Badger, Badger, Badger

[Jeto]

Originally published at: Badger, Badger, Badger – Gems of War

New Guide Troop: Adelwing Adelwing will be available in the Journey Shop, and will appear in Glory, Gem, Guild, and VIP chests in 3-4 weeks’ time. Please note the Pathfinder trait is a unique Trait, this means the Trait cannot be stacked with itself, and only one Troop with the Pathfinder trait will apply its…

[Fourdottwoone]

@Jeto

With the new balance changes to the Pathfinder Troops, we have adjusted the level of Journey Event Bosses (which appear every 5 battles). They have changed from 10 levels to 8 levels.

What’s the purpose of shaving off 2 levels every 5 battles? This just slightly delays the point at which battles now cost us up to half the score, thanks to the now useless Pathfinder. You are aware that the sum of changes have roughly trippled the participation cost, for same rewards, right?

[Crow]

This thread is gonna turn pretty ugly soon. So tired of one sided changes that only affect players. Freeze exist for a reason. But pvp scoring not even a single pip.

[Fourdottwoone]

The loot table for troops in Forest of Thorns event chests is expected to look like this:

Chance	Amount	Troop
0.11%	1	King Bloodwood, Virago, Yasmine’s Chosen
3.2%	1	Gloom Leaf, Grimfeather, King Avelorn, Sylvanimora, The Werestag
12%	1	Daughter of Yasmine, Faemark, Forest Troll, Green Seer, Ironbark, Lady Anariel, Lord Archimedus, Lord Belanor, Rowanne, The Emerald Giant
21.6%	1	Archdruid, Dandy Lion, Earth Dreamer, Giant Badger, Owl Rider, Thorn Knight, Treant, Vine Marten
21.6%	2	Dryad, Hippogryph, Owlbear, Treekin, Wood Rhynax
21.49%	3	Glade Warden

Unfortunately, event chests have a tendency to be misconfigured, either entirely missing specific mythic troops or containing them at significantly lower than advertised odds. There is no way to know this ahead of spending, and no way to get any kind of refund. If you plan to open event chests, wait till the weekend for the community to find irregularities, this significantly reduces your risk of getting burned.

[gow]

So good job devs. You have now both ruined a good troop for beginners and also journey event. Nobody on the team plays the game now I am convinced.

[Hayabusa]

Since I invested lots of time and money/gems BECAUSE of the existing journey troops, I want to know how years of my life and a month’s salary will be refunded?! Since I would’ve played less without them. I also wouldn’t have bought a new console twice and also a streaming device, a new router and a faster internet connection then over the last 2 years. @Kafka @Jeto

[Ant_Man]

Not only Journey gets a nerf but some Underspire weeks (at higher levels) are compromised too.
It’s reliable to have a looper to face the higher bosses (even though sometimes it can go wrong).
Not every kingdom has troops that afford the whole run up to Diamantina.
So far, Dragons Claw, Divinion Fields, Hellcrag and Vulpacea were easily to finish thanks to these pathfinders.

[Hayabusa]

True. I spent 1500 gems this week on Underspire just to get to all bosses, didn’t even find all rooms though. I would have gone the “free battle way” instead if I had to pick other troops.

[Lucien]

my plan, get journey troop, craft weapon from SF (i have plenty of diamonds) leave the event dead in the water

[Hayabusa]

That’s what I plan on doing. With every other event as well.

[Stratelier]

@Crow

So tired of one sided changes that only affect players. Freeze exist for a reason. But pvp scoring not even a single pip.

The problem with that is how Freeze is LITERALLY the only counter possible, which itself is easily blocked if Queen Beetrix is on the team (e.g. Chalcedony, Xenith, Craghound, Queen Beetrix). And given the apparent desire to add such a Pathfinder for every Troop Type, eventually there’ll be a Wildfolk or Mystic typed looper, and then it will be unstoppable.

I’m not disputing it is hella fun to run an infinite loop around a single ally, I’m not disputing that it’s easy to set up for any player level, and I’m not complaining about its utility to the Journey event. I also can’t speak for the “whales”, but I definitely have to dispute that the damage to the rest of the metagame is worth it.

[TheIdleOne]

@Jeto

This should allow opponents fighting against these troops a chance to counter them, rather than getting stuck watching the troop loop after their first cast. These changes will apply to the following troops:

• Seekra Darkwood
• Chalcendony
• Todd Greenwood
• Huntmaster Arborius
• Sir Ailuin
• Hippolyta
• Egris

These troops will have a refund offered, but those refunds will only include:

• Souls for the level
• Traitstones for the Traits

If you spent Orbs to level or trait the troops, orbs will not be refunded – Souls and Traitstones will be refunded instead. Any Medals, or Shiny tokens spent on the Troop will remain in effect, as will any levels of rarity that were obtained from either Orbs or duplicate copies.

