Thanks for posting this Avi.
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Too true and well said, Avi. Thank you for putting my thoughts in such a respectful manner. I doubt I could do that.
I also noticed something happening to WuKong, by the way.
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Thank you for sharing your concerns, Avi. I too have had some concerns and questions about the direction of the game, as I spend quite a bit of money (a few hundred a month, usually) and have seen a distinct shift in the amount of good loot, heroes, etc. It is frustrating to me to see my Seven Days family members leaving and the general morale down due to this change. From what I have seen/heard of the beta season 2, the cost would be so much more. Although I would love to have Athena and Hel (both were before my time) I don’t think it’s fair to the long-time players to make old HOTM available through a bonus draw. That’s one of the the perks of being an OG in the game. Please take into consideration a better open dialog between the devs and those that have consistently given you their honest opinions about everything (beta players, etc.). I love this game and have made many friends within my alliance family, and I would hate to lose any more.
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I’m a mid-game player. (I’ve gotten 5 3* heroes out of my TC20 in the 10 days it has been operational)
I love this game–I kinda enjoy farming/grinding, and I love working out the most efficient way to play/farm/etc, and working out the best hero teams to attack a particular target, or putting together great titan teams.
In my first two months I spent lightly and got great return for my investment, saving myself first the time and energy working on 1* / 2* heroes, pulling 3* heroes to start for $10, then spent a bit more to get a rainbow team of 4*.
In the last two events, I let myself get caught up in the hysteria of TRYING to get event heroes that I really wanted and failing (Hansel and Panther), and spent hundreds of dollars on it. But what I did get was 11 5* heroes, all the standard 4* heroes (extras of ones I think I like), and some event 4* heroes. So I’ve got enough heroes in my roster to keep me busy for months, even without TC20 and without doing more chasing event heroes and HotM.
So I understand how the game does manipulate us to pay more–from the inside far more than I ever though I would!
I’m in a great alliance, and we are mid-level, not top, like myself. So I’ve got a bit different perspective, and I see two concerns:
- P2W taking over: More ways to buy more ascension items, and more need to spend huge amounts of money chasing a new HotM, event 5*, or (coming up) season two hero.
- Winner take all: There is a lot of time and grinding, not just paying to get to the top, and the benefits for those who are already there are way better, making it a lot harder for those of us who didn’t start a year ago to get very far, never mind catch up.
Don’t get me wrong–I do think that those at the top should get something for their efforts. (And if I get up there, I’ll be a lot happier about it, I’m sure!) I just don’t think the rewards should shift farther up to more and more rarefied levels.
- The best free way to get ascension items is killing titans, the bigger, the better. You need to be nearly at the top to get into a top alliance and fight 10* / 11* / 12* titans. This means if you are already at the top, you get more than the rest of us.
- Event Challenges are worse–most players don’t have the resources to even attempt a top ranked score. I’ve got the resources to attempt a rare level challenge seriously with what I’ve been able to farm and hoard, but I suspect that a top 100 finish is the best I’ll do, and the rewards only seem worth the effort in the top 10. (I don’t have the resources or team for Epic or Legendary yet, but I don’t see it being any easier)
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I am glad so many people responds with calm and factual answers 
I do hope this thread gets the attention of the devs. As stated earlier I Love the game and would hate to see the community dissolve over issues that could be solved with proper communication.
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@Avicious everything you said was true. I hope the developers listen to the comments here. I had to stop spending and if it gets where I can’t complete without spending a fortune. I will start a different game even though would miss our community terribly
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Amazing topic and nice to see someone speaking up that can “I hope” make a difference. The endless complaining on this forum is enough that I barely check in anymore but this is something else. This is a community coming together and TRYING to share concerns with the developers. I haven’t spent a lot compared to the whales but I have spent more on this game then I have ever spent on any console or mobile game. I have made my self stop until I see season two. Why does this feel like a impending doom? Why does this feel like loot tickets all over again. Lets be real. You took players ideas and tried to turn it into cash. I can’t imagine it worked. Paying to do less grind… No way. Definitely less “fast lane” deals. I do understand it but this truly amazing game seems to be dying. I was so excited about season two until we heard from the beta testers. I also understand why there appears to be new rules concerning leaking. You seen what your community thought about your ideas. I just got G.Falcon and was pumped about my first 47k hit against a titan but now I feel these new hero’s puts me back to the bottom. I have never seen more then one elemental chest a month and never got more then one three star mat or gold token at all so at least that isn’t a deep wound but stop the ninga nerfs. I do remember a time when speeding up a chest didn’t give you just ham, iron, and a couple of gems . It took less then ten minutes to read this thread and less to post so we all look forward to your well deserved response.
