The worst dilithium spend in the game should just be removed
Leperflesh
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in Make It So!
Faction centers sometimes sell one copy of a 5* character, for 15,000 Dilithium. That's around $150 worth! It's an absurd expense that nobody should ever pay, and I imagine the few times in history someone's spent that, it was probably a mis-click. Yes, you get a specific 5* character, instead of the random one you can get from a legendary behold (45k honor in the honor hall), or ~145k merits on Merit Rewards (on average), or ~5700 dilithium on Premium Reward packs (if I did my math right), but compare to for example the current Crew offer: *two* copies of Determined Paris (5 star) plus a ton of other stuff including ten event packs (likely to drop another 5* just from those), for US$100.
Faction centers also sell 4* characters for 1500 dilithium. While that's only ~US$20, compare that to the certainty of *at least* one 4* crew from a single "buy 10" premium rewards purchase (650 dilithium) or, on average, 20 "buy 3" Merit Reward purchases (14,500 merits) and it's still way too much.
I don't want to sound like I'm complaining in general about no bargains in the game. The best deal in the game I think is the US$10 when you've just completed the regular Campaign reward track, to get all 100 rewards from the premium track, including four copies of the featured 5* crew. That's the only thing I've spent real money on and likely the only thing I'm going to; but I sure would be miffed if I accidentally spent several months of savings of my "free" dilithium on a single 4* character in a faction center because of a mis-click!
I think having a trap choice taking up space in faction centers is silly. Either slash the cost of those characters to be in line with what they cost elsewhere, or just take them out and use the slot for something potentially purchaseable? Wouldn't it be cool if what you found in the faction centers was actually a tempting discount, rather than an absurd trap choice?
Faction centers also sell 4* characters for 1500 dilithium. While that's only ~US$20, compare that to the certainty of *at least* one 4* crew from a single "buy 10" premium rewards purchase (650 dilithium) or, on average, 20 "buy 3" Merit Reward purchases (14,500 merits) and it's still way too much.
I don't want to sound like I'm complaining in general about no bargains in the game. The best deal in the game I think is the US$10 when you've just completed the regular Campaign reward track, to get all 100 rewards from the premium track, including four copies of the featured 5* crew. That's the only thing I've spent real money on and likely the only thing I'm going to; but I sure would be miffed if I accidentally spent several months of savings of my "free" dilithium on a single 4* character in a faction center because of a mis-click!
I think having a trap choice taking up space in faction centers is silly. Either slash the cost of those characters to be in line with what they cost elsewhere, or just take them out and use the slot for something potentially purchaseable? Wouldn't it be cool if what you found in the faction centers was actually a tempting discount, rather than an absurd trap choice?
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1) How many times per month is a legendary purchased from a faction store?
2) How many of those times results in a CS ticket to reverse the purchase?
Alternative ideas:
1) Change the cost to reflect the decrepit™️ stats of the legendaries. Say... 2k dilithium or 30k honor?
2) Just fill it in with a random faction item like the other slots.
3) I forget who coined the phrase, but Demerit Packs™️ themed around that faction, but for a more appropriate price, say 220 dilithium?
Those are some starting points. Thanks for getting this line of thinking started, OP.
Edit: I popped in to see if it was the same thing that I thought was the worst use of dilithium. And it was.
She and Mirror Spock have some Arena use. They're far from useless. But doesn't it strike you as one of the deals that could be improved?
Edit: And would you buy others if they cost a bit less?
Absolutely it could have cost less. I did it because of the fan factor and I was playing for quite a while and she never dropped. The purple I bought was Mirror Sato. I was new and, well, Mirror Sato. But I did buy an Icheb not too long ago cuz it was the last star on the Borg collection and I refuse to use honor on a super rare
I like all these ideas as options.
What if the price went down as your status with that faction improved, so that when you have Honored status, it'd be... an actual tempting discount? And something worth working for, checking the faction stores daily, perhaps, even if you generally have little use for most of the stuff that faction sells?
I really wondered if anyone would pop in to admit they'd paid for it. I'm not gonna disparage your judgement, I just wonder if you were aware, at the time, that you were spending something like $150 worth of dilithium on a single copy of one legendary character, in a mobile game that is nominally free to play? E.g., was it a "mistake", or were you fully aware and felt it was worth it?
If a lot of people feel as you do, then I may be way off base here. The company is powerfully incentivized to get players to spend piles of cash for stuff, and not bother discounting if the full price attracts buyers.
I don't want to speak too far out of turn, but I can tell you that @Banjo1012 has been around the forum for a long while and through his posts I can tell you that 1) Banjo probably got the dilithium through deals and didn't really pay that full price and 2) he was well aware of what he spent and picks his crew based largely on two things: voyage use and crew that he likes as a fan. There was likely zero regret.
I'm sure the company won't release the info, but I do wonder if they could maximize profit by making those purchases more appealing or if they are already in an optimized state. I don't know that the price has changed since the game started, so I have my doubts that the price point is currently optimized for profit.
*Did I just accidentally come up with the name for a romance novel about statisticians?
Belle Curve of Desire - sounds like a statistician who falls for a southern lady.
You make a good point that they may be priced just fine, except that the pool of legendaries hasn't changed, probably since they first went live. I would update the pools when the portal updated if they wanted to hold that price point. One thing I like is a sure purchase - to know what I am getting. But if what I am getting is a legendary with 4 years of stat creep, then there's just no way I would bite at that price. Maybe two years of stat creep.
To keep it in perspective with Tuesday packs, you could spend 19,500 and have a high probability of getting the particular legendary that you want. You would probably get other legendaries and a boatload of honor along the way, but no guarantee to get the particular legendary that you want. In that regard, the price point works. But I would (and did) take my chances on the last two Tuesday packs because the legendaries are of much higher quality.
I just flew to all faction stores on two accounts and did not see anyone who wasn't in the game already when I started two years ago. That coffee cup Janeway was tempting on my new account, though.
I don't follow? Did you mean coffee cup Janeway? The FTM says that she's been in the game since 2016. That's not an update. The Borg faction was added most recently, so it may have someone interesting from time to time. I don't think it is actually updated, though.
I suppose it’s because I remember a time when they weren’t in there. Perhaps I have a skewed sense of time
Speaking of faction stores, why doesn't the Hirogen store offer schematics for their own ships when all the other factions do?