Great game with incredible potential, with continued updates I have no doubts that the game will eventually explode in popularity. My only real gripe are the balls being hidden behind an unlock system. I think this mechanic just makes the game less accessible for no real reason. My recommendation would be to make achievement unlocks cosmetic only, I believe that would still give casual players a good incentive to keep playing. Enemy balls are already a different color than yours, so I recommend starting with a simple change in ball color as a base for the first achievement cosmetic change unlocks. For more competitive/seasoned players, a ranked mode would more than suffice in keeping them playing. Honestly though, the game is already super addicting just the way it is achievements/cosmetic unlocks or not, can't wait for more updates.
As a professional winner I disagree, Taking away the content from achievements ruins the core idea of the game. It was Contrived in this way to make the game more unique in the Autobattler Genre, My second point is that the unlocks don't inherently break the balance of the game, most of the unlocks are purely for fun as they are underpowered purely for casual play. This game is balanced to fit more towards casual play than not, this is the reason why I'm okay with achievements locking balls, it also diversifies playstyles encouraging players to try new builds. I see this as a complete positive gameplay mechanic. Opinions? --Edit, A ranked mode would become very stale and generic it isn't fitting for this game. You would only see snowball leach, or necromancer splitball, with the occasional King ball. And that contradicts the diverse options in the game aswell as halfing the current playerbase into casual and ranked players.
I didn't just suggest removing the content from achievements, I'm suggesting to change what type of content it is, so skins instead of game altering unlocks. What sets this game apart from other auto battlers is the fun rotating ball simulation system, not the achievements. Almost every game has achievements (including auto battlers) and unlocks. On the topic of locking balls away diversifying builds and ranked getting stale, those are issues that are resolved through proper balancing. If the balls are simply balanced properly over time, a wide diversity of builds would come naturally. The game is pretty new, I'm not personally expecting the developer to get the balance right immediately, but eventually they certainly can. Attempting to patch the issue by forcing options out of players hands, neglecting to fix the actual underlying issue, balance, is just a temporary solution that cannot ultimately keep players interested in the game for any real meaningful amount of time. I agree that ranked would split the player base, but one of the best strengths of the auto battler genre is not having to fight players builds in real time, all it takes is a few players to give you a seemingly endless variety of builds to play against. Like I honestly mostly meant the ranked thing as something they could add later down the line after filling the game up with content first, but if they honestly wanted to, they could add it at any point and it would be perfectly fine for the above reason imo.
There can never be true balance, there will always be a meta, once one thing is balanced a new strategy will appear. No matter what game you play this will always be the case. I hate the idea of working for cosmetics, It seems very lackluster to me, as someone who doesn't hunt for achievements I don't see a point in going for them, unless it's a fixation someone has they provide no value, I will still never budge on the idea to make achievements worthless it would also devalue the time I've already spent unlocking these. Now you typically don't see much meta progression in auto battlers these days, it's an interesting change, not only to mention that lectvs made the game this way!!! ---Edit Addressing your point regarding ranked with fewer players in the matchmaking. This would make building against a specific player's build meta... if you see where I'm going with this. It influences the balance of the game, but having different specialized game modes to play wouldn't be bad overall.
If you care more about the time you spent (having fun btw) unlocking some balls on a completely free game that has brought you hours and hours of entertainment being "devalued" (even though now you're being given skins for free on top of having had early access to these balls) more than you care about the game's genuine well being, if that's truly the angle you're coming from at this, then I think this discussion is a waste of time and maybe you should reconsider whether you're trying to actually help make the game better or just attempting to cut your invisible "loses" lmao.
I wonder what type of motivation has sparked you to make such a conceited argument against me. Has it ever occurred to you that this is your opinion? the game may be better in your opinion, but I disagree. At this point you're just wasting my time, lets discuss my main problem with your argument. If I were to spend hours of time grinding a game to become level 100 only for it to be reset, yes I'd reconsider if this game is worth the time spent. You cant meet all your consumers wants, it's impossible. I Have Realised through reading your comment... That Not Once did you attempt to counterclaim against what I had wrote, devolving into using morals and ethics to persuade me rather than logic.
tl;dr You're weird for being hatefully motivated in this discussion over a video game.
Cool.
Developer, if you're reading this, be very very careful how, keyword, how you listen to player's advice. When this player says "it would also devalue the time I've already spent unlocking these", this is the real value in his advice, its his personal genuine true objective feelings on the matter. This is how most players advice will benefit you, not from what they're telling you to do (which are largely just emotionally driven justifications for what they personally want to see from the game), but rather what they genuinely personally say they want. Now player's personal feelings don't necessarily always need to be addressed, especially if its a fringe personal feeling that very few players will likely reiterate like in this case, but in the case of many players reiterating the same feelings (and not just a very vocal minority), it probably is something you should genuinely consider. I'm not saying the emotional "logic" that follows a players justification for their personal desires can't be correct (everyone gets lucky every now and then, and when it actually is the case that their feelings are a product of an actual genuine issue with the game, the emotional justification that accompanies their feelings towards said genuine issue will actually be correct), but this is the exception, not the rule. Not everyone is bright enough or experienced enough in game development to tell you what the right course of action is, but even a 5-year-old can tell you how they truly feel about something. Its ultimately up to you what you do with that information.