That’s my point. I’ve also tried to recommend this game to friends of mine but they get overwhelmed and frustrated so quickly they stop playing and move on to something else.
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I am really pleased that new players such as the person creating this post are enjoying the game. I am also unsurprised that some new players can quickly become frustrated or overwhelmed. I truly believe that successive updates do very little to assist the development of newer players. There are so many demands on fundamental resources (gems, gold, souls, stones etc) that it must be difficult to prioritise. I don’t envy that predicament. Also, to compete in many events etc there is the need to buy potions etc so there is definitely the incentive to spend some cash. The game needs new players but I am not sure the way the game has evolved and is evolving is the best approach if the aim is to attract and retain new players.
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Thanks for taking one for the team and giving this a try! A lot of what you said is what I’ve been suspicious is the case, but couldn’t confirm without actually restarting.
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Actually, @Zepp was creating a new account on the switch to see the new player experience.
I do agree in that making the game more and more complicated makes a bigger and bigger barrier to entry. Every daily or weekly event needs at least some competent team selections, which, with the ever expanding resource pool, gets harder and harder.
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My best recommendation is that the devs should collect all the kingdoms that gate other parts of the game and have those in the first zone. The kingdoms to unlock underworld, soulforge, treasure maps, etc. should all be in the first group. Seems like that kingdom zone change leaves beginners with less than half a game.
Once you get an effective team like rowanne, you can use that until at least level 400. Focus upgrades on that one good team and getting kingdoms up to 10 and then multiple stars.
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I like throwing people off the deep end. I take issue to it being freezing cold antarctic waters filled with predators. And, uhhh, screw it its full of acid too or something.
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So, I see what the devs were attempting by gating content behind progression. If you expose too much of the game at once, you risk overwhelming new players. Perhaps there need to be more tutorials, or different kinds of tutorials. Maybe a very basic Delve at level 10 when the mode unlocks; or a set of dungeons (again low level) that points out the availability of the gem offer and gives the player a 50-gem bonus (once only). Given the chance to experience these modes fully, they could be opened earlier in the progression.
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Same, I recommend the game to a friend a few week ago and he have already drop it after a few day. For some reason the devs are just making the game harder for everyone, not just endgamer but also the new guy who just pick the game up and few left behind
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There is also the oft forgotten Treasure Hunt mini game that can provide much needed souls (and other resources) early on in the game.
OP’s assessment of a new player’s experience is pretty much on point. There’s just so much to learn and (want) to do, that a new player can easily become overwhelmed.
But, with a more deliberate approach, just maybe the experience could be different?
My advice to any new player is to take some time working on bolstering one’s account before embarking on much of what Gems of War has to offer.
Also, the Treasure Hunt mini game (even in its current state) can be your friend early on. Trust.
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More or less my advice to new players has always been to treat GoW like a game that takes at least six months before it starts opening doors. To some, a long-term game is very appealing.
So I kind of reject @Shimrra’s view though it’s a valid approach to game design. I prefer a game that applies training wheels and is honest that things like Raid/Invasion are just going to be beyond your ken unless you get weird lucky with your troop pulls.
I think it’s worth identifying the vicious cycle for newbies is something like:
- Certain events require troops + resources or it’s not worth your time to even make an attempt.
- Guild events are among those events.
- So guilds who take on newbies are at a disadvantage and may not get as many rewards.
- Those rewards are what a newbie needs to get troops + resources.
So I’ve suspected for a while the message to newbies is, “Life sucks until you get lucky.”
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I mostly agree, but there are several catchup mechanisms like Mang and Titan that let players punch far above their weight class. The problem is that a new player won’t know the random combination of masteries to beeline for if they want an early Mang, will play as the starting class for weeks, etc.
I caught up extremely quickly when I started playing a year ago, but I was using the Internet to learn how to play optimally. Most people don’t do that for a random f2p match 3 game.
Edit: It’s also very helpful if you start doing Mang delves ASAP. Delve payouts are disproportionately valuable for new players. You can easily get piles of 3000 souls, 30k gold, high tier ingots, etc.
