My Impressions

[Starshaker13]

Registered 29 July. So far level 18.

Initially there's a lot to do. Do the quests, build stuff up, learn the production tree. It keeps you involved and interested.

Then you hit that level where the quests end. You are merely told to go forth and kill the bandits and you will gain levels. That's fine. But. It then becomes a grind.

All you have to do is make your army bigger and level your buildings which takes seemingly forever. Not in time spent in game because you really don't spend much time in game after level 16. You 'check in' now and then for fifteen minutes to check production, buff some stuff, make what few soldiers you can, level what buildings you can and then log off.

After a while you have enough soldiers made and you kill a bandit camp in five minutes. But your soldiers are depleted. So then it's back to the grind mentioned above. It's basically a waiting game. And that's the worst part. It's not very fun really. And that's after only five days. Even worse you have to make more and more soldiers to kill larger numbers of bandits so it takes longer to build them up which means more time doing nothing.

There has to be something more to this game. You don't want to make it go quicker because people will burn through it in a month and be done. But something to keep interest.

I'm a big fan of games like this. I have many popular titles and some not so big titles. So it's not a genre problem. It's just that there's really not much to do to make it interesting and an attention holder. The fun lasted three days. Now it's work.

[Cenzton]

Sorry but, level 18 doesn't really qualify one to make overarching statements about the entire game. You have progressively harder camps to fight which means figuring out how to balance your building licenses versus what production you need. In the mid 20s you can also start doing adventures, solo or with other people which I'm sure will add another element to the game.

But really, this game is one of patience. Log in, do your thing for 15 minutes, log out and do things in your life log in again later. We're all pretty much in agreement that we wish leveling would go a little faster, but if you're wanting to play every second of ever day here, this game probably isn't for you.

[Starshaker13]

Anything more than fifteen minutes a day would be an improvement. Instead of clicking a button to have your explorer do the exploring why not let people do the exploring themselves? Instead of clicking a button to find mines and quarries why not allow players to find them? Instead of plopping the bandit camps down where you can see all of them why not let the players scout for them? Instead of exposing entire areas in one fell swoop why not let people lift the fog through their own exploration?

There are dozens of different things that could be done to make the game more enjoyable and burn an hour or two instead of fifteen minutes. And higher levels won't change it. It will demand higher level troops that take longer to build. Different stuff, same time. Give people something more to do. That's all. And yes, I do have a lot of experience in this type of game. If it becomes work early then typically that does not change later. That is over twenty years of gaming and beta testing experience.

[Mistapink]

Cenzton makes a great point, this game is all about patience.......... until gems become available to purchase

[Starshaker13]

So then I must be wrong in wanting a bit more to do while ingame. Ok.

[Cenzton]

So then I must be wrong in wanting a bit more to do while ingame. Ok.

See, here's the thing, you're not wrong per se, but I think you were hoping this game to be more than it's going to be. And that's fine, I'm sure plenty of people will realize this game is not for them either, but there are a lot of us who like having games which you can just... well... set it and forget it.

I think you should stick though, or at least come back when the game goes into open beta/release to see how it's changed, but I don't think anyone is to blame if you don't think you'll stick around.

[Avalanch]

Well I'll be honest and partially agree with the original poster. There really *isn't* a lot to do at least at this point. Compared to another browser game I spent some time in, where if I so chose there was a ton of things I could micro-manage, and then purchase the ability for the game to automate some of it when I had too many things to manage myself (or just less time)

I am just not seeing this here yet, I don't see me purchasing gems to speed up the little bit of micromanaging this allows me. But only level 18, and in closed beta, I suppose more is to come!

Overall my impression of the game is good, but thus far I don't see me ever purchasing gems for the low amount of time it actually requires for me to interact with the game. I can get a lot more 'bang for the buck' elsewhere. So, in my opinion there are going to need to be more compelling reasons to buy gems, because without gems, there is no game. Other than some extra building liscenses

[BB_Katealyst]

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to remind you that there is always the Adventure System. The Adventure System provides players with the abaility to play Co-op. These come in at higher levels.

You can find out about the Adventure System here.

[Starshaker13]

@Katealyst. Right. Waiting to see how that goes as soon as I get to that level.

@Cenzton. I'm not going anyplace. It is in beta. Things change. Being an opinionated individual and not afraid to show it I just wanted to give my two cents worth. That's what a beta is for.

Anyways, thanks for the replies.

[Sigmar]

if you treat the game like a typical browser game you access on say facebook, this game is perfectly fine for its speed. if you come in to expecting The Settlers 8 or 9 game (its based off settlers 7) you will be disappointed. but that isnt actually a bad thing. in its own right, one shouldnt expect this game to be like your bulk standard game, as its not marketed as such or being developed as such, its more of a casual social game (hence the facebook statement i made), you login one or twice a day build some stuff, send out your troops or whatever setup some planned stuff for later then log-out until later.
mind you not everyone will like this, but enough will to make it enjoyable to login. until the game is closer to release with the majority of the core systems in place i wouldnt rush to promote it or put it down, as tomorrow they could do a massive update that who knows adds flying dragons or smurfs O-o time will ultimately tell what is added or altered as the game grows.

could do like alot of the players do, load the game, set-up your buildings and such you want done for Xhrs then load the actual settlers game(s) and play them while you wait lololol