Newspaper An Interview with Hydna - Oreus

[Hydna]

Do you have views on this world, the game, other players? Let’s hear them.

If you would like to be interviewed please raise a ticket and send via the support system. Please follow the format below and I will contact you. You do not need to register on the forum to participate.

You can also nominate another player to be interviewed. If you wish to do this say why you want to hear from them and suggest a few questions. I will then contact that player and confirm they are interested.


Raise a ticket as follows:
In game go to settings, scroll down and under Miscellaneous select ‘support’. Click ‘your tickets’ and then ‘Contact us’. Or click here.

Category: Questions
World: Oreus
Subject: Interview: Player Name (insert your own name)
Or Interview: Nominated Player Name (insert the nominee)

Message: As a guide answer some or all of the questions below and/or state what you would like to discuss in your interview. The choice of what you do or don't say is up to you.


How long have you been playing grep?

• What do you enjoy most about the game?
• Why did you join Oreus?
• Which alliance are you in and who are your enemies?
• Longer term who do you think will win here and why?
• Do you read the external forums?
• Do you have any suggestions on how we can improve the game?
• Other – any points you want to raise.

I will then have a chat with you and then reproduce in a format for the forum – we can adapt as we go along.

All entries will be placed in a rolling monthly draw with 3 x 500 gold as the prizes.

The first 2 interviews received - as posted below I am giving 1000 gold to each as a thank you for responding so quickly and taking the time to do this.

--------------------
​

April winners:
Itachi Stormrage
PhoenixF
Kevaugnbailey

 

[Hydna]

Ok I have the first couple of interviews ready. I am not opening this thread to comments but if anyone wishes to respond to anything posted you are welcome to send in your own interview. Discussions do not have to follow any particular subject.

We will also shortly send an ingame announcement about this to open to a wider audience but we are finalising a few details first.

 

[Hydna]

Interview with @Big Papa

Hydna: Hi Big Papa so let’s start with the standard questions. How long have you been playing grep?

Big Papa: Ohh, I was just a kid when I first started this game. I think 11 years. Since RO1 - feb 2009. I still remember this winter.

Hydna: What do you enjoy most about the game?

Big Papa: This is one of the single games that made me invest so much time. It is wonderful. It may look quite simple, but strategically talking, you have infinite numbers of possibilities. I also enjoy this game because I can improve my social skills. I may fail some times, but what I learnt has helped me even in real life.

Hydna: I agree with that. It’s a great way to meet players from all over the world. Can you expand on your views on the RL impact that sounds interesting.

Big Papa: You know grepolis is all about people and teams and team play. You need to stay in contact with your team constantly. Just as though you were in a real business if you want to succeed. You can also try manipulation and power games without any consequences, but I would like to avoid this subject.

This game also improves your tactical skills. You can't win without a strategy, so you always need to think about your next move. With a little practice, after a while, you can predict things. It's true real life is the most complex thing ever known, but you can be good enough to start predicting events in real life. Because real life is all about people, but as I said, grepolis is all about people too.

Hydna: I sometimes think leading an alliance is like a full-time job! I think we learn from everything we do so Grep is no exception to that. The game is about the team. But back to Oreus – why did you choose to play there? Which alliance are you in and who are you guys fighting?

Big Papa: I can't miss a speed 6 world. I want a revolt speed 6, I hope inno will take this into consideration. My alliance is Gorillas In The Mist - and enemies are enemies. Basically everyone. I don't really know. I am not a leader or anything.

Hydna: I will certainly make a note. We have had conquest the last 2 worlds so it makes sense. Do you have any views about who could win Oreus?

Big Papa: BS has a real chance to be fair, but other alliances look decent. Things change fast in speed 6 and I haven’t observed enough to predict anything at this point.

Hydna: True I think it is rather early to make predictions. You seem to have a solid team yourself. Are you a regular reader of the external forums?

Big Papa: Always, I always enjoy drama. It’s an enjoyable read and tastes much better when it comes from externals. There are rules in externals and people need to find ways of saying things without so many insults.

Hydna: That’s certainly a good point. So, do you have any suggestions about how to improve the game?

Big Papa: This game used to be a lot bigger. Maybe advertisements. Maybe a merge with US servers. Maybe a total merge. But some investments could be done here.
What else can I say, kill morale in CQ worlds. That is the worst thing ever. LMD and spam really made a lot of players leave grepolis. Corrupt mods that ban without a reason, just because they were paid should be gone too.

Hydna: Thanks for those suggestions. I am not keen on LMD either.

Spam we are working on. It’s not a simple question but we do hope to improve things with time. Corrupt mods aren’t really a subject for the forum but I will tell you that every mod we have is carefully vetted and if found to be cheating in any way they would be sacked. Inno have no interest in corrupt mods either. Mods never play and mod the same servers.

Thanks for taking the time to do this Big Papa you made some interesting points. On a final note would you like to nominate anyone else for an interview?


Big Papa: Who would I want to nominate? I can tell you a loooong list of players that impressed me. But I hope no one will be insulted if I reduce this list to only three people that I respect the most for their leader qualities. They are: Skuduish, molinillo, Raydium88

See you and thank you.

Hydna :Ok @skuddish @Raydium88 don’t seem to be playing in Oreus but I will message @molinillo and see if she would like to do an interview.

Great job @Big Papa. Thank you again.

 

[Hydna]

Interview with @collect78900

Hydna: Hi collect78900 let’s start with the standard questions. How long have you been playing grep and what do you enjoy most about the game?

collect78900: Started playing 6- 7 years ago around 2013-2015 approx. I came back after a break due to RL issues and I joined Oreus to win it and have a lot of fun along the way. Unfortunately, thanks to inno being greedy it’s ruining this game and loosing players in bulk. It’s no longer a fun game with the amount of gold being used...players who don’t use gold or use very little gold are simply left to die there is no point and no fun.

It’s hard to see and leave a game which I love and have played for a long time but alas all good things come to an end and it might be time to leave Grepolis as well.

Hydna: It would be a shame to leave Grep if you enjoy it. Gold – the problem is that without the payers there would be no game but I know gold makes a difference. The alliances I have been in have a mix of golders and non golders. Activity can make up for some of the difference and you are able to use the exchange to earn gold in new worlds. Some players earn significant amounts doing this. Have you ever traded for gold?

collect78900: Well activity does not make any difference if enemy players can pop 90 Griffs every 8 hrs. I trade minimally on the exchange 'cause when I join a world it's for the battle and the fun of winning it or even the journey. The very idea of joining servers to mine gold from an exchange, stockpile it and use it to win another server later on feels absurd to me.

Not to mention the bragful posts of gold + skills wins you the game....some gold is fine but a lot means you don't have the skills to play.

Hydna: The ability to trade gold was introduced to help the players who wish to play but not spend money or spend only a little. I've known players who have earn't 20k+ in one world. Obviously it's optional and can be time consuming but it does allow a player to also use gold in competitions to build up some flyer tokens.

Do you not think that this is also a way to help equalise the situation whilst still allowing those who wish to spend to do so?

collect78900: That might help a bit.

Wouldn't the game be much much more exciting if the player was more inclined to play the game for a victory rather than play a server to earn gold (focus on change of mindset to make the game more exciting over gold farming)? I would suggest wide ranging discussion on gold use in externals and perhaps individual players could come up with novel ideas to combat gold abuse. I really feel setting a limit on how much a player can spend or earn would do the trick as players would have to spend gold wisely and have to worry about spending it all up before the eno of the server.

Eg.
Player is now forced to choose whether to token up in early stage of game like this world or spend the gold building cities and running Olympic games...
Eg. Bedtime squad members Golding a city to 3k points from 1 k in few mins then going on to fill them up with Griffs....all due to gold while non golders still struggling to build cities...this is gold abuse....N1 can hold sieges now server dead till the event passes us now

This would make a lot of difference.

Hydna: I understand but this game is only free to play if the income is there. What you are suggesting would probably mean Inno couldn't run the game.

The real gold trade in a new server is in the first couple of weeks, it is not playing a server, it is a time investment each time a new world comes out. Some worlds are more lucrative than others and the drop location makes a big difference so if a player relies on trading for his gold he probably has to trade at least a week in several new worlds.

There’s a lot of chat on externals about gold abuse. I think activity, skill and some trading as a combination would make a big difference but remember you can only earn gold as a trader if there is someone spending it.

collect78900: Yep point taken...inno needs money. Has inno considered showing advertisement on external forums to make money or perhaps advertisement alongside the community messages in game.... announcement of peace time type of messages?

Also another point I would like to raise is that peacetime is predominantly for Western festivals basically Christianity ( Easter,Christmas....) If it's an EN server why is it biased towards Christian culture?
Christmas is a major festival so okay but Easter isn't that widely practised in the world so why peacetime when other groups don't get peacetime during their festivals and have to resort to VM....

Hydna: I must admit I don’t know if Inno has considered looking at advertising but they are a big multinational so I would assume they have a marketing team who review that for all their games.

The Easter and Christmas Peacetime – I think that is more based around the fact that most of our players are in countries where there is a national holiday period at those times. Yes a Christian festival is also celebrated but the national holidays are there for all.

