JWA’s most recent update and how controversial it is has reminded me a lot about both the issues and features of the game. Because of this, I wanted to dedicate a thread to everything I believe is a a problem with this game, how to fix it, and any other suggestions I would like to see added. Rather than making several separate threads, I thought making one giant thread would be easier as to keep the forums tidy and to receive as much feedback as possible. Here’s how this thread will work:
All of these issues, solutions, and features will be sorted in what I feel is most important to least important. For example, what I believe is the biggest thing that should be addressed in JWA will be at the top, and a minor QoL suggestion would be near the bottom.
Before I start, I know there may be some disagreement amongst a lot of what I say. If there is something you disagree with or feel something needs to be changed, I’d be glad to discuss about it and edit this post if needed. Now, onto all of my issues, solutions, and suggestions for this game.
1: Meta diversity is way too low
This is what I believe is the biggest issue with the game at the moment.
I’ll give an example of a diverse meta and why it’s important by using a different game that has many similarities to JWA. Clash Royale is similar to JWA, in that they both have many collectable units used for battle that can be leveled, a ladder-system based PvP system, online singleplayer and multiplayer mechanics, shops with changing items, and more. However, one thing that makes Clash Royale so popular is that every single card is usable at any stage of the game. No matter far into the game you are, every card has its uses, strengths, counters, and roles to your team. While some cards are of course better than others, you almost never fight the same team for a good while, especially later on into the game.
This is something you never see in JWA. Players in Gyro or higher tend to fight the same 10 creatures over and over again with little to no diversity. Every skill tournament revolves around the same few creatures, again, with little to no diversity. Not only does this make battling boring for players, but it’s also a steal to the players that invest so much into a creature only to find out it’s not even good. I feel that all players should be allowed to use any creature of a specific rarity in battle and not be punished for the fact it isn’t one of those meta-defining powerhouses you currently see everywhere.
How to fix this exactly?
2: Gotta Buff Em’ All
This is a suggestion many people have started to talk about recently, and as of now it may be the only way to solve the lack of diversity in the meta. Many argue that instead, the strongest creatures should be toned down so they’re on par with everything else. The issue with this is that the creatures that are inherently bad are still bad.
So what do I mean exactly by “Buff Em’ All”? In short, if it’s not viable, buff it. Instead of endgame players using the same 10 creatures every battle, bring that number up to 40+. Instead of standard epic tourneys constantly having the same 10-20 creatures used on every team, bring that number up to a whopping 77, every epic in the game. Wouldn’t tournaments be much more fun and interesting if players had over 70 team options to choose from?
However, there is one huge flaw to this, in that buffing lots of creatures leaves room for lots of powercreep. My next suggestion will be a solution to this, and will also fix many balancing issues at a whole.
3: Pay Attention To and Recognize Every Creature in the Game
It’s quite obvious to see that a large majority of the game’s creatures have been completely ignored, and only the top creatures that the community talks about are the ones Ludia is paying attention to. So, how should these creatures get recognition exactly?
Have every creature and its usage monitored, and collect feedback from players. That way, if a creature is underperforming, it can receive a buff to keep it up with the meta. If something is overperforming, nerf it to keep it in balance. This way, not only can all creatures be kept viable on a balanced level, but Ludia doesn’t need to shove exclusive DNA in stores or make overpowered creatures to make profit, since every creature in the game provides a similar amount of usage and importance to the player.
4: Hand Out Boost Refund Tokens in Seasonal Reward Incubators
I think boost refund tokens should come with Seasonal Reward Incubators. That way every player has access to them, yet are only given out once a month. Refund tokens have been something players look forward to and were dissatisfied with the results, so handing these out once a month may solve this issue.
5: Fix Friendly Battles
This has been an issue for a long while now, even last year, and I’ve been wondering why this hasn’t been fixed or if it’s even been payed attention to. Trying to friendly battle with players is an absolute disaster at the moment. One person may enter the battle, but the other won’t, so the player in battle is forced to wait 60 seconds before they can play the game. Sometimes an unknown error occurs where the player is forced to restart the app. Sometimes the other player just doesn’t receive the invite whatsoever. From what I know, these issues occur on any device. Friendly battles are the only way players can test out creatures in PvP without being at risk of losing trophies, so I really hope this gets fixed at least some point in the future.
