Dwarfs/Dwarves - WHEN!?!
Hi Robot,
Love the game first and foremost, its such an amazingly polished PVP release in a gaming industry which fails at it time and time again that I was dumbfounded with how robust it has been.
Buuuuuuuuut (annoying child voice), I do think mobile platform games also rely on remaining fresh - There are rafts and rafts of apps released weekly, and while they won't be as good, I wouldn't be suprised if a chunk of the general player base wanders off to go play something else and forgets entirely about this beautiful app. Just look at the reduction in forum posts; interest dies fast in such a game-eat-game world haha. <unless of course you have established subject matter like Final Fantasy, where regardless of how horrible the game is you release people still waste money on it>
Since there are only 2 teams, it doesnt take long for it to feel like you are just running the motions. Even using the random function theres only a possibility of 3 different matches (multiplied by the various maps, but cumon maps should be able to be churned out in no time).
In summary I am at a point where I really want Dwarves to get rolled out to us, even if its not in a completely balanced state; the users will let you know quickly if anything is OP, and that along with your stats analysis id think the final tweaks would be quicker using that method?
In support of this argument, I have played Heroes of Newerth and DOTA quite a bit and regularly heroes get released which are half baked (over hidesouly overbaked, with steroids in the icing), but they get fixed quick enough and it adds to the whole fun of the game :)
From a business standpoint its always going to be $ vs Quality, sure. Im afraid whats going to happen is the player population will reduce by the time the Dwarves are released, resulting in less people spending the $ to use them on average.
Maybe Diablo 3 has just got me SO SO jacked off with companies getting bogged down in unecessary detail I can't accept when real lead time is required....regardless, I want my Dwarves, I have your $2 waiting hehe.
P.S. Then after Dwarves, give us Zombies (I figure seeing as there is already knights, elves, ninjas and demons anything go's)? I want to convert peoples minions to mindless bloodied drones with my shuffling mess of groaning, near indestructible undead.
Maybe not zombies, but an Undead army would be pretty badass.
Particularly with some powers. Maybe the vampire could have mesmerize -- unit cannot move next turn, the the Ghoul can have infect -- unit loses 100 health per turn, and any unit it touches during the infected units turn becomes infected. Lich could have armor-ignoring damage, which should help against Council, and all undead units could have immunity to life drain which would help against the DEs. Although I doubt they want to get this exotic.
H.A. is nooooooooooooooot Dota, or LoL, etc etc, and R.E. is like a couple dozen dudes with other stuff to do, too. I'm really eager for Dwarves too, but I don't think John Q. Armchair's mobile gaming business advice is going to get it rolled out any faster. Let them do their thing.
^lol
I disagree with the original poster. I have no problem finding a match and the majority of people play several turns a day if not full games. I am just as eager to see dwarves as the next guy, but from robot's perspective, they want their product to maintain its high level of quality and they lose nothing from people who have already bought dark elves taking a break and coming back when dwarves are ready.
In fact, if I were Robot, I would focus on porting to Android first so they can reach a broader market.
an Undead army that resurrects on the next turn? I dig!
Agree with Jay (lol). As excited as I am for the new heroic team, I want them to get it right. Just because other companies do it half baked doesn't mean RE needs to. Quality can be a positive differentiator.
And I still learn something new every game, man. Some DE mechanics aren't readily apparent unless you really pay attention.
That said, SixOkay did mention that some news regarding the Dwarves might be hitting us within the next week.
So, patience, young Padawan.
mickross, here's what's going to happen:
- The dwarves will come out when they're good and balanced.
- Some people may leave to play other games.
- New army comes out, there's a surge of interest.
- Those in the surge are going to buy the new armies and start sending out fight invites en masse.
- Those who left and forgot about the game are going to see increased activity from fight invites.
- More people play the game.
Yes, new content should come out quickly, but are people that disaffected that they'll drop the game when DEs only came out half a month ago?
Dude this game came out less than a month ago.
Less than a month ago.
Keep your pants on, give the poor devs some time.
Ok ok I do understand the argument for quality, I said that in my original post. But what we do know about the mobile platforms is;
- They arent PC's, they have minimal space.
- People LOVE apps, photos, videos and music, so the room for apps becomes less very quickly
- Every single week a whole range of new 'fresh' apps enters the market place ready to be played are enjoyed, many of which are free
Theres a number of iOS apps I have loved in the past, deleted to fit something new and cool on, and now I would have no idea if add-ons have been released.
I would love to know what games people still have on their phones that are older then 6 months? Are they based on pre-existing subject matter? Have they released additional content? No doubt with the number of gamers out there people do have some and examples.
