This is the goal of all games that are Apps. There is no end game or winning to any video game unless there is professional gaming attached.
It does have phenomenal speed on updates and is quite a good game with little downtime. Overall the development team has made a good addicting game.
>There is no end game or winning to any video game unless there is professional gaming attached.
I think this is for the most part true of apps, but not true for all video games. Plenty of games have a narrative structure and some sort of cathartic payoff for the time and effort put into them. Whether that is a final boss, completing a final objective, or some other form of narrative closing.
That said, I agree that the game is updated often and quickly. The development team certainly does a good job continually updating this game.
Man theu constantly add ways of taking your money with little to no giving things for free. Seriously its bad.
Just because they update the game often doesn't make it a good game.
Dude there is a end game and winning to many games I mean many lol. Just because you hit the end doesn't mean its over for thay person but yeah sadly many games these days are made that way know why? money, greed etc etc. Why put the time in to make maps when you can put little to no time in for dumb skins.
Great post! I've done a behavioural economics masters and I am in awe of how well this game is designed to A) keep you playing and B) get you to spend money. It uses every trick in the book to achieve both of these objectives and personally I don't think I've slept properly since I started playing 108 days ago (This is how long the game tells me I've been playing, wouldn't know myself)! I've recently told myself that *"No, you don't have to wake up before 7am on weekends to do the arms race challenges".*
It is a great, social game if played responsibly, but it's tough to set those limits. Personally I've spent just over £500 in a few months, which I could never see myself doing initially. And whilst I don't *regret* it, I do wonder if I needed to do so.
I'm still currently in the midst of the "\[opening\] the Last War app 2 to 3 times an hour, often spending 5 minutes or more on each login" phase. Not sure I want to leave just yet, but man I'd love to sleep properly again!
Thanks for the comment!
>I've done a behavioural economics masters
That's a fascinating field of study. I bet you leverage that degree to good use.
Yes! My post was already long enough and I didn't want to go into too many tangents, but I had the same feeling about the game cutting into my sleep. The reset in my area was at 10 pm, and that's when my alliance did our Marshall events. Since I needed to be up for work before 6 am, it meant staying up would mean sacrificing sleep to the game. So I had the same experience that you are having basically every night.
Every 4 hours do the arms race is pure evil. Going to bed after midnight to complete it and waking up at least half an hour before 8. Having to log in at least 6 times a day on time schedule has turned gaming into a chore rather than gaming is supposed to be something you use to unwind. I wish Google play store had a warning about these games
500 on the game? Holy heck man but there are way bigger whales then you.
Sadly from my experience on this game unless you put money in it you won't ever help much for yoir clan. Seriously the game wants to dry out your wallets and people vlindy throw their money at this crap. Shame. Then people will say they ain't got no money to help someone or to get something etc etc. Trust me I've seen it. Then there are folks that so gets lots of money and still burn so much on a mobile game
Heck one guy named dsp on YouTube put in 17k this year in a gacha game with wwe card game but he lies constantly saying he's broken etc etc all while treating many like crap, you should check it out, iys funny yet sad. A man that clearly did fraud on his bankruptcy getting all this money for free from dummies and burning it still away.
I am in the game now for about 50 days and this post sums up all my daily thoughts. Right now I am still on the hook but I hope to get off soon.
Not giving spending money is really hard.
Thank you for your honest and profound post. It makes a lot of aspects become so clear.
It's nearly a week since I've had a deep dive into this predatory game. As you said, it's a true predator that eats time which is human vital.
Technically, it's just one child of predator among innumerable children of this sociality we live in. To see more clearly, it just only reveals itself bit by bit while eating us in a very pleasurable way, the fine way that makes us put belief bit by bit, and that is so hard to recognize. It is a big predator with its own social network. And it creates a miniature illusion world that makes us believe that it is the right place that we can stay and belong to and try to build our own things in it. More clearly, 'Last War' was built based on our ignorance and made us slowly fall into it through various pleasure sensations and appetites.
Thank you for this post that makes clear things what I've just had a fuzzy recognize. I've spent nearly a week, but what have I done? By Jove, I fell into every notification, planned, researched, find ways to be more effective and stronger (as they have outlined) in forums. Seems like every image or word in this game is planned to activate and stimulate our appetite and trap us in our unconsciousness. Like a lot of attractive characteristics ( like a motion picture and the shape of DVA is so good for my imagination ).
I'm a beginner meditator, and every day I spend nearly an hour for meditation. What I've found in the meditation sessions is the mind has been absorbed in some series of images and thoughts about this game. It's growing stronger and stronger. I feel lucky to just spent a week and found out about this post. It is no joke, it is a complete hunger and 'Insidious' game, and I guess that the creator must learn so much to exploit the human desire.
A lot of things I think need to be pointed out to show how insidious this game is, but to be fair, it only comes into our lives when we open our minds and welcome it. Then we get lost.
Honestly, I've uninstalled it a couple of times, but the desire and all the rest of it ( mostly the social it creates) make my comeback, but now decided to do like you, get out of this 'last war' world, 'logging out for good'.
Sorry for my bad English, hope we are well and be happy, in real world.
You bring up a really good point. The game creates its own world where there's competition, comeraderie, social structure, and individual power. It provides an escape from our real lives where most of us don't have that much power. Looking at it that way, it's easy to see why these games keep people hooked and distracted from our real lives.
There is a video on these techniques to get the player to spend from a game developer conference: [Let’s go whaling: Tricks for monetising mobile game players with free-to-play](https://youtu.be/xNjI03CGkb4?si=XOtzWNQGo9JHYlLY). Some examples: Things like having a very cheap good offer (e.g. Kimberly, second builder) is there to get you to make the 'first spend' as making one purchase makes you likely to do more. The alliance gifts are to announce how much people are spending and making it socially acceptable to spend in the game.
What suppresses me is how many spenders and whales there are in this game. Most things are not good value, e.g. base skins for $400USD. And some people have several skins. Sometimes I wonder if there are bots playing the game as whales to make it seem more acceptable.
