I'm really enjoying it as j said earlier. I do dislike how you can't jack your gem back, esp if it's a big one. Although that makes it challenging, which I'm starting to like. Thanks for the trick, I always put low gems in ( if I have ) and if they steal them and I have only a few minutes to go I put a bigger one in! It's an amazing game and I really don't mind the fermium aspect. The keys do run out but you can watch and ad to get 2 more. Not sure if that runs out but I've been able to do it like 10 times so far. We need more players. Sometimes I get " no opponents " or I get put up against some high level raiders. I also get raided by high levels based off their customs.
So it's sounding like there are play timers, while also "featuring" other players' ability to steal from you? Uhm, yeah. No. I love Zeptolab, but I can see how this ends up deleted before even bothering to download it... lol DBC
I just ran into a problem. I'm basically just beginning. I got the notification that my dungeon was broken into and I got the gem back. Then I was looking at my totem and it said something like "your dungeon was broken into. Let's upgrade your locks to make that harder." There was a yellow arrow pointing near the bottom of my gems but there was nothing there to click. I tried clicking around everywhere and nothing. I restarted the game and it went away but now I cannot figure out how to upgrade the lock!
Enjoyed playing it these few hours, but the ****ing free to play model.. And the Super Meat Boy rip-off make's me wanna delete it, although I really fancy stealing other player's gems. God damn timers, *delete* I hope Team Meat can sue them, got a feeling this is a major rip off from their game mechanics only with another template on top of it.
Pay to Win Here's my take. The art style is great. Gameplay is solid. The way you have to set up your base is really well done. You need to complete it twice in a row in order to save the layout so you have to make it hard but at the same time, doable for your enemies. But here's where things go south. The fremium style is horrible. The game at this point is basically pay-to-win. You start the game in a league with other players. The goal is to have as many gems of high value as possible. You need to collect them or fight for them to advance to the next league and win prizes. You also need to defend your base to protect yours. Unfortunately, if you pay for diamonds, this becomes trivial. You have lots of overpowered upgrades to help you beat a level (more lives, slow down time, etc.). Even if you beat an enemy's level with 3 stars, there's only a 50% chance to get a gem (it's a spin the wheel minigame). Unless of course you pay with diamonds. In which case you can spin the wheel again. Gems can only be stolen when they're being upgraded to increase their value. As usual you can speed up the process with diamonds. This is a huge problem because unless you're upgrading them, gems are safe from being stolen. This gives paying players a huge advantage. They don't have to worry about losing gems. Besides this, you have a limited amount of gems you can have. So you have to manage those as well. Unless you buy extra space with diamonds. As with most freemium games, you have a timer. The timer in this case are keys which you need to break into an enemy's lair. Again, if you have diamonds, this is a non-issue. Otherwise, waiting is your only option. Which means that some players have an unfair advantage. If you want to adequately defend your base there are lots of options. But again, the best defense traps can only be acquired by... yeah, diamonds. Last but not least you have the outfits that give you bonuses (increase gold drop, or higher chances to get a gem). And you guessed it, if you have diamonds, you can easily get the most powerful ones and upgrade them infinitely. This wouldn't be a problem if there were no leagues. But to advance to the next one you have to be placed in the Top 3 of your league. So if you can beat levels with ease, have extra gem space, have no waiting times, you can upgrade gems instantly, have better defense and bonuses, then you have an almost guaranteed first spot. All in all, the game is good. But it's basically a cash grab that benefits greatly the paying players. Something that Zeptolab unfortunately has been prone to do lately. Very sad.
Seems like a lot of people are really not enjoying this one, " I also very much dislike fremium pay models" but this bad boy right here has a lot going for it. - I am about half way through campain and have not been pushed to Iap and I'm doing fine -this game is highly enjoyable for those that enjoy creating mini lvls " that's how I look at it" - the attacking is done via old school platfoming style - you control every move! None of this place a retarded ai and see if he does his job style play. Every jump, stall, and cring biting dungeon run has me feeling like I just beat an old school lvl of mega man. - awesome strategy and lvl design capabilitys Some of these are opinions some, are more factual. it's free if you don't like it just delete it after. But I think you should atleast try it as its not as typical as the immediate surface shows. Plus I need more gems to steal!!
this game is really good despite it being free. the only IAP is for gems to speed things up so you don't need it. plus it's good for short burst not for long gameplat so that's a plus. the graphics are charming looks like pudding monsters actually it's pretty fun raiding other people of their gems gameplay video coming soon!
IAP is not needed in my experience. I am only on my second dungeon but I've done fine just sticking with using coins to buy things and saving up my premium currency for further down the track when I'll probably use them for a better set of traps. If you take the time and have enough skill you can easily make a very difficult room, the key is to keep challenging yourself every time you set your traps, my rooms are passable with a very specific set of timing which I learnt through rigorous testing. Most thieves in my room leave with a pittance due the high death count. It sucks losing good gems but it's a just reward for anyone able to break my defences. Unless they use a potion, they are the only thing that cheapens the experience. EDIT: As I was posting this I was raided, the (would be) thief died 32 times, used one potion to disable a trap and left empty handed when he finally did reach my totem. This is with the cheapest room, so definitely don't need to spend real money to do well if you take the time to set difficult traps.
