Developer Q & A

We are primarily going to redo kingdom power to make it more intuitive as I have said before. It’s our biggest goal going into it.

Also, on a side note, does anyone else here remember when you could only change your hero class once a week? D8

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lol… Sure, like I said earlier, they obviously have some whales. Anecdotally, it doesn’t seem the norm though. Either way, only the devs know the actual figures.

The fact it was worse before doesn’t mean it doesn’t need improvement

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No problem adding cash shops and an energy system, can’t alter a line of code.

So greed or incompetence? Is that too straight forward?

Were there gems in legendary tasks then as well?
Let’s go back in time then. I’m good with that. :grinning:

I think Sirrian explained the issue with changing the cost code quite eloquently and thoroughly in the Q and A. At any rate, I am planning to run a Dev Q and A once a month, time permitting.

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Although it’d be more fun if it was true, I’ve only won 5 (2 Raid, 2 Bounty, 1 Invasion) and none of them were close to 20k gems.

Some of them were expensive, without going into details.

I have been sitting on gems for a long time.
The memorial weekend sale probably made my life more difficult than it needed to be.

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@TheIdleOne yeah it was just an exemple about raid/invasion are made for end player and there is no way a new player will spend that much since they don’t have a big stash

I’d sincerely hope a new player doesn’t. Every stat point helps, especially in Raid mode, so a new player would just get stomped on in the top end.

I’m almost surprised there aren’t sentinels to buy in Raid/Invasion/Bounty like in GW.

So, if hero change used to be once a week, it can easily be changed to once an hour.
Thanks for mentioning that @Saltypatra
Now go bug Sirrian to adjust it.

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I thought he meant that tying hero class to a Team was the thing that would require extensive code rework and could bring along a lot of issue. I don’t think it was changing the cost of hero class change. They said they didn’t want to do that because they don’t want player to feel they have to switch their hero class several times a day for team bonus etc.

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I was the one that asked in the Q & A and while I didn’t like the answer I did appreciate the time @Sirrian spent answering it in detail.

My issue with the cost is that it is stopping me from playing with different teams and experimenting with different team and hero weapons. For pet battles I use 4 different teams and 2 of those use hero with priest class and if I were to change to a different class those 2 teams just wouldn’t work.

I also have a giant team I like to use sometimes and that requires titan class but it is a bit slow and I don’t use it that much.

I haven’t used my dragons in a while either because I want to put hero in the team but it’s only really good with dragon class.

My Infernus team benefits the most from Bard class.

I would like to make a beast team but that would need Warden class.

Assassin and archer are really good classes as well.

There is also riads, invasions and bounty that need different classes depending on the troop type/kingdom of the week.

That’s 7 good classes that could make 10+ good teams but since it would use all my gems from the guild tasks every week to keep changing and using different teams I stick with priest for pet battles and use my explore team in casual pvp. Last week I didn’t even get to tier 1 in pvp until a few hours before reset.

Charging gems to change class is really hurting some peoples ability to enjoy using and making different teams and since the devs keep adding in new troops and have given us new team slots I assume you want us to use more than 1 or 2 teams.

Having hero classes tied to team slots is a great idea but it will probably be a while. In the mean time can you please consider changing the cost to a gem or 50 gold or reducing the time limit to an hour or 2?

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Vast majority of the big spenders, let’s say VIP 10 or higher, are endgame players with almost complete collections and maxed kingdoms.

You know, that reminds of something. For years, we never had this Sigil based, Gem tier shop events, but now we are flooded with them in one form or another. You know, if they really wanted to, instead of doing that, they could have structured Raids and Invasions similar to Guild Wars.

But they didn’t. And I think it was because they wanted/needed more money. Because those modes promote a pay to win mentality, GW didn’t.

Now, you might say: “Well, they didn’t structure Raids and Invasions like GW because they didn’t want a bunch of game modes that are, basically, the same.” To that, I say: “Don’t we have that anyway?”


Honestly, you can’t deny that this game has taken a sharp turn in a very different direction, recently, whether you agree with it or not.

