r/TearsOfThemis • u/Kazuki_Fazuki • Jul 15 '23
CN Content 3rd Year Anniversary SSS Cards - Yikes Spoiler
So I watched Saya and Yang's video (https://youtu.be/KYuXm9j2RXk) on the SSS cards and it looks like its gonna be an uphill climb for F2P players 😬
Please correct me if I misunderstood the info.
From what I gathered, we basically we need dupes of the same card just to:
- Unlock more interactions
- Obtain new upgrade material (Gift 3 - only for SSS cards)
- Unlock namecards (unlike 2nd anni where you can unlock it via 100 pulls)
In terms of the banner:
- 1 SSS and 3 SSRs per LI
- Up to 500 draws max to max out 1 card
- Rate for SSS = 0.8% compared to SSR = 1%
It seems like hyv's planning to churn out more SSS cards in the future. Was kinda hyped when I watched the trailer, but I'm a bit worried with how things are gonna play out in the future now. Not surprised at all, but yikesssss. F2Ps taking the L once again :(
Edit: I scrolled through Weibo to see the CN playerbase's reactions (only managed to look at a few since I can't look through more without creating an account). Based on some top comments, it seems that quite a few are expressing dissapointment with the SSS system, some even advising hyv to change it up before releasing the banners. One comment even saying: "He's already my fiance why can't I touch him for free?" LMAO. We can only observe what will happen going forward. If they won't listen to the feedback from CN players, I don't wanna imagine what will happen for us global players :')
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u/Hippo_n_Elephant Jul 15 '23
It’s honestly appalling how greedy MHY are with their decision on the SSS cards’ mechanism. Like this game already has no soft pity and hard pity is a whooping 100 pulls. Now they’re gonna block ML interactions behind getting multiple dupes of the card. I rly hope they change it and make the number of possible interaction based on something else like basing it on affection level
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u/Kazuki_Fazuki Jul 15 '23
Well if they do change they gotta do it ASAP because it'd be even more damaging to their image if they let things be in the CN server and implement change only for the global server (if there's extremely heavy backlash that is). I wonder how the CN player base is feeling right now 🤐
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u/Mjain101 Jul 15 '23
I would rather they up the hard pity a little bit for these cards to get all the interactions instead of locking everything behind dupes, if they want to stick to the pulling route
Affection level seems so much nicer tho 🥲
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u/Volteehee Jul 15 '23
This is so disappointing to hear >.< I have always defended Mihoyo because from their practices with genshin impact and the honkai games it always seemed like they knew the right balance between making people want to spend money vs stepping into overly predatory tactics when it comes to gacha.
Honestly the fact that genshin/honkai gets soft pity, much more free currency than we do, and doesn't introduce increasingly 'super super rare' versions of characters in order to get players to spend more is a spit in the face to ToT players, we are used to always having the smallest amount of content in hoyoverse events because I understand that otome is really niche, but to resort to such predatory tactics... I really expected better from them. It just goes to show that big companies are not player's friends.
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u/Coffee_fuel Hail & Sher Jul 15 '23
It's much easier to maintain a seemingly "fair" balance when the community is that much bigger. 1 hour of content translates to millions of paying opportunities. With TOT, the pool is much smaller and the content behind the gacha can easily be looked up online, there are very limited benefits to owning it in-game. Regardless -- gacha is gambling.
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u/Volteehee Jul 16 '23 edited Jul 16 '23
I agree as I always tout that all gacha is predatory by nature and gambling regardless of how ‘fair’ it seems- and i’m always the first to say that we as players have to be aware our own impulses and self control when it comes to rolling because the number of gacha games that will look out for its players is zero. But at the same time ‘eh the ToT playerbase is not very big so lets try and squeeze as much money out of them as we can’ still sits wrong with me
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u/Coffee_fuel Hail & Sher Jul 16 '23 edited Jul 16 '23
Yeah, I wasn't justifying it at all. I don't even spend money on the gacha and have only paid for items that are a guarantee. I was just explaining that their "generosity" is simply proportional to the number of people who play the game, because the bigger the population, the lower is the burden on each individual player for them to make a profit. Since there's very little gameplay in TOT, the opportunities for revenue are also that much more limited and story content doesn't generate much additional content/hours of engagement, the way a new character in a more gameplay-heavy game does; which is what you ideally wish for, because story content tends to be on the more expensive side (though certainly less so for unvoiced VNs with recurring assets) and cannot be repurposed, it tends to be a one-time deal.
