"It seems that MaxGames and Stick War 3 are going down the path of a bit of an EA-Blizzard hybrid and I just don't like it, I don't think many of the players like it..." - AsePlayer
Stick War 3 has suffered from a number of broken promises and delays that have left many testers, both in the open beta and closed beta, feeling BETRAYED.
Despite the developers' quick reaction to blame their shortcomings on their short staff, AsePlayer argues that one can still "work smarter, not harder" while providing the most enjoyable player experience. More on this later in the post.
"Whoever is managing the Stick War 3 project is doing so extremely inefficiently and they should know better," - AsePlayer
For example, delaying a campaign 4 times and rolling out mediocre daily missions in its place is not only counter-intuitive but tone-deaf as well.
The Act Man did a brilliant video on the problem with live-service games and how their greedy approach is plaguing the current game development sphere. Give it a watch:
Essentially, it’s not about making the best game anymore, it’s about player retention and milking the customers out of their time and money (that's you!).
Daily Missions
Stick War 3's daily missions rolled out initially with a positive reception due to the novelty of the situation. However, as the days dragged on, players quickly realized that it was getting repetitive: and FAST.
Most missions appeared as a copy and paste of the previous one but the conditions were slightly different, or different units were ambushing you from behind.
Bad writing coincided with bad gameplay, and players were left wondering if this was the fate of the long-awaited campaign:
"Instead of focusing on the core game, the developers are opting to half-ass a live-service experience to drive up player engagement," - AsePlayer
Overall, there isn't a whole lot of redeeming qualities within these daily missions: just a daily reminder that Stick War 3 is a hollow game and your favorite franchise is going in the wrong direction.
The game is suffering in many areas, and the addition of mediocre daily levels wasn't what the community had in mind as a solution!
Community Response to Missions
A survey of Stick War 3 players overwhelmingly indicated that they felt BACKSTABBED by the daily missions. Then shocked. Then appalled. Ouch!
Stick War YouTuber & Modder s07 also had this to say:
However, that wasn't the ONLY kick in the balls we received with this newest update...
Intrusive Ads
Alongside a delayed campaign, this update includes ads! But not just any advertisements, intrusive and annoying ads that crash and lag the game for many players with low-end devices!
"In addition to being a broken, glitchy minimum viable product, this game is now being filled with advertisements, " - AsePlayer
Now, the developers are saying they are probably planning to remove them, at least for the testers as it can be irritating. And yeah, you better turn off the ads since the testers are freely testing your game and providing feedback!
Many are questioning the motives of the developers to release a buggy mess riddled with advertisements to the open beta without testing it longer in the closed beta first. Apparently, "there is no great conspiracy" and "it went through closed beta over 1 day":
All this despite keeping the new Units locked away for a long time... Seems legit.
Stick War 3 Isn't That... Fun
I don't know about you guys, but Stick War 3 is a hard game to want to play at the moment because it's just generally not that fun and it's missing a lot of core features.
"...it's so frustrating to play. now we got frustrating ads in between the frustrating gameplay and all we're left wondering is can we have the fun yet?" -AsePlayer
I understand that the developers have been working on the campaign and are very close to it. My guess is that they haven't played Stick War 3 the game itself in a long time.
Apparently, they have not gotten the memo yet: Stick War 3 feels more like a rip-off than any of its predecessors! (And I played a ton of rip-offs!)
I think Stick War 3's future does not look very bright and I am deeply concerned about it. It does seem as though there is a significant amount of incompetent leadership at play and the team at MaxGames cannot seem to create a decent minimum viable product (or MVP):
When Players are given an incomplete product they can't even use, they get upset. On top of that, there are plenty of games in beta that are actually enjoyable and fun, unlike this Legacy copy-and-paste job. They adhered to the MVP.
This is not simply a matter of adding content by the way, but also how that content is added. In my recent video, I explained how Stick War 3 fails to meet the basic need of a game: to provide fun. A big part of that is due to not respecting the MVP. Who cares about lore or daily levels when the game isn't enjoyable at its core? Maybe an out-of-touch CEO!
All of this (and more) raises the question: what players will even remain for Stick War 3? The game is starting to become stale, even with nostalgia-tinted glasses. Do the developers even know what made their series so fun in the first place? If so, they haven't leaned into it quite yet... I hope it's coming! What do you think?
"As of right now, I struggle to want to play this game for free, let alone with ads..." - AsePlayer
Vote Today!
The developers seem to be going all-in on the daily missions, despite their lackluster feel and appearance. Do you think this is a solid strategy for improving the game? VOTE TODAY!
Should the Developers Focus on Daily Missions RIGHT NOW?
YES! DAILY MISSIONS ARE AWESOME!
NO! DAILY MISSIONS WERE A MISTAKE!
ENGAGE in the discussion about Daily Missions HERE!
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