“Rebalance” of combat tree with Feb-09-2018 update pushing for more of a cash grab – Dragonstone: Kingdoms Review

Having been playing on realm 1, since before realm 2 was a thing, you can make it to HQ19 (of 24) without spending money on the game, however the “every other day” costs changes from November and December 2017 have been replaced in 2018 with additional ways to progress, and to stimulate growth... the strength/cost-efficiency of the Combat Tree was a huge hit. While it may benefit new realms, when Ember inevitably opens realm 5 and beyond, realms 1-4 will be handicapping anyone that uses the skill tree reset, or wasn’t already 70+ points into the combat tree. Maybe “only obtainable for cash” pets, or the “if I buy enough of these things, the random number generator will yield the correct combination of stats/type/element for this 1 of 3 pieces of equipment this one hero (of the 15, 4 being only obtainable via cash) needs” or having to use 10 things to receive a duplicate- which (thankfully) can be destroyed to return 3 of the 10 components it cost in he first place... sounds like fun to you, but for me it has been wearing thin. I am patient enough to not spend $20 to buy ~30 hours of time, but there is a point where the frustrations and disappointment outweighs the relationships with the people that warrant logging in, repeatedly every day, and spending hours draining batteries. The 3 factions that have formed on realm 1 seem to be working in Ember’s favor, with 2 super-alliances between multiple guilds, and those not stuck on either side- yet, but it still hasn’t been anywhere near as toxic as other games of the arch-type.
Review by mcham27 on Dragonstone: Kingdoms.