Introduction: Joe “Muet” Grubb - Lead Designer

NateTheGreat

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This is the best reasoned post explaining what's happening to this game. You hit the nail on the head.
 

No Angel

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Since when mobile games become f2p games anyway? They sell stuff and ads, and that makes sense!
Invest your free play in pc games 😉
 

Manifesto

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What's so terrific about this post?
While I agree with GWKdog, it's a no brainer for ALL games out there. Duhh! :rolleyes:
 

Mixie

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Joe do you play your account regularly?
Maybe one at a time you can create fictional pre-designed bases (as in campaign), and place them for seasonal tournaments. Would be fun.
 

Imaera

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Today i logged into the game after 69 days of absence. Not going to play dominations again, i was just curious.
I'm CW lvl 240. I checked my def log, no attack whatsoever, not even medal doppers. All my traps are active, my generals are up on the fort, my defensive blessings are still active.
In over two months i havent been attacket. LOL good job nexon.
Does anyone buy peace treaties lately?
 

Blood

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Lol you must be at high honor. I still get attacked it’s just medal droppers and people grabbing farms with raiders. The game really sucks now. Just lost all my planes on a weak atomic because I ran out of time. 90% of troops were still alive just don’t have enough dmg per second to beat the clock. They need to change the name from dominations to masochist paradise. There is an entire room on discord dedicated to angry dominations meme’s. Lol people would rather photo shop then play.
 

No Angel

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I decide not to train/use planes in mp these days to test my real capability. I use tactics more often but it's fun, I can practice with each one even barrage. Long ago people trained 7 decoys hoping they wouldn't need to drop any, and that would've been a ''standard'' way to play still, if the game team never applied these new changes.

And, of course I still get attacked 🙄 daily players usually stay at 800-1500 medals, and that's where we can find high activities in attack and defense.

That meme room is a nice thing 😆 what if we get a privilege to post funny stuff about the game in Community section 😆
 

Quagmire

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Hopefully BHG_Muet, can see that this issue is linked to preventing the cheaters. They are robbing BHG of potential & profits as much as the players who quit. The Complainers & silent majority of salaried players should be your target market now the game has matured. The Whales will always move on to the next big thing. Have your Marketing Department ponder that.
 
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oddin

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BHG_Muet TinSoldier Just bumping this post so that we see, some months after, how many things got fixed from my list:

1. WW matchmaking - Leaderboard (Leaderboard is in the process of cleaning from inactive/fake alliances but MM remains an issue)
We haven't seen any real effort to solve the injustices there. You already said that you are gonna address this. Time will only tell. Will not say more since you already answered this topic.

2. Cheating (Major problem with cheating and nothing is being done...still)
No matter what you are gonna fix, if the cheaters remain then again the leaderboard will show inactive alliances and cheaters will always be at the top. This is NOT acceptable. First, find a way to kick them out of this game once and for all. Then fix matchmaking and leaderboard. Other games release a list, on a weekly basis, with all cheaters that are banned for life. That list contains around a hundred players each time. This shows that the company protects its legitimate customers and this is what we want to see from you as well.
Some ideas maybe:
You could create a script that checks player progress daily and if it finds huge differences then this means that this player has obtained and used large sums of crowns using other methods.
You could create a script that checks workers. If it exceeds number 16 or 19 or 20 then that player is using the worker hack and builds 20 buildings at the same time.
Make it so that the system recognizes cheaters by itself. Remove human interaction in order to make it faster and more accurate.

3. Stronghold (No progress at all)
This building created so many problems. Rebalance stages did not touch Elephant archers. Maybe THE most unbalanced unit in the game. Nerf them severely if you want some balance in wars. I don't care to know beforehand if my opponent has 3 or 4 troop cards but I want troop cards to play not such a drastical role in battles. Many of them are simply too overpowered.

