Burned Out on the Grind

General Discussion
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The grind…it’s a concept in games that often comes with rewards. I remember playing Destiny when my first legendary helmet dropped in a raid I needed help with. After that, I was able to undergo more challenges on my own and could even take a few players under my wing.

With E&P it’s a different story. At some point in your grind there should be rewards. At some point you have dedicated hours, spent some cash maybe, and supported this developer. At some point…there should be a breakthrough.

I’m not talking about hero’s dropping necessarily…heaven forbid a situation where Tellurias are running rampant, or everyone is getting every new shiny toy. I don’t have too many gripes about the rates on Hero’s. In that regards, I have seen it rain in my favor. It felt good. (Although, Legends Summon…I’m looking at you. Quit being stingy.)

My main gripe comes from the fact that I am sitting on 3066k Max food storage and the cost to upgrade one storage is steep and the days it takes is absurd.

To research a “retrain legendary” in hero academy which would actually help me where I am at. Got a few duplicates that I’d be happy to roll on.

It’s gonna take 3366k on the food to finally upgrade and at that point I’m 12 days away until that training is absurd.

Titan drops are terrible…but that might be fine if chests and color chests were a thing…they aren’t nearly what they once were it seems. You get basic garbage. Even filling war chests aren’t once what they were. A few emblems, some crafting materials…bleh.

At some point you should be rewarded in the grinds. Chests, rare item quests, Titans, events…all these things just don’t drop the rewards that they could//should.

And the kick in the teeth is that this game currently runs and offer for $20 that’s essentially a few tokens and 3* crafting and ascension materials. $20? Seriously? And who here seriously gets giddy about the next deal that’s plastered all over your game screen. It’s almost as if they are shouting at you, “This is a pay to progress game”

It’s pathetic. It’s beyond pathetic. At this point something is gonna have to impress me to keep me much longer.

Am I wrong?

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I think it is perfectly normal to feel you are going nowhere in a game once you have reached a certain point. Back in high school I was a huge Diablo II fan. I played that game for years but eventually I acquired all the fancy items, completed all the levels including the secret cow level, and tried every single character with every possible skill path. So in the end I gradually lost all joy in the game and simply quit. Sounds like this is exactly what is happening to you with this game.

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I mean…best thing is to learn to love your 3s and 4s the 5*s will always bum you out but a kvasir/brienne combo in S3 hard? That is a challenge and I enjoy that…but epic 4700+ v 4700+ wars are a luck thing more than anything else

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Pretty much. I got a few hero’s I’m excited about. Got Gefjon almost leveled up for emblems. The hero department isn’t so much an issue for me. Imagine a war where everyone had a few Killhares!

My main team is over 4400 right now…I’m not struggling too much save for when my color stack strategy fails miserably. :sweat_smile:

The in game grind just isn’t rewarding enough at this level. I’m not seeing progress because of it…that’s why I’m ready to pull the plug.

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Endless Baal runs was the final rung in the ladder?

Here, the ladder is continually extended!
Meanwhile the action is the same ol’ connect-3…

The "reward" for grinding away is Dawa from a premium portal.

Right now the latest rung is ready to greet new players with its blemmed 3 and 4*.
At the exact moment when those same new players are considering to spend money. That will be so fun for them, the decision will be easy to make…

When the ladder gets taller
And the pool gets smaller
Bugs will come, to finish you off!
Since Digital Raid is so…expensive

Once the money dwindles, as it was said to already be doing in the Q2 report, Zynga will move quality IT
to puzzle combat.
And you, with your tens of thousands
Sunk into silly pixels can enjoy offers that won’t load. Specials that won’t work. And eventually… complete app freeze mechanics!

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Not only is it absurd, but it’s honestly not worth the time just so you can have a 99% chance to pull the same old S1 5* heroes? Same with Alchemy Lab. Why spend tons of food and iron to get to level 10 just to give up a 4* ascension item to try to get the one you need? I have 200 compass, 200 fine gloves and thousands of tall boots. Trading in 8-10 of a mix of those can’t craft a guaranteed ascension item? Nothing that was promised to the community ever happened. It was just garbage. Hell, even the staff knew HA was trash. They claimed they had a fix in the works. Crickets ever since. So you are correct, it’s garbage. That’s why I haven’t wasted time to build either one.

Another excellent point. This has been discussed quite a bit. I’ve been playing since late 2017. In 2019 I started noticing stark differences on what elemental chests, rare titans, reg titans, titan chests were dropping for loot. Most titan chests now are dropping the same (if not worse) loot than a monster chest. Consistently. It’s a problem.

Overall, it seems the devs don’t care. Why do I say they don’t care? When staff posts something there’s no direct response allowed. Another thread has to be created to react to their posts. They can’t be bothered with the community feedback. They also seem to be more concerned with “social” issues and handing out worthless pins to enforce the ignorant platitudes they put out than actually addressing the numerous issues within the game itself that they have created. I don’t give 2 :poop:s about the SJW BS. I do care about how worthless AL10 is. How worthless HA10 is. How worthless game chat is. How much censorship happens on this very forum. How pathetic loot is from chests, from events, from trials, from mythic and reg titans. How irrelevant the basic quests are anymore. (3 minor mana and 3 minor healing potions for 10 WE? Not worthwhile for 98% of the community.)

If they actually took care of the things that mattered the community would thrive. But they aren’t. And in the end it will be to their own demise.

PS- I just tell it like it is. If I offend anyone… oh well.

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That’s right, you are right, You keep telling it as it is cause infact it is as it is :slight_smile:

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Preach on!!! I feel your pain. Been playing since August of 2017. Not impressed about the money spent to results. I know other players will comment about the chances are what they are but I don’t care. At least they can raise the chances of more 5 star pulls. If they did then might make it more enjoyable knowing you don’t have a 1.3 % chance of some legendary player. E & P could make more money. Hmmmmmm.

