Valiant Force Forum

It is not exactly the game's fault if you are joining with a team of 1* and getting one shotted by 3 5*. Just come back when you have your own matching 5*. The loses in the arena didn't really bother me when I first started this game cause I know it's normal. Construct your own team of 5* and then only think of climbing the ladder. 

Nice straw man fallacy. My 4* lucille and 4* kiera with full 4* gear get two shotted by a 5* vincent. But I guess it's my fault for not getting max level prestige so I can get full 5* set. Or it's my fault for not getting any 5* able champion. 

as for advantage for players who occupy the spot due to going first, that is also not true. this game has lots of depth and strategy. I love it when I go second. Cause when I go second, my freya will kill their back liners with pierce while heavily injuring the front liners when they occupy the middle spot. also if you invest in displacement units like warlocks for arena, you will have quite a breeze in arena.

Yeah ok, this is some useful anecdotal experience that every newbie should be doing instead of discussing about real issue. I'll just go ahead and summon a freya right now so I don't have to worry about who go first. But for real, I have won against team with at least 3 5* because my leon was able to occupy the middle tile and I spend the rest of the fight just skill delay and stun the enemy team so I win.

In any case, I understand that newbie shouldn't worry about arena so that's not what I want to bring the attention to. Let just focus on the issue in the original post by OP.

It is not exactly the game's fault if you are joining with a team of 1* and getting one shotted by 3 5*. Just come back when you have your own matching 5*. The loses in the arena didn't really bother me when I first started this game cause I know it's normal. Construct your own team of 5* and then only think of climbing the ladder. 

Nice straw man fallacy. My 4* lucille and 4* kiera with full 4* gear get two shotted by a 5* vincent. But I guess it's my fault for not getting max level prestige so I can get full 5* set. Or it's my fault for not getting any 5* able champion. 

as for advantage for players who occupy the spot due to going first, that is also not true. this game has lots of depth and strategy. I love it when I go second. Cause when I go second, my freya will kill their back liners with pierce while heavily injuring the front liners when they occupy the middle spot. also if you invest in displacement units like warlocks for arena, you will have quite a breeze in arena.

Yeah ok, this is some useful anecdotal experience that every newbie should be doing instead of discussing about real issue. I'll just go ahead and summon a freya right now so I don't have to worry about who go first. But for real, I have won against team with at least 3 5* because my leon was able to occupy the middle tile and I spend the rest of the fight just skill delay and stun the enemy team so I win.

In any case, I understand that newbie shouldn't worry about arena so that's not what I want to bring the attention to. Let just focus on the issue in the original post by OP.

i actually typed a whole response to that but you are right. let's just focus on the original post. :p

The arena in VF blows. I'm facing against team with 3 5* that just one shot my team. The RNG of whoever going first doesn't help either because half the time, the first player to occupy the spot in the middle win. 

It is not exactly the game's fault if you are joining with a team of 1* and getting one shotted by 3 5*. Just come back when you have your own matching 5*.

Nah, they made a big mistake here, you can unlock pvp at lvl 15 if I remember well, but it felt very frustrating to encounter 5* teams, you already knew you were going to loose. When I first try Pvp in VF I was bored by loosing, I only appreciate it at my current lvl (56) with a decent 5* team ~

Somebody forgot to mention that supplies(energy, orbs, keys, etc.) gets expensive the more you purchase them in a day.
This is actually barring some casual spenders to get through the time gate.
All in all, if you're willing to spend a fortune to appear in the leaderboard, that's nothing new. VF is actually one of the better games I played.
The only thing that's really barring all players is the energy refill rate.
As for PvP, you wouldn't really expect to wreck the arena asap with the matching system. I would suggest a "Total Power" mechanic, so that you wouldn't be matched with stronger opponents(but if they would apply this, they will have to remove the capture the flag system to be fair to the opponent).

