Totem leaving highlighted a huge problem with Ascension (Peace Out Dude!)

The ascension token rarity really is quit silly. I think the decision to go with the idea of ascension is great, I don’t want 8 stars, but the implementation is so…uninspiring.

How is anyone, ever going to get any champion they want? I understand there are whales and that’s great, I spent pretty regularly but a 1:120 shot for a 1:30, were each crystal is 200 units is so, like unrealistic that it’s caused this feeling of complete indifference to this upgrade, almost like it doesn’t exist. I hope there are some ideas brewing because ascension, although I think the right idea just doesn’t do anything for anyone.

Comments

TheUglyone123

With all due respect to Totem, this has been a problem and people have been raising hell (like he was) about ascension ever since its release, because it’s not a great system. Relying on luck to ascend champs feels miserable. Not being able to ascend new champs without exorbitant cost feels miserable. And now essentia feels miserable. The game as a whole is spiraling and they need to course correct fast

Anotherconcernplayer

Well Andrew the Ruff also quit because Ascension and Bero Man quit because of Exclusive Twitch drop and promo code.

Then the wonderful Essentia launch, the Hulkling, Valkyrie and Hercule "bug" then "fix", the silent nerf to Daunted (which is most of the new Mutant), and we are only in March, sure this year will be a roller coaster ride, so strap on.

horrendous_too

Not saying I agree with Kabam's plan, cause I don't. But the way it makes sense to me is that 7 star ascension is not ascension. It is 8 stars, but we happen to be able to use 7 star sigs and awakening gems. Its obviously more muddled that that since the rank up materials are the same for R1-R5 but then different for A2+. But that's how I understand it in my head. Then at least the rarity of it makes a little bit of sense. But I still hate that there is RNG on RNG on RNG to be able to take up such a limited pool of champs. And can totally see why a bunch of people are just done.

hungryhungrybbq

Yes, with 8 stars (a new rarity) there would be rng in acquiring the champ initially, but progressing them has traditionally had way less rng.. the only rng involved in rank ups are anything class based and that's still 1 of 6 vs 1 of 30.. huge difference

To put it in perspective.. imagine there are 30 classes.. and you are opening class cat crystals (that are rare) and you need 7 of them of the correct class..

hungryhungrybbq

Maybe Kabam will add selectors and things like this.. idk

ahmynuts

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2936913#Comment_2936913

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2936914#Comment_2936914

It is not even 8 stars. It's much worse. (Im just going to be plugging my own thread whenever anyone says it's the same thing as 8*s because that's disrespectful to 8*s)

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/412240/pricing-breakdown-and-a-couple-ascension-suggestions

horrendous_too

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2936920#Comment_2936920

Oh yeah the new champ ascension thing is a straight up money grab. With the addition of FOMO manipulation by saying they will be exclusive for a year (a year!?!). I totally get wanting to make the mega whales happy, I run a whale ally, but that really seems excessive. Most of my guys are already saying the titans are worthless since why would I want to rank my brand new shiny M'Baku if I can't ascend him for a year.

I guess I was more talking about the base pool and the RNG fiesta that is. So yeah both levels of this new thing are just…deflating.

Dr. Crab

Its wild when you say it out loud. For instance, I am very interested in ascending Zemo. Recently, I've grown to really like him (wether voluntarily or invisibly pushed by @Kabam (Osaurus) Rex) but in order to have a shot at him, if I have average ish luck, I'm going to open about 60-70 crystals. Thats 200 units a piece, i.e. 14,000 units, which as far as USD goes, thats about $500, and thats with average luck, its almost like $800-$900 just to have a 1:30 chance for Zemo. Like, thats really quit absurd right?

ContestOfNoobs

at this rate the game devs have chosen this path.

Wont be suprised is kabam revenue is down by alot this year.

