I think there’s a bigger issue here that we’re not really addressing: the problem isn’t simply how much cash someone gets refunded. It’s the value of the time and progression that was invested to reach the higher tiers in the first place.
The current system seems to create a strange situation where smaller accounts can potentially benefit more from the rebalance than larger accounts. If a player had fewer/lower-tier dorms, they can receive a much larger refund relative to what they need to spend on cheaper T9s, open more rooms, and potentially reach or even surpass the stats of someone who invested significantly more to reach T13/T14.
And this is where the “just look at the cash, stats and plunder” argument doesn’t fully answer the concern.
A smaller account has an easier growth curve now. A larger account has a much harder growth curve because every additional upgrade costs exponentially more. So if smaller players can effectively grow 2–3x faster because of the new economics, why shouldn’t the players who already climbed the much more expensive progression curve receive an equivalent benefit?
What exactly is the intended progression philosophy here?
If I spent years building toward the highest available tier, and then the system changes in a way where someone who invested considerably less can use their refund to catch up extremely quickly, what was the benefit of taking that harder progression path?
And there’s another issue: opportunity cost.
If I had known that T14 would ultimately be converted into T10 and that I would then need to spend again to move into T11, I could have made completely different decisions with my cash and dorm upgrades. The cash wasn’t sitting around unused — it was tied up in progressing through the old system.
So when you say the new system is cheaper overall, that’s only part of the equation. The question is:
Why should players who already paid the higher opportunity cost of reaching T13/T14 have to pay that opportunity cost again to reach the equivalent end-game position?
The T10 buff is nice, and I don’t think anyone is arguing that T10 shouldn’t be useful. But if the eventual destination for end-game players is still T11, then giving us a stronger T10 doesn’t solve the underlying issue. It can actually make the situation more confusing because now we’re being encouraged to invest in T10 again, despite many of us having already spent heavily to reach the previous end tier.
So I genuinely want to understand ATA’s reasoning:
Why is the system designed so that smaller players can accelerate their growth significantly faster, while larger/end-game players have to climb an even more expensive progression curve just to get back to where they were?
What is the intended end game here?
Is the objective to bring smaller accounts closer to end-game faster? If so, why is that being done at the expense of the progression value of existing end-game accounts?
And if the intention is simply to create a healthier progression curve, wouldn’t a more logical solution be to preserve the value of the higher-tier investment toward the next tier? For example, allow converted T10s from T13/T14 to carry additional value/credit toward T11, rather than treating everyone as if they started from the same progression point.
I’m not asking for everyone to receive their exact old stats or for ATA to freeze progression forever. I’m asking for a justification of why the people who invested the most into reaching the previous end game are effectively being given the least efficient path forward.
Because right now, it feels like the lesson for players is:
“Don’t invest heavily into the current end game, because the next rebalance may make the lower tiers dramatically more efficient and you’ll have to pay again to catch up.”
That’s not a very healthy message for player confidence or long-term spending.
So what is ATA’s actual end-game vision for the Dorm Tower, and why was this particular progression model chosen?
making the end game players wait and suffer through the tut inflation. Along with a bonus for waiting it out and being long term players