Rarity Demotion Idea

[Rezzy]

There's been speculation about getting more 3* into the pool for a while now.  I and many others thought that the first major story update would come with a new batch of 3* to add to the pool.

Spoiler

Well, the Tellius chapter has come and gone, and there were no more 3* added.  I honestly thought it would have been the perfect opportunity to add some more units.  I thought we'd get the Green Bros and Rhys, maybe even Mia, Shinnon, and/or Gatrie as 3*.  It would also help keep Ike from getting "Team Rocket Syndrome" where it tarnishes his reputation as the strongest mercenary ever since we beat him three times in 5 chapters.

"There's Ike, the strongest mercenary in the world!"
"Then how come we beat him three times?"
"Shut up, Tobin!"

I thought it would have been better, if maybe, instead of Ike right off the bat, we face off against Oscar, Boyd, and Rolf

Then Rhys, Titania, and Mist

Then Mia, Shinnon, and Gatrie

Then Bruno's side filler chapter featuring Soren

Then finally face Ike after building up to him.

Maybe they could just add the Green Bros and Rhys to the 3*, and keep the rest for later, but that's a moot point, so onto my idea.

 

Since we have so many new 5* and 4* getting added, but no new 3*s yet, the amount is getting rather lopsided, and you're likely getting the same units over and over at 3*.  My idea was the many, most, or all of the units that are available as both 4* and 5* get bumped down to being 3* and 4*, and all of the 3* and 4* currently start being just 3*.  This would help flesh out the 3* pool, but also make it easier to get units that are currently 5* exclusive, since there will be less 5*s overall, and if you really want to use a unit, you can still promote them to 5*.

[property of nuvelle]

I agree. Certain characters don't really need to have 5 star version of themselves. And it doesn't help that all the new heroes are either only 5 stars or 4-5 stars.

[MonkeyCheez3K]

Can't imagine IS doing that in the near future. The exclusiveness of 5* units is what makes pulling so addicting for some, no? More profit that way, I imagine. If I could get Ryoma, Hector and company at 4 star, I wouldn't even consider giving them money, but that's just me. I'm sure they will eventually change things when it gets even more bloated. Still waiting for Ninja Kellam at 3* without any announcement, though.

Edited May 5, 2017 by MonkeyCheez3K

[Vaximillian]

Just keep Karel 5⋆ until I actually get him at least once, okay?

[property of nuvelle]

1 hour ago, MonkeyCheez3K said:

Can't imagine IS doing that in the near future. The exclusiveness of 5* units is what makes pulling so addicting for some, no? More profit that way, I imagine. If I could get Ryoma, Hector and company at 4 star, I wouldn't even consider giving them money, but that's just me. I'm sure they will eventually change things when it gets even more bloated. Still waiting for Ninja Kellam at 3* without any announcement, though.

You actually summon Kellam along with every 3*. We just haven't noticed.

5* exclusives should definitely stay like that. There are a few 4-5* that don't deserve that spot as much though. After a new set of character's focus banner, some should drop down to 3-4* just to expand that 3* pool. It would be nice being able to get someone new instead of Setsunas, Robins, Henry, and Bartre.

What did Kagero, Peri, and Effie do to earn that 4-5* anyways? Not hating on them, it's just kind of a weird pick, also considering Eliwood was made 3-4*.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

I don't think it's unreasonable at all for them to release new characters as 3-4 star, or demote existing 5 stars in the future. Yes there's no money in it for them to do that, but they still care about player feedback and this problem is getting more pronounced with each expansion.

[Cute Chao]

I would like more 3* charries. Yes, we should have 5* exclusives, but it's getting a bit ridiculous how bloated the two pools are getting compared to the 3*

[NekoKnight]

Maybe not bump down ALL 3-4* and 4-5* but I'd definitely appreciate a portion of the cast being demoted. I think they should take a number of factors into consideration when choosing which bracket each character falls into. Characters with strong starting kits or stat distributions should keep their higher rarity (can't argue with Kagero and Effie being 4-5*) but others should be marked down. I'd also factor in what skills are available at 4*, so most skills (barring some really good ones like Close Counter and Distant Counter) are available at lower tiers. The following are held by multiple characters but locked to 5* characters.
Life and Death (demote Jaffar or Minerva)
Live to Serve (demote Elise)
Quick Riposte (demote Leo)

For the other skills only held by one character, they should either be demoted or given to new characters. At the very least, I'd like the following added to the 4* character pool.
Goad Armor, Hone Fliers, Ward Fliers and Goad Cavalry.

