Spiral Knights - Radiant Crystals

Radiant Crystals

22 replies [Last post]

Fri, 12/13/2013 - 20:57

Awoogawooga

The Radiant drops have been adjusted for quite some time now. Around 2 to 3 months? So how are new T3ers getting along?

Those who've already got their 5* setup fully heated to level 10 weren't affected too much. Myself for instance, although I have a lot of stuff I want to heat up, my primary gear's been done for a long time, so adjusted Radiant drops weren't detrimental to me. I'm not a fan of it, but it didn't kill me.

But it's been a few months since the adjustment now, so, for those of you who have hit 5* since the Radiant Drop Adjustment, how are you getting along?

Is everybody using 4* lvl 10 to Vana these days? Or 5* lvl 1 - 5? Or is there a reduction in FSC play now that the risk/time vs payout ratio isn't as profitable?

I'm afraid I've stopped playing for over a month (rough guesstimate) now, so I'm not sure what's the situation now.

Mon, 12/16/2013 - 18:50

Maharito

Yeah, right where you're at

Yeah, right where you're at Awoogawooga. Since the majority of forum-goers are everyday regulars instead of passers-by, you don't get much sympathy or discussion interest here, as they've seen it come up a dozen times at least.

But OOO has lost my business with this. The new 5* weapons aren't worth bothering with if I can't make them properly powered-up to their normal maximum for less than $15 each. My modestly-skilled guild can't do UFSCs multiple times a day and only a few of us with grandfathered powered-up 5* equips could handle it anyway. The grind isn't worth my time, not even close. So the game is approaching "dead to me" status.

Regulars may snark, but I'm sure you'll get a couple "hear hear"s once in a while, like from me. I wonder if my guild's kicked me out yet. What sad times.

EDIT: Since the vague but sympathetic thoughts of GM Atalanta were shared, I'll withhold condemnation and keep playing for a while longer.

Fri, 12/13/2013 - 21:41

Dibsville

Well.

My current stuffs, I didn't have much pre-forge.

Is everybody using 4* lvl 10 to Vana these days? Or 5* lvl 1 - 5? Or is there a reduction in FSC play now that the risk/time vs payout ratio isn't as profitable?
Most randoms I see use Level three or four 5* gear, with a Level six to ten 4* secondary.

Fri, 12/13/2013 - 22:22

Milk-Frog

Grandmum lovers.

Three Rings is three idiots with a company name. And now you understand why I loathe free to play games. I bloody loathe them. Honestly, If Spiral Knights were to shut down, I wouldn't give a flying fish. That's good, one less f2p game out there in the world, that's great news to my ears. Spiral Knights is by far the most irritating free to play game that I have ever played. If there were game awards for the worst game economies in gaming history, Spiral Knights would be going home with 9 grammies. The Auction House is horrible. These accessory promotions that they do, are hair-pulling annoying. We're all just paying for energy, basically, not for the accessory of our choosing. I buy this Polar promotion energy package, hoping for a twilight helmet, but I get something else that I don't care about, I get the Day Polar coat. I just got ripped off, all I bought was energy, if you think about it. We should be allowed to sell heat crystals to other players, that would bring in great business for the Auction House. Cosmetics should be what people would spend real life money on. I'm the type of player who likes to mine copper ore, 8 hours a day, 6 days a week, and sell them by the stacks, undercutting the lowest price for a quick, easy buyout. Spiral Knights doesn't work that way, they make you think like an economist. The staff at Puzzle Pirates thinks that us 10 year-olds work at New York's Wall Street or something. Well, guess what Daniel James? I don't bloody work in Wall Street, and I am not a little sticky butterfinger, adventure time loving 6th grader.

I like my games simple. I log on, I spend 8 hours mining copper ores, I go to the local auction house, sell my ores by max stacks, making sure that I undercut the lowest seller. Once that's done, I log out, and once the next day comes, I repeat the process for 5 straight more days. On the sixth day, I only log on to check my mail to take in my profit, then I log out, and that's just basically how I spend my gaming days. It's an efficient and trustworthy program. And that's how this game should be. There are many people who think like me! But rather than copper ores, it will be heat crystals.

Fri, 12/13/2013 - 23:18

Awoogawooga

@Maharito - Yeah, the time

@Maharito - Yeah, the time spent/effort to payout ratio isn't there for me right now.

Some examples, before my current hiatus but after the Radiants adjustment, I've stopped playing FSC and switched to JK (1st map only) to pass the time and speed running pre-FSC levels for Shinings.

