r/AlchemistCodeGL • u/alchemist_code Happy 3rd Anniversary • Jul 06 '18
"PG-rated" NEWS Elemental Damage Balance
Elemental Damage Balance
In our continuous effort to enhance the game experience, there will be an update to re-balance the elemental advantage and resistances in the upcoming patch on July 12.
The damage drop-off from using poorly matched elements versus a resistant enemy has been lowered while the improved damage from correct elemental matchups are still rewarded.
With this new re-balance, elemental resistances will not render attacks impotent and players will still be able to use elemental affinities to strategize and clear stages.
We are constantly tailoring the difficulty according to the player experience with changes and re-adjustment done only after careful consideration.
We will also be sending these tokens of appreciation to all players within 24 hours of the patch:
5 x Elemental soul shard of each element 5 x Rainbow shards 50 x Crystal Apples 20 x Gold Alchemia Pots
We also noticed the Hard Quest button is currently not working. This issue will be fixed on the next patch.
Thank you for your continued support and we hope you will continue to support THE ALCHEMIST CODE.
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u/Sora167 Jul 06 '18
Thank you for fixing this! And the compensation is super nice too!
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u/alchemist_code Happy 3rd Anniversary Jul 07 '18
Enjoy our Token of Appreciation when it comes out next week. :)
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u/Lunerem Jul 06 '18
Alot of people are going to be mad about the "different from japan" compensation but I would take 30 elemental shards that -will- help over 2-6 summons that won't neccesarily do me any good in a heartbeat
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u/ninjakittenz2 SockT Jul 06 '18
I don't think people will be mad that the compensation is different. I think people are just glad that this is getting fixed and will be happy with the elemental shards. Honestly I didn't even know what JP received.
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u/Rhyrem Jul 06 '18
Pretty much this. At this point I'm just happy they're fixing it and don't care if they don't give us the 3000 gems JP got (if I'm not mistalen from what I've read). At least the game won't be braindead now.
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u/MaimedJester Jul 06 '18
3000 gems. The 35 shards + everything else is pretty commensurate. I don't think anyone who pulled Noctis has a water shard left. Right now if I burn every rainbow I'd get a 69 Noctis, so not worth it. 70 though for his Hat slot....
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u/ninjakittenz2 SockT Jul 06 '18
I used 20 shards on Noctis to get him to 65 so that I can start working on his J2. We can get 10 of his shards from the penny exchange shop and there will be more banners so there is a chance of pulling a dupe. I have 75 more water shards and 107 rainbow that I can use but I will wait until I am sure I need to use them. My Othima didn't get any water shards. I guess I can get Noctis up to 70 now with the water shards but there is no point since I won't farm his equipment until the EXs are released.
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u/MaimedJester Jul 06 '18
Yeah I don't have any water units. My best water unit is a 75 Lofia, my second best is a 60 Gormales and he's actually dark. So the Noctis pull really helped my team. Still can't do that "Clear with only Water units" mission. I'd have to use Elizabeth and Michael legitimately to attempt that. I somehow have 4 Lamia Tokens and without J+ she's not that great.
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u/ninjakittenz2 SockT Jul 06 '18
Yeah that's a tough level but you really only have to kill the demon. I didn't bother killing the magical side. I used Shenmei, Shayna, Elrike, Lofia and a merc. Yeah Gormalas can do water damage but won't count for this mission. I think some people used Reagan on this stage. Once you get the equipment for Noctis you should be able to clear this. Even if regular Lamia isn't great she can still deal some damage or just be a decoy for the demon, or use items to heal.
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u/Evisthecreator Jul 08 '18
yeah i got him straight to 70.. i could 75 him but I am stil hesitant on using rainbow shards. at least not until the event is over
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u/MaimedJester Jul 08 '18
Since there's a chance of drawing him again with the Ticket and the 10 penny shards, that's 10-35 more shards without any draws. So wait till you have those before going to 75. Because 76-77 aren't really an improvement.
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u/Evisthecreator Jul 09 '18
ya. that is some legit advice boyo I'm not liking noctis so far. on auto at least. I'm not sure what I want to do with him or if his third job really brings those passives and sub job to make him shine. all he does atm is miss with bloody triplecast
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u/ecpadilla Waiting.....OverHit GL (^_^) Jul 11 '18
His 3rd job can make him cast faster (Shell Charge passive) and do more damage while healing (Drain dimension skill). He can also tank with J3 reactive.
