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3 Quick Tl;Dr Android Game Reviews / Recommendations (Episode 160)
Happy Friday, my fellow Android gamers, and welcome back to this weekly summary of the most interesting games I played this week :) This episode includes an interesting action RPG that plays a lot like Diablo, a very unique multiplayer strategy card game, and a PvP fighting game from a franchise that has been downloaded more than 500 million times! Disagree with my opinion? Let’s have a friendly discussion below. New to these posts? Check out the first one from 159 weeks ago here. The games are "ranked" somewhat subjectively from best to worst, so take the ranking for what it is.
Let's get to the games:
Creatures of Aether [Game Size: 189 MB] (free)
Genre: Card / Strategy / PvP / Indie - Requires Online Access Orientation: Portrait Required Attention: Full tl;dr review: Creatures of Aether is a unique strategy card game where our goal is to dominate the majority of a shared 4x4 gridded board by placing a creature card from our hand on each turn. Every card has a power number on each of its four sides. Placing a card next to an opponent’s card allows us to take it over and turn it into one of ours if the power number on our card’s side is higher than that on the opponent card’s adjacent side. Once the board is full, the player with the most cards on the board wins. To spice things up, board tiles can have elemental types that buff or debuff any card placed on them, and some cards even have strong special powers that trigger once played. While the mechanics are easy to understand, the game is incredibly difficult to master, and I often found I had made a mistake a few turns ago that now put me in a disadvantageous situation, just like in chess. Decks consist of eight cards, with a total deck-cost limit and a value on each card that increases the more powerful it is. This adds a nice forced prioritization that prevents us from placing all the strongest cards in the same hand. The high-quality modern pixel art style is well-executed, and the sound design is pleasing. The main PvP mode is supported by multiple arcade modes and single-player dungeon-crawls that provide new cards or extra copies so existing cards can be leveled up. Creatures of Aether monetizes through a $4.99 battle pass and iAPs for card packs, which create a pay-to-progress-faster advantage for paying players. However, the core gameplay is both deep and fun, and free players can still enjoy the many game-modes and simply grind for cards. Google Play: Here MiniReview link: Here
Raziel: Dungeon Arena [Total Game Size: 5.1 GB] (free)
Genre: RPG / Action / Co-op / Diablo-like - Requires Online Access Orientation: Landscape Required Attention: Full tl;dr review: Raziel: Dungeon Arena is a fun Diablo-like action RPG with solo and co-op dungeons, an insane amount of unique loot, neat 3D graphics, cute pets, and well-calibrated controls. The game features 3 classes; archer, melee knight, ice priest, and although there is no character customization, we can at least switch build later in the game. As we level up, we unlock more and more skills and can gradually customize our build through one of the largest talent trees I’ve ever seen in a mobile game. From the main city, we can meet and chat with other players, craft potions, team up for co-op dungeons, or jump into the single-player missions to slay hordes of enemies and find new loot with unique stats and set bonuses. Raziel is a modern mobile game, for better or worse, which means lots of daily and monthly login rewards, achievements, events etc. My biggest gripes with the game, however, are that finding a team at lower levels is almost impossible and that while combat is fun, everything is too easy in the beginning. Monetization happens through a $4.99 battle pass, a premium currency used primarily for cosmetics, and various “packs” of crafting materials and potions that go up to $19.99. There is no need to spend money on the game to enjoy it though, and while paying players definitely have an advantage in PvP, the game is primarily PvE-focused. Google Play: Here MiniReview link: Here
Valentine’s Day is Sunday, it’s a cheesy Hallmark holiday, and no one wants to celebrate it. Sorry. I hope that, single or partnered, these ideas may help it suck less.
Last Minute Valentine’s Day Plans
Solo Date When you are single on Valentine’s Day it feels like everyone else has a beautiful, amazing partner to share the love with. Just remember what you won’t be doing this Sunday night.
Getting the silent treatment because you didn’t plan anything or buy anything for V-day. “But my SO said Valentine’s Day is stupid and for sad people who don’t connect on a regular basis!” It was a trap. It’s always a trap.
Having an argument about how could you not know by now that your partner doesn’t like minestrone soup. Yeah, I have ADHD, but even if I didn’t, I can’t be expected to remember everything! Or anything anyone says about soup. Soup is boring.
Listening to someone go on and on about themselves while sitting in an overcrowded restaurant waiting for terrible food because the kitchen can’t keep up with the demand of the holiday. Well, that may go for everyone this year because ..... global pandemic.
Experiencing the stress of having to give a partner the most romantic night of their life. It’s just you. You may be a little lonely. But you can do WHATEVER YOU WANT. Autonomy is a wonderful thing. So what are we going to do? Having a special evening is not just for couples.
How about a nice relaxing bubble bath? Body wash works in a quick minute if you don’t actually own that bubble bath soap. A full on spa night. Get all the stuff. Bath bomb? No thanks, I have sensitive skin. But bring on the hypoallergenic face mask, essential oils, foot scrub, nail polish, and a big fluffy robe. Soft music and candles? Yes please. Just keep the cats away, they like to knock things off counters. Video games, online puzzle or board game. Puzzle website. Check out suggestions for one player board games. Indulge in some retail therapy. Shop for some new sex toys or just read the sex toy reviews on Amazon. They are hilarious. Actually, check out the reviews on normal household items too, they are usually also very funny. Try out some new solo pleasure techniques. Nothing says Valentine’s Day like some butt stuff, just saying. Over 30s Discord or other chat platform. Date night for Two If you have a significant other of some kind, it is likely that you will get this line: “We don’t need to do anything for Valentine’s Day, it’s a dumb made-up holiday and makes no sense. We can show each other love every day.” Lies. At least after said significant other pops on Facebook and sees that their best friend got a diamond necklace and their high school rival pulled out all the stops with an adorably raunchy scavenger hunt. All of a sudden they are thinking, “hmm, when was the last time there were twinkles in our eyes when we looked at one another?” DON’T FALL INTO THIS TRAP! There is no reason not to have a low key but intimate evening with the person you love. Even if you go your separate ways by the end of the night, here are some quick, free, and fairly painless ideas that can help you connect with your partner. Make out: See how long you can make out for before going for third base. Simple, yet elegant. Mojo upgrade quiz https://mojoupgrade.com Do a puzzle together at https://www.jigsawplanet.com. Challenge your SO to a board game, chess, or a card game. Use your creativity to make a striptease version of whatever game you choose. Play a naughty version of Cards Against Humanity at https://allbad.cards Take a dance lesson. Yes, I know, I don’t want to do this either. This is for the generous person who has an SO who has been asking for couples dance lessons for a long time. Netflix and chill. Bonding is a short, sexy show with light, humorous bdsm and sexual references. I hear that Bridgerton (sp?) is all the rage for lady porn. And here is a list of sexy movies from the google. You’re welcome. Signature PK drinking game. This is the popular drinking game of my own design many of you have heard about and is perfect for that couple who is swimming in housework. Fold a load of laundry - take a shot. Unload the dishwasher - take a shot. Repeat until all tasks are complete or someone blacks out. Who wins? Everyone. Because the house is much cleaner and you didn’t drink alone. Like I do. Pretty much every night. While I clean. I need to quit drinking. Tentative plan is a dry July. Because it rhymes. Bubble Bath for two. Draw a bath, wash each other’s hair. Shave each other’s legs. It will be fabulous. Spa night. Paint each other’s nails. Draw on each other with some body paint. Give each other facials. SFW facials you raunchy devils. Bust out the massage oil. Let the fun ensue. An art date - all you need is some paper and pencils and a good sense of humor. You can do this Pictionary-style or try to draw each other’s portraits. Couples Yoga. Yep, even here, the answer is always yoga. Signature PK date night. Pull open Amazon and read all the one star reviews on something ordinary, ie. cutlery, to each other. Sound very angry and disappointed. Then ecstatically read the 5 star reviews. Rinse and repeat. Whoever caves first and buys something loses. Shop for some new sex toys or repeat the above game using sex toy reviews on Amazon. Shop for other sexy stuff like a sex swing, lingerie, or sex wedges. Listen to a sexy podcast like foreplay radio sex therapy. If you are not in a great place with your partner, stick with the less sexual activities. A general podcast or music in the background can be nice. If you are currently in a dead bedroom, take sex off the table at the beginning of the day because romantic holidays tend to put pressure on the lower libido spouse and cause more tension than sex.
TL;DR My signature dates and drinking games probably make you feel bad for my life partner. It’s all good. Share your ideas for a special evening/date below or just let me know how you are feeling these days. Here are some thought provoking questions that I found. I think they should be good for both singles and couples.
Guided conversation or introspection with these epic relationship-building questions. Seems intense. But it’s an idea. You don’t have to do all of them. Don’t ask the one about their mother on Valentine’s Day. If you are single, send me your answers and we can get to know each other better. If you are partnered but are too exhausted by life to come up with things to say to one another, here you go. Set I 1. Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest? And why is it Nick Offerman? 2. Would you like to be famous? In what way? 3. Before making a telephone call, do you ever rehearse what you are going to say? Why? 4. What would constitute a “perfect” day for you? 5. When did you last sing to yourself? To someone else? 6. If you were able to live to the age of 90 and retain either the mind or body of a 30-year-old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you want? 7. Do you have a secret hunch about how you will die? 8. Name three things you and your partner appear to have in common. 9. For what in your life do you feel most grateful? 10. If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be? 11. Take four minutes and tell your partner your life story in as much detail as possible. 12. If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, what would it be? Set II 13. If a crystal ball could tell you the truth about yourself, your life, the future or anything else, what would you want to know? 14. Is there something that you’ve dreamed of doing for a long time? Why haven’t you done it? 15. What is the greatest accomplishment of your life? 16. What do you value most in a friendship? 17. What is your most treasured memory? 18. What is your most terrible memory? 19. If you knew that in one year you would die suddenly, would you change anything about the way you are now living? Why? 20. What does friendship mean to you? 21. What roles do love and affection play in your life? 22. Alternate sharing something you consider a positive characteristic of your partner. Share a total of five items. 23. How close and warm is your family? Do you feel your childhood was happier than most other people’s? 24. How do you feel about your relationship with your mother? Set III 25. Make three true “we” statements each. For instance, “We are both in this room feeling ... “ 26. Complete this sentence: “I wish I had someone with whom I could share ... “ 27. If you were going to become a close friend with your partner, please share what would be important for him or her to know. 28. Tell your partner what you like about them; be very honest this time, saying things that you might not say to someone you’ve just met. 29. Share with your partner an embarrassing moment in your life. 30. When did you last cry in front of another person? By yourself? 31. Tell your partner something that you like about them already. 32. What, if anything, is too serious to be joked about? 33. If you were to die this evening with no opportunity to communicate with anyone, what would you most regret not having told someone? Why haven’t you told them yet? 34. Your house, containing everything you own, catches fire. After saving your loved ones and pets, you have time to safely make a final dash to save any one item. What would it be? Why? 35. Of all the people in your family, whose death would you find most disturbing? Why? 36. Share a personal problem and ask your partner’s advice on how he or she might handle it. Also, ask your partner to reflect back to you how you seem to be feeling about the problem you have chosen.
3 Quick tl;dr iOS Game Reviews / Recommendations (Episode 73)
Happy Friday, my fellow mobile gamers, and welcome back to this weekly summary of the most interesting games I played this week :) This episode includes an interesting action RPG that plays a lot like Diablo, a very unique multiplayer strategy card game, and a PvP fighting game from a franchise that has been downloaded more than 500 million times! Disagree with my opinion? Let’s have a friendly discussion below. New to these posts? Check out the first one from 72 weeks ago here. The games are "ranked" somewhat subjectively from best to worst, so take the ranking for what it is.
