Needs a LOT of Work – Warriors of Waterdeep Review

Cost of leveling relative to the increasing difficulty is completely uneven. Once you reach a certain point, progress is almost entirely stunted unless you wanna shell out some cash. I can barely get through the beginning rooms of the “Rust Queen” boss dungeon with more than half my party intact because my characters are under-leveled. Not to mention, leveling shouldn’t cost. Sure, it costs to upgrade gear, I get that. But once you reach the “experience” threshold, you’re still held back by gold? Gold which, as far as I can tell, doesn’t become more plentiful as players progress. Kind of ridiculous, definitely just another attempt to get into players’ wallets. While we’re on the topic of wallets, if people do want to spend their money on this game, that’s their business. But the “Battle” matchmaking also needs balanced and people that pay (and therefore have superior gear) shouldn’t be matched with those that don’t. I don’t know how the system actually works but it seems like I, with a team of 5s and 6s only go up against two types of teams; teams of 1s or teams of 8s. The game has neat mechanics. And at first, it was a lot of fun. But most of that has faded as the need for monotonous grinding (that offers next to nothing in terms of progress) has become more necessary and time-consuming. The actual dungeoning mechanic needs to be the primary source of experience. Because this is a Dungeons and Dragons game. Seems pretty self-explanatory. Upgrading gear should cost gold; leveling up a character shouldn’t. And please balance the dungeons so that not every one of my characters is under-leveled. I can’t level because I can’t move forward and I can’t move forward because I’m not strong enough. Do you see how that might become frustrating?
Review by Stage Crew on Warriors of Waterdeep.