darkSpyro

What is your collection plan? It is frustrating that there is not much for the non-trap masters to do.
Unless you plan to collect them all, which is fine, what do you plan to get?

We plan to get them all.. But that may be just the OCD on my part! I just hate the wait! At least we have infinity and amiibo now that seem to give better release dates than activision to tie us over until new skylanders are out! But yeah, I see your point! My kids don't seem as excited like normal for the cores this year..

I changed my mind about collecting a Trap Master of each element. If I wanna get all the hats and other collectables from the elemental gates, I'll just borrow my boyfriend's Trap Masters. The only trap masters I wanna get are Enigma and maybe Knight Light and Knight Mare. As for cores, I'm only gonna get the dragons (Echo, High Five, Spotlight and Blackout) as well as Trail Blazer. I'm now more interested in buying amiibo than Skylanders which is one of the reasons why Trap Team will most likely be my last Skylanders game.

I definitely feel they need to shake up the game itself, how the figures are used etc next go round. Will be interesting to see how well Activision does with sales this year. Less is becoming more every year I participate as I feel I get the same re-heated meal.

There really isn't much to do with the characters this time. It's killed that OCD drive to own them all that I had with Giants. I went all out with buying everything in Swap Force, but didn't enjoy that game as much. I had a hard time justifying my OCD purchases after coming home and opening them because I wouldn't do a whole lot with them. Now with Trap Team, I barely play the levels since I know there isn't going to be much else to do in the game. No quests, no heroics. Keeping those with bonus missions would have been ideal, but clearly everything just got taken away instead. So now I've bought a bunch I wanted out of Waves 1 and 2, but I think I may just get a magic trap master for gates, the EE Trigger Happy I already preordered and call it a game.

It's sad when I think about how much I loved Giants and how far downhill the game and my love for it has gone.

^I'm dreading the replayability of this game, as I spent 60%+ of the last few games just on perfecting my army's abilities. This may seriously be a 40 hour or less excursion, which is expensive given a total of $700 or so for full collection/traps. I've literally spent hundreds of hours of the previous entries with quests/heroics.

From what I've seen, even a few of the villain quests require ABSOLUTELY NOTHING--such as Broccoli Guy. How many are like that?

You don't need to have a medical diagnosis to know if you're OCD/hoarder material. I bet many of us have collector syndrome, at the least. I don't think he was joking.

^I wouldn't joke about something like that first off! And second, yes it is medically diagnosed as well as bi-polar, and I do take meds, and yes it's horrible if not controlled.. On the lighter side, I am very creative IMO because of these issues!

Quote: Backlash

Quote: GhostRoaster

You don't need to have a medical diagnosis to know if you're OCD/hoarder material. I bet many of us have collector syndrome, at the least. I don't think he was joking.

I beg to differ..

At most, collecting items could possibly be considered an OCD trait, and nothing more..

OCD is a terrible, restrictive and debilitating anxiety disorder, and you should think yourself lucky that you DONT have it..

Hearing people making statements such as, "that is very OCD of me" etc. is VERY OFFENSIVE to those of us that have actually been diagnosed with the disorder by a psychologist/psychiatrists..

If you truly had the disorder, then you certainly wouldn't be openly joking about it..

are we gonna let this petty arguement derail our thread!?

NOPE.

Quote: GhostRoaster

^I'm dreading the replayability of this game, as I spent 60%+ of the last few games just on perfecting my army's abilities. This may seriously be a 40 hour or less excursion, which is expensive given a total of $700 or so for full collection/traps. I've literally spent hundreds of hours of the previous entries with quests/heroics.

From what I've seen, even a few of the villain quests require ABSOLUTELY NOTHING--such as Broccoli Guy. How many are like that?

I haven't collected anything yet in the four levels I have already gone through. I figure it gives me a reason to replay the levels many times and at least I can kind of force some more replayability from the game. However, that lack of heroics and quests to work on my characters really ruins having any reason to buy characters to begin with. I guess in the long run it will save me a lot of money, especially when I've grown so bored of the game I may not even consider the next one.

