Spire of Eternity feedback

[DeletedUser20951]

*snaps fingers* Knew there was something eluding my grasp about the tone of this feedback, and it's very obvious now that I've put my finger on it, but those who are enjoying the Spire are the ones not having their arses handed to them by the Spire, whether by the virtue of luck, being at an advantageous stage, and/or having a city that is streamlined for combat.

 

[Fayeanne]

I actually found the first few battles, up to the first gate, to be quite easy. After the gate, the enemy squad sizes jumped considerably. But I opened four or five chests before then (and even had a shot at Diamonds) for very little cost. (Lost a few units, but not a lot.) I'll probably stop here, walking away with some spell fragments, combining catalysts, and portal profits that I effectively got almost for "free" since my unit losses were so minor.

So people who don't want to invest a lot of resources could still try just going to the first gate. The rewards aren't tremendous but neither is the effort required.

I am amused at the enemy unit selection. It's not just the standard province mixes, making you put a little bit more effort into deciding which units to bring into battle.

 

[DeletedUser19458]

I made it to the top gate to try and "see it all". Biggest gripe about the whole mechanism is the squad sizes are just too big - I'm a fighting city but I can not sustain playing this regularly for the meager spell fragments it wants to only give out. Selling off evolutions is much more lucrative.

However they calculate that out, it needs to be revisited.

 

[The Unbeliever]

So, just finished reading all the new posts of mostly negative feedback here, and it finally occurred to me how similar the response to the Spire is in comparison to the Summer Mermaids event (should of made the connection immediately, but swift thinking is not my forte). Now, they likely had a hard deadline for releasing this, but it was an absolutely terrible idea to actually go through with adding a highly unpopular feature (beta feedback made this clear, and it's always ten times more hostile on live servers, as we did not willingly sign up to deal with recognized bugs and glitches and quality control) right on the tail end of another widely and significantly panned modification of the event questing system. While I'm not much of a conspiracy theorist, it seems like intentional sabotage, but barring that, at the very least, it suggests an ineptitude and/or arrogance of a disturbing magnitude across the board for the company. No matter the veracity of my pondering, ill omens are soaring on the winds and I am disquieted by their screeches.

"Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by simple stupidity."

The Elvenar team aren't trying to sabotage their game... they're just awful game designers who have no clue what they're doing or how to even play their own game.
The players can spot obvious issues within minutes of trying to use a feature, but it takes literally years for the devs to extract their collective heads from their nethers to only half-fix these obvious glaring game play/game balance issues.

I expect the same thing to happen here...

 

[DeletedUser]

i agree, why?... i not know no

Read what players with cities higher than yours are saying. Look at the link to the Beta feedback thread that I posted. There's a very good reason why Chapter 1 and 2 cities are blocked from participating and that's the fact that they simply can't cover the costs. They don't have the coin/supplies/goods for Negotiating, and there's no way they have the troops in those stages of city development.

Just cool your jets, and build your city. After you progress to Chapter 3, you can start building your armies to be slaughtered and your stocks to be depleted.

 

[Heymrdiedier]

Read what players with cities higher than yours are saying. Look at the link to the Beta feedback thread that I posted. There's a very good reason why Chapter 1 and 2 cities are blocked from participating and that's the fact that they simply can't cover the costs. They don't have the coin/supplies/goods for Negotiating, and there's no way they have the troops in those stages of city development.

Just cool your jets, and build your city. After you progress to Chapter 3, you can start building your armies to be slaughtered and your stocks to be depleted.

honestly i think the only reason they are excluded is because they cant make Tier 3 goods yet. So they would have too few options in the negotiation game.
For the rest, both fighting and negotiation is quite easy on low chapters, just like tournament is rediculously easy for those, compared to end gamers.

And then they wonder why some people choose not to advance in game anymore and complain every event that they dont have orcs to complete provinces/scout. Advancing makes the game harder

 

[DeletedUser20951]

The Elvenar team aren't trying to sabotage their game... they're just awful game designers who have no clue what they're doing or how to even play their own game.

it suggests an ineptitude and/or arrogance of a disturbing magnitude across the board for the company

As I had said, but I do like that quote.

