I’ve been player since June of this year. I love this game, really love my alliance family. I’m usually a very positive person, our alliances cheer leader. But after playing, and paying much more then I’ve ever paid for “nothing”, in other words nothing physical. I’m finding the balance of enjoyment to frustration is really getting me bummed. I play a great deal, I mean I’m on here all the time. And I know it’s a gamble and the game must make money. But I am wishing I did not just put that next $50 into my acct. even vegas gives better odds, and free drinks while they are fleecing me. Raids have gotten almost hilarious, and wars! Use to be my favorite thing, even weak I could shine a little. But sometimes it is SO grossly mismatched. So, after a crap day of playing, losing and still only 3* repeated crap in the special summons.
How do you folks who have played forever keep positive? Or do all of us marked with conitued bad luck just quit?
The game is what you make it.
I have one account where I am a heavy spender and a second that just has VIP and maybe an insane offer or two. Probably 1% of what Ive spent on my first account.
I love both. Sure, my free account isn’t as high as high as my paid, but sometimes it’s more fun to play. I have limited heroes that get focus and for some reason has way more luck with ascension mats than my other.
Mismatched PvP can have a lot to do with your actions. In raids, I can do 50 reroles and not get a team at my power much less under. Thats not a problem with the game. It just means I am raiding above my level.
I started playing since February this year. The moment I realized you’ll get crap 99 of 100 times. I decided to limit my budget (€15) strictly hold on to it. Now everytime I do a summon I realize if I do get something nice, it’s really luck. Else I just shrugs and continue being happy what I do have.
After my decision I pulled two HotM :). Got like 10 5* from TC.
Just manage your expectations. If you’re unhappy with the money spent, you should probably spend less.
I enjoy the game with a minimum of actual $$ investment. I am aware that I will have to play for a very long time or get very lucky to be able to compete with the top 100 players in the game, so I don’t expect to. That leaves me without disappointment when I can’t 
Before spending any actual $ in a mobile game, I ask myself what I am looking to get out of this game.
- Striving to be the best and top E&P player there is? Not really, there are already people doing that and much further along than I will ever be able to catch. What do I get if I do get there, I don’t get paid for it, so it is bragging rights? Can’t exactly put food on the table with Bragging Rights you know.
- Past Performance (of yourself and others) does not guarantee success. How many times did you see people jump up and down when they got a 5* Event Hero and a bonus HoTM (on a single pull) and quickly rushed to try it, thinking you should be able to achieve something similar, only to get disappointed with duplicate and no HoTM and think you are the unluckiest person in the world and start cursing your fate. But didn’t stop in time until you are again some odd $$$ out of your bank account. It’s a downward spiral in this gacha / gambling game.
- I use this game as a test for my discipline, patience, and will power. So I have been playing this game for free than what is given in-game (no VIP Pass either).
==Small Giant’s history==
Many people quit.
You have to understand Small Giant Games was an acclaimed developer that almost went bankrupt because their great game made no money. They are now concentrating on wha… big spenders in Empires to keep their jobs. Once you almost lose your job, you are likely to err on the side of profits.
==Enjoying the game Small Giant has made==
I found taking a 4 month break from the game, and ignoring any 5* heroes I summon, has cured my “Fear Of Missing Out” and made the game much less tense, much less angry and more enjoyable for me.
With 4* 4.70 Melendor, Grimm, Scarlett, Wu Kong and Rigard it is possible to complete all of season 1, autoplay all of current season 2 map, and autoplay Halloween special event to at least advanced stage 10 ( 3* ascension item ).
4* 4.70 heroes take 50% of the 3* ascension items and 47% of the XP of a 5* 4.80 hero.
4* 4.70 heroes have better stats than 5* 3.70 heroes.
4* 3.60 heroes take 0% of the 3* ascension items and 24% of the XP of a 5* 4.80 hero.
4* 3.60 heroes are the strongest heroes in the game that use only farmable ascension materials, so you never regret using a 3*/4* ascension item on them.
Legendary training averages a 5* hero every 40 days. Or 9.125 per year.
Legendary training averages a 4* hero every 10 days. Or 36.5 per year.
If you give in to calendar offers:
full ascension items for 4* heroes cost $12 USD [ $2 x ( 1+ 1+ 4 ) ]
full ascension items for 5* heroes cost $100 USD [ $2 x ( 1+ 1+ 4 ), $2 x 4, $10 x ( 1+ 1+ 6 ) ]
Thanks. Needed to be reminded of perspective. I have not put that much money into the game. Yet. Lol. I’m very happy for my alliance mates who get items, great summons, etc. because I really like them! And it’s good for the alliance of course. Which is why I vented here, instead of there. I did not want to diminish what they have achieved. I lurk and read on line to further my education about the game. I’ll wait for my luck to change, or my skill to grow enough to overcome my limited line up of mostly 3 and some 4* heroes( 5*, really? I wouldn’t be whining if I had 5*s lol). Yes, my base and buildings are all leveling up nicely for length of time playing. I will continue(min 14 on all but barracks, stronghold is almost 16 )…thanks for all responses! Good luck all!
I honestly think i’m still here because i do not find a better game yet, or at least something that give me the same thrill as this one.
It is much time i do not “grow” anymore and find myself stacked at the same point without a chance to improve.
This game provide me more then 1 year of fun, so i really can’t blame it if now it’s not that enjoyable anymore.
It is a bit sad to just quit, so i’m still here hoping for… Something.
Maybe i don’t really know what.
Funny, after all this I gave it another shot and received Valeria. I hope she helps me out of my rut. And once again thanks for the input! Good luck!
