darkSpyro

I'm still gonna buy a few crystals. I really wasn't planning on erasing my characters. Too much love put into ma bois.

On "direct messaging", I mean metaphorically sending a message. We only avoid this one product, then there's a clear message we're "sending". Not buy the game, we are not buying figures, starter pack, crystal; it's not direct.

I'm not really bothered by nonresetable crystals. I was gonna get one light crystal and one dark crystal.

Quote: defpally

It isn't much, but it is what we have. Personally I think the best we can hope for is a patch down the road after the initial release period that opens the option once they have made their initial money.

I wouldn't be shocked if this has been their plan since day one. It'd be a great way to drum up buzz during the post-Christmas buying lull come late Jan to Feb. Plus it would open up a lot of replayability after the game has been beaten, which would spur new figure purchases as well as crystals, and would be the perfect thing to coincide with the launch of a new figure wave. In a way, it's like free advertising, since the patches now download to current gen consoles automatically. I can see it now - A kid turns on their console to play another game, and sees the "Skylanders: Imginators patch 1.xx is downloading" message, gets curious, puts in the game and sees a pop-up saying crystals are now resettable. They get all excited, try out a bunch of new things, and next thing you know "Mom, we gotta get a(n) (insert element) crystal now! They are resettable!" And while they are there, if they happen to see the new wave of figures and pick a few up, well, to quote a certain pilot "BOOM!"

Quote: SSj3 Derek

Quote: defpally

It isn't much, but it is what we have. Personally I think the best we can hope for is a patch down the road after the initial release period that opens the option once they have made their initial money.

I wouldn't be shocked if this has been their plan since day one. It'd be a great way to drum up buzz during the post-Christmas buying lull come late Jan to Feb. Plus it would open up a lot of replayability after the game has been beaten, which would spur new figure purchases as well as crystals, and would be the perfect thing to coincide with the launch of a new figure wave. In a way, it's like free advertising, since the patches now download to current gen consoles automatically. I can see it now - A kid turns on their console to play another game, and sees the "Skylanders: Imginators patch 1.xx is downloading" message, gets curious, puts in the game and sees a pop-up saying crystals are now resettable. They get all excited, try out a bunch of new things, and next thing you know "Mom, we gotta get a(n) (insert element) crystal now! They are resettable!" And while they are there, if they happen to see the new wave of figures and pick a few up, well, to quote a certain pilot "BOOM!"

It would be an excellent way to invigorate sales and interest once the inevitable downturn occurs this year. It gets them the upfront sales of lots of crystals when people are excited about the new game, then gets people back in once you just want to sell them the rest of the figures. From what I have seen crystal elements will be front loaded on the waves, we will likely have all 10 elements by Wave 3. As long as they do not cause that much bad will through the move early on, that is. Then they are seen as "caring about the players" by walking back an unnecessary limitation. It is actually quite clever if that is the plan.

Now that I think about it, they were always planning to make them non-resettable, since they come with PERMANENT battle class label stickers.

Quote: JohnnySmasher42

Now that I think about it, they were always planning to make them non-resettable, since they come with PERMANENT battle class label stickers.

...you just blew my mind it's diabolical in it's simplicity...CURSE YOU ACTIVISION!

To be fair, I don't think they want one of the items in the Starter pack (the fire crystal) to have access to roughly 10 characters' worth of movesets. Not that I agree with that reason, but I understand it.

They could easily make the movesets rewritable, so I can't imagine that's the issue.

Quote: JohnnySmasher42

Now that I think about it, they were always planning to make them non-resettable, since they come with PERMANENT battle class label stickers.

Not always, the packaging is not until late in development. Considering the super slimy excuse to have them locked, it's hard to explain it as anything but Paul Reiche and co. being forced to change that way late and twisting some existing words around to make it seem like a good thing.

Ugh, it's painful, since I'm still looking at footage of the character creator. I WANT to screw arouind with it and play with several playstyles but who knows what other stupid thing might show up by Skylanders 7 if we just accept it; if that game becomes a thing at all. Plus the game's price increase for both starter packs and figures(since SC, but still), just for a few levels?! Fun is costing way too much when you can find it elsewhere for this to sustain itself.

Just back from vacation and then I heard this news. It limits creativity and It ruins the gimmick for me. I was planning on buying a lot of crystals (like traps on TT), but know I know I will stick with the crystals from the starter pack, because they are broken by design. It is like a vehicle without any Gas or a skylander that is not recognised by the portal. It is next to useless. This could have been a great game which stimulates creativity, but they killed the gimmick.