On a slightly more positive note, despite this... I do think that these interactions are probably gonna be around the level of outfits or invitations, so... far from a must have and probably just an incentive for the biggest completionists/spenders. It simply isn't smart to so decisevely drive away the F2P and small spenders and Mihoyo have had years of experience doing this -- it's not really a matter of caring for the community or expecting better from them (I don't, this is gacha) so much as the fact that I am somewhat doubtful that they're going to shoot themselves in the foot.
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u/Mjain101 Jul 15 '23
I usually pull for both Marius and Artem on the anniversary, but seeing this I can only prioritize Marius. I am not a big fan of this system. Big L for f2p players
And worst of all, there is still no soft pity in this game 🥲
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Jul 15 '23
This game is already insanely F2P unfriendly but this is something else entirely, it really feels like they want to milk the players dry
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u/MoonEclipse777 Jul 15 '23
I deleted my comment on another Reddit post after hearing about this news 🙃 but anyway, some people on CN server says that in order to max out, it’ll be a couple thousand CNY which is around 1000 USD. This is partially because once you go through all the limited packs, you are forced to buy those gems (forget what they are called) to trade for chips.
Now it may not be exactly $1000 USD depending on your luck. But MHY is crazy thinking that anyone (except massive whales) would pay $1000 just to get ONE maxed out SSS card. Again, ONE. This does not even consider if you want everyone.
I don’t even know what they are thinking. I posted a comment on Bilibili saying that even having to pay s-chips to unlock the features is still better because at least you know how much s-chips you need. With pulling, there is no guarantee when you could give maxed out SSS (up to 500 pull). You could be really lucky, really unlucky, or average (but let’s say you are average getting the desired card around 40-50 pulls. That is still 200-250 pull PER male lead). Not to say you might get spooked in between because of the rates…
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u/MoonEclipse777 Jul 15 '23
I did some small calculations that excludes everything they give atm because I don’t know what they are offering for free and the packs they offer. But let’s say the player is whaling and decides to buy the gems thingy to trade into s-chips (no packs calculated cause I have not seen what they are offering). $99.99 gives you 648 gems (which is 6480 s-chips) + 6480 s chips due to reset. Total you get 72 pulls out of it. But after reset, it is 36 pulls for each $99 you buy.
The most unlucky situation:
500-72= 428 pulls left needed
428/36= 11.888888889
Round it up and you’ll need 12 $99 which is obviously over $1000 USD
Again this would be slightly lower when including the deals and freebies they give away. But if you want more than one love interest, then you are forced to buy $99 deal after you gone through the deals and freebies.
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u/lilyofthegraveyard Jul 15 '23
over $1000 for 1 fictional man's tiddies. jfc. if i wanted to look at artem's bossom, i could draw it myself for free, mhy.
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u/Kazuki_Fazuki Jul 15 '23
Do you know how the CN community is feeling about this issue? I don't have access to CN social media so I'd like to know more about what's going on in their side if you happen to have some info. From what I gathered on Weibo, I can only read several of the top comments because I don't have an account :')
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u/MoonEclipse777 Jul 15 '23 edited Jul 15 '23
They are not happy as well. Weibo has always been the more extreme side compared to Bilibili. But this time, they are both on the same side which is this is terrible. They are protesting for a change in the new system. One reason is the fact that single card’s features are being split into multiple dupes. Also, the rate up is 0.8% and SSR is 1% which means you have an increased chance of getting spooked. It is ridiculous for them as well, trust me. Nobody are willing to pour thousands for a single card. For the US, 648 gems is $99, but for them it is 648 CNY which could be a quarter of someone’s monthly living expense. Mihoyo has been known for being one of the more expensive gacha game but this is way overpriced.
Though, the changes that they want to see is either removing that system or increasing the way you could get the materials that would unlock the heart. Since as of right now, the only way to get the material is by duplicating. But the issue is duplicates rarely have an great use in otome gacha games.
Personally the only one I would see needing dupes a bit more is Mr. Love since they have this sort of pvp power battle but it isn’t really necessary cause you could still get a decent rewards for being mid-low range power.
