Capital Games release some big news yesterday – their “minimum requirements” for the two upcoming SWGoH Galactic Legend characters – Galactic Legend Rey and Galactic Legend Kylo Ren. While opinions began to fly, from outrage to “this is reasonable,” my spidey-sense (please do not call it a Peter-tingle…) kicked in immediately. The key words here are “minimum requirements,” something that Capital Games has struggled to truly represent accurately in the past. Let’s look a bit deeper.
In both Epic Confrontation events held in Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes players have truly been challenges in the game. When the Darth Malak Epic Confrontation was first released in April 2019, I was luckier than most as I was able to add Malak to my roster the first day without too much stress. Those Old Republic characters had a “minimum requirement” of 17,500 power per character. On the Light Side of that event I had six characters that averaged 21,306 power but interestingly enough I did not use T3-M4, my weakest of the six, bringing my average power of the five used to 22,019 – a difference 4,519 on average. On the Dark Side my six eligible characters averaged 21,048 power, but the five I used in battle had an average of 21,446 for a difference of 3,946 on average. Again, RNG was on my side and I opened Darth Malak on day one with fewer than 20 attempts. But that was the exception to the rule and I know multiple players who fought the event for 3 days and barely got him or failed to, certainly logging 20+ hours into their efforts for a mobile game character.
My experience in the first General Skywalker Epic Confrontation back in October 2019 was in line with my experiences in the first Padme Legendary event and most of Geonosis: Republic Offensive to-date – rage-quit level frustration. Let’s be (somewhat) real here too – if I rage quit the game tomorrow CG may have to layoff an employee. Or two… Back to our topic, the General Skywalker event’s requirements are not in my notes, which is unfortunate. What I do remember is the constant upgrading of gear, mods and Relics on my already whaled-out roster until I felt icky afterwards. I walked away with a General Skywalker at 5-stars, who I have hardly been able to use (he will get to 7-stars today, after 3.5 months), no Arena advantage, no GAC or TW advantage, and no money for Christmas presents for my kids (joking of course). What I can tell you is that the GAS event changed my perspective on how I view Capital Games and this game, a perspective that was shaped by a lot of content including a visit to their offices in February 2018 with my fellow GameChangers and many, many dealings with the staff at EA/CG over a couple of years. But I digress…
When the Geonosis: Separatist Might Territory Battle event was released, it was the first new content in ages from CG and right away we saw minimum requirements to even battle some missions. For the Acklay Special Mission specifically we needed Geonosians at 16,500 power or higher and I entered this battle for the first time with an average power of 19,689 for my five Geos, the weakest of which was +1,200 over the minimum. While I was able to beat the Acklay the second time around on this SM, I had to make some much smaller upgrades to gear and mods while vastly improving my strategy to win, and even that has not made the win a sure-thing each time.
Our most recent example of “minimum requirements” from Capital Games has come in the Geonosis: Republic Offensive joke of a game mode. I say it is a joke, because it is like a bad joke every time I use a Relic 5-7 character in battle and see some stupid Sniper Droid 1-shot kills them. To me, this eliminates any desire to spend or even play that game mode, let alone the game as a whole. Note that in the very first Special Mission on the map in Phase 1 which required Padme, the “minimum requirements” are set at 16,500 power which, for 5 characters would be a team power of 82,500. My whaled-out account began on December 2, 2019 with all five over 23k power and a total of 133,356, a difference of +50,856. That team got slaughtered by the second wave of enemies. Since then I have upgraded Relics and mods and have added more than 8k power to my team – a very expensive 8k at that. Now at 141,821 power across the five character for an average of 28,364, +11,864 above the “minimum requirements,” my results have not changed at all. While I admit my strategy needs work, these improvements should at least keep my characters in the battle a bit longer so that one sees actual progress, especially given the investments needed.
So here is my conclusion. Do not trust Capital Games on their “minimum requirements.” Like many things with the studio they prove to be inaccurate and anything developed of late for endgame players is designed with blatantly obvious greed. While I am sure this is the directive from the top at EA for this game that has already peaked, buyer beware. Honestly, the relationship with the studio mimics that of a bad marriage. It’s either hot or cold (usually cold of late), communication is either all or nothing, anything new seems like a selfish move, and everything they say is met with criticism and contempt. So if you’re going to spend on this event make sure you are comfortable with that investment, like we always should be on all investments into mobile games, because everything you see as reasonable is not when it comes to how these Galactic Legend events will be designed. Oh, and no matter how bad she treats you, she (CG) always has what you want and is counting on you coming back for it.
