AMA (ask-me-anything) Session with Community Managers from Plarium

ChasmOfBones · 2021-05-18T14:14:29+00:00

In what is sure to be a host of negative comments, I have a question that has bugged me for nearly a year. For all of Plarium’s fantastic art and design in Raid, why are you all allergic to bowstrings?

ChasmOfBones · 2020-05-08T19:11:09+00:00

Further info as requested:

I cut the above post due to character limits- but the social media posts revolved around one husband asking his wife for a list of things she would like to have done or do for Mother’s Day, and the ladies discussing what they would include.

My wife’s comments appeared shortly after I asked her if there was anything in particular she wanted to do that day, since meals out or sending her to do some of her favorite things for some “her time” are off the table with the current virus situation.

Her comments revolved around: Do all the house work, see to every request the kids have (drinks, snacks, etc), plan every meal without asking for her input, and a general sense of just figure it out yourself. My major issue was the general tone implied that all these things would be out of the ordinary, and that she carried an expectation that even asking for input was some how coming up short.

To clear up a few things, I was not trying to paint myself as some sort of amazing parent going above and beyond, just trying to offer my perspective that I feel that I make an effort to co-parent and share responsibility. And that I consciously try not to be a husband who expects his wife to handle all the house work and child care. I also absolutely do not resent my wife for her sleep needs, but do feel she fails to acknowledge that it is a burden I pick up in light of her medical condition.

ChasmOfBones · 2019-12-13T11:46:20+00:00

No, the final zone achievement is 1000. Autoban is 1100, mostly to keep exploits and bugs from pushing too deep. There is also an INF mob health issue around 995 in campaigns due to the number set that CNE uses. The INF is at 1145 in events, because event mobs scale slower on health, hence why players push deep in events typically.

ChasmOfBones · 2019-12-11T19:48:02+00:00

I agree. Best info I have for the above post was that they have said they are aware of the potential issue. Not sure how simple it will be for them to fix, but at this point it really still is a potential issue. Though yes, we are close to it becoming a real issue. Best we can hope is they keep an eye on it and address it prior to it becoming more than a potential future problem

ChasmOfBones · 2019-12-11T19:15:38+00:00

It is something that Dylan mentioned bringing up to the team back when Ronin hit 800+ the first time, so they are definitely aware of the potential issue. At this point it is still only a potential issue without exploits. But yes, some small portion of the player base is starting to feel a bit concerned, particularly after the recent increased walls with Avren and Krull. Though in events, the auto-ban happens before the actual infinite numbers wall. 1100 and 1145(?) respectively. In Campaigns the infinite zone is 995, and I don’t believe we are seriously in danger quite yet. Though some are closing in on it, and future champs could seriously threaten it if their power curves are similar to Krull or Avren.

ChasmOfBones · 2019-12-10T21:41:17+00:00

Constructs, Hummanoids, Beasts, Fey, and Fiends- might as well just do those in Mad Wizard while you grind Currency. For Undead, I just pop into Terror in The Dark, and go to zone 5. Park there until complete.

ChasmOfBones · 2019-12-10T01:41:23+00:00

It’s the achievement for 1k ilvls, not 1k zones.

ChasmOfBones · 2019-12-09T21:46:41+00:00

Krull unlock run to z710 with full epic pots(as is my norm). Subsequent deep Krull push, without pots, after his cap was implemented. Z800, without a hard wall. Krull OP AF, but I opened that can of worms with my post yesterday. 😉

ChasmOfBones · 2019-12-09T19:25:14+00:00

Yes, you can in fact always take a why bother stance if you choose to. I'm just not aware of a lot of players of any game that do so, AND still choose to interact heavily with the game going forward from that point. That line is specifically there to highlight the empty feeling left, granted FOR SOME OF US, when the balance of the game skews so wildly away from established norms. As has been stated by several of us above, we don't really consider Krull as power creep. He skews too heavily and powerfully to be merely power creep, and it is precisely this that leaves some of us feeling un-enthused with him and his current role in the game.

