Feedback: March of the Herds Event

[Deleted User - 1528929]

Perhaps on the last day, with more than 2 hrs available to get the prize (which is sort of ridiculous in itself, if you only have 2 hrs in eastern US time zone, wouldn't that mean you have negative one hour on the pacific coast?), you could take your choice of any of the daily non beet, KP or relic relic prizes offered previously so if you missed one you wanted earlier or have upgraded your chapter you could gain either the better cp/population/good producer or military producing prize you missed out on.

 

[Ashrem]

Perhaps on the last day, with more than 2 hrs available to get the prize (which is sort of ridiculous in itself, if you only have 2 hrs in eastern US time zone, wouldn't that mean you have negative one hour on the pacific coast?)

You have two hours in every time zone. The Local Time time at which the event started was different in each zone, the time at which it switches over to a new day is different in each, and the time when it ends is different in each.

 

[DeletedUser6975]

Many of the players in my fellowships have complained about this event. The main complaints were about the "pay" quests, especially with lower level players. There needs to be an appropriate alternative to paying so that newer players do not get stuck. I also agree that if you want to keep people interested there needs to be better prizes, especially in the later part of the event.

 

[DeletedUser9759]

I'm not going to finish, but I'm not giving up.I'll get as far as I can, and use that as a benchmark for the next event.
I was disheartened to learn that even if you do complete all the quests, you may not get the ultimate prize.

 

[mucksterme]

5) Make some of the “OR” options totally different. “Solve X Encounters or Gain X Relics is essentially the same task. BOTH amount to the same thing – gaining X number of relics, which for some of us is quite difficult. I thought the other “OR” tasks were a HUGE improvement!

That "Or" task I actually thought was a nice easy break in among the drudgery.
If you don't want to scout it is ridiculously easy to pick up relics from the tourney.
And you even get a few from treasure boxes.
Now, if they start asking for specific relics, that'd be something else.

 

[SoggyShorts]

That "Or" task I actually thought was a nice easy break in among the drudgery.

But it's not really an "Or" task, is it?
"Gain 20 relics or solve 20 encounters"
is exactly the same thing as
"Gain 20 relics"

 

[Deleted User - 691030]

I am a long time player, with several cities:

Elycsandir - Sorcerers and Dragons
Arendyll - Faeries
Sinya Arda - Chapter 4
Beta - Dwarves

I did NOT finish this Event in any of my cities, and I tried as I generally participate heavily in every event. Many of the quests I loved, they seemed more relevant. However the amounts needed were over the top. Too many supplies needed, too many goods to "Pay". In Sinya Arda I quit at Quest 90, needing over 14k in tier 3 goods was just not feasible, getting the 4k needed in a previous quest was a challenge. In all the other cities I played or will play until it ends. In beta I made it to Quest 97. In Elcysandir I am on Quest 97 now. In Arendyll Quest 96.

The Prizes were valuable to my Sinya Arda city (chapter 4) the most. While not valuable to my Elycsandir city (sorcerers & dragons) at all. If it does not have mana, I cannot use it. Most of the other buildings I had from previous events already and just upgraded them to the new chapter. I had absolutely no interest in any city for the 5 day expiring buildings, even though I am an auto fighter in provinces and tournaments and have built up military buildings and 3 armories in each of my cities.

I loved the first few quests that offered other supplies, goods and such. I wish this would have been throughout the quest line and been chapter based. It would have been nice to see spells, diamonds, instants and military units as rewards too.

I would also like to see fighting quests, more create x number of troops quests, use x number of spells quests, tournament quests, trading quests, and aiding neighbors quests.

 

[mucksterme]

But it's not really an "Or" task, is it?
"Gain 20 relics or solve 20 encounters"
is exactly the same thing as
"Gain 20 relics"

pretty much what i liked about it

 

[DeletedUser9469]

But it's not really an "Or" task, is it?
"Gain 20 relics or solve 20 encounters"
is exactly the same thing as
"Gain 20 relics"

Agreed. That would be like saying Give me a $100 Bill or 5 $20's.

 

[SoggyShorts]

pretty much what i liked about it

Mmmmm illusion of choice so delicious

 

[DeletedUser4731]

Players in my fellowship complained about the cost of several of the quests, and quit doing the event, it certain;y was not geared toward beginning to middle players.

Also the prizes stunk in this one, there were hardly any population prizes, which is what I have enjoyed about the other events, I get to add a different type building that increases my pop/culture. Members also were complaining about this.

 

[DeletedUser7370]

While most of what I think has already been said, I would like to add my voice to the overall murmur of disgruntlement. As soon as the event was announced by beta players I began figuring my strategy. My city was at a very good point as I was just a little ways into Dwarves and in the middle of adding expansions and rearranging. I delayed a few planned buildings so I could have space for temporary even buildings, and I built new housing units that I needed to meet the requirements for L12+ buildings.

