I spent way more on this game than i thought i did

[sirmola]

After spending some money on the brave banner, I thought for a little bit and decided that I wanted more info on exactly how much I spent total. After not finding any information in the app, I went onto the google play store's transaction history, and added all my purchase amounts manually using a spread sheet. I discovered that i have spent $240 on this game (most of it in the last 2 months). This disturbes me, because I was under the impression that I had spent less than $150, total (I started playing around BH1, and my first purchase was the black knight pack). Although I can afford it, I still feel tricked, and am considering uninstalling the app. (if only so that this does not happen again. I am trying to save money for a rainy day). On the other hand, It is providing hours (and hours. and hours) of entertainment, and allowing me to flex my strategy muscles.  On the third hand, things like daily quests feel exploitative, because they force me to play the game on its terms (to make it impossible to unplug while maximizing f2p benefits). Urg. This post is partly to vent, and partly to solicit advice.

Edited August 23, 2018 by sirmola

[Re: The weirdo.]

i've never touched heroes, but i'd say that you should just stop playing. never have been a fan of the mobile game business model, after all, you've spent 4 times the amount it would take to just get 1 AAA console game, and it may be fun, but if you don't want to play a largely addictive game on its own terms, like you mentioned, you should probably stop playing, because playing and buying orbs is clearly a big detriment to your wallet, and said wallet can buy other, just as fun, if less dangerous games.

[Garlyle]

You spent more money on this game than what I did in total. I made just a few purchases, but the last time I invested was the Hector Legendary banner. Since then I changed my strategy somewhat on how I play with my orbs. I want to save up, but sometimes there's a banner coming that looks so interesting I just can't pass up. However I'm also keeping an eye on banners that are upcoming soon, so I try not to spend all my free orbs. Also I keep in mind, if the banner is in Fates/Awakening direction with interesting characters, I might summon, but I'd defineately not spend money on it. I don't want the devs to think that Heroes should be all around those. I have a few characters I want more than others, so I'll try to save up for future banners where they have focus. Legendary banners are my traps. I missed my chance to get LA!Lilina on Legendary Lucina's banner, but I know she'll come back in the future.

When I think I purchase orbs, first I look at this as a self-reminder: https://feheroes.gamepedia.com/Item_distribution

Hope I could help with all this.

Edited August 23, 2018 by Garlyle

[Humanoid]

I've played since launch, and I'm the opposite of you in that the BK pack was the last time I spent money on the game. Mind you, I've "only" spent about half of your total over the course of the game, but what I found is that it gets easier to not-spend as time passes. Once your barracks hits a certain critical mass, the incentive to pay falls off pretty sharply I find.

That said, I'm someone who mostly summons for power - units who would significantly change how the game plays out. For people who summon mostly because they want to collect their favourite characters, the point where the urge to spend falls off would be somewhat different. I'm totally happy now with how powerful my units are and it would take an absurd amount of spending to improve - i.e. summoning several copies of 5* exclusive units. That target is so unrealistic that I can easily rule it out, and thus I haven't had even the slightest temptation to spend further.

Others will find the cliff is when all the units they care about have been released, though obviously their attitude towards alts means there may well be continued incentive on a pretty much indefinite basis. IS knows this, of course, which is why said alts exist.

Ultimately it's kind of hard to give meaningful advice without knowing your primary motivation for playing, though you seem to enjoy the gameplay well enough. Looking beyond the short term, do you even have a specific goal with your spending? Having a defined end-goal definitely helps. If your spending is more impulsive and you're simply chasing the newest, shiniest units, then there's no saying how deep this rabbit hole is.

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

i never saw money i spent on gacha games all that much so long as i didn't overspent my monthly limitation

 

 

and that monthly limitation exists because i realized thats as much money as i spent on my Tea Addiction

[Nanima]

Either switch to F2P (which is what I've been doing since the game's start) or at least keep track of what you are spending on the game. I honestly don't understand how you can feel "tricked" by the game unless you suspect that they've been illegally taking more of your money than you actually spent. At the end of the day spending money on this game is a choice you make by yourself, even if Intsys is actively trying to get you to do so.  They don't acutally force you.

My advice would be to keep track of all your purchases and set yourself a monthly/yearly/whatever limit for what you are willing to pay, then stick to it.

If you can't do that, and you find it impossible to continue playing as F2P (again, perfectly viable option) then you should probably uninstall.

