Cover swapping 5*/improve customer service

corytutor

There really needs to be a solution for swapping unusable 5* classic covers. It cost d3 nothing yet they act like its breaking the bank to swap. 

There should be a 5* store, similar to the no more guns store, that allows you to trade a unusable 5* for a different color cover of the same toon. This would keep customer service freed up to do whatever it is they do, which as far as i can tell, isnt much

Steel_Colt

Exactly this. I have two black OML covers, both from Mes Amis Tokens, yet D3 refuses to swap them for covers I can actually use. 
And when you contact them about this, you just get the same "We're sorry, but you're tinykitty out of luck..." copy-paste cow manure answer. Yes, cow manure... You know what I mean...

@Brigby. Can't you reason with those guys?

Ronburgundy

Why would 5* unusable covers be any different than 4*?  With all the extra tokens earned from anniversary events I have 8 4* covers I can't use because they aren't the color I still need to max. 

We either need colorless covers covers or the ability to swap out a cover if you are already at 5. Regardless of tier. Doing it just for the 5* tier just helps the rich get richer. 

corytutor

Not really. You cant win 5s as progression or placement rewards. 

Vhailorx

Ronburgundy said:

Why would 5* unusable covers be any different than 4*?  

Because 5* covers are an order of magnitude harder to get, and have only ever been offered as fixed rewards in 2 events.

Pants1000

4* are different from 5*, mostly because of rarity, but if the devs created an in-game system to swap covers, there's no reason they couldn't do it for both.  If there were a cost, 4's should obviously be cheaper.  If this ever happened, I'd expect to see something like 200 HP to swap a 4*, 1000 HP to swap a 5*.

The new HFH store option helps alleviate this problem for 4*, but there's no equivalent for 5*.

There definitely is a cost for CS to perform swaps, which is why it's limited to only latest.  It's not a material cost, but having dealt with call center management, I can see how each CS ticket probably costs $5-10 on average when you include wages, office space, utilities, etc.  I'm surprised they do this at all, but it makes sense to absorb $5-10 to keep whales happy and spending.

corytutor

Whats 5$ when im four digits deep?

Spend a one time cost to make a exchange store and save those 5$ emails. They're just cut paste anyway

wymtime

The reason they don’t swap classics is because of the back log I creates in CS.  That is the exlpination given to me by Brigby.  The fact is this has been an issue for over a year yet they have still don’t nothing about it.  They had a great opportilunity to change this with CL9.  For the 5* node at CL 9 if after 4 clears it gave a cover of they 5* it would allow for progression into 5* land to be easier an give a better reason for no cover swaps for classics.  They could also make PVP CL9 where 1200 gives a specific 5* cover instead of CP.  make 5* more attainable and cover swapping will not feel as big of an issue

Orion

There's no way that 1200 in PvP will give a 5* even in CL10. That's so far and away more than what it gives now (15 CP) that I can't imagine it ever happening. 

corytutor

I dont mind spending cp for them. But when you're chasing cover 13 and draw it or even worse get it as a bonus hero and you dont get a swap its a horrible feeling. Both instances happened to me this last 2 weeks and had to watch a 13th cover go to iso for what would have been 2 champions. 

JHawkInc

Well, in a way, it IS breaking the bank to swap.

This is a freemium game. It exists wholly free to play, but survives by people spending money on it anyways, for one reason or another.

They probably don't WANT us to acquire 5*s too fast, or too easily, because if it becomes too easy to reach the end-game without spending, then people are going to do just that, play through all the content and not spend. Then the game dies.

I highly suspect the only reason swaps exist in the first place is because the math is bad. Part of the freemium model is all about buying your way around a roadblock of progression of some sorts. Unfortunately, RNG works out so that people that spend thousands, to buy their way around 5* pull rates, still end up screwed over by bad pulls. And if you're screwed no matter how much you spend, what's the point in spending in the first place?

Enter cover swaps. A workaround to fix that problem for the big spenders (available to everyone in the name of fairness, but meant for the big spenders). Only do it with Latest tokens because that's where the big spenders are devoting their resources (cutting down on CS tickets is a misdirect, because if they wanted to do that, and if this were meant to be a permanent feature of the game, they'd put it into the UI and you'd never need to go to CS in the first place)

It's a bummer when you end up on the bad side of RNG, and the system could definitely use some improvements, but the certainly aren't going to make it too easy to acquire 5*s because that actually would be bad for business, and thus bad for the game.

corytutor

There should be some exception to that. 3 years and over 5 grand in purchases, youd think occasionally you'd throw that guy a bone. Especially considering i very rarely use customer service in the first place. 

smkspy

Ultimately, it all boils down to the fact that we have almost 20 five stars and still no reliable method of acquiring them beyond sheer luck. 

Just like 4 stars before them, at certain number, the tier stops being rare and more a pain to enter because of the sheer randomness added to the number of characters available. Plus the reality that the only method of building older 5s is from a heavily diluted pool, BH is a failed method for them, and now the devs are actually pushing players into buying latest tokens over classic tokens.

Think of it this way, we're pretty damn close to same number of 4 stars that were available when LTs were introduced to help us build that tier.

alaeth

I think they want to prevent hoarding, and so introduced the new 5* Essential node, which rotates through 3 latest, then 2 Classics, then right back to 3 Latest.

We're already seeing the second appearance of DareDevil as essential before any of the older (and likely more rostered) Classics.

The BEST way to eliminate hoarding:  Allow swapping of colors of classics.

I had an Alliance-mate almost quit today after pulling the 11th Green Black Bolt cover.  In 45 days, he knows the 12th is coming.

It's gut-wrenching to see that kind of loss.

My method to avoid it - hoard both ISO and LTs until I can near guarantee covering all three of the latest ones.


It's such a simple change - but vastly improves the game experience!

corytutor

Im doing that. But as you mentioned it doesnt help bolt or hawkeye or strange or widow or or or or

_M4ru_

Simple solution:

Increase sell price of 6th (or even any 5* cover you get by spending cp/LT) cover to
 a) 20cp if you spent 20cp on a classic,
 b) 25cp/LT if you spent 25cp or used LL token.

Less work for CS and players won't feel **** after pulling unusable 5* covers (chance to pull again and hope for better luck). If you spent cp/opened LL token and pulled a 4* - better luck next time.

turbomoose

Can I get a swap for a latest legend 5* as I’ve just pulled my 6th Spidey red 

if so how do I do it 

corytutor

Email customer service from game. Little gear icon. Help button. Little message icon. 

Astralgazer

My experience with CS: Ask first if they provide cover swapping policy for a particular vault. If they do have that policy, then ask for a swap. When they do swap, they do it without much fuss. If they don't, swallow hard and move on.

xAzra3lx

Steel Colt said:

Exactly this. I have two black OML covers, both from Mes Amis Tokens, yet D3 refuses to swap them for covers I can actually use. 
And when you contact them about this, you just get the same "We're sorry, but you're tinykitty out of luck..." copy-paste cow manure answer. Yes, cow manure... You know what I mean...

@Brigby. Can't you reason with those guys?

You and I are in the same boat. Only thing is, I have Yellow covers. 

Would be nice if we could trade. I would even pay HP to trade extras.

ZekeBarrett

@Brigby
Why is it some players can get one-time exceptions for cover swaps on non-Latest characters and others can't?