 

[Pheryll]

And then they wonder why some people choose not to advance in game anymore and complain every event that they dont have orcs to complete provinces/scout. Advancing makes the game harder

Beta is reporting as much as an 80% difference in troop requirements for people in the same chapter. Because the calculation is hidden it will take a little more time for people to figure it out and exploit it; but given how wide the range is within the chapter, it shouldn't be too long before the major contributors to difficulty are known.

 

[DeletedUser]

honestly i think the only reason they are excluded is because they cant make Tier 3 goods yet. So they would have too few options in the negotiation game.

Which is part of my point. In fact, I said, "they simply can't cover the costs. They don't have the coin/supplies/goods for Negotiating".

For the rest, both fighting and negotiation is quite easy on low chapters, just like tournament is rediculously easy for those, compared to end gamers.

But considering how screwed-up the Spire is, no one can say for certain if C1 & 2 cities would have an easier time. I highly doubt it.

Advancing makes the game harder

For me, it's gotten much easier. My Beta city just started S&D on Sunday and there are so many things that I struggled with prior to Dwarves that are no longer (or not much of) an issue. My city here (because I had to start over) is in the first part of Chapter 2 and by comparison, it's a pain in the ass. When I hit C3 here I'll see The Spire through both perspectives.

 

[Black watch]

Yeah, that took care of that.... Yeah, I'm on board with everyone else now... LOL
Expensive, debilitating and the rewards as you get closer to the top wimp out for the amount of troop losses. It's not bad lower, but above that 3 hr gate, things swing around. For loosing troops like that, I would expect the rewards to be higher.

 

[DeletedUser3602]

You can quit the diplomacy and start again. Gives you 3 new chances for no diamonds but your back at square one and lose all goods already put in.

Thanks Mykan, hadn't thought of that.

 

[DeletedUser23187]

I like the idea of the spire, but there is absolutely no way I can afford to play it.

I am about half way through Dwarves, with lots of upgrades to go and the demands on my supplies are consistently high. Even if I wanted to play the guessing game, I don't have the supplies.

Also, I am only about half way set up for fighting. Even with my armories at max available level I can't make enough troops to match my current squad size. I can play tournaments, which are fun. Spire squad sizes would have me a zero troops pretty quickly.

I think people might be less upset if they announced that Spire was added for the very rich, end game player who has a million of everything and nothing to do with it. I am busy with what I am doing, so I don't have a problem with them adding end game content.

They have created an impression that it is for everyone over level 2 and it is not.

Its not for players who are leveling.

I think anyone who tries it out will see that pretty quickly.

 

[hvariidh gwendrot]

lol i like the they are not malicious just incompetent theme but for me the fact that they have it set up that unless you are the luckiest guesser ever born you will have to spend diamonds to advance .. and normally that's all fine and good but when the person saying i guessed wrong and need to buy diamonds to advance is the same one selling the diamonds ?? that's not a system screaming trust me it's all fair .. wont be participated in 3 worlds by 3 fellowships i know of till they figure that out .. it will be a pretty bldg on the side that just reminds us that they are not malicious just incompetent

 

[DeletedUser20951]

The quote, "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity", came to mind, too

Ha! I knew I'd used it somewhere here. I often think it, anyway, although I will accuse others of malice until they prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, their stupidity (and frequently, malicious intentions after being questioned, but that's a chicken or the egg thing). : D

 

[Deleted User - 1178646]

I like the idea of the spire, but there is absolutely no way I can afford to play it.

I am about half way through Dwarves, with lots of upgrades to go and the demands on my supplies are consistently high. Even if I wanted to play the guessing game, I don't have the supplies.

Also, I am only about half way set up for fighting. Even with my armories at max available level I can't make enough troops to match my current squad size. I can play tournaments, which are fun. Spire squad sizes would have me a zero troops pretty quickly.

I think people might be less upset if they announced that Spire was added for the very rich, end game player who has a million of everything and nothing to do with it. I am busy with what I am doing, so I don't have a problem with them adding end game content.

They have created an impression that it is for everyone over level 2 and it is not.

Its not for players who are leveling.

I think anyone who tries it out will see that pretty quickly.

Believe me it ain't much better for the end game player witk a kazillion of goods.

