Since the announcement thread was closed, I'll add my point here.
I totally understand the WHY, I went from lvl 52 to 60 in no time.
HOWEVER THIS communication should have been given WEEKS ago, not after the fact. Had this been said 1-2 was after the release players could have planned RSB and DADA accordingly. NOT saying ANYTHING allowed players to spend VALUABLE resources that they could have decided to spend otherwise. I.E I'm working on my 3rd profession and at lvl 60 spending those books, would have definitely gone to the 3rd profession instead of the charm.
They SHOULD have put this out WEEKS AGO!
Many spend a lot of time and resources playing, they choose that, they also choose HOW they want to play based off the game dynamics. CHanging those in mid-stride without notice, is just plain wrong.
This “explanation” is just a stack of lies and excuses for a fraud you have committed against your player base. You placed a function in game, one that cost assets that many of use spent MONEY to obtain. Now those asset uses have been rendered useless.
why would you select a feature available to all players, that is in game, cost players assets- to take away. You have done NOTHING to stop the inequitable gameplay and level advancement being created by people using outside apps to exploit the Knight Bus- but you destroy a feature every player can use? You have players gaining tens of thousands of XP in a Knight Bus session, running their own club and excluding the in game system- but that is ok with you?
Changing an asset availability at this point is theft.
You committed a bait and switch on your player base. You will not get one more dime from me- and every social media and review area will be made aware that your game does not comply with developer ethics and defrauds players.
Could you NOT fix the original traces duplicate? We rural player with low spawns need that "feature" to push the fragment acquired from hard to seen traces.
Also if you guys have nerfed the Trace Charm, then why not nerf the amount of resources required to obtain those upgrades so that those correspind to the actual TC value? Like you've said, "to keep this delicate balance"? Reduce the amount of resources needed and return the difference.
The delicate balance that Niantic claimed its trying to maintain is far to weighted on the stagnant side. Returning fragments is the most boring part of the game... And now they've gone and forced us to do this mundane task to advance and make it incredibly slow and painful.
We should get a refund on all the books we spent focusing on Trace charm tasks. I could accomplish the same as a trace charm with a tonic and it doesn't cost me DADA books.
"To clarify the above, there will be no changes to the SOS Training mechanics or node bonuses. There will only be changes to the text to reflect the intended benefits. "
The game mechanics have now changed. I'm disappointed to see this. Not sure I agree with the reasoning that "these corrections were necessary to maintain a balanced progression in the game". Progression remains, as it has always been, limited by the resource currencies granted from in-game events, in this case RSB and now DADA books.
The TC working as it has the last 1+ month doesn't increase the risk of players finishing all the SOS skill content and dropping the game as Niantic still controls the distribution of the event-based currencies. In my case, the boosted TC renewed my interest in the game ( 15 month player) as it became possible to acquire large numbers of a specific foundable and prestige pages that I had given up on. My in-app purchases also increased as I spent 100s of gold daily on the rental cauldron and various exstimulo potions to catch the multiple orange/red traces generated by the boosted TC. Also, it was exciting to strategize the best use of the TC to gain foundables and maximize the return of FG and MM books.
Without the 5-8 bonus traces of equal or greater severity, the thought of gaining 1000s of FG required in Calamity Essentials III is so daunting that it just turned me stale on this game. That's the most disappointing thought of all - losing the spark of joy this game has brought to my life during the depressed pandemic days.
Lola the messenger has a thankless job. Thank you Lola for taking on the difficult role of feeding us the meager information which you are authorized to do and being the bearer of often bad news.
I'm leaving this here because you prematurely closed your other thread about the Trace Charm nerf. That one barely had time for comments or feedback while this has amassed over 200 comments.
Your update today to nerf the Trace Charm was wholly uncalled for. I see can your reasoning for 'balance', but it's wholly incorrect. Your lack of communication is also telling. Do you honestly think players would really have sunk that many DADA or RSG (green books) into unlocking nodes to upgrade their Trace Charms to only get 1 new trace of similar rarity? That's either grossly naive or incompetent, and I'm not sure which is worse.
A better solution would have been to adjust the Trace Charm to produce the same rarity but of random families, i.e. if you put it on a Horned Serpent you'd get a Newt Scammander, Quidditch Harry, and a Womping Willow., etc. This would preserve the usefulness of the Trace Charm while diffusing the ability of players to earn significant amounts of family XP quickly.
Instead, as typical Niantic seems to rush to 'fix' anything that's beneficial to players, but drags their feet on anything that is detrimental. The Inn Recharge lesson still doesn't work. I'm still getting the 'Lost Connection' message upon log in, despite it being supposedly fixed ages ago. Beta players are still reporting they can't progress in the SOS tasks. All these things that are detrimental to players took a back seat to nerfing, I mean 'fixing' the Trace Charm. And all this after Niantic specifically stated that there wouldn't be any further changes to the Trace Charm, in writing, after stating that the Trace Charm Proficiency wasn't going to be updated to act in accordance with the text of the lessons. That's probably the biggest slap in the face to the player community. And that's not even getting to the Community Events where the last 4 events have resulted in Infinite log-in errors for hundreds, if not thousands of players. You'd have thought that would take priority over 'fixing' the Trace Charm.
I've been pretty civil here, but make no mistake @hpwulola , you've got a very pissed off community right now and cutting off comments on the other thread isn't exactly winning you any points right now. All that does is signal that Niantic will change the game as it pleases and it doesn't care about the community feedback, no matter how many times you say you do. You want to start making a difference, start by restoring the ability to comment on https://community.harrypotterwizardsunite.com/en/discussion/9965/a-message-on-recent-changes-to-the-trace-charm/ and actually listen to all the hate and discontent the community has right now. Because no amount of Dragons is gonna calm the community down.
@hpwulola based on announcement that trace charm proficiency is being changed to only increase XP rather than trace fragments, can you comment on the benefit of earning extra XP after level 60? Are there any plans to offer benefits for earning bonus XP to players who have hit level 60?