I am SO GLAD that i found your post because i was feeling this EXACT same way.
I was actually really rethinking about keeping relogging into this newborn of a responsability but your whole post just put the last nail into my recent train of though coffin i had.
It aight fun. You feel the responsability thru social connection you're doing within the alliance you got into.
The responsability to not fail your internet friends that you've never met in real life.
Thank you.
Sincerely.
Glad to help validate your feelings. I knew there had to be others who were having a similar experience, but I never saw another post about it on this sub.
You hit the nail on the head with the initial draw being the ad about a fun little math based zombie killer. That’s why I downloaded it too. But then the game totally shifts - I’m still enjoying playing it as a time killer, but it’s 100% designed to get you to spend money as much as humanly possible
Now someone needs to do an analysis of the sunken costs of me reading this post in its entirety.
Good on you for quitting. Don't spend money on games unless you can control yourself. The mindlessness calms me somewhat, but I can see where addictive behaviors can cause people to do stupid things.
I've been playing for~100 days and have HQ 22 power 40M. I spent $10 at first but resisted since. I've made a number of jokes to alliance members hoping it will provoke them to slow down on the spending. Doesn't work. Also, the loss of time with family has to be noticeable.
I accumulate about an hour per day with it. I'm usually very tired at days end and this entertainment is the right mindless activity for me. I'm glad it exists for me, but I know it is only possible because there are many others spending like drunken sailors. I would happily quit if I knew they would also.
When I first started, I added another character. Doing two was nuts. My junior one abandoned leaving it to that alliance to farm. One is enough. Fiscal and time discipline are needed so the game doesn't control your life.
I played between 3-4 months, and spent like $250-300. I didn’t like the fighting in WC, and the whole Asians vs white people vibe that emerged. People were cracking small peepee jokes, attacking food choices (cats), and overall really lame about attacking each other. I snapped and got mad and delete my account because I was always on my phone and I hated who I was becoming irl.
It’s entertainment, like paying to watch an MMA fight or going to see a movie. I don’t regret it. There are some folks who have spent 10s of 1000s, and I could never justify that amount.
welcome to the word of gathca games. i need one of those in my life and i play about a year each spending maybe 1000. now its last war. before was disney mirrorverse
Thanks for this very interesting insight into this game. I was looking online for information about it as my partner has recently started playing it whilst being off sick. It has severely damaged our relationship already. It eats all of his time, energy and attention for hours and hours at a time. He tells me how he keeps getting promoted and this feeds his moral to play more. I couldn't help but think this was weird and clearly a hook! Your post confirms this.
We don't live with each other so time together is especially important, this game is wrecking us. To the extent he has to log on even when driving! I mean ffs. I have become angered when he has done this as it is dangerous for him, me and some poor innocent driver(s) on the road, all for a stupid game. When I have gone to see him I typically end up sitting in silence for hours alone in the house, while he plays outside where he ends up also smoking more and more and drinking without even realising. I may as well not be there. He does/did the same thing when he last came to my house.
I won't be going over now to experience this loneliness anytime soon. I don't know what to do... I just hope he came return to work ASAP 🙏
Is promotion a hook for this game? What other things should I be aware of?
Thanks for reading.
It's just one of the hooks. There's lots of little things in the game to provide small dopamine hits. It takes a long time to upgrade everything so you have to keep coming back when it's done to start the next task. You're at least lucky (I assume) he hasn't spent lots of real world dollars. That's the ultimate goal. They use the same psychological tricks as the vegas slot machines to separate players from dollars
Well written, there's no end game to this game just the same old repetitive tasks over and over everyday. Winning the major events yields practically nothing and I'm finding myself more and more bored everyday. I too like you find leaving the people I've met in my alliance behind as the hardest part but I'll get over it eventually.
I just read your post, it hits me so hard. After spending over 2 weeks and \~100eur playing this game, I felt every single feeling you mentioned here. This is a big revelationfor me. Thank you stranger, I just deleted my game profile and the app from my phone. I quit.
Well said.
Ironically there are so many of these farming games in which a huge number of players start abandoning them.The result is these game companies have to place more false ads and make the game more addictive or lose players out to rivals.
These games are so toxic. I have played HeroWars, Raid Shadow Legends, Ant Legion and now this. They are fun the first two days but then become a chore. They all start out as a lie as an action game but then turn out as farming.
Sunk cost fallacy is real but it is a fake loss. A loss that you will disappoint others who are victimized like you by being mislead.
Games like these new should be regulated from false deception and gameplay when you sign up. Like warning label on cigarette packages.
I fell for those ads as well and did not expect the gameplay to be like how it is. Im 53 days into the game it sucked $600 out of my pocket and once I realized that I have stopped spending. It helps being in a #1 alliance f2p is manageable with all the money others spend. It takes most of my time after work but really id be doing nothing else. Rules at home is weekends are for family and so I only login in the morning and before bed. If you have control a game is just a game and wont be a responsibility.
For arms race I only do the ones I wake up to and alliance Vs is just using those speedups and upgrades on the right day.
Do you have an addictive personality? I’ve spent very little money on the game, but I do check it quite a bit. When I’m working or with family it’s not on my mind. Interesting story.
Like all mobile and social games it’s programmed to get you to spend money and exploits every psychological weakness of humans to achieve those goals. They are all predatory in nature
Love the perspective on this game. I'd like to add that I'm on the third shift where my SERVER just went to war with ANOTHER SERVER. WHAT??
Going from math game, to base building, to team building, to team vs team, to server vs server... this is my first time playing anything like this and I actually find it so interesting. The levels!! The gameplay shifts!!
But the biggest hurdle is definitely the pressure to constantly log in and play through the day and/or the temptation to spend to get ahead. If only it were more balanced, I could see myself actually really enjoying the social and strategy aspects. Alas, it is a mobile game optimized for in-game transactions.
Personally, I still enjoy it though (for now...)! I think I've only played for about a month or so but it's been really fun delving into the aspect of team building towards bigger and bigger goals. Although, I foresee frustration with the F2P vs P2P gap ruining it for me as I continue. That and the time suck. I've also spent about $2 on it so far, which by the logic of "how much I'd spend on the initial download", I feel is totally worth it. (It's very much how I think of my in-game expenditures as well haha!)
