Please consider this fact and show the Devs your Opinion :
PQ3’s PvP used to be a way that most people could earn up to 500 Gems a week. Now most people will earn 50 or 100 gems a week.
When PQ3’s rewards stop living up to your expectations… because there are thousands of rewarding games out there… do you consider playing other more rewarding games ?
The last month I haven’t bothered to do more than 10,000 or so as to not waste time on it. PvP with 33 battles is around 4 hours per week. Doing up to the 7,500 on all 3 only takes around 30 minutes.
And that is in the game’s current beta state. Once the floodgates are opened to the masses, a player might need 24,750 just to earn the lowest tier 50 gem prize. Although the goalposts were moved with the increase in mana costs for spells, top players are starting to be able to achieve Turn 0 wins again, which makes PvP once again Turn 0 or bust once the basic tier rewards (which can be fully cleared on Day 1 of each week) are achieved.
Off-topic, but similarly, Tier X PvE Events are heading in the same direction. Players are realizing that it is not in their best interests to chase higher tiers, especially with their very high gem costs, leading to large clumps of ties at “safe” scores. That’s a result of a lack of incentive (as others have said, the “big win”) to chase the top of leaderboards.
Leaderboards aren’t supposed to be a primary source of income in these types of games, but the combination of continuing long-term beta, limited numbers of players participating in the beta to enable easy leaderboard placement, and the still incomplete game economy has led to players having to rely on leaderboard placement constantly to generate some kind of gem income to finance advancement in the game.
And that’s a whole another rabbit hole to go down for another time. At the minimum, the Sunday offers of Random Glyph + Random Follower Crystal + Single Eveline Crystal (totalling 2,700 gems) should be the F2P floor for account advancement on the high end of the game. Want to advance faster than that… well that’s what the premium currency transactions are for. The redesigned shop in 0.37 screams this. However, in the game’s current state, achieving that kind of weekly gem income (or anything even remotely close to it even with top-tier leaderboard placements in both PvP and PvE Events) is not realistic. Awaiting 0.38 to see how the economy is more fully fleshed out going forward.
I’m not currently running into the PvP issues you’re describing since my Tier is maxing out at 24750 every week. I’ve also planned ahead with my gear and I’m ready for 25000 when it starts showing up in the leaderboard (at least for the Open Tournament).
However, I think what you’re describing generally applies to any major pain point or frustration point in the game. Games are supposed to be fun and entertaining. When that stops being the case, it makes sense for people to move on. And yes, there are literally 1000s of other options at our fingertips that makes moving on really, really easy. I’ve definitely considered it. Although if I disappear, it will likely be to reclaim hours of my time each day that I can put toward something more meaningful.
Although I’m not currently struggling to generate Gems in PvP, I am not a fan of the game’s economics. The cost and scarcity of things like Glyphs is really frustrating. As it gets harder to generate Gems (due to overpopulation of leaderboards and storyline completion), PQ3 needs to introduce better ways for players to get Gems.
At the moment this doesn’t bother me. I’m used to all PvP type challenges in games similar to this being controlled by the Whales. The fact that I can still earn gems is a positive in my mind. However, this is only going to get worse, and there is no chance I will spend a week doing PvP just to earn 50 gems. Pointless. Especially when I get more than that most days just from the daily challenges.
I always consider playing other games, but at the moment I’m willing to give PQ3 a chance to redeem itself. If the next update doesn’t address some of the many problems that the ‘beta testers’ have presented, I will move away. As I expect will many others. I love the potential, but I don’t see the point in waiting for that potential forever!
PVP in its current state feels like a placeholder.
There is no incentive to progress.
Higher leagues offer the exact same prizes as lower leagues, while having tougher opponents and crucially more players capable of doing round 0 wins. If you have a new character it is easy to find high level players sand-bagging down in Bronze on very negative honor tying for top spot each week.
Having more fights available each week is an unnecessary time consuming chore. If I can earn all the weekly prizes on day 1, and hit top of the leaderboard on day 2/3, I really have little incentive to use my attacks for the remainder of the week.
Pretty much the only incentive for some more fights is honor to help keep our Kingdom key deal at max rank.
This is pretty much the only reason I play PVP, to bank honor for the bazaar key deal