Power Up Runes???

[FlyingV]

Interesting you say that character levelling is perfect, where if you miss the lucky 3* evo shard drops in lol for a certain colour, you're waiting an entire week before you get another chop. It actually can be really quite slow! So for mine, this comes back to the old question of what you feel the bottleneck should be. You want it to be 3* evos runes (like it is with shards from LoL atm). And I fully understand. Others say it should only be gold. I dont mind that it is currently upgrade runes. As I mentioned, I feel like we can still get them up to 5* quite easily still. Its just getting them those last 20 levels from 30-50 as 5* that talismans become very hard. But I dont mind that. As I said, I think its just status symbol more than actual performance.

The thing about missing a LOL dungeon day is that it is entirely within your control. I have that very issue now with a newly-acquired gunner Rescuer that needs one more 3* Yellow Evo shard. It is no big deal to wait those few days or the week 'round if I miss the day because I "Know" I can acquire it once I have the gunner LOL dungeon

Getting runes up to 5* "quite easily" is just not true in my experience. I don't think I'm off by much (If at all) in stating that it takes more runes to move from L 40 to L50 on a 5* talisman than it does to move from L1 to L40 on a 4* talisman. I would not be surprised if it would take more runes to level a L50 talisman from L40 than it would to evolving a L1 3* to a L40 4*. I have one Blue talisman on my GR I am leveling that takes all my blue runes, one Yellow tali on my Aces that takes my yellow runes, one purple on my troll, etc. It could take days (and has) to move from L41-L44 on one alone. One 5* rune may level up an entire 3* tali, and yet you are lucky to get 167% advancement from a couple of these 5* runes once the tali is in the mid 40s.

What I wouldnt want is just that evolving everything is so easy that you can do an entire character in a week. That wouldnt benefit the game at all. Particularly the challenge level for newer players on the rise, who we (and the devs) need to think about too.

My gaming experience was a horrible grind throughout the entire campaign. It only got manageable toward the very end or shortly after defeating LotB Madness. It is very easy to control beginning/intermediate players by keeping the difficulty controlled relative to the player's experience level and this game has done a great job executing this. It worked like a charm against me. Even if I were as a L28 player to luck into a gunner CotD or AoF from a rare soul, I couldn't do a thing more with him via 2* and 3* talismans in more challenging dungeons (contrary to your earlier statement about little difference between 3* and 5* talismans). I just did this with a 4* L60 CotD armed with six L1 3* talis in Game of Death Madness. My CG trooper and Eddie did the actual damage, and when only a sliver of a health meter remained, CotD could still only scratch a fraction of that tiny amount left. I couldn't survive that level with 5 CotDs with such talismans. CotD was literally worthless without better talismans, and the same would be true of a 3* or even 4* in the hands of a beginner without being able to level talismans higher for the fact they could not survive the more difficult levels/worlds.

I feel some people (not you specifically though) expect to be able to have every single one of their 100 toons to be fully maxed in talismans out in the space of a short period of time. Whereas, whats to stop you working on sets and then swapping as you experiment with different toons? Thats what I do.

Actually, thats a potential half-way solution: Make it easier to swap entire load-outs.

It is and it is not. The logistical fact that swapping a 5* set of Blindness amidst 130 talismans in the inventory 5 times over between characters is a nightmare with the swipe menu that is not worth pursuing. Again, I contend there is no arguing out of awarding runes regularly. It would be one argument to say that 5* runes should be secret location only, and 4* should be less-common reward in the higher dungeons, but it is ridiculous to contend that 3* do not flow like water in top levels on Madness, 2* on Hard and 1* on Normal. Even with nonstop 3* runes, that jump from L47-L50 would soak up a ton of them and only the ranked players could access them. And you can STILL control evolution by awarding 3* evos in secret locations and BF/UW locations only.

HERE IS THE PROBLEM THAT MOST PEOPLE MISS: at a certain level, it is impossible to make the game we have before us a challenge. It has long since ceased to be one for me, and has since become more of a headache-inducing easter egg hunt/slot machine, given current mechanics. Moreover, the solution to nerf and neuter back into a challenge is utterly unacceptable. We of Levels 80 and beyond have soared the highest heights 300 times over, and we will not stand for intentional destruction of our handiwork simply to make us sweat a well-defeated and currently boring dungeon. That will not entertain us. If it did, what is stopping you/us from voluntarily substituting 5* Talismans for 3* to make it more challenging?

No. We will need different content or different approaches, like survival matches (Defeat as many waves of LoL toons while silenced) or voluntary restriction (3* rune challenges for legendary souls). Even these suggestions will not make this the gruelling ordeal that it was during L25-L70, but it will be fun and would challenge rather than overwhelm.

[mikmar]

No more power up runes ...
Today 90 sands of time and the result is zero.
I think they changed the drop rate, before the last update was almost good

[Shaolin85london]

Today I founded power runes 4* red 3* green and purple in game of death madness.

[Esquatcho]

Getting runes up to 5* "quite easily" is just not true in my experience. I don't think I'm off by much (If at all) in stating that it takes more runes to move from L 40 to L50 on a 5* talisman than it does to move from L1 to L40 on a 4* talisman. I would not be surprised if it would take more runes to level a L50 talisman from L40 than it would to evolving a L1 3* to a L40 4*.

