Warning, massive soap box rant commencing!
I play gems with the philosophy that I will be playing gems for a longtime. By longtime, that could be till the devs turn the servers off or just a year or two from now, who knows. It’s not normal for most people to play one game for years on end. I once mentioned burnout being healthy, but what I meant by that is, it’s normal for a player to quit a game and come back in a few months, a year, or not at all. I may be a F2P player but I consider myself a high level one.
I do a minimum of 1,100 trophies a week(our guilds reqs since 4.7) and have been at that pace since I moved over to the mobile platform from xbox. For me, that isn’t hard at all to do. I never feel like i’m grinding since the teams I use for pvp and explore are fast, effective and enjoyable. I play all events except class and arena events. I really don’t mind the campaign at all. I’m done with it on Tuesday morning at the latest and no task is too difficult or annoying. Even the treasure hunt and arena ones are super easy and not time consuming. The game has only gotten faster for me as I’ve leveled up and added stat boosts. Faster = fun. I play a lot of other games and genres from RPG, to sports games, to other more predatory gachas like Marvel Strike Force. Gems is still super F2P comparatively, I don’t care what anyone here says.
We are at an interesting time in the Gems life cycle. Many of the updates have geared toward making the game developers money. I won’t deny that. But from a purely F2P viewpoint I have to ask myself if it affects my progression, my gameplay, or the meta. Not one of these updates has made me think pay to win. It’s shocking when players use that term loosely when it doesn’t apply to this game. Of all the offers and deals this game has been updated with, none of them are in your face yet and all are optional. In the end any F2P has to understand this is a F2P game so the devs and publisher have to make money. Striking the right balance is the key to not alienating either side of this argument. Let’s take a look at what I mean.
Breakdown
General Shop
F2P view: You can get some event keys and the new troop for glory. The rest are just resources you can farm. I consider the fact you can get a mythic after 30 days from a pack fair. If players want to spend money on the bad deal packs I say let them.
P2W view: You can get some resources to speed your progress and you can even buy a path to glory for a new mythic. You don’t get to pick the mythic of course, but you do get one you don’t own. This is fair. Most deals here are pretty terrible and can be ignored by even the spenders.
Ads
F2P view: Can view them for some minor rewards, or ignore them. After a few days I stopped even noticing the Ad icon.
P2W view: Same as F2P here. No advantage
Campaign
F2P view: The rewards are terrible except for some nice book of deeds. The stat boost is what I play for. I really love the boosts and that makes the whole campaign worth it. I know many disagree, but this goes to my point of faster = fun. Missing the mythic/weapons/pets is a bummer but I will eventually be able to get all of them. They aren’t pay walled and that’s what matters to me most.
P2W view: Rewards outside of mythic/weapon/pets are pretty bad to be honest. But again, the mythic/weapon/pets make buying the pass worth it. It’s a great deal and I’ll continue to say that unless they make some crazy changes. If you are a spender, you are silly not to get the elite pass.
Daily Offers
F2P view: Since these costs gems and not real money it makes some of them worth the purchase. Although playing in a high end guild will nab you most of the pets/orbs overtime, this can cut that time down including some rare imperial deed over. Personally I Ignore the offers completely and don’t feel I’m missing out.
P2W view: These offers could be even better for a P2W player who has a massive gem stash. An extreme endgamer might have to wait around for the rare deed offers but they can scoop them up when they do come out.
Arena Offers:
F2P view: Pretty much the same as above but you play a 5-7 minute arena match to get a reduced deal. If you are into offers or are into arena, this isn’t a bad setup. Again, I ignore arena and the offers so this doesn’t bother me at all.
P2W view: If you are into offers and don’t mind playing arena for 5 minutes(only 5 battles with a higher VIP) than this is a nice added bonus to the daily offers. Again, it’s those imperial offers that are probably the targets, but it could be worth the time if that’s the goal.
