At a Loss
I was so hopeful when they announced this new update, I watched the full Ahnald video, and I insisted to my guildmates that we should wait to see the episode structure before we start complaining about anything. My hopes were dashed when I saw the new Galactic Challenge. For a game with consistent issues, and a relatively unresponsive dev team, I was so hopeful because I thought, like many other, that this might mark a new period in SWGOH's history after 9 years of playing. I can admit when I'm wrong.
I was concerned with the new marquee system when it came out with the Naboo raid, as I felt it further divided free-to-play players from paid players. Don't mistake me, I understand that paid players are going to have an advantage -- SWGOH needs to make money if it's going to continue to exist -- but it quickly became impossible for a F2P player to see anything past the second marquee event. When they announced the new update, they promised that F2P players would see an increase, or (at least) not a decrease in equipment income in a notoriously grindy game. This assuaged my fears concerning the marquee system -- I can't benefit from it, but people I care about can benefit from it.
I could still enjoy the game because I could work towards the Red crates, and help my guild. The Red Crates, of course, being the maximum reward for Galactic Challenges -- an event system that has had notorious issues -- and a consistent method of gear collection. And then they revealed the episode pass -- again, not a problem by itself, CG needs to make money to keep this game alive -- while some of my guildmates said that they had to reconsider playing, and one even quit. As I watched my guildmates become increasingly concerned, I advised caution -- we didn't even have the events yet, or the episode pass. Was $20 a month aggressive? Yes. Was it egregious? Yes. Would I have spent that money on the game anyway? Without a doubt. I enjoyed this game, and I have purchased a number of LSBs, when I have some extra cash lying around, throughout my nine years playing, and I don't regret it.
And CG continued to ensure us that F2P players would still benefit -- or at least remain neutral. When the most recent Galactic challenge came out, however, and I saw that the challenges were not placeholders, and that they had in fact gotten rid of the "Win the battle" feat, replacing it with two feats that ostensibly required purchase, between an upgraded character that released within the last 48 hours and requiring the episode pass outright, I was gutted. I had been fine with the marquee system, because at least there was an alternative way for me to get equipment. I had been fine with the Episode pass, because at least we were getting new content, and I would willingly sacrifice some gear in exchange for new content. Frankly, any of these changes by themselves would have been fine, but to introduce all of these changes that blatantly favor paying accounts, while still insisting that it was benefiting us, is not just wrong, it's outright demeaning.
This was my favorite game to play on my phone. It was difficult enough and grindy enough that I could pour hours into it, slowly building up shards and testing team configurations, all while aiding a community that developed around myself and my friends. This change, however, just makes me sad. There's no other way to explain it, as reductive as it is, because I've had so much fun on this game, and to see it make this change is devastating at best. As much as a quick change, like just removing these feats, would help this situation, it really just feels like the CG dev team does not care.
Thanks, Meathead, EA, and the team at CG for making a fantastic game. I'm so sorry that you decided to do this, and I hope, for other players, that you fix this quickly.