Right now I’m at level 59 and for the last few levels I’ve been dragging my feet and going as slooooowly as possible trying not to reach level 60 as I understand earning more XP once you hit level 60 basically does nothing. I think if players who are already level 60 could get some kind of ongoing real benefit from earning bonus XP from trace charm proficiency there may be a few less people so upset about the changes to the trace charm functionality.
Truly awful, and shameful that you closed the discussion thread on the changes after only half an hour. A tiny free gift won't do anything to help this time.
So, since this thread is still open, writing here:
This announcement clearly states that no changes to the mechanics will be made, while they were to degrade performance of the trace charm.
Even though I understand the reasoning, I disagree with the way the change was introduced. It's unprofessional and leads to mistrust in any longer-term changes you do.
There are many brilliant ideas that players suggested and I would recommend you to listen to them and implement at least the simplest one. E.g., How about giving a one-time option to restructure your magicum vitae for many people like me who heavily invested into trace charm?
Being a software developer, this looks like a change of one day of work. Thoughts?
Thank you Lola for the update. Please consider requesting advanced notice from the developers of major changes to game functions that have been heavily invested in by the vast majority of the playerbase. If something is broken, do not shadow nerf it and ask for forgiveness after the fact. This kind of one sided action insults your community and puts you in a bad spot to say the least.
Please convey the following to the developers:
The changes to trace charm functionality were unwarranted. Progress was locked behind DADA books and RSBs.
I have been very active in this game and my local community since before launch, and the revival I saw in player interest is now threatened. Not many players expect to spend the amount of time and effort on progressing in this game that you imagine.
The trace charm was something sorely needed: a way to be specific about which foundables you focus on. The amount of randomness in foundable encounters is frustrating and this gave us a way to be intentional about how we build our skills and play the game. Now, the trace is mostly just redundant with the trace detection potion, which was already rarely useful for players with access to good spawn density.
If you want to keep these changes, consider greatly reducing the cost to access these nodes and offer an SOS and Challenge Class refund and in general reducing costs of nodes in the SOS skill tree as now players have no recourse to make meaningful progress aside from play an uncommon number of hours and spend an uncommon amount of resources. If a game becomes too demanding to play, consider what this will do to your playerbase.
Respect our time, effort and money and we will respect yours.
Yeah i would also like to get my spell books back instead of false proficiency on the trace charm i have only gotten 1 additional trace the last few times i used it as opposed to 5 or 6 in the past. Not eorth the amount of resorces spent to get the efficacy and proficiency. Very dissapointed in this feature. Feel duped.
I share the frustration, but mostly I would like clarification on what will happen with the nodes we unlocked that were supposed to reward us with more fragments all along, which haven't worked right since the beginning. I am supposed to be getting five fragments per trace, but still only get two. If we are only going to get two in the future, then what have I actually unlocked with my resources? Will there be new nodes that we automatically get in their place, or will we be refunded resources for those nodes that no longer apply? Thanks for your time.
@N6MAC41717 they already shafted us on the fragments by saying it was supposed to say extra XP and that it was a wording error, that was last weeks debacle, this week it’s the full Monty shadow nerfimg of the entire trace charm after the fact. So you’re getting a little gift box and a dragon event... enjoy!
Without putting too fine a point on it but your list of own goals across Ingress, Pokemon' Go and now Wizards Unite is almost legendary within gaming circles. So much so, that I could write an HD thesis documenting the various times promises have been broken affecting communities, the player base and I'm sure revenue, but most importantly, your integrity.
Doing what you say you will do and delivering on that once it's communicated is sacrosanct and any deviation from that needs to appropriately communicated and compensation given to the player base as necessary.
It costs you nothing to do this, tweek or twerk the code or just put it in a complementary gift pack, is simple to do.
As a long playing member of your various games, can I please understand why does this seem hard to do? Do you just not care?
I hope you will adhere to your communications and as a good corporate citizen, keep things as they were and or compensate all accordingly.
Why don't you guys give some functionality back to it? Like... During a 5 minute duration, any traces, not just the ones spawned, give you a bonus foundable back? That would at least make it a little more attractive to use... Then you could have the efficiencies increase duration or bonus amount returned.
This was an extreme "fix" (word used loosely). There should be a better balance. Used all books on SOS Skill Tree & I would have done everything differently. Again, BALANCE. Please really fix it so that we obtain more what we were promised but less because you think it gives too much advantage to progress faster than you want players to advance. YOU WANT TO SLOW DOWN GAME PLAY - NOT FAIR. A NEW FEATURE WE LOVED THEN REVOKED. I spend money in this game and hope you will listen to everyone as we all feel hit. Many are thinking of quitting the game. Think the developers don't care. PLEASE MAKE IT RIGHT!
I’m boycotting for 24 hours and plan to quit the game completely if Niantic doesn’t own up to the Trace Charm fiasco and either reset the trees or change the charm back to how it had worked for two months. Remember your original post Lola where you said only the Text would be changed in re to the Trace Charm and there would be no change in functionality. I’ve played since day 1 and had 200 friends. After all the errors and gaffes the past six months, I’d estimate a third of my friends list has gone inactive and many many friends uninstalled the game. If Niantic doesn’t want to lose most of their HPWU player base, they should fix the Trace Charm so that it’s actually worth all the books we spent on it. Only thing new in game in forever to spark interest.
I share the frustration, but mostly I would like clarification on what will happen with the nodes we unlocked that were supposed to reward us with more fragments all along, which haven't worked right since the beginning. I am supposed to be getting five fragments per trace, but still only get two. If we are only going to get two in the future, then what have I actually unlocked with my resources? Will there be new nodes that we automatically get in their place, or will we be refunded resources for those nodes that no longer apply? Thanks for your time.
Just to add my ‘voice’ - not that anyone is listening... As a huge Harry Potter fan, I have been playing since day 2 and have only missed a couple of days. I have invested a lot of time and a little bit of real money (reading the comments of those who have invested a lot of money, you have been utterly cheated and your fury is totally justified).
I loved the Knight Bus and being able to play challenges with others. I’d got to Dark 3/4 solo... that was hard work! Now I frequently lose runestones due to low level players in Dark chambers, or there are not enough players to form a team. Pages are stuck as so many challenges fail to yield a FXP fragment to complete items.