4. Expeditions (No progress at all)
They were fine before that patch that introduced researchers and benefactors. People were happy with it. Bring back the old rewards and for god's sake, rebalance the rewards with more SUPPLIES and not constantly have researchers. Creating on purpose a shortage of a certain commodity is UNETHICAL. Give us more supplies in expeditions now that we have a War Hall. Or at least give us the option to roll back the Shipyard to a previous level that gives MORE supplies. How fair is having a level 6 shipyard give more supplies than level 8 or 9? It certainly needs rebalance.

5. Museum (No progress at all)
In the beginning it was fine. A nice boost for all players. Then you mixed the categories in pottery and Jewelry and this is were the decline started. And on top of that the War Hall. Simply unacceptable! I would 100% like to see War Hall removed. But if this can't be done, then we must have clarity in what our opponent has. At some point, the designers talked about a Stats page so that we can see how strong a base was. Make that happen!
In addition, Supplies is a huge problem. I will never buy them but I want a better chance of gathering them. See no4 above.
Lastly, you introduced war hall but the capacity stayed the same. If you want to be fair, an increase by 25 should take place for all players.

6. FUN! (Fun is back for me but for the majority of players that haven't adapted, it remains an issue)
This is THE most important factor when playing any game. After rebalance stage 4, FUN has dropped dramatically. I used to have immense FUN when as a global, I could 5 star an atomic age player after careful consideration of his base and by selecting the proper troops anad tactics. It is FUN when you can 5 star hard bases. Now, you took that away from us. And this is the main reason people are leaving. In fact, I stopped playing too because of that. In the end I adapted my strategies BUT I can't hit bases at my level without heavy loses. I am spending most of my time in dominations retraining troops. How much FUN can someone have out of that? So, make it so that defence gets a small nerf (be it through buildings HP or defenders damage), while attack gets some more damage.

7. Underutilised Troops (Progress has been made concerning the commando and MRL. That is good!)
Rebalance stages aim was to create diversity. It failed obviously. If someone 5 stars my base, then he must be 250+ cwa with Heavy Tanks MK7. No other combination has worked in my base even closely to that. Let me help you:
Mortar troops
Commandos
MRL
Attack Helicopters (yes they need a little bit of more damage even after all research in library is completed, in order to be a successful replacement of tanks)

8. Leagues (Domi bonus got a major revamp and yes, now it is meaningful to attack hard bases at same or higher age. well done!)
You have released the Domination bonus after each battle and then you make it so hard to get 5 stars so it is rather pointless since rarely you 5 star opponents now. Change the league rewards to be more meaningful and give real incentive for players to reach Empire League and STAY there. As it is now, there is no way you can keep up with NTGs and diamond demand.

9. Archive
a. Speed ups (somewhat useful now that you gave us some during the wintry gifts period. thanks!)
So, you decided to give something back to the community and gloated that speed ups are coming! Long building time is a problem in this game, even in industrial age. Do I need to mention atomic and cold war age? No! We all waited for something that we could use to shorten by a day or 2 our 14 day building upgrades. But we were fooled once more. As it is now, we never get more than a 6 hour speed up, if we are lucky, which is useless. Make it so that we have better chances and better speed ups. Sell them for crowns at a discounted price at the archive. One day speed up normally costs 300 crowns. Sell them for 250! Just an idea...
b. Manuals (No progress at all)
Another fail from you guys. If you wanted to give something back and make it easier then you wouldn't request 11 manuals for a level 15 wall when you are given one manual at a time and this in rare findings. It is more meaningful to give 2-3 manuals at each time and maybe archive could sell manuals like speed ups for large sums of gold/food but lower than if we build them straight away with gold/food.

10. Max resources (No progress at all)
Many players complain that they are full of resources for weeks or even months. Make it so that they can buy things for large sums of gold/food. Potential ideas are supplies, marco polo items, speed ups, manuals, blessings etc

11. University (No progress at all)
As it is now, only whales and long time players can actually complete the first 5 leaders. But when a game stays in the business for so long, and constantly adds more things to do, some things must change. In my opinion, the initial leaders, should be rebalanced so that TIME required should be reduced. Make them more like Hannibal for example. Rework some of the stages that require 6-7 workers for 10+ days.

