Devs don't care

It's pretty clear they'll ignore what we want and what would make a good game if it earns them a few dollars. That's probably why this forum is so empty now. I'm one of the few stubborn enough to keep trying. Not for much longer though...

 

"B-But leveling up items is easier now, I did the math."

 

It's cheaper, not easier... actually it might not be. As far as sugar is concerned it's cheaper but epic parts are so scarce you have to buy most of what you need from the shop and they are not cheap.

 

I Was just giving you Miikas bullshit standard answer to every complaint people had ever since the 2.0 upgrade.

Of course its bullshit and everyone knows it. Time to stop playing.

 

While, if their intention is really the money, then I don't think they did a successful job. Fact is I have been paying much much less since the update because I don't think it worth the money anymore.

 

Admitting the time and effort (which I'm sure was considerable) they put into the update was poorly spent isn't something they're keen on admitting, I'm sure. I certainly wouldn't be chomping at the bit if I were in their position. They have a vested interest (their employment) so they'll adopt a stance of "wait and see" and "going global will change everything". I waited and I didn't like what I saw. I don't think going global will solve the issues, it may mask them for a time under a flood of fresh and eager players coming in, but sooner or later they too will realize just how poorly built the system is and they'll leave.

As far as money goes, freemium games earn almost all of theirs from about 1% of users. If you know this there are really only two avenues a freemium game can pursue:
Path 1: "carrot and stick" create a system that encourages purchases by limiting the viability of non-purchasers (i.e. Game of war)
Path2: "mass appeal" have such a large following that purchases by the 1% equal high profitability (i.e. Pokémon go)
Now any of us gamers would immediately say path 2 is the better approach but there are intrinsic values hidden in path 1. By keeping the number of total users down you keep the quality of players high and server space required low. Path 2 requires more server space and therefore more overhead, a crucial factor for any business. Path 2 is also much harder to maintain over time, people are fickle and keeping high numbers of them happy is no easy task, as Pokémon go learned. It's important to note that game of war is still by and far the most profitable freemium game and many have tried to copy or clone their success.

It's disheartening when a game you love chooses path 1 but it is a business first. Maybe someone will make a clone and choose path 2. This recently happened with one of my favourite games. "War Robots" went further and further down path 1 and now the original creators have left and are making "Battle Titans". There's nothing like competition to inspire a business.

 

The problem in my opinion is, that the hard player base is not that great. I have 2300 infamy and see blacktail frequently which is just nuts. There aren't enough players between 2300 and 4000 at any given time to fill 10 slots?

If you want to milk these people at the top hard, there don't seem to be that many.

Ba Lance is already out of the window, participating in games where I get instagibbed with 3000 HP because someone has an Evo 5 rg is absolute shit, for him as well as for me. Why would he pay for that experience, why would I keep paying for it?

Ever since the upgrade u also have no way to achieve better items in time. I would have to pay a massive amount just for the random chance of getting what I wanted, while other games allow me to directly buy the items I want.

I Also don't think that the new system hooks players as much as the old one. When I start new games I don't shell out money immediately. I test it for quite some time and then decide to pay.

If you just started playing and can't do anything because you don't get enough scrap and sugar to level 2 or 3 items at once, you quickly lose any motivation to keep going.

There will be changes though, there is no way in he'll they keep the system as it is.

 

Pay 2 win #battlepay

 

We shall see what will the new update offers. If we still have to put up with power cells, same rarity items and shop offering random items for pearls, then it is not worth playing this game anymore.

 

Looking forward to the new update. And we shall see.

 

Want tornuments also

 

totally agree with all your comments here... the next update will be critical in determining how the devs want to take this game moving forward... gameplay is hands-down one of the best and most addicting that i've experienced in mobile format.... but the none battle mechanics right now are less fun, less rewarding and too much RNG...

it's a basic marketing principle... you can't sell a product successfully if the buyers don't exactly know what they are gonna get... it's like buying a cake, you don't buy a cake for the icing on top, you buy a cake because of what's in the cake itself... why would you pay, let's say $10, for a random chance to get a chocolate, mango, or vanilla flavored cake when what you really want is the chocolate one?... i'd be very surprised if pearl purchases have gone up since this update came out.

