Played Clash of Clans for 2 years before playing Pokémon Go for 2 years before I played this game in May 2018. I left CoC because it has limited facets in the game and it got boring, especially when you are raided to the point of losing most of your resources hoarded for you to level up some structures. I left Pokémon Go because I can’t truly enjoy the game within the comfort of my home. Catching the same Pokémon over and over and over again just to gain dust and candies are not that eventful. Based on a fellow coworker whom I played with CoC who is still at it since 2015, I miss only a few significant changes since I left, adding only a few max level to the Stronghold. Pokémon Go also only offer little significant changes.
E&P is the first mobile game I spent some money with early on. Back then, as a newbie, I already was awed on how very rich and diverse this game was, i.e. collecting hero cards and troops and leveling them, story map stages, raids, titans, wars, base building management, missions, crafting, training, etc. merged into a match 3 puzzle game. And as time goes by, more contents were added to the point that you need to be selective on which events to focus on in order not to be overwhelmed with everything in the game.
A fellow alliance mate of mine here in E&P has played this game in the latter part of 2017. He is purely F2P from the start. He may not have the best heroes in the game, only peppered with some HOTMs and event heroes and some costumed legendaries, but he manages to find synergy in them, besting us always in war scores in certain instances despite the limitation of his roster of heroes. Since he joined us in the alliance in 2019, he served as an inspiration how to play the game for free, quoting the age-old adage that the best things in life are free. Respecting pay and cheap to win players since they are also vital to the devs and game development, he explained that though some might think that this game needs money for a player to truly progress, that is not certainly true according to him. Paying costumers are not even assured of getting the heroes they want, and if they do, it is just a matter of perspective. He always thought that those paying clients in the game only get to play the heroes earlier than F2Ps. And that having the best heroes does not translate to a win. He questions what kind of winning was it since they are the ones losing money chasing heroes. Raids? You need first to solve the puzzle of the boards. Wars? Same with raids and dependent also with how the other members also fare in the puzzle solving hurdle in their war hits. Challenge events? They are also spending some real money there.
I tend to agree. There is really no winnings when you chase heroes spending hundreds or thousands of bucks. They are only pixels and programs and you can’t even own them in real life. And lest we forget, they may also be nerfed at any time by the devs. I don’t care anymore if they have Garnets, Black Knights, Beras, Freyas, Killhares, Odins, Frigg, Jabberwocks, costumed Kadilen, Heimdall, Alfrike, Cobalt, Onyxes or whoever those prized legendaries. They still can be beaten. It may take some time, but they can be regularly beaten soon. At least F2Ps didn’t spend a dime getting those prized heroes owned by P2Ps only to be beaten by S1 heroes owned by F2Ps.