Why I'm leaving Empires & Puzzles

Except that everyone keeps stating you are playing another opponent, you are NOT.

    1. The attacker is generally smarter than the AI. As the attacker, you can choose how to play the board. Do you want to work one side to avoid charging mana on the other? Can you create a diamond or a shield? Do you want to match a vertical column of tiles to only charge one opponent, or go horizontally to charge 3 a little bit each? Do you want to explode a diamond or wait? Do you want to ghost tiles to charge your specials?

The AI both creates the board AND operates the enemy team. If it creates the board it is in the position of setting up what you can and canā€™t do in the game. Yes, there are slight differences in how you can play one or the other, but like a card dealer stacking a deck of cards in favour of the dealer, the game can stack the board so that it can know with certainty that it will kill x number of your players before you can kill any of your opponents, by limiting the damage you can inflict on your opponents.

Iā€™ve had boards where i literally only had 2 moves, both of which were to attack the same colour as the player, if you start off in that situation, you DO NOT have the option of attacking with either a strong enough attack in the first place, or being able to build up your own mana before youā€™ve already built up your opponentā€™s mana. So before you make any moves, if you look at the board you can work out and see that you will do little damage, and which opponent will build up mana. The only thing you canā€™t predict is which of your characters the mana will be used to attack (or if itā€™s a healer, to heal), but you know that before you even get a chance to kill one of your opponentā€™s characters, x number of yours will already be dead. Thatā€™s why i say the board is rigged.

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If that is the case, why is it that any skilled player can generally win about 75-80% of their raids? Iā€™ve had players in my alliance take those tips, start using them, and go from losing 75% to winning 75%, consistently. Iā€™ve seen them jump 300-400 trophies in a couple of days.

Do bad boards happen? Sure. In my experience, I generally get about 1 bad board in 10, and about 1 stellar board in 10. The rest are more or less average. The thing that separates a winner from a whiner is how they try to turn a bad or mediocre board into a winnable one.

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No, it doesnā€™t. The boards are random (as has been discussed to death elsewhere), and what we call the ā€˜AIā€™ is just a simple algorithm that selects which of your team members to hit with your opponentā€™s attacks and specials as soon as they become available. It canā€™t control when hits and specials become available - you do that, with your board. And you will have noticed that its target choices are predictable and usually bad. Calling it AI is generous to a fault. Artifical Stupidity would be closer to the point.

You should get bad boards sometimes, of course. Sometimes you should have few options, few of the tiles you really want, few ways to win. But as you get better at the game you will find that this happens less often, mostly (I think) because you get to know your own heroes and your opponentsā€™ heroes quite well. There are many ways to win a match and few boards are necessarily fatal, but even now I find one every couple of days that is so bad I lose to a team of marshmallows I should beat with my eyes closed. Good - thatā€™s what should happen with boards that are random.

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The AI in this game is dumb as hell. If you have an alb charged almost killed and a khagan in full health and 3 dead heros there is 50% chance it will attack khagan. So i donā€™t really believe that it is coded to do what yoi said.

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@ElvenArcher

Thank you very much for the lovely compliment :hugs: Sorry for the late reply, I was traveling on vacation, and only getting my titan hits in, no time to read the forumā€¦

Yes, the inexplicable changes in titan damage were also the last straw for me. So I left the lovely top50 alliance where I was playing, and I ā€œwent into retirementā€. I am now comfortably playing in a smaller alliance, hitting smaller titans.

After all, anything anybody needs is loot tier 9. That equals a C on a 9* titan. Anything else is just ā€œnice to haveā€ and for bragging rights. And most definitely not worth farming 24/7 to stock up on items to counteract this recent reduction in titan damage and / or the sudden titan aggressiveness. This is a game, not a job. And it is supposed to be enjoyable, not annoying.

It was interesting to read the other postings in this thread as well. Also the many postings in the thread started by Avicious. Yes, of course, some people will insist that we are all just imagining things. But then, some people used to insist that the earth is flat :grin: I personally ignore such musings.

I myself am happy and content as a ā€œretireeā€, comfortably pottering around in a smaller alliance, and - especially - not bothering with doing more than I need to do.

