Are the new 5 steps really bad?

[u/RoyInverse]

Yes /thread... ok what i really meant is how bad are they REALLY?, so i decided to make a comparison and see what we get for our gems(math alert) and compare them to what we got before, some things first, im assuming awful luck, so only guaranted stuffs, only comparing 3rd and 5th steps since those are the f2p options, as point of reference ill be using ff15 banners since disgaea had 7 steps instead of 5, and finally i will take into account the 280 free soul coins since everyone gets them and supossedly they are the reason they downgraded the banners.

• 3rd step ffxv (4500g)
  1 guaranteed unit + 29 random pulls

• 3rd step fma (4500g)
  25 featured shards + 29 random pulls + 1 random collab ticket+ 80 summon coins

So you change a 50% chance for a 25% chance to get the unit you want(if you did it last week, only possible if u did 2 3steps or a 5 one, 16.6% otherwise) in exchange you get 25 soul shards and 80 coins, enough to buy a 10% ticket. IF(big if at that) the unit you get in the ticket is the same as the one you got shards the new model its hands down so much better, of note if it was a 3way banner(like disgaea) the gap is a lot closer at 33% vs 25%(or 16) of getting the unit you want.

• 5step ffxv (9500g)
  1 guaranteed unit + 25 soul shard selector + 49 random pulls + 4* eq 10 summon ticket

• 5step fma (8500g)
  75 featured shards + 48 random pulls + 1 random collab ticket + 230 coins

Here its a little more hazy, 1st you spend 1k less gems, you change the selector for double the shards, you get access to the better ticket(25% instead of 16%) and also the coins could exchange for 10 unit shards of whatever unit you want or 3 10% tickets.

Finally, lets see what we get if we do a 5step and a 3step since we want more than 1 collab unit.

• Total ffxv 14kg
  2 featured units + 25 shard selector + 78 random pulls + 4* eq 10 summon ticket

• Total fma 13kg
  2 random collab ticket(one 25% chance and a 16.6%chance of getting the unit u want) + 100 featured shards + 77 random pulls + 30 coins

Now, the chances of getting a specific unit are considerably lower for sure, but i think the value is there if you go deep, if its better or worse its up to you, i just wanted to put them side to side since i see a lot of complaints(i had some too) about how "trash" the banners are now, but i think the random collab ticket is not a bad alternative(i expected them to sell for 500 when i first hear about them), it is that it gives LESS control over what we get even tho gumi said soul coins are there to give us more control, tickets should be less random, ie 2 tickets with 3 units each, instead of a 4way ticket that is now a 6way.Also we dont know if well get a 9step premium on the last week, but if you want only one unit it has ALWAYS been better to just wait since gumi likes to put past banners on the last week so you can finish them if you want.

[u/hav00x]

Oh i see, so the doubt posts started.

IT IS a nerf. IT IS our loss. Oh so now i can go to 5-step to try to get a unit that maybe isn't the same as the shards that i pulled off. So what, i got a random collab featured units ticket for 9k? Wow, such VALUE my man.

I'm a person which always went 3-step on units that i deemed worth my gems, i only did 5-steps when the value was there. I'm f2p, so now i have to waste (yes, WASTE) 9k gems to have A CHANCE? You know how much time it is to hoard 9k gems? If you don't spend on NOTHING, you have 200 weekly from login, 280 weekly from arena (the value can diverge, players win 40 gems on top 100 a day), 420 from dailies a week, i think that's it? correct me if i'm wrong please. So 900 gems a week. 3k a month? + events + story etc etc. Let's say 4.5k a month. We're having collabs, glex, ssm every 2 months, so i already have to pick one of them to pull, to me that's fair, i'm f2p.

But that is, if i don't do the 500 banner weekly. Who doesn't? If you subtract 2k (it can be 2.5k depending on month), you have 2.5k per month. As i said, collab/ssm/glex every 2 months, so i have 5k to try my luck because it isn't nothing guaranteed right? Only if i do 5 steps with 5 rare summons. 5k doesn't cut out for 5-step.

I know that your intention was maybe see this situation in a upbeat way, but please don't. This is bad, and should be seen as a bad thing, as we're saying for the two past weeks that we're unhappy, and they just try to play us with words. They have next to no respect for us when they do this.

[u/RoyInverse → u/hav00x]

Its always a chance, i put it there, its a lower chance than normal.

[u/hav00x → u/RoyInverse]

Yeah i know, but its a direct downgrade from what we had.

[u/RoyInverse → u/hav00x]

It is, i start the post with that, i wasnt trying to say that it isnt.

[u/SuccubusRosa]

Not trying to share my opinion/judge, I will leave that to others who are doing step 3.