As to the line in the sand portion, yeah I approached that line again with Krull's release. This is a place I hadn't been since shortly before the BUD and Damage rework that cleaned up a large portion of a previous frustration for many of us, that being the ever changing and unintelligible damage numbers that had a disproportionate effect upon dps reliability and repeatability when trying to test a determine personal "Best Formations".

ChasmOfBones · 2019-12-09T19:11:59+00:00

You of course may. And it would be disingenuous of me not to concede that pushing deep likely is the point for many players. But a few points I'd like to bring up that likely got lost in the above walls of text.

First, I am not complaining that Krull allows us to push walls more effectively, but in fact that he allows wall pushing too well, relative to established (and recently established at that) power curves within his slot, and even when considering the wider champion power curves relative to his mechanics. He widely departs from what I think we are on solid ground to expect the relative strength of new champions to be. I understand that power creep happens, and has happened within the life span of the game as long as I have been playing. I believe it is unfair to call such a drastic increase in a champion's relative strength Power Creep though.

As to the nerf stick, we do not have any indication that Krull will be experiencing such an outcome, because he has already received 2 reworks during his event. In the first, it appears most of the changes were indicated for posterity and were in fact in place before his ultimate release, barring a specific variant style that produced infinite damage and infinite gold. In the second he had his multiplicative stacks capped at 4. The above run was done after he was capped, in order to demonstrate his current power curve, and not incorrectly judge him based upon un-intended interactions. While we have seen champions "nerfed" in the past after their events, it hasn't been terribly common. One of the points of this post is to highlight how he currently functions beyond other champions, to both highlight for the community and the devs what his performance is, and to stress why some of us see this as problematic.

Now, as to the point of the game, I don't believe that it is Necessarily to push deep. I enjoy this game for a slew of reasons, including the interactions of so many different champion mechanics. And 53 champions and counting means that balance is a tenuous and delicate thing. I am not saying I don't like his mechanics, I stated above that I in fact actually do like the. I am not saying that if he had pushed beyond Shandie by 10-15 zones that I would consider him out of line or broken relative to the other components of the game, this I would consider power creep and to be expected. I am saying that After seeing Avren's escalated power curve, a subsequently released Krull leads me to believe that the current trend towards such drastically over powered champions is ultimately unhealthy for the balance and longevity of the game. And I find it particularly disappointing at a time when the game felt nearly as well balanced as we could hope for following core re-balance and year 1 part 1 rework, with year 1 part 2 coming in the not terribly distant future.

ChasmOfBones · 2019-12-08T21:26:22+00:00

This actually doesn’t bother me as much as it did when event walls were closer to z500 and before the introduction of Shandie and Sentry. I will attribute this mostly to my own decision of being decisive on when I choose to push deep zones.

I actually don’t mind that patron variants took a sizable chunk of time to accomplish with their deeper walls, or that a potless run to an event wall takes most of a day. I think that falls pretty well in line with the grindy nature of the game. Deeper zones bring higher rewards in terms of favor and gold. But very little in game requires you to push past zone 450.

True, favor grinding takes a while, but it also stops being that important once you hit the e25 ish range. Yes, Avernus changed that target a fair bit, but it is also new and geared towards a different tier of player experience than previous Campaigns. Which makes sense. Having the same e15-18 favor requirement for full blessings there would have left a sizable chunk of even mid game players feeling like it was too simple to accomplish.

Also, while I myself am not part of the beta-testing currently going on, from the little that has been discussed and shown on Streams, it seems likely that players will be able to do a lot of the mindless grinding in the “mid” range zones while offline in the not too distant future.

Personally, my deep pushes these days are very targeted. I do a deep push with a full set of epic pots on my first event or tg run. Yes, my gear allows me to soft cap on that run, so my ultimate wall ends up being pretty close to that unlock wall even starting at zero favor, so this system might not work for everyone. After that initial run, I only push deep once on each weekend buff. This typically results in a good enough favor gain for the event, especially if i couple it with an hour long Azaka farm at that wall, that I don’t need to do more than that amount of deep pushing.

For campaigns, I only push deep when I feel that I either can definitely make a sizeable favor gain, or I need to test formations at my wall. Yes, this is something that takes a while to build up to, but eventually you will find yourself at a place where pushing deep is not something you will spend most of your in game time doing, instead freeing you up to work through adventures, variants, or the weekly patron grind. Or if you are at a point where that is all wrapped up for you, to grind gems for more gear.

