Hero Wars Dominion: October Log
"Despite the rocky month, I'm actually looking forward to October's events."
The above is September's closing statement. Yeah, the denial was strong that day. The month kicks off with two new seasons and some mini events. The first major event was for our new hero Augustus.
Augustus: Ambassador of Avissian
October 14 - 20, 2024
Like previous new hero events, you're tasked with completing the storyline to learn more about the new hero(es). The feature for upgrading artifacts to increase resource earnings has returned, along with the boss buff. A major difference this time around is the nightmare fuel that came with the boss battles.
In addition to this, you were capped with upgrading Augustus with event coins; after 4-stars that was it. Though a pain, it was tolerable. Unfortunately, the boss wasn't as forgiving.
I can understand buffs and the need to defeat a designated lineup; however, the opponent lineups started to get ridiculous after the Orc Warriors. Once I got to the team with the two Mushy and Shrooms, everything went down hill. The team suggestions were helpful; however, the end results were too random.
There was no guaranteed win as you had to battle the boss numerous times just to claim a possible victory. What was worse, when you got close to winning one of two things occurred: a time out or the enemy team suddenly becoming immune to your attacks (this is what it felt like).
I was hoping for a simple approach for a chance at the totem summoning sphere but I guess I was asking for too much. If they do make another event like this for a new hero/pet, the teams need to be like that of the base game - no duplicates of heroes on the same team. Moreover, no buff requirements for fighting said bosses.
Cosmic Battle and Ascension to Asgard
October 17 - 19 and October 18 - 20
I started both events strongly but eventually dropped them from my itinerary. Cosmic Battle isn't as fun as brawls as you're dealing with actual team levels. Meaning, only those with maxed heroes are going to get the most from the event.
To top it off, the matchmaking goes sideways after a while. Meaning, if you start off with manageable opponents, you're going to get nightmare opponents after some rounds.
Ascension to Asgard was a bit different this time around as I didn't have the resources like I usually do to complete some of the tasks. Did what I could for both and just called it quits after that.
Thea: Emerald Coin Event
October 21 - 23
A nice little event for gathering resources. My FB account is the only one that has Thea built up so I used the shop to get her to Orange +3. For the rest of the accounts, I got gear for heroes and some artifact chests.
Area of Conquest: Round 3
October 21 - 24
Area of Conquest is an event pitched as a PVP (player vs player) game mode for fighting and earning rewards. It's meant to be a competitive game feature, but you can't force all participants to play in that manner. This time around, only one of my game accounts was paired with competitive guilds.
Suggestions made in a previous survey about the event weren't all implemented. One of the changes made since round two was event duration. Great...but the pain points persist.
For some it's matchmaking and others being on 24/7 (not really necessary, but hey). For me, there's really no reason for the extra effort. Yes there's coin earning which is used to upgrade the castle, but after a while upgrading the castle becomes pointless.
This is essentially a player-run mode. Meaning, it's only eventful if players participate willingly. The main goal of the fights - in my opinion - is to either complete event tasks or for the urge to fight a worthy opponent.
There is no reason to upgrade the castle outside of getting rewards; some of which are event specific. Sure that's some reason for upgrading the castle but it's still useless to do so - again, my opinion. Movement is controlled with action points and the map is still covered by an unnecessary fog which results in wasted action points, because the target location is occupied by another guild that wasn't visible in advance.
What's Wrong With the Game Mode?
There are players that like the game mode as it is. Then there are players that want their efforts to make sense. Running around a map just to fight and spending earned coins to upgrade a castle for simple rewards isn't motivating for most players.
Some level of strategy and skill was expected but many aren't seeing it. Depending on how you were matched, it's either survival of the strongest or I'm sitting watching grass grow. Expectations were set high during the sneak peek announcements of round one, yet the end results continue not to match.
For me, there's nothing about the layout that screams conquest. The map is completely hidden except for areas occupied by guildmates. Moreover, there are no predefined regions which makes this mode very much a free-for-all type of event.
What I Would Like To See
Give castle leveling some meaning. For example, each level up will grant a stat boost and reaching a leveling milestone (every 5-levels) will reward the guild with 100 Prestige Points [for group rewards]. Moreover, for every 500 Superior Coins a guild member contributes to castle leveling, they'll earn 50 Guild Quest Points [individual rewards].
Next, a map divided into 4-regions with settlements that earn at least 15 Superior Coins each. The amount of Superior Coins earned will increase with each castle level up in increments of 5. In addition to this, each settlement within each region will be defended by an NPC team (created from either the Guild Master's or General's heroes) or an active guild member's team - this will help those in low head count guilds.
