I think a lot of the game, because it grew over time, was made to fill a gap at a certain time.
As a player entering mid range I've noticed a few things about the game. There are certain bottlenecks. I think also that certain aspects of the game grew to overlap and this was never adjusted. Probably because there is a lack of data to show it needs to be, and probably because they don't want to mess up the game by tweeking it too much.
As the game grows, so do the pools that are a part of it. We only have so many crew slots, but the pool of characters grows with every event. And those characters are almost always SR or Legendary which means tough recipes and or honour costs to star them up.
The game has gotten very good at dropping trainers to help level up characters, but it's never caught up with dropping components to equip them. I don't know that trainers need to be dropped entirely from the gauntlet, but I do believe their drop rate needs to be cut and the drop rate for harder to get components needs to be increased. Either the rarer encoded transmission type or the harder to get 3* and 4* type.
While the full weight of this problem is still to come for me, other players seem to have been quite obvious about it in various other threads. The inventory gets full of useless items that end up as replicator fuel. Trainers are piling up waiting for new characters.
At some point in the past it probably made sense. But the pools of needed items and new characters have gotten a lot bigger and randomly getting what you need has gotten harder.
I don't know exactly how fast or slow or challenging DB is trying to control the leveling and equipment of characters. But it seems to me from the feedback on the forum they need to make some adjustments. A lot of people I've seen say they don't bother with parts of the game any more. Maybe those parts weren't originally considered to benifit everyone or were aimed at a niche like giving new players help. But as the game and the requirements to play have increased and the pool of players at mid to high range has increased, and the odds of randomly matching character pulls and item drops get farther apart, perhaps those tools need to be reworked.
I think the gauntlet needs to have it's loot table adjusted to drop less trainers and more random items the player might need. I think it also needs to adjust the difficulty so people can actually take advantage of it. What is the point of a tool to give new players help if they can't use it? One or two battles and you hit a rank that gives you nothing but walls of characters you have absolutely no chance against. Honestly i would really love to here one of the developers explain what they think the gauntlet is designed for. It can only be played well by the people who don't really need the rewards it is tooled to provide. There is a disconnect somewhere, or a stubborn logic.
The gauntlet is designed to tempt you with a long streak, and then get you to spend merits to refresh opponents and DIL to keep your streak going when you unexpectedly lose. It's not designed to "help players" or give players things they need beyond using that as an inducement for players to spend more. If the gauntlet is failing, it's because it's not worth the DIL for anyone to keep a streak alive.
If you read all the threads about inventory and useless items, you'd realize dropping components is the last thing players need. Really, the only thing experienced players need is honor. Any random 4*/5* can be taken from level 1 to 100 with minimal effort.
If DB really wants to encourage spending in gauntlet, what they should do is replace trainers with honor, but only at the highest crate level. That way players will want to stay there to keep earning honor over the junk they get at lower levels.
You can't see level on here, so I don't know if some one is 50 or 99. But from where I am and the the people I know, getting advancing a character in a day is hard and even if it's possible drains your resources. They aren't doing anything wrong, they just don't have the resources of a 99.
I have read the threads and what I see almost everywhere is people trying to argue for better drops from the dabo, double boosts for faction missions, resetting the galaxy map to clear it again. These are direct and explicit requests for harder to make or get items to be easier to get. If the gauntlet dropped items like the Dabo more often a lot of people would be happy.
I'm going to try and underline it again. The problem is the people at the top need and want something entirely different. Mid level players would like to make a long run and get items. The 99s at the top want to farm honour to cite Legendarys. The problem is the the gauntlet doesn't act dynamicly for the people using it. This can't be fixed by replacing the last loot crate with what the 99s want. The mid level players are aiming for the same crate and they want it for the card or for items. The game needs to drop whatever it drops, but relevant to the player it's dropping for. Similar to how the Dabo wheel generates it's table. If you have no characters that need building and no ships, maybe it drops honour or something else. But arbitrary making the one at the end only something a 99 wants will just frustrate the people in the mid to high that want something else.
I entirely agree that trainers are vastly over represented as drops. But I disagree with the idea that honour needs to suddenly be over represented somewhere in the line. The loot box needs to suit the player.
Yesterday i got 7 boxes from finishing #11-15, first box i got 5x3* trainers, second box i got 8x3* trainers then i got 2x5* trainers and 3x5* trainers followed up by 5x5* trainers 3x5* trainers and a whopping 7x5* trainers in the last box......
Edit: forgot to add i have 32767x 5* trainers for over 2 years.....
Yesterday i got 7 boxes from finishing #11-15, first box i got 5x3* trainers, second box i got 8x3* trainers then i got 2x5* trainers and 3x5* trainers followed up by 5x5* trainers 3x5* trainers and a whopping 7x5* trainers in the last box......
Edit: forgot to add i have 32767x 5* trainers for over 2 years.....
This should be the poster story for why this petition was started.
Comments
The gauntlet is designed to tempt you with a long streak, and then get you to spend merits to refresh opponents and DIL to keep your streak going when you unexpectedly lose. It's not designed to "help players" or give players things they need beyond using that as an inducement for players to spend more. If the gauntlet is failing, it's because it's not worth the DIL for anyone to keep a streak alive.
If you read all the threads about inventory and useless items, you'd realize dropping components is the last thing players need. Really, the only thing experienced players need is honor. Any random 4*/5* can be taken from level 1 to 100 with minimal effort.
If DB really wants to encourage spending in gauntlet, what they should do is replace trainers with honor, but only at the highest crate level. That way players will want to stay there to keep earning honor over the junk they get at lower levels.
I have read the threads and what I see almost everywhere is people trying to argue for better drops from the dabo, double boosts for faction missions, resetting the galaxy map to clear it again. These are direct and explicit requests for harder to make or get items to be easier to get. If the gauntlet dropped items like the Dabo more often a lot of people would be happy.
I'm going to try and underline it again. The problem is the people at the top need and want something entirely different. Mid level players would like to make a long run and get items. The 99s at the top want to farm honour to cite Legendarys. The problem is the the gauntlet doesn't act dynamicly for the people using it. This can't be fixed by replacing the last loot crate with what the 99s want. The mid level players are aiming for the same crate and they want it for the card or for items. The game needs to drop whatever it drops, but relevant to the player it's dropping for. Similar to how the Dabo wheel generates it's table. If you have no characters that need building and no ships, maybe it drops honour or something else. But arbitrary making the one at the end only something a 99 wants will just frustrate the people in the mid to high that want something else.
I entirely agree that trainers are vastly over represented as drops. But I disagree with the idea that honour needs to suddenly be over represented somewhere in the line. The loot box needs to suit the player.
Edit: forgot to add i have 32767x 5* trainers for over 2 years.....
This should be the poster story for why this petition was started.