The Transformers Forged to Fight community has officially moved to Discord. For all the latest news and updates, join us here!
4* shards are borderline impossible to get and the arenas are complete trash.
KittenPrime
Posts: 1,144
I’ve had enough of the god awful crystal arenas and it’s time I return to ranting about this treachery. The old system was good enough, put in around 500k get 3-10% and get 650 shards. Now I work my backside off for absolute jack black! Believe me when I say I put in 600k for 8-12% which is only 200 shards! I don’t want a lazy excuse saying that 4* shards should be hard to get because now they’re almost impossible to get! Say I get the 5-7% ‘rewards’ (450 shards, complete crap) every arena for a month, that’s 1800 shards... Unacceptable. The hard spotlight does give 1000 shards but that’s still 2800.. Very rarely we do get 500 shards in raids but that’s rare. So for average players like me that’s not even two crystals a month. I know I know they used to be over given but now the game has grown, some players having 3 r5s, I think it’s time we return the old and good arenas and make 4* shards a little easier because it sure is not a happy feeling seeing you get absolute crap for putting all your time into these ruined arenas.
Tagged:
6
Comments
At least make milestones for arena chips.
Well now that AM costs are gone gold really isn’t a problem but the milestones oh man those were the good old days, actually had something to look forward to..
The first, imo, is that this games player population is VERY small, which makes these 'pools' very small as well. Many many players choose to not even do 1 arena, which then causes the 'pool' to remain small.
Case and point - this recent Crystal Bounty arena I put up around 800k, and that got me rank 255. Which amazingly puts me in the 5 - 7% range. There are 2 other % ranges above that before we get into the top 10 which have smaller ranges, so presumably, there are less than 100 people in each of those ranges that make that rank.
There is 0 (ZERO) incentive for new players to join arenas. Having no milestones at all does not entice players to join. Needing to score hundreds of thousands of points to get a couple of hundred 4* shards does not entice people to play.
MCOC players had a 'Get in the pool!' campaign for a while trying to encourage players to at least complete the milestones in the Featured Champ arenas, as doing so would widen the pool of players who could fall in the range that awards the champ. This games arena is arguably much easier as I think in order to "get in the pool", a player only needs to do 1 arana match. However - at least with MCOC there immediate rewards for "getting in the pool" in the form of a good chunk of milestone rewards.
This game with its current population and low player base should be throwing as many rewards at players as it can to try and pull new players in, as well as keep older players entertained. I really have never understood why the Devs decided to get rid of milestone rewards like they did. That alone is a MASSIVE reason why arenas are so terrible and unfun.
The rare raids and spotlight hard 100% aren't really an option for many of the newer players leaving them with no obvious path to a 4*. If we want to keep new players ( and older casuals) we need a decent feeling of progression towards a 4*. A combination of milestones and rethinking rank rewards for crystal bounty would go a long way.
Tier 1: Play five minutes, get in the pool, get 51-100% rewards. Reward-effort ratio:decent.
Tier 2: Play off and on all day, hit 200+ points, get 15-20% rewards which really aren't much better. Reward-effort ratio: Blargh
Tier 3: Ignore family/friends/pets/work and grind my face off, score 650+ points and hit the 5-7% reward. Reward-effort ratio: Decent.
The above scenario, in my mind, is the reason we need a good hard look at the arena rewards.
Here's the irony of all this, even though I actually agree with this thread in general.
It's a self-fulfilling situation. Fewer players join arena every day, so the brackets get smaller which in turn raises the points threshold to attain those lucrative brackets.
For me, it's a little shocking that over 2/3 of the player base doesn't even run ONE match on arena to qualify for rewards.
There's no proof that any move on Kabam's end would spark interest in arena. If that many aren't playing a single arena round now, do you think milestones are going to raise participation by any significant factor?
My opinion... From Kabam's perspective, minimal participation is what they want anyway. Fewer players getting rewards = more motivation to spend to progress.
Also my opinion... That type of monetization philosophy is the wrong way to be going about it. If players feel like they can't invest reasonable time & money to progress, they won't spend an unreasonable amount of money to make it happen. The majority will just play for free and deal with it or leave.
The solution is to take the AM model and expand it to arenas. Reduce the rank rewards by 50% and push them into milestones. The players at the top will still progress faster, but it fosters a much more enjoyable atmosphere, and probably more profits in the long run.
At least bring back the old 3* Arena for new starters.
Agree. I've played many games and the more generous a dev is (just see how fast Marvel Future Fight grew) the more likely players are to spend. At least 'give' to an acceptable point so players don't get overwhelm by the game mechanics and feel that it's too much Pay 2 Win.
