That is what I suspect as well, but I could be pleasantly surprised. There is enough ambiguity in the phrase “Bonus Summon” that I would have liked clarification.
My idea was that the developers could make a “Hero of the Month” token available as a once-a-month purchase for some small amount effectively making the Hero of the Month akin to a subscription reward. Maybe add it as a bonus to your first gem purchase each month? “Support the game with X dollars each month, receive the super spiffy, limited edition hero!”
Adding the Hero of the Month to the draw pool plus adding a once-a-month purchasable token would mean that:
- F2P players could try and win the hero like normal
- Modest-but-paying players would be guaranteed to not miss out on content due to chance
- High-paying players could play the lotto for duplicate awards to level up faster
I absolutely want to support the game, but I hate the idea of permanently missing out on content despite paying due to bad luck. Usually you can supplement your bad luck with more time, but not when there’s a limited window.
EDIT:
I just saw today’s 1.4 Release Notes post and again it says “A new, limited-time hero can be gained as a Bonus Summon from any Epic or Elemental Summon.”
The phrase “Bonus Summon from any Epic or Elemental Summon” still gives me hope. Especially the “any” part because why would you gain a dark hero from a non-dark elemental summon if it wasn’t a “bonus”? So please consider this thread as a hopeful but kind of concerned request for clarification and not a preemptive freak out.
I’d love to be pleasantly suprised!