Next Update

Aella wrote:

Meanwhile, you don't suffer from any of these changes because you already have cavalry. You already have regeneration wands and healing potions. You already have high level barracks and hero monuments.

Let me just pose this question to all of you top level players who are trying to play down the ramifications of these changes.

Aella wrote:

you are wrong here, healing times increase with unit level. a dead level 11 cav takes 20 minutes or so to heal with regeneration wands. my level 10 heroes take 25 minutes to heal as well. the techs only mitigate these times... the only advantage we really have is that we can have 2 full armies to rotate.

How would you like it if what you were working for the entire time you played this game was taken from you? You boast about your cavalry. What if a change was made and you could no longer USE your cavalry. I already had to work to be able to equip my gear. I couldn't fit into my max AP until I leveled my barrack. It is something I worked for. Now I would need to start that all over?

There are already checks in place to keep a level 1 army from having godlikes or epics. Those players can't take armies into battle dressed that way because they exceed their barracks' max AP. So now that I've finally leveled my barracks and put in the time to do so, you want to take that from me.

oh please, it wont impact you that much... what is going to happen to you? assuming you are right, you are going to make 50 cps per battle instead of 70 for a few days till you level your troops? and you are making all this rukus for maybe 1000 cps loss total across several days

nathor wrote:

Aella wrote:

Meanwhile, you don't suffer from any of these changes because you already have cavalry. You already have regeneration wands and healing potions. You already have high level barracks and hero monuments.

Let me just pose this question to all of you top level players who are trying to play down the ramifications of these changes.

Aella wrote:

you are wrong here, healing times increase with unit level. a dead level 11 cav takes 20 minutes or so to heal with regeneration wands. my level 10 heroes take 25 minutes to heal as well. the techs only mitigate these times... the only advantage we really have is that we can have 2 full armies to rotate.

How would you like it if what you were working for the entire time you played this game was taken from you? You boast about your cavalry. What if a change was made and you could no longer USE your cavalry. I already had to work to be able to equip my gear. I couldn't fit into my max AP until I leveled my barrack. It is something I worked for. Now I would need to start that all over?

There are already checks in place to keep a level 1 army from having godlikes or epics. Those players can't take armies into battle dressed that way because they exceed their barracks' max AP. So now that I've finally leveled my barracks and put in the time to do so, you want to take that from me.

oh please, it wont impact you that much... what is going to happen to you? assuming you are right, you are going to  make 50 cps per battle instead of 70 for a few days till you level your troops? and you are making all this rukus for maybe 1000 cps loss total across several days

The way you play things down is either insulting or because you really haven't considered the math.

It takes 9250 exp to get a unit to level 6 from level 1. It takes another 9k experience to get it to level 7 from level 6. If it took weeks to get to level 6, it won't just take a "couple days" to get to level 7. In order to wear all my gear, I would need to get to level 9 or 10 according to these changes.

I already paid my dues and earned the ability to equip this gear. I battled for the resources, worked the market and invested in my city and got my barrack level up so that I could equip my gear. You can't just shrug me off and claim it will only "take a couple of days" as if that is a consolation (and you know in these games that each level takes progressively more work to attain).

And for those who have asked, yes, I do use heroes for my armies. I take 3 heroes per battle normally. Heroes add AP as well, and my heroes are naked. But still, without artillery or cavalry, these changes will cut my AP in half. Not to mention remove all the drop rate bonuses I have and the advantages that the gear gives in battle.

Anyone who thinks I should just see how I like it should be willing to have half of the things that they worked for taken away and see how they like it too.

I had barracks 14 not even long ago, less than two weeks - so if anyone calls me elite player now i feel rather amused. Now i have Barracks 17. I have absolutely NO issues filling 1930 AP (my current barracks limit) with only 3 HI + 3 Archers + 4 LI. None of them has even a single epic or godlike item equipped, but some of the units have heroes. If i was taken my arti and cav away i would feel sad because i love my ponies - but maxing AP and thus dishing out same cp wouldnt become harder.
Every units ap cost rise by 4 ap per lvl i think. In your case with 9 units on field once they all lvl up thats +36 AP. Hero AP cost increase +4, +5, +6. Point is capping AP happens much faster than one wants it to, and i find myself in the need to throw heroes out of my units to maintain the army composition within ap limits, till i up my barracks again and can afford to use heroes again.