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I think the perspective of a new player who already knows the in-and-outs of the game is completely different from an absolute newbie to the game. It can still be fun to be anxious about what’s coming rather than wondering about how long until there.
We might all be missing that point of view here.
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This is a BIT of an exaggeration. Within the first month of playing, new players should be able to get Rowanne or a legendary troop, allowing them to tackle non-scaling content at their level. I started playing 7ish months ago, and though I probably play more than the average newbie, I didn’t really feel at a loss for troops after that first month or so.
The early levels of raids/invasions are definitely not closed off for new players either, and it allows them to contribute somewhat to the group objective. Yeah, they can’t contribute enough to be in an endgame guild, which would accelerate their progress, but I don’t see that as that too big of a systemic flaw.
Agree that this is a problem. Why the weapon rewards for mastery levels isn’t more transparent is baffling, given how important they are to new players.
Hi,
I am a completely new player to this game.
I have been playing it for the last month(?) now and have managed to reach level 104.
I’ve had a decent amount of gaming experience before, and as such am no stranger to having to figure out things when starting something new.
That being said, i have to agree with the original post.
If it would not have been for looking things up on the internet, i would have no idea how to progress. To be honest, i was getting to a point where it was starting to get hard to progress in the story line, until i (kinda) lucked out.
There was this event where you could only use blue gems, and it gave me a combination in the suggestion screen that really worked. (a troll, rowanna, and something else) Because i saw that the troll boosted made it that rowanna could ult more, and i just had won a cog for my hero to double armour, i created a team with the cog, river troll rowanna, and a sfinx, which made it that i could get past the point where it started to get to hard to continue.
I wanted to see if there were other combinations like that, but i quickly discovered that the game is really not beginner friendly.
An enormous amount of troops, and to see what they can do you have to open them one by one.
And then you read that you’ve actually not reached the point where the stuff starts to get a bit easier, and probably wont for a long time.
It’s demoralizing.
Like i said, i have been playing for a month, I’m at level 104, and I’ve only unlocked 54% of the kingdoms???
I’ve joined a guild, i am participating as much as i can and i see myself as somebody who tries to work through it to get to the good stuff, but it feels like an uphill battle.
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An excellent point. There is almost a pride in creating new troops constantly, but no easy way for a player to understand or use them all. The souls problem contributed to this greatly. If you level the wrong troops, you are at a great disadvantage until you grind more souls.
I really appreciate your feedback on the post. You are an actual new player. I had the luxury of opening weapons and troops that I knew would cheat me through. It’s hard when the game requires you to do outside research or get guild advice for you to have any chance of not suffering.
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I just did the same with the PS4 man what a difference for new players starting now. Uncertain how much longer I will play the game on PS4 as I put too much in playing the game on the cellphone
Agreed. I specifically don’t mention this when discussing games I’ve been playing…
Great post o.p.!
You touched on this but i think it is a much bigger issue, especially on switch w a much lower playerbase.
The early game guild experience is both required and almost impossible to participate in.
When you go to join a guild you should just get a message to go to this forum or reddit to find one…
In game chat, while better than months ago, is still awful. No pm function makes both running and participating in a guild annoying. So you are pretty much forced to discord to truly play in a guild.
So many people would be willing to answer so many early game questions if there was an easy in game method to do so. Being in a active guild will make early game much, much easier.
So along w that, gold for kingdoms should seriously be reevaluated. Its another barrier for early game players as its the same currency required to participate in guild tasks.
Makes no sense…
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I thought I’d just add to this or give some perspective (taken today on PC/Mobile, so obviously still an existing issue):
(
Lol, “Do nine damage” was pretty accurate)
I used to take more screenshots of this kind of situation, but they’re all buried away somewhere.
Essentially, I don’t believe there is any circumstance in which a level 61 player should have me – with a 13-14k power defence team – in their PvP line up (and it’s not a GW week, either); or have to, in order to try to earn more gold in PvP.
It therefore means:
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Considering that you can raise the starting level of your troops with VIP level, I wouldn’t expect to ever see this happen.
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