GW First week feedback

Gameplay Chat (PC/Mobile)
1

My idea for this thread is for multiple people to share their opinions. I am not looking for people to put band-aids on my butthurt, I kind of want to get a feel for how others are enjoying/not enjoying GW.

So I’ve been playing GW for the first week now and up until today, I found it far more stressful but a little bit more enjoyable than PVP grind to have to really think through the matches.

The stress is that I’m used to grinding PVP where a loss doesn’t count for much and I have learned not to get bent out of shape if I get RNG-screwed really badly, I just retreat and start a new battle.

But with GW, the only reason I’ve lost is not because the opponent has a great team(Yeah the meta is interesting with the death knight and psion and famine) but the problem is when you create a team carefully balanced to match your opponent and go to fight and you don’t get any mana you can take for 10 turns with each of your moves followed by a board reshuffle for the opponent where the opponent gets a cascade and some skulls.

After losing two battles to terrible RNG performance, I realized that I was so upset I wanted to not just quit GW, but quit Gems of War because I’m not interested in having this kind of stress in my life. I’m sure I’m not alone in this stress, and this is something the devs have to weigh because it definitely is affecting the culture of the game.

I don’t know how to fix this. But if I opt out of GW it pretty much means the end of playing this game because I would lose out from my guild and my friends that are eager to keep playing GW.

MY one suggestion is that if this is going to continue to be a stress point for me and other players, maybe we should look at GW being something that happens occasionally, like once a month or quarterly so that it’s more special.

I would also like it if there are ‘combo breakers’ and similar on the RNG so neither me nor the computer can get game-breaking combos. I want to feel like I win with skill, not because I got a lucky cascade that took out three of the opponents troops.

Lastly, I don’t think you should have to shuffle the board - ever. The game that @Sirrian says he loved playing, bejeweled, is capable of NEVER having to reshuffle because they have a proper gem drop algorithm. When the RNG makes it so I get a board reshuffle after my every move it really makes me upset in a GW battle.

3 Likes
2

I’m on console and haven’t played GW yet, so can’t really participate in the thread’s intended purpose. On this one comment, though, I have to say I really wouldn’t want a gem drop algorithm that guarantees that a match can be made by forcing a makeable combo in at the top of the board. For all the talk of the ‘cheating AI’ that goes on already, having the game scan the board and guarantee a usable match every single time would only open up another reason for people to moan (because the AI would always get the colour that it needs and the player would never get the colour that they need).

I’m fine with the board shuffle. It at least opens up the option of more matches when the board gets stale, rather than just forcing each player into the only available match at the top of the board.

13 Likes
3

Thats interesting. See, I’m NOT fine with a board shuffle when it happens 10 times in a row after every one of MY moves producing a cascade/skull match for my opponent. This was a Guild Wars battle and I lost it because I couldn’t get any mana due to these constant reshuffles where there was only one legal move and the move was for mana I don’t need.

And before you lecture me on building a balanced team this is GUILD WARS where you are rewarded handsomely to use unblanaced teams. So if they’re going to reward unbalanced teams, they should do something so that bad luck doesn’t destroy a person’s chance at getting a good score.

This is a puzzle game, not a casino roulette game and I would like it to feel more like a game of skill and not chance.

3 Likes
4

I absolutely love the idea of GW being a once a month or quarterly.

7 Likes
5

GW needs some sort of incentive for defense team construction. Right now there’s zero motivation to change my defense daily, since the best win % is always the annoying griefer Deathknight plus devour teams that can lucksack the AI into a win. Couple that with being hamstrung on offense by a color requirement, and playing through that meta gets frustrating.

I’ve already had one guild member outright quit the game over guild wars. Which brings up another point…

Guild recruitment is now a juggling act that would get top billing at the circus. There’s a tiny window on Sundays now where kicking someone and recruiting someone else doesn’t hurt the guild.

9 Likes
6

Which is why GW should not be a regular weekly event but a special event that happens occasionally and we have a week or two to prepare.

2 Likes
7

For me it means leaving the guild I’ve been in since January 2016 to find a guild that isn’t obsessed with guild war ranks.

2 Likes
9

I’m loving guild wars… I’m using troops and teams I would never use before and finding that they either do or don’t work together. It’s going to take a few weeks of guild wars to find solid colour teams and teams to also counter the enemy. I did have a game where I couldn’t get mana once this week which was frustrating but it was just a bad board and does sometimes happen. I like guild wars I’m glad it was added as a level 1000+ player it has given me something else to play the game for! I do think it would be nice if they didn’t just make us use colour teams but maybe sometimes do a -% bonus for all beasts or divines and so on. Overall I like it :grin:

11 Likes
10

I enjoy it a ton. More teams can be made that I would not use in normal PvP because they are too slow.

