Bitcoin pulse, guides and news: RESULTS of the State of the Game Survey: Beginning of Year 5

Tuesday, February 16, 2021

RESULTS of the State of the Game Survey: Beginning of Year 5

Hi all,

This survey had just over 1,850 responses, which is excellent! These insights wouldn’t be possible without your time and support, so thank you to everyone who took the time to respond!

As always, neither myself nor this survey are associated with Intelligent Systems or Nintendo in any way. Please direct feedback about the game itself to the official channels.

Now let’s get into it!

^{^Previous} ^{^Survey} ^{^Results:}

^{^{Dec_2020_State_of_the_Game_Survey}}

~ Demographics ~

51.6% of respondents began playing FE:H in February 2017, with 20.9% more joining during the first year of the game. 11.5% of respondents joined during the second year, 8.2% joined during the third, and 6.6% joined during the fourth year.

The age range breakdown of respondents is as follows:

(2.4%) 12 – 15 years old
(15.2%) 16 – 18 years old
(23.1%) 19 – 21 years old
(22.3%) 22 – 24 years old
(25.0%) 25 – 30 years old
(9.0%) 31 – 40 years old
(0.7%) 40+ years old

74.6% of respondents identified as Male, 18.2% as Female, and 4.6% as Non-binary.

33.0% report being F2P, while 27.8% have spent less than $100, 18.4% spent between $100 - $499, 6.8% spent between $500 - $999, 8.6% spent between $1000 - $5000, and 2.0% have spent over $5000.

50.4% last spent money on FE:H during the fourth year of the game, while 5.3% last spent money during the third year of the game, 4.1% last spent during the second year of the game, and 4.5% last spent money during the first year of the game.

384.2 is the current average Catalog of Heroes number for all respondents. 401 is the median. This is almost perfectly in line with the predicted ~385 based on the 2019 trend line.

For F2P players who started playing the month of release, the current average Catalog of Heroes number is 388.8, and the median is 403.5.

~ Summoning ~

“Which of the following banners have you used orbs on at least once?”

(66.1%) A Festival Miracle
(65.5%) Mythic Heroes: Seiros
(60.4%) New Year’s Omega Special Heroes
(53.4%) Dark Desert Rituals
(52.6%) Love of a King
(52.3%) Hero Fest 2021
(46.1%) Legendary Heroes: Lilina
(43.3%) Book V Begins: Reginn and More
(25.6%) Shared Purpose

“Which of the following banners did you use the most orbs on?”

(19.8%) A Festival Miracle
(16.4%) Mythic Heroes: Seiros
(15.5%) New Year’s Omega Special Heroes
(10.3%) Hero Fest 2021
(9.0%) Dark Desert Rituals
(8.6%) Legendary Heroes: Lilina
(7.2%) Love of a King
(6.2%) Book V Begins: Reginn and More
(3.8%) Shared Purpose

“What was your favorite banner?”

(17.1%) A Festival Miracle
(13.4%) Love of a King
(12.3%) Mythic Heroes: Seiros
(11.6%) New Year’s Omega Special Heroes
(10.9%) Hero Fest 2021
(10.8%) Dark Desert Rituals
(7.3%) Book V Begins: Reginn and More
(6.1%) Legendary Heroes: Lilina
(6.0%) Shared Purpose

“Did you spend money specifically to summon on any of the banners below?”

(9.9%) New Year’s Omega Special Heroes
(8.6%) A Festival Miracle
(8.2%) Mythic Heroes: Seiros
(7.6%) Dark Desert Rituals
(6.0%) Love of a King
(4.9%) Legendary Heroes: Lilina
(4.4%) Hero Fest 2021
(3.4%) Book V Begins: Reginn and More
(2.3%) Shared Purpose

36.3% of respondents said that they would like to see more banners like the New Year’s Omega Special Heroes banner, which included the previous year's seasonal heroes on the banner as focus units, with a 6% focus rate and a 2% non-focus rate. 43.3% of respondents said that they would not like to see this banner type again.