Think about that post from awhile back that showed the different versions of the troops. Version 1 from the early days, and Version 2 before the new UI looked very similar in art style. Both versions had a very linear style, you could see how one progressed into the other. I mean, just took at old Tacet videos to prove that point.

Now, look at the new UI version of the game. The troop cards look vastly different, the overall color scheme completely changed, they introduced energy systems that never existed before, etc. Looking at it step by step, this version of the game makes no sense.

It’s like they tried to make a Gems of War 2 but still wanted to promote as the same game, which, it’s not. Yes, the troop names are the same, the spells are still the same, but the overall look, feel, and play style of the game has changed, yet, they promote it as if it hasn’t. I mean, come on, they still use old UI shots on their Gems of War website, to my knowledge.

I’m just trying to bring up some food for thought here. Honestly, we’re all kidding ourselves if we still think this is the same Gems of War we all signed up for many months or years ago. Post-New UI, it is a different game. It really is Gems of War 2, even if they don’t call it that.

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The introduction of the energy sigil system is to my knowledge the first time they did something they promised they would never do and I’m actually surprised (and I’m sure they’re relieved) that the outcry wasn’t much much louder with thousands of players quitting in protest. It just kind of blew by and we moved on. The UI outcry was 10x worse which is perplexing.

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Well, I was (and still am) against both things and I express that on a regular basis. True, I didn’t quit over it, but then again, what would that accomplish? At least, because I still play, I can still see what they are doing. Then, I can verbally praise or oppose what I want and what I feel needs attention.

Not only that, but I do put my money where my mouth is too. When I loved and agreed with where the game was going, I threw money at it. Now, that I don’t, my money went with it.

Yes, I realize I’m not a “Whale” and, yes, I realize I am but one voice, but I’m still here, trying to do what I can. I don’t believe in staying silence about the good or the bad. I may be just one man, but I still hope that what I say means something. That what others say means something.

Basically, to paraphrase the Youtuber, Jim Sterling: I praise and criticize this game out of love. If I didn’t care about this game, I wouldn’t be here.

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Hello all! I’m not necessarily new but I’ve had a question about pvp match ups that I think I know the answer to but just looking for verification. I apologize if this isn’t specific to the thread. Are your pvp matchups based on trophies earned? If so would it be wise to level my cards before reaching a certain amount to avoid getting crushed by higher tiers (meaning stop pvp now)? I’ve been spamming pvp for the gold and to help my guild but want to avoid getting into a predicament where my top team can no longer compete.

I’ve got a bunch of thoughts on this:

– Guild Wars was conceptualized before any of the current systems were put into place. I think the intended idea was that a whole bunch of guilds were expected to fight over the good prizes at the top, where sentinel gem cost outflows were greater than the expected inflows from winning. What ended up happening is that the same guilds were generally winning week after week, leading to the equivalent of a Monty Haul campaign, which is a very undesirable outcome from the devs’ perspective.

I personally believe that this one of the cornerstone reasons why Guild Wars was pared back (it wasn’t the sole reason though).

My expectation is that the 3.5 Arena fix will be the devs’ solution to the matter, going back to individual performance for top prizes over than the constant need to be a part of a top guild to earn any meaningful PvP prizes as a more equitable solution to the server as a whole.

My personal take on this was that somewhere around the 3.0 patch, the decision was made to invest in the game for the long term by the publisher. That meant retooling the game to give it a fresh coat of paint and to give it room to expand for years to come. That process is still ongoing, probably until the end of the 3.x series of patches.

It was likely a wise decision to retool the game instead of trying to create a GoW2. There are numerous testimonials out there regarding developers of these types of games who sought to reboot a game/franchise with a sequel, only to be met with disastrous consequences. Why? Because exactly as you mentioned in your last post, you are invested in the game. If a restart through a sequel happens, then that investment is “lost”, and that tie to the game is broken and the player will not want to start over (especially after years of investment).

So… to repackage the game, it needed to be retargeted towards a newer audience. And that is what caused the UI revamp to occur and as well as the newer systems (in part, besides money) to be implemented. Younger generations want clean, minimalistic looks for UIs and consider fancy fantasy styling to be the equivalent of “noise”. They expect ways to be able to circumvent grinds or buy rewards with cash. Just look at every major console game out there nowadays for tons of examples of expectations of microtransactions in games.