You see, lately, the game had been telling me very clearly ā€œNo matter what you do, what you spend, how many heroes you level, how much you play, practice and farm, you are still not good enough. Do, spend, level, play, practice, farm more, more, more!ā€ - And after one year of playing quite intensively, I most certainly do not appreciate that. So, I decided to stop this nonsense. And glad I did. :hugs:

When I look around in the raid leaderboard, I can see that quite a number of players are also taking it slowly. To my mind, that is the best - and most enjoyable - course of action. If the game starts to tell you clearly that you are not good enough anyway, then why bother continuing to try? Waste of time, motivation and life energy.

I have got my life back! YEAH!!! :hugs:

Oh, and by the way, I greatly enjoy playing the game again. As a game. For fun.
Not as a race trying to keep up with ever moving goalposts. BIG difference. :blush:

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We fight 11* and 12* titans. I canā€™t remember the last 4* ascension item I got from a titan or a titan chest. Iā€™m usually A or A+ in my alliance. My last 6 special chests were 2* & 3* items. Itā€™s funny I saw Zeroā€™s video on ascending Gregorian and he had 18 tonics. Iā€™ve never seen that many tonics in my whole year+ of playing the game. The only ascension items I get are the ones I have to pay for. The rewards from the new special titans are a joke. I have removed my credit card from iTunes and wonā€™t be spending the same as I have done. Itā€™s really a pity as I really enjoy the raiding and the titans.

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@KiwiDave
Let me tell you: 12* titans are much too costly for the rewards they drop. The ROI on these things is terrible. Not worth the effort.

All you ever need it loot tier 9.
3 rolls at ascension items.
Everything above that is terrible ROI.

And any titan that can one-shot a maxed 4* hero (e.g. Wu), with, e.g., bomb attack active, is just nonsense.

Good for alliance score. Good for bragging rights. But much too costly for the individual player. And more and more players are finding this out.

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I bet he also had won a lot of them from events and maybe some from offers, you canā€™t compare your drop rates with orhers if you doesnā€™t know how that tonics were obtainedā€¦

I havenā€™t seen an event which drops tonics. (I may be wrong) My comment still stands. I havenā€™t seen 18 tonics in the year+ I have been playing and despite fighting top level titans the loot drops are horrible.

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Shrikewood gives a sturdy shield on level 4 and a tonic on level 5. It comes around 6x per year.

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Sorry I was replying to event. Of course the quest gives a tonic.

@AnjaValkyrie no worries on your delay - we all have lives to lead.

I was quite sad to see you drop into retirement because of the cheerfulness and positivity of your posts. Iā€™m glad you found a point at which you can be happy. Iā€™m pleased that I can still quietly stroll through the forums and stumble upon your posts. I do hope to one day sample the German beer you stock your watchtower with. When I do, Iā€™ll leave a selection of the finest microbrews the US Pacific Northwest has to offer in a chest with your name on it. :rofl:

Honestly, if you ever decide to jump to a different alliance, I have a newbie/feeder alliance and one where we work 7 & 8* titans, with the occasional 9* fouling the fair lawns of our kingdom. I would be honored if you chose to join us. PM me if you are interested and Iā€™ll give you directions to our front gate. :wink: No harm no foul if you donā€™t.

As for the thread, which has unfortunately fallen into the hands of evil minions who want to debate or proclaim their fan boy/girl status rather than voice concerns about the state of the game, I am at a crossroads because of how much I care about everyone in my alliances. They are family in the truest sense other than blood. I donā€™t know how I can abandon them. People as good as those in my alliance deserve my full loyalty.
Quite possibly, the farthest I can go since it appears SG has made no attempt to correct the titan boards or their inexplicable self-recusal from the most basic rule of the game - elemental strengths - is to spend no further money.

Cheers to you @AnjaValkyrie and to all those posting their opinions on the state of the game!

@Rook, @Coppersky, since the posts here have fallen into a bickering disarray, I have no complaint if the topic is closed to new posts. I leave the decision in your capable hands. (look under the mat where a few gems await)

Elven Archer

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Iā€™ll close the thread for now. When I get back from vacation Iā€™m likely going to try reopening the thread and moderate it more closely. :slight_smile:

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