Quote: Backlash

I beg to differ..

At most, collecting items could possibly be considered an OCD trait, and nothing more..

OCD is a terrible, restrictive and debilitating anxiety disorder, and you should think yourself lucky that you DONT have it..

Hearing people making statements such as, "that is very OCD of me" etc. is VERY OFFENSIVE to those of us that have actually been diagnosed with the disorder by a psychologist/psychiatrists..

If you truly had the disorder, then you certainly wouldn't be openly joking about it..

Sorry to hear about your personal situation, but no one is trying to make light of anyone in that situation. You may have been offended, but that doesn't make you spokesperson for another grievance class. You may want to try and get tougher skin or remove yourself from Internet chats--where I'm sure anyone at anytime on any level can be easily offended.

But since we have an OFFICIAL diagnosis here, please tell us the impact of that has on your collecting of the figures, since that is the topic.


Quote: ZapNorris

are we gonna let this petty arguement derail our thread!?

NOPE.

Sorry, back to cool toys.

im not gonna buy everything either. minis is out of questions(except for spry), only 8 traps + kaos trap(which i have all now). then its one of each trapper element so i can reach all places in the game(only missing life and magic now). then all adventure packs and light/dark. after that im done and waiting to see what vv will bring to the table next year.

I will buy them all if I can get them for $4 each.

Otherwise I'll get the ones we like. So far we've got KK, the 3 pack with chopper and Nightmare Express. We also got about 12 traps and EE chop chop.

Will also get Enigma, all the Light/Dark and level packs, and 3 more Eon's Elites.

Maybe.

My collection priorities:
Pokemon Amiibos
Skylander dragons
Sonic the hedgehog Amiibos
cool Skylander Animals
cool Amiibo Animals and cool male human Amiibos

So I don't plan to collect each one, just the themes I enjoy. Though I might end up with characters I didn't plan on getting due to triple packs containing dragons. But when I play with my friends it gives them a variety to try out.

Me? I don't know....
I might just get all the figures.....whether or not this is my last Skylanders game, I'll give VV the benefit of doubt, so I'll wait and see how #5 turns out.
If I were them, put your heads together and combine elements from each game, as well as the latest gimmick, to make the next one. Take the best aspects from all four games so all of our figures aren't just sitting on shelves collecting dust.
TFB, VV and, most of all, Activision.....make us come back desiring more. Each of your previous games had plenty of content to keep us occupied. TT was good, but not enough to do, plus the long waits between figures lowers our interest level.
You need to concentrate on keeping your customers interested, or it might be on the same path as COD & HALO.

As with the past three games, i only plan to get the figures i like, so far that has translated as everything.

The removal of "figure based content" has really lowered the amount of time spent playing in Trap Team and with Trap Team figures in general. A good three quarters of the time i spent in Swap Force was spent doing the figure quests for my collection, i even went as far as taking the Swap Force reposes and Lightcores back to Giants to do their Giants figure quests, as Swap Force had a little badge to show that they were completed in Giants.

i haven't bothered doing that for the 5 TT reposes, as there isn't any recognition for it, maybe they'll bring them back for the next game?

and speaking of the next game, i won't make a decision on whether i will get it or not until i have seen some gameplay and some figures, but i am not going to kid myself, there is more of a chance that i'll be getting it rather than not.

I still love all of the figures and characters, but I have been having a lot of fun just collecting and doing the missions for the villians. That has sort or replaced the desire to constantly get new toys for me. There is something to do as I progress through the game, and there is always a fun new character right around the corner.

I hope they really mix up the formula for Skylanders 5. An open world game like Skyrim, or a racing game, or something completely new.

I plan on getting:

Trap Master from every element (except possibly light or dark, I might buy one, but I'm gonna buy the original 8 first)
Trap from every element
A few cores ( im going to get two of the triple packs, but other than maybe, Fist Bump, Jet-Vac, or Pop Fizz, or I'm not getting any more other than the High Five I won)

Mini's? I have a Terrabite from SSA, but they don't really interest me...