4.7/5.0 is the average rating on how respondents feel about the recent changes to the summoning mechanics (The first change is that the pity rate does not reset when pulling a non-focus 5* , instead dropping by at most 2% total. The second change is the introduction of a new 4* Special Rate, which is a separate pool on all banners for old 5* heroes that does not reduce your pity rate). 75.4% rated these changes at a 5/5, and 20.3% rated the changes at a 4/5.

63.6% prefer the Legendary Hero Remix banner type (8 focus heroes with a 6% focus rate and a 0% non-focus rate) over the regular Legendary Heroes banner type (12 focus heroes (not all of which are legendary/mythic heroes) with a 8% focus rate and 0% non-focus rate). 7.4% of respondents prefer the regular Legendary Heroes banners.

“Which color did you pick on the 5* Special Hero Summon (Year 4) banner?”

(42.1%) Colorless
(26.3%) Green
(21.9%) Red
(8.0%) Blue

“Which color did you WANT to pick on the 5* Special Hero Summon (Year 4) banner, regardless of whether you received that color as an option?”

(54.7%) Colorless
(19.5%) Green
(16.1%) Red
(5.6%) Blue

“Are you satisfied with the hero you received from the 5* Special Hero Summon (Year 4) banner?”

(51.7%) Yes
(40.8%) No

~ New Content and Updates ~

“Who is your favorite original character introduced in Book 5 so far?”

(47.0%) Reginn
(16.1%) Fafnir
(7.6%) Eitri
(6.0%) Otr

3.3/5.0 is the average rating for Book 5 so far, with 50.8% of respondents neutral, 39.0% rating a 4/5 or above, and 10.1% rating a 2/5 or below.

3.1/5.0 is the average rating for the addition of the Vault of Heaven to Aether Raids, with 64.5% of respondents neutral, 24.2% rating a 4/5 or above, and 11.3% rating a 2/5 or below.

2.9/5.0 is the average rating for the Aether Raids change that adds another team slot when using one of the season’s Mythic heroes, with 42.5% of respondents neutral, 26.0% rating a 4/5 or above, and 31.5% rating a 2/5 or below.

4.4/5.0 is the average rating for this year’s Anniversary Celebration, with 7.2% of respondents neutral, 90.8% rating a 4/5 or above, and 2.1% rating a 2/5 or below.

3.6/5.0 is the average rating for the updates to the Mjolnir’s Strike game mode, with 37.6% of respondents neutral, 55.9% rating a 4/5 or above, and 6.6% rating a 2/5 or below.

3.9/5.0 is the average rating for the new MySummoner feature, with 19.0% of respondents neutral, 74.0% rating a 4/5 or above, and 6.9% rating a 2/5 or below.

17.9% of respondents agreed with the statement “There is a MySummoner option that looks like me”, compared to 74.3% who agree with the statement “There is no MySummoner option that looks like me.”

43.5% say that they chose a MySummoner option based on what looks closest to them, while 49.9% say that they chose a MySummoner option without any consideration for what looks like them.

“Which of the following best describes the build for your MySummoner unit?”

(53.2%) Offensive / Player Phase
(14.1%) Mixed Phase
(9.3%) Support
(9.1%) Defensive / Enemy Phase
(6.9%) Meme Build (not even a joke, that’s the actual percentage)

36.4% believe the new Savior skill effect is overpowered, compared to 39.4% who do not.

29.8% believe the new Fatal Smoke skill is overpowered, compared to 49.2% who do not.

51.0% believe that the upgraded skills make older legendary heroes sufficiently strong, while 36.5% believe they do not make them strong enough and 0.2% believe they make them too strong.

~ Recurring Content and Updates ~

“Which of the following Resplendent Heroes added since the last survey has your favorite art?”

