Guest posts by xathil

1

General Discussion / Re: Ask a simple question, get a simple answer

« on: July 08, 2011, 08:51:50 am »

4 hours is more than 10 fights. probably closer to 50 and that was just for FGs.  regardless. im done for a few weeks. i just tried to get 6 consecutive wins on bronze.... and i couldnt. FML.

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General Discussion / Re: Ask a simple question, get a simple answer

« on: July 08, 2011, 08:36:59 am »

Ugh. I tried the new t500 (first day back after taking a long break) I've won a grand total of 2/12 games. Gave up, tried to farm FGs with (mostly) unupped decks posted. 4 hours of "farming" 0 wins. How do I fail so hard? I'm like 1k electrum down from where i started. I even had to sell some rares to buy some of the cards I needed.  WTF am i supposed to do? the old T50 is gone so I cant farm that. i can barely win in silver rank. What should I do? farm AI3?

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Issue Archive / Re: top 50 broken?

« on: June 14, 2011, 01:11:06 am »

Yeah.. just started trying to play again but after 1 match all i get is blank waiting screens. logging back in seems to do the trick... for ONE game.... looks like I'm just gonna have to grind Ai5 until this gets fixed.

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General Discussion / Re: i am almost ashamed of the kongregate community right now

« on: June 11, 2011, 10:57:09 am »

xathil, you have this silly assumption that Elements is all about upgrades and playing AI.
If you are in to that stuff, then you can spend a lot of time doing that.
However, what is more fun is competitive PvP, which is mostly unupgraded and requires almost no grinding time.
So I'm really not sure why you think grinding is an important part of Elements. It isn't unless you want it to be.

It's silly insofar as I treat elements as another game i play. casually, maybe a few hours a day, maybe once every few days depending on my mood. Tyrants is good about that. I have an energy bar and a stamina bar. It takes me less than 20 minutes to completely drain both even at my slowest and at some point the "mandatory" grinding stops. Elements? If you want to be "involved" you need to a) join the forums b) wait for events to happen c) play regularly.

Weekend tournaments are mostly unupped? Great. Unfortunately weekends are also my busiest times because I do have a social life. Be it board games, a movie, dinner/lunch etc. Weekends are when I spend my time socially. I do all the anti social stuff like play elements in the dead of night or when I have down time during the week. Weekend tournaments dont work for me.
Likewise, things like WoE require too much time to setup, prepare for. Time I simply dont have. I'm sure it works great for anyone that does participate but my schedule isn't one that allows it. WoE's "show up at least every 2 days" for battles just doesn't work for me. Sure I know im not going to be in battles all the time. But I also dont have the same amount of free time (or mental energy) to keep up with something like that. Between keeping track of a character sheet, moving, and looking for opponents I'm supposed to fight.

If I decide to step away from tyrants? Nothing happens. My defense deck fights on it's own (and wins a good amount too) I simply miss out on exp/gold i could have gotten with my wasted energy/stamina. I'm one of the top 100 players in tyrants probably since I'm in the second highest rated faction (and the ONLY fights we lose are against the highest rated one) my faction IS strong enough to let people decide to take a break... which I did a few weeks ago when i went to Yosemite for a family vacation for 4 days. Unsurprisingly... I was still in my faction. Faction wars last 6 hours at a time. I can show up. I can be sleeping. Someone starts a raid? I can jump right in. I can ignore it. and raids require as much or as little player planning as you would like. You can start a raid and post it in the chat. or you can start a raid, and tell your friends. The line between public raids and private raids is fuzzy enough and they happen often enough that I can join either at a whim. Point being. I can get as involved or withdraw from the game as MUCH or as little as I want with very little notice on tyrants. I play on MY schedule MY terms. All the forums based elements stuff DOESNT allow me that flexibility.

So yes... for me playing the FGs (and thus upgrading cards) seems to be the limit of how much I can play elements. Let me know when there's competitive PVP at MORE times, MORE flexible. If anyone has played MTG drafts at all. Basically like that. They happen when theres enough people for them to happen. Or if they adapt something like the MTG tournament sealed decks. You get your cards (like WoE), then you can just play other people around the same rating.

Anyhow. Let me know when element's "events" stop being player run (which is HIGHLY time consuming for organizers) and gets coded into the game so its flexible for all players. like PVP1 (except with more challenge, better rewards, less bugs/dcs etc) Then sure. Maybe my assumptions aren't so silly after all.

