I think what is a bit frustrating is that advanced research doesnt multily with your percentage by rank. So it basically makes no sense and after a certain rank you get stuck... Till then it is a nice game with a nice twist to the idle concept... Looking forward to the next release. :)
I think its hard till you get your strat going. My strategy ist basically to start upgrading the waves asap (gem bomb on the wave stone), up the initial mana, and the gem merging skill, mana replenishing. I play only with towers and focus on chainhit and Mana gain. But there are loads of stratagies involving traps also. My strategy is risky and goes worng from time to time, but for the most part, you play a level once and only at the beginning you bother with triple modes. Hope I could help :)
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We will rework that in a future patch, Sylver. Thanks for the feedback.