Then, there is the money issue. All of this revamping costs money. Patching on consoles costs of money. Developing new content costs money. Heck, Sirrian even said on the stream that the work on pets were outsourced, which means contracting to external devs… more money. I can all but assuredly tell you that the charity donations flowing into the game were not enough to cover all of these costs.

Am I happy with all these changes? Of course not. Like many here, I miss the fantasy styling of the game. As a player, I grumble greatly about all the gems sinks being added in the game, including the new ones coming in 3.5 (although as a DM, I completely understand the need and justification for them which somewhat tempers that grumbling).

BUT… at the end of the day, am I willing to pay this “price” to have a Gems of War game with new content that I can enjoy for years to come. Because, yes, I do love this game as well and like you, I wouldn’t be here writing long-winded posts on the forums either.

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Hi Betovi09,

I might not be the best person to answer this question. But, from personal experiences, PvP matchups seem to be based on a combination of your PvP score for the week and your account rank.

If I remember right, an account is protected from seeing the top-end teams until rank 200. Otherwise, your PvP score for the week signifies to a degree your success in PvP and as your Tier increases, so will the difficulty of the teams it offers you.

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That’s the thing though, this is more than just a coat a paint, here. You slap on a new coat of paint on a 1970 Dodge Charger, it’s still the same car. What they did here was more akin to taking away that Charger, gave us a 2018 version and told tried to pass it off as the same car. Which it isn’t.

That is probably true, from a cold, calculating standpoint. But, GoW2 would have been a more honest, transparent standpoint. Again, look at the point they made about the car. That’s what I feel they did here. Yes, through time, eventually that 70 car becomes a 2018 car. It was a linear progression, but there was none of that here.


Basically, when we all signed up for this game, we had a certain expectation based on screenshot and gameplay. You knew what this game was about and you could see the direction of where it was heading. Then, everything changed, with almost no warning. The game took a sharp turn, took us along for the ride, and we were kept in the dark (outside of the basic look of the soulforge and dungeons) during that whole time. We werent even shown what the overall game was going to look like. We were surprised by it (in a bad way). People who had played this game for years, looked at the new UI and went “Where did my game go?”


On that point, don’t get me wrong, I’m all for change and trying to make things better. But, this was handled terribly. And a lot of us are now invested in a game we barely recognize. So, people left. And, the ones like me, stayed. But, many of us were unhappy then and we’re still unhappy now.

See, this sounds good on paper. But, at what point do you (not you, you, the general “You”) look at the price you paid and look at whats in front of you (this game) and go: “Where is the game I once loved?”, “Why am I still here?”, and the like.

A price for something you want and enjoy is fine. A price for a honest, transparent product, is fine, you know what to expect. But this? I’m starting to not “get” it anymore. I feel like I paid for that 1970 Dodge Charger, but got the 2018 one instead. Basically, I feel like this isn’t what I signed on the dotted line for.

Now, yeah, some people might look and that situation and go: “Awesome, I got an upgrade”. But, I don’t. While it’s not necessarily a “downgrade”, it’s not what I expected or had in mind.

It’s like if you go to a diner, craving chicken salad, and the give it to you, but once you take a bit out of it and it’s everything you ever wanted, they tell you: “Nope, you can’t have it, we’ll have to take that back. But, here’s some egg salad. Its basically the same thing.”

No, it isn’t. Yes, its essentially the same idea (cold salad put on some bread), but it’s not the same thing. And, thats how I feel with this game.

I signed up and played Gems of War for over a
year. A game with bright colors and a fantasy look that lacked energy systems and gem sinks that I supported with my time and money. Then, one day, without any real warning, it was taken away from me and replaced with this Sci-Fi, sigil system, that swallows Gems like a bloody black hole.

And, I’m sorry that I can’t be truly happy with that (I envy those who can). But, this isn’t about me being nostalgic, really. I just want the game I invested myself in for over a year. I just want the game back I loved that was unceremoniously taken away from me. Is that such a crime?

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