Was this the game we wanted? A handful of overpowered dragons owns the game

Before the “dragon eggs time” - nobody had any ideas that every troop in this game would be overshadowed by powerful dragons.

Let’s have a discussion about the direction the game has taken the latest years.

7 Likes

It’s a tale as old as time, at least for long-running, ever-evolving games like this. Or CCGs. Or like the text-based Multi-User Dungeon I used to admin for back in my college days, when the years still started with a 19….

It’s a thankless and virtually impossible task to keep releasing new content and to keep evolving without disturbing the “balance” of power. So you end up with one of two things:

  • You can wind up with a “virtuous” cycle of dis-inflation, which in practice tends to scare off a lot of new players because they’ll never be able to compete with the old-timers short of “whaling” to buy the old resources to catch up.
  • You can end up with a “vicious” cycle of inflation, like we have here in GoW. There’s simply “power creep” from the new stuff being released, such as the gem dragons and then the cosmic dragons and now the flower dragons. (And who knows what the “evil dragons” teased on the spoilers pages are going to be?) The new stuff simply blows the old stuff out of the water; it’s great for new players playing catch-up, but it probably dismays a lot of veterans who have their fill and walk away.

It’s predictable, and I’ve seen it many, many times in my time walking this Earth. But it’s also sad. And maybe it’s a sign that this game should be allowed to shuffle off this mortal coil and head to its’ happy rest.

8 Likes

There has always been meta troops, but I agree the dragonite dragons are way more powerful than other troops. Given that they super-nerfed the journey troops for being a powerful meta, even though they were actually pretty weak and just had a high chance of looping (meaning they were only powerful if used well and had a small chance of going badly wrong), and also that they already removed one dragonite troop from PvP (and there’s calls to remove another for being equally OP), it’s clear that they know when stuff is the meta and can react accordingly, but they have decided to keep pushing on with new dragons.
It’s also weird that all the new troops have to be dragons, because they started with a dragon theme and can’t undo that. Plus they still keep adding other dragons, meaning the % of dragons in the game is insane.
But the question is, what is the solution?

4 Likes

Easiest solution - to stop the issue from getting worse, at least - is to just stop making new dragonite troop sets. Most people hate the mechanic and the effect it’s had on the game.

There are a hundred other worthless resources that have been effectively retired. Dragonite can be the next one.

7 Likes

Part of me misses the times when we used Zuul Goth, Cttharasque, Queen Bee/Piscea, and even Phoenicia for quick kills and burst damage.

The dragonite dragons and Wand of Stars made all of those strategies irrelevant. I remember when I got Stellarix, I deleted over 10 team slots because I didn’t need to use them anymore. Guild Wars brings some of those team concepts back, but everything has been dumbed down so much.

Every game has power creep, but we don’t even have to think anymore. Then, when Guild Wars comes along, people get frustrated, but it’s not entirely their fault. The game isn’t balanced, and it never will be. Period. But I think eventually, every kingdom will have a dragonite dragon, so it won’t matter as much. I don’t think I’m going to be here long enough to see that though. I’m pretty bored of the game nowadays tbh.:beer_mug:

4 Likes

individually, I don’t mind the dragons

Diamantina and Co? cool, no problem.
Stella babies? they’re whatever. Stella? A little strong.
Flower Dragons? once again, whatever
Chyrsantherax? I still think Stellarix is crazier.

But when you got 21 powerful Dragons and probably a dragon in every kingdom in the future, then it starts to get crowded.

That’s the game they made in a nutshell.

Kingdoms as a category generally lack major synergy so suddenly a random dragon seems more powerful than everything in a kingdom.

Players are expected to farm multiple thousands of PvP matches to complete seasonal rewards. Of course they’re going to take the path of least resistance.

Sick of seeing dragons in PvP? Then maybe they shouldnt have had player’s offensive teams as defensive teams because lol.

The playing field seems even narrower when things like Journey troops get nerfed, reducing the amount of viable troops by a good amount.

P.S. A lot of this is player self-inflicted. We live in a world where I can’t even play Blue, Yellow, or Red PvP since “voting” always somehow leads to picking Green, Brown, or Purple and always ends up skewing Mana Potions.

5 Likes

We’ve got blue and yellow pvp in pc/mobile this week. Makes a nice change. Here’s hoping we get a red empowered exploder sometime soon so people vote for red as well. Red/yellow or red/blue empowered exploder would be great.

3 Likes

It legit makes me scratch my head how allergic to red, yellow, and blue they are on Xbox, but then votes show up for divines, nagas, and mist of scales. :dotted_line_face:

Oh, but green, purple, brown are faster! easier!..

christ. a lot of people can run the same team with yellow and brown. double Khafru.

3 Likes

Back to 2022 I Wouldn’t start this game if I see it’s current pool. As a new player - dragons out of sight, and grind amount is higher than ever.

Xbox people think they can only make a good team with leprechaun. I’ve tried explaining to them in global that there are quick/good teams that use red, yellow, and blue. But they won’t listen.

3 Likes

why bother when lepr is a guaranteed fast fight?

For a long time, this game was called “Gems of War,” but now it’s more like “Dragons of War.” :laughing: Why not? The game has a lot of cards for any playstyle. It’s a matter of player choice. Personally, I don’t have much free time to play, and strong troops allow me to spend less time in PvP than before. That’s very valuable to me.

4 Likes

I wouldn’t say guaranteed.

4 Likes

Complain they 2 hard to get

Then complain they 2 strong

Sounds like the gow forum 2 me

Run ur gems to 0 go play th then switch pvp regions n lose a gem too hehe

This community funny

I was super low on gems from trying (unsuccessfully) for the new Mythic (I know it’s not great, but I’d rather spend gems than have to remember to craft it later), so I tried running my gems to 0 and switching PvP zones just for fun. Was hoping it might glitch out and give me negative gems or flip over to the integer limit or something, but no such luck. Just kept me at 0 gems. Shame!

1 Like

two valid complaints that in no way contradict one another

but hey, whatever lets you feel smug

5 Likes

The Dragons makes lots of things faster, what is a big plus when you are “forced” to reach 800.000 VP for Rank General (and some more Goldmarks :)).

As TheIgleone mentioned before, the biggest problem imo is, that Attackteam is Defenseteam also.

But even then: No Dragon is immune to Silence , Devour or Web; there are classes with submerge we can use … it’s a matter of strategie, not?

3 Likes

pvp areas limit silence sources to zero

devour has % of happening => thats % of your winrate, or has to charge and waste a turn, unlike self-looping dragon who kills whole team in a 2 moves back to back thanks to extra turn.

web is the most reliable yet still there are restrictions AND % chance. And when I call THAT reliable - think how unreliable options above are.

2 Likes

Hmm … with Arachnean Weaver, Grey King and The Silent one for example it’s possible to counter the Dragon Teams in most Areas with Colour restrictions. Irongut can have a very high chance to devour, if the player stats a high enough.

Sure, you need to fill them with mana, and of course the opponent can have good luck and get full in first turn. But when I look at the PvP Top 100, they all have way more wins then losses. And I’m sure, they play not only with Gaps :slight_smile:

1 Like

Dragons? Pssh no man double takshaka and tesla gg.

I do argue that elementalist needs to be nerfed. It should be ONE of the 4 stun/fre/bur/ent not all 4. That stuff is OP.

1 Like