And i was definitely struggling to stay within my ap limits at b14, and i didnt have a single epic or gl at the time and only 9 rares

I cant lose the impression that your (Aella) arguments tend in the Pay-to-Win direction. Gems are supposed to allow you shortcuts and speed up your progress, not give you incompetable advantage on the battlefield. You can buy ressources with gems, buy xp boosts, buy items. Technically you can even sell frags or items to other players for ressources and keep your building and research queue full all the time (i sold few gl frags for bunch of iron and stone).

I fully understand that many ppl who play this game dont have the time to make plenty of games per day to lvl up fast, with xp boost that still works way faster. If you are currently doing nightmare with lvl 6 units, then well respect - i bet you´ll get them to lvl 7+ before the patch comes out

Same time this game is long term, esp with the lvl cap increase to 20. Cant expect to have everything in one month, not even in three months. The vets are playing since beta (april?) and probably less than 3 players got their entire military researches atm. If you have your queue full all the time you cant get closer to catching up.

And gems are giving huge bonuses, that doesnt change and will even improve. Hiring any merc with gems alone is a killer ^^ The cave giant was the one for 400 AP iirc, just in case filling them was not hard enough yet

The game is changing, to the better even. And i personally found devs work very convincing so far. This upcoming patch was announced months ago as were the changes.

Aella wrote:

The way you play things down is either insulting or because you really haven't considered the math.

It takes 9250 exp to get a unit to level 6 from level 1. It takes another 9k experience to get it to level 7 from level 6. If it took weeks to get to level 6, it won't just take a "couple days" to get to level 7. In order to wear all my gear, I would need to get to level 9 or 10 according to these changes.

and to get to level 11 you need 120000xp. any way at level 6 you already can have 58 ap of gear which gives you maybe 2 epics in one unit and its enough ap per unit for you reach max ap that your barracks allow. you can still use your epics you just cannot use them all in the same unit.... does not sound so bad.

and yes, it will take you max a week to get that 9000 xp which does not sound so bad in such a long term game.

Quote :

I already paid my dues and earned the ability to equip this gear. I battled for the resources, worked the market and invested in my city and got my barrack level up so that I could equip my gear. You can't just shrug me off and claim it will only "take a couple of days" as if that is a consolation (and you know in these games that each level takes progressively more work to attain).

the math does not add up, really. 58 ap in gear score per unit is a lot+ the heroes and their gear. i am not exactly sure how you manage to not fill it up...

Quote :

And for those who have asked, yes, I do use heroes for my armies. I take 3 heroes per battle normally. Heroes add AP as well, and my heroes are naked. But still, without artillery or cavalry, these changes will cut my AP in half. Not to mention remove all the drop rate bonuses I have and the advantages that the gear gives in battle.

you exaggerating, it wont cut your ap in half. do the math...

Quote :

Anyone who thinks I should just see how I like it should be willing to have half of the things that they worked for taken away and see how they like it too.

it wont happen, do the math or wait for the update and prove to us you really lose HALF of your ap's.

Aella wrote:

And there IS a relation between AP and CP.

After checking the algorithm, I can surely say that of course there is a relation between AP and CP. However, as it has been stated by other players, it doesn't really matter where those AP are coming from. It could be from Heroes, GS (Gear Score) or just unit levels.

Aella wrote:

With gear, I don't struggle to reach max AP. Take that gear away and I would. The gear is WHY I can reach max AP. Take it away and there is no point in me having a level 14 barrack.