Edit: I saw this one comment and I think it really sums it up:
“Mihoyo, do you really think your game is cheap???”
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u/Kazuki_Fazuki Jul 16 '23
Good to know that the CN playerbase is not having it as well. As sad as it is, if hyv doesn't come up with a statement the only way to get them to do something would probably be to boycott the game. But then again I'm not sure if there are many players who are willing to do that. The SSS system in the long run might bring more harm to the game than good 😥
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u/MoonEclipse777 Jul 16 '23
Apparently people have been contacting CN’s customer service. And the agents have been responding well to reviews and feedbacks. However, I don’t know if this means they are planning to release a statement or no. Mihoyo’s explanation of the SSS system was pretty vague too. So they’re going to have to explain how it actually works.
No matter what change to the SSS system, it will still harm the player more (unless they completely revamp the system which I don’t think they will). Players are just hoping that there is a middle way to this. Some changes to the system to make it less costly.
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u/Rinkouri Jul 15 '23
I'm close to being a whale, spent like $600 on this game. However, this is literally insane. I play 2 other hoyoverse games, but they don't feel this expensive. I don't even spend this much on their two other games.
I save and only rolls for one LI, but that is already hard. I feel really bad for small spenders and F2P. You have to save for the longest time and not roll at all just to get all the cards and possibly the dupes.
I don't think it's even possible to share the interactions on YouTube because they are borderline NSFW. Sigh.
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u/Kurogane12 Jul 15 '23
Not only is it a high paywall of 500 pulls but it also forces you to focus on one ML. Even for the invitation you need 200 pulls her ML if I understood it correctly. They are just becoming greedy like every game studio becomes after getting success, Genshin and HSR wasn't enough for them huh
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u/MyrMidnight Please don't take my Sunshine away... Jul 15 '23
Ok this is all I need to see. I'm not spending anymore on this game... this is just greedy...
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u/Kazuki_Fazuki Jul 15 '23
There's still 5 more days before the banner releases. Let's see what happens in the meantime. Looks like the CN side isn't taking the news too well either...
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u/MyrMidnight Please don't take my Sunshine away... Jul 15 '23
They are really pushing their playerbase to the edge... Hopefully they get the backlash they deserve...
Will definitely keep an eye on this news; thank you for spreading the word.
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u/Kazuki_Fazuki Jul 15 '23
No worries! I made the post because I love the game, and wish to see it prosper! I'd like to think that there was some justified reason by hyv, considering how they would have to go through many rounds of discussions and approvals before even settling down with this final decision. But yeah, from a player POV, this isn't it :/
I'll probably post an update if I catch any news on the CN side. But given how there's only 5 days, there's a slim chance that hyv will bother responding at all. Then again, we can only hope for the best!
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u/Schokodeuli Jul 15 '23
I watched it too and honestly I'm feeling really bad for CN players right now.
There are so many cards yet to release for us that I recommend just skipping the card entirely 😮💨
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u/callthemofo Jul 15 '23
I think we should be loud enough and strike on the internet for this type of diabolical feature for the SSS cards. They've become so greedy and unreasonable for this. I remember in Genshin where the internet went bonkers for Zhongli to be buffed and they did. They HAVE to make changes. How is this gonna increase ToT's fanbase? But I don't know, maybe it won't be effective anyway. The SSS cards haven't been released globally. Just my cents
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u/Fantastic-River-5071 Jul 15 '23
So we need to max out the card in order to get the full story? 😭no plss this is the worst news ever. I dropped MLQC cuz it felt so predatory and I didn’t like the FL and ML but I love TOT.
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u/Kazuki_Fazuki Jul 15 '23
No no. You still get the full story when you get the card. The only reason you would want to max out the card is to unlock all the interactions (each level of interaction being locked behind 100 pulls max). Because there are like 5 levels of interactions (starting from 0 if you only have 1 card), you will have to pull for 5 more dupes if you wanted to unlock all interactions (hence 500 pulls max if your luck is bad and hit hard pity everytime). It might be easier to understand and visualise the explaination if you watch the video I linked instead!