Spoiler

As for nothing to do with it, you know there is the tournament, and you can get a lot of good rewards from it like a lot of knowledge points for one.
The problem ain't the goods for negotiating, but the gold and supply requirments.
You can drain your full coffer on coins ans supplies in a matter of a few clicks.

No one can sustain the spire on negotiations alone, and fighting simply hurts your troops to much + the prizes are rubbis while I get for those lost troops much more in the tournament.

 

[Socrates28]

*snaps fingers* Knew there was something eluding my grasp about the tone of this feedback, and it's very obvious now that I've put my finger on it, but those who are enjoying the Spire are the ones not having their arses handed to them by the Spire, whether by the virtue of luck, being at an advantageous stage, and/or having a city that is streamlined for combat.

Not true of me my friend. I quit the Spire after I opened the stage 2 gate and got my a*** handed to me. Too expensive to guess or to fight.
On the other hand, I am still enjoying the Mermaid event and getting a ton of stuff in the process. The independent assessments are valid, just perhaps not generally in conjunction with each other.

 

[The Unbeliever]

Beta is reporting as much as an 80% difference in troop requirements for people in the same chapter. Because the calculation is hidden it will take a little more time for people to figure it out and exploit it; but given how wide the range is within the chapter, it shouldn't be too long before the major contributors to difficulty are known.

The fact that the beta community managers are being so defensive and deflecting every attempt to reveal just how the Spire of Stupidity difficulty is calculated, tells me that it's so convoluted and asininely counter-intuitive, that they really are in total fear of us knowing the truth.

I mean, the fact that the one beta manager outright admits that they don't even play the tournaments at all is telling.

 

[DeletedUser2768]

I like the artwork.........

I tried a few encounters in one city, and I'm not bothering with my other.

 

[shimmerfly]

I still find the artwork plain in comparison to even our opening game page.
And the recent TV ads they have out now are way over the top of what I'm seeing of the spire. Just my opinion.
I'm thinking pots of flowers and maybe more detail in the trees and building itself. Some birds and Benches to sit on as you climb the tower, etc. From a distance it's pretty but not when your on it.
I usually love the art work too!

 

[DeletedUser1016]

This is CRAP! I finished 2 levels, wiped out almost all my troops even with Dwarven Armory, 2 Unleashed & 1 Enlightened Also wiped out a TON of goods I got diddly squat for all of that. I did get 30 & 50 diamonds. Woo Hoo! Spent more than that on keeping it going. It seems that there is a very small chance of getting the good buildings or set with only 5% chance for the ones needed. This is really disappointing since I was really hoping they would take the feedback from Beta and make this even a little bit enjoyable This is a MAJOR FAIL in my opinion.

Really wondering why they think thousands of spell fragments is a prize at all. Just ridiculous!

update 1: I just now got the first battle that comes in waves. NOW I'm starting to get an idea of what may lay ahead.....
My Phoenix is going to be getting very fat from all the feeding methinks

The problem ain't the goods for negotiating, but the gold and supply requirments.
You can drain your full coffer on coins ans supplies in a matter of a few clicks.

No one can sustain the spire on negotiations alone, and fighting simply hurts your troops to much + the prizes are rubbis while I get for those lost troops much more in the tournament.

I feel the same as most everyone who's played several levels and have suffered lots of troop losses and total frustration with the "Convince" feature of the Spire. I too have easily completed the First Level and all four stages w/o significant troop losses; AND also was able to use the "convince" feature successfully, just to try it. BUT the second level is another story! I got to the final stage, completing the previous three [3] stages w/o a terrible amount of troop losses, and I even did successfully "convinced" once and awhile, but when I got to the second to last chest [last chest prior to the Boss], I couldn't fight or negotiate past it. I lost tons of supplies and coins trying to convince, depleting my "coffers" several times and using instants to replenish things. I manual fought over and over again with different combinations, but w/o any success.

I'm an end user of this game and played w/o the use of diamonds [a personal challenge for me]...and I score regularly in the 3k - 6k in the tournaments; and I have tons of goods and resources - but I refuse to squander all my savings in just one feature of this game, namely this new feature [Spire]. I really wanted to do all three [3] levels, and I'll give it one more try to at least finish the Second Level, probably by using my UUU towards the end of the tourney so that I can space it between two [2] tourneys and also for these last couple of fight on the Spire.