As I read the details of the quests being published by beta players I refined my strategy, and the final refinement came when the amounts for the larger pay/gain quests were published. At that time I made the decision to stop after completing quest 89. I think I was first player to announce my intent to stop there in another topic, and many well respected players reached the same conclusion. I was able to reach that point in about 1 week.

For me, being in Dwarves, straight culture prize buildings are fine. They will be good enough to carry me through Orcs after which I will be destroying all of them any way. I therefore have no complaints about the quality of the prizes.

I was not personally put out by the amounts in the quests I did. I am used to games with a fair bit of grind. I simply tossed PoP spells and slogged through the grind. However, most of the player base of this game are not used to playing grinders; it was an extremely poor decision by the design team to go against the vast majority of their players. My city is highly efficient and I strive to maintain a minimum 2 chapter reserve for goods. I have already recovered to that minimum goal in nearly all tiers. As I said in the first sentence of this paragraph, that only applies to the quests that I did. Quests 90-92 would have totaled right around 100,000 tier 3 goods. The total usage of tier 3 goods for all researches in chapter 6 is 95,600. The absurdity of being asked to give up goods equal to what is required to research the entire chapter is plainly obvious to anyone with a brain.

More interesting quests, with rewards such as the beets and something else (building, coins, supplies, troops, KP, etc.) would be great. Fewer gain relics quests with smaller counts of relics would be good for everyone. A better system to select from the daily buildings would be amazing; perhaps every building is available for 3 days in a rotating cycle so that day 1 building is available again on day 27 and 28. Reward buildings that are more useful for higher level players are a must. Some people have suggested being able to decline quests; I think a much better solution is to use the pay mechanic, IE solve 10 encounters or pay a good amount of coins.

Overall, this event was a major fail because it was designed with too much grinding when the rest of the game and the player base are not commensurately grind oriented.

 

[SoggyShorts]

I think I was first player to announce my intent to stop there in another topic, and many well respected players reached the same conclusion.

And thanks for that. Not completing an event goes against my playstyle, but having someone announce that they are stopping by choice made me really look at the cost:rewards.

As I said in the first sentence of this paragraph, that only applies to the quests that I did. Quests 90-92 would have totaled right around 100,000 tier 3 goods. The total usage of tier 3 goods for all researches in chapter 6 is 95,600. The absurdity of being asked to give up goods equal to what is required to research the entire chapter is plainly obvious to anyone with a brain.

LMAO- again you put things in perspective very well. Absurd indeed.

 

[Jackluyt]

I posted a Comments thread in Platinum Leaf, based on this thread.
Lots and lots and lots of negative responses - and not one single positive!


Then I posted another asking if anyone had positive remearks:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10209759741450892&set=gm.1903449113243801&type=3&theater

There were a few interesting points...

A common response was:

"It was not fun!"


​

 

[DeletedUser2824]

I didn't finish the event, so I can't say too much about what I thought about the overall effect, but from what I have observed my thoughts run along these lines:

1-The pay quests are an interesting idea, but only if the rewards are worth the effort. In every game I've ever played, reward vs. effort is a huge factor in whether or not I enjoy it. I don't mind a bit of grinding; IF the rewards are worth my pain. (I play RPGs, I know what grinding is) Not only were the amount of goods required ridiculously high, but the rewards were small. Asking for so many goods that even a high end player has a hard time coming up with, in exchange for a few beets to gamble on a chance to gain a prize that isn't much better than the current chapter's buildings, is not balanced.
2-There needs to be more variety to the tasks. Endless loops of PoP spells and gaining relics is getting old. I don't need any more PoP spells, I'm trying to pump out the Magical Manufacturing spells to use on my factories to get more goods to help out my fellowships. I don't think it would take away the challenge to be more general with certain things, like "gain a spell" instead of specifying PoP spells. I also agree that the quests should encourage fellowship interaction and have the option for neighbor interactions, as not everyone is in a fellowship. Generalizing the solve encounter quests so that the tournaments will work will probably help encourage participation, and give those who've over-scouted another option. And for those are over-scouted AND have all their buildings at max, having the option of scouting or upgrading a building still means they're pretty screwed. And I really don't think having quests that require tier three goods is a good idea. Not every fellowship has bigger players who are able to give the smaller players lopsided cross tier trades for those goods, especially if they're broke from the event too.
3-We need more buildings that give you different things according to what chapter you are in. The orc nests were great. It gives the lower chapters a nice amount of supplies and everyone else orcs. We also really need buildings that give mana to those in wood elves and beyond, and buildings that give other things needed for the higher chapters.
4-I like the "decline a quest" idea. Sometime you gotta skip a question on a test to finish the rest, and I think the same holds true for the quests. (And no, I did intentionally rhyme that) Maybe give them the option of coming back around to it later if need be, but let them do what they can before the event is over. Not everyone has time to do all the quests, but still may want to participate and do what they can.
5-I'd really like to see a reward for finishing all of the quests. Personally, I get bummed that there isn't anything special at the end of the event. Especially since the rest of the rewards are gambles. I'd like to see rewards for finishing all of the quests in each line, and maybe even a small prize for those who participated, but couldn't finish. Maybe a couple of things to choose from so everybody could have an element of choice and pick what suits their playstyle best. You could have different prizes to choose from depending on how many quests were completed, so if you managed to finish them all you get the pick of litter.
6-The buildings should be worth the effort. While I understand you don't want overpowered buildings, from a player's perspective, if the rewards are on par with the buildings from my current chapter, I'd rather spend my time and resources building my regular stuff instead of slowing down my city for sub-par rewards.