Like so many other long term players, I got seriously stung by the fragment change chaos, there’s nothing to add to what others have already said (but hey-**** at least I got some dittany as compensation). After this I decided I would not spend any more real money.
I used to look forward to the Brilliant Events. Now they are just a chore as there always seem to be problems (but at least we’ll be given more dittany when things go wrong).
I no longer seem get extravagant or essential runestones to send to friends which used to appear fairly regularly after wizarding challenges.
I was very cautious about the SOS tree and was reluctant to use my hard earned RSBs because I was still hopeful for the ‘More lessons coming soon’... Couldn’t decide whether to complete the other two professions or go SOS. Having realised I’m never actually going to be able to complete the SOS tree due to the huge numbers of RSBs and DADA books required, I stupidly went for the Trace Charm route in order to try and prestige a few remaining pages and earn some more ministry manuals, again there’s nothing to add to what others have so eloquently and passionately stated. (I’d carefully saved my traces for the Wizarding Weekend... that was another slap in the face this morning, as I saw the result of the ‘bug fix’).
I know nobody cares but like so many other HPWU players I am really angry and fed up with being repeatedly lied to and cheated. Today I levelled up to 52, and it didn’t mean a thing as now there’s nothing to play for. I too would like the SOS tree reset so we can have our books back. There is no consideration for the commitment of long term players and every mistake and subsequent correction hits us the hardest. The powers that be just can’t seem to understand that we don’t want dittany as compensation... I see this morning, dittany has been replaced by dragons... Well that bait will probably keep me playing for a few more days, but after that I’m not sure it’s worth carrying on...
edited September 2020#26607 September, 2020, 05:40 pm.
This is the worst thing you could have done. Absolute mood killer for at least community around me.
So, you have nerfed proficiency, well okay, it could let to crazy family XP farm, let's say that is somewhat okay that you came up with this big feature and didnt test it properly before release. (It's not, but let's pretend at least)
BUT nerfing actual spell in a way, where you cast Trace Charm on Red Cofoundable and now it yields 1 additional Red Cofoundable and then only lower ones, that one right here feels like stabbing in the back, absolutely major change, probably all people playing this aimed in the new skill tree for boosting this spell in any ways possible and now after quite a large amount of time you decide to change it's nature. That is horrible approach as Game Designers, Game Devs, really don't know who came up with that idea, but he f*cked up hard.
This one is killing your community, trustworthness in any upcoming patches to the game. Reward as an apology is literal joke, will work like applying salt to the open wound.
You are killing your game, which has a lot of potential. "Good Work". Next time, try to test it more than "it works, its good to go", otherwise it is going to die pernamently, not just population drop, which happened now I guess.
I'm a bit jealous. you are complaining about fragments and XP ...
The trace charm worked for me only a very-very few times since it has been released.
If I use it, it spawns new traces, I pick one (not the original one) it departs on the first spell and once the game reloads the map, ALL traces disappeared.
Already cleared the cache, reinstalled the game, switched profession. Any more advice?
Y’all put out the SOS Tree. All the Trace Proficiency skills say "increases number of fragments" for a maximum of 9 fragments *per trace* (once ALL lessons are completed). Efficacy lessons all increase the number of Traces the charm reveals, but no clarification on WHAT traces will be revealed.
We start completing lessons and using the Trace Charm. Whatever threat level we use it on, it would reveal something of equal threat level; sometimes the same thing it was used on, sometimes something different. But, all the new traces were ALWAYS all the same foundable (not “sometimes” as noted in another reply in another thread from a moderator). And you would nearly always get a "duplicate" of whatever you cast it on. (So, naturally, to get the most use out of these rare trace charges, we all start using them primarily on red beams). But we found several issues:
1) no matter how many Proficiency lessons were completed, everyone only got a max of 2 fragments per trace.
2) we noticed that our Family & Wizarding XP was increased for those Trace Charm traces. Also, on the information screen, where it shows how many lessons have been completed, it says something about "Duration" and "Additional Spell Energy," to which we asked "ummm, what's this?? Is this supposed to actually say something about the number of traces and the Family and Wizarding XP? Because the lesson descriptions didn't say anything about this bonus."
3) Traces would disappear
4) There were inconsistencies with the rewards screen and showing how many fragments had been received. In some places it showed receiving 2, and in one place it showed 3.
5) There were inconsistencies with getting two fragments or the duplicate of the "anchor" (or original) Trace. Natural Map spawns would give both. Dark Detector spawns would give only one fragment for the original, but still a duplicate. Trace Tonic spawns would give 2 fragments, but no duplicate.
6) The Trace Charm information screen also showed "Maximum Number of Charges" as however many you currently HAVE, instead of how many you can HOLD.
7) What exactly does "chance to reveal an even rarer Trace" mean on the Knowledge is Power lesson? Some people have used it on an orange beam and occasionally gotten red beam spawns from it - it must be from this lesson!
Players reported all of these findings. All that was said was "If they disappear, just force restart your game and they'll come back." And "okay, it's buggy, we're looking into it," for the rest.
**Six weeks later**, after players have spent the various book costs for more lessons, and gotten quite used to the way things work, y’all finally say
1) okay, sorry, but, you are only ever going to get a maximum of 2 fragments per trace. So, only the lesson you get for free at Level 25 will increase fragments. The rest will just increase Family and Wizarding XP.
2) And yes, instead of duration and Spell Energy, it should say Traces Revealed and Family & Wizarding XP Increase.
3) The number of "Rare" Traces to be revealed is maximum of one.
4) "...there will be no changes to the SOS Training mechanics or node bonuses. There will only be changes to the text to reflect the intended benefits." (That is a direct quote.)
5) Here's an "apology gift" to make you feel better; for this and for Wizarding Weekend infinite-loop-lockout issues.
But nothing was said about the rest of it.
