I Got Your Void Scanner Right Here, Pal
One of my least favorite things to do (as a grownass adult) is hit up the casino with the boys. This is a once in a blue moon occurrence for me, usually attached to a fantasy football draft weekend, and it never ends well. You go in there wanting to win? You're gonna come out a loser. I might play a few games, sure, but if you ever see me in the pit, I'm there strictly for business - using the infinite free drinks cheat, standing next to a table watching my buddies lose. The house is willing to invest at least a six-pack in me before they realize I'm not about to make some bad financial decisions of my own. By then, it's too late.
Speaking of bad financial decisions, let's talk DCL!
Hal's a good dude, you know. He knows you think Bombshell Zatanna would've made way more sense as the DCL roulette dealer and he should be manning the essence collector - but you know what? Hal doesn't care. He's up there in the Watchtower doing his best, swinging his fist like a maniac all day long to scan the void for you, my friend. Will it be 500 gems? A fat stack of PVE energy to finish your heroic missions? MORE green rings (again!!)? The possibilities are...well they aren't endless, but on a cost-per-tap basis, the possibilities can be pretty okay sometimes.
There's no better feeling than logging into the Void Scanner one morning, seeing this bathrobed idiot's face at the top of the rotation, and knowing you're about to drop 10-20 lanterns just so you don't have to unlock him with gems. That's how full rosters are made, baby.
Even if you're not a casino guy, the Void Scanner can be a lot of fun. It scratches a lot of weird itches you never knew you had. Remember watching your DVD screensaver with baited breath trying to predict that perfect bounce in the corner? No? You didn't do that? Well me and all the coolest kids in high school did, and let me tell you - when it hits? It hits hard. You're like "hell YES, that was smooth."
I had completely forgotten that feeling until I spun the Void Scanner twice and squeaked into 20 Superman shards back to back for the first time. Suddenly, the absolute lizard brain of my psyche is licking the air frantically, assured of the certainty that the next big shard catch is only one tap away.
Two taps away.
Okay, maybe three.
It happened twice.
It will happen again.
It is inevitable.
Dear reader, it was not, in fact, "inevitable." After around 23 more lanterns down the drain, it did not happen again. And if you think that's the last time I blew through all my lanterns chasing a white whale in the Void Scanner, you'd be dead wrong. I had learned nothing. Every time the Big Blue Boy Scout™ made his brief presence known, a date with destiny was calling me. We were spinning, and we were spinning hard.
Of all the rewards, shards are the ones you naturally (stupidly, usually) roll the dice on as an early-game player, because you have literally nothing. You're putting together Deadshot: Hired Gun comps with your R3 login toon from last month that you barely know how to use. You're fighting the random number generator for 20 measly shards of a toon for which, more than likely, you won't be able to unlock a third ability for a very long time. The game taunts you with 200 grayed-out avatars of the characters you feel like you will never, ever get, and thus the urge to gamble when you see Wondergirl in the scanner can make your mouth water.
People smarter than me have done the literal math on where the scanner stops most often, and - surprise, surprise - the chances you'll get those 20 shards of the toon you want? Kinda low. That doesn't mean you won't get them, but you might have to spin the wheel 40 times first. And for most players, your first 40 roll bender with no shards is a one-way ticket to the angry Reddit post poor house.
To truly enjoy Hal Jordan roulette, you gotta remember the #1 rule of DC Legends, and probably every mobile game like it - hoard your shit. Done with your free spins for the day? Stop right there. Got your 3 bonus lanterns from weekly logins? Hold 'em. Accidentally log yourself out of the game while the ad reward is still playing and reopen to find a free lantern pop-up? Well, I'd like to know exactly how you did that because I've tried about a hundred different times and it never wor– I mean uhhh, save it.
Do that for a couple months until you've got enough lanterns to go on another 40-roll bender - and then, do one more month. Pretty soon you'll be sitting on a nice little nest egg, and you'll be like "Wow, I can spin however much I want now!" And you know what? No, you can't.
The game wants you to empty your inventory so your likelihood of replenishing it with real money goes up. It's not shady or anything; that's just the business model. You know what you're getting into. But just like the casino, nobody's forcing you to go broke. Maximizing all your resources in DCL means you can use different paths to solve your problems, and void scans are no different. When I ask Hal to dance, I'm doing it with a different set of rules for myself.
- I need blue rings. Are blue rings available today? If not, don't spin.
- Could I use some extra energy today for alliance points, node refreshes, raid boss spawning, etc.? If not, don't spin - unless I need blue rings.
- Do I like the toon in rotation? Am I only a few shards away from the next legendary rank? If not, don't spin - unless I could use some extra energy and I need blue rings.
- Gems, legendary essence, green essence, and black/white rings are all gravy. Never spin for them directly, but if you land on any, it's okay to keep spinning.
- Random gear, XP mats, and green/red rings are a cue to stop spinning.
- If I get any of the things I want on a free spin, don't spin again.
You can set your own rules based on your personal needs, but the idea's the same - "Here are all the chances I have to get 20+ shards of Spectre" is the wrong way to look at this thing. Your best chances to get toons are in events or the shop, and before you know it you'll have them all. The Void Scanner, just like the alliance and arena shops, is more like a currency exchange. Your lanterns are the chips, and the (good) resources are what you cash out. If you save up a good foundation, set some boundaries, and spin until you know to stop, you'll never become a degenerate lantern gambler.
Now if you'll excuse me, I owe Pop Tarts the next 15 seconds of my life for an AD reward.