I'm off for a week(ish) but before I go I wanted to drop the outline for the next big Marquee event we will be running in late January (tentative). This is the event where you will be able to unlock Erasmus and Faust (see Conduit's posts for their latest data). I'm going to make heavy use of the same feature Escape from Jedha had by adding Erasmus or Faust into your squad. It's going to look like this:Event 1: Use Erasmus to battle a Wiggs team, then a Rey/RG/QGJ team (eg: the current dominant meta and the previous dominant meta). This is meant to showcase how useful Erasmus is versus the current meta and other things you're likely to see in squad arena. This event will run for a few days and is configured like the lovechild of the K-2SO event and the Yoda event.You earn enough Erasmus shards to unlock him at, currently, 3-stars.Event 2: Use Faust to battle some extremely strong but uncommon teams: Jawas and Droids . Again built like the child of the K-2SO event and the Yoda event. Unlocks Faust at 3-stars. This event starts a day or two after the first one and runs the same length of time.Event 3: This event starts a few days after event 2 ends but no longer forces you to use Erasmus or Faust. Instead you're battling squads of the rogue one rebel units. It is also, tentatively, restricted to Dark Side units only. You'll earn enough shards of Erasmus and Faust to get them to 4-stars from this event.Event 4: This is where we're trying something new that we hope is successful and well received, so I'm looking for thoughts on it. Event 4 will have only one mission, set at level 60, where you do 3 difficult battles then get a semi-random range of shards of Faust, Erasmus, or possibly one or two other highly desirable and very hard to acquire characters. Something like 2-8 shards is the current range. The key here is that this mission will be simmable once you 3-star it, and each refresh will grant TEN replays. but the refreshes will cost something like 1200-1500 crystals. I put a lot of thought into this, and It is definitely experimental. But I'm curious to know if you guys would see yourselves engaging in an event like this to power-up these new units. Also, the event would return periodically so each time it comes back you'd get 10 free sims/plays. The cost/benefit analysis is "do I want them NOW, or can I wait potentially several months for the free plays".Happy Holidays everyone! Let me know your thoughts on this structure.

For event 4, would the number of replays be unlimited? My concern is whether someone who gets really bad rng will miss out on maxing the character. From 4 star to maxed requires 250 shards. Assuming worst rng and 20 shards per replay (10 lots of 2). This is about 20k crystals.How long would event 4 last and is there a daily refresh?

For event 1 & 2 consider adding in a super duper murderous bonus tier with a first time reward of enough shards to raise them to four stars. For event three a murderous bonus tier that brings them up to five stars, that still leaves 185 shards to collect and it does make the characters semi useful.The reason i suggest this is the following... $100 buys you roughly ten refreshes in event four. That's one hundred sims. if it's JUST Faust and Erasmus then this one hundred dollars stands a reasonable chance of finishing them out, but as you add more characters to the probability table the odds go down pretty severely. Personally, I like the murderous bonus tiers so much I'd even be happy if you lowered the shards to 2-5 or even 2-4 as long as it's truly even odds and not like the odds of getting 100 falcon shards ;)Still, I like this introduction system and if you don't change a thing it's still light years better than the tourney introduction, which is sad because I do like the tourneys just not the cheating and the unevenness of being able to obtain usable characters.

"Josh_K;817297" wrote:For event 4, would the number of replays be unlimited? My concern is whether someone who gets really bad rng will miss out on maxing the character. From 4 star to maxed requires 250 shards. Assuming worst rng and 20 shards per replay (10 lots of 2). This is about 20k crystals.How long would event 4 last and is there a daily refresh?I'm not sure how long event 4 would last, probably a few days. So you'd get 10 free tries per day. The reward tuning would be such that you would need around ~3-6 months (depending on luck and how frequently we re-run the event) to get both characters to 7-stars as 100% zero crystal spend. The experience would be roughly what f2p people are getting now with the second Palpatine occurrence. (I think...?) Except that instead of waiting months and months with nothing going on, you'd periodically be making incremental progress as the event returns.

