00:00So, Bloons Cardstorm has been out for two weeks, and it's not looking too good.
00:04There are really multiple problems with this game currently, but the main concern here is the player count.
00:10At least, according to the Steam analytics, more than half of all the players have already left.
00:15Not even Bloons TD Battles 2 had it this bad during its first two weeks,
00:20but that still isn't to excuse the fact that its launch was horrendous due to the countless bugs the game
00:25had.
00:25That is not this case. This game had a few closed beta sessions before public launch to stamp out all
00:32that,
00:32and that is how Battles 2 should have been as well, and I've stated this fact multiple times before.
00:38While Steam isn't the only way to play the game, it is the best indicator that we have access to
00:43that gives us an idea of how the player base stands compared to earlier times.
00:47There are far more mobile players out there, and it tends to follow a similar trajectory.
00:52The game is still too new though, so these figures aren't reflected there yet.
00:56It also doesn't help that it only shows the peak players there, and not the average like what Steam has.
01:01This is a warning sign though of what is yet to come, so if you are checking the player statistics
01:06on a mobile device,
01:07do expect a significant drop in player counts, possibly even an 80% drop or more.
01:13Also, if you haven't done so already, open your game and be sure to use promo code LAUNCHGOALS.
01:18This offer expires soon, so don't miss it.
01:21Now, this isn't to say that the game is completely done for, yet.
01:25Ninja Kiwi still has time to fix that, and as of this recording, a new patch just dropped a few
01:30days ago
01:30to rebalance some of the overpowered cards, so you won't be experiencing what I had to in this game that
01:35you're seeing here.
01:36There are still many cards that need balancing, and Ninja Kiwi won't be going on holiday vacation for over a
01:41month,
01:42so they can definitely do more card tweaks in the meantime.
01:44Even with that being said though, that is only going to help so much.
01:49What about daily rewards?
01:51There are none.
01:52At least no guaranteed free ones anyway.
01:55Some players have the option to watch an ad to earn 100 monkey money, which is a pretty good amount.
02:00That's right, the daily reward is bugged, and at first I thought maybe it was only available after making an
02:06in-app purchase
02:07based on the chats I have had in the Discord servers that I'm in.
02:09However, once I got on Reddit and mentioned this, even some paid users don't have the daily reward either.
02:16Beyond that, I'd say the reward system is actually not too bad.
02:20Especially with the latest added feats to make the grind less of a slogfest,
02:24at least for someone who is currently affected by the bug myself.
02:28But really for the most part it comes down to RNG from the daily shop,
02:31which can be quite annoying when the meta in question involves a high rarity card,
02:36like what we just experienced.
02:38Still, when it comes to the later game, the feat rewards feel underwhelming,
02:42and I hope more feats are added out there to address that problem in the future.
02:46As for the RNG in the game, I don't really have too much to speak of,
02:50for someone who has had a growing interest in TCGs in recent years,
02:54and that's why I haven't really talked about it too much.
02:57It's built into these types of games, so to me, I see this as trying to work with what you
03:01have in your hand each time,
03:02and it tests you on less comfortable situations if you have bad card luck.
03:07It is a letdown when it happens, and believe me, I had that happen to me a few times myself
03:12when playing in duels,
03:13but just remember that it's built into a game like this in real life,
03:17unless, of course, your opponent chooses to cheat.
03:20I'm starting to veer off topic here, and I feel that I've been missing the elephant in the room this
03:24entire time,
03:25the campaigns.
03:27Now, I understand this game is new, and the launch was delayed quite a bit from its original target,
03:31although not as much as what BTD6 was like,
03:34but the concern still comes up that this game is basically released in an unfinished state.
03:39There are only four campaigns in the entire game,
03:43with one only being accessible by spending monkey money to unlock Amelia,
03:47or buying one of her bundles in the shop.
03:49The other campaigns are short, and don't offer too much of a challenge, if at all,
03:54mostly because the AI is garbage as always.
03:57Personally, the only stage that is challenging to me in the slightest
04:00is the Amelia fight in the prologue campaign,
04:04and once you figure out her deck,
04:05it's easy to beat her, even with the gimmicks working against you.
04:10I played another Ninja Kiwi game several years ago that I have videos on my channel called Tower Keepers,
04:14and I felt that it had a similar problem to this game,
04:17though thankfully it didn't involve campaigns being locked behind a paywall.
04:21To make up for this shortfall,
04:23they have campaigns that rotate every other day to keep the game fresh,
04:26as well as competitive events such as Weekly Catacombs and Monthly Wizard Tower,
04:30and I think this game could massively benefit from such a change.
04:34There is already talks about Ranked Mode coming in the near future,
04:37so that's something to look forward to at least,
04:39and it may use a similar model to these,
04:41but yes, having rotating campaigns would help with increasing deck variety,
04:45as it does get boring doing the same fight over and over again,
04:48and winning most of the time.
04:50Maybe it's too early to write off Lune's card storm as a failure,
04:53but with how everything is going with the game so far,
04:56its future seems bleak,
04:58and I sincerely hope that I am wrong with this prediction.
05:03That's so interesting.
05:04Thank you for listening.
05:06You
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