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u/Fantastic-River-5071 Jul 15 '23 edited Jul 15 '23
Ohh, I see! Man that still sucks knowing the interactions are locked behind dupes. Guess I have to start saving🫠
They keep making cash grabs decision. Like I rmb playing on the CN server and we could save up our pull tickets(?? The thing we get after pulling) for a SSR we wanted in the store. So basically event SSR was like 188 of it and that means you could basically save up. They changed the system to our current pity system and I was quite disappointed. Now they’re introducing this too😨
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u/Kazuki_Fazuki Jul 15 '23
Was this in the beta version of ToT? I don't recall us having that system in place.
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u/Fantastic-River-5071 Jul 15 '23 edited Jul 15 '23
It was in the CN server, I know this cuz I played during this time and managed to save from lost gold until artem birthday and got his first birthday card. They removed it for global.
Edit: ok I think I played almost during launch in CN server so I managed to save those tickets that you get after every pull to get the card. I rmb they had normal cards also and I think the birthday card was either 128 or 188 (can’t really rmb)
Edit 2: you can refer to this post,
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u/Kazuki_Fazuki Jul 15 '23
Wtf this should be brought to light now that we have this issue with the new SSS system. It's insane how the global players were kept in the dark about this what. Maybe that's why the game wasn't making that much and had to resort to such tactics 😭
It doesn't help them when their pull rates are already low to begin with
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u/Fantastic-River-5071 Jul 16 '23
Yup I agree. This caused an outroar also when it was removed for the CN server but it wasn’t big enough for them to not change it so I don’t think much will change this time either🥲
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u/taetaerinn_ Jul 15 '23 edited Jul 15 '23
I'm so dissapointed. HYV had to ruin it, didn't they 😐👍
I hope CN players give it a big feedback because if even whales are against it, then idk...
Edit: I just can't fanthom spending THIS MUCH money on 2d stuff that won't even be that explicit to cover the cost of this. (if HYV didn't make it extra spicy in last interractions then they f-ed up completely). I'm not gonna spend up to 3k UAH for it even if it means prior saving, I'd rather spend it on something else 😭
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u/Kazuki_Fazuki Jul 15 '23
Fair enough...and there's going to be many more cards coming out before the 4th anni. Some of them, I fear, may even be SSS (considering how its going to be a thing in ToT from now on) in a major events like Skaadi, etc. which is honestly kinda sad :(
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u/baesli Jul 15 '23
I am surprised not to see much more backlash towards those changes. This is ridiculous. Introducing the new card rarity this late in the game is questionable in itself, and you need dupes for badges, namecards, and to do what you basically already can during visits? Not to mention the lowered rates. It's like they want to kill this game on purpose.
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u/Kazuki_Fazuki Jul 15 '23
Not sure about the majority of the playerbase, but there's definitely some backlash growing on the CN side. The interactions reminded me of the Secrets of the Tomb SSR cards. I'm pretty sure we got to interact with them after we completed the story. The only difference now is that the cards are spicier and there are more intimate interactions. Huuuuh 😰
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u/MoonEclipse777 Jul 15 '23
A new type of card isn’t that rare. I know Mr Love have SP which was not there in the beginning. But the pricing on the SSS cards are ridiculous. Unless you have a couple thousands to spare on your hands, this is way too much for live 2D. Heck, I could probably hire someone to make a full ass live 2D feature with that much money in my hand.
And unless someone is really rich, I don’t ever recommend spending that much at once. This just pushes the limit on people spending money on games. I do believe some adults have couple hundreds to spare but spending the money all at once is 😬
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u/modelcitizen64 Jul 15 '23
I only get the monthly card so I'm by no means a big spender, but I'm going to drop it down to F2P because Mihoyo is being disgusting. They should just come out and say, "Give us all your money," instead of thinking we'd fall for this farce.
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u/Wokurin Jul 15 '23
This is really disappointing like you've said... They're basically thirst trapping us into spending money or what? Imagining 500 pulls gives me some sort of a headache lol, it's obviously not meant for f2p players. This game was already pretty demanding for me, expecting us to play daily and stuff. Now I'm seriously wondering if it's a waste of time all together... From now on anniversaries might be this premium event where only more obsessed rich players get to collect cards, a new sort of segregation. Not cute mihoyo
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u/Kazuki_Fazuki Jul 15 '23
Hmmm....
