Not sure why I was thinking about this today, but I know some folks have debated the usefulness of HA 10. The trainings are long and expensive, and the odds of getting something new are poor. I’d like to see all of these things change. But, as I’m approaching 2 years (in October) of having run HA 10 constantly, I thought about what it has done for my five-star roster as a FTP player. So, I went back to see how many new-to-me five-stars I’ve gotten from each source since I started running HA 10 in October 2020. (Since I often screenshot new heroes, this wasn’t too difficult.) Here are the results:
From TC20: Isarnia
From summon portals: Zulag, Krampus, Heimdall, Russula, Yang Mai, Devana, Francine, Hanitra, Silvaria
From HA10: Richard, Elkanen, G. Kong, Seshat, Kageburado, Rana
From SE: Jean-Francois
I’m very near the published odds on HA10. Just a little under 5% on non-S1 heroes and just a little above 5% on heroes with costumes.
For context, I have been hoarding challenge coins and gems for CF 2, so I have 100+ coins and 8200+ that I anticipate burning most of next week. I also have 24 S4 pulls that I’ve been hoarding, waiting for a decent-looking HotM. I would have used those last month to shore up my purples with Arfanais, but when Kage came out of HA10, that need lessened somewhat. If I fail to land Tahir from CF2, I’ll go after him the next week with these S4 coins. Bottom line is that I could possibly have had 1-2 more HotM and maybe 1-2 more summoned five-stars if I had used all my summon currencies.
New Heroes
On to the math. As should be expected, the majority of the new-to-me five-stars over this period are HotM, the easiest non-S1 heroes for FTP to land. Of these, I only really chased Yang Mai. Silvaria showed up on two pulls; Devana on about four. So, HotM make up 29% (5 of 17) of the new-to-me five-stars I’ve gotten since October 2020. Summoned heroes as a whole make up almost half (8 of 17). HA10 accounts for 35% (6 of 17), higher even than HotM.
To be fair, though, I should probably remove the S1s from the list, as it was just a fluke of the odds that I didn’t have them already. Recalculating based on this gives 36% (5 of 14) HotM, 57% (8 of 14) from summoned heroes overall, and 29% (4 of 14) coming from HA10. That’s roughly one-third of my new non-S1 heroes! Another way of looking at it is that I have 40% more new non-S1 five-star heroes by running HA 10 than I would have without it. (Would have had 10 without it; got 4 from it; 4 / 10 = 40%.) I gotta say that’s worth it.
New Costumes
With costumes, it’s even more worth it. Since October 2020, I’ve gotten 2 five-star costumes from summons - Leo from costume chamber and Francine from Morlovia summons. Over the same period, I’ve gotten three S1 costumes from HA 10 - Isarnia, Thorne, and Magni. (No, I don’t know why they are all blue!) So, 60% (3 of 5) of my new five-star costumes since October 2020 have come from HA 10 vs. 40% (2 of 5) from summons. For context, I previously had costumes for Justice and Domitia from costume chamber summons, so HA 10 is responsible for 38% (3 of 8) of my five-star costumes overall. Again, about a third, and 60% more than I would have had without HA10.
Conclusion
Yes, HA 10 is resource intensive. Yes, the trainings take too long. Yes, the odds are low. But for a FTP player who mainly keeps playing to work on new projects, it has proven to be worth the investment. I use Kong and Seshat all the time, Kage is almost ready (at which point he’ll nestle right into my mono purple squad), and Rana is coming along (even though I don’t have a great plan for her overall, she’ll help on monk trials, I think.) Haven’t gotten started on the Magni costume yet, and the others I maxed mainly for the stat boost, except C. Leo, of course. With the paywalled monsters out there, though, those stat boosts for S1s are critical. FWIW, I recently raided into the top 20 globally with my meager FTP roster.
Finally, I’ll acknowledge that I have been very lucky not to have any duplicates among my non-S1 and costume results from HA10. That would be terrible. Also, as noted, I got all heroes that really fit into my roster, with the possible exception of Rana. I haven’t landed any of the lower-tier non-S1s like Reuben on any of my retrains. I can understand how these factors would make some players sour on HA 10 quickly. But at this point, I’m calling it a net positive for my player experience, and not a small one at that.
Hope you got something out of reading this, even if it was just being thankful that you don’t type as much as I do!