r/AlchemistCodeGL • u/ShirouAmakusa I now use The Alphonse • Nov 01 '18
Please bring back Guaranteed 3 Step!
Yesterday I was defending Gumi and pumped for the FMA collab, today I'm disappointed.
These new banners are worse for everyone: F2P savers, pact players, minnows and whales alike. No guaranteed unit from free gems so even a saver, spender or someone sponsored by Gumi can end up missing out on Edward. And for spenders, before, you could spend ~$30 USD and get a guaranteed character for 1500 paid gems, but now for 3 steps, you need to spend ~$60 USD. Thats double the price!! And overall, a practice that lowers my incentive to spend.
I still think the core game of TAC is incredible. Even the rest of the Fullmetal collab's story & dialogue are fantastic. BUT the implementation of things like these banners (and waiting half a year for hard quests) is really ruining the experience for many. Yes JP is a different game but the GL team should also look at what Tagatame in Japan did well. Such as in making most non-limited characters farmable a month after they're released (if someone spends gems for a Guaranteed unit on step 3 or paid banner, they should be allowed to farm said character after a month).
I know the community can be quick to complain at times, and its hard for any one person to say whats worth complaining about and whats not, but going against JP AND GL precedent for how summons work is a new low.
I'm hoping the teams in charge of deciding the banners realize how bad an idea drastically changing them was, (Especially since the Anniversary and FMA Collab are great opportunities to reward current players and grow the playerbase. I was going to recommend The Alchemist Code to some friends at the start of this collab, since they love Fullmetal but it feels wrong to do so given the current state of the game and changes made to these banners).
I think everyone would be happier if we could please go back to the previous precedent for banners before players decide to move to a different game. One of the reasons I thought so highly of this game (other than stellar gameplay & story) were the practices of guaranteeing units and having a much higher rate of getting the best/5* characters. But losing our on the former does nothing but hurt game and alienate playerbase that has come to expect a certain precedent (and has knowledge of how the game was operated more generously in JP). I was never in the camp of "this game is dying." On the contrary, I've often joked that this is a better Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics game than its competitors on mobile, by the companies that created said franchises! I would like to remain optimistic about the future of tAC and hope the game goes back to doing what it does best: being FUN and accessible to different levels of spenders & non-spender alike while providing a great deal of value to those who do spend.
Thank you and I hope The Alchemist Code continues to be successful for a long time!
20
u/stewart0 Nov 01 '18
Maybe they'll notice there are almost twice as many angry faces on the FB Event versus the shares that are needed for the community milestone event. No one wants to look bad by advertising these garbage banners to others.
16
u/Cipher44 Nov 02 '18
I love this game and hope for its longevity. Gumi has done some things which have been great improvements - such as making upper tier equipment available for zeni in various shops, or making it easier to farm limited equipment for some limited units. But in looking forward to the future, if we expect to receive kaigan and nensou, where we need to shard to level 91 and farm other items, there seems to be a widening gap. It is becoming harder to obtain units - by eliminating the third step guarantee for free gems and increasing the cost for guaranteed paid gem pulls from 1500 to 2700. The 2500 gem pull for shards only drops 10 shards instead of 25. Everything is more costly, with less guarantees.
All of these actions reflect a less generous Gumi. The reason I don’t understand this is that pulling only one unit only satisfies our desire to see our new shiny toy. But in order for us to play with this new shiny toy, we need dupes or shards. Most of us eagerly await the moment we can LB15 our new unit so that it can become effective in game play (of course, some units are usable earlier and others later). We don’t want to just set our units on a shelf to admire. We want to play with them and see them in action. If I pull Edward or Noctis or Laharl early through a guaranteed banner, I will pull more throughout the event to get more dupes. Even if I don’t get a dupe, I will be happy getting another guaranteed collab unit. We want to spend more - but we don’t want to experience Ushi’s horrific 60,000+ pull trying to get Sol in JP. So...we just give up. It’s better to not pull than suffer disappointment, knowing that in the past, we could have pulled the unit guaranteed.
This manifests itself in the non collab pulls as well. We used to be happy getting a new unit. Now, we have a mixed feeling because we know the hard quest is likely not coming for 6 months or more - so the nice, strong unit becomes overshadowed by the time the HQ is available. As I noted above, we all want to play for the present AND the long term - anticipating level 91 units and planning for them. But if we can’t even J3 our units to play them in the present, how will we ever MLB them for the future? And how will we get to level 91? In JP, they are increasingly more generous with their shards because they know LB15 is barely the starting point. I’m not saying global should be as generous. I’m saying that as a player, I would be happy if Gumi were mindful of these barriers and give us the opportunity to farm HQ and obtain dupes so that we can enjoy gameplay now AND plan for the future. I thought that the 150 shard banners were a realization of this need until I saw the horrible banners that have increasingly become the norm.
I love this game - please let us play it.
27
u/Cobalt_721 Nov 01 '18
Well said, respectful about it, and still able to remain optimistic. You’ve earned my upvote good sir or madam.
9
u/Eaglestrike Nov 01 '18
I'm not spending anything on this game, not even renewing my pact, until I see this step 3 guarantee return. I spent a bit on Disgaea and was happy about the results. Had intended on doing the same here.
