And when they are looking at how much a loot a player can generate, they are looking at people like us. We are the top tier active players, players that should be willing to part with $$$ because they play the game so much. We earn a lot of gems through tribute and other loot from events because we have end game troops.
Versus how much content the devs release per month, and the gem cost to play. That includes event key troops, monthly mythics, tier shop events etc.
I’m VIP 6. I have spent money. The equivalent of nearly four AAA titles, to be exact.
I’ve been vocally against a lot of changes, but this is the first change that is actually making me regret spending the money I spent.
My wallet slammed shut a while ago because I don’t believe in paying for changes I disagree with. If the game direction changes to be more player-friendly and less bleed-the-player-dry, I’m open to the idea of spending again, but it’s really obvious that’s never going to happen, so I’ve been spending my entertainment money elsewhere.
Tried to think of something worthwile to say…and I came to conclusion that it would be just reiterating all the points of concern mentioned enough times before in this very thread.
Nothing positive can be said currently.
A picture is worth a thousand words…
Here is my picture in response to “epic” guild tasks:
Im actually very curious as to the numerical breakdown of the discontent so far…
I’m wagering its about 60% being unable to reach Legendary Tasks (cost, guild activity etc), 29% being the item types in the Tasks aren’t worth the gold, 10% being the increased gold cost for tasks isn’t worth it, and 1% being misinformed people.
Thanks for nothing Dev’s.
After reading your post I have two guildies leaving the guild.
If that is what you wanted to happen with the new update … well you succeeded even before he’s out 
i wouldnt mind if the game went to only selling cosmetics and rest of game instantly unlocked all or nothing but they are probably too scared to risk a change like that instead will keep hoping noobs that dont know anything about the game buy 1 legend for the great deal of 50 bux or whatever supposed “offer” they claim is a sale…
I spend money too. Not sure what the AAA title going rate is, roughly $10 - $15 a month I’d figure.
So I bought all the weekly $5 shop weapons even though they suck. Bought elf and dwarf avatar too. I obviously don’t buy gems. Though if drunk and a cute emoji, I may bite on a flash offer.
Oh and guild keys, the one where i buy and all guild member get keys. Love that one, and so do many of my generous fellow members.
AAA generally means $50 in the States. Not sure about elsewhere—but they’re not subscription-style (though one could argue the lootboxes included, or the Live membership required to play them fully, factors in. That’s ~$50 more a year)
Edit for on-topic:
I’m just disappointed my guild won’t be able to complete all tasks anymore. We spent years progressing to the point where we could. We’ve been climbing the ranks. Paying our dues instead of skipping the line. And for what? To finally get near the top (Bracket 5 guild Wars this week, and climbing the trophy lists, too), only to have the bar raised so beyond our reach that there’s no hope of ever reaching it again?
I’d also like to go on a little tangent to say this: making delves hard and faction hoards‘ bonuses really, really costly, in my case, didn’t make me sink more gold. I don’t think having huge costs in that mode made anyone in my guild think “Guess I need to spend more gold to make these easier.” Instead, people gave up on them—stopped at 1k or 2k renown, depending, and called it a day after Hoard Level 100.
I see the same thing happening here: F2P people aren’t going to stretch to grind more gold or spend much more than they already do. They’re going to give up instead. And maybe that’s fine—we don’t keep the lights on.
But we do keep people coming to the game, some of whom pay to keep the servers humming, and we are an integral part of the game’s success whether by our participation here on the forums, in reviews to friends and strangers, or just by keeping the actual game environment thriving and not a ghost town.
I’m not trying to be entitled—I don’t deserve a free game. But Gems of War doesn’t deserve my free time, or my money, either. It has to earn them.
This new gold cost barrier to legendary tasks, for me, isn’t the right way to do so.
A thought that came to me today is perhaps there is something the devs are trying to accomplish, but are afraid to say because it sounds bad. The trouble is by not ripping the band-aid off and just saying it, the message isn’t clear and people speculate and think they can change it.
I keep thinking about Salty saying something like, “We want new players to learn to prioritize spending.” I feel like there’s a deeper, unspoken truth there. I think what is actually meant, and where the devs are going is more like:
We want all players to get used to the notion that it won’t be possible to obtain everything for free.
There. That’s definitely a paradigm shift for GoW. I think part of why people are angry is they see this in the writing on the walls, but the devs aren’t saying it so players feel like they can fight it. I believe the train has left the station.
