So, the Devs and most of the Playerbase seem eager to “combine” both models of crafting and trading up. Here’s my proposed solution. It is a combination of several different ideas I’ve had swarming in my head, some of them probably had roots in what others have said.
Two things need to happen first though, and in line with the third point:
First things first: Credit costs need to come down to the old system’s costs for trading up, with the reduced costs over-time of the new system. Combine costs or average them, I don’t care. Main thing is that Credit costs are too high.
Second thing: Golds and Silvers need their old value ratios restored. Meaning 6 golds worth of fragments should equal one cobalt, and 4 silvers should equal one gold. [spoiler]You can also choose to make them higher in worth, since as I’ve mentioned in a previous post, only a full months worth of work should be needed to craft a decent cobalt.[/spoiler]
Thirdly and Finally, how will this system work?
My solution is called: “The Bling vs. Utility Fragments Divide.”
Simply separate fragments into two groups- Utility fragments, and Bling fragments.
Utility fragments are earned only from recycling leads, irons, and bronzes. These become the pseudo-base player fragments for entering Bling transactions, and for other more “utility”-based transactions.
Bling fragments are earned only from recycling silvers, golds, and cobalts. And they can be used to craft Golds and Cobalts as the crafting material.
- Bronzes and silvers can be crafted from Utility fragments.
- Silvers, Golds, and Cobalts can be crafted from Bling fragments.
- Weapon kits can also be crafted from piles of Utility fragments. (This allows weapon kits to be earned through a lot of play.)
- Style kits can also be crafted from piles of Bling fragments. (Style kits allow you to pick the camouflage you prefer when rolling a card)
- Crafting kits should be re-purposed as the ‘fix’ to allowing people to convert their different loadout cards in-between generations of cards. Meaning: a crafting kit allows you to convert a gen 2 into a gen 1, or vice versa. They need to also be able to be created by players. Possibly with credits AND utility fragments AND bling fragments? (room for improvement here, but seems awesome!)
So, how is this genius?
First, It separates the strategies of getting the greatest cards between paying players and non-paying players more. Elite and Expert cases offer much more bling amounts over utility, which means paying players don’t get a huge ‘Utility’ reward from paying.
Second, it allows all players the opportunity of gaining these weapon kits for their loadouts, and more so for time spent working in-game rather than simply using the credit card. This rewards playtime.
Thirdly, it reintroduces progression. All cards need to be converted into silvers, to be converted into bling fragments if you’re going for anything higher than silver. And bronzes are created by the people that value utility more than bling still. [spoiler]Crafting Bronzes also shouldn’t decrease your collection’s worth, as four or less should be equal in frags to a silver. Recycling them should give just as many as crafting one. Possibly, crafting bronzes doesn’t cost credits?[/spoiler]
Fourthly, It makes getting leads, irons, and bronzes less mentally painful. We know from now on that if RNG gives us leads, irons, etc. We can still work with them all the way up into the highest category, or convert them into weapon kits or other useful things. We won’t feel as bad getting them.
Fifthly? It’s still a simple system! ('nuff said)
Finally, it doesn’t stop playing players from forcibly getting the loadout ‘of their dreams’. They can still attack the cobalt generation over and over until they get what they want. And since this system still keeps RNG in the loadout aspects, the Devs can be somewhat happy! It only reduces the crap that RNG hurts people with.
This also allows players more customization over what card they want. If they want a Swiss S95 Stoker, this system will help enable them to get it if they use weapon and style kits to craft it.
Special notes: [list]
[] This causes the new system to be balanced around the bronze area. Meaning that Bronze cards kind of become the credit basis for the system. This should bring all prices down since crafting irons costs should be removed completely.
[] This is also somewhat future-proofed for trading to be a valuable asset. People who have spent tons of money (or time), can trade with lesser-off (blingwise) people for utility cards, in trade for bling amounts.
[/list]
REQUIRED: Please, remove all huge credit fees, and honestly, crafting kits feels like cheating with the amount crafting costs in the current system. Consider repurposing them into allowing us to use them for converting our current cards from different generations into the opposite generations! And Also, remove all requirements in the system to craft irons. Crap, remove crafting irons in all entirety, it’s nearly pointless. Force players to play that wee bit more to craft a bronze instead.
I could probably talk numbers if you’d like, and I originally intended to, but it’s 4:30 AM.
Any thoughts or criticisms are fully welcome! If you happen to think this system sucks balls, please do tell HOW. I’ll explain how I think it covers any bases I didn’t explain properly. I still have other ideas for other systems in-game, but this is solely my thoughts for CRAFTING.
Yours truly,
Vanilla.
I guess it wasn’t as simple as I thought. 