except in RO you are paying a subscription for $20 dollars a month. Of course they allow you to farm gold and do much more. 
Time gating for a new game isnt a bad thing, most players nowadays only have like what, 2-3 hours of free time everyday?
So those who are free for the whole day, they can keep playing non-stop and progress really far ahead VS those people like me that only have 2 hours a day, willing to pay and then i stop playing cause im lagging behind? Im sure VF dont want this. Its to keep the players together and prevent people from getting too far ahead.
This is also the issue with WoW back then, end game content only for the hardcore gamers, but most people dont have that kind of time. Casual WoW players just go PVP and raid once in a while and log off. Most content are kinda gated due to not enough gear & reputation. So WoW became more casual, raid have various difficulty to let everyone enjoy.  
Have you tried 7k when it just started? Chessboard dont exist back then, hero selector is kinda rare. First valiant at end of 7 days, 5* selector at end of 30 days(iirc) and its only those hero that you already have. The element that allow you to go up a star, 1 X 3* for each element every week. Thats a time gate right there, compared to VF, you only need to farm 3-4 days for 3* to 4*, and as you level they give you more job key (like what reizen said in this post)

VF give you valiant on the first day and another valiant at end of a month. Unhappy with the valiant? re-roll instantly.

In VF arena, at least you need some skills and understanding of hero to play properly.
In 7k arena, its pure RNG and meta is always the same, they make you chase the meta week after week. New hero = OP, no new hero = lose.

Of course, VF isnt perfect, the faith system need some balancing, curtain things need rebalancing, but the things that TS is complaining about, imo, isnt as bad as what he said if he has done his proper research.
All this issues of time gating is due to the limited content of VF, im 1000% sure it will be lifted once theres new content rolling out. They have to do it, or new players will be lagging behind badly.

(Point 1)Why even bring up RO if you going to dismiss my argument with a "they're a different type of game(f2p as opposed to subscription)" then?
I understand the point of timegating. I get it. There isn't a lot of content and not everyone has the time on their hand. So by limited the amount of times the players can play, they won't get bored of the game by being able to play too much and make sure everyone will be on the same track. However, the mentioned time-gating by OP really separate the f2p with the people who pay (not necessarily to win).(point 2) Job's key is probably the biggest one. Job keys is arguably one of the biggest factor that help players progress into end game. Each players get 5 job keys (more with higher prestige?) with each additional 5 keys costing 25 gem and double the cost for each additional 5. People who pay will simply buy more job keys and progress faster than f2p. I started more than a week ago and I just barely got my first 5* today. 
I played 7k 1 months after it was released and the start of it is a lot more "easy-going" than VF. They gave you 200 rubies and a 5* element necessary for you to upgrade your first 6*. As well as some hero to help you start. Their limited factor was the mastery. It costs so much to get those mastery to max to get you "equal" to someone who pay. But they make it balance by giving the f2p the ability to farm rubies.
The problem of with arena in 7k is that there will always be a strong team comp that will dominate the top. However, while not having the units and gears good enough to compete with those at the top 1%, I could still stay within top 200.(Point 3) The arena in VF blows. I'm facing against team with 3 5* that just one shot my team. The RNG of whoever going first doesn't help either because half the time, the first player to occupy the spot in the middle win. 
Don't get me wrong. I agree with you on the issue of time gating.(Point 4) VF is relative new now so I don't expect them to give out free stuff. I'm just saying, OP has a point from what he said and I can imagine that a f2p will be left behind.

Point 1
Why I bring up RO? Precisely, cause its subscription based! so you obviously can do whatever you want! You can trade, can grind for 24 hours, can do this and that. cause you paid for it! Everyone paid for it! Dev earn money, they dont need to entice people to spend. That is the diff here, one is F2P(VF), one is P2P (RO). Of course in RO they dont limit you like in VF. No time gating/no ungrindable resource/no locked content! woooo! 

Point 2
So how do you think the DEV should monetise? Pay to unlock content? Pay to play? Pay to download VF? Or like the current status now, which is pay for convenience. Imo, This is the best option already, you want unlimited grinding for free? Everyone dont have due with any resource constraint and complete the whole game? Then how do the dev earn? 1 week finish content?
Whale get 5* in a 2-3 days, F2P get 5* in 7 days. And Job quest increases by level as well, not just only prestige. 
The cap is still the same right? Both of you guys get 5*, just that one guy got it earlier than the other. You didnt pay and you expect to be on par with the whale? So whats the point of spending? Games are like business, they need $$$ to sustain.
Go read up on this person POV who is a prestiege 10:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=59&p=740#p740

Point 3
Of course you will die in arena, DEV reset the arena ranking. If this happens in 7k similarly, you will get wipe out by 1X aoe by a LB 7k. At least in this one, you can hog the point and out smart the AI. You need to wait a while for the 5* people to climb up first. and finally when you get to higher level, some people like to move first, while some like to move 2nd. For me, i like to be the 2nd one to move cause i can knock back with my kiera rune magus.
What you should have said is that, they should match people based on stars, instead of rating points due to the arena resetting. Or 5* should have matched up with 5*.

