I would also like to add my disgust at this update. It has absolutely ruined the game and even if you couldn't buy giggawatt$ and only earn them the game would STILL be ruined.

The dev replies shown here, whilst most welcome, show a clear disregard for the damage done to their flagship game with these changes. I won't bother to reiterate why but it's clear the update was at best I'll-thought out and at worst nefarious. Both result in a game that is most definitely not the one I purchased and not the one I recommended to friends who they purchased it on my recommendation.

It was pure in its simplicity and aside from the cloud glitch offered a level playing field for all. Any game which allows for a cash exchange to change the rules is bad, and any game which allows for cash purchases to increase the score is just the lowest, surely that's obvious? And the idea that you can accrue some mechanism from a previous game to affect the next is no longer a level playing field at all. It all adds up to a pile of junk. Can't you guys see that?

My gripe, if I had on, was not that the later levels were too hard, but that the early levels were too easy. You guys had it backwards.

My final thought is that I wanted to point out that I registered solely to express my unhappiness with welder as is, and I'm sure several others here did so too but most won't be bothered to do that. If you want real feedback I suggest you temporarily allow guest posting... Although I doubt youll like what you read.

As a footnote to my previous post I would like to add that IAP in itself isn't bad. Might I suggest you offer more benign purchases - different styles of tiles, background graphics, music, extra modes (how about a mode where ALL of your remaining moves carry over to the next round?), what about a mode where cascades of word drops exponentially score like in bejeweled, scores for 'exotic words', a mode where duplicate words are not allowed (that would be an awesomely hard mode!) etc

All of these could be .99 IAPs without any affect on the core game.

But ultimately you need to put back the original game back as the PLAY NOW option.

You know what you need to do...

Those do sound like fun, Goldvrod

At the risk of getting slammed, time to join in on this. (sorry it’s such a long post)

*Disclosure* : I have been Beta testing WELDER for the past two weeks, both the release that has generated all of the complaints as well as the one that will be coming out shortly. I am not “shilling” for the developers. I am a WELDER player first and a beta tester second. Beta testers were invited to participate because of their visibility on the leader boards, this forum, and (at least in my case) because of correspondence with Britt and Anthony with comments and suggestions.

I don’t pretend to speak for the developers but, despite some accusations, I believe the developers are listening. There will be more updates. No, these will definitely not satisfy everyone.

Britt’s post here (page 6) offered a comprehensive explanation of changes coming in the next update. Many players will never see Toxic tiles. Those players skillful enough to earn a lot of swaps in Levels 13-15 will then have the added challenge of eliminating the Toxic tile. In the past two days of testing I have played through Level 15 twice and have been able to eliminate numerous Toxic tiles through swaps, without using the Wrench. Of course I may have been lucky enough to not have a Toxic tile drop in between unmovable Hot or broken tiles. But if that were the case, and the wrench couldn’t be played to help clear, then I would lose and so what? It’s just one game and I don’t want to be able to “win” every time

I guess I was one of the players who no longer found the original “classic” game as challenging; if you are very careful, pay close attention, and learn to recognize and avoid many of the obscure 4 letter words that destroy your plans, then it really isn’t all that difficult to get through Level 15.

Note that I said “skillful enough to earn”. Like many on this board I don’t like the idea of purchasing Gigawatts and never will. There is really no need to with strategic play, accumulating Gigawatts over several games. That is another layer of interest in the game, continuously building and acquiring tools over multiple games. Simply purchasing Gwatts is a player’s loss for not experiencing the game at its fullest.

Regarding scoring, I do have some disagreement with Britt. He is exactly correct that the ridiculously high word and game scores on the leader board have nothing to do with any of the new features. One can only weld multi-million point words by using the iCloud cheat hole. I know. I’m one of those players who “broke” the leader board by doing so. It is cheating, fully acknowledged. (Not on this thread but I would be happy to engage in a discussion about that on another thread). The cheat hole has done far more damage than GW’s ever could. Where I do respectfully disagree is that noticeably higher game scores and somewhat higher best word scores can be recorded with the help of using Gigawatts. Witness the increase in the “second” tier scores over the past several days.

Assuming good spelling and swapping skills, lots of swaps enable moving of multiplier tiles and welding more high point words. Earning (or buying) Gigawatts allows one to refresh swaps. Ergo…And Gigawatts can be traded in to double bonus points which can significantly increase total game scores.

Having said that, the developers are planning a new tournament leader board. I don’t know all the details but scores there would be only recorded without the use of the iCloud cheat hole or the use of Gigawatts to engage the Wrench or refresh swaps. The only way the Gwatts factor would enter at all is for players who have played and built enough to have doubled their bonus points.

Don’t give up. The developers do care about the WELDER community and will continue to try to strike a balance. Although forum posts and app reviews are overwhelmingly against the recent changes, there are other ways to communicate with Highline Games and other opinions are being heard.