Quote: Wolfgang

To be fair, I don't think they want one of the items in the Starter pack (the fire crystal) to have access to roughly 10 characters' worth of movesets. Not that I agree with that reason, but I understand it.

It's not really ten characters worth, though, since half of the moves are determined by element, which you would already need to buy multiple crystals for. And then there are moves that you need to buy Senseis for, too.

It's still true that a resettable Imaginator would provide more moveset options than a normal Skylander, but I'd say that's only fair considering how they cost just as much as core Skylanders yet don't have an actual figure.

Well, here's the thing - maybe classes COULD've been locked by design. But we can't even reset levels and gold, or just quickly wipe a friend's character data once he got bored with it. So much for the trading aspect, huh?

I don't think they'll patch this type of thing later down the track no matter the sales . Unless resetting is available straight off, I think we're stuck with the non-resetting system.

us on dark spyro limiting our crystal buys won't do anything iether. Even with resetting unavailable it's still a really appealing gimic to families , that's where the sales are gonna come from.
Us not buying a few crystals is insignificant, unless you planned on buying 50+ lol.

Quote: Bifrost

Ugh, don't like giving you any attention, juarmo, but I'll reply to you this time.

We had Skylanders until Swap Force. Waves were smaller and we lack a ton of figures, but that meant the used market was swamped with cheap nice figures. We also had a bit of a community, as merch as imported and some stores held SSA competitions. However, Neoplay, the Activision brazilian distributor, just gave up on them post Swap Force, and even after emailing them wasn't given a reason why, just "we no longer import recent Skylanders games". The company went under a year later, so I guess that was an attempt at cost cutting.

So that's how I stayed hooked and now survive entirely off of expensive shipping and taxes on top of my figure price with the dollar being expensive! Fun for all. Also why I'd rather get variants over crystals if they'll be worthless to resell or even buy from the nice german sellers that offer free shipping.

Thank you. That was interesting and informative. Also, I had a feeling you were ignoring me. Thanks for being honest.
Can you answer another innocent question?
You mentioned seeing an Egyptian set of Imaginator Parts with a "curved sword", you wouldn't mind telling me if the "curved sword" you saw was a Khopesh? I'll assume you know what that is because you seem to be infatuated by Ancient Egyptian culture ("fangirl" over seeing Grave Clobber summon Sobek? Personally, if he invoked Nephthys while summoning a river. Or Sobek I guess, cause the Crocodile god's divine sweat created all the rivers, that'd be enough)

The Desert Sword or whatever it was called looks like a stylized khopesh, yeah. It's a little bigger and impratical-looking but it's the same blade.
I'm not really that knowledgeable of ancient egyptian stuff but I spent a few too many weeks just reading stuff about it, and there's a pretty cool museum on it in a town we visit regularly. On Sobek, well, it's a crocodile, it's a bit cooler and would fit an aggressive playstyle.

On topic, B-BOB, it might not and in the end everyone eats up crystals as well,but it's worth a try. If it's a week in and everyone's bragging and not caring about the locked classes, I don't blame anyone who was boycotting before changing their minds; it's a handful against the world, and in the end you just gotta have the fun in the amounts you want with the game.

Quote: JohnnySmasher42

Now that I think about it, they were always planning to make them non-resettable, since they come with PERMANENT battle class label stickers.

*GASP*
You're right...! HOW COULD YOU ACTIVISION?!

I'm not paying for other $10 just to make another character of a different Battleclass in the same element

I'm not too concerned by this at the moment. We planned to get at least one of every crystal element, and then decide after creating and playing with those if more crystals would be bought for either collecting or gameplay purposes.

And seeing as how the crystals are core character priced, I wouldn't be too surprised to see plenty on store shelves (except for possibly Dark and Light)), resulting in frequent discounts by retailers.

Of course, I also understand the other side of this discussion; it would have been great for budget players to reset the few crystals they may only be able to purchase to play with more classes. Our household will have to be more budget cautious this year, for example, so we could end up missing out on some classes and character designs if discounts aren't as abundant as they were with SuperChargers.

It does put a little bit of a tarnish on the game but I am still excited for it.

After seeing the limited upgrades for cc's I will not be buying any crystals for myself.
Still gonna try for Kaos.

Quote: BoneGrunt

I'm not too concerned by this at the moment. We planned to get at least one of every crystal element, and then decide after creating and playing with those if more crystals would be bought for either collecting or gameplay purposes.

