- The new spell UI now opens and closes with a double animation.
The new spell UI should open with the full set of spells and without misleading "hints", instead of animations.
Well, let me once again try to explain why I am so upset (and yes, I still am upset!) by the removement of the negative spells from the spell menu.
There always might be reasons for casting negative spells on own cities (especially earthquake and plague) and even own attacks. Inno might feel the responsibility to warn players, especially new players, that those spells will inflict damage, and that´s fine - but to eliminate those spells from the spell menu and thus once again patronizing players who know exactly what they do and why (and in most cases know the game better than most members of the current Grepolis team in Hamburg) is appalling.
I know that there were (and possibly still are) quests in the tutorial, requiring a spell to be cast, and then a hero to be levelled. And I know that quite often beginners were at a loss because after casting the spell (and not closing the spell menu afterwards, since that´s not mentioned in the quest^^), they could neither see (nor interact with) the hero of their city as long as the spell menu was open. I acknowledge that now, after many years, something has been done to solve that problem, even if I don´t like how it has been solved.
But it is not only about this gelded spell menu - it´s a general trend and nuisance. I really loathe being patronized and kept in leading strings by the same people that prove again and again that they do not always understand their own game (and sometimes don´t even remember that it is a PvP game), and who seem to be unable to accept that players like to explore the possibilities of a strategic game without other boundaries than the game rules. Something might go wrong while trying something out, other things might work at once... There are a lot of features in Grepolis that can be used for other purposes than once intended by a series of game designers, and that´s part of the fun. During the last two years or so, however, I see one door after the other being closed by a new over-protectiveness in Hamburg. The new colonization requirements window, the "advanced" tutorial quests with their hair-raising requirements, all those confirmation prompts that cannot be disabled, now even the removement of negative spells from a menu, etc etc.... they all are killing the fun we once had with this game.