ANB Idea, sounds crazy but give it some thought.

[Stusmith50]

I don't think the point is to stop people buying as many gems as they want inside the ANB event. Just to stop the use of alternative rules methods to obtain gems outside of ANB, and use these as an advantage within ANB. Let the whales whale from within ANB.

[Ozymandius]

Verminnard This has been proposed many times as a way to "level the playing field" for players with smaller budgets. I do agree that the playing field currently favors players with large gem stashes or those who are willing to purchase what they need through the Event Value Packs. Most established players built up gem stashes through Season rewards to allow them more liberal gem spending during the current ANBs, but there are likely many on the leaderboards who just purchase the event packs with actual cash to avoid having to do the work of stockpiling gems. Imagine being able to simply buy an event pack or a legendary crafters crate whenever you are getting low on materials; must be nice... It clearly gives them a competitive advantage, but it is not really "cheating" under the current rule system.

I think the developers considered offering an event with limited cap on gems because there are a lot of players who want a true "eat what you kill" ANB with a level playing field (including capping gems and turning off medals and event pack purchases). So far this type of event has not been offered, but it is good to keep reminding them that players want to participate in that kind of event.

[Ozymandius]

The Devs know how many gems each player spends on an ANB event, so they are probably better equipped to establish a fair spending budget for a single event, but I agree with Coldet that 5k is too low to afford big ticket items like opening up third ability learning slot (900 gems) or purchase extra companions (500 gems each), and it puts the legendary crafting crate (2.5k gems) completely off the table for anyone who does not purchase the Bountiful Chest $30 or Titan's War Chest $50. A player could spend actual cash to buy 3 Bountiful and 2 Titan's chests, so unless they cut off these big ticket purchases, the gem limit would be essentially meaningless.

[Triggus]

I think, with all the goodies that came with new crafting rules for ANB there was a consequence too. Certain people have a bigger then ever advantage being able to spend "unlimited" amount of gems whatever their origin.
The shorter the game time available (this would be most pronounced in GOLD ANB) the bigger the advantage. As technically you could do almost everything with gems (buy jewelry, gold, crates, skills etc). This does not matter for normal season LB's when people spending have maybe "easier" way to get better gear or other stuff while rest of the player can stay competitive having enough to time to keep up should they have dedication to do so. The biggest problem for season are probably botters getting insane cl's leaving every one way behind. But as for ANB especially in current improved form being able to spend unlimited removes all the aspects of what makes ANB fun - Plan your game, stick to the plan, think it through, learn, time it well. Some one who can spend 30-50k gems will just buy everything and go xping for all the time except hour or two for push and then get the medals and "glory".
So I am all in for limit on gems in ANB, but this have to be reasonable. It still should be still worth saving games for ANB and having nice pool of games making a difference.
From the experience majority of more or less seasoned players started spending some 10-12k gems on GOLD last season, and probably a little more this season so I think 15k limit would be a good starting point - subject to some analysis to balance it properly so gems still play vital role in character development yet youll not find 2k cl characters with nearly perfect gear clearing TL's comparable to season top within first three days of event while you still sit there watching you skills cooked - a bit depressing ;P

[Stusmith50]

It looks like the average top of leaderboard player uses $200 worth of gems every ANB (2x77 and all required skills to 10). Can you farm that in a reasonable way? I certainly can't get close to that. If they're paying that every ANB, then they can have a big thumbs up from me for keeping this game alive! Otherwise I agree with the OP. Do something to make the leaderboard meaningful again, not just a build library.

[Coldet]

My general budget for an ANB is 12k and I do not think it to be excessive.

[lmcelhiney]

For ANB Gold, I decided to just use gems that I acquired during the event. I just used about 100 gems at first and replaced them. Then I have just maintained that incoming level. I did this because I spent about 5000 gems on each of ANB Bronze and ANB Silver. I have about an hour left and am very, very close to not getting any CTs! Just playing for fun and resources...

[Verminnard]

I have actually put a little bit of thought into the amount. I feel like 5k would be about optimal, this would not prevent casual players from spending gems in ANB, doing some upgrades and picking up a crate.
Basically allows them to be competitive without spending real money is that is what they choose.
It still allows those that seek a bigger advantage to spend a little bit more.(which also supports the game)
And prevents those that "gamed" the system a long time ago and already have a ton of gems from abusing it during ANB.
When the ANB concludes the leftover gems would be returned to the main account such that no one loses anything.

I actually appreciate the questions, only way we fix this is to come up with a solution that the majority feels is fair and does not make people feel like it is 100% pay to play.

[Keaven]

I think something like this could work.

I'm biased because I'm not particularly interested at competing for top ranks, but if gems couldn't be spent in ANB I wouldn't mind as long as milestones weren't out of reach.

If there was limited purchases available for anyone wanting to compete for ranks, I don't see the big deal as the medal rewards aren't a massive advantage. No idea if the game would make more money this way, but if it could that would be good.

[Verminnard]

First, I would like to say thanks to the developers for some of the changes that have happened for the current set of ANBs. I love the fact that you can get 2 CTs per ANB event.
This allows many players to expand how they want to play the game. They are no longer locked in on a particular set or character class. Players can actually complete a “set” of CT items for their chosen class and gear, and now It allows that player to expand and try different things with different classes or different sets. They are no longer “set” or “class” locked.
New players actually will have a chance to compete on the leaderboards following an event. Before, a new player had no real chance to compete on the leader boards even after they put in the time and effort. Now they can. That is great for the future of the game and I applaud it.

Moving forward I really only propose 1 major change to the ANB set up.
Limit the number of gems that can be used from the main account during ANB or separate them completely (which would be my choice). If some kind of controls were placed on this, it would somewhat level the playing field with the mega farmers that somehow have unlimited gems to spend during the ANB event.
I understand, people can still buy gems in ANB and many will. A lot of people are going to initially say that this is a horrible idea and that the “whales” will take over the leader boards. To some degree, I would agree with that point.

Here is the question you should ask yourself on this point:
“Would this really have a huge impact on your rankings in ANB or your ANB experience?”
The answer is NO. While people that spend money on the game would obviously have an advantage it is still less than the off season 24-7 farmers, that always seem to have unlimited gems and craft perfects with relative ease.
Only difference would be that people that support the game with real money would probably replace those on the leader boards that always seem “shady”. Real money also supports this game and allows it to continue.
What does the 24-7 Shady player do for this game?
Who would you rather lose to, someone you suspect is cheating or a whale that just kept this game free and available to play?
We say cheaters never win. Guess what? Right now, they are winning.

If you agree, please support this or come up with another solution that fixes this problem if you can.
it is about the longevity of a game that many of us love to play.
If this gets a lot of support, I believe the Devs will have no problem with this. Its not like they are going to say “damn, wish I wasn’t getting all this extra revenue from my game during ANB”. It is also a very easy fix.