10 dollars is a lot to just decide after you've made the choice, though...? You're still with a useless to resell crystal after the fact.

Not to say that I totally agree with the decision to lock the classes, but I find it more troubling that you need to purchase 20 $15 sensei characters just to level imaginators up to where everyone else gets to for free. Sorry, maybe a touch off topic.

Quote: Bifrost

I didn't mention Nintendo since they have Amiibo. They'd shove Skylanders under the nearest bus if they got their hands on the IP, Spyro be darned since they also have their own 3D plataformers.

You said "reality altering wish".
Skylanders came first.
So, the wish would alter reality to make it happen.
Therefore, if you wished Skylanders was Nintendo ip, then the wish would [at worst] probably alter reality to make Amiibo an extension of the Skylanders brand, right?
Also, so what if they have their own 3D platformers, they have 3 2D platformers... (Kirby, DKC, and NSM

Quote: Wally-Gang

Not to say that I totally agree with the decision to lock the classes, but I find it more troubling that you need to purchase 20 $15 sensei characters just to level imaginators up to where everyone else gets to for free. Sorry, maybe a touch off topic.

But what is the default max level for the imaginators? Might just need 10 sensei's to get the max 20. still a lot of money but at least you start off with two. If you are getting one for each element you are probably ok.

Wait... Can we at least reset our LV, EXP, and Gold?

Quote: Kat-Kun

Wait... Can we at least reset our LV, EXP, and Gold?

Nope, the button just isn't there.

Some people elsewhere are discussing an exploit where you bug the figure on purpose then use the Trap Team or older games' emergency figure reset, though dunno how well it'll work for this - it has worked for traps.

Quote: Bifrost

Quote: Kat-Kun

Wait... Can we at least reset our LV, EXP, and Gold?

Nope, the button just isn't there.

Some people elsewhere are discussing an exploit where you bug the figure on purpose then use the Trap Team or older games' emergency figure reset, though dunno how well it'll work for this - it has worked for traps.

That's just stupid!
If I'm buying a Creation Crystal, I want to be able to reset AT LEAST those things!

Quote: juarmo

Quote: Bifrost

I didn't mention Nintendo since they have Amiibo. They'd shove Skylanders under the nearest bus if they got their hands on the IP, Spyro be darned since they also have their own 3D plataformers.

You said "reality altering wish".
Skylanders came first.
So, the wish would alter reality to make it happen.
Therefore, if you wished Skylanders was Nintendo ip, then the wish would [at worst] probably alter reality to make Amiibo an extension of the Skylanders brand, right?
Also, so what if they have their own 3D platformers, they have 3 2D platformers... (Kirby, DKC, and NSM

Nintendo has more than 3 platformer series, those are just the 3 everyone knows At the very least, you forgot Starfy ( boy do I wish they'd localize the first 4 games in that series on virtual console...and do a new one in HD ) and old school Mario. I wish they'd do a Skylanders style game with amiibo though....

I'd also like to point out that Nintendo was approached by TFB with the idea for Skylanders but passed on it....

Doesn't seem like this was decided by E3.

Actually, the question at the end (11:13) suggests that it had been already decided by E3. Lou was just so vague about it that it went under the radar.

Quote: Bifrost

Some people elsewhere are discussing an exploit where you bug the figure on purpose then use the Trap Team or older games' emergency figure reset, though dunno how well it'll work for this - it has worked for traps.

I doubt it will be possible to do this trick with toys released after Trap Team since the game should not be able to recognize them, unless we have been able to do it with Superchargers toys?

Dunno, I don't get how the hat bug that makes the game think the figure stopped working helps to begin with, since Imaginators have hats in the middle of creation. Just throwing out there that someone is attempting something without the use of tools.

Quote: Bifrost

Doesn't seem like this was decided by E3.

I recall a video where the Acti person indicated that the "decision was locked" to lock the creation crystal to your initially chosen archetype. And the Lou video above confirms it as well. We'll log this as another stupid decision by Acti.

I'm not mad about it being locked or anything, I'm just mad you can't delete the save, like you can factory reset a phone, computer, game save, amp modeller, etc. cause that is the definition of intentionally screwing the consumer.

Quote: Street50

Quote: Wally-Gang

Not to say that I totally agree with the decision to lock the classes, but I find it more troubling that you need to purchase 20 $15 sensei characters just to level imaginators up to where everyone else gets to for free. Sorry, maybe a touch off topic.

