Introduction
May has been the slowest month of 2019 for Puzzle and Dragons and it is because of a lack of new content outside of SDR farming. As such, burnout or boredom may raise its ugly head and I want to share how I avoid these two pitfalls.
I have been playing Puzzle and Dragons for over 2,050 days which is a small marvel in itself. In fact, this is the longest time I have played any single game and this is due to the continuous learning curve or indefinite skill ceiling. With that being said, there have been some low points in terms of interest and this usually occurs around times when GungHo has not released new content as things can become stale.
On a side note, I do find it ironic that I am creating content about there being a lack of content. On the bright side, GungHo NA will be having a Twitch Stream which should hopefully tease new content being released.
Video commentary
–video coming soon–
A lack of content
2019 started off with a sizable bang in terms of content being released in both new cards and limited time dungeons/challenges that only cost 30 stamina (one example can be found HERE). This large influx of things to do combined with meaningful reward (Magic Stones per floor cleared) gave all players motivation to do things. In fact, the lower stamina cost combined with valuable rewards gave way to experimenting with various teams as one could keep trying again and again along with each dungeon being unique.
Sadly, May has been the exact opposite due to no special lucrative dungeons and what amounts to boring Collabs. This problem may be further exasperated JP having a string of what may possibly be JP-exclusive Collabs which would create large gaps in our content.
For myself, I would love to see a return to low-stamina unique challenges that gave meaningful rewards. The current Monthly Quest format feels stale as it is just a rehash of old descends with only a few unique dungeons that cost far too much stamina to experiment around with. Some may argue that GungHo has been generous with Magic Stone log-ins, but I would rather see some of those shifted into challenge rewards to give incentive to play, not just open the app.
Countering burnout/boredom
For myself, most of my content is tied to things being release in game along with my own current excitement for said content along with my personal health. This month, I have had two minor procedures performed at St. Paul’s Hospital and neither had the desired result. Thus, this has lowered my own mood and having less to do in PAD resulted in less motivation overall.
As such, I have found myself doing less in PAD these past 10 days and this is exactly what I needed. Burnout occurs when you push yourself to do something that is less interesting and I do not want to turn PAD into a chore. As such, I have mostly limited my play time to logging in, doing a dungeon or two and calling it a day. I am well aware that this is a waste of stamina but if I had to force myself to use it it would feel like a chore and most certainly result in burnout/boredom.
This short break gives me the time to do other things and will leave myself ready to dive into new content when it is released. It sounds almost cliche but playing less for small periods of time is the best way to ensure one is able to continuously enjoy something long term.
Conclusion
Taking small breaks/reducing play time is the best way to avoid burnout/boredom. Puzzle and Dragons is a game and should be fun, not a chore and if motivation starts to waver due to whatever reason, slow down.
Playing less in the short term helps ensure PAD stays interesting for prolonged periods of time. By following this approach, I have been able to play for over 2,050 days while still having interest overall.
Let me know how you deal with burnout/boredom along with how long you have been playing.
Happy Puzzling!
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Mantastic Puzzle and Dragons 
Start a third account called Xantastic, best friend Man or Fan, and use the big brother to help the little one blaze through content. In a few months, you should be able to make a viable triangle for Ranking Exp dungeons like our current Descended one at 5x.
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It’s not about the rank, it’s about the gameplay. Besides, making a third alt when he has 2 very old and viable accounts makes no sense
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I’ve only been playing for 491 days, and I’m still working on clearing all the content. Of course any game will eventually start to feel stale, but I am pretty impressed with PAD’s strategy of having events nearly every day (even if as you continue playing you realize some events are far superior to others) to keep the game feeling fresh. There are very few games that I would feel compelled to log into for 491 days straight. (That’s right, there’s never been a day I haven’t logged in since I started.)
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That’s a pretty sweet streak you got going on! One nice thing is that there is so much content to catch up on that even accounts 1 year old have plenty to do
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I am in a similar boat. 1660 days played.
Years ago I wouldn’t have dreamed of wasting stamina. I would use it all up before going to bed and pop into a level first thing in the morning. Sometimes even waking up enough to use stamina in the middle of the night.
HATED wasting stamina.
Last few days I have been doing the daily dungeon for a stone and thats mostly it; stamina be damned. I have booted up a few other games i used to play and have spent some time getting back into them. Im sure i will get back to PAD, but really there is no hurry at the moment.
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I remember those days of waking up at random hours to use stamina as my max was so low and it regenerated so slowly
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Yep, this is me currently. I’m going through a slump where I just haven’t felt like playing and have stuff going on in my life. I log on and run the daily stone dungeon if there is one and that’s about it.
I haven’t hardly touched the expert tier of May quests and honestly, probably will cherry pick the ones with the rewards I could use and that’s all.
