Sinister is essential for Hearts of Darkness, not Havok. You still get Havok shards.
It would have been nice if they had just told us this before now.
Anyone pulling in the Havok store out of concern for needing him right away can stop, if they choose.
And to anyone who already pulled, thinking they needed to whale a cover to compete, due to a severe lack of communication… you have my sympathy. Seriously.
This good news is too late… This forum has already stoked my rage!
D3 shovels well. Very well.
And why do I have watermelons on my feet?
Breaking communication to make players spend money is a very Sinister move… 
Let’s look at the timeline of what have happened:
On 2/13, the sneak peek thread was updated. Players saw that new 5* shards were available as placement rewards.
On 2/26, Havok was revealed. His HP debut store will be available on 2/27. For his CP debut store, it will be happening on 3/5.
Over the few days or even leading up till 2/28 after the Sneak Peak thread was updated, some were worried or imagined the worst case scenario: the new 5* will be needed immediately in the next PvE.
10 hours - 12 hours ago, the in-game sneak preview for HoD 5* essential was revealed, and it was not Havok that was required.
Let’s suppose that Havok was indeed the latest 5* needed, players still have at least 18-20 hours to decide whether they want to whale the store. They don’t have to start whaling on 2/27. I don’t see why it’s the dev’s fault if players regret whaling the HP store. They probably whaled due to panic created by the alliance members around them.
Whaling on 2/27 won’t give a better odds compared to whaling on 3/1. I think the takeway from this is instead of casting the blame at the dev, (for those who regret whaling), is to wait for the in-game sneak preview to be out. You have at least 18-20 hours to decide. I think it’s more than ample time for most people to decide.
Edited for a consistent date format. Thanks halirin for pointing out.
On the contrary @HoundofShadow, we should blame the lack of communication. As soon as someone floated the reasonable inference that Havok would be required in HoD, a company spokesperson should have given a quick response. Better yet, maintain a regularly updated calendar of upcoming events.
Please use a consistent date format. Ack!
I wasnt worried un the slightest for that.
Mr sinister hasnt been required on any pve until now. My guess is because people were still pulling for pX and devs chosed to hold It all they could.
So how could be posible that sinister skipped pve?
But you too dont skip to blame devs for all.
Because the character you win placement rewards for has always been the required character next event if I’m not mistaken. The developers put “new 5” as the placement rewards and players immediately jumped on it and asked the developers for feedback. We got a nice Havok HP store but zero communication despite the tags for clarification. My sympathy for those who spent based on established precedent for as long as ive been playing (again… maybe I’m missing something) remains.
That said, now that that they have their money, I’d love an update to the sneak peak thread!
Am I looking at things too deeply when I am worried that Bad is a brand new forum profile that seems to exclusively post in support of HoundofShadow?
Maybe that should worry you. Im warning that Im a loving gamer of mpq. I support it buying the bundles when I can. And I play all I can.
I played before some game called heavenstrike rivals. That was a game I loved a lot. But was shut down due to the same factors I am seeing in this forum.
Thats it irrational hate against devs and nerfing units and dramas and performances towards negative attitudes.
About houndofshadows by the moment I read on him arguments that I agree. I dont know what clases of old grudges you have against him. And I dont care either.
Just that I will be there for to defend the game I love. On the forum that is supposed to do so.
And for support devs who made It posible. Despite all.
I have no grudge against Hound. I very seldom agree with his conclusions, but I am very happy that there is someone willing to put forward counter point views.
I’m just a bit annoyed I have a shot at havok shards before I had a shot at sinister shards. I actually really want sinister and am not so interested in havok.
They did that with PX, the resonance was… let’s say not so well
you think they would make that mistake again? with the shitstorms of the last weeks?
I think it’s clear that many people did.
It is very unfortunate that they aren’t communicating better. Disappointing, even.
I do assume the players who would spend lots of HP and cash for the purpose of having an essential would also have waited until some actual information appeared (in-game preview) but I suppose you never know.
I’m with Hound on this one too - unless you were buying multiple 40- or 10 packs there was quite literally no point in not waiting until the preview was up. Even then – seriously, would it make that much of a difference? Loss of placement for one event? Progression is still very, very doable without the essential 5* node, so you’d lose:
3 Hearts of Darkness vault tokens
6 Elite tokens
9 CP
Some placement, probably, depending on how hard you play. And, I’ll add, that you won’t have to play through the 5* essential node with a minimally covered 5* at SCL10. You also might have to pick up an odd extra node here and there if you’re a “play till checks” kind of person, I’m not sure.
General probability says that you have a 50/50 chance of pulling something if you get to the “x” in the “1 in x,” so at 160 pulls you have just slightly less than a 50/50 chance of getting a Havok. That’s 4 40 packs, or $300. As you get above that your chances go up, but damn, that’s a lot of money.
Just not worth it for some extra 4* covers, shards, tokens, and maybe a LT.
They are a company like any other. They do some good things, and they do some stupid things. To say you will support a company “despite all” is naive and ignorant, and really no different than the toxic trolls on here who think the company is evil and is out to pilfer all the players’ money.
There is a middle ground here, but it requires communication from both sides. Currently, it’s horribly one-sided. There is no arguing with that. When the player base felt jipped when the 5* reward updates were less than ideal, they came together and demanded action, and it worked.
So in this current climate of one-sided communication, I tend to agree with most that are getting burnt out, feeling ignored, and otherwise just sick of trying to guess what’s coming next, because that has not been the history of the game.
Seems some people take too seriously this game, you whales know this game will have an end and all your time and money will be lost? For what? For managing it like it was a corporate job? I myself stopped buying hulks of hp and spend what I would spend a night at the cinema weekly; stopped playing pvp for rank and only focus in pve to meet my alliance requirements and suddenly all the stress went off. It does not matter if communication from the game is cut (yes, it is on purpose to mislead and make you spend / stress more) or if the next 5* in game will be Sinister or havok, Just enjoy the game until no more. Peace and no drama 