Let’s go back to the game. What aspect do you enjoy most?

collect78900: I like to battle stuff out and have fun with team mates general banter and things like that. Planning strategy is cool and dealing with spies is fun.

Hydna: Which alliance are you in and do you have any longer-term views on who could win Oreus?

collect78900: I’m currently in Quarantined Toxic Bunnys.
No longer fancy a crown or shiny swords it’s fun the first time then not much considering the effort it takes to keep golders away and keep an alliance together at the same time.

Hydna: It is a huge effort to run an alliance and the building effort for everyone to win WW is also time intensive. Gold doesn’t really contribute in the building phase. Do you read the external forums?

collect78900: Yes I do.

Hydna: Do you have any suggestions on how we can improve the game?

collect78900:
1. Limit amount of gold a player can spend in a server..
2. Introduce a non - gold world. Details mentioned earlier.
3. Events - when I used to play a few years ago there were not a lot of events. Inno should be wise enough not to hold events at the very start of the world...the mythical hen has just ruined this server...I know 1 player right now who has over 200 myth units alone just 4-5 days after bp has ended....he has myth nukes running in a city in under 4-6 hrs...so unfair to normal players and new players.

Hydna: I think the number of players that seriously gold their cities is small but I take your point.

The premium world is an interesting idea. I’ve seen that in our suggestions also and I can pass that on. That would require spending for everyone and there’s a lot of players that want the game to be free.

It would be good to have some feedback on the hen visit so early in the world from some other players. Maybe there are lessons to be learnt here.

Thanks for taking the time to do this interview and giving us your views @ collect78900

 

[Hydna]

Interview with @Never More Better

Hydna: Hi thanks for volunteering to do an interview. How long have you been playing Grep and what would you like to discuss?

Never More Better: I first played in en11 lambda which was 10-11 years ago. I have played in some worlds on and off since then. Mostly I want to discuss the state of the game, what has changed over the years and why I am hooked on this game like a kid even after 10 years!

Hydna: The state of the game? Ok I am interested in your views. Everything changes and adapts as time goes on and Grep is no exception to that so to an extent change is inevitable. It is how we manage that change that matters.

Why don't you start by expanding on what the game was like 10 years ago and how this has changed.

Never More Better: Well, firstly i think being inactive is a lot more punishing now than it was back then. Back then I only played 1-2 hours a day and it did not feel as hectic as it does now. If I play just 1-2 hours a day in this world, I don't think I would last long!

I remember farming villages were different. You had to attack farming villages to gain loot. There were only 4 gods at the time, Hades and Artemis were not present and there was no divine envoy.

One major change would be gold. Gold could only be used to employ the five advisors. There was no gold trading, no events to use gold on and no tokens. Mythical units were therefore luxury units. Academy could be levelled up to 30 only so no favor looting. You could build myth units but they would take a lot of time as you had to rely on favor production only.

Hydna: World speed affects the activity requirement and worlds are faster now so that’s part of it. Try a speed 1 and you could get away with a lot less activity even now but I do take your point there.

The villages, yes I remember. Personally, I like the new farming methods. I think it encourages players to fight to gain the bp to build the farms but with the addition of the bandit’s camp still allows for some easy building early on.

Gold. That has changed over time. Myths especially are far easier to build I agree. It's not just competitions though. You can favor farm with the temple looting option and in the right location that can build whole nukes fast. Even now there are times when I find the looting more effective than a token to complete a nuke - a harpy nuke especially.

Do you like the changes?

Never More Better: As with everyone else, I like some changes and some I don't!

Change is necessary to keep a game fresh and I think Inno games has done a good job for the most part except myth nukes from the events. I get where Inno is coming from, they need money from somewhere to keep the game free to play.

As you said, myth nukes can be built by favor farming, maybe more effectively than tokens even. But this is where activity and experience comes in. What does a player do when he is getting favour farmed regularly? He gets Zeus and rages the attack, he enlists militia and kills 1 or 2 myth units or he builds a wall and turtles. You can play around it, you can strategize around it but it’s not an easy option.

However, you cannot play around tokens. Use gold, buy tokens and 4 hours later you have 48 manticores knocking on doors. Mind you, I am not against events. I am not even against using gold to buy tokens. I think events are fun and are very helpful to build a city and regular troops quickly. I think the double bp token is a cool token. I am just saying myth units especially flyers should be left to what they are, luxurious units. Then you'd have to balance the events as you can still buy favor and resource tokens but you get where I am coming from.

Hydna: I do. Thanks that’s helpful feedback.

Are there any other changes you would like to highlight or shall we move on to what it is that hooks us all. I get what you mean by this. I'm sure there's a lot that do.

Never More Better: Apart from the myth tokens, I think the game is more sound now than ever before. I like the increased world speeds and the increased unit speeds. As you mentioned earlier I like the current farming villages better than the older ones. So, no. There are no other changes that come to mind.

Moving on to what hooks us all. Well, I cannot speak for all, but for me it is the nit and grit of building the city, the brawl, the snipes, the anti-snipes, the mind games and most important the alliance. I can honestly say this is the only game where a higher number of players in your teams doesn't matter. A well co-ordinated alliance of 20 members can outdo a team of 40 members. On that note, there is a rush when you coordinate with your teammates, when you time your attacks to land a second before the CS and then the anti-timer screws the timing of your defence.

I am on Secret Society in Oreus, just last night we did an OP on two cities of Shipwreckers that were on our core island. The participation was great, we landed the CS in both cities, within two minutes we stacked both cities with 4k swords, 4k archers and 6k hops and 1k biremes. We were all giddy in team chat. If I had to speak for all, I'd say this is what hooks us all. The preparation and the feeling of success.

Spoiler: Both sieges were broken by attacks from just 4 cities. Not players, cities. I didn't mean to bring up myth tokens again, but it kinda happened. Sorry about that.

Hydna: It was going so well until you got to the spoiler! That is frustrating.

I think there are strategies you can develop to mitigate the myths. Build up the DLU levels while the comp is on and start focused attacks after the comp finishes. There’s only a limited number of inventory spaces so a limit to the number of myth rebuilds.

I think you're right about the buzz, the team and the shared goal. It's a good combination and together those things are what make the game almost addictive. I've burnt dinner a few times when timing much to my kid’s horror but you just don't want to let the team down.

A bonded team can make it more difficult for newer players to integrate at a world start. The longer the game has gone on the higher the number of pre-mades. Do you have any advice for a newer player without a team joining the world? There’s always the issue with spies and I think that can make existing teams nervous about recruiting players they don't know.

Never More Better: You are right about the strategies and mitigation regarding the event. This is where I think the length of the event was too long, especially for world speed 6. But enough about events, I may be starting to sound like a broken record talking about events.

I think the current tutorial, bandit quests does a great job of guiding newer players. Premade alliances are quite reluctant to pick up newer players. Usually, if the player is active the average alliance in the ocean often invites the player and they can continue from there as they learn more about the game. They may eventually be part of a premade themselves. My advice to new players would be to learn about the existing strategies, and about exploring/making new strategies. There is no hard and fast rule to playing this game, play as you wish.

In Secret Society, the founder, @kevaughnbailey has assigned mentors for new players. I thought it was a great initiative. They might be spies under different names or just new players. It is up to the alliance how to approach new players.

Lastly, I don't think spies are an "issue" in the game. They are an aspect of the game for sure, but they will exist as long as there are teams/alliances.

Hydna: Assigning mentors does sound like a great initiative. I would love to talk to @kevaughnbailey about his mentor system.

Ok thank you Ive enjoyed listening to your views and certainly you make a lot of valid points. Is there anything else you would like to comment on? Do you have any suggestions to improve the game?

Never More Better: I think we covered a lot, so no, no more comments.

My one suggestion would be to remove flyers/hydras from tokens. I understand inno needs cash flow and is not that big on advertising. I don't want this wonderful game to be removed from free to play, so keep the events but please consider balancing flyers/hydras tokens, because it is game breaking.

It has been great talking with you.

Thank you.

Hydna: Thank you. I am collecting the feedback from these chats and I will pass all of it on.

It's been great talking to you too. Thanks again @Never More Better

 

[Hydna]

INTERVIEW with @Angodude

Hydna: Hi Angodude thanks for coming forward. what would you like to talk about?

Angodude: Hey I am mostly playing on 123 so not really serious on 125 but love this idea and this should also be introduced there . I have played for a long time but only actively on Pagasae, Rhodes and Mylasa.

Hydna: Ok you say you are not playing Oreus seriously so why did you decide to join Oreus?

Angodude: Well primarily I like to join the new worlds to gain a bit of gold, this one though i joined mostly to meme on a couple people from Mylasa and to meet some new friends possibly.

Hydna: And have you met any new friends? What has the gold trade been like here?

Angodude: Gold trading has been alright, although I’ve been overspending a bit on 123 because I’ve been slacking a bit there.

The friend part however hasn’t panned out too well, although I find it fair as123 is full of cool people so you can’t expect to meet amazing people every world Oh and also people were really chill on 124 so it is what it is.

Hydna: Lol I am sure there are some friendly players out there you just haven't met them yet!

