Why criticism is healthy for the game

Hello everyone,

I love this game. I adore it. Don't you?
That's the reason why I'm here.
That's the reason why I'm up at night to get my brawl set up the beast way.
That's the reason why I spend hours on peakmonsters.com figuring out the best way to balance my rentals and purchases.

Yet, the fact I love this game doesn't make me blind to some mechanics which I believe will not be healthy for the future of this game.
So I take responsibility for my opinions, and I voice them publicly where I hope they can be addressed by the great team that created and managed the game with enormous success.

First and foremost, (you've heard this one before, haven't you?) bots are a cancer:

• they drain resources at low level, where people start the game
• they alter the game stats, you will not know what a real player likes by looking at them
• they ruin the fun for people who want to learn the game and end up fighting stupid maxed-out bots with premade combinations.

Take away the bots, penalize their usage, limit one account per player and you will receive an enormous boost to the game.

Second: carefully balance scarcity and power.

It might not seem like it, but this picture shows a Ponzi scheme.
You tried to be fair on those player who joined and trusted the game at the start, I respect that, but by dramatically reducing power of cards and increasing their availability you are saying that the new players are there to finance the old ones. Each new set will require a higher investment. You guys are smart, you made this game, you can see it can't go on like that forever.
So please, for future releases:

• consider releasing a smaller amount of packs
• consider not granting bonuses for bulk purchases of thousands of packs
• consider avoiding "private" sales with the guilds
  Any time you grant someone a privilege, you will have thousands who feel penalized, and the way you are handling privileges right now is far from transparent.

Third: release an API guide (a swagger or a well formed wiki)

It is clear that "some" websites and a few thousands bots are making use of a public API which is not officially documented anywhere. The one at https://splinterviewer.com/api seems the closest to reality, but it's missing a few parameters and calls that I see the website front-end makes.
If you want an ecosystem (uh yes, you DO want that) to develop and flourish around the game you must be as open as possible and allow utilities to be created to fill in where the game doesn't reach. Think again about https://peakmonsters.com/, how much better is their market?
Worried about traffic load? Make it tier based, free under a certain number of calls, then subscription based, and there you have it, another great source of income that will grow with the game.

Fourth (and last):

Focus. I've seen your roadmap. I've seen what you have been able to accomplish so far. Now it's time to focus. There's too much stuff going on, too much at the same time.
I'm in software development since more that 20 years, and into product ownership since at least 15. When you have that much meat on the grill you're bound to put a stress on your development team which isn't easy to handle. Things must be done well and in impeccable manner. You cannot cut corners, otherwise you will carry a technical debt that will not only kill your roadmap, but your game as well. Focus on few things at the same time. Is land expansion the priority? Let's do that. Is it the new ranked battles? Great, tell us to forget land expansion until next year. One thing at a time does the trick to be well made, fast released, and gain fast feedback from the users.
Your users (and your developers) will thank you.

Ah, I have to contradict myself... I said that was the last one. Well, it is really, at least game related, but since I'm sharing my opinions I'll be true to myself and transparent to the end: I know you haven't started serious marketing yet, but when you do, seriously consider a strict separation between what is a personal social account and what is "a voice of them game". Everyone is entitled to have personal opinions, but we all have a stake in the game (yes, it's ours too, even in your plans) and we don't want to see it harmed by those opinions which do not reflect the thoughts of the player base.