Hero/Skin Release Schedule

[Mavajo]

There's a growing problem in the power gap between big spenders and other players. I know the big spenders make money for Ucool, but if the other players get alienated, this is bad for everyone. Those players risk quitting the game, which means less money for Ucool. It also means less players for the big spenders to play against, which means they may lose interest too. Players quitting is bad - big spenders may lose friends, guilds may die, etc. All of these things are bad for everyone involved - all players and Ucool. The end result will be that eventually the big spenders quit and Ucool loses money.

I wish to make a suggestion to alleviate this growing problem.

New skins and heroes should always become available to all players within 3-6 months after release in a reasonably obtainable way, without the need to spend money. To illustrate, I will use the recent additions of Nine-Tailed Fox and Dope King skin as examples. Both of these were released around December, if I recall correctly.

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NINE-TAILED FOX
Release: Only available for purchase (or VIP chest). This allows big spenders (or VIP players) to get her immediately and have a competitive advantage.
60 days after release: Nine-Tailed Fox should be added to the Guild Tournament shop. ALL SERVERS. GT shop coins are limited, so while she'll technically be available to "all" players, she'll still be limited mostly to competitive players and/or those that really want to prioritize her.
120-180 days after release: Nine-Tailed Fox should be added to one of the other shops (Arena, Grand Arena, Crusade or Guild). This will now open her up for all players to easily obtain her. By the time she's added to one of these shops, the VIP/competitive players will have had exclusive access to her for 4-6 months. This is plenty of time to have made their purchase worthwhile.

Also, when a hero is scheduled to be added to a shop, 30-60 days in advance that heroes icon should appear in the shop with a countdown until the number of days that the hero will be available. For example, let's say NTF was going to be added to the Crusade shop 150 days after release, and we're giving players 60 days notice. So then on the 90th day after her release, her icon would be added to the Crusade shop -- it would be gray (to show it's unavailable yet) and would have "60" on it to indicate 60 days until release to the shop (it would countdown each day).

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The current skin system is terrible. Therefore, I make the following suggestions. Campaigns (both normal and elite) should award "Cloth Fragments." Cloth Fragments would be usable in a new part of the Heroes Camp, called the Tailor. By using a combination of cloth fragments and lower-level armor pieces (white, green and blue - NOT PURPLE, ORANGE OR RED), you'll be able to craft hero skin fragments for specific heroes. If a player is constantly crafting a specific heroes skin fragments in the Tailor 24/7, they should be able to unlock that skin within about 7-14 days, depending on the skin (200 frag skins in a week, 400 frag skins in about two weeks).

DOPE KING SKIN
Release: Only available for purchase. This allows big spenders to get the skin immediately and have a competitive advantage.
60 days after release: Dope King Skin is added to the Hero Skin Shop.
120-180 days after release: The ability to craft Dope King Skin fragments is added to the Tailor.

One more suggestion: The cost of skin fragments in the Hero Skin Shop needs to be drastically reduced. It's currently 5000 coins for 5 fragments. This should be reduced to the standard 500 coins for 5 fragments.

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I believe if these changes are implemented, this will alleviate the major problem currently plaguing the game. Big spenders will maintain their supremacy and will continue to spend, but the lower spenders and free players will not feel alienated. They'll always see a clear path ahead of them to obtain these new items in a reasonable amount of time.

Please Ucool. Please consider this. Your current trajectory is killing the game. I've seen so much frustration and animosity in my various HC chats lately. And for the record, I'm in a guild that's in the GT Finals every tournament. I have Nine Tail Fox at 5* and max trained. I have every hero currently in the game. So I'm not looking for handouts. I already have these things. But I can see a broken system when it's in front of me, and I know how disgruntled many players are getting at the current situation. These suggestions would allow you to continue making money off new heroes and skins just like you are now, but it would repair the relationship with your other players by allowing them a way to get them too.

Please listen.

[Danhamps]

I have been playing for 2+ years and love the game, I barely play anymore is it has become nothing more than a spending contest. Please consider the above suggestions ucool.

[[GY] Nader]

Agree to all of the above. Great effort.

