Troops updated for this week. If someone can confirm that Warg and Wayfinder are in chests, that would be cool.
Nimhain has said Gard’s Avatar should be arriving on Friday (January 20).
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Not to be too much of a dream crusher, but she said “should be coming”. I wouldn’t personally say that’s a solid confirmation. That’s just me, though.
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That sounds like you’re speaking from a place of experience Verdugo.
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She did get roasted, yes! So that’s what was on your mind- a good old roast?! Ha ha.
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
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She did say “should”, but to give an actual date was more definitive than anything we usually get, so I’m taking that to the bank. I edited my post to more accurately quote her anyway. Better safe than sorry.
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I can confirm Warg is in chests got one this A.M.
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Great - thanks! I’ll update the original post and remove the ‘should be in chests’ for those two.
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Yes, in one sense (we gained by one troop this week). The problem is that, in any given week, we need to add more troops than PC/Mobile did in the equivalent week. If we repeat the exact same events that PC/Mobile had, in order, each week, then we will always be exactly the same number of weeks behind. Since the update went through, we’ve had the same Maugrim Woods event as they had, then Dragon’s Claw released exactly the same way (mid-week release followed by kingdom event), then Desdaemona gifted (as was done with PC), then exactly the same event for Whitehelm, then the same Ghulvania event (with Spooky Imp as a bonus troop), and now exactly the same Pan’s Vale event.
This pattern is really surprising and confounding me. Before the chat delays from Sony and MS, they had established a pretty consistent pattern of offering weekly events that were focused on just certain key troops/kingdoms (usually epics and ultra-rares). Commons and legendaries (and maybe some rares?) were dropped straight into chests and sometimes some of these came back as bonus troops later, but we were making up ground week over week because they were actually taking some shortcuts. Sirrian had said that they would be slowing down over the holidays, but that things would pick up again after. It’s now the 3rd week after Christmas, and aside from Spooky Imp, we’ve had zero bonus troops. Maybe it is the server migration that they want to get out of the way? I don’t know.
I’m fine with us not getting Blackhawk for another week or two (that still keeps us on track for getting kingdoms at twice the rate as PC), but at some point, they have to pick up the pace with the weekly kingdom troops.
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Maybe they will give us more troop?
My guess is that they will ramp things up a bit once the server migration is sorted. Since they have a time limit on that of the end of the month.
Yes, that would make sense. It seems like the migration is taking up a lot of their staff resources. Still, that sets us back another month if they don’t get back to bonus troops before the end of January.
I did some arena on PS4 today and saw Blackhawk troops… Have those been in there for a while? I haven’t done arena lately.
Don’t know - haven’t done Arena in months. I think it isn’t unusual for unreleased kingdom troops to show up there, though. There are no legendaries in Arena, so you should be safe from super-Kraken…
Bummer, I hoped it meant something good.
Been there a few weeks, and giant toadstool too.
Getting closer. Based on the hints dropped so far, I would guess maybe next Friday or even the week after. I think it was Alpheon that said we’d get Gard BEFORE Blackhawk.
If you take the ‘before’ seriously, the earliest it could arrive would be Monday if they released the kingdom and did the kingdom event simultaneously, but I don’t remember them doing that before.
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So let me explain what’s going on with console content releases.
It became clear with the last update on console versions, we have to take into consideration, and make sure that, we have enough events in reserve for any potential delays from Sony and Microsoft. This allows us to continue putting out new content while you are waiting for the next update.
HOWEVER, on PC/Mobile we were planning events only about 4-5 weeks in advance… We knew we would have to modify our approach to planning new content as we sync up consoles, but when we ran the numbers in December, it became apparent that we needed to plan out a little further than we’d anticipated. As an example: when the last console update went out, the consoles only had event data up to the Witches in Britches (Night Hag/ Giant Toad). So while we did have extra events, it turns out that we need to hold onto them in case of any unforseen delays.
Now trust me when I say that we REALLY want to sync events up for Consoles & PC/ Mobile (not just for you guys, but also for us, as each weekly event is then only half as much work for us, and we can spend the extra time making/fixing more things!).
So what does this mean?
Well, currently we have been working on getting content planned 3 MONTHS ahead. This content doesn’t just mean events either, it also includes new kingdoms, mythics, and Hero classes. The PC/ Mobile version doesn’t currently support this many events in advance (consoles however DO, so you guys are ahead in that regard); so we’ve been adding new support for more events to the pc/ mobile version.
It is our hope that in the following weeks after the next big console update, that the events will begin to sync up for everyone. This means that we will be able to offer bonus troops to in the console events as we will have that event leeway already planned out.
TLDR: We have a plan!
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Nim, question: Inevitably there are problems with troops as released that require adjustments and fine-tuning. For PC/mobile you have the ability to spot-fix these and release them fairly quickly, while Console offers no such luxury. (See for example Kraken’s third trait, which was eventually fixed, and The Dragon Soul’s, which is still broken and provisionally using IK’s.) When this situation arises in the future, is the plan to allow PC/mobile to diverge in order to get an expedient fix out, and leave Console until you can certify a patch?
I don’t play on Console, but I can see how syncing up to PC/mobile is a bit of a double-edged sword for them. On the one hand, you get to be excited about new troops as they are released. On the other, the PC/mobile crowd has been a great source of playtesting for troops before they’re “baked” and sent to the less-agile platform. What are your plans to reconcile this as you sync up the platforms?
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We’re currently investigating a Unity Asset Pack feature which would let us dynamically update console troops… failing that, we’ll investigate a way to stream troop data directly from our server for “fixes” that are required.
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Thank you for the very clear explanation. Everything you say makes perfect sense.
Some may find this news disappointing, but personally, I don’t really care about the length of the timeline as long as upcoming changes are reasonably predictable. Consider my expectations recalibrated.
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