Rondelagua, it is so hilarious that you stick up for ayopa and Highline! You, Ron, are the reason why so many people are insanely angry at the developers of this update! We strive so hard to join you and Ironmonkee in the leader boards and now any fool with enough cash can also "earn" an equally high score.

I have been working hard, reading your hints and tips, giggling at your videos with your "rush" and tequila toasts to this game, praying and restarting level 8 and 9 again and again trying to get gold and platinum tiles to build a crazy 8-letter word. I have so badly wanted to join you in the ranks of your fellow word welding legends. How silly I was to spend so much time working hard, perusing dictionaries when I need not look much further than my purse! You are a sell-out if you can truly defend this update with a straight face!

Thank you Highline games for breaking me of my W.E.L.D.E.R. Addiction. Now I can get back to my 'words with friends', hopefully they will still remember me. I hadn't been playing it much since WELDER came around. Very sad!!!

It sounds like the developers are planning to offer many, many things except the one thing we have all asked for: the previous version.

Why the resistance? Seriously -- why? All I'm asking you to do is give back something you stole from me.

There is no question they need to release a "classic" version of w.e.l.d.e.r. Or offer it as an option in the new update. The developers have been silent on this issue amid many requests from unhappy players to do so. This speaks volumes about what they are actually thinking, much more so than anything they have said here. I think they see releasing a classic version as almost an admission of failure. I believe they also see the current discontent as a storm that will blow over in time. Because of this they are not willing to bring back the old game so soon, or even discuss doing so. Surely they know they are working with a fairly small window here. Wait too long and they risk losing a large segment of their fan base forever. Look, many of us could care less about leader boards, million point words, cheat holes, whatever. We are casual players that are looking for the occasional distraction that the classic game fit perfectly. The new game clearly does not "fit the bill" for MANY of us. Developers, feel free to ignore our requests for the old w.e.l.d.e.r. As time passes you do so at your risk, not ours!

Rondelagua says it is a discussion for another forum topic, but since the large scores on the leaderboard due to using iCloud was a reason the developers made this update, I'll ask the question here. Why is it that merely saving your game on iCloud and coming back to it a "cheat?" Many games return you to where you left off. Besides, it really does not change the game much. More importantly, we are playing against ourselves so its no skin of someone else's back if a person uses or does not use iCloud.

Is the purpose of the game to reach Level 15, score more points, or both? I thought it was both. Getting to 15 is difficult, but just because some find it easy does mean that there is no challenge since they can still shoot for higher scores than their previous games.

In other words, it sounds as though the game was still sufficiently challenging for over 90% of the players out there. Why change the game for the 10% or because some don't like use of the iCloud feature?

After all, we are competing against ourselves, not each other. If most people are happy and challenged playing against themselves, whatever method they use (what is "cheating," in this case, is subjective), why change it?

What on earth kind of logic is this?for one, of course players wish to perform better each game. Sure it's not the end of the world if one doesn't, but saying I don't want to "win" each time on a game like welder is silly. We play to strive to do better each and every game.

A full game on welder can take days when playing casually say at work or just stealing a few minutes away from the kids, and dropping a toxic tile in after hours of play is akin to the game crashing. One doesn't just say "oh well, I don't expect to win each time" . You say "oh f&$%#' what a pita!"

Welder isn't space invaders. Its probably closest to boggle or scrabble, both games of which dont punish you for doing well. Welder didn't use to either but now it does. Why is it that you, and the devs, singularly fail to see that it's an unacceptable premise to punish people for playing the game well? Saying that most people won't see the toxic tile when the new update drops shows a basic lack of understanding of the game' s appeal.

Did you, as a beta tester, not enjoy the game MORE when it was in its earlier form? If so then why are you defending the subtraction of enjoyment from the game?

It's almost as if you and the devs have been enlightened by the new update and are desperately trying to explain to all how wrong WE are for not liking it and you almost expect that with the right amount of stubborn badgering we're going to say"oh, you guys are right now that you've explained it- it's a great update!"

And you know... That's just not going to happen.

[EDIT] I'd like to modify my post to add that I don't necessarily see the update decision as malicious. I'll admit that your primary audience is a fickle bunch. We're word nerds. We're deeply concerned about fairness and "earning" our points. This may help explain the depth of our anger at this update. Still, I can't see it as a wise decision; New Coke and Qwikster may have seemed like good ideas at the time, but those guys didn't get a break either.

I'm also deeply, deeply disappointed by this "update."

I don't think you're fooling anyone with this talk about the in-app purchases "adding strategy" to the game and "not being necessary."

I can believe your staff has dedicated, talented people, and I can believe you worked to mitigate some of the damage after the decision to charge money was made.

What I can't believe is that the decision for this "update" was motivated by anything other than money.

Would any of this Gigawatts stuff have been implemented if it wasn't for the chance to make a quick buck? I doubt it.