Only two of these are worth commenting on:
Better Ad Rewards
The increase in rewards for Rewarded Ads is very welcome. However, I think it points to a misunderstanding of the game’s economy when the ads were initially added. The ad rewards are now slightly meaningful, particularly for early players. This is a good thing.
Converting Orbs of Growth
This is fundamentally a good idea. But economically, it’s missed the mark by about a factor of 1000!
For those who don’t know, the conversion rate is 3 Orbs of Growth for one Rare Treasure, and 3 Greater Orbs of Growth for one Epic Treasure. Plus a Soul cost.
This is insane!
First, Rare Treasures are essentially useless after about 6 months of play. I haven’t used a single one since Frostfire Keep, when I got smart. Why? Because the Gold cost of using them is unjustifiable. To reach Hoard level 49 costs 327,000 Gold using 50 Rare Treasures, versus 150,000 Gold using 25 Ultra-Rare Treasures. And the Ultra-Rares build up quickly.
My current Treasure count is 664 useless Commons, 2537 Rares, 790 Ultra-Rares, 291 Epics, 1 Legendary, 2 Mythics. And this is quite standard amongst late-game players.
When you first start delving, Rares are usable on your Hoard, but you quickly get plenty of Ultra-Rares, so you might as well save the Gold. Incidentally, a good upgrade pattern uses about 40 Ultra-Rare treasures, and once you can spend the 8000-9000 Chaos Shards to get all of a Faction’s troops to 4x Mythic (usually takes about 5-6 Factions to reach this point), you’re simultaneously receiving about 60-70 Ultra-Rare treasures (and 100-120 Rares).
On the other side, I have 122 Orbs of Growth, and 32 Majors (after crafting both Zuul’Goth and Enraged Kurandara). Those 32 Majors count as about 45% of a Doomed (Mythic) Troop. There is no way I would ever want to craft (or recommend) 11 Epic Treasures. And even regular Orbs of Growth, used wisely, are worth at least 900 Souls.
I don’t know how they determined their values, but they are so way off, in the context of real play.
Proper Orb of Growth Economy
This is admittedly arbitrary, but I reckon 3 Orbs of Growth should create one Epic Treasure, and one Greater Orb of Growth should yield one Mythic Treasure. It’s the only thing that makes sense to me.
Even if I was starting the game right now, and needed to get all my Hoards to level 250-odd in order to be able to have a chance at Pure Faction level 500 without potions, there is zero value to me in any boost to Treasures lower than Epic. And to reach anything over Hoard level 155 (which is the target that used up all my Mythic Treasures) only Mythic Treasures are actually viable. I’d rather keep those 32 Greater Orbs of Growth for the next Doomed Troop that’s sure to come along.
Keep in mind that smart, early- to mid-game players are going to save most of their Orbs (especially Major Orbs) for Zuul’Goth. The only people who complain about too many Orbs of Growth are end-gamers!
I want to be really clear: the conversion rate I suggest has nothing to do with economic calculations; it is purely based on actual perceived value/usefulness in real game-play.