Leveling Bad News

[Nikita007]

I have to say, there is a first for everything but I have never played a game where leveling is considered a 'bad' thing. It drives me nuts to think about camping. I am just not that patient. If I am going to play a game then believe me I am going to be active and play it. My player is fairly well balanced with x4000 stats but I have a friend who has a HLP that is considered level heavy. Especially when you consider there are so many around 100 level with 1 M stats. I have heard Gree is trying to make the game more balanced. Here are my questions for the more knowledgable:

(P.S. If you came here to complain please do it somewhere else.)

1. What are solutions for a level heavy player?

2. What are the advantages for leveling? (Should there be more of an incentive for players to level?)

Solutions for level heavy players: The way I see it a level heavy player can camp. Boring! The closest I could come to camping is using energy only toward Limited Quests Individual and Guild. (Personally I think if you aren't getting as far in these quests as you can you will eventually be left behind (yes even campers).) Fight only in wars. No raiding or fighting. Complete area maps through level 4 to pick up the extra skill points. Are there any other tricks? Obviously gem use.

Advantages for leveling: More energy. If you are a gem user it is really pointless to start before level 100 as you are throwing away real money not getting the full 1000. You can make it up getting further than non gem users on Limited Quests. Skill points for army attack and army defense, I understand they give you an advantage in fights/raids/war as far as higher success rate even if target is higher stat. Is the skill points for army attack and defense really worth it? Hero skill points are two sided: kill monsters easier but will also level faster if you use your energy bar regularly. Any other advantages for the higher level players out there?

If these questions have already been debated in another thread please direct me. Otherwise I am curious as to other 'intelligent' players comments. Thank you! : )

[Tito89]

the only true advantage is access to buildings. its not a good scenario they have built but everything can be improved, its merely a question of who wants it to improve, gree or the consumer?

[jonny0284]

There should be units/armor & weapons/buildings that are only open to specific level tiers. This way the player is compensated for their advancement. Otherwise a level 100 player has the same perks as a level 200. Meh, not exactly fair.

[TheQ]

I agree with Jonny, that would be a great idea.

[Zenobia]

Johnny, that is a great idea to do something towards removing the penalty for high level players. Although non-invincible units are becoming moot. I now only use 232 BBRs on the defense side - the rest are indestructibles.

Other than more energy on hand when you've been away from your device for many hours, and more skill points, there are ZERO advantages gained from level 100 to level 200. And the advantage of those skill points is dubious at best. No one from Gree has ever given any indication WHAT attack and skill points do, other than to claim it's the reason other players win battles when they shouldn't. And while having more Hero Strength from skill points is an advantage, IMO that advantage is totally wiped out by you likely having all your maps level 4 or 5 as opposed to 2 or 3 because the mobs have more hit points the higher your map level. AND the additional hit points on the mobs goes a way towards cancelling out the additional energy as well.

So by leveling up you get a small amount of help killing mobs. And that is supposed to balance out the lower level player getting TWICE the average CP per attack in war. I don't think so.

[jonny0284]

Ok, so units are moot. And, W&A are already covered by LTQ prizes.

Then allow for more % in boosts for HLP's.

[Zenobia]

Ok, so units are moot. And, W&A are already covered by LTQ prizes.

Then allow for more % in boosts for HLP's.

I like that! Like, a second boost building for each unit type, available at levels 130, 140, etc or something like that. And maybe buildings that boost armor & weapons. And high-level only buildings that actually DO something to prevent people with attack 350K lower than your defense from raiding your buildings. Then I might actually upgrade my manors, lenders, etc. Right now it's not worth it - not only do I get a lot more income from raiding than I do from my buildings but if I happen to, like yesterday for example, have a birthday party and miss my collection time, only a nearly equal or better play can get my gold.

[[DW] maretzky]

Simple advice for HLP feeling a bit too "systematized" - start an LLP It gives a pure breath although is based on HLP advantages got so far. My HLP got 100k in 10 months. My LLP - in 10 DAYS... BUT! 80% of players still spendin months to get over 100k... Like 80% of them never read this forum

[Zenobia]

I only have one i-device so only one account for me.

But really, what this is about is that all the effort we've put into the game over the last year plus ought to make our characters worth more than ones started yesterday. A lot of us have invested a lot. We should not be penalized in wars for it. We should get advantages not detriments.

[Nikita007]

Zenobia, jonny and maretzky:

Thank you for the comments. I agree that there need to be some additional 'perks' for the HLP. A second LLP is not for me but the HLP I mentioned has done exactly that. While still playing both accounts and getting a chance to take advantage of all the LTQ/Guild units now available and Boss event rewards. The favor of the game is decidedly stacked for the new player right now. However, most of those new players aren't really all that new ; ) just clone accounts with super powers ; ) Hopefully, Gree is listening and working on creative ideas to level the playing field. Or at least shake it up! Can't have these LLP getting too large of egos. Why not reward your long term members.

