Trooper Store Limits... the Final Nail in the Coffin...

[Patrice-1201]

Hi guys,

Just wanted to chime in to explain a few things regarding the reinstating of limits in the Trooper Shop.

First of all, this is not a change being made in isolation. There are many updates and changes to the game that will be rolling out over the next few months and these limits are just a part of balancing the flow of resources in the economy given those changes. Without getting into too much detail or revealing exact dates, here is a preview of some of the content and features related specifically to this change that we are in the process of developing:

1. We are in the process of looking at speeding up the use of Troopers, and of playing quests in general, which will increase the speed and ease of earning Trooper Badges.
   
   
2. There are more items coming to the Trooper shop within the next few months, including the long heralded Trooper Soul. Our current plan is to offer a one-time, high cost Trooper Soul as well as the farmable weekly fragment option. The price has not been finalized for this Soul, but generally speaking it should not exceed the cost of using 50 troopers over a 5 week period (i.e. between 40K-to-50K Badges) though this is tentative and could change. In regards to how much heads up you'll have about when to start saving up, we are also going to start advertising what events are planned for the month in the News Feed to give people a better idea of what's to come. In theory, by the time we announce the release of this soul, you should have enough time to save up for at least one pull or at least dramatically shorten the time it will take for it.
   
   
3. With many upcoming events, we are looking for ways to ensure all players have some way of working towards the event rewards outside of just using the ironite or souls they have on hand. To that end there will be many events which will be making more use of all 3 shops in the game in new ways (Arena, Troopers, and Gold Shops). For this to work, we need to make the shops more consistent with each other so that something like unlimited access to rare souls doesn't completely break the economy of the game as it will imbalance the value of various activities and game modes.
   

In short, with some of the upcoming changes, you'll still be able to earn the same amount of resources, if not much more, but you won't have to dedicate as much energy and time to things like using Troopers. Instead, via events and upcoming features, there should be more of a perceptible cadence to where you can ideally spend you time to maximize your rewards in the game. Yes, this does mean you can't hoard points to buy souls / shards in bulk, but this is also the reason we are communicating these changes now. If you have large stores of Trooper Badges saved up, you may want to consider spending them now as, outside of the aforementioned Trooper Soul, there won't be much reason to save them.

Hopefully that helps explain that particular change. Sparton and I will try and be around on the forums today to answer any additional questions regarding this or other updates from the patch preview notes.

Cheers,

-Kaz

Thanks Kaz this is exactly the kind of communication we need. I'll hold on to 60k trooper badges so don't up the price of the Trooper Soul too much ;-)

[druid138]

Kaz,

Thanks a lot for this additional info! This really helps to explain the rationale of the limits. The changes / updates that you outlined sound great. I particularly appreciate the focus on increased transparency (event calendar) and on providing a wider variety of ways to participate in events (via the 3 shops).

[Fudjo]

Many thanks for the detailed information, Kaz. It's definitely helpful and very much appreciated.

[Sidney]

[QUOTE=Kaz_LOTB;56567]Hi guys,

If you have large stores of Trooper Badges saved up, you may want to consider spending them now as, outside of the aforementioned Trooper Soul, there won't be much reason to save them.

Will we be given enough heads up as to when to use the excess badges and still keep enough around for using them on Trooper Eddie? I'd hate to get stuck with badges I can't use, but still want to keep enough around so I don't have to farm for 5 weeks to play with a new toy if I absolutely don't have to... :-)

[Kaz_LOTB]

[QUOTE=Sidney;56581]

Hi guys,

If you have large stores of Trooper Badges saved up, you may want to consider spending them now as, outside of the aforementioned Trooper Soul, there won't be much reason to save them.

Will we be given enough heads up as to when to use the excess badges and still keep enough around for using them on Trooper Eddie? I'd hate to get stuck with badges I can't use, but still want to keep enough around so I don't have to farm for 5 weeks to play with a new toy if I absolutely don't have to... :-)

The goal is to communicate the release of the Trooper Soul at the start of the month it will be released. So it is likely you'll be able to earn enough within that period (especially if you have active Troopers using your champion).

-Kaz

[Sidney]

[QUOTE=Kaz_LOTB;56582]

The goal is to communicate the release of the Trooper Soul at the start of the month it will be released. So it is likely you'll be able to earn enough within that period (especially if you have active Troopers using your champion).

-Kaz

Thanks Kaz!!

Ok... so you're saying these are going to be "Specific" trooper badges to the event and our existing badges would be useless in this event? I love my troopers but I know I don't get badges from them everyday even though they get them from me everyday. Most of them do, but I know that all are not as dedicated. Just want to decide how much I should prepare on my own or will it be a month long grind regardless of how many trooper badges I hoard before the event.

[Kaz_LOTB]

[QUOTE=Sidney;56600]

Thanks Kaz!!

Ok... so you're saying these are going to be "Specific" trooper badges to the event and our existing badges would be useless in this event? I love my troopers but I know I don't get badges from them everyday even though they get them from me everyday. Most of them do, but I know that all are not as dedicated. Just want to decide how much I should prepare on my own or will it be a month long grind regardless of how many trooper badges I hoard before the event.

No, they would be the same Trooper Badges. It's just that we'll give you enough heads up so that if you are low on Trooper Badges you will have time to save them up if you want an early pull at the Trooper Soul.

-Kaz

[The Educated fool]

pull at the Trooper Soul. -Kaz

Thanks for the info, Kaz, but this wording has me wondering a bit, so, to be clear: this Trooper Soul... it will guarantee that one pulls Trooper Eddie, right? Like the event souls do their characters? (ie. like Rescuer Souls do the Magus Undead Rescuer)? We wouldn't be spending 40-60k badges for an "increased chance" at drawing Trooper Eddie, correct?

Thanks for keeping us in the know.

[Kaz_LOTB]

Thanks for the info, Kaz, but this wording has me wondering a bit, so, to be clear: this Trooper Soul... it will guarantee that one pulls Trooper Eddie, right? Like the event souls do their characters? (ie. like Rescuer Souls do the Magus Undead Rescuer)? We wouldn't be spending 40-60k badges for an "increased chance" at drawing Trooper Eddie, correct?

Thanks for keeping us in the know.

The Trooper Soul will work just like the Eternity Soul. There are various characters in the soul and you will be pulling from that pool. That being said, around the time we release the Trooper Soul, we plan to also have some dupe protection implemented for both the Eternity and Trooper Soul so you will eventually get Trooper Eddie one way or another.

-Kaz

[The Educated fool]

I see.

Thanks for the clarification.

Guess it will be interesting to see what else one can pull from these...