Let's get to the games:
Creatures of Aether [Game Size: 189 MB] (free)
Genre: Card / Strategy / PvP / Indie - Requires Online Access Orientation: Portrait Required Attention: Full tl;dr review: Creatures of Aether is a unique strategy card game where our goal is to dominate the majority of a shared 4x4 gridded board by placing a creature card from our hand on each turn. Every card has a power number on each of its four sides. Placing a card next to an opponent’s card allows us to take it over and turn it into one of ours if the power number on our card’s side is higher than that on the opponent card’s adjacent side. Once the board is full, the player with the most cards on the board wins. To spice things up, board tiles can have elemental types that buff or debuff any card placed on them, and some cards even have strong special powers that trigger once played. While the mechanics are easy to understand, the game is incredibly difficult to master, and I often found I had made a mistake a few turns ago that now put me in a disadvantageous situation, just like in chess. Decks consist of eight cards, with a total deck-cost limit and a value on each card that increases the more powerful it is. This adds a nice forced prioritization that prevents us from placing all the strongest cards in the same hand. The high-quality modern pixel art style is well-executed, and the sound design is pleasing. The main PvP mode is supported by multiple arcade modes and single-player dungeon-crawls that provide new cards or extra copies so existing cards can be leveled up. Creatures of Aether monetizes through a $4.99 battle pass and iAPs for card packs, which create a pay-to-progress-faster advantage for paying players. However, the core gameplay is both deep and fun, and free players can still enjoy the many game-modes and simply grind for cards. App Store: Here
Raziel: Dungeon Arena [Total Game Size: 5.1 GB] (free)
Genre: RPG / Action / Co-op / Diablo-like - Requires Online Access Orientation: Landscape Required Attention: Full tl;dr review: Raziel: Dungeon Arena is a fun Diablo-like action RPG with solo and co-op dungeons, an insane amount of unique loot, neat 3D graphics, cute pets, and well-calibrated controls. The game features 3 classes; archer, melee knight, ice priest, and although there is no character customization, we can at least switch build later in the game. As we level up, we unlock more and more skills and can gradually customize our build through one of the largest talent trees I’ve ever seen in a mobile game. From the main city, we can meet and chat with other players, craft potions, team up for co-op dungeons, or jump into the single-player missions to slay hordes of enemies and find new loot with unique stats and set bonuses. Raziel is a modern mobile game, for better or worse, which means lots of daily and monthly login rewards, achievements, events etc. My biggest gripes with the game, however, are that finding a team at lower levels is almost impossible and that while combat is fun, everything is too easy in the beginning. Monetization happens through a $4.99 battle pass, a premium currency used primarily for cosmetics, and various “packs” of crafting materials and potions that go up to $19.99. There is no need to spend money on the game to enjoy it though, and while paying players definitely have an advantage in PvP, the game is primarily PvE-focused. App Store: Here
We’re an educational non-profit. Our new free game Lazy Chess is out today for iOS and Android!
Hi chessbeginners! I work for Cinq-Mars Media, a non-profit educational games and technology developer. I wanted to introduce you to our new game, Lazy Chess, because it was made specifically for those of us (myself included) who want to learn chess but are often intimidated playing online or against AI because we’re unfamiliar with strategy. Lazy Chess uses the chess engine Stockfish to narrow down the vigintillions of possible moves you could make every chess game, to present you with the best 2 possible moves per turn. Your options are always winning moves, but the catch is you don’t know which move is the best. Instead of focusing on every move you could make, Lazy Chess allows players to deduce winning strategies, learn creative moves and tactics, and play good chess confidently - every game. We designed Lazy Chess to be a fun way to both relax and improve your game. Compete against an AI opponent, online with strangers or friends, or pass-and play with the person next to you. We love the chessbeginners community, and would love to know what you think! Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. The game is free and open-source (you can access the code on our GitHub), and you can download it at the links below: iOS Android Thanks!
We are an educational non-profit. Our new free game Lazy Chess is out today for iOS and Android!
Hi chess! I work for Cinq-Mars Media, a non-profit educational games and technology developer. Today we are releasing our new game, Lazy Chess, and I wanted to introduce it to you! Lazy Chess is a free game for iOS and Android that uses the chess engine Stockfish to narrow down the vigintillions of possible moves you could make every chess game, to present you with the best 2 possible moves per turn. Your options are always winning moves, but the catch is you don’t know which move is the best. The board plays as a real chess game: defend, progress, capture, castle, etc. Those new to chess will learn creative moves and tactics, and those with experience can play with speed against a world-class neural network. We designed Lazy Chess to be a fun way to both relax and improve your game. Instead of focusing on every move you could make, Lazy Chess allows players to deduce winning strategies and play good chess confidently - every game. Compete against an AI opponent, online with strangers or friends, or pass-and play with the person next to you! The game is free and open-source (you can access the code on our GitHub), and you can download it at the links below: iOS Android Please let us know what you think! We're beyond excited to hear your feedback. Thanks! https://reddit.com/link/l5k7ks/video/jiqua8qfzpd61/player
Autochess: Market Status and Design Analysis [effort post]
It really helps me if you check the original article & more similar at https://jb-dev.net/ !!! https://preview.redd.it/336cy55x9pg61.png?width=1024&format=png&auto=webp&s=c89b35c152f61892f277a28203e61f192a86d260 In January 2019, Drodo Studio’s Dota Auto Chess mod became insanely popular. Many companies (including household names like Valve, Riot, Ubisoft and Blizzard) rushed to release their own versions. It seemed like the beginning of something big like MOBA or Battle Royale. But it has been more than a year now and the hype seems to have vanished completely. As quickly as it rose, it went away… This is the first on a series of articles where we will analyze the autochess genre. Here we will be exploring the genre’s history, its current market situation and its audience. And also, what are the core design issues that autochess suffers and that no one has been able to solve yet. u/JB: For this article I’m teaming up with my mate Victor Freso, one of my most talented folks at Pixel Noire Games, who helped me review all the games. We also had feedback of ~300 highly engaged players from the different autochess reddit communities, which participated in an online poll whose results are availablehere.They’re especially thanked at the end of the article.
A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
This wasn’t the first time that a mod got the spotlight and ended up becoming the foundation of a genre. It happened in several major, industry-defining cases before (some of which are Team Shooters, MOBAs, Battle Royale…). But on some of these cases events unfolded differently. So we identify 3 distinctive eras related to the evolution of the industry:
1st Era (2000s): Assimilation
The company whose original software had been modded (or had a close enough game, like Valve) moved quickly to absorb the successful mods and turn them into even more successful products. Since at that point creating a major game release was very complex (required an expensive development, publishing deals and an infrastructure to distribute the product), the deal was profitable for both sides. But it meant the dissolution of the identity of the original creator team, which became embedded in the bigger company culture. Team Fortress (1999) was originally a Quake mod. And Counter-Strike (2000) started out as a fan-made mod on the Half Life engine. Both games (and creators) were quickly absorbed by Valve. 2nd Era (2010s): Integration By this time, the previous era model still was going on… but the gaming industry had significatively grown a lot and it was also possible for smaller or even new companies to lure the original developers, and use the mod as a proof for commercial success in order to secure funding and develop it as a full title. The main characteristic of this era is that the original developers were able to keep a bigger share of control and relevance, rather than being integrated as just another gear on a bigger machine, because the companies they joined built their own identity around that key product. This was the case of Riot Games: They were able to raise enough money for the creation of their company through family and angel investors, and then hire some of the original creators of DOTA, and then created League of Legends. ![img](1vsle6y3apg61 " Defense of the Ancients (DotA), the foundational title for the MOBA genre, appeared in 2003 as a fan-made custom scenario of Warcraft 3. Foreseeing commercial potential on a full game based on the concept, Riot games and Valve both battled for the Dota IP and the original developers, eventually releasing rival titles League of Legends and Dota2. Interestingly, Blizzard (owners of Warcraft 3) tried to replicate the success without the mod creators in Heroes of the Storm (2015), which hasn’t been as successful as the other two. ") A similar case happened with battle royale, which also started in 2013 as a successful DayZ mod created by the modder nicknamed PlayerUnknown. Later, it was transformed into a full product through the acquisition of the developer by a korean company (which would later be renamed as the PUBG Corporation, again showing how the company grew around the game rather than assimilating it). Interestingly, this genre already hints what would happen with Auto Chess, since Fortnite wasn’t involved in any way with the original creators. They just copied the concept. Fortnite was a product stuck in a kind of development hell (had been 6 years in the works). As the game was getting close to the release, the developers became impressed by PUBG’s success, so they created a quick Battle Royale spin-off which became insanely popular and eventually ate the rest of the game. ![img](3b6l2rx6apg61 " Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds (2017), foundational title of the modern battle royale genre, is the successor of PlayerUnknown’s DayZ: Battle Royale, a popular mod for DayZ (which on itself is a mod of ArmA3, making it a mod of a mod lol). The success of PUBG inspired Fortnite (a title on the later stages of a troubled development at the time) to spin towards that genre, becoming PUBG‘s main competitor. ")
3rd Era (2020s): Fragmentation
In all the cases presented previously, the newborn genre ended up in the release of one or two titles which accumulated most of the business. But this hasn’t been the case here. In Autochess, the newborn genre has been quickly fragmented into a big list of competitors. Some are standalone games (like DOTA Underlords or Autochess: Origins), but there’s also several service-model games which released their autochess mode as well (like Hearthstone’s Battlegrounds or TeamFight Tactics, which at the end of the day is a side-game mode of League of Legends). This creates an interesting precedent, which I believe will define future cases where an innovative new game concept appears: The hot idea will be cloned very fast because today the main bottleneck in the industry is having an innovative design that generates player interest and engagement. By 2020, it’s way easier to create and distribute a game, there are way more developers hungry for a hit than ever before, and a lot of service-model games with short development cycles always looking for something juicy for their next update… so new ideas becoming red oceans fast will be the norm. For sure, this won’t affect the ability of small developers and modders to innovate, but it will affect their ability to leverage that to become successful on an independant level, before they get cloned. Dota Auto Chess, was a Dota 2 mod which obtained massive popularity. After a failed acquisition from Valve (owners of Dota), the mod developers (Drodo Studios) went to create the mobile standalone Auto Chess: Origins, while still maintaining the PC version linked to Valve. Meanwhile, Riot, Valve, Ubisoft and many other companies developed and released their own autobattlers at a record time, downgrading the genre creators to just another competitor. And ultimately, they haven’t fixed the core issues of the original game, which separates it from a true hyper-successful product like MOBA.
MARKET STATUS
Because of the rain of clones, it’s hard to map all the autochess games on the market. It doesn’t help that some of them are available in both PC and Mobile (playable in PC, Mac, Android and iOS), and also they’re exclusive to different PC stores (Dota Underlords is only on Steam, TFT is on Riot’s LoL launcher, and Autochess Origins is only at the Epic Store…). And if that wasn’t enough, the Auto Chess mod in DOTA2 is still very active and has no signs that it’s going to be dying soon. It’s still being regularly updated, and presumably still profitable: Some months ago they added a battle pass system, with its revenue shared between Valve and Drodo. https://preview.redd.it/081hvwjdapg61.png?width=854&format=png&auto=webp&s=34af2ba4751130a95b422ca1b7fd8c346029ab74 What’s interesting is that none of the contenders has been able to become massively successful in terms of monetization, at least not in terms comparable to even a second or third tier MOBA. And while there are definitively different tiers of following among these titles (led by Riot Games’ TeamFight Tactics), it seems that none of them has been able togather under its banner a significant amount of players, mobile downloads or Twitch Views… Sources: AppAnnie (mobile metrics), TwitchMetrics (twitch) So ultimately, we’re dividing the autochess market into 3 categories: Squires, Would-be Kings and Peasants.
Squires: Rather than standalone games, these are side-modes of already successful products. Under this category we would list the Battlegrounds mode in Hearthstone, or League of Legends’ TFT, and maybe even the original DOTA Autochess mod. While for sure they’ll have their own dedicated audience that only plays those modes, for most players it’s just a nice and fresh activity integrated within a broader game experience. The squires are the ones that have achieved the biggest success among the autochess genre because they don’t suffer as much backlash from the lack of gameplay depth inherent to the genre, which is harmful for the long term retention: Even if the mode eventually becomes a bit shallow, players have many other things to play, and thus are retained. As a consequence, these games can still monetize significatively by selling renewals of their Battle Passes every new season. Not enough to make them successful on the degree that was expected… but at least it’s something. Other than bringing an additional source of revenue, these modes were useful to their core games: They generated player interest by providing innovative gameplay. Hearthstone’s Battlegrounds was an amazing addition to the CCG genre, and made a lot of people come back to the game to discover the new mode and reengage.