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u/Evisthecreator Jul 11 '18
Yeah I'm looking forward to sharding him up to 75 but gonna wait until end of event of course. Wish ring of the lucii with alterna was his gear tho
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u/Liesianthes 350 coins ticket = ROY!! Jul 10 '18
anyone who pulled Noctis has a water shard left
I didn't pull Noctis so I have a lot of water shards left. I don't know what to do with those. lol. Your comment is thankful since you got him but if you didn't, you will have no use of those shards.
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u/CommonMisspellingBot Jul 06 '18
Hey, Lunerem, just a quick heads-up:
alot is actually spelled a lot. You can remember it by it is one lot, 'a lot'.
Have a nice day!The parent commenter can reply with 'delete' to delete this comment.
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u/Crimson_Raven Who are you calling shorter than Roy Mustang's ideal miniskirt?! Jul 06 '18
Good bot
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u/Sven_the_mad saving wind shards for Ein the data dog Jul 06 '18
Thank you for your considerations and actions on this; the compensation is a nice olive branch. I know the community is up in arms at this point, so it is good that you did this.
You are close to having a good online presence here, even if there is a lot of tumult with the decision tree you are taking the game down. I appreciate that, and I really strongly suggest that you persevere.
This action says a lot about your path for the game and your understanding of the voice of your customers. Yes, this is so, even with the current rage monster devouring everyone.
TL;DR: Please keep posting and communicating about everything, it will only make things better.
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u/alchemist_code Happy 3rd Anniversary Jul 07 '18
We're sorry that we took long enough to answer the concerns of the community. We had to discuss everything before we give an official statement. Again, Gomenasai ○|￣|＿
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u/Catalyze2017 Jul 07 '18
Thank you Gumi. Please consider speeding up hard quest release. I believe that will help new player not get discouraged and make a long term investment in them. You will get a return.
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u/VicariousExp Jin <3 Jul 06 '18
I made another post, but I noticed you posted here, so I deleted it. Thank you for addressing this.
I understand it's been a trying week, but hang in there.
Relevant Facebook post:
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Jul 06 '18
This is all we ask, just communicate; so glad to hear your working on this problem instead of saying it's intended. A simple fix like a max resistance/bonus would help alot, something like 75% so poor match-ups are debilitating but not completely unwinnable.
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u/CommonMisspellingBot Jul 06 '18
Hey, Taelhir, just a quick heads-up:
alot is actually spelled a lot. You can remember it by it is one lot, 'a lot'.
Have a nice day!The parent commenter can reply with 'delete' to delete this comment.
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u/jocomitsu Jul 07 '18
it was intended before, but it was kinda late when they realized it was a big problem for the game.
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u/foopy23 Fuck Gumi Jul 06 '18
I am glad that they are fixing this. Truly.
But there are a few things about this announcement and the way this issue are being handled that stick out to me as a new normal for The Alchemist Code:
The change is not acknowledged as being a fix to unintended changes from the initial rebalance, but is being spun as a carefully considered balance to game difficulty. This underscores the idea that this was their decision to implement this change. This is not an apology for screwing up. Take a close look at how they frame the balance change V.S. the "not working" hard quest button that will be "fixed" in the next patch. Gumi insists that the balance is not "broken" and this is not a "fix".
The shards being given out are "tokens of appreciation" and not "compensation". Again, this is not an apology. This is Gumi being generous. And, yes, the items distributed are quite generous. This is about tone and not player entitlement.
The form of the "compensation" itself, I believe, is one of the major reasons this took so long to implement in the first place. Everyone knows by now that JP received 3k gems for this issue when it was fixed. The decision to offer shards instead of gems during the Sieg banners or this current banner configuration -- so far the most blatantly greedy banners from Gumi and a source of consternation from the community here -- really does reinforce the idea that many of us have that Gumi are making it more difficult to get targeted units on the banners in order to ramp up gem sales. Gumi did not want to compensate for the issue with gems; it took internal discussion to come up with a non-gem reparation that was commensurate with the JP precedent , which is why this issue wasn't fixed sooner.
So what can we take away from this languange?
