Tag Archives: Meta

Random Thoughts

Powercreep & Cards Becoming “Weaker”

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Introduction

Puzzle and Dragons is a tremendously old game and in order to keep it fresh and exciting, new cards, dungeons, and mechanics are periodically introduced. As a general rule, newer monsters/dungeons tend to be stronger/more challenging compared to previously released content in order to provide motivation for players to continue playing.

As a result, the concept of Powercreep will regularly occur but one thing I want to stress is that because PAD is a Gatcha-style game that is also Player versus Environment (PvE), cards do not actually become weaker once released. They only become “weaker” relatively speaking compared to newer options.

This is an important distinction to make as a leader from one year ago can still clear all of the content they could originally but also has the strong likelihood of being able to clear more due to stronger subs, inherits, and asymmetrical pairings.

This article will explore these concepts in greater detail as it has been a topic I have addressed more often lately and I want to share my own opinions for how the meta of PAD functions.

Video commentary

–video coming soon–

Powercreep

Powercreep is the concept of newer cards being more powerful compared to previous options. This can take shape in many different forms and includes but not limited to: more Weighted Stats, stronger Leader Skill multipliers, better awakenings, and high value actives. Essentially, a card (or evolution for said card) released in 2020 will tend to be stronger compared to those from 2018 of a comparable rarity. Continue reading Powercreep & Cards Becoming “Weaker” →

Game Meta, Random Thoughts

Meta Trends in Puzzle and Dragons

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Introduction

Meta is an abbreviation for Most Efficient Team Available and is essentially a term used to indicate if a card is currently strong in this day and age. However, the meta is not fixed and is ever evolving and changing. Thus, what may have been strong 6 months ago may have fallen out of favour due to new evolutions, awakenings, or new dungeon requirements.

This article will be examining the current state of affairs in Puzzle and Dragons and the direction I foresee the game heading.

Video commentary

—video coming soon

PAD is a Puzzling game at heart

No matter how long or how much Puzzle and Dragons develops, it will still be at core a puzzling/matching game. Thus, there are only so many boards one can solve/match before it can become tiresome. As a result, GungHo has introduced new matching requirements and larger board sizes.

New matching requirements constitutes anything that goes beyond matching a vanilla set of 3. At first we had mass attack and then awakenings were introduced along with a wide variety of leader skills.

However, there are only so many different twists you can impose on matching and there is a certain degree of recycling older styles over time. As a result, it is not uncommon to see similarities over the years in terms of the matching strategy. Continue reading Meta Trends in Puzzle and Dragons →

Meta Snapshots, Random Thoughts

How to Keep up with Powercreep

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Introduction

Puzzle and Dragons is a massive game that has unrivaled depth in the mobile game industry. In fact, it really does not feel like you are playing a mobile game and are instead playing a complex RPG that would not be playable without third party websites/databases as there are thousands of monsters and hundreds of different dungeons with diverse spawns and mechanics. This is partially why this website can exist as there is simply so much content to potentially write about.

As such, it can sometimes be overwhelming to stay “meta” or keep up with the rate of new content being released, especially if you are newer to the game and/or non-IAP.

However, these past few months have really felt like a period of catch-up due to the lack of new content actually being released from a gameplay perspective (outside of 3-Player Coop). We have been given an excessive number of stones, 5-coin cost coin dungeons, unlimited rank ups through Legendary Earth, and climaxing with one of the best Player’s Choice Godfests to date (full review can be found HERE).

This article will examine what exactly is Powercreep/meta, how to try and stay abreast or current with the changing landscape, as well as suggestions for fighting off boredom.

Do note that this was in my drafts for a month or two so forgive any dated content as 3P was not released then. I somehow forgot about this and ideally should have been published a few weeks ago.

Video commentary

–video goes here—

What is Powercreep

Powercreep can be best defined as progressively advancing rate of mechanics from both a monster collection and dungeon difficulty perspective. This is important for any longstanding game as it would quickly grow stale if content did not evolve over time as you would run out of things to actually play. Continue reading How to Keep up with Powercreep →