I have enjoyed this game over the last few weeks, starting in s1 briefly and migrating to s4 once it went live. I also have played on s14 for the few days it has been up. For those on those last 2 servers I mentioned will know me by my handle "Witch".
This game does have a lot going for it and can be quite attention grabbing in pulling you in to play. This is a good thing for a game and great effort has gone into it.
That said, I will get to my main constructive opinion on what has drove me from the game and biggest thing I personally think hold's it back. It just takes too much time out of the day to play competitively. Instead of being able to manage my time in a day and fit this in reasonably, it is starting to run rampant over other things that are my responsibility or pleasure to do. For the casual player it works fine, as they do not need to participate in everything. Nor do they need to only grab blue, purple, or orange bounties only, forcing to come back almost every 30 min just to refresh until all 20 finished. The people that have the spare time also do not have too much problem as they can allot the time to accomplish these things. I only use the bounties as an example, not the only problem.
Here are some specific's, and idea's on what I would change to help alleviate the problems for me personally. They are ordered in importance on how I feel they are limiting my time and not adding any extra enjoyment.
(1) Change events much closer to each other instead of so spread out throughout the day, or only allow 1 of each type per day but make rewards reflect as much. i.e. only 1 World Boss you can participate in, but get 3x the rewards as 1 does currently.
(2) 10 bounties a day (down from 20) and each one gives double xp/gold rewards as currently they do.
(3) longer but less rewarding farm seeds that can be bought with gold. If I am done for the day, it would be much nicer to just add a 12(or even 24 hour) seed and not have to worry about coming back to the game until the next day. Sure it would have to yield less than three 4 hour ones to make it fair, but helps alleviate time problems. Not to mention this makes it more strategic in harvesting others crops as it gives more options with your limited amount of harvests.
(4) Give quests all at same time for campaign instance, instead of spreading them out forcing you to go in 2-3 times. I would wager most people feel the same as I do, and just push the afk button while browsing the web on other things. This is not promoting game play or a "fun" factor at all. If anything make the campaigns harder to accomplish to add more of a thrill to them.
These four things would make the biggest impact and allow much more freedom in playing this game in my opinion. Catacombs is fine as you can hit afk button and walk away. Farm xp is quickly gained, especially if you hit it up right at farm reset, but I do not feel it is wasting my time while performing it. Duel's are in a good spot, as it's just a juggling game all day long, and the cool down is pretty low between attempts.
I want to talk about events specifically as there my number one problem currently. They are the most enjoyable elements to the game as it stands. Problem is there all spread out and some of them are just repeating the same "type". This is compounded by the fact that you have to be performing in all of them to compete. This is why I would feel restricting access to 1 of each type, yet giving full rewards for the day is that type would be most beneficial. It allows much more flexibility in when you can play the game, and not fall behind. i.e. only allowing one world boss participation a day, yet giving out triple the rewards achieved as if you participated in all 3 current ones.
The second battlegrounds to me was the breaking point, where I decided to leave the game. This shows the exact opposite, and only compounding the problem for me. You are breaking up 1 event into 2, and also splitting the current rewards between them both. So if I want the same rewards as currently getting from one battlegrounds, I have to participate in both now. Why not just make the second one, and again limit entrance to 1 a day and just keep current rewards? This shows a trend that instead of making the game easier to play, they are wanting to make it more time consuming.
Many of these personal problems are only there because of the nature of the game. It is totally pvp orientated, as even if you were focused in the pve elements( cata, campaigns, etc..) you need to place near the top in the pvp aspects to get the gear needed to rank in the pve as well. You will not get your troops very high without participating in every world boss and getting the extra rewards on occasion. You will not gain insig's without winning a lot of your group arena duel's, etc...
I also feel that many items are just over priced in relative to their worth. I was not sure how long, or enjoyable, this game would be to me. For this reason I did not spend any money on it in the beginning. Once I started seeing the prices, only cemented my opinion that my money can be better spent elsewhere for much more gain. This is just my own personal opinion and others will feel differently. If there are enough people that feel the prices are good and pay them over the amount needed to make the same money to people like me, then they are making a good business decision.
I do want to point out that I did not feel the cash players had too much an advantage overall. In server 4, I was always top 5 in duel's and was part of the best group arena team on the server. I was able to get top 10 in world boss most the time. I do not mention these at all in an attempt to gloat, but that I was able to achieve these things without spending any money. I left Server 4 at level 41, to try a new build idea on the newest server for fun.
For those wanting a few tips when starting new characters, I will make another post in the guides section on various small tips that allow you to get ahead of the majority.