See, the thing is if the devs put that on the table and say, “This is the philosophy going forward”, you can swallow the pill and decide if you want to stay. A lot won’t, but a lot will. I’ve played games with that mentality that still managed to be fun for a while.
But perhaps they aren’t saying it because the longer they can string people who believe in them along, the more chances those people will spend a little bit more, or help the DAUs or whatever look good.
GoW had a very abnormal monetization plan and I think its devotion to the F2P player was both rare and commendable when I started in I guess 2017. That philosophy led it to an abnormally old and loyal playerbase for an F2P, and it seems like they give panels at GDC or something? So it seems like what they did was successful and got them here. So it’s really strange to me to see them perhaps steering the ship in another direction. If people were coming to me for business advice, I don’t think I’d be planning to adopt the business plans they’re unhappy with.
All in all I have to pick something on the spectrum between two choices:
I’ve never believed the needle was more on the “incompetent” side. Perhaps “overworked”, that shows through. Maybe “not in full creative control”, that’s believable especially if “overworked” is true. But despite a lot of evidence to the contrary that gets blasted at me on the news every day, I really find it hard to believe incompetent people could have managed a game for this long.
So I think they know what they are doing, and either don’t or can’t care.
States? I can think of four: gas, liquid, solid, and plasma. If there is another then I’m betraying my age.
But for cash value, I expect to get 3 to 4 months play out of a AAA title. So for GoW that I play daily, I ‘donated’ to them since I don’t need anything.
I mean as a rider to this look at what popped up while I was typing:
That does not sound like it is on the table that player feedback will shape this feature. The subtext I read is this is happening and it’s probably not the only thing like it happening, so Salty is trying to smooth out the drama by letting some of it get vented early on.
I mean the silver lining is she’s clearly warning you to dump your gold hoard if you want LTs now. I just kind of wish the whole roadmap were displayed at this point. Instead, it feels like just when this drama subsides, 4.7 will release and we’ll be mad because half the features don’t work and there will be other small nerfs. And then when that drama subsides, it’ll be the 4.7.5 preview with another nerf again. And then when that releases, more drama. Then just when we get a break the 5.0 preview will deliver more bitter pills.
I’d rather just know right now what kind of game GoW is supposed to be six months from now so we can get all the drama vented in one big ugly blast. I’m not looking forward to a slow drip of bad news. It’s really fatiguing to hang out in the community while all this is swirling around.
@Saltypatra
See your reply in another related discussion. Since there are more peeps here, so would ask my question here.
Would you mind let us know exact or close number of the gold needs to finish one epic task? As you mentioned, the reason you shared this update with us is to give players a chance to be prepared. Guilds and members can start to discuss and prepare once we know the real impact. Thanks
As mentioned earlier, I am collating feedback at this time. I cannot promise anything, but I’ve been passing it to the development team.
There’s been further talk about cosmetic items, with examples such as Fortnite, etc. As mentioned in my post, cosmetic items rarely work for smaller F2P games, like Gems of War. There are also less opportunties to show off cosmetic items and garner feedback on them in our game, so they aren’t seen as an attractive purchase to our playerbase. We know that cosmetic items work for other games, and very well! But this doesn’t mean they work in Gems of War specifically.
Angering your player base (F2P and P2W both) will also not work in the short or long term.
Cosmetic Items = Epic Tasks at this alleged price point.
If the rewards have to be at that price point then make it optional if it’s really for the players. Don’t force them to complete them to reach LT. Let them choose to complete epic tasks or LT.
Just require the 6 standard tasks to be completed to do LT.
It’ll be worth the money to code it that way. Otherwise I promise you, you’ll lose money…lots.
I do like the optional epic Tasks if that were a thing. Some guilds can do them while others that need other stuff can avoid and go to LTs.
It’s a pretty common idiom for “The United States of America,” but I’ll chock up the need for clarification to a language barrier caused by living in different places 
There are plenty of AAAs I play for years, and for hundreds (or thousands) of hours. Bethesda games, for instance. Pokemon games.
None has ever cost me more than a flat rate of $100 (and only then if I’ve gotten the special edition)
Ok I try to be polite this time. I cannot promise anything, but I’ll check myself tomorrow when I am sober 
I call your bluff 
@PeperandSalt I’m trying to be patient with you, but your earlier comment about me was out of line and violated community guidelines. Please endeavour to remain civil towards myself and others.
A little update for you all.