[Othin]

Approximate average orb cost to color-snipe the focus unit you want:

3-character banner: 150 orbs

4-character banner: 200 orbs

Legendary banner: 225 orbs

Recently, the game has been releasing at least 300 free orbs per month. Where I live, you need to spend over $150 to get an additional month's worth of free orbs, which gets you at most two additional snipes on average. Seems like a pretty bad deal to me.

If you're looking for a way to convince yourself to stop spending money, perhaps those numbers will help. If you don't think you can convince yourself to stop, consider jumping ship.

Personally, I haven't spent any money on Heroes, but I've found myself feeling compelled to keep up with unwanted repetitive quests just for free orbs and feathers. I've been working on convincing myself to ignore them if I think the rewards are more trouble than they're worth.

[Ice Dragon]

I'm obviously operating under a much larger budget, but it still helps that every single time I make a purchase in this game, I either have my credit card transaction history up on screen (when I have desktop access) or have looked at it immediately prior (when I don't).

If you aren't spending on a monthly basis, pick a different spending history report to use that covers a wider time frame.

I find that's a good habit to have regardless of the size of your budget and regardless of what you're purchasing.

[XRay]

8 hours ago, sirmola said:

After spending some money on the brave banner, I thought for a little bit and decided that I wanted more info on exactly how much I spent total. After not finding any information in the app, I went onto the google play store's transaction history, and added all my purchase amounts manually using a spread sheet. I discovered that i have spent $240 on this game (most of it in the last 2 months). This disturbes me, because I was under the impression that I had spent less than $150, total (I started playing around BH1, and my first purchase was the black knight pack). Although I can afford it, I still feel tricked, and am considering uninstalling the app. (if only so that this does not happen again. I am trying to save money for a rainy day). On the other hand, It is providing hours (and hours. and hours) of entertainment, and allowing me to flex my strategy muscles.  On the third hand, things like daily quests feel exploitative, because they force me to play the game on its terms (to make it impossible to unplug while maximizing f2p benefits). Urg. This post is partly to vent, and partly to solicit advice.

If uninstalling the app is your first instinct, I would go with that and find an alternative strategy game. If I had known how much money I spent on this game since launch, I would have never played the game in the first place.

But since I did start playing, the game was pretty good to me (I got Hector within the first week of launch as my first free 5*, and I got hooked and became pay to play immediately after that), and I could not stop playing afterwards. I tried to quit a few times, but all the effort that went into it feels like it would have been meaningless and a huge waste, so I could not bring myself to uninstall the game.

In my opinion, the sooner you can detach yourself from the game, the easier it is to quit and stay that way. When you try to quit later, sunk cost fallacy sets in and it feels really hard to detach yourself.

[Ice Dragon]

13 minutes ago, XRay said:

If uninstalling the app is your first instinct, I would go with that and find an alternative strategy game.

You say that as if it is easy to find an alternative strategy game that works as a substitute.

Also, I don't think uninstalling should ever be the first response. That's trying to kill a fruit fly with a nuke. If spending is the problem, I personally think the first response should be to unlink your credit card from your phone (and never link it again), which makes it hard enough to make a purchase so that you have enough time to think about what you're doing.

It's better in the long run to foster good financial management habits as early as you can (even if it's just "look at credit card statement" -> "yeah, no").

[Captain Karnage]

I like what Ice Dragon said, budget yourself. I only buy orbs from the monthly deal, and that's really it.

But trust me, you haven't spent nearly as much on this game compared to what I have spent on Magic cards, I've spent around $300 dollars this year on my modern/legacy burn mana base alone. Then again I bought it slowly over the course of the year picking up a few pieces each week so I wouldn't go broke. 

[XRay]

7 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

You say that as if it is easy to find an alternative strategy game that works as a substitute.

That depends on the player. While I agree it is not easy for everyone, there are plenty of strategy games in the Play Store. They are not of the same quality of course, but if the player keeps their expectations reasonable, it is not too difficult to overlook the lack of polish.

12 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

Also, I don't think uninstalling should ever be the first response. That's trying to kill a fruit fly with a nuke. If spending is the problem, I personally think the first response should be to unlink your credit card from your phone (and never link it again), which makes it hard enough to make a purchase so that you have enough time to think about what you're doing.

It's better in the long run to foster good financial management habits as early as you can (even if it's just "look at credit card statement" -> "yeah, no").

