Castle Age: Update

Where do I begin? It's been a while since I posted about the Facebook application Castle Age. Originally I didn't think I would be posting more than once, but the game has evolved so much it is much more like a standalone application than a FB app. So a few highlights:

Addition of monsters (dragons, bosses) to fight using Stamina
Addition of battle ranks for PvP fighting
Addition of subquests as well as additional realms for more questing

Monsters made the game completely different than what it was before. Previously PvP and questing was all one could do, now there are many more options. One unfortunately byproduct of monsters is that players can level up much faster than normal and putting all points into Attack/Defense is no longer the only option. As such those players that have been here since the beginning are being passed by (level-wise at least) by the "power levelers". For example at this moment I am level 176, which is respectable. However the top player, who has been playing a lot less time than I am is level 800+. I have absolutely no chance of protecting myself from such players on the PvP field. This is why I keep hoping the developers will implement a tiered battle system so that people that high in rank can only fight others that high in rank.

Due to all of the changes I've gone ahead and done what I thought I'd never do, add points into Stamina. This does weaken by build a bit for a period of time, but will allow me to level up faster and partake in the monster hunting aspect of the game, to a degree. Having a variety of ways to play the game will will keep it fresh and enjoyable, so I don't see myself quiting anytime soon. Granted this additional Stamina does mean I spend a little bit more in the game than before, but not too much more. Reason being I have no plans to increase my Stamina to several hundred points like the true monster hunters. My build is a Paladin variant first, PvP second and monster hunter third. I may fall behind the monster hunters, but I will be very competitive with anyone within 100 levels of me.

One additional thing that has changed is that the forums for CA have moved off of the FB site. There is now an independent forum dedicated to Castle Age, of which I am one of the moderators. Moderating is a bit of a time sink, but so far not too terrible of one. The vast majority of my time is spend deleting posts from the monster help section where someone put the wrong link in one of the help threads. That and giving out infractions for repeated such behavior.

The strategy I have chosen means I have tons of content to discover and enjoy, and it will take me a long time to explore it all.