How to Power Creep Properly in AFK Journey?【AFK Journey】

In today's video, we discuss 3 topics with regards to power creeping into AFK Journey! Feel free to share your thoughts on these topics today.
#afkjourney #lilithgames #剑与远征启程
Time Stamp:
@00:00 Introduction
@01:21 Is Power Creep already occurring?
@10:40 Is Power Creeping a good or bad thing for the game currently?
@14:50 How to Balance Power Creep in AFK Journey?
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[@Zeeebo]

Do you guys want to see more Power Creeping in AFK Journey?

[@kalufs]

Honestly, first of all I agree with a lot of what you are saying and I have been thinking it myself that power creep is happening and that people have been overly pessimistic about how bad the rate up characters have been. Vala, Florabelle, Alsa and Ulmus all have situations where they are very good. Soren is the only one that I would say is disappointing. And I am actually on the side of that this type of power creep is better than having extremely powerful units released. I would rather have units that are really good at certain things but not broken everywhere. I would rather have a game where you can build i variety of different teams rather than you need to have hero X or that hero Y is just useless and never used in any situation. I am actually also not a big fan of hypogean/celestial units being released and so strong, and I sort of feel like they are a problem in general. Phraesto is a good example that completely takes over the game but also creates a massive gap between f2p and whales, or hell, even low/mid spenders and whales. Getting hypogeans/celestials is so extremely slow for f2p that by the time you get Phraesto to S+ it's going to have taken months and more hypogeans/celestials have been released and you may just be back to square one. I do agree with you that releasing units like Berial is better because you don't need to have him (even for pvp) but if you can spend money on him he can absolutely be a strong unit still. And just to be clear, the biggest problem I have with them is not just their power but it's the combination of power and access to them or lack thereof.

[@SB-xl1ef]

Everything you said is straight facts

[@aronricardo9319]

That what you said is so true, they needed nerf the AFK push for next season.

[@Owlr4ider]

I think powercreep only really begun with the introduction of Phraesto. Before him all the other new heroes, from Valla to Alsa were all good heroes but not meta defining nor must haves and Soren is still kind of meh. However Phraesto basically made all other tanks, including the 2 former powerhouses: Thoran and Granny, obsolete. Thoran still has some very edge cases where he's preferable over Phraesto, like for example King Croaker in the dream realm due to the instant kill mechanic which only he can truly counter. For everything else however if Thoran(and Granny for that matter) is good for it(anything that actually requires a tank, which is still most things thankfully) Phraesto simply does it better. Basically there's no reason to not run Phraesto in anything but King Croaker unless you simply don't have him at mythic+ or better, which is the definition of making everything else obsolete. Alsa vs Carolina is interesting, and while in the current meta comps Alsa has overtaken Carolina it's not so much that Carolina is obsolete but rather that Alsa on that team counters Carolina on that team which is why Alsa is preferred. In other contents like afk pushing and battle drills Carolina still does perfectly fine, arguably better than Alsa. Also being from different factions they enable the usage of other heroes. For example if you still use Thoran in the classic Eironn comp than Carolina gives you a 3+2 faction bonus whereas replacing her with Alsa lowers it to just 3. With Granny/Phraesto/neither instead however this is no longer an issue. Ulmus is also an interesting case as he's not really replacing anyone directly but rather opening new options much like Valla(PvP, some dream realm content) and especially Florabelle did. Ulmus doesn't make anyone else, be it a tank or a support, obsolete, it's just a new twist on the classic Eironn comp which may work better or worse than the other alternatives depending on the content in question. The thing is that judging from AFK Arena and general financial common sense, this is only going to get worst, much worst. Especially regarding the gap in power between the Celestials and Hypogeans and the regular faction units, which is the biggest issue due to the massive difference in how they're acquired. With more and more Celestials and Hypogeans released(2-3 per season per the last dev update) they're inevitably going to take over the entire(or nearly the entire) meta game for all content, making all 4 factions obsolete beyond maybe a handful of heroes that will still be irreplaceable(I'm looking at you Eironn, and potentially other heroes with similarly unique effects that are insanely powerful). I completely understand your sentiment of this game needing more power creep. I just don't think you worded it in the best way. Currently Eironn comps are dominating most contents in the game, basically everything but dream realm and battle drill bosses(still good for minor fights) and a lot of people are getting bored with it. What we need is other comps to be as good as the Eironn comp to give us more variety and options, not for more busted heroes like Phraesto and Scarlita(not a new hero but a new development in this context) fitting right at home in the Eironn comp replacing the weaker pieces(Thoran and Carolina respectively) to make that comp even stronger. Even Ulmus, as while he certainly has a lot of unexplored potential, right now his main usage is in the above mentioned Eironn comp which is simply overwhelming this entire game. Also as you correctly said, we need more faction based power creep rather than Celestial/Hypogean, in order to unlock these alternative strategies and make them about on par with the current best ones(Eironn) but not completely overtake it to become the new overbearing strategy.