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This current Pay2Win model is bad. I want to be rewarded a new cool looking 5* hero for accomplishing something meaningful and challenging in game, such as fighting that hero and his minions, instead of spending hundreds because my financial situation happens to allow it and hoping that I will get the desired hero. Make us fight against the HotM and we get them if we win and make it tough where strategy and creative thinking is involved. Same goes for the regular 5* such as Magni. Or increase the TC20 production chance from 5% to something meaningful like 20%. It’s upsetting having spent 5 months on getting TC20 constructed only to have a tiny chance of getting a 5* every 2 days. So far it’s been 6 or 7 3*, which got fed for experience points alongside 1* and 2*. Hurray!
The closest to this that’s already in game is earning #1 spot in Challenge Events, which rewards a hero from that event. OK, so that’s 3 people who earn #1 in rare, epic, legendary difficulties. Or 1 person if they get #1 in all 3. And what about the rest of the people competing, which is … tens of thousands? This is a good system for the 0.01% of players that get that hero as a reward for being an awesome and the best player in that challenge, but not for the rest 99.99%.
When I buy gems to make that 10x elemental/event summon and get the desired hero, I feel like I come up to a medal award ceremony in the Olympics, give them a briefcase full of dollar bills, take the gold medal and walk away as I’m being booed by the audience, instead of actually competing in the sport and earning the medal by being better than others.
If you want to keep getting money from the same players over and over, do it for non-essential stuff, like avatars, skins, etc. Heroes that are essential to get to the top should be earned by being good at the game, not good at income.
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Make no mistake: this ALREADY is a P2W game. I don’t say that as critiscim, but as a analysis of a person that spends money at free will and would ONLY like to get something worth the money spent.
I personally got to the point where I don’t do pulls anymore because I have every hero I wished for (and paid for). Now I’m stuck on a dreadful peril of waiting to get lucky on loot and/or buying specials like Army Pack (which is a very reasonable offer when priced $19.99 to $29.99).
The HOT DEALS were messy and inconsistent. I tried a couple and definitely didn’t feel like I got what I paid for. I get that purchasing something is voluntary but turning this into a casino is really disappointing.
I appreacite every point @Avicious has made and agree with everything. The lack of transparency is something that turn both paying and non paying players turn off the game.
So, here are my 2 cents:
-
Want to keep draws in a gambling setting? Please improve the odds according to spending so no one goes broke and finding out they have gambling issues;
-
Want to make money with Ascension Materials? Put them on sale during weekends. Stop charging 600 gems “for a chance of” getting them. It’s frustrating. People feel cheated. Charge whatever you want and whoever needs that set of darts will buy them - guaranteed!
I truly love the game and I hope I can keep seeing it thrive. But at this point, there are too many horror stories of people going on insane rage pulling sprees and that is incredibly damaging for the image and reputation of a game.
I hope this helps the staff understand where we come from - a place where we want to attract more players and not push them away.
Sincerely,
Allan [JRW]
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Thank you very much for your great list of concerns, @Avicious.
I fully agree.
Drops, chests, loot, even titan hits seem to have been nerfed lately. There is something wrong with Wu Kong lately, also to my mind. And something wrong with the attacks of the titan itself. An 11* blue titan one-shotted a full health, fully ascended green 5* hero today. With bomb attack activated. I was flabbergasted. This had never happened before. And I most certainly do not appreciate that.
Somehow, the game is no longer so much fun. Lots of effort expended, as usual, but no longer the same results and rewards. This is getting tedious.
I am also concerned about those season 2 heroes. If they make the current 5* heroes obsolete, no longer competitive, then it will be time for this player to retire. As another poster said above: no use spending lots of money on heroes that will be basically garbage after a year.
I most certainly hope that the devs will listen to our concerns.
This is not the first game I have played. I do not mind spending money for my enjoyment. Note that I said “enjoyment”. I do not mind that. But when it becomes imperative to spend a lot of money just to stay in the same place, then I get disillusioned very quickly, and I leave the game.
I like EP. I like the game, the alliance, the people, the community. I had all that in my last game as well. Played for over three years. Until the game became “pay more, for less”. That was when most of the high levels quit. Myself included.
It is not a good idea to slaughter … or drive away … the goose that lays the golden eggs.
Food for thought…
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I think the fine developers at Empires & Puzzles conveyed their sentiment towards us players when they rewarded us ZERO for finishing the Season 1 map.
That’s the point I realized the cold reality of this game–it’s as stone cold as video poker slots. When I’m tired of raids & going to war, I’m gone.
That said, I enjoyed the camaraderie within the alliances I’ve joined. At least they don’t charge us for chat–yet.
