10 replies to this topic

[Amberson]

I have to say that I'm kind of annoyed with the refinement aspect of the game. I've been trying to get a rare or epic 'smelling salts polish' refinement for some tíme now on various shoes. Yesterday, I even invested about 150 diamonds to get the coveted refinement for my newly acquired epic sneakers in golden frame only to end up with a worst result than I could get for free in the very beginning. But at certain point I refused to waste any more diamonds if there's no guarantee that I will get lucky sooner than I deplete all of my diamonds. I wasn't able to get even a regular smelling salts refinement, so the prospects of getting a rare or epic one didn't seem very hopeful after all those unsuccessful refreshes...

Anyway, trying to get the desired refinement can certainly be annoying, but if there was no element of luck involved and you could get any refinement you wanted with diamonds, some players would have too much of an advantage. So I'm ok with how things are. But I would still like to make a suggestion to be able to refuse all of the three offers if you're not satisfied with them and don't want to or can't refresh immediately. Because now, the game forces you to choose one which greatly decreases your chances to get your preferred refinement in the future, since the next time you try, you will get only two new offers. Because of this, my gold frame epic has basically become useless to me after I was forced to refine it in a way that I didn't want to, even though I've spend lots of diamonds beforehand.

Edited by Amberson, 17 June 2017 - 15:05 PM.

[TaraBing]

Hi Amberson,

 

So is the suggestion to add a new option of "CANCEL" if you don't like the initial 3-choice outcome?

 

• Does this mean if you cancel the "freebie" per day, it was not used?  Or do you lose the freebie?  I am thinking the latter.
   
• Same as if you had spent diamonds to get a result you did not like.  You choose nothing via "Cancel" and lose your diamonds, correct?

 

I personally like the refinement system, annoying and all.  It does seem random to get an EPIC or RARE, and quite frankly sometimes you just get lucky and say... "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

 

Because of this, an EPIC refinement on a "lesser valued" item will often be more valuable than a better stats item with a lesser refinement. If that makes sense. AND ALSO because of this, I don't change my items that often.  It has to be a pretty stellar pairing of a refinement and the accompanied stats for me to change out my wearable garb.

 

Items become obsolete so quickly, yet because of refinements you cannot realistically replace them daily in the later stages of the game.

 

 

One of the strategies to employ and it requires patience is to queue your same-like items (all shoes, all belts, etc), and add refinements to one item at a time by using the freebie refinement once per day (especially if diamonds are hard to come by).  When you get something EPIC, keep it to the side and consider wearing it.  If you don't get something Epic, keep it to another side, and come back to it for re-refinement, but only after you have run through your queue.

 

Best of luck getting what you want the first time... and not spending all your diamonds on refinements... 

 

 

-TB

 

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[Amberson]

Yes, the suggestion is to add a cancel option that would work in the same way as when you accept a certain offer, i.e. you lose your daily freebie/diamonds afterwards. If you could refresh and cancel ad infinitum, you might as well get to chose what you want right away and that would go against what you said about the high value of rare and epic refinements (with which I agree). It would also make the use of diamonds unnecessary which is hardly what the game developers want.

Another viable option... and I actually read this suggestion in some other thread in the past... would be to turn the option of a one-time epic refinement (either chosen by the game or the player) into a prize that could be won, e.g. at BBAs/conventions, as a career achievement, for completing a specific wardrobe collection, winning certain amount of duels etc. This way you wouldn't need to rely only on luck to get a valuable refinement, but you could also earn it like other things in the game (items, diamonds, notes, energy, skill points, boosters, titles...).

[TaraBing]

Hi Amberson

 

Yes, the suggestion is to add a cancel option that would work in the same way as when you accept a certain offer, i.e. you lose your daily freebie/diamonds afterwards. If you could refresh and cancel ad infinitum, you might as well get to chose what you want right away and that would go against what you said about the high value of rare and epic refinements (with which I agree). It would also make the use of diamonds unnecessary which is hardly what the game developers want. 
 

 

Duh on me. 

 

 

Another viable option... and I actually read this suggestion in some other thread in the past... would be to turn the option of a one-time epic refinement (either chosen by the game or the player) into a prize that could be won, e.g. at BBAs/conventions, as a career achievement, for completing a specific wardrobe collection, winning certain amount of duels etc. This way you wouldn't need to rely only on luck to get a valuable refinement, but you could also earn it like other things in the game (items, diamonds, notes, energy, skill points, boosters, titles...).

 

 

 

Kind of like the way we earn energy vouchers to use at a later time.  If it came from this forum it should have already been suggested.  I will include it again.

 

Thanks for your contributions.

 

 

-TB

 

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[Amberson]

Duh on me. 

