I started playing E&P one year ago today (actually, yesterday, as this post took longer than expected to write), so I thought I’d take the opportunity to do an inventory of sorts and see where I am. Perhaps it will be of interest to others to see how they compare or see where they might be after a year of play. It got a bit long, so I’ve hidden it in sections below. Feel free to skim or skip altogether. 
Context
How much do I play? It has varied a fair bit. The first few weeks, somewhat erratically until I ditched my zombie alliance and found a real home. The next six months, heavily (but not obsessively) using almost all world energy. Then I “quit” the game for a short time (I was still doing trials and rare quests, but that’s about all). After working out a better balance, I now lose a few hours of world energy a day and usually do one monster chest and one hero chest each day.
How much do I spend? I am sure SG has us all neatly categorized in terms of spending. I’d be in the second group, just above the hardcore F2P crowd. I bought a $25 Google Play gift card when I knew I was going to be playing a while and had found a great alliance, but the game was beginning to bog down in that gap between maxing your first 3* rainbow and getting TC20 up and running. I used it on a few months of VIP and some cheap deals. It was enough to get a pair of TC20s running and build my first 4* rainbow. They failed to convert me into a regular cheap spender though (group three, I assume) and I’ve been happily F2P since Christmas.
So if you are totally F2P you might lag a month or two behind. If you spend a bit more regularly, a month or two ahead. If you spend a lot then this won’t resemble your experience at all!
Heroes
Classic
4*: I have 21 of the 22 four star heroes. Still missing Hu Tao.
5*: 13 of the 20 five star heroes. (2xObakan, Quintus, 2xJustice, Leonidas, 2xVivica, Isarnia, Magni, 3xRichard, 4xElkanen, Horghall, Lianna, Azlar, Marjana.)
Season Two
I’ve done 42 total pulls (the bonus chest makes it easy to keep track), mostly with Atlantis coins.
4*: Ameonna, Danzaburo, Gadeirus, Gobbler.
5*: (none)
Very underwhelming.
Challenge Events
This is where most of my gems have gone. A couple of ten pulls in the VIP days plus a couple of pulls a month since.
4*: Sir Lancelot
5*: (none)
What can I say?
Seasonal
3*: Hisan, Rudolph
4*: Jabbar
5*: (none)
No comment.
HOTM
Zimkitha! Evelyn!
- Wu Kong was the first non-3* out of my tc20.
- First Richard and First Vivica came from gem pulls. Lianna from an EHT. The rest of the classic 5’s are from tc20.
- Including duplicates, tc20 has produced 18 5* heroes in 240 trainings.
- I had the gems for one pull during the Guardian event last November and walked away with my first two 5* heroes: Richard and Zimkitha. The following month my four EHTs during the Chrismas event got me Evelyn. Thus using up a lifetime of summoning luck.
- Kiril saved my life. At least as far as this game goes. He was my first 4* hero. Over the next five months I got 25 more 4* heroes and a handful of 5* heroes, none of whom were healers. I really think I’d have quit in disgust without Kiril.
Mats and Leveling
I bought a couple of 3* mats from the Halloween and Christmas calendars and did a couple of those 500 gems for two 3* mat deals, but the vast majority of mats came from game play.
| Mat | Total | Inventory | Used | Heroes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Damascus Blade | 13 | 6 | 7 | |
| Tome of Tactics | 10 | 3 | 7 | |
| Royal Tabard | 15 | 9 | 6 | Obakan |
| Poison Darts | 14 | 8 | 6 | Vivica |
| Farsight Telescope | 17 | 5 | 12 | Isarnia, Richard |
| Mysterious Tonic | 13 | 1 | 12 | Evelyn, Lianna |
| Mystic Rings | 10 | 4 | 6 | Zimkitha |
| Mat | Total | Inventory | Used | Heroes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Compass | 59 | 29 | 30 | |
| Fine Gloves | 38 | 8 | 30 | |
| Trap Tools | 41 | 13 | 28 | Quintus; Jabbar, Rigard, Sabina, Tibertus |
| Orb of Magic | 39 | 11 | 28 | Justice, Leonidas; Chao, Li Xiu, Wu Kong |
| Warm Cape | 40 | 8 | 32 | Boril, Grimm, Kiril, Sonya |
| Sturdy Shield | 31 | 3 | 28 | Caedmon, Gadeirus, Little John |
| Hidden Blade | 36 | 0 | 36 | Marjana; Boldtusk, Colen, Gormek, Kelile, Scarlett, Sir Lancelot |
- Enough with the compasses already.
- Plus 24 maxed 3*. There were a couple more but Vivica needed a snack and there were so many Banes…
- Up next:
- Purple: Finish Rigard. Cyprian’s last ascension. Ameonna perhaps. Somewhere in there I’ll either collect enough tabards that I may as well ascend Quintus… or I’ll get a better option.
- Yellow: Decide between Justice and Leonidas. Or ascend Danzaburo and stall some more.
- Blue: Magni.
- Green: Continue leveling random 3* heroes until the RNG stops screwing around and gives me some sturdy shields. Elkanen, Melendor, Kashhrek, Horghall and Skittleskull are all waiting. Add Gobbler to the waiting list if I get sufficiently bored.
- Red: Finish Lancelot. Pray for hidden blades and rings for Marjana. Duplicate Boldtusk.
- Trivia: my first unfarmable mat was a Damascus Blade from Mystic Vision. Had no idea what it was for: none of my 2*'s could use it.
