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Clash Royale is probably the largest game with the most evil and punishing $$$ plan

S

Salsa

Member
clash-royale-large-930x635.jpg


I was gonna bite eventually and I did

been a couple days now

I'll try to explain for those who don't know about the game

its a multiplayer game, a card game, you need more cards for more units, playing matches drops chests, one chest. chest have cards

you get 4 slots for chests

opening a chest, depending on quality, takes from 3 to 12 to 24 to (more?) hours.

you can only open one chest at a time

you can pay gems to open chests. gems obviously cost real life money

you can go F2P on this game, to a certain competitive point

but here's the thing:

the way the game is set up; there's not much point in playing matches when you don't have slots for more chests

actually, it makes it worse for you to play when you don't have room for chests

why? cause you level up, and get paired up with tougher players, but you didnt get chests so you dont have the better, needed cards

and here's the other kicker: the game is fucking really good

so I cant play this game for fun. It harms my progression

since the chests I get open every 12 hours, I can only play like 2 matches per day

on a game that is really fun, and i'd like to play without consequence

but I fucking cant. It wont let me

you're basically not allowed to have fun

I hate time limiters and gems and all that sort of crap, obviously, but i've never seen it implemented in a while where it just feels this.. evil, and punishing

"hey! look at this game, isnt it fun? well fuck you don't play much or it'll get impossibly hard for you later on"

TL;DR:

- Buy gems to keep playing and advancing at a faster pace
- You can play the game without spending money more than 1 or 2 times a day, but it'll actually harm your progression for later-game. Playing without paying literally makes the game impossibly harder.

you effectively don't get stalled in progression, or go slower at it, the more you like and want to play the game; you get practically blocked.

it's brilliant. I think they perfected this shitty formula
 
I'm sure you can overcome it OP
Trust me I'm playing dragons dogma online (JP version)
I have no shame running out of credits and looking all beat up in front of thousands.
I need more F2P games i my life :)
 
dragonzdogma said:
I'm sure you can overcome it OP
Trust me I'm playing dragons dogma online (JP version)
I have no shame running out of credits and looking all beat up in front of thousands.
I need more F2P games i my life :)
Click to expand...

considering the game is 1 v 1 tho, it's different

you can get matched to players at a higher level than you, with better cards

and that's what happens if you keep playing the game without paying, instead of just stopping

and it's impossible to win

the game punishes you for liking it and wanting to play more


that's what I wanted to focus on here:

it doesnt STOP you from playing a good game, like most

it actually PUNISHES you for playing more of a good game
 
I think we have different definitions of "really fucking good" games. I'd never start playing Clash Royale over Hearthstone anyway.
 
That sounds truly evil..

I wonder how many people got sucked in and in financial trouble with "F"2P games.. (and poor life decision skills)
 
They have a lot of data and they know how to use it. Players are just meat sticks there to be manipulated, same as in Las Vegas. No cool night shows or discount hotels rooms though, so I prefer Vegas.
 
I'm having enough fun when full on chests anyway, you just gotta take those L's (to those damn Princes and Baby Dragons) when you rank up too much.

With the amount of time and fun I've had so far, I'm actually tempted to throw them £10, and in no way could I imagine saying that a week ago.
 
I was talking with a lead at a successful mobile developer the other day. He says Clash Royale is the model f2p game going forward.
 
BocoDragon said:
I was talking with a lead at a successful mobile developer the other day. He says Clash Royale is the model f2p game going forward.
Click to expand...

probably, it's very smart

rather than set a limit to how much you can play, make it harder (but only if they wanna keep playing) going forward so eventually they have no choice other than buy

they're playing the long game
 
BocoDragon said:
I was talking with a lead at a successful mobile developer the other day. He says Clash Royale is the model f2p game going forward.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. It's the way PC f2p went as well.

PC f2p games used to be defined by stamina bars, and now they're defined by progress limits like dailies.

Clash Royale made this work for mobile titles. Engagement monetization is way more fun for the player and very profitable for the developer as well.

I gave a prediction to charlequin that every mobile interview out of GDC would have talk about Clash Royale and it definitely happened.