Point 4
From the points you are bringing up, i think you need to play VF long enough to understand what is going on. What other things you can do to get more gems and gold. 
In most game, you should know that F2P players will almost NEVER EVER be on par with P2P, except the lucky few. F2P will ALWAYS be left behind, its just by how much.
At least on VF, whale pay for convenience, not paying for locked content. With time, you will get to their level.  If its paying for locked content, then you will never ever be on par.

original TS discussion
its really simple, how to work around this time gating/gold/RNG issue? Almost all mobile game have all this issues.
They will always be at least 1 of these issues no matter how you work around it. Why are we down to this path? app store used to sell 99 cents , $1.99 apps and now its almost all gone cause people  ALWAYS choose the free game.

Can try to be like valve, selling hats & cosmetic item to sustain the community BUT you need a huge player base for this to work.

My solution: make mobile game subscription like RO or WoW, or 1 time payment of $40-50 and asking the public to stop playing free games.
This is the only way, if not, its always the same. Dev will ALWAYS try to make you spend. Dev will ALWAYS reward P2P players some stuff to encourage spending behaviour.
Players will ALWAYS choose free game, players will always get hooked and then complain that the game has so much this and that issue

I think for alot of gamers, they need to adjust their own expectation and go into free games with the "prepare to pay" mentality. Nothing is free in life. Its just how bad is the $$$ grabbing mechanism for the F2P game. 

For VF, i felt the money i spent is worth it. I enjoy playing it, get to socialise with my friends thru this game. $20-30 a month is worth it. Emiko package in the store is like subscription. 6 SGD  for 25 gems everyday. Its decent. 
Value i get in return > money spent

except in RO you are paying a subscription for $20 dollars a month. Of course they allow you to farm gold and do much more. 
Time gating for a new game isnt a bad thing, most players nowadays only have like what, 2-3 hours of free time everyday?
So those who are free for the whole day, they can keep playing non-stop and progress really far ahead VS those people like me that only have 2 hours a day, willing to pay and then i stop playing cause im lagging behind? Im sure VF dont want this. Its to keep the players together and prevent people from getting too far ahead.
This is also the issue with WoW back then, end game content only for the hardcore gamers, but most people dont have that kind of time. Casual WoW players just go PVP and raid once in a while and log off. Most content are kinda gated due to not enough gear & reputation. So WoW became more casual, raid have various difficulty to let everyone enjoy.  
Have you tried 7k when it just started? Chessboard dont exist back then, hero selector is kinda rare. First valiant at end of 7 days, 5* selector at end of 30 days(iirc) and its only those hero that you already have. The element that allow you to go up a star, 1 X 3* for each element every week. Thats a time gate right there, compared to VF, you only need to farm 3-4 days for 3* to 4*, and as you level they give you more job key (like what reizen said in this post)

VF give you valiant on the first day and another valiant at end of a month. Unhappy with the valiant? re-roll instantly.

In VF arena, at least you need some skills and understanding of hero to play properly.
In 7k arena, its pure RNG and meta is always the same, they make you chase the meta week after week. New hero = OP, no new hero = lose.

Of course, VF isnt perfect, the faith system need some balancing, curtain things need rebalancing, but the things that TS is complaining about, imo, isnt as bad as what he said if he has done his proper research.
All this issues of time gating is due to the limited content of VF, im 1000% sure it will be lifted once theres new content rolling out. They have to do it, or new players will be lagging behind badly.

