I am not at all new to Candy Crush Saga, and normally make steady progress, even in the midst of the harder levels. I am currently in the mid-18000 range in terms of levels, and because of this, I don’t expect every other round to be a cakewalk; but I’ve noticed that whenever these in-game events like Spearmint Snowstorm (and others like, say, Petal Peril or anything under the same umbrella) are so difficult to the point where its challenge is genuinely disproportionate to the regular levels.
I have found that every time I end up losing relentlessly or getting stuck in the game for an egregious period of time, even at this point in the game, it’s almost always the fault of these levels. Not a new concept of course, but I truly am fully convinced that these are only placed in game to incentivize players to use up all of their gold bars until they feel pressured enough to buy more in-game currency; something I don’t do and will never choose to do.
Since I am a completely free player, these events outline how rigged the gameplay can be at times, which is usually better hidden in regular parts of the gameplay, but now stand directly in the way of my positive experience with the game. Given I am not one to do micro transactions, the calculated disadvantage is in plain sight and it’s almost unavoidable to acknowledge that this is something deliberate the developers have done and not just a skill issue.
These levels are extremely stressful to deal with, at least compared to others at the point of the game I’m in. They often have awkward level designs with the event-specific assets and blockers added in, and have a ridiculous goal to complete with a rather unrealistic amount of moves granted to do so. I’ll replay over and over again, just to hardly even get close to a win thanks to the unusual excess of frosting blockers, licorice and sprinks/baby dragons taking up the board.
And with the one that’s currently holding me back, they don’t even label this as a “hard” level at bare minimum, which is a slap in the face considering I have played legendary levels more fair than this one. It almost seems patronizing to me as a player, and its made worse by them recycling the same few levels every few rotations, which guarantees you will have to face that same level again at some point soon, even after beating it at last.
It feels so deliberate and truly unfair, and across none of these events have I passed one of these levels without boosters or extra moves, as they’re seemingly impossible to beat without more powerful boosters doing the heavy lifting. After losing all of my boosters and gold to these, I literally just have to run the daily wheel and treat machine everyday, until I get lucky enough to win a powerful booster that will break me free from the level altogether.
It isn’t that those levels should be made “easy” per se, but also remember that these levels are shoehorned into the map at the end of each episode, replacing even milestone levels in that spot until the event is over! So you have zero choice but to interact with these absurd levels in order to progress in the main game.
And it will often cost you any chances to earn free rewards from other in-game events, since as a result of not winning or collecting anything, you will consequently struggle to progress within those other events and cannot meet their goals before the timers run out. It quite literally corners you and tries to bully you into paying for a win, and I really want the developers to considering dialing it back a bit; especially since I’m surely not the first one to express this on the forum from what I have seen.
That being said, I actually finally made my own forum account just to be able to bring it up personally, because every now and again I have seen community concerns acknowledged on here. Though I doubt my post will hold any weight to the developers and their future decisions, I do hope that anyone else who’s been annoyed with these events also knows they’re far from the only one.
