Builder's Base - Issues with the game....
Ok - so, time for a little hard love.
When the Builder's Base (BB) first came out, I was NOT a fan. I truly hated the idea that I was being pushed into what amounted to a new game when the original game still had so many problems. I've softened my stance a bit over the last month; although I STILL want to see the main game fixed, I'm seeing potential for this new game as well.
That's not to say there aren't issues; there definitely are problems.
1) Slow as molasses - The loot cap is ridiculous. I get what SuperCell (SC) is trying to do with it, slowing down progression and getting people to spend gems, but I'm accustomed to the open throttle of the main game and the BB takes forever. The first three BH levels are no biggie, and I can even suffer through the slow pace of BH4 but taking more than a single day just to get enough resources to do an upgrade...especially when that upgrade itself will ALSO be 2-3 days? That's just the pits.
2) One builder - I've literally had to pause a day to let the build catch-up to lootable raids. A second builder would have allowed me to upgrade using all of the resources I had stored. Or maybe more storage.
3) Higher costs - Yeah...SC did a number on us with this one. The ratios of resources to gems, time to gems, and so forth...they are more expensive than the main game. The Clock Tower nerf (everything cut in half and the multiplier reduced from 10X to 8X) was another hit to the cost of the game. To make matters worse, the actual cost of items and their upgrades is proportionally higher as well. The BB is by far the most expensive freemium game I play, both in terms of time and resources.
4) AI is insane - Yup, I'm going there. The AI for the BB is flat insane. The Sneaky Archer is unreal. I've watched them split and walk all over the place, going after some structure or other half way across the game grid while ignoring everything on the way. It's almost like an imaginary flare (Boom Beach) was thrown. The other troops aren't nearly as bad, but they also have their moments.
5) Matchmaker is lousy - I almost quit over this one. The matchmaker for the BB is absolutely terrible. A brand new BH4 down around 1200 trophies and I get matched up against a fully deployed BH6 with mostly level 4 point defenses and BH4 troops??? The "norm" for BH4 is to pull BH5 opponents, even as a relatively new BH4. Trophy range isn't particularly relevant, although you will see it more often the higher you go in the trophies. Same goes for BH5 games pulling matches against BH6. Every time I think I have the trophy ranges figured out, everything gets pushed down another couple hundred trophies.
6) Trophy ranges are inadequate - The loot cap is intended to slow the game down and restrict gameplay, but there's no higher loot cap beyond 3000 trophies. That means there's no incentive to push higher as you develop your game. There are BH6 players all over the trophy ranges, even the three digit trophy ranges (I have no idea why). BH6 was released and things really became bad, with everyone getting pushed down literally 500 trophies. Ideally, we need increased loot caps up through 4000 trophies NOW, to 4500 trophies when BH7 releases, and to 5000 trophies with BH8. Supposedly, SC said they would eventually add in loot caps at higher trophy ranges, but the game is suffering badly right now.
7) Maxing flat doesn't work - This may be a bit controversial, but it's absolutely true - there is no sense to maxing on the BB. On the main game, you can max just because; on the BB, though...that's a flat out liability. I experienced this on my own game as I tried to max a bit more at BH5 before advancing to BH6. I reached a point where I had to upgrade to BH6 or drop down to 2000 trophies. It simply became impossible to effectively compete with all the BH6 games I was being matched against as a BH5.
8) Walls are ridiculous - It's bad enough that the walls come in 5 piece chunks (which really limits base design) but the costs of the walls are simply off the chart. To be clear, it's not simply the cost but rather the proportion of daily gains the costs represent. The loot cap restricts players to at most 1, level 4 wall each day if you are at max loot; if not, it takes more than a day of attacking to get level 4 walls. Level 5 walls...that's 3 days of attacking just to buy one wall cluster.
When the Builder's Base (BB) first came out, I was NOT a fan. I truly hated the idea that I was being pushed into what amounted to a new game when the original game still had so many problems. I've softened my stance a bit over the last month; although I STILL want to see the main game fixed, I'm seeing potential for this new game as well.
That's not to say there aren't issues; there definitely are problems.
1) Slow as molasses - The loot cap is ridiculous. I get what SuperCell (SC) is trying to do with it, slowing down progression and getting people to spend gems, but I'm accustomed to the open throttle of the main game and the BB takes forever. The first three BH levels are no biggie, and I can even suffer through the slow pace of BH4 but taking more than a single day just to get enough resources to do an upgrade...especially when that upgrade itself will ALSO be 2-3 days? That's just the pits.
2) One builder - I've literally had to pause a day to let the build catch-up to lootable raids. A second builder would have allowed me to upgrade using all of the resources I had stored. Or maybe more storage.
3) Higher costs - Yeah...SC did a number on us with this one. The ratios of resources to gems, time to gems, and so forth...they are more expensive than the main game. The Clock Tower nerf (everything cut in half and the multiplier reduced from 10X to 8X) was another hit to the cost of the game. To make matters worse, the actual cost of items and their upgrades is proportionally higher as well. The BB is by far the most expensive freemium game I play, both in terms of time and resources.
4) AI is insane - Yup, I'm going there. The AI for the BB is flat insane. The Sneaky Archer is unreal. I've watched them split and walk all over the place, going after some structure or other half way across the game grid while ignoring everything on the way. It's almost like an imaginary flare (Boom Beach) was thrown. The other troops aren't nearly as bad, but they also have their moments.
5) Matchmaker is lousy - I almost quit over this one. The matchmaker for the BB is absolutely terrible. A brand new BH4 down around 1200 trophies and I get matched up against a fully deployed BH6 with mostly level 4 point defenses and BH4 troops??? The "norm" for BH4 is to pull BH5 opponents, even as a relatively new BH4. Trophy range isn't particularly relevant, although you will see it more often the higher you go in the trophies. Same goes for BH5 games pulling matches against BH6. Every time I think I have the trophy ranges figured out, everything gets pushed down another couple hundred trophies.
6) Trophy ranges are inadequate - The loot cap is intended to slow the game down and restrict gameplay, but there's no higher loot cap beyond 3000 trophies. That means there's no incentive to push higher as you develop your game. There are BH6 players all over the trophy ranges, even the three digit trophy ranges (I have no idea why). BH6 was released and things really became bad, with everyone getting pushed down literally 500 trophies. Ideally, we need increased loot caps up through 4000 trophies NOW, to 4500 trophies when BH7 releases, and to 5000 trophies with BH8. Supposedly, SC said they would eventually add in loot caps at higher trophy ranges, but the game is suffering badly right now.
7) Maxing flat doesn't work - This may be a bit controversial, but it's absolutely true - there is no sense to maxing on the BB. On the main game, you can max just because; on the BB, though...that's a flat out liability. I experienced this on my own game as I tried to max a bit more at BH5 before advancing to BH6. I reached a point where I had to upgrade to BH6 or drop down to 2000 trophies. It simply became impossible to effectively compete with all the BH6 games I was being matched against as a BH5.
8) Walls are ridiculous - It's bad enough that the walls come in 5 piece chunks (which really limits base design) but the costs of the walls are simply off the chart. To be clear, it's not simply the cost but rather the proportion of daily gains the costs represent. The loot cap restricts players to at most 1, level 4 wall each day if you are at max loot; if not, it takes more than a day of attacking to get level 4 walls. Level 5 walls...that's 3 days of attacking just to buy one wall cluster.
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