Until a week or so later, (a few days ago), when out of the blue, with zero warning whatsoever, everyone's Trace Charm, when used on a Red Beam, is revealing ONE additional red beam, and the rest are a random mix of foundables. Upon return of the anchor/original trace, a duplicate is still popping up.
So, everyone feels mislead, lied to, cheated, frustrated, etc... because
1) There was no further explanation/communication when questions were initially raised or issues reported.
2) It took y’all SIX WEEKS to decide what actions to take and what to say to us. That left the players the impression that, for the most part, things were working "as intended." These bugs must not be significant if you’re not in a hurry to fix them, right?
3) What you DID say left the impression that the players just "misinterpreted" the lesson descriptions.
4) The Field Guides, Ministry Manuals, and DADA books in the apology gift did not come even CLOSE to the amounts many players spent on (or getting to) Proficiency Lessons. Nor did it include any Restricted Section Books, which people also spent on Proficiency lessons.
5) After you said ONLY TEXT would be changed, you changed the actual mechanics of the Charm anyway.
6) The new mechanics make the book resource costs for BOTH Proficiency and Efficacy a poor value. (See further explanation below.)
With the free Lesson at 25 giving you the maximum fragments, all the other Proficiency lessons give you is a *tiny* percentage boost to Family and Wizarding XP.
The Trace Charm will now give you a maximum of +9 traces (duplicate of anchor/original and 8 new spawns). All 9 new spawns and your anchor/original give you 2 fragments each. If you have the Knowledge is Power Lesson, 1 new spawn is of equal threat level to the anchor/original, 1 duplicate of the anchor/original and 7 of random families and threat levels. And guess what - Knowledge is Power is CHEAP, and available near the very top of Section I of the SOS Tree.
But, then compare that to the Trace Tonic Potion. With SOS Lessons you can increase the number of Traces revealed by up to 12. With current "stay-at-home" mechanics, you get 30 traces per potion. With all Tonic SOS lessons, that makes 42 traces total; all of random families and threat levels.
Trace Charm is instant, and with the KIP lesson you are guaranteed one additional spawns of equal threat level (so if you use it on a red beam, you'll get two additional red beams). But you have to have a charge, and the drop rate from Trunks is RNG; which we all know is a fickle mistress. Trace Tonic makes you wait out the 30 minutes, but you get significantly more spawns. And during events, when the rarer/higher-threat spawns are boosted with Trace Tonic, you'll usually get at least one red beam. And as long as you brew them, you'll be able to use them. *YOU* are more in control; not RNG.
Yet, the book costs for Trace Charm lessons are on average FAR more expensive than the Trace Tonic Lessons.
Look at the last Trace Efficacy lesson "Serendipitous Study": 1510 Field Guides, 596 Ministry Manuals, 100 DADA books. Why on EARTH would I spend that many DADA books on a lesson that is only going to give me ONE additional RANDOM trace?! If you have KIP AND even one additional Trace Efficacy, you get your equal-threat-spawn. The first Efficacy lesson is available in Section II, just under the branch unlocked at lvl 19. I don't think it is very expensive. All other additional Efficacy lessons now just give you something random.
The Proficiency lesson, Dangerous Attraction, is also super expensive, and I am 99% certain costs RS books. (I happen to already have it, so it won't show me the costs.) Why would I pay that many RS books for a TINY boost in Family and Wizarding XP??
Also, many Trace Charm lessons are at the BOTTOM of the chains; signaling they are of higher value. But, in actuality, it's only slightly better than a Trace Tonic.
When players originally raised questions, we should have immediately been told exactly how it was *intended* to work, even if you didn't know how long it would take to fix it.
Once you decided to change it so drastically, players should have been provided a way to "return" those lessons and get their books back.
You shouldn't have said "text only changes" if you planned to change the mechanics also. And if you want to say that the "text only" statement was only ever pertaining to Proficiency? Well, the title of the communication was "Trace Charm Clarification" and there WERE things clarified beyond just Proficiency. And if you want to argue that there is no text-change necessary for the Efficacy Lessons, (because none of them state giving an equal threat spawn), you still should have AT SOME POINT communicated that the Efficacy mechanics weren't working "as intended". But you never did.
Once you decided to implement the actual mechanic changes, there should have been a warning.
You should be being honest with us about how all these "bugs" and "wrong wordings" were allowed to slip through QA Testing to players to begin with and WHY all these changes are being made.
You should be taking responsibility for your own mistakes and actually try to make it right instead of allowing the impression that it was player misinterpretation and handing us a 2% refund (in books via the gift).
And note: I never once said “you shouldn’t have ever nerfed it at all.”
edited September 2020#27009 September, 2020, 12:03 pm.
@LeenieBeanie well said! Hopefully they are reading, but I won’t hold my breath!
im fearful that after the dragon event the 3-4 red traces I’m seeing will reset to the 1 red trace that was the impetus for all the rage over the weekend. I reinstalled to see if and what was being done and was shocked to see the trace charm giving me 2-3 dragons as opposed to the single duplicate from the nerf.
if I’m being honest, 9 severe (mirror) traces appearing, tho a beautiful site to behold, was in fact crazy. The problem is the way it’s been handled, and the compensation for it.
i have zero doubt what will happen after the dragon event, I fully expect a return to 1 rare replication and 8 **** foundables.
what should happen is 1 duplicate severe and 8 randomly generated severe traces across the spectrum. That is what we were sold, but I’m doubtful that will ever materialize. I was fine with the change to the fragment bonus, I wasn’t happy about it, but getting 9 fragments per trace was even more unbalancing than the extra traces.
anyway, as I said, I’m not holding my breath. I re-Installed Monday night and I fully expect I will be leaving for good next week.
This makes me unbelievably sad. I now have 4 out of 6 Trace Charm Proficiency nodes unlocked including Dangerous Attraction at the bottom of the third page.
How did you weigh the concern of players quitting after finishing too quickly by recovering more than one extra fragment against the concern of players quitting after feeling cheated and misled?
Comments
Since the announcement thread was closed, I'll add my point here.
I totally understand the WHY, I went from lvl 52 to 60 in no time.