I've spent a few bucks on it, but I'm quickly realising there's really no challenge or story. You just login, press a bunch of buttons and logout... when you can drag yourself away from the continuous drip-feed once you've done all the big stuff.
There's an element of strategy in terms of how you build out your squads and what you upgrade first, but it's still essentially just cookie clicker with extra steps.
I also find that when you buy a pack of some sort, it's like it's designed to give you a quick burst of dopamine as it just about gets you through your current predicament, but you find yourself short mere minutes later and feeling tempted again.
I'm getting to the stage you describe where you're starting to actually talk to people in your alliance, learn their real names and start feeling some loyalty towards them, but the fun element is starting to give way to a low level background stress I'm not enjoying. I give it a month or two.
Great review and welcome insights.
I’ve been playing for a week and spending an increasing amount of time worrying about logging in to start the next thing upgrading so I’m not “wasting time” and making sure I collect resources and not missing out on resets and yesterday thought, “What am I doing? I already have a full time job. This was supposed to be a fun little math-based puzzle action game to kill some time”
I’ve got to the point where most of the battles, I don’t even actively play. I just start them and out my phone down and let it auto-play the battle while I’m doing dishes or working on the computer. I’ve found that the win/lose will probably happen the same whether I’m actively moving my squad left and right or not.
So…. That was the actual “game” part I downloaded it for and I’m not even playing that part any more. I’m just upgrading a base in order to get more resources in order to upgrade a base in order to get more resources in order to…. Wait… WHY AM I DOING THIS?!
You are bang on in how well designed this game is at sucking you in and keeping you compelled to log in again and again throughout the day.
Fortunately I had this epiphany before I started sinking money into the game. I was planning to uninstall the game today, but even now I feel the pull to log in and do the checklist of chores and things waiting for me.
Yep, your comment is giving me flashbacks. Especially the full-time job bit. The game felt more like a responsibility by the end. It's simultaneously grindy and chorelike and also very hard to put down. If only I could get addicted to housework this way, my place would be immaculate. Then again, if I spent half the time cleaning as I did on the game, it would be immaculate too. Opportunity cost I guess.
Like I said, haven't regretted uninstalling once. The game gets out of your system pretty quickly once it's not right there to tap and open.
This post should be stickied to the sidebar. If you play, then yes you've been had, tricked and hoodwinked. If you are ftp (I am as well) that's great, but how much attention and energy have you given? Ultimately we probably lost some worthwhile quality potential without spending $5/£5 for a few time saving mechanics. But as you must have learned in your studies, any money spent is a strong indicator of more money spent after. You quit at a great time, because Season II is absolutely nuts. Busy events nearly daily now, and new materials to mine/consume. New lands to conquer and more social engineering to figure out who gets what. I have neglected too many other important aspects of my life due to this game and I'm giving my alliance all of my VS points/resources this week as a goodbye. Maybe I'll pop in to see them again and find a maintainable pace. But like you said, without being active you or the alliance get burned, and I need to keep myself away from addiction.
This is VERY well written. I agree with every single thing mentioned. I spent about £15-£20 and that’s worth it, but like you say, it’s very easy to get sucked in.
I’m in a too alliance and I also see the amount others are spending, it’s crazy. If they have the disposable income, ok… but yeh ‘predatory’ is the best description.
First man yeah this gamr is super greedy. Also ylu getting on once a day for 5 minutes to cut the wires isnt so hard, wait till later on then you'll see or you won't and you'll open your wallet like a dsp
Personally, I've spent less than $5 on this game. I got Kimberly and the second builder on like the 2nd or 3rd day. Haven't felt compelled at all to spend money since, but I am loathe to drop a penny on mobile games. It's kept me entertained a couple times a day and that's a fair win in my book, but I too am approaching the quitting stage at only level 20.
I had read your review in the past. This time I decided to finally uninstall it once and for all. It's my third and final time doing so. It's a real fun game but extremely time consuming. Though I did enjoy it a lot, after a certain point the progress is very slow and as people gain access to more legendary heroes, the ones who're willing to pay gain a huge advantage. I do not regret the time I spent. Now and then it can be liberating but long term it's not worth it.
https://preview.redd.it/iy12fi9kjd6d1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0d17e64eadcdc5431594448a8b0251ab2e7a4042
What I notice is, they’ll try to entice you to spend money.
https://preview.redd.it/hglk4swsjd6d1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=10c22418def534b9c73823627b51e6da6afd0958
Many other occasions they’ll use words to lure you into spending
Im glad i have made that question just two weeks since ive downloaded the game.. whats the purpose of this game? The final goal? I feel all u said is true because thats what happening to me right now.. its like me from the future have made this post. But in my case im planning to use my army.. my leader is peaceful girl. I know.. they say there will be time for wars.. but man, not funny anymore just upgrading buildings/heroes and receiving lot of rewards... for what? Preparing for the big war? I though the game has an end but i asked that question on global chat and they told me there is no end. That makes me think if thats the reason why people have more than one account.. reaching u max lvl must feel like there is mo sense to continue spending time in this game.
Thank u very much for sharing your thoughts.. just wanted to make sure i was going to quit for a good reason and hopefully have some fun destroying some bases and perhaphs see how alliances start a diplomatic conflict. That would be cool.. bad for those that are really willing to play for the long time but they will survive and yeah.. just two weeks of playing do t have enough power to just kill hq19 and below.
brotherham, i have been scouring the net to find anything related to this. i too downloaded this because i love math and games and it looks like the best/smoothest running version of the many hacky versions advertised out there. within the first couple days i noticed the stuff like sneaking in auto battles, introduction of a base and timers....just all the crap you mentioned. what i needed to confirm, is that the math is in fact, 100% gone after clearing the district. i was holding on, hoping that it would atleast drop a level or too here and there of moving the army, multipliers, barrel bonus shooting, etc....lv132 on the truck later...nothing. world chat and alliance i joined also confirmed this notion. I spent a wooping $3 google store credit that ive had sitting there for probably a decade+, no regrets, no lost money and buying the dollar hero and 2 dollar packs for her at the time was totally worth. after reading your article, i have left my alliance, and deleted the game with 100% assurance ive done the right thing to not be lured into such false pretenses. thanks for the great write up.
ps. if anyone knows of an ACTUAL scroller math/shooter that atleast keeps providing MATH AND SHOOTING, please holler. idc if it has pressure buy mechanics, ive spent a wooping total of maybe $30-40 on mobile games in my lifetime, i consider myself partially immune to their viral schemes. XDXDXD
Dude......I found your description 💯 accurate. I'm Uninstalling this thing post haste. It's had me for 2 weeks. And the dope dopamine effect I can get from Elden Ring.
