I’m seeing too many people either getting burnt out or using the words "boring and tedious" to describe the game.
As for myself, I believe confidently that if some pretty tall order issues aren’t delt with swiftly, we as a whole are going to start seeing a drop in players at fairly regular intervals.
Easier Said Than Done - I know what some of you are thinking. “But Feral Nick, these changes take time and effort.” They do, but frankly, they need to be addressed or should have been addressed far before now and there is no time like the present. Which is also why I’ve included constructive criticism for each part I’m addressing. Some reminders about this game should detail that the mechanics are here to stay and the game isn’t suddenly going to become more interactive overnight unless the devs decide to start putting mini games in. People will get burnt out from the same grind day in and out and there isn’t anything to stop that, but these quality of life changes could certainly do wonders.
Heists - The way these are right now, they feel like more of a chore than being fun. I know FAR too many people that share the same sentiments due to AFKs, instant thefts before anyone can react, and the sheer length of time it takes to actually do one.
Heists Fix - AFKs can be fixed simply by allowing other people to manipulate their heros if they haven’t done anything for at least a minute or so. Something tells me that wouldn’t be too hard to implement. Neither would delaying the thiefs ability to instantly steal a gem within the first 30 seconds. The length of time issue could be resolved by loweing the amount of investigating it takes to find the hideout. It drastically needs to be lowered to at least half of what it is now.
Friendship Campaign - I feel like everyone I talk to at higher tiers is basically sitting on 50 friend energy all the time until they pretty much star up a hero. This is a terrible setup and its wasting a large part of the game to the point where everyone in my guild talks about how useless extra friend energy boosts are.
Friendship Campaign Fix - Make them substantially easier or allow players to replay older friend campaigns. I don’t have any other comments on this because there really isn’t any other way to fix this without implementing more game avenues to use friend energy.
City Watch - This is a personal pet peeve of mine on top of pretty much everyone else I know thats high level. The way its set up right now, City Watch actually punishes you for being higher level in power level. I’ve PERSONALLY gone up against level 140 teams and they’re pretty much impossible to beat. Its been an issue for MONTHS and with upcoming patch notes its said it is going to be addressed supposedly, but we’ll see.
City Watch Fix - Number one, any character with disabling effects is pretty much useless for the section 5 gameplay. Any ability with the “May not work on enemies above level ___” might as well get tossed out the window making any contol characters pointless to have. This mechanic needs to not apply to city watch. The only other fix I can see for this is tweaking the maximum level enemies can be, lowered from what it is now.
Arena - I don’t hear complaints about Colliseum, but I sure do hear them about Arena. Stagnation is the culprit here. I know too many people trapped in an arena group that are just in a neverending revolving door of dethroning each other from top 5 and no one advances. Its why the top players on my server are all taking turns putting 1 champion in their teams so everyone else can advance. Is it cheating? Yeah. It is. But guess what? The design is horrible and frankly, I don’t blame them for it.
Arena Fix - Start off with an automatic mixing up every week of a new league you are placed in. That way, people get mixed around and don’t get stuck with the same 30 people slapping each other down and never advancing. Next, start making it mandatory to have 5 people on a team. Next, lower the amount of time it takes to advance by half of what it is now.
Diamond Crates - There is another post floating around about it, but they sum it up perfectly. There shouldn’t even be blue badges in those at this point. A lot of people I talk to won’t even buy them now because of it. I could see this on new servers, but it most definitely shouldn’t be included on the older servers.
Diamond Crate Fix - Easy. Take blue badges out for older servers. Done.
Pay to Win - This isn’t going away. I’ve accepted that and so have a lot of other people on my server that still have fun with the game. However, when I see the same person win every single contest with first place every single time since I’ve started playing it SEVERELY deters anyone from even caring about trying for a spot in the top ten. Am I mad at someone else for being insanely rich or crazy enough to spend tens of thousands of dollars on this game? No. That isn’t the issue. The issue is that there isn’t contests OUTSIDE of the construct of being able to spend money to win these contests.
Pay to Win Fix - No one wants to time sink games. No one wants to spend 500 dollars to win a single event, but there are a few of us who would. However, in a manner of competition, these things do matter. I personally believe contests should revolve around time put in and nothing else, but thats my perfect little view on it that isn’t ideal. What the game really needs is better events that don’t adhere to the mechanics we currently have, and that isn’t something to easily overcome. As it stands right now, its not looking good for events and might not ever.
Afterthoughts - I really do hope a community manager or someone at least spot reads this. I wish the best for this game and its obvious that the developers care about it as well. Its suffering from a plethora of issues, but some bandaids would help.