HOWEVER THIS communication should have been given WEEKS ago, not after the fact. Had this been said 1-2 was after the release players could have planned RSB and DADA accordingly. NOT saying ANYTHING allowed players to spend VALUABLE resources that they could have decided to spend otherwise. I.E I'm working on my 3rd profession and at lvl 60 spending those books, would have definitely gone to the 3rd profession instead of the charm.
They SHOULD have put this out WEEKS AGO!
Many spend a lot of time and resources playing, they choose that, they also choose HOW they want to play based off the game dynamics. CHanging those in mid-stride without notice, is just plain wrong.
This “explanation” is just a stack of lies and excuses for a fraud you have committed against your player base. You placed a function in game, one that cost assets that many of use spent MONEY to obtain. Now those asset uses have been rendered useless.
why would you select a feature available to all players, that is in game, cost players assets- to take away. You have done NOTHING to stop the inequitable gameplay and level advancement being created by people using outside apps to exploit the Knight Bus- but you destroy a feature every player can use? You have players gaining tens of thousands of XP in a Knight Bus session, running their own club and excluding the in game system- but that is ok with you?
Changing an asset availability at this point is theft.
You committed a bait and switch on your player base. You will not get one more dime from me- and every social media and review area will be made aware that your game does not comply with developer ethics and defrauds players.
Could you NOT fix the original traces duplicate? We rural player with low spawns need that "feature" to push the fragment acquired from hard to seen traces.
Also if you guys have nerfed the Trace Charm, then why not nerf the amount of resources required to obtain those upgrades so that those correspind to the actual TC value? Like you've said, "to keep this delicate balance"? Reduce the amount of resources needed and return the difference.
The delicate balance that Niantic claimed its trying to maintain is far to weighted on the stagnant side. Returning fragments is the most boring part of the game... And now they've gone and forced us to do this mundane task to advance and make it incredibly slow and painful.
We should get a refund on all the books we spent focusing on Trace charm tasks. I could accomplish the same as a trace charm with a tonic and it doesn't cost me DADA books.
"To clarify the above, there will be no changes to the SOS Training mechanics or node bonuses. There will only be changes to the text to reflect the intended benefits. "
The game mechanics have now changed. I'm disappointed to see this. Not sure I agree with the reasoning that "these corrections were necessary to maintain a balanced progression in the game". Progression remains, as it has always been, limited by the resource currencies granted from in-game events, in this case RSB and now DADA books.
The TC working as it has the last 1+ month doesn't increase the risk of players finishing all the SOS skill content and dropping the game as Niantic still controls the distribution of the event-based currencies. In my case, the boosted TC renewed my interest in the game ( 15 month player) as it became possible to acquire large numbers of a specific foundable and prestige pages that I had given up on. My in-app purchases also increased as I spent 100s of gold daily on the rental cauldron and various exstimulo potions to catch the multiple orange/red traces generated by the boosted TC. Also, it was exciting to strategize the best use of the TC to gain foundables and maximize the return of FG and MM books.
Without the 5-8 bonus traces of equal or greater severity, the thought of gaining 1000s of FG required in Calamity Essentials III is so daunting that it just turned me stale on this game. That's the most disappointing thought of all - losing the spark of joy this game has brought to my life during the depressed pandemic days.
Lola the messenger has a thankless job. Thank you Lola for taking on the difficult role of feeding us the meager information which you are authorized to do and being the bearer of often bad news.
I'm leaving this here because you prematurely closed your other thread about the Trace Charm nerf. That one barely had time for comments or feedback while this has amassed over 200 comments.
Your update today to nerf the Trace Charm was wholly uncalled for. I see can your reasoning for 'balance', but it's wholly incorrect. Your lack of communication is also telling. Do you honestly think players would really have sunk that many DADA or RSG (green books) into unlocking nodes to upgrade their Trace Charms to only get 1 new trace of similar rarity? That's either grossly naive or incompetent, and I'm not sure which is worse.
A better solution would have been to adjust the Trace Charm to produce the same rarity but of random families, i.e. if you put it on a Horned Serpent you'd get a Newt Scammander, Quidditch Harry, and a Womping Willow., etc. This would preserve the usefulness of the Trace Charm while diffusing the ability of players to earn significant amounts of family XP quickly.
Instead, as typical Niantic seems to rush to 'fix' anything that's beneficial to players, but drags their feet on anything that is detrimental. The Inn Recharge lesson still doesn't work. I'm still getting the 'Lost Connection' message upon log in, despite it being supposedly fixed ages ago. Beta players are still reporting they can't progress in the SOS tasks. All these things that are detrimental to players took a back seat to nerfing, I mean 'fixing' the Trace Charm. And all this after Niantic specifically stated that there wouldn't be any further changes to the Trace Charm, in writing, after stating that the Trace Charm Proficiency wasn't going to be updated to act in accordance with the text of the lessons. That's probably the biggest slap in the face to the player community. And that's not even getting to the Community Events where the last 4 events have resulted in Infinite log-in errors for hundreds, if not thousands of players. You'd have thought that would take priority over 'fixing' the Trace Charm.
I've been pretty civil here, but make no mistake @hpwulola , you've got a very pissed off community right now and cutting off comments on the other thread isn't exactly winning you any points right now. All that does is signal that Niantic will change the game as it pleases and it doesn't care about the community feedback, no matter how many times you say you do. You want to start making a difference, start by restoring the ability to comment on https://community.harrypotterwizardsunite.com/en/discussion/9965/a-message-on-recent-changes-to-the-trace-charm/ and actually listen to all the hate and discontent the community has right now. Because no amount of Dragons is gonna calm the community down.
@hpwulola based on announcement that trace charm proficiency is being changed to only increase XP rather than trace fragments, can you comment on the benefit of earning extra XP after level 60? Are there any plans to offer benefits for earning bonus XP to players who have hit level 60?
Right now I’m at level 59 and for the last few levels I’ve been dragging my feet and going as slooooowly as possible trying not to reach level 60 as I understand earning more XP once you hit level 60 basically does nothing. I think if players who are already level 60 could get some kind of ongoing real benefit from earning bonus XP from trace charm proficiency there may be a few less people so upset about the changes to the trace charm functionality.