But what is the default max level for the imaginators? Might just need 10 sensei's to get the max 20. still a lot of money but at least you start off with two. If you are getting one for each element you are probably ok.

In the videos I have seen, a sensei only raises the imaginators level cap by one. My guess is that with the minimum of two in the starter pack, imaginators are only level 3 before another purchase is necessary.

An easy semi-solution they could patch in would be to add a quest that lets you re-choose your class. Either an actual mission or just a ton of gold.
I say semi-solution because it's annoying that you would have to do this several times just to try out different classes for your element just to decide on the one you want to stick with.

They could spin it as "more replayability" I suppose.

But they really do need to have a reset ability somehow. Because if you have to wait months for the Sensei you want to be released to know if you want their Secret Technique, how can you really know if you want to commit to a class at launch?

I know that I'm gonna get the Senseis and only 10 Crystals, and that's also what I was gonna get before this whole unresettable crystals move

I had a fairly long post on this a few days ago (Page 2) and got timed out...Since then I've had several people messaging me about the issue and wanting me to step up and make videos highlighting possible combos and creations. A lot has been mentioned since then, so I'll try to make this a bit more concise (*try, lol).

While I would love to do this, I, just like many of you, honestly don't have the means to finance it. My initial plan was to have 1 Crystal per Element and utilize it as follows:

I would basically make 10 Imaginators per Crystal, resetting each time to change out, and the once all 10 had been showcased, run polls on YouTube to let viewers pick which one we stick with for that Crystal with the ultimate goal of having each Battle Class represented. In the event I had one I really liked and people didn't vote for, I might go out for a 2nd Crystal to keep my personal favorite combo. I thought it was a pretty good idea to showcase what was available and have a lot of interaction to see what folks did and didn't tend to like.

Obviously, that can't happen now without a really big investment in Crystals. Again, I sadly can't finance that at this point...especially when the characters themselves look promising.

In terms of trying to showcase all the combos, you will literally have to progress thru the game to acquire gear that might sway your opinion. So, the bottom line is that until you've collected everything, you don't really know what you will like best. That was one of my big points...I might unlock a weapon in Ch 2 that makes me think, "Oh yeah, Earth Element is definitely a Brawler!" only to later acquire gear I like better and would like to set up as an Earth Element Smasher.
Similarly, unlike some other folks on YouTube, I work a job with 8-15 hour days and any gaming takes place afterwards. I like to progress thru the game at a pace that makes it enjoyable, not simply blazing thru to get the chapter up first. I also like to be thorough and that would mean putting off creating Imaginators until the end of the game, which would make said videos not quite as useful for fellow Portal Masters (I still fear the game may prompt you to make one during an early cut-scene..it will also suck if we need Imaginators to access certain areas, thus forcing creation to acquire early chests etc.). I ultimately stand with the majority here that I would like to see freedom in Creation. I totally get the Elemental alignment, but can't support the Battle Class being locked-in...maybe in-game menus will have previews of the weapons/gear to help make initial decisions, but that is bittersweet as it would spoil some fun in acquiring items. A strategy guide might honestly be the best recourse for making educated, early decisions.

The game still looks great and I'm very excited about getting proper figures for some of the villains...I think the crux of this issue will be on the uninformed parents and casual gamers who will be blindsided and quite perturbed. With Traps, players could at least go back to the Villain Vault and switch them around if funds were tight. At the current price point, the Crystals don't lend themselves well to full sets of 100. It is sad to see the reception of the game take a hit like this, especially to the main selling point. It seemed Imaginators was carrying a bit higher of a hype than recent releases.

I am still very excited and will probably be content enough with some of the new cast, especially villains, that it won't be a big impact overall, but it definitely tempers expectations for creating Skylanders.

But hey, more playtime for Kaos and Wolfgang...sorry if it disappoints anyone, but as things stand now I simply can't finance 10x and thorough videos likely wouldn't be possible until around New Years with my schedule. Maybe a work around like Skylander Tutor could be implemented moving forward. As others have mentioned, hopefully we can catch some solid discounts on the Creation Crystals.

I don't think anyone but the craziest collectors should be expected to have a 100 crystals. We'll just have to do research with what we can get, 1ofWiisdom, and I don't think many would turn down writing damage numbers and whatnot if you asked here.

I could also see an ultimate Portal Master Power (if they are back) being the possibility to reset our Crystals at will.
Maybe they simply didn't want to spill the beans, after all path switching was a big and appreciated surprise for most of us, in SuperChargers.

I just can't think Activision would be se stupid, really.

