Tower Pets

i hope that soon there will be a system so you can look at what creatures ability's are and plan out what you are going to go for before you start the round

The update is solid. I don't have much else to add. Looking forward to whatever 4.0 is. Is it going to be anytime soon? 

Fun first run, "Bow to the Empress", but I'll definitely be playing some more to get a proper feel for the game and be able to give better feedback. For example, been a while since I played Tower Escape so I don't remember the units from some floors, so I can imagine the confusion for new players..

I tried the update and I still have that issue with fighting the same people. I took on a team called "The Imaginative Cheeks" 3 times in a row and they eliminated me from the game.

I will say the relic system adds lots of options and I'm quite interested in what other sorts of relics you have in mind. Do you have any you'll share that will be in future versions?

Having played a few dozen more games on the new patches, I like where the game's at.

You adding "better matchmaking" means that the difficulty is way different now.

My stronger teams always end up facing this same team that has an exile squad and a spider as the leader of the pack. So this is actually a soft buff for weak teams because I'm able to complete the game easier with junk squads.

I actually won with a team entirely of zombabies I think.

One issue I found is that it's very possible to end up vs the same team multiple times if nobody exists in the same power bracket. I completed the game with a team that fought 4 battles back to back against the same team.

This'll probably be fixed by more people meeting the right criteria though. Basically when this game has more players.

The most powerful squads are of multiple categories:

People who make lots of cash. Money = power so getting rich means you can buy more upgrades and especially weapons. This is very consistent for getting wins, it just requires you buff up your units with all the extra cash.

Auto upgrading units. They're the same as basically buying a power up, and it happens passively. It's like getting free money and the upgrades are nice. If you survive long enough, you will win. I'd actually suggest lowering the cost of Rocky a bit. He's a bit too expensive to be worth it IMO.

Lucky niche strategies. They're the ones that have the potential to be very powerful, such as summoning decks, but you're at the mercy of RNG. They have a consistency issue.

It would be a huge buff for any of these decks if there were more ways to guarantee you ended up with specific units.

When the stars line up and you're able to do your long summoning combo or get your black knight and wizard setup or any of the other combos, it's golden.

The difference between say, a summoning deck and the above I mentioned is that a summoner needs to upgrade. Your imps and zombies need to be switched out for stronger, better variants. My Scotts, Thieves, and Barries just have to keep grinding and stuff.

Buying more of them enhances what they do but isn't strictly required. You're absolutely worse off if you can't get Zombubbas or Critters because they're so much better than the alternatives.

I think you could fix this by adding more stop-gap variants to the mix. Like if you examine every combo creature in this game, and then you add 1 or 2 extra combo pieces, in the form of an item or creature that could work with them.

With this massive number of synergies, the chances of something working for the player is greatly increased and they'll probably be okay even if they don't get the top tier units.

An example being a class of unit who reacts to receiving health from an ally in battle by doing something positive for that ally. You'd always pick it if you have any unit who gives health. This unit existing buffs all of these units.

The programming language like nature of how your game is constructed lends itself to this. There's all sorts of effects pets create that another one could react to. All of them could be builds if they have something to combo with.

I suppose the word I'm looking for is consistency. It's possible to assemble the pieces of a nice critter summoning deck, with whatever summoner booster allies you pick, but you'll probably take some losses. The deck is slow to assemble and get going.

Lives also have to be considered.

3 or more lives, I'm not afraid. At 2, I start to get worried. At 1, it's crunch time and it's do or die.

A bad summoning deck early could take losses while putting together their squad. But I guess that's part of the game? You did add the heart rooms to heal people if they need it.

Besides what we talked about, I'd suggest: 

-A lending system. If the player could go into debt to enhance their team, they have a hail mary when they're on the back foot. It would offer a means for people who are way behind and about to be eliminated the chance to turn things around.

This could manifest as gaining 10 coins now, and losing 10 coins next round. For some teams, it's debatable if there will be a next round. But it would help.

If you decide to, an extra heart could be bought in the same way. Perhaps it's available for 10 coins. So someone has to spend their round stipend to try and buy a life to keeps themselves in the game. 

-Give us access to all 5 slots for party members and 3 slots for items from the beginning. If it was completely open from the start, people would have access to more choices and chances to spawn something that fits their build.

-A loyalty mechanic could also be nice. Perhaps every 3 rounds a pet has been with you, they gain one experience point. It massively buffs anyone who decides to keep the same units around. This would greatly benefit you if you keep the baby units from the start around. It adds an extra level of strategy to consider replacing a unit or letting it grow.

-Lastly, a knowledge base that lets someone view all the monsters and at what rounds they spawn would also be helpful. It evens the playing field and cuts any new player's learning curves. If the info is easy to look up, including a list of the items that spawn, possibly even with the % chances they have to appear, then people can do much better planning.

An veteran player will know what works from experience but someone newer will know what all the options are.

10/10 game, friend. I especially like the part where I make the game infinitely harder for myself and other people because all the really overpowered teams I created remain as enemies to face.

I think I've won like 6 times now? And created some real monster teams.

If you guys get rolled by a team that has no adverb, it might be one of mine. I specifically never select a first adverb to differentiate mine from everyone else's. 

Something horrifically overpowered but I've never managed to get to do is a team consisting of all Scotts, each armed with an axe. The game usually ends before I can fully equip all the boys, given the axe's relatively low spawn chances, and the fact that it only seems to appear in the enchanted area.

With all the extra cash, you can afford gems to boost the power of your boys.  All you have to do really is keep pumping their stats up. They just need enough health to survive a final attack and be the last man standing.

This team would almost always guarantee you at least draw.

I feel if I accomplished that, I'd make a truly run ending team. Imagine being on your last life and running into that.

A team of swampies achieves mostly the same goal, but with less control. And not all of them can receive the power boost. But if you see a swampy, you should just take him.

As far as balance goes, I feel like upgrading troops needs to be cheaper. Or that the cost of troops of the same kind should be cut depending on how many you already have.

There's very few reasons to ever upgrade a troop compared to just buying power or getting a better unit. It's also very inconsistent. Even if you wanted to upgrade a guy, there's no telling when it'll come up.

I feel like if the upgrades provided equivalent value to what gems of the same cost as the unit would provide, then it would be more worth it. Because I could buy gems that raise everyone's stats, or I could buff one guy, inconsistently.

SOME of the abilities are build defining and totally worth upgrading. But not all of them.