The thing is, nobody is taking the gear away. The gear does not become obsolete and is definitely not rendered useless. The only difference is that now the player will have to choose between the right gear for the right level of the unit, depending on how he wants to build his army. (Defense, offense, balanced, etc.) Yes, some players will not be able to use their current gear composition, but that will not affect their gameplay experience.

They are competing against players of a similar level as theirs, not against players of much higher levels, both for CP but also in PVP. Therefore, if a player has invested real currency to increase his chances in finding items faster to equip his units, he STILL has a small advantage over someone who has been crafting/buying items instead. However, such a difference would not lead to an imbalanced game experience or worse yet to a game breaking point.

xViper wrote:

Then they finally unlock their Heavy Infantry, only to have to wait weeks in order to level them up to a point where they can actually equip them with decent gear. So they have their higher level light infantry with some epics, and now they have Heavy's that can only wear the most basic of gear.

Yes, it is true that lvl 1 HI units will not be able to equip Epic and Godlike items, but the thing is that that is exactly the point of the change. Not creating OP low level units which could then be used to exploit game systems and also to allow a smooth and entertaining game progression. Also, you are forgetting that a HI is about twice (maybe 2.5) as effective as a LI, so LI will require some good gear to have any chance against even a lvl 1 HI. With higher values in almost all the stats and of course with double the HPs, HIs are.....badasses on the battlefield.

xViper wrote:

It's all well and good to say "Well you can still equip that godlike, but nothing else", but when you take into account costs for repairs, and overall gear effectiveness, the player is actually much better off wearing 4 uncommons than 1 god-like. So that god-like sits on the shelf doing nothing for potentially months, despite the fact the player may have paid real money for it. It won't be a very nice feeling.

Not necessarily true. You see, an Uncommon item can only give 1 stat bonus ranging from 4-9, while a Godlike item can give 4 stat bonuses ranging between 15-30. So, if a user equipped 4 Uncommon items he would gain 4 stat bonuses ranging between 4-9, if all bonuses were different, or 8-18 if he had let us say 2 stat bonuses from 4 items. However, a Godlike provides min. 15 stat points as a bonus and it is possible to get that in 4 different stats. Obviously the repair cost is tremendously higher, but if a low level player can't handle it, then why did he even buy such a high level item at such a low level? Even so, is the Godlike item useless? No, not at all.

xViper wrote:

I have the utmost respect for RuneSlayer, and all my dealings with him so far have been very positive. He does not at all seem dismissive of opinions, however critical they may be.

Thank you.

Tibr wrote:

Same time this game is long term, esp with the lvl cap increase to 20. Cant expect to have everything in one month, not even in three months. The vets are playing since beta (april?) and probably less than 3 players got their entire military researches atm. If you have your queue full all the time you cant get closer to catching up.

The game is changing, to the better even. And i personally found devs work very convincing so far. This upcoming patch was announced months ago as were the changes.

Spot on.

All in all, I have to agree with the post made by Scaren.

Scaren wrote:

Aella as with most updates I think you should try them out first before you start to complain.

Themistocles, an Athenian General and Politician in ancient Greece said before the battle in Salamis, as he was trying to convince the Athenians about his strategic plan. "Πάταξον μεν, άκουσον δε." Hit me if you will, but first listen to me... So, I say to you...Wait for the changes and then we will see if they did more harm than good.

nathor wrote:

it wont happen, do the math or wait for the update and prove to us you really lose HALF of your ap's.

Okay, you asked for math. Here are a couple of units that I have geared up.

Unit One- Light Infantry. Level 6

Weapon- Eternal Butcher's Axe of Fatemelter
Melee +12
Strength +11
Drop Rate +12%
AP- 30

Banner- Hellish Powerful Banner of Cairnbreaker
Movement +1
Morale +10
Strength +10
AP- 19

Artifact- Viper's Vicious Wand of Rnifd
Armor +10
Strength +10
AP- 17

Armor- Thunderous Forged Shield of Rerin
Armor +16
Exp +20%
Endurance +21
Drop rate +16%

Total AP with the gear on the unit (without a hero) is 197

Total AP of gear- 109

The godlike armor was crafted by me using fragments I bought with my own money. If I wanted to wear it, I would not be able to equip a single one of the other gears on that unit or I would exceed 58 GS. So what do I lose then? I lose the other three gears, their AP and their stats.