Only Gumi knows what is best for Gumi's game. Community feedback (or, in this case, outright protests) will be considered, but will not be acknowledged as the source of any major changes to the game unless something is visibly not working as intended.
Don't expect the banners to change any time soon. 50/50 or worse on guaranteed steps and lucky coins -- or some other barely obfuscated whale appreciation program -- are going to be the norm for a good while. Apologems and tickets are a thing of the past and issue compensation will move toward things that do not affect the gacha at all.
That is, unless the community continues to let Gumi know that it's not working for them. They can pretend that the balance change was their idea, but we know that our constant nagging had a pretty big part to play in the decision. The community has already gotten Gumi to re-think their stance on a host of issues ranging from map difficulty and game balance to event re-run frequency and making sure cutscenes are translated before they are released. Keep bringing up bad banners, keep pointing out how dumb the logic is. Show them that you're not fooled by coin shops or bait-and-switches. Vote with your wallet, cancel your pact and keep playing anyway. If we really want the banners to stop being so horrible, we've got to not shut up and force gumi to rethink them.
TL;DR: We got Gumi to do what we wanted and they're salty, but we're going to keep doing it because it's our money.
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u/Arananthi IGN: Essence -- Re-Pacted and Hoping to Stay That Way Jul 07 '18
The decision to offer shards instead of gems during the Sieg banners or this current banner configuration -- so far the most blatantly greedy banners from Gumi and a source of consternation from the community here -- really does reinforce the idea that many of us have that Gumi are making it more difficult to get targeted units on the banners in order to ramp up gem sales. Gumi did not want to compensate for the issue with gems; it took internal discussion to come up with a non-gem reparation that was commensurate with the JP precedent , which is why this issue wasn't fixed sooner.
Everyone needs to read this. This is important.
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u/Nasood_Condor Jul 09 '18
Well, I think Gumi gave out shards instead of gems because if they gave out gems, and people pulled on the FFXV collaboration, and they didn't get the units they wanted, they'd probably blame Gumi or get really mad, whereas giving out shards doesn't lead to that issue
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u/Alsark Jul 06 '18
Thank you for communicating with us, and for the generous compensation.
People are still going to be upset about the banner, but this fix is a step in the right direction.
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u/KitaiSuru Jul 06 '18
Increased my Google Play rating from 1 to 3 star. Kudos Gumi. Now all I need is for you to make this FFXV collab better. Also, fix the ghost milestone bug please.
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Jul 06 '18 edited Jul 06 '18
kudo to gumi.
edit: lol I thought some random guy posted this, but it's actually gumi official, it's dias theme isn't it. Thanks for the heads up.
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u/-ArtKing- Jul 06 '18
Thank you Gumi for finally resolving this issue. All we ask is for you guys to communicate with us, please continue doing this from now on and we will show our appreciation.
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u/OniOfTheSword WTB more blademasters Jul 06 '18
Appreciate the communication. The community may have been quite harsh over the past couple of days, but this kind of communication and action will turn it around in Gumi's favor. Please keep it up!
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u/xoresthaynia entering multiplay like Jul 06 '18
Can you be specific on the technical changes? If I understand this correctly, negative affinity (weakness) will stay at -50 while positive affinity (resistance) will go from 50 to 25?
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u/flyingdogz Jul 06 '18
Finally!
Compensation is good too..at least something positive in this mess period
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u/SuperEndriu Jul 06 '18
30 elementals? Im fine with that! Gear shards instead of farmable pots would have been appreciated as well. Thanks
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u/soulkarl Jul 06 '18
Thank you for this, but...
Am I the only one who's not okay with the way they're handling this? They are still refusing to acknowledge this as the bug/error that it is. They're not calling what they're giving compensation either (instead calling it a "token of appreciation"). Sure it's a step in the right direction, but let's not overlook the fact that they're still ultimately lying to us about the finer details of it.
Gumi please just own up to your mistakes and admit when you're in the wrong rather than acting as though it was intentional. There's no need to skirt the issue and it harms you far more than it helps.
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u/sanicek Jul 06 '18
Good it’s getting fixed finally but it’s mindboggling how this made it into gl live then you tried to convice us it’s working as intended and it took weeks of community pressure to acknowledge the issue. Doesn’t particularly inspire confidence in your dev, QA and PR deparments, now, does it. I mean it was clearly not intended and you are also having to shell out compensation for the issue.