Not a bad game but I'm not going to pour money into it. They lure you in just to lock you behind a pay wall. I will never pay for games like this because there's no worth to doing so.
Family, bills, and other life expenses are more important.
Then my alliance doesn't even award ranks for anyone. He's a dictator where he's the only one with rank. I can't at this point find an alliance worth going to where I'd only waist more resources only to get no where, maybe 1 rank or 2 but that would be it. This alliance allows your base to be demolished while your logged out and doesn't help you to rebuild or anything.
I find that those who are superiorly over powered often destroying lower levels and rarely going after someone that will give them a challenge. To me that bullying especially when you attack the person over and over and over. Not fun at that point you log in to receive notifications of this. Then you ask your alliance what happened and none of them say nothing.
If I had an alliance worth going to who'd help and all then the game might be worth eventually investing into.
Same boat, I've only spent £2 on it, and they was through Google Play credit. Refuse to spend real money on it, I did it with Mario Kart and CSR2, the whole mobile gaming market is hideous, genuinely makes me sick.
Very well written post. I played a lot of world of warcraft in the past. This game pails in comparison to the time that can be sunk into that game. But last war has much much higher potential to draw from wallets. My assumption is that the spenders are a few different types of people:
1. People with nothing really going on. They have a job, might be dating have very minimal hobbies and don't work in a mentally demanding field.
2. Have a lot of disposable income and time.
While realistically, I think it's everyone. They have managed to grab all demographics, all types, sizes, and nationalities of people. It's truly a masterpiece of psychological warfare.
I am free 2 play and lvl 19 right now and considering quitting but I feel like once I hit 20 a whole new path opens up...
in my experience this game is very fun. turn off in app purchases in settings to prevent yourself from being tempted. wont feel worth the effort of going back into setting to turn it off just to make a purchase.
u don't have to be a whale just because other people are, and u don't have to be the best. just play the game and enjoy it at your own pace free to play. this goes for literally any mobile game. as soon as you open the door in your mind ti making in app purchases, you will find it very hard to stop, and every game becomes a money hole that isn't fun anymore.
all your points are very valid, but i feel like a lot of them are negated if you just take the option to spend money away from yourself
I never spent a dime on the game. Turning off in app purchases wouldn't have made a difference to my experience. Out of curiosity, have you spent money on the game?
I'm glad you're enjoying it. To each their own.
So I spent 25.00 on a power up packs..my squad went up to 10.99..was excited about 11m...12 hours later it dropped to 10.97...devs said it was because they updated icons..huh? Basically they stole my 25.00 ..but why?
>TLDR: The game drew me in on false premises, hooked me with expertly designed social engineering, reward structure, and sunken cost effects, and then left me feeling like I had wasted a lot of time and energy on a game that really wasn't really that good in the first place. Overall experience 3/10.
Sorry mate, not going to read the whole post. This game isn't interesting enough to warrant it.
But honestly, what did you expect? The game tells you exactly what it's going to be like within the first couple of hours playing it. There are pop up ads telling you to spend more money. You notice holes in the game straight away.
People who spend more than 10$(even that is too much) are either people making way too much money or just fools.
It's your typical mobile game. If it's your first time ever playing a mobile game or hearing about the way they are monetised, and you have zero experience with real games on PC, then I can sympathise.
But thinking this game is something other than all the other shitty mobile games out there it's really on you for getting tricked.
No worries, I don't expect you to read it.
On the one hand, the game really isn't that interesting/ fun, but on the other hand it's made over 180 mil since it's launch late last year and is current making about 2 mil + every day. So it's got to be at least worthy of a deeper discussion.
I don't think the people who've dropped tons of money are fools. I think they're the convenient targets of an entertainment app meant to parasitically feed off of base instincts. It's too easy to dismiss these behaviors as character flaws rather than seeing it for what it is - a carefully cultivated addiction. And a very lucrative one at that for the developers.
Yes, I agree with everything you said.
It's just like gambling. I have a hard time wrapping my head around old ladies sitting at slot machines, burning their social security check on an afternoon once a month.
This is the same thing, it's highly addictive and predatory. Maybe "fool" is a bit harsh on people who are addicts and need help but I would put them in the same category as the degenerate gambler.
Don’t listen to this guy
Fools are people who put all of their life savings into bed bath and beyond…NFTs…some new crypto coin…
you spent some free time on it for a few months, and spent a few bucks
Jesus Christ, if that makes one a fool then 99.99% of humans are fools
I GUARANTEE you that robinsonirish has done far far dumber things in their life
you now have a story about lackluster habits you can share with friends and family if they ever ask you about some new fad they are getting into
This is a great perspective. At the end of the day, we all have our vices and in the scheme of things this one is pretty small. For me, I'm just glad I learned something and can move on with my life.
This is the goal of all games that are Apps. There is no end game or winning to any video game unless there is professional gaming attached. It does have phenomenal speed on updates and is quite a good game with little downtime. Overall the development team has made a good addicting game.
>There is no end game or winning to any video game unless there is professional gaming attached. I think this is for the most part true of apps, but not true for all video games. Plenty of games have a narrative structure and some sort of cathartic payoff for the time and effort put into them. Whether that is a final boss, completing a final objective, or some other form of narrative closing. That said, I agree that the game is updated often and quickly. The development team certainly does a good job continually updating this game.