Would-be Kings: These are the other two top dogs of the category. They were supposed to rule… but that looking at the numbers they don’t really seem to have ever lifted off. Under this category we would list Auto Chess: Origins and DOTA Underlords. The problem is that their standalone approach means that they suffer the most of the design issues of the genre that we’ve presented in the last section of this article (i.e. flat complexity, lack of mastery depth, lack of progression and rotative meta…). That means that they lost a lot of population over time, and therefore their Battle Pass renewal isn’t as effective at generating revenue : (
Peasants: Here we would list the myriad of other autochess follower titles that entered the battlefield, each achieving a different degree of success. While some may actually be profitable, what we can be sure about is that none of them has reached any significant numbers or anything close to the reach that brought industry attention.
Patricks, gamers looking for a competitive-but-idle experience that doesn’t require full attention and it’s easily reconcilable with their functional adult life.
Grizzlies, competitive players that struggle with fast paced games that demand a high actions per minute ratio and quick reflexes (like MOBAs or competitive shooters).
Warmasters, highly competitive players that enjoy more the area of strategy (setting up goals and planning how to achieve them) rather than tactics (skillful execution of actions and micromanagement).
What these profiles have in common, other than being hardcore gamers and having a big interest in competitive games, is the fact that they enjoy the lack of micromanagement, and the demand of reflexes and dexterity of autochess. This is quite interesting, considering that the genre foundation is so close to MOBAs, which are extremely demanding on those aspects. Overall it seems that they belong to audiences below the MOBA umbrella which are currently being alienated by the bulk of ‘younger and dexterity focused’ players. And when it comes to platforms, it seems that even though the barrier between the classic gaming platforms and mobile is progressively disappearing, the genre is still mainly focused on PC: Out of the ~300 players that answered, 50% said that they play exclusively on PC, 25% played primarily on Mobile, and the remaining 25% played in both. https://preview.redd.it/1frwgvrtapg61.png?width=962&format=png&auto=webp&s=3602c6a760664333236a2fddbc189fbab3ee3fc1 Players said that they enjoy the focus of the game in planification, as opposed to the focus on execution and performance of MOBAs. And when asked about their main points of frustration, they pointed out 2 main topics: 1.- The strongluck factor that has a strong impact on making you win or lose regardless on how well you played. 2.- The fact that the game eventually becomes shallow and repetitive, fueled by the fact updates were unexciting and not rotating the meta. Surprised by the fact that players mention randomness as a factor of both enjoyment and frustration? Don’t be! Competitive players tend to have a love-and-hate relationship with luck, because they tend to consider that external factors outside of skills (money spent, better draw…) stole their well deserved victory. And it’s even more frustrating in autochess, because there’s a strong snowball effect: Players that obtain a big advantage early on in the game become hard to catch later on. Which means that a few bad or good draws early on can decide the rest of the match. There hasn’t been a single feature more criticised in Magic: The Gathering than the randomness of drawing mana. And yet, luck it’s part of what makes MTG stand out compared to other CCGs: For experienced players, it introduces uncertainty and the need to take risks and gamble, like they’d do in poker. And for rookies, it allows beating someone that has better skills and has a better deck, if Lady Luck is on their side. Won’t happen often, but it will feel awesome when it does. Like a friend likes to say: The best feeling in MTG is to draw a mana when you really need it. And the worst? To draw it when you didn’t. This goes to say that in autochess, perhaps the power of luck needs to be reviewed, but it would be a bad decision to completely remove luck from the equation.
DESIGN CHALLENGES
In this awesome DoF article, Giovanni Ducati already pointed out the two main problems that the games in this genre need to solve to achieve real success: Bad long term retention and low monetization. To these issues we would add a third one, which is bad marketability: Contrary to their big brothers League of Legends and DOTA2, these games haven’t been able to achieve high organic downloads (at least not to be able to generate significant revenue through soft monetization mechanics). What’s even worse is that all these games, their themes and target audience are quite close to RPG and Strategy, which are genres with some of the highest CPIs on the market. So they need top-of-the-class retention and monetization to get a high enough LTV to scale up. But why do these games fail at keeping players entertained for a long time? And why don’t they monetize enough? Here’s what we think:
Flat Complexity & Progression
You have some games out there which have a strong entry barrier due to being quite complicated to grasp. But for those that can deal with the numbers and stats, the depth will keep them entertained for months and years. This is the case in most RPGs and 4X strategy games. And then you have hypercasual games, which are simple and plug and play. So they generate a great early engagement, but are too shallow to keep users hooked for a long time. As a genre, Autochess games are in the middle ground: they have a high entry barrier, but also lack the complexity to keep players engaged for a long time… As a general rule, games with long retention tend to follow Bushnell’s Law of being easy to learn and difficult to master. They achieve that by having what we call an unfoldingexperience: They appear simpler at the beginning (not necessarily easy), but require thousands of hours of practice to master. An example of this are games that level lock most of the game complexity, so the player understands and masters only a set starter mechanics. And then, progressively unlock new modes and demand more specialized builds and gameplay, repeating the cycle several times to keep the game always interesting while attempting to avoid being overwhelming. In World of Warcraft, character depth is huge. But this complexity is unfolded progressively, forcing the player to spend time mastering each skill and activity as they level up, before moving further. Another approach to the same idea are competitive games focused on mechanical ability, dexterity or micromanagement. Like CS:GO or Rocket League. They may unlock all the mechanics from the beginning, but a newbie player will only be able to focus and manage some of them, and then progressively discover and master the rest in an organic way. Rocket League hides its complexity by matchmaking early players with others of a similar skill. This makes beginner players viable even if they grasp only the basic mechanics. But, as they climb further, they’ll face rivals that take those basic skills for granted and the player will need to master more challenging techniques to keep up. League of Legends and Overwatch are actually a combination of both: The game first introduces the player to a small selection of heroes which progressively gets expanded, while at the same time having an insane mastery depth that requires a high APM and reflexes, team coordination and thousands of hours of practice. Contrary to any of those examples, Autochess games throw everything at you from the beginning: Character Skills, Synergies, Unit Upgrade, Gold Management, Items… It’s a lot to swallow. And there’s not even enough time to read what each thing does before the timer runs out. This creates a complex, overwhelming first impression that drives many players out. But that’s quantity, not depth. Once you’ve gone through that traumatic starting phase, you’ve grasped all the mechanics and you know which team builds are dominating on the meta, it’s just a matter of making it happen by taking the right decisions and adapting to a few key draws. Eventually, unless luck is really against you, your skills won’t be challenged and you won’t have new mechanics to master. At that point, winning will be based more on the knowledge of the content database and luck rather than your planning and strategic ability. And that’s boring. So ultimately, these games are hard to grasp for a newbie, but also lack the ability to keep players interested for a very long time since they eventually run out of new features and mechanics to discover and master.
Unexciting Updates, Lack of Collection
On top of that, autochess games seem to have a hard time adding content which reawakens player interest and makes churned ones come back. The DAU trend that we expect on a long term retention game: A decreasing trend of players until reaching a stagnation stage. At that point, a big update (or new season) is required to attract and reengage users back with new content. This is the model we would see on Fortnite or Hearthstone, but it’s not what we see in most autochesses. On this topic, perhaps the one that has put the most effort is Riot’s TFT. Each season update, the game releases a new series of heroes, synergies, items and rebalances, as well as a big bunch of cosmetics. This generates a short lived boost on revenue (due primarily to players buying the pass) and downloads, but ultimately nothing that really moves the needle in a relevant way. ‘Why seasonal updates don’t work?‘, you may be asking. Part of the reason is that TFT, as well as every major contender do not include elements of content progression or collection. Instead, they all stick to the roguelike approach of the original mod: Players have access to the same set of units, and build their inventory exclusively during the match. While at first this seems a good idea, since it keeps the game fair in a similar way to MOBAs, it’s oblivious to the fact that new units do not offer the same amount of gameplay depth as in League of Legends. InLoL, a new unit means weeks or even months of practice until mastering timing, range and usage of the skills, how they interact with every other champion, etc… In comparison, in TFT the new content can be fully explored in just a bunch of matches, both because the new content doesn’t offer that much depth to start with and because it’s available from the moment the player gets the update. By lacking content progression and collection, autochesses miss the opportunity to create long term objectives after an update, more innovative mechanics and less repetitiveness. As a consequence, they have it really hard to hype players on updates.
Resources lead to victories, victories lead to resources As you know, in autochess each player builds a team based on successive battles. Better battle performance will grant more gold, which is the resource used to buy units, perform shop rolls, etc… Similar to the cases we’ve already explained, this means that players that achieve early dominance will be able to to obtain more gold, use it to get better units and get more victories and gold, therefore increasing their team power faster than the rest. ‘But players can be lucky or unlucky, generating a factor that compensates for the advantage of having more resources early on‘, you may be considering. Unfortunately, this is a flawed logic, because of 2 main reasons: (1) Having more resources means more adaptability: The dominant players will be able to leverage on them to re-adapt their team, therefore outperforming the rest on a randomness-driven scenario. (2) Resources allow to buy more rolls, which diminishes the deviation generated by each individual roll.
![img](4kbmxiqhbpg61 " TeamFight Tactics attempts to decrease the snowball effect by introducing Carousels: rounds where all players pick a character from a list, and where the players that are losing (i.e. have less health) get to choose first. While this decreases the issue, it doesn’t really solve it… It just makes that smart players aim to lose on purpose at the beginning so they can get the better pick and generate the snowball slightly later on. ")
Luck factor. The previous point goes into maintaining and increasing dominance once it has been achieved early on, but another source of frustration is that luck is a huge factor in achieving early dominance. This means that your strategic skills and smarts can be completely invalidated by a couple of bad rolls at the beginning of the match. And there’s nothing that competitive players hate more than having their match stolen by factors outside the pure clash of abilities.
As an antithesis, Poker also has resource management, and luck factor determines the victory (on a specific round). But unlike Autochess, resources can’t override luck, and early victories don’t affect the later chance of winning.
Excessive Match Length
Compared to PC, on mobile is much harder to keep the player focused for a long period of time on a single session. And having a very long minimum session kind of goes against the premise of being able to play anywhere which is a primary strength of mobile as a gaming platform. This is a problem for autochess games since a single match can last for 30-45 minutes of synchronous, nonstop gameplay. ![img](4ed79ecnbpg61 " The knockout mode in Dota Underlords aims to make the game more accessible by skipping the slow beginning of the match (you start with a pre-setup army), and by simplifying the health and fusion systems. This shortens the matches to ~15 minutes, which is still too long for mobile, but better than 30. The problem is that it also increases the snowball effect, since the match has less turns to allow comebacks, and makes any mistake (or a bad roll) way more punishing. ") ‘Isn’t the solution just make the match shorter?’, you’re probably wondering. Unfortunately, there are several reasons that make this more challenging to the core design than what it seems:
Because in autochess the player builds its team from scratch, at the beginning of each match there are several turns to setup team foundations. Removing these early decisions severely decreases the teambuilding possibilities, decreasing overall depth.
Also, eachsetup phasebetween clashes requires a minimum time to think and perform the actions. In the last turns of a match, the game can become quite demanding on thinking and input speed.
Matches require a minimum amount of turns to compensate the weight of a single lucky/unlucky roll over the chances to win. Because the possible units for teambuilding appear on random rolls, the less turns there are the more luck factor the game will suffer, and as a consequence the less important the player’s strategic skills will be.
And if there are few turns, there are also less chances for comebacks. Because it means that players will have less setup phases to adapt and catch a player that has obtained an early advantage.
Finally, since the match involves 8 players, it requires a minimum of turns so that they all can fight between each other… Nevertheless, I don’t consider this a critical issue because Dota has been able to change this specific point on the knockout mode without sacrificing too much in terms of depth.
