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Why I am leaving (again)

I loved the original game, Totem Tribe. One of my favorites ever. When I saw there was a second one coming out with a bigger world, I was super excited. I joined right away, to play the alpha test and give feedback. This is that feedback.
I first played maybe a year ago. I don't remember exactly when, but it's been long enough that my mail server no longer has the invite. I really enjoyed discovering the unfolding storyline and building my little town. I liked the science aspect, too. I was frustrated by the extremely slow pace of the game, but it was generally worth it. Then a big alliance decided I was in their way and started attacking me. I couldn't really defend myself, as I was much smaller than them, and spending my resources to do so meant that I could no longer play the parts of the game I was there for. I stopped playing.

Then I replayed the original game, and it was still so good that I decided to give this one another shot.

I started again a month or so ago, and I really enjoyed all the improvements that had been made. I liked the randomly appearing blacksmith or trader types. I was getting to almost the same place in the game as before, plot-wise, and I was excited to see what happened next. I was again frustrated by the slow pace of building stuff, which was somewhat mitigated by the fun Tesla and Garden puzzles. 

I kept getting messages about my science research being too slow. Because I could only build one thing at a time, I could either spend resources on building more resources, which take forever and only give tiny increases, or I could build stuff that would more directly help me in exploring and furthering the plot. I just want the plot, so I went with building an exploring party. I kept getting those messages, though, so I thought I'd build another city where I could concentrate on resources, to get science going. The only good space available for a second city that  wasn't right next to the first was on a border in the direction of another player, but still many spaces away. Their cities were large and established, so there was no way that I would ever compete with them for territory, which was what I wanted. 

Then I got a message from the leader of an alliance, threatening me with how big and powerful they are, and that I had somehow stolen "their" land, which neither of us had yet claimed, and I did not want to claim. They sent several more bullying messages about how big and mean and experienced they were. I told the leader my intentions. I apologized for seeming "aggressive". They ignored me, and sent a huge war party numbering about 2/3 of my total population to kill the new city. So I quit. So far as I know, they've killed the other one, too. In any case, it was clear that, once again, I was going to be a target of a giant alliance.

What I wanted was a larger version of the original game. What has been created keeps many of the terrific aspects of that game, but both times I've played, has been overrun by the PVP aspects, which I don't like or care about at all. Both times, I have been damaged to the point of not being able to play the parts I like by pre-existing alliances which I have zero chance of defending myself against. I believe the game as it stands gives a new player very little chance in succeeding. Not only do these alliances have huge armies which can kill others pretty much at will, but they also start the game being able to support each other in building stuff, so they can progress much faster than any single player would. A single player, even if they wanted to PVP, simply cannot keep up in the current system.

I am sad that I will not be able to play out the plot line, which I am interested and invested in. I recently donated, and I am sad to leave that money behind, too. I wish there was a way to play without worrying that it might all be for naught if an alliance decides they don't like me. If this part of the game changes, I would be very happy to come back, so please keep me in the loop. But I can't spend another month building something just to see my ability to play the game destroyed again. It's not the game I want.

9 years ago Quote
9 years ago Quote

Have you thought of joining an alliance for assistance and possible protection?  Sometimes alliance leaders can work together to resolve what appears, at first glance, to be an unresolvable dispute and at the very least an alliance can give you resources to rebuild and can provide reinforcements if needed.  A good group of relatively experienced players can also provide valuable advice, tips and tricks for defending (or moving your hero as the case may be) which are very helpful in assuring continued viability.

Unfortunately, many of the players here now have been here for several stages or more so have formed friendships and alliances (that carry from stage to stage) which can impact the newer solo player.  This, I think, is a direct consequence of playing during Alpha testing and in a relatively small community.  I don't think you will run into this problem in the final release, but currently as it stands, this testing environment can make it challenging for the small solo player.

My unsolicited advice is not to leave but to make friends and work with others to form or join an alliance and focus on that aspect of the game with the quests etc to fully enjoy all aspects of the game. 

That being said, I'd like to reopen discussion on how to mitigate the time and progress losses for players who find themselves wiped or nearly wiped by larger neighbors. Especially if the wiped player has progressed substantially in research and technology.  Again, I believe the single most frustrating aspect of the PVP element is all the time and research progress lost by the wiped player and the situation might not be so dire if there was a way to mitigate at least the loss of research progress.

Edited 1 minute later by .
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9 years ago Quote

Since I am the alliance leader mentioned, I would like to respond. 

You built 2 spaces away from the border of my member and another new player. You had 2 sides of your domain that did not have another kingdom even close to you, yet you chose to build in a way that would have taken cells from them. And that poor new player, has only a small corner and you were taking even that from him. I would bet that he really appreciates that we took actions to stop YOUR aggressive behavior.

I did not "threaten" you, nor ignore you. In fact, I was chatting with you and explaining what was wrong with the placement of that town, when several members showed up to take down the offending town.

You left the game as soon as you seen them, before their armies even hit. You do not know what damage was done. If you had stayed to see, you would have known that you went under novice protection and even if we had wanted to attack your dwelling, we would not have been able to so.

I would also like to make note of the fact that you had 0 defenses in that town. Not a single level of a palisade or tower. You chose expansion over defense. An expansion that was aggressive to my member and the new player.

I hope that when you play again (the game is too good not to,) that you will learn how to be a good neighbor. River gave you good advice. I hope you take it.

9 years ago Quote
9 years ago Quote

I made a mistake in the placement of that town, as I freely admitted. But that's not my point here. 

The point is that the original game was terrific, but some of the things that have been changed in this version have taken away my ability to play the same way. I liked the town building, puzzle solving, collecting stuff, exploring aspects. I don't want to play a game in a PVP world. A lot of people do, and that's fine. A lot of people apparently like the necessity of joining alliances, and that's fine, too. It's just not what I wanted.

9 years ago Quote
9 years ago Quote

Both River and Mari offered excellent advice and I can only add being a leader of a collective alliance there are many ways to have fun in this game.  If however you want to play by yourself, and forget about defense, only wanting to get a bigger domain then this indeed is not the game for you.

The social aspects of the game are really the best part of the game.

9 years ago Quote
9 years ago Quote

I feel very sad that many players complain about the ply vs ply aspect of the game, without really trying it. I was not comfortable with that at first either, but once I started putting effort into meeting other players and joining a good alliance, I discovered that it really was the best part of the game.

I hope that everyone who players will at least give it chance.  You may very well enjoy it also.

9 years ago Quote
9 years ago Quote