"Pcx99;817306" wrote:For event 1 & 2 consider adding in a super duper murderous bonus tier with a first time reward of enough shards to raise them to four stars. For event three a murderous bonus tier that brings them up to five stars, that still leaves 185 shards to collect and it does make the characters semi useful.The reason i suggest this is the following... $100 buys you roughly ten refreshes in event four. That's one hundred sims. if it's JUST Faust and Erasmus then this one hundred dollars stands a reasonable chance of finishing them out, but as you add more characters to the probability table the odds go down pretty severely. Personally, I like the murderous bonus tiers so much I'd even be happy if you lowered the shards to 2-5 or even 2-4 as long as it's truly even odds and not like the odds of getting 100 falcon shards ;)Still, I like this introduction system and if you don't change a thing it's still light years better than the tourney introduction, which is sad because I do like the tourneys just not the cheating and the unevenness of being able to obtain usable characters.I also like making the murderous bonus tiers, so... you're welcome... I guess? =PI've been thinking of adding a bonus tier to the 4th event, but there's a lot of weird limitations in our system for rigging up content so I'm going to investigate when I get back from holiday. As for the shard dilution, I'm pushing to keep it at 3 units: Faust, Erasmus, and (probably) Shoretrooper. That way no matter what, you're getting shards of one of the hot new units, without the frustrating experience of just getting a whole lot of random junk. That means that most spenders would probably need to spend on average $300 to just "buy" Erasmus and Faust with refreshes (yes, they'd be functionally unlimited). That's actually pretty cheap compared to similar offerings in competitors games (relatively speaking). Ultimately though the rewards quantities, drop percentage, and refresh schema are a collaborative effort so the fine details are likely to change.

300 is refreshing compared to the recent price hikes. I still think you'd do well to introduce an event where a character can be starred out for twenty five to fifty dollars ( not saying all chars should be priced like this, just not all chars should cost hundreds or thousands of dollars either there should be some middle ground between free and 1% ) but accountants -- I get it. Maybe guarantee Erasmus or Faust as a drop but have some random chance at shoretrooper or other characters. Maybe you won't always get shoretrooper but you'd pick up some shards along the way.i like your bonus tier idea for the fourth event, make it non-simmable but it still costs against your plays if you loose muhahahaha.

Next Marquee Event "Special Operations"

x0797mjs3
8 years ago
For event 4, would the number of replays be unlimited? My concern is whether someone who gets really bad rng will miss out on maxing the character.

From 4 star to maxed requires 250 shards. Assuming worst rng and 20 shards per replay (10 lots of 2). This is about 20k crystals.

How long would event 4 last and is there a daily refresh?
pcx99
8 years ago
For event 1 & 2 consider adding in a super duper murderous bonus tier with a first time reward of enough shards to raise them to four stars. For event three a murderous bonus tier that brings them up to five stars, that still leaves 185 shards to collect and it does make the characters semi useful.

The reason i suggest this is the following... $100 buys you roughly ten refreshes in event four. That's one hundred sims. if it's JUST Faust and Erasmus then this one hundred dollars stands a reasonable chance of finishing them out, but as you add more characters to the probability table the odds go down pretty severely. Personally, I like the murderous bonus tiers so much I'd even be happy if you lowered the shards to 2-5 or even 2-4 as long as it's truly even odds and not like the odds of getting 100 falcon shards ;)

Still, I like this introduction system and if you don't change a thing it's still light years better than the tourney introduction, which is sad because I do like the tourneys just not the cheating and the unevenness of being able to obtain usable characters.
CapGaSP
8 years ago
"Josh_K;817297" wrote:
For event 4, would the number of replays be unlimited? My concern is whether someone who gets really bad rng will miss out on maxing the character.

From 4 star to maxed requires 250 shards. Assuming worst rng and 20 shards per replay (10 lots of 2). This is about 20k crystals.

How long would event 4 last and is there a daily refresh?

I'm not sure how long event 4 would last, probably a few days. So you'd get 10 free tries per day. The reward tuning would be such that you would need around ~3-6 months (depending on luck and how frequently we re-run the event) to get both characters to 7-stars as 100% zero crystal spend. The experience would be roughly what f2p people are getting now with the second Palpatine occurrence. (I think...?) Except that instead of waiting months and months with nothing going on, you'd periodically be making incremental progress as the event returns.
CapGaSP
8 years ago
"Pcx99;817306" wrote:
For event 1 & 2 consider adding in a super duper murderous bonus tier with a first time reward of enough shards to raise them to four stars. For event three a murderous bonus tier that brings them up to five stars, that still leaves 185 shards to collect and it does make the characters semi useful.

The reason i suggest this is the following... $100 buys you roughly ten refreshes in event four. That's one hundred sims. if it's JUST Faust and Erasmus then this one hundred dollars stands a reasonable chance of finishing them out, but as you add more characters to the probability table the odds go down pretty severely. Personally, I like the murderous bonus tiers so much I'd even be happy if you lowered the shards to 2-5 or even 2-4 as long as it's truly even odds and not like the odds of getting 100 falcon shards ;)

Still, I like this introduction system and if you don't change a thing it's still light years better than the tourney introduction, which is sad because I do like the tourneys just not the cheating and the unevenness of being able to obtain usable characters.