(Point 1)Why even bring up RO if you going to dismiss my argument with a "they're a different type of game(f2p as opposed to subscription)" then?
I understand the point of timegating. I get it. There isn't a lot of content and not everyone has the time on their hand. So by limited the amount of times the players can play, they won't get bored of the game by being able to play too much and make sure everyone will be on the same track. However, the mentioned time-gating by OP really separate the f2p with the people who pay (not necessarily to win).(point 2) Job's key is probably the biggest one. Job keys is arguably one of the biggest factor that help players progress into end game. Each players get 5 job keys (more with higher prestige?) with each additional 5 keys costing 25 gem and double the cost for each additional 5. People who pay will simply buy more job keys and progress faster than f2p. I started more than a week ago and I just barely got my first 5* today. 
I played 7k 1 months after it was released and the start of it is a lot more "easy-going" than VF. They gave you 200 rubies and a 5* element necessary for you to upgrade your first 6*. As well as some hero to help you start. Their limited factor was the mastery. It costs so much to get those mastery to max to get you "equal" to someone who pay. But they make it balance by giving the f2p the ability to farm rubies.
The problem of with arena in 7k is that there will always be a strong team comp that will dominate the top. However, while not having the units and gears good enough to compete with those at the top 1%, I could still stay within top 200.(Point 3) The arena in VF blows. I'm facing against team with 3 5* that just one shot my team. The RNG of whoever going first doesn't help either because half the time, the first player to occupy the spot in the middle win. 
Don't get me wrong. I agree with you on the issue of time gating.(Point 4) VF is relative new now so I don't expect them to give out free stuff. I'm just saying, OP has a point from what he said and I can imagine that a f2p will be left behind.

Point 1
Why I bring up RO? Precisely, cause its subscription based! so you obviously can do whatever you want! You can trade, can grind for 24 hours, can do this and that. cause you paid for it! Everyone paid for it! Dev earn money, they dont need to entice people to spend. That is the diff here, one is F2P(VF), one is P2P (RO). Of course in RO they dont limit you like in VF. No time gating/no ungrindable resource/no locked content! woooo! 

Point 2
So how do you think the DEV should monetise? Pay to unlock content? Pay to play? Pay to download VF? Or like the current status now, which is pay for convenience. Imo, This is the best option already, you want unlimited grinding for free? Everyone dont have due with any resource constraint and complete the whole game? Then how do the dev earn? 1 week finish content?
Whale get 5* in a 2-3 days, F2P get 5* in 7 days. And Job quest increases by level as well, not just only prestige. 
The cap is still the same right? Both of you guys get 5*, just that one guy got it earlier than the other. You didnt pay and you expect to be on par with the whale? So whats the point of spending? Games are like business, they need $$$ to sustain.
Go read up on this person POV who is a prestiege 10:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=59&p=740#p740

Point 3
Of course you will die in arena, DEV reset the arena ranking. If this happens in 7k similarly, you will get wipe out by 1X aoe by a LB 7k. At least in this one, you can hog the point and out smart the AI. You need to wait a while for the 5* people to climb up first. and finally when you get to higher level, some people like to move first, while some like to move 2nd. For me, i like to be the 2nd one to move cause i can knock back with my kiera rune magus.
What you should have said is that, they should match people based on stars, instead of rating points due to the arena resetting. Or 5* should have matched up with 5*.

Point 4
From the points you are bringing up, i think you need to play VF long enough to understand what is going on. What other things you can do to get more gems and gold. 
In most game, you should know that F2P players will almost NEVER EVER be on par with P2P, except the lucky few. F2P will ALWAYS be left behind, its just by how much.
At least on VF, whale pay for convenience, not paying for locked content. With time, you will get to their level.  If its paying for locked content, then you will never ever be on par.

original TS discussion
its really simple, how to work around this time gating/gold/RNG issue? Almost all mobile game have all this issues.
They will always be at least 1 of these issues no matter how you work around it. Why are we down to this path? app store used to sell 99 cents , $1.99 apps and now its almost all gone cause people  ALWAYS choose the free game.

Can try to be like valve, selling hats & cosmetic item to sustain the community BUT you need a huge player base for this to work.