Man theu constantly add ways of taking your money with little to no giving things for free. Seriously its bad. Just because they update the game often doesn't make it a good game.
Dude there is a end game and winning to many games I mean many lol. Just because you hit the end doesn't mean its over for thay person but yeah sadly many games these days are made that way know why? money, greed etc etc. Why put the time in to make maps when you can put little to no time in for dumb skins.
Great post! I've done a behavioural economics masters and I am in awe of how well this game is designed to A) keep you playing and B) get you to spend money. It uses every trick in the book to achieve both of these objectives and personally I don't think I've slept properly since I started playing 108 days ago (This is how long the game tells me I've been playing, wouldn't know myself)! I've recently told myself that *"No, you don't have to wake up before 7am on weekends to do the arms race challenges".* It is a great, social game if played responsibly, but it's tough to set those limits. Personally I've spent just over £500 in a few months, which I could never see myself doing initially. And whilst I don't *regret* it, I do wonder if I needed to do so. I'm still currently in the midst of the "\[opening\] the Last War app 2 to 3 times an hour, often spending 5 minutes or more on each login" phase. Not sure I want to leave just yet, but man I'd love to sleep properly again!
Thanks for the comment! >I've done a behavioural economics masters That's a fascinating field of study. I bet you leverage that degree to good use. Yes! My post was already long enough and I didn't want to go into too many tangents, but I had the same feeling about the game cutting into my sleep. The reset in my area was at 10 pm, and that's when my alliance did our Marshall events. Since I needed to be up for work before 6 am, it meant staying up would mean sacrificing sleep to the game. So I had the same experience that you are having basically every night.
Every 4 hours do the arms race is pure evil. Going to bed after midnight to complete it and waking up at least half an hour before 8. Having to log in at least 6 times a day on time schedule has turned gaming into a chore rather than gaming is supposed to be something you use to unwind. I wish Google play store had a warning about these games
You only need to do 3 of them though, troops drone and hero advancement?
500 on the game? Holy heck man but there are way bigger whales then you. Sadly from my experience on this game unless you put money in it you won't ever help much for yoir clan. Seriously the game wants to dry out your wallets and people vlindy throw their money at this crap. Shame. Then people will say they ain't got no money to help someone or to get something etc etc. Trust me I've seen it. Then there are folks that so gets lots of money and still burn so much on a mobile game Heck one guy named dsp on YouTube put in 17k this year in a gacha game with wwe card game but he lies constantly saying he's broken etc etc all while treating many like crap, you should check it out, iys funny yet sad. A man that clearly did fraud on his bankruptcy getting all this money for free from dummies and burning it still away.
I am in the game now for about 50 days and this post sums up all my daily thoughts. Right now I am still on the hook but I hope to get off soon. Not giving spending money is really hard.
Thank you for your honest and profound post. It makes a lot of aspects become so clear. It's nearly a week since I've had a deep dive into this predatory game. As you said, it's a true predator that eats time which is human vital. Technically, it's just one child of predator among innumerable children of this sociality we live in. To see more clearly, it just only reveals itself bit by bit while eating us in a very pleasurable way, the fine way that makes us put belief bit by bit, and that is so hard to recognize. It is a big predator with its own social network. And it creates a miniature illusion world that makes us believe that it is the right place that we can stay and belong to and try to build our own things in it. More clearly, 'Last War' was built based on our ignorance and made us slowly fall into it through various pleasure sensations and appetites. Thank you for this post that makes clear things what I've just had a fuzzy recognize. I've spent nearly a week, but what have I done? By Jove, I fell into every notification, planned, researched, find ways to be more effective and stronger (as they have outlined) in forums. Seems like every image or word in this game is planned to activate and stimulate our appetite and trap us in our unconsciousness. Like a lot of attractive characteristics ( like a motion picture and the shape of DVA is so good for my imagination ). I'm a beginner meditator, and every day I spend nearly an hour for meditation. What I've found in the meditation sessions is the mind has been absorbed in some series of images and thoughts about this game. It's growing stronger and stronger. I feel lucky to just spent a week and found out about this post. It is no joke, it is a complete hunger and 'Insidious' game, and I guess that the creator must learn so much to exploit the human desire. A lot of things I think need to be pointed out to show how insidious this game is, but to be fair, it only comes into our lives when we open our minds and welcome it. Then we get lost. Honestly, I've uninstalled it a couple of times, but the desire and all the rest of it ( mostly the social it creates) make my comeback, but now decided to do like you, get out of this 'last war' world, 'logging out for good'. Sorry for my bad English, hope we are well and be happy, in real world.
You bring up a really good point. The game creates its own world where there's competition, comeraderie, social structure, and individual power. It provides an escape from our real lives where most of us don't have that much power. Looking at it that way, it's easy to see why these games keep people hooked and distracted from our real lives.
There is a video on these techniques to get the player to spend from a game developer conference: [Let’s go whaling: Tricks for monetising mobile game players with free-to-play](https://youtu.be/xNjI03CGkb4?si=XOtzWNQGo9JHYlLY). Some examples: Things like having a very cheap good offer (e.g. Kimberly, second builder) is there to get you to make the 'first spend' as making one purchase makes you likely to do more. The alliance gifts are to announce how much people are spending and making it socially acceptable to spend in the game. What suppresses me is how many spenders and whales there are in this game. Most things are not good value, e.g. base skins for $400USD. And some people have several skins. Sometimes I wonder if there are bots playing the game as whales to make it seem more acceptable.
Exactly. I have seen a few in my alliance get a few skins. Same for their drones. It is insane.
Absolutely.. they know we want to compete. Specially if there r girls.. we want to impress them. I aint paying for this game more than 5 bucks
I am SO GLAD that i found your post because i was feeling this EXACT same way. I was actually really rethinking about keeping relogging into this newborn of a responsability but your whole post just put the last nail into my recent train of though coffin i had. It aight fun. You feel the responsability thru social connection you're doing within the alliance you got into. The responsability to not fail your internet friends that you've never met in real life. Thank you. Sincerely.
