TH11 update observations from the perspective of a TH9 - trying to be objective
I've read a lot of comments that support SC in their "adapt to the new style" chorus. I've been collector raiding in Gold for quite some time, but a few months ago switched to full attacks in Crystal or Masters. Thus my attacking style was close to "how the game is supposed to be played", and I was in a proper league. As a 3/4 max TH9 with a decent base, I kept my TH outside. In Crystal, I found a good balance between loot and loot bonus, and the occassionaly TH snipe replenished my gold for nexting to find a good base to attack. As a casual player, I did 2 attacks a day during the week, morning before work and evening, getting a shield from snipes in betweeen. I played more on weekends, especially when I needed to collect resources for an expensive upgrade.
What has changed after the update, from the prespective of a casual player with moderare skills?
Loot
There definitely are much more high value targets around, but usually maxed TH9 or good TH10 bases, that hardly allow a profitable raid. Still there are raidable bases, and I'm doing ok, even if compared to pre-update.
Shield
There are no cheap shields anymore. The risk of full storage raids has become much higher, especially with some many TH10-11 around in crystal. Even though loot is ok, holding on to it has become very difficult once you are saving for big upgrades and have your storages full. Attacking through shield helps, but is unable to balance the negative impact of nerfing cheap shields.
Gemming
I find myself spending more gems, mainly for boosting or healing heros, to take advantage of attacking through shield or guard, which I need to do for compensating for the losses from full storage raids. This maywell be intended by SC...
Progress
I' doing ok at the moment, as I've decided to skip expensive upgrades for the time being and put my money into walls, keeping my storage as empty as possible. But saving for expensive upgrades has become difficult, which severly affects progress from TH7, at least without major gemming, which again may well be intended...
Fun
TH sniping offered an easy way for casual players to play the game in a relaxed manner and still make progress. Post update, the game has definitely become more difficult, hence more stressful and less fun. This is not a problem for the hardcore players, but for the >90% of casuals, it dramatically reduces the appeal of the game.
Final verdict
SC has dramatically altered the way this game was played. The new way doesn't benefit the casual player, hence the negativity. The casuals are what made this game the success it is and what propelled CoC to the top of all rankings. If they loose the casuals, It will all be lost for SC. I won't just quit, but hang around and keep upgrading my walls, hopefully until they restore balance in a new update.
