Why Costumes Rock -and- Why Costumes are the best opportunity for FTP and CTP players

Gameplay Help & Tactics
21

I will also echo that costume is amongst the good addition to this game.

Yeah, on the technical perspective it probably takes the same amount of work to rebalance the old S1 heroes as creating the stats and skills for the costume, taking away the artwork. However, as we know, the costume has added very good perks in the usefulness of most of S1 currently, C-Rig for instance is just awesome…

Also agreed that the monetization aspect has to be catered for; but overall, I dare say it provides for both f2p and ptw, there are guaranteed 2 pulls after completing the stages and then 5 keys free in the box ( hopefully that goes on forever)…just like EHT, those can be saved for long to make 10-20 pulls…

Yeah, I’m still interested in making pulls for costumes, twice the portal has been kind to give HotM s, although no 5* costume yet, but the 4s and 3s, rendered significant improvements on their base heroes. So the addition imo is a thumb up for SGG.

In the creativity, only just a few heros has skills below par, while many are awesome, wish to see Obakan costume shown some interesting skills and Marjana should spot additional skill like 50% mana reduction to the target…:+1:t3:

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22

Costumes are good, at least some of them.
But! How often do we see this portal? Once a month? Each month f2p player can do 3-4 summons (2 from quest and 1 or 2 for keys collected from various chests).
Now the question: how many summons you need to do with given odds to get costumes for most of your 4 and 5* heroes?
My estimation gives me several years of regular summons. Not very positive.

If developers won’t give an alternative source of costumes (some building to produce them) it doesn’t look like an f2p or c2p friendly feature.

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23

You are right, in fact it isn’t very F2P/C2P friendly but at least it gives to everyone a 100% chance to not only get TC heroes Kanji Smile

24

You’re right. I don’t spend because I think SGG is nasty.

The costumes gave me a really upgrade in my gameplay, I have got lianna, vivica and azlar. It changed my power and made me play a bit more.

I wonder when will they realise those moves that makes us happy are better than those 1% chance of wasting your money on frustration.

If at least the chests (mainly titan, elemental and war) reward us properly I’d spend but for now using keys in the portal sounds good. Hope they don’t nerf it like they did to titanium shield to make the game even more disgusting in some aspects.

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25

If think one thing that gets lost on why F2P players like the costume chamber so much is perspective.

Most of us F2P players have a situation where the bulk of our 5’s were S1. We all know due to power creep S1 heroes were almost becoming a 2nd class 5*. Now I have 3-4 chances per month, every month, to either make my heroes better or get a new hero and their costume.

If you look at how often F2P can get EHTs or save up for 10 pulls with gems, which takes over a month unless you REALLY grind (but that pace is not sustainable), this is a great steady source of opportunity.

No, F2P won’t get near the pulls P2P do, but we shouldn’t. It’s a choice we made. From a P2P perspective it would seem to be junk because only 3-4 summons is junk, but for a F2P granting them 3-4 pulls on a portal with legendary heroes monthly is awesome!

In general terms you don’t go F2P to be number 1 (unless you’re crazy, but I don’t judge …). As generally more casual players (not to be confused with less passionate) we just want to be able to relatively compete when raiding or in wars, which this really helps facilitate. We don’t want, or reasonably expect, a 50 hero 5* bench. It generally isn’t the goal of the game for us.

This is why ToL wasn’t the abomination others feel it was to me. I got to use heroes I rarely did previously and had fun doing it. I also got 2 shots at former HotM, which are even more rare to get an opportunity at then basic legendary portals.

There is a large demographic of players, although not on the boards it seems, that loves the game, is passionate about the game, but doesn’t have a goal of being #1. They just want to be competitive with where they’re at and enjoy the time they spend playing the game. In that perspective costume chamber is really cool.

Cheers and good luck costume summoning this month to all! :+1:

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26

This isn’t a problem with the Costumes or Costume event, but it is the end result of players that ARE willing to spend, for any event or hero or costume or whatever. If you (we) are F2P or C2P, the reality is that you (we) always will feel “more obsolete”, simply with the passage of time and opportunity.

I prefer to focus on the fact that, once a costume is secured, then as many of those heroes that I pull from my TC20’s that I want to level up, it’s up to me, and all of them will be ‘more competitive’ and ‘more flexible’ than they ever were before, and closer to the standards of S2, S3, HOTM, and Seasonal Event summoned heroes. As a F2P C2P player, I’m able to take down a few tougher targets in Wars, or compete a little better in Tournaments and PvP as a result. :slight_smile: smiling :slight_smile:

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27

I’m not saying that offering costumes to boost S1 hero stats is the equivalent of “balancing” them. Not even close. Look, I don’t care what anybody says, E&P is patently, blatantly, and shamelessly P2W. Point blank, end of discussion, drop the mic, etc. Anyone who tries to argue otherwise is a liar.