I agree it is a good idea to foster good financial habits, but cutting expenses is just as important. If a person can derive the same enjoyment from another product at a cheaper cost or completely free, I would recommend the person to cut the expense and switch immediately.

[Jotari]

9 hours ago, sirmola said:

After spending some money on the brave banner, I thought for a little bit and decided that I wanted more info on exactly how much I spent total. After not finding any information in the app, I went onto the google play store's transaction history, and added all my purchase amounts manually using a spread sheet. I discovered that i have spent $240 on this game (most of it in the last 2 months). This disturbes me, because I was under the impression that I had spent less than $150, total (I started playing around BH1, and my first purchase was the black knight pack). Although I can afford it, I still feel tricked, and am considering uninstalling the app. (if only so that this does not happen again. I am trying to save money for a rainy day). On the other hand, It is providing hours (and hours. and hours) of entertainment, and allowing me to flex my strategy muscles.  On the third hand, things like daily quests feel exploitative, because they force me to play the game on its terms (to make it impossible to unplug while maximizing f2p benefits). Urg. This post is partly to vent, and partly to solicit advice.

That's exactly why micro transactions have such a bad reputation. Nothing feels expensive if you're spending one dollar at a time. I imagine it's possible to sign off on your google account on your phone or something so you basically can't pay for things without the conscious effort of signing in. Of course if you use your google account frequently on your phone, that might just be annoying.

Edited August 23, 2018 by Jotari

[Midnox]

I understand the frustration of how predatory these practices can be. However, I suggest not uninstalling the game now that you've spent that much, but I'd rather advice you to take a few minutes a day to at least win it's daily orbs, and get the rest when you have more time. It can be absorbing, but again, a few minutes a day is enough, and the game is pretty generous with orbs. Just get those, and wait for a banner that you consider worth spending for. My strategy so far has been saving orbs until a worthwhile legendary banner comes up, and I haven't spend a single cent since last year thanks to that. I have over 650 orbs currently, and I'm waiting for this month's legendary banner 

[Jotari]

11 minutes ago, Midnox said:

I understand the frustration of how predatory these practices can be. However, I suggest not uninstalling the game now that you've spent that much, but I'd rather advice you to take a few minutes a day to at least win it's daily orbs, and get the rest when you have more time. It can be absorbing, but again, a few minutes a day is enough, and the game is pretty generous with orbs. Just get those, and wait for a banner that you consider worth spending for. My strategy so far has been saving orbs until a worthwhile legendary banner comes up, and I haven't spend a single cent since last year thanks to that. I have over 650 orbs currently, and I'm waiting for this month's legendary banner 

I wouldn't go in with the mindset of "I've spent all this money so now I have to play it." It's a sunk cost. The money's gone. You should only play the game if it's actually still bringing you enjoyment. Forcing yourself to play it just because you'll have wasted money if you don't isn't a good attitude (and I know you weren't really implying this Midnox, just voicing a viewpoint).

[Midnox]

1 minute ago, Jotari said:

I wouldn't go in with the mindset of "I've spent all this money so now I have to play it." It's a sunk cost. The money's gone. You should only play the game if it's actually still bringing you enjoyment. Forcing yourself to play it just because you'll have wasted money if you don't isn't a good attitude (and I know you weren't really implying this Midnox, just voicing a viewpoint).

My bad, I can see that can be easily misinterpreted 

[Ice Dragon]

1 hour ago, XRay said:

I agree it is a good idea to foster good financial habits, but cutting expenses is just as important.

Getting into the habit of checking how much you have spent before every purchase does both, though.

I don't think uninstalling is the appropriate solution unless you realize you can't bring yourself to check before each purchase or you realize you go through with the transaction regardless. If you have the self control to realize that you've spent too much after looking at your spending history and then not go through with the transaction, then that is enough to get the job done without the need for more drastic measures.

[Astellius]

9 hours ago, sirmola said:

After spending some money on the brave banner, I thought for a little bit and decided that I wanted more info on exactly how much I spent total. After not finding any information in the app, I went onto the google play store's transaction history, and added all my purchase amounts manually using a spread sheet. I discovered that i have spent $240 on this game (most of it in the last 2 months). This disturbes me, because I was under the impression that I had spent less than $150, total (I started playing around BH1, and my first purchase was the black knight pack). Although I can afford it, I still feel tricked, and am considering uninstalling the app. (if only so that this does not happen again. I am trying to save money for a rainy day). On the other hand, It is providing hours (and hours. and hours) of entertainment, and allowing me to flex my strategy muscles.  On the third hand, things like daily quests feel exploitative, because they force me to play the game on its terms (to make it impossible to unplug while maximizing f2p benefits). Urg. This post is partly to vent, and partly to solicit advice.

