Hello. I've been playing this game for the past week now and I was fortunate enough as a new player with my starting Jewels to pull the HD Aqua EX on my first try. It immediately felt nice and it kept me hooked. But recently I've been having a polarizing experience with the game all centered around the shop. It seemed astonishing to me that immediately after the Aqua deal ended, the HD Ventus EX was now being offered.

As I often do with most games I decide to get invested in, I did my research on the various medals. My favorite characters are from Birth by Sleep and so I definitely want this Ventus. At first I was considering dropping some money on the game to take advantage of that discounted Jewel offer, but I figured instead not to immediately jump the gun on that decision because of how F2P games that use RNG Loot systems have burned me in the past. So instead I've been doing Story Missions to earn the necessary 3,000 Jewel. My first pull yielded 2 Trait Medals for the Ventus EX. At first I thought it was weird that the game would give me trait medals for something I don't already have. Its just a waste to have them otherwise, they take up slots in my storage and just sit there.

But I figured alright, that was the first pull, no biggie. So I went through, did 100+ missions to get another 3,000 jewels and made a second attempt. "Nothing." No HD Ventus EX. In fact nothing I got was of any particular interest to me.

 

I was annoyed, but determined. So once again, I went through another 100+ missions and got ANOTHER 3,000 jewels... Aaaaaaand same outcome. So this is starting to irritate me. And I really want to press upon the developers and those in charge that this is starting to soil the experience for me. This RNG Loot system. The cost of Jewels with actual money is no joke. $15 with just the deal itself in place is a lot of money to be dropping on a game. Now, I wouldn't mind doing that if not for the fact that I just spent 9,000 Jewels and ended up feeling like I just wasted my time. Those aren't exactly good odds for me to feel safe spending actual money on. I don't even know why I was given these Trait Medals in the first place if I don't have the one that they go to. Its just annoying.

Again, 9,000 Jewels in on this so far. I obviously made the correct choice in not actually spending any money for this thing, but how does that help you out? Shouldn't you be wanting me to spend my money? But I don't feel safe doing so, not with these kinds of odds here. I mean, if you had it set where like in the event someone doesn't pull the medal after a certain number of tries, they're automatically guaranteed to get it, THAT would be more reasonable in my mind. That at least would be a show of good faith that you're not trying to just drain as much as possible from my wallet.

There's 3 days left until this offer expires. I'm going to endeavor to try and, once again, grind my way through for another 3,000 jewels to attempt this. Maybe 12,000 is the magic number. I don't know.

Anyways, just wanted to voice my feedback.
Aside from this, the rest of the game has been alright. I kinda wish there were other, more quicker methods available to folks for acquiring Jewels or that these deals weren't timed. Cause its like trying to do all this in 4 days time before it expires is just really stressful and adding more to my level of frustration over it. Again, its not making me want to spend money, its having the total opposite effect. Its a free to play game, while I can appreciate that fact and I do enjoy playing said game, I hate feeling like I need to choose between playing the game or doing something else with my time and potentially missing out on something that I really want.

12,000 is in fact the magic number for this particular banner. It’s a 5 pull mercy. First pull was free meaning that 12,000 will get you your medal. It is a tough grind to get jewels but don’t worry about it too much. This banner lasts 24 days meaning you will be able to get it even if you just do your daily jewels. Just gotta be a little patient

Huh? The first pull for the HD Ventus EX wasn't free. But you're saying there is an actual point in which you're guaranteed to get the featured medal? If that's the case then it would make me feel better. I hate situations where I feel as though what I'm doing is an exercise in futility or that there's no real end in sight to my objective.

Alright, seriously? Stayed up till 6AM grinding this out.

I'm now at 12,000 Jewels spent trying to get this thing. This was my 4th attempt. And it gave me, YET AGAIN, another stupid Trait Medal for the one that I DON'T HAVE... That's now 3 Trait Medals for the HD Ventus EX which are just useless to me. I can't use them because for whatever reason, this game is giving me Trait Medals for something that I don't have. I don't CARE about these Trait Medals. I want the friggen HD Ventus EX that's advertised.

Edited April 28, 20187 yr by Lucas Pyatt

Please just stop pulling. Take my advice. I totally understand how you feel with the frustration of not getting the medal you want, but when you pulled HD Aqua EX on your first try, that was a freak accident. Do not use that as a gauge for the pull rates. The pull rates for featured medal's are ridiculously low, so you're much better off just saving your jewels for when his banner comes back because he'll probably be guaranteed within five pulls then, whereas the current banner has no guarantees for the medal itself, just its trait medal.

