I am extremely competitive and started playing late vs a lot of players. Spent 10 months with my first alliance and another 6 with my current.
So have been playing catch-up for almost all of my game time. Which means i have played for 16months non stop optimizating to the fullest:
3 raid chests and 2 monster chests per day
not missing a flag for anything!!! ( besides beginning when my world energy was lower than the hrs i was sleeping)
most tourneys top 1
never missed a titan flag ( if not deliberately waiting for peeps to reach B for rare titans )
non stop leveling heroes and troops and emblems
p2p ( think am considered whale )
At the beginning top 200 alliance for 10months which i have overgrown and last 6 months top 20 alliance.
A month ago I burned out finally and was close to deleting the game.
I have found my way back ( also mostly as my alliance is fantastic and a lot of the irritating things are non-existent ).
What i have done :
First and foremost i went f2p - is liberating not caring about getting anything as 99.9% I wonāt get anything going fwd - just changed my mentality that I donāt need it
I fill chests whenever i want, dropping maybe to a raid and monster chest per day
hit titans but donāt care what i will get and not spending resources on it - titans were never interesting in our alliance as no challenge and they die like flies
care about events as i place every month in top1000 rare and top 500 epic so my resources will go there - but not optimizing anymore flasks etc - whenever I have time will burn through flasks and not optimize to place without any flasks so i keep them for AR
i max these days 3*, 4 * heroes and generally from now on only heroes that i think will have fun with - not anymore what is best for the particular war team ( need to note that i have already 5 strong teams that can go for 4600+ opponents so i really donāt need anything and wonāt impact my alliance )
i like raiding but either i am ā ā ā ā ā ā ā around with strange teams and combos or just go for 4700 teams as i like winning against them with my war teams.
All in all - I donāt spend anymore and just having fun with my alliance and the aspects of the game that i like. Is clear that with this new style i will fall behind in 1yr as it cummulates but who cares - am not even sure there will be a game in 1yr so better enjoy for a while my huge āinvestmentā until now and not approach it as work anymore
Love nearly all of your posts and suggestions to lower the play-time-ratio.
Personal situation:
I was or maybe still am a C2P one. Often, I felt like I was a F2P. I quit paying a lot. But than, nearly a month later there was a rage-buy. Not a rage because of the game. It was a rage-buy because some little event in real life.
Otherwise I know that I have a really good real life and I am on the way to destroy it although I donāt want it. Iām playing this game since May 2018. Itās two years now, wow. And all of the time I am addicted to the game (Lvl 62, so Iām often on the phone) although neither my woman nor my kids know that I play the game. That is some sick stuff, I think. I can not like myself because of that reason. I enjoy my real life but I donāt want both to collide or put together. That is not normal. I have to fight the way out.
Suggestions:
Two times a day to play the game, like the suggestion from zephyr1,ā¦ that has to be my way, now.
Only willing to use my war flags, the events (only completing, not competing) and rare quests.
Titan slashes only if Iām on the toilet.
Leave the flags alone. You donāt have to be in a hurry to burn all flags.
You can be competitive in this game (which has no āend winnerā or āend bossā or similar things) wihtout being level 50 or higherā¦
See the summons as they are. Pure luck. So, youāre having fun during the summons and donāt regret them. (That is something I can suggest, I was never in a rage because of bad summons)
Do not set timers to do something in the game
Do not wait those other ten (or similar) minutes to do something. Those are waisted minutes.
Do not spend money
If you do spend money set yourself a limit. Compare your outgoing money with your purchases in real life.
Enjoy the real life more than ever. Smell the flowers, feel the rain, breath fresh air, play real things
Thanks for the thread. It is a reminder to all of us!
Lol. Thatās debatableā¦ sure it only takes 15ish minutes for you to take your individual hits. But I (and assume several others)ā¦ donāt just hit and run.
ā¦ thereās the commenting on other peopleās hit. āNice jobā or ādang, better luck next timeā
ā¦ or perhaps answering the question āwhich target should I go forā or āwhich team do you think I should takeā
ā¦ the rally at the end as the final flags are in.
For me the time consumption has always been because of the peopleā¦ but thatās what I love about the game. Just need to find the right balance.
I think that this proves the point that there are so many ways to play and enjoy the game.
The three bits of regular content I enjoy the most are Raids, War and Raid Tournaments. PoV now as well. Events I just complete, I tried competing once and fell just outside decent loot and didnāt enjoy the experience. (Caveat on Raids, enjoyment declined with Telluria domination, I find the lack of variety tedious)
100% agree that I donāt want to be on 14* titans, they donāt allow for relaxed play. 9* & 10* allow you to last 90 seconds without resorting to too many materials
I have āstepped backā several times and my time commitment didnāt go down. Now that I am utterly bored with farming and feeling less joy as more things feel like obligations my time logged on has fallen sharply.
As founder of my alliance I feel a strong sense of obligation there and I donāt think I would enjoy 1 person wars nor single person titans so I need to be in an alliance.
I am trying to / need to take a personal inventory of which parts of the game I actually enjoy and which parts are compulsions that lead to negative emotions.
