Why are so many people whining about spell energy?
Lucoire
Posts: 1,245 ✭✭✭✭✭
I understand that spell-energy is the resource required for pretty much everything in this game. But I'm going to try and make a point that it's not the issue.
Have you ever failed to achieve something significant in your life?
If yes, why?
Most people will tell you that they didn't have the time, didn't have the money, didn't have the technology, didn't have the right manager, didn't have the right partner, didn't have... whatever.
What do all of those have in common? They are a claim to you missing resources, and they may be accurate. You may not have the time, the money, the techology but that is not the defining factor.
The defining factor is never resources; it's resourcefulness. If you have the right emotion, you can do anything DESPITE lacking resources. If you're creative, playful, fun enough, can you compensate for that lack of resource?
If you don't have the money but you're creative and determined, you find the way. If you don't have the experience but you're passionate and curious, you find the way.
And it's exactly the same with energy. If you don't have the energy right now to do the fortress but if you're determined and passionate enough you will FIND THE WAY.
Your focus is to progress in your profession and you notice that you lack red books. To get red books, you need to progress either in the Challenges Registry or Achievements. To progress in Challenges, you need to do Fortresses. To progress in Fortresses, you need to shift your focus from catching every single goddamn Foundable and CONSERVE your energy, re-adjust your pathing to the Inns in your area and then raid that fortress.
Your focus has meaning. And whatever that meaning is produces emotion. That emotion creates what you're going to do. If you're frustrated about your PERCEIVED lack of progress, that frustration - not the game - is what blocks your progress. If you learn to APPRECIATE each and every single pinch of progress, you EMPOWER yourself to push your body and your mind and your ingame-character to the limit - and by doing so, you live a more happy life; you become more successful by focussing more on the rewards than the perceived things holding you back.
Thank you for your attention.
(strongly inspired by Tony Robbins)
Comments
People are "whining" because you can't do anything without Spell Energy. Apart from Brewing potions (but what use are they if you can't fight?), planting ingredients and, if your phone is good enough, use Portkeys.
To progress in fortresses, you still need Runestones. So you need to catch the foundables and fill that gauge (100points? That will be a hundred flobberworms, yay excitement, danger, amazing graphics!). Prestiging pages? Somehow the foundables are "unbalanced" and you will fill the easy ones fast, which won't give you extra points anymore, and the remaining ones are rare. There goes the conservation of Spell Energy.
Which you will need inside the Fortress too. (Though, strangely not for Protego, and not for the Strategic Spells, which 'only' require Focus. Which may require potions)
And when you use that Runestone, there isn't even a guarantee that you will receive a Fragment, adding to the frustration.
What will you see inside the fortress? I don't know what's above Tower 5 or 6, but so far it's either the same few enemies, or lazy reskins of those.
There is nothing empowering about **** for higher levels. I'm frustrated because it's so boring. It shouldn't have to be boring, and ideally it should even make sense. [1]
It doesn't. It's lazy writing to stick Harry Potter into a standard collecting game mechanic.
The only thing that would fit is if Mundungus Fletcher were in charge of this game, that would explain why you can pay for nearly everything
[1] The Portkeys for this event led us to a compartment in the Hogwarts Express... and yet it had been Stolen by the Calamity and we had to fix everything first to make it come back?
Sorry for the multiple posts... looks like I missed the "will be reviewed" notification. Could any of the moderators remove this post as well as #3 and #4 ? Thank you.
@HPWULola
Got it, @DubiousAffairs!
@Lucoire - I'm sorry, man. But this post is wrong on many levels. First, I want to echo what @DubiousAffairs said. But more than that, understand that this is a game. This is not real life. This is what gamers do to get away from real life for a while... to go out and have fun... to enjoy themselves. Considering that those who live in an energy desert make the game unplayable, well... that's not exactly much fun.
And your point about "you can do anything DESPITE lacking resources..." honestly, not gonna lie... that's actually kind of offensive to me. It's blatantly false, and is a typical talking point by those who have resources and can afford to say such things. As someone with no job (though I finally got one and I start Tuesday), a house without HVAC, missing huge swaths of ceiling and outdoor wall drywall, a car that just died (which is going to make it hard to start my new job), a system that looks down on anyone who isn't already successful, a system that looks down on anyone my age re-entering the workforce, and only $2 in my account... I can assure you that you cannot necessarily "do anything despite lacking resources..." I assure you that in real life, not having resources IS the defining factor. So, if I want to make a suggestion for one of the few things in life that give me joy so that it can be a better something, then I'm going to do that. Not everyone has the same life experiences, same life location, or same abilities as you. Some are better off and some are worse off. We're trying to get something for those who are worse off that isn't game breaking and yet offers participation in the game by revamping the one thing in the game that is absolutely necessary for all other aspects of the game and is in bad need of increase.