Soft Approach to Monetization
PC/Console approach to free-to-play is generally soft (i.e. primarily based on cosmetics, avoid pay-to-win…), while mobile tends to be quite hardcore in comparison. The softness of PC monetization is even more core to companies such as Valve and especially Riot Games, to which the “no monetization bs” is part of the brand values. This would be very hard to change without harming their reputation. Same as in most autochess games, in TeamFight Tactics the players can only pay for different cosmetics and for a Battle Pass. Without the massively huge and engaged audience of League of Legends, this monetization approach isn’t able to generate meaningful revenue. This is not exclusively because we mobile-first devs are a ruthless wallstreet folk which will use every dirty trick in the book to get a bit extra money… but also because mobile games are locked in competition for paid installs. This requires us to get as much revenue as possible from users, as fast as possible, in order to reinvest into players to keep on growing or avoid withering. The business model of League of Legends or Fortnite is based on their extreme popularity: They already have massive amounts of highly engaged active users, so their strategy is to keep them playing and have a monetization system that, while doesn’t make as much money from the players as it could do on the short term, generates a decent amount of revenue over a longer period of time. Games that have thissoft f2papproach have it very hard to reach enough ARPPU to make paid users profitable, given the insanely high mobile CPIs. This may not be an issue to big IPs and games that are able to bring many organic players (Fortnite, League of Legends…), but it is a big issue for those that can’t attract such a big number of players due to their organic appeal. Due to its core characteristics (strategic, number-based, complex…), Autochess is unlikely to be a massive appeal product, and therefore won’t fit into thecosmeticsmodel. It’s a game that will have a smaller audience of highly engaged players, and therefore will require a more aggressive monetization to reach similar results.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The history of the autochessgenre serves as an example of the risks of design endogamy: The devsphere rushed to clone Auto Chess, and before a year all the major contenders were in the board. But that speed came at a cost: None of these projects has brought the concept much further than its original conception, and in doing so they haven’t solved any of the core issues. https://preview.redd.it/iw82bogsbpg61.png?width=1280&format=png&auto=webp&s=9a197aa1fcb9ace73d6795103d20a4101ce7ddb5 The folks at Riot games developed the TeamFight Tactics in less than 5 months. This allowed them to release while the hype was still at its peak… but it also meant it added just a couple of improvements, and it’s otherwise very similar to the original Auto Chess mod. After seeing all these projects fail to meet the big expectations that were placed on them, the question is if perhaps the best approach was to avoid rushing, and instead tackle the genre with a title that is not a clone, but rather a more groomed, accessible and innovative successor of the original idea. In our next article on this series will make an attempt to see how such a game could be, rethinking the spirit and fresh design ideas of autochess to solve the issues mentioned above. (May take a while though, I want to focus on smaller articles for a couple of months…) Meanwhile, if you want to read more about this genre, we suggest you these awesome articles from the folks at DoF: Why Auto-Chess can’t monetize – and how to fix that and How Riot can turn TFT into a billion dollar game
Special Thanks to…
These articles wouldn’t have been possible with the collaboration of ~300 members of the reddit communities of the different auto chess games who provided us with feedback and data. You folks have been incredible solving all our doubts. One thing that this genre has is some of the most awesome players around. So big kudos for Brxm1, Erfinder Steve, Xinth, Zofia the Fierce, STRK1911, LontongSinga22, bezacho, hete, NeroVingian, marling2305, NOVA9INE , asidcabeJ, Eidallor, Rhai, Lozarian, bwdm, Toxic, Ruala, Papa Shango, MrMkay, Dread0, L7, kilmerluiz, Amikals, Sworith, Tankull, B., hete, Bour, Denzel, DeCeddy, Diaa, hamoudaxp, Benjamin “ManiaK” Depinois, Katunopolis, DanTheMan, MikelKDAplayer, 0nid, Tobocto, Tiny Rick, phuwin, Alcibiades, triceps, d20diceman, shadebedlam, stinky binky, Tutu, Myuura, suds, Kapo, Hearthstoned, Engagex, Pietrovosky, Daydreamer, Doctor Heckle, Ignis, ShawnE, NastierNate, LeCJ, Nene Thomas, Chris, trinitus_minibus, Nah, Kaubenjunge1337, Mudhutter, Asurakap, Nicky V, shinsplintshurts, bobknows27, Willem (Larry David Official on Steam), Jonathan, Dinomit24, Monstertaco, GangGreen69, Veshral Amadeus Salieri (…lol!), Kuscomem, Cmacu, Pioplu, Dilemily, qulhuae, Ilmo, MarvMind, facu1ty, crayzieap, Saint Expedite, Lobbyse, Lukino , tomes, Blitzy24, Mcmooserton, magicmerl, i4got2putsumpantzon, radicalminusone, Pipoxo, Kharambit, Bricklebrah, Rbagderp, Merforga, Superzuhong, Mo2gon, MoS.Tetu, MeBigBwainy, Zokus, CoyoteSandstorm, Stehnis, Noctis, Fkdn, Ray, Fairs1912, Fairs1912, Krakowski, HolyKrapp, Damadud, Pentium, Mach, Mudak, CaptSteffo, jwsw1990, Omaivapanda, Inquisitor Binks, Jack, yggdranix, GoodLuckM8, Centy, Prabuddha (aka Walla), dtan, Philosokitteh, Doms, ZEDD, Calloween, Synsane, Kaluma, GordonTremeshko , Djouni, DOGE, haveitall, ANIM4SSO, Task Manager, Submersed, BAKE, Viniv, La Tortuga Zorroberto, BixLe, Rafabeen, Blzane, bdlck666, FatCockNinja86, R.U.Sty, Yopsif, blesk, Quaest0r, FanOfTaylor, StaunchDruid, Rushkoski and everyone else that took some minutes to help us out on the article.
Hey everyone! I returned from a family trip to Disneyland pre-pandemic where I got to check out Galaxy’s Edge. There’s been a lot of chatter about the new Star Wars land, and I thought I’d chip in my two cents. Not right or wrong, just my thoughts. TL;DR at the end. The overall land - A+ If you know anything about Disney then you know what a good job they do building quality immersive areas. The land itself is fantastic, super detailed, and I loved it! (The non-Star Wars fans I was with had a different reaction. More on that later). Seeing the life-size Millennium Falcon sitting there is just incredible, the X-Wing and A-Wing are also very cool, and the entire construction and detailing of the land are top-notch. Olga’s Cantina - A+ Moreso than anything else, I really felt like the cantina is the heart and soul of the area (perhaps as it should be). It’s really cool being inside, and Disney built it fairly small so it still has an intimate feel. At one point I was leaning against a table with a drink in my hand, and they started playing the original cantina music from A New Hope. It made me feel just like Han Solo hanging out at the bar in Mos Eiseley (and if anyplace can make me feel like Han Solo, that’s a big plus in my book.) The drinks - while expensive - are really, really good and definitely worth it. Making reservations at Olga’s Cantina - F First off, Disneyland does almost everything off an app now, which means it’s incredibly difficult to make reservations online or over the phone. People going to Disney for the first time - or people like me who haven’t been there in a few years - don’t know much about the app, and probably didn’t use it to make reservations for the cantina ahead of time. By the time you arrive at Disneyland for your first day of vacation, you’re almost too late to make reservations as they book up really fast. Also your reservation time isn’t when you can go into the cantina. It’s when you can get in line to go into the cantina, usually meaning we got in 30 minutes past our reservation time. Finally, despite the fact that we were told we had “Olga’s Cantina lunch reservations,” next to an icon of a knife and fork, they do not serve food. No one told us this before we got there. We were fully expecting to eat lunch in the cantina, and had deliberately skipped breakfast so we would be extra hungry to try all the Star Wars food. Needless to say, get some solid food in your belly before you go in to drink the alcohol. Millennium Falcon Smuggler’s Run - B Sadly my initial impression of the ride was not as good as I had hoped. I went on it a couple of times, in all three positions (Pilot, Gunner, Engineer). Engineer requires you to stare at a little screen the whole time, which means you’re basically playing a game like you’re on your iPhone instead of looking out the cockpit window at the ride. Gunner isn’t much better. And it’s hard to ignore your job and just enjoy the ride because Hondo is constantly shouting at you when you don’t do your job. If you do ignore your assigned role and just try to enjoy the ride, what you’re rewarded with is a motion-simulator ride that’s not as good as Star Tours. Pilot was a lot of fun though, and the only spot where I felt I truly enjoyed myself. Being inside the Falcon is awesome, but the cast members were so intent on loading everyone quickly that I had maybe 30 seconds to enjoy and take it all in. I never got a chance to just wander the room, or sit down at the chess table. I think that with some different, randomized missions (similar to the new Star Tours), and with a rework of the Engineer and Gunner positions - at the very least so you can look up from your screen once in a while - this could be a much better ride. Rise of the Resistance - No Grade Wasn’t open while I was there, so didn’t get a chance to ride it. I hear it’s pretty great though. Savi’s Workshop - B- I didn’t want to do this, but my friend did, so I went as his Plus One to watch - the only way to get in without paying yourself. It’s undoubtably a cool experience, but it’s $200, which is more than a two-day ticket to Disneyland. That means you could go to Disneyland, ride the rides, watch the Mickey and the Magic Map show, explore Galaxy’s Edge, watch the Main Street Electrical Parade, the fireworks, and Fantasmic, and do that for two days in a row - all for the price of a lightsaber. They’re also very fragile, meaning it’s probably going to spend most time sitting on your bookshelf. On the other hand, there’s still a build-your-own lightsaber place in Tomorrowland near Star Tours. Sure, it may not have the atmosphere of Savi’s, but it’s about $170 cheaper, has more parts and options, and has the possibility to build a double-bladed lightsaber or one like Kylo Ren’s (you can’t build either of those designs at Savi’s). The best part is that it’s all plastic, so if you want to have a lightsaber fight with your friends, you can. Droid Depot - A Droid Depot is almost the exact opposite of Savi’s. You can watch anyone put together a droid, which was a lot of fun. The parts just randomly coming to you on a conveyor belt makes you feel like a Jawa. And the price point of $100 is I think a little more reasonable. Also, the droid you make will interact with other droids, or with various things in the land. Overall, I felt it was a better bang for your buck than making a lightsaber. Even if you don’t plan on making a droid, definitely check out the shop. Unlike Savi’s, anyone can walk in (you don’t need a reservation) and they have a lot of cool stuff inside including some unique things you can buy. Data Pad App - C+ I think this is going to be really good, but it’s not there yet. In maybe a year or two I could see this being a better experience, but it’s too new and unfinished right now. You can download the app and run around the land hacking different control panels. What this means is that your phone will download a short game for you to play, and when you complete it the control panel you’re at might beep or flash a light. And that’s it. There’s really no other effect it has on the wider world, and I found myself not really seeing a point to it. If you use the app at Peter Pan’s Flight, for example, you can make a real 3-D sculpture of Tinkerbell appear in the ride que. It’s quite a site. I feel like the Galaxy’s Edge part of the app needs more of that. Make physical stuff happen that can only be accessed if I use the app. Make a door open. Make a creature appear. Make an exclusive pin that can only be purchased by people who have completed something on the app. Something like that. Signage - A+ There was a rumor I heard that there were no signs in Galaxy’s Edge. That’s not exactly true, there are signs. They’re just blended in very well with the rest of the room. The bathrooms do have a “Restroom” sign. Olga’s does have a “Cantina” sign. The signs blend in, don’t detract from the rest of the land, and I had no trouble navigating my way around. Character Interaction - B+ Two things prevent this from being an ‘A.’ First off, I got the impression that the cast members are starting to get a little overwhelmed with the number of people they have to interact with. I never heard anyone refer to the bathrooms as “refreshers.” As soon as you asked where a bathroom was, they immediately told you. They didn’t pretend like they didn’t know what the word meant or try to correct you. You can be generous and say that Batuu has now had enough visitors that the locals have learned our slang term of “bathroom,” but the impression I got is that some terms like “younglings” and “refreshers” just confused too many guests so cast members are using the more common terms. The other issue was that I was over at the First Order store, and asked the store worker when Kylo Ren comes out to the TIE shuttle to do the small show I had seen on YouTube. “Whenever the Supreme Leader feels like making an announcement!” she snapped at me. Had I been alone, I would have thought this was an awesome answer. But I’m not alone. I’ve got a cranky kid who needs a nap, an aunt who drank too much at the cantina, and a grandparent who doesn’t want to deal with this “Space Wars” thing anymore. I just need a straight answer to my question, not a curt reply. I think one of the other store workers realized the lady had answered too harshly, because she came over and told me it would just be a few minutes, and sure enough the show started soon after. That said, the interaction is definitely there and it is great if you want it. Cast members have really thrown themselves into character. The stormtroopers are fantastic and were one of the best parts of the land. Sticking Power - C+ As a die-hard Star Wars fan, I’m not exactly hopeful about Galaxy Edge’s future. Oh I don’t think it’s going anywhere. It’s going to be successful and make money, but maybe just not as much as Disney hopes (similar to the Solo movie). Batuu is neat, but the whole time I was there I kept wondering why the land hadn’t just been set on Tatooine. As a fan, I appreciated the used future look, but the non-Star Wars fans in my group had the opposite reaction. I heard everyone at some point say a variation on the words “dirty” and “depressing.” My Hispanic friend did not like getting accosted by the stormtroopers, telling me later it felt too much like the abusive police state some people are now dealing with in the U.S. Surprisingly I had a similar experience. We got reservations at Olga’s for very late at night, after a long full day in the park. One cast member was going through the line, warning people to behave and insinuating that she was a spy for the First Order. And I realized that on my short vacation, in the middle of Disneyland, waiting in line to get a drink, I didn’t want to be trying to figure out who might be a lackey for a fascist organization. The other thing is Disney’s adamant adherence to sticking to the sequel trilogy timeframe. Although I’ve enjoyed the movies, they simply haven’t captured people’s imaginations the way the original trilogy did, and kids these days are more interested in the Marvel movies. When you consider the land as a whole, there’s actually very few direct references to the First Order and the Resistance. If Galaxy’s Edge underperforms, it would not surprise me at all if in five years Disney put a new sensor dish on the Falcon, a fresh coat of paint on everything, and reset the land as taking place during the time of the Empire and Rebellion. TL;DR - Galaxy’s Edge is great for Star Wars fans, but non-Star Wars fans might not enjoy it, and I worry a little about its future.
