Chugsworth's Compendium

GHub Platform · Гайд · 0 ответов · 1 просмотр

[Context statement: Who I am, what I've done] [Introduction: IP, gameplay overview] [Gameplay: Variable sets, contrived writing and failure to capture any of the core elements of the IP, departures from the idle genre, undamentally flawed "choices", the failures of the formation system in the face of click-debuff, the scripting situation] [Live Service: Event and "content" release structure, recognisable Champions are waylaid in lieu of promotional partnerships with streams, prevalent and enduring bugs, poor stability] [Development & Community: Complete lack of meaningful interaction with the community, completely unresponsive to feedback, design and balance is solely in the inept hands of Justin (quote and link)] [Monetisation: Aggressive marketing, how scripting deters purchases of any kind, Wild Offers and price points] [Conclusion: Closing thoughts, recommendations for other idle games] As of 1/10/21, I have discontinued the development and maintenance of this guide. At the time of writing, it is overwhelmingly the most popular Idle Champions Guide on Steam, has served just under 10,000 unique visitors and has been favourited by 999 (seriously) people. My reasons for doing so can be found in the Review featured at the top of the page and the Comments section at the bottom. For those of you looking for alternatives, the Formations channel on the official Discord is probably your best bet. There are a handful of people there who know what they are talking about but far more who do not, so take their advice with a grain of salt. 'til next we meet, - Chugsworth Well, CNE decided to ship their asynchronous multiplayer mode before the end of September, which I suppose means that I'll need to actually try it. I'll say at the outset that my expectations are incredibly low; having read the blog post [www.codenameentertainment.com] , the nonsensical design choices are already glaringly apparent. This is not going to be fun. I'll jot down notes as I "play" each day and then write a full reflection after the Campaign is done. Day 1 In order to access the mode you need to have completed the BG:DIA Campaign and then complete a 250-area fluff mission from the main map. The fluff mission is just that: padding. Oh boy, strap yourselves in for LOBBY SIMULATOR 2021, now with no lobby chat! Campaigns cannot be joined whilst they are in progress, which means that you're going to be sitting around waiting for your lobby to fill. There is no way to communicate with the people who join your lobby. You just wait. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ thrilling. Too bad if they decided that the mode is ♥♥♥♥ and that they aren't going to contribute anymore; you're stuck with them. They're bad? Stuck with them. PSA: Don't inflict this ♥♥♥♥♥♥ game on your friends just for this. The Campaign-wide bonuses from selecting a Champion to perma-bench for the duration have little variety and there are no unique bonuses. The strength of the bonus is linked directly to the Champion's average ilevel, so there really isn't a reason why you wouldn't always pick an Evergreen (unless you're an absolute whale or a scripter). An average ilevel of ~1300 is nowhere near the cap for the capped bonuses so I suppose that the scripters are the target demographic these days? Anyway, I chose Makos and the Swamp. It's not like I'm going to be able to run a good Asharra formation anyway. Also, the conventional wisdom that most people will probably think to choose a decent Champion meta-wise only serves to bite them in the ass ("I ike this Champion; I want them to be my leader!" / "Great, now you don't get to use them at all." / "Oh...") It happened: the lobby filled up! The Campaign launches and... the map glitches. The adventures aren't displayed. The client must be restarted. Restart. The adventures show up now. Arbitrary restriction: DEX of 10+. Remember how these restrictions add fun and enjoyment in the form of endless variants? Oh, that's right; I, and a great many others, just ignore them entirely because they are mind-numbing. Well, it looks like I'm making a sub-optimal formation every day for a week... The goal is Area 100. There is Favor for the mode, so the cancer that is click-debuff will continue to reign supreme. The incompetence of the designers at CNE never ceases to amaze me. You can use potions in the mode, so I sure as ♥♥♥♥ downed as many speed potions as I could to make it go faster. I had passed Area 100 before I finished setting up a speed formation. Zero effort is required (patience notwithstanding) so far. Might as well get some Favor. Zorbu formation. Good times. Even at 10x speed, the game still feels painfully slow. Bad times. Check the Campaign map. Only one other person is dealing damage to Tiamat. DPS is based on the highest damage dealt in the adventure itself, so you're meant to push. I suppose that the other three people dipped out because LOBBY SIMULATOR 2021 was too hot for them. Yep, there it is; I was waiting for it to reveal itself: the mode has been monetised with purchasable scroll packs for Campaign-long buffs. Just what the game needed. So healthy. Wait a hot second, there is a Campaign-specific chat in the bottom-right of the map... only it's full of fluff text and you can't actually communicate. A-♥♥♥♥♥♥♥-plus. Reset in order to claim the daily DPS goal boost. Live in a bad timezone? Tough luck. The 100 DPS bonus today is about 25% of my total DPS, and more than (almost double) any of the others in my Campaign has managed. OH LOOK, THE ULT LOCKUP BUG IS STILL A ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ THING. Day 2 It seems that my other party members did eventually run their Adventure. Tiamat's health is just over 50%. Arbitrary restrictions: DEX of 10+, normal enemies have a 25% chance of reviving after 5 seconds. Get to Area 125 (Is that a challenge for anybody? Can't you do that on a fresh account?), reset for the daily DPS boost, close game. Thrilling. Tiamat will be dead by tomorrow so... yay, I guess? Day 3 Tiamat only has about 12m health left, so let's rush through this as quickly as possible. Arbitrary restrictions: DEX of 10+, normal enemies have a 25% chance of reviving after 5 seconds, maximum of 4 Good Champions in the formation. That maximum of 4 Good Champions in the formation restriction? Turns out that it doesn't work. We've been complaining about the fact that CNE does not test their game for years now. As with everything else, they don't listen. The hover-over text for active potions is also borked beyond belief. Get to Area 150 (Again, is that a challenge for anybody? Can't you do that on a fresh account?), reset for the daily DPS boost, close game. See the pattern emerging? Reflections Take deep breaths, Darcy. Take deep breaths. You're choosing to do this so that others know better. Deep breaths... <first draft removed by author: excessive swearing> Problems. Oh boy, problems. There's a fire sale on problems here, kids. Where to start...? Remember when we thought that this was going to be an idle game? You know, back in those bright, shiny before-times, when the promise of an official D&D IP idle game sounded cool and exciting? The thought of meaningful gear choices, a growing roster of familiar Champions, the endless opportunities for deep mechanics... it still deeply saddens me how incredibly short this game has fallen from what it could have been. Let me clarify what the gameplay experience is now intended to be: Start or join a Trials of Mount Tedious Campaign, survive LOBBY SIMULATOR 2021, make a formation and push as far as you can, either reset and push again (if you haven't yet learned that Favor is meaningless) or return to the main Campaigns, where you either script or do variants (for some reason). Repeat daily. Also, throw in an Event far too frequently. Where does the idling come into it anymore? Remember that hilarious ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ joke about "not overwhelming players" ? It didn't hold water then and i