Proposal: A simple solution to the 4* vaulting

Aweberman

Prefatory note: I haven't read every page of all the threads about Bonus Heroes here on the forum, so this may have already been proposed.

I don't think anybody has a complaint about the "favoriting" component of the new Bonus Heroes system; that is to say, nobody has a problem getting a free and specific cover as an extra reward. The issue that people have is with the splitting of the 4* pool of characters into "easy to get" and "hard to get."

The developers have indicated (at least via the interview on Puzzle Warriors 3, possibly elsewhere) that one primary goal with this change was to make newer characters easier to cover. I don't believe that anybody would disagree that their chosen method will accomplish this. But clearly it will also be significantly more difficult to acquire covers for older characters.

My proposal: In addition to the most recently released characters, allow each player to choose older characters to be included in the available pool for token stores.

The favoriting system demonstrates that it is technically possible to allow different players to receive rewards from a different pool, and this would be an extension of that. (Not being a programmer, I do not know how difficult it would be to implement this proposal.) This method would meet the developers' stated goal while also providing an easier means of entry to older characters, which is a stated goal of many in the community.

"Most recently released characters" does not necessarily have to be 12; the number could be 6 or 8 or 10 ... or whatever. And "older characters to be included" does not have to be equal to the new; it could be 1 or 2 or 3 ... or whatever. Alternately, players could be allowed to swap out a newly-released character of their choosing for an older character of their choosing, for example, deselecting Agent Venom in favor of X-23. The number of swaps could be 1 or 3 or 6 ... or whatever. This method would allow individual players to craft their rosters with some degree of control while also preserving the blind draw aspect that the developers have always included.

I'm aware that this is only one of dozens of alternate suggestions that have been floated on the forum over the past few days, and I hold no illusions that the developers will even see this. But on the chance that they do ... (and that this thread doesn't get locked ...)

astrp3

One possible problem with this solution is that it might be TOO good and cost D3 revenue. If they implemented this, a lot more people would have a high-level Hulkbuster, Thoress, Iceman etc. on their rosters a lot more quickly and they might not feel the need to spend any money trying to get more 4*s.

Yes, they kind of already do this with the new 4*s, but they eventually rotate out of the pool.

I think some have even suggested just allowing players to designate which 4*s go in their vaults, I think but that's way too impractical (I think they would definitely lose revenue on that one, but I'm not a casual player so maybe not).

moss04

Swapping out new characters for older ones in the general reward pool might be a bit complicated, but I would think it would be easy to designate any number of heroes as "retirement favorites" and have them added to the general pool instead of the bonus heroes pool. So you always have the newest 12 (or 20 for 3 stars), but if you want you can add any number of older characters to that. Newest characters will still always be the easiest to cover but leveling older characters won't be any worse than it was before even if you add every single one of them them to your "retirement favorites".

The UI would be easy to do as well. When you tap the heart a pop-up could ask you to select "bonus" or "favorite". If you select "bonus" the heart turns gold, if you select "favorite" it turns green, and if you select both it turns to one half gold one half green.

Landale

I have a modified suggestion that's similar to the OP.

Right now, the Latest and Classic vaults are filled with the 12 most recent 4* releases. Why not make that the default list of characters in the vault, but when you add a 4* favorite, it kicks the oldest 4* out of the list and replaces it with your new favorite. If you add a second favorite, kick the second oldest out of the 4* list and replace it with that one. This way it keeps the vault at 12, but it lets the player decide which 4*s they want to pull when they use the tokens or command points?

So, if I wanted Cyclops, I would favorite Cyclops and it would kick Kate Bishop out of the list. But, if I wanted Kate Bishop, I could still favorite her and then it would kick Moon Knight out of the list. And so on...

The favorites you choose would also be added to the bonus hero lists, just like they are now, so you can be assured to get a character you know want.