NOTE from @zephyr1: This thread is a work in progress, and will be added to. Please feel free to share feedback on it below, thanks!
If youâre new to the Forum, first off, hi, and welcome! 
And if youâre a routine reader of the Forum, then you know that discussion about the fairness of various game elements is a frequent and popular topic. 
This thread will help guide you to the right place to ask for help, learn new information, or vent and voice frustrations/complaints.
This is an index of some of the most popular topics, providing an easy way for Forum members to find the right information and discussions to join in.
Threads included below cover venting, praise, recommended strategies for overcoming obstacles, and data tracking projects related to common complaints and frustrations.
The threads are grouped by topic, and are limited to those that have achieved widespread engagement, as judged by popularity rankings by the forum software, as well as longevity of activity and number of comments. New threads will be added periodically, as befitting the criteria.
Introduction for New Forum Visitors: What the Forum is All About
Click for Overview of the Forum
The Forum is mostly for player peer support.
This is a great place to:
-
Get recommendations on strategy and hero leveling, or learn new and deeper information about the game
-
Share an accomplishment
-
Find a new alliance, or recruit new members for yours
-
Joke around with fellow players
The Forum can also be a venue for venting and sharing frustrations â but you should know your audience.
Itâs totally fine to vent/complain here too, but youâre mostly doing so to fellow players. We donât write the software, nor design the game.
(If you want to talk to the Small Giant Games Staff, you need to Contact Support.)
So as fellow players, we canât do much with venting/complaining other than listen and empathize.
But often weâve experienced the same frustrations, and can relate â and even better, we can help!
Be Mindful of the Forum Rules
The Forum Rules require civility between players â remember, this is a Community Forum, and youâre responsible for your appropriate conduct.
In particular, when expressing frustrations, remember that youâre speaking with fellow players, and avoid any insults, name calling, personal attacks, or other uncivil or inappropriate conduct toward other players.
Overcoming Obstacles
Many elements of this game can drive you batty â Summons, boards, War, Raids, slow progress.
In fact itâs kind of a guarantee that it does for everyone at some point.
But thereâs TONS of knowledge here, and lots of other players who are eager to help you if you just ask! 
Click for How to Use the Forum
Why Cant I Create New Topics?
If youâre new to the Forum, you need to meet very basic usage criteria before you can start a new thread, rather than commenting on an existing one. This thread covers what those criteria are.
Forum Help Available Here!
This is the thread to post in if you have questions about how to use the Forum itself.
Formatting posts
This is a guide to formatting your posts on the Forum, to improve communication of your ideas and questionsâŚif you actually want anyone to read them. 
Topics
Frustrations As a Newer Player
Click to Expand
Advice for New Players, or "All the things I wish someone had told me when I first started."
Worst mistake you've made in-game? (Serious Mistakes)
Hero Summoning
Click to Expand
Vent & Discuss
These are the most popular threads for complaining or venting about how Summons work, and discussing the Summons system.
[VENT & DISCUSS] Summons are ridiculous - Summons MASTER
[VENT & DISCUSS] Give me something for my money, SG
[VENT & DISCUSS] RNG Taken Too Far!
Solutions
Ultimately, Summons work how they work, and we have to accept that as players. But these threads offer insights into how to approach that reality.
[GUIDE] What exactly is a Gacha? (Read before posting things about "unfair pulls")
This post is the go-to source for understanding the basic nature of random-draw based game elements, like Summoning in Empires and Puzzles. This is one of the top 10 most viewed threads since its publication, and is highly recommended reading for all players.
[GUIDE] How much should I spend?- HotM cost, and odds, analysis
A fantastic and concise post, with insights into the cumulative odds of getting (or not getting) a HOTM [Hero of the Month] in a number of Summons, and guidance on making decisions about your personal budget for Summoning.
