Thank you very much and look forward to the save function to be added in the 2nd update. Till then I make sure to do as you instructed.
This is what I mean, btw. If I had grinded more and saved up more gold before this run, I could have afforded all these items that would have helped quite a bit. http://www.appunwrapper.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/img_6836.png
And I probably would have. I guess it's just the way I approach games. I'm not in any way meaning to naysay you but I can't come to terms with why that's bad. Even while still upgrading I try to hold back some coins for my next run. It doesn't feel abnormal to me.
It's a flaw in the game design to have a high score chaser in which 10 hours of grinding for gold ahead of time gives you a huge leg up. It's like IAPs for gold, just you get to save your money and eat up your time instead. I mean, clearly it's by design as they show in the App Store screenshots of heroes with $10,000 at tavern 4. Which makes it even more surprising to me than it simply being an oversight.
I see that and you made me realize that there might just be too much money in the game. I have upgraded two characters completely and the other two are about 75% upgraded. That's after just 5 or 6 hours of playing over the last 3 or 4 days. And I've had plenty of runs where I've spent all of my coins in game on power ups. If the game gave out fewer coins then you would be forced to choose were the best place is to spend them and grinding would be such a chore it would not be a desirable strategy.
I'll just bow out after this because I think we're just never going to see eye to eye. I don't think grinding should be a strategy (desirable or not -- it's not desirable for me right now or ever) or any part of a high score chaser. Each game should be self-contained so the choices you make and the matches you make in that specific game (and a huge helping of randomness/luck, obviously) are what affects your score, not the hours you did or didn't waste ahead of time.
One small request: would it be possible to add a toggle for faster battle animation to speed things up just a bit?
It just seems like you acknowledge there's a problem but prefer bandaids instead of a simple, clean fix. FWIW, I think the hero upgrades are silly, too. I like that you unlock them by reaching a certain tavern, but why not just have them all at the max stats since once again it's just a matter of saving your gold for a few games. What's the point? But at least those are finite, so it's a limited amount of grinding. IMO, this game would be super solid if they just wipe the leaderboards, do away with the cumulated coins (each game you start with 0), have all heroes unlock at max instead of the pointless upgrade system, and add separate leaderboards for each character. The unlimited equipment space could either stay or go if those changes are made. I think either would be fine, since you wouldn't be able to afford every piece anyway. (And now that it's been mentioned, I'd also love a way to speed up animations.)
At the beginning I completely disagreed with your assessment that grinding was a problem. By talking to you I've come to understand why it is an issue and offer my take on what might help. Again I'm not a puzzle game player so my solutions may not be the best way to fix the issue for this puzzle game but I haven't seen any solid non bandaid solutions offered up yet. How would you fix the game? Edit: you edited your post before I finished mine. I see your answer and it makes sense.
I had it in my screen for a long time before posting. At work so I had to put my phone down for a while.
I complete agree with everything except for getting rid of the character upgrades. It was the first thing I liked about this game. The idea that you upgrade your character little bits at a time to get further and further in a game through multiple play throughs is pretty much the definition of a rogue-like. If you remove that it just a puzzle game. I would be ok with a system where you get points based on how well you play that can be used for upgrades. That lends itself better to stats with actual number ratings instead of the 1 - 5 stat system we have here but it could work. But to be clear, I completely agree that coins should not carry over from game to game.
Maybe I don't play enough roguelikes, but when they have permanent upgrades, aren't there usually options? Like which stat to increase or which item to keep with you? So each player's choices have an impact. If it were something like that and you had a limited number of stat points you can use anywhere (with a respec to try out different builds), sure. But what's the point in upgrades that everyone will have after a few hours of play? Just skip the grind.
Yep, you are right. Those upgrades are more meaningful in actual rogue-likes and in this game it's just a facade to pander to people like me who like upgrading stuff in games . Perhaps it could be their special abilities that get upgraded. With skill points derived show how from your score.
I did top the leaderboards in my third game, so I don't think grinding is particularly necessary. Also I was able to buy almost everything I wanted as I went along, so maybe if you grind a lot you'll be able to pick up a few more early items but I don't feel like I was significantly in the hole. Although I didn't swap active items much, and it's 100 gp a pop each time you discard one. Will there be possible additional character classes? Would love to see a necromancer who has a chance to take a killed enemy monster in make it a zombie protector of my wall.
I also don't understand why cloud saves only transfer between like devices. The game is universal so it's not like there is a specific iPhone or iPad version. At a guess I would think the majority of people would have an iPad and iPhone, rather than two of each, actively playing the same game.