6: Matchmaking for Friendly Battles
Raid matchmaking was a great idea, especially for those that aren’t in an alliance or don’t want to bother others for getting a quick raid done. I think taking this a step further and apply a matchmaking feature to friendly battles would be a great idea. Here’s how it would work:
A player would have an option either to create a battle or find a battle.
Creating a battle: Choosing this allows you to change rules for your battle, just like making a format for a tournament. Once you create your battle, you can wait for someone to join. If two players have created a battle using the exact same rules, they will be paired up instead.
Finding A Battle: Finding a battle will connect you with a random player that has created a battle (you could also apply filters if you’re looking for a specific battle). Once you’ve joined the battle, you can either leave to find a new battle, or create your team in preparation of the fight before beginning. When the battle is finished, you can choose to either leave or rematch.
This, along with my suggestion in Section 2, would be a great opportunity for players to battle simply for entertainment, and give them something to do with their free time, as it would allow everyone to freely enjoy the battle mechanics of the game without being at risk of arena or tournament trophies.
7: Dodge and Crit Damage Bars
When holding down on an ability, you can see how much health it will decrease from your opponent. However, damage changed by dodge and critical hits are not shown, forcing players to take a guess as to whether their next attack will kill or not. Adding Crit and Dodge damage bars would be a nice QoL improvement to make battles a bit less confusing.
8: Trading
A simple alliance-based mechanic that doesn’t make players overly reliant on DNA requests and gives players a better deal than donating for coin. Here’s how trading would work:
A player would only be allowed to trade once every 24 hours. They choose 1-3 creatures to offer to their alliance, and 1-3 creatures to ask for. The trade offer will then show up in a separate tab for where you can see the trade offers from everyone in your alliance. How much a player can trade for is dependent on their level. Players cannot accept a trade for a creature they haven’t unlocked, and can’t ask for a locked creature either.
Level 20 players will have trade numbers of 10 Unique DNA, 50 Legendary DNA, 200 Epic DNA, 500 Rare DNA, and 2000 Common DNA. For example, a level 20 player can trade 50 Enteloceros or 2000 Scolosaurus for 500 Tenontosaurus or 10 Diorajasaur.
Players from levels 10-19 will have trade numbers of 10 Legendary DNA, 50 Epic DNA, 200 Rare DNA, and 500 Common DNA.
Players from levels 1-9 will have trade numbers of 10 Epic DNA, 50 Rare DNA, and 200 Common DNA.
9: Fix Creature Classes so They Make More Sense
This is something many players have complained about, as there are a lot of creature classes that just don’t make sense whatsoever. I’ll give a bunch of examples for creatures that should have their classes changed.
- Arctovasilas should be Fierce Resilient
- Hydra Boa should be Wildcard
- Imperatosuchus should be Fierce Resilient
- Albertocevia should be Fierce Cunning
- Geminititan and Diplodocus should be Resilient Fierce
- Coelhaast should be Cunning
- Spinonyx should be Fierce
- Tsintamoth and Tsintaosaurus should be Resilient
- Andrewtherium should be Fierce Resilient
- Dodo should be Wildcard
- Carnotaurus, Purussaurus, and Purussaurus Gen 2 should be Fierce Resilient
- Deinotherium should be Resilient
- Fukuisaurus should be Resilient
While this isn’t a super major issue, it’d help out players with knowing exactly what matchups a creature is actually good in, and it follows the basic logic of the game’s mechanics.
10: Raid Tab in the Battle Section
Instead of raids roaming around the map, they should instead be placed in a separate tab in the Battle section. I get the game is supposed to encourage players to go outside to hunt, but not having a raid in range is nothing but a minor inconvenience, and players usually just ask for alliance members to pass a lobby over rather than actually traveling to find one. This would also give more space on the map so there aren’t giant boss creatures blocking off wild creatures, supply drops, and strike towers. Finally, it would allow for more than just one raid of each rarity to be available at once, since all raids will be equally accessible and players would be able to hunt for creatures like Mortem Rex without special events.
11: Coin in Raid Incubators
A simple suggestion that helps players obtain coin a bit easier, especially for those that aren’t always able to play on the go.
Here are all of my issues and suggestions for JWA. If I think of any more, I will add them to the list. What are your thoughts on these ideas? If anything should be added or changed, let me know so I can fix the list accordingly.
