Future ANB

[Keaven]

Combining the increased difficulty of trials, and the awesome addition of cheaper ephemeral crafting for ANB, I personally found this bronze ANB quite enjoyable, well paced, and challenging (only ranked top 200).

Given that I exhausted the 8K of gems reserved, I suspect trial 100 or 80 will not be attainable for most players in gold or even silver events without using undesirable quantities of gems giving it a feel of money grabbing or P2W.

I think it might be worth using the bronze play timer going forward and removing the classifications, or reconsider how they may be differentiated.

Or alternativly, lower the trial levels required for rewards. I expect level 80 will still be quite difficult and challenging for the second CT in gold, still unreachable for newbs limited mainly by playing experience.

[mahara]

Sorry man but i just had to ...

[Keaven]

Reason being?

[Benedicto]

Now it is more important to save gems during non-event times. Either watch all available ads, purhcase the daily gem package, or both. Legendary crafting crates in ANBs will be our saviour, since 2 CTs is the most important goal of everyone.

[mahara]

There would be no challenge and reason to push yourself to the limit.

Bronze costed me about 5k gems (didn't keep records so it's rough estimate) and i ended in top 25 with 1250 CLs. I could have around 1600Cls maybe more if i pushed myself but i just didn't see a reason to (12 hours is a lot of time even if it may not seem so but you just need some strategy and follow it, if it doesn't pan out then think about what could be done better and try it next time.)

But you can as hell be sure that in gold i'll give it my best and spend as many gems as necessary. Why? Because i like the challenge of it. It's completely different having 6 hours instead of 12.
It's like a whole new game. You have to really think before you commit to something because of the very limited play time you have.

[Keaven]

I enjoy the challenge too when my schedule permits, I just don't think that it's wise to put CTs behind a paywall. The challenge still exists whether or not CTs are within reach.

[Anjaeka]

I see both sides here. On one hand, the events are supposed to be increasingly more challenging. If they’re too easy, the Celestials will lose their value. On the other hand, I totally get where you’re coming from in regards to gem expenditure. It’s for that very reason that I’ve given up competing in gold. There’s just no way to have enough gems by then without a major purchase. I’m guessing that this is by design since that’s how the developers make their money.

[mahara]

You can get a lot of gems for very small payments. I buy only season passes and occasionaly daily gem packs. You can get a lot of gems just by playing the game.

[Keaven]

I get all my gems speed running cause I enjoy it. You can farm enough gems this way @Anjaeka

https://forum.makingfun.com/forum/eternium/players-helping-players/149389-eternium-walkthrough?p=149393#post149393

[Anjaeka]

I get all of the gems I can through playing. The problem is, I blow through so many in bronze and silver that by the time gold comes around I’m out. Each event requires increased gems due to limited playing time. I make seasonal purchases to help support the game, but I try to stick to a budget. ; )

[Keaven]

My intention is not to limit the competitive challenge aspect of ANB.

Better if the challenge is simply ranking high for medals, and not in obtaining the CTs from rewards in my opinion.

This is the same for every event irrespective of gameplay timer. So I would rather the rewards move to lower trials given the recent changes to trial difficulty, if gameplay timers remain as they were when trials were easier.

The increase in trial difficulty does not affect normal play aside from the current paywall in CTs needed to rank higher.

Anyone that did not get to trial 100 by the 3 hour remaining mark would not have made it in silver, and I'd be curious just how few would have made it by 6 hours needed for gold.

The difficulty of trials prior to this ANB was balanced pretty well even for gold.

CTs are essential in end-game meta for season ranking, and putting a paywall in front of them will discourage new players which every game needs for income and content. In competitive microtransaction games free players are essentially content for the developers.

Mobile games fall into 3 categories; F2P where spending doesn't give any advantage or there's no cost (eg chess); P2W where spending is needed to be competitive but all key content is accessible without spending (eg Hearthstone); and P2P (pay to play) where the app either has a purchase price, or key content cannot be obtained without spending on microtransactions (eg Clash of Clans).

I avoid P2P games unless it's a purchase price for the game, as it's a seriously flawed model and they all come crashing down.

From what I've read from the developers they do not want to make ANBs a paywall, which gold certainly has become, and arguably silver.

[mahara]

I have to disagree with you here.

Gold is in no way a paywall unless you make it so.
And that new players don't get to TL100 in gold or silver or even in bronze? Sorry. Tough luck. Try again next time when you will not be a new player anymore and will know what you are doing and have a better understanding of the game. There's plenty of guides and people willing to help new and veteran players alike.

That people want everything right now and served on a silver platter? That's their problem and i wish them good luck in life with this attitude.

It's like i would want to compete in starcraft/counter strike (insert any game being played competitively worldwide) on pro levels just because i payed for the game. That's not just how things are and hopefully never will be. You just have to spend some time to understand the game better.

Sorry if my comment seems harsh. It's not ment to be. But new players are exactly that. They are new and have very limited knowledge of the game and can't expect to achieve immediately what took others several weeks/months/years.

[Keaven]

Fair enough.

[Nhat]

In my opinion, Celestials should never have been associated with "easy to get" - they're technically this game's "end-game" gear (when level 70 was maxed) or sources for those gear via Celestial Transform...

So yeah, new/inexperience players need to be aware of this and actually learn and plan their way to get the Celestial. As seen by multiple posts from experienced players, it's not all that hard once you know and APPLY the correct strategies and preparations, but it's still in no means EASY... and should never be.

Edit:
and preparation includes getting the required Gems for your run, so there is no such thing as a "pay wall" - it just takes longer if you're not paying... yes paying gets things quicker, but there's NOTHING important that you cannot get with time... (there were some cosmetics purchase only things...)

[Ubba Lothbrokson]

In my opinion, Celestials should never have been associated with "easy to get" - they're technically this game's "end-game" gear (when level 70 was maxed) or sources for those gear via Celestial Transform...

So yeah, new/inexperience players need to be aware of this and actually learn and plan their way to get the Celestial. As seen by multiple posts from experienced players, it's not all that hard once you know and APPLY the correct strategies and preparations, but it's still in no means EASY... and should never be.

Edit:
and preparation includes getting the required Gems for your run, so there is no such thing as a "pay wall" - it just takes longer if you're not paying... yes paying gets things quicker, but there's NOTHING important that you cannot get with time... (there were some cosmetics purchase only things...)

I agree 100%. No-one is entitled to the celestials. Especially now that they are Celestial Transforms, which are much more valuable than the old Cboxes.

It is right that they need to be earned. And if not everyone gets both, or even one, that's the way it goes. Put in the time and effort, spend gems profligately if you need to and play effectively. Your results will reflect your efforts.

It's really not that hard to accumulate a big warchest of gems. I started this round of ANB with around 30,00 gems. Mostly accumulated over the course of the last 2 Seasons, which if you think about it, gave me in excess of 40,000 gems. Some were spent on ANB #3, the rest are budgeted for ANB #4.

I certainly expect to get at least 1 CT from each round, and I won't apologize to anyone who doesn't have, or isn't willing to spend, the same level of resources. What else are you going to spend them on?

There are strategic aspects to the game, and they include setting appropriate goals in ANB, taking into account a variety of factors, including how much time one is willing and able to spend playing the game, both before and during the event.

[Keaven]

So why not put the second celestial at trial 130?

[mahara]

Why not? It would atleast give me incentive to try as hard as possible during all ANB leagues.

From the posts all over the board i get the feeling that people think that celestial items will make them magicaly be able to take that number one spot on the LB or at the least top 10. Surprise surprise, there's not that many celestial items on the LB, not even in the top 10 spots.