[GUIDE] Are the odds of getting a HOTM (Hero of the Month) Different/Same/Better for a 1x or 10x Summons / Single vs. 10 Pull / Individually vs. Ten at Once? [MASTER]
This is a common question, and the answer is that a 10-pull is the equivalent of 10 single pulls â but has the advantage of a discount in gem cost, and the disadvantage that you canât stop if you get what you want before the end of the 10-pull. This thread goes into further detail and discussion, including some repeated explanations about how cumulative probability works.
[OPINION & DISCUSSION] Happy players play for free
This thread starts from the premise that there are a lot of complaints about Summons, and the author would like to stop engaging with them, and focus on being satisfied and enjoying the game. The thread goes on to discuss this topic extensively.
Training Camps
Click to Expand
Training Camp lvl 20 - Results
MASTER THREAD (Solved) - Training Camp Lost food/recruits at withdrawal
Ascension Mats
Click to Expand
Ascension Items for max. Tier
Lack of Ascending Materials?
Ascension Material Tracking and Comparison
List of methods for acquiring unfarmable ascension materials via playing / Where to earn nonfarmable ascension materials through gameplay
Ascension materials - An appeal to quit being so stingy with them MASTER
Board Randomness/Fairness
Click to Expand
Stones' colour distribution is NOT random - MASTER Board Conspiracy
Color Stacking: The Odds
Color Stacking Fairness Project
Suspicious tile colour replacements
Everybody Gets Bad Boards
AI (Artificial Intelligence)
Click to Expand
[DISCUSSION] The AI is Becoming Smarter Again And Again
A frequent observation (and sometimes complaint) is that the AI sometimes appears to be getting smarter, repeatedly targeting healers, Wu Kong, Proteus, weak heroes, or other key heroes on your team. This thread discusses the history of these claims, as well as various player observations.
Alliance Wars
Click to Expand
Matchmaking
Alliance Wars Matchmaking (Discussion & Developer Response) MASTER
Unfair Matches in Alliance Wars
Excellent war!
Alliance wars - matching manipulation
Calculation of Alliance Wars Score â what is War Matchmaking based on? Do trophies, Titan score, or alliance score count? [SPOILER: No.]
This thread covers how War Score is calculated, and thus how Alliance War matchmaking works. Often people think itâs based on a variety of factors that itâs not, so check out this thread for accurate information on how it works.
Enemy Support (Field Aid, Arrow Barrage, Attack Boost)
Can we just get rid of Field Aid already?
Field Aid: A How To
Field aid in wars is broken
[DISCUSSION] Arrow barrage is enough to make you quit the game
A discussion of Arrow Barrage in War, with differing perspectives about its difficulty, a fair number of jokes, and some suggestions of ways to do better in Wars with it.
[DISCUSSION] Attack Boost is Not Enough To Make Me QuitâŚbut I think it could be better
Started mostly for completeness after threads existed on Field Aid and Arrow Barrage, this thread points out some potential improvements to Attack Boost, and buries a few useful insights amidst mostly joking posts.
Raids
Click to Expand
Raids are unfair, but not for the reasons you think - Raids MASTER
Ultimate Raid Strategy Tips for the Casual Player
What I Learned When I Lost All My Trophies
Stones' colour distribution is NOT random - MASTER Board Conspiracy
Raids: fair or unfair?
Raids Suck
[COMMUNITY] Fighting familiar names
As a fun community activity, players share their teams and results from Raids against fellow Forum members that they know and recognize. Some players share screenshots, and some even share videos of their Raids or Revenges, particularly if a player tags them to give them a heads up.
Epic Hero Token & Epic Troop Token Frequency
Click to Expand
No Epic Troop Token or Epic Hero Token in the Last Month / Fewer Epic Tokens Lately / Drop Rate for Epic Tokens Decreasing / Did you get any Epic Tokens lately? / Epic Tokens Gone/Missing [MASTER]
A lot of people frequently say that drop rates for Epic Hero Tokens and Epic Troop Tokens have suddenly/recently dropped â of course, people seem to constantly be saying this, and the developers have directly stated that they havenât altered the drop rates, so itâs probably just RNG. But if you want to see what others have to say, or share your experience, this is the thread for you!
