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Very slow strategy game but you can lose a lot in war
I have been playing Illyriad for a bit more than a year. The problem that I see with this game is dominance by a single guild (called Alliance ingame). This guild has allies and is generally peaceful until a group of smaller guilds formed a "Confederation" for self-defense and game cooperation. In my opinion, this Confederation was considered a threat to the dominate, huge guild and members of this confederation had cities sieged into oblivion, using some minor skirmish over a mining node as an excuse. Now, the two sides are in a massive war.
So, if enjoy a city-building game with diplomacy and strategy that moves VERY slowly, then you might like the game very much. However, if you cross this dominant guild you can expect attacks, redicule, and intimation both in the game forums and in the game itself. As a member of the Confederation that is at war, I admit I have taken a side.
So, if you want to play this game, just remember my caution. You take months to build cities on the game map and you can have everything destroyed by enemies. It is NOT consensual PvP. This is not to say you cannot play, undisturbed, for months and years. You very well may be able to, particularly if you stay neutral and keep a low profile. You also could join up with the dominant guild and would be quite safe as the vast majority of city destroying sieges are performed by the dominant side.
The huge guild that I will not name in this post may very well get wind that I stated my opinion here and might likely punish me, in-game, but I thought it is was my duty to report my opinion to y'all!
Comments
Dear fellow gamers,
I just tried, in the Illyriad game forums, to again point out the dominance of a particular guild in this PvP game. Sadly, the Illyiad moderator choose to delete my posts. I called her out in global chat and got banned and then got mail telling me I violated the Terms of Agreement by "trolling". I did purposefully call out, by name the leaders of this dominant guild. So, I wrote her back and told her that I regretted her decision and was pulling my financial support of the game (it is ftp with a VERY impactful cashshop). She did not restore my post and further warned that I was in violation.
I am not leaving Illyriad but will continue solely as free-to-play and am attacking this dominant guild to the best of my ability. Again, I will reiterate my original post: You can play this game in peace if you:
1. Join this dominant guild or one of its allies.
2. Join a neutral guild and keep your head low.
If you join any guild that threatens the dominant guild, then you are in a wargame... which is actually rather fun, albeit the war mechanics are slow and clumsy. Be prepared to crunch numbers if you want to do well in war.
Best of luck to anyone playing this game.
Kells
I agree with everything that you said about the game. The game is very sound. It is fun, but if a player does not fit in with the dominate alliance, the game will become unpleasent.
Only one side is allowed to have their say on the forums. Like most forums, there is bit of bias in terms of moderation. People will always have their favorites of who they like or dislike. But in a game like this, there should be no bias.
Things in the game seemed to be getting better because there was finally a foe that could stand up to the dominate alliance. But like all the rest, they were too nice, and gave in when they should have kept on fighting. It is how people think really. They do not believe it will happen to them until it does. If something bad happens to someone else, it is foriegn until it happens to them. However, in a game such as this, learning things the hard way will set a player back two years to fight another day.
In real life I do not feel one side should dictate everything. Their needs to be some balance. I hope one day their will be leader and loyal followers that will learn from everyone else that lost to the dominate alliance. I hope one day that will happen.
This is a game of social networking. Make a lot of friends, keep a low profile. And like many have said before, it like the show 'Game of Thrones'.
The game is great, but in any mmo, it is great only if you get along with the majority of the community.
To all the future H? foes that one day will stand against them, please look at history. H? is the dominate alliance in the game. Overtime every foe gave in and surrendered instead of fighting till the end. Overtime these same alliances crumbled to no existance. From White to Valor to the future alliances that just surrendered. All of these alliances had one chance to fight back to H? but decided it would be better to surrender. But why? In the end these same alliances would end in a slow death anyways... Why would alliances facing H? want a slow death instead of that one chance to fight their enemies and say,"you may take our towns, but you will never take our freedoms!" Yes in this game the populas is divided at almost 50%. One side is for H? and the other is not. The H? side is more organized because it has been formed since the beginning of the game. The other side is new and is trying hard to become organized before H? deems them a threat.
The recent H? foe had a chance to make this war go on for years... But instead they chose the option of surrendering... When this would lead to them and their alliance mates unable to organize again.
What I am saying is, fight H? till the end till H? is the one that has to surrender. This is the only way things will change.
From the Braveheart movie, William Wallace said it the best... here is the link!
Motivation! Believe in yourself!!! There comes a time when you have to take a stand. Stand up for what you believe in! Stand up for what is right! Nothing comes easy. To get what you want you have to work hard to get it. Stand up to H? and be strong and true. Believe in yourself!!! You are great, you are amazing, you are who you want to be. Be want you want to be. But you have to stand up for it. In this game, surrendering will not get what you want. Fight, fight for the freedoms that you want and what the future players may want.
Here is a great video to motivate the foes of H?!
I actually was planning on fighting to the very end but the GM kicked me after I got into an argument with her. Interestingly, I had just enough time to email the leader of H? and let him know that I was sorry I could not do battle to the end (I knew of my impending doom). He gave me a rather funny reply, saying that he had rather hoped that Consone would have put up a better fight than it did and was disappointed at how easily they were being defeated. Oh well, such is the life of a gamer in the PvP world. I had other games I wanted to play so didn't bother to start new accounts. I also wasn't really happy with the mining and gathering system as it just seemed to be mechanics for creating more excuse for going to war. But, yes, I really do agree, fighting to the bitter end would have been much more satisfying than capitulation. There was one other H? leader that liked to insult me and said I was being "duped" and was the victim of Consone propaganda. But, the Alliance leader of H? seemed quite respectful of my decision to war against his alliance.
Finally, I have to add that cash shops in online games vary in the effects they can produce for PvE and PvP success. Some shops do little more than grant cosmetic items. Some shops give you a boost early in the game. Illyriad, as it is free to play, is somewhat different. A player can buy, using real world money, boosts that make HUGE differences in city development and PvP play. To create more impact, players can donate cash shop credits (called Prestige) to the guild (Alliances) that enables the guild leaders to access even more ingame boosts. So, for a dominant Alliance such as H?, it was easy to see ciities under siege survive massive attacks using such boosts. Only extremely well coordinated blockades were effective against the use of Prestige. So, I think you can create an argument that Illyriad is a Pay-to-Win PvP game.
Other than the above comments, Illyriad is a solid strategy and city building game with a lot of depth. If you can manage to steer clear of the dominant Alliances (both ingame and in the forums), you can have a lot of fun. Also, watch yourself on the forums, the GMs are not impartial. There is no customer service outside of the GMs and they can and will suspend your account anytime they wish no matter how much real world currency you have spent buying Prestige.
Good luck and play safe out there!