3.3 has been an extreme disappointment. Thousands of keys blown, thousands of gems depleted, real cash spent, and hours upon hours of grinding. Results: one event legendary drop and one vault key (subsequently wasted on Warlord IV…). I’ve accepted that I won’t win every battle (pvp or GW) but the boss game is so over the top frustrating it’s made me hate playing.
The anxiety introduced with the stupid gnome and raven (chance to flee) makes the reward for defeating them (miserly amounts of game valuables) excruciatingly underwhelming.
3.3 took a step backwards in entertainment value and sense of accomplishment. It’s like a job now and I have one of those already.
It’s difficult to see how 3.3 has enhanced the experience. The game is certainly complex and any new material just increases that complexity. I hope the fact that players have finite resources (time and $$) is considered during testing and development but with this release it doesn’t appear so.
The vault battles are not worth doing on Warlord IV difficulty.
The best way to farm gnomes or vault keys is by doing explore on normal difficulty with a fast team.
That way you’ll never lose a battle and never have a gnome flee!
I share your opinion on some of the recent updates but they only have been out for a week.
There’s still a lot of time for improvement!
It’s still here.
It’s one game mode.
Give it a chance.
Definitely give it time. I agree there are a some things that need reworked. There will be changes with all the backlash just hang in there till the events are over. There is a reason none the devs have replied to anything yet 
Everyone always says to give it time.
Why do we have to go through this pretty much with every change that this game goes through?
Are the Devs and Publishers so outrageously out of touch which how this game is played that they can honestly say that they thought all these choices were good ideas?
That the cost in gems was appropriate?
That the devaluation of the gnome drops on a vault weekend was ok?
The frustration of the Raid Boss game mode at higher levels was “fun”?
That this entire week has just felt like another job (and as the OP pointed out, I already have one of those)?
Why isn’t there someone who actually plays the game that gives some form of input into these game modes BEFORE (HUGE emphasis on BEFORE) we (the players) have to beta test it for them and then scream and complain to get things adjusted to reasonable levels?
Whomever is making the decisions here needs to revert the cerebral-rectal inversion that is obviously clouding their vision and start to make some wiser decisions BEFORE (there is that word again) we (the players) have to beta test more content.
In the simplest way possible, yes. Yes they are.
They have been for some time and nothing has changed, I doubt anything will.
I hope very much that I am wrong. But I don’t think any backlash will change anything.
They are silent like they have been silent after the protests against the new GW scoring system, after the release of the new UI and after the tasks nerf.
They have changed only little détails. That is all.
I think that it is exactly how they want the game to be and that we have to do with it or quit.
The reason we have to give them time is they are not Call of Duty or Destiny they don’t have the resources to test things at the level “many expect”. It’s a small game with a small team they release than they fix it’s their cycle it hasn’t changed since I’ve been playing I don’t expect it ever will. (and to be fair when was the last time you bought a disk game that didn’t have a “patch” day one it’s sadly the norm in the industry for a long time)
The other thing everyone complained about is the resource cost which I also believe is high but we do not have their data to know what everyone has or doesn’t have so I’m sure they put the “bar” high to see what the “market” would bare and figured they’d knock it down if things didn’t pan out (unfortunately I don’t think it is going to go down as much as people would like with everyone being so enthused by the new modes that we all went to Tier 3 to 7 this week but we’ll see. Either way I think a lot less gems will be spent next raid even if prices do go down).
I think the majority of players like that fact we have something new to do even if it’s not perfect out the gate (almost my entire guild is thinking this way. We know we’d like some changes but we are all happy they are introducing new content as most of us are long time players)
Just like anything you do in your free time it’s always your decision on how much to spend $ or time, if you are unhappy they have a suggestion thread you can post your thoughts into and that is the best way to be heard by the dev team imo.
Cheers
Have had four mid game players join our guild recently. All “returning to the game”
Could it be because the game has evolved? Could it be because there is new content?
I don’t love all of it but I am fine with all of it.
If it’s not fun anymore then it’s time to quit, yes.
The other thing is that if the prices are too high and they go down, everyone will be 
. If they start with prices too low and put them up, everyone will be 
Anyway, we are getting new modes to explore, a few gems is a small price to pay to see what’s up.