Looks like Backlash took his toys and went home. I hope he understands that no one is making light of the condition...but at the same time...this is not the place to be "preachy".

Feel free to stop in anytime.

Quote: Eggers

Quote: GhostRoaster

^I'm dreading the replayability of this game, as I spent 60%+ of the last few games just on perfecting my army's abilities. This may seriously be a 40 hour or less excursion, which is expensive given a total of $700 or so for full collection/traps. I've literally spent hundreds of hours of the previous entries with quests/heroics.

From what I've seen, even a few of the villain quests require ABSOLUTELY NOTHING--such as Broccoli Guy. How many are like that?

... "I can kind of force some more replayability from the game...

This tells the entire story for me. If you have to impose rules on yourself when you play the game in order to make it better, that is a sign of a sub-par game. I bought the game and a few trap masters day one. I have not and will not buy anything else for trap masters.

We all know that Activision are focused on selling toys and not on game play. But understanding that they seem to have made a real blunder this time around.

Think about it, we now have less game play/reason to play with no quests or heroic challenges etc, but more toys than ever. Surely if you're going to roll out such a huge number of new toys you would want to do so with your biggest and best game play game of the series? But it seems to be the opposite.

Why they can't simply create 20-40 generic heroic challenges and then add a few new ones each game is beyond me. I get why they can't keep making specific challenges for every single Skylander, but given that most of us do multiple HC's with each individual Skylander, it makes sense they they just be generic.

I used to collect Skylanders, but I still needed to feel there was some reason to buy each one. There's just not enough things to do in Trap Team to warrant it. So I will buy a few when they come on sale in 6-12 months time. And I will buy a couple of Elite's and Enigma, but I won't be buying all of them, even if they do start selling them off for $4-$5 each.

Agreed guys. The additional content needed not be quests or heroics (there are good arguments on revamping it based on arguments we've all heard) but not filling the void was in fact a blunder to those that considered that time part of the challenge. I'd wish they would bring back the "to life" to toys to life in the next entry...and provide (and keep) rewards in place for those that do it. XP and upgrades isn't enough.

At least Swap Force tried to extend gameplay with score/time attack...with the ability to compete with friends. With that gone as well, there's an obvious void here post story mode.

As I've stated before, the ratio to toys to content is getting ever so skewed on the toys side...I feel like it's permanently lopsided now.

Quote: GhostRoaster

Agreed guys. The additional content needed not be quests or heroics (there are good arguments on revamping it based on arguments we've all heard) but not filling the void was in fact a blunder to those that considered that time part of the challenge. I'd wish they would bring back the "to life" to toys to life in the next entry...and provide (and keep) rewards in place for those that do it. XP and upgrades isn't enough.

At least Swap Force tried to extend gameplay with score/time attack...with the ability to compete with friends. With that gone as well, there's an obvious void here post story mode.

As I've stated before, the ratio to toys to content is getting ever so skewed on the toys side...I feel like it's permanently lopsided now.

It's The Leaning Tower of Skylanders. A million toys and nothing to do with them. Bravo Activision. I'll buy more when you return my heroics and quests... and maybe make other stuff that's worth doing too. I'm sick of avoiding getting anything in a level just so I have a reason to the game longer than a few hours.

No one said we had to buy em all . It would be interesting to pass the game with just our old toys and the Starter characters.

I'm still planning on getting em all, but alas, it's kind of hard when you're over a month behind everyone else. I guess my plan's to buy the ones I REALLY want online, and wait for the rest to trickle over.

Quote: kaosmumishot

We all know that Activision are focused on selling toys and not on game play. But understanding that they seem to have made a real blunder this time around.

Think about it, we now have less game play/reason to play with no quests or heroic challenges etc, but more toys than ever. Surely if you're going to roll out such a huge number of new toys you would want to do so with your biggest and best game play game of the series? But it seems to be the opposite.

Why they can't simply create 20-40 generic heroic challenges and then add a few new ones each game is beyond me. I get why they can't keep making specific challenges for every single Skylander, but given that most of us do multiple HC's with each individual Skylander, it makes sense they they just be generic.