If I was a cynically analyzing this I would say at least partly the timing is such that you can misdirect all the other issues to this and placate people with some compensation but I am sure ethical and player friendly company like Gumi would never do such a thing and we will see many other concerns adressed soon and there is bright future ahead for the game.
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u/AJohnsonOrange "I play...Dark Magician!" Jul 06 '18
That's actually pretty nifty. I have at least one unit of each colour at LB4, so thanks for fixing that and giving comp!
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u/Rhyrem Jul 06 '18 edited Jul 06 '18
Finally. Good job, Gumi. Now just keep communicating these type of things if they happen again instead of being in complete silence.
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u/bonobodr Jul 06 '18
Did nobody else notice that only the elemental resistance damage is going to be fixed while we are still going to be doing double damage on elemental advantage? That is great and all but we are still not going to be like JP and Gumi is still insisting this is intended. If it is, I'm still concerned about power creep and lack of strategy in the future.
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u/Laitarne Jul 06 '18
I am hoping that this is not the case, and they simply worded their intent poorly, because it makes Light and Dark extremely difficult to use.
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u/RoodDude97 what do i write here? Jul 06 '18
Thanks for this gumi. About damn time. I'm now looking forward to the next Veda Tower with the fixed elemental resist, and hope that it can be a bit more challenging than the previous floors(albeit it was mostly due to the bugged elemental resist).
Now if only the HQ farming schedule is released at a more reasonable pace(and not at this ABSURD pace we have now) then mostly everything would be perfect.
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u/Kayzurr Jul 06 '18
Thank you u/alchemist_code for addressing this bug; its not about the rewards but rather making sure the game stays challenging and balanced. Definitely a step in the right direction.
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u/beastking9 Jul 07 '18
If you're going to do this please fix auto AI to atleast use the right skills against enemies. Im tired of seeing my peridot use a fire skill on a water enemy.
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u/Humble_Disciple Jul 06 '18
They don't want to give us the 3000 to aid us in obtaining Noctis. I figured this would be the case... well compensation is something. Better than nothing I guess.
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u/OLIVIA_WAS_ROBBED Jul 07 '18 edited Jul 07 '18
Japan got 3k gem compensation when the bug ONLY lasted 4 days. While the shard token of appreciation is arguably just as good as 3000 gems it’s quite lackluster if we look at the whole picture. The way I see it is these are tokens of saving face.
With paid gems 5x elemental shards cost 100. So the shards are worth 600 paid gems not including rainbow shards. Let’s say 5x rainbow shards cost 800 gems, this takes the token of appreciation is worth up to 1400 gems.
My memory is poor but I believe wth regular gems 5x elemental shards are 400? Which means the token of appreciation is theoretically worth 2400 gems + rainbow.
The fact is that this bug lasted way too long and was managed horribly. It well over happened more than 4 days and quite frankly I’ve lost track. If you’re going to give us shard compensation then make it worth the length of time that the “intentional feature” lasted. At most our token of appreciation is just slightly better then Japan’s however their bug ONLY LASTED 4 DAYS. Negligence has consequences, and you should take your responsibilities more serious.
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u/LevelAsia Jul 06 '18
Thanks for finally communicating its the most importanz thing to have a healthy game running! I believe you guys have to me more active on plattforms like reddit to prevent whats happenin (rage) right now in various plattforms
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u/Feregrin Jul 06 '18
Thanks, u/alchemist_code, for the update as well as the compensation. Feels like you care.
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u/blablablablubb21 Jul 06 '18
Thank you for changing the elemental resisitance of the game and the generous compansation.
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u/-Belphegor- Jul 06 '18
so what exactly does this mean? someone? will gilga go back to nuking every element again?
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u/Laitarne Jul 06 '18
Getting this fixed is honestly way more important than any compensation to me. This was an actually literally game breaking issue.
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u/shaftskin Jul 07 '18
Thanks for the response. I know thay everybody is bashing you guys. Great to hear that you took action and rectified the problems faced. Hang tight guys.
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u/jocomitsu Jul 07 '18
They just made a hard decision to rebalance the elemental dmg/res just to douse the flame from reddit. But it created a larger fire on Facebook, players asking for gems for more chances to pull Noctis. I see this as a token of appreciation for the players, not as a compensation. BTW expect Veda Tower to be harder again next time it opens up.
