I wish this game was cool again…

ChaoticDefender

Hoplite
-Registered like 2009
-Played for 3 solid years
-Won world “Gonnos” I think that was in like 2010-2012ish
-I will log-in once a year just to check up on things and see if I see any familiar faces in the forums, I’ll even log into the newest world and check the rankings for familiar faces (again I do this like once a year) but I’ve never made a post like this. I felt like it this time because I did some basic research into the company “inno games” this time around (stick around for what I found out) and wanted to share my opinions on the company just cause
- but back to all about me for a second…
-I was a lot younger back then when I played and really got into the political side (which includes but not limited to trash talking) and the discussing with other leaders a plan of attack or come up with strategies to defend cities as an alliance and what have you…basically the team aspect of the game
-Seriously loved the game when I played; I liked being a forum moderator and I know this sounds dumb but I took pride in how organized I could make the forums for my fellow alliance members. (When you had 150 player alliances back in the day forum moderators were very much needed for success) I also created newspapers for my alliance which were highly appreciated by my peers. With few alliance members asking me in PM on occasion when the new issue of “The Daily Stink” would be out because they genuinely liked reading them. (Yes tuting my own horn for a second but I’ll tell you why in the next bullet point below)
-The point of the last 2 bullet points is that this game is genuinely a 1 of a kind strategy game; yes some games have forums and yes you have to work as a team to conquer other cities but grepolis…at least me for me (and I think a lot of players that no longer play due to reasons brought on by the company that made the game) this game takes the cake on “city conquer strategy games” like no other game can or has and I don’t think inno really understands what they have here.
-So..now let’s take a look at “inno games” most recent game released “Rise of Cultures”…….does this game sound familiar to you? That’s because it’s a rip-off of “Rise of Kingdoms” if you don’t know RoK is hands down top 5 pay-to-win games on the iOS/android market right now and inno made a copy of it. RED FLAG RED FLAG RED FLAG
-But this got me to thinking about the other games inno has made in the past which is 11 games in total
- I asked reddit and google a combined 22 questions. The question I asked was….
“Is (insert inno made game here) pay-to-win?”? and the result is ALWAYS an outstanding YES
-But wait; I’m not saying that Grepolis is for sure “pay-to-win”…for argumentative purposes the game may not be pay to win but…hands down the lengths of “pay to win” features/services that have been added to the game is what’s killing this game.
-BACK IN 2009-2012 THEIR WAS NOT NEARLY THIS MUCH PAY TO WIN OPPURTUNITY IN THE GAME. BUT AND NOW THIS PART IS INTERESTING AND IMPORTANT.. THE GAME IS NEARLY IDENTICAL TO HOW IT WAS 10 YEARS AGO!!!!!THE ONLY CHANGES BEING MADE TO GREPOLIS NOWADAYS ARE MONEY GRABBING ONES. FOR EXAMPLE WHENS THE LAST TIME A NEW BUILDING HAS BEEN ADDED TO THE GAME???????? OR A NEW GOD TO WORSHIP??????OR A SIMPLE CHANGE TO THE CITY ART WHEN YOU ENTER YOUR CITY?????? THE ANSWER IS A LONG FREAKING TIME BECAUSE…….INNO HAS NO INTENTION OF UPGRADING THE GAME. THEIR ONLY INTERESTED IN THINKING OF NEW WAYS TO GET YOU TO SPEND MONEY
-THE ABSOLUTE ONLY WAY TO SAVE THIS GAME AND BRING IT BACK TO ITS FORMER GLORY IS FOR INNO GAMES TO REALIZE THAT OUT OF ALL THE CASH GRAB GAMES THEY HAVE POOPED OUT THEY ACTUALLY MADE A GOOD GAME HERE
-if we want any hope to save our game and get back 5k active player worlds we would need to get the developers attention maybe by getting an absurd amount of people to say “hey realize that what you have here is actually not trash compared to your other projects” and of course decrease the pay to win features and put more focus into improving the game itself and listening to your community
-But I give up on grepolis and inno I have no faith anymore; another cash grab company if you ask me
-I’ll say it again the game may not be pay to win but the pay to win is what’s killing your player base; the fact that the game has not changed except how much money you can spend tells me everything I need to know.
-inno games truely doesn’t give an f about old projects if you ask me just interested in the next cash grab oppurtunity
- I could write more or tweak out some minor things I’m sure I’ll get called out on but I don’t care…how the heck is it already 2:30 in the morning lol
 

BLG-CH

Phrourach
ChaoticDefender said:
OR A NEW GOD TO WORSHIP??????
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Two were added about a year ago: Aphrodite and Ares. But yeah other than that I don't really remember many changes. The simulator was changed and the insta buy stuff was added instead of the halving the time, I think? And olympus game mode was added, but that seems to be a long time back also I dont see any worlds with that one :(.