(63.7%) Eldigan
(9.3%) Ike (Brave)
(8.5%) Tiki (Young)
(8.3%) Delthea

For each hero since the last survey to get a resplendent, the art preferences are:

Eldigan: (93.3% Resplendent, 6.6% Original)
Tiki (Young): (73.0% Resplendent, 26.9% Original)
Delthea: (66.0% Resplendent, 33.9% Original)
Ike (Brave): (34.4% Resplendent, 65.5% Original)

“Have you spent Divine Dew to get any of the Refines added since the last survey?”

(18.5%) Lewyn
(14.4%) Nino (SF)
(14.3%) Hinoka (WF)
(10.3%) Genny
(7.4%) Reinhardt (WoT)
(5.2%) Joshua
(4.7%) Arden
(2.8%) Nina

“Have you spent a Forma Soul to get any of the Forma available in Hall of Forms since the last survey?”

(9.7%) Fjorm (Bridal)
(4.6%) Kiria
(4.5%) Eleonora
(3.8%) Tsubasa
(2.6%) Laegjarn
(2.3%) Veronica (Spring)
(1.4%) Mamori
(1.1%) Ylgr

“Have you spent Heroic Grails to get any of the heroes added to the Grails Shop since the last survey?”

(14.9%) Hana (Ninja)
(8.4%) Felix (Winter)
(4.6%) Nemesis
(3.6%) Ena (Halloween)
(3.3%) Keaton (New Year’s)
(1.6%) Caellach
(1.5%) Galle

“Which of the following Limited Time Combat Manuals added since the last survey is/was most desirable to you?”

(28.5%) Ryoma (Hot Springs)
(20.7%) Myrrh
(13.6%) Laevatein (New Year’s)
(8.3%) Soren (Valentines)
(6.1%) Lyn (Valentines)
(4.9%) Takumi (New Year’s)

~ Choose Your Legends 5 ~

55.0% are happy with the results of the Men’s Side of CYL5, compared to 36.1% who are not.

68.7% are happy with the results of the Women’s Side of CYL5, compared to 20.5% who are not.

24.9% voted for Gatekeeper at least once, 23.0% voted for Marth at least once, 17.5% voted for Marianne at least once, and 14.9% voted for Eirika at least once. 41.2% did not vote for any of the winners.

“If you had to choose only one of the CYL5 winner's Brave alts to receive (without knowing any details yet), which would you choose?”

(29.3%) Marianne
(28.5%) Gatekeeper
(20.4%) Marth
(16.5%) Eirika

~ Miscellaneous Questions ~

“Which Fire Emblem games have you played?”

(97.0%) Fire Emblem Heroes
(81.1%) Fire Emblem: Three Houses
(74.9%) Fire Emblem: Awakening
(70.8%) Fire Emblem: Fates
(58.7%) Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
(54.4%) Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade
(53.0%) Fire Emblem Gaiden / Shadows of Valentia
(42.6%) Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
(41.0%) Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light
(37.7%) Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade
(35.5%) Fire Emblem Warriors
(35.5%) Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
(22.6%) Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War
(20.1%) Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem / New Mystery
(19.6%) TMS#FE
(14.0%) Fire Emblem: Thracia 776

“Which of the Divine Code pathways is most desirable to you?”

(25.2%) Holy War
(22.1%) Awakening/Fates
(18.4%) Blades/Sacred Stones
(8.2%) Mystery/Shadows
(6.8%) Radiance
(4.2%) Heroes

“If none of the Event game modes gave any rewards, which ones would you still play?”

(53.4%) Forging Bonds
(51.2%) Pawns of Loki
(28.8%) Voting Gauntlet
(24.7%) Mjolnir’s Strike
(17.5%) Grand Conquests
(16.6%) Tempest Trials
(15.8%) Rokkr Sieges

“If none of the Event game modes gave any rewards, which ones would you never play again?”