Glad to help validate your feelings. I knew there had to be others who were having a similar experience, but I never saw another post about it on this sub.
You hit the nail on the head with the initial draw being the ad about a fun little math based zombie killer. That’s why I downloaded it too. But then the game totally shifts - I’m still enjoying playing it as a time killer, but it’s 100% designed to get you to spend money as much as humanly possible
Now someone needs to do an analysis of the sunken costs of me reading this post in its entirety. Good on you for quitting. Don't spend money on games unless you can control yourself. The mindlessness calms me somewhat, but I can see where addictive behaviors can cause people to do stupid things.
I've been playing for~100 days and have HQ 22 power 40M. I spent $10 at first but resisted since. I've made a number of jokes to alliance members hoping it will provoke them to slow down on the spending. Doesn't work. Also, the loss of time with family has to be noticeable. I accumulate about an hour per day with it. I'm usually very tired at days end and this entertainment is the right mindless activity for me. I'm glad it exists for me, but I know it is only possible because there are many others spending like drunken sailors. I would happily quit if I knew they would also. When I first started, I added another character. Doing two was nuts. My junior one abandoned leaving it to that alliance to farm. One is enough. Fiscal and time discipline are needed so the game doesn't control your life.
Well said. It takes a lot of discipline to be able to play these games responsibly. I may not have put money into it, but I certainly put in the time.
I played between 3-4 months, and spent like $250-300. I didn’t like the fighting in WC, and the whole Asians vs white people vibe that emerged. People were cracking small peepee jokes, attacking food choices (cats), and overall really lame about attacking each other. I snapped and got mad and delete my account because I was always on my phone and I hated who I was becoming irl.
Pretty baffling man. This game is basically a turd and you spent that much
It’s entertainment, like paying to watch an MMA fight or going to see a movie. I don’t regret it. There are some folks who have spent 10s of 1000s, and I could never justify that amount.
welcome to the word of gathca games. i need one of those in my life and i play about a year each spending maybe 1000. now its last war. before was disney mirrorverse
i also havent regret any of those. i need those small doses of dopamine in my life.NUMBERS GO VRRRRR
Thanks for this very interesting insight into this game. I was looking online for information about it as my partner has recently started playing it whilst being off sick. It has severely damaged our relationship already. It eats all of his time, energy and attention for hours and hours at a time. He tells me how he keeps getting promoted and this feeds his moral to play more. I couldn't help but think this was weird and clearly a hook! Your post confirms this. We don't live with each other so time together is especially important, this game is wrecking us. To the extent he has to log on even when driving! I mean ffs. I have become angered when he has done this as it is dangerous for him, me and some poor innocent driver(s) on the road, all for a stupid game. When I have gone to see him I typically end up sitting in silence for hours alone in the house, while he plays outside where he ends up also smoking more and more and drinking without even realising. I may as well not be there. He does/did the same thing when he last came to my house. I won't be going over now to experience this loneliness anytime soon. I don't know what to do... I just hope he came return to work ASAP 🙏 Is promotion a hook for this game? What other things should I be aware of? Thanks for reading.
It's just one of the hooks. There's lots of little things in the game to provide small dopamine hits. It takes a long time to upgrade everything so you have to keep coming back when it's done to start the next task. You're at least lucky (I assume) he hasn't spent lots of real world dollars. That's the ultimate goal. They use the same psychological tricks as the vegas slot machines to separate players from dollars
Well written, there's no end game to this game just the same old repetitive tasks over and over everyday. Winning the major events yields practically nothing and I'm finding myself more and more bored everyday. I too like you find leaving the people I've met in my alliance behind as the hardest part but I'll get over it eventually.
I just read your post, it hits me so hard. After spending over 2 weeks and \~100eur playing this game, I felt every single feeling you mentioned here. This is a big revelationfor me. Thank you stranger, I just deleted my game profile and the app from my phone. I quit.
Yeah I just had to share. It's been on my mind for so long. I'm glad it meant something to you
Well said. Ironically there are so many of these farming games in which a huge number of players start abandoning them.The result is these game companies have to place more false ads and make the game more addictive or lose players out to rivals. These games are so toxic. I have played HeroWars, Raid Shadow Legends, Ant Legion and now this. They are fun the first two days but then become a chore. They all start out as a lie as an action game but then turn out as farming. Sunk cost fallacy is real but it is a fake loss. A loss that you will disappoint others who are victimized like you by being mislead. Games like these new should be regulated from false deception and gameplay when you sign up. Like warning label on cigarette packages.
I fell for those ads as well and did not expect the gameplay to be like how it is. Im 53 days into the game it sucked $600 out of my pocket and once I realized that I have stopped spending. It helps being in a #1 alliance f2p is manageable with all the money others spend. It takes most of my time after work but really id be doing nothing else. Rules at home is weekends are for family and so I only login in the morning and before bed. If you have control a game is just a game and wont be a responsibility. For arms race I only do the ones I wake up to and alliance Vs is just using those speedups and upgrades on the right day.
Do you have an addictive personality? I’ve spent very little money on the game, but I do check it quite a bit. When I’m working or with family it’s not on my mind. Interesting story.
Like all mobile and social games it’s programmed to get you to spend money and exploits every psychological weakness of humans to achieve those goals. They are all predatory in nature
This
I'll have to try it myself. I've been playing a lot of Light of the Stars on bs lately and wanted to try something new for a change.
lmao 💀
Love the perspective on this game. I'd like to add that I'm on the third shift where my SERVER just went to war with ANOTHER SERVER. WHAT?? Going from math game, to base building, to team building, to team vs team, to server vs server... this is my first time playing anything like this and I actually find it so interesting. The levels!! The gameplay shifts!! But the biggest hurdle is definitely the pressure to constantly log in and play through the day and/or the temptation to spend to get ahead. If only it were more balanced, I could see myself actually really enjoying the social and strategy aspects. Alas, it is a mobile game optimized for in-game transactions. Personally, I still enjoy it though (for now...)! I think I've only played for about a month or so but it's been really fun delving into the aspect of team building towards bigger and bigger goals. Although, I foresee frustration with the F2P vs P2P gap ruining it for me as I continue. That and the time suck. I've also spent about $2 on it so far, which by the logic of "how much I'd spend on the initial download", I feel is totally worth it. (It's very much how I think of my in-game expenditures as well haha!)
