[AMA] Ask The Developer Anything - December 3rd

[Derez]

Ok - so you want better guild rewards - then please explain the rationale behind the top ten reward for this upcoming war. Nearly everyone in a top ten guild has the ability to upgrade multiple buildings already. Why make the top ten bonus useless???? I think this needs to be fixed.

This is a fair point. It is a very powerful bonus that I know a lot of players have been asking for but you are correct that the players at the top of the list will already have one if not more of these boosts. With the war in the next few days it may not be able to be changed in time but we will look into it (the change may not appear until close to the time that the event starts.)

[Totalwar]

I have 9 building upgrade bonuses already and I am top 25 guild I think this bonus be better aimed at top 75 or below.I do agree this bonus is needed but at a much lower level then top 10.

[Lys]

This is a fair point. It is a very powerful bonus that I know a lot of players have been asking for but you are correct that the players at the top of the list will already have one if not more of these boosts. With the war in the next few days it may not be able to be changed in time but we will look into it (the change may not appear until close to the time that the event starts.)

I know you may consider it a powerful bonus, but who really needs this bonus are the newer players, who haven't had a chance to get them. Honestly, the largest thing that bonus [currently] applies to is Income Per Hour and the ability to participate in the LTBs each cycle... this +1 Upgrade reward should theoretically be available at the lowest level for this reason, or how I see it.

NEW EPIC BOSS

The next Epic Boss event will be rebalanced to use only Hero Equip stats (+ Hero Strength + Hero Attack Bonus.) We felt that out of all of our current events this one fit best with the new focus on Hero Equipment and makes the most sense seeing as the UI shows your hero fighting the boss.

Having a better idea as of where player stats are with the new hero items it should help us in making a more balanced event which has been an issue in the past. Seeing as hero attack numbers are far lower than armies you can expect to see a lot lower health numbers for the boss.

There may also be some changes to the quest structure but the overall event will be pretty much the same as it has been.

The new Epic Boss I've got some concerns about, mostly the new stats factor. I'm in the low 180s, and by far and large I've got some solid equipment, and crafting a pair of Boots soon to give me the best [current] equipable items. However, my Hero Attack and Defense is quite small still in comparison to others, I've seen some close to 10k in that regard, while I'm around 1500 or so. How will this, and having 90% of my skill points in Hero Strength, affect the Epic Boss and damage output?

[Derez]

You write here Army Attack for Conquest(all army attack) and Army Defense for Conquest(all army defense). But where do you categorize Hero Attack/defense? Based on the current game behaviour they also get their stats from the Army part. Is it also in your mind part of the Conquest(all army att/def)? I have a small problem in understanding why my Army skills affect my Hero stats in Conquest, and not Hero Strength. Comments?

Hero stats are no longer part of your army. This is one of the current confusions with hero equipment rewards not being as good as army units. In the past it was all one stat and with the last update army, army equipment, and hero were broken out onto their own. So armies are not affecting hero stats directly, with the one exclusion of EB Attack Bonuses will be applied so that we do not devalue those bonuses that players worked so hard to collect.

[Waffleking]

Is it possible in the future to sell units and materials we no longer use?

We are looking into ways that we can allow the players to "use" their old units and materials but will not be ready until much later next year.

[plavine]

My hero strength is 462 - I have a 200 point Attack bonus which I have been told is used for both PvP and pve attacks . Yet my high damage caused on enemies is 596 . Is the 100 point bonus from Cupid's bow not counted since it isn't my strongest weapon any more ?? In my bonus area it says 200 Attack bonus , I think it should count regardless .

[[JAG] Ryan]

hmm you said its more complicated to allow a skill point relocation or reset and it will take till the new year for that change. However the current skill points asigned to army attack or defense are affecting not only our army equip stats but also our hero stats. The metrics of 55%, 27% and 18% are not reflecting peoples playing contribution in past without a chance of correction as many people used their skill points in hero strength, means all those have a huge disadvantage now and they are not happy with the current situation.

Isnt there any way that you value the army unit stats much higher till you sort out the skill point reset for all? As that seems the only fair way to handle this in the meantime.

Also what happened to the raiding boost all players had in last years? it seems that it dissappeared with the new change. Raiding is fun for many people and now they lose to people they used to raid vice versa for many months. Without that previous boost it takes a fun factor away for them. Any plans on adding that previous boosts for raids back?

[Cloud22]

Thanks for all the good info, much appreciated!

But as lys said I am really worried bout this new epic boss plan. Sounds like a terrible idea to make hero strength the only factor for boss damage. Really makes no sense why you would do that.

Also any ETA on when we can expect new materials and items in the stores?

[Clementine]

Hello Folks! Thank you for joining us for the Developer Ask Me Anything! We really appreciate your participation. We are locking this thread, however our Devs will try and answer any unanswered questions over the next few days! Look for more of these in the future, with our next one sometime in January!

[Derez]

I know you may consider it a powerful bonus, but who really needs this bonus are the newer players, who haven't had a chance to get them. Honestly, the largest thing that bonus [currently] applies to is Income Per Hour and the ability to participate in the LTBs each cycle... this +1 Upgrade reward should theoretically be available at the lowest level for this reason, or how I see it.




The new Epic Boss I've got some concerns about, mostly the new stats factor. I'm in the low 180s, and by far and large I've got some solid equipment, and crafting a pair of Boots soon to give me the best [current] equipable items. However, my Hero Attack and Defense is quite small still in comparison to others, I've seen some close to 10k in that regard, while I'm around 1500 or so. How will this, and having 90% of my skill points in Hero Strength, affect the Epic Boss and damage output?

The Epic Boss stats will mostly take into consideration what is currently craftable as that is some of the best hero items in the game. Also craftable items are accessible to all players making them a good reference point while giving players who earn more powerful items from events like Conquest a bigger advantage in this event.

Off the top of my head I feel like 10k might be out of the current legitimate stats but this was also an issue for players in the current model with one player having armies that are far more powerful. Again, with hero stats being in a more controlled state we hope that we can make this event more balanced for all players than it previously was.

[Derez]

Thanks for all the good info, much appreciated!

But as lys said I am really worried bout this new epic boss plan. Sounds like a terrible idea to make hero strength the only factor for boss damage. Really makes no sense why you would do that.

Also any ETA on when we can expect new materials and items in the stores?

I agree that EB being based strictly off of the Hero Strength skill would be a terrible idea.

Epic Boss will be based around Hero Equipment, as in the items that you have been crafting and using for trials and PVE. The Hero Strength stats do feed into that final number giving players with stat points in that skill a slight advantage.