Board Thread:Game Discussion/@comment-11133001-20130726020227/@comment-174.107.127.199-20130726052432

I'm conflicted about how to respond to IH & SSG's post and the recent trends of this game. I'm only 1 month in (RtR is 5th event) and just recently joined the chat but I feel I've established a good enough rep here and want to share what I started to realize during the last event.

Firstly, I apologize to IH if I'm hijacking the post but I need to say this somewhere. 2nd, I'm glad you were refunded most and possibly all your money from RtR and that you can now enjoy life away from this app. I hope this will be the same for SSG too.

I, like you and many others, have been addicted to this app since downloading it. Investing disgusting amounts of time to the detriment of sleeping, work productivity, lifestyle, stress, and my wallet. This is truly an addiction which leads to poor health, financial hardships or loss of work. All due to an App with no material benefits. We all need to stop & take a deep look at what we're doing and how it's affecting our lives.

So who should we blame? Does it really matter? Here's how I see it.

1) Mobage created this relatively straightforward & simple concept with high brand recognition & great artwork to play on our nostalgia. Nothing wrong there.

2) Then they made it difficult to effectively play with limited cube spaces and long regen times. In comparison according to apple store, Candy Crush a top grossing "free game" like TFL but has 5 chances (cubes) at a 30 min regen. So the developers are either idiots or they set this up to make people buy enhancement's for effective play. This is a road to long term failure and IMO a poor business plan.

3)  They make events where players fight to rise not against a static point tier for success but against each other to earn rewards. Competition to get ahead of each other is in our nature, I say this is a brilliant & greedy way to make money. I'm sure they hoped for this but who could've thought that players would spend several hundred dollars per episode to get ahead of the next guy/gal? I thought this was crazy when I heard people saying what they spent. Not trying be a hypocrite cause I paid too ($10-80/ event), it was easy for me to hit the SB just 1 more time to pair my card or push me to the next DP lvl so I understand and fell to this too. This is our fault as players for falling to our human tendency to place ahead of the competition. And Mobage made it easy for us.

Now being greedy and fleecing customers isn't new and although morally wrong (another debate for another time) it's not illegal or unheard of So we shouldn't blame Mobage for this.

We pay $60-$200+ for a football ticket & $9 stadium beers as an example but the NFL in turn puts out a quality product (depending on you team). Here's where Mobage has gone wrong. Mobage has now failed to provide a quality product and this is where the sins from above can't be forgiven. Lets review how, in their rush to cash in their greed and maximize the fleecing of its customers the product has declined. This of course is not an all encompassing list.

1) With the exception of a 3 day break, they have run back to back episodes since June 5th. That's 2 months straight. We are burnt out and need a break. This is a game for enjoyment not a 100 hr/week job.

2) With no time for testing, they have created major glitches, not to mention the deliberate glitches, buffing bosses, power creep and an ineffective & shorter help request system that has ruined fair & consistent game play.

3) All these episodes are stretching storylines and resorts week characters (military team? Really?) destroying the nostalgia of the game and rushed events that have caused a slip in artwork (Bee Team), late starts, and glitches.

So whether Mobages fixes these issues and puts out a quality product or not, we as players need to reevaluate what we're doing. As Ironhide & Starscream have said, walk in with your eyes open. If you're okay with the addiction to this game of time & money for a poor product then good luck and I hope you land softly. I for one will continue to play because I do love the game & the community but I will refuse to let it run my life, deprive me of sleep and affect my livelihood. If Mobage gets their act together I'll even throw them a few bucks for cards. Until then I will farm (slowly) hit bosses and help any remaining allies the best my can. We'll see how active or inactive I become and I place no sour feelings if you drop me from your list. With that I'm going to scan my free recharges and get some sleep.

GL everyone