Actually, I meant just that getting them to 5* is quite easy. Not levelling the 5*. That I get. It is 10x4* XP runes to go 1-40 on a 4*. 10x4* runes on a 5* talisman gets you to level 30. That was my point that getting a talisman 5* level 30 isnt so difficult. But as a comparison, to get those last 20 levels, you need another 25 runes. Of which, the finaly 10 XP runes only get you from 45-50. The break even is a level 17 5*, so anything above that and its doing better than a maxed 40*.

The logistical fact that swapping a 5* set of Blindness amidst 130 talismans in the inventory 5 times over between characters is a nightmare with the swipe menu that is not worth pursuing.

Agreed!

Again, I contend there is no arguing out of awarding runes regularly. It would be one argument to say that 5* runes should be secret location only, and 4* should be less-common reward in the higher dungeons, but it is ridiculous to contend that 3* do not flow like water in top levels on Madness, 2* on Hard and 1* on Normal. Even with nonstop 3* runes, that jump from L47-L50 would soak up a ton of them and only the ranked players could access them. And you can STILL control evolution by awarding 3* evos in secret locations and BF/UW locations only.

If you suggest that in the regular campaign you reduce the number of 3* evos and replace them with upgrades, with the evo's to be available elsewhere, I dont have a problem with this. But I would still reckon the overall growth in 5* talismans should not be sped up.

HERE IS THE PROBLEM THAT MOST PEOPLE MISS: at a certain level, it is impossible to make the game we have before us a challenge. It has long since ceased to be one for me, and has since become more of a headache-inducing easter egg hunt/slot machine, given current mechanics. Moreover, the solution to nerf and neuter back into a challenge is utterly unacceptable. We of Levels 80 and beyond have soared the highest heights 300 times over, and we will not stand for intentional destruction of our handiwork simply to make us sweat a well-defeated and currently boring dungeon. That will not entertain us. If it did, what is stopping you/us from voluntarily substituting 5* Talismans for 3* to make it more challenging?

No. We will need different content or different approaches, like survival matches (Defeat as many waves of LoL toons while silenced) or voluntary restriction (3* rune challenges for legendary souls). Even these suggestions will not make this the gruelling ordeal that it was during L25-L70, but it will be fun and would challenge rather than overwhelm.

Cant disagree here. I feel that if there were other challenges, half of this wouldnt be quite as much of a discussion topic. Though, I would suggest the 'intentional destruction' comment is quite heavy handed. Everything I've seen from the devs have been coming at least from a good place. I know some forum goers would disagree with me on that, but I've played many games where the devs havent had nearly the same level of communication and influence from the community.

[Esquatcho]

Just trying to keep a track on XP rune drops over the next couple of days, doing only secret levels & Game of Death Madness using all 50 troopers (just for ease of keeping track).

For calcs, just to keep it simple, Im assuming 4* XP is double 3* (which is is) and 5* is double 4* (its actually a bit more) . All comparison will be to maxing out a 5* talisman from level 1 to 50.

27/11: 3* 10xgreen + 5xred + 5xblue / 4* 2xgreen + 6xred + 8xblue + 3xyellow + 5xpurple (24 total) / 5* 1xred = 1.26 talismans.
28/11: 3* 5xblue + 5xred + 15xyellow + 5xpurple / 4* 2xblue + 6xred + 2xpurple = 0.71 talismans (not as good today! I did have about 5 rounds on hard level though before I realised, so maybe that influenced? Still much lower)
29/11: 3* 5xblue + 15xred + 5xgreen + 10xyellow + 5xpurple / 4* 2xblue + 13xred + 9xgreen + 4xyellow + 4xpurple / 5* 1xred = 1.77 talismans (Woot!)

[aur0ra85]

Runes are incredibly broken. I'm not letting the dev team off the hook for this. It's clearly been done on purpose as they have not acknowledged it. They've had multiple updates since this became an issue, so they'd have fixed it by now if it wasn't on purpose. Very dirty play by the dev team. And yes, the drop rate is for sure broken bad. I recommend not playing at all until it's rectified.

[Esquatcho]

OK, I've had enough of counting power up runes. Here is the final count:

27/11: 3* 10xgreen + 5xred + 5xblue / 4* 2xgreen + 6xred + 8xblue + 3xyellow + 5xpurple (24 total) / 5* 1xred = 1.26 talismans.
28/11: 3* 5xblue + 5xred + 15xyellow + 5xpurple / 4* 2xblue + 6xred + 2xpurple = 0.71 talismans (not as good today! I did have about 5 rounds on hard level though before I realised, so maybe that influenced? Still much lower)
29/11: 3* 5xblue + 15xred + 5xgreen + 10xyellow + 5xpurple / 4* 2xblue + 13xred + 9xgreen + 4xyellow + 4xpurple / 5* 1xred = 1.77 talismans (Woot!)
30/11:3* 5xblue + 5xred + 5xyellow + 20xpurple / 4* 3xblue + 12xred + 3xgreen + 2xyellow + 2xporuple / 5* 1xblue + 1xred = 1.24 talismans

So across 200 rounds, we got a total of 4.98 talismans from 5* level 1 to level 50. Thats an average of 1.245 talismans per day or the equivalent of 43.57 x 4* upgrade runes per day.

To take a talisman from a base 3* level 1 to 5* level 50, you need 48 x 4* upgrade runes. So assuming you have even distribution over time of colours, you can max out one talisman of each colour completely every 5.5 days. So as long as you are working on talismans of different colours constantly, you will be able to upgade 6 characters worth of talismans each month.

Doesn't seem overly bad to me (just imo). Now if you are working on multiple builds needing just one colour - well I can see that taking a while.