unique upgrades Please WG... the cost of Unique Upgrades NEEDS to be lowered

[zaaade]

Hello all! This is my first post ever on the wows forum, I'm usually a r/wows regular instead. Some people may know me by my previous ingame name shortened to "zk". I'm posting here because I feel like this is an issue that hasn't gotten much coverage and actually requires a legitimate fix (rather than a circle jerk).

Unique Upgrades (UU) are a mechanic I really find interesting in this game as they're a great way to expand the play-style of your favorite ships. For example, a unique upgrade Henri plays VERY differently from a concealment Henri, same goes with Des Moines and many other ships. Unique Upgrades previously had a mission system that required you to play a lot of games in the ship in order to acquire the upgrade and I thought this was ideal. Unique upgrades are supposed to expand on your favorite ships and you acquired them as a reward for playing the ship over many many games. This made sense.

When the Research Bureau was released, UU were instead taken away from the mission system and given to the Research Bureau as a purchasable option with RP. While I believe this was a poor decision in terms of why UU exist, I understand that WG wants players to play tiers other than T10 and UU missions of course required you to play T10. I'll accept this was likely the main factor in their decision. However... what isn't acceptable is the exorbitant cost of purchasing a UU from the Research Bureau. I am in a competitive hurricane level clan that is top 10 on the server and most of us literally cannot afford to buy UUs. If we can't afford it, who can? Just people who no-life this game and play 6+ hours a day every day and reset lines constantly? People like UUs, that's not the issue here. The issue is that people grind the Research Bureau because it's only way to acquire rare and unique ships such Slava, Yolo Emilio, Sigfreid, and Colbert or cb required ships such as the Ohio. These ships are all very expensive and may months to acquire if you don't focus most or all game time on just grinding rp. Because of the expense of these ships, as far as I can tell most if not all wows players (us purple clans included) just sit and laugh at the insane cost of a UU relative to a purchasing a Research Bureau ship. If a unique RB ship is already gonna take us minimum a month to acquire, why would we ever delay getting a ship by 19200 RP for a single upgrade because you enjoy another ship you already have?

The math for UUs just doesn't add up. It's like charging nearly have the price of a car on a single neat optional extra. The optional extra is cool, but no-one in their right mind would ever actually purchase it. They would simply laugh at it instead (as we do with Unique Upgrade pricing).

The issue becomes greater with things like clan battles. Because of the insane price of UUs in the research bureau, newer players who never acquired the mission chains are at a significant disadvantage when it comes to some ships. Ships like Gearing, Des Moines, Moskva, etc that have UU that are very important for clan battles (but are not necessary for randoms) is an unfair disadvantage for them simply because they're new. Before if a newer player wanted to play clan battles in his first t10, he could simply grind out the Gearing or DM UU over 2 weeks and be on a level playing field with the rest. That is no longer possible.

Rant is over. WG please give this a serious look at fix this. The insane RP cost of Unique Upgrades is making them basically not exist for anyone who didn't acquire the missions. Lower the cost to a more reasonable amount and you will surely see more of Unique Upgrades purchased.

 

[Captain_Rawhide]

Between the nerfs and moving them to the RB, these are not worth the effort.  It would be nice if they were made 'cheaper' so people could use them as they were intended, to give them another option as how to play a ship.  I think WG really blew it on this.

[kiwi1960]

I sort of agree... but I'll hang back and see what others can add to the debate... surely there is more that I'm either not seeing or haven't heard about...

Maybe WoWs needs to start debate about the game overall.... its gotten big, with so much added and changed, nerfs and all, CV;s and all that the majority of players would FAIL it ion a "warrant of fitness" check....

They changed so much that many cracks are starting to show....

[yo_nelson_]

I'll agree with you that they are way overpriced not just in research point cost but also in time to acquisition (if you go the chain mission route).  Especially since many are now just unique and not truly an upgrade.  Take the zao UU for instance.  WG removed the rudder shift bonus and turned what was a really great UU into a modest one, but honestly not worth all the games put into getting it.  The problem I have with wargaming is that what you think you are getting often doesn't actually pan out.  They eventually nerf it and make you question why you went to all that effort.  This a problem with UU, ship specs, etc. IMO there should be some sort of reimbursement to players who earned an upgrade or ship that gets negatively impacted by a "re-work".  Otherwise it is buyer beware.  No guarantee that what you think you earned will not be undercut later on.

[SoothingWhaleSongEU]

It was simply better when the UU was obtained by playing said ship lots with the "quest chain" to get to learn it properly and then tweak it.

Rather than being incentivised to reset the line immediately and regrind it to get it.

Out of the 3 I own (Montana, Yamato and Hindy), I only see myself using the Yamato's since the changes.

[Utt_Buggly]

I have to side with those stating they are not worth the effort. The cost then becomes a moot point, once you’ve decided not to pay it.

I do think the Yamato and Moskva UUSs are “worth it” to grind the “old way”, if you can.

I don’t think ANY are worth the RB points amount they ask.

 

[Valentine009]

It feels like a way of artificially inflating end-game content. It's just there.

My first tier X was a Venetia and she doesn't even get one.

[Cakeman826]

1 hour ago, zaaade said:

The insane RP cost of Unique Upgrades is making them basically not exist for anyone who didn't acquire the missions. Lower the cost to a more reasonable amount and you will surely see more of Unique Upgrades purchased.

Pls

[Croda]

Heck, I've got about 8 of the grinds left to finish.  Have had them all year, and I'm not even trying to get them.  The vast majority aren't even worth the effort, let alone the RP.

[Edgecase]

As someone who ground out all the UU missions but refuses to purchase any of the RB ones due to the price... agreed. Sort of. They are too high to even consider, for what you get.

But for me, the problem really goes back to shared currency. There's basically no way you'll convince me that any of the UUs are worth the risk of not being able to afford a new must-have RB ship. This is also the case with steel and basically every other currency that can be used for ships or other meaningful upgrades. Any time I'm forced to choose between ships and non-ships, there's no contest.

[_Madcows_]

Given my experience over the last few years in this game I suspect you need only wait till the missions for UU expires at the end of this month and all of a sudden buffs a plenty will start appearing for the UU. Remember the original idea was for these to be OP and in the RB anyway. WG has gone the long road to achieve the same outcome and this only due to the universal negative response they had at the start of the RB idea. We are essentially frogs in the boiling pot, forgetting or unaware we are slowly been broiled alive by this... 

[wooserloop]

  I hear mixed reviews about them.  Id rather they left them to missions since you have to play said ship for said upgrade.  Makes a player experience the ship for many battles so they can get a feel for it.

[HazeGrayUnderway]

A lot of these Legendaries are "Legendarily Bad."

 

I have a number and most aren't even slotted because they're either:

1.  Terrible

2.  Nerfed into uselessness.

 

I still have a bunch of old legacy Legendary Missions which I never bothered slaving over because the reward is so terrible.

[ZARDOZ_II]

I only have three, none of which are mounted.  The three I have are Des Memes, Wooooooostah, and Moskva.  

I have a feeling @_Madcows_ is right.  Once the 'missions' are no more and they become Regrind Bureau only they'll get buffed.  It's the reason I finished those grinds.  But the missions were IMO a better way of obtaining them.  The missions made you play that ship enough to become fully familiar with how it handles.  By the time you finish the mission you'll more likely have a good understanding of how to utilize the UU.  All RB does is force you to NOT play that ship and expend a lot of credits, FXP, and time in exchange.