BringPopcorn

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2936935#Comment_2936935

I am not defending the system; but people need to stop translating units into dollars to make a valid statement. Its like saying F2P players spent 1200 dollars (36k units) during banquet.

I said it many times, units loss their value and everyone laughed, what can you buy with them? Revives if you need them, energy packs if you need them and crystals. The direction is horrible; but its a cause and effect of people farming ridiculous amounts for special events and bragging about it.

Usagicassidy

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2936913#Comment_2936913

But with this perspective, with "ascension really being 8 stars" then ascension rank 2 is 9 stars and ascension rank 3 is 10 stars etc…

To even have an ascended rank 3 character, you would have to have lucked into pulling them 6 total times from very specific crystals. It's insanity.

Dr. Crab

I also think in this case, its fair to translate this into USD because it goes well beyond the scope of anything that is possibly farmable.

WednesdayLength

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2936935#Comment_2936935

Or just like, earn the greater ascension crystals when they are added to content rewards

Buttehrs

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2937048#Comment_2937048

You're using logic. Stop that. Immediately.

Iron_spider1

I was wondering why they did not implement a shard based system for greate ascension crystals.

As of now the implementation is no different than actually releasing 8* except for maybe the box but it will take forever to accumulate enough shards to get materials to ascend beyond 2 levels

I think Kabam themselves are not sure how exactly to implement and they just wanted something out soon because they announced at summoners fest.

GroundedWisdom

This isn't the first time someone rage quits because they weren't included in something and it won't be the last.

Kabam (Osaurus) Rex

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2936935#Comment_2936935

It is 14,000 units if you ignore the 100+ Empowered Crystals that are going to be used in Rewards each month, but that's not an accurate or fair way to look at this.

For example, there were 42 that went live just today, and another 40 6 days ago.

I see people asking why Greater Empowered Crystals don't have shards -
Empowered Crystals work as a sort of Greater Empowered Crystal Shard system, with the Grace system sitting at 120 Crystals. Imagine instead of earning 40 Crystals, you earn 5,000 Shards.
Instead, with the Crystals, you're always earning something on the way up, and even have a chance to get lucky sooner along the way.

I don't know about you, but I would much rather open 120 Crystals and earn a stupid amount of Iso and shards along the way, instead of simply earning Greater Empowered Crystal shards.

Flavyjay

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2937069#Comment_2937069

I didn't realize we are going to be getting 100s of these every month, that's good to know still the new champions release though, if I wanted my Madelyn prayer ascended )that I got from Titan) this year will I get it or do I have to wait till next year ? That's the biggest bummer right now

ahmynuts

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2937069#Comment_2937069

Hey Mike…..

We love you man but WHY WASNT ANY OF THAT COMMUNICATED?

DancingElephant

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2937069#Comment_2937069

Actually this makes a lot of sense. If this was the way it was communicated I think people will be a lot less frustrated.

Dr. Crab

@Kabam (Osaurus) Rex Hey dude, always so nice of you to comment. Thanks for the insight. Also, as you probably gathered, you were absolutely right form the start, Zemo is for sure Him. Quickly becoming one of my favorite champions in the whole game, touche.

As far as the crystal goes, there is no doubt that that is a generous amount, for sure, no if ands or buts. You (and the team) are completely correct in that yes, I and everyone else would love all that ISO along the way.

The concern, at least for me is that, given that we have ~100 a month (I'm not sure if thats factoring the sigil or not), and assuming we can get all that content done, with medium to slightly crappy luck, that realistically is going to look like 10-14 cracks at your wanted character a year. I think the big concern as far as these tokens go, is that these are non-dependent variables meaning its still a 1:30 shot every time. I know RNG is a thing, but will there ever be a way to just target the exact token you want (in a non sale format)? This seems particularly improbable should you want an A2 champion as well.

Also, sorry if you've answered this somewhere before, its very hard to keep up with all thats going on currently with the game.

