After 8 months of playing Lords Mobile

Alright, so I've been playing Lords Mobile for about 8 months now, and I need to get some things off my chest.

The Good Stuff:

The game is genuinely fun when you first start. Building up your castle, training troops, doing the colosseum battles—it's all pretty addictive. The guild system is actually the best part. I joined an active guild and honestly, that's what keeps me playing. The people are cool, we do rallies together, and the guild events are fun.

The graphics are decent for a mobile game, and there's always something to do. Monster hunts, war events, kingdom vs kingdom battles—if you're into strategy games, there's depth here.

Here's where it gets messy. This game is pay-to-win, and I mean AGGRESSIVELY pay-to-win. Free-to-play players will hit a wall hard around Castle level 20-22. Those whales dropping thousands of dollars? They'll absolutely demolish you in seconds. I'm talking 5+ years of troop training gone in one attack.

The gem costs are insane. Want to speed up a building that takes 30 days? That'll be like $50+ in gems. The "deals" they offer are laughably expensive. I've spent maybe $100 total (which I regret), and I'm still getting wrecked by players who spend that weekly.

The Annoying Parts:

Shields are mandatory. If you don't have a shield up, you WILL get attacked and lose everything. It's not a question of if, but when.

Time gates are brutal. Later game upgrades take weeks of real-time. Yes, WEEKS.

The ads are constant. Every time you log in, there's a pop-up trying to sell you something.

Solo play is basically impossible. If you're not in a strong guild, you're toast.

If you're thinking about starting, here's my advice:

Only play if you're okay with being F2P and accepting you'll never compete at the top

Find a good guild IMMEDIATELY—the game sucks solo

Never, EVER spend real money unless you're prepared to keep spending

Don't get emotionally attached to your troops or resources—you will lose them