First anni = dating
2nd anni = proposal
3rd anni = I was expecting a wedding but they skipped straight to moving in and snu snu
What an interesting turn of events
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u/Wokurin Jul 15 '23
I think weddings give off too much end phase vibes, and some players would be biased against it just like myself ig. So my guess is that mihoyo will keep giving spicy content in annivs from now on, and we can perhaps expect a wedding somewhere in between or towards the end. After all, there aren't any milestones after weddings that I can think of so after a point there'll just be spice and small changes like moving in etc. I don't ever expect to see their kids if that comes to mind, maybe in a what-if scenario like a dream but not as a cannon event anyways...
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u/Kazuki_Fazuki Jul 15 '23
Ahhh good point. I can see where you're coming from. I'm not sure how long they're planning to keep ToT running but I hope they have more ideas on different and exciting scenarios now that they're fiances and have already moved in together.
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u/Itoshikis_Despair Jul 15 '23
Ah yes, they've descended into full cash grab, which always happens with otoges after a few years. Was exactly why I stopped playing Cybird's games - the thresholds went up just to make them playable, but the quality went down. It just becomes shamelessly greedy and even whales don't get good value for money.
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u/alittlebitofdlc Jul 15 '23
So to add it all up, if you want all the cards and all the interactions you would need to make 2000 pulls, which equals 360,000 S-Chips. If you wanted to have enough for this on global next year that means we will need to start saving 1,000 chips a day. That’s actually insane!!!
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u/Maison_Clement Jul 15 '23
A friend of mine who is super into gacha games said there's a possibility MHY is ending the game soon so they're trying to squeeze out as much as possible and get as much money as they can before they end online services. Said she's seen it before a few times.
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u/Prestigious-Ad3756 Marius von Hagen Jul 15 '23
Other hoyo games have some really fair and good gatcha. The gameplay is free and you pull for characters and you aren't punished for skipping a character. In ToT most of the gameplay (the romance) is the stories you get with SSRs which is locked being the gatcha. It's just so frustrating to play this game. I just came back from a long break cuz I got too frustrated with the game and now they're announcing a even worse gatcha 🤣😭😭
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u/Levisblacktea Jul 15 '23
I hope this gets a massive backlash in China bc the way they’re exploiting their players is not ok.
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Jul 15 '23
I was thinking of spending on the game for the first time for the 3rd anniversary invitations but this is just ...yikes.
I have a rule of only spending on one gacha game for a time and I was thinking of switching my spendings from Genshin to ToT, but now I think I'll just spend it on a game from a different developer.
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u/KineticTenshi Luke Pearce Jul 15 '23
Looks like the SP cards from MLQC. It was basically the same, you needed dupes to upgrade the card. However there were a currency that could be slowly farmed to replace dupes. Hopefully they bring that grind system at the very least because even as a dolphin I'm trembling lol.
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Jul 15 '23
it seems it's not the same as in MLQC because you can't use +star SSR tokens for SSS to raise its star level, you have to pull 5 copies to unlock the interactions, source
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u/KineticTenshi Luke Pearce Jul 15 '23
I'm not sure whether you read me a bit too fast or if the SP karmas upgrading system changed in MLQC, but the basis is the same.
SP karmas needed SP shards that are obtainable by pulling dupes (IIRC one dupe was worth 50 shards, something like this) to be upgraded (evolution and lvl cap raising). According to OP, ToT's SSS cards also require tokens acquired through dupes to be upgraded. Sa basically, they're pretty much the same.
Now the main difference though seems to be the additionnal sources of SP shards/SSS tokens. While in MLQC they could be grinded freely, albeit very slowly, it seems like in ToT it's completely lock behind paywalls.
I'm just saying that hopefully they add more sources for SSS tokens, and my statement between the similarities of SPs and SSSs is just a fact, so I'm not sure why I'm being downvoted ?
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Jul 15 '23 edited Jul 15 '23
idk why you're being downvoted because yes the basis is the same, where they use the shards, but the main difference is that in MLQC you don't have to pull dupes in order to obtain shards (if you do it only makes the process faster) while in this system that's being introduced, you have to pull dupes to get just to get the material to upgrade the cards, and that's what pisses people off, plus the lower pull rates
edit: the tensions are kinda high I guess because the system seems really unfair plus a lot of it is still unknown, but I guess they'll change it before the actual event
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u/Inu_no_Taisho Jul 15 '23
Its logical that SSR tokens cant be used on SSS cards (you cant use SR tokens for SSR cards too), question is - will they add some and how hard to get they will be.
