SWGOH - What it’s about 2/2

SWGOH v Crack Cocain 2/2

I confess I have never taken crack cocaine, I don't even know people who have. by all accounts it is terrible stuff. Like most drugs I imagine there is a promise of a high but a terrible letdown.

We should remind ourselves why we play games. It is to have fun. I will be comparing SWGOH to famville and World of Warcraft.

For my £15 I am able to buy 8 sets of shards with a few crystals left over for a small boost to power to farm a few additional shards. Typically I can expect to get 12 shards per character for 7 characters I already have and get one new character. This process takes 30 seconds. If I am lucky I get a 4* character I am interested in. This saves me having to farm a battle 240 times for the 80 shards needed. Of course there is only a small percentage change that I will get the character I would like. If I unfortunately win a character I already posses, lets say 4* Kylo Ren, I would be rewarded with 32 shards and not the 80 that a 4* character is worth. This leads to the crazy situation where it is better winning 12 shards instead of a 1* character you already have which would be converted to 7 shards.

To farm character shards and equipment we do battles I’d have to do the same battle 1000 times to get a character to 7*. A battle typically involves tapping the screen over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. In the beginning this is fine, the game is new and fresh, as you level up it gets more tedious. Once a battle has been won without losing a character you can use tickets and not bother with all the clicking. Just click click and get the rewards. The game play now involves click click reward.

Time involved.

In order to get the best from the game I found I needed to put in 1-2 hours a day. I could not believe how quickly the time would pass by clicking the screen like a drone. But it had to be done in order to get the rewards that were needed to get the shards to level the characters up in order to make the teams that would be fun to play. The fun as it turned out was really a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. After spending 1.5 hours a day for six months, I am glad to report I have managed to eventually put together a few teams I can play with. I am proud of my Ewok team which does circa 1 million damage on the lvl 5 raid. It takes extra time to accomplish this though as I cannot just click the auto pilot. This extends the time dedicated to play every day.

For my £15 a month I got to click a screen, little reward and no real satisfaction. There is very limited social interaction with other players. For the same £15 in World of Warcraft I would be able to immerse myself in a world of wonder and exploration, I could chat with other players in real time in game and via teamspeak. Game play would involve some skill other than clicking the screen repeatedly and the universe I could enjoy is full of interesting places to visit and creatures to see. Threats were lurking around every corner and there was a huge storyline to follow.

I confess I have only seen other people play Farmville. It did strike me though that as a freemium game it followed the same economic principles as SWGOH. Once crucial difference though is the player's ability to be creative. In Farmville you can design your farm, building orchards and vineyards with building and other what nots to your own specification. Each game player designing a unique universe.

Ultimately in SWGOH everyone will have the same characters, leveled up to the same level with the same gear. The only consideration in determining a battle's winner is who gets to play first.

Aurodium pack.

I only ever bought one pack. For my 750 crystals or £4 I received 4 shards. So potentially a 7* Tusken Shaman was going to cost me £330. I have read about people taking 10 and more attempts to acquire a character. In my case that would have been £40 for 3* character.

If you really want the Aurodium pack character I would suggest being prepared to realistically spend £130-£180 to get him at 7. It is not worth trying for anything less than a 7 character as he will quickly become redundant.

Buying all 80 Characters this way would potentially cost in the region of £12,000, ouch. Luckily we can farm most of them, if you have the time.

Darth Vader

The killer decision to abandon this torment was working out how long it would take me to get the quintessential bad guy Darth Vader.

Only available through achievements and the shard shop.

Over the first three months I started racking up the achievements and the shards until I could unlock a 5* Vader. Some are easy, buy xyx number of items from the store. Then once that is done buy a larger number or win more battles. Eventually I unlocked the killer “Purchase 1,000 Arena shipments”. Well I can buy 1-2 Arena Shipments a day. This was the third phase of the achievement so I already had 200. An additional 800 shipments is going to take me 500 odd days of game playing.

To get a full blown 7* Vader you have to play this game for two years, dedicating up to two hours a day every day during that time. EA are you fucking crazzzzzy.

General Grievous

Can only be bought in the shard shop.

• 5 shards - 1125 shop crystals
• 10 shards - 2250 shop crystals
• 30 shards - 6750 shop crystals

You will need to earn 6600 shards for other characters and convert them to shop crystals in order to buy the General. Forgoing all else and having the right characters in the different reward locations this will take you a good while to accomplish this.

Time Factor

The mechanics of the whole system it seems is geared to wasting your time. Complete 5 challenges but wait 10 minutes between each one. Have 5 attempts at the Squad arena, wait 10 minutes between each one. Complete 12 rounds of global wars, 9 of which are time wasters and only 3 may require some thought. Waste 20 minutes of your time.

Upon reflection this game currently has very little redeeming features, if you start it you will be drawn into a promise of enjoyment that cannot and will not be achieved. Energy bonuses are handed out three times a day on timers, so expect to have your phone ready to log in and grab them.

The dynamics keeps you hooked and involved for no other reason than to waste your time. Like crack you will have to go back again and again to achieve less and less. Each time you do there is some hope to make some small advancement in your character. In the end when I look back at what I have achieved I ask myself why, why did I spend all that time wasted when I could have read a book, talked to a friend, cooked a meal or watched paint dry.

Summary

Maths of the Game

Number of Characters: +/- 80
Shards needed to get a character to 7*: 330 = 1000 standard battles.
Number of free crystals earned a day: Depends on various rankings and achievement completion, expect 100-175.
Number of character shards earned per day: 55
Amount of time spent per day: 1-2 hours.

To date I have

• Won 549 PvP battles
• Won 12,048 normal battles
• Won 3,903 hard battles
• Won 1607 Galactic war battles @12 per day = 134 days played.
• Won 47 guild raids
• Time spent: 200+ hours, conservatively.

Enjoyment Factor

It has taken me six months to realize that I need to continue for another year before I get Vader and probably much longer before I can unlock Grievous. There is a lot of repetitive work and waiting about for very little real enjoyment. Spend your money if you like but do not expect to get much fun from it. I would suggest spending the money on taking a drive somewhere new and enjoying a few beers.

Can the game be made more enjoyable while being profitable, yes. How. I won’t say. My time is worth something too.