If you’ve been keeping step with the Axie Infinity ecosystem, you’d know that the market is a bit of a decline right now. The great Ronin Hack in April, the banning of 7 of the games top players as well as the myriad of issues plaguing Axie’s decisions have cause a incredible slip in the biggest blockchain game in the world. Even its great magic bullet, the game changing Axie Infinity Origin, failed to raise the spirits of the Axie hopefuls.
But why?
In the latest episode of United Gamer’s Cryptalk with co-hosts Rob Luna, Jay Perillo and Axie veteran ACE, Meiji and Ross Donato, We asked United Gamer Coacheds and Streamers the difficult question of what is wrong with Axie Infinity’s newest expansion Origin and what it can do to improve.
Rob Luna, content creator, shoutcaster and co-founder of esports production company ULVL, thinks that Axie Origin has a lot of improvement to do if it wants to be the next step in Axie Infinity’s future.
Luna shared his thoughts on the many things that were plaguing Axie Infinity’s newest expansion Origin. Luna stated that although the improved graphics were a huge step up, the gameplay was still a lot to be desired.
“I did try to stream it once, it’s textbook. You have a gameplay that states point A to point B and that’s it —there’s nothing in between. The RNG which gives the main entertainment factor to the game is but gone”
Luna alludes here to the divisive exclusion of the Critical Strike mechanic that randomly triggers allowing Axies to deal additional exponential damage. The mechanic is considered by some as an arbitrary feature that led to inconsistency in gameplay. Others, like Luna considered the Critical Strike mechanic as an exciting and unpredictable part of the game, one that lent itself to exhilarating moments and comebacks.
Luna also further elaborates that with Axie Origin, the game has now gone pay-to-win—a concept that suggests your chance of winning in the game is directly proportional to the amount you spend in it. He posits that this is unfair to the game’s newer players, and will likely affect their enjoyment of the game:
“Now its so evident that it is pay-to-win with the Runes & Charms in place.”
“How can you attract new players if they cannot afford those charms?”
“The [shortest time] I see is 3 seasons before the new [players] can buy the Runes & Charms, since it may take about that long to be able to save enough resources to do so.”
“In V2 [Axie Classic], you do not need to have a great composition to get a 100% win rate as right now, the method of the gameplay is balanced enough that you can win – however with Origin, the lack of balance makes it very difficult to strategize and win.”
In the episode, Luna was joined by co-host Jay Perillo, Axie Coach Ross Bradley Donato, Axie Coach and Content Creator ACE and professional Axie Player Meiji. Together, he group further discussed about the highlights as well as the failings of Axie Origins and where it can improve to be a better game.
The group also mentioned some interesting insights on some new features added, specifically the introduction of new parts (eyes & ears) which do impact the competitiveness of the Axies and the PVP gameplay as a team on the arena. It allowed for a wider variety of selection in the build-up of your team which is a resonating factor that challenges the guys.
Watch the entire episode here:
Jay and Rob also discussed more about the recently released UGG Pulse on Axie Infinity Origin and the various changes one-by-one as they asked each of the guys what they think of the new additions on Origin that isn’t apparent on V2, you would definitely get to dig deeper and get some amazing best practice and analysis on how to gear up before the eventual final release of Axie Origin.
Axie Infinity Origin is still in its early access both on PC and the newly released Mobile version for Android users
What about you? Have you experienced the new Axie Origin release? What are your thoughts?