[2021] Shifting from monthly content to quarterly (balance changes & updates)

Hi Reddit,

I’m Max, the new Clash Royale Community Manager. If you missed the recent announcement, you can watch our introduction video here and enjoy Rick and I dressed as mighty Barbarians (and me needing to stop skipping leg day).

I wanted to take this occasion to address the current hot topic in the community: seasons and monthly content. After seeing many comments and questions at the start of Season 23, I figured that some open talk about our plans would be good. Let this be my trial by fire.

The shift

At the beginning of 2021, we decided to switch our focus from monthly content, like balance changes and seasons, to fully target the team’s effort to provide better and more impactful quarterly updates.

Why did we decide that?

The first season, The Flood, was released in July 2019, with the introduction of Pass Royale. At the time, the idea was indeed to provide monthly content while continuing to work on updates. Which were:

- September 2019: Party button, new tiebreakers rules, triple draft

- November 2019: 5 minutes battles and 3x elixir rule

- August 2020: Clan Wars II

Even though September and November updates have been essential for the game’s health, they were light on content. And the big update, Clan Wars II, took a lot of development time while not being the success we hoped. A change was needed.

Why do we think it’s the right call?

The Magic Items was the first update after switching our focus, and it was a success that has significantly grown the player base. The content introduced obviously played an important part in that success, but the new organisation and focus allowed the team to deliver that content.

For the game, the larger player base and the team, the change from monthly to quarterly IS a good thing. We can see it clearly every day.

So, what does that mean for the seasons?

Like most of you already noticed, we slowed down the release cadence of new arenas at the start of 2021 (the last one was Forbidden Palace in February).

The current plan is to have fixed season themes for some in-game events (Logmas in December, Shocktober in October, Lunar Year, Birthday, etc.) and mainly using existing arenas. In total, we have released 16 new arenas since the introduction of seasons. Most of them have just been used once, and we want them to be showcased more as well as existing arenas in Trophy Road. P.E.K.K.A’s Playground, for instance, was very much appreciated by players.

It does NOT mean that you will never see a new arena. I can already tell you that some are in preparation, but they will be much less frequent than before.

I hope that this relatively lengthy text provided you with a better insight into our work and mindset and that you appreciated the step towards openness. More news about the next update is coming very soon!

Thanks for reading!

External link →

Hey,

Lots of comments about balance changes! I must apologise for my clickbait title mentioning them without any further explanation in the post.

I didn't go into details because we already explained the whys in December, and the RoyaleApi article explained the reasoning pretty well. But I'm happy to share that with you again.

• It hurts the larger player base

We saw this every month: players dropping the game and being very unhappy about certain cards' nerfs (or buffs). Switching cards or decks and adapting to the new meta is not a simple task.

You don't necessarily have a good level on all your cards
You need to change your playstyle

I'm playing Clash Royale for almost 5 years. I buy the Pass every month since its release, I'm always completing it, and so far I have 29 maxed cards. Progression is an issue, even more for casual and f2p players, which are most of our players.

This is something we addressed with the Magic Items and will continue to improve. But we're not there yet.

• Less perspective/hindsight

Previously, balance changes cycles were:

1st day of the season: balance changes

1st to ~15th day: players playing, gathering data

~15th to ~20th: data analysis

~20th to 31st: new changes and testing

Providing meaningful and thoughtful changes is complex with just ~2 weeks of data. 3 months give us better hindsight and time for the meta to pass the "excitement" phase where buffed cards are heavily used and nerfed cards are neglected.

• To free up development time

This is self-explanatory. Removing monthly changes give us more time to think, develop and implement new features. Monthly changes took a lot of time for more than just one person in the team. It became a burden, along with seasonal content, that hurt productivity a lot and prevented us from doing better and more impactful updates for the game regularly.

Can't you see the complaints?

We can, and to be fair, there were already complaints every month before! :D

For 2,5 years, monthly balance changes were the thing. For dedicated and regular players, that's what kept the game fresh and entertaining, even more during 2020 where new content was scarce. Taking that away was a big change and the pushback coming from a certain part of the community was expected.

I personally think that players (dedicated, pros and maxed out ones) are eager for new content and reasons to play the game, and monthly changes were that content.

That was a decision that we did not take lightly, and we're still discussing it regularly! Like, no later than this morning.

What about every 2 months? Every 6 weeks?

For now, there is no plan to change. I know that this is not what most of you want to read, but we still think that quarterly balance is currently best for the game. But I can assure you: that will still be discussed and debated among the team. Your voices are being heard.

Thank you for your comments, discussions and opinions. They're all valuable to us, even if we don't always agree.

Cheers! 🤝

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