New Shrine:
F2P view: Can be ignored like the Ad or daily offer icon are. As an end gamer myself I don’t see much value in them unless they start offering book of deeds at a low cost. Even then I’d be ok since at least then a P2W will have something worth buying.
P2W view: If the current shrine offers are the standard offers(we don’t know for sure yet), than I’d say it’s probably a pass unless they are a few major ascensions away from a final power orb.
Event Shops:
F2P view: I can afford all events up to the weapon tiers as an active player. Activity and frequent logins are essential for having enough gems to cover the costs of faction/new factions/raid/tower/invasion/GW sentinels/world event/bounty without missing. I’m able to do this along with many others in our network in the same boat. Casual F2P will not be able to do this but that makes sense they can’t. F2P also won’t be able to grab the power orbs from the LB unless they save a lot for that one big run, and will most likely won’t have enough gems to do both weekend and tuesday pure faction runs until their hoard is much higher.
P2W view: Can buy as many tiers as they need to help the guilds reach their milestones faster. On tower weeks they can buy extra tiers to get scrolls. Also allows you to complete pure factions easier since they can buy their way to 2500 on tuesday/weekend events with potions. They will also be able to make some LB runs for power orbs.
Misc Gem Sinks(Pets)
F2P view: As a completionist I love cosmetic pet rescues! I max all new and old cosmetic pets. I still have enough saved for all the other events. Again, this comes down to activity and frequent logins. Many can’t do this, but time and effort are rewarded here. This is completely optional, but very possible.
P2W view: You can essentially make sure you are never pet blocked on kingdom power by buying all the pets you need whether cosmetic or not. I’d consider a normal pet a bad deal, but cosmetics aren’t a bad purchase for a large gem stash or end gamer.
Warband
F2P view: i dont see warbands as issue. Sure I would love to get everything unlocked without war coins but as long as they hit the AB occasionally and are in offers somewhat regularly im ok with that.
P2W view: unless you are a very new player you probably won’t have to worry about the warbands and I wouldn’t go out of my way to buy war coins other than a daily offer.
Recap:
As a F2P player, none of these updates or shops affects my progression, my gameplay, or the meta. I can still play pvp and explore to my hearts content. I can breeze through events no matter the restrictions. I’ve completed all delves to 500 and only pure is left on some but I’ll get around to it eventually. My brother and I are consistently in the top 4 of our guild for GW in a bracket 5 guild(formerly bracket 3 cause we bombed last GW lol). Everything I got I earned and I don’t feel I’m addicted or it was a waste. I help run one of the largest networks in the game and that is my main focus and drive. If I were playing alone, i’d probably have quit and moved on a long time ago.
Just because the developers have decided 2020 is the year of monetization updates, doesn’t mean it’s P2W updates. Does it concern me that it seems to be their main focus? Yes, of course it does, just like everyone else. Players complain there is too much to do, and then there is not enough to do, and if new things are added(world events) or changed(arena) it’s not the way they wanted. Gems isn’t going to reinvent the core gameplay. if you don’t like gems now, you probably won’t like gems several updates from now and setting any sort of expectations will be a recipe for disappointment.
A GoW roadmap would go a long way in restoring some good faith with the community. I understand a public roadmap set’s expectations a team may not be able to deliver but transparency is important. Even if this comes in the form of bi-weekly or monthly updates on development, it would be better than what we currently get. They have a beta server, but don’t even listen to their beta testers feedback. If the devs care at all about the future success of gems, this well established community(including the network discords), they would reach out to us and create some sort of meaningful dialogue. It’s been Devs Vs. Players for far too long and hopefully that will change as we head into 2021. Either way I’ll be playing, so no update will bother me, but I know that isn’t the case for most players, and that’s what concerns me.
TL;DR: Gems is still not P2W, and until it is, I don’t see much issue with the updates. Let’s hope 2021 updates turn out a little better. There needs to be a more constructive dev/player dialogue cause we are at a crossroads.