When the inns and fortresses are spread out to an unwalkable state, there's a problem. That's why I think the best and most fair way to fix this problem is 2-fold:
1 - Allow potions that give energy (tier them like the exstimulos)
2 - Allow fortresses to give energy (even if a small amount at a time)
If we "conserve our energy" and don't "get every foundable", we don't play because there's literally nothing else for us to do. So we play what we can and then wait until midnight to at least get the 10 bonus energy from picking up an ingredient.
I know you didn't mean it this way (as we've had a discussion before about how unwell some things translate across languages), but your post came off as a bit derogatory to those of us who need just a little boost in energy collection. I don't think any of us are asking for permanent full energy. That would be silly but as limited as it is right now, it does, in fact, make the game nearly unplayable for many of us.
@Craeft I strongly disagree.
Games mirror reality. They represent reality in many aspects. Yes, this isn't real life but it is built on a lot of the same principles - so a lot of principles of the real world exist in this game too.
And as for "Compensating for lack of resources", yes it is possible. It's a question of mindset - which as your comment has shown, you have a very different one than me. People who've always been provided with the resources they need to reach their goals will never learn a) appreciation, b) resourcefulness and will c) end up in therapy very quickly.
Games are to bring joy and be entertaining. But they are not to compensate for lack of joy and entertainment in your real life.
And as for your proposed solutions, another "mindset":
Now why this mindset? To ACCEPT the game and it's essence for what it is, to RESPECT the vision of its developers - which you on both accords haven't shown. Because your proposals suggest that the fundamental essence of the game is wrong - which from my perspective is both arrogant and condescending. You'd rather destroy part of it than accept it for what it is and build on the foundation that already exists.
This - and I fully understand that this will sound offensive to you - shows that this game is a coping mechanism to you. And that's something it should NEVER be.
The game is playable to everyone. Whether you enjoy it is up to YOU, not the game. And I'd rather build and improve the game with people who enjoy it than let it be destroyed and mutated by people who don't enjoy it - which you've already expressed.
Huh - And to think I was consistently giving you the benefit of the doubt on your condescension. That was my fault. Sorry.
@DubiousAffairs
As harsh as that may sound, why do you continue spending time with a game that's frustrating to you?
A game is supposed to be fun and entertaining. So if this game isn't any of those things to you, why do you continue playing it?
And if the game is neither fun nor entertaining to anyone - doesn't it deserve to flop for lack of players (natural selection style)?
@Craeft It takes one to know one.
It’s always those who have resources that have an issue with others complaining about the lack of resources. I agree wholeheartedly with @Craeft and @DubiousAffairs.
None of the things suggested here are unreasonable or would make the game “too easy.” And this game doesn’t translate to real life or other metaphors about life, no matter how much I agree with the premise behind that life advice. Again, this is a game. Not real life. It’s supposed to be fun and reasonably challenging. Making energy more accessible to rural players via the OPTION for potions and giving small increments of energy at all POI (greenhouses and inns both give energy, why not allow fortresses to also give it out) would be extremely helpful to players in less dense POI areas and would not do anything to interfere with the difficulty level for more fortunate players. If you don’t want energy to be more available to you, don’t take as much. By all means. No one is stopping you from passing up the resource that other players are chomping at the bit to have.
Potions inherently come with a choice of what you are going to brew in the one cauldron you get for free. If you need energy on tap, you’re going to often miss out on the increased chance to return high threat Foundables using exstimulo potions or even the questionable dawdle draught. So this option would come at a cost, letting the player decide what is valuable to them.
Also want to add that I LOVE this game and really appreciate all the work that was put into it. As an avid HP fan who came to love reading as a child through this franchise, I am delighted to have this game at all. I have been having so much fun playing and immersing myself in the HP universe in another way. I also greatly appreciate the thoughtful commentary and suggestions put forth by this community. Dialogue is always important and I’m glad we are discussing things like this, no matter what side people find themselves on. I don’t want this to come as a criticism of the game as I appreciate all the hard work that went into it greatly. However, this forum requests our feedback and input and I think it’s great to discuss ways to make this game better for the largest audience possible.
Again, I just want to highlight this point. Players in high density POI areas have the CHOICE to bypass resources if they want to keep the game challenging by their own standards.