(54.2%) Rokkr Sieges
(53.7%) Tempest Trials
(53.0%) Grand Conquests
(45.7%) Mjolnir’s Strike
(45.1%) Voting Gauntlet
(30.0%) Pawns of Loki
(26.8%) Forging Bonds

57.9% believe Three Houses receives an appropriate amount of representation in banners, while 26.6% believes it is overrepresented and 8.2% believes it is underrepresented.

92.4% watched the Anniversary Feh Channel, compared to 7.4% who did not.

“What kind of heroes do you typically use Trait Fruits on?”

(31.4%) Grail Heroes
(19.7%) 5*
(5.4%) Legendaries/Mythics
(5.1%) Seasonals
(0.5%) 3* or 4*

69.5% believes TMS#FE will have a second banner eventually, compared to 12.7% who do not.

74.2% believe Fire Emblem spinoffs such as FE Warriors and FE Cipher should receive FEH banners, compared to 13.2% who do not.

29.1% watch all Aether Raids Defense replays, while 23.9% only watch victories and 4.4% only watch defeats. 42.6% never watch any replays.

85.2% like refines like Oliver’s and Nina’s that play into their character traits/memes, compared to 3.6% who dislike these types of refines.

78.9% are holding their Forma Soul for a future set of Forma units, while 11.9% plan to use it on the current Forma units (Fjorm (Bridal), Ylgr, Veronica (Spring), Laegjarn) and 4.0% plan to use it on the next set of Forma units (Est (Spring), Palla (Spring), Catria (Spring), Minerva (Young)).

3.3/5.0 is the average rating for the A Hero Rises event, with 31.5% of respondents neutral, 45.7% rating a 4/5 or above, and 22.7% rating a 2/5 or below.

33.7% believe CYL heroes should be eligible for Resplendents, compared to 52.0% who do not.

41.2% would use two different languages for the voice lines and for the text if it were an option, compared to 47.3% who would not. Note: I overlooked the fact that this is possible in some combinations but not all.

~ Recurring Questions ~

“Which game do you want a New Heroes banner from the most?”

(19.1%) Three Houses (-6.2%)
(12.0%) Awakening (+4.0%)
(11.0%) Gaiden / Shadows of Valentia (+3.8%)
(9.3%) Radiant Dawn (+0.2%)
(7.7%) TMS #FE (+0.9%)
(7.0%) Genealogy of the Holy War (+0.8%)
(6.7%) Fates (+0.3%)
(5.2%) Blazing Blade (-1.0%)
(4.6%) Sacred Stones (-5.6%)
(2.5%) Path of Radiance (+0.2%)
(2.5%) Thracia 776 (-2.0%)
(2.0%) Fire Emblem Warriors (---%)
(1.8%) Binding Blade (+0.5%)
(1.4%) Mystery of the Emblem / New Mystery of the Emblem (+0.1%)
(1.1%) Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light / Shadow Dragon (-0.5%)

14.2% feel positively about the addition of the Feh Pass, compared to 38.4% who feel negatively and 46.5% who feel neutral. This continues the trend of slow decline of negative feelings towards the Feh Pass, with an 0.8% increase in positive feelings and a 4.2% decrease in negative feelings since the last survey.

45.2% have purchased the Feh Pass at least once, compared to 54.8% who have not. This is an 0.8% increase since the last survey, slowing the previous trend.

27.5% have purchased a Forma Soul at least once, compared to 72.5% who have not. This is a 1.4% increase since the last survey, slowing the previous trend.

“How have recent changes to FE:H changed your opinion on the game as a whole?”

(53.3%) My opinion was positive and has stayed positive
(13.0%) My opinion used to be negative, but has turned positive
(27.9%) Neutral
(2.2%) My opinion used to be positive, but has turned negative
(3.6%) My opinion was negative and has stayed negative

~ Intelligent Systems Approval Ratings ~

4.0/5.0 is the average rating of the extent to which respondents feel that Intelligent Systems has made meaningful improvements to the game since the last survey, with 15.9% of respondents neutral, 79.5% rating a 4/5 or above, and 4.7% rating a 2/5 or below.