EDIT: and for those who think warbonds are the start and end of tyrants... I highly disagree. I've spent probably 200 or so and I've paid 0 for them. You get WB randomly as you get nymphs from the Oracle and WB are about the same as nymphs. Very useful, very valuable but the game is still VERY much playable without them. And as an entirely free player, I can tell you I can beat players that PAID for most of their decks (you can see it from the cards they have multiples of) I still have an average win rate of about 90%+ on tyrants. I AM one of the top players but I dont buy warbonds and I'm not playing 24/7. Warbonds only give you a VERY small SHORT term advantage that smart, long term playing will eventually overshadow. Honestly I feel warbonds are probably one of THE better free2play mechanisms designed so far out of all the games I've played (and I've played a good few free2play... but quit most of them because they were more pay2win than free2play with the top of the game requiring pay2win stuff to get through) but tyrant's simply isn't one of them. Sure it's not as deep a game, but the mechanics and gameplay are solid for a free2play game thats still highly strategic but still allows a LARGE degree of freedom in a sporadic, persistent environment.

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Game Suggestions and Feedback / Re: [Poll] Do ultra-rares add or detract from elements?

« on: June 11, 2011, 10:29:15 am »

If you want all the cards and to just practice your deck building, make use of the trainer. Having something to work towards makes this game replayable. If we all started with every card, there would be little to no attraction to play the game long term.

Just my opinion.

One thing to wonder (not that it's the be all or end all) would be whether giving everyone all the cards would increase or decrease site traffic.  On the one hand people who play mainly to acquire cards could get bored and quit.  But on the flip side people who get frustrated trying to "catch up" to more established players might have greater incentive to stick around.  Just a thought.

I would say that giving everyone a full collection of cards to begin with would decrease the site traffic. A large part of the replayability of Elements for the large majority of players is in grinding towards a complete collection of cards, and also in new cards and patch updates.

The number of people who do know about the main forums is largely overshadowed by the number of people who don't. The number of people who do participate in forum-organized PvP (Tournaments, Leagues, Events, War, Trials, WoE Alpha, etc.) is even lower. Without PvP events, Elements is largely a grindfest. Without the grinding aspect, there would be very little reason for the average non-event-participating player to come back.

I disagree. The grindfest is a much bigger detraction from the game than nymphs ever could. I can see the uses of some of the nymphs, but the only thing I hate more is the grinding system. 1500 gold to upgrade a SINGLE card when you start out basically takes away enough gold to build a BRAND NEW DECK. the upgrade system detracts from people experimenting because it locks all their gold into a single card. The forums, wiki and basically all the guides point you to what?... THE MOST EFFICIENT DECKS FOR GRINDING. THAT is really what detracts from the game. The fact you need to GRIND before you can really start playing. You can't build one unupped deck after another experimenting for good strategies to use against false gods as all you do is lose money building decks, lose money losing. The difficulty gap between half blood and false god is big enough to force you to grind. I cant speak for other players but I can say that I've been annoyed at how long its taken me to work on a FG grinder (which still isnt finished) so that I can work on my own deck ideas. Forget about building decks around ultra rare nymphs. I can't even afford to build decks freely because of all the grind. Sure there is the trainer for that.. but if im going to be playing matches... shouldn't i be playing matches with REWARDS? to reduce some of this grind I will eventually need to get through? I'm slow at grinding. I don't play an awful lot. FG's kick my ass 99/100.

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General Discussion / Re: i am almost ashamed of the kongregate community right now

« on: June 09, 2011, 08:53:59 am »

I'll put some things in perspective. I'm a top 2 faction player in tyrant. Yes. my faction is SECOND out of all the 300+ factions.
1. The auto button. it helps reduce the grind. Elements has none of that and MORE grind. nuff said. the grind is a HUGE turn off when you are trying to get upgraded cards... normal cards you buy for under 150 gold a piece... then suddenly you need 1500?
2. Updates. Tyrants gets updates REGULARLY. In the time I've played tyrants they have released more cards, faction wars, raids. In the time i played elements... they released one SET of cards totalling less than 10.
3. The multiplayer interactions are WELL MANAGED INSIDE THE GAME. Faction wars, raids, faction chat. To play elements you need to dig through dozens of stickies.

