How have shards impacted your spending?

bluewolf

While we debate the value of shards, and wait for them to be (eventually) introduced into event rewards, they have been in game for almost 2 months now. 

So I've been wondering - do you spend more money after shards came in?  Maybe out of gratitude, or liking bundles, or whatever?  Or to move down the shard path a little more via opening tokens, or in the shard store?  Or maybe you spend less since there's no thrill of the bonus hero to chase, and it's kind of boring to just get a few blips towards a token.  Or you know, it makes no difference to you.

ThaRoadWarrior

Spend money? On the game? FTP for life!

rawfsu

I spend at the same level.

I usually spend little anyways, but shards has done nothing to make me want to spend more. I'm still more partial to BH at the end of the day. Shards pretty much lock you down to one cover every once in a while. BH made it possible with 10 and 40 packs to get covers for BH 3* and 4* characters. If you were lucky, you got multiple covers for 3*'s and 4*'s in one pull. With shards, you get a cover and change for the 3* and some shards for a 4*. That's opening a 40-pack. I actually feel discouraged to spend after posting this response. Sorry for screwing up your stats!

Godzillafan67

I spend less in the game than I used to, before shards.

I spend less because they removed resources when they added shards to the champ rewards. I like shards, but don't think you can give me curds & whey yet take away my porridge.

abmoraz

I spend at the same level.

Once I hit post-ISO, I haven't had a reason to spend.  It's not that I wouldn't mind giving them some cash every now and then, but there's just no reason.  I'm sitting at 4+mil ISO and 25000+ HP.  Max-champing 4 and 5 * players holds no interest to me, neither does PvP.  I just go for "win based progression" in PvP and play the PvE events.  That (+ the 2 and 3 star farms) gets me more than enough resources to feel happy in the game.

Jupiter79

I spend more in the game because of shards.

I suppose I really spend more due to the updated feeders than the shards themselves.

PuceMoose

I spend more in the game because of shards.

I've never dropped $50 on a single transaction in any game before, but I did so here for the first $50 Kitty shards offer (the one that offered enough shards for a full cover). Since then I haven't spent any money on shard bundles, though I have dropped about 5k HP total on various shard purchases when they were offered in the shard shop. 

111MCH111

I spend more in the game because of shards.

PuceMoose said:

I did so here for the first $50 Kitty shards offer (the one that offered enough shards for a full cover). Since then I haven't spent any money on shard bundles, though I have dropped about 5k HP total on various shard purchases when they were offered in the shard shop. 

Me too, I bought my last Kitty cover with all my HP + Logan’s Loonies and LT & cp until I reached the 500 shards, champed Kitty. So yes. I spend more.  But since I play Kitty + R4G as champions now in PVE it makes a difference 😎

Daredevil217

I spend less in the game than I used to, before shards.

I’ve said this before, but for me, shards promotes more hoarding.  More hoarding leads to less spending. 

Vhailorx

Daredevil217 said:

I’ve said this before, but for me, shards promotes more hoarding.  More hoarding leads to less spending. 

This is very true for me.  I never know which 4* I will want to prioritize (because it will very much depend on which 5*s I am trying to feed), so opening as I go is less attractive than ever. 

And when hoarding aggressively, I don't think it makes a lot of sense for me to spend much on other offers.

BoyWonder1914

I spend at the same level.

I've done VIP since it came out, and I buy HFH deals that give me a good return on my dollars spent. My criteria for a "good deal": 

- Offer a character who's meta, or otherwise generally pretty good
- Offer enough covers/shards that the deal would make the character either champable, or much more useful
- Offer enough resources in addition to the covers/shards that I don't feel like I essentially just paid for covers/shards

I got the Shuri deal a while back that gave 3 covers, because that was precisely what I needed to get her to Lv. 300 and get the last cover I needed for my Okoye. I got the Kitty/PX deal because it was going to leave me 1 cover short of champing Kitty, and I knew I"d be able to finish her with "Shardmas" when it happened. I got the Juggs-Worthy-SM2099 deal, because those characters are all either meta or VERY good, and the covers let me champ the ones I hadn't already. I did the Spider-Ham deal, because I think he's a pretty fun character, shard/cover opportunities don't come very often at all, and I happened to have the HP laying around. This is what'd do regardless of whether they were shards or covers, so I can't really say shards has changed anything there. 

