Tap Wizard 2

So Right away I will tell you that I'm not recommending this game not because of content, it's still an early developed game so it doesn't quite have a huge amount of content.

The game is very fun with lots of mechanics, you are able to make meaningful progression without the need of the shop for those that may be concerned about that. I enjoy most aspects of this game but there is 1 feature that is atrocious and honestly it's the only reason I see myself walking away from the game until the Developer does something to address it.

The Lantern, you will learn to hate the lantern on your very first deep push because of the fact that you lose 25% of your currencies with each run....no not from the run itself....no it steals 25% of your total currencies with every single run, eventualy because of the natural diminishing returns your losses outweight your gains and then you end up wasting time and make no real progress that you may have been expecting. As far as I can tell there is no way to circumvent this particular aspect of the game through the Talent tree you eventually unlock....hell I was surprised there wasn't even a cash shop cash grab to buy the negative part away from the lantern.

If the developer wants to push people away from going AFK in this very very very non interactive Idle game (Seriously you set your spells and the wizard just walks around casting spells which isn't a problem until you get the insinuation that the Dev want's you to somehow play this game actively) don't steal my progression and make me feel bad for not activley playing or being offline because it's far superior to turn the game off for 7 hours at a time so your staff is atleast gaining levels. Maybe make it a reduction in resource gain rather than just straight up taking my resources with a diminishing return....have XP accrue at offline speeds as well during Idleing I can get behind that kind of encouragement. But the lantern is just very horrible and makes me not want to play anymore. If this is changed in the feature in a more impactful way I'm willing to recommend this but as long as the Lantern exists in it's current form I can not recommend this game for those that enjoy playing Idle games

I think progression needs a rework. It feels bad to awaken only to get like four +5% health nodes in the memory tree. The memory tree needs more rewarding nodes. But game is free so can't complain.

Tap Wizard was probably my favorite idle game out there. It had tons of little interactive branches to explore while not really requiring your constant attention. This game, with 1/10th of the features, still feels like a massive improvement.

Pros:
Art is fantastic with great pixel avatars that feel unique and a cornucopia of flashy spells. The game has a cohesive style and doesn't just feel like a collection of random sprites.

Multiple layers (Individual runs through stage > Re-running the stages as you enchant your staff > Awakening and picking another or same wizard to do it all again with) allows you to make strategic choices that feel interesting and impactful almost every time you log in.

Active combat almost feels like a real game and feels like it makes enough of a difference to want to engage in it. There are many spells that have field or orbital effects that makes active control feel like you're optimizing a run.

Mixing the spell combos (and selecting the associate perks throughout the run) feels great and there are a good amount of options and perks at present to feel like you're putting together a strategy and each wizard life feels different even if you picked the same class.

Areas for Improvement:
There is a ton missing from the original still to be implemented, so I imagine there is a lot to come beyond just more Era's (a layer I have yet to get to).

The new perk tree feels a little more like a perk sapling. I'm not saying it needs to be the size of Final Fantasy's / Path of Exile from where it takes inspiration but it could use some more build options that feel cohesive.

Everything has too little value and too high a price-point and that's the system you've used to incentivize your development. You're leaving money on the table, though perhaps you realize this and are waiting until the game is more fleshed out. I just remember feeling similarly with your previous title. I've shared more in the "Cash Shop Cont." below.

Offline progress feels off compared to active play. I haven't mathed this out (and don't intend to) it just feels like very little happens offline.

Bugs:
So far all I have run into is the mouse stops being able to control the wizard after a while, especially if you alt-tab. A bit frustrating.

Cash Shop Cont.:
Your cash shop in this game and the last game is embarrassing. Sit down with someone with some marketing / pricing knowledge and flesh it out. Honestly I would have, out of the gate, spent 3-4 dollars on this game and more over the course of my play if it had a real cash shop. Perhaps you don't want to be as abusive as some other mobile games but you've gone the wrong way with it.

You've created a cash shop that requires me to be generous to engage in it, but you can't mix generosity based systems and value based systems to the extent you have. Generosity (as well as disposable income levels) can certainly influence cash shop purchases, but don't be mistaken, these are still value based systems. True generosity based systems require no commitment to participate and no requirement on how much to participate. The second you require either you need to supply value. 6-10 dollars is too high a price-point for a minimum purchase in a mobile game purely as a gesture of goodwill.

The value of what I get out of my purchases is very little:
- A single mount or "wizard trail" in a game with an avatar the size of a desktop icon for 5.99 in a non-multiplayer game is less than what most Kickstarter campaigns would give away as a tier 1 donor reward.
- 2 and a half re-roll dice on perks on runs that last about a day. A gamble which holds very little monetary value is in the same range.
- For 10 dollars I can auto-press a single button.
- For 12 I can buy a ring with a small persistent buff.
All this is achievable for in game currency that I don't have to pay for.

This means the minimum I can go in for this game is 6.99 for a few re-rolls, a flower trail on my wizard or a flying carpet the size of my thumbnail. You need to increment this in smaller quantities to get it closer to a generosity based model and also realize the market your in (single player non-competitive mobile games). If I look at other games out there I think this game is worth about 3-4 dollars but the minute you give it away you've taken away my incentive to pay full price and I am unable to give you an amount I think is reasonable at the time of purchase. I understand this seems paradoxical when I said I would probably shell out more in the long term but there is a reason we don't all shop bulk. Sometime I got a dollar in my pocket and I don't want 40 Twix bars.

Yes MMOs and Leagues charge crazy cash for skins and mounts, but I can show those off. I don't know what your balance sheet looks like but as a person who makes very poor purchase decisions the fact that I haven't spend a dime on this game and can explain the logic in a way that I think is clear leads me to believe it's not what it could be. Maybe your using whale's cash to fund a free game for everyone out of the goodness of your heart but it's ok to take a dollar or two from me man. Just let me do it in a way that doesn't seem like highway robbery.