User blog:Kaixax555/Current opinions and thoughts: Trouble at the Old Inn

First of all, to all Chinese players out there, Happy Chinese New Year and hope you have a prosperous year ahead.

Secondly, I have been seeing quite an outrage from many players recently regarding this tower, Trouble at the Old Inn. This includes members in my guild, who have made observations about how this tower is much more difficult than the previous one. Seeing so much talks about it out there, I would like to express my opinion about this, and also the past few events (no profanities or anything though, because there are definitely children reading this and I am not supposed to use profanities during Chinese New Year).

1. How has this tower been playing out for me so far?

So far so good, I am 145th floor at the time of writing, and it has not been 2 full days. Rankings seem good so far. From what I see, may have enough to get Moon Viewing Set today, though I am going to get Raging Rodan first and then see how things go from there.

2. Comparing past towers

I have been through 3 towers throughout my AGG journey. They are Hazy Moon Delight, Ancient Japan's Got Talent and the current one, Trouble at the Old Inn.

For the first tower, I stopped at Sanuki no Miyatsuko because I don't have a sufficiently good deck at that point of time to get Lunar Hare. As for Wandering Ghost, I settled with Bamboo Grove because she looks cute and isn't too expensive. I think I should have gotten Bunny Battler though, for he has an excellent attack to spirit ratio (though Bamboo Grove is not too bad as well, and she is more powerful).

For the second tower, it is the event which I have the best achievement in my entire AGG journey. I am able to reach Nataraja with a day or two to spare, I captured Kinnara as my first 5* wandering ghost, and I even made it into the second half and final rankings, resulting in me obtaining Rio and Ameno Tajikarao, which are both useful cards to me.

For this towers, I have higher expectations with a much stronger deck. However, it seems like things are more difficult and less attractive at the same time as well. Well I have to see how it goes.

Now for the comparisons in great detail. Bear with me while I show some things which might be more obvious to you.

Level 20 From the trend, seems like attack to spirit ratio is decreasing. Faithful hound is the best 3* card when it comes to attack to spirit ratio, but subsequent 3*s that followed did not have that. I have to say, Crane Wife's art is the best though.

Level 50 Cyril is the best card here, with decent ratios and the rare skill of reducing Divina Defense. Meanwhile Hair Dryer is a little disappointing, and the mediocre art does not help it either.

Level 75 I have to say, this is where things become pretty much even. While Loyal Pheasant is the most efficient here, Julien and Sarume are not too shabby either. At the same time, they have higher trigger rates as well. Artwork is pretty much good for all 3 so I feel the daemons at level 75 are okay, and it is good that Zynga didn't make them worse.

Level 100 Momotaro is pretty good, high attack to spirit ratio with higher trigger rates. Dancing Doll is the most powerful among the three but comes with a higher cost. She is an excellent option to have for conquest though. Ping Pong Pete is not too bad either, having better skill than Dancing Doll and efficiency somewhere in between Momotaro and Dancing Doll.

Level 150 Sanuki was an excellent card. The most powerful 4* that free players can get (attack is as good as Kenshin Uesugi), very efficient and skill is decent. Ryukyu is good too, with just slightly lower attack, higher spirit cost but makes up for it with higher trigger rate. Shingen Takeda has apparently taken too much slack heading into the hot springs. Not only has her (or his) efficiency dipped below dancing doll, the skill is also not as attractive. This is one issue that makes the tower less attractive than the previous ones.

Level 200 I love Lunar Hare. Her art is awesome, her attack and spirit ratio is decent. Nataraja doesn't have as nice an art as Lunar Hare, but is slightly more powerful. Emperor Napoleon broke the trend of increasing strength of the 5* cards, for she (or he) has lower attack and defense, and also increased spirit cost. The fact that she (or he) shares the same type and skill as Nataraja does not help either.

Now for further comparison, I will take in another top guardian ghost from Wonderous World of Weaponry, Satellite Cannon and bring her for comparison with Napoleon. On paper, it looks like Napoleon is better than Satellite Cannon. However, Satellite Cannon more than makes up for it with her skill, for Divina reducers are extremely rare in AGG. Therefore there is no excuse for Napoleon to be dumbed down compared to Nataraja.

Other issues

Firstly, the health to exp ratio has increased, which means you need twice as much health to get the same amount of exp. This does not spell good for players who are dependent on level ups to complete the tower. I feel it is to prevent too many lower level players from leveling up too fast and ending up in the crazy 81 battlefield. However, I am not sure whether Zynga is greedy or have not thought this through properly. Halving the exp received does prevent more players from stepping into the brutal battlefield, but at the same time it makes their climb so much harder.

Secondly, the climb is even harder as the number of investigations per level has increased. According to calculations by some people, free players would not be able to reach 200 without usage of items, even playing in zombie mode (which I do not encourage, at all). Seems that apparently, Zynga wants to milk as much money as possible. I feel that is a wrong business model, and again Zynga hasn't thought this through. They have completely forgotten something called "motivation". To many, tower is the easiest event to obtain a 5* and that is true, since most free players are able to get their first 5* from a tower. With their first 5*, they will have the motivation to keep going since they know they are making progress in the game. In the army, a motivated soldier is a good soldier. It is the same here. A motivated player is a good player. With motivation, they will feel inclined to progress in the game, and some would feel more attached to the game and thus spend on the game. I know I sound quite naive here, but I feel that progress in game would motivate more players to spend since they can actually feel they are improving and not get stuck (or in Singapore Army terms, hentak kaki) in the same place.

Thirdly, the drop rate for items has decreased. To me it seems the same, but apparently there are reports out there that says drop rates have fallen. This is not helped by the fact that Raging Rodan now costs 1800 stamps (instead of the usual 1500) and Moon Viewing Set costs 900 (instead of 750 like Hazy Moon Delight). I welcome the increase in item drops from guardian ghosts compared to Hazy Moon Tower, but the great increase in items needed (and with stats that are not particularly amazing) makes the tower just worse.

I can see why many want to boycott this tower. Difficulty has gone up too much and free players see no motivation to go on with the trend of increasing difficulty of events. In Neverending Christmas, Mizunotoni has the same HP but higher defense and attack, making it harder to progress. In Galaxy Wars: Purgatory, Capricorn Fallen has the same HP but higher defense and attack, which makes it difficult to defeat (though drop rate for Pure Capricorn has increased). In Ice Crystal Mirage, the number of completions have gone a new high.

A good game company is a company which earns profits while keeping as many people happy as possible. This means caring for both free players and cash players equally, and keeping the game as balanced as possible. I therefore urge Zynga to rethink their growth strategy and their planning in AGG, for it would be crucial for the future of the game.

Once again, Happy Chinese New Year to all. Play Ayakashi safely and wisely. Don't get sick trying to rush for top daemons, it is not worth sacrificing too much of your health for the game.