Quote: defpally

My opinion is that they could have a really nice swan song to the franchise (lets face it, if we have another year like last year which is likely due to the state of the TTL market), but instead Activision is bound and determined to wring every dollar they can out of it. Parents will not respond to "you can't change this" by going out and buying more crystals. Now they are telling us we have to buy duplicate items because of choices we make within the game?

The message also is misleading, by "final" do they mean for this character or for the crystal? I can see this really making some people mad when they figure it out. What happens when 7 year old Johnny gets it for Christmas and proceeds to make all of the crystals the same class and then is stuck with that because he didn't know better?

oh yeah its gonna happen, 7 year old johnny will do that mistake, and angry parents will be calling activision and complaining... but im just waiting for more stupid decision done by activision. im sure there is more paywalls put into the game to make you buy more that we dont know about yet.

also im not gonna be shocked if they are gonna patch in microtransactions later. so you can pay to change battle classes on the crystals later on.

here is a new video, spread it around to all parents so they know what they get into before buying...

I just remembered that the Skylanders games normally have official guide books that include the movesets of the Skylanders for each game. Anyone else hoping that Skylanders Imaginators will get one as well which will include Imaginator movesets? It may not help if you want to try out the moves first, but it may make it easier to plan out our Imaginator ideas in advance. Plus, it would save anyone from buying 100 crystals just to make a guide for everyone else.

Welp, Jason on the Toys for Games podcast is preeeeeetty ticked about this decision. I can't wait for the editorial article on this later on in the week.

In the mean time, here's SCL Matt's Article about the whole situation

Another good point that should be brought up is how simple it would be to add a Reset button. It is one of the easiest features to implement! It would take about a whole day to work on it. It's not this huge feature that will take months to get right, it's a reset button...

Hopefully more articles like that are made to the point where whoever made the decision will realize "Hey, maybe alienating our target audience is a BAD idea!"

But considering this is Activision we're talking about here, I doubt it.

Maybe a Day One patch, but I dunno.

Great article from Matt, either way. The video was a bit on the nose, though, I'd at least explain why other than just "it's not infite", because people will just say "it's just a hyperbole to be infinite" and forget about it.

Quote: 1ofWiisdom

But hey, more playtime for Kaos and Wolfgang...sorry if it disappoints anyone, but as things stand now I simply can't finance 10x and thorough videos likely wouldn't be possible until around New Years with my schedule. Maybe a work around like Skylander Tutor could be implemented moving forward. As others have mentioned, hopefully we can catch some solid discounts on the Creation Crystals.

No worries, it's not your responsibility to spend $1000, and hours and hours of your time, just to clean up Activision's mistake. Thanks all that you have done, you've been a big help to me (and I am sure many others) in the past when I've been stuck on which upgrade path to choose.

EDIT: I still believe it is possible a reset functionality for these crystals might be coming down the line. Path switching wasn't originally available either, but as of Superchargers we can switch the path even on old S1 Spyro's Adventure figures. Defpally and I already went through the reasoning on that in this thread, for those that are curious. For the record, I am NOT saying it will happen, just that it is possible.

We should get the word out ASAP about Matt's article (and Jason's once he posts that) by posting it on Skylanders social media pages

Quote: CountMoneyBone

Quote: defpally

My opinion is that they could have a really nice swan song to the franchise (lets face it, if we have another year like last year which is likely due to the state of the TTL market), but instead Activision is bound and determined to wring every dollar they can out of it. Parents will not respond to "you can't change this" by going out and buying more crystals. Now they are telling us we have to buy duplicate items because of choices we make within the game?

The message also is misleading, by "final" do they mean for this character or for the crystal? I can see this really making some people mad when they figure it out. What happens when 7 year old Johnny gets it for Christmas and proceeds to make all of the crystals the same class and then is stuck with that because he didn't know better?

oh yeah its gonna happen, 7 year old johnny will do that mistake, and angry parents will be calling activision and complaining... but im just waiting for more stupid decision done by activision. im sure there is more paywalls put into the game to make you buy more that we dont know about yet.

also im not gonna be shocked if they are gonna patch in microtransactions later. so you can pay to change battle classes on the crystals later on.

here is a new video, spread it around to all parents so they know what they get into before buying...

Acti always find out. But isn't this overreacting a little? Didn't we see this coming?

Nobody's getting hurt. We saw this coming because our expectations of Acti are ****, but it shouldn't be this way and it'll backfire horribly, which is the entire point of the topic and these articles.