Truly awful, and shameful that you closed the discussion thread on the changes after only half an hour. A tiny free gift won't do anything to help this time.
Niantic, you broke it again...
FYI, I am lost the last interest in this game.
Thank you for your clumsy excuses.
I am regret spending so much time On this game.
Niantic once again failed to me.
Good day
So, since this thread is still open, writing here:
This announcement clearly states that no changes to the mechanics will be made, while they were to degrade performance of the trace charm.
Even though I understand the reasoning, I disagree with the way the change was introduced. It's unprofessional and leads to mistrust in any longer-term changes you do.
There are many brilliant ideas that players suggested and I would recommend you to listen to them and implement at least the simplest one. E.g., How about giving a one-time option to restructure your magicum vitae for many people like me who heavily invested into trace charm?
Being a software developer, this looks like a change of one day of work. Thoughts?
Thank you
Thank you Lola for the update. Please consider requesting advanced notice from the developers of major changes to game functions that have been heavily invested in by the vast majority of the playerbase. If something is broken, do not shadow nerf it and ask for forgiveness after the fact. This kind of one sided action insults your community and puts you in a bad spot to say the least.
Please convey the following to the developers:
The changes to trace charm functionality were unwarranted. Progress was locked behind DADA books and RSBs.
I have been very active in this game and my local community since before launch, and the revival I saw in player interest is now threatened. Not many players expect to spend the amount of time and effort on progressing in this game that you imagine.
The trace charm was something sorely needed: a way to be specific about which foundables you focus on. The amount of randomness in foundable encounters is frustrating and this gave us a way to be intentional about how we build our skills and play the game. Now, the trace is mostly just redundant with the trace detection potion, which was already rarely useful for players with access to good spawn density.
If you want to keep these changes, consider greatly reducing the cost to access these nodes and offer an SOS and Challenge Class refund and in general reducing costs of nodes in the SOS skill tree as now players have no recourse to make meaningful progress aside from play an uncommon number of hours and spend an uncommon amount of resources. If a game becomes too demanding to play, consider what this will do to your playerbase.
Respect our time, effort and money and we will respect yours.
- A long time customer
Yeah i would also like to get my spell books back instead of false proficiency on the trace charm i have only gotten 1 additional trace the last few times i used it as opposed to 5 or 6 in the past. Not eorth the amount of resorces spent to get the efficacy and proficiency. Very dissapointed in this feature. Feel duped.
I share the frustration, but mostly I would like clarification on what will happen with the nodes we unlocked that were supposed to reward us with more fragments all along, which haven't worked right since the beginning. I am supposed to be getting five fragments per trace, but still only get two. If we are only going to get two in the future, then what have I actually unlocked with my resources? Will there be new nodes that we automatically get in their place, or will we be refunded resources for those nodes that no longer apply? Thanks for your time.
@N6MAC41717 they already shafted us on the fragments by saying it was supposed to say extra XP and that it was a wording error, that was last weeks debacle, this week it’s the full Monty shadow nerfimg of the entire trace charm after the fact. So you’re getting a little gift box and a dragon event... enjoy!
Dear Niantic,
Without putting too fine a point on it but your list of own goals across Ingress, Pokemon' Go and now Wizards Unite is almost legendary within gaming circles. So much so, that I could write an HD thesis documenting the various times promises have been broken affecting communities, the player base and I'm sure revenue, but most importantly, your integrity.
Doing what you say you will do and delivering on that once it's communicated is sacrosanct and any deviation from that needs to appropriately communicated and compensation given to the player base as necessary.
It costs you nothing to do this, tweek or twerk the code or just put it in a complementary gift pack, is simple to do.
As a long playing member of your various games, can I please understand why does this seem hard to do? Do you just not care?
I hope you will adhere to your communications and as a good corporate citizen, keep things as they were and or compensate all accordingly.
Your move...
Why don't you guys give some functionality back to it? Like... During a 5 minute duration, any traces, not just the ones spawned, give you a bonus foundable back? That would at least make it a little more attractive to use... Then you could have the efficiencies increase duration or bonus amount returned.
This was an extreme "fix" (word used loosely). There should be a better balance. Used all books on SOS Skill Tree & I would have done everything differently. Again, BALANCE. Please really fix it so that we obtain more what we were promised but less because you think it gives too much advantage to progress faster than you want players to advance. YOU WANT TO SLOW DOWN GAME PLAY - NOT FAIR. A NEW FEATURE WE LOVED THEN REVOKED. I spend money in this game and hope you will listen to everyone as we all feel hit. Many are thinking of quitting the game. Think the developers don't care. PLEASE MAKE IT RIGHT!
What a bait and switch. Where is YOUR punishment for the blatant lies?
I’m boycotting for 24 hours and plan to quit the game completely if Niantic doesn’t own up to the Trace Charm fiasco and either reset the trees or change the charm back to how it had worked for two months. Remember your original post Lola where you said only the Text would be changed in re to the Trace Charm and there would be no change in functionality. I’ve played since day 1 and had 200 friends. After all the errors and gaffes the past six months, I’d estimate a third of my friends list has gone inactive and many many friends uninstalled the game. If Niantic doesn’t want to lose most of their HPWU player base, they should fix the Trace Charm so that it’s actually worth all the books we spent on it. Only thing new in game in forever to spark interest.
I share the frustration, but mostly I would like clarification on what will happen with the nodes we unlocked that were supposed to reward us with more fragments all along, which haven't worked right since the beginning. I am supposed to be getting five fragments per trace, but still only get two. If we are only going to get two in the future, then what have I actually unlocked with my resources? Will there be new nodes that we automatically get in their place, or will we be refunded resources for those nodes that no longer apply? Thanks for your time.
Just to add my ‘voice’ - not that anyone is listening... As a huge Harry Potter fan, I have been playing since day 2 and have only missed a couple of days. I have invested a lot of time and a little bit of real money (reading the comments of those who have invested a lot of money, you have been utterly cheated and your fury is totally justified).
