Other A solution to diamond PF cutoff inflation

[Reshiram18]

As of late, it has become apparent to the community that the top 30% diamond PF cutoff has been inflating with no signs of the cutoffs naturally going down. This is a major problem if left unchecked as it forces anyone wanting to get a diamond key out of the PF rewards to dump more and more time into grinding away at the PF to gain the required points. My proposed solution is to continue on the path started by the last PF reward update by moving a respectively tiered key from top 10% and 30% to either the current final milestone or a new final milestone of all character PFs. On top of giving end game PF grinders ease of mind that they can get a diamond key twice a week, this change will also allow players earlier in progression to gain an important resource for said progression in a guaranteed fashion.

 

[evilgordo]

Agreed, moving the gold character to a milestone reward in Gold PF worked out just fine since that was the 'ultimate' reward, the 10% threshold scores reflects that.

Unfortunately, moving the gold character to a milestone in Diamond PF didn't because the the 'ultimate' reward was the diamond key. This also is reflected in the current threshold scores. When the gold fighter was moved to the 30M milestone, that was the (generous) 'average' score for 30% event rewards...30% threshold is now 60M+. And get this, that increase was over 9 months!

The percentage based reward system will always have 'score creep' as every player will always score 5-10M more from the previous PF 'to play it safe'...and as soon as their score falls short, they double down on 'playing it safe'...a self fulfilling prophecy...

Having a 'guaranteed' diamond key at a fixed score will alleviate this frustration/grind.

The issue with moving the diamond key to milestone rewards is what to replace it with? What would motivate playing for event rewards UNDER top 10 (which in theory would only net you 1 additional diamond key since 1 is acquired with the reaching the respective milestone)?

Hmm since it is a DIAMOND PF, what about Diamond shards?...hmm, that might create another problem...

 

[Reshiram18]

Hmm since it is a DIAMOND PF, what about Diamond shards?...hmm, that might create another problem...

It's tricky for sure, if you replace diamond keys in 10% and 30% with diamond relic shards you just make another chase prize that inflates over time. However if diamond keys are kept in event rewards and get added into milestones, the diamond upgrading floodgates would be opened for anybody who did go the extra mile and people who only do milestones will fall behind quite a bit.

 

[evilgordo]

It's tricky for sure, if you replace diamond keys in 10% and 30% with diamond relic shards you just make another chase prize that inflates over time. However if diamond keys are kept in event rewards and get added into milestones, the diamond upgrading floodgates would be opened for anybody who did go the extra mile and people who only do milestones will fall behind quite a bit.

Well, diamond shards are not too bad, since the bottleneck is keys. Sounds like many players have plenty of Diamond fighters, just not enough keys to unlock them fully. But you are correct; adding a 'unique' reward to event thresholds just adds to the 'score creep'...

I think the diamond key 'economy' is the balance here. I'm thinking that the diamond key is moved from 30% and 10% to a milestone and the Top 10 will get the additional key like they normally do.

I feel the ire of Diamond PF grind is not the number of keys earned, it's just that missing a percentage threshold is so disappointing (especially at 30% and #10, where missing that threshold gets you less key(s) than you were hoping for) after the grind (even when you 'play it safe').

And I know the Devs are very careful of diamond key availability, so I think the proposed addition of a diamond key milestone AND the OG event reward keys is very unlikely, that's the reasoning behind my question of what should 'replace' the diamond key in the 30/10% event rewards...

 

[Dusty00]

Not sure if it’s the diamond key or the gold shards that’s inflating. Personally I could care less about diamond keys - got 145 sitting there doing nothing unless I start making dupe natural diamonds. I used to grind for gold shards for a chance of Shiny and to save up for new character release but it’s just not worth the time now with the inflated scores.

The main issue, regardless of what item is included in the 30 and 60%, is just how bad the 60% rewards are compared to 30%. Another approach is to add another tier, say 45%, or improve the 60% rewards slightly with maybe 200 gold shards and 1 character relic.

 

[Reshiram18]

Not sure if it’s the diamond key or the gold shards that’s inflating. Personally I could care less about diamond keys - got 145 sitting there doing nothing unless I start making dupe natural diamonds. I used to grind for gold shards for a chance of Shiny and to save up for new character release but it’s just not worth the time now with the inflated scores.

The main issue, regardless of what item is included in the 30 and 60%, is just how bad the 60% rewards are compared to 30%. Another approach is to add another tier, say 45%, or improve the 60% rewards slightly with maybe 200 gold shards and 1 character relic.

It's the diamond key. The vast majority of end game PF grinders are aiming for the key rather than the gold shards because they aren't in a position of having over 100 diamond keys stockpiled at any time.

 

[Dusty00]

It's the diamond key. The vast majority of end game PF grinders are aiming for the key rather than the gold shards because they aren't in a position of having over 100 diamond keys stockpiled at any time.

I’ll argue that they are not end-game players if they still need diamond keys. Haven’t had the need to grind for them since even before rift2.0.

 

[Reshiram18]

I’ll argue that they are not end-game players if they still need diamond keys. Haven’t had the need to grind for them since even before rift2.0.

Your definition of end game seems awfully strict. I'd define it as such: Level 70, story content done, match challenges done or mostly done, has at least a fully diamond fighter rift base (evolved or otherwise), is able to do 150 mil each event PF, is able to hit at least D4 in rift each week, and is still working on optimal move builds both offensively and defensively. The stage you described as end game is what I'd call super end game where every important nat diamond is already done, all moves on attackers and defenders are maxed/optimized, diamond keys are stockpiled, and the account is able to compete for D1 or higher in Rift every week.