And I think therein lies the fundamental problem that's got people so up-in-arms about this whole thing: if you want a snowball's chance in hell of being successful in this game, the only way to do it is to dump hundreds of dollars into it.
Or camp in any age and then get an arc. Seriously, this game doesn't require money to become successful. If you want to progress much faster, then maybe some diamonds could do the trick, but if you play slow and steady, you'll win. Unless if you really care about being #1 in a world, then money doesn't matter. Heck, one player on this forum got #3 in his world just by camping in HMA and being one of the first to get an arc to level 80
You want watchfires/ritual flames? You want a complete blueprint set for GBs in a reasonable time frame?
Most players just accumulate a bunch of watchfires from playing the game for a long time, not because they blew a bunch of diamonds. Ritual flames can be acquired through GE. BPs aren't even that hard. Heck, on Cirgard, I started a city there and in less than 48 hours, without spending any money, I got a Lighthouse of Alexandria. (Guild hop and take trades is my advice). Don't just blame non-spending players who understand the underlying mechanics of the game as diamond users.
You have to spend your actual money to the point of possibly putting yourself in a tight spot financially.
Nope, you don't. Unless if you want to cruise through being #1 in a new world, that is never the case.
My biggest issue with this game--and I suspect this aligns with surferbum's issue--is not the attacking/plundering. Because really, plundering happens so sporadically that it doesn't legitimately affect people.
Alright, some resemblance of a nugget of reason in this long-winded rant that fails to align with reality.
My biggest issue is that I'm always in a neighborhood with people who are practically invincible due to spending untold hundreds of dollars, and I get farmed along with those of us who are on par with our own advancement but don't have that kind of money.
Maybe it's because you don't Heavy Quest, have an adequate friends list, or not have strong GBs that you should have built up instead of racing through the tech tree. Seriously, slow down and build up your GBs and don't touch the research tree for now. As I've heard from the fighters on the forum, nearly every defense can be cracked if you know how to play good.
This is just a game, but the developers allow people to dump limitless amounts of money into it like they're investing in stock. The standard has shifted so drastically that those of us who play normally are being targeted by these players and blamed for "not collecting on time," "not playing right," "not understanding the game," or something equally stupid.
What? WHAT? W H A T ? So you are saying that players who don't know how to play shouldn't be admonished by the community to play better and should be wallowing in some fake victim complex, or coddled by the developers? If you can't accept advice on how to "git gud" then you deserve the consequences for the way you play.
You can understand the game and do everything humanly possible, but still be butt-f***ed on a daily basis due to unregulated pay-to-win.
No you don't. There are specific strategies that you can do to not screw yourself over. I could tell you how to HQ, one of the best anti-plunder game strategies, but I don't know if you want to based on your attitude right now. Based on
@JCera 's comment, you don't even know a lot of the basic concepts on being successful in this game. Sit down and learn. Read the guides. Read this forum. Then you will know a lot more about this game.
It's not our fault, and it honestly shouldn't be our responsibility to treat this game like a job (I saw that mentioned in someone else's comment) just so we can play at all.
Oh my goodness, the victim complex keeps on coming... You're in PME. Find a time that you are on every day (such as just before you go to sleep or something) and set 24-hour productions. You can easily just play 10 minutes a day and be successful. Now, if you can find me a job that only requires me to be there for 10 minutes a day the same time every day, let me know. Us broke university students would love that kind of job.
So Jenny, your comment only applies in one of two situations: you're either attacking, or being attacked by, someone in your immediate point range. I will agree that it can be superior gameplay, but only if both people are evenly matched. Otherwise it's not superior gameplay; it's exploiting the pay-to-win feature.
Except the reason why you aren't evenly matched is because you are not good. Seriously, I read the forums on posts years ago, and this game used to be that Progressive Era and Bronze Age players were in the same hood. Now, it is based on the tech tree, so there is no issue. If you don't get "evenly matched" with somebody, then it's most likely somebody didn't plan on developing their city before researching the next techs. In this case, Big Shocker... it's you.
As a general solution to the problem, I say force the advanced players (the ones with millions of points) into their own neighborhood and make them submit to the game's limitations of fighting on a level field. You know, like the rest of us. If players like surferbum are being attacked by people whose cities are nothing but special event buildings, GBs, and watchfires, then it's not unreasonable for them to be upset about the way the game is structured. As it stands, there is no effective counter-balance to this pay-to-win nonsense, and I think it's something InnoGames needs to address and fix.
Well, you didn't even try to make a proposal on the forums about your idea, so you had no chance of Inno accepting your idea here. Stop cloaking yourself as a victim and start learning how to get better in the forums. There is an effective counter-balance to those higher ranked players right now. It's called slow down on the tech tree and build up your Great Buildings. Camp if you need to. Also, participate in events and GE to get those special buildings.
And one last thing before I slam my head on my desk and laugh myself to death: get rid of that silly self-victimization complex.