Continuing the discussion from PROPOSAL - New Building: Alchemy Lab:
First, lets acknowledge that the motivation behind the Alchemy lab is to gain higher level ascension materials (AM’s) easier than is currently possible. I have only been playing for a few weeks and have came to the forum primarily to find out how to find the higher level AM’s, the ones marked as “This item can be received as a reward from Wanted Mission, Titan Battles and Challenge Events”. After all, I’ve been completing wanted mission but have only found a couple of these items so far. Apparently these items are only available from the Elemental wanted missions or high level Titans and are very hard to come by. I have discovered an almost palpable sense of frustration coming from people posting on this forum and can understand it.
I do like the idea of an Achemy lab but feel it needs a different focus than the high level AM’s. I think an Alchemy lab should be available as an advanced building (available at Stronghold 10 from converting another building) and should convert from researched recipes from low level materials (both AM’s and ingredients) to higher level materials. The trick will be in balancing the recipes to ensure that it still difficult to craft the higher level materials while enabling the developer to maintain some degree of monetisation. I think something like 20 of one level ingredient plus the number 2^level to craft one ingredient of the next level. Eg; 20 common herbs plus 1 gem to make 1 potent leaf. Similarly 20 leather armour and 4 gems to create 1 chainmail.
I think the game developers need to fix the AM issue both by increasing the odds to find these materials where they can be found and increasing hte scope of their occurence. For example, rather then only being available only in the elemental wanted missions, include them as a chance to occur in all the other wanted missions as well. Give them a chance to appear from a low level Titan as well as a higher level Titan (though the odds should increase for the higher level Titans, of course).
While I wouldn’t deny the developer their chance of monetising a game which can be played for free, I think they are going overboard with their pricing and ascension difficulty. An nice example is a current featured purchase - 600 gems for a Fire Ascension pack to get 2 of 8 possible materials, only half of which are the high level AM’s. What are the odds of getting the good items and not just receiving 2 of the low level AM’s that we already have hundreds of?
Which brings me to another point - I really dislike monetisation where everything is randomised. Make it possible to purchase specific items for a reasonably low price. Trying to force the players to spend hundreds of dollars of real money to advance in a game designed for just a phone is almost insulting, especially when top quality games for a full PC/console are available for much less. It comes back to value for money, what value is the developer giving the player for the money they spend. I enjoy the game and have spent a bit of money on it, but not much. Nor will I spend a lot of money on it, I will just find some other game to play that I fnd enjoyable when this one gets tiresome and I believe most players feel the same way.
Apologies for the ‘essay’. I hope my thoughts on what the Alchamy lab should be are considered seriously.