AS OF: 1/12/2021 ______________________________ CHANGELOG ______________________________ 2/1/2021 - added context for Red Dragon and Master Archer to HOT NEWS. 1/12/2021 - changed emblem recommendations for the birds. 1/6/2021 - added my comments on Judicator under Hot News. 1/2/2021 - added my comments on upcoming content drop. 1/1/2021 - Happy New Year! Redacted the Jolly Christmas content and revisited Vampire / Cavalier notes, added context on Harpy, split Supporting Cast in two parts. 12/24/2020 - added a link to my analysis of the Gingerbread Men portion of the Jolly Christmas event to HOT NEWS section. 12/23/2020 - no big edits; just making a statement about the changed VIP rewards - see new "HOT NEWS" section added below. 12/15/2020 - thread creation. ______________________________ See original thread here. I have decided to reorganize it across several parts due to the 40,000 character limit per post - this will also give me room to maintain a changelog within each thread (something near and dear to the hearts of us programmers, haha). As of 1/2/2021 - this particular thread (PART 1) addresses the following:
I may look to add future threads in the future; will keep each updated. You can expect that I will keep everything current within 24-36 hours of new content releases to the best of my ability and availability to do so. Always be sure that the "as of DATE" on the guide corresponds with your expectations of getting current info! ______________________________ HOT NEWS ______________________________ 2/1/2021
OK, so I lucked into a Red Dragon via daily gold altar pulls during January. I can definitively confirm that this thing are nuts, even at just 3*. It has completely replaced my farmed 6* Energy Elemental as of this point, and now my rosters are truly stretched to the gills (I am unwinding Inferno). Its damage is largely area of effect which helps you wipe the field quicker and even pick off 1x units such as Angel, and it seems to be quite beefy. Give it 4x Orange PoA, put it in front of Archmage and blow those suckas up. Possible use case to add Minotaur and backup Harpy as well since dungeon roster is invested and Judicator helps the Minotaur. Maybe Ogre Mage finally gets retired?!
As for Master Archer, it shows incredible promise as a single-target monster with decent survivability with Judicator high morale. I suspect that he will be even better with Zealot, which I am working to awaken now. May be about time to relegate one of the birds to backup...but not quite there yet!
1/6/2021 - Jesus Juggs is here! And even freakier than expected as based on the alternate skin. As a certain someone would say, VERY NICE. Anyways, hope everyone can grab her at 3* - she replaces Efreeti (who can go into backup). I will update the overall guide with context on her after a few days of testing. Please do resist temptation to take her above 3* even if you have the gem hoard - have you SEEN the full Dragon Golem kit?! #HOARD 1/2/2021 - OK, so the next content release is actually going to be a big deal for the F2P side.
If you hoarded diamonds (40k?) successfully, congrats in advance on your Judicator! Don't take her past 3* as of this point. She will likely be replacing the Efreeti on main team (he can hang out on backup or join a Fiur comp instead) and will be improving our chances vs PoA devils and red dragons.
If you are not quite there on diamonds, you may want to hang tight now and plan to grab Dragon Golem instead (expected to be #3 in order of awakenings released), then get Judicator later.
Be sure to beeline the very interesting Monk awakening (FINALLY a renewable source of High Morale...but does it land on the tanks?), and take note that Marksman may soon eclipse Grand Elf since he gets 100 native penetration at 1* woke!
General meta comment - so PoA Red Dragon is proving to be kinda redic. - essentially a splash devil that we cannot block with creative formations. I think that this unit places DM out of our immediate reach...for now.
12/23/2020 - big congrats to all players who spent money early on and reached V8 or V9, but never got a P2W hero for their trouble; you have some massive Christmas / holidays presents waiting for you on the VIP claim page. My one-size-fits-all advice here is to pick Dragon Mutare as your premium hero as she will be the easiest of all options to get working with the units that you have already been developing. Then, continue on the F2P track and hoard for UR tier - restrain yourself from investing into the dragons as they are not required to get good results with this hero. As for the SR+ - my recommendation is to HOLD the box until after we get a better understanding of how quickly we can reach 80 SR+ random souls from auto chess. The best option for us out of this box is clearly the Wyvern, which is an excellent 1x attacker and can be utilized by nearly any hero, esp. Jeddite or Dragon Mutare. I am only VIP4 with no plans to "top up" so you can expect that this guide will stay F2P-focused and not go into detail on low-VIP DM nor the assumption that any of us have SR+ units outside of Genie. I will urge everyone to continue restraining the urge to put money into the game if you are, say, VIP6 and considering going up to VIP8-9 - yes you are getting a great "deal" (effectively "buy one P2W hero get one free") but you are still normalizing the act of investing outsized amounts of dollars into a mobile game - and you will likely continue spending as it is not feasible to run any of the P2W heroes competitively without their full kit and stacked SSRs. DM is not an exception to this rule by any means - don't be tempted to whale or you will keep whaling to keep up with your previous decisions (concept of sunk cost says hello). I will also echo sir_kayn's concern over the incoming prevalence of 6* devils on new servers, and really overall - it's gonna be raining devils and the concept of defense teams will no longer apply for most content until the devil counters make their way into the game and the high VIPs who got random 6* devils without investing in Inferno do not match their spending to counter the counters. In all, I think none of this boils down to a great result for low VIP players - we will just have to try harder now and find new ways to succeed! Biding time and hoarding diamonds until UR tier seems to be the best approach for us as of this point to further this objective. __________________________ MY INTRO __________________________ Some quick context on me - honestly I'm just a longtime HOMM who got some major feels when they first saw this game in their app store. I remember playing the HOMM2 demo map for like a month when I was a kid, and finally hiring my first dragon unit after being terrorized by the AI in the center island connected by portals....! Anyway, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing here at first, and was at a time in my profession (just pre-COVID) that things were getting VERY SPICY INDEED. I bought a few things in store (I think like some gems and Undead Cloak artifact, and then basically just got into a daily rhythm of slowly progressing thru, got gradually more and more annoyed annoyed at the lack of quality and miserable gacha system, uninstalled the motherfucker, and then gave it one more chance with the thought that I would do an experiment to see how far I can get. A few hours ago, I just hit Top 7 on my relatively competitive server after taking down a somewhat higher power decently well optimized Gem (took me a few days to crack his latest formation), and then, to my own surprise, a +1mm power DM player with, well, a bit mediocre optimization on his part (no offense bud if you see this, I actually got some feedback for you) whom I have not been able to beat for months outside of several days of equipment boost in Underground. To my own surprise, I did even need to use buffs at all - presuming the other players may have because it was EI day, but no info to support that. Going into this level of detail not to brag or boast, but because I was myself looking for similar info and context months and months ago and was not able to find much aside from the YT channels of certain individuals who it became clear to me were either stumping for likes and attention, or had no real grasp of "our side" of the game and in fact proved themselves to be quite defensive and noxious in their conduct on this sub and off (goes for MULTIPLE people - anyone remember Skylinx?!). In short, my aim here is to address the vacuum of pertinent content for people choosing to play this game at low VIP level. Jeddite is presently exponentially ahead of all other F2P heroes for PvP, as such this guide will naturally emphasize him in that area. We will also make use of Ge'lu, Solmyr, Fiur and other heroes in order to optimize around the much narrower and more focused set of options that are available to us. __________________________ OTHER CONTENT BY ME __________________________
Battle of Gods store planning (TLDR: do not spend your medals on Energy Elemental even though he is discussed here, let alone anything else in the store that costs medals).
The official MMEoC Discord - I am personally from the "previous gaming generation" as may have been noted by my referencing to HOMM2 and so forth, so I have not been much involved in this new wave of, well, let's face it, Slack-inspired community-oriented tools. If you are like me and can't be bothered to get with the times and such, I would STILL recommend that you join this community - the token trolls and elitists are out there but so are a ton of friendly and knowledgeable people who will write paragraphs to answer questions that were answered via paragraphs by a different helpful person 10 mins before in the chat log. I mostly hang out on the theory/strategy channel when I am online - general chat can be a bit of a wild card! Note that there is "another Discord" that is ruled by a certain fragile individual - you may find some good info there from time to time but their alleged "f2p_help" channel is, well, rather amusing from my perspective at what passes for advice.
EOC Fandom user-submitted guides - some really great stuff here, I think just about everything deserves a read - even the P2W hero guides so that you can become more familiar with them / understand what is going on and how to better counter. Be aware that the Auto Chess guide has a major mistake in that it indicates that chess pieces are capped at 50 - this is not true. I will be updating my Auto Chess guide shortly after next season opens.
Main "Story" reference - find those pesky hidden chests - honorary mention for most annoying game feature! "Story" is in quotation marks for obvious reasons.
StormB's YT channel- he is by far the highest quality streamer that I am aware of. Big caveat is that he is most certainly a whale, however he has tons of F2P-friendly content as well as probably the biggest understanding of underlying game mechanics of any individual who has crossed my path. Pay attention to his PvE-oriented content in particular as it will surely boost your own results!
HaskeerCZ's YT channel - specifically for the F2P videos on ToA 17-1 to 18-3. I was not able to find these videos in YT myself when looking for tips, esp. on 18-1 and 18-2 (only P2W hero videos exist) until someone on the Discord sent me a link - linking here in turn
"Mana Thief" as coined by GoldenYamaxanadu - you want to take every single opportunity possible to take away from the opponent's mana regeneration, and increase the cooldowns of their spells if your pressure on their mana is not sufficient to guarantee no ultimates cast (yes, this is a thing!). As you may have already noted, the P2W heroes stand out by virtue of their ultimates, which in turn synergize with their kit and faction units in ways that lead to making a win for us appear impossible. Therefore, as the F2P community has come to know, the best way to tangle with these heroes is to limit or remove their access to the same. Here is a video that I appropriated from Discord which showcases this concept nicely. Anyone feel a bit sorry for this poor Astral? Me neither. :D
"Smaller Focus, Bigger Gains" - sometimes I feel bad for the whales - they have so many more units and heroes than we do - how do they keep track of them all ?! In fact, this presents a key advantage for us - just as the entirety of our kit is available for free - it is also available fairly quickly and scales quite well with new game features as they are introduced. Will go into more detail later, but in short, focus on upgrading a specific core of units as far as you can, while also maximizing growth of hero stats from the several sources where they are available.
"HAMSTER MODEENGAGE!" - mantra as follows: DO NOT SPEND DIAMONDS UNLESS YOU HAVE A VERY GOOD REASON. Ideally, you will continuously hoard diamonds in prep for the next level of powercreep, and then ONLY SPEND WHAT IS NEEDED AND CONTINUE TO HOARD. I will go into more detail on this later.
