Guide/Rant for New F2Ps and What To Expect As F2P
(This was originally a reply to a post asking if anyone else was experiencing "roll throttling")
I want to preface this as I'm not trying to complain as much as I'm giving a fair warning to those who play for free and what to expect. I can't speak for those who foolishly give this company money; only for the F2P players.
I started playing over a year ago as my wife's feeder account. Up until recently, I would exclusively roll on x3. Mainly because I didn't want to play, and x3 allows me to set it to the side and not have to be engaged. It also allowed me to hoard up dice rather easily because I would never really go for shields, skins, etc.
I never had a problem landing on railroads, shields, tokens, event spaces (except corner events, I rarely play those because my account absolutely will NOT land there during those events) (my wife and I's theory is that each account is nerfed on certain events, hers being the tax/utility spaces).
The last few weeks, however, I've attempted to really play the game. I'll roll x5 by default until I get to a spot where wagering more dice is ideal.
Here's what I've noticed as a F2P:
As soon as I login, I'm almost always guaranteed to immediately land on a railroad. Same goes for events (solo and partner). If there's a roll/spin mechanic, I'm almost always guaranteed to land on a mega (event not heist) first few rolls. And this will continue for the first few rolls. I'll hit the spaces I need without question.
Within those first few rolls I can "gamble" with higher multiplier and have no worries I'll hit. However, once those few rolls are up, it'll drop off drastically. Which is to be expected with this game. Like every other corporation, these peeps love money more than their families.
I've also noticed on railroads, I can only get so high before my account is nerfed to kingdom come. For example, I've noticed once I reached ~7-9k+ pts on railroads, it's almost impossible to land on railroad spaces, and when I do, it's almost exclusively just reg. shut downs (fairy tales and bank heists are non-existent, and don't get me started on the scam that is mega heist). Just recently, I landed on chance 20-25x in a row receiving only cash (no dice, no railroads, just cash). This is when I'm "gambling" with higher rolls.
To add, once I get to this point, the game will start consistently making me hit on needed spaces on a low multiplier. For example, I'll be two/twelve spaces away from a railroad, not ideal to gamble here, yet over and over, it'll force me to land on the railroad, and then, what a shock, there's my bank heist/fairytale/mega heist.
As soon as I stop and turn it back to auto-roll on x5, I'll hit everything and get everything. Event spaces, fairy tale railroads galore, tokens galore, chance spaces hand out candy, jail will roll doubles more often. I virtually always end up positive in dice as well.
I've also noticed this game is most definitely listening in. And watching if your eyes are engaged. Call me a conspiracy buff, idc, as a tech junkie and conspiracy researcher, I can assure you most definitely they have the capability to do these things. I cannot tell you how many times I've rolled bad over and over and I'll say something, and immediately I'll hit big. Same goes for my wife as well.
Same thing goes for engagement. If I'm consistently rolling (dice or events), the average is far lower than if I'm not engaged (I'm not staring at the screen or persistently hitting the button). It's as if they're giving me better rewards hoping I'll get more engaged.
I've also noticed if I keep getting bad rolls over and over, if I shut the game down for a few minutes and come back, my "luck" will be refreshed. Not always, but it's enough that I've noticed a difference.
Also, save up your tokens/dice, hoard them. NEVER get low on either of them until the end. As soon as you do, you're screwed. The game recognizes you're low and will piss on you and call it piss. As long as you have them hoarded up, you're better off. As far as the game is concerned, once you get low, you're desperate, and you're far more likely to spend money.
As far as what multipliers to roll on which events, there have been countless guides to that, Just do a little research on this subreddit, and you'll find what you need.
Stickers:
I have never received so freaking many duped gold stickers in my life. Especially 4 star golds. Purple, blue, swap packs, doesn't matter. I've opened countless this album. I've received THREE, that's right, THREE new five stars (one white, two gold) from these packs this whole time. But I've duped the gold 5 stars numerous times, not the white stars, just the gold stars. To some that's okay, but if you've played this game long enough, you know why it's not.
You CANNOT trade gold stickers unless there's a blitz event. So, in essence, those gold stickers are utterly useless. Sure, it adds to your overall star count, putting you closer to the big vault. But, that is 700 stars down the drain for what? 500 dice, cool, a purple pack, a blue pack, and a swap pack, eh. Not that big of a deal, especially if you end up duping the same gold stickers all over again.
I'll touch briefly on the storybook as well, but only briefly because others have touched on it already and it's a new mechanic. Expect to get jack from these things. You're most likely going to get the pages that are almost full or already full. And you will most likely dupe the lowest sticker possible.
Again, this is not to complain. This is to warn those who play for free and are new. You most likely will not finish an album unless you spend money. Is it possible to do it for free? Sure, but you're going to have to play hours every day; it'll become a part-time job. It's going to have to become a major part of your life if you want to "succeed". And even then, the game is designed to make you spend money. It's a gambling addict's bad dream.
I can tell you this will be the LAST album I try to complete.
And I also want to add, I'm not strictly against spending money on games. But, for the most part, yeah, it's stupid. Be careful.
Microtransactions have destroyed every single game it has touched, including this one. The more money you spend, the worse the deals get. How anti-consumer is that? This is one of the greediest and most anti-consumer companies I've come across. They do not care about their player base, especially F2P players.
I know there are those out there who are against "complaining" about a game that you can play for free. However, when the game is intentionally rigged like a shoddy casino, it's not cool.
However, overall, it is a fun game. And it's F2P. You can't bash that. My wife played this game when it first came out. And she said it was super fun. You actually had a chance to complete albums and win dice skins and shields without having to sell your soul to the game. But it's not that way anymore.