 

If you want a Ven medal right now, your best bet is to build up your jewels for Stained Glass #2, because it lasts three weeks, so there's no frustrating time restraints, and the first pull is free, and you're guaranteed it after five pulls. It's a Reverse medal, which is not the most useful thing to have starting out, but it has so many good buffs on it (which is a huge thing in this game) that it would definitely do you way more good than HD Ventus EX, on top of being an excellent medal. Once you get the hang of the game, it's not hard to get jewels. If you do all your daily missions every day, log in every day, and do all the weekly party missions, then you can get about 4,000 jewels a week. And by the time Stained Glass #2's deal is almost up, you should have 12,000 jewels which should be enough to get it, and that's not counting the jewels you get from story mode.

 

As a rule of thumb, just don't bet on getting a featured medal if it's not guaranteed within a certain amount of pulls. You can pull on no mercy banners (banners without guarantees) if there's something you want and it's not frustrating you, but make sure you can curb it after a certain amount of jewels. So if there's a medal you want, always keep an eye out for the "guaranteed within (however many) pulls" in the notice or the scroll-y box under its banner in the store.

 

I'm sorry this is has frustrated you, we've all been there at some point (this is coming from a fellow BbS medal collector), but try no to let it get to you. It's a just a game. I know this game can cause a whole lot of stress for people, so if you need to, don't feel bad to break for a while or quit the game altogether because it's not worth it.

Well, I decided to try one last time for it. And...SUCCESS... x_x
That was soooooo stressful, lol

But yeah, I see what you mean. And I've played other games too that had bad setups with RNG Loot Boxes. There are ways to balance that. Like for example, if this game had Player Trading where you had like an in-game or even a forum based Medal Economy where players could freely trade with one another? That'd make those bad pulls more worth something. I'm an Indie Dev, been working on my own game project for a number of years now, so player engagement and how to keep folks interested is always something I think about.

The thing is also, this game could make boat loads more money if they reduced the price of Jewels and or offered more per dollar. I mean, its a Free to Play game and they're a business, they need to make money. I totally get that and can appreciate where they're coming from. The whole reason I made this thread was offer my honest feedback. I'm a new player, this has been my experience thus far. I want them and the game to be successful because I see a lot of potential here. But I also see some wasted opportunities. Its in the name; "Micro"-transactions. There's nothing micro about $80-$100 for a single Medal. The only kind of players that are gonna drop that kind of money on a Free to Play are those with an excess of finances to spare, which the vast majority of people playing this either don't have or aren't going to be willing to buy into. So from a business perspective, this setup is actually hurting them.

Give me a reason to spend money, make me feel "safe" with the idea of doing so. Don't punish people for NOT spending money, that's just going to hurt your bottom line for overall sales. Players are more willing to spend money if they feel each time they are doing so its worth their while.
-3 to 5 Pulls Promise; If you don't get what you're wanting you're guaranteed to get it either on the 3rd or 5th draw.
-Lower Jewel Costs; You'd be amazed how much more money you make if you're charging folks $5 instead of $15-$20. That $5 spending adds up and more folks find that price to be more acceptable.
-Medal Trading; Enriches the Community and gets players doing way more interaction and keeps folks more invested in the game with a player driven economy.

So yeah, that's just my input on things. I'm beyond happy I finally managed to get that Ventus, like I grinded all the way up to Mission 530+ to get it. I didn't really know that the "Mercy" thing wasn't applied to all Deals. I'll definitely be more careful about that going forward and keep an eye out for it. Thanks for your advice, I'll definitely remember it. ^_^

The thing about pulls here is that they are really all just relegated into one simple factor: luck. Luck can make or break your chance of getting the medal you're pinning for, unless you get to have mercy pulls, which after 5 or so you actually get the medal guaranteed. But that's not the point! The point is that sometimes it's better to save up your Jewels and wait for better deals to come! That's what I've done, and over time, I've amassed quite the collection of awesome medals! Granted, it takes patience, but as someone who has never spent a dime on this game for the two years I've played it, it has sometimes been frustrating, as I've had to let good medal deals go because I have not the necessary amount of Jewels, and I ain't gonna spend money, ya know?

 

Just pull carefully, otherwise, just keep saving up your Jewels! Aside from the story quests and events, fulfilling the Daily and Weekly Missions score you with a total of 1300 Jewels weekly, ya know? So I hope this helps!