PHOENIX 6+/6 - our fried chicken and MVP. Give the game a dollar to grab him, and then utilize all dragonsteel to 6* and creep up his potential, esp. focusing Wisdom and possibly Dex as there is some emerging info that attack speed boosts the rate at which units use their ultimates, and you DEFINITELY want this fella using his ultimate as much as possible. You also definitely want to take the 5* guaranteed crit awakening as this is very key to his power.
Emblems: Path of Assassin -1/12/2020 update- best set; he is better on ST damage output than roc
Awakening options - 3x right side
ROC 6+/6 - our other chicken. Always on same lane as phoenix, in front of him. It's probably the best overall unit in the game that is available to us right now. You want to minmax his awakenings around enemy comps, esp. the 5* option that will drastically up his output on P2W armies if the right option is chosen as based on what you are facing (should be obvious but will highlight in anti-hero section). He is also far easier to farm up than Phoenix; my own is already at 22st29dex/40wis whereas phoenix is 15st10dex/26wis. Buying Crag Hack 3* with universals is a requirement as well as Shiva 3* global.
Emblems: Path of Assassin - second best set
Awakening options - 2x line attack, more CRIT damage, vary the 3rd depending on whether you are facing mostly 1x units or otherwise; Electric Shock is probably more useful more frequently but Implosion should be taken, say, vs Dragon Mutare.
3+/3ANGEL - honorary third chicken - I expect that you all already understand why this unit is good, and you SHOULD use diamonds to get him to 3/3 as soon as you can. What you may not realize is that it does not need to be bigger than 3/3 in order to be impactful - FULL STOP on grinding him further at this point! Unless you are GoldenYamaxanadu, the game will inevitably give you SSR dupes, at which point you can 4* him in 2 castle weeks.
Addendum 12/23 - since awakening Pit Lord, I have veered towards keeping my Angel on Backup (Spell Commandment) - this seems to be working well as his rez ends up being more meaningful rather than reviving a tank which subsequently dies again because it is the only unit that can take damage. I have had some cool wins where I specifically have my mage, fire ele and ogre die in first 20 seconds; backup arrives, rez triggers on ogre while invul cavalier starts wrecking backline and the newly arrived caster starts dropping bombs.
Emblems: Everlasting Secret
Awakening: REZ IMMUNITY! At first tier, Come Again is probably the one that you will run but Trinity may have solid applications as well - just wish it was possible to guarantee it on your tanks...
3/0 JUDICATOR - yay, new chicken. Content forthcoming.
Emblems: Everlasting Secret
6+/6 OGRE - incredible tank, esp. with 40 STR potential and Crag Hack 3* global which gives him amazing DR (damage reduction) - as you introduce your Paladin you will boost his DR even further. We all know that Blood Pool and Cure Poison are amazing, but sometimes overlooked is that he also globally boosts ATK by 24% once Rampage triggers - cue the snowball!
Emblems: Legal Principles
Awakening: 3x left side seems to work the best for me. There may be an argument to expanding range on Blood Pool if using a weird formation but you should generally be stacking your army anyway as Jeddite.
6/+/? PALADIN - NOT an incredible tank (yet), but an incredible unit nevertheless; synergizes extremely well with the rest of the team by adding an insane 17% DR to all, in effect TRIPLING the native DR of your casters and putting your Ogre in a ridiculous place once Rampage has triggered (mine is 66.6% base + 20% rampage + 17% paladin = 103.6?! hope you brought some DRR!). The 500 crit for the first portion of fight can help make things happen as well - esp. if it is the roc/phoenix ultimates that do the critting, and he further provides a modest ATK boost + fodder to absorb enemy attacks with his Sanctuary Homies. And yes, I did write 6* - although be reasonable about how you get there - I went YOLO with my diamonds however new content releasing for all servers will make this somewhat less wise given the new unit tier on the horizon + the ability to accumulate dragonglass from the next tier of limited-time recruitment. And yeah, don't expect him to be a great tank himself until red unit skills are unlocked - as such you always want to place your ogre in a way such that he will be the recipient of attacks from the enemy's best offense.
Emblems: Gear of Time, or Everlasting Secret if he is not doing much tanking and you have spares
Awakening: release it already ?!
6+/6 EFREETI - excellent F2P unit that fits in well here. Extremely easy to farm and his ult spreads burning, which in turn boosts your phoenix. Also does a fuckton of damage (is usually the real MVP on actual damage) and his ult is not limited to targeting the lane that he is on. He is certainly more squishy than the chickens, as such I take his +DR awakening option.
Emblems: Anger or PoA if you have a fourth viable set (EE gets third)
Awakening: 3x right side; you will on occasion want to switch the second option for more offense over DR.
With Judicator release, now on backup duty. Consider pairing him with devil and "burn everything" woke selection.
6+/6 ARCHMAGE - this is our primary secret weapon once at 5* awakening; contributes near 50% of our mana burn. Yes, it's a squishy unit, which is why you will prioritize her STR potential and possibly give her tanking emblems, but she is not going to be getting evaporated if no ultimates are being cast. I place her in front of Efreeti since he buys a bit more time on a (weak) intruding devil with his fire shield - also her ATK boost will still further boost Efreeti and the attacker on the same lane. Worthwhile to note that she is also a hidden master at Steadwick Siege Offense - I defeated all levels by destroying the gate with her + Efreeti via Ge'lu buffs (disclaimer - probably an easier way to beat these levels exists).
Emblems: I use Kosmos due to having them laying around, but the "+DR for each unit of same type" is probably better -> use the Kosmos to cast your PoA!
Addendum - it seems as if her mana burn skill persists on death. As such it may be fine / better for her to die so that backup can come faster. Also makes her a good candidate to hold Darkness Enlightenment emblems for faster DRR stacking - hopefully you pop a tank before she succumbs to splash damage or any spells that are actually coming out of their hero.
Awakening: Magic Affinity seems best of the first options, let me know if any think otherwise. Second option is Arcane Node for now, esp. since it boosts her attack speed for DE stacking. Last option should be obvious AF and is the core of this unit - an incredible +1 mana per second that gets burned from the opponent from Energy Suppression!
6+/1 ENERGY ELEMENTAL - secret weapon #2 - gives us an additional 0.34 points of mana burn and does some rather decent damage to boot, also has a snowball and sustain mechanic that you can take advantage of (I believe it works via summons - also triggers every time enemy tank dies and gets rezzed). While his boosting of fire spells is not relevant to us, the fire resist most certainly is vs the P2W heroes who employ this element. Further, each time one of the units dies, your Phoenix will have guaranteed crit for 15 seconds. Key planning point here - he is easy enough to unlock from Store but takes a long time to grow - thankfully he uses the barracks resource below dragonsteel - buy out his shards every time. Goes without saying that you want Fiur's global as well - go ahead and get him to 4* actually, more on this later. As of this time, I do NOT recommend taking him past 1 awakening - his 3 awakening skill is meaningless and the amount of medals to take him to 5 can get you a 3/3 Black Knight with emblems to spare if you can make it into Top 8 twice with sufficient hoard (see analysis here). As far as when and how to use him - this will vary as based on comps you face; there may be value of having him on backup as opposed to main team at times, OR putting him in a position where he dies early to push you closer to backup while dropping some burst damage and burn.
Emblems: PoA (your third set) or perhaps Darkness Enlight or a spare tanking set since they are a bit frail.
Awakening: Running Fire - spread the burn!
6/5 PIT LORD - her awakening was timely indeed as she was starting to lose some luster after close to 9 months on my main team. Happy to say that she is gainfully employed again - this unit will not do much damage but has incredible sustain and synergy with the rest of the pack. Just watch out for her tendency to pirouette behind the enemy lines - this seems to happen more often when the enemy tank is a 1x, has a 4x unit behind it, and she has to travel diagonally to reach.
Emblems: Everlasting Secret
Awakening: the right options seem best, although the super-demon is interesting and may have some use cases.
6/? SERPENT FLY - I swap him in primarily vs Gem. He may be better than Archmage vs Sandro as well to help deal with his PITA Mummy (?). Every F2P player needs him on bench in order to deal with Gem, who is unkillable for us otherwise. More on how to fight Gems later. I have not seen a lot of value of using him on main team or backup otherwise - anyone have good experience here vs specific comps?
Emblems: I move my PoA to both him and Efreeti when facing Gems.
Awakening: yes pls
________________________________ SUPPORTING CAST - PART 1 ________________________________ All of these units have usage and value, although they are somewhat less likely to make your primary team. Note that I will not name any SSRs here EXCEPT ONE although there are certainly some others that are valuable if you happen to RNG them - this is because I do not want any of my fellow Jeddite mains to waste any diamonds on SSR altars outside of as discussed here!
Red Dragon - as per 2/1/2021 HOT NEWS update; I will incorporate that info here in a future edit. TLDR - if you have one, you should probably use it.
Devil - I am a bit salty on this point as I still do not have one (EDIT - GOT ONE MID-JAN!). Kinda awkward that I am top 5 crypt on server, but top 50 treasury, haha.... Anyways, he is REQUIRED for F2P to obtain all materials from treasury daily - getting him as early as possible will magnify the benefit, not to mention all of the extra gold that you will accumulate in comparison to someone like me :(. I would not have said this months ago, but as of this point I firmly believe that F2P should unlock him as soon as possible (actually I think you should do this ahead of angel 3/3). I would chalk my current and ongoing lack of a devil to a significant portion of my "missing" power and probably my biggest mistake.
Another plug for this unit - even at low stars and 1 star awakening, it can do some great things in PvP content if you swap your orange PoA over to it or even give it your blue set. There are also several ToA levels (esp. 17-2) that are FAR easier with even a basic devil. Further, there is context that a Fiur running inferno/conflux can function as a "budget Xeron" for us.
Genie - the only "guaranteed" SR+ that we can get as of this point - once you get her upgraded you will inevitably replace your Efreeti with her. Have quartermaster clear monsters daily, check weekly for Smart Monsters, and keep grinding. It took me about 10 months to get mine - although I admittedly spent a handful of weeks boosting stats for underground PvP shenanigans.
Other SR+ - getting ANY of these units is a clear windfall for us, even the seemingly less-useful ones which will either boost rosters, give you an early advantage until you build out the kit discussed, give you more PvE oomph (esp. nightmare, scorpicore), or outright replace units that I discussed above (looking at wyvern, beholder, airship and mermaid). I do not have any myself, however have not given up hope - make note of the Hour Parties on calendar and set a timer to participate every 2 hours on the relevant day. I certainly do not think that it is worth to outright buy any of these units though.
Grand Elf and Marskman - the Queen and Jack of PvE - the #1 units to boost and farm who are not on your main PvP team. Marksman is a long-term play as well since he will be main DPS later as Castle comps become viable under new heroes.
Vampire - excellent HEALER Unit; will likely be on your main team for a while and has extensive PvE function (esp. in melee Ge'lu comps). Does have strong value as a backup unit, esp. behind Cavalier who is naturally tanky and gets stretched even further with the group heals. His damage output is kinda low so don't expect him to turn battles, even if he gets into the backline, however his random target nuke can do some cool snipes here and there.
Cavalier - BEEFY charger with a guaranteed stun and amazing initial burst damage hit. Excels in backup, esp. when you have already tested a specific fight and know exactly where you need the stun. Can also do cool fun things in combo with Harpy (see below) and Vampire (see above) + ballin' Mullich. Try Arrogance emblems on him to further boost his initial burst, or secondhand Gear of Time set to make him even tankier / easier for Vampire to heal.
Awakening - more TANK or more YEET - you decide! Take the stun at the second level for now - the Fast Breaching option may have value in PvE or certain PvP though!
Harpy (NEW!) - so, after getting rolled by these frisky ladies time and time again in Endless Inferno, I started playing with them and am seeing some rather outstanding damage output at relatively low investment / weak Dungeon roster. At around the same time, I completed an orange set of Broken Prophecy (chance of stun on crit), was trying to find a use case for them outside of Ge'lu targeted buffs (precision guaranteeing crit, frenzy increasing # of crits), and Discord user Papylirus pointed out that harpies get guaranteed crit on stunned targets. Who do we know that happens to specialize in delivering a guaranteed stun? See above... ;) This combo actually allowed my throwaway 3rd CoG team to win most of its games and contributed to my first-ever Top 64 this week! Still testing further here and will likely make a video when I have some tangible results, but seems very promising indeed as a gambit option / added tool at our disposal.