I loved the Knight Bus and being able to play challenges with others. I’d got to Dark 3/4 solo... that was hard work! Now I frequently lose runestones due to low level players in Dark chambers, or there are not enough players to form a team. Pages are stuck as so many challenges fail to yield a FXP fragment to complete items.
Like so many other long term players, I got seriously stung by the fragment change chaos, there’s nothing to add to what others have already said (but hey-**** at least I got some dittany as compensation). After this I decided I would not spend any more real money.
I used to look forward to the Brilliant Events. Now they are just a chore as there always seem to be problems (but at least we’ll be given more dittany when things go wrong).
I no longer seem get extravagant or essential runestones to send to friends which used to appear fairly regularly after wizarding challenges.
I was very cautious about the SOS tree and was reluctant to use my hard earned RSBs because I was still hopeful for the ‘More lessons coming soon’... Couldn’t decide whether to complete the other two professions or go SOS. Having realised I’m never actually going to be able to complete the SOS tree due to the huge numbers of RSBs and DADA books required, I stupidly went for the Trace Charm route in order to try and prestige a few remaining pages and earn some more ministry manuals, again there’s nothing to add to what others have so eloquently and passionately stated. (I’d carefully saved my traces for the Wizarding Weekend... that was another slap in the face this morning, as I saw the result of the ‘bug fix’).
I know nobody cares but like so many other HPWU players I am really angry and fed up with being repeatedly lied to and cheated. Today I levelled up to 52, and it didn’t mean a thing as now there’s nothing to play for. I too would like the SOS tree reset so we can have our books back. There is no consideration for the commitment of long term players and every mistake and subsequent correction hits us the hardest. The powers that be just can’t seem to understand that we don’t want dittany as compensation... I see this morning, dittany has been replaced by dragons... Well that bait will probably keep me playing for a few more days, but after that I’m not sure it’s worth carrying on...
This is the worst thing you could have done. Absolute mood killer for at least community around me.
So, you have nerfed proficiency, well okay, it could let to crazy family XP farm, let's say that is somewhat okay that you came up with this big feature and didnt test it properly before release. (It's not, but let's pretend at least)
BUT nerfing actual spell in a way, where you cast Trace Charm on Red Cofoundable and now it yields 1 additional Red Cofoundable and then only lower ones, that one right here feels like stabbing in the back, absolutely major change, probably all people playing this aimed in the new skill tree for boosting this spell in any ways possible and now after quite a large amount of time you decide to change it's nature. That is horrible approach as Game Designers, Game Devs, really don't know who came up with that idea, but he f*cked up hard.
This one is killing your community, trustworthness in any upcoming patches to the game. Reward as an apology is literal joke, will work like applying salt to the open wound.
You are killing your game, which has a lot of potential. "Good Work". Next time, try to test it more than "it works, its good to go", otherwise it is going to die pernamently, not just population drop, which happened now I guess.
Sincerely,
soon to be former player of HPWU
I'm a bit jealous. you are complaining about fragments and XP ...
The trace charm worked for me only a very-very few times since it has been released.
If I use it, it spawns new traces, I pick one (not the original one) it departs on the first spell and once the game reloads the map, ALL traces disappeared.
Already cleared the cache, reinstalled the game, switched profession. Any more advice?
@TorpeCsatasun you just close and relaunch your game when they dissapear, all new traces will re-appear.
Y’all put out the SOS Tree. All the Trace Proficiency skills say "increases number of fragments" for a maximum of 9 fragments *per trace* (once ALL lessons are completed). Efficacy lessons all increase the number of Traces the charm reveals, but no clarification on WHAT traces will be revealed.
We start completing lessons and using the Trace Charm. Whatever threat level we use it on, it would reveal something of equal threat level; sometimes the same thing it was used on, sometimes something different. But, all the new traces were ALWAYS all the same foundable (not “sometimes” as noted in another reply in another thread from a moderator). And you would nearly always get a "duplicate" of whatever you cast it on. (So, naturally, to get the most use out of these rare trace charges, we all start using them primarily on red beams). But we found several issues:
1) no matter how many Proficiency lessons were completed, everyone only got a max of 2 fragments per trace.
2) we noticed that our Family & Wizarding XP was increased for those Trace Charm traces. Also, on the information screen, where it shows how many lessons have been completed, it says something about "Duration" and "Additional Spell Energy," to which we asked "ummm, what's this?? Is this supposed to actually say something about the number of traces and the Family and Wizarding XP? Because the lesson descriptions didn't say anything about this bonus."
3) Traces would disappear
4) There were inconsistencies with the rewards screen and showing how many fragments had been received. In some places it showed receiving 2, and in one place it showed 3.
5) There were inconsistencies with getting two fragments or the duplicate of the "anchor" (or original) Trace. Natural Map spawns would give both. Dark Detector spawns would give only one fragment for the original, but still a duplicate. Trace Tonic spawns would give 2 fragments, but no duplicate.
6) The Trace Charm information screen also showed "Maximum Number of Charges" as however many you currently HAVE, instead of how many you can HOLD.
7) What exactly does "chance to reveal an even rarer Trace" mean on the Knowledge is Power lesson? Some people have used it on an orange beam and occasionally gotten red beam spawns from it - it must be from this lesson!
Players reported all of these findings. All that was said was "If they disappear, just force restart your game and they'll come back." And "okay, it's buggy, we're looking into it," for the rest.
**Six weeks later**, after players have spent the various book costs for more lessons, and gotten quite used to the way things work, y’all finally say
1) okay, sorry, but, you are only ever going to get a maximum of 2 fragments per trace. So, only the lesson you get for free at Level 25 will increase fragments. The rest will just increase Family and Wizarding XP.
2) And yes, instead of duration and Spell Energy, it should say Traces Revealed and Family & Wizarding XP Increase.
3) The number of "Rare" Traces to be revealed is maximum of one.
4) "...there will be no changes to the SOS Training mechanics or node bonuses. There will only be changes to the text to reflect the intended benefits." (That is a direct quote.)
5) Here's an "apology gift" to make you feel better; for this and for Wizarding Weekend infinite-loop-lockout issues.