I love considering every move “Do I give Ai the skull match, or a 4-match that will result in me taking it” “Do I take this green match that could result in a 4-chain from the new gems falling in? Or play it safe and make a different match”

8 Likes
11

I love Guild Wars.:heart_eyes: Finally we have a mode where it hurts to lose, and feel great to win. I felt my time had come with Gems of War and I look at Guild Wars as the one who revived me from leaving the game. Such an important mode for a game that really needed it the most. 10/10 :relieved:

11 Likes
12

I’m really enjoying Guild Wars. It’s tough, and the extra strategy with crafting teams of a particular color adds some layers which weren’t really there before.

My one complaint (Death Mark) has been brought up a ton already and is being looked at, so that’s good. The single match I lost was today, when the opponent got a ridiculous chain of matches letting him fill up and cast Death before my Plan A (fully charged mana drainer) could react.

Then on my turn two of my troops instantly died, including my Plan B (fully charged Apothecary) I had as an emergency fail safe. After that it was basically over.

You can plan out strategies and counter strategies and foolproof options for nearly every contingency - except Death Mark. Having it trigger before you ever get a chance to do anything about it sucks, but when there’s a full-team Death Mark (now two full-team Death Marks, freaking everywhere in Guild Wars defense teams) which gets at least one free shot to execute every member of your team no matter what you do, it just feels really unfair and sucks all the fun of crafting careful strategies right out of the game.

There. I’m done. That got long. :slight_smile:

5 Likes
13

My only feedback is I want the Defense teams to have some skin in the game and make it a ‘worthy’ match.

I love how the strategy is making me rethink troops I have ‘discounted because they didn’t fit the team I had built for whatever time for PVP or soul farming or what not’. I’ve actually found some new troops I really are powerhouses (WIGHT - do not underestimate him or Dracos 1337 taking out a Mythic fully traited Draak)

But I am very tired of the OPteams for Defense.

The object was a ‘guild war’ we should be fighting their offense teams. And that team needs to have some skin in the game.

4 Likes
14

So… I’m with two options now with Guild Wars and Sirrian’s “One True Way” to play.

  1. Hold back my guild that has been very good to me.
  2. Leave the game.

Guild Wars is everything that I’ve made a point to avoid in the game condensed into one mandatory daily dose of terrible for rewards that aren’t worth the effort or headache… oh and for the exact same rewards that 9 out of 10 teams in my guilds bracket will get. Because that’s fun.

It would be nice if they put in an “opt out”… but they couldn’t even make the actual Guild Wars functionality (after months of vapor and push backs) anything that isn’t already in the game.

There will now be a train of “good, quit” replies from Forum Pets.

2 Likes
15

In short, I think GW has done more right than wrong.
It has reignited a fire under old end gamers who needed something fresh. It is introducing new troops. And perhaps it’s greatest gift, due to the discussion about GW @Sirrian finally pulled the trigger on a crafting system!!!

Is it a mode that is hard on new, small guilds? Yes.
But the reasonable counter argument to that is simply. Shouldn’t it be? It’s a mode meant to reward long term guild play and communication. It is doing that in spades.

It’s not perfect, I think rewards could be better metered out and the fact that even in Bracket 3 there is no difference in first and last place is a severe problem. But, GoW is better for having GW than not.

:wink:

10 Likes
16

You’re not alone, I’ve spoken to others in top guilds that just don’t care about Guild Wars rankings. My guess is that you’ll see new guilds pop up of people do a lot of pvp and as such complete all tasks, but will only do wars enough to qualify for the troop of the week. Let the people that get off on stress and pressure play their games, while the more laid back folks do what they enjoy while still getting the results of guild tasks.

9 Likes
17

The way there is a new troop every week feel like it forces non-stop participation. What would you think about the same troop being offered 2 weeks in a row?

  1. This would give guilds a chance to take a week off and not miss a troop.

  2. This would give a chance for guilds who aren’t on the top, ie- 99.9% of guilds, a chance to get even more copies of the troop (which they would sorely need for leveling them up). Hell, even the #2 winners of the week only get 70 copies which are not enough to get to mythic.

Guilds who are iffy about GW, or ones that also want to have trophy-weeks, can play every other week without missing anything. Or they could have 1 week be a serious GW week and the next week be more casual in terms of GW demands.

3 Likes
18

Personally I think GW is going in the right direction. I think the points scores need tuning. The dilemma between losing a lot of points by fielding a viable team and losing half your points by fielding a colour-themed team that cannot survive rng misfortune against grief defences… not enjoying that much yet.

More troops would help. Give us more options.

