TL;DR: upgrade only if you are near (50-100 levels) a threshold to receive one 5-Star more

Hello everybody,

In this post I’ll explain my understanding of the Collection Level Update. Please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.

Important facts to keep in mind

• Until a collection level of 1500 you receive a reward every 10 levels, above that number you will receive rewards every 5 levels
• Each card level represents one point of the collection level
• Each unlocked evolution or hero represents 5 points of the collection level

The following represents the rewards at system transition (based on your current collection level):

Collection Level	Gems	5-Star Magic Lucky Chests	Banners	Tower Skin
20-200	500	1
201-400	750	1
401-600	1000	1
601-800	1500	1
801-1000	2000	1	1
1001-1200	2500	1	2
1201-1400	3000	1	3
1401-1600	3500	2	4
1601-1800	4000	2	5
1801-2000	4500	3	6
2001+	5000	3	6	1

Source: https://supercell.com/en/games/clashroyale/blog/news/new-collection-levels-and-mastery-changes/

Painpoints / Unknowns

Although the total rewards a new player can obtain from the collection level progression are listed on Supercell's website, we don't know how they are distributed. For example, of the 28 5-Star Magic Lucky Chests: Will they be linear (e. g. at every 100th level)? Will they be exponentially more common the higher you climb? Or will the new reward system be based on phases, like early game (maybe card collection level 0-800) mostly wild cards and gems, mid game with 5-Stars, late game (maybe above 1500/200) with evolution boxes?

Moreover, we don't know the maximum collection level yet. On the one hand, Supercell writes that unlocking higher-rarity cards will grant more collection levels, for example valkyrie = +3 levels; however they do not mention this point in their "How to calculate your level for transition"-paragraph. Moreover, we don't have unlocking-rewards for all the types. There are

• 34 common cards -> no unlocking reward
• 30 rare cards -> +3 points each (as mentioned by Supercell)
• 31 epic cards -> assumption: +5 points each
• 22 legendary cards -> assumption: +10 points each
• 8 Champions -> assumption: +10 points each

This makes a total of 545 card-unlocking-points. Combined with the upgrade-points of 2265 (= 125*16+13*5+40*5; 13 heroes & 40 evolutions with +5 points each) this totals to 2810 collection levels. The maximum level would be relevant in order to model a possible reward/milestone system which would result in clearer recommendations.

Recommendation

Even though, the new reward system isn't transparent enough to make a fact-based decision, I think that if your collection levels are:

• under 1300: don't upgrade anymore, the only motivation for upgrading is the second 5-Star at 1401, however, I think burning more than 10 rewards isn't worth it
• between 1301-1400: upgrade until 1401 for the second 5-star
• above 1401: don't upgrade anymore because the next lucky chest differentation comes at 1801 and you have to consider the 1500-threshold, which improves the reward frequency from 10 to 5 levels
• near 1801: consider upgrading to 1801 in order to get the third 5-Star (Warning: you burn a reward every 5 collection levels)

Fairness Evaluation

A new player will of course receive more rewards than a player transitioning into a higher level. The estimated max collection level of 2810, with 28 5-Stars vs. the best transitioning with only three 5-Stars proves this alone. Moreover, the mastery rewards contain much more gold now (e. g. Task set 3 old with 6k/8k/10k vs. new with 15k gold each).

However, I can understand that they cannot give the same amount to the old players, which they would earn in the new reward system. This would create some kind of reward overflow which would probably mess with Supercell's revenues: firstly, of course in the Clash Royale store, since the majority of buyers are likely also players who play for some time; secondly, maybe even accross the different games, if players start hoping on system reorganisations with generous rewards.

Nevertheless, I perceive the transition rewards as unfair. Okay Supercell, don't give us 15-28 5-Stars or 7-13 Evolution Boxes, but what about five 5-Stars and three evolution boxes? Only three 5-stars at the highest level feels like crap and nobody cares about banners. The first seven stages of the transition rewards table are the same (if you don't consider banners). This alone should be alarming.

What do you guys think of the new system and the transition rewards? Please feel free to correct me if I missed something.

~ BerndDasEi

Edit: The maximum card collection level is 2265.