My solution: make mobile game subscription like RO or WoW, or 1 time payment of $40-50 and asking the public to stop playing free games.
This is the only way, if not, its always the same. Dev will ALWAYS try to make you spend. Dev will ALWAYS reward P2P players some stuff to encourage spending behaviour.
Players will ALWAYS choose free game, players will always get hooked and then complain that the game has so much this and that issue

I think for alot of gamers, they need to adjust their own expectation and go into free games with the "prepare to pay" mentality. Nothing is free in life. Its just how bad is the $$$ grabbing mechanism for the F2P game. 

For VF, i felt the money i spent is worth it. I enjoy playing it, get to socialise with my friends thru this game. $20-30 a month is worth it. Emiko package in the store is like subscription. 6 SGD  for 25 gems everyday. Its decent. 
Value i get in return > money spent

correction** Current Arena matchmaking is based on player level.  I'm ranked around 40-50 but I have been matched with top 5 arena players before. Anyway, I suggested before in the feedback forum that Arena matchmaking should be based on total stars count before as well and some of them replied that this can be abused etc although they failed to explain the logic behind the so called 'abuse'  

(Point 1)Why even bring up RO if you going to dismiss my argument with a "they're a different type of game(f2p as opposed to subscription)" then?
I understand the point of timegating. I get it. There isn't a lot of content and not everyone has the time on their hand. So by limited the amount of times the players can play, they won't get bored of the game by being able to play too much and make sure everyone will be on the same track. However, the mentioned time-gating by OP really separate the f2p with the people who pay (not necessarily to win).(point 2) Job's key is probably the biggest one. Job keys is arguably one of the biggest factor that help players progress into end game. Each players get 5 job keys (more with higher prestige?) with each additional 5 keys costing 25 gem and double the cost for each additional 5. People who pay will simply buy more job keys and progress faster than f2p. I started more than a week ago and I just barely got my first 5* today. 
I played 7k 1 months after it was released and the start of it is a lot more "easy-going" than VF. They gave you 200 rubies and a 5* element necessary for you to upgrade your first 6*. As well as some hero to help you start. Their limited factor was the mastery. It costs so much to get those mastery to max to get you "equal" to someone who pay. But they make it balance by giving the f2p the ability to farm rubies.
The problem of with arena in 7k is that there will always be a strong team comp that will dominate the top. However, while not having the units and gears good enough to compete with those at the top 1%, I could still stay within top 200.(Point 3) The arena in VF blows. I'm facing against team with 3 5* that just one shot my team. The RNG of whoever going first doesn't help either because half the time, the first player to occupy the spot in the middle win. 
Don't get me wrong. I agree with you on the issue of time gating.(Point 4) VF is relative new now so I don't expect them to give out free stuff. I'm just saying, OP has a point from what he said and I can imagine that a f2p will be left behind.

Point 1
Why I bring up RO? Precisely, cause its subscription based! so you obviously can do whatever you want! You can trade, can grind for 24 hours, can do this and that. cause you paid for it! Everyone paid for it! Dev earn money, they dont need to entice people to spend. That is the diff here, one is F2P(VF), one is P2P (RO). Of course in RO they dont limit you like in VF. No time gating/no ungrindable resource/no locked content! woooo! 

Point 2
So how do you think the DEV should monetise? Pay to unlock content? Pay to play? Pay to download VF? Or like the current status now, which is pay for convenience. Imo, This is the best option already, you want unlimited grinding for free? Everyone dont have due with any resource constraint and complete the whole game? Then how do the dev earn? 1 week finish content?
Whale get 5* in a 2-3 days, F2P get 5* in 7 days. And Job quest increases by level as well, not just only prestige. 
The cap is still the same right? Both of you guys get 5*, just that one guy got it earlier than the other. You didnt pay and you expect to be on par with the whale? So whats the point of spending? Games are like business, they need $$$ to sustain.
Go read up on this person POV who is a prestiege 10:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=59&p=740#p740

Point 3
Of course you will die in arena, DEV reset the arena ranking. If this happens in 7k similarly, you will get wipe out by 1X aoe by a LB 7k. At least in this one, you can hog the point and out smart the AI. You need to wait a while for the 5* people to climb up first. and finally when you get to higher level, some people like to move first, while some like to move 2nd. For me, i like to be the 2nd one to move cause i can knock back with my kiera rune magus.
What you should have said is that, they should match people based on stars, instead of rating points due to the arena resetting. Or 5* should have matched up with 5*.