12. Building upgrade Time (No progress at all)
This is maybe the most requested thing in dominations. 14 days upgrades are unaccaptable. When space age arrives, it will be a nightmare. Either improve and give more and better speedups to all or reduce the upgrade time in many buildings because it is very boring to wait 12+ days doing nothing.

13. Reroll feature in museum (No progress at all)
This was a player requested option. And you failed again. Why? Because it requires 100 crowns! Why again crowns? It is unethical to request such a sum. It could be like 2-3M food or gold per reroll for example. Or if it HAS to be crowns, then make each reroll cost like 20-30 crowns max. This would give players more incentive to do it. As it is, I am NOT spending 100 crowns for pure lottery.

14. Tactics (Tactics have been changed but I still don't know if it was for good or not. Having them take 1 space though, makes the choice a bit more diverse. let's say that it was for the common good then!)
Decoy was our number one choice. You nerfed it and it is fine cause I admit being overpowered. BUT you completely destroyed its usefulness. Give it back a few secs and 5000-8000 hp so that it becomes somewhat useful.
As it is now, people are still struggling to find something to use and nothing works now that battles are so hard. And maybe the most important is to make them train faster! TIME is again a huge problem here. Dominations is all about attacking, so make us attack more NOT LESS! Rebalance stages caused a mayhem and forced many players to attack LESS. That is what you want?

15. Friendly challenges (No progress at all) This is very annoying. It was fixed but it wasn't!!
https://forum.nexonm.com/forum/nexon...general-bugged
This is something that you definitely must fix. This is how we improve our skills. Again, you failed in making this right for months now.

thanks
Odysseas
 

Bedlam

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Unfortunately I've been in this situation with a game before. Slowly but surely support will die off....no updates will come....no response from the company regarding cheats/exploits....nothing until the server dies and everyone is left with that sick feeling in the bottom of their stomach.
 

Hercules2

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Unfortunately I've been in this situation with a game before. Slowly but surely support will die off....no updates will come....no response from the company regarding cheats/exploits....nothing until the server dies and everyone is left with that sick feeling in the bottom of their stomach.

i agree, members leaving, members stop playing, long issues never solved.time to admit nexon only gives a dam about money.
1 i opened all my bases for 5 star victories
2 i do not watch videos for crowns, nexon dont help us, i dont make them money by watching videos
3 i stopped spending money for troop tactics or crowns or anything really
4 i encourge all friends to do the same and they are

N E X O N GIVE US BACK A PREREBALANCE GAME "WE ARE THE LIFE OF THE GAME"
 

Damik

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Sep 1, 2018
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Hi Joe, welcome to this game. I am a fairly new player who joined a few months before the rebalance and I did not join an alliance as I wished to gain experience before I joined one and was required to engage in WW . I am industrial age L 144 and since the rebalance I am rarely attacked, about once a week, and have a 40% chance of getting 1 to 2 stars in MP compared to 80% chance of 5 stars before the rebalance when I was attacked daily. I play this game for escapism and FUN and have played similar games for many years but I am in a quandary as to if it is too late for any FUN in this game considering the current rebalance status and valid comments on the forum from much more experienced players than me that need your urgent attention to recover this game .
In a good game the feel good factor comes when I succeed in a fair contest. I do not want it without challenge but if I need to buy stuff to win then it is against my sense of fair play and I refuse to do so as it is without competitive value. I am not against buying stuff but it should not be essential to be able to enjoy the game on a level playing field and not provide hidden benefits to other players that make it unfair. I will not join an alliance that is engaged in WW now because I cannot do anything other than fail them when the game has been so badly rebalanced and cheats are not addressed and hidden benefits sold to make it even more unfair, as to do so would make my game experience even worse than now as no body enjoys failure.
This will mean I will not spend what I am willing to spend in such a game so as to enjoy myself to the full extent of its capabilities, and I do spend, as I would love to join in WW with a team but currently feel this has no benefit to me to gain additional fun but only a sense of impending failure.
The concepts of this game are very good but the current implementation is not. The details of what needs to be done to correct it are all set out for you by a number of very experienced players in this forum and so I do not intend to restate those. You have the opportunity to turn this game around from what was very profitable to what it is now becoming a liability to your bottom line and share value.
When Fortnight wiped out part of your profit and share value and that of many similar games your management panicked and implemented poor changes to try to redress the fall in profits and failed to recognise why Fortnight went global. It gives instant FUN and is fair and free and no body can buy success by purchase of hidden widgets etc. It made it's money by providing skins etc so players can have shear FUN based on their skill and not their wallets. It also has a downside of being lightweight and lacks any team spirit and limited strategic long term qualities which this game embodies.
I play games for escapism and FUN which challenge me and I want a gratification based on my earned success so when I do have time to play I know I can achieve mostly a sense of euphoria, not depression caused by an uneven playing field. Any game that makes me feel worse due to it being unfair in its balance such that I and others more experienced players than me cannot achieve reasonable objectives becomes a game I ditch. This game has much to offer as it has the fundamentals of a greater depth and strategy than the likes of Fortnight but to have to expect to put up with very poor matchmaking and poor balance or to wait over 12 days for an upgrade makes it NO FUN and that needs addressing if you wish me to continue to play it. Cheats also kill a game and should be the first in your "to do list" to demonstrate you are in earnest. Please bring the FUN back into this game and please do that quickly before the damage is irreversible via loss of players and thus falling profits and share value. Thanks and good luck, no pressure but the clock is ticking.
 

