I will add my voice to those already expressing their frustration and disappointment in the “new” Arena format and other quite noticeable changes since the May update/downlaod.
The first week after the May update/download I was often matched in the Arena with players of low rank and level 9 birds, 5 spells. But after a few days my Arena games became more fair and I won 3 seven card streaks … but with the 7th game always being one with level 9 birds, 5 spells. To win the 7 game Streak I had to bring in 5 spells and perhaps use gems for extra cards to win those final matches. Then in the 2nd week after the May update/download, the Arena game changed again and from that week on I have had the same experience each day I play. The first game is matched, perhaps slightly in my favor, with players ranked somewhat lower and some birds at a lower level, some the same, one perhaps higher, no spells. The second game is evenly matched in rank, bird level, no spells. The third game is with a player who has all of the new, highest level of birds, first 9, now 10, is usually ranked below 21 (sometimes ranked much higher than my 50) and brings in 5 spells.
I won’t play those games. At bird level 8 my chance of winning is low, even with bringing 5 spells and then gems may have to be spent at the end to secure the win and justify my use of spells. So that 3rd game is just to make me use spells and spend more gems for the “satisfaction” of winning and continuing toward the 7 card Streak final game. That’s not fun and I’m not playing.
I use to love the Arena. I have won quite a few tournaments, but now only one Tourney win since the May update/download.
I have also found repeatedly that the touch activation birds: Red, Chuck, Blues, Silver and especially Matilda do not activate when I fire them in the Arena!!!! Of course this adversely affects my play and score as these birds are then a loss and often just bounce off an object instead of destroying it. This rarely happens in the Trail game!!! Far less often it has happened in the Daily Challenge.
I enjoy the social aspect of the game and play the DC more often now that gifts are offered there. I appreciate that more gifts are available in the DC. Sending gifts to my friends makes my game play more fun. But I have noticed that it is much harder to win the DC. I used to win the DC once or twice a week before. Now I can’t win without spending gems, and I feel manipulated. I have noticed in the Boss cave, when I can reach that panel, that my birds don’t behave as they should and don’t do the damage they normally do. They seem weaker, less effective, not quite on course. So, of course, I need more birds to win and would have to use gems for more birds to finally defeat the Boss.
Why do you think this is not noticed? Why do you think I am having more fun? Or any fun? The game used to be really fun. The DC seems unattainable without spells and gems. The Arena feels like a grind.
Now I am only playing the Arena to satisfy the Daily Quest requirements. I’m near the bottom of my tournament group, facing deportation from the Diamond League each week. What used to feel like fun just feels like pressure. The only solution seems to be spend more gems: here, there, everywhere. And I am sure that is the intent of the changes in the game. But when you have played the game for some time, all the new machinations wear thin.
I am concluding that the expectation that the movie release would bring many new players into the game is being met. These new players have no idea what the game used to be like having nothing with which to compare. They will take in stride the need to purchase gems to play, as they will need to do so from early on in the game and will not question it for some time, if at all. Those who won’t pay to play will just leave. And losing players of long standing has become far less important to Rovio than it once was. It’s all about the numbers.