Emblems
I’ve completed all levels of all trials since the beginning. The hardest was the first Trials of Mysticism, where Kiril staggered into the boss wave, having lost his four 3* companions, and immediately let loose the full arsenal. The easiest, perhaps the recent Trials of Serenity with Evelyn, Lianna, Richard, Justice and Tiburtus. Healing be damned. The boss wave took two turns and everyone strolled away with well over 1000 hit points.
| Class | Total | Inventory | Used | Heroes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barbarian | 453 | 58 | 395 | Grimm+18 |
| Cleric | 447 | 52 | 395 | Viviva+7 |
| Druid | 471 | 76 | 395 | Caedmon+18 |
| Fighter | 519 | 14 | 505 | Colen+20 |
| Monk | 379 | 14 | 365 | Wu Kong+16 |
| Paladin | 489 | 94 | 395 | Richard+7 |
| Ranger | 438 | 43 | 395 | Tiburtus+18 |
| Rogue | 520 | 15 | 505 | Kelile+20 |
| Sorcerer | 527 | 22 | 505 | Sabina+20 |
| Wizard | 421 | 26 | 395 | Kiril+18 |
- I also have 4 reset tokens: the free one, two from war chests and one from a Raid Tournament.
- Most emblem recipients have reached decision points. For the 4*'s, are those last couple of levels worthwhile for the particular hero, and who to work on next? For the 5*'s, stop at +7 or keep going over those expensive hurdles at levels 8 and 10?
- The +20 4*'s are pretty close in strength to their untalented classic 5* counterparts: Colen actually has higher attack and defense than Azlar, but is short over 100 health. The same is true for Sabina and Vivica. With a 4* mana troop at level 11 both Colen and Sabina get their mana charged with one less tile. Of course you’ve got to consider the specials as well…
Troops
All 4* troops are from troop tokens. I’ve all the 3* troops I’ll ever need by now.
| Color | Crit | Mana |
|---|---|---|
| Purple | 1 | 2 |
| Yellow | 0 | 1 |
| Blue | 0 | 1 |
| Green | 1 | 0 |
| Red | 2 | 3 |
- My first five 4* troops formed a rainbow. Things have been less uniform since then.
- I have one of each up to level 11 or 12.
Suggestions
- You’ve got to come to terms with the slow pace of the game. It’s not a game one binges on for a month or three and then moves on.
- VIP can speed up the early building stages so you don’t end up with an army of fifty maxed 3*'s before you get TC20 going.
- Set a budget (be it monthly or total) and stick to it. I found using a gift card effective. If Google doesn’t have my credit card info, I can’t impulse buy as easily.
- I’ve seen a number of people who’ve clearly spent some significant money early on to get some very nice heroes. Just be aware that you’re going to have to level and ascend those heroes, which is either going to take a lot of time or a lot of money. Or both.
- Let the slow pace of the game work for you. I’ve found that my hero acquisition rate, leveling ability and even mat availability actually balance surprisingly well. It isn’t really necessary to use every last drop of world energy or fill as many chests as possible. This was my realization when I took a break after six months: the game doesn’t have to take over your life. Just my personal experience.
Opinions
- I’ve tried (and probably failed) to keep the preceding reasonably neutral, beyond that fact that I’m still playing after a year, which means I like the game. Now for the opinions.
- Some of the older content in the game could really use an update: some new and more challenging quests, perhaps a hard version of season one, etc. Things that could be done pretty easily and would add more content to the game.
- The farming aspect of the game feels pretty badly broken to me. It is most profitable to play the easiest and most boring aspects of the game over and over (and over). At this stage, this really isn’t fixable though.
- Season two was nice. Love the Atlantis Coins and associated free summons for progressing. It started dragging on though. 270 similar levels of very slowly increasing difficulty. Except for the last few provinces in hard mode, I did it all with a 4* rainbow. I think there is room for more variety and for things to get much more difficult and challenging.
- I enjoy the class trials a lot. Working on different heroes to fill in weaknesses is good. The emblems are still a bit scarce, but starting with low amounts and adding more through things like Mystic Vision makes sense. Keep adding more!
- The raid tournament really should have been great. But that first tournament was just embarrassing. I’m programmer enough to know complex things generally don’t work perfectly the first time, but those early versions should never have seen the light of day. Not to mention the loot debacle. Now it feels like they’ve thrown up their hands and given up. Decided it is never going to be a money maker, cut their losses and the loot, and moved on.
- The new buildings seem rather pointless. It started out sounding exciting in the sneak preview – Alchemy Lab and Hero Academy. I was ready to spend a bit more money for VIP again for that second builder. The Alchemy Lab is looking awful; bad enough that I’m not sure I’m even going to bother building one. And I’ve lost hope on the Hero Academy. The unannounced Hunter’s Lodge and harpoons have actually turned into the most interesting thing. The rest is just filler to slow down the pace.
- I’m withholding judgement on the costumes. It is still quite early and there is some potential there.
- The revised Challenge Events sound great. Previously I haven’t made any real attempt to compete as I have no realistic shot. I just plod through (and a lot of it can be autoplayed) to get my completion rewards. Expanding the loot tiers means I’ll actually try playing the events as intended.
- Final thought: It is NOT necessary that every single aspect of the game directly earns money. SG seems a bit obsessed with monetizing every last thing. Just keeping the existing players interested and not quitting is a source of income. Just not as easy to quantify for the bosses.
So where can you be in a year or so?
- A good selection of maxed 4* heroes.
- At least one 5* rainbow, possibly getting close to two.
- Be able to finish all class trials, rare quests and events without too much difficulty.
- Be able to raid into the top 100 without too much trouble, but those top spots will likely be out of reach unless you get an amazingly lucky series of boards.
- Stay in the diamond arena, except for those occasions when the Icarus Effect gets you bombed back into the Platinum Age.
- Have about 30 maxed 4* heroes (or 3.70 or better 5’s) for wars.
PS. Do I get an EHT or a gem or something on my anniversary? Rhetorical question. 
I’m done. Sorry for writing a book. Is there a ridiculously long post thread?