 

Thanks for answering Zeus. Any word on when the next update is planned to be released?

 

I guess next update will be global launch

 

By "we" I mean the majority of players that have voiced ideas, concerns and complaints on the forum, chat and Facebook. I am active in all three. You're right about never being able to please everyone, that fact is indisputable, yet you created the scrap and parts system to please the few players who were having trouble with the previous buy and consume system. Or was there an ulterior motive for that? I ask because that particular change certainly didn't please the majority, quite the opposite in fact.

What we wanted:
1. Guild wars: it's not "feasible" until the game goes global? If you can't create and manage system with 100 guilds what makes you think you can do it with thousands? Isn't it wise to use the current player base as a testing ground before sheer numbers complicate the issue?
2. Team play: trying to figure out the best way? You're over-thinking it in my opinion. A simple squad leader invites and highest infamy sets the difficulty system to start, tweak as needed.
3. Reporting: just enable the profiles from the scoresheet, problem solved.
4. Chat mute: Great news
5. New maps: I'm speaking for myself on this one but I wouldn't mind a hundred or more maps. When you play often it's nice to have variety. I can't imagine there ever being too many maps.
6. New weapons: other things have higher priority? Fair enough, and rightfully so in some cases although I think if it were put to a vote before the last update new weapons would win in a landslide versus the new parts and scrap system.
7. New ships: yes I know it's more complicated than it seems. You need to decide where on the speed/health/firepower triangle any new ship would go before anything else. Again I'd have given this a higher priority than it seems to have.
8. New crew: I meant new crew members, you know I'm not level 50 lol
9. Chat translator: "something even better" was what you said about the scrap and parts system before its release so consider me skeptical.
10. Matchmaking fix: fix what? If you haven't heard any of the complaints about the current system you're more disconnected than I thought. There's a lot of room for improvement when it comes to matchmaking and pretending there's nothing wrong with it doesn't inspire confidence.

What we got
1. Star system: it discourages playing because no matter how much you play the best you can hope for is a crappy uncommon item or two. In the previous system the chance that an epic or rare box might show up spurred me to stockpile stars, now there is no urgency. I have 15 stars time for a box. Meh.
2. Upgrades system: it may be cheaper in terms of sugar but sugar is just one part of it. The gold cost is through the roof. Epic parts drop so rarely that nearly all of them must be purchased for gold at the shop and they are not cheap, they're very expensive and we need lots of them. It takes more games played under the current system to earn the gold to buy the parts and upgrade an item one level than it took to buy the items and consume them to upgrade an item one level under the old system.
3. Increased rewards: all the gold and sugar you can hold is useless if you don't have the parts you need to upgrade an item. Epic parts are far too rare and legendary anything is almost mythical. There has to be a better reward for time invested. A player that invests four hours of time into the game and is rewarded with a paltry sum of parts that can't even upgrade one item one time is going to feel cheated.
4. Torpedoes that shoot vertically: this wasn't about balance changes, it was merely a cheap shot at the vertical turret glitch I threw in to fill out the right side of the graphic.
5. Selling: yes it was used to stockpile gold and was a clever way to extend one's gold storage but it required a player to play a lot in order to make it worthwhile. Who cares if it was not the intended usage, it encouraged people to play more and that is a good thing. It was serendipitous and you quashed it.
6. Ads crashing: another cheap shot I added to fill out the right side, we wanted much more than what we got and it didn't look right.

I want to finish by saying that my criticism is borne out of love for the game and I am trying to help make it better. Blanket answers and vague remarks only serve to strengthen the disconnect i and others feel has formed between the devs and the players so I really appreciate your time in answering this post.