[@aronricardo9319]

You forgot King Croaker kill the clone, with M+ Phraesto can Tank 3 insta kill too and still buff your allies. Thoran is obsolete already. I agree we need some way to counter Eiron comp better than Satrana as option or they need buff Satrana somehow.

[@Owlr4ider]

@@aronricardo9319 Phraesto's clone is 1, Phraesto himself is 2, who is the 3rd? Am I missing something? Thoran can revive twice at mythic+(as long as he's chained to another hero, which should always be the case) so he alone can tank all 3 instant kills. Phraesto can only tank 2 of them unless I'm missing something about Phraesto at mythic+.

[@aronricardo9319]

@@Owlr4ider Phraesto can create 2 clones when 1st die with +15 weapon.

[@Owlr4ider]

@@aronricardo9319 Oh, ok. Well, there you go... Even the 1 instance I thought Phraesto was still not the best choice turned out to be wrong, assuming you can afford to get him to +15 that is...

[@aronricardo9319]

@@Owlr4ider No sacrifice, no wins

[@AugustVonpetersborg]

I like the idea of the new toys coming in the form of new combos, and seasons boosting or lowering power for meta shake ups. I expect Hypocels to power creep out normal units in the classical sense as they are released, but I hope other powercreep is minimized to some extent.

[@michaelcooper1558]

Very appropriate timing for this vid. Zeebo - "Let's talk about power creep." AFKJ Devs - "Someone hold my beer. Gonna confirm Talene as the next cele/hypo!" Lol

[@giuwuseppe]

great analysis as always, the best way to powercreep is with uniqueness i think, and by that i mean units that approach the same problem in a different way but that end up in a similar result

[@luvzangetsu]

Quality of these videos is amazing, devs should consider zeebo as a consultant for the game

[@user-xi6vm8si4x]

I like it when a game comes out with counters to metas. The unit is not necessarily better, but allows you to beat what exists and then what exists has to shift.

[@aronricardo9319]

But actually you can do that

[@WorldOFBlackub]

The less power creep the better

[@WorldOFBlackub]

imo every 4 months we should have like 2-3 units that are useful and maybe one giga broken for those f2p savings

[@Zothimus]

Agreed!

[@aronricardo9319]

​@@WorldOFBlackubNah

[@Windsofambience]

I don’t think alsa power creeps Carolina at all. They do similar things but are from different factions. It spreads the game wider instead of just putting more into the same gameplay styles. Power creep happens when one unit completely replaces another’s *role* alsa is good for countering wilders yes but Carolina has more CC which is the core component for the synergy of the team. The game doesn’t need power creeping. The game needs to add units that synergize with comps outside of cc mage comps and at heavier investments zoo. They need to enhance units like frontline rogues and warriors make more units with unaffected like Igor, healers that can counter cc, healers that move with the front line and are beefy, characters that give shields without using their ultimates, more shield cutting characters than just lyca, more debuffers, a rogue with REAL stealth and SATA. Stuff like that

[@GelatinGhost]

The main problem imo is hypo/cel units take WAY too many resources to build, they are very stingy with these resources, and they are releasing too many too fast.

[@doogsieip2682]

Thank you for the discussion! Power creep as how you describe it is not a bad thing. As others have said, the biggest problem with power creep is the scarcity of resources in this game. I am a lowish spender and it is a pain collecting resources for EX weapons. I am also looking forward to finally getting my reinier to mythic+ once the month rewards reset. If theres more access to resources then I'd be more okay with the game's power creep.

[@kuvrut7747]

It would be fine to introduce new powerful units but in this game it is not good since to rise one character to their peak potential demands a lot very scarse resources. This is very unhealthy for game and players morale. If it were just pull, get new unit, fine..but tidal essences to get their EX weapons is painful.

