Here's another honor idea for DB to improve user retention
k3v
✭✭
in The Bridge
In addition to the current honor redemption rates (e.g., 550 honor for a 5*), add a new exchange tier where airlocking a FE crew gives the same honor as a citation of the same rarity. For example, when you airlock a 1/4 FE crew, you get 18,000 honor.
Here's why it makes sense from a user retention and economy reason for DB:
As a player, this doesn't change any way I currently have to accumulate honor, but it gives me a new way to get more honor that is beneficial for both DB and us.
Here's why it makes sense from a user retention and economy reason for DB:
- With the continued dilution of 4* and 5*, the current honor reward levels are discouraging for continued play. There are many ways to receive honor but it still takes a lot of honor to FF your crew (see extensive honor debt post for evidence). This idea will give users more hope at tackling that backlog
- At the current rate a user receives chronitons (from voyages, normal gameplay, etc); there is a point where a user's farmed inventory will exceed what is needed to level crew and compete in galaxy events. At this point, a user can power level any character at will, and there is no ladder left to climb in the game beyond events. Galaxy events don't eat into their inventory because it is too time intensive to click and use up their inventory for a top finish that will give more than 1 copy of the 5*. With a burgeoning inventory, this idea gives an inherent economic value to equipment while increasing the value and need for chronitons, as it is not trivial to level most 4*s and above (significant amount of 3* and 4* components).
- As users play longer, there is an increased likelihood of beholds where you have all crew immortalized. Getting this is a horrible feeling and deters users from buying more packs. This idea returns value to full house beholds as then it becomes a decision of picking the easiest to level crew and getting well beyond a 200 honor return. It also gives users continued incentive to buy diluted packs.
- Some users are reluctant to try for 5*s in events, especially weak ones, as the event 5* may rot on their crew roster. This idea increases value to these crew as they can be turned into a legendary citation through some effort. This creates incentive for all parties to compete in events. This same argument gives value to substandard 5*s (e.g., Shinzon) and Legendary beholds with poor choices (again, a horrible feeling for a user when a lucky legendary behold reveals 3 useless crew).
As a player, this doesn't change any way I currently have to accumulate honor, but it gives me a new way to get more honor that is beneficial for both DB and us.
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I would probably buy more packs (you would either get cards you want or high honour value). If you want the cards that is great, if you don't you can more easily save to buy a behold or honourable citation.
I would have a much better chance of getting my legends complete (at the moment this is unlikely to ever happen)
I can see an argument why this may impact pack sales for FFing the threshold character. But keep in mind that FE a 4* will no longer be as trivial when you are constantly building extra 4*s for honor.
I'd be curious to know how much money is being spent by the top 3000 and the other 70000. My guess is that despite the rather large disproportion in player base that the top 3000 are still spending significantly more.
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Depending on crew, with my series preference being TOS, it was pretty much guaranteed I'd buy the 2/5 offer. Did it for Gangster Kirk, Labourer Spock, Gladiator McCoy and Dress Kilt Scotty. Other events, like this current so-called mega, I don't spend a cent.
I can see people collecting easy to level 1/4 cards, (or making Tuvix or the Duras Sisters) just to farm the honour, It's tedious leveling cards as it is, but just to level and airlock makes no sense whatsoever to me.
I'd still be in favor of a 1:10 or 1:20 exchange rate for Purple and Golds just without having to level them. The honour rate does need improving but without the added complexity of a second tier.
Jim
My apologies. I should have clarified that I was referring to the overall spending curve of the player base.
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The numbers vary over time and study to study, but it's widely known that in mobile gaming in general, the majority of spending comes from a tiny portion of players.
In Marvel Puzzle Quest you can ditch completed characters for ISO (leveling currency) and Gold (premium currency). Character levels in the two games don't line up but being able to constantly level and trash low-level characters in MPQ helps keep the game interesting.
