JWA- Dying of Boredom

So, hello everyone. No new tier list this week with the new additions (not like they’d change much anyways). However, I would like to discuss and write a whole big ….thing….. while the update is slowly being uploaded and released. I would like to discuss stagnation. Stagnation is defined as the state of not moving or flowing. There is no growth and development. And while I think I see many people say the game is dying, I would argue that stagnating is a better term for this. There is no change in pace. There is no surge of activity. In a stagnant pool, there are only a set amount of fish and other animals that can reliably live in said pool. Gar, carp, guppies, beta fish, mosquito larvae,  and other tough critters can survive in an environment like this. Now, most of these animals, if given the choice, would prefer to NOT be in these conditions. You CAN keep a beta fish in a glass bowl, but you really shouldn’t. And that’s what my opinion is on the game right now. There is no change. Jam City is doing the bare minimum to keep things going.

CREATURE BUFFS- Where's the Excitement?

Let’s talk about creature buffs. What the hell are they smoking when it comes to these? Back in the day, there was a rhyme and reason for buffs. Back in the day, buffs happened for a reason and with purpose. I would say changes stopped becoming so in depth at around update 2.14. Well, at least to lower-rarity creatures. From 3.0 to 3.7, only one rare really was buffed and the number of epics and commons changed were also small, with some changes being almost negligible like Dakotaraptor.

There is no excitement within the whole community most of the time. The last time they have probably done that on their own was back in 3.7, when they actually did well with making creatures good upon release. Sure there were a few stinkers like Postosuchus and Kaprosuchus along with a few fine changes/releases like Indoraptor and Rinchicyon, but then you had stellar changes like Euoplocephalus, Quetzorion, Trykosaurus, Poukandactylus, Stegoceratops, and Diplocaulus. All of these had a purpose in mind. Poukandactylus is for the unique meta leaning into a more fierce direction and can do decently well into the likes of stuff like Thylos and Concatosaurus. Trykosaurus meanwhile can also handle many of the tankier creatures that cannot break through it. Euoplocephalus can counter Iguanodon, who dominates the common format. Stegoceratops can handle a lot of the omegas in a 1v1 scenario while also being able to pick off lower hp omegas that dominate like Sinraptor, who cannot just run away thanks to Collision.

All of these are changes that matter. And that is the last time that they really did well on their own. I say that because they also did well in 3.9, but many of those ideas weren’t theirs. They were mine. A while back on Gamepress (about a year ago) I made an article about buffing lower-tiered creatures to better combat the omegas. And while some like Acrocanthops were theirs, Nodosaurus, Megistotherium, and Kentrosaurus all stemmed from me. Meanwhile, as we saw in 3.8, those ideas are real stinkers. For example, Pack-backed Pounce is the dumbest move ever. There is no point or value in Blue ever using it. Scaphotator’s buff doesn’t fit, and Charlie and Echo were screwed by them putting the damage and critical buffs AFTER the effect ever happens. Back in the day, when players would point this out to them, they would either get on that right away, or they would get to that in the next patch. But now the raptor pack is doomed to be lousy for a long time.

STAGNATION in ALL FORMATS

Why can’t they change the way Charlie’s pounce works? Easy: laziness. They don’t want to take the time to change it. This leads to no change in any sort of format. The same is true for Blue, Scaphotator, Pteranodon, Paramoloch, and Tyrannolophosaur. Their buffs in their current metas do nothing to help them. Blue still sucks. No one is taking Scaphotator over Dimodactylus. Paramoloch is a worse Ankylomoloch, who already struggles. And wow, a fierce creature with distraction and 110 speed. The Doe is shaking in her boots because Tyrannolophosaur has Affliction. Ooooh Scary! Smilocephalosaurus has good tools like a counter that always cleanses itself, allowing it to take on creatures of all sorts: cunnings, bleeders, and slowers. Indominus has priority and a way to deal with flocks. Phorusracos has a turn 1. There were some good changes and additions here, but it wasn’t stellar.

