Mixed reviews

[CandL]

I quite enjoy idle games and so Melvor caught my attention on sale but then I notice recent review were mixed, down from an overall positive. Recent reviews said features had been nerfed into insignificance and others did not recommend the game at present to newcomers. Is there any word from the dev about reversing or amending the changes that tanked the games reception? I want to get the game but not if the developer is meddling with the game to its detriment.

[Kagora]

There are other issues you might want to be aware of too.

Without mods, the game can not be fully idled, especially early game combat, and some later game combat.

This isn't a big deal to some people though if you aren't a completionist, you can get plenty of enjoyment out of just doing non-combat content, which the majority of it can be 100% completed through idle play, though there are times were actively checking every few hours will speed up the process.

The game also has a 24 hour limit for offline mode, so if you leave it for 30 hours, only 24 hours of progress will be calculated.

Another big issue has been the requirement to be online to load a save at all, along with 2-3 other services you need to connect to depending on how you play. (with cloud saves and/or mods)

If none of those are turn offs and you are still interested I will also recommend you do not buy The Throne of the Herald expansion till you are sure you want to play deep into the game's progression, as all it's content is post max level and is mostly an endgame expansion, as for Atlas of Discovery I do not own so I can't speak for it, but it will add content available sooner to you than The Throne of the Herald.

[Semaphia]

When the first expansion launched, the developers released a skill alongside it called "Township", which is a town management mini game where you can slowly expand a city and, in return, get resources from it running. As an example, right now you can choose to take bundles of 3 different tiers of logs, rather than having to cut them by idling your character at a certain tree.

It's gone through several iterations, & the power swings that have gone with it have been wild. Right now it's on the weaker side of the pendulum, but still very usable though totally fine to ignore if you don't wish to engage with it & aren't concerned with completion.

I'm post max so I can't really comment on how it affects the early-mid game, but as someone who levelled before Township was a thing, all a nerf to township could really do is push you to idle a higher variety non-combat content, which is not a big deal IMO.

Whatever the case, the game is moddable, so if anyone wants to go back to the old values it shouldn't be too hard.

[vladulenta]

To explain it in short, Township was busted because it invalidated about 5-7 other skills from mid game onwards. After you'd get a certain skill to 90-95, you could just buy township boxes containing resources you'd get from that skill using township resources (which go up automatically). The amount of resources you could amass makes using those skills to actually get resources a complete waste of time (you'd get tens to hundreds of thousand of every resource a skill could give you. Like tens of thousand of every log or ore or potion.)

Anyway, now buying the (late-game) boxes has been made much harder, so invalidating skills only happens in the late-late game. And people are angry they have to engage with more of the game and actually mine and cut and smelt for resources. It's a positive change for the game's health.

People are just babies. Most of the complaints are "You can't make the game fairer because I liked it when it was easy >:(" level. People with brains in their heads brought up that the new task requirements were too steep (you'd have to be 95% done with the game when you'd get the boxes), and the dev listened. Requirement was dropped from 95 tasks to 85, and 10 more tasks were added to be completed. Also the DLC added 20 more for those who owned it. This was 2 days after it was originally changed. Also Township wasn't nerfed to insignificance because it's still the main moneymaking skill (makes passive income) and still has tons of other items to buy from the shop like experience boosters and consumable upgrades and enemy hinder scrolls or just the lower tier boxes for basic materials.

The developer does actually listen to the community. Township and astrology were both overhauled because they originally had a bad reception. If out-of-touch developers are your fear, you can put it to rest because the melvor idle dev is cool.

[Valk]

Originally posted by vladulenta:

To explain it in short, Township was busted because it invalidated about 5-7 other skills from mid game onwards. After you'd get a certain skill to 90-95, you could just buy township boxes containing resources you'd get from that skill using township resources (which go up automatically). The amount of resources you could amass makes using those skills to actually get resources a complete waste of time (you'd get tens to hundreds of thousand of every resource a skill could give you. Like tens of thousand of every log or ore or potion.)

Anyway, now buying the (late-game) boxes has been made much harder, so invalidating skills only happens in the late-late game. And people are angry they have to engage with more of the game and actually mine and cut and smelt for resources. It's a positive change for the game's health.

People are just babies. Most of the complaints are "You can't make the game fairer because I liked it when it was easy >:(" level. People with brains in their heads brought up that the new task requirements were too steep (you'd have to be 95% done with the game when you'd get the boxes), and the dev listened. Requirement was dropped from 95 tasks to 85, and 10 more tasks were added to be completed. Also the DLC added 20 more for those who owned it. This was 2 days after it was originally changed. Also Township wasn't nerfed to insignificance because it's still the main moneymaking skill (makes passive income) and still has tons of other items to buy from the shop like experience boosters and consumable upgrades and enemy hinder scrolls or just the lower tier boxes for basic materials.

The developer does actually listen to the community. Township and astrology were both overhauled because they originally had a bad reception. If out-of-touch developers are your fear, you can put it to rest because the melvor idle dev is cool.

It's more like the dev seems to be able to implement two forms of township tbh. Insanely busted to the point of irrelevating skills, and barely even worth touching at all. If you're someone who already had township maxed out before the switch, then it might seem like a moneymaker, but the sheer set-up cost of it now is ridiculous. There's also how half of the problem with boxes gated by tasks is related to how, if you've already completed that many tasks, chances are you are at the point where the boxes are just for the sake of stacking up obscene amounts of resources incase that resource is ever useful again in the future.

Thing is, the players at the endgame are the one who keep complaining and justifying the changes, without ever realising that the ones being hit the most by it are those who are still progressing. Think about having been a player who was putting a ton of stuff into township because the resource gains were going to be massive with helping you level skills, and then the dev goes and nukes it into the ground until you can do a ton of tasks like killing endgame dungeons 500+ times, killing 60 000 goblins, and collecting 2million birds nests. Now you've sunk a ton of your resources into a skill that is no longer going to give you any returns for a loooooong time. Even tried making a fresh character when the new township first got implemented to try out the new progression and....it wasn't great even before this nerf.