Here is what I am then without.

12 melee
31 strength
10 armor
10 morale
1 movement
12% drop rate
66 AP

Unit AP drops to 131 for a net loss of 66% AP. I then lose that 12% drop rate, which will affect my ability to craft or to sell fragments for money, thus hurting my economy. 12 melee, 31 strength, 10 armor, 10 morale and 1 movement is a huge cut to the army, which will be MUCH less effective as a result. Therefore, the army will deal less damage and take more. Heal time and cost will rise. Once again this hurts my economy and it hurts my ability to battle.

I am not one to enjoy sitting around 10-20 minutes between battles for heals. I put my resources into technology and armor to reduce heal times for a reason.

That is one unit though. And it had a godlike on it. Let's evaluate another, just for fun.


Unit Two- Light Infantry

Weapon- Eternal Butcher's Axe of Fatemelter
Melee +12
Strength +11
Drop Rate +12%
AP- 30

Banner- Hellish Powerful Banner of Cairnbreaker
Movement +1
Morale +10
Strength +10
AP- 19

Artifact- Viper's Vicious Wand of Rnifd
Armor +10
Strength +10
AP- 17

Armor- Epic Forged Leather Armor of Rihig
Armor +13
Endurance +11
Drop rate +10%
AP- 25

Now this one is interesting. NONE of these items are godlikes. They are all epic. And STILL, no possible way to equip three of them. So I have to remove half of them. And I can't even equip both of the best ones. So I either sacrifice 13 armor, 11 endurance and 10% drop rate or 12 melee, 11 strength and 12% drop rate. Let's just remove the armor and the banner since they will lose me the least AP.

So total loss then is....

13 armor
11 endurance
10% drop rate
1 movement
10 morale
10 strength
44 AP

11 unused AP to reach cap here too then.

Army goes from 179 AP to 135 AP for a reduction of 25%

Now in conclusion, this is not a black and white AP equation. You keep playing down what else is lost here. The total stat loss for only TWO UNITS here is 23 armor, 11 endurance, 22% drop rate, 2 movement, 20 morale, 41 strength and 12 melee. For TWO units. And I've shed over 100 AP already.

I crafted some of this gear myself. Other pieces were given to me. Others still, I purchased with my own money. And I worked hard to be able to level my barracks so that I could use it all. If these changes are made as is, my army will be a complete shell of what it was.

Those of you who keep trying to say I am exaggerating or making too big of a deal will NOT have to sacrifice these stats from your armies. You will lose nothing, but you expect people like Slawenm and I who have supported this game with our own dollars to just give them up without so much as a word.

If these changes do go through, I will leave Battle Conquest. The more I have to work the math for you guys, the more I realize just how unfair these changes are and what kind of impact that they will have for mid level players.

Oh yeah, not to mention that on top of it, we will face tougher NPCs, with our newly nerfed armies (yes, this is the mother of all nerfs).

I support the change for PvP, but NOT for anything else. As I said, I will take my money to a game that doesn't revoke the benefits given to those who have supported it financially.

Aella please dont tell that defeating enemies at coop or solo is difficult even for naked armies. For most of my gametime Undead earned about 50% less gold than others, repairing was very expensive so i could not even wear rares on my units and did not have any problems with coop or solo with naked units. So even with uncommons players using tactics can win coop with very small casualties.

Why do you criticise changes before they go alive?

Aella wrote:

Therefore, the army will deal less damage and take more.

Oh yeah, not to mention that on top of it, we will face tougher NPCs, with our newly nerfed armies (yes, this is the mother of all nerfs).

Not true, since the player can choose the difficulty of the battle and unit levels and their efficiency scale depending on the player's level. If a player chooses Nightmare difficulty with level 5 units, then it will definitely be his worst nightmare.