There really isn’t new content, just a mode with restricted team building options that costs you resources to play, a P2W model that requires no guild interaction.
The general strategy of culling end game players because ‘new’ content attracts new/returning players isn’t to be applauded.
It seems the community is split on this given both of us have received quite a few likes.
You can’t please everyone that’s for sure!
I just don’t see how people accept this as content. It is terribly designed, removes resources and introduced a P2W model. Perhaps people were just that desperate for something new, even if it’s nothing but a troop filter.
Early stage player here and we have that… DAILY TASKS. It’s draining on the limited souls we have and even less trait stones to be enhancing NON MAIN TEAM cards just to be able to hit these ridiculous modes with still underwhelmingly underpowered teams.
Because it is new content, if it’s not up to everyone’s tastes that’s another matter. But before 3.3 we had some game modes and now we have more.
It can be improved in many details sure, but the P2W part is only tied to the Leaderboard, players can enjoy this content while ignoring this aspect. Also, buying things on the shop is not even mandatory because there is no exclusive, one-time offer, unlike many other games out there. The exclusive Raid/Invasion troops will be added into the chests after the same regular time it takes.
In the past these features where requested by many players, and the devs surely took some notes and adapted what they could to bring us, in a wide general sense, almost exactly what we requested.
The Towers are amazing, very unique and interesting and could honestly make their way into new features or even ones like Guild Wars if it ever gets a rework. Imagine if we would invest to defend our guild’s structures or sections/halls, and therefore battle to take/destroy the enemy guild’s structures.
Pay-to-win and play-to-win – I’ve tried both on GOW with equal amounts of effort. Truthfully, I’m a bit disappointed with the amounts of both. Perhaps I haven’t hit the developer’s sweet spot or ROI but it’s a perplexing conundrum. This update just feels like a monotonous grind with little reward or redeemable value. How else can defeating 650 towers with (essentially) the same team be described?
“The problem with most of us is that we prefer to be ruined with praise than saved with criticism.” I sing praises by logging in and participating every day.
Okay. I must have a “kick me” sign stuck to my back. I drop a few bills on some gems to play the latest raid boss game (yeah my fault, I agree, but how else can you be effective with so few cards to choose from?). So, I got off to an okay start. It was relatively entertaining while I had sigils - still a monotonous grind. Then today, I was granted 4 rounds. I’d expect that if you drop enough $50 to play the event, you should arguably be able to play for more than ten minutes each day. This just verifies my suspicion 3.3, intentional or not, is a money-grab. I continue to hold out hope but still looking for where the fun went.
I decided this week I can either stop complaining or stop playing. And here I am.
I don’t like the money end of GoW. I do think the money bundles are overpriced, and there are more shady practices than I initially suspected. But raids/invasions/bounties aren’t what I got hooked on the game for. PvP/Explore are what I got hooked on. And while they aren’t getting better, they also aren’t changing to be more pay to play oriented.
In terms of raids/invasions/bounties, nobody is putting a gun to your head and making you spend money. These game modes are clearly designed to consume resources faster than you can collect them. That’s not sustainable without spending money. The rewards are nice but not vital. The reason there is not a guild leaderboard might even be the devs didn’t want players to feel guilty for NOT maxing it.
That’s how I’m approaching it. I spend the gems to get the troop, and I’m thinking of turning my nose up at the weapons. I can get that many gems in a week no problem. But traiting/maxing the weekly troop is beyond my means. So I don’t care. I play my sigils, I get some stuff, then I go have fun playing the modes I like.
If you complain that you hate it while you are spending money to play it, you’re effectively tying money to a brick and throwing it through the devs’ window. It sends a mixed message.
@Slypenslyde Ha! Well put.
At his point it’s kind of habitual for me and has inserted itself in my daily routine. As you (essentially) say, I should cut my losses and, as the saying goes, “either shut up or put up”. The part of the game you described is the most enjoyable to me, too. Thanks for the thoughtful response.
I suspect this is part of why there is a leaderboard in the first place. Psychology being what it is, many people will feel obligated/driven to be at the top of the leaderboard. And once they run out of gems to buy new sigils with, they’re opening their wallets to satisfy the need to beat everyone else (or to satisfy their desire to earn that sweet sweet Orb of Power). Thank you to those players, who are supporting the game more than I am!