My husband and I have been playing for a long time (me 1947 days, and I think he’s over 2100 now), and we both go through the ebb and flow. Right now, he’s really into playing and I’m very meh. I know it will pass.
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That is great to hear you and your husband still play together =D
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This doldrum has hit at just the right time for me, as I’ve been playing Diablo 3 season 17 on my Switch. I just log in to PAD, burn all my stamina on the +points dungeon (which is a great addition, super happy about it!), then do some other stuff. I -do- regret finishing all the May quests at the beginning of the month, not knowing about the lull, but seriously, it’s no big deal.
Here’s hoping the stream tonight has some good announcements, I’ve been waiting for Zeta!
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How is Diablo on the switch compared to PC?
No Dark GH but we get Shaman King =)
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D3 on Switch is pretty great, and the few minor issues are massively outweighed by the portability.
There are definitely a few cool cards in Shaman King, excited that we’re getting it!
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Hope you roll all the things you want!
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Boredom can also be beneficial, I was too lazy to use stones thus I now have 39 so far
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Keep saving them!
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I always look forward to your content here but hope your health improves!
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Thank you ❤
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Very sorry to hear abour your health issues. I hope you feel better soon!
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Thank you =D
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Mantastic, I really want to thank you for writing up this post.
First, because how you care the PAD community’s passion and desire for the game. May has indeed been a boring month for me. I simply use all my stamina for super + carnival.
But more importantly, I want to thank you for continue to share your time, thoughts and passion of PAD with us, inspite of the uneasy health situation…. thank you and will certainly pray for your health. 🙏
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Thank you for your kind words and I am thrilled to hear you enjoy my work =)
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A Week ago i start to realize this lack of content in PAD and since my work pretty hectic right now, i try to find something to burn my stamina as quickly as it can with good return. So i invest few resource like py, evo mats, latent, etc to create one quick & safe team to clear training arena. Good rank exp, easy monster with right killer, and most of all i can save my limited snow globe. 100 stam means i only play once in 5 hours for 5 minutes. Well im pretty happy with it…
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It is def much easier to dump stamina compared to the early days and the permanent + dungeon and Tamadra Infestation greatly helps =)
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I am also a 2000 day player, pad is the only mobile game that I keep playing for years. I believe the best part which makes me enjoy the game is when I am able to conquer and loop extremely hard dungeon by build up a perfect team. I actually had long bored time about this game when I can’t find a 100% success way to loop arenas. During that time I just login and log out, pull egg machine when new event comes and waste tons of stamina. But after I pulled Diablos, everything has changed. I kept loop arenas every day and quickly rank up from 600 to 900 in one year. Now is defiantly a boredom, but I still have faith in gounho which will bring better content in future. (BTW, what do you think about the reason that GounHo collab hasn’t arrived? In JP it came before MH collab.)
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I have no idea why they are delaying GH Collab since it is their game and thus they should have the licencing for it
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2233 days here, the secret is to stay away from the heavy grind and do what you actually enjoy 🙂
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I’m not bored so much… But farming PAD Academy for the handbook makes it even worse, because there are dungeons I might keep running, but the grind on that dungeon is seriously harshin’ my mellow.
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I like the idea of farming a Collab card via event drops but changing it to this level is far too tedious
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Thank you for making this article.
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You are very welcome =)
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PAD is my main game but I have an alt game (currently it’s FEH). For this week after I am done farming the Academy handbook I would just burn the stamina in plus points/predra/tan/super king and spend most of my play time on the alt game.
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I also play FEH casually on the side =D
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I am at ~1880 days. I still have several small projects to do (like skill up a second whaledor, level up some weapons, etc). The downtime is nice. I think of it as consolidation time.
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isn’t there better options than whaledor, like athena from Shinrabansho collab and Valeria.
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Do not have either of them.
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I think it’s be nice to see content that encouraged different mechanics.
Some that need rainbow teams. Some that need rows. Some that need crosses. Some that need L’s. Some that need high rcu. Currently it feels like everything except the ranking challenges favor high HP combos; which get boring.
Ranking challenges are really great, But so infrequent.
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Thanks for hanging in there with this blog for so many years, Mantastic. You have done a great service to many PAD players. I got jarred out of boredom by running training arena with my Amen team to level up all the limit broken cards on my teams—doing so stimulates the brain cells, uses up stamina quickly, and provides some thrill due to the fact that any little mistake can kill you.
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That’s great to hear you have found zest from Training Arena! I do like how GH has given us better stamina dumps as stamina is more available and we have more max overall
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Playing PAD right now is like a ticket to yawnsville. Quests are all done… nothing left to do except continually die in alt ult arena.
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It has somewhat become that way for more end game/older players =(
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