I will say, that I find it frustrating that the 5-star character in the Shard store will always be completely random. There's a few 5s I have that are either 1 or 2 covers away, and it'd be nice to be able to buy some shards to speed them along. But what happens most of the time is that when I do actually remember to check the store, its someone I don't care for so I will resolve to just check again when the store refreshes. Unfortunately I never do, and by the time I remember to do so, there's yet another character in there who I don't need/want. I'd certainly be inclined to throw some more HP at that store more often if it were catered to my individual roster needs. 

Jacklag

I spend at the same level.

I entered this discussion thinking it would be about spending tokens. Money, I don't se how shard might have an impact.

bluewolf

I spend at the same level.

Jacklag said:

I entered this discussion thinking it would be about spending tokens. Money, I don't se how shard might have an impact.

I mean as I said, some people might buy more bundles because shards mean more of the cover-equivalents are useful to them.

Some people (probably not many) might use/buy more tokens to try to move their shards along.

(Note that using tokens is spending in a sense, since if you use them you might feel like you need to buy more in a bundle, or buy HP since you are using it in stores more, etc.  Constant resource pressure is a major driver in spending in a game like this, and if shards make that pressure greater, then they are a win for the devs.)

Some might see the shards in the store and use/buy HP.

I was just curious to see what kind of replies there would be.

ZeiramMR

I spend at the same level.

The only way in which I spend more due to shards is that I intend to do a single 5* Shard Store purchase for each time I have a character as my targeted 5*. This is because the remaining 480 will divide evenly into LT purchases.

As I am still on my first 5* this way, the 500-600 HP is a negligible increase and I voted as the same.

Daredevil217

I spend less in the game than I used to, before shards.

Vhailorx said:

Daredevil217 said:

I’ve said this before, but for me, shards promotes more hoarding.  More hoarding leads to less spending. 

This is very true for me.  I never know which 4* I will want to prioritize (because it will very much depend on which 5*s I am trying to feed), so opening as I go is less attractive than ever. 

And when hoarding aggressively, I don't think it makes a lot of sense for me to spend much on other offers.

Yeah for me it is which 5 to chase via feeders or if I’ll need a cover for shield training. Currently I have 259 Heroics, 2 ten packs, 11 mighty tokens, and 64 PVP event tokens stockpiled. So... enough shards there for TWO covers lol. That seems crazy low for the amount I've stockpiled. 

I also have I believe over 200 each of standard/elites (no idea why, just stopped opening) and over 300 of each taco vault. 

tiomono

I spend at the same level.

blankcanvas said:

Daredevil217 said:

Vhailorx said:

Daredevil217 said:

I’ve said this before, but for me, shards promotes more hoarding.  More hoarding leads to less spending. 

This is very true for me.  I never know which 4* I will want to prioritize (because it will very much depend on which 5*s I am trying to feed), so opening as I go is less attractive than ever. 

And when hoarding aggressively, I don't think it makes a lot of sense for me to spend much on other offers.

Yeah for me it is which 5 to chase via feeders or if I’ll need a cover for shield training. Currently I have 259 Heroics, 2 ten packs, 11 mighty tokens, and 64 PVP event tokens stockpiled. So... enough shards there for TWO covers lol. That seems crazy low for the amount I've stockpiled. 

I also have I believe over 200 each of standard/elites (no idea why, just stopped opening) and over 300 of each taco vault. 

If this doesn't prove we're exponentially worse off post BH, I don't know what does.

Part of my issue with this thinking always goes back to the rng of bonus heros. We can say how many bonus heros we should get from opening "x" tokens. If someone had a bad streak people would offer comfort and say it will even out eventually.

My question is how long is the eventually? Is it with 1000 pulls? 1 million? 5 million? 1 billion? No player knows that data. If your pulls for tokens are generated randomly across 10 million pulls you could be that poor slob that got blasted into oblivion and have your full percentage of 5* pulls be in the last 15% of that 10 million. But hey it evens out eventually right? 

With shards you know exactly how much progress you get on every token you open. Every player gets equal results from every token from the word go. That to me is worth the "perceived" loss of 20% of your bonus heros you would have gotten. I say percieved because no player knows how large the token spread was to guarantee your rate on bonus heros. The devs however do have that data. For all we know the targeted hero rate is better for the player base as a whole over shorter span of time than bonus heros was.

Borstock

I spend at the same level.

I spend on VIP, mainly because I think it's fair I pay something for a game I spend at least an hour playing every single day. I think of it like a subscription. I have never paid for any other offer, not before shards and not since.

