Covers that never expire

Magic

I've been toying with the simple solution to the current crisis and the general feedback I've got from fellow players is - Yes, this could work. So here it is:

Introduction of covers without timer. No more dying on the vine. No more rush or re-prioritization. Everybody on even grounds and enjoying the game they want to play and the pace they want to go at.

This could limit the pain from the vaulting (as much as I would like to keep getting covers for all my champions outside of golden 12). And it would make the game less frustrating. Your 0-5-5 hero could wait for the 3 elusive covers in the first color (maybe he will get them due to bonus feature) while all the duplicate ones are waiting on the list to be added as champions level when they are ready.

I am not saying it's the perfect solution. I still hate vaulting (and I only like the bonus hero a bit - the odds are too small). But the timer is outdated and should go away.

Quebbster

I'd settle for an expiration time of one week per star level. One week for one-stars, two for two-stars and so on.

DapperChewie

I would definitely support this. If covers didn't expire, we could hold onto them for a long time. Get that 6th OML cover? Set him as a favorite and maybe 6 months down the line, you'll finally be able to champ him.

Ive had to sell 4* covers because I needed one or two more days to get enough iso to champ them, this would eliminate that.

Honestly, the only reason I can think of as to why covers expire is to sell iso. And nobody buys it anyways.

Twysta

DapperChewie wrote:

Honestly, the only reason I can think of as to why covers expire is to sell iso. And nobody buys it anyways.

It's to force people to to use/buy HP for roster slots.

Straycat

I think a compromise would be to let us move covers from one roster spot to another if we have the character rostered twice. I think they did that before if you submitted a ticket or something, but it makes sense that we should be able to do so. I still have to spend hp, but it lets me tag one character at a time as non expiring.

bluewolf

The recently posted podcast interview addressed expiring covers. The possible tweak the devs are considering is auto-selling after two weeks, so you at least get the iso if you forget to deal with a cover. I doubt we will get any change like no expiration, or even extended expiration.

The expiration is one of the ways they encourage spending.

Magic

Twysta wrote:

DapperChewie wrote:

Honestly, the only reason I can think of as to why covers expire is to sell iso. And nobody buys it anyways.

It's to force people to to use/buy HP for roster slots.

Solution - they don't expire when you have a copy rostered. I like the idea of a week per * level. Probably more coding then removing the timer but this would already be helpful.

ZeiramMR

bluewolf wrote:

The recently posted podcast interview addressed expiring covers. The possible tweak the devs are considering is auto-selling after two weeks, so you at least get the iso if you forget to deal with a cover. I doubt we will get any change like no expiration, or even extended expiration.

The expiration is one of the ways they encourage spending.

I've long thought that the expiration was also to limit how much "room" per account they need to store on the servers/database and how much memory is needed to display them. Someone hoarding and then opening a bazillion tokens could cause the same problem, of course, but is less likely than people letting covers build up in the queue would have been.

BoyWonder1914

Magic wrote:

I am not saying it's the perfect solution.

Sounds like a perfect solution to me. It would prove just as useful, if not moreso than colorless covers that DO expire.

ErikPeter

Having covers never expire would make the featured characters gate a lot easier to manage (e.g. probably a bad thing from the designer's point of view) since you'd only need a roster slot at each rarity tier and a backlog of old heroes to sit on. Also you'd get in weird situations encouraging developing players to stall out at each tier, store up bonus covers and then, e.g., champ 3 at the same time. That kind of stagnation is widely recommended (remember soft-capping?) yet paradoxically makes the game less fun. If you sit on every cover you ever opened, you'd be able to see exactly how RNG directed you and maybe never feel like you're 'choosing' which guy to focus on (i.e. by rostering one and ditching the others).

I recently suggested something that is sort of a compromise between this and colorless covers: Sold covers also grant crafting materials (which last forever), and sets of materials can be cashed in for a cover of your choice (or tokens, etc). This avoids all of the pitfalls I mentioned in the previous paragraph, but still allows those extra covers to be used for something besides consolation iso.

That post can be found here: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=60260&p=644192