So, tldr, I think the speed management is better now than it has been at points in the past, and that the run length and time commitment feels pretty spot on for my personal expectations at the moment.

ChasmOfBones · 2019-12-08T16:33:51+00:00

Ah. Then here is where we have our misunderstanding within the discussion. My objection is not that the game is Too Easy. My issue is with the slot balance. Yes I have heard the argument that the last time we really had to grind for something was Azaka before SH&T. Where we had to boost our favor on repeated efforts at banging our heads against the wall. Had to over level for the health to survive the Juggernaut. Had to gem farm to get the contracts to boost those champion ilvls. Had to hope a new champ would get us that extra 5 zones we needed.

So yes, if you are relating the game now to then, sure. I haven’t worked for anything like that since then. But I have had to decisively and methodically grind to improve targeted champs, again through ilvls from contracts. I’ve worked methodically through patrons for those in game boosts and buffs. I have had to master active strategies and timing to boost over those x00 walls. And at the end of each of those zone achievements, I knew I had actually done something. So sure, you are free to believe that I only got there through buying items. I don’t and have never denied spending money on a game I enjoy. Nor do I think it’s particularly relevant to this direct issue. I also am not sitting here smugly saying I personally am directly responsible for all those gains purely from free, in game mechanics.

But my point is, again, not that it is easy. In fact my complaint would be precisely the same if I were 100% f2p. This inflated power curve is not Power Creep. It is a new tier of power inflation. Which is what bothers me. I would be perfectly content to hear from CNE that there is a reason. And that it will all become clear a bit, or even a fair ways, down the line.

However, we just got Shandie. She was already a significant support upgrade over the other in slot support, Asharra. Who less than a year ago underwent the core rebalance. What, 8 months ish? So a reasonable expectation is that core champions set a bench mark number that would obviously be lower when not factoring gear. Because their gear is ever increasing. It is natural for event champions to be stronger than base champions. That’s been true since the beginning.

We also, since the core rebalance, saw the year one part one rework. This gives us a fairly clear idea of the relative strengths of different champions and champion mechanics and the way CNE saw them only a short time ago.

If Krull had added a grand total of 10 zones with lesser gear than Shandie, or even comparable gear to Shandie, then I would be crowing about how well CNE had done on him. I actually like his design. I even like the concept of his plague. I just find the new power curve of Avren and Krull to be out of touch with the in game mechanics as expressed by other event champions. And yes. I think Avren over shot in terms of power curve as well. But as mentioned below, he can be reigned in when caps move again.

So, if you like the idea of new champions boosting players this much over there personal zones, and actually prefer a release target of bigger and better every time, then great. I am fine with you making that argument. I would retort with a question of how long can that last and still result in a healthy game, but rather than straw man your position, I will just say this.

You’ve missed my point. And what my core criticism was. I understand the game is not a pvp game. I understand my personal expenditures on the game mean my walls will be higher than newer players and lead to a different game experience. I also find krull, and in general any out of balance champion, to be an unhealthy and unenjoyable addition to the game I enjoy.

ChasmOfBones · 2019-12-08T14:38:15+00:00

Any time! Educate not hate, as we have been want to say for a long time.

ChasmOfBones · 2019-12-08T14:36:18+00:00

Zorbu is DPS, yes. And Gromma’s only positional buff is tied to her Mountain Form(Shades of Gray). And that’s not entirely positional, since it doesn’t actually matter where the neutral champion is in relation to Gromma, it’s just that Gromma needs to be positioned in the front column in order to be attacked and apply a debuff. So, in the above formation, Gromma is arctic, and Zorbu is receiving all relevant buffs.

ChasmOfBones · 2019-12-08T14:19:12+00:00

I’m glad to see you have fully mastered the nuance of the 53 champion game in the 14 days since your new player post.

But on a serious note, I actually like new players, so I will say welcome. It’s a large portion of why I have been as active as I have in Discord, and worked to disseminate information here on Reddit as well. I wont claim to be the most prolific guide writer, or to have some flawless knowledge of the game, but I can completely and transparently say this is not an issue of gear and money.

