This section is for DISCUSSIONS ONLY
You can report bugs/issues in the 🛠 Technical Support corner.
Power Creep and Shard Farmability
I wanted to address two massive issues (imho) that have a major impact on motivating the player base and keeping much of us interested. I will do my best to keep this completely constructive.
#1: Power Creep
As the rate of new superstar release rates has increased exponentially, so too has the level of character design (moveset/playstyle) and overall power. Almost every new superstar seems to immediately be a top tier, crazy all-powerful beings (excluding the MLC free stars, all of whom, minus Bailey, have been fairly craptacular.) This leaves the vast majority of stars released pre- Mid 2019 virtually irrelevant. Even at 5*, the older characters just don't scale well and the incentive to build them up is non-existent. Yet, often times, the MLC tour contest star is one of these underpowered/irrelevant stars and even if they are leveled up, still aren't strong enough in power scale or moveset design to be successful.
Power creep is a perfectly normal occurrence in these types of games. But at a certain point, a decision has to be made to either phase those older characters out (loot tables, contest requirements) or they need to be updated. And when I say "updated" I don't mean they need to be reworked completely or anything like that. Just a boost in their scaling of overall stats, gem damage, move damage, etc. If some are REALLY in bad shape, perhaps a rework of certain moves could be considered as well. But as 5* silver boosts health into the millions, and new characters can wipe out 500K+ damage within 2 moves, it is absurd to ask the community to overcome this with older stars who couldn't pump out that kind of damage in 20 turns. Is there any way to bring this issue up to developers to at least be considered for discussion?
#2: Farmability
I'm not going to turn this into a spiteful rant about how Scopely is simply milking every penny they can. Again, trying to maintain a constructive attitude.
With so many new stars being released, isn't it all possible to consider offering SOME method of shard farming? With most now requiring 1600-2000 shards to unlock, it is incredibly deflating to see offers in the store that give 20 shards for $100. Its absurd. If 5 shards of certain premium stars were on offer in loot boxes for certain Hell Mode nodes, it would take forever to farm up enough to unlock a star. BUT the window is still open, and people would do it. It would also motivate people to spend the money to finish up stars they have farmed up. On top of that, the resource requirements are incredibly heavy, further motivating some to invest more heavily in packs that offer coins, tp, etc.
In its current state, the system is completely nonsensical. Shard rewards are often limited to leaderboard leaders, many of whom will have already dumped insane amounts of money into obtaining the star already. And lets be realistic, those who have spent heavily will not be in any deficit when it comes to training and leveling resources (if they were, they wouldn't be topping leaderboards so consistently.) The daily login calendar rewards was an incredible first step, but can we at least consider expanding on it in the future by opening a discussion about farmability? Believe me, plenty of other collector style games make tons of money while still offering players who aren't as wealthy to still chase top tier characters.
GIving players the option of a free route to unlocking top tier characters shouldn't be easy. The chance at 5 shards in a loot box, again as an example, still requires massive time investment and won't intrude on or diminish the benefits received by the whales and krakens who will choose to spend instead. I firmly believe that heavy spenders SHOULD ABSOLUTELY see a massive advantage. But I do feel it is both unfair and bad for business to COMPLETELY lockout the light-mid spenders and free-to-play players from enjoying ANY of the new releases and content. It's cliche to say it, but you know this is true: the happier more people are, the more they are likely to open their wallets.
Comments
-
there was an idea of shards in loot boxes before but there was a system limitation that prevented it from happening. there are many contests that provide opportunities to get shards of various characters though.
0 -
Good post and ideas.
I have to disagree about the MLC freebies a bit. Bret, Carmella, and Typhoon are all good and some others were at least passable for tour requirements. Overall though you are correct, very few older characters hold up at the top end of the game.
Your last sentence is so true. I myself spend far more when I'm satisfied with the content. I've also gone months without spending a single dollar. I've seen the same behavior from other players too. When players enjoy events and content, they are happy to take a chance on loots or spend resources on characters they've earned.
1 -
Farming shards to recruit characters is a very different suggestion than getting 1,000 of 2,000 shards in an event with no way to get the remaining shards other than doing crazy amounts of loot pulls.
Even if there was an issue with the loot box system, there are many other ways this could be implemented.
0 -
This content has been removed.
-
@Stagger Lee This is true to a degree. The contests that offer shards in milestones usually only offer a few shards intermittently (every other milestone) and can't be considered a substitute for farming because, as discussed, you end up hitting a wall without any further ways to gain more. If shards for characters are offered, in tour nodes for example, they're always for older stars who, again as discussed, are irrelevant and the shards are not helpful (a limited time tour rewarding shards of a Tech Rick Rude or a Nia Jax doesn't help anyone.)
Loot boxes aren't the only way, I was just using that as one suggestion for potentially offering shards. Another could be offering a certain number of shards as the reward in random Royal Rumble Tour nodes... or potentially adding in some random PREMIUM shards as rewards in say... the currently-in-testing "Stipulation Tours." And like I said, the monthly login calendar rewards is an AMAZING new addition that really helps players across the board. The idea is perfect: lower amounts of shards to HELP unlock some amazing characters, rotating each month to cover a broader range. Even better, is the 4/month Epic Shard Chest thrown in there. Why not offer up those same Epic Shard Chests as milestone rewards or loot box/node rewards (with a low RNG%)? That would help a lot as well. Even the MLC loot key briefcase system. I LOVE that shards of Rated R Edge are in there this month. Why would it be too much to ask for more a few more stars like him, as opposed to the same PH Braun/PH HHH/NXT Seth garbage that is always on offer?
Again, in being constructive, it just doesn't feel like there is ANY route to unlocking characters other than splashing tons and tons of cash. I don't think it would hurt business at all if Scopely provided SOME way to obtain newer characters. When it takes 2000 shards to unlock, believe me, people will not want to try to farm that start to finish. But it would motivate them to farm a good amount and then supplement with purchases in the store when they're available; I myself have been 80 shards away from unlocking Striker Luke Harper for almost a year and while I'm absolutely going to spend on more shards if/when he's ever back in the store, it would be nice if at some point I could grind hard and farm out some shards somewhere in the game.
1 -
Can you elaborate on this system limitation? Rather than specific shards, how about a currency that could be spent on a prize wall similar to swag store or showdown shop that utilizes this currency? I’m sure top tier characters would cost more of said currency, but it would be a welcome addition.
0 -
It would require a massive rework of the base code for the game to enable it. which in the end is way more work than the return. Its why we really haven't seen many changes to loot boxes since the start.
0 -
So rather than specific shards, how about replacing one of the items in the loot with a currency (similar to how tshirts were used certain months) that could be spent on a prize wall similar to swag store or showdown shop that utilizes this currency? They seem to have prize walls down to a science.
1
Categories
- All Categories
- 166 General News & Information
- 163 ANNOUNCEMENTS
- 3 FORUM GUIDELINES
- 8.2K WWE Champions
- 4.5K DISCUSSIONS
- 1.1K STRATEGIES, TIPS & TRICKS
- 2.6K TECHNICAL SUPPORT
- 441 WWE Champions Community
- 368 FACTION SEARCH AND RECRUITMENT