Aella wrote:

And STILL, no possible way to equip three of them.

At level 6, a unit has GS max 59, but you are only short of 2 points to be able to equip 3 of your items, which means that at level 7 you will be able to equip 3 Epic items. I do understand that this is not the point, but I fail to see the disaster described, especially when the AI difficulty scales according to the level of the player. Obviously there exist thresholds, but everything depends on the difficulty chosen by the player.

Again, I will have to repeat myself: Test the changes, play the game and then we can discuss about the results. The whole point of the several changes in the game is to make the game better and more entertaining progressively. If we just wanted players to buy premiums and "win" the game in a few days (P2W), then the whole game would be a lot different than what it is right now.

Aella wrote:

As I said, I will take my money to a game that doesn't revoke the benefits given to those who have supported it financially.

Again, we do not revoke any benefits.... However, if that is your decision, then we respect it and we thank you for your support, which we value highly. Without a doubt, we don't want to lose any member of the BC Community, so we hope that you will have the wisdom and the patience to review the changes first, see how the game has transformed, and then with a clear mind and with honesty continue this discussion again.

Rune, will the patch be today?

kuba_ wrote:

Why do you criticise changes before they go alive?

I criticize punishing people who support you financially by setting them back on their progress and revoking their ability to use that which they paid for (you can say that the gear is still good till you are blue in the face, but if I cannot equip it, you've just revoked what I paid for).

As I have noted over and over, the people who have tried to illegitimize my argument are top level players and if you look at the people who've supported my argument, they are newer players. That is because the changes affect them but won't affect top tier players.

If the aim of these changes is to fix PvP, why are they being applied to PvE? People in the largest guilds will love a CP reduction on all of the people who pose a threat to them and will continue to support these changes regardless of how unfair they are.

I won't support them though and I won't be here if they are put in place. My measly couple hundred dollars a month might not mean much, but maybe if all the other pay players who feel the same were to go, things would change.

once again, try new changes and then give your opinion.

RuneSlayer wrote:

Not true, since the player can choose the difficulty of the battle and unit levels and their efficiency scale depending on the player's level. If a player chooses Nightmare difficulty with level 5 units, then it will definitely be his worst nightmare.

One of the main reasons I paid to play was so I could do nightmares and they are a MAJOR part of my economy. Therefore, you ARE revoking what I've paid for. You don't get that this is a punishment to pay players throughout the entire game. And I'm NOT alone here. Others will wake up to these changes and feel the same.

Maybe if you didn't just spring them on us two days before you planned to implement them, you'd have had enough time to evaluate the response. As it stands the grand majority of those who will be affected don't even look at the forum and are completely unaware of what is about to hit them.

kuba_ wrote:

Rune, will the patch be today?

Late tomorrow kuba_...

RuneSlayer wrote:

while a Godlike item can give 4 stat bonuses ranging between 15-30.

Can we read this as a confirmation that the range of stats on the GL items will go back exactly to what it was before ?

I'm asking because I havn't seen any clear confirmation before about the upper cap.

Aella wrote:

nathor wrote:

it wont happen, do the math or wait for the update and prove to us you really lose HALF of your ap's.

....
Army goes from 179 AP to 135 AP for a reduction of 25%

ahh, so it was not HALF as you where crying before and you still have some ap left to squeeze in some rare or uncommon, so the total ap loss is maybe 20% what a disaster!*sarc*

Aella wrote:

Now in conclusion, this is not a black and white AP equation. You keep playing down what else is lost here. The total stat loss for only TWO UNITS here is 23 armor, 11 endurance, 22% drop rate, 2 movement, 20 morale, 41 strength and 12 melee. For TWO units. And I've shed over 100 AP already.