4 Likes
19

We know that there are 6 GW troops, 1 per week, so 6 weeks per “cycle”. There will be 2-4 cycles before new troops are added. When new troops are added old GW troops move to guild chests (likely at same setup as guardians, 50% of all chests will have 1 until Mythic+4 on each).

If you do 1500 seals a week, that is 9000 seals per cycle, which is 450 chests, which is 225 GW troops, which is 37 of each.

If they do 3 cycles before moving on, and you save all your seals till after, you’ll have 111 of each (on average)
If they do 4 cycles, you’ll have 148
If they do just 2 cycles, you’ll have 74 of each.

At 3 cycles you’d be 80 shy of Mythic, so you’d need to be in the top 10 each week to have enough.
At 4 cycles you’d be 43 shy of Mythic, so you’d need to be in top 200 each week.
At 2 cycles, you’d need to be either 1st or 2nd for Mythic or top 400 for Legendary.

All that said, what does that mean as far as obtaining troops?
If you aren’t in the top 10 you aren’t getting them to Mythic unless they go with 4 cycle rotations (meaning half a year per set of troops!).
If you don’t feel the need to reach Mythic, it doesn’t matter where you finish as you can reach that with seals (at least for the first set. Subsequent sets of troops added to the guild chests will dilute drops and complicate the math.)

4 Likes
20

Here are my thoughts:

I have really enjoyed the first week of guild wars. The things I like are:

  • Working with my guildmates to create teams with all 4 troops having the same colour. It’s great to see how many different ideas people come up with, and what’s more is that different teams work for different people. We’ve had many people get perfect runs using completely different teams.
  • Using troops that I have never dreamed of using before in competitive PvP. Abynissia, Carnex, Dark Maiden, summoners: all troops that are terrible for PvP speed runs but great for slow and steady GW battles.
  • Playing the 5 battles. I didn’t get perfect runs all week but I did find it really fun. I enjoyed planning and playing super carefully, trying to finish with 4 troops against the odds.
  • Winning all our battles so far. I mean that definitely helps with the enjoyment!

Something to consider in rebuttal to its criticisms:

My guild is ranked 23 and has been steadily climbing. Usually we are just outside the weekly top 10 for trophies. We’ll never be number one but it’s been a fun run and were committed to push on. We have 2 players under level 300, 6 players under level 500, 15 under level 800, 21 under level 1000. AT NO POINT have any members given other members any kind of crap for losing or for not getting max points. We have ALL talked about how to win, but AT NO POINT has anyone said “you must use an all-colour team” or put any kind of pressure on people to win.

No I can’t speak for our leader but I cannot see at this point in time that anyone would get kicked for poor performance. Yes, I think it’s important that guildmates participate, but if someone wants to play with their favourite team instead of going for max points, I think that’s fine. I know that we’ll all have bad results now and again. But it doesn’t matter.

So maybe the top top guilds will include GW performance in requirements, but we won’t. And we are up there with the top guilds.

13 Likes
21

My week 1 feedback is in the numerous other threads on the forum, so I’ll focus on responding to the specific points of the OP that caused the creation of this new thread.

[quote=“Ssazix, post:1, topic:23262, full:true”]
MY one suggestion is that if this is going to continue to be a stress point for me and other players, maybe we should look at GW being something that happens occasionally, like once a month or quarterly so that it’s more special.[/quote]
Quarterly? So the entire first set of 6 reward cards would be released by around Christmas next year? If somebodies personality can’t handle the stress, don’t play. But taking the mode away from everybody else seems like overkill.

[quote=“Ssazix, post:1, topic:23262, full:true”]
I would also like it if there are ‘combo breakers’ and similar on the RNG so neither me nor the computer can get game-breaking combos. I want to feel like I win with skill, not because I got a lucky cascade that took out three of the opponents troops.[/quote]
The gams is based on luck and RnG. There is a fine line that needs to be walked to add enough skill and remove enough RnG from the game to make it feel fun and challenging. But there will always be times that luck will play a role, both in your victory or defeat. Also, setting up a situation to take advantage of luck is actually a skill despite depending on luck. Creating a board where a cascade will benefit you 60% of the time instead of 10% of the time still means your win depends on cascades/luck, but skill plays a very obvious role.

Re-shuffles are a bit annoying, but you can reduce the amount of times they occur with your own move selection and what moves you leave your opponent. A “proper gem drop algorithm” should drop the gems in a random but equal distribution, not drop a specific colour more frequently simply to prevent re-shuffling. In fact, if you knew the game would ensure that the drops would guarantee a match, you could potentially do some shenanigans to give yourself an additional advantage by forcing/anticipating beneficial moves. We fundamentally disagree about what “proper” means for Gems of War, which is not the same game as Bejeweled, and different choices were made consciously due to game mechanics (like mana, which Bejeweled doesn’t have) and not due to technical inability of the devs.

8 Likes