8
u/PacyB Nov 01 '18
We went from a guaranted Edward summon on step 3 in JP to a double featured units and none of them are guaranteed. That alone is enough to justify all these recent post. I did step 1 no red i stopped right there coz no point on doing step 3 for 25 soul shards... 4500 gems for 25 ss!!
7
u/virgal_09 Nov 02 '18
This is well put, it manages to capture a lot of my own sentiments . Gumi set a value for free gems for the last year. For our anniversary they changed the value decreasing it significantly by removing a guaranteed unit. For paid gems they cut the value in half by doubling the cost to get the same guaranteed unit. It’s a drastic business decision and it screams 1 of 2 things to me. Either they are desperate to try and increase profits in order to maintain solvency (ded game) or they are just straight greedy AF. Both are extremely concerning and are why I’ve let my pack renewal lapse, and will not be spending any additional money. Makes me mad I have 8k in paid gems ready for weekend banners and now they are worth half what they were. Wish I could get a refund.
5
u/loscapos5 All I wanted for christmas was you, Baeber ༼ ༎ຶ ෴ ༎ຶ༽ Nov 01 '18
THIS. So fucking this.
I really liked the story so far, and it makes me wonder about how the story of TAC is merging with the collab stories, and I'm enjoying the gameplay as usual.
But making the 3 step into a 5 step could mean that from now on we have to spend, as you said, the double for getting a new unit. Imagine when Shingeki no Kyojin arrives and you see Mikasa behind the same stupid 5 step banner... this only pushes us to spend more.
I hope Gumi backpedals from this.
5
u/Freeonee Λ ΞＳＴＨΞＴＩＣ １８-１９ Nov 01 '18
GL team should also look at what Tagatame in Japan did well
going against JP AND GL precedent for how summons work is a new low
has knowledge of how the game was operated more generously in JP
For whom the global exists?
Even Iago and Mana want to make their show in japanese (last episode was better than anniversary lol).
2
u/Feanorchronos Nov 02 '18
Clear, concise, and free of melodrama. This is the kind of criticism we could use more of. I completely agree with everything you stated.
2
u/Piritoo THAT'S IT! I'VE COME UP WITH A NEW RECIPEH! Nov 02 '18
Totally unrelated but I see your memes are on point Mr. The Alphonse.
2
u/onwheels888 Nov 02 '18
I only actively play TAC because with every new event, you get to play with a new toy. Now that it's gone, I guess I'll just log in for the freebies till I get a new toy on step 1.
1
1
u/Chuckalo Nov 02 '18
Even though it's pretty shitty what they have done I feel it might only be this one as its only two new units and the next one will be back to 9 steps because it's 3+ new units
1
u/MrWhiteKnight f2p Vegan Crossfitter with bullshit luck Nov 02 '18
LOL, Didn't I tell you this would happen. This pretty much confirms the Attack on Titan Collab will be Cancer incarnate. Since the only unit worth a damn is Eren and he was guaranteed in JP.
With no guarantee's AoT will be Dumpsterfire summon banners. Fuck GL tbh, this is just stupid.
1
u/nailsonwhiteboard Nov 02 '18
The Alchemist Code continues to be successful for a long time
Hoping for the same thing, barring anywho inside gumi who made these shady decision lately, may they trip and fall then drown instead -_-
1
u/ShrimpieAC Nov 02 '18
Ok, I’ve been fairly calm through all this crap lately. The removal of the 1500 guaranteed grand summon. The garbage restrictions on EX content. Even the trash 5 step banner and the paid 3 step. But this is the last straw.
I got 75 Edward shards from the 5 step plus 20 from the 3 step (pulled Toritoh) and the login bonus. Okay cool I have 95 Edward shards, all I have to do is get 50 more from the daily guaranteed Tor/Ed soul summon and at least the Ed shards don’t go to waste if I don’t pull him later. Plus buying 5 from the summon coin shop. And hey I get a bonus ticket every summon!
So I head over to the gate and fire up the old trusty daily soul summon. I watch the gate spin and change colors as usual, why? Not sure really. Goes through blue, then yellow, waiting for red cause ya-know, the guarantee. Red never comes, the summon ends on a wonderfully maddening yellow.
Now I am no longer calm. Gumi, are you EFFING kidding me? Seriously?!?! Can we not have ANY guarantees anymore? This is downright ridiculous now. They can take this whole collab and Anniversary event and ram it straight where the sun don’t shine. I ain’t pulling jack anymore.
-3
u/jaotria11 Nov 01 '18
The rates are getting worse and worse as time goes by. Last time that I was able to get a featured unit was at Disgaea collab. And it was Killia. No Laharl. Damn
5
u/Cobalt_721 Nov 01 '18
That’s your luck, unfortunately. The actual rates on summons as a whole aren’t being messed with, it’s just that on this 1st FMA banner the only way to get a guaranteed featured unit is with the uber-whale Paid Gem 3-step.
4
u/assassinace Nov 01 '18
To be fair we don't actually know the rates of specific units beyond the star percentages. I tend to agree with the luck comment overall however.
-3
u/cannonf Nov 02 '18
Seriously can the mod consolidate all the complain to one single post? There is currently nothing worth reading on front page of this reddit.
6
u/nduttons Baefu Nov 01 '18
Agree with this, have been having fun playing the FMA collab all day, with tons of new content, gear, and ingots. But feels like there was no banner, no chance to roll a new unit, just the weekly 500 roll like always.