I did threaten to stop spending on VIP after the initial feeder fiasco, but re-upped when they released the second round of retroactive rewards.

Vhailorx

tiomono said:

blankcanvas said:

Daredevil217 said:

Vhailorx said:

Daredevil217 said:

I’ve said this before, but for me, shards promotes more hoarding.  More hoarding leads to less spending. 

This is very true for me.  I never know which 4* I will want to prioritize (because it will very much depend on which 5*s I am trying to feed), so opening as I go is less attractive than ever. 

And when hoarding aggressively, I don't think it makes a lot of sense for me to spend much on other offers.

Yeah for me it is which 5 to chase via feeders or if I’ll need a cover for shield training. Currently I have 259 Heroics, 2 ten packs, 11 mighty tokens, and 64 PVP event tokens stockpiled. So... enough shards there for TWO covers lol. That seems crazy low for the amount I've stockpiled. 

I also have I believe over 200 each of standard/elites (no idea why, just stopped opening) and over 300 of each taco vault. 

If this doesn't prove we're exponentially worse off post BH, I don't know what does.

Part of my issue with this thinking always goes back to the rng of bonus heros. We can say how many bonus heros we should get from opening "x" tokens. If someone had a bad streak people would offer comfort and say it will even out eventually.

My question is how long is the eventually? Is it with 1000 pulls? 1 million? 5 million? 1 billion? No player knows that data. If your pulls for tokens are generated randomly across 10 million pulls you could be that poor slob that got blasted into oblivion and have your full percentage of 5* pulls be in the last 15% of that 10 million. But hey it evens out eventually right? 

With shards you know exactly how much progress you get on every token you open. Every player gets equal results from every token from the word go. That to me is worth the "perceived" loss of 20% of your bonus heros you would have gotten. I say percieved because no player knows how large the token spread was to guarantee your rate on bonus heros. The devs however do have that data. For all we know the targeted hero rate is better for the player base as a whole over shorter span of time than bonus heros was.

No, tiomono, it's a real loss of 20% for the playerbase.  Across the whole game, demi is giving out 20% fewer covers.  That's why they implemented shards this way. 

Sure, there is some individual variation, but for any player who opens enough tokens for this system to actually matter (i.e. long time vets well into 4* land), they should be pretty close to the target rates.  (Also, your question is not unknowable.  I am not enough of a statistician to do the math quickly, but it should be easy enough for someone who is to calculate "after X pulls at the stated BH rates, 95% of players should be at the target rate +/- 2%".  I would guess that several thousand pulls should be sufficient to get the vast majority of players very close to the target.)  And while fixing the downside of RNG is valuable for players, I don't think it is worth losing 20% of from the BH rate AND all the lost champion rewards.

tiomono

I spend at the same level.

Vhailorx said:

tiomono said:

blankcanvas said:

Daredevil217 said:

Vhailorx said:

Daredevil217 said:

I’ve said this before, but for me, shards promotes more hoarding.  More hoarding leads to less spending. 

This is very true for me.  I never know which 4* I will want to prioritize (because it will very much depend on which 5*s I am trying to feed), so opening as I go is less attractive than ever. 

And when hoarding aggressively, I don't think it makes a lot of sense for me to spend much on other offers.

Yeah for me it is which 5 to chase via feeders or if I’ll need a cover for shield training. Currently I have 259 Heroics, 2 ten packs, 11 mighty tokens, and 64 PVP event tokens stockpiled. So... enough shards there for TWO covers lol. That seems crazy low for the amount I've stockpiled. 

I also have I believe over 200 each of standard/elites (no idea why, just stopped opening) and over 300 of each taco vault. 

If this doesn't prove we're exponentially worse off post BH, I don't know what does.

Part of my issue with this thinking always goes back to the rng of bonus heros. We can say how many bonus heros we should get from opening "x" tokens. If someone had a bad streak people would offer comfort and say it will even out eventually.

My question is how long is the eventually? Is it with 1000 pulls? 1 million? 5 million? 1 billion? No player knows that data. If your pulls for tokens are generated randomly across 10 million pulls you could be that poor slob that got blasted into oblivion and have your full percentage of 5* pulls be in the last 15% of that 10 million. But hey it evens out eventually right? 

