Crystals, Feature Chips, and the Waiting Game - An Idea

kranders

So here we are at the end of the cycle again and there is no reason to open crystals and waste chips until the next feature. So no ore, no gold, and nothing to open. I understand the original thought process behind feature chips and limiting the ability to hoard them but people basically hoard crystals until the next feature so it's very similar.

I dare to say even if chips were made generic the cost of the features makes duping beyond once or twice a waste regardless. You could also just cap the feature at 4 or 5 instead of 21, which is just absurd anyway. I just don't see that much of a difference when people stop opening crystals after the first few days of the cycle versus having generic type chips or something else.

Lapras

I agree with this post. Featured chips should be generic. Another argument for making chips generic is how you earn them through away missions.

I have never done an away missions with featured chips because I always end up with unspent featured chips at the end of the month and they get converted to gold. There is a small possibility that the chips I could earn through away missions would give me enough to purchase 1 more 4* or 3*, but I have never ended the month that close where they would make a difference. Since the cost to run these away missions is so expensive you just end up loosing gold in the end which is counter productive. Making the chips generic would make running the featured chip away missions worthwhile.

Red_Eyes

Making the chips generic may also discourage people from playing and staying attached to game, certainly not what Kabam wants.

KillMasterC

You can still open any crystal that doesn't include non-shark bots.

Faithz17

This makes so much sense... what’s the point of having different bot chips anyway??? Just have one pile of features bot chips and we can continuously build and pile it up and decide when we want to use it. Don’t need to think like oh should I try for next dupe or don’t bother, but just keep playing for more chips. It would encourage people to buy more as well, since bot chips can be used for next month’s bot as well and not just one month.

Darm0k

KillMasterC wrote: »

You can still open any crystal that doesn't include non-shark bots.

Is that just a convoluted way of saying to open Sharkticon crystals?

I also agree that chips are better off generic. And to cap the featured bot purchase at a lower number. As it is, does anyone actually get close to duping the bot 20 times?

Nightgaunt

While I can kind of understand Kabam not wanting people to be able to just save up chips and pick up a 4* bot without putting the effort in that month, I think the 'bot economy' has changed since 5* bots were introduced and the shards-for-dupes mechanic made 4* bots far more accessible. Still, someone who has grafted for the 4* bot every month may find themselves a little bummed out to be going up against a duped 4* featured bot in arenas or raids during the first couple of days, just because that other person would rather put low effort in every month and save up. I could be wrong, but I wouldn't necessarily blame them if they did.

As well as that, at the moment I find that if there's a featured bot that doesn't interest me, I'm pretty much done for the month. I wasn't around much during dinobot month, and was virtually non-existent during the kickback and cheetor months. That's 3 months right there where they don't have me playing, and potentially spending.

The other thing is that the process of saving bot crystals to get a head start in the next month can badly hinder normal game progression at times. I could use some more class ore, and some of my 3* bots are close to sig100 which is when I forge them and cash in for those 4* shards and forge xp, but I'll have to sit on them for another week before I can open them (which I still may not do, since Tantrum doesn't particularly interest me).

Lastly, and it's a stupid little non-point really, but I do like seeing the featured chip design each month. It's not a deal breaker, but it's a little something I enjoy when the new featured bot comes in.

So, here's what I'd personally propose:

At the end of each month, featured bot chips are converted to reserve bot chips. Featured bot chips can then be bought in the 'Featured' section of the store at a rate of 2 reserve to 1 featured. They could possibly be sold in increments of 1000 or perhaps 10000 featured chips, or simply do it chip by chip.

This way, people can save towards future bots if they choose and players who aren't interested in that month's bot still have an incentive to play during their 'off' months, while still emphasising the value of putting the time in on a featured bot month that appeals to the player.

KillMasterC

Darm0k wrote: »

KillMasterC wrote: »

You can still open any crystal that doesn't include non-shark bots.

Is that just a convoluted way of saying to open Sharkticon crystals?

I also agree that chips are better off generic. And to cap the featured bot purchase at a lower number. As it is, does anyone actually get close to duping the bot 20 times?

Actually there are other crystals like mod, gold, arena, rank up, alliance and 4hour. They together offer a stable flow of gold and ore which the OP think is lacking.

Getting generic is cool. Kabam still needs to bring something more to fill in the better casual half of a month where the game is stale. What motivation do we have if the current featured is duped (thanks to monthly objective anyway) even before the raid week? I grind story 5 times a day that's it.

Darm0k

KillMasterC wrote: »

Actually there are other crystals like mod, gold, arena, rank up, alliance and 4hour. They together offer a stable flow of gold and ore which the OP think is lacking.

Oh yeah, that’s true. Though, I did like it as a fancy way of saying open up a shark....

that1guy

I actually really like @Nightgaunt idea as it seems like a fair deal for Kabam to push an extra incentive to play during each feature bot cycle outside the monthly objectives, which I might add has been awesome.

kranders

That’s really not much different than my suggestion. This Tantrum delay is a perfect example. If you make chips generic then it doesn’t delay progression. Instead limit the number of dupes a person can purchase and a person can’t hoard forever.