You say you love this idea and it should be expanded to another world. Do you have any feedback for me on these interviews?

Angodude: Haha yeah nah definitely haven’t really spoken to a lot of people so didn’t expect much .

I think you have done well in the interviews. However, if you want to expand the idea I think you should have fighting alliances's leaders come together in like a discord and have them argue it out. I love the idea of someone "unbiased" having interviews with players big and small so you are doing great, but i feel it could be expanded further if that makes sense.

For people you should interview @Dapperdon21 and @andeeboy. They are simming here but they probably have good insight. Don’t tell ‘em I said this but they are chill dudes who are good at the game. (oops! ).

Hydna: Thats an interesting idea. I think in some ways the forum already allows for debates like that if alliance leader’s want to argue but we will see how this develops as time goes on. At the moment I'm just going with the flow depending on what players want to discuss. It is in a kind of experimental phase but this is your forum so I want players to decide how it goes forward.

Angodude: As for other comments, I feel like the issues with the game have been stated before so a bit redundant for me to just repeat them so I'm good. Would also like to add that @T0M4S would be good for an interview, but he's not playing at all on this world I don't think.

Also I reckon BS will win the world, from what i have heard their roster is heavily stacked.

Hydna: Ok thank you it has been nice talking to you.

Angodude: Thank you for doing this it’s a good initiative.

 

[Hydna]

INTERVIEW with @Kastillo

Hydna: Hi Kastillo let’s start with some background info. How long have you been playing grep and what do you enjoy most about the game?

Kastillo: I have been playing grepolis on/off for 10 years now (Ages 16-26). The community keeps me coming back to it, and I still maintain contact with folks from my earliest years.

Hydna: 10 years is a long time - so why Oreus?

Kastillo: Because it makes me think of oreos! jk
It has been almost 2 years since I last played with my friends (bedtime squad) in a speed 6. We won EN100, but I was absent for EN119. I'd like to help them win this one too.

Hydna: I see you are with Bedtime squad. I've had a few players say that you have a good roster and are one of the main contenders here so I'm sure we would all like to know a bit more about your alliance and who you are fighting.

Kastillo: We are at war with various alliances. The team in my immediate vicinity are Gangstas - they have a nice set of aggressive players. Through a wider scope, Shipwreckers are looking to be a promising enemy, but they are not in my immediate area.

The original Bedtime Squad was started in EN100 when the first speed 6 on an English speaking server was announced. At the time we were playing on a stagnant server (US59), and wanted a new challenge. We took a somewhat unorthodox approach and recruited friends + active enemies from our server in which wonders were still months away. While the original roster was made-up of people from all over NA and EU, the team itself was primarily made-up of US-market players. We were ~15 or so players. An early merge in EN100 saw us renamed Suicide Shrimp Squad.

That was almost three years ago since the launch date, and the team has since undergone many player and leadership changes. It is no longer a US dominated roster, its more akin to a typical EN roster, and the brain-trust behind this server's project will be familiar to many regular players by now: @molinillo, @theoldestdear, and @*.*MGK*.*

Early game moves are easy to follow: grow as fast as possible, secure immediate territory for future wars, and get to know the new teammates. Our players have much freedom to roam in ways that aren't normally possible in other server speeds, but necessary here to keep things interesting for everybody, especially with an alliance cap almost double what EN100 and EN119 allowed for.

Hydna: That’s certainly an experienced leadership and team. I recognise a few names there. Longer term how do you rate your chances?

Kastillo: Perhaps I am biased, but I think Bedtime has a good chance to compete for the end result. Despite being favourites, I think enough of our original underdog mentality still exists within our squad to not take anything for granted. The team most well-prepared for this game's hardships will win.

Hydna: Do you have any suggestions on how we can improve the game?

Kastillo: I have a couple, first off the game needs to address the abuse of bots to flash and spam-attack players. There are existing 3rd party scripts that attempt to solve this issue. However, because they are unapproved many players will never use them.

Possible solutions for spam: Assess existing third party scripts such as the "Grepolis anti-spam script." It is the first result on google - add this script to the set of approved scripts, or simply incorporate similar features into the game itself.

Suggested features to add to game: delay timer, rendering flash attackers useless, the option to ignore specific players, the option to ignore attacks from a specific town if need be, and the option to ignore attacks to any one town if need be. Have these filters apply to the mobile app as well if needed.

Hydna: Ok I’m not sure how easy it is to just incorporate the ideas into the existing game. I would also not recommend anyone downloads scripts that are not approved. That is a breach of our Rules. Spam has become a greater issue as the years have gone by and we are looking at it but this will take time. There is no one answer fits all here. We, Inno and the CMs, do understand the impact of genuine spam on your game and we are taking steps as some have already discovered.

Kastillo: Secondly, morale needs to be re-examined. I don't know the metrics inno has on new player registrations, so maybe by inno's metrics there is still a justification for keeping it. However, this is a vet's game and new players who manage to stick around don't do it by the grace of morale - they do it because they are difficult enemies and make for good recruits. Of the last 4 servers I played through to the end probably only 1 person was [completely] new to the game.

Morale abuse is real and it wrecks the game - I've witnessed teams with enough morale accounts to sit every front-line island. That is egregious, and not at all for what the function was intended. If a player is caught offline they might get sieged in multiple towns without hope of breaking because of morale scaling.

Players should be allowed to make mistakes, or experience hardship, without having their hobby become toxic because some other 8-year vet decided they wanted to exploit a game function meant for beginners.

 

[Hydna]

Continued from the above post............

Hydna: I understand the issues in conquest with LMD abuse but morale is there not just to protect new players but smaller/less active players. Are you suggesting that morale is redundant across all servers? Do you think there is a place for morale in a revolt setting?

Please also expand on your comment that this is a game for vets. We do have regular newer players. We need newer players longer term or the game can't survive so it makes sense to give the ones we have a helping hand. If not morale do you have other ideas that would help the less experienced? We have heard from another player about his alliance’s mentoring strategies but not all of them find their way into an experienced alliance.

Kastillo: I cannot offer an informed opinion on morale in revolt servers, I have never played one at length, and certainly never one at a competitive level worth citing where morale was a factor.

With respect to conquest servers I do think it is unnecessary. When I mention that this is a vet's game, I refer to the fact that few (competitive) alliances exist without the guiding hand of pre-made organizers, or early game mergers between small pre-mades.

Players like to play with similarly dedicated players, this is now more true than ever in the game. Morale players are brought in with a premeditated purpose, there are no happy accidents wherein a newly registered player decides they enjoy having 1-4 cities and want to front-line the game like that.

I can appreciate wanting to help true novice & less active players, but to be honest these players are easily cleared if they can only count on their own support (or the support of their similarly small teammates).

No one is complaining about those [true novice] players, morale makes the headlines because of LMD abuse - the two are synonymous to the point it is difficult to justify keeping morale for its intended purpose in light of how it actually gets used.

I reckon more players leave because of abuse than new players stay because of its benefit. No one leaves the game because they had to use 3 extra nukes to clear a true novice player, but they do quit when clearing an LMD requires other LMD busters to lead the attack, else an attack fully loaded with all attack buffs might not even dent the wall level if the luck is bad.

The dev's have to keep in mind sometimes gamers are their own worst enemies, and that their game design must take into account protecting players from themselves.

Attack alarm response is a requirement in any top alliance, what is the meta tactic that forces players to disable the alarms? Spam.

Rebuilding can be burdensome and you want to conquer more than one or two towns at a time when a player is off? LMD.

Want an LMD always available when you are? Cheat. There are ways to do it for free or for cheap that inno cannot detect. It’s cheaper than buying gold to spend in events to rebuild or insta from the queue.

If morale must persist in the game, its effect over the course of a server must be diminished to an appreciable level.

Suggestions – to resolve the morale issues:
Extreme: No more morale worlds, ever. Anyone staying small on purpose and handing off is not engaging in fair play.

Middle ground 1: Keep morale for sieges, because the persisting danger of being sieged in a morale world is paradoxically it's saving grace, but after the conquest is complete, reevaluate the morale of a player based on the supports they have from other players.
An account supported by a top-100 account should have the morale of a typical top-100 account.

Middle ground 2: Keep morale till up-to the last month or two before endgame. By this time any reasonably active player can be expected to have learned enough about the game in a 3-5 month period.

Hydna: Thanks for those comments and suggestions. What about other ways to help newer players?

Kastillo: The games tutorial system could likely be reworked on good defense practices and discipline with unique pve missions that simulate defending colony ships, as explaining this stuff takes a while for experienced players to educate novices. The more interactive the better. Perhaps the devs could accept the advice of more experienced players in designing it.

Hydna: Thanks. Is there anything else you would like to raise?

Kastillo: Voting on more world settings would be great, it is a privilege it seems only the German market enjoys on a regular basis.

Get rid of quad bp, even in anniversary gifts

Get rid of the resource boosters in those same anniversary gifts.

Hydna: Well thank you @Kastillo for all the effort you have put in here. As a minimum I will ensure these are read further up the line than me.

 

[Hydna]

INTERVIEW with @RareWolf5

Hydna: Hi RareWolf5 thanks for coming forward let’s start with some background. How long have you been playing Grepolis and why did you join Oreus?

