RichinZhills
Master Corporal
I wanted to share some thoughts on the recent changes to the Rival feature in Special Events. While I appreciate the effort to streamline gameplay, I feel the new daily task format has lost a lot of what made the original Rival encounters compelling and worthwhile.
Previously, the 2 to 3 encounters per Special Event round felt like valuable micro-events. You could look forward to the potential for meaningful rewards like fragments for event or past event buildings. They were a small but satisfying incentive that made participation feel rewarding beyond just the primary Special Event outcomes.
Now, with the single daily Rival task set, the feature feels more like a glorified currency sink. The tasks mostly offer mini-game boosts, and ironically, those boosts are only useful if you first spend additional game currency to complete the tasks. This creates a loop where ignoring the Rival altogether might be the most resource-efficient option, which kind of defeats the purpose of having a feature that’s supposed to add gameplay value.
I’d love to see a return to a more engaging structure. Even if it remains a daily format, incorporating chances at fragments or more diverse and meaningful rewards would make a big difference. At the very least, adding some element of choice or branching tasks would give players a sense of control, instead of feeling like they’re being nudged to spend diamonds or medals just to get marginally ahead.
I've been keeping up with Rival on three of my worlds, I'm only in Bronze in all of them because I believe I'm not spending extra for currency or boosts. I find that trying to get the Rival done only spends what the previous Rival gave, so it's zero or negative sum for game currency. You need a pickaxe just so you can get 4 or 6 of the same levels, or you need to prismatic so you have enough matches to finish the task, only to get 1 pickaxe or essence again. So to cut down on my stress, just going to ignore Rival and spend just enough to get through my free board change and keep up with the world progress.
Previously, the 2 to 3 encounters per Special Event round felt like valuable micro-events. You could look forward to the potential for meaningful rewards like fragments for event or past event buildings. They were a small but satisfying incentive that made participation feel rewarding beyond just the primary Special Event outcomes.
Now, with the single daily Rival task set, the feature feels more like a glorified currency sink. The tasks mostly offer mini-game boosts, and ironically, those boosts are only useful if you first spend additional game currency to complete the tasks. This creates a loop where ignoring the Rival altogether might be the most resource-efficient option, which kind of defeats the purpose of having a feature that’s supposed to add gameplay value.
I’d love to see a return to a more engaging structure. Even if it remains a daily format, incorporating chances at fragments or more diverse and meaningful rewards would make a big difference. At the very least, adding some element of choice or branching tasks would give players a sense of control, instead of feeling like they’re being nudged to spend diamonds or medals just to get marginally ahead.
I've been keeping up with Rival on three of my worlds, I'm only in Bronze in all of them because I believe I'm not spending extra for currency or boosts. I find that trying to get the Rival done only spends what the previous Rival gave, so it's zero or negative sum for game currency. You need a pickaxe just so you can get 4 or 6 of the same levels, or you need to prismatic so you have enough matches to finish the task, only to get 1 pickaxe or essence again. So to cut down on my stress, just going to ignore Rival and spend just enough to get through my free board change and keep up with the world progress.