With shards you know exactly how much progress you get on every token you open. Every player gets equal results from every token from the word go. That to me is worth the "perceived" loss of 20% of your bonus heros you would have gotten. I say percieved because no player knows how large the token spread was to guarantee your rate on bonus heros. The devs however do have that data. For all we know the targeted hero rate is better for the player base as a whole over shorter span of time than bonus heros was.

No, tiomono, it's a real loss of 20% for the playerbase.  Across the whole game, demi is giving out 20% fewer covers.  That's why they implemented shards this way. 

Sure, there is some individual variation, but for any player who opens enough tokens for this system to actually matter (i.e. long time vets well into 4* land), they should be pretty close to the target rates.  (Also, your question is not unknowable.  I am not enough of a statistician to do the math quickly, but it should be easy enough for someone who is to calculate "after X pulls at the stated BH rates, 95% of players should be at the target rate +/- 2%".  I would guess that several thousand pulls should be sufficient to get the vast majority of players very close to the target.)  And while fixing the downside of RNG is valuable for players, I don't think it is worth losing 20% of from the BH rate AND all the lost champion rewards.

So some statistician that does not have all the base numbers to input on an rng system can come up with an accurate model? Some statistician has the exact pull data from a large enough sample of the playerbase to ensure an accurate calculation?

I doubt it. But I could be wrong.

Tony_Foot

I spend less in the game than I used to, before shards.

I’ve stopped spending completely. I used to spend only for the bonus tokens from spending. Now the path to me getting 4* from BH heroics is gone I don’t feel the need to spend anything and the shard system is like running through treacle in comparison for me and my experience.

Daredevil217

I spend less in the game than I used to, before shards.

Vhailorx said:

tiomono said:

blankcanvas said:

Daredevil217 said:

Vhailorx said:

Daredevil217 said:

I’ve said this before, but for me, shards promotes more hoarding.  More hoarding leads to less spending. 

This is very true for me.  I never know which 4* I will want to prioritize (because it will very much depend on which 5*s I am trying to feed), so opening as I go is less attractive than ever. 

And when hoarding aggressively, I don't think it makes a lot of sense for me to spend much on other offers.

Yeah for me it is which 5 to chase via feeders or if I’ll need a cover for shield training. Currently I have 259 Heroics, 2 ten packs, 11 mighty tokens, and 64 PVP event tokens stockpiled. So... enough shards there for TWO covers lol. That seems crazy low for the amount I've stockpiled. 

I also have I believe over 200 each of standard/elites (no idea why, just stopped opening) and over 300 of each taco vault. 

If this doesn't prove we're exponentially worse off post BH, I don't know what does.

Part of my issue with this thinking always goes back to the rng of bonus heros. We can say how many bonus heros we should get from opening "x" tokens. If someone had a bad streak people would offer comfort and say it will even out eventually.

My question is how long is the eventually? Is it with 1000 pulls? 1 million? 5 million? 1 billion? No player knows that data. If your pulls for tokens are generated randomly across 10 million pulls you could be that poor slob that got blasted into oblivion and have your full percentage of 5* pulls be in the last 15% of that 10 million. But hey it evens out eventually right? 

With shards you know exactly how much progress you get on every token you open. Every player gets equal results from every token from the word go. That to me is worth the "perceived" loss of 20% of your bonus heros you would have gotten. I say percieved because no player knows how large the token spread was to guarantee your rate on bonus heros. The devs however do have that data. For all we know the targeted hero rate is better for the player base as a whole over shorter span of time than bonus heros was.

No, tiomono, it's a real loss of 20% for the playerbase.  Across the whole game, demi is giving out 20% fewer covers.  That's why they implemented shards this way. 

Sure, there is some individual variation, but for any player who opens enough tokens for this system to actually matter (i.e. long time vets well into 4* land), they should be pretty close to the target rates.  (Also, your question is not unknowable.  I am not enough of a statistician to do the math quickly, but it should be easy enough for someone who is to calculate "after X pulls at the stated BH rates, 95% of players should be at the target rate +/- 2%".  I would guess that several thousand pulls should be sufficient to get the vast majority of players very close to the target.)  And while fixing the downside of RNG is valuable for players, I don't think it is worth losing 20% of from the BH rate AND all the lost champion rewards.

Very very well put. It’s not some bad feeling. It’s not emotion. It’s just math. If after 6 years of tens of thousands of players opening tokens every single day we’re not very very very close to 15%, then we could probably cry false advertising. So taking that, then yes, we players as a whole are getting significantly less rewards than before, and that’s before taking into account lost champ rewards.