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I am glad of such a serious thread. For months some have mentioned the nerfing of, well, everything, from simple farmable itens, to ascension materials to odds in the summon portal, to empty ears and frequently the derision of some. Anyone in this game before january noticed the drastic reduction of drops and odds. Randomness became a sort of mantra. I remember how exciting it was to summon, to get elemental chests, to have combos! @AnjaValkyrie mentioned a 5* green being down in one shot against a 11* titan. A couple of months ago I posted a thread about it, as a fully maxed Saartana, in the back row was one shot by an 8*! And let’s not mention boards!. Many old friends, those who taught me this game already left .This game I like so much is just a frustation, and like many, friendship to many is the main reason I still play it . And the hope SG sees reason, because it is a game that, treated correctly is a keeper.
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I also agree with most of the comments on this thread and thank you Avi for starting it. I am a long time player, well over a year, and for the first time am feeling very frustrated with the game. Drop rates for just about everything seems more rare than ever, even for killing 12* titans.
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Thank you @Avicious for your thoughts and desire to raise these issues for the good of the game. I thave been playing for 15 months and also feel something changed early this year. As a former venture capitalist I think I know what it might be. In February SGG closed a $41m funding deal probably giving away 20-40% of the company to the VCs. Along with the money comes expectations of these investors to make a profit on their investment no matter what. It is just another deal for them. To SGG CEO Timo Soininen and your dedicated team all I would like to say is this is your company not theirs. Do the right thing not the easy thing to protect the incredible community you have built.
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I also think that this game is shifting in a wrong direction.
I get that this is a business model and SG wants to gain money from it, so it will never be fully free, if you want decent heroes and items.
BUT…
it’s getting ridiculous, if:
-you have to pay a lot for decent 5* heroes
-pay for 4* ascension items
-even have to fight for craft material
I wonder why I should summon for heroes anymore when I can’t ascend them anyway in the next month, even years.
When I started to play, I got tons of 4* items, now I don’t get any besides events and rare quests and that is a joke, when you need 6 of them.
If it continues like that and my heroes will be obsolete with S2, I’m gonna quit active playing and just merc for fun and not pay a penny for any hero anymore.
And I know tons of Top Players who will quit also, if nothing changes or get worse with season 2.
We all have been waiting for ages for S2 and getting exited,
so please think:
What do you want:
fast, easy cash and then a crashing down community because 2/3 are quitting
or
a stable, constantly growing community who pays some money, because the game is fair, transparent and stable?
you want to keep the top Players on board because that are the ones, who teach the game, keep people interested, help to improve and make people stay in the game and invest…
If they are leaving, the community will die and there will be nobody left, wo will play this game for long…
Don’t look just for easy fast cash please 
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SGG as in Shareholders’ Giant Greed?
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Hmm…Excellent concerns. I’m brand new and out of the box when it comes to this community, but have seen this before and one of the first things I observed when I started this game a month ago was what you mentioned.
I suppose SG should take a hard look at the path they are going. One of the most recent companies that went this route is almost completely dead…Bungie and the Destiny Franchise. Now Bungie is Bungie and has the bankroll, the support of major corps such as Microsoft, Activision, and Sony to make drastic changes to try and save what’s left of their playerbase, but unfortunately for mobile gaming, they don’t have that kind of firepower to be able to save themselves. (I get they kickstarted 41M for the game, but 41M isn’t a billion).
I also have noticed how the P2W perception has bled into almost all other facets of the game…ascension items, special events, and summoning. This playerbase seems genuinely upset and frustrated. And I agree with the main voice of the community…transparency is key.
Unfortunately, I wouldn’t be surprised if the practices didnt change, the game and the community will suffer if not die if season 2 doesn’t produce change.
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I agree with everything. Ive only been playing for 6 or 7 months but have quickly realized thats its going to a P2W game just like everything else. I havent gotten decent loot or anything in the past 2 months. A clarification on Wu would actually be amazing considering i just used him and 4 fires against the Gorgon queen and had a 14 combo where most tiles missed thanks to Wu. It says 32% to miss but why do I miss 90% of my tiles when i get combos or even a 3 tile and miss all of them? I understand its a 32% chance to miss on each tile but still thats ridiculous and something needs to be said about it. My wife and I use to spend about $70 each a month on here and now we just do the $5 VIP mostly. Ever since last pirate event when we spent about $200 and got nothing for it, Im done spending on this game.
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When they will really fix these issues is when the reviews in google play store start scaring away new customers.
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Using Wu,
I sent 2 rows of 4 tiles and every single one of them missed, I followed this with a 3 tile hit & only one of them hit. That’s 1 hit out of 11 tiles in a row. as if that wasn’t enough 3 specials in a row from my hero’s, all missed, all in a row. You can imagine how entertained I was, I actually may have invented some new 4 letter words after this.
It’s not just Wu, It’s one example, the card specs are not being reflected by the customers experience.
It makes you wonder what other cards they manipulate in the background after customers spend so much on gems to get them . (As far as I’m concerned), their credibility as an honest dealer has been shattered.
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