On a positive note, I'm glad we didn't have to click any kind of confirm button when we collected beets.

I'll edit and add more later if I think of something.

 

[DeletedUser6493]

I agree with a lot of the responses. I love events because I think they keep the game more interesting and usually provide an opportunity to win some great buildings and other prizes. I appreciate that a lot of time and effort went into making this event. However, I feel there is a need to improve some things. This is the first one that I chose not to finish in any of my 3 cities because the potential rewards did not outweigh the high costs of completing it and on Ceravyn it would have caused quite a bit of damage to attempt it.

I loved that this event did not have a a lot of buy a high number of KPs tasks. This is an excellent improvement.

I like the idea of the pay for quests but I felt that the amounts were too high and should be adjusted. I think there should have been another reward given for completing these tasks such as diamonds (amounts vary depending on the chapter the player is in) or a decent number of instants to make it more worthwhile. These tasks are what caused me to abandon the main tasks and continue with only the daily quests and collecting beets from around my city. Where I stopped and why in each city is outlined below:

1. Ceravyn my city is at the end of chapter 3: I stopped at #30, pay 500 elixir. I have my T3 but quite a few do not so it is very difficult to trade for it and it takes more time to build a supply on a new world. I am lucky that I have a few neighbors and FS members who I can trade T3s with but many players do not and had no chance. I have over 500 of each but simply could not afford to give over half my supply to complete these tasks and progress on the tech tree and manage housing upgrades.

2. Beta my city was at the very end of Chap 5: I stopped on #90, pay 27,900 elixir. This would take too long to recover, the risk was not worth the possible rewards, and those goods would be better spent on the map to gain expansions for Dwarves and to help FS members with trades.

3. Khel where my city is toward the end of Fairies: I stopped at #55. Pay 2.3 M coins. I'm already paying and regaining a large amount of coins and supplies every day because of MH upgrades, workshop upgrades, residence upgrades, scouting, etc. These are things that provide an immediate benefit to my city rather than a chance at winning at building that will have to be removed and replaced with something that provides higher culture or mana in later chapters.

I understand wanting us to use our magic academies but the gain POP spells is extremely repetitive and boring. Why not have one or two gain spells tasks and let us choose the spells. Most of us would probably choose POP or culture spells but having a choice is nice.

I think there were too many supply tasks and it did get repetitive and uninteresting. Why not replace some of these with post X many trades, take X many trades, and visit X many player tasks instead. It would add more variety to the event and keep it more interesting.

I do enjoy when an event is challenging but this seemed more frustrating because of the repetitive tasks than adding challenge to game play and an event that asks for amounts of goods that are damaging to cities in some cases is not a positive thing in my opinion.

 

[Deleted User - 1528929]

You have two hours in every time zone. The Local Time time at which the event started was different in each zone, the time at which it switches over to a new day is different in each, and the time when it ends is different in each.

Gotcha, my bad.

 

[DeletedUser3534]

This is going to be impossible for me to finish in 2 worlds because of the crazy Gain Supply quests at the end.. One world in Woodelves and the other in Sorcerers and both at quest #96
There is not be enough time to finish the 3 back to back supply quests even if using provision spells.

 

[DeletedUser3534]

Really makes me mad that I've wasted so many resources trying to get this far...

 

[DeletedUser8752]

I LOVE Events and I decided to not finish this one. I'll use/have used my beets on what buildings will be best for my future chapters. But I'm basically only using them for the KP potential.
I like Soggy don't care for not finishing, I'm the lady who can't put a book down in the middle of a chapter, stopping a quest in the middle feels the same. But what I'm being asked to pay out for this quest was not worth what I MIGHT get, in my opinion. Incredibly disappointed with this event.