All I was saying was that Costume Chamber is slightly less P2W than your typical Seasonal / Event / ToL summon portals. Zero Kool-Aid here. Game is not at all balanced to give FTP equal chances as P2W. It was never meant to be. Sad, but 100% true. If you’re looking for a game that is “fair” - you have come to the wrong place.

28

Hey Trash- great post. Enjoyed reading it and thought you summed up costumes quite well and brought some “excitement” too it. Not everything in this game is about C2p and F2p being able to compete at the highest level so dont let that crowd discourage you from expressing your views on topics like you did this one!

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29

Really appreciate this thread. I am basically a non-paying player, especially now, though I have bought cheap VIP offers and gem sharing offers, and may do so again.

I appreciate that the costume chamber gives me more things to level up, as I was at one point running out of heroes to work on, but now have more new costumes, including for a couple of my first heroes, and I’m happy to see them grow again.

For those saying it’s not friendly to players like me, I disagree. I get a couple free shots at new heroes/costumes, and it makes heroes I have better.

I honestly think this was a better choice than trying to balance - look how much moaning about recent balancing was going on. In general, people don’t complain about getting some new capability or item, even if it’s not the greatest.

Also you missed one reason why costumes rock:

image

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30

:metal:

:kiss:army4lyfe

Unless you’re a fan of The Crow … let the debate begin!

31

Thx Shadey, will do!

32

You are so right, Zteev!!!
How could I start a thread on how Costume’s ROCK, and miss the chance to post a Tibs pic! Thanks for fixing that!
Have you noticed Kiril’s new costume too? We’re getting the band back together! lol

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34
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35

I guess you’ve got a different definition of f2p / c2p friendly … but okay

I will try to explain to you the way I see this:

First of all, as some of you may know, I have 2 accounts which I play.
My main account will hit lvl 61 tomorrow and is vc2p (VIP, PoV, small deals like valentines or something like that …)
My alt account is lvl 52 and is completely f2p (zero spendings).
So I guess I can speak as a c2p guy and as a f2p guy at the same time.

For me, in either way, it is about fun while playing. If it was no fun to play I would have stopped already.
Fun means to me:

  • I can do like every PVE stuff in the game
  • I can compete in PVP Raids to stay in diamond league
  • I can help my alliance in killing titans and be able to reach A/B rank most of the time (11* - 13* on main, 8* - 10* on alt)
  • I can help my alliance in wars and be able to get round about 4 kills in almost every war
  • I want a variety of cool, strong, helpful heroes in every star section

At my level and the time, effort, ressources, money etc. I already put into the game I do no longer care about S1 heroes at all. With around 400/200 pulls from TC20 I already got several copies of each S1 3* and 4* hero. Of course I got some 5* heroes out of my TC20 summons which still can help me. But at some point, good ol* Richard, Thorne, Azlar, Quintus, Obakan, Leonidas are just not enough to make me happy.

I mean come on … It is no fun to play with Azlar and Khagan at all. They suck. And it is not much fun to pair them with Gormek and Kelile in a red stack … Those heroes are old and crap which is logical because they are S1 heroes. They got introduced and were cool long before I started to play this game.

So when the costumes were introduced I really hoped for a chance to make those heroes great (or some kind of great) again. And yes, many costumes are really helpful and cool because they really improve the heroes and give a new feeling of gameplay.

BUT

What if you do not get those customes? Then they are worthless or even worse, they weaken you in a brutal way because you must fight against them.

Since the customes were put into the game (was it January?) I made several pulls on both accounts (keys and gems) and I managed to get 1 (one) 5* costume (Quintus), which of course was with my main where I do not need it at all.
I even do not have many 4* costumes (Rigard, Tibs, Boril , SS on main / LJ, SS, BT, Sonya on alt)

So yeah I was not very lucky with my combined around 100 pulls for costumes. But this is just the result I was expecting with the current system. And I really don’t see where this system is f2p/c2p friendly at all?

Yes this game is all about RNG in every of its aspects but that is no excuse at all.
If your definition of f2p friendly is “have some “free” pulls so you maybe get a hero/custome which helps you” then ok… this game is very kind to all those f2p c2p players. but this is not my definition. And I only talk about the customes (which should have been helping those players primary).

So to round this up: I don’t like the current system at all. It is not f2p friendly to throw out 2 pulls per event (which you have to earn first) so that you get a minimal chance for a costume which improves your roster. Neither it is f2p friendly to get a chance to trade in your S1 5* to get a 5% chance for a hero which could eventually help you (imagine you get Toth-Amun, Bosswolf or Guardian Owl with your 5% chance lol) but this is another topic.

In the end it is all about the rewards of this game. For me (as f2p or as c2p) it is NO reward to get keys. It is NO reward to only get a chance for 5* costumes or even 4* costumes. ZERO reward.

Here is my idea of how it could have been:
If it was f2p friendly you would get a costume in addition as a reward.