You can only stay positive for so long. I strongly suggest u play another game at the same time. Something that values game progression as much as makin money. I started playing Rise of civilizations and now I simply don’t care if I get something or nothing from this game.
If this is the only game you play, you will inevitably get very frustrated. It is how they designed the game… to get u emotional… too increase the chances of u paying up.
Out of all the games I have played, this is easily the most frustrating game. So mate, you r not alone!
I’ve been playing for about 15 months now. I do spend some money - I usually get the cheap offers. Don’t usually have much luck summoning, but have managed to pull 3 HOTMs and some Event heroes, so don’t really consider myself unlucky.
I think the ability to stay positive is strongly connected to 1) managing your expectations and 2) setting a budget.
-
Managing your expectations:
I don’t expect to always get the desired hero when I summon (in fact, the more heroes you have managed to collect, the less likely a summons is going to reward you with a hero that you actually want). Learning to use what you have to your best advantage can go a long way to keeping you happy in the game.
I don’t expect to win every raid nor every alliance war. While I do, of course, want to win - sometimes you have a bad board, made a wrong move… or in the case of war, some alliance members cannot use all their flags, have a RL or choose a wrong opponent… I just go with the flow, there will be a next time to do it better. -
setting a budget:
I think this is extremely important for most players. Letting yourself get caught up in summoning and summoning, because you are so frustrated, is really just a way to continue to frustrate yourself. As mentioned above, the larger your hero roster, the more likely you are to receive heroes from the summons that you already have or didn’t really want. Keeping your budget will help to lessen your frustration. Use your training camps to gather regular heroes and only summon when you are clear that you may not get what you are hoping for.
You can also spend your budget on the occaisonal AM offer - that will help you ascend the heroes you already have. And I can’t say often enough - learn to use the heroes you have to your best advantage. This game is not about having all the best heroes - it is about using your heroes in the best way.
Just to illustrate this point: there is a player in my alliance that spent plenty of money and had quite a few 5* heroes early on. Much time passed and I was baffled by the fact that his titan scores remained at a fairly mediocre level. Well, as it turned out, he had a huge roster of partially leveled 5* heroes, no 3*, no 4* heroes. NOT ONE fully leveled 5* (not much of a surprise there) and really didn’t understand why I kept saying level the 4* heroes. He assumed having 5* heroes would automatically make his team better that a 4* team. He doesn’t spend much time in chat, so I had no way of knowing that he was missing so much knowledge of how to use his heroes. Well, I did some one on one coaching with him and now his scores are getting better and he understand how to use his heroes better.
Go volunteer at a children’s hospital and get some perspective in your life. I’m not saying this to be rude, my eldest is three years post chemo and she turned 6 last week.
You talk about the game being for enjoyment so don’t make it a chore. Connect with other’s less fortunate than you and be grateful for what you’ve got.
Congratulations! So happy for you child and you! What you say is very true. I dont think you are rude. I work for a none profit and love hearing people push the benefits of volunteering. I won’t go into mine or my children’s battles, but the stresses of everyday are one of the reasons I escape into this type of entertainment.
That being said I do not ever recommend it to any of my clients or friends because of the way it is set up, if I get frustrated with it, I know what it would do to them! Lol. May you continue to see the miracles in your life! Good luck to you
I have been playing this game for 15 months and I see my luck coming in waves. Sometimes I can have a dry out not getting any of the heroes or items I need or want for 2-3 months and suddenly get a bunch of everything in a week or two.
What keeps me going, when I feel that the RNG is a curse, is being in an awesome alliance and a great community in this game and keep on working and making the best of what I have got.
Julia, you hit it on the head. My wonderful alliance family, they are the best. And one of the main reasons I play as much as I do! Lol. I feel blessed to be with them all.
And look, you’ve all helped so much! I’m back to my usual positive self. If I could, I’d end this thread. Thanks for all the responses and good luck.
I’ve been playing from February and I’m C2P player, usually spend on VIP and gem offers during monthly events. This is first mobile game I spent some money on and first I’ve been playing so long… First thing I learned - patience. You have to be patient with this game… After 9 months in game I only collected 4 5* heroes, none of them yet maxed. I have 2x tc20 but I don’t run them, only griding low lvl heroes, because I do not rush to get all 5* there are in game, my goal is to lvl as much 4* as I can so I can have decent teams for AW (and if you overburn with 5* sooner or later you will run out of AM) and you can only frustrate over them not being maxed… So find good and fun alliance (I’m currently in alliance where we meet up for drinks at least once a month) and take it slow… It’s only a game - it should be fun, not frustrating and unpleasant experience…
I don’t understand why people say the game is unfair… Where would the fun be if everyone had 30 maxed 5* heroes after 6 month? I think that the fact that good things come so slow makes the game great. If I got a 5* every day I would not feel any joy at all about getting them. I’m f2p and my 4* team kicked so many 5* teams that I can’t even count so high. Got as high as Diamond Arena using no 5* hero. And I had a lot of fun doing it. Of course, if I payed money for it, losing could be frustrating. But this way the only thing I lose are the flags 
I have had bad days in this game. 6 months ago I was very close to quit! Usually those happens, when you have bad luck long time. 
But luck can chance! 
Sometimes I wish, that I could go back to that time, when pulling Belith from summon gate was awesome!
I usually try make some personal goals and I’m super glad, when I reach those. Some are small like I need to catch that team members lvl. Some are big like I want to be ranked 1.
Alcohol helps…
In the title of this thread stands " the game seems unfair" which can happen after a streak of bad luck.