RareWolf5: I have been playing Grepolis since before Sigma en18 but under an old username. I read the external forums but do not care much for it because it is mostly gossip. Used to comment under an old username but that was ages ago. What I enjoy is making friendships and accurate predictions. Honestly, I joined Oreus because of losing my job due to the virus and I missed playing Grepolis.

I am in Shipwreckers, and anyone is fair game, besides our sister alliance, Shipwreckers II. The alliance that is going to win is the one that holds together internally the best. The most likely candidates are Shipwreckers or Bedtime Squad, however, time will only tell.

Hydna: Ok so you are in Shipwreckers. Now I have been told they are one of the alliances here that look to have a decent chance to go all the way. Are you able to tell me a bit about the alliance? For example how you all know each other, where you are coring up, how the fighting is going so far? Obviously only information you are happy to share with the Community.

You are not alone in having more time because of the Pandemic. I think we all value the online distractions at the moment and the one thing Grep is amazing at is creating a good online chat group with a shared goal.

RareWolf5: Yes, I am in Shipwreckers, and they for sure have a decent chance of winning WW. That is why I joined them. However, I did not start with them. I started this world the day I decided to play Grepolis again. I noticed this world was just a day old and figured to join. Entered in not knowing who came in with whom. Eventually, I messaged all my Grepolis friends from the past, and at one point one of my friends invited me to join the alliance they were in named Wolfpack.

Wolfpack did not last long. The founder made a terrible arrangement with Shipwreckers that was supposed to be a pact but was more like a NAP. Sadly, Shipwreckers founder broke the pact off by attacking one of our sieges. I tried to find out what happened from our founder and he said “I’m trying to talk with him n asking why he is attacking....his only [response] really was.......’I don't think your team has been completely honest with us mate’......that was his reply“.

Recently, I talked to the Shipwreckers founder and found out the reason for their actions. It was a result of us reserving cities without taking them. It became obvious that we were just reserving them to keep them from Shipwreckers. I will be honest, we were ordered to do this by our founder so we can take them later.

Not long after we merged with Stoner Inc. The day I entered the alliance it was dissolved by the mods for its name (see response). Once it had dissolved, we worked together to rebuild it. We called it Sinners, with the phrase, “Mods, forgive us for we have sinned“. I was made founder, along with someone else.

As time went on, I did not know how to win a war against Shipwreckers nor train the newcomers to the game. Plus we had a spy in our alliance that told Shipwreckers where all our sieges were at so we could not hold hardly any sieges--it sucked. Tried to come up with a plan to figure out who it was, but every single one of them seemed easy to tell we were trying to find the spy. I felt I was doing a terrible job as founder, losing our cities left and right, and just could not hold us together. Wanted a way out, badly.

When my friend from Shipwreckers told me I could get into the alliance, I was excited. I wanted to be relieved of duty and I believed I found my way out. I talked to the founder, and eventually I was invited. Then I started the process of stepping down as founder, and turning all my duties to others. I tried to leave on the best of terms, despite joining our enemy. Well, I did not do well at that job either. Most of the people I trusted to take my duties ended up quitting, and others blamed me for being the spy, which I should have expected. I was too anxious to get out to see things clearly. I did not want to destroy Sinners by leaving, but I did. I really messed up. By avoiding one problem, I caused so much more chaos.

Now I am in Shipwreckers, and hopefully I can get my very first crown, however at what cost. Believed I have destroyed my eligibility to join other alliances, my credibility to lead an alliance, and damaged friendships. You know what they say, you reap what you sow.

I will not say much else about Shipwreckers, that’s classified, however if you want to find out information about their status, the best way is to look online at GREPOLIFE and GrepoData, or better yet, interview @Wreckshipper or @molinillo.

Yes Hydna , this Pandemic has greatly changed our lives, and gaming has allowed us to be social. Grepolis has a great online community that expands onto other platforms such as Skype, Discord, and Whatsapp, where we can reach for common goals together. By doing so, we can form lasting friendships

Hydna: Thanks for sharing that story. To be honest it's not so unusual at the start of a world. Weaker alliances dissolve, players quit and players change alliances and it's easy to blame one individual or 'the leaders'. If you stay and prove yourself in Shipwreckers I doubt anyone will even remember in the next world and I am certain many of our readers here will identify with what happened to you.

It is important to remember this is a game. Everyone makes mistakes but nothing that happens here is genuinely life threatening so we can adjust and move on.

I think, without commenting on any particular situation, I should also point out that moderators do not dissolve alliances - founders do. However, faced with an alliance that dissolved I think you guys regrouped well and quickly, maybe it didn't work out but you tried.

Is there anything else that you would like to talk about or add? I think this gives a useful insight into some of the activities that have been going on.

RareWolf5: When coming into this world, I expected there to be a lot of change. Especially after coming out of peacetime. Was not expecting the rate of change. However, this is a fast world so it should have been expected but that is hindsight bias speaking. You do not know the future until it has come by. Looking forward to proving myself in Shipwreckers.

Your comment “I think, without commenting on any particular situation, I should also point out that moderators do not dissolve alliances - founders do.” is very revealing and now events are clicking together. You see, the founder went AFK around the time of being asked to change the alliance name by the mods. Then the other leaders negotiated to have a merge during this time. After returning, he must have not liked what he saw and dissolved the alliance.

I would love there to be alternative ways Grepolis makes their money. I love the events, I just do not like how overpowered gold is. Think all different kinds of alternatives should be put on the table so Grepolis--and perhaps the Grepolis community--can choose which one is best. It has come to the point that the game is hardly playable without spending tons of money on the game. It is not newcomer friendly. Loads of people are not playing Grepolis because of it. They might make a lot of money in the short term, but in the long end, they are losing their player base and potential customers

Hydna: Ok thank you for revealing some of the inner workings of Oreus and your feedback. It’s given us all an additional layer of understanding.

RareWolf5: Been a pleasure to be interviewed by you.

 

[Hydna]

INTERVIEW with @davidbasket4

Hydna: Hi Davidbasket4 thanks for doing an interview. Let’s start with some background information about yourself. How long have you been playing Grep and what do you enjoy most about the game?

Davidbasket4: I have played grepolis for about 6 years however been on and off the game with some decent breaks in between.

The interacting and strategic parts of the game keep me (and most likely a lot of others) engaged to continue playing and do better as well as learn new things about it as I play and develop.

Hydna: Would you expand on that?

Davidbasket4: The game and the players have evolved to a point in which the platform used for communicating with your allies isn’t only through the in game option but through several other social media platforms as well, such as Discord or Skype. Though I don’t believe Skype is used by many teams anymore I know a lot use Discord which allows teammates to interact with each other easily not only about the game itself but about other things too that may interest them. This is great because it keeps morale high and maintains that welcoming warm feeling for new members which every team should have.

Hydna: Thanks. So what made you come back to play Oreus?

Davidbasket4: I was preparing to lead and started putting a team together a while back for the summer. However, the combination of lockdown and a fast world being released made us decide to go in and give Bedtime Squad some competition. The more competition the better.

Hydna: Which alliance are you in, who are your enemies and looking longer term who do you think has a chance to win here?

Davidbasket4: Gorillas In The Mist... So far we don't have any pacts, we're fighting everyone for now.

It's hard to predict the outcome this early. Bedtime have a good team and a lot of golders but I believe we have an even more solid team. The only problem is we dropped late (which isn't that big of a deal in speed6) and so it will take us some time to strengthen our core before properly fighting Bedtime. But in my opinion it will be a good fight and there’s a few teams here that have a good chance of winning.

Hydna: And how are your wars progressing so far?

Davidbasket4: It’s going well at the moment and we’re trying to make the most of this world. We dropped a week later than most other teams and we’re still working on expanding but since this world is very small and also a speed 6 it is also hard to maintain some distance from your enemy to prepare you for a better fight afterward. However, we have already grown well and by the time event is over we will see some better fights in this world and it won’t only be shown by us but by the rest of the remaining teams too. I guess we are all waiting for the event to end as it sets us back from conquering more cities but we’re managing and we’ll continue to fight.

Hydna: Ok well Good luck you guys sound like you are preparing for the wars to come.
Do you have any suggestions on how we can improve the game?

Davidbasket4: Yes 2 suggestions:
1. Make the loyalty awards annual. I'm not 100% sure on how often you give them but I believe once you have been on the account for 5 years the next one you get is in 2 years and to be honest that's a long wait. If you give them every year it keeps players motivated in coming back after a break or it can also deter them from always changing and playing under new accounts.

2. Let us change player names at least once a year. I think you can agree with me that if you have been playing for let's say 8 years and you see that name everyday you log in, you can get bored of it. You may think 'well they can create a new account then'. Even though that's true, if you have crowns and wins in domination, along with the boosts you get from them, you feel held back from creating a new account as once you get used to playing with those boosts, playing without them will set you back.

Hydna: Thanks for those suggestions and for talking to me. I am making a list of the suggestions to pass on. The loyalty awards are currently given after 1,2,5 and 8 years and we are looking at introducing one for 10 years.