[Hawk King]

Along with bumping the 4 and 5* exclusives down, they could raise some of the 3 and 4* only up to 4 and 5*. That way we can get access to some 5* though pulls that are only otherwise obtainable by promoting right now. 

[Rezzy]

10 hours ago, Hawk King said:

Along with bumping the 4 and 5* exclusives down, they could raise some of the 3 and 4* only up to 4 and 5*. That way we can get access to some 5* though pulls that are only otherwise obtainable by promoting right now. 

They can still be 5* in the occasional focus, but I think if they made that permanent, it would just make the problem worse.

[Cute Chao]

21 hours ago, Vaximillian said:

Just keep Karel 5⋆ until I actually get him at least once, okay?

No, make him 4* so I can get him at least once v.v

He can stay 5*, too lol 

I went for Karel during his focus, but I didn't used to hunt summon. I got up to 7% before I finally got Ninian >.<

[Hawk King]

14 minutes ago, Rezzy said:

They can still be 5* in the occasional focus, but I think if they made that permanent, it would just make the problem worse.

I specifically mean a rotation of the rarities in which characters appear.

Right now, Minerva for instance is 5* only. If the mixed things up and made her 3 and 4* available and took her away from the 5* group but took someone like Barst or Bartre and made them 5* only, I think that would be a good thing.

Possibly something like 3 month cycles.

[property of nuvelle]

1 hour ago, Hawk King said:

I specifically mean a rotation of the rarities in which characters appear.

Right now, Minerva for instance is 5* only. If the mixed things up and made her 3 and 4* available and took her away from the 5* group but took someone like Barst or Bartre and made them 5* only, I think that would be a good thing.

Possibly something like 3 month cycles.

IDK about that. I think 5* exclusives should keep that rarity. If those guys were to be demoted, they'd be less exciting to get and getting someone like Barst or Bartre would be less exciting to see as a 5*, since they're super common. And this doesn't just apply to just Barst and Bartre. Most of the 5* exclusives with the exception of a few have some reason to be a 5* exclusive anyways. Someone like Donnel or Azama are less of a big deal to someone like Lucina or Hector. I'd rather just have 3-4* get a focus for some special occasion like GHB rather than a cycle that will demote the current 5*.

[Okigen]

I support the idea of adding 4* version of the 5*. There are more and more characters so the chance of getting a particular one is very slim now. They can keep the best or new characters as 5* exclusive to attract pulls, but more mediocre units need to be downgraded to keep their f2p fanbase. 

Although, it will be broken if the Heroes Fest banner has their 4* version. Imagine distant counter on every melee.

[Othin]

6 hours ago, Okigen said:

I support the idea of adding 4* version of the 5*. There are more and more characters so the chance of getting a particular one is very slim now. They can keep the best or new characters as 5* exclusive to attract pulls, but more mediocre units need to be downgraded to keep their f2p fanbase. 

Although, it will be broken if the Heroes Fest banner has their 4* version. Imagine distant counter on every melee.

Even if 4* Hector was available, I don't think he'd have Distant Counter.

While making lower-rarity versions available would be nice, I'm skeptical because keeping them hard to get is such an important part of the game's profitability. They've made a few changes that give up some pressure to spend money in exchange for better player satisfaction, but I think the most we can really hope for is focuses like Hero Fest and occasional availability as quest rewards and the like, such as how Catria can only be summoned at 4* or 5* but the quests included a 3* version of her.

[Rezzy]

On 5/5/2017 at 10:23 PM, KongDude88 said:

IDK about that. I think 5* exclusives should keep that rarity. If those guys were to be demoted, they'd be less exciting to get and getting someone like Barst or Bartre would be less exciting to see as a 5*, since they're super common. And this doesn't just apply to just Barst and Bartre. Most of the 5* exclusives with the exception of a few have some reason to be a 5* exclusive anyways. Someone like Donnel or Azama are less of a big deal to someone like Lucina or Hector. I'd rather just have 3-4* get a focus for some special occasion like GHB rather than a cycle that will demote the current 5*.

