Sad indeed. TFW is a great game, but it was pretty clear that it just was on a downward spiral instead of gaining steam for quite some time now. I hate to say it, but I think the fate could have been much different if a few changes were put in place.

The biggest was eliminating gold from clashes and games, which ultimately reduced the community to bare bones by leaving little incentive to play other than deck testing. Eliminating money payouts did reduce the amount of gold in circulation, but it's short-sighted and ultimately cuts out the large segment of players who can't afford to play. And without a healthy, thriving community, who's going to pay money for cards?

Along similar lines, achievements and other secondary activity-inducers never made it in the game.

I hate to say it, but most of the changes (besides new cards) worked to discourage people from playing rather than the opposite. Phantoms as rewards never really were a big motivator. Alternate formats like the wilds and raids just don't make sense for cards designed for a different setting. The scripting/scenario additions were good, but came a bit too late.

Thanks Jed for the great game. Shame it had to go like this, but at least it wasn't as poorly run as an SOE game.

I still say a smartphone/tablet version could be a knock-out, but that sounds like it's not too likely at this stage.

I admittedly agree with Dorion in that areas that need to be fixed are the development of things like achievements that give instant gratification that help get people involved in the game until they are ready to get to a point where they can be competitive.

I admit that I am also a fan of gold for rewards other than power, phantoms or acorns. My main reasoning behind this is that people should be able to focus on the areas of the game that they are most interested in and not be required to participate in other areas of the game if they have little interest. Areas that do not get enough support need increased incentive, not punishing other areas to encourage build up of the new areas.

People should be able to play the game for free and purchasing of gold should come from a person's need to get a jump on competition. I highly competitive environment would then be what will get investments going. New card sets are a definite incentive to increase investment from people but work will likely then need to be done on the area of reducing costs involved in designing the sets.

I am not prepared to list this game as dead though and with some major changes, I can see it starting to gain momentum again.

Glad to see the game isn't dead. And on that note-- neither am I.

For anyone who wasn't aware (which is probably all but two of you), I was "spending my gold" battling cancer (Hodgekin's Lymphoma) this Spring/Summer/Fall. Thankfully, I tested cancer-free last month after 26 weeks of chemotherapy.

Take care of yourselves ppl.

~Sunny

Congratulations

_________________
Looking for: Crumbling Alone (2)
Also looking for: Revenant Bishop, Osin Faith Healer, Pilgrim's Cairn, Avenging Angel (2)

That's great man. Here, have an E-cookie. It's the least I can do.

Also, does anybody have any ideas on how to fix the game?

Glad you are back, Sun!
Hope you will be all right now

Just in case anyone is still listening and cares...

TFW was an awesome game in itself, but all the tweaks (power, acorns and such) and the monopoly of the larger players drove me away. I did feel guilty for never contributing financially to the game, but an experienced gaming buddy convinced me otherwise... the game needed the free loaders to provide cannon fodder for the small group of experienced spenders, while giving the free loaders enough incentive to keep playing and collecting (and maybe eventually spending). The game just never got this balance.

Shame, was a truly awesome game. RIP.

"Just in case anyone is still listening and cares..."

Why does every post start off like this? There is still a steady trickle of battles going on. People play this game every day.