This game is great btw, and Clash of Clans is unbearable to me.
 
This is the first game like this I've actually spent more than ten minutes playing. I liked it enough that I dropped $20 into it and figured I'd play for however long it lasts. It's been a few weeks, and at this point, I think it'll continue to last me until I'm tired of it. Basically, the majority of the time I just let the chest timers run their course (as I only want to play a couple rounds a couple times a day anyway), and in the case that I want to play a round when I don't have any empty chest slots, I just use gems to unlock one.

Clearly it'd be better without all the f2p nonsense, but the game is truly good enough that it's worth trying to put up with it.
 
The solution is simple. Stop playing games with crappy monetization practices.

There are so many other good games worth spending money on to spend time on games that make you feel like a sucker for playing them.
 
I've been playing for almost a week now, and I think it's a solid F2P model. Sure, it doesn't encourage you to binge on the game, but I don't think that's a bad thing. This is the type of game I don't need to sit and play for hours at a time. I'll check in a couple times per day, play a few matches, unlock some chests, and call it good until the next day.
 
TangoAlphaLima said:
I've been playing for almost a week now, and I think it's a solid F2P model. Sure, it doesn't encourage you to binge on the game, but I don't think that's a bad thing. This is the type of game I don't need to sit and play for hours at a time. I'll check in a couple times per day, play a few matches, unlock some chests, and call it good until the next day.
Click to expand...

there's no "few matches" tho

if you have gold chests, it literally is just one won match every 12 hours

it'd be nice to pick it up and play a few, but it actively prevents you from being able to*

*unless you wanna make the game unfairly harder for you
 
I mean, if you rank up to where you keep getting beat you'll eventually lose enough so you are down where you win again. All spending money in this game does, in effect, is move your average trophy point slightly ahead.

Edit: if the system works you'll even out on trophies until either you improve or your deck improves. This happens whether you put money into the game or not.
 
I've mostly sworn off mobile games - but I've been playing this everyday - a few times a day for two weeks now. I haven't felt the need to spend any money and I have had a ton of fun. But then maybe I don't mind losing, say half the time. So maybe that's the trick.
 
Blergmeister said:
I mean, if you rank up to where you keep getting beat you'll eventually lose enough so you are down where you win again. All spending money in this game does, in effect, is move your average trophy point slightly ahead.
Click to expand...

that's the thing, you won't wanna lose that progress so you're more likely to spend money

leveling up by playing without chest slots, getting to a harder level, and then having to lose on purpose to get back down is stupid

I actually suspect people do it, ive been in a couple matches where people do nothing
 
I play the training matches for when I want to play a couple matches for fun. Dunno if you knew that was an option or not, but I thought I'd mention it.

Generally, I think you have a point. The idea of having a game wanting you to stop playing is just so antithetical to the game design I'm used to it's quite shocking.
 
it's probably my favorite f2p game ever... and I don't mind waiting. I don't have that much time to play these kind of games anyway. I can always play against mates in my clan anyway.
 
I absolutely love playing the game, but I deleted it from my phone because the business model is so egregious. I just can't support it.
 
ST2K said:
The idea of having a game wanting you to stop playing is just so antithetical to the game design I'm used to it's quite shocking.
Click to expand...

yeah! that's precisely it. having a hard time putting it into words

it's not stoping you with one of those fuel timers or whatever. It's actually saying you need to stop, if you wanna advance, or you can keep going, but then you're more likely to get blocked and want to spend money

it's just very odd, and sadly probably the way these games are moving forward
 
SalsaShark said:
there's no "few matches" tho

if you have gold chests, it literally is just one won match every 12 hours

it'd be nice to pick it up and play a few, but it actively prevents you from being able to*

*unless you wanna make the game unfairly harder for you
Click to expand...

I feel like you're playing the waiting game wrong. Save your 8 and 12 hour chests for overnight, and unlock 3 hour silver chests during the day. That way you open up more spots for chests and can get more chests overall. A typical 24 hour cycle should easily be an 8 or 12 hour chest along with four 3 hour chests, if not five. And you just deal with 24 hour chests when you get them.

