Why are you part of the Elvenar universe?

[Shae-Leigh]

Elvenar is like my guilty pleasure. Started because my sister invited me, and we lived in separate continents, and it was a way to connect. She left, and I stayed (~ish) Had a few breaks. Kept me sane through lock downs, and gave me conversation outside the folks living under the same roof as me. Everything people said above, plus, my neighbour can't come wipe me off the map. Thanks for that, Elvenar.

 

[Deborah M]

I played Castleville start to finish. It took me some time to find a game I would want to invest my time & $ into when Castleville ended. Then I found Elvenar. My wish list was a city builder game with detailed pretty buildings, NO PVP, and not being forced to battle. I was thinking when I watched the video for the cauldron that one of the things that I liked early on was the videos done by Timon & Rica. They were always informative and encouraging especially the way they always thanked us longer-term players, as Timon did in the cauldron video. It was always nice to feel like an appreciated player.

 

[shimmerfly]

At this point I'm not really sure but I'm still here!

 

[Darielle]

I'm here because I've made some really good friends and enjoy their company. And I kinda sorta like being an archmage, although I kinda sorta wonder sometimes why I do it. Being able to teach players who say they hate the spire and will NEVER play it (like I once did) and see them make it to the top for the first time ... that's a thrill. I'm almost as happy as they are, lol.

 

[Darielle]

I played Castleville start to finish. It took me some time to find a game I would want to invest my time & $ into when Castleville ended. Then I found Elvenar. My wish list was a city builder game with detailed pretty buildings, NO PVP, and not being forced to battle. I was thinking when I watched the video for the cauldron that one of the things that I liked early on was the videos done by Timon & Rica. They were always informative and encouraging especially the way they always thanked us longer-term players, as Timon did in the cauldron video. It was always nice to feel like an appreciated player.

Oh gosh you've brought back memories. I was heartbroken when that one ended.

 

[Rythel]

I love to play mobile games, but found myself getting burnt-out quickly with all the gatcha games out there. I was craving something akin to Farmville way back in the day of early Facebook and stumbled upon Elvenar. I typically only play mobile games for a couple months at a time, but I was hooked. I absolutely loved the city-tetris element of the game and the architecture was honestly amazing (RIP Human Dust Manufactory, Goblins did you dirty). But as I progressed further and further, it contained the aspect of optimization that I absolutely adore. I spend an unnaturally large amount of time on Elvenarchitect rearranging my city and planning it to be perfect for the next chapter. I love recording my levels of goods at the beginning of the week and gauging my performance in both spire and tournaments with my current production.

In short I came for the art and fun puzzle aspects, stayed for the in-depth optimization the gamer in me loves. After 2+ years, I haven't touched another mobile game since I started.

 

[Moho]

I postponed pursuing my initial goal and soon I discovered I lost my motivation to keep looking into the all the things I mentioned in the opening post. I immediately withdrew because I sensed the danger that many players are aware of: burnout. Half a year ago I felt I no longer wanted to play and quit the game for about three months. I'm back playing Elvenar now but I should be careful not to engage in too much too hard again.

I don't want folks to think I have abandoned my idea completely, so I will state what many people will deem as obvious: Elvenar is an eclectic game, with various facets and ramifications, many of which are purely optional. This is a brief summary of what seems to attract people and make players stick around:

• City building and city optimization
• City management
• Mastering the"city tetris” and organizing efficient cities
• The complex gameplay mechanics
• Chasing chapters, and adjusting and readjusting the city
• Storyline quests in chapters and events
• Fights, challenges, and rewards
• Beautiful graphics
• Addons: Tournament, Spire, Fellowship Adventure
• The fellowship and teamwork
• Cooperation between players as opposed to PvP
• Forum and social media
• The emphasis on community and socialization
• The vast playstyle variety

 

[Catherina]

They say Elvenar is a free-to-play browser-based game, where you will build a flourishing city and discover a magical world full of mysteries.

My plan is to devise a more elaborate questionnaire on this topic but right now I'm not sure where to begin. So I thought I should start from my personal experience as well as other players' personal experience in this game.

Here is why I am part of the Elvenar universe: It was a mere accident, which can be summarized by the phrase COVID-19 pandemic. Finding myself confined within four walls for a long period of time during the Christmas holidays and spending more time on the computer than I had before led to a situation where I thought I could kill time by playing a game. The only game I was playing occasionally at that time was Wordament. After a one or two-day search I eventually landed here and decided to stay. The game was beautiful. It looked like a game with some complex mechanics which I didn't understand at that time (and I'm not sure I understand it very well now either) and it seemed to work properly. However, I didn't expect to be playing longer than several months. It was the city-building aspect of the game that drew me in at the beginning but what eventually made me stay was the Spire.

Everybody's experience is a different one. If you enjoy sharing your own exploits or trials, please let me know how you ended up here and why you are still part of the Elvenar universe. Hopefully, I'll be able to gather enough information and organize myself so that I will draw up a questionnaire whose purpose should be to reveal what lies beneath the world we all belong to right now - the virtual realm of the Elvenar universe and the reality of the myriad of people playing this game. I know it sounds too ambitious to be true, but I'm not going to write a treatise. With your help, I only want to identify - if possible - certain general trends and draw a simple conclusion. Let's see if I can.

i started playing the first year they started 2015 just before halloween ( in fact i was on the halloween quest on day one). i love the building aspect of the game. I think the spire is great because as long as you have patience you can win the diamonds and never have tpo buy diamonds. As i progressed the game took longer and i would hit a chapter that took a while and start a new city in another world. eventually i ended up in all 8 US servers(worlds) and am archmage now in all but 1. the community is great and the fellowship member are geat ( except for a few), and support has been awesome for me in this game.

This game has everything that I enjoy: building up, resources and expansion, city tetris, and fighting. Why am I still here? It's a beautiful design, with great players, and it's addictive.

 

[Catherina]

I love to play mobile games, but found myself getting burnt-out quickly with all the gatcha games out there. I was craving something akin to Farmville way back in the day of early Facebook and stumbled upon Elvenar. I typically only play mobile games for a couple months at a time, but I was hooked. I absolutely loved the city-tetris element of the game and the architecture was honestly amazing (RIP Human Dust Manufactory, Goblins did you dirty). But as I progressed further and further, it contained the aspect of optimization that I absolutely adore. I spend an unnaturally large amount of time on Elvenarchitect rearranging my city and planning it to be perfect for the next chapter. I love recording my levels of goods at the beginning of the week and gauging my performance in both spire and tournaments with my current production.

In short I came for the art and fun puzzle aspects, stayed for the in-depth optimization the gamer in me loves. After 2+ years, I haven't touched another mobile game since I started.

I was also a farmville player and fan before elvenar