Players in low density areas do not have any choice as they are effectively unable to do anything in game but brew potions and unlock portkeys without the benefit of spell energy.
@Herm10neG92 Thank you for your words.
I've enjoyed this game as I have enjoyed all Niantic games before. To me, they augment my reality - regardless of which franchise and universe they take part in - and provide nice opportunities to meet and interact with people from very different parts of life. Be it avid HP fans like yourself, be it avid Pokemon afficinados or be it tech geeks. I enjoy the many good ideas people have come up with even if I disagree with some of them. This Forum is full of inspiration both for myself and for the developers of the game. I've read ideas here that, in its current form, might never work but they've inspired me enough to come up with a counter-proposal that would retain the essence of the original idea but would actually work around the criticisms that I had.
As for the suggestions, I believe that giving Fortresses the ability to "generate" Energy will break the game's economy.
I'm not opposed to the potion but there have been so many radical ideas of "mending the broken" part of the game that I wanted to express that this game isn't broken. I wanted to be a voice of "reason" within the choir of critique.
@Herm10neG92 And I thoroughly believe that we should rather mend the source of the issue - which in this case is the low density of POI - than adress the symptom - which is low(er) amount of energy.
That's why my counter-proposal has always been addressing the POI density.
@Lucoire I really appreciate your willingness to play devil’s advocate if you will and the fact that you frequently remind us to consider things from other perspectives. Namely, that of the developers. Since feedback is sought through this forum, I do think they welcome both negative and positive feedback. However, as humans, we unfortunately tend to focus mostly on negative things rather than positive things. I appreciate that you encourage us to be more optimistic about what the game has given us thus far. But I also recognize there is always room for improvement and I think @Craeft mentioned quite reasonable ideas that are worth some consideration.
@Lucoire I do agree that addressing the POI density issue would be helpful and effective. However, I still think that falls under the category of being a spell energy issue.
Maybe it’s just semantics rubbing some of us the wrong way? I think most of us want the same thing, we just look at it in different ways.
@Herm10neG92 I agree with that to some degree - and I may have forgotten to mention that in my original post.
It's a question of mindset. Even the most creative and positive people can focus on the negative things but they adress and approach it differently. They see it as a beginning, not as an end. They see it as something that can be built upon rather than something that needs to be replaced.
"Sometimes we win, sometimes we learn." is a quote that nicely represents that notion. Even when we lose, even if we're hurt, we can use it as a source of strength and improvement. We can use it as an inspiration to learn a new skill or as a motivation to find others who have lost or who have been hurt and are struggling to see it as a source of strength. It's a question of our own mindset and our inner priorities. Do we love ourselves, our surroundings and our world - or do we see it as opportunities to be loved back?
I think that philosophy is great @Lucoire but again, it’s very easy to say those things from a position of having resources.
I think @Craeft has mentioned his/her lack of nearby resources many times and I don’t think it’s fair to characterize he or she as being “of the wrong mindset” because they don’t see things the way you do. People have different experiences with this game and all opinions should be considered equally.
In my eyes, it is a luxury to be able to say that mindset determines your experience with this game. It tells me that you are unable to truly place yourself in the shoes of someone without BASIC NECESSITIES required to participate in this game. All do respect, but I think you are coming across a bit condescending with this post. And you have even acknowleged that you are aware it would be offensive and come across that way. So I think you intend it in this instance.
I have noticed you have been very careful recently in posts to say things like “what do I know” and “this is speaking from my experience” and I think we have all appreciated that added attention to your delivery.
I hope the respect being shown for others opinions will continue going forward.
@Herm10neG92 I didn't say that his mindset is wrong. I said that it is different from mine. I didn't "judge" or "blame" him but I did recognize in what way he approached this differently than me. I was very deliberate in my choice of words to be as respectful to his personality as I could.
But you're right - in regards to the "coping mechanism" - I did mean it the way I said it because of the way he explained his situation:
I assure you that in real life, not having resources IS the defining factor. So, if I want to make a suggestion for one of the few things in life that give me joy so that it can be a better something, then I'm going to do that.
What is this if not an explanation of a coping mechanism? What is this if not "my life is bad so I will put all my energy into the single thing that isn't bad"?
Ok @Lucoire I feel like you’re getting a little personal with @Craeft here. I don’t think that you’re being fair. Let’s not go personal, please.
