First, I am just going to say it, I am going to say exactly how I feel in here. If you don’t like it or don’t agree then fine, but replying and calling me names or anything else will fall on deaf ears.
A little over 2 years ago I started playing a game that I instantly fell in love with. It was simple and mindless at times (back then, it was a lot less strategy on teambuilding) but you could just get lost for hours in it. Since then, and up until a couple days ago there was not a single day that I didn’t log in and play. I even dragged my PS4 on trips so I could do my daily tasks and GW or just play so I could chase all those cards I still needed
About 6 months ago things started to change. I still loved the game, but I noticed something…the dev team, along with a strong push from the publisher, started putting profits over gameplay. Now I’m all for the game making money. I am vip 10 myself and would be higher had there been more worth buying. I understand that the game I love would not exist if it was unable to financially support itself. My problem was not you wanting to make money, but how you chose to do it.
You did it at the expense of the gameplay and my experience and fun. Instead of putting a realistic value on the gems, you took away rewards to falsely try to inflate the prices. Don’t get me wrong, you did some good stuff along the way, but it was always spoiled by your greed. Example…you cave us 3x speed and that was fantastic. But then you nerfed rewards to “compensate”. Even this new content…the raids…there is a really great update in there. Damn, it has the potential to make me fall completely in love with the game again…buuuuuuutttt…greed kicked in. Now it’s an effort in futility. The rewards suck. SUCK! You know it as well as I do. The portals are completely underwhelming for the effort required. The matches take upwards of 15-20 minutes each and reward less than a couple 15 second explores. My guild finished portal 10 on Wednesday and now there is zero reason for me to play another match all week. I guess I could spend 100bucks and race for that amazing 700 gem reward. It’s a joke.
I would like to hold out hope that invasions will be better, but I think we all know that won’t be the case. I’m almost certain (for no other reason than your history) that when GW comes back the rewards will be “adjusted”.
The true balance is gameplay value for the player. If the players feel like they are getting value for their money then they will spend. Wanna know the opposite of value? Let’s look at raids…So if I want to do all content, meaning buy all levels at the store, and needed to buy the gems to do it, it would cost me around 100 bucks at my vip level with the gem bonus. That’s for 1 week of content. Now I understand that I don’t need to buy every level, but why would I play a game and only experience part of the content? Why wouldn’t you want all players to experience everything? Now let’s assume I do this…and I even win first place on the leaderboard and close all portals. Have I received even close to 100 dollars value? Let’s assume I valued the playtime at 50 dollars…which is insane for 1 week of play, but giving you the benefit. Do I believe the rewards I received are even worth 50 dollars? I think if you’re honest with yourselves you know the answer. Now, if it cost 20 bucks…that would be realistic. I would do that every single week. It’s less per week, but a whole lot more than the zero dollars you will ever get from me again.
The other part is that there is no reason GW couldn’t run at the same time…other than you don’t want us getting the rewards. The excuse that it’s too much at the same time is both insulting and ridiculous. I think we can all agree, even if some of our bosses won’t allow us to. So once again, greed over content.
You, along with your publisher should be ashamed. Not because you want to make money, but because you undervalue the very people who can make or break you. I’m sure you are talented programmers…although the bug infested crap you keep pushing would say otherwise…and I know you have the potential to have both a great and profitable game. You do have good ideas, you have potential. What you seem to lack is basic common business sense. And you seem to be a little stubborn at times, even to your own detriment. Sometimes it’s better to give the players the game they want, not the game you want. There are little things that prove this. The fact that you took the ability for players to color their names away. Your excuse is it causes coding issues…fine, then code it to be done properly. It’s something your players want, yet instead of embracing it and giving players what they want you stop it and continue to find ways to give us less value from your game.
Most of us have jobs where if we are incompetent then we get fired. Your team is incompetent. Not because you are unable to give us a good game, but because you lack the sense and foresight to understand basic concepts. Or even worse, you do understand and you don’t care. Either way, it’s incompetence. At this point you do not deserve a single dime from any of us. To my fellow players that have braved my long winded post, stop spending. Not because you hate the game, but because you love it. The only way we get the game we want is if we show them they don’t get paid until we get it. I promise you this…if the money stopped today, and you told them why, we would have a better game as early as tomorrow. The problem is everyone justifies spending because it’s just a 5 dollar gem pack, or whatever. That adds up. I’m just as guilty…or I was. Stop spending completely. Stop chasing rewards for 1 week. Rewards that are worthless anyways. Stop today and we will see change. Or don’t and we can keep getting sub par and overpriced content.
The easy answer for me is to uninstall the game and move on to one of the many other great games that give me value. But I actually still love the game…or at least the potential game that’s here. I want to look forward to logging in again, and I want to give them money to support them for their time and effort giving me a great game. I want to, but for some reason they seem to be fighting those urges at every turn. Just stop already.
