After some more days ready to say this game is a winner. By all appearances they are doing a great job of walking the tightrope of maintaining the depth that, when done right, makes this broad genre so compelling, still keeping it accessible, and avoiding the wheel spinning tropes that drag down so many games in this genre (even ones that are otherwise solid). Depthwise we have: - The standard 5 unit elements: Leaf, Fire, Water, Light, Dark - The standard triangle + bar of Leaf -> Water -> Fire -> Leaf + Dark <-> Light - The familiar unit fusion and evolution that is present in almost all of these games - Turnbased combat with unit initiative based on their speed (fast units go first, normal go second, slow go last) - In addition to the elemental matters, there are numerous unit types, active abilities, and passive abilities that force you to think about whom to target with which unit, whether to concentrate fire or not, when to use active abilities, etc. Casual Concession and/or Avoidance of Tedious Tropes: - Elements are only a bonus, never a direct negative, i.e. Fire still does full damage when attacking Water - There is no need to level up the evolution ingredients (how I hate this trope of fuse and fight games, it's enough hurdle to have us collect them in the first place) - No need to level any mobs before fusing. As far as I can tell, with non-material mobs, you always get back less than you put in, and the material mobs provide a fixed, flat amount of XP, so you lose everything you put in if you try that haha - Has a toggle for autocombat so you can mindlessly farm lower level dungeons for drops - All drops for a particular dungeon are listed from the splash screen for the dungeon The freemium elements seem very well balanced so far and not something that should make any but the rabid haters upset. You have your requisite stamina system - 1 point every 10 minutes to a cap determined by your player level - and Dungeons each having a "balanced" cost to tackle. You've got your premium currency (green gems) that are used for continues, randomized summons (with 2 tiers), refilling stamina, and expanding your inventory - really standard stuff in this genre. The summons are, likewise, nothing egregious. Although the 300 green gem summons is the only place you are promised to get 4 & 5 star mobs (I have pulled 4 star mobs from the coin summons, schwing), the end level bosses can and do drop, so you can get great mobs without spending. As for the premium currency, each time you conquer a dungeon for the first time there's a decent amount of the premium gem currency awarded. They are also doled out in smaller amounts as daily login rewards. While the rate you accrue them slows as the rate you tear through new dungeons slow, they are still fairly generous. I've been able to upgrade my inventory past the point of being comfy without issue so far, pull off a premium summons, and still have enough green gems that I'm weighing whether to perform another premium summons or use it for replenishing my energy to play more (and leaning towards energy since there are a lot of 4 star mobs available as drops in game or even from the coin summons). Did some googling today and found this article: http://www.polygon.com/2014/9/18/6370757/age-of-empires-dev-makes-collectible-rpg-you-can-play-in-10-minutes So, seems like everything we've been noticing about the game is intentional XD
Hey! I know you! =) I agree with everything you said. This has gone from me almost ignoring, to being my favorite in it's genre (that includes PAD). I am almost at my 3rd 300 crystal summons just from playing the normal game. Great game; totally fair and fun. EDIT: Anyone know why I can't select any of my characters but my starting archer as the one to share with friends? If this is limited for some reason, how can you tell?
Got him after a couple of tries, and then leveled him up to evolve him. He takes 2-3 star purple eve materials and 1-2 star. Unfortunately, I wasted 1 of my 3 stars and it took a while to farm it. Now that he is evolved, he is even more amazing.
Indeed, "your" troop is still thriving - came on here to get away from stressing over the round of kicks the current event is going to cause I think this is a bug in the current build. I can't select anyone but my starter either. Clearly doesn't make sense so assuming they didn't finish the feature. There's a fair number of minor bugs (e.g stamina meter doesn't replenish when you level your player up at the dungeon screen - need to exit the dungeon screen and re-enter to use the reloaded energy), and while this is a little more significant, not game breaking. The fun and beauty of soft launches
Sigh. I've probably killed that guy 40 times I just can't get the rare drop. Did get a nice 4/5 star guy from the gem pull though
So I beat the second epic boss several days ago, and the next land didn't unlock. Gitch or endgame for now? I am leveling up and evolving heroes (have my first 5*!) but there are no new lands or daily events that I can see (after goblin ended). Hope they update soon...
Just hopped onto this game today and it was fun while the energy lasted... ha. Is it better to burn your gems on 100 gem rolls or save for the 300 gem rolls? Seeing as some folks have gotten characters that can evolve to 5 stars I was leaning towards the 100 gem rolls. I added a few folks, IGN: Piscinarii
I only pulled 300 gem ones, since the gem rollout is generous. I pulled 4 or 5 potential 5 stars. Unfortunately I got a couple duplicates. I also pulled a couple 4 star ones.
Anyone figure out how to get around the crashing bug? I minimized the app while a dungeon was loading and now it crashes every time. Tried rebooting phone and reinstalling..
got a 3/5 star hero from the coin pull, though I imagine that is pretty rare its nice to know it can do it