I like the HLP boost building idea a lot : ) Gold is becoming moot other than for Guild bonuses. Once your vault is maxed and your income buildings are maxed there isn't really any other good use for gold. I would also expect to see some new Guild bonuses coming in the future.

[sousas]

To allow HLP to have more units would do the trick.

Level 150 - 4 units for each ally
Level 175 - 5 units for each ally
Level 200 - 7 units for each ally

Anyway, today there are 2 types of campers.

Old gold raiser camper and the new GLTQ camper. This will only make difference in the latter one.

[Shinazueli]

I personally think that the main advantage of camping is that you don't lose fights to rivals. And they're erasing that advantage quickly with GQ units. It's almost dead.

Here's the real problem.

I've been playing since the game released. There is absolutely no way that someone (who has spent less real money) who started after me will ever catch me. And the same for the people who pay more than me. In most games that go on for years, there are periodic "resets" to allow a level playing field at maximum level. Think mmorpg expansions. The max level is reset and all of your old stuff is basically worthless.

The issue is that they have painted themselves into a corner with all of these gem purchases. Nobody wants to come up and play on the same field as someone else that has a year advantage in units and buildings; on the other hand, they can't just wipe out thousands of dollars of invested equity of the longer term players.

Just an example of what can go wrong with horribad game planning. If they'd slowly increased the maximum level from the beginning and wiped A/D gains, from the beginning, it wouldn't be so painful now. So they chose to massively inflate stats, and this somewhat balances things because if you stop playing, you'll eventually fall behind. But there are a great many people who didn't stop. And they're invincible up top because they have every available reward.

Let me tell you, nothing in this world could make me level up if I was starting this game today, and realized that I could never ever catch up. Nothing. If they forced me to level, I would just quit playing. Since I do have that year, I can compete, but nobody who starts now can. Bad Gree, bad.

A smarter game design would have been cheaper, smaller, announced(!) non-permanent advantages that would be wiped every few months. Now, they're screwed.

When a game that's completely based on social interaction loses the ability to attract new players... We call that death.

For those of you, and I know there are many, who played WoW, what do you think would have happened if they allowed you to equip every piece if gear that you'd ever earned, simultaneously, with the caveat that you could never go back and get those old pieces that you missed? Nobody who started seven years into the game would ever be able to play at maximum level. New players would play for a month or two til they realized it. Then they would quit. If this sounds stupid, it's because it is.

[valient]

Leveling should be rewarding and not something to work around.

[jonny0284]

I personally think that the main advantage of camping is that you don't lose fights to rivals. And they're erasing that advantage quickly with GQ units. It's almost dead.

Here's the real problem.

I've been playing since the game released. There is absolutely no way that someone (who has spent less real money) who started after me will ever catch me. And the same for the people who pay more than me. In most games that go on for years, there are periodic "resets" to allow a level playing field at maximum level. Think mmorpg expansions. The max level is reset and all of your old stuff is basically worthless.

The issue is that they have painted themselves into a corner with all of these gem purchases. Nobody wants to come up and play on the same field as someone else that has a year advantage in units and buildings; on the other hand, they can't just wipe out thousands of dollars of invested equity of the longer term players.

Just an example of what can go wrong with horribad game planning. If they'd slowly increased the maximum level from the beginning and wiped A/D gains, from the beginning, it wouldn't be so painful now. So they chose to massively inflate stats, and this somewhat balances things because if you stop playing, you'll eventually fall behind. But there are a great many people who didn't stop. And they're invincible up top because they have every available reward.

Let me tell you, nothing in this world could make me level up if I was starting this game today, and realized that I could never ever catch up. Nothing. If they forced me to level, I would just quit playing. Since I do have that year, I can compete, but nobody who starts now can. Bad Gree, bad.

A smarter game design would have been cheaper, smaller, announced(!) non-permanent advantages that would be wiped every few months. Now, they're screwed.

When a game that's completely based on social interaction loses the ability to attract new players... We call that death.

For those of you, and I know there are many, who played WoW, what do you think would have happened if they allowed you to equip every piece if gear that you'd ever earned, simultaneously, with the caveat that you could never go back and get those old pieces that you missed? Nobody who started seven years into the game would ever be able to play at maximum level. New players would play for a month or two til they realized it. Then they would quit. If this sounds stupid, it's because it is.

You wrapped it all up. Props, man.

It's spot on.

[Chief_K]

I will agree that leveling does seem to have become more of a penalty, but do you really think that leveling should specifically be rewarded? I think many of you would actually be hurt by this more so than newer players. I have, like many people, invested heavily in hero strength. So as we tend to do more damage than those that haven't, we will actually get fewer XP for mobs since we can defeat in fewer hits. Therefore, some players would be "rewarded" by needing more hits to defeat mobs and gaining more XP and levels much quicker than some of us could hope.