The irony is.. I'm not even that big a tyrants fan. I haven't spent ANY money on the game at all. I do have the elite from picking up random warbonds off the daily boxes (equivalent of the oracle nymphs except warbonds are less rare and worth MORE)
Tyrant does ALOT of things well. Both games are VERY similar in that all your battles are played practically against the AI (In elements the only time you play against players is the pvp1/2/friend options but realistically you wont be grinding those for the money you need to upgrade decks or buy cards)

1.Packs in tyrant are random, but you play long enough you will get everything you want (im sitting on 5 airstrikes, 3 emps, EQG, tesla, 4 silos) between luck and just grinding it out, you hit the top tier stuff pretty fast especially with the achievements. And picking up a good rare makes a BIG impact in your deck IMMEDIATELY since you only play 11 cards. playing about the same amount of time per day (say about 2 hours) you manage 500 stamina+500 energy worth of cash and probably a level every other day. Thats how much I play. 2 hours of grinding in elements... I might make enough to upgrade 2 cards. Except those two cards dont really let me change my deck alot. I'm about 50% done with my VNG but none of those cards are of any use for a RoL/Hope deck for FG farming, and how much gold i get in elements is HIGHLY variable due to farms or real rush decks. i can spend 2 hours and barely gain anything from slots, win some lose some. On the other hand I might get lucky and get relics and weapons to sell.

All in all progression in Tyrants is ALOT better. switching your deck just means switching a few cards. Switching your deck in elements requires buying a whole new set, then upgrading them from scratch. For the more casual player, the amount of grind WILL be a problem. Most people wont spend a few extra hours to upgrade a few cards they cant even use in a new deck idea they have. The whole upgrade mechanic along with the cost is just HIGHLY detrimental to keeping players. its why I quit elements probably a year+ back and likely to be the same reason why I will likely quit in the future.

2. Updates. I understand this is a free game. I understand zanz has alot to do by himself. but updates bring alot to the game. not only does it change the gameplay, it generates DISCUSSION. even if people aren't playing they are talking about it? that keeps people coming back. elements has been around long enough for most of the main deckarchtypes to be defined and the "best" stuff is basically set in stone. until there are more additions, theres not going to be a whole lot of discussion about gameplay change.

3. community. I understand theres the WoE stuff going on. unfortunately NONE of it gets publicized IN the game. Vs tyrants.. faction wars, raids are right there as menu items. you couldn't miss them if you tried. and both feature a cooperative element which REQUIRES you to play with other people. Elements is always you vs one other. AI/person. There are no greater objectives, goals, achievements. There are time limits, objective goals, so you can jump in and join the fray. WoE is player run, and between locked cardpools, set teams etc, new players that want to get involved can't. just too many barriers to entry.

Sure. I totally agree elements is the deeper game. The problem is its also more luck based, and designed to be slow with all the grind. Elements has the better design, but the execution is worse.

7

Issue Archive / top 50 broken?

« on: June 07, 2011, 05:46:03 am »

I tried started a t50 match. i get this screen.
.. it can sit there for over 5 minutes... i can press back.. but thats all that does. i made sure im still connected... pressing back shows the saving, it goes green and disappears so im still connected.. but i havent been able to get an opponent.

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General Discussion / Re: I'm awesome! I have 12 of every card!

« on: June 03, 2011, 08:22:31 pm »

this topic just shows how theres way too much grind in this game <_<

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Game Suggestions and Feedback / Re: Give Relic an in-game use

« on: May 31, 2011, 05:14:43 am »

I say make them playable. cast and activate in game for extra spins/or better spins. but if you lose you lose the relic. +gold.

maybe

5: add an extra spin if you win the game changes ability to

"
10: removes pillars/pendulums from the spinner changes ability to
"
20: adds an extra chance of a rare on each wheel and loses all ability
"

effects are lost if the relic is destroyed, and if destroyed, the relic is removed from your card pool and deck.

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Game Suggestions and Feedback / Re: More Cards should be added

« on: May 31, 2011, 04:58:50 am »

This is why people who don't interact with these forums enough aren't addicted to the game

or maybe the fact they aren't addicted is the fact they have to go TO the forums to actually get addicted? the game gives no indication of any of these leagues or player run events. they just play the game... get to wherever they get to then either decide to play on or stop. and well... yes it is a problem with the game if the game itself isnt enough to keep people playing

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General Discussion / Re: Badge Of The Day [Level Zero Hero Badge]

« on: May 31, 2011, 04:01:26 am »

as an old kong player (i played back when the badges were first put in this game... got bored of grinding, came back less than a week ago)... i definitely agree with the grinding part. its boring, adds no value to the game.

and as a tyrant player... it's had new patches every month or so. new cards, factions, raids.

in the time i've gone, they added the cards in the development section.

take it with a grain of salt but tyrant has had alot more development time because the micropayment "warbond" system is effective at generating funding.

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Forum Archive / Re: Join as an Apprentice

« on: May 29, 2011, 11:10:05 pm »

IGN/Forum: xathil
PST/GMT-8.
Usually on 6pm onwards till midnight with random dinner break somewhere :p

EDIT: nevermind. I'm too bored of the grinding to continue playing this game. much less wait a month like some others.