But yeah I agree grepo is a special game and is really good at the “city conquer strategy games” and inno doesn't seem to realize it.
 

totosa

Hipparchus
tl, dr

disclaimer: if you think aphro and ares (new ares not the first released ares) are the reasons ppl leave the game, you can skip this message because you wouldn't understand probably

10 years ago worlds were slow (nuff said)
since fast worlds are the only worlds playable, some simmers that back in the days managed to win worlds with their great skill at building cities, now they cant do anything since they didnt adapt for many reasons (timing for example, as i see many players crying about) and since they lose cities they go with the quotes "game was better 10 years ago" "i only lost because you gold (when it has nothing do do about it)" and my favourite "BOTTER", when the only reason they are losing is because they are bad and still they dont want to realize this = cry and quit
 

gkassimis

Hipparchus
I wish i was able to tell what is wrong and propose solutions but i really dont know what exactly is wrong. The fact is that the game is slowly dying and no one can deny that. My last world was En136, i have quitted about 4 months ago and the first 3 months that i played i was disappointed to see that not even the 4 central oceans were full (44,45,54,55). I remember fondly past times when there were worlds with 10 oceans full and now we see every year less players joining. As i said i dont know what exactly the problem is but i can tell 3 big differences between now and then.
1) more worlds now which means players are divided between those worlds
2) more complicated gameplay now which means new players dont have the patience to learn how to play
3) you can influence game with gold more now than then which means its less compentitive
Inno is a company who cares about profit and its understandable. They know better than us if it suits them better to have many players who spend less money or less players who spend more money as it happens today. However even if they make more profit now, the popularity of the game is very important longterm and they will lose even those heavy golders when there wont be any players to fight against.
 

The Kitten Fatalis

Chiliarch
Factors that really determined the decline of the game.

1) Lack of advertising. You could fill 8+ oceans on advertising. Regardless of how pay to win the game may be. Inno cut its ads in 2015. The results have been really noticeable ever since. I remember joining EN113 and being kind of astonished that O65 never filled up. Now I'm astonished that there's cities in O65.

2) Higher speeds but little understanding of how to use or balance them. The build speed really isn't a problem. In fact, its probably better that the game is built faster in terms of getting new player to stick around. The complete inability to balance build speed with unit speed though can be pretty amazing though. There's never been a 6/3. Been awhile since I saw a 2/4 or a 4/2. Usually you see game, unit, and trade all the same speed. People might complain about slow CS times but really the slower times keep players alive. This isn't saying to make every unit speed 2. This is just saying to factor that in.

3) Half baked ideas. I'm going to just run through some great ideas on paper that were poorly thought out over the last 5 years.

- Player's council
- Hardcore event nerf (really impacted the smaller teams, especially in events like Olympics)
- Domination
- Olympus (wasn't compatible with revolt, was so bad that we haven't seen it in two years)
- All morale conquest worlds
- Ares

The occasional screw up happens. But these are almost all in succession. Most of them get shelved indefinitely or only changed after a sizable portion of the players quit.

4) Covid. This game took a major hit after covid hit in 2020. I noticed that there hasn't really been a deep world since.
 

gkassimis

Hipparchus
The Kitten Fatalis said:
4) Covid. This game took a major hit after covid hit in 2020. I noticed that there hasn't really been a deep world since.
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i dont think covid was responsible for reduced number of players. the only thing we can say about grepo and covid is the failure of inno to increase their player base. when people stay home because of lockdown having nothing to do and spend their time in front of screens and you fail to attract them join an online game, then obviously you re doing something wrong
 

