for me this makes me want to quit the game alltogether because it's one giant big middle finger in the face of every player that saves shards to get sth. good .... in no way elva is at least 33% better than everyone before her .... i really would love to have her and was so happy when i read guaranteed event for her .... great, saved my shards, had 15 in the bank for such a champ as it was ... but f.... me and every other player that saved shards, we're just gone make it 20 .... such insurmountable greed and disrespect to every loyal player makes me just want to rage quit the game!!!! 

If you didn't think an increase from 15 was coming at some point, you are a bit naive. Not saying I wouldn't be pissed if I was at 15, but I upped my reserve minimum to 20 a while back. 

maybe... also mad at myself because I had 20 a week ago and then gave in (for the first time in ages) and pulled some for 10x for kimi & dutchess (of course for absolute nothing of any worth....) still I think this increase in shards by plarium is absolutely ridiculous, not even starting with pricing for those in general...

20 sacreds seems like a lot, but I think it's still a great deal. You sacrifice 1.2 legendaries in expectation compared to pulling those shards during a 2x (6% * 20). And most legendaries are considerably worse than elva. I'd say there's at most a 50% chance to get a "desirable" legendary (depends on acct level of course), so the guaranteed event comes out way ahead in pure value. That's before taking into account the mercy counter even.

Sad, really, because my account for the first time has 12 sacreds saved up. I would have been very tempted by the current pack string, but it's only 5 sacreds so I'm just a hair short.

Elva is a tempting guaranteed champion.

But 20 sacreds? Hmm...I only have 16 at the moment, seems like I have to pass....no...not have...but decide to pass.

@Trips is not wrong..this move had to be expected...it is in the line of getting more money.

Currently, we have one x10 chasing the next one...formely it had been only on weekends...than it was during CvC as well...now it is on nearly every day...

Plarium is acting like this is a game where they are playing against the player base. They offer guaranteed champions to bring the player base to pull more shards. The player base reacts with saving up shards, perhaps not spending as many during normal times. Plarium reacts by increasing the number of shards needed. 

My point of view: I like the game, it is fun to play...but I want to play the game RAID and do not want to play against Plarium. A game should be fun and not a wrestle with the game owner. There should be a balance between earning money and providing entertainment for a gaming company...I do see a serious disturbance here.

Make the game fun to play and people will spend money. Make a game less fun and more time and ressource intensive....players might stop feeling the game is for entertainment. Some might become addicted...some might leave altogether.

On one hand, this analysis hits on one of the key points, the relationship between plarium and the playerbase. But my takeaway is the opposite. I think the previous guaranteed champs for very few shards were a mistake. Setting extremely high expectations that couldn't possibly be kept, and creating incentives to be strategic with shards.

Having regular 2x events and fusions (roughly on the same power level as a 2x) is fine. But the guaranteeds add a lot of variance, as it's an all-or-nothing deal, as opposed to a 2x which just scales with your shards, or a fusion which has very low requirements compared to the 20 sacreds we're seeing here.

On top of this, Plarium has been very erratic with the timing of these, so it takes a lot more resources to be prepared for the "worst case" scenario. And if you miss even by a little bit, you're left out in the cold. It's made worse by the power creep, because randomly popping shards has a really hard time measuring up to these 2022 champs, when there's so much crap in the pool (We really need a wishlist!). I think that guaranteed events for 12 sacreds are better value than completing fusions. 12 sacreds roughly equals skipping two fusions, which makes the rational strategy to only do absolutely top tier fusions, and skipping even the "solid" ones.

P.S.: in my previous post I did my take as a player (where I just optimize in the game as given). This is my take as a game designer.

No not naive; I'm not surprised.  I'm just tired/dissapointed in Plarium continuing to be A-Holes.

I liked the comment above, that sometimes it feels we are playing against Plarium, not the game.  

At 15 shards, I would have had to buy 2 to add to my 13.  It would be my own fault for not saving 15, the precedented amount.  I'm sure plenty of people spent, but Plarium lost my money this time around, and made a customer unhappy.

It's an arms race, guys. This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. As accounts get better and better, the number of resources in the game at any given time continues to increase. If there are more resources, then everything gets more expensive to retain the same "balance". Couple this with the fact that there are ever-increasing ways to get those resources, and you will always arrive at the conclusion that things will get more expensive over time.

Does the 'average' account really get more mature with better resources, or just the top 10-20% of accounts?

Players quit regularly and new players sign up regularly, the only ones who keep improving are the few who stick it out for year after year? which i imagine is a small percentage of players.

Honestly? That's a question we'll never be able to answer. All we can really speculate on are players such as ourselves, who do continue to improve. Is the churn rate high enough that as new players get more matured accounts, existing players retire at the same rate? Who knows.

But even if we did dismiss that half of my equation, the rest still stands - between DTH, Hydra, and Twins, we have access to far more resources than we did before.

Sitting on 19 sacreds, not a single offer in my shop other than monthly pack. I don't think I would spend 20$ on a shard anywas.

At a point in time the games theory suggests your reliance on new players to provide churn also become a Ponzi scheme to those playing the longest.

i decided after hoarding 22 to chase dutchess and burnt 12 for epics but the luck of the draw ive been very lucky rng wise leading up to that decision and not fazed by skipping the 20 for guaranteed champ 

Congrats on the Pyxniel. With her recent buff, she'll look even more impressive doing nothing in the vault.

Faction guardian at least.... 

trips solid resutls from 20 sacreds - besides pyxniel lol