With the big update coming on Wednesday there are a lot of questions around on what are the changes, how does it affect us and how should we use or change what we have as commanders. How do we prepare? What and when should I do to improve my account? - Let's have a look.
This article includes access to the NEW Lady Death's Commander 2.0 Tool © (v.1.1)
Commander Respect Changes
The main changes are in the lower levels' respect requirements and in the value of respect items after ascension.
Respect requirements OLD vs NEW
T1 R0 -> R1 400 -> 200
T1 R1 -> R2 400 -> 320
T1 R3 -> R4 560 -> 800
T1 R4 -> R5 600 -> 1,520
T2 R0 -> R1 1,000 -> 500
T2 R0 -> R1 1,000 -> 800
T3 R0 -> R1 3,000 -> 1,500
T3 R0 -> R1 3,000 -> 2,400
Value of Respect Items OLD vs NEW
Legendary Items: before Ascension 100 -> 100
Legendary Items: after Ascension 30 -> 70
Epic Items: before 1st Ascension 40 -> 40
Epic Items: after 1st Ascension 12 -> 40
Epic Items: after 2nd Ascension 12 -> 28
This will lead to a shift in respect levels. You will not get any items back, but instead the amount of total respect that your commanders have will be calculated down to how many items this equates according to the old system and then it will be converted to the output in respect in the new system.
Example:
This means I have a a total respect of 29,040 + 749 on him. This equates to 2049 + 62 items (and some stray respect) = 2111 items, which will be just shy of Z1 after the update.
So you dont have to calculate all that yourself, I made a spreadsheet where you can simply look it up.
Here are the three Quality overviews. Please mind that I do not have information on all the higher Zenith levels' requirements.
The changes are marked with a darker color so you can easier see where there are differences.
Epic Commanders - T1
Legendary Commanders - T2
Mythic Commanders - T3
Commander Ascension Changes
The devs made Ascension a little bit cheaper and more obtainable by some changes to that system as well.
OLD
- Commander respect item of the designated Commander
- Original Epic commanders: 50 for ascension to Legendary
- Original Epic/Legendary commanders: 150 for ascension to Mythic - 10 Designated respect item of a T2 commander to ascend to Legendary
- 40 Designated respect item of a T3 commander to ascend to Mythic
NEW
- Any Commander respect item of the commander's original rarity:
- Original Epic commanders: 30 for ascension to Legendary
- Original Epic commanders: 150 for ascension to Mythic
- Original Legendary commanders: 100 for ascension to Mythic - Any Legendary respect items: 10 items
- Any Mythic respect items: 40 items
Level for Ascension
OLD vs NEW
- Epic commanders to Legendary: R5 -> R4
- Epic commanders to Mythic: R10 unchanged
- Legendary commanders to Mythic: R10 unchanged
On commanders which you ascended you will receive the respective amount of respect items back. If you have ascended an Epic commander (t1) to Legendary or Mythic, you will receive 20 items of that commander. If you ascended a Legendary (t2) commander to Mythic, you will receive 50 items of that commander.
Commander Relic Changes
All Relics will now cost 10 Mithril to unlock them. Originally they cost 40/50/60 Mithril depending on the commander's original rarity.
This means you will receive back the following amount of Mithril:
- Epic Commander's Relic crafted: 30 Mithril
- Legendary Commander's Relic crafted: 40 Mithril
- Mythic Commander's Relic crafted: 50 Mithril
- Epic Commander's Relics: 40 / 40 / 80 / 80 / 120
- Legendary Commander's Relics: 50 / 50 / 100 / 100 / 150
- Mythic Commander's Relics: 60 / 60 / 120 / 120 / 180
Commander Respect Reversion Vouchers
To allow you to adjust your commanders according to the new system and skills, you will receive a certain amount of Respect Reversion Vouchers. Requirement for these vouchers are that the commander is at least Respect Level 5 AND at least Legendary. This means you will not receive any vouchers for Purple Respect 5 Commanders.
Every Voucher you receive allows you to pull out up to 10 Respect Items out of the commander that you use it on. You cannot draw more respect than down to Respect level 4.
You will receive the vouchers via in game mail and they are valid for 30 days.
CAREFUL!
