Wartune's Dark Dragon Lair Lag dilemna

Wartune has a weekly multi-player dungeon called "Dark Dragon Lair."  In it, there are 20 stages total in which each stage has one boss to defeat.  When you defeat it, all players rolls a die to determine how much rewards you get for that stage.  Then you have 30 seconds to collect rewards and this process repeats for the remainder of the stages.   There is a time limit in DDL which you have 20 minutes to complete assuming you are strong enough to do so. 

Sounds competitive, don't it?  Actually not really.  Many players have slow computers.  Since the clock in DDL never stops, it doesn't take into account how long your game needs to load for the next boss, going into the boss battle, and how long it takes players to leave the boss and get to the die screen. 

As characters become stronger, it is becoming easier and easier to clear all 20 stages in DDL.  I remember about three years ago when it first came out, most players could only clear 4-5 stages.  Then as the game kept adding new junk which increase players' strength, players were able to clear more stages.  Now it's to the point where most active players can clear all stages... assuming you have a fast computer because of how long it takes people to get out of battle and roll the die.

The game gives you 30 seconds to roll the die and another 30 seconds to collect loot.  Since the dungeon has 20 minute time limit, if it takes your team 30 seconds to roll the die, there is no hope in beating it  20 stages, 30 seconds to collect (that's 10 minutes) and if you let the time run out to roll the die, that's another 10 minutes.  In fact, you are at risk of not clearing all stages if one player takes 10 seconds or more to roll the die. 

I normally don't like to offer strategy on wartune, but in this situation, I will.  First, if you have been, stop spending money on this game.  Tell the game that you refuse to spend any more until they either stop the clock during the die rolling section OR they remove the time limit on DDL.  Second, upgrade your computer.  If it is taking you longer than 5 seconds from the time the enemy is defeated and to roll the die screen, you need to upgrade your computer.  Third, create another character.  It probably will take you a month or two to get your alt strong enough to activate DDL.  Fourth, you should find one more player to run DDL and see if your two (with your alt) can beat DDL w/o other players.  This will speed up the time it takes to roll the die and give you more time for the later stages. Last, you do need about 750,000 + attack in order to clear all 20 stages, unless you get help from other players that can roll the die quickly.

It's sad that in order to succeed in games like wartune, you need to find players that have fast computers, not the strongest ones, which is likely to be more difficult as wartune does not have a feature where you can check the ping of other players.  Wartune has 2.5D graphics so it shouldn't strain your computer resources like other games such as World of Warcraft.   What incentive are you giving games like wartune if you keep rewarding them by spending money when they refuse to address these kinds of problems?   

Paying a striper vs paying free to play games? Are there any differences?

I wonder how many people fall for an attractive"exotic dancer" at an exotic place such as a strip bar?  It's free to watch them perform their dance routine wherever it may be, assuming you didn't have to pay a cover charge to get in.  You can typically upgrade to a "private" showing simply by paying a certain amount of money.  How is this any different than playing a "free to play" game?



Well, there are a lot more similarities than not.  I never been to a strip joint so I am basing my analogy on what I have seen on TV:

Cover charge/VIP lounge
Some places my guess on peak nights charge a fee just to enter the door.  Perhaps other places just charges a fee to be in a specific area or for parking.  On wartune, you can purchase VIP which eliminates cool-down time, bonus exp, and receive some in-game items that you wouldn't get otherwise (perhaps some discounts at the bar if you have a VIP Package).  Perhaps VIP people may have exclusive access to areas where non-payers don't or maybe a free private showing by a stripper of your choice!

 Food/Drink
Most strip joints I would assume you can buy food and drinks which costs money.  You can always spend your money eating or drinking prior to coming into the bar so you don't end up paying for them in the bar. In games like wartune, you can always buy items using real cash to become stronger, or deal with trying to get in-game items with out spending. 

Happy hour
Want more value for your buck?  Buy drinks during events like "happy hour" to get discounted items.  Wartune almost always have recharge events where you get in-game items when you recharge your account with a certain amount.

Private Rooms
Watching strippers perform on stage is usually free, or at a minimum you need to pay a cover charge.  If you really want to have a private showing with a stripper, you can always upgrade to a private room.  Games like wartune have events where you spend a certain amount of in-game currency you get in-game items.  More you spend, the better the rewards. 

Seeking same stripper
If you fall for a stripper, the stripper will use you for cash until you run out. Then they will simply
ignore you and find another client's money.   Similarly like wartune, if you want to remain one of the top players, you must keep spending.  Wartune
will always continue to add new items to get you spending. 

Closing down
If a strip joint loses clients to the point they are not profitable, they will shut down.  Same with free to play games.  You need people to keep pumping in money otherwise they will shut down.  In both cases, you will never be able to access their services and will need to move on to either a different strip joint or a different game.  Remember that there is always a 100% chance that the game you are playing will shut down.


I hope I changed your perspective on paying into a free to play game.  Perhaps I convinced you enough that there really isn't much difference in going to a strip joint vs free to play game.  Does anyone have any other comparisons?

Revisiting r2's Terms of Use

Recently, I noticed r2 updated their terms of use.  It has changed completely.  The biggest hang-up I had with all r2 games is at one point, it was illegal to share your password with other players (and they never enforced it).  On the December 30, 2015 Terms of Use update, it states the following:

"At the time of account creation, you will be required to set a password. Your password should be treated with care and should be kept confidential."