Thatās exactly where Iām at. There are times I really enjoy my game and other times Iām really discouraged. And for me its not about the HA or AL, or even my bad luck at summons. I need to take stock of when Iām enjoying myself and when Iām not. - then make some decisions.
I just want to echo a huge THANKS to @zephyr1 and all who have shared tips on reducing the burden. This thread is the most useful & important one, to me, in quite a while. (and the forum is full of good posts!)
Iāve shared with my whole alliance and our 3 sister alli.
There are many of us contemplating the problem of burnout, reducing spending and some departing all-together. I really hope that the Devs are recognizing the scope of the problem, and quickly make some QoL improvements to help us manage.
Two really big ones would be:
āTitan 2.0ā. Alternative modes of cooperative play for ascention mats that arenāt as repetitive as stringing titans together. Not MORE modes , different modes.
Built in player and war stats, available to alliance leadership ideally, or at least to each player individually, to support learning & improvement.
I am part of an invite only very small party, however we usually accept requests to join. I am usually the one that kicks people if they havenāt played for three weeks, however I always wish they would let me know why they werenāt playing if they had a good reason. Ie holiday, sickness, burn out etc I would not kick them .
I Love the suggestions Iām seeing here.
Iām a person in long term recovery from addiction and the gambling/competitive aspects of the game have been incredibly difficult to keep in balance.
Iāve been co-leader of an industrious little alliance, but the game play has become more of an overbearing obligation than a pastime.
Iāve been on the verge of quitting, but Iād hate to just delete the game after Iāve spent so much crazy money on it.
I also love my alliance mates.
Iāve tried another game with some disgruntled E&P players from.the forum here, but itās just not the same.
What Iāve decided to do is to start an associated training/vacation alliance where I can be f2p and hit or not hit without letting anyone down. I can mentor newbies that aspire to be competitive, and hang out with old timers that need a break, while still maintaining involvement with my alliance mates.
I can do crazy things like defending my SH with 4* troops and hitting titans with a variety of lower echelon heroes, getting to know their synergies better.
I wonāt have to grind to make harpoons or bust @55 to pull and level up fancy new heroes for wars.
I can be Leisurely, and find the fun Iāve been missing.
The best part is that my alliance mates, at least the leadership cadre, are all on board with the idea too.
Thanks for the thread, Zephyr1, and everyone whoāve posted so far
The problem in this game is there is absolutely no way to see a players skill. No win percentages, very ftp unfriendly, and everything just takes to long at this point. It became a chore instead of something fun.
This game was like a used car. I made my payments for 2 years and some, got my enjoyment, but over time problem after problem has taken that enjoyment away, and like any car, it became time to look for a newer model.
2 years with a game is a long time and with that being said, the gaming world has changed alot in that time. With all the information gathered by other companies, newer games look better, are more tailored for smaller spending over time and definitely more bang for your buck. Empires did what it was supposed to do until it didnāt anymore. I enjoy my friends I have made here but unfortunately, there is just so much that I have a problem with in this game that was addressed in my newer one that the only thing I want is more players from here to come there. I log in but nothing is fun anymore and thats sad to me as I remember when all we talked about for hours was team comps, possible strategies, the bext warā¦those were the days but as time goes on in this game and more money gets spent they attitude of players changes with it.
The lack of care for the ftp crowd complete pushed out of the game and after 2 years of regular spending on a budget I still have yet to +30 a single troop(23 around is highest) and that pretty much sealed the deal for me. The amount of money required here is not worth the return as almost every event can be manipulated by cash versus skill.
I dont summom anymore, rarely raid, do my wars and tournaments only because my guys are still here but as soon as they upgrade phones and what not to leave for good I will be going with them. thnx empires for 2 years and sadly you should have listened to the playerbase and thought about everyone instead of just your whale group.
Iām working on Troops instead of Heroes right now, using feeders from farming.
Hero Academy will add a way to produce some Troop feeders too ā but when I calculated that it would take 9 YEARS to max a set of Troops with it, I was quite frustrated. Thatās going to improve a bit before release, I think, but itās still going to be a massive grind.
Level 30 Troops ā especially having more than one in each color ā seem to be something intended only for people who purchase them.
And thatās a frustrating game design decision, when it provides advantage in so many aspects of the game.
I donāt mind grinding, but donāt ask me to grind for a decade just to catch up to someone who spent a couple grand on Troop feeders.
I used to do every quest just for the sake of doing the quest. With all the extra stuff added now I find myself skipping half of them. It was never about the most efficient use of flags for me. I reminisce now about the days when I could do all the quests and still have the flags to fill my chests.
Game was a lot simpler back then, wasnāt it? Not that Iām opposed to adding new content, just that I usually canāt do all of them without burning multiple WE flasks, so I have to weigh the flag-per-reward ratio. And sometimes it means I have to hold off on filling my monster chest because Iād rather have the loot from some quest or event.
Completely agree. I usually have enough food to level up my troopsā¦ but the LACK of troops from farmable sources just kills it. Not to mention the steep experience requirements.
the only way Iām coping is to actively care a little bit less every day!