 

[Hydna]

INTERVIEW with @kevaughnbailey

Kevaughnbailey: Hi I'm writing so that I can share my views on world Oreus.

Hydna: Thanks for responding. Let's start with some information about you. When did you first begin playing grep and why did you join Oreus? How do you think the world is going so far?

Kevaughnbailey: I first began playing grepolis 12 years ago. I joined Oreus because of the pandemic in the world and I have a lot of time on my hands. I also saw it has an opportunity to play with some past friends and have fun like in past.

I think the world is going absolutely terrible, if you don't buy gold or are not in an alliance that buy gold, you’re pretty much dead, also there are no restrictions on the event and gold users are absolutely abusing that advantage with little to no regard for non-buyers.

Hydna: Ok, let's look at what specific advantages these players have and think of some ways to combat them. Where are golders gaining these advantages?

Kevaughnbailey: Gold users should not have unlimited ingredients at their disposal in the event. If normal players get x amount then gold users should have a cap on how many ingredients they can buy per day. Mythical units are too easily made with a token, you can get 24 griffins in 2 hours. I think this should be reduced to make it fairer for non-users, maybe with the token set at 2 hours.

A gold user can generate 4 waves of powerful flier nukes within the 8 hours of a conquest, I don't think any alliance can build enough troops to stop that unless you’re a golding alliance yourself.

Also, I found the spawning system too tight here, coming out of Beginners protection there were few free slots on farm islands for a person's second city. Everyone was packed right in the middle. Had there been more space I think this world would have more population currently and more fun as there would have been more opportunities for growth in the world.

Hydna: Ok so firstly you are concerned at the numbers of tokens gold users can buy. It is true that there is no limit but the cost of ingredients rises rapidly so the majority of gold users do not have unlimited potential.

How can you as an alliance mitigate this? Well you can gear ops to after competitions end. All golders have a limited number of cities and storage spaces in their inventories and no means of refilling after the comp. Yes, that means a greater DLU requirement for you. You can also penetrate their safe islands and try and kill these nukes. One very active player can do a lot of damage on a safe island but with good intel on flyers you can kill them at source.

You can also compete with some trading in new worlds. With minimal effort, starting as soon as a world opens, a player can earn reasonable gold for a couple of weeks trading. This would allow you too to gain some extra flyers. Do you think these strategies would help you?

Spawning. The game tries to make it fair to new spawners so the anchors do not open immediately in spawning grounds. It is very early in the game.

I do understand what you are saying. I will feed both of these concerns back. Speed 6 is rare and it may be that adjustments to our systems should be considered.

kevaughnbailey: Yes, while a good alliance can do ops on gold players and weaken them in an event, I don't think that they can maintain that in an event that lasts almost one month, after a week or two it will start to take its toll on the non-buyers. Please remember it’s a speed 6 world and in a world that fast,1 month is a very long time.

Hydna: That’s true but the comp in this world was only 2 weeks. Here it started on 13th April and finishes on 27th.

Now I heard from another player that you have put in place a mentoring programme for newer players. That sounds like a great idea can you tell me how this works?

Kevaughnbailey: Yes in all the worlds I have played I always had a mentorship program. While top alliances only play with top players, I play with both new and experienced players. I ask experienced players to mentor at least 1 player. I normally have 4 trainees as I have always supported the idea of new players getting a chance to play in a good team and enjoying themselves as well.

I only started the mentorship program because I realized that there are a lot of active players that are new and have a lot of potential. They only need someone to tell them a couple of things and once they understand the basics they are as competitive as any other competitor. I also believe if other alliances would adopt this method, then maybe we would have a bigger playing population than currently.

Hydna: That's great. Well done for that. It is difficult for new players to learn at the pace required. This really is a complex game. I think that players need to understand that their first world is a learning curve. I would be interested in hearing about how other alliances deal with their less experienced players.

Are there specific areas you focus on?

Kevaughnbailey: Well the first area I normally target is development of your city. My players are always growing very fast following these methods, after pushing for conquest your second city should always be a found.

Having 2 cities out of beginner protection is very important to the survival of any player.

Hydna: Yes, that’s a good starting point. What about the troop build? I remember being new and having an awful mix in my cities. I think specialising cities and building nukes is also an important step.

Kevaughnbailey: Well for your first city I'll recommend a mixture for your second I'll recommend all defensive mixture.

Also its important to get the following god in this order when starting the game: Athena, Poseidon, Artemis and Zeus.

Hydna: Thanks. New players start with Hera as per the quests. I think different players probably have their own favourite order but I do agree that guidance on gods and troops is actually the most important thing of all for a new player there is just so much to learn.

Is there any other topic you would like to mention or discuss?

Kevaughnbailey: No that would be all for now

Hydna: Ok thank you very much there’s some useful information here. I appreciate you taking the time to do this and I will write up the interview and post soon.

 

[Hydna]

INTERVIEW WITH @Itachi Stormrage

Hydna: Hi Itachi Stormrage, thanks for agreeing to be interviewed. Would you start by telling us a bit about yourself please.

Itachi Stormrage: Hi, I am a returning player and have used quite a number of usernames over the years.

I have been playing Grepolis more than 8 years on and off, I started in en20 Upsilon, played in it for a bit but not for long, then Athens was the real start with my friend, who played in en02, he is the one who hooked me up on grepo. My major worlds were Knossos, Nysa, Emporion, Heliopolis, Dimale, Gortyn. I re-joined in grepo after 3 years due to having too much free time and nothing to do due to the Covid outbreak.

I love strategy games, started with Age of Empire when I was a kid. Oreus is a conquest world but to be honest I'm a revolt player, I love the straight up battles and the all the chaos that ensues, revolting all the cities of a player sending multiple CS's, pretty much an old fashioned brawl of the alliances.

In Oreus, I'm in the alliance Gangsta, and our enemies are everyone around us. But we are having the most skirmish with Bedtime and Battle Cats annoy us as well, also recently the Gnomes joined in but we don't pay them much attention.

Hydna: Well welcome back and thank you for sharing your views. We haven't had anyone from Gansta interviewed yet so are you able to share some information with us. Are you a premade? How are the skirmishes with Bedtime going?

Itachi Stormrage: Yeah we have nothing hide, lol.
Gangsta is a pre-made but I joined in later. Returning to grepo was a spontaneous decision.
Also, the skirmishes are going pretty even suppose, we had lost 1 city but we took it back immediately afterwards. Both alliances didn't get any higher ground. And as the event is going on, it is like a Flier bonanza, it's hard for to keep the sieges safe without walls. So, the main fight will probably start after the end of the event when they can't pop up tokens. That then will test the actual skills and tactics not just brute force..

Hope, it was helpful.

Hydna: It was, that’s great thanks. I agree the post event tactics will be interesting to see.

You mention Battle Cats - I can see you have a few outlying cities in their territory and they too are nibbling on the border of BS. Any info to share on them? I wish someone would post a Top 12 in the sink or Swim!

Itachi Stormrage: Yes, it definitely would be interesting to see what kinda play the alliances will pull without the support of the tokens. Looking forward to it.

And the Battle Cats, well they are pretty much spammers and good at spamming, lol. The outlying cities are constantly getting spammed by the Battle Cats. They are annoying a certain member of ours but he is getting through, although he is getting spammed almost 24/7. He has the most experience with them.

So I'm gonna say what he tells us, that is most of them don't even have alarms and can be found offline easily, they are good source of BP and there are few rare ones who are actually good, most are just full of attitude. He calls them "plain noobs", but that's probably his annoyance for them talking. The member in question is @collect78900, he recently joined us and is the closest to them, also the most affected one.

Let's get to their other enemies, they "claim" that they took out the Bunnies. Yeah, they took cities from the Quarantined toxicated bunnies but none were active and there was no fight in there. Just claiming and putting it up on their profile is just plain sad.

There is also another thing, that they had a NAP with Under Construction but that NAP is broken now and heard its chaos out there. I mean you don't make friends with food. Both alliances are close and can grow only by eating each other but UC made a NAP and now that it's broken, UC broke under pressure, many jumped ships and the alliance disbanded. They had internal conflicts and bad organisation, which led to the end of the previously Rank 4 alliance.

So, Battle Cats have plenty of food out there and would probably look to settle and secure their core, so we should not have any direct confrontations anytime soon. I mean, this a WW world, so securing cores comes first but if they come looking for a fight we will give them one.

Hydna: Great info Itachi thanks. Anyone from the Battle Cats want to respond? So what about longer term – any views on who is a potential winner?

Itachi Stormrage: Long-term who will win? Huh, if a certain alliance keep using gold like they are doing pretty sure they have a good chance...The game has changed so much over the years, gold has more and more effect on the game from the previous worlds...I'm a "free to play" player, I don't want to judge but the game is getting ruined. People with skills are good, people with gold are better, people with gold and skills are even better...Deeper the pockets better they play, the unfair advantage is, err too much now... I see a few of old faces but the overall players are lower in number in the game now...Pretty sure many quit due the disadvantages they faced....

Hydna: Ok thanks now on to the forum. There isn't much meat here these days. Any ideas on how to bring back some interesting and informative banter?