I used to collect Skylanders, but I still needed to feel there was some reason to buy each one. There's just not enough things to do in Trap Team to warrant it. So I will buy a few when they come on sale in 6-12 months time. And I will buy a couple of Elite's and Enigma, but I won't be buying all of them, even if they do start selling them off for $4-$5 each.

If Activision wasn't interested in gameplay, none of us would probably be here, today.

Ok, TfB and Activision have made a wrong choice, with Trap Team, by not adding more replayability.
This doesn't mean the next games won't have it.

Just because a game was so-so (in your opinion, of course), doesn't mean it's the beginning of the end for that franchise.

I will buy all the new characters (only the truly new ones, not reposes, Minis and variants) like I do with every game, because I like collection them, I like using them and I like finding out what makes them unique.
I personally never needed a motivation to buy more characters.
I simply enjoy having more gameplay possibilities.

I find all this talk of replayability really strange. I'd rather have a REALLY long main game with areas that could be revisited several times, but NO need to replay the same sequences again and again.

they really need to add online gameplay next time for the replayability of the game.

Online coop for Story mode? Requires voice chat which is not safe for children.

I buy the figures for how they look in real life and how they play in game, not for what they unlock.

Quote: newkill

Online coop for Story mode? Requires voice chat which is not safe for children.

I buy the figures for how they look in real life and how they play in game, not for what they unlock.

3ds trap team have online skystones and no chat. also disney infinity have online for two games now. then it is safe for skylanders too. i think online gameplay is a necessity for the next game to get more replayability.

Quote: Dark fhoenix

No one said we had to buy em all . It would be interesting to pass the game with just our old toys and the Starter characters.

Ya know. It's getting to that point. And correct "no one said you had to buy them all". There's definitely more figures than content. Only except we had a reason to play with ALL of them up until this game. Now they just feel like plastic that's going to stay in my game cases.

newkill, we've killed that conversation a long time ago. Chat is NOT required for two player co-op. I guess Universe was before everyone's time here.

Quote: CountMoneyBone

they really need to add online gameplay next time for the replayability of the game.

if it were possible to "like" here... i'd do it.

but i'm done after this game. it's old, and boring, and i can only do the same thing over an over again.. and my wallet can only take so much...

But Zap, Activision says that we (the customers) love doing the same thing over and over and over again! (forgot who said it, but basically this--it was a year or so ago).

Quote: GhostRoaster

But Zap, Activision says that we (the customers) love doing the same thing over and over and over again!

thats what little kids like. im done with TFB

Quote: skylandersspyro

Quote: GhostRoaster

But Zap, Activision says that we (the customers) love doing the same thing over and over and over again!

thats what little kids like. im done with TFB

Oh. I guess we need an adult toys to life game then. Silly me.

I think they took their formula to extremes this year. Too many figures, not enough content. Reign in the figure/gimmick for the content, or just leave it at home please.

Quote: Dark fhoenix

No one said we had to buy em all . It would be interesting to pass the game with just our old toys and the Starter characters.

This is true, but the point of the thread is, "hey, I used to want to buy them all, now I don't".

And realistically, Activision wants us to buy them all. Several of us just feel that they went from enticing us to strong arming us. I think that will work out poorly for them, hopefully they get it right next time around.

Well,for me, when I got SF on Christmas last year, I played 3 levels, and didn't pick it up again until the end of Febuary. In SSA I played it so much I did every level in 3 days. Giants took me two days to complete. But all the repalyability in SF was just to much. I STILL haven't even got through time attack, let alone score mode. But no replayability? What, you buy the game and a ton of figures, just to play it once, and never do a level for fun?

Quote: mega spyro

Well,for me, when I got SF on Christmas last year, I played 3 levels, and didn't pick it up again until the end of Febuary. In SSA I played it so much I did every level in 3 days. Giants took me two days to complete. But all the repalyability in SF was just to much. I STILL haven't even got through time attack, let alone score mode. But no replayability? What, you buy the game and a ton of figures, just to play it once, and never do a level for fun?