If using respect vouchers would reduce your R10+ commander far enough, it will also revert the Relic that you might have. It appears that you will get back all Mithril. However, any items used to strengthen the Relic would be returned as Worn-out items instead of the items you used originally.
My advice: Do NOT pull more items on commanders that are R10+ and have a strengthened Relic.
Commander Ascension Material Exchange Vouchers
The wording is a bit awkward for this one, but this is how I read it:
For every Ascension that you performed before the update you will receive a voucher to "exchange" if required.
With these you can exchange the Designated Respect items that have been consumed during Ascension into Any Respect Items of the same quality.
You can apply 1x Voucher per commander.
e.g. You used Saruman items on Lurtz. You can now exchange these items against a collection of other items like Gil, Gala, Sunind, etc.
It does NOT sound like you could fully undo the ascension.
You will receive these vouchers via in game mail and they are valid for 30 days.
How to Prepare
To get as many Respect Reset Vouchers as possible you want as many commanders as possible at Respect level 5 & Ascended to Legendary.
But when is it worth it to use items on commanders and when is it a waste?
As we heard above, you get one voucher per each legendary commander with respect 5 that you own. This means you will want to level up some commanders in order to get more tokens.
*Disclaimer: These are general suggestions. You will always have to evaluate based on your individual account development and spending pattern.
- t1 for majority of players worth it including opposite side commanders for RP players (where else do you use your t1 tokens and vouchers?) -> you will need to ascend the commander and here is where you need to be mindful: if you have to use tokens of a commander that is in your main army, you are better advised NOT to do it.
- t2 depends already a bit on what you're planning to do. It will likely be worth it if you do not need the respect items for other things.
As most people would likely use their reset vouchers on t3 commanders, it will often be worth it to level up at least if you are close. - t3 is very dependent on situation
-> if you need 10 or less items to get to r5, definitely do it
-> if you need more than 10 items, but plan to use that commander in the future anyway, definitely do it now to get the extra tokens
-> if it requires you to trade other t3 items for this commander, definitely DONT do it as you lose value, not worth it
-> everything else has to be looked at on a case by case basis
DO's and DONT's
A few general words of advice:
- Do NOT trade any respect items at this point. It is a waste of value.
Gain for trade vs cost for trade at the example of t3 items:
1x t3 items gets you 16 t3 vouchers
1x t3 items costs you 40 t3 vouchers
This means you lose a lot of value if you trade. Especially now with the requirements for Ascension you can make use of ANY item until you have all your commanders ascended to Mythic. Of course some commanders you might never want to ascend, but you get the idea. - Do NOT rush anything after the update
Make sure to create a solid plan before you make any decisions that you cannot reverse.
You can enhance the value of your account by a lot with these changes, but you can also lose a lot of value if you do things rushed and without proper basis of information. - Do inform yourself on the new commander stats and suggested army setups.
There are a lot of theorycrafters and testers and math geniuses out there. Make sure to get input from a multitude of sources BEFORE you do anything irreversible in game. - You will get the most value out of the vouchers if you use them on T3 commanders. Don't use them on your lower tier commanders unless you are really sure you need those respect items for another commander of that level.
Commander Spreadsheet
You have seen some screenshots above from my Commander 2.0 Spreadsheet. This spreadsheet is not yet updated with the new skills and some numbers are missing in the respect table at higher Zenith levels. However, in order to give you the full access to what is there, here the link to it. I hope it helps you when making your decisions and calculations.
NEW ! Lady Death's Commander 2.0 Tool © (v.1.1)
Summary & Evaluation
Looking at all these changes, overall the game is going back to being more accessible for F2P players and low spenders. A number of changes are being made that will benefit these players and bring them closer en par to "Dolphin" level players, which means they will be enabled to hold their own better in PvP fights.
Another huge thing is the Respect Refund Tokens, which allow you to undo mistakes from the switch to 2.0. This is also why you should definitely take your time. You get the chance to enhance the value of your account by making smart decisions based on your individual situation. Every account is unique. This means that with all the suggestions and tips in this article or on any other source, you always have to apply it to your own situation and make possibly adjustments to these tips.
Last time to repeat it: don't rush things. Take your time. May the Valar's wisdom guide you in your decisions.
RtW 2.1 Update: What Will Change? - Pt.2 will include information to further changes on Respect Levels and Skills.