Itachi Stormrage: The external forum. I also wish that someone did the top 12 sink or swim, me and my buddy was looking for that when we were joining, we first came to the forum but it was pretty much dead, no offense. We even thought of putting up sink or swim if nobody does. But we later thought that even if we do, who would look at it? Label us pessimistic but everybody want to showcase their work, you know.

Hydna: Great plan just go for it Itachi

Itachi Stormrage: Well, there are less and less people in the game nowadays and most keep to themselves or to their alliances. Before due to the sheer number of players, it was fun to keep an eye on the externals. I sometimes even went to check out the forums of other worlds to see what's going on there.
I mean the juicy gossip of the newspapers, the top 12 sink and swim, enemies bantering, I mean it was lively.
But nowadays, there isn’t anyone who takes the initiative to put something in and so others don't find anything that can catch their interest in the forums. Like, this interview, back then some of the players of the ongoing worlds used to make newspaper on their own for the world they were playing.
I miss those days. I'm sorry but I don't really have a solution just that this interview is one thing that brought back many players to the externals again, including me. So, if you can do things like this, it should encourage and interest players to post and come to the externals.

Hydna: I hope so too I'm certainly going to try. Is there anything you would like to see improved?

Itachi Stormrage: Improve? I think the game is great, the high speed worlds, world domination. But the gold system which evolved and got upgraded from the previous worlds is greater and has the greatest influence in grepo. I know quite a few skilled player who left the game because they couldn't keep up with the Gold people. And from en20 to en125, in my opinion, the players have only decreased.

When I was in Knossos, there also were players who used gold but the effect was not as great as now. The alliance who won were made up of players who used gold but I also want to say they were one the best players I've seen, not like the best alliance of these times. Whatever you say it's a game for those who are willing to spend because gold has more uses and usage now....

Hydna: Thanks for sharing all that it's useful information for us all and I am sure many will enjoy reading this. I am hoping to entice a few back to externals with these interviews.

I think this is probably enough for an interview unless you would like to add anything more.

Itachi Stormrage: I also hope that the externals are revived again. And that Inno brings some changes into the gold system so that it is not as over-powerful as it is now.
I'd be happy to answer any questions you have but I have nothing more to add. It was my pleasure, have a good day, Hydna.

With best wishes, Itachi.

Hydna: Thank you Itachi, I’ve enjoyed our chat.

 

[Hydna]

INTERVIEW with @diocletianus1293

Hydna: Hi diocletianus1293, thanks for agreeing to do this interview. I can see you have been playing grep for a few years so why Oreus and which alliance are you in?

diocletianus1293: I joined Oreus because I love this strategic game. It is all about the team not about any one single player. I like the WW endgame. I’m in Legion XIII alliance and all other alliances are our enemies. We always play to win and from what I see at this point, we have a very good chance to fight for the first 3 places.

Hydna: Thanks now would you like to share some information about your alliance. It would be good to have a Legion XIII perspective. How do you all know each other? How is the fighting going for you so far?

diocletianus1293: Legion was founded around 2011-12, I’m not entirely sure when....I started playing in 2014. In the beginning I was in another smaller alliance. I can’t remember the name....and I was invited to Legion and stayed there ever since.

I have been on a break from 2017 until January when I started in Himera, now I’m playing Oreus and Neapolis but we all prefer the WW endgame. This is a very good crew who have played many years together, very loyal. My point is I always choose them because they are all playing for fun, for competition and we all have a RL as well. We have some simple rules in the alliance which makes us competitive....no one spends any money, we think the point of this game is to survive with skills, no gold. I do understand those who spend it but we don’t see any pleasure building cities in 2 days. We all think the same and it’s not only about the money, we agree on many things and we all discuss things together ...that’s our power.

Hydna: That sounds like a great little group you have there.
If you look back over your time in the game which players do you admire most and why?

diocletianus1293: There are 3-4 players, founders and council, who have shown me that I’m valuable to the alliance and they said I deserved an invite to the council. That’s because I demonstrated I play for the alliance. I’m a team player I don’t play for myself. It’s this team ethic that has meant we have finished every world in the top 5 alliances.

Hydna: Yes, this is a team game and it is the teamplay that wins worlds especially with the WW endgame.

Do you read the external forums?

diocletianus1293: Sometimes.

Hydna: Do you have any suggestions?

diocletianus1293: To improve the game and make it more interesting, my suggestion is to limit buying gold in beginner protection. I know it’s hard for you to do that but maybe the first 3 days will make this game better...for example, when Oreus started, 90 % of players built 4-5 6000 points cities in 3-4 days. They thought they made the alliance strong...now I see many of them don’t really know how to play this game and many players have ghosted because they lost their will to play...maybe 2-3 alliances really fight. Just dont let grepolis became just a game for money....thanks.

Hydna: Thank you for that feedback and for doing this interview. Good luck to you and your alliance in Oreus.

 

[Hydna]

INTERVIEW with @PhoenixF

PhoenixF: Hi I will do an interview if you want.

Hydna: Hi PhoenixF. Great, let's have a chat when you are ready.
Would you start by giving me some information about you. How long have you been playing grep and why did you choose Oreus?

PhoenixF: Been playing for what I think is 9 years. My first account was SootierElf on Gela, played for a few years stopped playing came back with new account FacedPhoenix played for a few years again then stopped again and came back to Neopolis on this account, met a few good people on Neopolis who have started an alliance on Oreus, got invited to join there alliance so here I am.

Hydna: Well welcome back. I see you are in Shipwreckers, how do you think the world is working out so far? From what I am hearing Shipwreckers look like a solid team with a chance to do well here. Who are you currently fighting?

PhoenixF: I’ll be honest I think the world could turn up anyway at the moment some pretty good alliances out there but from what I have seen of Shipwreckers I think we stand a really solid chance, just wish that real life would calm down so I could help out a bit more than I am. We are currently fighting Bedtime Squad and Do Not Abbreviate.

Hydna: Well it is a game and RL has to take priority especially at the moment.
How is the fight going with Bedtime and DoNotAbbreviate or shall we say BS and DNA just to annoy them?

PhoenixF: Well I never see us losing many cities to either of them all I see is us performing conquests but I’m not keeping track of what the count is, you will need someone else to answer that question better for you.

Although I think once the event is over and everyone stops buying flyers I think that may change the fate for a few alliances. I wait to see how they cope.

Hydna: Yes, you are right. A competition forces a change of tactic so the next few weeks we should see some changes.
Ok what do you enjoy most about the game. What is it that makes you keep coming back?

PhoenixF: I just find Grepolis a more relaxed game and I enjoy it being a long term game instead of just one match being over in 10 mins or something. I also enjoy the fact that you can play on mobile. This helps a lot otherwise I would not be able to play as would not have enough time to.

I also come back because of the people. I really enjoy the banter I have with team mates and also with enemies, although I think some people take the game way to seriously sometimes.

Hydna: It is certainly a longer term hobby. I think that's one of the reasons it gets taken so seriously by some. 6 months plus is a lot of invested time.

I would like to ask you about the forum. Do you read it generally? Have you any ideas to make it more reader friendly for someone like you coming back?

PhoenixF: I read it quite often if there is nothing much going on in game, to be honest I don’t really know what you could do to make it more reader friendly, I’ve never struggled with it so no complaints or anything from me there.

Hydna: Ok thank you is there any other subject you would like to discuss or any suggestions you would like to make?

PhoenixF: I’d rather the game go back to how it was with the farming villages where you had to kill the troops to take the village, or at least for the starting city, bit of a pain having to use BP for a farming village at the start of the game. Once you have your second city I think it is fine to use BP. May just be me being old fashioned though.

Other than that I don't have any other suggestions.

Hydna: Thank you for that feedback. You are right that you have to use BP now but you are given extra BP with 100 bandit camps so that does help for the first city. Do you like the bandit camps?

Have you played a Domination world? Do you have any views on the WW endgame compared with Domination?

PhoenixF: Yeah that’s true just wish we could use the BP from them towards slots at the start of the world, otherwise I feel people who gold up to level 30 academy and use Olympic games get a decent advantage over us.

I have played both endgames before. I was with alliances that won them before but that was on my old account FacedPhoenix. Im also playing on EN124 at the moment. I like the end game for both worlds to be honest they both have their good points and bad points but I find them both fun. They also obviously both require completely different strategies and different city builds which also makes them unique from each other.

Hydna: Well we will soon have the new Temple endgame as well. I can't wait to try that.
Do you have anything you would like to add I think we have plenty for an interview here.

PhoenixF: That sounds interesting I will definitely be trying the new game mode.
I don't have anything else to add that I can think of so that will be it.

Thank you for the interview Hydna.

Hydna: Thanks for your time PhoenixF and Good Luck with the game.

 

[Hydna]

INTERVIEW with @Aura Dione.


Hydna: Hi Aura Dione, thanks for your suggestions. Before we move on to those would you like to tell me a little bit about yourself? For example, how long you have been playing Grep and why you joined Oreus as a start.

