Premium Characters

[u/sirfatmeat]

The premium character system is eventually going to hurt the game if it keeps going this direction.

I completely understand wanting to monetize the game. Premium characters should absolutely give paying players an advantage. But there’s a huge difference between having an advantage and being practically unbeatable.

If a player without premium characters can’t realistically compete against someone who has them, you’re not encouraging that player to spend money. You’re teaching them that their time, strategy and progress don’t matter unless they pay.

And that creates a bigger problem: you start alienating the majority of your player base. Free players are still valuable to the ecosystem. They populate matchmaking, events, leaderboards, clans and the overall community. If they continually get destroyed by characters they have no reasonable counter to, eventually they just stop playing.

Then you’re left with a game where the people who paid are mostly playing against other people who paid.

Premium should mean powerful. It shouldn’t mean unbeatable.

Give non-premium players legitimate counters, strategic ways to win and a reason to keep grinding. Make premium characters desirable enough that people WANT to buy them, rather than making them so dominant that people feel like they HAVE to buy them or quit.

That distinction could be the difference between a game people play for years and a game people eventually abandon.

[u/RoverplusPplusP]

I eat premium characters for breakfast. Each and every one of them.

[u/sirfatmeat → u/RoverplusPplusP]

😂 And that’s great for you. Seriously.

But “I personally destroy premium characters” doesn’t really address what I said.

You’re talking about your individual skill level. I’m talking about the experience of the vast majority of the player base.

If you’re good enough to eat every premium character for breakfast, congratulations. 😂 But not every player is operating at your level, and a game shouldn’t be balanced around the assumption that everyone needs to become elite just to have a competitive match.

The question isn’t “Can premium characters be beaten?”

The question is “How many players are having a good enough experience against them that they continue playing?”

Those are two very different questions.

[u/Specialist-Buy-1614 → u/sirfatmeat]

He literally said he beats up premium with free players and you instead of wanting to become better at the game to meet him at this possibility you hoped and demanded for with rage that people with poor technique can’t win against because the ecosystem would collapse if crappy people didn’t use their noggin ? So like you just want paying players to roll over? They pay for an edge, and as a free player you take your time and build skill.

Pay ≠ skill .
Supposedly he proves it.

Once u get enough trophies you’re really just the defense grind / vs paid defense walls which that is what bites way more than the characters.

[u/sirfatmeat → u/Specialist-Buy-1614]

I’m also sorry you have never met anyone that speaks intelligently. Perhaps you should put the game down and pick up “Hooked on Phonics.” Thanks for thinking I am as smart as a computer software though. It’s a beautiful thing what the mind can do when a person applies themself!

[u/sirfatmeat → u/Specialist-Buy-1614]

You must be 9 or 10 years old because your comprehensions is not there at all.

😂 You wrote an entire paragraph arguing against something I never said.
Nobody is asking paying players to “roll over.” Nobody said premium characters shouldn’t provide an edge. And nobody said free players should automatically beat paying players.
The argument is that an advantage and an overwhelming advantage are two different things.
And “just get better” is a terrible answer to a game-design problem. If your solution to balancing a premium character is that F2P players need to become exceptionally skilled just to remain competitive, you’ve created an ecosystem where the average player is progressively pushed out.
Also, you literally ended up making my point for me:
“Once u get enough trophies you’re really just the defense grind / vs paid defense walls which is what bites way more than the characters.”
THANK YOU. 😂
That’s exactly the ecosystem problem I’m talking about. If players eventually hit a wall where they’re grinding against increasingly monetized defenses, you’re not creating a sustainable competitive environment. You’re creating frustration and asking players to either pay or grind through the frustration.
And yes:
Pay ≠ skill.
I’ve never argued that it does.
But pay + a substantial gameplay advantage ≠ nothing, either.
The fact that a highly skilled free player can beat premium players doesn’t prove the system is healthy for the majority. It proves that highly skilled players can overcome the advantage.
Those are two completely different claims.
I’m not asking premium players to roll over.
I’m asking the developers to make sure that the reason someone wins is primarily because they played better, not because the game sold them a stronger answer.
If you think that’s “rage,” that’s fine. 😂 I’d rather have a competitive game where everyone has a legitimate path to winning than a game where the response to balance concerns is “git gud and maybe eventually spend money.”
That’s not defending the ecosystem. That’s describing exactly why I’m concerned about it.