Also, crown chests require at least 4 matches to unlock, so that's an incentive to play as well, even if you're full on chests.
 
play it until you get tired of it..it does suck that you kinda get sucked into dropping real money..its much better than clash of clans tho, there's a HUGE difference in the people that pay out the a$$ and normal players. i have yet to just get steamrolled by higher players in Royale...i think its a bit more forgiving
 
TangoAlphaLima said:
I feel like you're playing the waiting game wrong. Save your 8 and 12 hour chests for overnight, and unlock 3 hour silver chests during the day. That way you open up more spots for chests and can get more chests overall. A typical 24 hour cycle should easily be an 8 or 12 hour chest along with four 3 hour chests, if not five. And you just deal with 24 hour chests when you get them.

Also, crown chests require at least 4 matches to unlock, so that's an incentive to play as well, even if you're full on chests.
Click to expand...

Yup. OP isn't playing the time management game the right way.
 
Just let yourself go up and down the ranks and you can keep playing. You win some, you lose some. What's the problem?
 
Safs Safs Safs said:
How do you type with just the enter key
Click to expand...

it's either that or have people not read

TangoAlphaLima said:
I feel like you're playing the waiting game wrong. Save your 8 and 12 hour chests for overnight, and unlock 3 hour silver chests during the day. That way you open up more spots for chests and can get more chests overall. A typical 24 hour cycle should easily be an 8 or 12 hour chest along with four 3 hour chests, if not five. And you just deal with 24 hour chests when you get them.

Also, crown chests require at least 4 matches to unlock, so that's an incentive to play as well, even if you're full on chests.
Click to expand...

crown chests don't stop you leveling up tho, but yeah

might be playing the time management game wrong, i'll change that. regardless, the game's model is still the same and that's what I felt was worth discussing
 
Now you get it! You're not supposed to have more than 20 minutes worth of fun per day unless you're paying. These games don't just have microtransactions in them, they're designed around them completely.
 
SalsaShark said:
that's the thing, you won't wanna lose that progress so you're more likely to spend money
Click to expand...

Or you can stop thinking of it as "progress" because you know how the entire system works and just enjoy the game and accept the fact that it's not a 1:1 matchup every time while also feeling good about yourself for outclassing opponents that have more cards than you... or something
 
SalsaShark said:
there's no "few matches" tho

if you have gold chests, it literally is just one won match every 12 hours

it'd be nice to pick it up and play a few, but it actively prevents you from being able to*

*unless you wanna make the game unfairly harder for you
Click to expand...

Not true at all. Gold chests take 8 hours to unlock. And the way chests work you get about 4 silvers before you get a gold. So doing it your way (only opening gold) is impossible because you simply don't get enough gold chests. And even if you did, that'd be 3 times a day you can get a new chest.

Also you didn't mention the crown chest which encourages you to play even when you are full on chests.
 
Yep, it's pretty devious. Fortunately I only really play until my chests are full and then stop, I have way too many other games I can play in the mean time.
 
FirstBlood said:
Or you can stop thinking of it as "progress" because you know how the entire system works and just enjoy the game and accept the fact that it's not a 1:1 matchup every time while also feeling good about yourself for outclassing opponents that have more cards than you... or something
Click to expand...

you can totally play the game by following the timer rules and just do 1 match every 3 or 12 hours

that's what im doing

I just find the model interesting, and somewhat I hadnt seen before. They're not stopping that "progress", they're intending for you to do so by yourself.

hollomat said:
Not true at all. Gold chests take 8 hours to unlock. And the way chests work you get about 4 silvers before you get a gold. So doing it your way (only opening gold) is impossible because you simply don't get enough gold chests. And even if you did, that'd be 3 times a day you can get a new chest.

Also you didn't mention the crown chest which encourages you to play even when you are full on chests.
Click to expand...

the crown chest is probably the game at it's best, and it's implemented as a nice "look at all this numbers and cards" thing to keep you engaged

silver chests suck, sure, but you're right that they let you do a match every 3 hours

I didnt mention this stuff but im not trying to bash the game; like I said the core gameplay is actually good and fun, and im not stopping from playing
 
SalsaShark said:
might be playing the time management game wrong, i'll change that. regardless, the game's model is still the same and that's what I felt was worth discussing
Click to expand...