Judging by some of your posts, you're a very contemplative person with the ability to throughly examine the matter at hand from multiple perspectives, but sometimes you overanalyze things.

[Amberson]

Because of this, an EPIC refinement on a "lesser valued" item will often be more valuable than a better stats item with a lesser refinement. If that makes sense. AND ALSO because of this, I don't change my items that often.  It has to be a pretty stellar pairing of a refinement and the accompanied stats for me to change out my wearable garb.

 

Items become obsolete so quickly, yet because of refinements you cannot realistically replace them daily in the later stages of the game.

BTW, this is exactly why I want the rare/epic smelling salts polish so badly. I already have a rare refinement of this kind on my current shoes (and before that I was lucky to even get a epic refinement on my previous shoes) but I have those shoes for quite a while now and they have become obsolete in the meantime. So I constantly try to replace them with newer shoes with better stats + a similar refinement and keep failing at it.

The smelling salts polish is indeed my favorite refinement and I have seen numerous times it's usefulness when I won duels only because of having it. Maybe other refinements can be even more beneficial but their effect is certainly not as visible as when you end a duel with one stamina point remaining.

[TaraBing]

...

The smelling salts polish is indeed my favorite refinement and I have seen numerous times it's usefulness when I won duels only because of having it. Maybe other refinements can be even more beneficial but their effect is certainly not as visible as when you end a duel with one stamina point remaining.

 

I think most players would agree with you... Analis called them "zombie boots" in another post... perfect description.

 

I've been wanting to write up a new piece on refinements, and their perceived value.  Someone wrote an excellent piece ages ago, and while it's still pertinent, it's time for a refresh.

 

More Reading: >> http://forum.uk.bigb...nements/?p=2490

 

 

-TB

 

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[Amberson]

Haha, "zombie boots"... I like that name. These boots where not made for walking... these boots where made for the walking dead.

And since you opened the topic, I will add my quick comparison of special refinements. I refine the chest and legs pieces less often than shoes, belts, hats and piercings. One reason for this is that I simply like the refinements on those items more and the second is that I tend to change the chest and legs pieces more often. This also has two reasons - it's easier to change the clothes that aren't refined and it also more fun to change these parts of the wardrobe that have the most impact on the overall look of your star (+ there is a bigger offer of those items as well). Anyway, the reason why I mention this is to highlight that I'm not that familiar with some of the refinements as with others that I seek first (basically the things that bring you back to life and let you evade a hit/land two hits in a row). So here are my preferences... The first group indicates strong priority based on experience or personal judgment, the second group includes more even refinements and I'm not sure about the last pair...

Smelling Salts Polish > Euphoriant Perfume
Spurring Knobs > Patch No. 1
Applied Lube > Sewn-In Air Cushion
Overwhelming Eau De Toilette > Double-Sided Duct Tape
Glitter Powder From Flucchi > Reinforced Leather Patch
Reflective Glossy Foil > Porn Star Sticker

Colorful Plastic Balls > Rivet Attachment
Metal Spikes > Sparkling Diamond Trimming

Affixed Cotton Balls > Little Bottle With Spanish Fly

Edited by Amberson, 18 June 2017 - 12:18 PM.

[Amberson]

Ok, I thought more about the last pair and read the comparison in your link, Tara, and I'm confident now that the Cotton Balls are indeed the better option.

[TaraBing]

Nice analysis / opinions Amberson.

 

Some of the refinements are better suited for certain builds on how you like to play.  I tend to agree with most of yours.

 

It's a good discussion point for sure.

 

 

-TB

 

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[CaptC]

Conditions change the relative worth of refinements:

 

Porn star sticker is without a doubt, the single most valuable refinement in the game... but only if your studio takes trophies and fights to hold them.

 

Double-sided duct tape has the effect of making your opponent waste many skill points that they put into dodging. In many studio fight situations, where you are hopelessly outclassed by your opponent, this gives you a big equalizer. Works in duels, too, letting you take on opponents you normally could not touch.  But if you already have better finesse than your opponent, it is ineffective.

 

Spanish fly does the same thing, letting you equalize when your opponent has a lot more charisma points than you.

 

Plastic balls are effective at lower levels, when the damage done by missiles is a really big percentage of the damage you do.  But as a real world example, when you are doing 10K total damage using 2000 damage missiles, you want the rivet. (in a 10 round fight, the rivet will almost certainly trigger once, for 4500 damage.  Increased missile damage can't get that much extra damage over 10 rounds.) And the rivet is even better in studio fights, because your damage goes on even after you die. Not to mention that it is super lovely when the rivet triggers more than once... or when it triggers on a crit.