The only change overall was in the common format and a bit of the legendary too. But then this patch rolls around, and there was just no effort put in. The new designs look nice, and the unique looks like it has a good shot in its meta especially, but that’s it. Graciliraptor cannot compete and the buffs were trash. Compsocaulus went from last to last. There are legitimately four other somewhat cunning flocks, and Jam City couldn’t be bothered to make Compsocaulus better than one or take notes on which flocks do well and why. They slap a quick hp buff and a cooldown change and call it a day? You aren’t Phil Swift with Flex Tape. It’s still the worst unique in the game. In their words, they describe this buff as “we believe this might be the boost these little guys need to be more viable and interesting to play”. More interesting? More Viable? The only sign of effort is the guy writing these little paragraphs as they’re trying their best to make these lousy buffs look meaningful. Dimorphodon is still a joke, as is Darwezopteryx. Again, like Scaphotator, they didn’t learn from their mistakes, because it is still a worse Dimodactylus, who now also creates Skorpiodactylus, who makes Darwezopteryx basically obsolete. There is no attempt to differentiate it. Gorgosuchus, Entelodon, and Nundasuchus got the best treatment, and they are all still completely outclassed by too much to be worthwhile.

They didn’t bother to look and think “hey, how can we spice things up a bit”. Tournaments are becoming so monochromatic with the same pool of creatures patch after patch. The only exception is the unique format, and even then the same pool of creatures isn’t amazingly fun either. Maybe the new unique can spice things up. But one unique isn’t going to do much. Change in tournaments is happening at a snail’s pace. Nothing is changing. The same legendaries, rares, epics, and omegas still appear (unless they restrict them physically outright). But at least that’s not the only way to enjoy the game. Luckily brawl puts a fresh new spin on the game, right?

Poor Poor BRAWL- What have they done to you?

Haha, yeah no. I remember when that was hyped up as the big new thing. This was the next step after raids and its ultimate successor. And upon release, it was small, but still fun. They kept the pool small and wanted to make sure it ran smoothly, which it did. And then when you win, you’d get this new currency to spend on interesting and exclusive rewards at the time. I say at the time, because this was a while ago. Brawl went on hiatus and the game went back to its dull self. The Brawl returned, and things changed. Or, I should say, they really didn’t. The same pool of creatures was used. I didn’t mention Inostherium in my issues about creature balancing because I thought it would be good in a rare brawl format, but again, it’s still legendaries with Red and Tyrannosaurus thrown in there. And not even a bunch of legendaries, but the same small pool. The Doe, Buck, Angel, Rebel, Scorpios Rex, Red, Paramoloch, Parasaur Lux, Rexy, and Spinoceratops are almost always there. Some creatures that would do great in brawl like Tsintamoth and Nodopatititan would finally get recognition, but they never make appearances. Basically, instead of using their 420 creature roster, they recycle the same 25 or so creatures, cutting out over 90% of the in-game roster.

And yet, the rewards they gave us this time aren’t the same, but worse. Really, Pyrosuchus? Bajatonodon? 5000 coins? 93 Rex? Wow, all of these are super easy to obtain, while the catalysts present its own issues of being far too much for too little in return. And you can’t wait until next time for better rewards because your brawl crests will be converted to coins. They couldn’t bother coming up with something fresh and different but rather took this game mode and put it out to pasture by its second season. That’s sad. They can’t bother to mix it up at all.

HUNTING IS AT A LOW POINT

Speaking of mixing it up, one thing I am glad they did do was balance out the zones in which Omegas spawn. There was 2 in zone 4 and like 7 in zone 2. They started to balance them out, leaving some room for new ones. However, those omegas were already huntable. What they keep doing is making new creatures, but not releasing them for us to, you know, do what the game was intended to do. Now I get it, there will come a point where the spawn pool will become too large. You know what Jam City could do? They could do creature rotations like Ludia back in the day. Man, I regret clowning on them now. But hey, maybe take out Eucladoceros, Erlikosaurus, and something else like Carbonemys and throw in Beelzebufo, Diplodocus, and Sonorasaurus. Mix it up.