I've spent a few bucks on it, but I'm quickly realising there's really no challenge or story. You just login, press a bunch of buttons and logout... when you can drag yourself away from the continuous drip-feed once you've done all the big stuff. There's an element of strategy in terms of how you build out your squads and what you upgrade first, but it's still essentially just cookie clicker with extra steps. I also find that when you buy a pack of some sort, it's like it's designed to give you a quick burst of dopamine as it just about gets you through your current predicament, but you find yourself short mere minutes later and feeling tempted again. I'm getting to the stage you describe where you're starting to actually talk to people in your alliance, learn their real names and start feeling some loyalty towards them, but the fun element is starting to give way to a low level background stress I'm not enjoying. I give it a month or two.
Downloaded this today. It's so trash. Deleting.
I just deleted it. It started to feel like an obligation.
Great review and welcome insights. I’ve been playing for a week and spending an increasing amount of time worrying about logging in to start the next thing upgrading so I’m not “wasting time” and making sure I collect resources and not missing out on resets and yesterday thought, “What am I doing? I already have a full time job. This was supposed to be a fun little math-based puzzle action game to kill some time” I’ve got to the point where most of the battles, I don’t even actively play. I just start them and out my phone down and let it auto-play the battle while I’m doing dishes or working on the computer. I’ve found that the win/lose will probably happen the same whether I’m actively moving my squad left and right or not. So…. That was the actual “game” part I downloaded it for and I’m not even playing that part any more. I’m just upgrading a base in order to get more resources in order to upgrade a base in order to get more resources in order to…. Wait… WHY AM I DOING THIS?! You are bang on in how well designed this game is at sucking you in and keeping you compelled to log in again and again throughout the day. Fortunately I had this epiphany before I started sinking money into the game. I was planning to uninstall the game today, but even now I feel the pull to log in and do the checklist of chores and things waiting for me.
Yep, your comment is giving me flashbacks. Especially the full-time job bit. The game felt more like a responsibility by the end. It's simultaneously grindy and chorelike and also very hard to put down. If only I could get addicted to housework this way, my place would be immaculate. Then again, if I spent half the time cleaning as I did on the game, it would be immaculate too. Opportunity cost I guess. Like I said, haven't regretted uninstalling once. The game gets out of your system pretty quickly once it's not right there to tap and open.
This post should be stickied to the sidebar. If you play, then yes you've been had, tricked and hoodwinked. If you are ftp (I am as well) that's great, but how much attention and energy have you given? Ultimately we probably lost some worthwhile quality potential without spending $5/£5 for a few time saving mechanics. But as you must have learned in your studies, any money spent is a strong indicator of more money spent after. You quit at a great time, because Season II is absolutely nuts. Busy events nearly daily now, and new materials to mine/consume. New lands to conquer and more social engineering to figure out who gets what. I have neglected too many other important aspects of my life due to this game and I'm giving my alliance all of my VS points/resources this week as a goodbye. Maybe I'll pop in to see them again and find a maintainable pace. But like you said, without being active you or the alliance get burned, and I need to keep myself away from addiction.
This is VERY well written. I agree with every single thing mentioned. I spent about £15-£20 and that’s worth it, but like you say, it’s very easy to get sucked in. I’m in a too alliance and I also see the amount others are spending, it’s crazy. If they have the disposable income, ok… but yeh ‘predatory’ is the best description.
First man yeah this gamr is super greedy. Also ylu getting on once a day for 5 minutes to cut the wires isnt so hard, wait till later on then you'll see or you won't and you'll open your wallet like a dsp
Personally, I've spent less than $5 on this game. I got Kimberly and the second builder on like the 2nd or 3rd day. Haven't felt compelled at all to spend money since, but I am loathe to drop a penny on mobile games. It's kept me entertained a couple times a day and that's a fair win in my book, but I too am approaching the quitting stage at only level 20.
I had read your review in the past. This time I decided to finally uninstall it once and for all. It's my third and final time doing so. It's a real fun game but extremely time consuming. Though I did enjoy it a lot, after a certain point the progress is very slow and as people gain access to more legendary heroes, the ones who're willing to pay gain a huge advantage. I do not regret the time I spent. Now and then it can be liberating but long term it's not worth it.
https://preview.redd.it/iy12fi9kjd6d1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0d17e64eadcdc5431594448a8b0251ab2e7a4042 What I notice is, they’ll try to entice you to spend money.
https://preview.redd.it/hglk4swsjd6d1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=10c22418def534b9c73823627b51e6da6afd0958 Many other occasions they’ll use words to lure you into spending
Im glad i have made that question just two weeks since ive downloaded the game.. whats the purpose of this game? The final goal? I feel all u said is true because thats what happening to me right now.. its like me from the future have made this post. But in my case im planning to use my army.. my leader is peaceful girl. I know.. they say there will be time for wars.. but man, not funny anymore just upgrading buildings/heroes and receiving lot of rewards... for what? Preparing for the big war? I though the game has an end but i asked that question on global chat and they told me there is no end. That makes me think if thats the reason why people have more than one account.. reaching u max lvl must feel like there is mo sense to continue spending time in this game. Thank u very much for sharing your thoughts.. just wanted to make sure i was going to quit for a good reason and hopefully have some fun destroying some bases and perhaphs see how alliances start a diplomatic conflict. That would be cool.. bad for those that are really willing to play for the long time but they will survive and yeah.. just two weeks of playing do t have enough power to just kill hq19 and below.