Thank you for giving me a fun and engaging game to play, and I will check back sometime in the future to see the changes made and perhaps to give it a second chance.
This game does have a lot going for it and can be quite attention grabbing in pulling you in to play. This is a good thing for a game and great effort has gone into it.
That said, I will get to my main constructive opinion on what has drove me from the game and biggest thing I personally think hold's it back. It just takes too much time out of the day to play competitively. Instead of being able to manage my time in a day and fit this in reasonably, it is starting to run rampant over other things that are my responsibility or pleasure to do. For the casual player it works fine, as they do not need to participate in everything. Nor do they need to only grab blue, purple, or orange bounties only, forcing to come back almost every 30 min just to refresh until all 20 finished. The people that have the spare time also do not have too much problem as they can allot the time to accomplish these things. I only use the bounties as an example, not the only problem.
Here are some specific's, and idea's on what I would change to help alleviate the problems for me personally. They are ordered in importance on how I feel they are limiting my time and not adding any extra enjoyment.
(1) Change events much closer to each other instead of so spread out throughout the day, or only allow 1 of each type per day but make rewards reflect as much. i.e. only 1 World Boss you can participate in, but get 3x the rewards as 1 does currently.
(2) 10 bounties a day (down from 20) and each one gives double xp/gold rewards as currently they do.
(3) longer but less rewarding farm seeds that can be bought with gold. If I am done for the day, it would be much nicer to just add a 12(or even 24 hour) seed and not have to worry about coming back to the game until the next day. Sure it would have to yield less than three 4 hour ones to make it fair, but helps alleviate time problems. Not to mention this makes it more strategic in harvesting others crops as it gives more options with your limited amount of harvests.
(4) Give quests all at same time for campaign instance, instead of spreading them out forcing you to go in 2-3 times. I would wager most people feel the same as I do, and just push the afk button while browsing the web on other things. This is not promoting game play or a "fun" factor at all. If anything make the campaigns harder to accomplish to add more of a thrill to them.
These four things would make the biggest impact and allow much more freedom in playing this game in my opinion. Catacombs is fine as you can hit afk button and walk away. Farm xp is quickly gained, especially if you hit it up right at farm reset, but I do not feel it is wasting my time while performing it. Duel's are in a good spot, as it's just a juggling game all day long, and the cool down is pretty low between attempts.
I want to talk about events specifically as there my number one problem currently. They are the most enjoyable elements to the game as it stands. Problem is there all spread out and some of them are just repeating the same "type". This is compounded by the fact that you have to be performing in all of them to compete. This is why I would feel restricting access to 1 of each type, yet giving full rewards for the day is that type would be most beneficial. It allows much more flexibility in when you can play the game, and not fall behind. i.e. only allowing one world boss participation a day, yet giving out triple the rewards achieved as if you participated in all 3 current ones.
The second battlegrounds to me was the breaking point, where I decided to leave the game. This shows the exact opposite, and only compounding the problem for me. You are breaking up 1 event into 2, and also splitting the current rewards between them both. So if I want the same rewards as currently getting from one battlegrounds, I have to participate in both now. Why not just make the second one, and again limit entrance to 1 a day and just keep current rewards? This shows a trend that instead of making the game easier to play, they are wanting to make it more time consuming.
Many of these personal problems are only there because of the nature of the game. It is totally pvp orientated, as even if you were focused in the pve elements( cata, campaigns, etc..) you need to place near the top in the pvp aspects to get the gear needed to rank in the pve as well. You will not get your troops very high without participating in every world boss and getting the extra rewards on occasion. You will not gain insig's without winning a lot of your group arena duel's, etc...
I also feel that many items are just over priced in relative to their worth. I was not sure how long, or enjoyable, this game would be to me. For this reason I did not spend any money on it in the beginning. Once I started seeing the prices, only cemented my opinion that my money can be better spent elsewhere for much more gain. This is just my own personal opinion and others will feel differently. If there are enough people that feel the prices are good and pay them over the amount needed to make the same money to people like me, then they are making a good business decision.
I do want to point out that I did not feel the cash players had too much an advantage overall. In server 4, I was always top 5 in duel's and was part of the best group arena team on the server. I was able to get top 10 in world boss most the time. I do not mention these at all in an attempt to gloat, but that I was able to achieve these things without spending any money. I left Server 4 at level 41, to try a new build idea on the newest server for fun.
For those wanting a few tips when starting new characters, I will make another post in the guides section on various small tips that allow you to get ahead of the majority.
Thank you for giving me a fun and engaging game to play, and I will check back sometime in the future to see the changes made and perhaps to give it a second chance.
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