So here are my thoughts, to date, on all the major changes from the last update. (Lots of text ahead, beware.)
New treasure boxes:
– These are okay. The biggest problem I have with them are the spell rewards. Both the free reward and the premium reward will give just one spell. Basically, you can either get a spell for free, or you can get a spell for 80 gems.
My suggestion: Increase the amount or number of spells received in the premium reward, as with the feathers (free reward gives 10 feathers, premium reward gives 100+ feathers). So that the free reward gives 1 spell, and the premium reward gives 5 spells. Or a copy of EVERY spell.
Feathers:
– I still think feathers are much more difficult to obtain now. Previously the arena was the best way to obtain feathers. Also I was able to choose which arena days I wanted to participate in, based on which birds needed more feathers. Now I just get around 25 feathers per day for a random bird, which is WAY less than previously. The only way to receive feathers now is to pay 80 gems for them in the reward system, which even then is no guarantee as to which bird you’ll get them for (or even if you’ll get feathers at all).
My suggestion: Combined with next thoughts.
Arena time length:
– Ultimately I think this might have been beneficial. At some point in the past I decided to take a break from the Arena, as I thought I was getting feathers too quickly (namely because I was playing the arena every day, while I was not playing the map levels every day). It’s still not quite perfect, though.
My suggestion: Maybe each day could provide a mini-competition (like the Transformers events), and at the end of each day you get a few gems based on your position. Then at the end of the entire arena week, the final leaderboard dictates how many feathers you receive.
Player versus player arena battles:
– Overall, I enjoy this new aspect. This feels more competitive. The only problem is that, after the initial room, I can’t tell which of my opponent’s birds and rooms match with my own.
My suggestion: This has already been suggested in several different ways, but I think that your opponent’s visible score should be based on the ROOMS, not the number of birds flung. You might clear a room with one bird that took your opponent three birds to clear, so matching the birds seems weird to me.
Scoring system:
– This is the biggest problem for me. This has given me the biggest negative reaction in the history of Angry Birds. I’ve organized my thoughts below:
Reading the comment made by @furby69 I think that the scoring system works better in the Arena than it does in single player mode. In single player mode there’s no competition or challenge anymore. Before, I enjoyed beating a level and seeing where I was among my Facebook friends. Now I have no basis for comparison, as one of my friends might have birds a few levels higher than me, and another might have birds a few levels lower than me.
The 3-star thresholds, as confirmed by @bankler, are based on the ASSUMED level of your birds—not your ACTUAL level. This assumption doesn’t take into account the premium treasure chests or Arena rewards that will boost your birds further. This is true for levels you’ve already played and for still-unplayed levels. For me, this completely removes the challenge of 3-starring the levels. I’m on chapter 7. My birds are at level 4, but looking through the data files, the initial levels of that chapter assume a bird level of 2. There will be no challenge 3-starring these, and I like a challenge. Furthermore, I watched @mighty-red-1’s most recent video tutorials. His birds are at level 8, while the levels (according to data files) assume a bird level of 3. Because of this, at the end of each level, the star meter fills before the first star even lights up. Again, no challenge.
My suggestion: I think the idea was a decent one, but it was executed badly. I would heavily suggest either removing the new scoring system in the single-player levels, or changing the star thresholds so that they adjust themselves based on your ACTUAL bird levels. There’s no challenge otherwise, and so I’ve actually decided to completely stop playing the main levels (including farming for gifts) until the scoring system is changed for the better.