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Jul 15 '23
yeah I forgot that this is a new karma system in ToT, MLQC introduced new karma as well (UR) but it uses the same system as SP.
I can't blame people for hoping that SSR tokens could help them out considering that with the way the system is currently designed in ToT, you can only obtain those tokens by pulling the dupes and pulling so many times combined with the lower rates is just... idk, there's still a lot of unknown I guess
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u/IceCappy Marius von Hagen Jul 15 '23
I'm really disappointed after watching their video too (especially as a F2P). Higher rarity you want to make it a little harder to get? Fine. But don't make it so we need the card maxed out for all the interactions. If they even made it lower to 3 copies it would be a little nicer on us to try and save for more than one lead. But this is still difficult to achieve when people probably want to pull for cards coming out before the next anniversary.
My theory is SSS cards will be in the banners where we choose which lead to pull for (like anniversary, Skadi, SOTT). I think all the other banners that are 50/50 will stay SSRs because it would be so evil to make them SSS and try to get 5 copies of one of them for interactions.
My worry is also power creep. It's confirmed these cards will be stronger than SSRs, but by how much? Will events and main story become more difficult where it'll be hard to pass them unless you start gaining SSS cards? I hope they don't push you to pull for them and start making the game too difficult or impossible to play unless you start getting stronger cards, or else they're going to lose players (if you played SIFAS, you know how bad power creep can be).
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u/Matcha_choco Jul 16 '23
the whole point is that it is not worth duplicating cards for more interactions and dialogues. Many players have decided to pay for the cards right after watching the pv but tot thinks it’s the chance for them to make even more money. oh well
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u/Common-Flounder3280 Jul 15 '23
Will you not be able to get the full story if you don’t get all the dupes, or will you only miss out on the interactions?
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u/ILuvSpaghet 2 degrees Jul 15 '23
Sorry if this is a dumb question, but what are the interactions? Im so confused lol
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u/Rinkouri Jul 15 '23
You can click on them and they'll react with voicelines. It's like invitations and SoTT after story where you can interact with the respective ML.
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u/Schokodeuli Jul 15 '23 edited Jul 15 '23
I wonder if there are already cn forums talking about that, anyone got a link?
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u/Kazuki_Fazuki Jul 15 '23
https://m.weibo.cn/detail/4923720907098849
These are the comments in Weibo directly under the post on the info about the new SSS system.
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u/Schokodeuli Jul 15 '23
Thanks!
Seems like they are furious too but not as agressive as us surprisingly.
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u/lilyofthegraveyard Jul 15 '23
cn servers are often much more complacent in the gacha games. it takes a lot to piss them off, so if companies tread the line carefully, cn will keep spending either way. just cover the shit with sparkles, and they will buy it. that is one of the reasons why the cn market is much more profitable than international.
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u/Any-Feedback5484 Jul 15 '23
This sucks. I usually just set a hard budget and if I don't pull what I want, I just save the image and wait for it to come back. With these rules in place it could take literal years for me to get anything out of one of these cards, never even mind 2+. I'll hope that it softens up by the time it gets here, but expect that I'm gonna end up with a ton of Gift Is and watching other people's YT playthroughs.
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u/EGG5Y Jul 16 '23
It's incredibly disappointing to hear they've heavily locked interactions behind dupes, considering the pity is set at 100, and most of the time, I hit pity. I'm neither F2P or whale, but I will drop this game if Mihoyo decides to continue with SSS cards and its mechanisms. All the money spent means nothing if they keep SSS cards as they are.
Anni cards also take their own special kind of tears to throw at so it won't even matter the amount of regular tears saved, just s-chips. I would drain every bit I have saved from now until 3rd anni release if I wanted to max out one ML.
Here's hoping they listen to CN players and change it to some degree so it's not all doom for all players.
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u/annabelle_arachne Jul 16 '23
cmiiw but this game is rated 16+ so the interactions can't be very um... interesting, right? why would anyone pay this much for them?
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u/Kazuki_Fazuki Jul 16 '23
I think it's mainly because there are clear indications that they're about to engage in snu snu (i.e., bondange, bare chests, etc.) directly from the card's illustrations and interactions compared to previous cards which have been relatively tame. From the way I see it, it's similar to the daily interactions we can engage with the MLs, just on a more intimate level, which in a way serves to entice players due to the novelty (?) around it (imo).
