The update issue isn't the rewards...
Players on these forums stating that F2P players are getting the same (or better) rewards as pre-update aren't wrong, the maths has been done and (mostly) bears that out - though there may be variance based on GC feats, due to teams like Jawas or Tuskens being needed. The problem with the update isn't the literal rewards, it's psychological.
Before the update, players seeing a progress bar appear - say when they completed the farm for a GL pre-requirement character - would know that they had made real, tangible progress towards their progression within the game, and as a result would feel a sense of accomplishment that pushed them to continue playing.
After the update, a progress bar appearing now gives a feeling of "Is this actual progress, or a paywalled feat?", which in turn results in that player not feeling the sense of accomplishment, and instead subconsciously feeling conflicted - are they making progress, or is this another thing telling them "You should buy [insert latest new thing]."?
Similarly, Galactic Challenges used to be a steady source of positivity - players were rewarded for having a wide roster that allowed them to theory-craft in order to complete trickier feats, but at the very least they could usually rely on being able to obtain some level of rewards from the "Complete the battle." feat. Which in turn gave them the incentive to continue playing - they could see they were going to get some rewards, and if they were clever about how they used their roster, they could get more rewards.
Reaching the red box was a reason for a sense of personal satisfaction - you, the player, had put your roster and brain to the test, and come away victorious. And that feeling of satisfaction led you to want to keep playing - maybe a Conquest battle or two, maybe try your luck in fleet arena, or GAC/TW/TB. The player was psychologically rewarded for completing a task, which lead to the desire for further reward, which led directly to that player spending more time playing the game.
With the new structure, the rewards are the same. Mathematically, I don't dispute that. Objectively, yes they are the same or better for the majority of players. But the cycle of "Complete task -> Get reward" is broken now. Because players are completing the task of GC feats, but are seeing no immediate payoff, or even the promise of one in the near future (for those that completed GCs on day 1). All that we are seeing now, is "Task completed, here is one or two levels of a battlepass, wait 3 days then repeat." Which, yes. That is some level of reward. But it has a vastly different feel to the previous system.
Not only that, but due to the paywalling of 2 out of 4 feats, players are also forced to look at the feats they couldn't complete because they didn't - or couldn't - spend money, which just leaves a sour taste in our mouths. Getting 100% in a GC was cause for celebration, now it's impossible unless we spend hundreds or get extremely lucky with an RNG-based shard pack. And spend $20 on top of that.
The Task -> Reward -> Desire To Do More Tasks cycle was integral to F2P players, and even to whales, krakens, dolphins, minnows, etc.; it was the thing that kept us playing. Breaking that cycle, especially at a time when there is already enormous player displeasure at all spending levels with the state of the game, is not a smart thing to have done.
I am very doubtful - the cynic in me, probably - that CG will really care about F2P quitting as a result of this. I am doubtful they will care if dolphins or minnows quit, either. But when all those players quit, who is left for the whales and krakens to flex their maxed out rosters on? Each other? Maxed roster vs maxed roster, the top-end players will inevitably become angry at the lack of easy wins for having spent money.
Some will, inevitably, double down and spend more, convinced that the next dollar they spend will be the one that puts them on top. A lot more, however, will give it up as a bad investment, and also quit. And that spiral of quitting will continue until there is no one left playing the game except a few spending addicts who are just too deep in the hole to realise the damage, at which point the servers will be unsustainable and the game will shut down.
Because the problem isn't about the rewards. Whether we get the same rewards as before, fewer, or more, is ultimately irrelevant. The problem is the psychological impact of the changes, and those are a net negative here. The game will bleed players because of this, unless things are changed. Whether that bleed is a slow ooze or a gushing haemorrhage is entirely dependent on how CG responds to the feedback - and yes, outrage. Justified outrage, frankly - to this update.
That's a lot of words of criticism and analysis of the issue, admittedly. So, with that in mind, and in the spirit of "Never criticise without offering a path to improvement.", here are some immediate, fairly easy changes that could help:
1. Change the way feats are set up in Galactic Challenges under the new system. A good method for this was posted on Reddit (apologies, I can't remember who posted it - it might have been egnards?), in which all 4 feats can be completed without any requirement to spend money - so no "Complete the battle with the Episode Pass active" or "Complete the battle with [Newest Marquee] at 7 stars" feats. To ensure that CG's monetisation remains intact, reduce the Episode Track Points for each feat to half the current value, and add an option to claim a second set of those points if the player has an active Episode Pass.
2. Add some small rewards to Galactic Challenges in addition to the ETPs. It doesn't have to break the bank - the majority of rewards being in the new store is fine, since players do get the same rewards on average as before - but some small thing to give that immediate psychological sensation of "I completed this challenge, and now I can see I'm definitely going to be rewarded for it". A few mod slicing mats would do here, just something tangible to return the cycle of "Complete Task -> Get Reward -> Want To Keep Playing".
3. Add a filter option for quest progress - something like "Do not show quests that cannot be completed without an active Episode Pass." or simply "Do not show progress on quests that cannot be claimed." to cover Marquee quests. The endless parade of these pop-ups just feels bad, and reduces the satisfaction of players who are used to pop-ups meaning they have made tangible progress.
And, admittedly not directly related to the issues discussed in this post:
4. Make an honest effort to engage in good faith with the playerbase. By that, I mean implement something like a weekly Q&A blog post, where someone from the team answers questions submitted throughout the course of the week by players on the forums, in a similar vein to the Q&A posts made for new marquee units.
If players feel that they have an actual way to get their questions answered by the team, rather than CG just occasionally yelling "Gardy-loo!" and emptying the **bleep** bucket on the players' heads from the castle windows, then they are more likely to utilise that method, rather than simply yelling (technically typing, but you know what I mean) angrily on the forums. A weekly Q&A post wouldn't solve every issue instantly, but it would provide a way for players to actually see that the team at CG are listening, taking feedback onboard, and working with them.
We play this game because it's fun for us, and because we love Star Wars, and because we've made friends through the game. But if you remove the fun aspect, as this new update seems to be doing, then eventually our love of the IP begins to fade - or worse, become hate - and at that point we're playing for the sake of our guildmates. And when our guildmates are the only thing keeping us playing, all it takes is a couple people getting burnt out and quitting for it to snowball into the collapse of entire guilds.
I hope sincerely that the team will at least consider some of the points I made in this post, but given The State of the Galaxy Game right now, I am unfortunately skeptical of it. But if nothing else, I wanted to at least have put my thoughts and feelings in writing properly, so if it achieves nothing else, at least it was cathartic for me.
Have a great day folks, whether SWGOH is part of it or not, and I hope you achieve something positive that you've been hoping for. ❤️