BLG-CH

Phrourach
The Kitten Fatalis said:
2) Higher speeds but little understanding of how to use or balance them. The build speed really isn't a problem. In fact, its probably better that the game is built faster in terms of getting new player to stick around. The complete inability to balance build speed with unit speed though can be pretty amazing though. There's never been a 6/3. Been awhile since I saw a 2/4 or a 4/2. Usually you see game, unit, and trade all the same speed. People might complain about slow CS times but really the slower times keep players alive. This isn't saying to make every unit speed 2. This is just saying to factor that in.
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6/3, 6/2 or 4/2 could be awesome imo.
 

plaguetower

Phrourach
My issue with this game is that I have been consistently attacked between 2-4am for four months now. I am not complaining about being op'd or attacked. I am complaining about the duration and how that takes a toll on real life. I have a computer in my room with an attack alarm that goes off and I answer it every time. I don't give them anything but they still attack me. They don't want to win the game they want people to quit. It is a bully tactic and it is toxic. If I knew the game was going to be like this I would not have started to re-play it. It was not like this 10 years ago.
With that said. Mechanically, I don't mind spending money to play a game. I do want some sort of game/life balance. Before playing this game I played Lord of Ultima and it had a lot more automation. Games are supposed to be about community. Community is how the game is going to thrive and prosper. This game currently promotes deceitful and toxic bully players. I would love to see a 24/7 city building game where you can take shifts with other players. I don't know how that would work out or look like but I would love to see some white boarding.
 

gkassimis

Hipparchus
plaguetower said:
My issue with this game is that I have been consistently attacked between 2-4am for four months now. I am not complaining about being op'd or attacked. I am complaining about the duration and how that takes a toll on real life. I have a computer in my room with an attack alarm that goes off and I answer it every time. I don't give them anything but they still attack me. They don't want to win the game they want people to quit. It is a bully tactic and it is toxic. If I knew the game was going to be like this I would not have started to re-play it. It was not like this 10 years ago.
With that said. Mechanically, I don't mind spending money to play a game. I do want some sort of game/life balance. Before playing this game I played Lord of Ultima and it had a lot more automation. Games are supposed to be about community. Community is how the game is going to thrive and prosper. This game currently promotes deceitful and toxic bully players. I would love to see a 24/7 city building game where you can take shifts with other players. I don't know how that would work out or look like but I would love to see some white boarding.
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Totally agree. Some players care only to drive other players out of game or make them shut down game. Furthermore i have my doubts about how the app helped bring more players since its messing alot with real life. i remember my grepo days before app were much better. the fact i might find myself under siege never prevented me leaving my screen to go out for a walk, to a bar, etc. But when i started using app, i dont remember enjoying those moments so much. i remember going to cinema and missing the plot or going to a restaurant without touching my food since i had to respond to alarms. there must be a limit to the amount of time we dedicate in order to enjoy a game without messing with our real life and unfortunatelly the app has maxed that limit to 24/7
 
Heres20BucksKillMe

Heres20BucksKillMe

Polemarch
plaguetower said:
My issue with this game is that I have been consistently attacked between 2-4am for four months now. I am not complaining about being op'd or attacked. I am complaining about the duration and how that takes a toll on real life. I have a computer in my room with an attack alarm that goes off and I answer it every time. I don't give them anything but they still attack me. They don't want to win the game they want people to quit. It is a bully tactic and it is toxic. If I knew the game was going to be like this I would not have started to re-play it. It was not like this 10 years ago.
With that said. Mechanically, I don't mind spending money to play a game. I do want some sort of game/life balance. Before playing this game I played Lord of Ultima and it had a lot more automation. Games are supposed to be about community. Community is how the game is going to thrive and prosper. This game currently promotes deceitful and toxic bully players. I would love to see a 24/7 city building game where you can take shifts with other players. I don't know how that would work out or look like but I would love to see some white boarding.
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Go play a night bonus server if you want to sleep, lol
 

gkassimis

Hipparchus
Heres20BucksKillMe said:
Go play a night bonus server if you want to sleep, lol
Click to expand...
this is your answer to some players who love the game and are seriously concerned that every year its becoming less popular? if you dont have something useful to propose then better not post here mate.

i would love to see an expiremental en world where players have the option if they wish to have max 8h where they cant be attacked or attack others. since en server is international this couldnt be a specific time for everyone but players should be able to choose when. not night bonus where you still can be attacked but more like beginners protection. some people can use it for sleeping or for working etc because lets face it, spam and gold whores and various others are reasons for people quiting the game but the biggest reason is that its difficult to be commited 24h in order to be competitive. as i said experimental. you never know what it might happen unless you try it
 
