I feel embarrassed for having recommended this game

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For me the game has become absolutely intolerable as it has reached the point where I don’t feel my actions in the game have enough meaningful bearing on the outcome.

I have said time and again that pRNG is essential to make these games enjoyable, but the ongoing tweaking coupled with the overflowing cornucopia of bugs and rotten design choices, the gameplay has devolved to what I consider a slot machine experience. (I am speaking only of the PC as it is my only current active platform)

I have 50+ videos up that I honestly want to take down because I wouldn’t recommend anybody play this game in its current state, never mind put money towards it.

I am not lashing out but I am personally embarrassed as I have in some ways (although it was never my intention) become an ambassador for this game. But I’m ashamed of it.

What do I do now? I hate this game, I hate playing it, I hate the direction its going, after taking multiple breaks I hate the feeling I get when I dip my toe back in the water only to find out the game gets worse and worse with every iteration and then I leave again, always hoping if I give it just another month it will improve.

I honestly want to hide every one of my GoW videos from my channel, turn away from this game and never look back. But I don’t want to hurt this company. This game gave me so much good. But having my name or opinion attached to it in any positive way makes me look like an a__hole. Even more so than some people consider me already.

In case anybody thinks I am lashing out, I want to say that I have reserved any meaningful opinion on the direction of the game for over 3-6 months even though I wanted to kick, scream and shout about it. I resisted out-bursting or even broaching the subject on my channel, and I kept my opinion to myself, always trusting that like a boat, the game would always have its ups and downs and rock side-to-side, but would eventually right itself and carry on being awesome old GoW. It never happened and it is clear it is not going to.

This isn’t a big Dear John letter and this isn’t supposed to over-inflate the value my opinion, for I am but a single man and my opinion is no more or less valid than anybody else’s. But now I have my reputation attached to a game I resent and frankly can’t stand.

What do I do? Please help me work through this.

OT but it needs to be said: I’m not quitting the game, I may just start over for the 4th time. This isn’t my point though.

Edit 1 & 2

I am listening very carefully to what everybody says and thank you to the multiple people that have contributed to this thread so far. I want to reply but I want to open my ears first.

Also for clarification: This is about whether I should hide my videos, not stop playing. Frankly nobody cares if I do or don’t play and I know that. However I feel a great sense of responsibility not to hurt the game, company, and most importantly Sirrian by any action I take, but at the same time I cannot recommend this game to anybody… I just can’t. And to keep my videos up I feel will only assist inviting new players into a what is basically a bad game ATM.

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First of all Krud, you should be proud of your contributions. You were/are a huge contributor to this community and have played a vital role in MANY players growth and development, myself included.

Furthermore this comment:

Is simply false. Those videos are a tribute to the game that WAS and again you SHOULD be proud of that. If the game has truly become something that you no longer find enjoyable then, despite hating to see you go, then leaving respectfully would be the right option.

But I for one think that when the ship is rudderless is when it needs strong voices guiding it shore, to horribly extend your earlier metaphor. But if players, like you and Tacet, who are HUGE contributors that have the devs attention don’t speak up then things can’t change.

I hope you stick around, but I understand if you don’t.
But regardless of that, NEVER be ashamed of the GREAT things you gave to me and the rest of this community!

Much Love and Respect Always,
-efh313

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They are squeezing players for more and more cash by tightening resources to a point where it is no longer possible to play hard, save your resources and enjoy using them. They also destroyed the gameplay and are incapable of fixing it… neither of these are your fault, you are thinking too much.

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If you don’t feel good about promoting the company any longer with your videos. You shouldn’t. You shouldn’t feel any guilt about removing the videos if you don’t recommend the game now. You really don’t owe anyone anything in this case.

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I disagree. To the extent the problem is the pRNG that’s really driving this sentiment, that is absolutely something they can fix.

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Why don’t you just quit the game and never play again if that’s the way you feel :thinking:

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I can’t speak for Krudler. But, I think I understand where he is coming from.

I literally just came back to the game after a long break a few days ago because I missed playing the game. I hooked back up with my old guild, and it was exciting at first. I got to see old friends and try out the newness of crafting and such. I was riding high… at first.

Then, the gem nerf… then the impervious bug… then the obvious gem spawn/gem cluster bug… etc.
It feels like returning home after being stranded on an island to find your house on fire.

I wouldn’t think of recommending the game to anyone else in its current state. But, I’m going to stick with it a little while longer to see if they at least fix those two major bugs that are lessening the fun for me. At the end of the day, I have invested a lot of time and money into the game. So, I’d rather not just toss it all away if I can help it.

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I understand. What I don’t understand is why a person would continue to do/play something they claim to hate :relaxed: The gem nerf sucks and so does the AI sometimes but I’m sure we’ll get used to it… eventually :stuck_out_tongue:

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I’d say time and/or money investment.

In my case, I don’t hate the game. I had a ton of fun with goblins yesterday. However, the game has become Russian roulette because of the gem spawn/gem cluster bug. On one hand, they made the AI smarter which is a step in the right direction imho. However, that spawn bug has negated strategy when certain gem spawning troops are on the board (AI or human controlled).

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It’s called nostalgia, you have deep love for a game you have invested a lot of time and money in and want those glory days back. To leave is to give up and some people don’t want to be quitters as they would rather help change things for the better, be that by making suggestions or voicing their discontent. If no one spoke up then the publisher would probably go down the candy crush route and we’d all be offered the chance to pay a dollar to get all your troops back after a failed GW battle.

Are you personally happy with the game Leakay? Is there anything you would change?

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This, and it’s going to bite them in the rear. The fact that the gem packs are horribly overpriced isn’t helping matters.

