After months of hype and rabid fan speculation, Clash of Clans players can finally wrap their hands around the game’s latest Town Hall Update. Released just this morning, the new update means a whole new way to enjoy Supercell’s free-to-play MMO.
For the uninitiated (or those looking to jump in on the fun for Clash of Clan’s newest update), CoC is something of an odd duck. Lots of games claim to offer something for every player, the MMO fan and the lone wanderer alike, but few actually deliver. Clash of Clans is one of the rare games that can keep pretty much anyone occupied for any length of time, an accomplishment that’s all the more impressive considering the game is both free and for mobile devices (two adjectives that usually equate to crap quality). Keep on reading to check out the specifics of the newest gameplay features.
Heads up, we’re hitting the highlights here, but the full change log can be found on Supercell’s forums.
So, What Exactly Is a Town Hall Update?
For those of you considering downloading Clash of Clans, you might be wondering what the big deal is about a town hall update. Put succinctly, it goes like this: throughout the game you’ll be building a Viking-ish village in which you can form your raiding party. The specific troops, defenses, and buildings you’re able to build depend upon the level of your village’s HQ, your town hall.
Prior to today, players were only able to build their town hall to level 10 before they hit the game’s level cap. With today’s update, players will now have the ability to upgrade their town hall to level 11. For veterans, that means the option to add a slew of new features to their (now, literally) growing villages. Newcomers shouldn’t feel left out, though, because the Town Hall 11 update also means a bunch of under the hood changes designed to make things more interesting while you’re building your clan up.
Welcome the Grand Warden and Eagle Artillery
For those players who are able to upgrade your town hall today, you’ll have near immediate access to Clash of Clan’s newest hero, the Grand Warden — an unholy (and freaking awesome) mixture of the Healer and the Wizard.
While he may not have a bunch of hit points, this dude is a total stud. He’s the only combatant in the game who can work as both a ground or an air unit, on defense he can transform (and work as) a tower, he has two area of effect spells that either increase his allies’ HP or simply makes them in-freaking-vincible. The Warden can also jump over walls and deal out some pretty impressive damage per second makes him an invaluable member of the squad.
That said, you’ll still need to use him carefully, as this guy is very versatile, but also a total pansy. He may be able to dish it out, but he cannot take it. Just keep that in mind to get the most out of your shiny new troop.
For the defensive minded player, Town Hall 11 brings with it the introduction of Eagle Artillery, a long range weapon with a brutal direct attack and a punishing area of effect. The new artillery only activates when enough troops are on the field, though, so you can expect to see your enemies start switching up their strategy if you rely too heavily on this one.
Better, Newer, Bigger
Tired of running of out room to store your river of incoming gold and elixir? Well, Town Hall 11 will help remedy that issue (at least for a little bit), since a level 11 town hall will give you the ability to upgrade your gold and elixir storages to level 12, so you can store more gold and elixir than ever before. (Level 12 Gold Storage limit is 2,000,000; no word yet on the upper elixir cap.)
Alongside the extra breathing room in your stash, players can also look forward to upgrading some of their troops and defenses to brand new levels. Chief among these additions is a third level for the Witch (which means a larger undead army!) and a meaner, nastier version of the flying Minion.
Not enough? Town Hall 11 gives gamers the chance to add another layer of defense to their villages with the option to add another Cannon, Archer Tower and X-Bow. No need to worry about how you’ll cram in all those extra armaments, because Supercell has kicked up the size of the map, too, bringing the build space up to a sizable 44×44 tiles.
Fairness: In Clash of Clans, It Really Is a Thing
In real life as in Dark Souls, fairness doesn’t exist. Sorry to shatter your illusions. In Clash of Clans, though, fairness is now a more notable gameplay feature than ever. If you’re new (or considering diving in), this is the information you’ve been waiting to read.
First and foremost, shields — the bit of gameplay that protects your village from an attack for a short period of time — have been shifted to favor the victim more than the attacker. In other words, destroying an enemies town hall no longer grants a shield; however, when a big enough army has been launched against your team, you’ll be gifted shield bumps at varying levels of deterioration.
Should you find yourself without a shield, the game has instituted a new policy which will kick players offline after three hours with no shield. This will keep you from having all your work destroyed while you’re out doing stupid non-Clans-related stuff.
The new Guard feature will also offer another layer of protection by shielding players from enemy attacks. The higher your level, the more this new feature will benefit you, so start grinding now.
Beyond those big things, the overall experience has been redesigned in order balance things a little bit more. Expanded battle time limits, increased loot, expanded deployment areas, and a whole lot more has all been implemented in order to keep players actively enjoying themselves.
You Still Don’t Have To Spend a Dime
There are a metric ton of games out there that call themselves free-to-play. Usually, though, these games are either junk or they’re secretly something you have drop real world money on to get anywhere interesting. Supercell’s Clash of Clans isn’t one of those games. You can actually thrive in this game without opening your wallet.
Sure, you initially have to be patient while you’re building up your village and making your bones taking down little goblin settlements, but if you can persevere until you’ve gotten a solid foundation built up, the game provides more than enough distractions to fill your time. With the release of the Town Hall 11 update, that sentiment has never been more true.
