Sorry but isn’t a good thing? Less predictable look more fun?
As I said in another thread, I find myself saddened and disappointed that an update I hoped for so much from has delivered so little, at least to me.
- dungeons - nice touch and nice idea but far far too easy
- crafting - too complex and too much rng - and was that eight new unnecessary currencies?
- expected a targeted but expensive mechanic - and also more interaction, this is not a mini-game at all
- pleased with the speed but having stability issues since
- unimpressed by the modernised UI too
- and dislike the unity RNG and cascades, making matches faster and riskier - suddenly losing matches to cascades and sky skulls that I can do nothing about in matches I wouldn’t ever lose before
…good progress, but lots to do to deliver what this update should have given us. Lots of thinking needed to make sure it monetises and is worth the devs’ time, mind…
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Ty jainus, good input, it look like you guys got the console AI. I agree it must be a shock to see a completely different AI but you will get use to it i guess.
From what i readed about pc AI, it look like it was too easy and then they change it for something much harder.
When they introduced this new AI on console, the hardcore players were happy cause it was more challenging but the casual player were not happy cause it was really hard compared to what we had before. Again not everyone can be happy.
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I would imagine the new PC AI is somewhere between the old PC AI and the current one on console.
Old console AI = best AI.
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Lets predictable AI does not equate to more fun/more exciting. Skull baiting was an extra layer of strategy you could employ to, for example, drop a skull into place to prevent for the AI to take rather than have their famine cast after the team got a turn two explode and he cascaded full. It lets me feel like I have some agency in a sea of RNG regardless of which team I was using. Having them randomly derp on a match 4/5 and give a setup into a free win sometimes is no better.
The thing is, it also makes such little difference if I am using hard looping teams that the game is every bit as “easy” and “predictable” as it was before, since the enemy either doesn’t get a turn or has no good matches, it is trying to take the more complicated setups that I would normally find fun or engaging versus meta teams that suffer the most. If I have a good board, I still win. If I have a board board, I have an even smaller amount of influence on whether or not I can get the mana needed to get started. I said as much when the AI changes were announced - their intent is to spark some variety, but the opposite is more likely to happen because now my choices and what I’m going up against are limited. Console had a meta deadlock for months even after AI sliders went in, even though the team in question was far over the mark for other reasons, it is pretty clear AI sliders didn’t really spark the variety that they had intended.
In the end, it doesn’t sting as much as I thought it would at this point, since the move to Unity on PC already happened a couple months ago and has me using overall “spammy” teams where I’m barely paying attention. It just makes it even harder get exited about new troops that don’t either hard loop with a lot of damage or are otherwise blatantly overpowered when “niche” and “novelty” that would actually have you playing a give-and-take battle you can’t even make effective and consistent by forcing bad moves by the AI anymore.
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Are you sure you posted in the good thread? Cause what i see is not so negative, everyone gave their opinion in a civil way and some also proposed what they think could improve the game
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I deleted it. It is none of my business anyway how they gonna digest it. No, you are right this thread looks civil.
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But does it make it too easy? I remember people wanted real pvp against real player and i think this is something closer to what we can get, a real player won’t use the skull he will use famine cast instead
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It’s two different ways of approaching the core gameplay. Some people view it as a puzzle and they prefer it when what the AI is going to do is predictable. Other people view it as a battle and prefer it when the AI plays more like a human would. I can see it both ways, personally, and I think for a lot of people, it will just be a preference for what they are used to.
To Mithran’s point, I think that power creep is the biggest problem. Now, if a well-designed team gets a couple lucky drops, the match is all but over. It feels like there are no back-and-forth matches like there used to be when I started the game.
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I think you got a point here bro, this is exactly how i see it
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Another patch has arrived and I’ve still found not a singular reason to spend any money. I’d still be VIP 0 right now if the recent competition for that PS4 Console didn’t reward me VIP points on top of the prize packages.
I’ve never been much of a negative nancy. I’ve always found some bits of new patches to enjoy and reinvigorate my interest in Gems of War, and there are some bits even now that I like! They’re just all so… small though.
The entire patch is too small. No significant changes actually make the game “better”, imo.
The Soul Forge (crafting system) is complex and unintuitive. And my god… the pricing on Jewels…
I got 20 Jewels yesterday and 40 today. (2/3 of those 20 Jewels I bought via the Gem package deal.)
So about 30 a day I’d say. That’s about 134 days depending on some luck before I can get Xathanos, which is bringing up a theme I just realized.
Guild Seals Patch introduced the Guardians, which are exclusive to Guild Chests.
Guild Wars Patch introduced the Storm Generators, which are exclusive to GW Prizes.
Now the Soul Forge Patch introduces Xathanos, who is exclusive to crafting.
So in other words, for all the completionists out there, these are time sinks.
I don’t have a problem with time sinks in general, they can be a fun method of extending gameplay! Unfortunately, this patch didn’t introduce any new fun. It simply repackaged the same old fun under a dimly lit bulb with some RNG surrounding it to further extend the play time. Which is a pretty big issue when you realize the last time this was a thing, Traitstones were introduced.
