That’s the case.
Not everyone uses it pejoratively, but. The connotation is always there whether intended or not.
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The extra Team Slot is also useful.
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A lot of people consider it to be a pejorative, but even so, it seems to be an industry-standard term. If my using the term caused offense, I apologize. I’ve also heard the terms “heavy spender” and “super-heavy spender” and I’m sure other definitions exist as well, but I just used the one I hear touted most commonly as it seems to be the most easily understood.
Unfortunately, such spenders are going to drive the future monetization design of the game and it’ll affect the experience for the rest of us as well.
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The warband thing is kind of a middle finger to long time players. If it was just the teams it would be fairly neutral. But the extra slots and especially the banners, I don’t know what they were thinking on that one. They could solve the banner part by adding the banners to the shop in a standalone fashion and make them free, or a small fraction of the coin cost for a war band team. It’s not a game breaking thing, it’s just more of an emotional negative. Thank you for hanging in with us so long, here’s your nothing. Haha
Nothing else in the update really bugs me. Most of your assesment is spot on, I’m just not overly bugged by it. That’s probably most of your point, that nothing significant was changed. I’m mostly ok with that. I’d rather no significant changes happen unless they are done well. The “big” Arena revamp was a rather significant change and imho was not done well. As you already stated, the tweak here doesn’t really fix the core issues, either.
My biggest point of agreement is that I’d rather the focus be on fixing broken things and QoL improvements. The core game is already plenty engaging for new players. Fixing bugs and tidying up clunky interface issues would probably help more in retaining early game folks.
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As a matter of fact, haven’t extra team slots always been a pay thing? I mean - you get one extra slot per VIP level and, I believe, that’s the only way.
Being a pay thing is not the issue at all! Being a pay issue for player 1 and something free for player 2 is the issue. I could be wrong, but as I understand it, new players unlock the war bands as they finish the quest lines. Those of us who have already finished the quest lines get nothing. That is why it feels like a middle finger.
Again, not game breaking. And the slots are not an issue for me, personally. But the banners… banners are important. They shouldn’t be free to one player and not for another player. That’s just weird way to treat long time players.
I’m not going to quit over it, or anything. But I’d be lying if I said that it doesn’t leave a negative impression on me. 
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They get war coins, but how many? 5 per kingdom finished? maybe 10 ? Wouldn’t be surprised that finishing all kingdoms quests (34) is not enough to unlock all warbands, but hey!
My alt still hasn’t finished quests in few kingdoms. I might as well finish one and give you guys the info (probably wont happen until 2021 kicks in and few days will pass)
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Oh, I see and I agree.
On a positive side, Warband situation is not as dire as “old event weapons” - those $5 weapons that can’t ever be obtained otherwise if you were not there upon the release or were too new of a player to know or do anything (like me, for example).
I’d be even content to buy them ( LATER EDIT: them refers to warband banners/slots) with gems directly - without having to wait ages for Daily Offer to show up or adventure board or login calendar to get some of the new currency.
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On the topic of warbands, has anyone received a player level daily offer for warcoins that wasn’t in the VIP slot? All SS I’ve seen showed it in VIP, which could very well be by design.
Must be a myth.
19.12.2020.
22.12.2020.
For some inexplicable reason I didn’t buy any of them…honestly, I can’t remember what I was thinking at the time. Oh, well, I guess there’s always a chance for another offer and THEN I will take it.
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When I saw these offers in the forge I was astounded. A Gold Ring is completely useless so that first offer is immediately dismissed, I wouldn’t spend anything for more of those. If they were offering a King’s Crown for this cost of 3 minor growth orbs it would actually seem reasonable.
The second offer though, that actually irritates me a bit. Sure Crowns are actually somewhat useful but the cost is absurd! The major growth orbs are the big reward at the end of events we spend hundreds of gems on about a third of the time, and they want 3 of them back for 1 Crown?! That’s not an offer in good faith. That’s basically like offering a penny on the dollar for something… it’s insulting.
If they offered even just Genie Lamps as a 1 to 1 trade in (plus some souls is fine) for the major growth orbs I would consider that… but nothing less. A Sacred Treasure does seem more in line though considering what major growth orbs are the reward for.
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Agree 100%
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I just want to pop in and say that I don’t forget about issues, but I don’t decide what goes into updates. I advocate for what players belive is important (and what I can see as being viable in future updates) as that is what I feel is an important part of my job. I collate the information, distribute it, and back it up where possible, but that is all that is in my hands. <3
Sometimes small balance changes need to be included in updates, but we do not do big sweeps with them anymore due to what’s happened in the past. (It wasn’t a failing of communication for some balance changes to go out with the update, I knew about it. We just don’t do this much anymore, and don’t want players to expect balance changes with updates, which is why I’ve communicated about it the way I have.) This is why I pushed for some balance changes prior to Christmas.
I can’t comment on much more at this time (as I’m on holidays) but I did want to shed light on these two points, as I feel it is best to be clear on my role and why I ask for suggestions and feedback.
(PS, you should mention the orb of power chance.)
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Okay, but you first (wasn’t in the patch notes) 
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There’s a whole section on things not mentioned in the patch notes! 
I kid I kid, I really should. After my holidays though.
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Enjoy your holidays!
@Dust_Angel … ergh those weapons, yes. My feeling is that if there is a reward Y for doing thing X in a game, that everyone that did thing X should get reward Y. If it’s trivial? So what. Two people did the same thing and didn’t get the same thing. In life, that’s the breaks. In games, that’s A break.Games only really work when everyone plays with the same rules.
That’s literally the backbone of a game, the shared rules. When you make different rules for different players it’s no longer a game. It’s just a rando activity. I hope they fix it. If not, I at least hope they don’t do it again. I really enjoy this game, but that will end when there is no universal rule set.
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gotta vote with your pocketbook, folks. Salty mentioned elsewhere that the balance changes were all done on developers’ after-hours time. As a project manager, this is horrific to me. None of this is Salty’s fault, or any particular code monkey’s fault, but the direction of the publisher, and I promise, the ONLY feedback they care about is the bottom line. You can’t punish the publisher by complaining in this forum (though app stores might be a different story…). You can’t punish the publisher by paying gems to skip campaign tasks. You can punish the publisher by quitting the game, and by not purchasing anything with $$.
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Really nice to see @Saltypatra jumping in. 
I did forget about the 1% Orb of Power chance. If you ever get it, it will make your day – but don’t hold your breath. 