Stop making everything exclusive as all it does is piss off people who want to hunt and play the game the way it was meant to be played.  As of now, only 27 of the 46 creatures released since 3.0 can be hunted for in the wild, with a majority of that 27 being when they pumped out nothing but omegas. After the updates that were all omegas, (which was 3.4), only 7 of the 17 released creatures can be hunted. Yeah sure a few had limited time hunting opportunities, but that’s just silly.

Sarcosaurus is the biggest offender here. They haven’t even released it for anyone without spending money, but the hybrid was just dropped. Meanwhile, many others and I don’t even have it discovered. It’s insane. Not to mention many creatures that are locked away obviously make the endgame stuff. And there were other creatures removed just as their new apex were unlocked as well. Preondactylus is arguably the most valuable rare, as it, its two legendary hybrids, and apex are all top of the line. And with a Tyrannodactylus datamined, I am not going to be surprised if it uses Alankylodactylus, which uses Preondactylus (along with the Doe or Buck, which are also locked away). Ouranosaurus and Dilophosaurus were made Isla Event exclusives, and Dilorizon was also datamined and teased by Jam City with their polls, needing those two and Quetzacoatlus. Ceratostegotops needs Ceratosaurus, which is barely given out, and the new and exclusive Skorpiovenator. Dracovenator was taken away along with Nomingia, but then Compsovenator and Nominrex were released. I don’t know what they’re smoking, because normally you want to make your customers happy and satisfied, and I don’t need to make a survey asking if people like this lousy tactic.

All of this can be solved with one simple idea: creature rotations. Oh look, Styracos Lux has been in the wild for two patches. Why don’t we take it out for Ceratosaurus or why don’t we release the Tyrannosaur couple for this patch, then replace them with Panthera B and Sarcosaurus? It’s easy. Ludia did it all the time, which means it’s possible. But that requires work, doesn’t it? And if creatures are released into the wild after an update, we have to wait for like a month to get them. Why? I don’t see the point. Update time is when we’re all supposed to scramble around and look for where these new guys spawn and how to start to gather and build towards something eventually. That’s a thing of the past. The hype of notes and update day are dead because we can’t get what they’re advertising for months. And thus, the pool receives no flow, shrinking and deoxygenating by the minute.

HYBRID DESIGNS

Lastly, I want to mention these hybrid designs, because many of them just suck. I would mention Ceratostegotops, but a new animation that was transferred to Kentrosaurus was made for it, so it gets a small pass. But Concatoloch, Trykovenator, and Plateorex look so lazily done. Plateopika, Constrictoraptor, and Giganspinoceratops also are pretty bad. Even some nonhybrids like Sinraptor just flat-out look like a reskin of an existing creature was slapped on a lunchbox and boom they’re selling it. With Sinraptor especially, it just looks so ugly and unoriginal. Now you could argue that because it really doesn’t have many distinguishing features from Allosaurus, it looks fine. However, compared to something like Tarbosaurus and Tyrannosaurus or Ornithomimus and Rativates or even Stegosaurus and Stegulatus, there is some variation within the model. But then Sinraptor looks almost exactly the same as Allosaurus with a monochromatic skin pattern to seal the deal.

Now there are some exceptions like Spinosaurus Aegyptiacus and Koreanosaurus, but those are few and far between. They can go back and fix models like with Scorpios gen 3. They could’ve done the same for Sinraptor and Ichthyovenator, but no. There is no life being breathed into the game, and it’s becoming more and more stagnant. And I personally wouldn’t expect anything more from them. If they cannot fix their sanctuary animations to work right, they probably can’t do that either anymore.

FINAL THOUGHTS

So that’s my little rant. I would love to go and tell you more about my frustrations with the game, but my hands are unfortunately tied. However, I do feel like good rains could breathe life back into the game. The best update in a while was 3.9, but that is the issue. Most of those changes came more from me rather than them. And on top of that, those ideas are close to a year old, showing how fast they go over there. The game isn’t dying, but it also isn’t changing, and lack of change will eventually lead to death. Jam City isn’t actively killing the game, but rather is just letting it stagnate and die on its own.