Removing milestones from Crystal Bounty gonna make the more casual players suffer from obtaining their 4* bots hence more will leave in droves or just doesn't bother with the grind anymore (hence they will downgrade themselves in time).
Hope you see the bigger picture here instead of just expecting big spenders to support the game. They will one day eventually stop playing too or get bored.. who else will help maintain your game then when that day comes?
It just becomes tiresome, so people skip it all together.
I’m not bothered by milestones either but I and a lot of others put a crap ton of time and effort just to get depressing results, they need to bring the old rank system back, the one with 650 shards on 3-10%. And how dare they take away the Saturday crystal arena! What a foolish decision.. At least now we can work for the featured 4* which makes up for that 4* crystal we’re missing due to the disgraceful arena changes, can’t wait for bumblebee! Oh wait he’s only in featured crystals! We’re doomed
tip, manage your daily schedules and bots cooldowns, rearrange events to suit priorities and maximize your return, do your best don't compare.
Impressive, and how much energon do you spend to refresh those 4* cooldowns to get that score?
No no is not about how much arena you do, I do all the arena I can do, 4 rounds of 8 series gives me 720k but that just ain’t enough anymore.. But we lucky we’re getting this bee gauntlet, says we can get a full 4* crystal so that ain’t bad.
But I ain’t gonna shut up until kabam fix this 4* shard problem..
And yet, the fact that the second half of your post reads as "rebuild your life around the game" only illustrates our point. The game has to make money, I get it, but there's a pattern forming in which the big spenders and fanatic grinders fight, claw, and scrape for the top-tier (read: worthwhile) rewards, and the rest of the player base play musical chairs and vanish.
Just my two cents from playing and watching forums.
The point I try to drive is not to rebuild your life around a game, but to not expect your return compared to others who invested more(time, effort etc...), no one is cheating the points, rules and cooldowns are there although I too do not 100% agree on the milestone changes.
15 4* is not a lot compared to my alliance standard , im in a top 20 alliance, I never used Energon in arena, 1.4 million is doable and not time consuming if you know arena mechanics.
To return to the original complaint, it's a very valid point that upward mobility in the game has all but stalled, unless of course you break open Mr Piggy. The top alliances trade players between each other, but the gap between that elite group and the other 95% of the players is no longer being bridged by the stingy reward system in arenas that only gives decent rewards (t3 essence, 4* shards, etc) to the top 12%, and if you're not in the top 3-4% it will still take months of arenas to assemble a single spark, of which 3 (t3 crystals anyway) are required for membership into the top ranks.
Do you see the issue now? Before, if you ran as fast as you could and didn't play any game but this, you could grind your way up in the world. Now? You can run at that horizon for months and every now and then you'll crest a hill only to see that your goal has gotten even further away.
TL:DR Bring back milestones!
People can speculate all day long on how effective milestone rewards really are in terms of getting players to participate, but the fact of the matter is, many players want instant rewards for the work they do. Getting those rewards right away incentivizes them to 1. Get in the pool, and 2. continue doing arena fights to try and earn milestone rewards.
For any new player looking at arenas, they see a system that they need to invest a TON of time into to maybe get decent rewards...that they have to wait until the next day to get. And what ends up happening is this new player who never did arenas before, who has now spent 4-5 hours grinding matches, gets rewarded with a 1-2k PBC shards and a handful of 3* shards and thats it. All that work for what will most likely be a 2* and far less 3* shards than you needed to form a crystal.
That player then never does arena again.
If that were actually true then I could score 700k points and get 1k 4* shards over 2 days, every 2 weeks.
I've got a 40% reduction in rewards for my effort.
Outside of the top 7% it's not worth competing or playing for any rank at all.
My battery life is a more valuable prize than the 8%-100% rank rewards.
1-7% actually get a buff for crystal shards over the old system, so you won't hear them complaining and they're the only ones defending the system, because they're the only ones who benefit.
This lie of not intending to reduce rewards for the effort put in has never been addressed or acknowledged.
Good lord 1.2mil? See the old arenas would’ve given you at least 1-2%, giving you 900 shards + 1000 from milestones, see how useless and time wasting these arenas become.. These kabam people have no respect for their players, a game should be evolving not devolving! But these gifting crystals.. they not bad they can give 4* shards, just wish it was like this all year round
I’ve only got like 10 so best I can do is 700k without forcing myself awake, but there’s no way for me to improve because 4*s are really hard to get now so I’ll be stuck at 700k getting 8-12% (removed by moderator). Heck if I’m lucky I’ll get 5-7% but even that just gives 450 which is still an ugly amount for the time I put in.