Another standout for this unit is that, at level 100, we get access to farm +4 Certificates of Legend from Chapter 26 of Underground, and Harpy happens to be one of the nodes here. This means that we will naturally boost her potential as we work towards collecting the massive amount of +4 tomes (200 per unit) needed to upgrade to Orange +5.
Reply: Thank you for your feedback. We will adjust accordingly in the near future. Feedback:
I dont know if this is a bug or not, but when you move your umbrella to a different location like a bush or something an obstacle will stop its path midway. This is vsry annoying and can mess up your positioning in teamfights and stuff.
Reply: Thank you for your feedback. We will verify this. Feedback:
I think "nothing last forever, we can change the future" is a very memorable quote from Alucard and alucard and that quote can't be seperated because Quote is alucard himself and vice versa, so i think it's better to bring back that quote
Reply: Thank you for your feedback. We will verify this. We will need to ensure that the voice line is suited for him within the MLBB lore Feedback:
Popol's traps should reveal enemies for a brief moment whenever they step on them. Just like Rafaela's 1st skill that reveals enemies in a bush. Because whenever an enemy triggers a trap in a bush they can't be seen anymore forcing popol to set two traps in one bush, one for vision and one for
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I do like fanny as she is but she is undeniably an unbalanced hero. Not that she's overpowered but if she isn't strong she's dead weight but if she's good then she can be a bit of an issue like we saw years ago during season 1-7. However I think she would actually be more fun and a but more interesting to play, and be easier to balance if she was reworked back to how she was in season 3 where she had slightly cheaper cables and had 5 energy regen per second instead of 3, however she did not gain energy from marks unless she killed someone like 15 per prey marker stack. This would be good to make use of her high mobility and make her more lethal as an assassin because she could max her first skill and save energy but not have enough to take in the whole team. This would also make her a good split pusher in this anyone can go anywhere and be anywhere easily meta. She may not be as fun but she could potentially be better and more interesting and be less of a mobile fighter and more of that assassin that she was meant to be. Might not be the best but just food for thought. Back then she was op because she had no real counters and nobody could keep up with her but that's changed now.
Reply: Thank you for your feedback. Fanny's changes have not been implemented for long. We will continue observing and consider if we need to make any adjustments. Our final goal is to ensure that she has similar levels of abilities with other assassins and prevent her from being unstoppable. Feedback:
You did some fine balancing before M2 but I think there's still a lot more to work on: Heroes like Martis, Nana, etc. are still heavily underpowered, indicated by their very poor winrates. Unless you guys plan on revamping them or something please buff them so they can be viable choices again. As for Brody I'm sure everyone agrees the main problem with him comes from his S2 and Ult. His stun is way too long for a lock-target skill and it also comes with a free repositioning tool, and his ultimate deals absurd lost HP damage while having low base damage. If you want to balance him properly, then nerf his Stun and adjust his ultimate damage instead of twiddling with his Basic Attack. Esmeralda and Natalia are both banned very often in rank and tournaments and they still haven't gotten a nerf? Everyone got their share of adjustments so why not these two?
Reply: Thank you for your feedback. We know that there are many heroes that are waiting for our optimisation. We understand that the players are anticipating the changes to their main heroes. We will continue to work hard in the upcoming updates. Regarding Brody, as we have just made changes recently, we will consider his performance in rank and M2 competition before making any changes. We have also noticed the performance of Esmeralda and Natalia. We will discuss if adjustments should be made after M2 competition. Feedback:
All nana skins are cool but 1 thing grinds my gears and it's the fact that Molina have never got a cool transform effect in any skin. I suggest that Molina could get new styles. For example, in mecha baby skin molina would transform to little chibi robot or molina with jumpsuit would appear in Slumber Party skin and Season exclusive skin would have a little zombie Molina
Reply: Thank you for your feedback. We have plans to do so. Feedback:
Hayabusa annual starlight skin is not as good as other annual starlight skins ie. Gord and karrie. Things to do: 1) add a special background as other Annual starlight skins have special themed background. 2) Rework on model. Its looks fine but hair look like everything except hair. For example ice cream. Also trouser looks so mediocre so improve it too. 3) Improve skill effects. Skill effects are like special skin. Other annual starlight skins have brand new skill effects. For example Gord 2nd skill effect, karrie 1st skill effects. So add new and better effects for hayabusa too. Hayabusa basic attack also sucks. Its so unfair.
Reply: Thank you for your feedback, please stay tuned. Feedback:
People are doing the same mistake in this event as with the rework Karina won: they vote without knowing what it is for. Then they complain Moonton ruin the skin. THEY WILL NOT GIVE YOU THE WINNER SKIN, THEY WILL MAKE A REDESIGN. There are many other skins that need a rework, for example this one of Irithel that doesn't have a background and the Tiger looks like a bruised dog. Just look how beautiful this Mobile Legends Adventure skin design looks like, It would be awesome if you do the redesign like this
Reply: Thank you for your feedback. We will prioritise the redesign based on the rankings in the event. Currently, Miya's Christmas skin is ranked number 1. Feedback:
Ok soo, Athena shield Dosent give shield anymore cuz it was revamp, instead it gives 25% magic resistance after not being in combat for 10 second, BUT, if u go into Builds and see it, it's written "Provide shield" when it dosent, soo maby change it?? To something like "provide Magic resistance" idk how ever u want but not "provide shield" when it doesn't, Thank You
Reply: Thank you for your suggestion, we will fix this as soon as possible. Feedback:
Vexana is a great hero but her only good mode is basicly brawl her passive is good but most of the time it wont be used in battle and her puppet AI is so bad, at least something that would be a huge improvement add the same AI u use for hard mode on custom or if vexana is dead u can still control the puppet or even if she possess a puppet she can control it and use the puppet skills like hanzo her body would be exposed but would be a good exhange for a better ult and fix the bug where if the target dies before the timer runs out it will keep counting even if it already died
Reply: Thank you for your suggestion. We will consider it. Please stay tuned. Feedback:
When you share a game, instead of an Angela portrait on the left side, why not a portrait of the hero you use most of the time?
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Make a button that can mute the whole chat
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I know the devs are working on new items currently. I just want to add my 2cents because for me it’s gotten ridiculous. I’m a fighter main. And am in mythical glory rank. Like seriously can we please get some anti cc, cc reduction, & slow reduction items into the game like urgently. I main fighters. I play Terizla, Alpha, Masha, & Dyroth; a few others but mostly these 4. I get these hero’s don’t have the most insane mobility so they’re more likely to be kited. But man, when I play hero’s like these or just fighters in general I literally cannot move during fights. The shear amount of cc in the game is ridiculous with absolutely zero way of countering it. I just have to build super tanky so that I can survive through the cc so I can actually have a chance to attack. I’m not asking for cc nerfs! But for there to be counters to it. All fighters suffer from no counter to cc but fighters that specifically have to stick to opponents for an extended period of time to get anything done, they especially suffer from cc badly. Put cc resistance in items & emblems in the new upcoming item/emblem update. Not only fighters. Every hero role has their weaknesses where they have no options in terms items or emblems to counter or gain attributes they need to be successful.
Reply: Thank you for your suggestion. We will consider it. Please stay tuned. Feedback:
Mythical Glory Legend V Mythic (all ranks apart from glory) Epic 2-4
Reply: Thank you for your suggestion. Firstly, even in the same rank, we will try to match players against players of similar abilities. This is to provide everyone with a fair gaming experience. Secondly, we will consider adjusting the rank reset post season and the matchmaking algorithm. Please stay tuned. Feedback:
-Mobile Legends Birthday, you could make an event celebrating it's birthday, I don't think it's emphasized. -Heroe's Anniversary after being brought to original servers (Ex : Lesley's 3rd year in the official server was recently), you could do events related to them like playing them for rewards. -Like what was discussed in an earlier suggestion, it would be great if we could put our birthday then get rewards when the day comes. It would also alert their ingame friends in inbox (could be turned on or off). Or it could be an anniversary of the user's account. You could regulate things so it doesn't become abused.
Reply: Thank you for your feedback. We have plans for this. Please stay tuned! Feedback:
Why we cant type hanabi in game, before this is balmond and now is hanabi ? fix it , not every word needs to be censor 😑 especially when i type in malay there's a lot of word that i cant type
Reply: Thank you for your feedback. We will optimise it. Feedback:
Uranus has a bug where he stops moving after using a skill.
Reply: We will fix this issue in the next patch. Feedback:
Many complaints about bug on the flash + ult while playing with the heroine Ruby.
Reply: Please provide video evidence. It is difficult to locate the issue based on description only. Feedback:
Players are unhappy with the unstable ping (Special attention should be paid to Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and surrounding countries. Also, a similar problem appeared in Crimea).
Reply: Thank you for your feedback. We currently have a server for the Russian area. We are also actively looking for new server nodes to improve your online experience. If you are currently facing lag issues, please turn on data boost mode to improve your connection. Feedback:
Several players report lag issues during the MCL.
Reply: We are in the midst of optimising. Sorry for the inconvenience. Feedback:
Bring back the Oriental Fighters gallery achievement.
Reply: Thank you for your feedback, but we do not have such plans currently. Feedback:
Some players found that their Magic Chess commanders have disappeared.
Reply: Thank you for your feedback, we will review this. Feedback:
Please fix skin cannot be use in Magic Chess ASAP
Reply: We will have a major change during the annual season. Therefore players are unable to use this feature. Hope players who are affected can understand and bear with us for the moment. Feedback:
Increase Hanabi's movement speed.
Reply: Thank you for your feedback. We will observe the performance of Hanabi after the changes before considering making other adjustments. Feedback:
Many players haver complained about nerfs. Players are asking for a return of how Carmilla and Ling were. They are feeling unhappy with the nerf that they received.
Reply: Ling's performance has been too good in higher ranks. Therefore, we have to make such adjustments. We intend to improve Carmilla's utility and popularity. We will continue to optimise her skills. Feedback:
Mythic rank 200-300 stars are really hard to play
Reply: Thank you for your feedback. Mythic 200-300 points are very strong players. We are glad that you are enjoying your time in MLBB. Feedback:
Make feature to download & save the portrait/landscape wallpapers of every skins from MLBB app directly. The other official app ML Pocket not updated for long time and now even removed from Google Play Store.
Reply: Thank you for your feedback, we have such plans in the future. Please stay tuned. Feedback:
Voices on several heroes during draft picks that haven't appeared yet. Yuzhong, Benedetta, Atlas, Popol & Kupa, Luo Yi, Khaleed, Barats, Brody, Mathilda
Reply: Thank you for your feedback, we have such plans in the future. Feedback:
I suggest to give entrance animation for jungle monsters so it will not look like a ghost popping up
Reply: Thank you for your feedback. We will continue optimising it. Feedback:
Currently it is very hard to report bug in the Magic Mode because the current system doesnt allow the auto copy of battle id from the history
Reply: Thank you for your feedback. We will consider it. Feedback:
When wanwan has the ulti, can u put like a timer (similar to Miya & Layla's 1st skill when used), like a clock or something in the skill icon, it would be helpful
Reply: Thank you for your suggestion. We will consider it. Feedback:
I watched cinematic animation for the hero Paquito fighting the monster, I hope that the developers can consider these "monster" to be put as the new heroes in MLBB. Currently there are too many heroes with the species of "human", so i hope that I can play this monster in the battlefield. I also thought that the design is so good, I feel like it's wasted if these monster can't become one of the next playable heroes in MLBB.
Reply: Thank you for your suggestion. We will consider it. Feedback:
I feel disappointed that currently there are nothing gained but only an animation once you've leveled up (account level). In other MOBA games for example, they get free permanent hero for every level up. I hope that every time we level up (account level), the developer can add new present or reward that can make the player fired up to raise their own account level.
Reply: Thank you for your feedback. We will consider it. Feedback:
For my beloved admin, please do add MLBB Community Hero for Indonesian player, not only PH player, because Indonesia also considered had many player base. Looking at PH, there are already event happening on each of their Cities. When will Indonesia also get their own Community Hero event... I think it's also well profit for MLBB if there are event for every cities in Indonesia, so they can persuade their friend to play MLBB again. I feel sad because currently my friend stopped playing MLBB and instead playing LoL Mobile or another FPS game.
