I have to agree with Tom that there should be some experience each session so you feel that you are progressing. The game is on the hard side and since it includes grinding to move forward I think earning XP each play through would be welcome (or maybe a configuration setting).
Sometimes I really hate my iPhone.
Well, I was trying a few endless runs today and after over an hour invested, only earned XP on 1 out 3 runs. I don’t know what is going on but this will quickly cause me to uninstall as endless is only way to earn more gems.
I posted on the steam forums, so hopefully this is a bug.
For general tries, with only 10 minute time invested, I’m fine with nothing awarded if I don’t succeed on the level, but for endless to not award any, I’m just flabbergasted.
I tried endless in one of the campaign maps and was not awarded anything but I was thinking that maybe endless was for after you earned all the traps. I am surprised to learn you were able to earn something. Though as I play I really need to grind some XP and it seems that the design is not giving me enough opportunity.
I also downloaded a few player made maps and they earn nothing either (which I can understand to a degree).
Some of the maps are hard even on the easy rune and I cannot finish them yet.
I think the issue you both are experiencing is that, unlike most Tower Defence game, this is a game you can’t grind that much in - and even grinding got a relatively limited usefulness. “You are playing it wrong!”. Just kidding, I think it is fair to criticize it for that, although it is incidently also the reason why I like the game so much.
To answer @Tman, the game rewards you only the XP points difference between your best run and your previous best, in each of the game’s modes I think (normal, and endless). In other words, only the highest score matter.
To achieve a higher score requires two things: to add multiplier using multiple runes, and - and this is what makes the game great to me - to make sure you don’t insta-kill your victims; the bigger variety of traps they are subjected to before dying, the higher the XP reward they will yield through a multiplier.
The vast majority of Gems are awarded on levelling up through those XP points, but the game is also built so that you can essentially reach an almost optimal efficiency on your main traps by about level 30.
The problem this design approach raises is that it means the player probably can’t brute force his way through the game and if a level puzzles him, he is stuck there. In my case though, it meant I never had to grind, and I liked the challenge proposed that way.
I have one issue with the game though: when first trying a level, you need to take a peek at it, estimate what traps you’ll need, then get back to the main screen to reset your skills and put points accordingly. I wish you could save “builds” of skill points that you could easily switch at the level’s start, because this is the most tedious aspect of the game so far to me.
At least on IOS you can click on the hammer in the trap selection screen to respec during the level. Dunno how the pc ver is.
Thanks for posting your picture of the Pit. I just finished that level today after many tries. I haven’t yet beaten it without losing some lives. But my setup looked different than yours. I modeled mine after a solution from a guy that posted a video of how he beat it. He put upgraded dart shooters in the bottom of the map where there are a lot of alleys, and used spring traps on the outer walls. He had a great comment about how that one horse in the first wave is such a bitch. He called it the the most trolling horse ever, LOL.
I did make a change from his approach, using push traps instead of the spring traps because they are less expensive. However I had to bolster other areas too because the cool down on the push traps is enough to let some creeps through, while the spring traps can be upgraded to reduce the cool down.
Did anyone else take the time to play through Prime World Defender? Way too much grind, but I liked some of the ideas.
Yes, I played Prime World Defender and did enjoy it but I really like TD games.
I played all the way through Prime World defender. On the one hand it’s a decent TD game - but I grew to dislike the card collecting mechanic. You get random drops for completing various maps, so it’s like Diablo - most of the crap you get is just that, and you’re really wanting certain cards. It does allow you to “meld” bad cards to good cards to ever so gradually make them better.
They dangle “super cards” near the end - with upper levels of 25, but for the amount of grinding I did you’re lucky to get 2 or 3. In the end, they don’t really matter. I was able to easily beat the final boss and the endless levels without really even trying.
One bit of advice if you do decide to play - you’re going to need to grind. Don’t go to the next level until you can beat the level on nightmare. If you proceed too fast, it’s quite possible to get yourself in a situation where you are completely outclassed. I got stuck for several rounds, and it was only because I got a daily drop card I was able to progress.
So this was a knee jerk reaction to not being able to solve the level “Shallow Grave”. What is it with level designers that put something like this in there? The only video that even remotely comes close to solving it - the guy starts with 7800 gold!! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yHU25ldYUs) He even begins saying it’s the most difficult level.
So of course he can load that level up crazy. Another guy’s video I’ve tried to replicate (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSYRx14iT1I) it doesn’t work for me. Likely as it’s over a year old.
I’ve hit the proverbial brick wall, and the only path I see past it is to grind for gems. Has anyone else hit that level & able to beat it? I need some tips.
It’s frustrating to me when I hit something like the difficulty of this level after enjoying a game so tremendously. It’s like all the goodwill in the world can be tossed out (reminds me of Infested Planet to be honest) and I can go from being the most vocal supporter to the meanest SOB who can flame a game. I’m just not seeing how to beat this.
I am stuck on Heroes Must Die. :)
What is it with the boulders? Can they be in a worse position? I mean all the boulders are oddly place.
I am finding that I have to respec for each map differently or at least that seems to be the part of each map’s solution.
Yep, 80+ hours and 85% of the achievements.
I am unsure if this will be properly hidden, but here goes my layout for Shallow Grave.
[details=The description]The important part is to set up the money making spot to the right, helped by the crowd control demons, and by repairing the door using your rechageable power. Those funds should all go toward making Dwarven Disposable Machines™ right next to their spawn points.
Now I only have about 5500 gold as starting money, so this means a few guys got through (especially because, ironically, killing the horse’s rider early on can lead said horse back to the nearest defense point they aren’t supposed to get to normally ;)[/details]
From my experience, in that level, when you are pushed to use those rocks, it means things have gone awry!
Here is a tip about the method I used to beat it.
The description
Basically, I laid down 4 crates (2 of which are free, whee!) that way as to exploit the carts routes to the max : they will push most but the heaviest foes to their doom. You can thus concentrate on making leftover take overs in the bottom.
That is brilliant! I will give that a try when I get back to that map. This helps a lot because I have not been giving enough thought to the cart route.
Here’s another option for you on Hero’s must die. I used the same setup as Left_Empty the first few times, and I was successful, but it took many tries. I was determined to find an easier setup.
(Ignore my loadout as I just fired it up to put the starting blocks in place)
We should break out the deep game specific strategy stuff to a new topic IMO.
Thanks I’ll give it a whirl next time I try that level.
Well I couldn’t get yours to work, but I did pass it using a slight variation, putting it on easy & had 4 lives left, so I’m done with that stupid level. The next one was such a breeze, I’m just left wondering why on earth level designers do that shit. Seriously I was so close to giving up on this game - but you showing me it can be done was the boost I needed so thanks.