Aura Dione: OK, I've been playing since 2014 I think, off and on. I joined Oreus because it is a conquest world. I don't really understand how to play in revolt worlds. It's also very fast which I like, and the team I play with also decided to join, so that's why I came along. Also, Teos just ended and I only play in 3 worlds at a time. I do think it's possible to play without gold, although the gold players are a nuisance because they think they can buy being a good player. I wish there were a world without gold to make everything more even but I find that a lot of gold players quit if they're not winning at the end and we always move up the ranks that way.

Hydna: Thanks I see you are in Legion XIII and it sounds like you have a solid team there. How are your battles going so far? Who are you guys fighting?

Aura Dione: We are fighting bedtime squad or should I say they are fighting us lol.
It's tough in a fast world in some ways, but also fast to rebuild. I found out if I go offline for 3 minutes, my city gets cleared!

Hydna: Lol yes Bedtime Squad do sound like they are starting a few fires! 3 mins - that's tough. I guess that's one of the drawbacks of a fast world, or maybe one of the advantages if you are the attacker. I think i would do a lot of dodging if that were me. Even if you see the notification there’s no time to log in.

Do you have any newer players in your alliance. I would like to talk to some new guys about their experiences so far.

Aura Dione: You could try @sb112, he is new and I'm trying to coach him lol. This game is difficult to teach. I don't keep track of who is new or not, there are too many fair weather friends. I just know my group and I try to help the new players so they don't quit.

Dealing with the gold players is the hardest when you're new. Grepolis would probably have a much better retention rate if they factored in some sort of beginner's protection for new players, for instance, protection from players with 100,000 grepolisscore until you reach 30,000 grepolisscore. That would give new players a chance to learn the game (and get addicted) before being conquered over and over until they quit. I could see where that could also cause experienced players to start new accounts though.

Hydna: Thank you. Would you like to ask sb112 to contact me if he would like a chat. I don't have to publish it but I would like to understand his experience.
Ok let’s move on to your suggestions.

Aura Dione: I have a few suggestions on how to improve the game.
1. There should be better explanations of the rituals, in the ritual saying if you have to cast the ritual first or the spell.

2. When there are special events, there should be more inventory storage available not counting when you get double rewards and that automatically goes into the extra storage.

3. When you buy the Advisors and go on vacation mode, the game should give you your vacation time back into the advisor time. As it currently stands, if you buy advisors and go on vacation, you lose that time.

4. Inventory storage bought should be in all worlds, i.e. if I buy an inventory slot in one world, it should also carry over to the other worlds I'm playing in, especially when one world is ending.

5. Additionally, I think there should be a longer period when events end just to get the prizes, not where you can earn or buy prizes, but to redeem them. Some events, like I think the Olympic Games, do that, but all events should do that.

Hydna: Ok thank you for those. I will comment briefly on them.

Point 1. Thanks for making that point. It's not easy in a bitesize piece of info. What is says (see below) is 'Rituals add special effects to spells you cast'. So you need the ritual before you cast the spell so that it can add a special effect if that makes sense.

​

Point 2. Adding more inventory space would assist those who use gold to store even more and increase the imbalance. I think that is why it stays the same.

Point 3. I can feed that back.

Point 4. This is just the way it works. Inventories are world specific and nothing is moved from one world to another. I can add to the feedback but I think this is unlikely to be changed.

Point 5. There is always a countdown of some sort so that the end time is known.

Is there anything else you would like to raise?

Aura Dione: I think that's everything.
Thanks and have a good one.

 

[Hydna]

INTERVIEW with @unstoppable

Forum private message: For your interviews can u start asking people where they are from so I know when to attack people?

Hydna: I was thinking that you have so many opinions you should do an interview! Just raise a ticket.

Forum private message: I will consider it... I am an important man so i am busy.

Unstoppable: Since you suggested I do one I guess I will.

Hydna: Thank you for contacting me. I am pleased to interview anyone so let's find out a bit more about you.
Firstly I think I know who you are but can you clarify the names you play under so we all know. Then please give some details like how long you have been playing, which world set ups you prefer and why you joined Oreus.

Unstoppable: wait... you don’t ask the questions? I just give answers then you make the questions?

Hydna: Well it's an interview! I have asked you a few questions. What are you expecting?

Unstoppable: okayy I’m confused but I will answer the first questions.

I have played under a few names and all carry greatness behind them. One I am most proud of is Mr. Trump. I have left a great destiny behind.. and when I win my third world I will then use a new ign. My final one will reveal my true status. I have been playing for 9 or so years since I was 8 and after all these years I feel my peak is yet to come. I am still progressing day by day.

As for setups I prefer... I will play anything speed 3 or over but I think speed 6 is my favourite. I want to try a speed 6 revolt.
I joined Oreus cause @*-*MGK*-* was joining - best player I have seen so far and didn't wanna turn down a chance to replace the greatest when he retires. Also, I’m bored at home.

Like that?

Hydna: Yes, that’s perfect.
So, you are in Bedtime. We have heard the fighting is quite fierce with a number of alliances ranged against you. I can see you are surrounded and look to be expanding in all directions. How is the fighting going from your perspective?

And to Mr Trump - given all the potential uses for disinfectant, do you think it could be a useful addon to use against slingers?

Unstoppable: I feel the fighting has not yet peaked. Mainly people BP hunting no sieges happening which has been a struggle for a while but it will get better in a couple days. As for the skills of the alliances on this server - nothing impressive, the event is keeping them alive, they will sink soon.

Mr Trump: As for disinfectants I advise everyone to start ingesting them, that is the secret cure they don’t want getting out.. can’t say much more……. (Please note in accordance with US medical advice Inno does not recommend that anyone ingest disinfectant at any time).

Hydna: Well sounds like you have complete faith in your alliance.
Looking back over your long grep career, what do you think has been your greatest challenge? Starting age 8 is impressive to be fair.

Unstoppable: Greatest challenge…. interesting I must say... it could be back on US Idalium when Nori gave me an interesting birthday present... or perhaps fighting EN in old revolt days, In all my years not many alliances I give credit to but I will give props to BZC for being one of the hardest alliances to fight. They are good, organised and know what they are doing.. made a couple worlds fun. I also could say forming one of the best premades in CQ history on Lato. I can’t think of a specific challenge that out-weighs the others tbh.

Hydna: Mmm what was this interesting birthday present?

Unstoppable: lmaooo. Well I had the pleasure of waking up with CS heading to every one of my cities from my alliance... now, don’t get me wrong I could’ve sniped all of them if I wanted butttt…. they managed to get a few... altho she made up for it on 113. We got 4/7 award for WW on my birthday... Who knows maybe we rim her on her bday this server!

Hydna: haha you are funny. Ok so what do you enjoy most about the game? I think the social interaction is what makes it for me but you are very young, you have school/college and loads of interaction as it is.

Unstoppable: I think my time is divided 30/70 30% playing and 70% World Chat. I enjoy the game concept, no other online game is like this which makes it unique. The whole concept of troop building/taking cities/endgame is nothing I have ever seen before and it is what keeps me playing.

Also, believe it or not, I have spent a fair share of my life reading and the Percy Jackson series /Greek Mythology is my favourite so that helps too. I feel like the ultimate joy of this game tbh is when someone mails you and calls you a botter, that is the ultimate compliment, just lets me know I’m still great. But yea that and just the overall game and rimming noobs... makes this game great and I will keep playing it until it dies out.

Hydna: Lol I know a few players who love being accused of botting – it’s flattering to think you are good enough for the enemy to think you cheat.
Let’s go back to Oreus. You seem quite confident you are in the right alliance so longer term are you thinking your team have a good chance to win here? Who do you think are your greatest rivals? Are there any players from other alliances that you admire?

Unstoppable: I think we have the best chance of winning. In terms of best rivals I feel it could be Gorillas because they got a couple players that are really good. Only thing that might sink that ship is leadership. I also do not like late starts for better positioning makes me feel like an alliance isn’t cut out for the fighting. We will see how good they are soon.

As for admiring players... no, there are only 2 people I look up to in this game and one is in my alliance right now. Altho I do respect @BlackPig he is a top player here.

Hydna: Ok thank you. Now I can see you love to contribute and post in the forum. Do you have any suggestions on how we can bring back some more genuine content there?

Unstoppable: I think the only way is either bringing more players to the forums or bringing more people to the game. I used to see advertisements for this game a lot now I see nothing. I feel this game could become popular again and could actually be more fun.

Hydna: Thanks. Now we have quite a lot here. Is there anything else you would like to talk about?

Unstoppable: I do have one more suggestion to help the game... I feel the app version can use a lot of updating. People say limit gold will help blah blah I think with the app being a major factor in success in winning wars it should be a lot easier to use it... maybe a whole revamp or add important features that are not in it. That’s all from me.

Hydna: What features specifically do you have in mind? I don't think a whole revamp is likely in the near future but it might be possible to make a few specific changes.

Unstoppable: Things such as making the commander features available: like being able to view culture in mobile, being able to change colours of people/alliances on the map. Buying premiums. I feel we should be able to utilize some major features. Also I’m sure there are changes that can be made to make the command overview a little less laggy/more usable.

Hydna: I don't know how easy changes like that would be but it's a good suggestion. You did really well here Unstoppable. Thanks very much.

Unstoppable: Thank you!

