Upcoming Updates and the 6th Star

[Polaris]

When we first launched Disney Heroes: Battle Mode, we felt that, while the game was ready for worldwide play, it was still missing some key features. We knew that we wanted to add in Guild PvP (War), a real-time cooperative mode (Heist), something for less competitive players to do (Challenges), and some meaningful ways to progress heroes late in the game (from Orange onward). We’ve been working hard to get all of these updates out in a timely manner because we have older servers where players are getting capped out and/or running out of things to do. Some people have commented that we’ve been making a lot of updates lately… that is certainly true! But we do plan to slow things down a bit in the new year.

Our last big feature from this post-launch roadmap is still in the works. It’s essentially two things in one: a new way to upgrade heroes (starting later in Purple and focusing on Orange) and a special, periodic event where you can earn these new upgrades. We’re calling the upgrades “Mods” and the event “Invasion”. Our current plan is to release both in limited fashion before the end of year. We’d like to then revise and improve them before releasing them to all servers sometime early next year.

The 6th star release fits into this larger roadmap. Currently, after reaching 5 stars, there’s not much to do with hero chips in game. Missions require them, but only in modest amounts. Right now, we’re seeing a lot of our regular players stockpiling a good amount of hero chips. So we wanted to add a way for folks to continue to invest in their favorite heroes while also keeping hero chip rewards in shops, events, contests, and war meaningful.

This is important to keep the overall game feeling fresh and fun. It also allows us to be more generous with hero chips throughout the game, whether it’s selling hero chips at higher discounts in events, or adding more chips as gameplay rewards (as we’ve done recently with Guild War and the Challenge Shop).

All this said, we don’t have any plans to release a 7th star. We don’t plan to release new star updates the same way we add new chapters and hero ranks. Instead, we view the upcoming Mods/Invasion feature as the true long-term way for people to progress their heroes. The Invasion event is designed to be a bit different each time we run it to keep things fresh. We believe that this kind of dynamic feature will be more fun to play over a long period, rather than just adding grind.

We do apologize for not giving everyone more advance notice on the 6th star release. Going forward we’ll try to do a better job teasing out upcoming features and changes. As always, thanks to everyone for reading and for playing!

[Razzle_Dazzle]

I appreciate a response, thank you Polaris. Overall the game is really fun.

I note you state you can be more generous with hero chips throughout the game - but your point suggests this is limited only to events & selling discounts.

Our biggest concern now is the daily grind, the rewards we get for day to day efforts are quite unsustainable to the growing demands on the game.

The need for XP Bottles, Gold, Hero Chips & Badges have grown exponentially. While the ability to gather these on a day to day basis has not.

Trials & Port have stalled, Heist is now more expensive, Stamina costs keep spiraling out of control as we progress in the story.

Events and all are great, but everything always boils back to the day to day grind - that is where we need a boost. To keep us motivated to keep on going, rather then just hang out and hope the next event can save us.

[AdventEchoes]

It’s nice to see an apology being made. I however disagree with the 6 star being a way to add invest in your favorite toons. I think players were expecting more of Chip shop that could be used trade excess for other things such as chips you might need. We were told we were going to have a fun way of using our chips and this didnt seem like a fun way at all.

I’m also nervous that “mods” will be another way to increase the already growing power gap between players. Players who arent spending as much or none at all shouldnt be left with the feeling that they wont ever be able to catch up. Many players on my server quit today because this is exactly how they were feeling. I know money has to be made for the game to be successful but it seems their might be better ways to balance out the gaps. Guild wars was a fun idea but the guild im in literally decimates all but one guild so the charm of guild wars seems as if it will wear off fast. That and we no longer have tokens for sabotaging as we are using them to 6* shop heroes.

Invasion at least gives us something to look forward to. I’m also looking forward to updates slowing down and giving people more of a chance to catch up and be able to compete in war, arena, and colli. I think drop rates probably need to be looked at as well. I feel like you should be able to grind 1 or more badges a day if you use refreshes up to 200. The same with elite chips as it’s often hard to justify farming chips when you need to spend 99% of the time badging.

I really appreciate the response and look forward to seeing improvements in the hope that players will continue to play the game and not give up as many have.

[Swashbuckler_Pan_VIII]

I love six stars and disagree with the complaints. I upgraded 11 heroes as soon as it was announced, and am burning through coins/tokens buying chips like never before. The game *had" capped out, and I’m sad to hear updates will be slowing down.