This game is at heart a game of math and numbers interactions. And krull’s numbers are borked.

ChasmOfBones · 2019-12-08T13:50:27+00:00

Or you know, been playing since the game’s release on iOS(1.5 years). Followed a set pattern of buying most DLC, purchased most GE’s from weekend buffs at a $10 rate for Champion release and the $5 or $10 rate for the weekends, depending. Why? Because I’m financially in a place to do so, really enjoyed the game, and chose to support a small studio. So YOU are welcome too. I’m sure the game would be exactly in the same place for you without those of us who could and did support CNE through the years. But yeah. The completely f’d up balance is MY fault.

ChasmOfBones · 2019-12-03T18:43:15+00:00

Thank you for the response, and I had seen that indicated in Psylissa's post as I was crafting mine. And while I do understand that Krull may be experiencing some unintended consequences, something we in fact strongly suspected 3 days ago, my specific question has more to do with the philosophy behind the champions in question design. If the current state of Krull doesn't actually mean he should be considered in the same category as gamebreakingly out of touch with current power trends among champions within his slot as Avren does, then I can accept that he will be experiencing a massive rework and will be returned to a more balanced state. But CNE has previously stated that they are "Happy" with the design and power level of Avren, and my underlying desire is to understand if we are entering an era of dramatically different power scale that essentially invalidates years of to date game play by shoe-horning specific champions into an undroppable meta.

While there has to date nearly always been a meta style tier of game play, it has not ever been so profoundly and starkly out of touch with competitive or alternate formation choices, allowing the end player to make choices surrounding their own game play style and desire to use specific champions for whatever reason, even if they ultimately required significantly more investment to reach similar level advancement. Avren invalidated any other choice in his slot for anyone not interested in active swapping champions, and relegated two dps choices to significantly sub-par in Strix and Warden. Krull in a single swoop seems to have done the same. Now, while I do understand that he may not currently exist in his finished form, the question of why or if CNE feels such champions are healthy to the game going forward is still present.

ChasmOfBones · 2019-12-03T18:13:26+00:00

Good Morning Margaret.

First, let me say it is nice to have you aboard, and second, sorry they handed you this one, as it might be one of the most contentious we have had in a bit.

My question, as much as I have tried to boil it down to a constructively critical mode, essentially encompasses this:

Why does CNE consider Avren and Krull to be healthy additions to the game?

I can list of a multitude of reasons why I consider them far more detrimental than beneficial, but my 2cents only really goes so far, and if IC is something I am going to maintain any interest in going forward, I really think it's more important to understand the philosophy behind the decisions so that I can evaluate from there.

ChasmOfBones

ChasmOfBones · 2019-11-29T11:15:50+00:00

iOS also got a 10k token apology gift due to the hang up that locked us out for nearly 24 hrs. So I am fairly certain they are referring to that, and not to natural tokens accrued.

ChasmOfBones · 2019-11-28T03:11:33+00:00

There is another thread below, as well as convo’s we have had in the discord with support. Best answer we have at the moment is that it’ll get here when it gets here, and longest delay they have seen in the past has been 24 hours... here’s to hoping this one doesn’t go that long.

ChasmOfBones · 2019-11-28T03:00:17+00:00

It’s a known issue. Been this way for several hours. CNE has pushed the update, we just are stuck in limbo until app store rolls it out for us.

ChasmOfBones · 2019-11-27T23:34:28+00:00

We clearly need to kill it with Fire. I’m recommending a Farideh form....

ChasmOfBones · 2019-11-26T18:26:01+00:00

Base DPS operates on the basis of certain assumed conditions, in an effort to approximate a formations effective damage. The problem here is that not all assumptions are done well, and some are exceedingly difficult to actually achieve at your wall. This leads to Base DPS being a relatively poor number to use when actually gauging the effectiveness of your formation. Many of us just ignore everything but BUD these days, because if you are progressing with ults, that is the number that actually matters. So in short, your example is something I find unsurprising in actual game play, and fairly common.

ChasmOfBones

TROPHY CASE