Your chance to vote on how you feel about Fellowship Adventures!

[Jackluyt]

I asked the Platinum Leaf group on Facebook to give their feelings about the Adventure - and the comments are flowing in!
You can look at the thread here if you are interested.

http://bit.ly/2FUotQS

​

I hope someone on the design team manages to go through this valuable player feedback too! The consensus was that virtually everyone thinks this was a poor event: The prizes are 'underwhelming', to say the least.

That is a pity, because the Fellowship Adventures is a WONDERFUL concept - good to promote camaraderie and esprit de corps in the group.
Perhaps they need to have a re-think before next time?

Here is one of the better comments from one of my members:​

"Was very disappointed in the "Adventure". Agree with all the comments above, way way harder than the
previous adventures, asked for way too many long productions for very little return.
If the next one is anything like this one, our fellowship will also opt out.
Developers need to learn balance. I
f you're going to make it near impossible to do, give some kick butt prizes to make people at least want to try."​

 

[The Unbeliever]

This most recent Fellowship MISadventure was the single crappiest event yet I've played through in over a year on Elvenar...
a) The badge requirements were insanely over the top, to the point it felt more like Inno was just trolling the players... and with massive amounts of 24hr and/or 48hr productions required, it made it nearly impossible to finish even 2 stages, unless you're lucky enough to be in a fellowship full of mostly end game players, and/or diamond expansion players.

b) The "prizes", such that they were, are a fething insult compared to the effort required to get them.

c) The whole competition itself in regards to the top 1-10 additional prizes is still far too heavily rigged in favour of the handful of fellowships that are composed entirely/mostly of players who spend diamonds...
Now, whether that's on premium expansions, magic residences, fully upgraded magic academy, and/or just outright buying missing badges to crush the initial stages, etc... it crates a laughably lop-sided 'balance', since 99% of fellowships can't/won't "pay to win".
GET RID OF THIS BS!!
Make those better prizes the rewards for say Lv3 and/or dumping 'X' number of total badges in to the Pit for example.


What's really infuriating though? Inno already HAS a fellowship/guild-based competition template that works in the Guild Expeditions over on Forge of Empires!
Sure, most of the rewards after each encounter are typically just coins/supplies, but there's also *always* at least a slight chance at goods/kps/some less special buildings/etc..., with the 'boss stage' rewards also offering a chance at much more desirable rewards, including Diamonds!!

Seriously, this ain't rocket science... make the prizes for the top fellowships the added ranking pts and a package of instants, maaaaaybe a smaller reward building?
But give EVERYONE an equal shot at claiming at least 1-2 really desirable rewards if the team can finish the whole thing & throw extra stuff at the Pit. -_-

 

[qaccy]

I thought this was a thread created for this specific FA until I checked the dates on the messages. It's very disappointing to see that all of the comments posted that far back are still relevant today, and with this latest FA perhaps even moreso. The workload was increased far more than the rewards were. It actually makes the previous iterations look very enticing by comparison (and they weren't very good either).

I don't think any of our posts on this subject are going to matter, though. I believe the team wants this to be an aspect of gameplay where heavy diamond usage is employed by less savvy players in order to acquire the token rewards. I don't normally devolve to this level of cynicism but that's really the most logical explanation I have for why the FA would be designed in such an unfriendly way for average or casual players.

 

[DeletedUser7163]

I think this Fellowship Adventure followed too closely on the heels of the Winter Event. The prizes were NOT worth the effort it took to get them. Additionally, it required way too many of the 24 hour, and 48 hour workshop and factory builds - the point that it was practically impossible. Space in everyone's city, is always a premium, and I think INNO needs to consider that when developing quest lines. Basically this Fellowship Adventure did more to discourage players than it did to encourage them.

I too LOVE the idea of a having a badge pool for the entire fellowship. As it is now, so many of the badges go to waste because the player isn't online when the badges they've created are needed, etc.

I also think there needs to be a better method for selecting the badges than cycling through them. Cycling through the badges could easily be the textbook example of "mind-numbing tedium." I'd also like to see it designed and created so that you can collect more than one badge of a type at a time. Example: I set all my workshops for nine hour builds overnight. I have 15 standing workshops. That's three Farmers Delight Badges. I shouldn't have to scroll through all those badges, over-and-over-and-over to collect three of the same type of badges. [See comment about mind-numbing tedium.]

I love the game. I adore the graphics. I know that INNO needs to pay people to think up story lines, and design the game, but this was not conducive to any of that, really. It was thoroughly discouraging to most of the people I've spoken with.

 

[DeletedUser6553]

I totally agree with this list of improvements. I would suggest 1 more improvement. Earning and placing badges requires way too much coordination and timing between participating members. Work, family, and other RL schedules bring lots of conflicts. So ...