I crafted some of this gear myself. Other pieces were given to me. Others still, I purchased with my own money. And I worked hard to be able to level my barracks so that I could use it all. If these changes are made as is, my army will be a complete shell of what it was.

even with 2 epics per unit your army is already super... at you level i was doing naked fights to gain cash and so are most other players than don't rely on gems for economy. you already have a huge advantage and you don't even know it.
and again, at level 7 you will have your 3 epics and at 8 or 9, you can use all your epics again...

Aella wrote:

Those of you who keep trying to say I am exaggerating or making too big of a deal will NOT have to sacrifice these stats from your armies. You will lose nothing, but you expect people like Slawenm and I who have supported this game with our own dollars to just give them up without so much as a word.

If these changes do go through, I will leave Battle Conquest. The more I have to work the math for you guys, the more I realize just how unfair these changes are and what kind of impact that they will have for mid level players.

glad i am not rune to have to answer this angry customer, lol! relax, the game is good and its worth the time you spent on it. i obviously spent countless hours on it already and its normal to have some advantage to someone that only has 9000 cp. i can tell you that you already have more and better epics than i do and i would be supper happy to have them even if i could only use them all in one or 2 weeks.

Oh the hassle a major update brings!

Having read the thread, I believe it is a good update that will make the game better, as they usually intend to. Except the one most controversial part - Gear Score Limit.
While it is indeed a step towards improving PvP, which has a LOT of room for improvement, it would most certainly damage some PvE experience.

The discussion certainly looks like a cry of an angry customer, no offence. It is filled with negative feelings, but there are some facts there also, that I personally find convincing.

Fact 1: The ability to play and win Nightmare solo battles, not barely win, but on a regular basis, is indeed a big boost and a solid basis of income for active players.
Fact 2: A customer deserves to get what he paid for.
Fact 3: In current game, there exist different methods to achieve NM win. Update in question is effectively destroying one of them.

To those who say 'chill and try it out first': there are things that could only be experienced, and things that can be logically deduced. I believe the topic of discussion falls to the latter category.

First mention of implementing Gear Score limit was indeed a long time ago, somewhere in July, iirc. Long before the last new player influx.

In conclution, my opinion is that Gear Score limit should be applied only to PvP, not PvE.

Nethack wrote:

RuneSlayer wrote:

while a Godlike item can give 4 stat bonuses ranging between 15-30.

Can we read this as a confirmation that the range of stats on the GL items will go back exactly to what it was before ?

I'm asking because I havn't seen any clear confirmation before about the upper cap.

That is correct Nethack.

WorldEater wrote:

Fact 2: A customer deserves to get what he paid for.
Fact 3: In current game, there exist different methods to achieve NM win. Update in question is effectively destroying one of them.

And that is why said customer is upset.

If this is about being able to do NM battles easy at unit lvl 5-6 then its going towards imballance now. Players that do not gem themselves up arrive there with maybe 10k fame and lvl 10 units. If you are able to do that with lvl 6 units right now then its something badly needing a fix anyways.

They are supposed to be a challenge and well .. nightmare difficulty for a reason. In fact I hope the AI changes will make it much harder from now on so players will be looking forward to lvl up their units and have tactical goals in pve (remember the lvl cap is now 20). What smooth game experience are we talking about if you reach the top of the mountain in one week and 10k gems? - it turns to a pay2win and as rune stated out in many posts by now - this is not a p2w game. We are talking about the highest pve challenge here and you are turning it into ridicule.

Plainly said i dont believe the game was designed for ppl to run easy nm battles with less than a month of game experience. So, before you judge, take it from someone at 160 overall rank (60k CP, 500mvps, 8k fame) - I am still losing nightmare battles right now or at least have close to 20+ minutes healing times afterwards and therefore prefer coops.

Thank you for the answer Rune

Also Aella... after reading your stats, I'm under the impression you were doing NM with level 6 units. Not being able to do NM easily with level 6 units seems like a good change imo. Farming NM with level 6 units feels like a very bad joke honestly.