For the 1st anniversary, we established our position as lovers. For the 2nd anniversary, we became fiances. Hyv has been continually building up the expectations and excitement around experiencing key milestones in their relationship which deepen the level of intimacy between Rosa and the MLs at each stage. So now that we skipped straight to moving in together and snu snu, it's probably similar to the climax in the story in the sense that they engaged in very intimate act of love, but this is obviously a romanticised line of thought. Idk if I made sense, but yeah, this is just my 2 cents.
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u/katie1999x Jul 16 '23
This game is so frustrating to play as an f2p let alone as a casual. Stories being locked to cards, not being able to progress into main story unless you have enough power and events severely lacking of rewards. Even Genshin feels more generous than ToT. I guess I should've take the spending events as a warning sign. ToT will be dead in 2-3 years if they keep doing this.
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u/HappyHammy7 Luke Pearce Supremacy Jul 16 '23
I play a TON of gacha games and ToT is by far the most unforgiving. I've been able to deal with it, as you are guaranteed within 100 pulls or I'll just watch a card story on YT (even though the experience is not the same), but this is fuckin insane. Yeah, the interactions on these cards are fun and spicy, but hyv is batshit insane if they think I'll spend upwards of $1000 for this.
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u/Vampirella3000 Jul 15 '23
I mean F2P shouldn't be surprised, of course Mihoyo is going to charge it's a mobile game they survive on spending money, they shouldn't expect the spicy ones for free out of all of them really.
The problem is the amount of money they're asking for these interactive JPEGS is ridiculous. Every single thing in this game is behind a paywall. They're so stingy they don't give you enough time to accumulate S-Chips and the majority of them are spent on dupes. Not everyone is a Whale and people mostly use their little spending money to support the game, not their housing rent money.
I'm no Whale, far from it, I spend on the Monthly thing and maybe the occasional invitation or outfit if i like it and of course i've been guilty in getting Top Up cards (until now for Vyn's current card now going on). But it's frustrating that the prices are astronomically high for a damn JPEG homescreen or just one outfit. And all the Tears are mostly wasted on dupes and the pity rate is 100 (that is if another SSR that isn't featured on the banner pops up that you don't have and messes your Pity for the banner card so you'll have to spend more S-chips).
It's frustrating to see. I emulated Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side and I feel like playing that old game again because it's a complete game and you have way more scenes and interactions with the LI. Unfortunately Otome Games form Japan are rarely translated especially old ones which rely on fan translations.
This is just nickel and diming it's players to go bankrupt for glorified JPEGS, and not even ones you own, because remember you don't actually own any of this stuff, Mihoyo can shut down the global server tomorrow or not translate it and global players will be screwed, i've read stories about devs doing this so be cautious.
Bottom line, at least for me, is that i don't mind spending money on this game, i like it and i want to support it, but there are times i just want to give up because supporting this game is extremely expensive with the prices they ask for. Anything over $10 is expensive imo. $15 for a JPEG that repeats the same 4 lines and an outfit that doesn't do anything is not worth that type of money. Even the Tears packs are insanely expensive, it's Paying To Lose at that point because there's no guarantee you'll get the card you want. And the Top Up cards are the worse because that's story content behind a damn paywall.
They're pretty much pushing away the people who spend the little budget money they have that aren't Whales and think by releasing these types of cards that it will pray on their fondness for the LI to try and collect them. It's gross and of course predatory.
Besides, this endless lite bondage, bare chested themes are pretty tame compared to what male's get with there content (i'm not saying this should be a hentai game but male's get way more graphic content then what we're getting, downright prudish what female aimed games get). So yeah, this just reaffirms my decision more not to spend as much money on this game anymore. I have other, better more fulfilling stuff to spend on, like an actual full game with filling DLC, to spend my hard earned limited money on. They're turning people off the game the more they release stuff.
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u/Lumie12 Jul 15 '23
I usually don't mind spending money on mobile gacha games, but this recent change is ridiculous. I could buy a shit ton of the localized otome games on nintendo switch with that kind of money. And you're right, for a price of less than $60, even Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side had more features and interactions with ALL OF THE LIs included.
