The top 100 teams leading arena are all either Jedi Knight Revan or Darth Revan. Wouldn’t it be nice to see a little more diversity? I am nostalgic for the early years of this game where you saw teams from all eras and incarcerations of Star Wars leading the arena. One day it would be Ackbar in the #1 spot, the next it would be Phasma, or Old Ben, or Dooku, or Maul, or Palpatine. As time went on, we saw CLS dominate for a while, then it was JTR, but even then you still had a variety of leaders in the top 100, and possibly a different team tomorrow than it was that day. Never was it down to literally only two leaders across the entire top 100 as it has become now.Ironically, as more characters have been added, diversity in arena has vanished. You’d think the opposite would be true.I believe the Kenobi/Anakin/Snips adjustments were a step in the right direction, but not enough to see a major presence of those characters in arena nor alter the redundancy in the current top 100. It’s still JKR or DR in all the lead spots.It would please a fan that has been playing since the beginning to see more reworks aimed at increasing diversity of leadership (and their supporting casts) in arena, especially those that would give new life to old characters, ones that we farmed up and now just get destroyed in every mode of the game. This could be done in a way that still gives players incentive to farm (or possibly even pay) even if it’s for an “old” character. I would shell out for a Vader force choke that severely disables an opponent (similar to the way Thrawn’s fracture does), or Ackbar zetas that increase assists and survivability (at least enough for a classic rebel squad to stay alive against the Revans of the world). Just make it interesting. It doesn’t have to be these ideas specifically.Finally, I’m not asking for an aggressive or curt explanation from commenters as to how this game makes its money or how its “always been this way.” Nor am I attacking the developers who made this great game that has entertained me for so many hours. I just want the force of the game to stay alive and well where, sadly, it’s feeling like the opposite when I see the same JKR team over and over no matter how many teams I refresh, hoping for a new opponent.

"Taviffs;d-203682" wrote:The top 100 teams leading arena are all either Jedi Knight Revan or Darth Revan. Wouldn’t it be nice to see a little more diversity? They were going that way. And claimed they wanted it. And then halted it...:neutral:

I'm amazed at how many players buy into and actually support the concept that the fresh new character/team should be more powerful than the rest. Maybe step back and look at what the concept and appeal of this game used to be, and could be again: a large number of characters from the Star Wars universe for players to unlock, power up, and combine into teams... based on how you want to play, not who the devs have decided will overpower the rest of the content they continually render obsolete and worthless.In a balanced game, this would mean no useless characters; it would mean any character could at least be somewhat useful/viable. Realistically, some would of course function better with certain other characters or factions, some would be useful in a wider range of scenarios, etc., but they'd all be viable/useful. So if you're a fan of character x, you could put in the time, effort, and/or money, and have yourself a useful character you like and want to play as, not one you HAVE TO play as to be successful because developers decided a small percentage of characters will be useful and intentionally more powerful than others.When did the fun factor and the joy of trying out all sorts of combinations become irrelevant? When did the great appeal and supposed goal of having a giant pool of balanced, useful characters and teams disappear, and why isn't that still the goal?People will say it's all about making $. Okay... I'd argue there's more money to be made with 100 viable characters than with say 15. There'd be more characters to collect/improve and more incentive to do so, because in a balanced game they would all have a role. Many would continue to buy the fresh, new, unique characters, for sure. But instead of developers essentially discarding the vast majority of characters they made and writing them off as useless, why not make them useful so players would see value in spending money to obtain and level them as well? Why produce lots of content just to let it die and lose its value? Seems to me there's much more incentive to pay, and more reasons to pay, if more characters are useful.Please. Bring balance to the game, characters, factions. Or at least put an in-game stamp that says "useless" over the vast majority of characters so everyone knows exactly what characters are to be leveled, since devs want to dictate how we play, rather than let our imaginations, creativity, experimentation, and FUN be the guiding factors.

Yes to all of this. I hate spending so much time building certain toons, then they’re worthless and I have zero need for them. I hardly ever get to use my favorite ones because I’m forced to use who dev wants me too. Worse yet, I have to spend months farming and gearing the same team as everyone else , or I can’t compete in certain areas. More diversity would be amazing

Yeah I remember when top 100 had ten + squads not two. When one squad in tw couldn't Outlast ten of my squads and 12 more other clan mates and still be standing. Like I remember when ns came in and made us rethink squads but it never took more then 1-5 to kill it. You had hope if you didn't have them. If I'm playing tw or ga aang see jkr or Dr I just don't play is not worth my time bc I can't win. My bounty Hunter, sith , Jedi, ns, rebel, resistance, empire, fo, non of my teams stand a chance it's just discouraging I feel like I can't go up.

https://i.imgflip.com/2ufk9i.jpg

State of Arena and Looking Towards Diversity

Player_7ctrhms9
6 years ago
"Taviffs;d-203682" wrote:
The top 100 teams leading arena are all either Jedi Knight Revan or Darth Revan. Wouldn’t it be nice to see a little more diversity?

They were going that way. And claimed they wanted it. And then halted it...

:neutral:
vegenigma
6 years ago
I'm amazed at how many players buy into and actually support the concept that the fresh new character/team should be more powerful than the rest. Maybe step back and look at what the concept and appeal of this game used to be, and could be again: a large number of characters from the Star Wars universe for players to unlock, power up, and combine into teams... based on how you want to play, not who the devs have decided will overpower the rest of the content they continually render obsolete and worthless.

In a balanced game, this would mean no useless characters; it would mean any character could at least be somewhat useful/viable. Realistically, some would of course function better with certain other characters or factions, some would be useful in a wider range of scenarios, etc., but they'd all be viable/useful. So if you're a fan of character x, you could put in the time, effort, and/or money, and have yourself a useful character you like and want to play as, not one you HAVE TO play as to be successful because developers decided a small percentage of characters will be useful and intentionally more powerful than others.