I understand the skepticism, but I think the timers are balanced well, you can always watch a 20 second video if you need an extra couple of keys so they've never really stopped me if I really wanted to continue playing. Otherwise it's easy to raid a few rooms, then come back in an hour and do a bit more. Players can only steal gems that you try to upgrade, this is just to advance the story really and if you play it smart you can take measures to better protect your valuable gems, whether it be by only putting them in when a few minutes are left (as others have pointed out), or by setting smart traps and upgrading them (which costs easy to come by coins). Premium currency is for speeding up timers or buying better traps (which is what I will be eventually using them for). I get a fairly steady, albeit slow, supply of them coming in. I advise give it a try if you're on the fence, I usually avoid freemium games for the same reasons as you but I'm enjoying this one so far
I really like the game, but I absolutely hate the freemium model on display here. I don't think it is pay to win, as I am number one in my league (by a wide margin) and I have not spent a penny on the game yet. I did this by being clever with some traps, to the point where it took me almost an hour to get two completions in a row to save my dungeon. My biggest problem is with the lock picks. As you get higher, they really become an enormous paywall. I have never been forced to watch so many ads in any app ever. At this point it feels like I am just watching ads with some very light gameplay sprinkled in every ten minutes or so. I have kept up with my lock pick max capacity, but even so I will be able to raid once or twice and will have spent my entire supply. To raid again or to do a puzzle level (for quick cash) requires five or six ads, EACH TIME. The ads are thirty seconds a piece. I can't believe I still like this game, because this is the most disgusting freemium model I think I've ever seen. If anyone has any tips on how to make this better, I'd love to hear them.
It's reminiscent of of The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot, and it,s a lot of fun. As annoying as freemium can be to a player, as a developer I understand you have to pay the bills some how. In my opinion freemium really isn't that bad, it just preys upon the impatient is all.
I think a lot of people don't understand what I meant by pay to win. You can be sucessful by skill alone. You can win a league without any money. You can pretty much do anything if you're good. That is not the point I was making. The game is still pay to win. It means that you can suck at it and still come out ahead of skilled players. King of Thieves gives you ample opportunity to do this, as long as you pay. This is the essence of the term. The fact that you can buy upgrades, outfits, power-ups, respins, keys and gems means that you can win without fighting anyone (you can just spawn gems infinitely from the mine and you can upgrade them instantly so no one will steal them). Yes, most people haven't encountered people like this so far, because players are't emotionally invested in it yet but if the game is sucessful, this will become a problem. Top guilds and top players will be the ones that pay for it. Just like Clash of Clans. This can easily be solved by a few changes. Respins should be banned. If you suck at a level, you can't just buy your luck. Also, using powerups should give you a reduced chance to steal a gem. If you buy help, then it's because you can't clear a level and shouldn't get the same chance as people that can do it. Of course, this will never happen, because Zeptolab knows that this is what will make them money.
yeap, i take back my previous statement, and deleted it. Why? Because when upgrades start to cost upwards of 20.000 gold, there is the paywall. Because you struggle to find another base losing gold in the process, you manage to gather 10.000 if you are lucky, and by then you are out of locks. So you have to wait to get them back, and while you wait, you get raided, and start back with 1 or 2.000 gold, and you start again. reach 10.000, out of locks, wait, get raided etc etc.
And this 110% It's such a shame a beatiful game like this is so ####ed up. My idea how to do it better? Keep the lock picks. The idea of lock picks itself is pretty fun. So you can keep that. When people run out of lock picks, give them an option to refill them. That option is to watch a video ad. This way you are still sure people will watch ads ingame AND people actually keep playing because the ads are not so annoying anymore. Let me explain it a bit, below is an example of how it is now: Player has 12 lock picks, with 12 lock picks you sometimes can only raid 2 or 3 enemies. After that, they are forced to watch ads for 2 lock picks. That's most of the time 2 or 3 ads for each raid. So in a short conclusion: if a player (around level 8) wants to raid 5 players, he needs to watch 6 video ads (15+ seconds). Only for 5 raids. Developer, that is way too much. A LOT of players will surely delete the game after a few days. You don't want that, so change it before it's too late and you are not featured on the app store anymore. So take that chance. This is how you should do it: So again, the player has 12 lock picks and he can raid 2/3 enemies with that. After his/her lock picks are gone, give them an option to watch a video ad to refill max lock picks. Yes, not just 2 like it is now. Then the player can raid 2 or 3 players again. This seems fair. In a short conclusion. People will play more, still watch ads and don't get annoyed with video ads every raid. This is fair and you still get a nice revenue. AND players won't delete it as fast (just read the commets in this tread, a lot of deletes). Developer, think wisely and save your game before it's too late. Players, if you agree, just quote me.
I'd appreciate the option to remove locks completely. One IAP with fixed price (4,99€? 6,99€, 9,99€?), I don't care, just the possibility to get rid of ads and this "feature" preventing you from playing. And that's it. Zeptolab made a huge mistake to go with freemium mechanics. As I wrote earlier, it was one of my favorite developers and I bought everything from them. This game had so much potential but instead of making great game they just ruined it with freemium model. I just don't understand how anyone is willing to accept any game with limited energy which forcing you to wait instead of keep playing as much as possible. It's against any good sense. Anyway, if there's an IAP added in the future I'd be more than happy to redownload the game and try again but until then? Thanks, but no thanks.