It looks like that you are NOW allowed to share your password with other players. Prior to this update, you were not.  The terms of service in one of my earlier post said the following:

"You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password and are responsible for any harm resulting from your disclosure, or authorization of the disclosure of your password or from any person's use of your password to gain access to your account or account name. At no time should you respond to an online request for a password other than in connection with the log-on process to the Services. Should it be determined that you did reveal your password to any third parties, R2Games reserves the right to disable the account."

I checked r2's Q & A section and this quote still remains:

"Someone is piloting another player's account. Piloting is definitely not encouraged and is against our Terms of Service."

I am confused, is it ok or not ok to pilot accounts? The term "third party" is confusing because I am not sure how to interpret it.  Does it mean third party as someone outside your IP address?  An advisor?  Since r2 claims it is against their Terms of Service, can they really enforce it because in December 30, 2015 update, you should not share your password? 


If you are seriously considering playing any Multi-player games, you need to check up on the gaming sites Term of Use.   You need to figure out what your hang-ups and what you are willing to put up with.  Consult a lawyer if you are planning on spending money on it before doing it. You need to know if you can seek "damages" if the gaming company fails to enforce Terms of Service to the fullest extent.  I know some people will  say "it's just a game."  I will argue that it is NOT just a game if you are investing your money on it. 

As for any r2 games, if you had a hang up with people piloting accounts, find a different gaming company.  If you don't mind it or are planning on doing it, play their games. 

More screw-ups

Every time I play wartune, I keep becoming more cynical.  Some examples are:

* Getting matched with a heavy casher in player vs player events.

* Heavy cashers in my guild who share heir accounts with others which is against wartune's TOU. 

* In Tower of Kinds nightmare, there is a narcissistic casher who will purposely park a "sylph" that can heal and cast shields making it very difficult to find people to beat it. (And the heavy cashers who share their accounts won't help me in my mp runs although I haven't asked them to help) 

* They keep nerfing their consumption events making it worse by giving less items.

*Dev's lack of communications about numerous in-game settings

Then people complain when the developers screw up:

I should have snapped some screenshots of some comments that were made regarding this error as usual, people who spend money on the game complain about it.  I give some credit for r2 already making an announcement about the error but I don't believe one bit that the developers are "working hard to fix the issues."  They never work hard, except for ignoring players (unless you spend $2000 per week, then maybe they will listen).  It took them over 24 hours to "compensate" people. It should have been fixed or resolved in 1-2 hours if they claim they are "working hard."   Boy, I sure wish I have gotten into the "free to play" game business since there are many people out there that would rather be the strongest player than demand quality & customer service! 

I wonder if cashers would go to the same store again if they bought spoiled food?  How about a restaurant that doesn't know how to cook a steak?  I am sure that if these place listed their "top" customers and post it all over the store, I bet the cashers would still spend! 

Wartune maintenance observation 2/25/2016

As suspected, it only takes three weeks before r2/proficient city goes back to their old ways and believes that their players only are entitled to a five hour notice before the "weekly maintenance." 


I sure hope that since cashers are not bothered by this that they are only given a "five" hour notice if they need to do an activity in their real life (perhaps a five hour notice that they need to be at their part-time job?) .

Any game sites that host "League of Angels" deserves to be boycotted

On my facebook wall this morning, I saw the following post for a game:

 

I decide to do a websearch of "felspire" just to check the type of games they host.  I find out that they are run by 37Games.  Checking to see what games they host, I found league of angels. 

Apparently 37Games supports rotten customer service.  Why?  R2 hosts wartune.  I have done numerous entries on how awful their customer service is to wartune. R2 also hosts league of angels.  Thus any other gaming site that hosts league of angels likes to scam players by allowing players to brazenly violate their terms of service because R2 hosts wartune.  Kongergate and kabam are other sites that deserve to be boycotted because they also support ripping off their paying customers.   

If 37Games wants to save their reputation, I recommend that they drop all of their games that R2, kongergate, and kabam hosts for starters unless of course they have plans on ripping off their customers or ignoring them, such as League of Angels. 500,000 players in my opinion are probably getting scammed playing felspire. 




 

Wartune ranks people with who pays the most, not skills

I have a question to wartune developers..... why does battle rating trump skills in your monthly events such as "class wars" or "clash of the titan?"  Better yet, why does your battle ranking only count for your placement of finals in these events instead of your preliminaries rank? 

Oh, I know why.  It's to reward people who spend copious amounts of money on your stupid game in which you rip them off and scam people; not people with skills.  You don't care nor respect any cashers which is the main reason why I started this blog.  You only listen to people who foolishly spend over $2000 a month.

With this kind of behavior, if you want to be one of the top players in these kind of event, you need to spend thousands of dollars per month because skills don't matter...only your battle rating.  Otherwise, don't even bother spending a dime.  Even if you are a strategic casher; your skills won't mater.  As long as you place in the top 100 preliminaries ranking, your battle rating will trump your rank.  So, if someone with a high battle rating loses more rounds than someone with a lower battle rating, and they both make the finals, the person with the high battle rating will have a better ranking than the player with the lower battle rating. 

Also, the finals is split between two halls.  One for the top 16, and the other for 17-100. 

As you can see, this ranking system is quite unfair to the people who are near rank 16 and are skillfull players.  Even if their preliminary ranking is greater than 16 but they have a lower battle rating, they wouldn't be able to participate in the warlord's hall. 

This is yet another reason to consider before spending money on a game that is "free to play" game... figure out how ranking is determined in competitive events because like wartune, they may rank people by how much money they spend, NOT skills.