Really, you want to complain about content you haven't even done yet? So what if it's too much? Would you rather have too much and not do it or not have enough to do and need something? Answer is clear to me.

Everyone's barometer on what they want from a game will vary....but in reality...more is more, not less.

More is more, not less! That's the understatement of the year! ;P

I don't spend my money on anything else, so i decided to just bank it on skylanders haha.

Quote: SparCrux1101

I don't spend my money on anything else, so i decided to just bank it on skylanders haha.

I do the same!

Sometimess I wonder why i don't get COD Advanced Warfare or something,


The only other games I get are cheap like Five Nights at Freddys or Gmod...

Quote: GhostRoaster

But Zap, Activision says that we (the customers) love doing the same thing over and over and over again! (forgot who said it, but basically this--it was a year or so ago).

Oops, sorry, now I feel like an idiot liking to to do the "same thing" over and over again, just because it worked in the first place.

Really, really stupid.

Quote: Drek95

Quote: kaosmumishot

We all know that Activision are focused on selling toys and not on game play. But understanding that they seem to have made a real blunder this time around.

Think about it, we now have less game play/reason to play with no quests or heroic challenges etc, but more toys than ever. Surely if you're going to roll out such a huge number of new toys you would want to do so with your biggest and best game play game of the series? But it seems to be the opposite.

Why they can't simply create 20-40 generic heroic challenges and then add a few new ones each game is beyond me. I get why they can't keep making specific challenges for every single Skylander, but given that most of us do multiple HC's with each individual Skylander, it makes sense they they just be generic.

I used to collect Skylanders, but I still needed to feel there was some reason to buy each one. There's just not enough things to do in Trap Team to warrant it. So I will buy a few when they come on sale in 6-12 months time. And I will buy a couple of Elite's and Enigma, but I won't be buying all of them, even if they do start selling them off for $4-$5 each.

If Activision wasn't interested in gameplay, none of us would probably be here, today.

Ok, TfB and Activision have made a wrong choice, with Trap Team, by not adding more replayability.
This doesn't mean the next games won't have it.

Just because a game was so-so (in your opinion, of course), doesn't mean it's the beginning of the end for that franchise.

I will buy all the new characters (only the truly new ones, not reposes, Minis and variants) like I do with every game, because I like collection them, I like using them and I like finding out what makes them unique.
I personally never needed a motivation to buy more characters.
I simply enjoy having more gameplay possibilities.

I actually never said that Activision were not interested in game play - I said it wasn't their focus. But you are right in assuming that I believe that they couldn't care less about game play because apparently they don't. They are only interested in producing some sort of game that will allow them to flog off dozens of new toys. But hey it's a business what do we expect right?

Also surely you're not suggesting that my opinion of the game is that it's 'so-so' because I didn't say that, nor do I think that. I really like Trap Team, and I love replaying levels for fun, but there is a limit to how often I will play the same level before it gets too boring.

So the question was about people's motivation to collect all the characters. Well without PVP, quests etc I personally can see no reason to collect them all, unless you are someone that likes to complete a collection. I used to, so I get why people do, but this time around I just can't justify it when I have already played each chapter so many times and there are sooooooo many new characters. There will be nothing new to do with any new character that I would get. So like others I will buy a couple that I really like, and then leave it at that.

Personally I hope that sales bomb on the later waves of Trap Team figures. And that Acitvision have a review of why and come to the conclusion that they need to increase the amount of game play to justify releasing so many new characters. But I won't hold my breath.

newkill: Online does not require voice chat, personally, I'd be very happy with online that didn't have voice chat, because I could battle against people with different strategies

Quote: kaosmumishot

I really like Trap Team, and I love replaying levels for fun, but there is a limit to how often I will play the same level before it gets too boring.

So the question was about people's motivation to collect all the characters. Well without PVP, quests etc I personally can see no reason to collect them all, unless you are someone that likes to complete a collection. I used to, so I get why people do, but this time around I just can't justify it when I have already played each chapter so many times and there are sooooooo many new characters. There will be nothing new to do with any new character that I would get.