Stage 1: Keys
Stage 2: 3* Costume
Stage 3: Keys
Stage 4: 3* Costume
Stage 5: Keys
Stage 6: 4* Costume
Stage 7: Keys
Stage 8: 4* Costume
Stage 9: Keys
Stage 10: 5* Costume

With that every player would be able to upgrade their dusty S1 heroes and costumes would be a major help for f2p / c2p players to improve their rosters (which mainly contain S1 heroes).

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36

How so? ToL gives 2 extra summons a month just like costume chamber. Challenge event gives almost 2 summons each month as well plus rare mats and 160 emblems. AR sea dragon farming might have variable outcome but I’m guessing easily a summon or two from there as well in addition to AR stockpiles. Seasonal events probably has it worst with just 8 EHTs over 1 year.

I know this game is very P2W like any other mobile game, I’m already past that. I’m not even interested in picking up a fight for F2P fairness because I believe it’s 99% going nowhere.
But notion was that costumes were created to help and support F2P/C2P just seems so misguided. IMO it was just a successful marketing campaign. Problem was there was increasing negativity around classic heroes and costumes helped breath some novelty and excitement into those heroes. If I had a business, I wouldn’t develop new things for free…so of course they stuck a portal in front of it to make their money back. It was a goodwill gesture that they gave 2 extra summons each month.

They made good heroes (viz Rigard, Tiburtus, Lianna, Sartana, Magni, Richard etc) but never really bothered to rebalancing heroes that were stuck on end spectrum (like Horghall, Skittleskull, Quintus). And that’s the only point I wanted to stress upon was that rebalancing and costumes are not the same.

37

How much world energy and time you need to spend during AR to farm 200 coins? I assume that a f2p player doesn’t have thousands of loot tickets to speed up farming considerably.

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38

Beat me to it @SuuriKoira!

As a F2P who has best Atlantis on normal and hard it has been months since I did an Atlantis summon using coins. Once all the levels are beat it is an extremely unreliable and long process to Atlantis summon via coins.

No doubt this will be true of S3, so if you don’t get the strong heroes in those summons when you’re beating levels they may as well be in a tough portal like the ToL IMO. My strongest heroes from Atlantis were Ameonna and Danzaburo. I play with them and they’re fun, but still :neutral_face:

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39

I don’t know…at least not yet.

Roughly I get at least 10-15 flasks each month from challenge events and drops which I save for AR. I am above level 56, so thats roughly 450-675 WE at least. I’m nearly F2P because I stopped buying VIP, so I don’t have stockpile of tickets either and not interested in paying for those either. Mostly auto farm lower levels and I think I usually am able to scrounge enough coins for at least one summon each month. Not gonna lie, this is a LOT of work and may not even classify as free depending on how you value your time. In contrast costume and ToL takes a lot less time and have different pros/cons.

This thread has better quality data shared and might be a good starting point - How rare exactly is the Atlantis Rises seadragon? (10% chance)
I’ll try to measure how much WE I expended and how many coins I collect this time and share on that thread.

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40

I am of mixed feelings towards the costume portal. Yes, they are a great enhancement to the S1 heroes to add a sense of “balance”. Yes, they are hidden behind a paywall and the odds of getting a 5* costume are no better than a 5* from any of the other portals in the game.

When I first saw the costume portal I thought “great, months and months before I pull a 5*, this won’t be of any great help”. And no I haven’t pulled a 5* costume. But I have managed to pull a few 4* costumes and they are very helpful. Would I prefer a 5* costume? Absolutely. But C.Mel, C.Tibs, C.Rigard, C.BT, do help me by beefing up 4* heroes that I already use regularly. And I did make one 10-pull with saved up gems that also landed me Malosi.

So … mixed feelings.

41

Okay.

#1 Costume chamber gives you hero and costume. Hero + costume is better than hero without costume, whether you decide to use the costumed version or not.

#2 ToL has about a 98.7% chance to only give you what you can already get from TC20 for free.

#3 Only takes 5 keys to do a costume summons. Keys can drop in random wanted chests. That means that 1 randomly collected costume key is 20% of a summon… vs. 10 ToL coins only being 10% of a summon. And AFAIK, ToL coins do not drop in chests.

#4 You can potentially pull the bonus current HotM from costume summons. You cannot from ToL.

Atlantis coins no longer drop in random loot, and sea dragons only appear during AR.

EDIT!!! Oopsie LOL sorry, meant to say, there are no “sea dragons” in S3, Valhalla coins can only be gained from chests or progressing through S3.

Other events - well they’re all different, so I suppose you could argue that some of them might be better than CC. But CC happens every month. And the other events / seasonal summons still have a roughly 70% chance to only give you S1 heroes. At least CC also gives you a costume for that hero.

Nah, it’s not rebalancing. S1 heroes are still (and probably always will be) underpowered compared to the newer heroes. But Costume Chamber at least allows me to boost the base stats of my mostly vanilla roster without spending hundreds of dollars on the “hero lottery” from other portals.

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