Point 4
From the points you are bringing up, i think you need to play VF long enough to understand what is going on. What other things you can do to get more gems and gold. 
In most game, you should know that F2P players will almost NEVER EVER be on par with P2P, except the lucky few. F2P will ALWAYS be left behind, its just by how much.
At least on VF, whale pay for convenience, not paying for locked content. With time, you will get to their level.  If its paying for locked content, then you will never ever be on par.

original TS discussion
its really simple, how to work around this time gating/gold/RNG issue? Almost all mobile game have all this issues.
They will always be at least 1 of these issues no matter how you work around it. Why are we down to this path? app store used to sell 99 cents , $1.99 apps and now its almost all gone cause people  ALWAYS choose the free game.

Can try to be like valve, selling hats & cosmetic item to sustain the community BUT you need a huge player base for this to work.

My solution: make mobile game subscription like RO or WoW, or 1 time payment of $40-50 and asking the public to stop playing free games.
This is the only way, if not, its always the same. Dev will ALWAYS try to make you spend. Dev will ALWAYS reward P2P players some stuff to encourage spending behaviour.
Players will ALWAYS choose free game, players will always get hooked and then complain that the game has so much this and that issue

I think for alot of gamers, they need to adjust their own expectation and go into free games with the "prepare to pay" mentality. Nothing is free in life. Its just how bad is the $$$ grabbing mechanism for the F2P game. 

For VF, i felt the money i spent is worth it. I enjoy playing it, get to socialise with my friends thru this game. $20-30 a month is worth it. Emiko package in the store is like subscription. 6 SGD  for 25 gems everyday. Its decent. 
Value i get in return > money spent

correction** Current Arena matchmaking is based on player level.  I'm ranked around 40-50 but I have been matched with top 5 arena players before. Anyway, I suggested before in the feedback forum that Arena matchmaking should be based on total stars count before as well and some of them replied that this can be abused etc although they failed to explain the logic behind the so called 'abuse'  

TBH i LOL @ "although they failed to explain the logic behind the so called 'abuse' ". we explain it very clearly, if the system works in star system. people like me and some other high tier players will change their formation/setup to full 3* or 4* max LB(Limit Broken) units to trash new players because our match-up will always be new players because they will takes some time to build up their team. In the End you'll see the same top players in the ranking with 0 loses, since we'll have all fully upgraded equipment and max LB 3~4* units. I even show you screenshot of a max LB units, and TBH i have more because some quest requires team of 3~4* units.

I think a matchmaking system based on the player's squad power(stats or some quantifiable stuff) has merits but shouldn't be the sole criteria for matchmaking. Maybe for the lower end of rankings, especially for those starting out in arena, a hybrid of squad power and the arena points should be used for matchmaking so that high level players can't abuse. Then for the top 100 or so, then we can matchmake based solely on the arena points. 

I think people experience this cause the player base is still quite small and F2P players gets immediately matched with P2W players, so they end up getting thrashed immediately.

Point 1
Why I bring up RO? Precisely, cause its subscription based! so you obviously can do whatever you want! You can trade, can grind for 24 hours, can do this and that. cause you paid for it! Everyone paid for it! Dev earn money, they dont need to entice people to spend. That is the diff here, one is F2P(VF), one is P2P (RO). Of course in RO they dont limit you like in VF. No time gating/no ungrindable resource/no locked content! woooo! 

Point 2
So how do you think the DEV should monetise? Pay to unlock content? Pay to play? Pay to download VF? Or like the current status now, which is pay for convenience. Imo, This is the best option already, you want unlimited grinding for free? Everyone dont have due with any resource constraint and complete the whole game? Then how do the dev earn? 1 week finish content?
Whale get 5* in a 2-3 days, F2P get 5* in 7 days. And Job quest increases by level as well, not just only prestige. 
The cap is still the same right? Both of you guys get 5*, just that one guy got it earlier than the other. You didnt pay and you expect to be on par with the whale? So whats the point of spending? Games are like business, they need $$$ to sustain.
Go read up on this person POV who is a prestiege 10:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=59&p=740#p740

Point 3
Of course you will die in arena, DEV reset the arena ranking. If this happens in 7k similarly, you will get wipe out by 1X aoe by a LB 7k. At least in this one, you can hog the point and out smart the AI. You need to wait a while for the 5* people to climb up first. and finally when you get to higher level, some people like to move first, while some like to move 2nd. For me, i like to be the 2nd one to move cause i can knock back with my kiera rune magus.
What you should have said is that, they should match people based on stars, instead of rating points due to the arena resetting. Or 5* should have matched up with 5*.