Reply: Thank you for your feedback. We will consider it. Feedback:
May I suggest that there be a feature wherein a player can preselecet their preffered role before even matchmaking begins, then when they already pick their role like tank for example, they will be matched with non tank teammates or teammates who are looking for teammates with specific roles so everybody gets to choose their preferred roles. In this way, there will be no arguments between teammates because they will agree to play a certain role where they're comfortable with.
Reply: We will continue optimising the matchmaking system and strive to provide the most fair matchmaking within the shortest time possible. We appreciate your suggestion and will consider it. Feedback:
Please do nerf Hanabi again, It's hard to get pass through Hanabi's shield at late game. It feels like we are doing no damage to her.
Reply: Thank you for your suggestion. We will observe Hanabi's performance after the update before considering any other adjustments. Feedback:
May I suggest new hero like johnson kit.that can carry his Allie around the map .can be johnson main enemy.i think it's more fun if there's hero like that on ranked game
Reply: Thank you for your feedback. In order to maintain the uniqueness of each hero, we will not add in new heroes with similar skillsets. We suggest to experiment with other heroes such as Aldous and Mathilda that requires cooperation between teammates. This can further increase the enjoyment of the game. Feedback:
This is the greatest suggestions over million player complain this issue but never answered: Did you see the kill notification? Is that too big? For us yes it can hide the enemy above the screen it's just super annoying. I suggest to make it smaller or we can adjust it what size the notification or move we can move the kill notification to specific places. That's all we needed and We Will wait for it.
Reply: Thank you for your feedback, we will optimise this in patch 3.0. Please stay tuned. Feedback:
I want to train my hero with my friend in Training mode with items and levels, but in Training mode we can only play with computer. I can do 1 vs 1 with friend in Custom Classic mode and we can't edit our level and gold. I suggest that we can do Training Mode with friend.
Especially with the pandemic going on and finding difficulties to see your loved one, we try our best to keep the spark alive. And I see some people asking for what things you could do with your partner when you spend time together. I wanted to make this list and I hope it could be helpful to some. There are just some of the things I've done with my partner plus some ideas that we've yet to try but others could. • Watching a movie or YouTube together (Teleparty, Discord screenshare, Watch2gether) • Listening to music together (Spotify, Discord server VC) • Reading each other stories and poems • Singing to each other or togethekaraoke (Smule, Discord server VC where you could add a bot for music and lyrics) • Playing games together (Stardew Valley and Minecraft, to name a few) You can try out other games if you have other consoles • Playing board games (Tabletop Simulator, Catan, Othello, Chess, Scrabble, Monopoly) • Other games: Battleship (Browser game), Cards Against Humanity and Skribbl.io(Can play with your partner and friends), Tetris, Facebook Games(Uno!, Dominoes, Draw Something, Word Blitz), Secret Hitler, Plato(mobile), QuizUp(mobile) • Virtual museum tour • Tour around your place using Google Maps and Street View • Writing letters to each other • Drawing each othetogether (There are sites where you can draw on the same board) • Parsec (Allows remote gaming where you can control your partner's PC and vice versa. I tried this with my partner when we played Sims 4) • Have a shared journal (I used Between. If you upload pictures or make new posts, your partner will be notified. It's like social media, but just shared between the both of you) • Making a crossword puzzle for the other to solve (When I made one for my partner) • Dancing/doing exercises together over FaceTime • Sleep call • Make quizzes for each other to take about yourself (Facebook has this app called "Know Your Friends". You could make a quiz about you and share it to your partner for them to take) • Study session over call (If both of you are busy with homework, you could be in the same call and share screen. Your partner can help keep you accountable. You could also listen to the same music together.) • Learn a language together (See who progresses more quickly over Duolingo) • Learn an instrument together (If both you have the same instrument with you, you can progress together or have the other who knows to help you out) • Try using Snap Camera for when you call over PC/laptop. There's some fun filters you could try out. Facebook Messenger also has games for when you video call. • Cook the same dinner together and FaceTime. • Take your partner out on a tour of your neighbourhood or school while you FaceTime them. • Make TikToks/duets together. • Make a Pinterest board where both of you could collab. Be it, pins of your dream house, clothes you would like for your partner to try, etc. • Share a YouTube playlist where both of you could add songs. • Dress up for each other over FaceTime • Ask each other questions (You could look up "Questions to ask your boyfriend/girlfriend or check out some books such as "401 Questions for Couples in Long Distance" and "The Complete Book of Questions: 1001 Conversation Starters for Any Occasion") • Go online shopping together (I did this with my partner when I was consulting him which shades for lipstick he wants to see me wear) • Play texting games (Some good ones here) If there are some more that I haven't included, suggestions would be appreciated! If anyone needs the link for the websites/games/apps I've mentioned, feel free to leave a comment.
Finding Moments Thoughts #2 - Connecting to your children
Finding-moments.com/resources LENELL Recently I have noticed that my teenage daughter has developed a ninja-like skill where I turn around and she is no longer in the room. Typically, she is found in her bedroom texting a friend, reading a book, or drawing. The activities are not concerning except they don’t include me! Now I find myself trying to figure out how to draw out our exchanges to keep her engaged with me. My jokes aren’t funny anymore, my concern is now perceived as annoying, and I’m often accused of poking her when I just am trying to reach out for affection. Rationally I know it is part of being a teenager and I know I am officially in the same boat with other parents of teenagers – exiled to the little life raft and not allowed in on the fun and games happening on the cruise ship. My daughter and I have always been close, and it is something I really value as a parent. It gives me security to know she will come to me and talk to me if she needs support. More than anything, I don’t want to lose that connection. So, what does being connected to your children mean? There is the togetherness of being in the same room watching a show, there is the togetherness you experience playing a board game, then there are those moments of meaningful conversation. Teenagers value their privacy so it is easy for general parent enquiries to be misinterpreted as opening interrogation techniques. You may get the one word response that seems to be a teen’s foolproof way to terminate any discourse. This past week there was a heavier homework load, and I realized a simple routine event was missing. Normally we cook dinner together. It allows us to be engaged in an activity where we both rely on each other to achieve an end goal. I know its only dinner, but it’s true! We have to communicate and work together. In between we joke around, make comments about our day, sometimes listen to a podcast, and discuss our viewpoints. It’s a sustained interaction and she doesn’t feel she is under the spotlight because we have a shared activity we are focused on. Even better, we all have to eat so it’s not like I suggested, “Let’s play a card game!” which may or may not elicit eye rolls or rejection. I know it is going to be different as she grows up. She is going to want to share experiences with her friends and I won’t always get to do everything with her. I can have a consistent connection by making the most out of our daily routines and being actively present. Next up, French toast for breakfast! TRISHA I think we have the exact opposite situation with our 7 year old … He’s ALWAYS THERE! Different stages of a kid’s life bring different challenges, that’s for sure. And different aspects of that stage tend to drive you crazy! He’s first up every morning, and even though he doesn’t have an alarm clock, he pops into our room the instant we sit up. (I mean, the same instant…it’s almost like he’s watching us! Through two walls!) He rarely spends any time in any room by himself, and makes “the sad face” if we ever have meetings or phone calls we have to take while he’s home and awake. This past year has certainly brought a new dynamic to the schedule. Our school district has flipped back and forth between in-person and online learning, and that’s been a huge challenge for him. Right now, he’s back in the building 4 days a week and it makes all the difference for him, AND us. Just that slight bit of separation give us parents just enough breathing room to gear up for the next round. He’s always been an “intense” kid, needing and demanding a lot of attention from everyone in the family. Which isn’t a bad thing, by any means, just overwhelming sometimes. I still sometimes feel that “don’t touch me!” feeling that permeates the baby and toddler years! Eventually, I’m sure we’ll reach LenEll’s perspective, and it will be even more profound with our last child. Our oldest will be off to college when this guy is only in eighth grade, and that will be an adjustment for all of us. I’m sure I’ll miss the time spent on the reading log minutes and the school project of the moment (this week it’s the Valentine’s cards and mailbox). I don’t know that I’ll ever miss a 6:30 am wake up/welcome, but the seven year old hugs are the best. We’ll have to make sure we actively pursue time together as he gets older. CHAD Our 12 year old has a couple of really great friends. There isn’t a day that he wouldn’t rather spend his free time hanging on the deck (masked and distanced) with them instead of us. That’s ok. There is more flexibility needed now more than ever. The challenge is time management on his part, and seeing him find every way imaginable to zone out of our real world for a virtual one. Air pods, iPad, video games are preferred to living in the reality zone of our family room. As a dad, I try to pick my moments. One is chess. He won the other night for the first time! The game is a rite of passage - it is a game I enjoyed playing with my dad growing up. Another moment is throwing the football, or playing a game of hoops to 11. Emerging skills, but it’s relaxing, non-screen time and allows for very real conversations. When exerting physical energy, neither of us have time to really pause and think, we just simply talk and listen. While I favor pulling him away from a screen at any opportunity, especially in a virtual learning world, I also try to find the moments that meet his interests. Movies, bike rides, and yes … playing video games (so rough 😉) I am pretty tough on him. He has his chores, homework to do, and he has to set aside time to spend with his little brother. I sat down to help him set a schedule in his calendar app. It was a bit of a moment for him when he saw his commitments laid out hour by hour on a 7 day view. I was surprised at how well he adopted the idea and all of a sudden, his stress level went down. The garbage was taken out without asking. His trumpet has made an appearance for practice. I see him working out 3-4 days a week for 15 minutes on his own. He is starting to develop an awareness of the need to balance his time. Since I was shocked at how scheduled he was already, we agreed that he needed time to play chess with Dad and to have quiet, non-screen time; so his bedtime pushed back by an hour to give him some breathing room. There is no playbook right now. I firmly believe that quantity time does not mean quality. I try to go for the simple moments that we both will remember and to make sure to stay engaged as best I can with where he is at.
best chess game app to play with friends online video
Play chess online with your friends or play the computer. In this area, you can play online chess easily and free of charge as a guest. Set up a new game with your own mode and challenge other players to a game, or accept a match offer from the available list. On our website, you can play the classic board game of chess against the computer, friends or any other random opponent. If you choose Chess by Mastersoft Chess is a free app for iOS whose engine got a 4th place in the Microcomputer Chess Championship. Play with a kind-of chess coach and try to defeat the CPU, either you're a beginner or an advanced player. Play chess with a friend. Do you want to play chess with your roommate, or a friend from another country? You can! Choose time control, your colour and game type, send game link to your friend via email, social network or your favourite instant messenger and enjoy playing chess together! Download Chess Clock (Android | iOS) 4) WiFi Chess WiFi Chess will allow you to play chess with your friend without internet. If you need a simple chess app to play with your friend, then it will be best. You also have the option to play chess online with your friends, which is incredible. Also read: Why this is my preferred online chess game! 2. Play Magnus This is Magnus’ official chess app, and it is also amazing. Beginners and seasoned chess players will not get bored and won’t get frustrated with the user interface, although there will be ads that will show up from time to time The 10 best places to play chess online. There's no better way to improve at chess than to play lots and lots of games. Unfortunately, we don't have an online play feature here at Chess Strategy Online, but there are plenty of servers out there where you can find opponents of all levels, day and night. 9. Real Chess. Probably the best looking Chess game in our list. Real Chess offers high-end 3d graphics and fantastic gameplay. You can play against players online and chat with them. There are over one million users registered with the app. The game offers beautiful graphics and you can choose between 2D and 3D Chess boards. You get the option to play against an AI with 2400 different levels of difficulty. This mobile app version lets you recreate the game online in several different ways. You can either play solo against the computer or online with friends located in other places. There’s even an Play live chess for free in seconds! Challenge a friend online or find a random opponent with one simple click! No registration or additional download is required! We've selected the five best chess apps from Chess.com and partners for your everyday chess needs: improving your tactics, learning critical concepts, analyzing games, playing against the computer and other players, and more. #1 Chess.com. #2 ChessKid. #3 Chess Clock. #4 Dr. Wolf.
best chess game app to play with friends online top
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