History Lesson: When the Traitstones first came out, there was a 20% chance of getting nothing after a battle. Zero, zilch, nada! This infuriated much of the player base. This was during a time where battles were slow(er, much slower), and Explore wasn’t a thing yet, so people relied on the defenses of others and kingdom challenges to hopefully be quick enough to grind them out. /Lesson Over
Now obviously, much of this has changed, but clearly history is going to repeat itself at this rate.
TL;DR:
So to summarize. There wasn’t enough new content in this patch to make the game feel fresh again. (Like being the one to bring a Squeeze Cheese Can to a fancy cracker party that already had cubed and sliced cheeses of all flavors.)
The content that is new is over-complicated, crafting in particular. (Doesn’t help that the similarity between Gems and Jewels is too similar. Maybe a traditional four-sided diamond shape could help differentiate.)
Any bug fixes/troop changes have been on the back-burner so long now that no one can seem to muster the enthusiasm they would’ve earned had they come out a couple to several months ago.
And lastly, the Troop UI wasn’t corrected in any way. It’s still a pain to navigate and the switch from a fantasy appearance to more modernized turned out to be rather jarring.
Also Gem nerf, bla bla bla, you’ve heard it all already.
In Conclusion!
I will still be playing Gems of War as I have for the past two years now. But much like my activity on these forums as of late, it will be a game sitting on the back-burner, stirring once or twice a day in hopes it’ll bubble over someday with enjoyment and wonder as it did almost every other patch up to this one.
I’m not giving up on this game until it’s literally unplayable, or until the monotony grows so powerful that it actually physically effects my mood outside the game and I have to give it up to keep my sanity. A feet I’ve given few games the honor to even attempt.
I’ll be looking forward to the next patch!
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Mind blown. This is really profound! I suspect most people view it as a puzzle, which is why the AI drives them nuts. And also why RNG is frustrating.
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So what would be the solution to please everyone? Maybe add a new harder difficulty (simulation mode) that will look more like Human play? And lower difficulty for puzzle Gamer?
No such thing. You can’t please everyone!
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Dont nerf the Gems from original guild blue task.
UP the gold cost of each LT instead.
Remove the RNG of gaining Diamonds in the new dungeons.
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I don’t think “battlers” want the console AI, or awful RNG-kerb/krak teams.
Dungeons: Scalable difficulty with improved returns would be good. The random diamonds are frustrating. I’d also really like it if the dungeon felt like a dungeon, not like a screen. This would be a big change, but letting us actually dungeon delve and explore a map scattered with traps and foes could turn this from a 5 minute chore to 30 minutes of fun per day.
Soulforge: My hope with the Soulforge was always “here is something to do with all the stuff you don’t need”. I only need celestials and mythics from the forge, so I’m going to be waiting a long time. Why not let us smash traitstones down to shards? Or perhaps more logically, reward jewels instead of traitstones everywhere in the game and let us cut those into Traitstones. That would help a lot I think and give the Soulforge a regular use. The paid option is especially galling. I’ll buy it because I want the damn diamonds at a reasonable rate, but it feels like I’m being forced to, rather than the other purchases in the game. And I’m not at all averse to spending money on this game, but this is one of the few purchases I really resent.
AI: I find the AI exceptionally frustrating. This game already has a huge number of variables, and this just feels like it adds an additional, completely opaque level of difficulty. The feeling, for me, is that it makes the teams that were already really hard to beat even harder, while doing nothing for the less meta teams. I’ve had a number of games now where I’ve been killed while taking only one or two moves, or had the enemy team kill out one of my troops on their first turn. And on top of this, it doesn’t feel any smarter. It just feels like as opposed to the ol’ skull distract, there’s something else I should be distracting with, but I don’t know what it is and the games are too short to work it out before it’s all over.
Graphics: I like the “current” or old version of the graphics. The Soulforge and Dungeon really don’t look good to me. This is a fantasy “RPG”. It should feel like one.
Overall: Lots of good ideas, but it feels a bit disparate and frustrating at the moment. I look forward to future changes.
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Welcome to how we console players have been playing the game since the new guild update… (Not sure if that’s right wording but in a way it’s what’s been happening etc in our games in Gems constant AI cascades losing with not so much 2 turns a PvP least PC not full of justice teams)
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@Sirrian @Nimhain @Saltypatra Not to knock anything. The main thing that interested me when I first started was that Gems of War was fun and didn’t require you to sit in game for hours each day. As each patch comes its more evident more and more that this is where the game is heading. I have a real life, a demanding job, and a demanding family. The more the developers seek this kind of game. The less players like me can actually play. And even now not a casual player.
Progression of the game since I joined.
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Did about 50 trophies and easily got PvP rank #1. Can’t remember the actual number but think was around 50 back then.
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Had to get 100+ to get to PvP rank #1.
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Started doing GW, 100+ to get to PvP rank #1.
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Ever since the new GW I felt like it was a chore over fun, 100+ to get to PvP rank #1
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This update, GW chore, 100+ to get to PvP rank #1, requirement to farm or be left behind.
For myself its starting to demand more time. And eventually I will not have any time really to give it. Real life first always over a game. So please consider at some point to not increasing the time one needs to spend in the game.
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@NekrosLucem In all seriousness this patch added 3 super easy Explore battles to if you chose. Daily Tasks on console are harder on occasion.
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