Point 4
From the points you are bringing up, i think you need to play VF long enough to understand what is going on. What other things you can do to get more gems and gold. 
In most game, you should know that F2P players will almost NEVER EVER be on par with P2P, except the lucky few. F2P will ALWAYS be left behind, its just by how much.
At least on VF, whale pay for convenience, not paying for locked content. With time, you will get to their level.  If its paying for locked content, then you will never ever be on par.

original TS discussion
its really simple, how to work around this time gating/gold/RNG issue? Almost all mobile game have all this issues.
They will always be at least 1 of these issues no matter how you work around it. Why are we down to this path? app store used to sell 99 cents , $1.99 apps and now its almost all gone cause people  ALWAYS choose the free game.

Can try to be like valve, selling hats & cosmetic item to sustain the community BUT you need a huge player base for this to work.

My solution: make mobile game subscription like RO or WoW, or 1 time payment of $40-50 and asking the public to stop playing free games.
This is the only way, if not, its always the same. Dev will ALWAYS try to make you spend. Dev will ALWAYS reward P2P players some stuff to encourage spending behaviour.
Players will ALWAYS choose free game, players will always get hooked and then complain that the game has so much this and that issue

I think for alot of gamers, they need to adjust their own expectation and go into free games with the "prepare to pay" mentality. Nothing is free in life. Its just how bad is the $$$ grabbing mechanism for the F2P game. 

For VF, i felt the money i spent is worth it. I enjoy playing it, get to socialise with my friends thru this game. $20-30 a month is worth it. Emiko package in the store is like subscription. 6 SGD  for 25 gems everyday. Its decent. 
Value i get in return > money spent

correction** Current Arena matchmaking is based on player level.  I'm ranked around 40-50 but I have been matched with top 5 arena players before. Anyway, I suggested before in the feedback forum that Arena matchmaking should be based on total stars count before as well and some of them replied that this can be abused etc although they failed to explain the logic behind the so called 'abuse'  

TBH i LOL @ "although they failed to explain the logic behind the so called 'abuse' ". we explain it very clearly, if the system works in star system. people like me and some other high tier players will change their formation/setup to full 3* or 4* max LB(Limit Broken) units to trash new players because our match-up will always be new players because they will takes some time to build up their team. In the End you'll see the same top players in the ranking with 0 loses, since we'll have all fully upgraded equipment and max LB 3~4* units. I even show you screenshot of a max LB units, and TBH i have more because some quest requires team of 3~4* units.

The fact remains that fighting against LB 3* and 4* is still easier against 5*. Also this can easily be tweaked and include unit level as well. problem solved! nothing to abuse anymore. 

correction** Current Arena matchmaking is based on player level.  I'm ranked around 40-50 but I have been matched with top 5 arena players before. Anyway, I suggested before in the feedback forum that Arena matchmaking should be based on total stars count before as well and some of them replied that this can be abused etc although they failed to explain the logic behind the so called 'abuse'  

TBH i LOL @ "although they failed to explain the logic behind the so called 'abuse' ". we explain it very clearly, if the system works in star system. people like me and some other high tier players will change their formation/setup to full 3* or 4* max LB(Limit Broken) units to trash new players because our match-up will always be new players because they will takes some time to build up their team. In the End you'll see the same top players in the ranking with 0 loses, since we'll have all fully upgraded equipment and max LB 3~4* units. I even show you screenshot of a max LB units, and TBH i have more because some quest requires team of 3~4* units.

The fact remains that fighting against LB 3* and 4* is still easier against 5*. Also this can easily be tweaked and include unit level as well. problem solved! nothing to abuse anymore. 

well~ i think i'll stop here, eventually this will generate more hate. If you refuse to understand what we're trying to tell you, then fine let it be.
No Offense, because i can feel your anger.