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Personally Krudler, I would keep your videos but change part of the title of each video to Pre 3.1 patch. If you delete them then the glory days do come back you will have lost a piece of history. Or you could always just make them private for the time being

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I totally get what you mean about feeling embarrassed but don’t. You’ve been a great asset to the community, you are a good person who cares.

You didn’t code this! You didn’t QA it before beta. I really wonder how they feel.

Like you with GoWs, I was like that with Farmville (I was one of the beginning core players way way back then and I had all the real cool first year Holiday stuff). Helped recruit I don’t know - maybe over 1000 players over my time, was an moderator and new player ambassador. Then came the first major major update, and we all survived through, until they added the ‘second farms’. And that was the start of the slow downhill slope of having to pay more for the real cool stuff, having less of the real cool stuff for free. Having to pay to save all the cool stuff you had gotten the first two years because of the bugs and lack of play ability that were rewards now cost me space to save and store.

Over time, I slowly slipped away, first it was not logging in for a few days, then a week, then a month… - until one day - I just stopped logging in.

Have done that with Gems and Genies. I removed that about 6 months ago finally from my phone. Last year before I joined here, I started doing it with Gummies slowly distancing myself. I’m at that point I log in once a month maybe to Gummies and maybe do something. Even the daily rewards of getting stuff for free has lost it’s appeal.

I honestly think it’s the nature of the beast here. Games start out broken, way cool concept, attract a loyal devoted base that will put up with the beginning junk, depending on how the dev team treats the players. Over time as one game producer said -Few people = More goodies = More people = Less goodies = More money = Less non-paying people.

Start looking for something to fill the void. I’ve already started. Gone through about 20 games so far and only one besides GoW, which has stuck through the install-play-delete process.

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I have no complaints with the game. Obviously the majority would like it to go back to before (before resource nerf) but I’m not unhappy wit it. Actually these last two days I’ve had more fun on the game since a long time :grin:

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IMO, just take it easy. I understand you have some personal attachment to this game. And I fully sympathize. But I also understand that this part of your life is over and done. So, I guess, maybe time to move on? To something else with better connection to your personal taste?

Please, do not delete your videos, they are very entertaining. Leave them, as other suggested, just change the title and description to reflect that it was some older, partially obsolete version.

Also, you have to understand that developers, in order to survive in harsh and rather competitive environment, might shuffle things around, remove some part of their player base while player pool shifts to people with different personal preferences. It is normal and natural, there is nothing wrong with these shifts although it might be a painful shakedown for those who grew attached to the game and feel like they don’t belong. However, look on the bright side. Your new adventure awaits, and choices are essentially unlimited. Unshackle your spirit and wonder in awe through the Steam store. You are finally setting yourself free, yay. :rofl:

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I dunno… If we look at the general history of the game, I feel like they have a long history of releasing broken buggy things with lots of imbalanced stuff, listening to player feedback, and fixing it. While I may not be happy with everything right now, I think that’s a reason to continue to recommend it. I haven’t lost faith that they are listening and care. I think their statement thus far clearly indicates they are listening and do care.

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Don’t get me wrong. I think they do read, listen and care about the game. So, I have no ill will towards them or the game. However, I only recommend games to friends/family that I think are in good shape (relatively stable) in that moment. I don’t feel the game is at that point right now. It feels like a messy transition period.

I do think they will fix the 2 major bugs in question eventually. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.

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To be honest, it has felt like a messy transition period since about January. Rather than pushing to release buggy content as fast as possible, they need to slow down and start getting things right the first time, at least once in a while. Ambition can not continue to trump execution.

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Thank you everybody for your opinions, I value them greatly. Here’s my response so far and any more conversation would be most welcome.

@efh313 Thank you for your words, and one thing in particular stood out to me which I took as a challenge. I will stand up and make a video and talk about what I think is wrong. I have never sought attention nor have I put myself in front of the devs and told them how they need to make their game, but perhaps I have also shirked my responsibility in this area. Thank you for giving me something to reflect on and come out with a different attitude. @smilinsam You echoed this sentiment, thank you.

@The_Unforgiven That is a pretty unvarnished opinion. I don’t know if they are incapable of fixing it or if the underlying core gameplay is changing, and us more passionate players are collectively adjusting badly.

Some things that support what you’re saying though are when I’ve seen assurances (to paraphrase) “everything’s fine we checked” followed up by (again paraphrasing) “we inherited the code from someone else, give us time”.

I have watched a gradual move away from skill-based play to slot machine play. I don’t know if this is because the game has expanded way beyond its initial scope, or if it is a deliberate design decision. I trust the devs to know what they are doing. They are geniuses. I would say this decline began with the introduction of the Guild Guardians and I said it when they were introduced, which was not a popular comment. This has been exacerbated by recent adjustments.

@Ashasekayi Thanks for your supportive comments, but also for your insight. You’ve done a great job of describing the feeling I get every time I come back to the game.

So where I am so far is that I think I will keep all my videos up re-label them as old 2.1 videos, and put out a new video of constructive criticism in an effort to help influence the future of the game. But this will take time, and I will need to carefully reflect on exactly what I would say, because if I do it I want to do it with LOVE :heart:

I have always held off on making too many “game direction” kind of comments in the forums, and in my videos. I have never changed my belief that the developers are exceptional at what they do so I have limited what I have said to them in terms of advancing my wants as a player.

Having spent almost 20 years in or around lotto and game development, I am also straddling the line between respecting the devs’ professional ability to design and manage their project vs. being a a player and demanding my needs be met.

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I actually think the game has had lots of “slot-machine” mechanics well before the current state of Cascadia. True Shot was a “slot machine” because you had a 50% chance to be deleted with a Skull match. Maw was a “slot machine” in that every Skull match was potentially a Devour. Death Mark was a “slot machine” of instant kills.

Like it or leave it, this game has always substituted tactical play for good-ol’ dice rolls.

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