A final observation. What's with all the profanity and personal attacks and invective against Inno, support staff and other players. Do you think it does anything to improve the game in any way? That it helps you persuade anyone at Inno? I don't need to put my mod hat back on before leaving this post to answer those last two questions for you. You should know the answer. It does not.
As myself I am going to answer those questions. I am pretty sure others will probably explain themselves as well as I won't speak for them.
Let's back up a bit, shall we? When this travesty came up and was announced, a feedback thread was created. I went to try it out, like any other player would. Found a few quirks within. Voiced them in my beginning posts.
However, during the time for testing, I also noticed the PVP towers (hell, I was under the impression that Inno made a tower that I can click on for easier access so I can see how well I am doing instead of having to click on my town hall and then trying to pull it up from there; I try to time all my collections at the same time so I am a bit OCD) were gone, the scoring for battles were gone, among other things that was like someone threw a monkey wrench into an already functioning machine.
In those first weeks, I, among other players, had asked what happened to the towers along with suggesting some noticeable things that would make the feature accepted. Instead, I've been left in the dark with just some changes:
Increased Rewards: Whoop-dee-doo. So you went from 150 medals at rank 1001-3000 to just 194 medals. At PME, it's a penny compared to the 240k I needed to get another expansion; I can't even use that amount to barter for an attempt to do GE if I wanted to. Not even those at Iron Age would be able to get some good expansions that they have to farm for weeks in order to get 1. In events, if I landed on them, I would get 4k to 18k (max). I would think a good amount would be around 3k to 10k for even reaching that high up for the week. Then it comes to unit rewards. One measly unit for the effort I put forth in participating and engaging? Inno's lucky I got a 'traz that I can get fresh units to make up for the loss. However, I felt really sorry for those who do not have any building or emissary that gives out unattached units daily that they have to hold off fighting because it takes time to recruit new ones ordinarily.
Removed the Diamond Cap on Attempts: This is one we all didn't ask for but seems like it was done anyways.
The only two that I can say were noticeable were the Manual Battles AND the timing of attempts (from 4 hours down to 2 hours).
Since then, I had been left in the dark along with other players wanting answers and we all got the "it's under discussion" shtick. It's the end of the fifth or sixth week now, shouldn't we get something from the developers as to what is going on? As a player, I should have that right. As a spender, that right should have been much closer since I want to know where my money go. You get what I am saying?
Now, to answer that first question, from my own point of view, I use profanity when the lesser, yet nicer, ways didn't get across. If I have something to say, I am going to say it. I am not going to sugar coat it nor brush it off to the side like it didn't happen. I've played countless games in the past and had left some of them all because the developers do not care for the players or what they think and they think they can coax people by placing a price tag around while making things impossible for the average player to accomplish. If I am lobbing torpedoes, it would be directly at Inno for their incompetence. All I had asked for was them to communicate with us on these important matters and instead they run off hiding. Same I can say for the one they have as a liaison. That person only comes when things were getting heated up. Now, does anyone want to wait until that happens or do they get proactive in trying to find out what is the hold up at the same time trying to hold the peace? I lean towards the latter as I was in that seat before (not with this game or developer, but with another).
On your second question, if Inno had not throw this thing about and not removed the towers (the one feature that most of everyone so loved), I am sure I could voice my feedback that is related to the feature. This feedback should have a poll attached to see how many really enjoy it and how many do not with the ability to change their vote once it was to their satisfaction. Isn't that how quality control works? Let me know as it might be different from the times I had done a little QA testing on hardware, software, and firmware in the past.
However, I guess what I am saying is that if Inno had taken our suggestions as well as our criticisms to heart and come forth with some improvements to the player's satisfaction, it would greatly improve the game. We're not just only players that play the beta server. Many of us are ambassadors to our home worlds within the live servers that we play that we spread the news far and wide, especially if something is really good (that's how marketing works). I know I am.
For the third question, I guess if "money talks" (I won't coin in the latter part) is the thing these days, Inno is going to be in for a deep impact should this make it to the live servers in its current form. I would like a game where it's exciting, not boring. Doable under strategy and ability, not impossible due to mismatching and having to have to spend to advance. It wouldn't be fair to someone in IA to be facing someone who is SAAB or SAM (imagine that IA player watching their IA troops get incinerated in one shot before them), or even one of the higher ages from them, now would it? To that IA player, the feature will not be playable, but they cannot get prizes or save up medals (important when grabbing expansions) now that the towers are gone.
Now, to that final question,
it's up to you. I've explained as much as I want to with no regret or remorse. You can take up arms (with Inno) and find out when we are going to get our answers to those questions we had been asking 80 pages back across more than 5 weeks since this happened --OR-- you can do what is placed onto you as a moderator and I won't hold it against you. I will hold it against them (Inno) as it's another tick on a list they've got rolling. I wonder if it will get to a mile long when we are through.