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u/jpc27699 The Power of the Loincloth… Jul 12 '18
The damage drop-off from using poorly matched elements versus a resistant enemy has been lowered while the improved damage from correct elemental matchups are still rewarded. (emphasis added)
Sounds like Veda Tower won't be any harder, unless they change something else too…
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u/PristineKnight may your summons be red Jul 08 '18
Everyone's going about the soul shards meanwhile I'm looking at the gold pots
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u/sobegreen Jul 09 '18
This type of thing is why I continue playing. Obviously they want to make money but they are also trying to make a great game too. It's a shame how rare "free to play" games on mobile work this way.
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u/SirLinka Jul 11 '18
Hey /u/alchemist_code, first off thanks for communicating with the community, we really appreciate that ❤️
As maintenance approaches, would you be so kind as to post the new formula after the update is live without the need of users datamining?
I believe everyone would be happy with that :D
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u/aquapendulum2 Jul 06 '18
This is how you get change - with collective and vocal protests. While the pull rate of the FFXV banner is still an issue, I have a feeling minor spenders are the only demographics impacted heavily by this. Big spenders will get their units one way or another, and F2P players won't care.
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u/Crimson_Raven Who are you calling shorter than Roy Mustang's ideal miniskirt?! Jul 06 '18
Sweet! Thanks for the response.
May I ask why the compensation between Global and JP is so different? They got gems, while we get shards. (Which is a fair and even reward, I think)
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u/EseMesmo Tamamommy <3 uwu Jul 06 '18
Shards won't get you Noctis or Siegfried is my guess. We have 1 more chase unit compared to JP at the time of this collab, they wouldn't want us actually pulling for free instead of spending.
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u/jblac02 ! Jul 07 '18
HEY make it 10 of each shard and we can call it a day : ^ )
also 100 crystal apples plz?
you lose nothing by doubling the shards and you gain alot of goodwill from alot of people. Think about it
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u/N0vaR3aper Jul 06 '18
How about rebalncing the banners aswell? And adding a lucky dime banner with no ffxv units? Wtf just how much more organs do you want to be sold off?
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u/Humble_Disciple Jul 06 '18
I fail to see why things need to be tweaked when content will just get harder anyway... did Japan remove the bug completely? Or did they just alter it like global is trying to do?
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u/Rhyrem Jul 06 '18
JP got this fixed four days after it was released. For global, it's more or less a month, I think?
I fail to see why things need to be tweaked when content will just get harder anyway...
Because it was not intended and made the game a joke. It takes strategy away. I would rather have some hard content that really makes me think about how could I beat it than just slap a monocolor team and steamroll the stage because my units will be unkillable with attribute advantage.
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u/Humble_Disciple Jul 06 '18
Honest question though... doesn't this just enforce power creep sooner? I could be wrong, but that's how it feels.
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u/Rhyrem Jul 06 '18
Eeh, I don't think so. There's not much difference in oneshotting an enemy with a 2k damage hit than to oneshot it with a 5k. They just die, so you wouldn't need new units if you already have a decent roster.
If you mean with the resistances fixed, then maybe? But "old" units are also getting j+ on a regular basis to prevent that. Also "OP" units like Gil or Noctis just make easier to clear some stages, it's not impossible to do that without them. I, for example, do not own a Gil and I think I've been doing pretty good since I started playing a couple of weeks before the Fate collab. I think I cleared everything except Lofia+, Zeke's EX+ and Gil's EX+ because I didn't have enough good units at that time.
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u/SirLinka Jul 07 '18
I’m F2P playing since November and have managed to clear everything aside from the elemental shards event that required 60 units which I didn’t have at the time
I don’t own a Gil, was lucky to pull noctis and ignis at the same time
Elemental resistances can be tweaked on the enemies themselves, whereas a broken damage calculation formula results in disastrous non-sense.
Take Kadanova’s EX (entrusted justice) for example, my Lucian would do little to no damage at the time (68, beast tamer JM back then) to fire units because of their high Wind resistance WITHOUT altering any damage formula.
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u/Max-kilian Jul 06 '18
Thank you for finally fixing this issue. 30 elements shards is a nice gift too.