 

[Hydna]

INTERVIEW with @Lightening Lord - Battle Cats response.

Lightening Lord: Howiya, since we were getting called out in the forums I was nominated by the team to do an interview for you. There seems to be some haters out there…

Hydna: Hi Lightening Lord. Perfect I’ve been waiting for the Battle Cats to come forward! So, let’s start with the background. How long have you been playing grep, what do you enjoy most about the game and why Oreus?

Lightening Lord: On and off for over 10 years, my first world was Epsilon many moons ago.
Ahh it has to be the personalities. Don’t get me wrong I love the strategy and I think that it’s a very well thought out game but it’s the people that keep you logging in every day. The game gives you great insight into all different personality types, you get to see people at their best and worst (thrill of victory, agony of defeat etc.). Now more so than ever in the context of a global lockdown.

Oreus - I was approached by some team mates from Epsilon who said they were getting the old band back together and if I’d be interested. So I decided it would be a good distraction during these strange times.

Hydna: Well welcome back. So, you are in Battle Cats and we’ve all read the propaganda. What is going on then?

Lightening Lord: The Battle Cats. It seems like everyone is here tbh! Nah, currently we’re throwing it down with pretty much everyone around us. It’s weird that we get so much hate from people, like we’ve never gone above 35 players and have constantly been outnumbered from day 1. It’s fine though, we have some good experience and talent in the team so we can handle ourselves. I read above someone saying that O45 is the easiest ocean (which I agree with) but on a speed 6 and during an event that doesn’t mean that much. A lot of other alliances seem very interlinked, like the first two alliances we fought (QTB and *UT*) were all best buddies and it seems now a lot of them have gone to Gangsta who look like they are collapsing so there’s another alliance we’ll probably outlast. But we just take them one at a time. It’s hilarious to see all the cliques of pals supporting each other and then acting like they’re unreal at the game. It’s like Mean Girls with Manticores.

Hydna: So your core group comes from Epsilon?

Lightening Lord: Yeah our core group comes from Epsilon, along with a few new players we've linked up with along the way and a new addition we very fortuitously met here in en125.

Hydna: Ok thanks I think that’s helped us understand a lot more about Battle Cats. Guess we wait to see if you have 9 lives
Looking longer term who do you think will win here and why?

Lightening Lord: It’s defo a toss-up between Bedtime Squad and Shipwreckers. Both have good quality and seem serious enough on finishing it out here. So it will be interesting to see. However, I do think there is some scope for the smaller alliances (like ourselves) to play a significant role in the end game. Not sure what that will look like yet.

Hydna: Do you read the external forums?

Lightening Lord: Yeah, but this world’s one has been very quiet. It’s mostly just people giving out about ‘golders’ and ‘spammers’. Which is v.funny to me. I think this game shows up the two sides of everyone, when they are winning it’s because they deserve it and when they aren’t they always find something to blame. Things like this are great to get more activity so hopefully it kick-starts more discussion. I think it possibly reflects a change in technology too, most people are on discord and instant chat sites (even all-alliance servers). Back in the day the forum was the only place for chatting. But that doesn’t mean it can’t return to its former glory!

Hydna: I think you're right there's a lot of the fun banter happening on other chat platforms and that reduces the value of this forum. Do you have any ideas on how we can combat that?

Lightening Lord: Yeah it's a tough question overall, I think forums still definitely serve a purpose. A few things I'd do would be to be codify all the information that's currently there, like there are loads of great guides and tactic discussions but they are really buried within the dark corners of the forum. Maybe you could re-organise them so they are more accessible to new players, this could encourage more discussion and engagement between old and new players. I think the strength of the forum is its permanence, like it's not a casual (superficial) chat site so it should be a place for more in-depth discussion and analysis. Thinking of ways to encourage these types of discussions could lead to more activity. I think finding the balance between placating the old faithful and channelling new players in is the key and this could also help address the issue of new player retention too.

Hydna: Thanks I think that’s a good idea. We have the wiki for information but I do take your point about discussions on certain topics. As a new player I do remember wishing I had some idea what troops I should be building in each city and having far too many mixed up cities. The game is complex and there are so many variables I think there are plenty of things that could be discussed and always more to learn. I need to think about this.

Do you have any suggestions on how we can improve the game?

Lightening Lord: Yes two actually. I’m not gonna cry about gold (like everyone else does ) because at the end of the day Inno staff do a great job and need to get paid too. But….I really think that the one thing that should be sacrosanct is BP. I don’t think you should be able to buy the ‘Double BP’ tokens during events. I’d be fine with a token for Culture points (like Orpheus or something) but when I look a someone’s profile I wanna see what they’re about from their BP. The doubler gives a distorted reflection of a player, so I think this should be revised.

And the second thing is about Hydras and temple looting! What sort of sea-monster prejudice is going on at Inno? I can’t understand why this wasn’t included. If I clear someone’s harbour surely I should be rewarded? Maybe there’s a logical reason for it but I can’t figure it out.

Hydna: Hydra discrimination lol. Thats an interesting point. You could look at it logically based on the fact that this is a serpent with heads so how could they carry loot? There are all sorts of anomalies with myths. I've been talking to the other CM's about this question and we agree a review needs to be done on myths and the anomalies in their treatment generally. That's going to need some CM and Dev time though so I can't see it happening while we are working on Olympus. Did you know Hydra are boosted by Heroic power not favourable wind?

Lightening Lord: Ahh yeah i guess, but favour farming is more of an abstract concept than just carrying loot. The mythicals have become more of an integral part of the game now so I'm sure there needs to be a lot of thought put in to how they function. But this was just a small thing that annoyed me.

Hydna: Ok thanks. There’s a lot here. Is there anything more you would like to add?

Lightening Lord: Nah not really, just a big shout-out to all the boys doing the lords work in O45. When Gangsta go we’ll have another name to add to our Kill List. ‘Gangsta 0-0 ‘

Hydna: Well thank you Lightening Lord I think a very useful and informative interview.

Lightening Lord: Cheers, hope this helps.

 

[Hydna]

INTERVIEW with @SliverHawk
This interview took place over a couple weeks.

SliverHawk: Hi I would like to do an interview.

Hydna: Hi thanks for responding let’s start with some background. How long have you been playing Grep and what made you join Oreus?

SliverHawk: I’ve been playing 8 years. I saw the new world opening so I went in with a couple peeps. I have only played a couple of conquest worlds. The first world I ever played in was conquest.

Hydna: And how are you enjoying the new world so far? Which alliance are you in? How does Oreus compare to your previous experience?

SliverHawk: A lot of experienced players in this world so it makes it challenging. I am enjoying it so far, at this time in a two player alliance looking to join a bigger alliance.

Hydna: Great that’s a good plan this game is about the team.
Do you have any views on which alliances could win here? It is early in the world but some of the bigger alliances already look to be consolidating cores.

SliverHawk: I played with bedtime squad in another world I favor them to win they are a good group.

Hydna: They do look promising but there is definitely some competition in this world.
Ok what about any suggestions for us to look at to improve the game - any ideas?
Do you read the external forums?

SliverHawk: Yes there are but like any world it’s all about the long game. There are quality players all over. Ship has the early lead, would have favoured them except for their tactics. I know it’s a game but having a player copying others forums to get an edge up sounds desperate.
I enjoy the different types of worlds to play in love the faster worlds myself.

And yes I do read the forums at times , but would like to be a more avid reader I sometimes go a week or two without looking at them get caught up in the game .

Hydna: I see you joined Legion XIII. How is that working out?

SliverHawk: Legions was one of the first alliances I played on back in the day when I started in and so far they been really cool to be with. I started in a bad position in the world so restarted and feel I have a better start this time around.

Hydna: Do you have any views on your enemies? Who are you guys fighting at the moment and how is that progressing?

SliverHawk: The funny thing I have played with or against a lot of these guys and this alliance I am in we are enemies with an alliance I was in on another server its funny how that works.

Hydna: Yes it is. Our community is full of players that have been around a long time.
If you look back over your time in grep which players do you admire most and why? It doesn't matter if they are in Oreus or not.

SliverHawk: Several players
1. @SMBU ... Has become a good friend
2. @Hell .... His tatic is differant but its how he plays
3. *.*MGK*.* ... Trust him alot would have joined his alliance but not a fan of a couple players in the alliance
3. @jredge ... Good overall player

But the one I learned the most from:
@Perko87 He has taught me more about the game than anyone he takes your game up a lot.

So many others I have played with good bad I could list so many.

Hydna: Thank you for sharing that. Is there any other topic you would like to discuss relating to Oreus or the wider game?

SliverHawk: I think that’s all.

Hydna: Ok thank you for your time. Good luck with the game.

 

[Hydna]

April Draw Prizes:​

All players who submitted an interview in April have now been posted and were included within the draw.

April winners:
Itachi Stormrage
PhoenixF
Kevaugnbailey

I will also do the draw again in May provided there are more submissions. All players will again be eligible since this is a rolling draw but a player cannot win twice so the monthly winners will be removed.

Anyone who submits a 2nd interview (but you do need a new and specific subject to discuss) will be placed in the draw again.

 

[Hydna]

Just to end the page.