[@ce551029]

I completely agree with the first part that power creep is happening right now, even with Ulmus. And I think this way of power creeping is much better and safter than one new character wrack everyone. We can safely say for now that Erion is everything. The power creep for pvp right now is just Erion selecting more efficient teammates. If "power creep", I'd like a character as important as Erion that leads a completely different play style and work as the core. This character and the team build around them won't wipe out the whole Erion team but can stay on an even ground with Erion. But on the other hand, I would be super annoyed if huge power creep happens for Cel/Hypo characters. I'm a vip 13 and it took me a lot of consideration to decide building Scarlitta and Scorpion. If Taline turns out to be a power creep over Scarlitta, even for 5-10%, I'd safely say that I'm quitting the game or stop buying crystals. I'm not a huge whale that I can accept a $1000 I build 2 weeks ago getting smacked by another character 2 weeks later, especially for these premium units. Power creeping in these premium unit are horrifying, especially with the fast pace they are planning on releasing them plus the worst communication and pre-release announcement schedule. If they do like what Mihoyo does and releasing the up-coming character with team position 1-2 month before its release, I might feel slightly less anxious.

[@WhiteSharkconcac]

Talene is a healing support. She will not powercreep Scarlita or Phraesto. More likely she will powercreep Smokey/Hewynn instead.

[@ce551029]

@@WhiteSharkconcac If so it's even worse cuz that means she's a must have XD

[@zuhairtelfah9150]

Great topic zeebo! I'm not worried about power creep itself. What concerns me is the rate at which new heroes are released and being able to keep up. I would love to have a powerful new hero every now and then, but not with every banner. This way, I can save some pulls and be prepared. A game with little to no power creep is super boring, in my opinion.

[@alghul7798]

Power creeping with A ranks and S ranks are good, cuz we can get these units over time and rate-up, all-hero and epic banners. (Got my Alsa Supreme+, Vala & Flora Supreme) But power creeping with Phaestro and potentially Talene is bad given only high-spender and whale can get them. (I have only at Reinier M+ and rest only from daily logins at 1 copy)

[@BillFay-my9tb]

The power creep is just happening too fast, they need to slow it down. I thought I was avoiding power creep by investing in Carolina and skipping Cecia, and now Carolina is also pointless now? And before I could focus on building Reinier without whaling but now it's necessary to whale to keep up because I can't build Reinier and Phaestro

[@Windsofambience]

See this is the problem with saying something like this, Carolina is far from worthless, she fits her role just fine, alsa is designed for a similar but different role, they both follow up on cc but alsa is for bigger damage and keeping teams spread apart/unable to reach your back line, Carolina focuses on aoe damage/mag def reduction/CC. Alsa is single target(mostly) and hasn’t different composition entirely, people haven’t even scratched the surface of the team comps Carolina ACTUALLY WORKS IN. No one tests her with anything outside of eiron comps, people haven’t tried her with lumont, or satrana or casadee or any of the other cc based/magic comps

[@Ryarat]

I need to see some hype heroes for Lightbearer and Graveborn. These factions are so neglected with Vala being the only rate up hero from either faction. Meanwhile Wilders are sitting on 2 each... I also wouldn't cry if we got a hero that countered Eironn teams in pvp. Would make arena more interesting if one team didn't completely dominate the top 50 arena defense.

[@iksemad1372]

so should new low spending players go for reiner or phraesto?

[@mrasiun]

yo would be great if you can explain what stargaze unit should focus(for f2p) assuming some f2ps are reaching reinner M+ so they have to chose between saving, phesto or scarlita, at least this is my case and idk what to do rn, also the lvl of investmenty that this units need like hero focus M+, S+, +5,+10,+15 in order to be usefull

[@peterdominiczapatos2904]

If you watch zeebo's older videos he has made videos on ex weapon priority ranking of all heroes...and an updated hero tier list ranking in priority on who is best to invest on on all game modes (PVE, PVP, Dream Realm) its a great watch, and a lot of the tips on how i progress my account I get from his videos 😃

[@mrasiun]