The challenges shop needs refresh, btw.

[SlashweilerDog]

Well, I gotta be honest… this reply both calms and pleases me ^^ if 6th star is the limit, I’m okay with it… but I also agree with all said in that first comment ^^

[mal_III]

WOW, FINALLY! Thats all we have been asking the last day.

I disagree with all, but okay, at least u came and explained. After that, I am really giving up the game. Just uninstaled it.
The 6th star showed us how u dont care about the avarege players. We, that dont spent a lot of money, have been left out of it. And thats all u guys fault. The abism between the whales and the regular players are too huge now.

But thats it. As I have said on the other topic, if u guys do not undo the 6th star, I would left the game. But I am not so angry as I was before. Good luck for those who stay

[Drone_IX]

Wow, dat was a good read & good explanation. I have enjoyed playing the game since the worldwide release. And no matter wot, I’m always looking foward to the new things dat are to come to the game. Especially the new heroes.

[Explorer_Tigger_III]

Like i’ve previously mentioned in another thread, it don’t really mind the 6th star but more of what it represents (the continual need to grind more & more). But if this is truly the end, then i could live with it.

Anyways, it’s good that PerBlue acknowledgs the problem and is willing to work on it. As for the long term goals (mods/invasion), please do not feel a need to rush it out. The last think you need is more backlash from releasing a half thought out feature.

Thanks for the hard work.

[Pepper]

I’m still surprised about the release of the 6th star overall, never thought would be this early, but its a very welcome feature to keep the playerbase busy and entertained.
It’s sad but somewhat a relief at the same time to read the upcoming updates will slow down for a while, this allow players to play more with the current cap, level and progress their favourite heroes without feeling much pressure.
Looking foward on the next features and thank you.

[Alpha373]

Thank you for updating us and letting us see the thought process behind your decisions. I think that really helps to put a lot of players’ mind more at ease. The invasion and mods feature sounds intriguing and I look forward to see it implemented over time.

One suggestion that I hope you would consider is reducing the stamina cost for campaign chapters. Currently the cost for farming chapter 12 is double the cost for ch 1. Using this trend, I can only imagine what the stamina cost would be for ch24. And while some players have the ability to purchase additional stamina to cope with the increase, the vast majority of the community struggle with farming more and more, especially with hero chips in the elite campaign.

Just because Maleficient was released more recently, it costs twice as much to farm her as it does Dash or Ralph. The free stamina we get every day is literally worth half of what it was when we first started out because the costs of getting one chip or badge bit has doubled. It now takes twice as much stamina to complete one badge as it used to. Couple this with the fact that purple badges can require twice as many bits as blue badges, and it now takes 4 times longer to farm one badge unless one is willing to purchase large amounts of stamina.

A very practical way to reduce the grind is to have all chapters cost the same. If not 6 and 12, then even 8 and 16 would be better than the current situation. I hope that y’all will give this some thought as a way to make things more fun for the large portion of the community who can’t afford to spend tons of money on the game.

Again, than you for responding to our concerns and letting us see a bit more of what you have planned for the future. You have a good game here, and with a few tweaks I believe it can become a great one!

[Kinokan]

I am thankful for the response Polaris. I like knowing that updates will slow down somewhat. Overall I am really happy with the update but agree with a lot of people that it was a bit much and faster than we were expecting. I absolutely love the game and will keep up the support for it. Hearing there is no plans for a 7th star is good but if a year down the line you reconsider it, it wouldn’t be a terrible addition.

I am intrigued at the Mods and Invasion for end game stuff, would love to hear a bit more about it if possible or an estimated time of release. While this is the first and only game of yours I play I must say that the production value of the game overall is really high and the characters look amazing, Mickey especially imo being the best looking one in the game. Looking forward to the future and glad you are open to criticism and feedback. Keep it up devs!

[Trickster_Scar_II]

Do you have a response to players who have a fully enhanced maxed out lvl 90 6-star arena team hours after the update? They’ll spend more money if you add a 7th star you know.