“What has Intelligent Systems done since the last survey that you APPROVE of?” Some summaries and selected answers:

The 4-star special rate was cited by a ton of respondents.
Summoning changes in general were widely cited by a huge amount of respondents.
4th Anniversary celebration was generally well received.
Legendary hero improvements and remix were widely mentioned.
MySummoner was also mentioned by quite a few respondents.
“Making Nina an equal-opportunity shipper.”
“Meme MySummoner introductions.”
“Oliver's glorious weapon refine, and added more buff boys.”
“They added Duessel.”

“What has Intelligent Systems done since the last survey that you DISAPPROVE of?”

Brave Ike Resplendent was mentioned by a lot of respondents.
A Hero Rises was mentioned by a lot of respondents as well.
Mixing the New Year's banner was commonly cited.
AR bonus slots and the Vault of Heaven were also mentioned frequently.
And of course, mentions of Feh Pass, powercreep, and some of the new skills.
“No Sharena in Valentines banner.”
“Not put a goddamn Peri alt in yet those mother-”
“They haven't made a resplendent Bartre.”
“For the love of god just let us pick a hero we want in the pool not RNG summoning for the anniversary.”

55.4% believe Intelligent Systems cares about its Free to Play userbase (up 17.5% from the previous survey), while 22.7% do not.

51.3% approve of the way Intelligent Systems is handling Fire Emblem: Heroes as a whole (up 12.2% from the previous survey), while 9.3% disapprove and 39.2% are neutral. The ratio of Approve/Disapprove with Neutral responses excluded is 84.5% (up 15.5% from the previous survey).

The overall approval rating trend going by raw Approval percentage is: 50.6% (Dec) -> 22.9% (Feb) -> 28.1% (Apr) -> 42.9% (Sept) -> 39.1% (Dec) -> 51.3% (Feb’21)

The overall approval rating trend going by proportion of Approve/Disapprove with the Neutrals excluded is: 82.2% (Dec) -> 41.0% (Feb) -> 51.3% (Apr) -> 71.7% (Sept) -> 69.0% (Dec) -> 84.5% (Feb’21)

~ Bonus Questions ~

“Who is your Favorite Hero added since the last survey?”

Seiros (Mythic) is the winner, followed by Altina (Winter, Harmonic), then Reginn.
Full results here: [Graph]

“Who is your Most Wanted Hero added since the last survey?”

Seiros (Mythic) is the winner, followed by Lif (Valentines, Duo), then Peony (New Year’s, Duo).
Full results here: [Graph].

“If you could add ONE character not currently in the game, who would it be?”

Dedue is the winner, followed by Ashe, then Severa, Leonie, and Luthier.
Full results here: [Graph].

41.8% responded to the official Fire Emblem Heroes User Survey released in December by Intelligent Systems, compared to 47.3% who did not. 100% of respondents responded to this survey, so we can clearly see which one the people prefer.

~ Constructive Feedback ~

This is a new section to highlight some good critical and constructive feedback received on the survey itself. A lot of people mistook this section for being about feedback on the official IS survey, which is entirely my fault for putting that question directly before and not thinking about it. Anyways, here’s some of the feedback!

“Add a neutral options on the questions of yes or no, as I struggled on some questions that just want a yes or no answer” – This is intentional in some cases in order to force respondents to make a choice, but there are definitely places where it ought to be there.
“Add some ‘Don't care’ options. There were a few questions where ‘Don't care’ was more appropriate than ‘I don't know.’” – As far as the results are concerned these are generally considered to be the same thing, so I tend to just have one option to abstain from a question in order to not clutter it.
“I don't know if you can put pictures in the survey, but it would be extremely helpful if during the Resplendent section, you could put a picture of the original Hero art and the Resplendent Hero” – Great point! I’m not certain if this will work on mobile, but I can include a disclaimer.
“If Warriors and TMS are options, I think that Cipher should also be an option for the ‘Most wanted game to get a banner’ question” – Good point, that was an oversight on my part.
“Offer a spot for open ended feedback, IE a textbox where we can offer any improvements to the game.” – I intentionally avoid including this since I don’t think it’s very useful for just me to read them. I would instead encourage creating your own discussion post on the topic.
“There's a lot of questions (first half) that assumes you have spent money on the game regardless of F2P status” – Good catch, will try to fix this for next time!