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See, I don’t really care about the 5 star situation myself. 4 stars can be beastly in the right set up. My G. Jackal is my personal fave and I have him maxed out as a glass cannon although my Thor will probably take his spot once I can find two more poison darts. :sweat_smile:

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Making elemental chests mean something again would be a huge start. Almost 4 years in and I’m pretty much in this for the wars and tournament type stuff. Sometimes it takes me 3 or 4 days to fill a regular chest. I used to make sure I did it at least once a day because it brought more elemental chests. They’re basically just regular chests with more regular chest stuff in them now. There is little to no excitement seeing them pop up. Lat one I got boots, battle manual, and 3 silver tokens. Super excited about that one.

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My biggest gripe with this game is colored chest. Can you at least have loot for that specific color I am fighting against? I used to get excited for color chest, but now, I’m just like ■■■ it. Oh I got a blue chest, cool, here is an orb. Got a yellow chest, cool, here is a something that doesn’t correlate with the color of the chest. Fix this chit already.

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The game that doesn’t reward players with guaranteed good loot is a crappy game… nuff said. I lowered my expectations when it comes to titan, war and elemental chests. They need to fix this rng bs or keep losing players to this new gem game.

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I have similar feelings. I’ve been playing since Spring '18, and I’ve put some money into it here and there. I may be in the thick of things in terms of level (63), stronghold development (only 3 builds to go), and roster (20 maxed/noded 5s, 22 waiting), but . . . the returns aren’t strong enough to keep my interest IN grinding.

Some of these ideas truly won’t apply to many of us in this discussion, but they all (I think) lend themselves to one central theme: the need for consistency

  1. First tc13 run → guaranteed 4*
  2. First tc20 run → guaranteed 5*
  3. Elemental chests → matching elemental ascension items

Stronghold Modification Ideas
– unlock s2 and s3 characters for tcs
– ability to select the element of the next hero trained (consumable item)
– spend multiple ‘element selector’ items to guarantee higher tier hero
– consumable item to accelerate training for a tc

I’m just spitballing.

I’ve left alliances behind me. I merc titans for weaksauce chests. I can scarcely be bothered to finish 45-stage events (Wow, was it refreshing for Villains to be a 30-stager!!! Yay!!!).

The only thing I’m actually doing with E&P? Leveling up my roster on the cheap, and finishing Season 3.

Meh.

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I’m kinda half hearted on Titans and events right now. It’s like, what’s the point? Even if I get a token pull I’m gonna pulls a season 1 3* hero. So the thought of finishing because of some reward is altogether pointless.

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I dont feel like this at all. Lvl 70+ here and still I like my rewards, and I feel it’s all worth it.

Maybe because I don’t expect a 5 star every pull, or an epic ascension material every rare titan. I’m quite content with the loot most of the time. Only those chests with 1 gem and food + iron is a bit meh…

Also happy with HA, only wish I could train 3 different queues because my recruits keep piling up.

Maybe you guys just have wrong expectations.

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I find myself constantly disappointed with War, Titan & Elemental chests.
They are often so bad they aren’t worth the effort put into them.
But then I realise, even if there were 4* mats in them I don’t have any heroes to ascend anyway.

So, at the end of the day I just find myself increasingly nonchalant, and just going through the motions on autopilot.

Like I’ve always said. New content is good (a little exciting), but it’s just loaded on the same broken foundations and will be back through the motions again next month.

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I have stopped playing a d spending on this game. No matter what is spent or how many hours played you never get anywhere. I have been playing for years, I only have a few five star heros, not a single one has a complete talent grid, and the best one o have is Joon which I only got just a few days ago. Uts ridiculous how long it takes to grind out a single hero or level your account up.

I’m a gamer, PC, console and my phone, I have worked for a few gaming companies. The length of time it takes in other games is so much more rewarding then thus one. Only reason I stick around us my alliance and that I mostly play to pass the time when I am waiting at appointments, or at the drive through. Most days I dont bother to log in anymore.

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@BetaRayBill I have been there too on high level titans. What’s the point of killing big titans, and gathering mats for heroes I lack?

My friends helped me to keep playing. As a vc2p, shiny new heroes will always be harder to catch. One friend told me my luck would turn eventually, and he was right! :rofl:

Right now I have gotten a total of only two 4* mats from killing 14* titans non-stop (not pass on any) this year.

It’s definitely discouraging, but I do keep loose track of other mat drops. I’m pretty sure I’ve gotten 2 tabards from MV + 2 elemental chests with a 4* mat this year.

So even though my titan loot is currently poor, at least I’m getting 4* mats from other sources. (Ofc I’m getting 3* mats from titans too, but I have a big stockpile :sweat_smile:).

Hopefully you are getting mats outside titans. If not, your drought has to break eventually, right?! :crossed_fingers:

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Well this is one of the gripes I have with games that are created today. It’s all about that instant gratification and fast rewards. Most games are not difficult anymore, and even chimpanzees can complete them. For me those fast rewards and stuff are not rewarding at all, I dont feel like I had to do anything to get it. It’s just a free handout. I dont get the sense I accomplished anything to get my reward.

Here on E&P your patience is tested, and when you do get that big fat reward, it MEANS something.

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Although there must be a happy middle ground between the two extremes you note.

Instant win games are inherently boring, as you rightly point out, there is zero effort required to win.

However, the painful grind that Empires subjects it’s participants to, often will little reward (and I’m deliberately disregarding the pay to win/accelerate argument) is borderline absurd and, by extension, becomes boring.
The appaling hero drop rates combined with the paucity of AM is not conducive to happy experience.

As ever, this is In my opinion.

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