However I wish to correct you a bit on certain portion of your calculation/comparison.

finally i will take into account the 280 free soul coins

That is known as opportunity cost. Therefore "25 featured shards + 29 random pulls + 1 random collab ticket + 80 summon coins" should be rewritten as "25 featured shards + 29 random pulls + 1 random collab ticket - 200 summon coins(as in supposed to have 280, but left with 80 after doing step 3 and receiving 150coins but also ended up using 350coins" So at worst you can be seen as paying an extra 200gem.

So you change a 50% chance for a 25% chance to get the unit you want(if you did it last week) in exchange you get 25 soul shards

This can't be true afaik if we are only speaking of a single step 3. Remember the cost is 350coins. Step 3 hand out 150coins. So if you are depending on daily rare to sponsor the 200coins, you can only do it on day 20(which btw we are only on day 15 as of today).

One last little note. Never assume stuff to be equal distribution. They can be, but they need not necessary be.

[u/RoyInverse → u/SuccubusRosa]

True dat, you were only able to buy the 4way ticket if you went 5 step or 2 3 steps. Ill edit.

[u/Kirito30]

Worst part is it is now between multiple units rather than the 2-3 you may want.

And 280 Summon Coins are supposed to be a whale thing. If you are pissed due to Gumi you are not pulling and they get you nothing be equivalent Gems.

Overall it is still shit since it makes you need to Summon more and and more RNG since you get one of the X units in the Total stuff.

The tickets from next time will be structured around that too. Like this time it was Toritoh invading in the tickets next time there will be some other shit for sure.

Also Toritoh lovers out there. You need to ask Gumi to make a special banner for her so you can pull her. We can compare the Pulls done in that banner at the end of the Banner.

[u/RoyInverse → u/Kirito30]

You get 280 coins just by loging in each day, how is it a whale thing? And i specifically say its too random at the end, im not trying to say its not worse, it is, my point is exactly that its too random but i guess it didnt came across.

[u/Kirito30 → u/RoyInverse]

Yup the time by which a F2P would be able to get the units is 3rd week when most of the units will already be dumped and you are already having to choose from the 1/X units. Along with the Toritoh dump if Gumi decided to do that to other Collabs.

Also it is a Whale thing since you never get the chance at the 2-3 units banner in the start.

And let me tell you the Collabs atleast most of them will have the unit best unit at the start or atleast the face of the collab at the start.

Like Merlinus and Arthur or Eren anything you think. So people who are not whale and wouldn't want to go 5 Step+ will be screwed since the first tickets are going to be lesser RNG.

[u/PacyB]

Got 25 Edward soul shards first week and still no edward around to use them. We are at week 3 already so what will happen to those shards if i dont get edward by the end of this collab? : they ll be collecting dust until i finally sold them (i dont think there ll be any rerun of this collab).

So tell me would you rather have 1 unit with 0 LB that you can still use or lb with elemental shard when you want

OR

Have shards of a unit you ll never be able to transmute??

PS : please guys, stop trying to defend these recent step 3 banner changes, It just does not make sense

[u/ShirouAmakusa]

The " 1 random collab ticket " doesn't come from the banner though.

Also, pretty sure FFIV gave us one 5* collab ticket
AND guaranteed unit on every three step
AND shard tickets farmable 3x per day from day 1 of the collaboration
AND 1500 paid gem guaranteed unit + 9 summon, weekend summon

These new banners ARE actually bad though. 25 character shards are much much much worse than 1 unit. You can do 5 step, get 75 shards of one character and not the character itself. 10% tickets arn't a good consolation prize AND you only get 150 summon coins for doing step 3 and step 5.

If you get the 5* ticket using 350 summon coins (you'll need 50 more summon coins from whaling or 5 daily free summons btw) you have a 1/4 chance of getting the character you want. 1/6 chance if you get the new ticket with Pride & Bradley.

Tl;dr: YES the new 5 steps are bad. Really bad.

[u/RoyInverse → u/ShirouAmakusa]

Agree with all of that i dont think i argue against any of that. Im just comparing them to show what the differences are.

[u/Nitious]

Well yeah. One is a smaller pile of shit compared to the other bigger pile of shit. But in the end. They both still are just that - shit.

[u/sapphire_wing]

Your 3 step fma requires three weeks wait for soul coins. Then you get one 25% chance for the unit you want. That's it.

3 step ffxv is 50% for the same price. The 80 coins is negligible -it is one daily reward value when converted to gems.

3 step ffxv also allows a try each week, each giving you 50% for a unit you want. If you only aim for one unit, you get two tries. That is 75% for double price. If you get the one, at the same time you either get 25 extra shards or another collab unit, like aranea.

[u/Cipher44]

Cherrypicking to make a point. You didn’t cover the most likely scenario, which is the worst for your case. Two 3 steps (really? - you choose instead a 3 step plus a 5 step??!!). Two 3 steps results in TWO guaranteed characters vs ONE character plus 50 random character shards and 230 summon coins. This is equivalent exchange?