Changes to Bling, the Catalog, and the Shop!

If you have watched the latest “This is not a Roadmap” video, you know we would like to resolve some current problems with cosmetics and Bling. If you haven’t watched it… well, then… now you know!

Currently, we have some problems with how cosmetics are perceived, distributed, and sold in Brawl. And of course, we don’t expect to address everything in one go, but we’ll go through the points we believe to be problematic and how we would like to tackle them.

We will try a new version of our cosmetic system in the next update, and we are going to start with Bling, the Catalog, and the Shop.

Bling was initially created to make cosmetics accessible to every player. Our goal was to make the announcement and release of Skins/cosmetics exciting for everyone, as opposed to only a few who could purchase them. The hope was to reduce monetization on cosmetics a bit, with the expectation that it would vastly increase engagement with the game. It didn’t really do that, but it might have devalued cosmetics in the game as a whole.

Now, one of the problems we have is that Bling is sometimes an undesirable reward, and players have more Skins as ever, so they are not as excited about new ones as before.

We also have a Catalog of Skins available at all times, where players can spend their Bling on any available Skins or cosmetics. Still, Bling is a currency that keeps inflating (many players don’t spend it and keep accumulating more and more Bling) because there isn’t a strong incentive to spend it. It’s not for the lack of options, but perhaps there are so many Skins nowadays that it takes extra effort to go through them all and find what you really want to buy.

This is, of course, our interpretation of the current player behavior and with that said, the changes we are making are:

• We are removing the option to use Bling in the Catalog - instead, you spend your Bling in a new section of the Shop. Every Skins that was available in the Catalog will still be in rotation; we are only removing the option to buy it at any time.

  • Our hypothesis is that it’ll make choosing a lot easier if it’s a matter of a few options for you to consider each day, and an engaging activity of checking the offers.

• In this new Shop section, there’ll be bundles that cost Bling. These bundles will contain cosmetics (like Skins or Pins/Profile icons/Sprays) and Boxes/Starr Drops.

• This means Bling can now get you progression!

• The Bling bundles are Tap to Reveal, and each tap gives you some Bling.

• The Bling bundles have a wide range of discounts, from no discount at all to ACTUALLY 100%!

• The Bling bundles can also contain Mythic and Legendary Skins.

• Some Bling bundles will let you choose a Skin of a certain rarity from a giant list of options, so the catalog choice experience is preserved, it’s just not available all the time.

• We’ve also done an overall shop revamp (we’ll share more on this in the Brawl Talk)!

Other tuning updates to expect with the new update

We're also making some adjustments to F2P sources:

• Adding a new Bling Mega Quest to each season (additive, not taking away any current Mega Quests).

• Adding more Bling to the free side of the Brawl Pass.

• Reducing the % chance of Skins dropping from Starr Drops, Chaos Drops and Brawler Boxes.

The net impact of these changes is that F2P players still get the same number of Skins on average, but they have more control over which Skins they receive and can intentionally acquire more by engaging with our Bling Bundles. The hope is that these changes will make the Skins in your collection more meaningful since you chose more of them.

Now you are probably asking yourself:

Should I use my Bling NOW? Or wait for the update?

Overall, your Bling spend will be more impactful in the new update. This is because the new system will give you the chance to use Bling on bundles that contain built-in deals, progression, and occasional access to higher rarity Skins.

However, if there are specific Skins that are available in the Catalog right now that you REALLY want, you should buy them before the update so you don't have to wait for them to pop up in the new rotating shop.

How can I get Bling RIGHT NOW?

• Play Ranked (and collect rewards from the Pro Pass)

• Play your daily 6 wins.

• Resource Key for Bling (if you haven’t used it yet!)

• Get it from a small event happening this week (the week of the 30th of March).

As always, that’s the plan for the next update, and we will most likely tweak it (or not) based on its performance.

We still have a long list of cosmetic changes we want to make, but the ones described above are the first we will tackle in the upcoming update.

That’s all for now! And more information later this month in Brawl Talk!
See you!