Basically preying on the young (both in age or mind).
I have to admit, it’s very well done. The flashy screen that shows all the prizes neatly arranged next to each other, with half of them something you’d want and the other half not even worth the effort to throw away. The claim that two of them would be selected at random, intentionally suggesting that this means at equal odds. The well hidden small print next to nobody will find that almost every random pick will hit the trash pool. And all conveniently priced that the 12+ audience this is aimed at can repeatedly pay for it out of their pocket money until they eventually realize how excessively the deck is stacked against them. Congratulations, I guess someone is due a big pay raise.
I personally found Underspire incredibly frustrating and tedious. Occasionally on a Sunday if I find myself with extra time, I’ll jump in to see if I can find the second dragon room to use a lantern on, but only if it happens to line up with a kingdom that also has a quick team possible. Most kingdoms don’t. It really isn’t often that this lines up, I mostly ignore the mode.
This has now forced me to engage with the mode, but not playing it the way they initially intended. I’m not spending any resources or money to try and get the top rewards, I’m specifically searching out dead ends, and once I get a single copy of each Sentinel, I’ll go right back to ignoring the mode
In most kingdoms, I like to recommend using the Geomancer Hero class for a half mana start with the level 70 talent to self-enchant on a green match. Tends to get things going pretty reasonably.
If you’re a “middlegame” player or beyond, you likely have enough latent stat boosts to buoy you that you can simply run over opposition defenses with a modicrum of planning and thought during the battles, even with the limitations on which troops and weapons you can use. It may not be the mindlessness of having an “I win” button, but it’s not that far removed from such, at least through the first area or three. Enemy levels and stats are simply too low at the start to offer much of a challenge.
@Dr_Killbrew You can actually check this – go to the “Troops” page, flip to the “Bonuses” tab and then de-select any specific team (i.e. so the left side shows only your available team slots). The right side of the page will say “Select a team to view bonuses” but it will still list the 3 bonuses that are global across all teams – Kingdoms (levels/power), Guild (for completing weekly tasks), and Renown (from Factions). For example, I currently get … +16 Attack, +11 Magic, and +29/30 to Armor/Life.