I don't disagree with you that it's a unique F2P model. But it also makes a lot of sense. They want to encourage people to pay, and a smart way to do that is to make a good game that people enjoy playing, but gate off progress in the game behind the pay wall.
 
SalsaShark said:
that's the thing, you won't wanna lose that progress so you're more likely to spend money

leveling up by playing without chest slots, getting to a harder level, and then having to lose on purpose to get back down is stupid

I actually suspect people do it, ive been in a couple matches where people do nothing
Click to expand...
You don't have to lose on purpose. If you're too high on trophies relative to your deck/skill you'll just lose and drop trophies. And there is an incentive to be higher trophies in that at higher arena levels you get more gold and cards, in addition to a greater variety of cards, than you'll find in chests at lower arenas. The prime example of this is gold chest at arena 4 having 2 guaranteed rares in it, where below there is only 1 guaranteed rare.
 
TangoAlphaLima said:
I don't disagree with you that it's a unique F2P model. But it also makes a lot of sense. They want to encourage people to pay, and a smart way to do that is to make a good game that people enjoy playing, but gate off progress in the game behind the pay wall.
Click to expand...

it's smart for them

it just feels a bit evil in the way that you can play the game more than what it intends you to behind the paywall, but you'll be slowly detracting from your advancement

and it sure tempts you to by being a good game

its like "hey you ran out of fuel for today you can't play for a few hours.... or can you ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)"
 
Salsa that's not how it works.
It makes sense to play even if you don't get chest, because the whole point is to have fun and you get matched by arenas and trophies, not by your profile's level (which nets you more HP and DMG for your towers).

The first week is the toughest, survive that without spending (or just a couple € which seems fair to me considering I play the game for hours each week) and you'll start getting a fairly constant stream of loot.

Joining a clan is mandatory in taking away the most from the f2p aspect. Buy cards from the shop.
Donate, donate and donate. Earn money back and exp. Use those money to buy more cards and level up cards. Open chests. Earn gems and everytime you hit 60 gems (game is fairly generous with gems) exhange those for 1000 coins.
Rinse and repeat.
Don't ever, ever spend gems on anything but coins.

If you play with the mindset of having fun, and not only for loot and don't start chasing the rabbit down the rabbit hole you'll get the most out of the game.
There's many high level players who have decks built on nothing but common cards! Just like MTG, it's even more fun to build strategies around what are perceived to be weak cards. I have 9 different Epic cards and I currently use just one I think.

its like "hey you ran out of fuel for today you can't play for a few hours.... or can you ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)"
Click to expand...

It isn't even remotely like that. Mind you I'm not saying they're doing everything all right like a DOTA or something, but that (thank god) isn't the model they are following (hello Trails Frontier which I've played for 300+ hours).
 
SalsaShark said:
silver chests get shit-tier pretty soon
Click to expand...

What? As someone that has 2000+ trophies and is in Arena 7 silver chests are perfectly fine. Honestly the F2P aspect in this game is not bad at all. I'm a F2P player as are many others. The only time when you are really getting outclassed as a F2P player is if you reach the legendary arena (and good luck with that for a while).
 
Dash Kappei said:
Don't ever, ever spend gems on anything but coins.
Click to expand...

the achievements really fuck you on gems, other than the clan one

I already spent mine on other stuff; and i'll effectively never get enough to anything else now

there probably is a way to "game it" a bit but you gotta follow a fucking guide

I dont think like starting over even if I can with the same google account?

Camp1nCarl said:
What? As someone that has 2000+ trophies and is in Arena 7 silver chests are perfectly fine. Honestly the F2P aspect in this game is not bad at all. I'm a F2P player as are many others. The only time when you are really getting outclassed as a F2P player is if you reach the legendary arena (and good luck with that for a while).
Click to expand...

like in any of these I guess im just having bad luck then
 
Dont play then. Not worth it if the monetization prevents you from having fun. If you actually spend money to speed some shitty timers you will regret it later
 
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