When will shield rank expand past 125?

Phumade

The new 125 release shows how big of a problem the shield rank system has actually become.  Alot of people are starting to brush up to the rank 125 limit.  Will the game expand to accommodate them past 125?

Can we just get the shield rank limits extended to at least 150?  I know this will take at least 3 release cycles (or 1 month) to address/implement.  

Can someone at least mention this to the developers?

Beast1970

My bet would be shortly after they open CL 9 and 10.  Maybe timed to coincide with the introduction of the 7*s.

beyonderbub

I'm moving up 1 per week at rank 102. Won't be getting there for another 6 months

Phumade

beyonderbub said:

I'm moving up 1 per week at rank 102. Won't be getting there for another 6 months

You laugh but if we don't get this on the developers todo list, you'll be at 124 wondering why they haven't made progress.  Then you'll realize your 3 release candidates away before they can even insert the fix

Vhailorx

Stepping back a bit, what in the abstract is the right number of players that should reach the current limit before they raise it?

Also, in what way is shield rank a "problem"?

carrion_pigeons

Why is there a limit at all?  Past a certain level (68, I think?), the literal only thing shield rank does is give you a bunch of Iso every once in a while.  Not exactly a balance problem.

The way the current design works, you get up to a certain shield rank and then suddenly your Iso income goes...down.  That makes total sense!  Not at all the exact opposite of what anyone would have thought.

STOPTHIS

If they do raise the cap, I hope they don't also move the big ISO reward like they did last time. Sucks for us schmucks who are a step behind to get close to a nice ISO chunk only to see pushed back even further.

veny

Yeah, i dont see any ballance problem so far. I bet there making shield ranks unlimited can be done pretty easily.
Honestly, we dont need these posts every few months

Pongie

Phumade said:

beyonderbub said:

I'm moving up 1 per week at rank 102. Won't be getting there for another 6 months

You laugh but if we don't get this on the developers todo list, you'll be at 124 wondering why they haven't made progress.  Then you'll realize your 3 release candidates away before they can even insert the fix

But you want to hit it before the limit gets raised. Otherwise, you'll never earn that 100k iso bonus.

Borstock

Vhailorx said:

Also, in what way is shield rank a "problem"?

"Because it doesn't work exactly the way I want it to and to my overwhelming constant benefit."

Azoth658

In fairness and I'm miles away from the cap so it doesn't affect me. It does seem a bit silly not to raise the cap to 250 or something why should those mega vets be hit by a cap when they will constantly need iso just like the rest of us.

Square-Chopper

The problem with waiting for the "over Rank 125 bracket to fill" so they can open CL9/10, is that those people capped at 125 are getting very bored.  

If they get bored enough to quit, then how is there ever "enough" people to open up the next levels if the next person to reach the magic cap is just replacing the last one that got sick of the stagnation and left?

Kevmcg

Good planning would have the cap raised once a set number of highest end players reach it and get the big bonus. They can then work toward the next cap and the big bonus again. Those of us that are followers like me at SHIELD Rank 112 will never reach the max, but have an always moving carrot to work toward. As a mostly F2P player, I have 4 months before I reach the cap and would expect that it will be raised before then in the next 1-2 months.  

Phumade

Its important to remember and consider demi's maintenance / development cycle.

Generally speaking, they are developing 3-4 weeks in advance of the current state of the game.

So whatever issues, we see / deal with it can't be addressed until they can fix it in software AND SUBMIT THAT RELEASE CANDIDATE FOR APPLE/GOOGLE app store approval.

So even a 1-2 month lead time isn't much time to work with considering that.

a.  We are on release 124.
b.  Release 125 comes out in 1/2 days (internally they are probably finishing/updating R126)
c.  So even if they wanted to inject this software fix,  it most likely will be addressed in R127 or r 128.

So assuming they decide that they want to fix this now,  It may be 3+ release cycles before we see the change propagate through the various approvals.

The sooner we bring this to the devs attention,  the more likely this will get address before it becomes a major issue for the rest of the player base.

yes,  I know about the daily data pushes.  But we shouldn't expect that they can address this problem via a hot fix.

nigelregal

Having a cap on rank makes no real sense. You are penalizing people who support the game and spend money who are getting to the max cap. 

grunth13

Last time they retroactively added the levels to the whales after they increased it.  So, I assume that it will be the same thing again.  But, like everyone is saying...why is it even capped, cl8 only needs like level 65 or maybe 72 or something to that effect, so there is no reason to cap it 50 to 60 levels above your highest clearance level entry point.

mpqr7

I remember hearing that SR would give you access to special cool features (other than just SCL) as you got higher ranks. I'm curious to see if that will still be a thing! It seems like the majority of features open up at around SR 20, and then after that, there's not much else to it, other than the ISO infusions.

I'm at lv 95, so it will take me a long time to get to 125.. hopefully the level cap is increased before that happens.

SnowcaTT

It's a bummer to have it capped for sure.

Then again, "when will it matter that you have level 125" is an equally valid question, with an even more bummer conclusion.

Jarvind

I feel like if you're already at the cap, you're the kinda guy who will immediately slam into the cap again no matter how high it gets raised. I spend a bit and I just hit 100 a few days ago, and with the increasing XP requirements I don't anticipate hitting 125 for months. 

Also, if you're buying enough packs, championing enough characters, and maxgrinding enough PVE to hit the cap, I'm sort of puzzled as to how you could still need the extra ISO.

I do agree that having a cap in the first place is sort of silly, but it just seems like a mega first world problem.

Bowgentle

Jarvind said:

Also, if you're buying enough packs, championing enough characters, and maxgrinding enough PVE to hit the cap, I'm sort of puzzled as to how you could still need the extra ISO.

It's not about being at 125 NOW.
As Phumade has pointed out, it's about notifying the devs in advance that "normal", non-mega-whale players will be hitting 125 in 2 months or so, and trying to get the cap raised before that.

broll

Azoth658 said:

In fairness and I'm miles away from the cap so it doesn't affect me. It does seem a bit silly not to raise the cap to 250 or something why should those mega vets be hit by a cap when they will constantly need iso just like the rest of us.

It's simple really.  The extra ISO at each level and the big chunk at cap are carrots to get us to keep spending chasing those rewards. They ultimately don't want anyone except the whales, that will continue paying regardless, to hit the cap because they want us to keep running on that treadmill chasing the carrot we'll never get.