11. Each fellowship should have a 'badge pool' which is visible to all members. When any member earns a badge, it should go into the badge pool. Once there, the fellowship officers can decide when/where to place the badges into the way points.

I can say I like your #11. The angle of having the mage/am place it may be a little off. But I can definitely say we have had a problem with embers being online to place when needed. Even though it does not provide the same controlled flow, I would like to see members to be able to place. It helps the members feel they have participated more. Maybe that part could be a FS setting and can vary for each FS based on a switch the AM flips?

 

[MirandaZink]

Overall this latest go around was IMPOSSIBLE to complete unless everyone was willing to sell buildings to make room for all the 1 and 2 day builds. OR buy your way to the end with diamonds. The prizes weren't worth it. The amount of badges to make was ridiculous. And lastly we had two members quit our FS to go to a FS with higher ranking points because at our level we can't complete.

Pretty much sucked

And not to mention the lag in the game caused me to collect what we needed but the servers being so slow it missed I collected it. 2 day builds for nothing.

I seriously doubt I'll put my FS through this again . . . painful painful painful

 

[DeletedUser6553]

I think this Fellowship Adventure followed too closely on the heels of the Winter Event. The prizes were NOT worth the effort it took to get them. Additionally, it required way too many of the 24 hour, and 48 hour workshop and factory builds - the point that it was practically impossible. Space in everyone's city, is always a premium, and I think INNO needs to consider that when developing quest lines. Basically this Fellowship Adventure did more to discourage players than it did to encourage them.

I too LOVE the idea of a having a badge pool for the entire fellowship. As it is now, so many of the badges go to waste because the player isn't online when the badges they've created are needed, etc.

I also think there needs to be a better method for selecting the badges than cycling through them. Cycling through the badges could easily be the textbook example of "mind-numbing tedium." I'd also like to see it designed and created so that you can collect more than one badge of a type at a time. Example: I set all my workshops for nine hour builds overnight. I have 15 standing workshops. That's three Farmers Delight Badges. I shouldn't have to scroll through all those badges, over-and-over-and-over to collect three of the same type of badges. [See comment about mind-numbing tedium.]

I love the game. I adore the graphics. I know that INNO needs to pay people to think up story lines, and design the game, but this was not conducive to any of that, really. It was thoroughly discouraging to most of the people I've spoken with.

Just some actual numbers for you here.
November FA
Green stage 1 effort varied from 20 to 130 hours.
Green stage 2 effort varied from 261 to 1365 hours
Green Stage 3 effort varied from 1095 to 4515 hours.
Current FA
Green Stage 1 effort varied from 537.083333333333 to 1252.66666666667 hours
Green Stage 2 effort varied from 2105.92 to 7401.08 hours
Green Stage 3 effort varied from 9737.5 to 32690 hours.
Blue Stage 1 effort varied from 425.83 to 1017.67 hours.
Blue Stage 2 effort varied from 2415.75 to 8638.25 hours.
Blue Stage 3 effort varied from 7228.75 to 24905 hours.
Orange Stage 1 effort varied from 745.08 to 2311.67 hours.
Orange Stage 2 effort varied from 2336.08 to 8322.42 hours.
Orange Stage 3 effort varied from 2907.5 to 9595 hours.
The first number is the most optimal time to complete the badges(one run to create a full badge(any kind)). The second is the least optimal(ie all are being created from a single building kind of thing).
So the effort required has increased drastically as many have said

In answer to the .quest cycling, I am not sure that that can be removed completely. Though the impact can be lightened by implementing keyboard controls on the quest dialogs that come up (ie 1 for the first button, 2 for the second kind of thing)

 

[DeletedUser6553]

Just some actual numbers for you here.
November FA
Green stage 1 effort varied from 20 to 130 hours.
Green stage 2 effort varied from 261 to 1365 hours
Green Stage 3 effort varied from 1095 to 4515 hours.
Current FA
Green Stage 1 effort varied from 537.083333333333 to 1252.66666666667 hours
Green Stage 2 effort varied from 2105.92 to 7401.08 hours
Green Stage 3 effort varied from 9737.5 to 32690 hours.
Blue Stage 1 effort varied from 425.83 to 1017.67 hours.
Blue Stage 2 effort varied from 2415.75 to 8638.25 hours.
Blue Stage 3 effort varied from 7228.75 to 24905 hours.
Orange Stage 1 effort varied from 745.08 to 2311.67 hours.
Orange Stage 2 effort varied from 2336.08 to 8322.42 hours.
Orange Stage 3 effort varied from 2907.5 to 9595 hours.
The first number is the most optimal time to complete the badges(one run to create a full badge(any kind)). The second is the least optimal(ie all are being created from a single building kind of thing).
So the effort required has increased drastically as many have said

In answer to the .quest cycling, I am not sure that that can be removed completely. Though the impact can be lightened by implementing keyboard controls on the quest dialogs that come up (ie 1 for the first button, 2 for the second kind of thing)

oops sorry.. my spreadsheet actually counts the completed time out and orange stage 3 and certain waypoints were marked complete. Orange Stage 3 should say:
Orange Stage 3 effort varied from 5711.25 to 19601.25 hours.