I also like making the murderous bonus tiers, so... you're welcome... I guess? =P

I've been thinking of adding a bonus tier to the 4th event, but there's a lot of weird limitations in our system for rigging up content so I'm going to investigate when I get back from holiday. As for the shard dilution, I'm pushing to keep it at 3 units: Faust, Erasmus, and (probably) Shoretrooper. That way no matter what, you're getting shards of one of the hot new units, without the frustrating experience of just getting a whole lot of random junk. That means that most spenders would probably need to spend on average $300 to just "buy" Erasmus and Faust with refreshes (yes, they'd be functionally unlimited). That's actually pretty cheap compared to similar offerings in competitors games (relatively speaking). Ultimately though the rewards quantities, drop percentage, and refresh schema are a collaborative effort so the fine details are likely to change.
pcx99
8 years ago
300 is refreshing compared to the recent price hikes. I still think you'd do well to introduce an event where a character can be starred out for twenty five to fifty dollars ( not saying all chars should be priced like this, just not all chars should cost hundreds or thousands of dollars either there should be some middle ground between free and 1% ) but accountants -- I get it.

Maybe guarantee Erasmus or Faust as a drop but have some random chance at shoretrooper or other characters. Maybe you won't always get shoretrooper but you'd pick up some shards along the way.

i like your bonus tier idea for the fourth event, make it non-simmable but it still costs against your plays if you loose muhahahaha.
scuba75
Seasoned Rookie
8 years ago
From a spend stand point I don't know that i would pay to refresh if it was Faust or Erasmus or Shoretrooper. I and probably many spenders have already paid to finish Shoretrooper and I know how the "rng" would go nothing but Shoretrooper. Now if it was guaranteed 2-8 of each of them I wouldn't have an issue with that. That or word is very important in the rewards. $300 average combined to get both of them is not bad $300 average for each ($600 combined) is a little high IMO. Aud packs were i believe where on average $200.

Overall I do like what you are trying to do with the 1st and 2nd part of the event and overall it does sound fun and is definitely different.
MistPassiert
8 years ago
Coming from a "dolphin" (I've checked my google transactions and can no longer call myself F2P), I can't rationalize spending $300 to max even 2 characters. I know the Whale player base will jump all over it, but hopefully there's a way to maybe take @Pcx99's recommendation to get bonus shards for essentially being a "veteran" player capable of defeating those "hard mode" (similar in difficulty to the K-2SO bonus tier) battles. If that bonus tier exists that will give those veteran players an extra "free" star, and in order to get Faust and Erasmus to 7 stars before the next event emergence you'll have to spend $25-50, or even $100 would be much more friendly to a much LARGER player base.

Essentially, I'd like to see a way to reward your veterans (dedicated players who have an established roster) and your whales, as they will have that strong roster with much less time played on average. Giving them a way to get Faust and Erasmus to 6 stars for free while also enticing a small monetary investment to 7 star each character would be extremely well received.

On the flip side, if you make these characters obtainable on the first introduction of their events at the cost of $50-100, you'll probably see a much higher percentage of your player base willing to spend in order to get these characters. I know you likely saw a jump in player spending, even likely among those who were not big spenders on Emperor's first event. I personally know a few people who went out and bought crystals in order to buy energy refreshes and shop refreshes in order to get those last few rebels to 7 stars so they could get Palpatine to 7 stars.

I know it's not as sexy to try and get more people to spend less, but many whales feel cheated by the last few characters' costs. Baze most of all. Several players could have bought a used car for what they spent on Baze.
MistPassiert
8 years ago
Also: I hope the shard drops for Event 4 are BOTH Faust AND Erasmus with a possibility of a 3rd character.
pcx99
8 years ago
A VIP system that kicks in after x y and z dollars have been put into the game would go a very long way toward player retention and again, given the costs of modding and upgrading the characters provide a longer revenue pipeline for players that otherwise would be seeing diminishing returns on their "investment" who would otherwise be looking for alternatives, a point I am fast reaching.

Get the big bucks from the new players still in the honeymoon phase needing to catch up with vets, ensure a steady revenue stream from older players who have already paid their dues many times over!
LordRemonAzab
8 years ago
"Pcx99;822269" wrote:
A VIP system that kicks in after x y and z dollars have been put into the game would go a very long way toward player retention and again, given the costs of modding and upgrading the characters provide a longer revenue pipeline for players that otherwise would be seeing diminishing returns on their "investment" who would otherwise be looking for alternatives, a point I am fast reaching.

Get the big bucks from the new players still in the honeymoon phase needing to catch up with vets, ensure a steady revenue stream from older players who have already paid their dues many times over!

Yea i agree. Anyone that has spent 4 or 5 digits on this game deserves VIP pricing status for sure. Even better if it was escalating. I know quite a few of us that have invested a lot that would greatly appreciate this. Plus it shows the newer players there's a plateau to reach for discounts