@Kafka

People spent actual money buying those Headstart offers and Heroic Boosters containing these shiny tokens and shiny keys to upgrade … mainly these Journey troops so far… and now that they’ve been downgraded heavily, the Gems team isn’t going to offer any sort refund or resource compensation?

So… how many less people are going to buy Headstart offers and Heroic Boosters in the future, now knowing their tokens and shiny keys can be made worth 0 and not even get something back for it?

I certainly don’t see a reason to ever get them anymore.

[Lucien]

i stopped buying head start offers once i learned of the journey nerf. i would save shiny keys specifically for pathfinders

[TheTruth]

Best thing iv ever read, you’ve just saved your game going forward.

Killing the overused, journey troops is the best decision going forward.

New players that join gow, from now on , won’t be told to just use a journey troop team, imagine how many new players, this game has lost, because of guilds telling them use this team in every event, just to get rewards.

There’s no fun in one team non stop.

Just a positive thing you’ve done to the journey troops, for the majority of the player base. And all new to come players.

Thankyou.

[TheTruth]

Seriously apart from you.

All I’m reading from others is, awwww no the game isn’t easy now.
Awwww no, beginners can’t use journey troops to win every event.

Wow these people only need to have a collection of journey troops to be happy.

[Stratelier]

@TheTruth

All I’m reading from others is, awwww no the game isn’t easy now.
Awwww no, beginners can’t use journey troops to win every event.

Well, there are two reasons for that:

1. Players who chase event leaderboards competitively, where the small things (like battles with more turns awarding fewer miles) add up and result in different reward payouts (oh, you missed the top 100 by just 1 spot? “too bad”)
   1b) - This includes the balance nerf to looping Pathfinders in general, as the ability to loop extra turns until you win can be applied to ANY mode they are eligible for (weekly PVP rankings, GW, etc)
2. “Whales”, players who spend real money to fund the Gems required for Event Shop offers (in this case, ascending the Pathfinder Troop to get the maximum event multiplier, as the Troop won’t appear in Chests until later)

I am not in either camp, for my part.

[Kelana]

@Stratelier

The problem with that is how Freeze is LITERALLY the only counter possible, which itself is easily blocked if Queen Beetrix is on the team (e.g. Chalcedony, Xenith, Craghound, Queen Beetrix). And given the apparent desire to add such a Pathfinder for every Troop Type, eventually there’ll be a Wildfolk or Mystic typed looper, and then it will be unstoppable.

Sure, but this is only an actual PROBLEM for PVP. This could have been easily solved by changing those troops’ mechanics in PVP only and leaving PVE alone.

I also would have been satisfied with something that significantly changed the Journey event in a way that indicates they understand the impact this would have to the PVE side of their game. But alas.

Oh, and I do think it matters that this makes it harder for new players because recruitment is getting harder week over week due to the fact that it’s a steep learning curve and a rough early ride. So while it won’t probably hurt me that much, personally, I do think it’s a net negative for the growth of the game.

[gwendo1ynn]

The change to PVP was a relief for me just because every team doesn’t have a looper anymore because of the different requirements. I haven’t played Journey much because the troops specific to the mode are boring to me. When I’m a new player to a game, I don’t read how to level as fast as possible because I like to explore on my own. I suspect I’m a minority, so the nerf might have a negative effect on new players as you say.

But what I really don’t like is every Kingdom was or is getting a pathfinder character. It takes away the kingdom individuality. Looping has been around since the beginning with Goblins, but at least it was a whole team built around different goblins doing different things and getting extra turns. Building a team for one character to do its thing over and over and over is much less interesting and does not add to the feel of any kingdom.

I understand why people are aggravated. Nerfing sucks, especially when real money is spent. And I do think Journey could be made into a much better game mode than it is…these current changes aren’t helping it. But I also am looking forward to seeing less Chalcedony type teams out there.

[holywood57]

Exactly this. I try not to get worked up over small bugs or questionable decisions, but this one has me pretty frustrated.

I have consistently purchased Headstart offers for Journey events in recent months - not because I’m chasing leaderboards or looking to close out more reward tiers, but because it was a guaranteed way to get 5 shiny tokens for these Journey troops, which are were quite useful outside the game mode.

It’s clear they won’t be willing to offer refunds for these past purchases, even though the troops impacted by this nerf are now essentially useless. Offering to refund souls and traitstones is laughable.

I really hate blanket statements like “never spend any money on this game at all, that’ll show 'em!” But for my part, this will be a lesson to not spend money on anything with a specific troop in mind, since they can get nerfed at any time after release without any recourse.

Poor form, guys.