This is definitely an indication that you should take better care in managing your finances. The game hasn't tricked you, you have, in a certain sense, tricked yourself. While you could uninstall the game to prevent yourself from making more purchases like that, I'd like to point out that that's only a short term solution, as this doesn't address what caused the problem in the first place. If you picked up another game with micro-transactions, you could very well find yourself in this predicament again, just with another game.

With that in mind, you need to figure out a way to keep track of your purchases that is more concrete than simply relying on what your impressions are and what you recall, since that has proven to be unreliable. I think that it would be a good idea for you to establish a monthly budget for the game, and then consult your budget before you make any purchases in the game.

Another option is to go entirely F2P. This game is quite generous to its F2P players -- indeed, I find this to be one of the best games in that respect. The game gives you a lot of free orbs. You could try it out for awhile, and see if that makes you feel better about the game.

As for the daily quests and such -- those are going to be in most games with an ongoing lifespan. However, the daily quests in this game usually aren't that important (unless they're during an event), mostly just crystals and shards, and you don't even have to login consecutively to get all of the orbs from login rewards.

But, if you're not enjoying the game, or if it starts having a significant negative impact on your life, then you should uninstall it. This is, after all, just a game, and I'm sure there are other things that are as worthy of your time.

7 hours ago, Nanima said:

Either switch to F2P (which is what I've been doing since the game's start) or at least keep track of what you are spending on the game. I honestly don't understand how you can feel "tricked" by the game unless you suspect that they've been illegally taking more of your money than you actually spent. At the end of the day spending money on this game is a choice you make by yourself, even if Intsys is actively trying to get you to do so.  They don't acutally force you.

My advice would be to keep track of all your purchases and set yourself a monthly/yearly/whatever limit for what you are willing to pay, then stick to it.

If you can't do that, and you find it impossible to continue playing as F2P (again, perfectly viable option) then you should probably uninstall.

I agree with this. I generally just avoid putting money into gacha games, with the extremely rare exception of an exceptional pack, since they're a sink with bad returns.

40 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

You say that as if it is easy to find an alternative strategy game that works as a substitute.

Also, I don't think uninstalling should ever be the first response. That's trying to kill a fruit fly with a nuke. If spending is the problem, I personally think the first response should be to unlink your credit card from your phone (and never link it again), which makes it hard enough to make a purchase so that you have enough time to think about what you're doing.

It's better in the long run to foster good financial management habits as early as you can (even if it's just "look at credit card statement" -> "yeah, no").

Yeah, this is undoubtedly one of the best mobile strategy games, both in terms of quality and accessibility to players who don't want to burn their wallet. It's not as though the other strategy games in the Play Store are necessarily going to be any cheaper or more affordable, and it's not as though switching to a different game is going to make the person less susceptible to overspending on micro-transactions.

[Othin]

1 hour ago, Ice Dragon said:

Getting into the habit of checking how much you have spent before every purchase does both, though.

I don't think uninstalling is the appropriate solution unless you realize you can't bring yourself to check before each purchase or you realize you go through with the transaction regardless. If you have the self control to realize that you've spent too much after looking at your spending history and then not go through with the transaction, then that is enough to get the job done without the need for more drastic measures.

Spending isn't necessarily the only issue here, since OP also mentioned feeling compelled to play on the game's terms to get all the free stuff.

Still, that's another thing that's worth trying to learn to get under control. Even with quitting Heroes, it's another thing that could just come up again in the future with something else.

[Landmaster]

I mean, if you're enjoying the game, I don't see why you should uninstall it. Just be a bit sterner on yourself~ I'm a pretty regular Orb whale but only for banners that I really want. And only for Special or Legendary Banners that I know I won't have another chance for for a long while. No sense in wasting Orbs on Heroes that'll be added to the Regular Summon Pool. I didn't spend a cent for the Yllesean Heroes and focused on the Summer Banner instead~ There were occasionally times where I was coming close to buying but just had to convince myself that the chances of me pulling that one hero was unlikely AF and to just save my money~

There's plenty of free Orbs the game shoves at you just for logging in, so as long as you save regularly, you shouldn't need to always be making purchases~

[sirmola]

9 hours ago, Ice Dragon said:

You say that as if it is easy to find an alternative strategy game that works as a substitute.