All that said; John Q. armchair has just as many valid points as John Q. designer, when you consider the number of John Q.'s out there. (ghetto voice) "You don't know anything about John Q". Thats one of the core components for having forums in the first place (and bug reporting).
And to be clear I never said anything about it being hard to find a match? I said it feels like im running the motions sometimes ie. depending on what units come out first its just the same thing over and over. I agree theres games where you still might learn something new, but surely its not every game?
Winning a match has more to do with who starts first, what units you get first, and whether its Council/Council, Council/DE, DE/DE. Skill is definitely a component, but with allot less skilled gamers then casual ones, it comes in 4th place imo.
As for quality - there are heaps of posts already about DE being OP, its going to happen regardless of the quality.
We're working. :)
One thing worth noting, on top of the fact that we have to paint, animated, and add sound to any new team is that we also have to playtest it as much as humanly possible to ensure a close balance with previously released teams. Even so, our balance cycles are intense and pretty short compared to your average PC game. If we got any shorter, we'd run several risks with the new teams, balance being a potentially big one.
Obviously, if we wait too long, we do run the risk of people moving on, but we're also not talking about 6 months between new teams. We're moving along at a good pace. We're able to turn around teams in an amount of time that makes us feel comfortable about their quality and gameplay, while simultaneously giving people enough breathing room from the release of the previous team but not taking so long that people forget about the game entirely. If we flooded the app with new teams every two weeks, it would become overwhelming VERY quickly. It's also worth noting that many of the biggest apps out there didn't become the biggest in their first month of release. MANY huge apps can take months to build up an audience that big, so while some players will inevitably play and move on, there are millions more who can jump in at any point, even today, and the app will be completely new for them.
thanks for the post SixOkay :) I really hope it does continue to maintain the players! Oh well, back to playing DE against council and raging with every crystal rush that smashes me *shakes fist at knights, wizards and fireballs*.
We're working. :)
One thing worth noting, on top of the fact that we have to paint, animated, and add sound to any new team is that we also have to playtest it as much as humanly possible to ensure a close balance with previously released teams. Even so, our balance cycles are intense and pretty short compared to your average PC game. If we got any shorter, we'd run several risks with the new teams, balance being a potentially big one.
Obviously, if we wait too long, we do run the risk of people moving on, but we're also not talking about 6 months between new teams. We're moving along at a good pace. We're able to turn around teams in an amount of time that makes us feel comfortable about their quality and gameplay, while simultaneously giving people enough breathing room from the release of the previous team but not taking so long that people forget about the game entirely. If we flooded the app with new teams every two weeks, it would become overwhelming VERY quickly. It's also worth noting that many of the biggest apps out there didn't become the biggest in their first month of release. MANY huge apps can take months to build up an audience that big, so while some players will inevitably play and move on, there are millions more who can jump in at any point, even today, and the app will be completely new for them.
Has R.E considered allowing some selected community members to help out with the balance of the new teams? Like a private beta. As the number of factions increase, balancing gets more and more laborous more help would definitely be good :)
I'm pretty excited about the Dwarves, though I'd prefer a skill based ELO rating system before a fourth team.
Yeah! If you need a play tester, I'll sign whatever NDA you need me to! Get me the goods, get me a list of people to play, and I'll play the hell out of it!
+1 Narziss, +1 krypton/JIbbyjackjoe
seeing as im obviously the most keen *haha* +10 mickross
Was hoping for the dwarves reveal this week oh well =(
So was I, frankly. But this week is looking a lot better for that sort of thing ;)
So was I, frankly. But this week is looking a lot better for that sort of thing ;)
Fantastic. My look is looking awesome already!
So was I, frankly. But this week is looking a lot better for that sort of thing ;)
siiiiiiiiiick! so excited :D i play this game more than console or pc games now haha
So was I, frankly. But this week is looking a lot better for that sort of thing ;)
Take as much time as you need. Its better putting up with a few impatient people now, than the entire pissed off community outraged over a new unbalanced team.
So was I, frankly. But this week is looking a lot better for that sort of thing ;)
*little girl squeeeeeal*
Robot should feel amazing about the work they've done so far. Honestly, I'm not a dwarf fan in any game/movie, I normally dislike that for some reason, however I CANNOT WAIT to play them in Hero Academy. This game is just so amazing that I'm willing to buy every single team that comes out even if I normally would never play them. I love the game, and just two teams is starting to become a bit dull for me because I play too much, but once there are three (then more) teams, I'll never put this game down :)
I'm really hoping this puts an end to all the council v council matches in the league.
lol you said it Lorik!
That and the fact they are doing some balance changes when dwarves roll out :)
Maybe not zombies, but an Undead army would be pretty badass.