Large player drop off since Escanor release, and why I personally am quitting the game.
Alright so the game released on steam almost exactly 2 months ago now, with the peak day 1 numbers of almost 66k players online at once through just steam. This chart will not show us mobile or PS5 numbers, but it gives us an idea.
3 Weeks after PC launch we have our first new banner, Daisy an original character. She premiered to just shy of 37k player peak on day 1 of her banner. Not bad for 3 weeks into a games life cycle, but still early on so the daily fatigue, and lack of content hadn't set in for everyone just yet.
2 Weeks after Daisy, they release the most hyped character of the franchise, Escanor! Day 1 of his release we peaked again back up to 46k players 5 weeks into the game, that's certainly not bad. Now mind you they did actually go out of their way to put out more advertising, and do a real live stream showing him off beforehand, so the hype really had a chance to build up in comparison to Daisy or Clotho that had like no previews until a day before release.
Fast forward 3 more weeks, to yesterday, the release of Clotho! We hit a peak player count of 12k for another new original character release banner. Now to be fair, again there was like no advertising for her, and we didn't get any info until a day before her release, however in just 5 weeks since the first original character, we've seen a 66% drop off in interest for a new OC Banner. In comparison to Escanor hype release, almost a 75% drop off in interest.
Now sure we can attribute a small decline to external factors like NTE coming out 2 weeks ago, new hot gacha = people leave to hop on the newest trend. However I think this tells us how little player interest there is in more original character releases, and the disappointment felt by the vast majority of players as to the underwhelming power Escanor brought to the game. Most people who pulled for Escanor are not happy with his kit, and even more so his damage numbers and utility compared to Meliodas or Daisy, the previous 2 banners.
When you take the character that is meant to be "The Strongest Under The Sun" and release him as he currently is, there is no fantasy there to make you feel like you are playing the real Escanor. Considering the severe lack of pulls available in the game too, most people that have pulled for Meliodas/Daisy/Escanor literally have no hope left in them for the future, as they are barely building up any pulls for future units because of the stinginess of the rewards in game.
Of course we can't forget the biggest thing that is turning people away either. An extremely monotonous daily material farm, horrendous levels of RNG gear farming/maxing, and a fundamental lack of polish of the game as a whole. Is there anyone out here that is excited to login every day to have to teleport to now SIX different areas to farm platinum, and now in addition sunstone materials, as well as whatever else you need for crafting? Some people just attribute it to dailies like you'd have to do in any gacha, mmo, or other games, however most of those involve actual gameplay in some way, instead we get what many are describing as "mining simulator".
The gearing RNG is so demotivating to participate in, that unless you are in the small percentage of people who have been obscenely lucky with your rolls on boss drops, gear ilvl/passive rolls, and weapon enchanting, you are probably having a terrible time like everyone is. Devs are attempting to listen to feedback on these issues and implement ways to reroll things more, or craft items you have been unlucky to not receive as drops, however they miss the mark most of the time, and it's not nearly enough to make people interested to keep interacting with the system as a whole.
Now for the games severe lack of polish. Some people want to say "well the devs didn't have enough time to get the game to a truly playable state before release" and you know what I have to say about that? Horseshit. This game was announced well over 4 years ago, and there is an early trailer that you can reference to see what they already had by that point. Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zP42zWsip1k
Now what can I say after watching this trailer back? The game has had many changes to the UI/Systems of that 4+ year span, sure. Attacks are different, and obviously Diane does not have an ability to place a rock anywhere near that size LMAO. However you can see the core of the game was already there. They have all the character models, animations, grey demon, red demon, galland, the open world that looks to be the same quality as it currently is. The question is, how is what we have now, all they managed to put together after this trailer over 4 years ago. Especially considering they had a very long closed alpha/beta test with feedback from those involved.
If anyone here has tried to play on a phone, you know how poor the optimization is for that, same with PS5 players that had many overheating issues and crashes early on. On the other hand, PC players have mostly been fine, besides that terrible sound bug where the intro music kept playing on loop at one point lol. The problem is the gameplay itself though, as combat feels clunky at best a lot of times. The gearing system is in complete disarray, you can tell they are really working on trying to figure it out still with every patch as they receive more feedback/complaints. My absolute biggest gripes though is the lack of pulls given out with each patch cycle, or as daily and weekly rewards, and the absence of a community aspect. The guild system in the game is really sad currently, and it's hard to say when it will be utilized properly. Alongside the difficulty of even trying to play with other players, which is getting better for sure, but these are things that should have been available at release or within the first patch.
Personally, I really enjoyed the first month or so of the game, I couldn't get enough! Like everyone else I was begging for "more key, more keys!" in my mind. However, another massive failure on the games part is now the dreaded feeling of wasting keys. There is no reason to spend keys beyond what you need to gear out your units to clear abyss content, because you are much better off saving them for when they inevitably add in more rewards, difficulty levels, or other QOL changes that make it much more worthwhile to spend them. The current best strategy, as there is no benefit in pushing your account past a certain point, is to simply build up your keys, and spend the minimal amount needed to complete events and gearing/leveling characters.
Thus the worst imaginable game loop is born: Login, do minimal dailies, farm open world resources, save all your keys until more improvements are made to existing content, Logout. Might the game be polished enough in another 6-12 months after loads more feedback and dev time? It certainly could, however do I want to have to force myself to be efficient by farming platinum, sunstones, and whatever else they add from here on out every day until the game finally feels good to play? Honestly, no I really don't. Knowing that I can't be bothered to do that, it means the game is unfortunately over for me, as coming back to a gacha after missing loads of limited resources is not my cup of tea.
Truly I hope this game does get enough care put into it to be fun for everyone that continues to support it from this point onwards. I had my fun at the start, and while it didn't last nearly as long for me as my enjoyment of the original 7dsgc netmarble put out years ago, it was great to have some nostalgia of those days. I know if I had to write notes for the devs, I could easily fill about 10-20 pages of grievances, errors, bugs, and general feedback for them.
I apologize if I made this too lengthy, or dampened the spirits of those still enjoying the game, but I feel everyone needs to continue to give their own feedback such as this for the sake of the games future. See you all in the next one o7.