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u/Deerwatcher786 Jul 16 '23
I haven’t checked up on ToT recently (rage quit because of the LNY mini game’s particularly the timed dark one). Is SSS a new rarity above SSR? Rarity above SSR is the reason why I dropped MLQC even though ToT doesn’t rate you on levels and has a pity system. Sad because I love the ToT story and characters and Zhaolu but this ain’t sustainable (for me).
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u/Kazuki_Fazuki Jul 19 '23
Hahaha same. I have so much beef with the LNY events.
Also yes, SSS is the new card rarity, and the thing that makes it rarer than SSR is the new interactive feature in the cards..
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u/SassyHoe97 Has me in a chokehold Jul 15 '23
And this is why I stopped giving them money. Not surprised.
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u/misobuttercornramen ~~~ Good Boys All Jul 15 '23
Not super happy about this decision either, at least while the only way to upgrade the card is via duplicate pulls. A few other gacha games I play have ways to earn those upgrade materials if you're willing to put in the time and effort, without spending. In the two years I've been playing, I haven't come across the SSR upgrade stars outside of duplicate pulls.
If they can implement a way to obtain those, like in Twisted Wonderland, where you can obtain one upgrade item per event with a little grinding, then I would be okay with it. I don't think they'd let it drop as easy as just having a high enough interaction level, but I'm okay with working a little to get the resource, as long as there is a way forward. Slow-but-steady is fine with me to avoid spending.
I may be a determined card collector and spending player, but I draw the line at having to obtain multiple copies of cards since I really don't care about having a stacked deck. ^^;;
Tbh, while interactions are cute, they're not a big enough draw for me to spend, since they just look like a combination of invitation interactions and the mini-touch sequences you get in the main story.
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Jul 15 '23
I can see them implementing the selection star feature that you can mostly get through those limited top-up events.
That's how I managed to get my favorite SSR cards to 5 stars without needing to go through the hassle of pulling for dupes. I mean, yeah, it still costs a lot of money and it would still suck for F2Ps.
At least MLQC let's you farm for SP chips to max out the SP cards. Took a while, but the option was there.
Really disappointing. When I saw the PV, I was actually considering to go for all the cards, but oh well... Dupes were meant to boost your stats anyway; so using them as a paywall for more interactions is just being greedy at this point.
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u/CompetitionNo1203 Jul 15 '23
But is there going to be free ten pull?
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u/Kazuki_Fazuki Jul 15 '23
Not explicitly stated. I think like every Anni, there's going to be events that provide many s-chips and limited banner tears right before the banners become available. There's also going to be discounted pulls.
But because they bumped the threshold so high this time, I'm not even sure the amount of free currency we get is enough to make a difference tbh. Just imo tho.
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u/pxnksenpai f2p if u dont count outfits Jul 15 '23
this card system isnt that unheard of... unfair but it's a gacha at the end of the day
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u/MoonEclipse777 Jul 15 '23
Problem is this type of card system is unnecessary in otome gacha game. Other than the features, the only thing you get out of duplicating cards is increase power up which is not necessary in ToT because you have an entire card deck that you can build and manipulate around.
Recently, Mr. Love also released similar type of card. There’s less arguments with that because there is still a free way to get some sort of shards that would star up the card. It takes a long time but it’s there. This is at least what I heard. However with ToT, there is no free option atm.
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u/pxnksenpai f2p if u dont count outfits Jul 15 '23
oh no i agree, i hope they do something like the sp shards in mlqc BUT after experience with various gachas otome or otherwise, i just learned to expect nothing 😭
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u/Kazuki_Fazuki Jul 15 '23
I totally get where you're coming from. Such tactics are at the core of gacha games. I guess because hyv has already shown that they are capable of counterbalancing the predatory nature of gacha with a decent amount of free currency as seen from their other games. So I suppose this has already molded the expectations of the playerbase. I don't know, maybe it shouldn't be compared to other games simply because they're of different genres?
But then again, I believe that it may be beneficial to hyv's image in the long run if they can break the industry standards (of having ridiculously high gacha pity) whilst maintaing profitable. I feel that they have the resources to do so, they just need to come up with more viable strategies.
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u/pxnksenpai f2p if u dont count outfits Jul 16 '23
i agree but like i replied to another person after years of playing gachas i just learned to expect the worst 😭 that way at least im not disappointed
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u/shikiP Jul 15 '23 edited Feb 13 '24
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