Should the Devs make it easier to get Iredesant Shards?
I think that it takes way to long to level up and get shards.
I think there should be another way to get shards or make it easier to level up.
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As a player, I'd love it if they did, but should they, considering that shards are essentially a free way to get something you would otherwise pay money for? I don't think so. To me, it seems reasonable that if someone is going to get something that costs money for free, they had better be willing to work hard to earn it.
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You didn't make a poll but this is in polls.
That being said I do agree the grind for iridescent shards should be reduced. (Short answer)
(Long Answer) The thing is, shards haven't changed much if at all ever since they and the shop were introduced alongside the Curtain Call Chapter which introduced Kate Denson and the Clown 2 years ago in 2018 (almost half the game's lifespan so far since the fourth year anniversary comes up in June). That was the 8th chapter, and since then number of DLC Chapters and characters has more than doubled (chapter 16 will be coming in May / June but there are also the paragraphs-not-chapters to consider) since then. Making the grind much more difficult than it was back then, simply because there are so many more characters to work toward and unlock.
Disconnected Veterans
When it comes to these kinds of questions I think veterans like us are a bit detached or disconnected from that issue until we're reminded of it, because more or less we've been keeping pace with the game's progress and content released. If we want the game to continue on an upward path however, we need to facilitate the entry of new players, and the grind is a serious issue for them when new characters and perks are constantly being released on a regular schedule. It's important to regularly maintain the mindset of "If I was a brand new player who just bought the game an hour ago, what would I think?"
If you want further proof of this, notice that you yourself @Fibijean Have made over 7,000 posts and the guy you're talking to, has made one. (As of the time I am writing)
Long-term viability for the lifetime of the game
So the answer here from a business standpoint @Fibijean is actually yes. Having too many characters and perks and other things to grind for can be so intimidating to new players that it'll end up pushing them away. The question is when? How do you know when you have so many characters that the grind becomes insufferable for a brand new fresh players and faces? The real answer is we don't know. You can make the argument it's not now, and there might be some room to make that point, but the reality is that at the pace DBD is releasing content, EVENTUALLY a change has to be made.
The Grind
When people talk about the grind they talk about Bloodpoints and whether or not perk tiers should be removed considering the 100+ perks there are and whether or not prestiging a character is even worth it because the grind to P3 is so freakin slow. But iridescent shards are ALSO part of this conversation since it's the primary way you see new players able to play all the fun characters we get to play like Deathslinger, Spirit or their favorite survivor they identify with like Jeff Johansson or Kate Denson. Unless you want to shell out more than triple the cost of the game to buy every single chapter with actual money (and somehow I don't think someone new who doesn't even know if they like the game or not won't want to do this). Which I think even the developers know your average consumer isn't going to realistically do
TL;DR People don't buy additional DLC unless they like the core product. It's a bit more difficult to like the core product when the full experience is locked behind either those same paywalls or an intense grind. Pick your poison so to speak
And I may not know what it is like to grind for a character that costs 9,000 iridescent shards but I do know what it is like to grind for a cosmetic that costs 13,500. That is not a quick grind
A real life example of a solution to this problem
Take League of Legends for example, the game quite literally has over 100 playable characters. Would the game really have the millions of players it has if every character was worth the same 6300 blue essence (their in game currency) that the newest characters are worth? Probably not. The oldest characters are actually worth much, much less of the in-game currency at some 1350 blue essence. I only recently started playing within the last year because of some friends, but from what I've heard from them who have been playing on and off for the past couple of years, the grind specifically for new players has been dramatically reduced. Your first couple of levels you are rewarded with a kind of case that gives you three characters "shards" one of which you can upgrade permanently to own that character for free and the other two shards you can keep to buy that character for a reduced Blue Essence cost. If you don't like that character at all, you can disenchant that shard for blue essence itself which you can obviously use to buy the characters you do want. The newer the character the shard belongs to, the more blue essence you get. After about 10 or so levels of being rewarded like this you start to earn a different case that gives you only 1 shard for some random character that you can upgrade for a reduced blue essence cost or disenchant for blue essence. But the levels themselves are far easier to gain at lower levels now than they were a couple years ago so even earning characters after you've exceeded the initial "new player buffer" is easier than it once was.
Back to DBD, does DBD have over 100 characters? No, we've got almost 20 killers (19 specifically) and almost 20 survivors (21 specifically) with absolutely no difference between the gains of a veteran player who has the knowledge of how systems work (how to earn BP more quickly and things like that) and a greenie who might have seen some gameplay, but doesn't know squat about the in-game systems and mechanics that take place. With absolutely no "new player buffer" like they have in League for the greenie in DBD, just have at it, and if you stick around long enough figuratively banging your head against the wall in the midst of matchmaking issues which pit you up against players with hundreds of hours, you get to make it to the other side and have experienced conversations with the rest of us. What kind of a welcome is that??