DancingElephant

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2937069#Comment_2937069

Overall, I am actually quite okay with the ascension system, and I do think it is a much better system than introducing 8 stars. But at the same time it is much more complex than introducing 8 stars, and difficult to grasp. I think that is a big part of the reason why people are frustrated. I think overall it needs to broken down into something simpler so people can understand better, and this response from Mike is a perfect example of that. If we see empowered crystal as replacement for shards, that is indeed much better and a pro-player move. But nobody saw that perspective until Mike brought it up. I think we need to do the same for other aspect of ascension as well. I have been trying to defend the ascension system somehwat on the forum and give another perspective but it has been hard, since even I have a difficult time wrapping my mind around it. For example, I see difficulties in ascension to be a good thing for the game since it increase the lifespan of non-ascendable champions. Even for delay in ascending new champs, I don't think the impact will be as large as people make it out to be, but I have a hard time justifying that. If a better breakdown can come from Mike or Kabam that will be much better.

Kabam (Osaurus) Rex

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2937092#Comment_2937092

@ahmynuts It was.

The recent livestream was more of a feature film, so I'm not surprised some of the info wasn't all digested immediately. This is exactly why Ascension info was released in waves initially; it's a lot to take in.

But when it comes to Ascension via empowered crystals, it ultimately boils down to this:

You will earn them for free over time -
If you want to buy more, go nuts.

DancingElephant

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2937095#Comment_2937095

I think if you think about this as a comparison to 8 stars, then this is similar to how a new star level is introduced. We collect shards (in this case empowered crystals), and when we have enough (120 crystals), we get a 1:30 odd for a champion that we want. Essentially this is similar to how 7 stars were introduced as well. When we get enough shards for a 7 star crystal, during the initial launch there is no guarantee of a champ that we want. My first two 7 stars pulls were bishop and silver surfer, which took me months to save up the shards for so it kinda sucked, but that's how it was. But then 7 shards gradually became much more available. So like Mike said empowered crystal is a better system if we think of it as shards.

Buttehrs

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2937097#Comment_2937097

Ssorry, but nowhere in these slides.does it say we are earning 100 crystals per month. It only says on average you can expect 1.5 ascendable champs per month. Thats not the same thing. I feel like you guys are blatantly leaving out the simplest information and trying to be cute. If you had said, hey you'll get 100 crystals per month instead of 1.5 champs per month, none of this would have been an issue.

Kabam (Osaurus) Rex

@Buttehrs It was discussed verbally while the visuals were up, and has been shown in the rewards ever since.

The numbers likely will vary slightly month-to-month depending on what content is going live, of course, so it's tough to give an exact number.

ContestOfNoobs

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2937097#Comment_2937097

cant go nuts unless theres some way to garantee chanps not this random 7* crystal again.

Or when will we get nexus or selector ascended crystals ?

like sure i did get lucky here but there are plenty of chanps i dont like using.

got mr fantastic snd he didnt even get a buff, also with the game this way works ill most certainly pull him again.

Idk man sure we get alot per month but its 0.45% and i already have aton of gold,iso.

Kabam (Osaurus) Rex

@ContestOfNoobs You're asking for Nexus Crystals and Selectors literally less than one week since the new power level has been out.

Will these exist in the future? Probably.
But when 7 Stars were released, selectors and Nexus Crystals did not exist on day 1.

ContestOfNoobs

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2937178#Comment_2937178

yea im sure people are waiting for it thats why.

My guesses bigger sales wil be ascension focused? Seeing as hoarding titans we cant even ascend new champs

Buttehrs

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2937168#Comment_2937168

Not everyone watches the streams or even listens to them as they play in the background. You could have also mentioned that wed be getting 100 or so crystals per month in any of the forums posts yall made. And if you didnt know all the details at once, then dont make a post. Again, its all about communication. You guys purposely leave out certain stuff and spread the information out across multiple platforms without actually putting literally all of it in one place at the same time. Thats why people are upset.