@@peterdominiczapatos2904 yeah i watch they but when he makes thode videos phesto doesn t exist and scarlita was only a PVP unit, now she is been used in dreamrealm afk stage primal lord etc, also when phesto comes out he was only good in afk push now it's look like him is been tge Best in dreamrealm. For the normal characters is still very usefull but i Will like more un deep guide on these 2 stargaze units, maybe phesto is good enough with only getting to he s hero focus and doesn t need M+ or maybe You need him at M+ and + 15 to be better than thoram

[@waylander73uk18]

It is Scarlita for me. Be great if the dev team added a filter so you could click on a character you dont own and they remove them from your records. Also be great if it didn't show more than 2 records that have the same line up of characters if possible. On the subject of power creep it is inevitable, just hope they do it well and somehow make new characters more readily available to FTP players too.

[@SwordSaint83]

please both groups ? in the end they please none.

[@toinemop]

Zeeebo, can you show us a Dionel-scarlita counter with « f2p » units for arena plsss ?

[@alghul7798]

Doesn't exist. (Probably)

[@toinemop]

@@alghul7798 scarlita counter comp for f2p exist so I think we can found a scarlita-dionel, with a vala focusing dionel and a alsa for scarlita idk

[@alghul7798]

@@toinemop oh like a temp comp which may not work for other teams, but will work well for the divine comp? I should search for that (im hovering between rank 18 to 15, might get kicked out of top 20)

[@alghul7798]

I have no ascended cele/hypo except Reinier at Mythic+ so I can't counter the whales and am losing

[@-L1K-]

Not a single new hero in the banners are better than Eironn. The day someone is better than him, I’ll consider it a powercreep. Problem with no power creep means no one is pulling.

[@7Ed-tv]

if you're a whale and you like the game yep power creeping is going to like you cuz ull keep dropping those big bucks to further powerup your acc, but for the average player is a no no and the way the power creeping is going is pretty bad cuz is a cele/hypo powercreep not normal S or A tier units so the meta is going further away... is going in a direction where the meta is only for Whales. not even mid spender can keep up this meta of 4 mandatory cele/hypo (if talent is op)

[@ShawnSetGO]

Power creep is only good by making non meta characters good but not in the way afk journey is doing by replacing meta invested characters with other stronger heroes

[@Zothimus]

That is what power creep is. Releasing new characters which are stronger so players have to pay money to update. F2P falls further behind. Power creep never brings old character up as more powerful.

[@A1N14D4R18E5]

Power Creeping is bad. Period. They've been already doing what they can to promote using different heroes, like the dusk/dawn treasures where specific heroes are stronger than others.

[@johnbach2380]

Phraesto costs an arm and a leg. He better push better. 🤣

[@wheelchair89]

Suggestion: you don’t need to repeat every sentence 2x. We get you are talking about power creeping, repeating the same statement over and over again in a video is a gift ngl.

[@Ayden-vy5te]

I'm done with this fkn game. 1 copy =getting 1 shot =useless. This game takes it to the extreme with "Create a problem, sell solutions." Not being in high ranking gives me less than a percent of reward resources overalls for improvement in a single unit.

[@easy8237]

zzz is coming out in a week time. Atm might have to drop AFK journey in order to make time for that. AFK journey to me is meant to be an idle game which is supposed to be 15 mins a day or 30 max. In my own opinion, this game is not good enuff for me to play 2 - 3 hrs a day. I think many ppl might drop AFK journey if the devs dun buck up their ideas and determine what it wants to be.

[@yeet95.]

this game needs a new character every 2 weeks

[@ce551029]

@@yeet95. it actually is, counting cele/ hypo unit.

[@chalkkkk]

aiyo first again but forgot to comment

[@nikhilramchandra4626]

can f2p survive, f2ps might have already left

[@chris71350able]

Once u dont care abt ranking and can accept u will mever fully upgrade ur team then f2p is free

[@malcovich_games]

I do appreciate a slow power creep so the whales fund my game and don't mind it as long as I can "beat the game" and enjoy the events and game modes. I already leave the leaderboard and arena to people who pay, I don't mind.

[@alghul7798]

@@chris71350able Having more story and quests can keep the game from going stale. Then we can care less about rankings and enjoy the game and get rewards from the quests as well. We have long gaps between story periods (10 days pre season, and now for the past 2 weeks and possible till the end of the season) and yes caring less about "fully upgrading" teams has made the game less frustrating for me.