I can understand where you are coming from, but this is also unfair to players who have spent thousands and thousand on gems to make their character strong. I missed last yrs events also so it is not like i got a ton of stats off the events but i did spent a ton of real life money to make my character strong, so i do not feel that i should be penalized for that because my character has really high stats but if you spent thousands of dollars to do so then that is the reward you get for the amount you spend. So in my opinion then the drops should be even for all. If you raise the drop rate then everyone should get the same drop rate.
You also have to look at things from all aspects. If they want to keep new players coming in and give them a viable chance to compete, then some things need to change.
Think of it like this, on my mage on myspace that I have played for 2 years, and have used over 1000 gems, and done multiple offers and bought gems... I still don't think I have any chance whatsoever of killing Lady Slicealot.
Those of you, like yourself, who have invested that amount of money... are the only ones who can TRULY benefit from recent expansion. Not to mention how much easier it is for you to use your energy when you can blast something once and kill it, compared to someone else who has to hit it 5-10 times. Those like yourself, will always have the advantage. I'm pretty sure that's what they were aiming for when they released the "monster arena." Nobody who has stats <70 could get pass Round 5, and I have no idea what round 6, 7, 8, etc are about.
****EDIT AFTER I wrote this I spoke with a few people who said they can't even get to Demon Jawba, and they too have spent lots of money and time on the game and have spectacular stats****But seriously? My reward for using an
arena card, 10 dusts, possibly guardian dolls (security blanket), AND 4-5 energy........ is a mist (whoop one energy back? ? ).. a fairy dust (okay cool, understand this one because you had to use an inventory slot for your arena card to get into the battle, so this makes sense).... A THUNDER KEY !? Thunder key is TRASH, its hardly worth enough money to keep to sell it. then a guardian doll.. which is okay but anything that can kill you in the arena (one-hit), is gonna kill you whether that guardian doll saves you once or not... which is what it becomes at the next level... if i manage to kill round 5, i get ally skill book-- which is decent.
However, those like yourself... can easily obtain 2 enchant potions and at least 1 mystery box, I would think. Judging by how much you said you spent on your character (you really spent over $1000 !?!?) but yeah... as well as the mystics, which only the best 7-10 guilds will get every single time- which is great exp and coins. Also, you can probably kill possessed bosses pretty easily. If you don't have at least 60-70 stats, they are pretty much impossible, and even then it depends on how much dust and such you happen to have on you when you run into them. You can also constantly repeat all 4 of the new quests (possessed bosses, 10% on 12 isendel bosses, 10 successful enchants, and collecting ship fragments. These are all things that higher levels and those with great stats can constantly repeat and achieve, compared to new players. So as it stands now, there are much more opportunities and mystery boxes for those higher levels. Which is how it should be, but if there was maybe a balance on the drop rate BASED on stats... I think it would be an amazing advancement to the game. I've had multiple friends I've invited to play, but because they don't want to spend a year+ just to develop their stats, they all quit.
I read somewhere that when Facebook started keeping track of how many users play the game, they were at around 150,000+ or something... but now a days its around ~50,000...
I'm definitely NOT suggesting that we just make the game a cake walk. And I'm absolutely not suggesting we give newer players any sort of "ADVANTAGE" over us. But I see so many people who have put months and months into the game, only to come to a point where they can't hardly participate in the higher level aspect of the game.
Maybe we could figure out a way to make a formula where if player A is >level 65, but his stats are <50... his chances on finding pills are greatly increased. But if a player is level 10, and his stats are <32... then there shouldn't be much difference, because the game is very playable without having amazing stats up until you beat the game. Everything "post game,"
for these players who don't truly understand how important stats are, is a horrible experience of dying 50-100 times just to get 10% on a boss, and that's with spamming the level 60 skill constantly.
Anyways, I hope you understand where I'm coming from. I, myself, am a veteran player... and wouldn't want anything to happen that gives others, especially newer players, an unfair advantage over me. But I'm 150% in support of something that makes the game more enjoyable, and more tempting for newer players to come play, for us to invite our friends, and something that keeps these newer players around. You see so many people come up in the game, and reach a certain point.. and they just don't understand why they are suddenly so weak... and they quickly come to the point where they don't even enjoy playing, so they quit. I know I quit for a few months at different intervals throughout my time with DreamWorld... but one day I got back on and read about all the amazing, great updates... I couldn't help but get back into it !
**Another idea I just thought of, maybe they could implement a quest (or multiple quests) throughout the game while new players are playing that helps them to better understand how important stats are, as opposed to just leveling like crazy (which to the average person, like 90% of other games, get higher level, spend X amount of your points on stats, get higher level equipment which increases your stats, then you are a competitive player. The average person has no idea that without focusing on stats, they will run into a point where they can hardly participate without doing the scenario i mentioned before. I remember a long time ago (on MySpace, when games were new, Facebook wasn't as popular, and MySpace DreamWorld was thriving with a vibrant community) when I would spend my entire 100+ energy spamming "Inferno" on the Demon bosses or Alien boss, because it was the best experience available. And there would be 10+ people on each boss, and we would have to communicate amongst each other to allow others to get items. That's when I quit, because that was all I was doing... ) **ANYWAYS... Regarding the Holiday Event ... !! Which I do want to firstly say that I, as well as probably the vast majority of the community, greatly appreciate the wonderful connection between the PlayMage staff and the community, the involvement, the events, and the updates!!
But, you ask us for our opinions.. and we give them. In
absolutely no way, shape, or form do I
EVER WANT anything I ever say or suggest to the PlayMage staff to come off as insulting and degrading. That is the absolute furthest thing from my mind, as I understand the trials and tribulations of new content being released and the tinkering and tweaking of said content.
*************EDIT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *******************
After I wrote this, I played a bit more during the day, found 4 more santas... but then within the last hour... in a frenzy... and 2 energy refills... I found 15 santas!!! and got amazing drops : ) but I still think maybe something could be different for the actual weekend or christmas day ~~ : )
********************END EDIT************************
I refilled my E 3 times yesterday, and only found 4 santas. I don't have an enormous amount of energy, but i bought 5 vms to refill my energy once also, i have around 197 max energy after that purchase. Since the new day started, I used ~400 energy and ran into only 2 santas.
If y'all were attempting to balance the game by changing the event.. I think it offers an unfair advantage to some (say people with tons of energy) ... which is
UNDERSTANDABLE because the veterans and those who have spent tons of cash SHOULD be treated a little better.... but I think it's completely out of whack for the other end of the spectrum !
I feel as if there is an imbalance... =\ I'm a fairly new Facebook player, having played once a long time ago but Facebook DreamWorld was empty, so I stuck with Myspace. However, I went through about 500-700 energy and only got 4 santas... some people are hitting all 24 santa's within an hour... ugh
I'll also say, I'm one of the blessed who isn't currently working and can take full advantage of this event. But when I spend 7-10 hours playing the game and come up with 6 santas... that stinks.
Anyways, just expressing my thoughts... ! Once again, I appreciate playmage and the staff and everyone for everything you do !!