Hero Slots as Rewards.. Why Not?

Unknown

I think that Hero Slots should be a good reward to add to PVP and PVE events. Maybe for the top 25, or top 50.

For example:

You're playing in the Hood Event. The top 100 get a Doom cover. But the top 25 or 50 get Doom plus a hero slot.

NorthernPolarity

Development effort and opportunity cost. The developers don't really gain anything by adding hero slots as rewards, and it costs them time to implement.

Unknown

@North, I agree to an extent, because they have to make a profit. But it would not hurt for the top 25, heck even the top 10 in PVP events to get a slot

Roswulf

Themadtitan wrote:

@North, I agree to an extent, because they have to make a profit. But it would not hurt for the top 25, heck even the top 10 in PVP events to get a slot

But surely the people getting top 10 in PvP already have well-developed rosters, and thus less need for roster slots than the 2-3 transitioner with dozens of undercovered 3*, or even the new player forced to throw away that first or second really cool 3* cover award won through great effort. I'm wary that this fix would distract from the larger issues with the roster slot crunch as a gamekiller for new and intermediate players.

Now hero slots as, say, a progression reward in PvE (at or one step above the current top reward- something that requires commitment to the game, but not a killer roster)? That I would support.

Unknown

You honestly make a good points. But that is not always the case. For example, there was a time when I just had a 270 X Force, and only 3 maxed 3 star characters(cap, patch, hulk), and would place pretty high up. My roster wasn't that big though. I guess my point is, I do not see why it would be a bad perk to place for the top 10 or so. In my humble opinion.

Roswulf wrote:

Themadtitan wrote:

@North, I agree to an extent, because they have to make a profit. But it would not hurt for the top 25, heck even the top 10 in PVP events to get a slot

But surely the people getting top 10 in PvP already have well-developed rosters, and thus less need for roster slots than the 2-3 transitioner with dozens of undercovered 3*, or even the new player forced to throw away that first or second really cool 3* cover award won through great effort. I'm wary that this fix would distract from the larger issues with the roster slot crunch as a gamekiller for new and intermediate players.

Now hero slots as, say, a progression reward in PvE (at or one step above the current top reward- something that requires commitment to the game, but not a killer roster)? That I would support.

rixmith

Giving out slots in every event probably cuts too far into the revenue model (the dev team has to get paid somehow). Winning 50 or 100 HP in a single event one thing, but for me roster slots are 750 HP. Not something they want to give away every event. I could see a roster slot as a Season Progression reward though...

FaustianDeal

In a PVE where they are launching a new character I think this would be an especially awesome addition. Even if it was restricted to the top-most prize tier (like the tier that currently often has the "additional cover of an already awarded color" - give a slot for the new character instead.)

xKOBALTx

rixmith wrote:

Giving out slots in every event probably cuts too far into the revenue model (the dev team has to get paid somehow). Winning 50 or 100 HP in a single event one thing, but for me roster slots are 750 HP. Not something they want to give away every event. I could see a roster slot as a Season Progression reward though...

A Season Progression as mentioned or maybe a prize for completing a section of the Gauntlet (the middle?) would be a great possibility. I think it would be best in something that doesn't run as often and is at a fixed point that everyone has an opportunity to achieve.

ZommyGD

I'm for roster slot as a S.H.I.E.L.D. daily resupply.
For example, one free slot for every 180 days, maybe?

Mawtful

TL;DR: Each time a new character is added, replace the 2* reward prize with a Roster Slot, in both the first PvE and first PvP which award covers for that character.

1. Whales gonna whale.
Let's get this out of the way first. Giving away roster slots is not going to change the spending habits of whales. It's not going to change the spending habits of F2P either. It can be used to influence the spending habits of the middle ground - I think this is the right way to do it, otherwise I wouldn't be posting this.

2. Middle Prize for the Middle Ground.
This is the key. This is how you make it work. You don't make the Roster Slot a top prize. Instead, you make it replace the 2* cover reward (that's #101-#300 in PvP and #151-#400 in PvE)*. There's certainly an argument to be made that the players finishing with a 3* cover prize don't need roster slots. It's true enough, although I regularly finish with one or two of the 3* covers per event and I could certainly use a few extra slots. As long as new characters are being added, players are going to need Roster Slots. For players firmly in the 2 - 3* transition, an extra roster slot is a considerably better runner's up prize.

*If this seems too much, just make it the "top" prize of the 2* covers - so #101-#200 in PvP and #151-#200 in PvE.

3. Everything in moderation.
It seems to be agreed that the roster slots don't need to be given out like party favours, but there should be a way in which everyone gets a chance (again, since everyone needs them). I think that the reduced ISO and HP that's tied to those 2* reward tiers is already probably not enough to stop lots of higher tier players from throwing games to fill those reward tiers - so I think that you only give out Roster Slots in the same events that reward a new character (the "release" PvE event, and the first PvP event to reward covers). This now means players must make a choice between earning a "free" roster slot or any where up to 4 additional covers for a new hero - or maybe even 2 roster slots and not earning that character at all.

This also means that players can know when to expect Roster slots to be available as prizes, there'll generally be 4 opportunities per Season.

Unknown

I'm confused as to how a Roster Slot wouldn't be considered a top tier reward, just under a 4*.
Further, they give out HP as rewards. Why not buy Hero Slots with reward HP?
Also, some spenders don't buy HP for anything other than roster slots. How many comments have there been that say don't spend HP on anything other than roster slots? The game needs revenue to survive.

Unknown

Or Demi could just give out free money from outside their offices.

Not gonna happen I'd imagine.

Unknown

Small things that make the players happy and appreciated go a long way towards customer retention and spending habits. Saying D3 wont make money off doing something nice may well be entirely false. It is however harder to measure increases in retention and spending due to nebulous variables like customer happiness than it is to measure how many people buy hp to spend on roster slots.

For example, everyone knows what a Coke is. If people want one they can get one nearly anywhere on the globe. The product is well known, ubiquitous and quality. So why do companies like coke have such massively huge advertising budgets? They have to constantly remind you to keep buying Cokes or else their sales would go down. In a game, if smart they will constantly remind you why you like playing and do what they can to keep it that way. If you have to use some of the advertising budget for that (sacrifice a few roster slot sales) it may be more than worth it. Or it may not, hard to say, but far from stupid to try.