Thoughts on (Rumored) Shard Exchange
I’m a fan of the game and enjoying the balance of gameplay/grind/gambling excitement/star wars characters. Wanted to share some thoughts on the art of the possible on the rumored upcoming shard exch...
Forum Discussion
It'll be interesting to see what the developers do. The data point that we, as forum community, are missing are the details on the economics of the game, but I'm going to assume that the vast amount of revenues come from the very big whales (top 1% of spenders). (I've read about a couple folks confessing to dropping four figures on this game, so think about how much more one of those whales matters to the game compared to the rest of us.)
There's two points: (1) what's the most likely shard exchange going to look like and (2) what should it be in an ideal world.
On how it is most likely to look. The revenue stream from the whales continuing to spend to complete the collection is just too alluring. Think about the guy that just is competitive enough, rich enough, bored enough, fan of SW enough, to just want to have a 7-star Lando. He'll just keep buying and buying chromium packs until he finally gets there.
So, on the idea of having shards over 7-stars not dropped and have them eliminated from the possible options of shards to be dropped, I think it will represent too much of a financial hit to the game. I think the most likely outcome is that if you draw shards from a 7-starred character, you'll 'see' what shards you drew and then 'see' them get converted to crystals or another alternative.
As y'all have noted before, if shards for your 7-starred players just won't drop, they you'll complete the collection eventually and there will be a 'hard ceiling' of cash to spend on chromium cards (endless on energy though...).
On how it might look in an ideal world. After playing for ~1 hour a day for the last six or so weeks, and spending a total of $25 bucks on the game (one 8 pack chromium and one 7-day subscription), I'm basically at the point where I would pay a fixed amount for the 'entire game'. Think walking into a store and buying a toy. I wonder how many others would do that? What is the right price for it? How would the whole revenues of the game look? Yes, gameplay would change a bit, maybe you get a higher number fixed numbers of crystals per day or something to keep the gambling excitement of opening chromium packs. But it would also eliminate the tension of developers thinking of ways to hook the players and then seeking to maximize revenues from it.
Part of the fear that I have in not paying again is that I don't know where the devs are going to take the game to (Barriss nerf?). They are in the opposite side of the table, constantly trying to get you excited about the game and at the same time have you open your wallet. How about having devs and players on the same side of the table? A fair price for a fair product that provides a reasonable amount of entertainment?
Anyways, rant of the day. (Nothing compared to @Midirataj, hahaha!)
PS. Spending thousands on a mobile game is absolute bananas not to mention arguably unethical. It's not about your how wealthy you are and whether you can afford it. Its about calling a spade a spade and a casino a casino. There should be a minimum required age (same age as to enter a casino in your home country) before spending above a certain amount of money in this game.
There's two points: (1) what's the most likely shard exchange going to look like and (2) what should it be in an ideal world.
On how it is most likely to look. The revenue stream from the whales continuing to spend to complete the collection is just too alluring. Think about the guy that just is competitive enough, rich enough, bored enough, fan of SW enough, to just want to have a 7-star Lando. He'll just keep buying and buying chromium packs until he finally gets there.
So, on the idea of having shards over 7-stars not dropped and have them eliminated from the possible options of shards to be dropped, I think it will represent too much of a financial hit to the game. I think the most likely outcome is that if you draw shards from a 7-starred character, you'll 'see' what shards you drew and then 'see' them get converted to crystals or another alternative.
As y'all have noted before, if shards for your 7-starred players just won't drop, they you'll complete the collection eventually and there will be a 'hard ceiling' of cash to spend on chromium cards (endless on energy though...).
On how it might look in an ideal world. After playing for ~1 hour a day for the last six or so weeks, and spending a total of $25 bucks on the game (one 8 pack chromium and one 7-day subscription), I'm basically at the point where I would pay a fixed amount for the 'entire game'. Think walking into a store and buying a toy. I wonder how many others would do that? What is the right price for it? How would the whole revenues of the game look? Yes, gameplay would change a bit, maybe you get a higher number fixed numbers of crystals per day or something to keep the gambling excitement of opening chromium packs. But it would also eliminate the tension of developers thinking of ways to hook the players and then seeking to maximize revenues from it.
Part of the fear that I have in not paying again is that I don't know where the devs are going to take the game to (Barriss nerf?). They are in the opposite side of the table, constantly trying to get you excited about the game and at the same time have you open your wallet. How about having devs and players on the same side of the table? A fair price for a fair product that provides a reasonable amount of entertainment?
Anyways, rant of the day. (Nothing compared to @Midirataj, hahaha!)
PS. Spending thousands on a mobile game is absolute bananas not to mention arguably unethical. It's not about your how wealthy you are and whether you can afford it. Its about calling a spade a spade and a casino a casino. There should be a minimum required age (same age as to enter a casino in your home country) before spending above a certain amount of money in this game.
