The minion/ key/ treasure chest ratio is crazy off. Keys cost almost $100 real life money to buy, and there’s no real way to get keys in game of any use even with a vp pass. As a paying player I expect to actually be able to PLAY the game. As it stands I have to wait 24-48 hours to wait for my minions to open a chest before i can play the game again.
This will never be acceptable out of beta. People will literally forget the game is on their phone.
Hmmm I’m not sure how long you have been playing. I do remember that being a problem early. Now I get keys faster than chests. I think its because I stopped using keys because being max food and gold combined with the likely nothing-burger gear that might be in the chest, just makes me open almost everything via a minion.
I was curious how this might play out with new users. In the past few months two significant changes have affected key supply: Removal of Bounties and Shard rewards replacing Key rewards in the campaign. The question was: would that much key removal negatively impact players starting out.
Perhaps so. New players always suffer economy crunches in this game style starting out. Maybe the needle has moved too far.
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Join a kingdom 
It won’t solve your key problem but you will get some keys and gold through the week as your kingdom collects crests. The double bonus of the gold means that in the future you may have a spare 5k to buy the pack with 1x Gold key and 5 Iron keys from the shop. Level up your Northelm follower and minions with a high chance to give a bonus key and you will get more spots for chests and more keys which also helps.
A diamond chest takes 24h to open so I don’t know where 48 hours comes from?
Fair point. And, a newer player is not going to have as many slots to cook chests with minions. They are also more likely to use keys because they think chests contain things other than dryer lint. Finally, since they have things to do, they will also be playing more battles, thus accumulating more chests.
24 hours to open a diamond then 24 hours for your minion to “rest”. 
I’m 11 days in and have a ton of minions now, but still get my 5 chest slots filled with ruby and diamonds enough to make me halt playing.
Getting in a club is not easy for a noob. So i made my own as I didn’t want the high pressure of so many crests a week.
Less rewards, but I’m queen of my own castle with open enrollment if anyone else wants casual play.
I remember being in the same boat. I still fill my slots regularly but now always have keys of all types spare “just in case” and often I find something else to do when they are full.
Don’t be scared about joining a kingdom. If you are playing enough to keep your 5 chest slots filled you will make easily 400+ crests a week without a problem. Keep an eye on the ingame chat and there are often people inviting people to their kingdom (some without crest requirement) and I think everyone who says “I want to join a kingdom” has someone replying saying they have sent an invite.
I also leave the events and PVP to play when my chest slots are full. Although you probably already do that 
This will also help you decide which minions to level up so you are more likely to get bonus keys from them. A Guide to Minion Stats
EDIT: Don’t forget to do the quest tasks either. You also get key rewards from there too!