But nothing was said about the rest of it.
Until a week or so later, (a few days ago), when out of the blue, with zero warning whatsoever, everyone's Trace Charm, when used on a Red Beam, is revealing ONE additional red beam, and the rest are a random mix of foundables. Upon return of the anchor/original trace, a duplicate is still popping up.
So, everyone feels mislead, lied to, cheated, frustrated, etc... because
1) There was no further explanation/communication when questions were initially raised or issues reported.
2) It took y’all SIX WEEKS to decide what actions to take and what to say to us. That left the players the impression that, for the most part, things were working "as intended." These bugs must not be significant if you’re not in a hurry to fix them, right?
3) What you DID say left the impression that the players just "misinterpreted" the lesson descriptions.
4) The Field Guides, Ministry Manuals, and DADA books in the apology gift did not come even CLOSE to the amounts many players spent on (or getting to) Proficiency Lessons. Nor did it include any Restricted Section Books, which people also spent on Proficiency lessons.
5) After you said ONLY TEXT would be changed, you changed the actual mechanics of the Charm anyway.
6) The new mechanics make the book resource costs for BOTH Proficiency and Efficacy a poor value. (See further explanation below.)
With the free Lesson at 25 giving you the maximum fragments, all the other Proficiency lessons give you is a *tiny* percentage boost to Family and Wizarding XP.
The Trace Charm will now give you a maximum of +9 traces (duplicate of anchor/original and 8 new spawns). All 9 new spawns and your anchor/original give you 2 fragments each. If you have the Knowledge is Power Lesson, 1 new spawn is of equal threat level to the anchor/original, 1 duplicate of the anchor/original and 7 of random families and threat levels. And guess what - Knowledge is Power is CHEAP, and available near the very top of Section I of the SOS Tree.
But, then compare that to the Trace Tonic Potion. With SOS Lessons you can increase the number of Traces revealed by up to 12. With current "stay-at-home" mechanics, you get 30 traces per potion. With all Tonic SOS lessons, that makes 42 traces total; all of random families and threat levels.
Trace Charm is instant, and with the KIP lesson you are guaranteed one additional spawns of equal threat level (so if you use it on a red beam, you'll get two additional red beams). But you have to have a charge, and the drop rate from Trunks is RNG; which we all know is a fickle mistress. Trace Tonic makes you wait out the 30 minutes, but you get significantly more spawns. And during events, when the rarer/higher-threat spawns are boosted with Trace Tonic, you'll usually get at least one red beam. And as long as you brew them, you'll be able to use them. *YOU* are more in control; not RNG.
Yet, the book costs for Trace Charm lessons are on average FAR more expensive than the Trace Tonic Lessons.
Look at the last Trace Efficacy lesson "Serendipitous Study": 1510 Field Guides, 596 Ministry Manuals, 100 DADA books. Why on EARTH would I spend that many DADA books on a lesson that is only going to give me ONE additional RANDOM trace?! If you have KIP AND even one additional Trace Efficacy, you get your equal-threat-spawn. The first Efficacy lesson is available in Section II, just under the branch unlocked at lvl 19. I don't think it is very expensive. All other additional Efficacy lessons now just give you something random.
The Proficiency lesson, Dangerous Attraction, is also super expensive, and I am 99% certain costs RS books. (I happen to already have it, so it won't show me the costs.) Why would I pay that many RS books for a TINY boost in Family and Wizarding XP??
Also, many Trace Charm lessons are at the BOTTOM of the chains; signaling they are of higher value. But, in actuality, it's only slightly better than a Trace Tonic.
When players originally raised questions, we should have immediately been told exactly how it was *intended* to work, even if you didn't know how long it would take to fix it.
Once you decided to change it so drastically, players should have been provided a way to "return" those lessons and get their books back.
You shouldn't have said "text only changes" if you planned to change the mechanics also. And if you want to say that the "text only" statement was only ever pertaining to Proficiency? Well, the title of the communication was "Trace Charm Clarification" and there WERE things clarified beyond just Proficiency. And if you want to argue that there is no text-change necessary for the Efficacy Lessons, (because none of them state giving an equal threat spawn), you still should have AT SOME POINT communicated that the Efficacy mechanics weren't working "as intended". But you never did.
Once you decided to implement the actual mechanic changes, there should have been a warning.
You should be being honest with us about how all these "bugs" and "wrong wordings" were allowed to slip through QA Testing to players to begin with and WHY all these changes are being made.
You should be taking responsibility for your own mistakes and actually try to make it right instead of allowing the impression that it was player misinterpretation and handing us a 2% refund (in books via the gift).
And note: I never once said “you shouldn’t have ever nerfed it at all.”
@LeenieBeanie well said! Hopefully they are reading, but I won’t hold my breath!
im fearful that after the dragon event the 3-4 red traces I’m seeing will reset to the 1 red trace that was the impetus for all the rage over the weekend. I reinstalled to see if and what was being done and was shocked to see the trace charm giving me 2-3 dragons as opposed to the single duplicate from the nerf.
if I’m being honest, 9 severe (mirror) traces appearing, tho a beautiful site to behold, was in fact crazy. The problem is the way it’s been handled, and the compensation for it.
i have zero doubt what will happen after the dragon event, I fully expect a return to 1 rare replication and 8 **** foundables.
what should happen is 1 duplicate severe and 8 randomly generated severe traces across the spectrum. That is what we were sold, but I’m doubtful that will ever materialize. I was fine with the change to the fragment bonus, I wasn’t happy about it, but getting 9 fragments per trace was even more unbalancing than the extra traces.
anyway, as I said, I’m not holding my breath. I re-Installed Monday night and I fully expect I will be leaving for good next week.
the preverbal ball is in niantic/WBGs court
This makes me unbelievably sad. I now have 4 out of 6 Trace Charm Proficiency nodes unlocked including Dangerous Attraction at the bottom of the third page.
How did you weigh the concern of players quitting after finishing too quickly by recovering more than one extra fragment against the concern of players quitting after feeling cheated and misled?