When did the fun factor and the joy of trying out all sorts of combinations become irrelevant? When did the great appeal and supposed goal of having a giant pool of balanced, useful characters and teams disappear, and why isn't that still the goal?

People will say it's all about making $. Okay... I'd argue there's more money to be made with 100 viable characters than with say 15. There'd be more characters to collect/improve and more incentive to do so, because in a balanced game they would all have a role. Many would continue to buy the fresh, new, unique characters, for sure. But instead of developers essentially discarding the vast majority of characters they made and writing them off as useless, why not make them useful so players would see value in spending money to obtain and level them as well? Why produce lots of content just to let it die and lose its value? Seems to me there's much more incentive to pay, and more reasons to pay, if more characters are useful.

Please. Bring balance to the game, characters, factions. Or at least put an in-game stamp that says "useless" over the vast majority of characters so everyone knows exactly what characters are to be leveled, since devs want to dictate how we play, rather than let our imaginations, creativity, experimentation, and FUN be the guiding factors.
OBoogieIII
6 years ago
Yes to all of this. I hate spending so much time building certain toons, then they’re worthless and I have zero need for them. I hardly ever get to use my favorite ones because I’m forced to use who dev wants me too. Worse yet, I have to spend months farming and gearing the same team as everyone else , or I can’t compete in certain areas. More diversity would be amazing
TheZerker111
6 years ago
Yeah I remember when top 100 had ten + squads not two. When one squad in tw couldn't Outlast ten of my squads and 12 more other clan mates and still be standing. Like I remember when ns came in and made us rethink squads but it never took more then 1-5 to kill it. You had hope if you didn't have them. If I'm playing tw or ga aang see jkr or Dr I just don't play is not worth my time bc I can't win. My bounty Hunter, sith , Jedi, ns, rebel, resistance, empire, fo, non of my teams stand a chance it's just discouraging I feel like I can't go up.
Rath_Tarr0
6 years ago
https://i.imgflip.com/2ufk9i.jpg
Player_7ctrhms9
6 years ago
"mellamoroberto;c-1858646" wrote:
I'm amazed at how many players buy into and actually support the concept that the fresh new character/team should be more powerful than the rest. Maybe step back and look at what the concept and appeal of this game used to be, and could be again: a large number of characters from the Star Wars universe for players to unlock, power up, and combine into teams... based on how you want to play, not who the devs have decided will overpower the rest of the content they continually render obsolete and worthless.

In a balanced game, this would mean no useless characters; it would mean any character could at least be somewhat useful/viable. Realistically, some would of course function better with certain other characters or factions, some would be useful in a wider range of scenarios, etc., but they'd all be viable/useful. So if you're a fan of character x, you could put in the time, effort, and/or money, and have yourself a useful character you like and want to play as, not one you HAVE TO play as to be successful because developers decided a small percentage of characters will be useful and intentionally more powerful than others.

When did the fun factor and the joy of trying out all sorts of combinations become irrelevant? When did the great appeal and supposed goal of having a giant pool of balanced, useful characters and teams disappear, and why isn't that still the goal?

People will say it's all about making $. Okay... I'd argue there's more money to be made with 100 viable characters than with say 15. There'd be more characters to collect/improve and more incentive to do so, because in a balanced game they would all have a role. Many would continue to buy the fresh, new, unique characters, for sure. But instead of developers essentially discarding the vast majority of characters they made and writing them off as useless, why not make them useful so players would see value in spending money to obtain and level them as well? Why produce lots of content just to let it die and lose its value? Seems to me there's much more incentive to pay, and more reasons to pay, if more characters are useful.

Please. Bring balance to the game, characters, factions. Or at least put an in-game stamp that says "useless" over the vast majority of characters so everyone knows exactly what characters are to be leveled, since devs want to dictate how we play, rather than let our imaginations, creativity, experimentation, and FUN be the guiding factors.

Excellent post, thank you for it.
tvsfrink
6 years ago
They see the appeal of money.
vegenigma
6 years ago
"TVF;c-1867657" wrote:
They see the appeal of money.

True. But every existing character that's useless now could become a reason to spend money if it ceased being useless. With less dev time and effort required vs making a new character. They're missing the big picture IMHO.
tvsfrink
6 years ago
"darthdavid;c-1868485" wrote:
"TVF;c-1867657" wrote:
They see the appeal of money.

I'm getting a bit tired of whining like this. The truth is money coming in makes it possible for anyone to play for free. It's socialism in the gaming world, and paying more is always going to provide an advantage.

They can tweak older characters but then they might become the meta or the meta becomes less of an incentive to buy and the whole game goes splat.

It's not whining, it's fact. I made no judgement about it.
healthguyfsu
6 years ago
"TVF;c-1868490" wrote:
"darthdavid;c-1868485" wrote:
"TVF;c-1867657" wrote:
They see the appeal of money.

I'm getting a bit tired of whining like this. The truth is money coming in makes it possible for anyone to play for free. It's socialism in the gaming world, and paying more is always going to provide an advantage.

They can tweak older characters but then they might become the meta or the meta becomes less of an incentive to buy and the whole game goes splat.

It's not whining, it's fact. I made no judgement about it.

Then, I misread your post. I apologize as it's quite common around here. Money drives content that is even available if you don't pay a dime for this game. That's pretty amazing no matter what inconveniences a player has to do to get that content. I especially detest the whining judgments on "morality" of the developers. They have made it available for free for crying out loud! It's also a frickin' voluntary video game, not health care. In a sea of complaints and real issues, it becomes harder to identify and solve real issues when complaints litter the forum.