It seems that 5* exclusives are mostly popular characters, but there are several popular characters that are 4* or lower as well.  Eirika, Robin, and Roy are all pretty popular, but not 5* exclusive.  There are also a few 5* exclusives currently, who aren't exactly top-tier popular, but aren't available as 4* or lower.

[The_antithesis]

I personally think IntSys should add a flurry of 3*-4* units from the older games during an update (maybe have some of them in a focus, and others in a new story chapter(s)) and let the fans find their old favorites themselves. This way, they only need to use one focus and a story chapter (which would probably revolve around Bruno creating a rag-tag army using the new heroes) to add in all the new units.

[Rezzy]

3 hours ago, The_antithesis said:

I personally think IntSys should add a flurry of 3*-4* units from the older games during an update (maybe have some of them in a focus, and others in a new story chapter(s)) and let the fans find their old favorites themselves. This way, they only need to use one focus and a story chapter (which would probably revolve around Bruno creating a rag-tag army using the new heroes) to add in all the new units.

That's why I was thinking the Tellius chapter would perfect opportunity to do just that, but they didn't, and just had us fight each unit three times.

[NekoKnight]

55 minutes ago, Rezzy said:

That's why I was thinking the Tellius chapter would perfect opportunity to do just that, but they didn't, and just had us fight each unit three times.

They should have just waited until they had enough Tellius characters to make a fully fleshed out World of Radiance. What we got felt more like a drawn out paralogue (it could have been 1 rout, 1 defend and 1 timed mission).

Characters take time to make so we aren't going to see something like 10+ new characters in one go.

[Rezzy]

8 minutes ago, NekoKnight said:

They should have just waited until they had enough Tellius characters to make a fully fleshed out World of Radiance. What we got felt more like a drawn out paralogue (it could have been 1 rout, 1 defend and 1 timed mission).

Characters take time to make so we aren't going to see something like 10+ new characters in one go.

Yeah, it felt more like a drawn out Paralogue, and the aforementioned "Team Rocket Syndrome", since it undermined the idea that Ike is supposed to be so strong, if we can easily beat him thrice.  Even having 3-4 extra units to add as 3* and flesh out the full 5 chapters would have done a lot to make it feel more complete.  The fact that they made it a chapter and not a paralogue is what made me think they had more characters ready to go.

[Roflolxp54]

I can totally see Ike being punted to the 3-4* drop table after the World of Radiance banner ends if only to make getting an Ike and training him into a 5-star Hero feel much more like a coming-of-age shounen story trope. From zero to Hero; from a boy to a man, that sort of thing.

Edited May 9, 2017 by Roflolxp54

[maybe]

8 minutes ago, Roflolxp54 said:

I can totally see Ike being punted to the 3-4* drop table after the World of Radiance banner ends if only to make getting an Ike and training him into a 5-star Hero feel much more like a coming-of-age shounen story trope. From zero to Hero; from a boy to a man, that sort of thing.

while I don't think that's impossible (i always thought that was why nino only comes as a 3-4), I think it'd be a little weird if ike of all people was demoted to 3 or 4 only

every other lord is available as a 5 star except for eliwood, and the other 2 from his game are 5 star only

[Roflolxp54]

2 minutes ago, unique said:

while I don't think that's impossible (i always thought that was why nino only comes as a 3-4), I think it'd be a little weird if ike of all people was demoted to 3 or 4 only

every other lord is available as a 5 star except for eliwood, and the other 2 from his game are 5 star only

Female Corrin is also a 3-4* drop and a 4* neutral one of her was distributed to anybody who logged in on Android (including emulators) for a period of time.

Male Robin, while not a lord but is a major protagonist in his main series appearance, is also a 3-4* drop.

Edited May 9, 2017 by Roflolxp54

[Vaximillian]

33 minutes ago, Roflolxp54 said:

I can totally see Ike being punted to the 3-4* drop table after the World of Radiance banner ends if only to make getting an Ike and training him into a 5-star Hero feel much more like a coming-of-age shounen story trope. From zero to Hero; from a boy to a man, that sort of thing.

All the way down to 1⋆! To the ground, baby!

[Roflolxp54]

Just now, Vaximillian said:

All the way down to 1⋆! To the ground, baby!

1 or 2* Ike as a quest reward or login bonus. :P