State of the Game: June 2012

==State of the Game: June 2012==
State Of The Game Post - June6/1Epic, PostOn reading, gain buff “Excitement!”
I hope everyone had a great month! May was a very busy time for us here at 5th Planet Games, but June is about to get a whole ton crazier! Without delay (effects) let us jump right into it.
=Council - Sit Down and Discussion=
This is the month we’ve all been waiting for! Now that the Council has officially been chosen (see this thread:http://www.clashofthedragons.com/for...Council-Formed!) the next step will be the actual Council meeting! We’re incredibly excited to sit down with everyone and start discussing many topics into the wee hours of the morning. 
=Clash of the Dragons Anniversary!=
A year ago this month we released Clash of the Dragons. It was an exciting time and a whole lot has changed since the game went live, but we’re just getting started.
I don’t want to give everything away before the big day, but I can tell the community that there will be new PvE content to explore (not Zone 8) and new sales as well. Some of the content will be for aesthetics and other portions will be beneficial for your deck.
We want to make sure the anniversary is something that everyone wants to participate in. We’re really looking forward to celebrating this momentous day with the community!
=Sales Recap - Freemium and Premium Content=
There’s been a fair amount of discussion regarding the level of value for weekly sales. Some packs (Class Packs are a perfect example) are experiments to test the waters for future sale and promotional ideas we may have. We don’t want to repeatedly run the same two or three sales all the time, we’d like to continue providing new and exciting sales with similar levels of value as some of our old reliables (such as Gold and Draft Packs for example).
In the case of Class Packs we wanted to provide something that would benefit your class and hopefully give players (especially newer players) an extra boost to their specific class. After some internal testing and discussion we decided to add some of the previously removed cards to enhance the value of the packs and hopefully make them a better deal for newer players and potentially older players alike. This wasn’t intended to be the only way some of those cards will return, simply one way.
The community has been pivotal in nailing down exactly what’s desirable and what’s underwhelming about certain sales, especially in the case of the Class Packs.
That said there have also been concerns with the amount of premium sales and a lack of sales/promotions for free players. We’re paying close attention to this feedback and have plans to help address this concern.
Going forward the community can expect to start seeing more sales and specials on non-premium items. Rare packs will make a triumphant return to start, and we have other specials that should prove valuable for the entirety of our playerbase but will be aimed for free players. 
=Player vs Player Concerns - Balances and Tweaks=
One of the major concerns that we’ve heard repeatedly from the community is how difficult it is to rise to the highest ranks within the Duel system. When we originally brought the Duel system out we wanted to make sure we had something competitive and engaging for our PvP community to really get behind and work towards, and while we’ve accomplished this goal to a degree we’re not completely satisfied with where the Duel system is at the moment. 
The first thing we’ll end up tackling is going to be the amount of points lost. As it stands right now it’s very easy to lose your points and start dropping very quickly. While we certainly want there to be some risk involved with losing in a Duel, we understand and acknowledge that the level of loss is far too great in its current form. For the future there will be changes to the amount of points lost that will make climbing the ranks a bit easier while still capturing that feeling of accomplishment.
Another concern is the quality of rewards that players are able to acquire within the Duel system, and this is something that will take us a bit more time to truly iron out. But it’s important to know that this is something we’re definitely looking at. 
The final destination on our PvP discussion is in regards to card balance and the meta game of Clash as it stands right now. This actually comes back to a very hot topic we’ve touched on before: Torment. While not the only card that is concerning our players it is definitely the biggest.
We’ve been a bit silent regarding the balances of Torment but I’d like to reassure the community that this is something we have discussed at length internally and have already tested out several possible solutions, however we don’t change a card without taking serious consideration as to the ramifications of said changes and we want to be sure that it is something positive that will create harmony within PvP but not cause discord within PvE.
This is something that we really want to discuss with the Clash Council before making a final decision. We want to be sure that all corners of the community are getting their say as we delve into this topic and find a happy place for this card as well as other cards. 
As soon as we have additional details regarding this topic we’ll make sure to release them to the community. 
=Zone 7 Difficulty=
When Zone 7 was designed we wanted to try a few things. The first major difference with Zone 7 was that not every boss unlocked a new Brawl, even though there are four bosses in Zone 7 you may only unlock two Brawls. This was a design change we wanted to try on and see how it fit, and frankly we felt like it shrunk in the wash. While an interesting concept it’s not likely something we’ll revisit as it didn’t feel very rewarding to defeat a boss and not unlock a new Brawl.
Something that felt very right for the zone was the optional, Nightmare only boss Cicero (the Lich). We really enjoy having players explore and find interesting things that may be hidden, and will likely explore more options for similar bonus content. 
Another thing we experimented with was the overall difficulty of the Zone, both in terms of farming for drops and enemy difficulty. We felt as though Zone 5 and Zone 6 were tweaked fairly well in terms of enemy difficulty, but we wanted to revert to an easier, more forgiving Zone to give players a break in between the challenges they faced from Zones 5 and 6.
That said we’ve observed a great deal of feedback regarding Zone 7 and understand that we have likely placed the challenge rating a tad too low. This won’t be an issue going forward with Zone 8 and other future Zones though we are unlikely to revisit Zone 7’s overall difficulty any time soon if at all. 
=Older Zones - An Overview=
Certain older Zones suffer from a couple of hindrances to their overall experience. The first concern is that older Zones don’t actually have enemies with Attributes (Strength, Agility, Intelligence and Wisdom) so certain cards (such as Aspire) don’t always work properly. This is something we’re definitely going to revisit and tune accordingly. We want to make sure players are receiving exciting cards that they may weave into their deck right away, as opposed to waiting for three or so Zones until their card interacts accordingly.
Another concern that mostly focuses on Zones 4, 5 and 6 are drop rates for different cards and other desirable items. Zone 4 saw several drop rate increases awhile back, and we’ve closely monitored the feedback from that Zone and have also tested it internally. At this stage we feel Zone 4 is in a good place for its drop rates and are unlikely to tweak them again. Not impossible mind you; just unlikely.
Zone 5 has a few rather frustrating drops, most of which are from Erakka-Sak. This is something we’re definitely going to revisit in the future, though I cannot say with certainty how we may tweak these drops or their distribution. 
Zone 6 has had a lot of concerns regarding its drops, particularly regarding the Magma Sword. This is a very powerful PvE item that we want to be fairly difficult to acquire, however we understand and acknowledge that it’s currently not striking a very good balance between being enjoyable and exciting to farm for versus being very frustrating to acquire. Zone 6 will definitely be revisited in terms of drops and distribution though I don’t have a time frame for this at the moment.
As always please continue sharing your feedback with us so we may continue to improve both current and future Zones. 
=Clan Brawls - Where’s The Terror From The Depths?=
There’s been a lot of excitement regarding the Terror From The Depths Brawls and when we plan to introduce the next two installments. 
Currently we are cooking up some very new and very exciting changes for the future of Clans, things that will provide better value and much more exciting rewards. The only downside to this is that new Clan Brawls have been delayed as a result. 
These crafty monsters from the depths of the ocean will still arrive to terrorize your clan, rest assured! 
That’s all for this month! Expect a full recap of the Clash Council meeting once it has concluded and be on the lookout for another State of the Game post next month.
And as always...Stay Beautiful, Clash Community! 
Category:State of the Game