Heres20BucksKillMe

Heres20BucksKillMe

Polemarch
What kinda idea is that? This game's about fighting why would you want an 8 hour peace time? Oh right I know because you're just a simmer who ghosts at the first sight of serious combat
If you want to sleep go to a night bonus server, and if you dont want to, keep getting owned little play0r
 

ChaoticDefender

Hoplite
gkassimis said:
this is your answer to some players who love the game and are seriously concerned that every year its becoming less popular? if you dont have something useful to propose then better not post here mate.

i would love to see an expiremental en world where players have the option if they wish to have max 8h where they cant be attacked or attack others. since en server is international this couldnt be a specific time for everyone but players should be able to choose when. not night bonus where you still can be attacked but more like beginners protection. some people can use it for sleeping or for working etc because lets face it, spam and gold whores and various others are reasons for people quiting the game but the biggest reason is that its difficult to be commited 24h in order to be competitive. as i said experimental. you never know what it might happen unless you try it
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8 hours might be much but I love that idea….a say 6 hour continuous safe time that any player can decide for themselves coupled with no more auto completion of buildings would be amazing! I would use my 6 hours to be able to go to work without losing a city or being cleared…. A skillful player can deal with ARMIES of golded troops but can’t do much when maxed out golded cities start popping up everywhere when your just getting out of bp and your city is 5k only….so maybe max out the building reductions by 50% using gold would be interesting to see

Heres20BucksKillMe
If you don’t want a safe time for some of us ADULTS then your just missing out on all the potential players that cant spend their every second of everyday playing this game. If you want to only play with children then that’s something you should talk to a therapist about.
 

gkassimis

Hipparchus
Heres20BucksKillMe
Dont judge players who you know nothing about mate. I dont know many simmers who manage to be always in top 3 of fighters. Night bonus as you propose isnt a solution because: 1)you can still be attacked, 2)many dont have problem with attacks while sleeping but while working, 3)night bonus you find only in national servers which are not as competitive as en server

ChaoticDefender
8h isnt much if you consider the fact that most people work minimum 8h. The important is to be flexible about it. Some people might not want to use this protection at all. Some might want to use it fully and others use it for less hours. It can be used like vm and start after 48h so players wont manipulate this just to escape a difficult situation. Also it will help game become less dirty since many players in order to be on 24h while they cant, they use bots for auto defence and teamviewing programms so others can watch their backs. I believe its an idea that has potential to bring back many players who have quitted and keep in game new players who leave disappointed. I know many who would be tempted to return and play under such conditions.
 
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Trist3

Chiliarch
There are so many problems with your suggestion tho which you haven't considered.

Revolt worlds: it takes 12 hours for revolt to go red so you have 2 choices, revolt the player right after his 8-hour free window, assuming TTs or around 1 hour for your average revolt, that leaves you 3 hours of RR to land a CS, which is extremely easy to defend for anyone half-competent in any decent team. Option number 2 is to revolt the player in the few hours before his 8 hours so much of BR happens during his sleep time, which again leaves 4/5 hours of the same timeframe to defend. TLDR players on even the hardest frontlines would only need to be playing for 5 hours if being OPed to lose no cities, defending would be so extremely easy that no cities would fall apart from brute force which is pointless (essentially turning every server into bigger alliance wins). And let's not talk about the elephant in the room, 8 hours to build back any walls without having to worry about cats, being able to slow stack any cities without any organization... it's turning the game into baby mode.

Conquest worlds: 8 hours not to be attacked, well simple everyone will just be trying to land CSs in the 4 hours before that, leaving only 4 hours to be able to break a siege. While the issues are not as important as for revolt, turning sieges into 4 hours is insane, plus add to that the fact you wouldn't even need to stack said siege for 8 hours, cities would drop like flies for anyone not hyperactive. In this case, your proposition actually hurts the casual player, because he has to be online every day for the 4 hours before his sleep time or lose his cities for free, but still has to be active the rest of the time for regular sieges. It just seems to defeat the point really...

There are many other issues regarding this point that can be abused which I will refrain to bring up to keep this relatively short, but please in the future consider the impact of your propositions with existing mechanics before you bring them forward
 
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