Defeat the team, gain control of the settlement and expand your region's territory. Each region will house 9-settlements with one team slot available at the start. Castle leveling will unlock 2 additional team slots over the course of the event; that's one at Level 6 and another at Level 12.
Even if a guild member isn't set to defend, they can still occupy a settlement to earn coins. There can also be an option for guild members to take turns defending /attacking settlements on the map. If the guild castle reaches Level 15, all contributing members will receive Conquest Chests [I'm dreaming big on this one] filled with guaranteed rewards.
Foundations of Power, Time of the Fearless, Phantom Orchestra
October 23 - 25, October 25 - 27
Foundations of Power and Time of the Fearless are events that can be completed with some ease. Since Spooky Festival was live, I was able to complete quests and obtain some resources.
Phantom Orchestra
 |
| 2-million damage team, L65 Maestro |
It was very noticeable with the Soloists as they were either immune or blocked all attacks. As a reminder, all of my fights for this boss take place in the Astral World and I do not switch between them. I played around with switching between the Astral and Material worlds when this boss was first introduced and discovered that I did more damage when I stayed in the Astral World.
Any way, I switched around my heroes to create new teams. Two of the teams did over a million damage, one did a little under a million while the remaining two did over 660,000. The 2-million team consisted of Galahad, Nebula, Sebastian, Augustus and Polaris with Albus as team pet.
Of the team members, Augustus was built up on the fly - but not too much. This team did 2,008,605 damage which is the highest ever since this boss was launched. I didn't get the amount of gold buffs that I wanted due to a splurge in the Ascension Spire and I wasn't fully awake when selecting the Valor buffs.
Despite the improvement, Maestro is still proving a challenge. That said, I'm currently trying to get my heroes caught up with their upgrading as there were things that weren't touched during the initial upgrade phase.
Spooky Festival
October 25 - 31
As with Summer Fest, we got an island and some quests that granted explorer's moves. The positive for me, on my Facebook account at least, was the fact that I had some moves saved up and just needed some more to get the most out of the new island. I managed to collect five Chilling Stories which were exchanged for Cornelius' new Demonic Skin.
In addition to this, I got some Spooky Coins which were used to buy some items from the Spooky Festival Shop. Namely red artifacts which were used to kickstart the game of catch-up building for my neglected heroes. There were also quests that helped us earn explorer's moves which were used on the island to get Spooky Coins, Chilling Stories and other useful items.
After a while, I pulled back on the event and directed my attention elsewhere for a bit. That said, the festivities were still nice. Would be great if we could keep the Night time in Dominion background for a while longer; just remove the decorations.
Weaving Patterns
October 26 - 28
I spent some gold and energy for this event. Outside of that, I didn't do much because some of the tasks either wanted you to spend emeralds or buy emeralds. Would have loved to go all in on the gold spending but I managed to dump a whole bunch in Asgard.
Demon Dolls and the Great Storm
October 29 - 31
Demon Dolls appeared on Day 2 of the Great Storm Event. For the first time in what feels like forever, I actually put forth some effort into the event - solely on my Facebook account. Most notably, spending energy via potions.
Things didn't go into overdrive until Day 2, late at night mind you, where I burned energy and went through Pet Adventures one match at a time to get enough action points to do something for a change. Wound up earning 175 storm resistance and took the plunge into fighting the boss. And for the first time since this event came out, I was able to defeat the boss.
As an added bonus, I got some demon dolls on top of some pet resources. Would love to see the story go beyond what we've seen over the years. In addition to this, incorporating a solo option for the base game's Pet Adventures.
October Honorable Mentions
Ascension Level 5
I got Galahad into the Ascension Level 5 area and was finally able to use the Radiant Crystals and Greater Insignias that were stockpiled. I'm excited because Galahad has been in my main lineup since day one. As a result of this upgrade, I got click happy and wound up depleting my gold reserves.
More Efforts...Sort Of
More effort was exerted this time around for the Great Storm as well as Spooky Festival. Most notable is the Great Storm due to me progressing further when compared to past iterations of the event. In regards to Spooky Festival, I actually jumped into exploring Spooky Fest Island.
Going For A Seasonal Skin
I don't usually go for a new skin especially when it's tied to a specific event. This is one of those rare moments where I'm aiming for the limited time skin. It's more so for cosmetics than stats; especially since I'm currently low on Intelligence Skin Stones.
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