Meanwhile, farming three elite chips a day, it will will take me a year to get that, assuming I’m already maxed now. Before it was possible to be competitive with whales in arena, everyone could get a fully maxed enhanced 5-star team through hard work and dedication. Now F2P are completely shut out from that, and it’s even worse for colliseum. This game is now completely P2W, and people from my guild are quitting the game in droves. Your update crippled my guild and I lost many friends, hope the money you made was worth it. I wanted to stick around a few days hoping you’d do something to balance it, but I guess this is all we’re getting.

[Baron_FaruqY]

Thanks for the explanation, but If you guys really want to make the quest to upgrade our characters all the more bearable, please oh please REALLY consider these:

1. Improve the drop rates for badge bits and character chips;
2. Improve stamina regeneration rate; and
3. Reduce the stamina costs for the higher levels (where some of the higher level badge bits and the newer character chips can be obtained).

These, I feel, will immensely help in avoiding most players feeling like it’s a chore to upgrade their heroes.

[ChefYanni]

What he said ^^^^^^ Baron Faruq nailed it. We need stamina cost reduction and drop rates increase

[SlashweilerDog]

Yep, what Baron said… also, as long as you keep periodically releasing new characters ('cuz frankly with the whoooole Disney-owned catalogue in your back, you have nothing to lose or be afraid), there’s no need on rushing any other updates or features. At the moment, regardless anything, character collecting is the main reason I play this game =3

[Feral_Nick]

I’m going to be a 100% transparent here. I don’t believe the answer we received answered all of our concerns. We need a thourough discussion on what the developers are doing to make the game less of a grind going into the future with the addition of 6*. I definitely am appreciative of hearing that 6* is going to be the cap, at least for now, but we really need answers about drop rates. The game is insanely grindy with all of the stipulations in place, and this needs to be addressed. Quickly. The game is hemoraging players right now (I’ve seen quite a few rage quit) and this is NOT a friendly game for new players. Anyone starting this game now is going to be at such a disadvantage, I can’t see anyone wanting to play it. Please give us an answer on whether or not there will be increased drop rates for elites and badges.

[Lord_Lliraeden]

Thanks @Polaris, it’s gratifying to see devs listen to player feedback and I appreciate a more transparent discussion on your game road map!

Echoing what @Razzle_Dazzle said, the biggest problem is now the daily grind and how the costs are spiralling out of control for F2P players to manage - stamina is one of the greatest . The rate at which this regenerates is minimal in comparison to the cost demand. With the O0 update, (again) another badge is required for every single hero and it requires 2x 40 pieces to get. Given that each run on one of those levels costs 12 stamina to get and stamina regenerates at around 1 per 5 minutes, for a player with only a 120 stamina pot (granted these will be higher) you are looking at a 10x raid and then…a 10 hour wait to recharge enough. TEN HOURS!

Given that the drop rate is about 1 chip per 4x raids then to get 40 pieces you are looking at an astronomical amount of stamina to try and get those pieces. This must be fixed somehow. My recommendation is a combination of Guild Perks and level dependant stamina regen increases. For example at level 10 you get a 30s increase in time to regen, with another 30s at staggered intervals to ensure that stamina is not recovered ridiculously fast, but is also balanced with the potential perks and still ensuring the value to your stamina regen items.

That’s just my feedback on that aspect, but I do want to say that your care and attention at driving the content forward is gratifying and appreciated. We (as a community) just want to ensure that the game remains balanced for both paying players and F2P.

Thanks

[Heragon]

on the good, I do not agree with that excuse that you developers are giving, my guild that was top 4 fell to the top 16, many people who were already discouraged are now giving up. So we want better solutions in the short term to improve our experience in the game.
And I would advise everyone here to give a star only as an evaluation in google play, because that is what this game deserves at the moment.
And also stop spending in the game, because you will never have the advantage to be competitive enough to be at the top (if you have top, because when you think it is coming it will simply increase this distance)

[Lord_Lliraeden]

No, that’s holding the game to ransom and is effectively blackmail. Such tactics do not encourage co-operation between community and developers and just cause mistrust and hard feelings.

Try being more positive and encouraging instead.

[Escanor_TheOne]

Also adding orange bits in trials will help. They have been the same since I joined the game. Also increasinh 5he amount of bits in them as well. The port drops should be higher as well and number of chances should be 5 for ports too. 42 heroes and I get 2 turbo xp drinks on alternate days. Seriously these changes would help speed up progress. Adding heroes and level caps while keeping all other things same doesn’t help. This isn’t that hard to understand now is it?