QF-flipping-T

How many times can you replay the levels for grinding and levelling and gold collecting? Especially because so many in TT are dragged out with puzzles/Skystones? Plus, there aren't many goals to pursue with your Skylanders, unlike in SF where there was a ton of stuff that would be marked as completed and reward you with stars.

VV had better include a ton of replayable content in the next game and improve the level design again. It's not just the replayability, by the way, if you observe the level design of both games you can notice SF's game design is better. Better power balance (even though neither have great balance), better pacing, less filler (not that it doesn't have some filler, but it's not as prominent or bland).
Maybe it's because I don't like TT as much and feel more burned out on the frachise, but there's only one SF puzzle I felt I had to search for the solution to (jumping on the Bog Hog in Chapter 3- looked everywhere else on the level for final preserver, didn't think I could jump on the bog). I've searched for solutions to a couple of TT puzzles, since some things are hidden with cheap camera shots/leaps of faith (Chapter 5 and 8's Legendary Treasures) or in the case of Chapter 17's Legendary Treasure and Skystones pit, a cheap trick that you would actively avoid...
Not to mention SF's much better fighting mechanics, which don't introduce a new goal or challenge, but do make fighting more engaging/satisfying

I'm making this sound worse than I think it is- just counting the newcomers, if you intend to max everyone out, this has a better content balance than SF thanks to the lack of painfully repetitive Quests- but regardless, I'm disappointed that almost everything I liked about SF was gimped in this installment.

Not getting anything until light and dark

This is the first game in the series where I'm questioning myself to get every new character now...

Quote: Drek95

Quote: GhostRoaster

But Zap, Activision says that we (the customers) love doing the same thing over and over and over again! (forgot who said it, but basically this--it was a year or so ago).

Oops, sorry, now I feel like an idiot liking to to do the "same thing" over and over again, just because it worked in the first place.

Really, really stupid.

Sarcasm noted...but in reality...stop propping the company for not providing enough VARIED content to keep folks entertained, and then come back and make it sound like we should just accept what we have. It looks passive aggressive.

Quote: spyrothe111

This is the first game in the series where I'm questioning myself to get every new character now...

This for sure!

Quote: blackout3000

Not getting anything until light and dark

Why not? We weren't even supposed to know about light And dark in the first place...

Quote: GhostRoaster

Quote: Drek95

Quote: GhostRoaster

But Zap, Activision says that we (the customers) love doing the same thing over and over and over again! (forgot who said it, but basically this--it was a year or so ago).

Oops, sorry, now I feel like an idiot liking to to do the "same thing" over and over again, just because it worked in the first place.

Really, really stupid.

Sarcasm noted...but in reality...stop propping the company for not providing enough VARIED content to keep folks entertained, and then come back and make it sound like we should just accept what we have. It looks passive aggressive.

One thing is vary the content every year (which I honestly think TfB already did, with SA, Giants and Trap Team, at least for my tastes), by keeping the same main concept and adding new twists with every entry (Classic Spyro Trilogy says hi)...
Another is creating a cool and enjoyable game, with a lot of replayability and things to do... That simply isn't a Skylanders title anymore.

Just because it has Skylanders in it doesn't mean it is a Skylanders game.

Again, to keep the Spyro example, he is in Skylanders, but the game is not about him, and even if similar, isn't a proper "Spyro game".

I really don't want V.V. to change the main structure of the game AGAIN, with Skylanders 5.

Activision might as well give the franchise to other 5 companies, asking them to continuously develop games, so we can have a new adventure every 2 months, then...

To conclude, I really don't see how wanting a game series to keep his spirit, while still managing to change enough every year, to make it feel fresh for their target (and not only it), can be considered as a "passive agressive" behaviour.
It's not that I never criticize this game, it's just that I still love it, even if it has it's problems.

At least, GhostRoaster, you seem to be reasonable enough not to whine about waiting to quit this franchise, just because you don't like that much a single game... I wish I could say the same for everyone, here...