Concluding / sOLUTIONS
I'm not saying, that there shouldn't be any grind in DBD there should. At the end of the day the grind in a weird kind of way is part of the fun, it gives both you and me something to work toward. At the same time, the devs should be making money off of the content they produce, but if we want to make the game viable for the long term and encourage new players to stick around, they need to be provided incentive to play beyond the fun / scary horror gameplay DBD is known for. Those small successes that slowly build a player up until they've amassed the knowledge and experience to know their preferences, what to do, how they want to do it, etc.
Personally, I think the idea of making older characters cost less iridescent shards is a great one, it doesn't sacrifice the core integrity of the grind but it gives new players the opportunity to expand beyond what they're given at the very start. The ability to try new things, and incentive to stick around for longer to the point where if they feel comfortable with buying original (or more likely the licensed) content DBD has to offer they know whether or not it's worth it. I mean that or make iridescent shards easier to earn across the board as OP suggested, but regardless something needs to be done. Maybe not now, maybe not even soon, but eventually at some point in the future the current grind is simply not going to support the amount of content DBD will have.
And to a certain extent BHVR already does this, whenever DLC goes on sale the oldest DLC goes on sale for the biggest discounts some 50% off or more, while the new stuff is discounted for less at 10/15/20% off give or take. That's still taking the core concept of the newest stuff being the most valued and older stuff being cheaper, all that needs to be done now is take that concept and apply it to the in-game currency for characters.
Post edited by Seiko300 on2 -
No. Iridescent shards are a way to reward extremely dedicated, mostly free to play, players. They're meant to be an option for players who don't want to or can't pay for the new content. But not an easy one (because that would cost the Devs money).
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While I understand the point you're trying to make, I think I understand the new player experience better than you're giving me credit for, as I've spent a lot of time watching and discussing the game with my brother, who started playing last November, in recent months. He has never expressed an issue with the character grind, since the DBD DLC is actually relatively cheap and the five free characters kept him happy enough until he felt ready to branch out and buy more. He has problems with the bloodpoint grind, which I think is a potential issue, but I think there's a definite distinction to be made between the two in this case.
In terms of my personal history, I spent a large proportion of my childhood saving up for Sims expansion packs. I was usually only able to buy maybe 4 in a year, and in the meantime I kept myself happy with what I had. Did I want those games and feel jealous of people I saw who had them? Absolutely, but I was okay with not being given them and having to work for them myself. And those games were way overpriced, and a lot of the content in them was very obviously eliminated from the base game just so that they could sell it as an expansion later.
Point being, given my own background and what I've observed in new players who I admire and respect as people, I honestly have a difficult time believing that the issue with the shard grind is anything more than one of entitlement. I could very well be wrong about that, and perhaps there's an argument to be made that it's good business practice to cater to your audience regardless of whether their wants are reasonable or justified, but so far I haven't seen a lot that suggests otherwise.
And I'm aware that might come across very patronising, but the reason I include all that stuff about my own personal experiences isn't to suggest that I'm better than anyone else, but just to explain what my opinions are informed by, in the same way that anyone's views are informed by their background and experiences, so that you can better understand why I take the position that I do.
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*Shrugs*
Like I said, there's genuinely room to dispute my point currently in the moment, but eventually at some point in time in the future I don't think it will be viable to keep the current cost especially when considering the Bloodpoint grind. If people see that the bloodpoint grind is bad and they also see the grind to get new characters is equally so, then the whole title itself becomes synonymous with a general impossible or at least very uphill grind that permeates all facets of the game.
At the end of the day, I am experienced with and love the content BHVR produces enough to buy every new chapter they produce, and cosmetics for some of my favorite characters (Ghostface, Steve, [probably Ash down the line]) to support the game and its upward trend. So the iridescent shard grind doesn't affect me all that much outside of cosmetics, at the same time it's hard to ignore the fact other people who have to grind out for hours on end only to get access to a blank slate of a character that needs even more grinding afterward for perks on top. And that eventually down the line they'd have to do this 40+ times to get access to every perk on the list just for their main on survivor and killer.
It doesn't seem sustainable to me in the slightest, but ok. Agree to disagree.
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As I said, I think the bloodpoint grind is actually a problem. But that's a separate thing from the shard grind that we're discussing here, and you seem to be conflating the two.
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Only because as I said, you don't want grindy aspects and mechanics to be a part of all facets of the game. I've made my point, if you're still unclear you can just refer back to the "wall of text". I am looking at this from the long term point of view, how can we best sustain the game down the road rather than cash in on immediate success, I can point out to a number of examples outside of Dead By Daylight such as League of Legends, or Rainbow Six Siege, (which deal with the same issue of too many playable characters to grind for) where they make the older characters cheaper to purchase both with the in-game currency and real currency, as a legitimate business model. If your views are still at odds with mine then at this point we can only an agree to disagree.
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