~ Fun Feedback ~

As is tradition, here’s a selection of comments I enjoyed that were submitted with survey responses:

Someone gave me these two drawings of Norne – I absolutely love them, thank you so much!!
This fantastic song parody “Save Your Orbs” by u/juuldude
And this song parody by an anonymous respondent
#DedueWhen #DedueinHeroeswhen #AnnetteforCYL6 #FarinaforFEH2021 #A!TikiAltNextPlzIS #blutGANG #floofmomgang #Justice4Sharena #JusticeForChrom #JusticeforElinciaPlz #JusticeForSharena #KnollWasRobbed #YesImStillMad #Mitama4FEH #saveforB!Marianne #YuriForCYL6
“echoes fans should unionize and/or revolt”
“I want Gilliam with a barbecue party alt, then we will truly have Grilliam”
“IS is telling us to CHILL out with all these chill skills amirite?”
“Shamir more like sham wow”
“The year is 2027. DC weapons and gen 1 healers except Wrys have yet to receive refines. An increase in the price of orb packs has led to an economic crisis around the world as orbs overtake Bitcoin, Dogecoin, and all other crypto-currencies. Elon Musk has publicly tweeted from Mars that he has heavily invested into orb mining, leading to a massive influx of new players who are more opportunistic than feather mercs in a voting gauntlet. Just last week, CYL!Gatekeeper had his fairy resplendent announced, splitting the community in two. Those against him claim that he is undeserving of a resplendent in comparison to Infant!Marth. Nowadays, I pray to Naga every night just to end this suffering and deliver us from this purgatory.”
“FE3H is overrepresented unless it's Dedue. Dedue is good. Give us Dedue.”
“Helo, nino wahnts two saye tank yu four all uv the kuul survys”
“I wish the IS spy/intern recollecting data from these surveys a very delete Legendary Chrom from the game”
“Roses are Red / Violets are Blue / I have no orbs / Please give me more orbs”
"‘Coffee ‘is just bean soup’ - some Kiran on my friend list, 2020”
“Allowing summoners to select their own greetings was a mistake. Someone just had "I just pooped in your castle" as theirs.”
“blessed is the I.S. for not adding a filter to the summoner greetings”
“Greetings ShiningSolarSword! Nothing to comment!”
“Maybe next time your Summoner could bring this survey to Summoners in other castles like a census. Do 3* and 4* Heroes from Book 1 qualify as dependents for tax purposes?”
“That official survey was booty. I hope Nintendo can connect with its user base and give us a real survey. Wait…”
And greetings from Argentina, Australia, Chile, Crimea, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Norway, South Korea, Sweden, the UK, New Jersey, and North Carolina

~ Closing Remarks ~

If you missed out on responding to this survey when it was available, consider subscribing to r/FEHSurveys. This subreddit serves as a place to organize FE:H-related surveys, make new releases more visible, and make it easier for users to see when surveys are active.

Thanks again to everyone who participated! I hope you find the results interesting, and if there’s anything else you think can be discovered from the data, let me know and I’ll do my best to oblige!

Weekly/Important Megathreads:

Weekly Discussion Megathread

Hall of Forms Megathread

Love of a King Banner Megathread

Limited Hero Battles Megathread (2/15/21)

Forging Bonds: Enduring Legacy Megathread

Enduring Legacy Banner Megathread