Nethack wrote:

Thank you for the answer Rune

Also Aella... after reading your stats, I'm under the impression you were doing NM with level 6 units. Not being able to do NM easily with level 6 units seems like a good change imo. Farming NM with level 6 units feels like a very bad joke honestly.

Well then, those gems I bought should never have been sold to me then and I should be reimbursed. The moment you sell somebody something, whether virtual or real, it belongs to them. You cannot ask for it back.

And the moment that you spend your own hard earned money on my gems is the moment that you can tell me how to feel about this.

Aella wrote:

Nethack wrote:

Thank you for the answer Rune

Also Aella... after reading your stats, I'm under the impression you were doing NM with level 6 units. Not being able to do NM easily with level 6 units seems like a good change imo. Farming NM with level 6 units feels like a very bad joke honestly.

Well then, those gems I bought should never have been sold to me then and I should be reimbursed. The moment you sell somebody something, whether virtual or real, it belongs to them. You cannot ask for it back.

And the moment that you spend your own hard earned money on my gems is the moment that you can tell me how to feel about this.

You should tell us one more time that you have paid. I think you didn't mention it often enough in this thread. It should be repeated, cause you know... some people might have missed it. You should also threaten more to not spend anymore and tell us more about your rights as a customer I think this point isn't clear enough yet. /sarcasm

Your argument will never make sense to me, because in my mind there is no customers in this game. To me, there are players and some of us are able to support the devs and the game with real life money. And there is a big difference between buying rights and supporting a project.

By your logic, me paying more than you (and I've paid more than you) would mean that everytime we disagree I would be right and you would be wrong. Fortunatly, it doesn't work like that.

I think your behavior is a disgrace. Maybe it's a very good thing if your kind of money go away from this game.

EDIT : to make it clear, it's not a post about allowing or not all gear in PvE (that may be a very valid opinion expressed otherwise).

Figured I would throw my opinion out there. I definetly looking forward to the new update.
 
I am not a pvp type person (I think I have done a total of 5 now...3 wins, 2 losses...guessing)
 
I do spend money of the game. If I enjoy, I will gladly support it.
 
I have played awhile and in the top 20 but only by fame....but in pvp....I might be in the top 2000.
 
I am much more interested in seeing what the actual update does and how it affects gameplay than "complaining" about it now. However, I do agree that if I spend money and I cannot do what I wanted with it (from what I read not being able to use items) ok...it can be disappointing but I fail to see that this will destroy the game for those players.
 
I am not smartest person on the planet...but experience is fairly easy to get and levels are actually easy to come by (after lv 10..it take a little while). Once I got my barracks to lv 19 and I can use 9 units...I just equip my cav  with rare armor/weapons and I have not had any issues. I dont use GL but will use epic (armor/weapon) on one unit when in NM (taking out artillery and surviving to get there). NM is pretty easy (the enemy does not use items) so looking forward to the harder units.
 
Maybe a little sidetracked, but for the lower level players...having rare armor is easy, it is cheap and you should have no problems in hard and the occasional problem in NM (basing this off of comments concering PVE). It wont be long at all and you will have higher level troops and can put them in epic or GL but not sure why anyone really needs it except to face against other epic/gl players in pvp.
 
Oh, last comment about waiting times...I have two armies which most people tend to use. While one fights, the other heals. For instance, I can usually go through 10-11 battles in about 30-40 minutes in the morning before work. I play on hard, I get about 85-95 cp/battle. So, not sure why people have the long wait times except if they NM or pvp. maybe off the subject but "waiting time" has never been an issue.
 
Well, dont talk much on the forum, but wanted to add my opinion (in case anyone finds it useful). Looking forward to the update. The game is still improving and for the player who is disappointed - make your case known but please respect the way other people play as well. With a little "tweaking" of your army or playing style...you can continue enjoying it. Thanks.

Want to know how to stop her from complaining so much? Just add a little legality thing that says items/costs/etc are subject to change without notice.

You might already have one but it's a good thing to add in just so you can say you gave them warning in the terms & agreements.

That simple little thing probably would be able to fix all this