Returning to this topic with receipts after some Gnome-a-Palooza (GaP) testing to better quantify the losses to players:
My typical GaP routine is to run the full 15 minutes in one kingdom at Explore level 1 using the Sister Superior, Dust Devil, and 2x Ironhawk team.
Prior to the Explore update, my best runs were roughly 74 battles over 15 minutes.
After the update – and without using any tricks to cancel the animations between battles – my best run was 66 battles over 15 minutes.
So, from my experience, we’re looking at a minimum of a 10% reduction in the number of Explore battles we can complete in a given timeframe. In the 15-minute span of a GaP, that’s 90 seconds spent waiting for dots to move across the screen, which, for me, is a hard pill to swallow.
I’ll reiterate that I’m fully aware of and understand the “value” of these things. And I acknowledge that this outcome may be desirable to IP2 and/or 505 games (and any other companies involved). However, I have to express that this change is a net negative to players’ acquisition of resources and, potentially, their continued enjoyment of this game.
Somewhat unrelated, but on the topic of animations in general, I’d like to highlight the egregious waste of time that is the Token → Badge → Medal upgrade process. What should take no more than 100ms to change in the database is a frustratingly protracted series of screens that can’t be skipped and happens so frequently in my usual play.