Chest Loot & Frequency
Click to Expand
What happened to Elemental chest loot?
Farming to Fill Special Elemental Chests
P
What am I doing wrong?- Where are my Elemental chests?
Elemental Chest Frequency - days tracking and results > estimated between 4 to 16 days
Opening Chests - Discussion
Show me your rewards
The Ridiculous Bragging thread
Titan Chests
Titan Loot
Click to Expand
Titans: Grades, Loot Tiers, and You
Show me your rewards
The Ridiculous Bragging thread
Mystic Vision
Click to Expand
Mystic Vision - donât stop believing
Ingredient Farming
Click to Expand
The Big Problem as I See It
Mai's Guide to Efficient Farming â List of best lvls to farm monster, different resources, wanted missions and XP
Am I the only person who has serious difficulty getting enough Midnight Roots?
Challenge Events
Click to Expand
Memento 5 Events
Challenge Events Feedback
Dear Developers (regarding Special Events)
Balancing the Challenge Event rewards
Fix challenge tiers
Rare Quests
Memento QuestsRegular Quests
Class Trials & Emblems
Click to Expand
Memento Heroes Classes and Quests
The new class Quests will give only 3400xp and 12 recruits for 20 energy. Thats too low
Emblem Drop Tracking
Unreasonable Emblem Odds [Developer Response in Post 100]
Seasonal Events
Click to Expand
Memento seasonal events
Springvale 2019: Teams, Strategy, FAQs, Discussion, and Links
I hate the Christmas Heroes
Visual Design
Click to Expand
I hate the Christmas Heroes
Mercing
Click to Expand
Another Attempt to Punish MercsâŚ.Here We Go Again!
Advertising
Contact Support
Click to Expand
How to Contact Support (v1.9.7 onwards)
This provides instructions on how to contact Support from within the game. The Forum itself is primarily for player peer support, so if youâre looking to get in touch with Staff who actually work for Small Giant Games, or to address any account issues, youâll need to contact Support directly, as no one on the Forum can help with that.
General & Multi-Topic
Click to Expand
Shortlist of Frequent Requests (Ruled Out & Considering - Please Read Before Posting!)
This game is fair and worth the money I have spent, and I intend to keep spending
Game is Being NERFED to DEATH
Sharing our concerns and hopes (Foreign Languages)
Game Is Now Falling Apart. Players Still Leaving
Time for me to go & my parting feedback
One last letter to devs: Why Iâm quitting
A letter to the devs - Iâm not quitting so letâs talk direction
Iâm NEVER coming back! See you tomorrow! Vent thread
The Ridiculous Bragging thread
Just for Fun
Click to Expand
The Ridiculous Complaints thread (satire)
The Ridiculous POLL thread
The Feline Fans of E&P 
Puppy power! The Dog Devotees of E&P 
Worst mistake youâve made in-game?
Fun with @discobot
[COMMUNITY] 
A Player By Any Other Name⌠Where does your Game Name/Forum Name come from?
[COMMUNITY] Fighting familiar names
As a fun community activity, players share their teams and results from Raids against fellow Forum members that they know and recognize. Some players share screenshots, and some even share videos of their Raids or Revenges, particularly if a player tags them to give them a heads up.
[COMMUNITY] You know youâve been playing Empires too much when
A long-running joke thread completing the phrase, âYou know youâve been playing Empires too much whenâŚâ Read what others have said, and add your own!
[COMMUNITY] Vivica, Elena, Joon and Khagan walk into a barâŚthe Awful Jokes thread
Bad puns, juvenile jokes, and overused tropes make up the posts in this thread. So awful that theyâre great! âŚor maybe just terrible. 
[COMMUNITY] I can be your hero, baby 
- hero names in songs
Heroes in song lyrics
. Thank you!