Exactly. the core gameplay on FEH is really fun. I have already plyed almost every other FE (which are always great untill i run out of content), and other stratagy games on 3ds (looking at you, mercenaries saga)

Also, I don't think uninstalling should ever be the first response. That's trying to kill a fruit fly with a nuke. If spending is the problem, I personally think the first response should be to unlink your credit card from your phone (and never link it again), which makes it hard enough to make a purchase so that you have enough time to think about what you're doing.

THat's good advice, I think I will do that.  THat being said,  I also feel like thinking "$240" is enough to keep me from spending any more money.

It's better in the long run to foster good financial management habits as early as you can (even if it's just "look at credit card statement" -> "yeah, no").

Part of why i fealt cheated is that my financial management skils are usualy MUCH better than this, making me feel like the system was set up to make me act like an idiot.

 

[Chrom-ulent]

I, too, have found I spent more than I thought. Though I’m otherwise living comfortably, I was spending more on FEH than my rent at my worst. I'm thankful I caught myself early enough, like you did, before I encountered too much harm. I now have myself budgeting every banner - though I'll say it's closer to Ice Dragon's budget than yours. I just hit my limit on this Brave Heroes banner, and used free orbs to chip away the pity rate before calling this banner quits.

With how many heroes in the catalog I already have, and with this TT giving me the units I missed, catalog completion is now within reach. I will use catalog completion as my stopping point. Until then, collecting heroes as they're released should be in my budget. I achieved Great Summoner rank in Arena, I cleared all permanent content, so I just need this final achievement to be able to say that I have won FEH. After that, I'll only buy monthly bonus packs for the bonus resources, barring a hero that captures my heart and then eludes me / breaks my heart with a garbage IV.

As I began my recovery, I got an emulator so I could create a second account. This second account is strictly F2P, not even getting the Black Knight Pack. Seeing how far this account can get without spending is also helping me spend less on my main account.

I started properly tracking in June, but you inspired me to look up my iTunes history. Safe to say, I really hope I get the missing heroes soon...

[Roflolxp54]

Consider what you want to do with your orbs. Who do you want to pull for? Is the unit 5*-exclusive? If so, really consider saving those orbs for that unit as well as for the fodder needed to bring out the best for that unit. Don't spend your orbs willy-nilly on some 5*-unit you'd ultimately end up benching. Also, do be careful with skill inheritance - wasting skill inheritance fodder is pretty much the same as wasting orbs.

The game's more fun to play using your actual favorite characters (ie. your waifu/husbando).

[Endriu]

You spent much less than what I had spent back in the day - in the end I deleted the game. It wasnt just about the spending that I deleted the game, for me this game is best when its f2p, its some sort of an underdog challenge that makes each achievement rewarding. Lets say you manage to stay in a top arena tier as a f2p player, thats rewarding - the extra rewards can help you further improve you army etc. As p2w it doesnt really make any difference if you a get one more orb for per week or 1k feathers, its not even like a drop in the bucket.

It was just about two weeks ago that I started this game again - entirely f2p this time around

[Mercakete]

I've never spent money on this game, and I've been playing it since launch. Sometimes I get tempted to buy orbs, but there's a trick I use to keep myself from doing that: I look at the worst-case scenario. "Look at how many people don't get what they want with their pulls. Look at how many times you've pulled, and how few times you've gotten the unit that you wanted. This is extremely likely to happen. How would you feel if you spent all that money, and then didn't get anyone you wanted?" It helps me to bring myself out of the daydream and into a reasoning mental state. I'd feel guilty spending that money for nothing, especially with how tight funds are. It'd be irresponsible. Besides that, I like being able to say that I've been f2p since launch, and that would go away if I spent money on the game.

Anyway, I hope this helps. I don't think you need to quit entirely (unless it's too much of a temptation to spend money if you keep playing) but I agree that the responsible thing to do is to back off of spending. Maybe linking it to a Nintendo account (if you haven't already) and taking some time off will help, though that would also mean missing opportunities for free orbs. Weigh it out and pick the best option for you. :)