 

[Tradescantia]

I agree with a lot of what has been said already. A badge pool, perhaps to be applied by AM and Mages only, would be a great idea. I liked the idea of the new spells badges, but you need to fix the mechanics of the magic academy to release one badge at a time, otherwise there is too much reliance on tourney awards. And scatter different badges through the tourney. We couldn't access the MM needed for the wands because the FA started late and most people were holding their tourney playing to save spells for the FA, thus did not reach the round needed for the MM prizes until too late. BETTER PRIZES!!!!!

 

[Risen Malchiah]

The best thing to come from FA is all the new faces I see here. I hope Inno takes notice of this. How bad must an event be to get everyone to come to the forums to voice their opinion against it?

To all the new members, I say welcome to the forums! Please stick around and peruse some of the other discussions here. Some useful city-building and tournament strategies can be gleaned from the knowledgeable folk around here.

 

[DeletedUser7652]

I understand making FSA challenging, so lets not have them be impossible and offer inticing rewards to make the playing worthwhile.

 

[SoggyShorts]

The best thing to come from FA is all the new faces I see here.

And all of the newbies are offered a great variety of topics too! The have TEN threads to choose from on the FA subject alone as they decide just how to word what I'm sure is mostly positive feedback!

 

[Risen Malchiah]

And all of the newbies are offered a great variety of topics too! The have TEN threads to choose from on the FA subject alone as they decide just how to word what I'm sure is mostly positive feedback!

Hahaha oh, Loki, I mean Soggy, I know you're going to have fun shaping the minds of these padawans.

 

[edeba]

I know lots of people who buy diamonds... Curious about who would actually spend diamonds on this thing.

I don't think any of our posts on this subject are going to matter, though. I believe the team wants this to be an aspect of gameplay where heavy diamond usage is employed by less savvy players in order to acquire the token rewards. I don't normally devolve to this level of cynicism but that's really the most logical explanation I have for why the FA would be designed in such an unfriendly way for average or casual players.

 

[DeletedUser2051]

It seemed to be too much to do in a short time. Too much for the newer players. We need better information about how to proceed and what will be needed. It should be geared so that all the fellowship members can pitch in at their level.

 

[DeletedUser9719]

If a FS based colletion of talent make all goods/badges FS available has been my argument day one. That is the only true FS Adventure trust the FS to do with your resources as they deem needed when needed.

 

[DeletedUser9217]

I have a suggestion...create a fellowship community badge holder. So when badges are made and the person that made them can't be there to place in game board, someone else can place them. We have real lives and work and the app can't play this, but not everybody wants to play elvenar on their phones or tabs while in the grocery store buying stuff to make supper after a long day at work. Simplification of the facts but in true realization, real life happens. This was a very complex Adventure and lots of the members of the fs couldn't be there when the badges were needed and that slows up the progress so much that it almost made it unworthy to do...specially with the rewards that we got...

 

[Risen Malchiah]

While I really like the pool of badges idea, I'm wondering how this would work. Currently, the FA is geared toward an individual placing a badge and if they don't have a badge, that individual can pay diamonds. While I'm not a fan of using diamonds in this way, clearly that is in Inno's best interests to keep that option available. If the players instead put badges into a pool, where does the diamond option enter into it? As far as I can see, Inno will never implement the badge pool unless there's still a way to keep the diamond option.

 

[DeletedUser13002]

To all the new members, I say welcome to the forums! Please stick around and peruse some of the other discussions here. Some useful city-building and tournament strategies can be gleaned from the knowledgeable folk around here.

Yeah ... I feel kinda bad that I haven't been around before now. I'm normally not much of a complainer; guess this particular FA brought out the worst in some of us. ;-)

I like what I'm seeing around here, though, and I'll be checking in more often from now on...!

 

[SoggyShorts]

While I really like the pool of badges idea, I'm wondering how this would work. Currently, the FA is geared toward an individual placing a badge and if they don't have a badge, that individual can pay diamonds. While I'm not a fan of using diamonds in this way, clearly that is in Inno's best interests to keep that option available. If the players instead put badges into a pool, where does the diamond option enter into it? As far as I can see, Inno will never implement the badge pool unless there's still a way to keep the diamond option.

I wasn't going to mention this, but since you put it out there, another flaw is that a FS could hold all badges until the last few minutes, and steal the top spot. That would further hurt revenues as it would reduce the time those top FS spend playing credit card wars.