So, the time has come to say goodbye to SCland. It's been a fun ride, and one I've mostly enjoyed. There will be those of ya'll who shall miss me, others who will rejoice at my leaving, and probably the large majority that are indifferent. The only reason I'm even bothering to put this down in writing is not exclusively to say farewell, but to give my final critique and set of suggestions for the betterment of this game. So, with that being said, let's delve into the mystery which is ShadowCities:

1.Unique game play. Fantastic, once you get used to it. I truly enjoy the simplicity and spartan feel of the environment. The tutorial is horribly lacking, though. I'm not sure if this is by design, to force new players to interact with the community, or GA simply not realizing that even basic game play isn't intuitive at first glance. Possible solutions might be a "real" guide system, where guides are required to be part of the new player's development, or an extended tutorial.

2.Community. This is what kept me involved much longer than any other component. It is quite easy to quickly become an integral part of the SC community. All one has to do is be social-able and a bit out-going. Unfortunately, this can be a 2-edged sword, including the famous AND infamous. As time has gone on in-game, my personal experience has varied, but generally declined after my initial meet-and-greet and finding my way in the community. Also, where once I saw moderators, such as Chad and Khamos, daily in statuses, they are now few-and-far-between. Perhaps I haven't been active when they are, but I really don't know.

3.App stability. It should be assumed that anything just out of betatesting (or, is it still in beta, I'm so confused on this, as I get conflicting info that stays unconfirmed by GA) will have some issues. Well, it's been a long time for me (9 months), and instead of being MORE stable, the app is LESS stable. I blame part of this on expanding the friend lists from 200 to 1200, as that was when I saw the first large uptick in lags and crashes. I have had nearly countless discussions with both moderators and other players on this. I'm no developer, but I understand that these things are multi-faceted hydras without one simple solution. The real issue I have here is that updates have seemingly been further and further apart, with fewer and fewer fixes that I notice. In other apps I use on my device, updates are much more common, even to fix something small. Does this mean other app developers are better or worse at writing scripts than GA? No, only that they appear to be more responsive, even one-man designer teams. Maybe the app is asking too much of the hardware, or perhaps the code is more patch than original script, but I just don't get it. It has previously been suggested that perhaps adding in "switches" to turn off certain components of the app (such as ground maps) would especially help lower-end users, and I'd love to see something of this nature implemented.

4.Environment. This goes hand-in-glove with #2, but I'll put it simply---the game is nearly anarchistic and not policed well. This allows for those who would abuse the environment of the app, whether by exploiting the many glitches or manipulating one's own phone for advantage. Things that come to mind are spoofers, remote harvesters, alt farmers (and other multi-account abusers), and even the infamous "mana hackers", to name a few. To this day, it appears that only the mana hackers have been consistently punished, and I believe that's because they directly affect GA's bottom line. What I don't get is that GA either doesn't see, or refuses to see, that such manipulation/exploitation by select individuals turns the game off to many others, thereby indirectly reducing the bottom line. Also, the antagonistic posting has become worse over time, to the point that harassment that could be brought to court has occurred. Some scattered groups have attempted to self-regulate the environment, with limited success. Unfortunately, this has lead to many a "witch-hunt" and eroded co-operation and general diplomacy between the 2 teams in-game. What needs to be done, IMO, is a more rigorous form of moderating by the oft-missing moderators, and more moderators. GA should even consider adding "player moderators" of equal numbers (preferably one or more in each BG, or geographic region) from each team to "flag" specific noted behaviors for full-time, paid staff to look over, thus reducing work-load on the front end for GA and giving vets something meaningful to do other than grind for points or chat.

5.Dev/Player relationship. This is a business, and any good business knows to listen and promptly respond to it's clientele. I just don't see this of late. Whereas, to harp on it once again, I've heard from Finn players that the devs (or at least mods) were readily available during the early times, and having even been able communicate with mods via PM even 6 months ago, this has gone the wayside. I'm not sure if the population has outgrown the ability of the small staff at GA, or they have turned a cold shoulder, but the current setup is indifferent at best and probably just plain cold. Support tickets take much longer than before IME, and I'm never really sure if the issue has been solved.

6.Content. Enough to easily keep me entertained by just grinding the first few months I played, and the addition of special spirits and the Arachne Weaver kept me enthralled, for a while. Learning how best to configure and use abilities/spells is interesting as well. But, it has been quite a while since most of this has been updates, and gameplay is stale. As I stated in #1, game play is unique and innovative, but is now repetitious. I'm not certain if new things such as spells or structures are being play-tested and found to be broken, but there needs to be a serious shake-up on this, I think. Even changing how spell casting appeared was an interesting twist last summer. A new spirit house would be nice as well, and GA should give a nod to it's non-European player community, seeing as we probably outnumber the Euros these days. New missions would be nice as well.

So, in summary:

1.Better stabilize the app.
2.Add in options to turn off certain features for low-end device users.
3.Be proactive, not reactive, and better moderate the community.
4.Take this interesting, unique platform and expand on it.

I say this in the most sincere way: Thank you GA and fellow SCers for this little diversion from my everyday life, if only for a little while. I'll probably check back during updates, but probably here on the web to see the fixes, not in-game. Anyone wishing to stay in touch with me can send a friend request to my SC Facebook account-- Anvar Annihilator .

Now, friends, trolls, academymates, and nemeses (yes, Bard, I have more than one, though you are probably my favorite, due to rhetoric and propaganda alone), it's your turn. This old mage is on extended hiatus.

-Anv

Anvar, you will certainly be missed, though I can't say this surprises me. Welcome to the world of SC hiatus-retirement.

It's a lot less stressful here.

Bye Anvar. Many people will miss you. I, personally, cannot say I'm surprised. GA has been a great bit unresponsive to the fixes, and it has bean wearing on your nerves for months. Also, you might not believe it, but I am sorry to see you go as well. You are a great player and the community is losing a great member.

PS: If you came back to check this thread, I thought I'd mention that Brandon(from our BG) was trying to get in touch with you. You should see him before you pack things up. (He can't use FB)

Also, I completely agree with every word you said. +100%

ChadJ, why isn't GA taking our complaints serious? It really looks like you don't give anything about all the feedback players are giving you.

@Anvar, it was really nice to play my man. We'll keep in touch! hope you leaving isn't for nothing

I don't know if I should believe all or even some of these issues will be tackled. Unfortunately the devs have shown little or no aptitude in solving them. It looks almost like they have built a wonderful creature and now they keep hacking it to pieces and hope it will survive a bit longer. These issues are very real and even the instability in the community is getting unbearable, to those who keep outliving the player hemorrhagy. I believe I will soon find my path into SC retirement/hiatus as well, after I complete one last personal objective.

Take care Anvar, we will keep in touch.