Ability to move shards from character to another

edma
edma Posts: 5 Just Dropped In
edited November 2019 in MPQ General Discussion
Any chance we could get the ability to move shards from same level character to another same level character?  For example, I'm favoring Vulture right now to get one more cover so i can champ him.  What if halfway through the shard level I get that cover and now I have 200 shards sitting there making me feel bad.  What would make me feel great is if I could then move it to another character.  Also, the thing that made me think about this is I see Vulture is coming up in the store.  I can easily see this making people spend less because buying that extra cover will make them feel like they are wasting those shards so they will just grind it out vs. spending the cash, and being able to move the shards over to another character.

This would be similar to BH's in that if I was favoring Vulture but I just got him through a normal pull I would simply toggle my favorite to another person and not feel anything wasted.

Also, this is the OCD in me but when I go over the shard max level by like a few shards and I have a few shards sitting there for no reason as I switch my favorite to another character, that also feels bad.

Random way to implement this.  Have a pool of shards for each level that you can always drain your characters shards into.  Then from that pool, you can drag to/choose which character you want to move the shards in to.  If this is too much freedom, maybe you can put a timer on it so you can only do this once a day or something (not a great solution i'm sure but just random ideas).

Another idea to make it not so "do whatever you want with the shards".  How about every single time you add a cover to a character, that's the only time you can transfer any extra shards over to another char of equal tier.  This way there's no "infinite bucket of shards" that allows us to do whatever we want but still removes the bad "wasted shard" feeling.

Thoughts?
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Comments

  • Crowl
    Crowl Posts: 1,579 Chairperson of the Boards
    Better option would be for the shard stacks to be generic so we were only ever filling 3/4/5 and then applying the cover to the character of our choice in the respective tier.
  • The rockett
    The rockett Posts: 2,016 Chairperson of the Boards
    This was brought up many times in the shard thread.  

    Can you move shards?  No

    Will these be wasted?  Yes but we don’t know what their master plan is for what the end game of shards will be and they are not telling us. Yes, this is a new feature that they have not fully laid their plan out. 


  • edma
    edma Posts: 5 Just Dropped In
    ah ok.  the devs straight up said no?  oh well, guess i'll just keep feeling bad. :(
  • Omegased
    Omegased Posts: 556 Critical Contributor
    at this point the only way we know how to gather shards is thru pulling tokens.

    I like to believe that in the future it'll be raining shards and we'll get enough that everyone will end up with a few here and there. they could be for specific characters as rewards.
    Featured in pvp, you better believe you'll get shards. Boosted during a boss battle? hell yea you'll get shards. Essential node? what about shards for the 6th clear?
    you get a match 5? it's raining shards.






  • TPF Alexis
    TPF Alexis Posts: 3,826 Chairperson of the Boards
    edma said:

    Also, this is the OCD in me but when I go over the shard max level by like a few shards and I have a few shards sitting there for no reason as I switch my favorite to another character, that also feels bad.
    This is a major annoyance for me as well. I've got like 3 shards left on Gambit now that I re-champed him, and I can't see doing anything with them any time in the foreseeable future.
  • eddidit
    eddidit Posts: 86 Match Maker
    It would be nice if in this case the shards can then be used as a cover instead so that they aren't wasted. But maybe the devs aren't thinking that far into the future yet. 
  • Dogface
    Dogface Posts: 967 Critical Contributor
    The OP's idea totally goes against the very idea of targeted heroes. Even though it might be nice if they did, I can't see it happening any time soon, if ever. 
    You need to target covers very carefully. If you're 200 shards in and you get that cover, you can also say you're halfway to another cover. 

    Imo the shards are most useful for 5*. 3* and to a lesser extent 4* are so common that i can't really strategically target covers. For now I have a 3* set as target that is lvl 256, but there's a good chance I get that cover from a pull before I get it from shards. Maybe now it would make more sense to target a cover if it's lvl 254 or so.
  • jamesh
    jamesh Posts: 1,600 Chairperson of the Boards

    We've already got non character specific shards in the game: they're called command points.  It would be nice if they just handed those out instead of shards, but it seems clear that they want something sticky to characters.

    I guess what they don't want you to do is collect 500 shards and unlock the 5* character as soon as it enters latest legends tokens.

  • HoundofShadow
    HoundofShadow Posts: 8,004 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited November 2019
    Shards are only a waste when you are 1 level away from max champing the characters and you have no desire to run a dupe.

    Other than that, I think it's a waste to those who like to micromanage.
  • jamesh
    jamesh Posts: 1,600 Chairperson of the Boards
    Shards are only a waste when you are 1 level away from max champing the characters and you have no desire to run a dupe.
    That's not a particularly useful statement.  If we're using "no desire" as the test, then shards are also wasted if I've got no desire to continue upgrading a character via shards, no matter what level the character is at.
  • HoundofShadow
    HoundofShadow Posts: 8,004 Chairperson of the Boards
    I think the concept of waste, based on the specific or common scenario used, is a psychological phenomenon, rather than an actual waste. The actual waste will come in at 1 level before max champed.

