[Request] Extend Starfather Key Availability

(Pretend this is a YouTube video if you wish. Pictures would help with this illusion, but then, this isn't a YouTube video)

Corinthian here, bringing you all of today's radical ideas for KaW, and some fairly reasonable ones too.

Today, we're looking at Starfather Keys. These keys open event boxes that are rarely rewarded to players after an epic battle as a bonus for participating in the event (appearing no more than once per day for the average kingdom). These keys can be bought for the newbie friendly total gold of 5,000 gold, but at the limit of 1 purchase per 24 hours.

Note that this 24 hour timer is not tied to a specific server time, but instead an individual timer that starts after the key is purchased.

The Case

What this means is that if you buy a key at 10 am, sleep, work a night shift, crash the following morning at 9 am (unable to buy a key prior), and wake up in the "morning"/evening, yes, you can now buy a key (merely one example). However, now you're out of luck after shift, and must buy all of your keys in the morning. Running late? Forget? Goodbye 12-14 more hours. Eventually, the boxes can start to stack up.

Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, but unfortunately, there's a timer on how long you can buy these keys: the last day of the event, on 24 November. This means, chances are, you're going to have unopened boxes that are utterly worthless to you.

"But wait!," you say. Can't you buy keys with nobility?

Indeed you can, at 10 nobility per key. Unfortunately, the nobility cost is so high for the potential rewards vs what else nobility can be spent for, that even spenders are unlikely to crack this option unless they are high spenders. For the every other player, the nobility per key option is only to sucker kingdoms at don't know any better.

The Proposal

Two proposed solutions exist for this issue, both of which are quality of life fixes:

The first is to just extend Starfather Key purchases on both means through a week after the event ends. Sure, we lose out on the bonus favors contributing to payout (Note: possibly a coding bug waiting to happen when the box attempts to award it. Would require a message saying the favors were rewarded, but the event is over!), but everything else is fair game. Additionally, this still incentivizes the nobility key purchases if someone is shy of a reward tier and needs to gamble. The downside is that this could conflict with any plans to run back-to-back events with no rest period, even if it's only 1 week.

The second solution is to have key purchase availability reset at a fixed server time, say 05:30 PDT. Then, as long as you buy your key at some point during each 24 hour period, you are fine. Additionally, this still punishes players who are not proactive on key purchases, while not being needlessly stringent, by not giving them 7 more boxes to possibly open for relatively free under option A. As it stands, most active players will have 1 chest still locked by event end due to existing timer loss, even if they're diligent. This is the easier to implement idea (should be), and a more subtle quality of life "fix." I'm backing this point.
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What do you guys think? Are other people finding issues redeeming chests on time? Is the current system fine? Which change do you prefer? Let us know in the comments below, and I'll see you guys next time.

 

As a follow-up:

Keep in mind this key/chest reward system is likely to extend to other, future events. This proposal is merely using the current event as a living example of the current issue.

 

As someone who is bringing up an issue, it is the duty of that person to propose fixes so that action may be taken. To do otherwise is to just be complaining or whining.

Specifically for your question about solution A, that is a Pro/Con that I explicitly stated in the post, and part of why I support solution B as the easier and more agreeable Quality of Life fix to implement.

 

My post will still be here when you awake, worry not.

Get rest if you need it.

If you find yourself unable to rest due to one obligation or another that isn't tied to a physical or mental condition, then I recommend drinking plenty of fluids to stay alert.

Failing at that, many have turned to caffeinated products to keep on task.

I wish you the best in your endeavors. Happy KaWing.

 

@Captain_Watermelon, as long as the Quality of Life change is minimal, and only positive in its effect on the player base without causing much disruption to other elements of the game, such as the game economy, and so forth, there is a perfectly valid reason to believe the developers would implement such a change.

In fact, often quality of life changes are often classified as "bug fixes," and are covered more by that side of the house than the update/new content side of things.

As easy as it is to get despondent over situations as it takes time to implement decisions on change, especially sweeping decisions, and as easy as it is to be cynical when unexpected decisions are made when we don't have all of the information, the developers do value the player base as a whole as well as making a profit.

Take the much accelerated growth rate for new players, for instance. That doesn't directly affect the big spenders at all.

Edit: To your message above this one, it was legitimate advice. There's nothing wrong with being polite and courteous to someone who opposes your ideas. You don't have to be hostile just because of a temporary disagreement.

 

I would be cautious to call the box rewards and boxes "free stuff." When the epic battle community was more vocal on the forums, they would generally argue that they dedicated time and effort into getting the box rewards, as EB completion, depending on the clan and EB, requires a fair amount of real life time and/or crystal investment.

I'm not saying I necessarily agree with that level of drama, but again, I would be cautious about calling it "free."

 

@IA-CrazyRuggy, a fair amount of those proposed changes also affect the UI, PVP balance, add excessive time to accomplish basic actions (making a net worse QoL change), or otherwise affect the game beyond a simple Quality of Life change. Not all of them, but something to consider.

I am aware that not every proposal is implemented. I am aware even implemented proposals are often implemented "late" unless it was already being worked on. I am aware that it's highly possible some variant of this idea has probably been proposed in the past.

Merely, I make this proposal because it seems relatively easy to fix, has low to no downsides, and I haven't seen such a proposal made in at least a month.