[Lukobu]

I totally agree

[Mystos]

I've been playing this game for about three years. And already I think to stop playing. It is because of the "pay to win" strategy ucool, which appeared recently. Suggestions in the first post are very reasonable. Maybe this will stop my decision to quit the game. I also play in a very strong guild ... and we have a few strong players already stop playing for these reasons.

[HC Boo]

Makes a lot of sense.

[uh123abcd]

the funny thing is they tried to fix this problem with cheaper skins / 1 day trial skins. neither of these do anything, the people who want the skin will pay regardless of how much it cost so making it cheaper will only tempt a small group that wouldnt have bought it to buy it. this doesnt help the majority of the community. the 1 day trials are even worse, theyre trying to tempt u with having the power for 1 day so u would buy their skin but the majority wouldnt buy it anyway so itll make us feel even weaker knowing wat the skin does.

[Mavajo]

the funny thing is they tried to fix this problem with cheaper skins / 1 day trial skins. neither of these do anything, the people who want the skin will pay regardless of how much it cost so making it cheaper will only tempt a small group that wouldnt have bought it to buy it. this doesnt help the majority of the community. the 1 day trials are even worse, theyre trying to tempt u with having the power for 1 day so u would buy their skin but the majority wouldnt buy it anyway so itll make us feel even weaker knowing wat the skin does.

Yup. The "improvements" they've added are half-measures at best. It does nothing to address the core problem.

The paradigm should be simple: Whales get things early; everyone else gets them later.

Ucool has nailed the first part. But they keep screwing up the second part. Ucool, if someone hasn't bought a hero or skin within 3-6 months after release...they're never going to buy it. And if someone IS buying these skins/heroes immediately - guess what? We're going to keep buying them immediately, even if they become readily available for free 3-6 months later. Why? Because we still get that edge. You literally would lose no money by implementing a system like the one I've suggested here. In fact, you'll make more money in the long term because your player retention will improve. A happy community is a community that keeps playing and spending. A pissed off community will eventually tell you to eat shit and will quit. And then you make no money.

[DerKaiser]

Great post & well thought out, but here is the problem:

Ucool need $$$
They'll lose even more $ by implementing something like this given that a sizable % of people who are in the "maybe I'll buy this skin" camp will join the "no way am I spending that much $ on a skin... especially when I can get it in 1-3 months time".

They have debts that need to be paid.

[DerKaiser]

the funny thing is they tried to fix this problem with cheaper skins / 1 day trial skins. neither of these do anything, the people who want the skin will pay regardless of how much it cost so making it cheaper will only tempt a small group that wouldnt have bought it to buy it. this doesnt help the majority of the community. the 1 day trials are even worse, theyre trying to tempt u with having the power for 1 day so u would buy their skin but the majority wouldnt buy it anyway so itll make us feel even weaker knowing wat the skin does.

The only decent thing about this skin trial business is it allows a huge number of people to easily get Legend in wotg lol.
Hit rank 23-24 "TIME TO USE THESE SKINS!"

A handful of games later "wow... getting Legend was super easy this month, hopefully they dish out some more of these free trials and I'll save them until the end of next month" lol.

[DocRed]

Seriously, feeling ya. "Get a Chance" means nothing. Waste everything on nothing. Chances are less than 1%.. Have you ever talked to anyone thats got something on a, "there's a chance" bullsh t." It takes the fum away, adds resentment for getting screwed. Like anybody's gonna spin any wheel for as long as they want and get the same insanity. That's why I farm and no longer play.. Cheap-Ass is what it is.. To people who play.. Good Luck with that though! DocRed

[Eduardo Mass]

I am so disappointed about the update shop. They don't want to sell the heroes that I like and it's hard to collect master heroes shards to exchange heroes, 60~108pcs. If the update don't selling those heroes using game money, I will quit the game and give up in support Ucool & Tencent.

[Setokakashi]

I think the game will close, because it was a long time that the new champ doesn’t release...

[Garrett]

Just give everyone Cleric, Shadowleaf and Arcane Sapper skins for free, and problem solved. All other skins not so important, and if anyone like them, they can buy them.