    Seeing that wildcard shards are not available in-game, I think it's reasonable to believe that different character-specific shards will be distributed across progression and placement rewards. In that case, majority of the shards in progression rewards are considered waste.




  • HoundofShadow
    HoundofShadow Posts: 8,004 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited November 2019
    I think I would be stressed out playing MPQ if I did such a thorough analysis of potential shard waste/dilution of shards etc. This level of gameplay is not for me.

    This reminds me of something:

    Some banks charge a fee (5% - 10%) to turn your coins into notes. I think this concept can be applied to this situation. Players can consolidate all their "wasted" shards across all characters, convert it into a targeted character shards for a "fee" or discount.
  • Reecoh
    Reecoh Posts: 210 Tile Toppler
    edited November 2019
    I can't see them allowing you to move shards as long as they are selling character-specific shards. This whole design was likely built out from that business requirement.

    If you can buy the lowest price 20 pack for a character every time the store flips and then just move those shards over to where you want them then they would likely have a much lower rate of folks buying shard packs at the 2+ pack prices.

    If the $hard $tore ends up being a dud, then maybe they will consider changes.
  • firethorne
    firethorne Posts: 1,505 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited November 2019
    Yeah, this needs to be implemented, and won't because they want waste to drive sales.  I'm currently targeting a 4/4/4 5*.  I can just see me putting a few months worth of pulls in getting up to like 400/500 shards, then randomly pulling that out of a token anyway, and having that 400/500 be pure regret.  

    Sure, sure, you may argue champ levels aren't "waste."  But going from 4/4/4 and lvl 435 to 5/4/4 champed 450 is a lot less valuable to me than going from level 450 to 451.
  • The rockett
    The rockett Posts: 2,016 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited November 2019
    Shards are only a waste when you are 1 level away from max champing the characters and you have no desire to run a dupe.

    Other than that, I think it's a waste to those who like to micromanage.
    Micromanaging is apart of this game.  

    Example, I have a Doc Ock that is 4/4/4 who has a feeder in Carnage who has a feeder in Doc Ock.  I have currently been using my 3* BH on Doc ock to feed 4* Carnage (have one at 361 and 2/1/2) to get my last Doc ock cover. I am 18 Carnage covers away from getting that last Doc Ock cover.  This is a very long road i am on but I have a plan.  Next will be my GRRR at 4/3/3 and will use this same path. I will use 3* Hood to feed GR to feed GRRR.  I will never BH/Favorite Doc Ock 3* again because I am done with him.  Therefore all of those shards that are on him will be wasted and never used. 

    This is the only way I am going to finish these.  In no way will I ever use my BH/shards on Doc Ock/GRRR or Carnage/GR.  There are more important characters to max. So yes, micro management is very very important in this game. 
  • KGB
    KGB Posts: 2,902 Chairperson of the Boards
    Reecoh said:
    I can't see them allowing you to move shards as long as they are selling character-specific shards. This whole design was likely built out from that business requirement.

    If you can buy the lowest price 20 pack for a character every time the store flips and then just move those shards over to where you want them then they would likely have a much lower rate of folks buying shard packs at the 2+ pack prices.

    If the $hard $tore ends up being a dud, then maybe they will consider changes.
    It took me less than 1 minute to come up with a viable solution to this.

    Put the shards in 3 buckets (3, 4, 5 star). Sell the shards in the shard store as they do now but sell 3, 4 or 5 star shards. Just make the price for every shard the average price of the cost to buy 1 cover (say it took 3 buys total and each buy cost cost 100, 110, 120 then make the cost a flat rate of 110). Problem is solved. It's not rocket science here.

    Then there is ZERO waste since your shards are in 1 bucket per tier.

    KGB
  • Dogface
    Dogface Posts: 967 Critical Contributor
    This has been on my mind for quite some time. So here goes: KGB, why do you always sign with your nickname at the end of a post, while your name is also at the top of your post?
  • KGB
    KGB Posts: 2,902 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited November 2019
    VERY old habit from decades of posting on forums on the internet back before there was advanced graphical features that displayed your name above each post in headline banner.

    Think it of it as my custom signature (like the one TPF Alexis has) :)

    KGB
  • edma
    edma Posts: 5 Just Dropped In
    edited November 2019
    Here's another idea to make it not so "do whatever you want with the shards".  How about every single time you add a cover to a character, that's the only time you can transfer any extra shards over to another char of equal tier.  This way there's no "infinite bucket of shards" that allows us to do whatever we want but still removes the **** "wasted shard" feeling.

    Edit: lol, tinykitty?  i guess no swearing on these forums.