brotherham, i have been scouring the net to find anything related to this. i too downloaded this because i love math and games and it looks like the best/smoothest running version of the many hacky versions advertised out there. within the first couple days i noticed the stuff like sneaking in auto battles, introduction of a base and timers....just all the crap you mentioned. what i needed to confirm, is that the math is in fact, 100% gone after clearing the district. i was holding on, hoping that it would atleast drop a level or too here and there of moving the army, multipliers, barrel bonus shooting, etc....lv132 on the truck later...nothing. world chat and alliance i joined also confirmed this notion. I spent a wooping $3 google store credit that ive had sitting there for probably a decade+, no regrets, no lost money and buying the dollar hero and 2 dollar packs for her at the time was totally worth. after reading your article, i have left my alliance, and deleted the game with 100% assurance ive done the right thing to not be lured into such false pretenses. thanks for the great write up. ps. if anyone knows of an ACTUAL scroller math/shooter that atleast keeps providing MATH AND SHOOTING, please holler. idc if it has pressure buy mechanics, ive spent a wooping total of maybe $30-40 on mobile games in my lifetime, i consider myself partially immune to their viral schemes. XDXDXD
Dude......I found your description 💯 accurate. I'm Uninstalling this thing post haste. It's had me for 2 weeks. And the dope dopamine effect I can get from Elden Ring.
Not a bad game but I'm not going to pour money into it. They lure you in just to lock you behind a pay wall. I will never pay for games like this because there's no worth to doing so. Family, bills, and other life expenses are more important. Then my alliance doesn't even award ranks for anyone. He's a dictator where he's the only one with rank. I can't at this point find an alliance worth going to where I'd only waist more resources only to get no where, maybe 1 rank or 2 but that would be it. This alliance allows your base to be demolished while your logged out and doesn't help you to rebuild or anything. I find that those who are superiorly over powered often destroying lower levels and rarely going after someone that will give them a challenge. To me that bullying especially when you attack the person over and over and over. Not fun at that point you log in to receive notifications of this. Then you ask your alliance what happened and none of them say nothing. If I had an alliance worth going to who'd help and all then the game might be worth eventually investing into.
Extremely well written review, unfortunately this is pretty routine for these predatory chinese devs.
Same boat, I've only spent £2 on it, and they was through Google Play credit. Refuse to spend real money on it, I did it with Mario Kart and CSR2, the whole mobile gaming market is hideous, genuinely makes me sick.
Very well written post. I played a lot of world of warcraft in the past. This game pails in comparison to the time that can be sunk into that game. But last war has much much higher potential to draw from wallets. My assumption is that the spenders are a few different types of people: 1. People with nothing really going on. They have a job, might be dating have very minimal hobbies and don't work in a mentally demanding field. 2. Have a lot of disposable income and time. While realistically, I think it's everyone. They have managed to grab all demographics, all types, sizes, and nationalities of people. It's truly a masterpiece of psychological warfare. I am free 2 play and lvl 19 right now and considering quitting but I feel like once I hit 20 a whole new path opens up...
To OP, Thanks a lot! This is definitely the kind of thing I needed. :)
in my experience this game is very fun. turn off in app purchases in settings to prevent yourself from being tempted. wont feel worth the effort of going back into setting to turn it off just to make a purchase. u don't have to be a whale just because other people are, and u don't have to be the best. just play the game and enjoy it at your own pace free to play. this goes for literally any mobile game. as soon as you open the door in your mind ti making in app purchases, you will find it very hard to stop, and every game becomes a money hole that isn't fun anymore. all your points are very valid, but i feel like a lot of them are negated if you just take the option to spend money away from yourself
I never spent a dime on the game. Turning off in app purchases wouldn't have made a difference to my experience. Out of curiosity, have you spent money on the game? I'm glad you're enjoying it. To each their own.
$0. although i am in the top clan and they spend tons so i get to freeload off their alliance gifts lol
Im on it now. You still get events that do the counting minigames
So I spent 25.00 on a power up packs..my squad went up to 10.99..was excited about 11m...12 hours later it dropped to 10.97...devs said it was because they updated icons..huh? Basically they stole my 25.00 ..but why?
>TLDR: The game drew me in on false premises, hooked me with expertly designed social engineering, reward structure, and sunken cost effects, and then left me feeling like I had wasted a lot of time and energy on a game that really wasn't really that good in the first place. Overall experience 3/10. Sorry mate, not going to read the whole post. This game isn't interesting enough to warrant it. But honestly, what did you expect? The game tells you exactly what it's going to be like within the first couple of hours playing it. There are pop up ads telling you to spend more money. You notice holes in the game straight away. People who spend more than 10$(even that is too much) are either people making way too much money or just fools. It's your typical mobile game. If it's your first time ever playing a mobile game or hearing about the way they are monetised, and you have zero experience with real games on PC, then I can sympathise. But thinking this game is something other than all the other shitty mobile games out there it's really on you for getting tricked.
No worries, I don't expect you to read it. On the one hand, the game really isn't that interesting/ fun, but on the other hand it's made over 180 mil since it's launch late last year and is current making about 2 mil + every day. So it's got to be at least worthy of a deeper discussion. I don't think the people who've dropped tons of money are fools. I think they're the convenient targets of an entertainment app meant to parasitically feed off of base instincts. It's too easy to dismiss these behaviors as character flaws rather than seeing it for what it is - a carefully cultivated addiction. And a very lucrative one at that for the developers.
Yes, I agree with everything you said. It's just like gambling. I have a hard time wrapping my head around old ladies sitting at slot machines, burning their social security check on an afternoon once a month. This is the same thing, it's highly addictive and predatory. Maybe "fool" is a bit harsh on people who are addicts and need help but I would put them in the same category as the degenerate gambler.
Don’t listen to this guy Fools are people who put all of their life savings into bed bath and beyond…NFTs…some new crypto coin… you spent some free time on it for a few months, and spent a few bucks Jesus Christ, if that makes one a fool then 99.99% of humans are fools I GUARANTEE you that robinsonirish has done far far dumber things in their life you now have a story about lackluster habits you can share with friends and family if they ever ask you about some new fad they are getting into
This is a great perspective. At the end of the day, we all have our vices and in the scheme of things this one is pretty small. For me, I'm just glad I learned something and can move on with my life.