For JK, it's because it's got a decent payout (decent heat + around 1K crowns on Elite) vs low investment (if you die, you can restart. And it only takes less than 10 minutes to complete). There's also a rare chance of getting an orb.

For speed running levels like In Cold Blood or the first map of the Gauntlet, you get a decent Shining payout with only a small investment of time. In terms of investment in time, you probably spend about as much time as you would if you were completing FSC, and you lose out on the crowns, but you can spread out your time playing. And the levels are not always the same, nor are you dependent on a good party.

But eventually, I got enough Shinings to max out all my 4*. And that's when I finally stopped playing, because there's no "carrot" for continuing.

@Dibsville - Thanks for your observation. Yeah, getting that 5th level in 5* is kinda tough. Up to level 4 is doable, but that 5th level that'll give you a bonus is a bit of a hurdle.

@Milk-Frog - Whoa now, I wouldn't go that far. The game mechanics are pretty decent for a F2P. It's just the "incentives" for playing beyond the end game (or even breaking into the end game) have been nerfed.

I enjoyed my time on SK. I had good guildies and great co-ops. I even bought the Elevator Pass way back in the day so I could play more. I'm just curious as to the state of things, and airing out some frustrations in the meanwhile. I do hope that the game will balance itself to offer more incentive to players like myself though. Guys who are inbetween casual and hardcore.

Fri, 12/13/2013 - 23:46

Milk-Frog

It's not worth real money.

It's not worth real money for Radiant Shards, I said it here, people. It. Is. Not. Worth. It. As sad as it may seem, I will forever have a level 9 Cold Iron Vanquisher. If I had money to spend, then sure, I'd easily just go right ahead and buy Radiant Shards, but sadly, no, I do not have money to spend like that. I loathe free to play games. I'm not losing my rent money to some virtual fake world and fake identity of mine. There are people who spend dozens of 20 dollar bills on free to play games like Spiral Knights. I know people in real life who struggle for gas and phone payments. ADULTS. It's 50 Radiant Shards, who's going to spend that much money on them? It's not worth it if you don't have cash to waste, just saying. I agree with OP. The thing about preserving players at bay from reaching end-game, is through a long, patient process of waiting. They make players work a lot, wait a lot, and just slowly progress throughout the game. Mostly because there's not much to do at end-game except complain about that lack of end-game content. You can hoard as much crowns as you want, buy 700 energy with those crowns, and then buy the 50 radiant shards. That's a lot of work though, to tedious for me. I want to experiment with other gear, I'm bored of my current set, but the amount of work needed to do so is overwhelming. I'll probably lose interest in said gear as I work on it..

Sat, 12/14/2013 - 04:47

Thunder-The-Bright

gods ain't gonna help you, son.

milk, why are you still here? you are going to get lots of hate if you criticize a game full of people that like the game. the main argument will be "if you hate the game, why are you still playing it? but most of all, you reached 5* in a level you don't like?"

Sat, 12/14/2013 - 04:55

Aplauses

@Milk

You are confusing.
So...

Sat, 12/14/2013 - 05:28

Iamnoone

Up until July 31, 2013 when

Up until July 31, 2013 when my elevator pass was taking away from me for others to play for free, I used to play for hours everyday. I'd buy the ep every month and every month or two I'd would buy ce. From July to the Dark Harvest Fest, I struggled in the new system. I refused the pet and found as they made the game harder and harder, it became impossible to play even using my 50+ 5* items that are complete. DHF had the same rewards as it did last year...why bother. I quit playing before Halloween. Knowing what the July's update contained, I spent July pushing all my 3* and 4* to 5 and let them sit unused to heat after the update. There's another 50 or so 5*'s, level 1. I spent another $20 to fail at the forge even using maximum crystals. I have 4 or 5, 5* items that I managed to heat to level 2 but only because a random stranger who felt sorry for me and did want to see me quit playing, sent me 3000 e to help me heat things. Then, I did the math. $20 an item to completely heat it...

I'm event only and once in a while just to see if it got better until they make the game fun again and treat us with respect.

Sat, 12/14/2013 - 05:53

Thunder-The-Bright

I spent another $20 to fail

I spent another $20 to fail at the forge even using maximum crystals.

this is completely impossible. provide proof of that, and I still wouldn't believe it. if you use maximum crystals you cannot fail.

Sat, 12/14/2013 - 06:45

#10

Halandin

SK=poor F2P model. TF2=good

SK=poor F2P model.
TF2=good F2P model.

