Too many #RisingStar players overthink their "EGO" situation, and they squander valuable time trying to balance their attributes to achieve a near-mythical absence of ego. Find out why resistance is indeed futile.
One: It's almost more egotistical to assume that you can strut around the bandstand without any ego whatsoever. Geez! And two: most importantly, it really doesn't change things drastically enough to pay much attention.
Rising Star Ego... Testing 1, 2, 3.
I was prompted by a question from a fellow player, 
I had been telling all the new players that a higher ego number would translate into MORE rewards, not less... so this new possibility left me feeling a bit anxious. Could I have been wrong all along? Do some mission rewards indeed increase while others decrease?
Do we earn LESS #Starbits overall as our ego goes up?
So I set up the test parameters and waited for my ideal window.
"It was tougher than I thought to time the beginning of a day with a relatively fresh ego slate so I could get an accurate look at the effect we're talking about."
I clearly didn't want to half-ass this little test... I would hate to think that I'm giving poor advice to other players, so it was important for me to have at least a bit of rough data to provide some peace of mind.
And I'm so glad Mimi got me thinking!
"YOU'RE RIGHT (mostly)! So I checked the top rewards for every single Rising Star mission with three different Ego levels (34%, 37% and 42%) and here's what I found..."
That's how I did it. Admittedly, I wanted to start the bottom tier at a lower EGO level... but it's the best I could do, and I don't see why the same effect wouldn't apply to 20% and 25% respectively.
What Were the Results?
I'm going on 5000 missions on Rising Star-- and I sit at number 10 on the game's leaderboard-- so I've seen the mechanics enough that I felt comfortable with my earlier observations... but the exact changes were a little surprising, and well worth noting.
I broke it down into the four different zones and explained how each was affected by the three Ego levels, as follows...
HOME TOWN: This first zone is actually the only one that has increased rewards for all missions at each of the ego levels. This is a nice touch, in my opinion, as it doesn't penalize the newer players just getting into the groove.
LOCAL GIG CIRCUIT: This is where it starts to change. The first four missions and the last mission (Band Auditions) showed increased rewards at each ego level, but the fifth and sixth missions (Acoustic Tent and Local Mini Tour Support) have decreased rewards as the ego increases (just as Mimi had described).
COUNTY TOUR: This zone is the same as above... increased rewards for the first four missions and the last one (Manager Interview), and decreased rewards for the fifth and sixth missions (County Festival Gig and County Tour).
COUNTRY TOUR: This last zone, which takes a while to reach, is the most different. The first three missions, the fifth mission (Band Rehearsal 2) and the last mission (Hire a Road Crew) have increased rewards at each ego level, and decreased rewards for the fourth, sixth and seventh missions (Breakout Stage, Country Tour and Country Festival).
So while it is a bit scattered, I would say that Mimi was more right than wrong. I'm glad she brought it to my attention. The better players understand the Rising Star intricacies, the more fun they'll have!
I think my conclusion is simply that people put WAY too much thought into controlling their EGO. The losses and gains aren't ridiculous overall, and the combination will most likely balance out as you do various missions in different zones. So I recommend not dwelling on it and just keeping your feet planted firmly on the stage!