Manifesto

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‘’so players can have shear FUN based on their skill and not their wallets’’
What an interesting concept. :D
Good speech, well written.
 

GailWho

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Well said Damik . I think we are all feeling the same frustration. This game has always had so much potential. I think that’s why so many people have stayed with it so long. But after nearly 4 years of playing it, the only fun I am getting lately is from my team and other players in the community. If you choose to continue may I suggest you join an alliance and meet some of the fine folks who play this game. It may bring the fun back for you. You are welcome in my alliance. We do not require war. I also suggest, if you haven’t already to join discord and meet other players on DomiNations Prime and The Sandbox.
 

Jakob_888

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Welcome here BHG_Muet :)

I really saw my self in this line: "We go to sleep at night and think about army compositions. We plan weeks of building upgrades in advance." lol:D

You guys made a great update about the leaderboard. Only a few inactive alliances left.

This is really well said:
One of my goals for the rebalance was to improve engagement in World War. While it may be an oversimplification, previous Wars were too often about “who didn’t 10-star”. Changing the definition of success to a range of stars should create a more interesting dynamic between Alliances. I still value this goal and think we’re within reaching distance of it. We’re currently exploring our options and we’ll be rolling out a plan as soon as possible.

I totally agree with you. Strategy has never been more important then now - thank you!!! I would love it to be even harder to get 5 stars. 1-4 stars are still called a "victory" in game. I would rather have 5 stars were really rare.
Many say the rebalance has made it too difficult in multiplayer and you loose your army too easy. That is partly correct - I surgest you make it easier to keep your army after a battle. Instaed of you have to destroy all defensive buildings, you only have to make 3 stars (TC, quick victory and 50%). This way multiplayer becomes better again and "the normal" in wars can still be 0-4 stars.
 

Davina

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Mar 24, 2018
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It’s clear top management are short term focused. I’m sure if the game developers like Joe had total control, the gameplay would be much better and fairer. So far this is the route chosen:

Step 1. Make attacking much harder.
Step 2. Give cards for crowns/money rather than rubies.
Step 3. Build a casino. Gambling is more lucrative than bug fixes, cheats and AI.
Step 4. Milk the cows until their udders are sore.
Step 5. Where have all the cows gone? Close farm.

Still time to save it though. Actually I do agree that defence needed buffing - it was too easy. Defenders should never have been given more HP than their attacking equivalent though.

Please please can we see what museum buffs are active in war? At the moment it is blind luck. Isn’t this meant to be a strategy game? At the very least tell us the type of buffs the defender has, even if not the specific numbers.

BHG_Muet
 
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