Going mostly off of memory (I've been reading through the thread, but haven't had the time to respond to many queries due to working with the team to isolate and fix issues for the hot fix update(s)):
Regarding the Eternity Soul
The intent for this soul is that it is something you work towards over time by collecting fragments from PVP. You can get fragments in two ways:
- Buy from the Arena Store (10 fragments packs twice a week)
- Earn from PVP Division on reset (starts at 5 fragments at Duelist II, can be up to 40 fragments at Eternal)
The Eternity Soul Fragments are a new, permanent fixture of the game. You'll have the opportunity to work towards getting a new 5 star character each week, and even when you eventually get them all, extras let you try out teams with multiples, or you can use them for big sacrifices to get rewards worthy of sacrificing duplicate 5 stars.
There is a one time, limited time only deal to get an Eternity Soul for a massive cost in Iron Coins. This is intended as a "thank you" for the many players who have engaged in a lot of the Arena since it launched, and to help get some of these new characters out into the wild so people can see how they perform, who they work well with, etc.
Finally, specifically on the subject of the balance of the characters that are within the Eternity Soul... we'll obviously need a lot more time to see how people utilize them. So far, we've seen everything from "this is OP!", to "these guys are really meh", to "I like some of what this guys does, and will try him out more". I am still collecting feedback from various channels (this thread, other threads, etc) to go over with Kaz so we're on the same page for people's sentiments, but overall I think, like many new things, we should all step back and see how the impact shakes out over time.
Regarding the Skull Quests
Each of the Skull Quests are primarily about giving you the rewards noted in their name (talismans from the Talisman Cache/Talisman Horde, for example). However,
all of them have a chance of giving the following:
- Ironite (with a higher quantity possible from later skull quests)
- Skill Shards
- Precious Soul Fragments
The amounts and quantities of all of the rewards should be equal to or greater than what was possible, on an average day, with secret locations. That said, I do recognize that some people feel like some of the quests can feel particularly underwhelming if you're unlucky (such as Talismans), so I will review what could be done so it still feels valuable to try and complete each Skull Quest every day.
Related, while we have changed the times for when the Skull Quests unlock, they still unlock once every 24 hours, and are then available for 24 hours. If you want, you can save all of your skull quests until 5pm PST and then complete all 8 in one go; you'll just have some of them unlock again sooner than others.
Regarding Precious Souls
There was a question a early in the thread about the characters from the Precious Soul, and if you can evolve them into their stronger counterparts. Each of the characters (Sacrificial Heart, Strong Sacrificial Heart, and Ultimate Sacrificial Heart) are different characters, so evolving one will not eventually give you the other. Evolving and leveling them up will make them worth more essence, though (but like other characters of their rarities, it doesn't necessarily increase by much).
That said, for the Gold Idols, leveling them up and evolving them does not increase their gold value, so you're best off just selling them for gold and being done with them.
Regarding Using 50 Troopers
With the increased cost for the high-value Skull Quests, there is more of a strain on late game players using all of your 50 troopers each day. However, after accounting for free Sands of Time from Daily Challenges, the average amount of freebie Sands of Time from clearing an average quest, and the amount of Sands of Time you will generate each day (assuming you sleep for 8 hours each day, but otherwise do a battle or two in the morning and some final battles in the evening to keep the regeneration clock going), you should still have enough Sands of Time for a bit more than 50 battles in a day. Also, all of that discounts getting more Sands of Time from paying Ironite or from Daily Login Rewards (for the days that give you those), although of course both of those things will give you more leeway.
Right now, our main concern is fixing major combat issues and performance issues, but I will use this as an opportunity to see if we can prioritize a solution to using more troopers per battle (in places that don't further impact players progressing through the game for the first time). I know we want to have a solution in place in time for the Brave New World, but it's understandable that a solution that arrives sooner would still be valuable.