustainable.
...
And today I ranked up its 10th r3.
And a little r2 on the side.
How bout that.
Don't get third person on me you Mr. My problems are everyone's problems. They are not.
If the amount of effort you put on making this thread, you had put it in the game, i can guarantee you wouldn't be here. Yapp..... Complaining.
This account was not endgame account, but I was an endgame player. Clearly you are not an endgame player, otherwise you would know how to work though these issues.
Have you done carina challenges? If yes how many?
Have you done EOP quest?
Have you done grandmaster gauntlet?
Have you done variants?
Have you explored act 789?
Are you exploring tb EQ regularly?
The amount of resources for a "progressing player" are actually way too many to count.
There's no need of improving the game in regards of keeping the resources fair. Because they are plentiful but some players want everything to be spoon fed.
Here's an actual toxic but factual reply to the backhanded dig of your victim mentality perspective.
Its laughable how you mentioned so many issues and blamed every single one of them on the game. That's why I chuckled first time I read it. Could have asked how players keep up with economy. But nah, it's the games fault.