Everything is too expensive in SK in real dollars, if they slashed energy prices drastically they might make more money and keep players happier. They are trying to use expense as the method of "slowing down" players heading towards 5* gear. TF2 gets around that by having item drops randomly up until a certain number of hours per week, and you start out with weapons that will do just fine, the "better" weapons you can get have their own weaknesses so that there are no OP weapons. The weapon prices for buying can be cheap too, with sales sometimes, and the more expensive stuff is usually the newest stuff--you can choose to buy now for more or wait and pay less, without it effecting your game play.

Sat, 12/14/2013 - 07:09

#11

Dasmir

I dont see new people in game

I dont see new people in game in FSC (at least at champion rank) pretty much every time i do vanaduke is always 3 guys full equip i rarely see people with 4* gear or 5* gear in level 1, its make me think spiral has already a foot in the coffin.

I have 4* gear exept armor for UVS and i dont have problem against vanaduke (Max Gun damage + Charge... gg blitz spam)

Sat, 12/14/2013 - 10:08

#12

Quaquonfaes

Less than 1.5% of total

Less than 1.5% of total players that played the game have ever crafted a 5* item and less than 1% have crated a full 5* set, BEFORE THE BS UPDATE, why is OOO trying to make that amount even smaller? It's like the are going backwards.

http://steamcommunity.com/stats/SpiralKnights/achievements/

Sat, 12/14/2013 - 10:28

#13

Krakob

@Ellthan-Cosmolion

Those are Steam players. It's not really fair to look at it like that since a ton of people who have played SK just did so to get a hat in TF2 and left after that.

Sat, 12/14/2013 - 10:34

#14

Zaffy-Laffy

Then I'm glad to be that 0.1% who achieved Dauntless Delver, and all other achievements :3

Sat, 12/14/2013 - 10:50

#15

Mushy-Bucket

---

Like Krakob said, those are only Steam stats. Steam is not the whole population. It's probably half or bit more. If the regular release was included, the percents would be higher, because there would be the players that have all 60 achievements because they started before the Steam release, like myself.
Also as Krakob said, the Steam release brought a bunch of buggers who just play to get better TF2 gear or Steam games.

Sat, 12/14/2013 - 11:08

#16

Quaquonfaes

Hmm, indeed, wish there was a general stats board but still, BUT this is a number out of everyone who plays from steam and those that connected to it.
Even if it isn't the whole population it still tells us something about a large amount of players.

Sat, 12/14/2013 - 11:34

#17

Mushy-Bucket

---

A large amount of players that are at least 40% people who made an account to boost their TF2/Steam stuff.

Sat, 12/14/2013 - 13:52

#18

Sirius-Voltbreaker

Milk-Frog, if you actually read some things you would know that Sega are the actual idiots. If you think this game has bad feautures leave. You are only some random new forumer anyway. Leave please. And dont come back.
And I was fustrated to see that not all of my steam achievements were passed over from my first character, even though I am positive I changed the email. That dauntless delver achievement isn't easy :(

Sat, 12/14/2013 - 14:15

#19

Milk-Frog

This game likes to eat crumbs under the table.

This game has a crummy auction house. I've yet to learn how to survive in Spiral Knight's economy. I should have the right to rant. It's not that I hate the game, it's more of that I hate how difficult it is for me to enjoy myself in this game. I don't know why I am still here, but I am, and that's just that. There is still something about Spiral Knights that keeps drawing me to it. Halandin is right, btw. And how are Sega the idiots? I thought Three Rings said that they had full control over the decisions of their game? What has Sega done to the game, anyway? Didn't they just implant Sonic merchandise into the auction house? Those bloody tails and that blue funny Sonic costume? All I want is to become stinky rich and to be able to craft many different weapons at my leisure. I'm a 5 star vet, been one for a while, but I've grown tired of my armour and weapons, and I want to try something new and different.

Sat, 12/14/2013 - 14:40

#20

Sirius-Voltbreaker

Well...

From what I read, Sega doesn't give OOO enough money for them to produce new things. And this game is very easy to survive in for me. And also, without the auction house, I wouldn't be very succesful at all.

Mon, 12/16/2013 - 16:38

#21

Xtweeterx

Is this a necro?

Stop... making me... USE THIS!

Mon, 12/16/2013 - 18:54

#22

Maharito

Yeah, that's a necro

I love that guy...but it seems YOU are the one sowing the seeds of discord now! Low traffic plus a small but active forum base with a handful of frequent visitors on any given day means common ideas will show up often but lose front-page status from time to time. Regulars should quit lamenting and just stay out if it annoys them that much.

Anyway, posting to bump my edit: I now have at least a little hope that OOO will make things tenable within my lifetime.

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