@Herm10neG92 As for "getting personal" - he told me that the very belief that I've built my life on is wrong. Not that it doesn't apply to his life but that it (and in extension me, my life's story and what I identify as) are wrong. Wouldn't you feel the urge to get personal if someone offended you that fundamently?
As for the Energy - people want more of it because they feel limited by lack of it. I understand that. And I never said that it shouldn't be improved.
But I thoroughly believe that when you have the choice to give people what they want vs what they need, the priority should always be "need" over "want". Admitedly, nobody knows with absolute certainty what anyone "needs"... but Niantic has built 2 very successful games before so they should have a relatively good idea of what their playerbase needs. So I'd rather trust the experience of a veteran developing company than the opinion of a random person on the internet.
( so I'd rather protect what I believe the essence of the game to be and provide inspiration for further improvements than to let some random person on the internet tell a veteran developer that they're wrong )
I think you’re using logical fallacies here and implying that @Craeft feels this entire game is a mess and awful. That’s clearly not true. @Craeft loves this game, as you can tell from his/her activity level on the forums and willingness to help other players.
@Craeft has merely suggested adding a potion and making a minor tweak to fortresses. Hardly an indictment of the entire game. I don’t think the developers would see it as that either.
I do not consider it whinning to bring up a problem that has been wtitten about in many articles and comments from the beginning of the game. I play this game for enjoyment but take no joy in spending at least 30 min. A day getting energy to play the parts of the game i do enjoy. I want the game to succeed and will continue to WHINE until the energy problem is address. I truly believe this problem is driving players away and i do not want to see that. Maybe i am not the best player and it takes me too many tries to overpower but the game needs players like me. FIX THE ENERGY PROBLEM.
@Herm10neG92
I've learned that every game with resources has "sources" and "spenders" and the game's economy is a circle between those.
Inns are the most relyable sources of Energy.
Greenhouses are unrelyable sources of minimal Energy and can be spenders (if you empower a herb planted there).
Fortresses are exclusively Spenders and they reward XP for spending Energy.
Traces are exclusively Spenders too and also reward XP for spending Energy.
Sources of Energy don't give XP. Spenders of Energy do.
That to me is the essence of the game's economy.
@Craeft
You have a different life than I do and you play and experience the game differently than I do. That leads you to different conclusions.
And that's okay.
It is okay to be offended by things that I (or others) write.
But it's not okay to tell me that what I believe in and what my life is build on to be wrong. Just like everyone else here (you included), I too deserve my life's choices and my mindset to be treated with respect and dignity.
It's not okay to judge me or my life (you don't know me, you don't know my life, you don't get to judge me). And I don't get to judge you.
If you perceived my comment as judgement to your life, I'm sorry. My post was an expression of my mindset - my life, my personality and my spirit.
You were the first to judge, brother. And that's all I'm gonna say on this topic. I'm done here.
@Craeft You judged my life and my belief in your VERY FIRST comment. I didn't just anyone in my post, I merely expressed my belief.
(...) But this post is wrong on many levels. (...)
And your point about "you can do anything DESPITE lacking resources..." honestly, not gonna lie... that's actually kind of offensive to me. It's blatantly false, and is a typical talking point by those who have resources and can afford to say such things. (...)
You called the belief that I based my life on "blatantly false" and "wrong on many levels" and "a typical talking point".
To me, that's a deliberate insult.
@Lucoire @Craeft
I wasn’t involved in this conversation, but it appears to have gone a little sideways. To avoid the admins having to come in, I would recommend just agreeing to disagree for this thread and not rehash or bring up any more issues.
Remember, we do want this to be a place where we can voice our opinions and have a place where we can do that, and this conversation has just seemed to hit a dead end (in my opinion). So thanks for both of your opinions on this topic, but I think it’s probably best if the conversation ended.
Of course, I’m not an admin. I’m just giving a suggestion and you of course are free to do what you want. However, I just wanted to offer my opinion. 😊
That's my plan, @Overflow4487 - Actually why I didn't really bother responding to the accusations until saying that "I'm done."
I would much rather these forums stay helpful and positive and I like to think I help with that. I have no time nor care to partake in an internet argument in the forums of a game I adore. I reserve Twitter for that nonsense. hehehe
The entire point of my previous comment was to bring it to a close. 🤗
Hi all, I appreciate your passion and the interesting insight you each offer on this subject. We all share the same goal - to share our thoughts about the game and offer tips to fellow players! Lets please try to keep all comments respectful and polite.
I am going to close this discussion to further comments as I feel this discussion got off topic and carries a negative sentiment. Please keep this in mind as you all engage on other discussions.