With more players playing top 1k rewards need changing. I propose adding the event 1/5 into thresholds like the reoccurring mega event characters
My idea would be to have 2 tiers of honor. Each crew that dropped would get flagged based on if it was a freebie (voyages, credit portal, events, etc.) or if it was paid for with cash (dilithium or a direct offer purchase).
If a freebie, the honor values remain as they are if you airlock them with the exception of changing Legendary honor to 1,000 (a 50 to 1 exchange rate)
If it was paid for with real money, the honor value for airlocked crew is multiplied tenfold for Legendary and five-fold for others.
That would make purchasing portals palatable, even if the odds were that you would be airlocking everything.
Example 1 - Legendary: Premium Portal gives 1 Legendary, 6 Rare and 3 schematics - airlock all
If a freebie that would be 1,600, honor or 3.2% of a Legendary Citation
If paid for with cash it would be 13,000 honor or 26% of a Legendary Citation
That means if you paid cash, you would be trading about 4 Legendaries (plus associated rares) for 1 Legendary citation. That seems a very reasonable exchange rate for an outright purchase (4 to 1)
Example 2 - Super Rare: Premium Portal gives 1 Super Rare, 6 Rare and 3 schematics - airlock all
If a freebie that would be 800 honor or 1.6% of a Legendary Citation
If paid for with cash it would be 4,000 honor or 8% of a Legendary Citation
That means if you paid cash, you would be trading 12 1/2 Super Rares (plus associated rares) for 1 Legendary citation.
A big no to that. I already have a hard enough time keeping up with big spenders as a free player.
People who spend money on the game should have a distinct advantage over the people who play for free since they are the ones who allow the people who play for free to play. There would be no game for you to play if it wasn’t for the people spending money. DB isn’t a charity providing entertainment to the masses out of the goodness of their heart.
As a free player, compare your ranks to other free players and compete that way. I don’t understand the mindset that someone who pays nothing should be able to be competitive with someone who spends a fortune to keep the game going.
If there wasn’t a significant benefit to spending a lot of money then people wouldn’t spend the money, the game would fold, and no one would be playing it. I’m sure that’s not a popular idea with people who don’t spend money but that’s just the reality of the world. Businesses are in business to, well, make money 💰
I don´t understand it either, but, sadly, to a large part that is the mentality of the time: "Give me the world - at best for free". Not only in games, but in general...
That said, alienating the free players in a free-to-play game isn't a strategically clever move. Even DB, despite being prone to blunders, can recognize that.
DE, and any free-to-play game for that matter, has to try to strike a balance between incentivizing paying behaviours and rewarding the time invested by F2P players. Simply giving more to the paying players might upset the already precarious balance.
There's a balance?
When a VIP 0 with 120 immortalised crew say finishes 500 spots above a VIP 14 with 300+ immortals and every shuttle for both has at least one bonus crew and I'm giving the VIP 14's an edge in this scenario can fill the rest of the shuttle slots with immortalised legendary crew it comes down not to strategy, exploits or deep pockets but down to RNG in almost every case flying high one week and crashing and burning the next. Compare side by side on the VIP scale then subtract RNG its 50-50 who's passing who.
Total different ball game being galaxy events as most VIP 14's are levelling crew for their collection and sitting out an event at thresholds compared to VIP 0 saving their resources to push for crew and rank as high as possible.
It's simply my opinion that the paying players already have enough of an advantage. Newer and free players need to have an avenue to compete or the game will never attract new paying players. It's not fun to be hopeless and lose.
An easy joke, but the fact that the game is already unbalanced now in several is no reason to further destroy the balance.
You don't mend a broken arm by breaking the legs as well, after all.
(By that I do not mean to say that Althea's proposal is necessarily unbalanced. I'm just saying that @Grant77's argument is not irrational or entitled - he is voicing a very real concern about VIP-to-F2P balance, a balance that must exist and must be placed at the correct point.)
I normally finish under 1000 in events and ive been monthly card only for some time now.
Honored status does not affect shuttle success rates. You fail enough the rates go back down but your rating with them does not.