I, too, have been sticking it out because I want to know what happens, but I am annoyed at the energy system.

Maybe if they had a better balance - where, say, paying means you can progress faster by doing less of the many repetitive tasks, but you can still have things to do without spending real-world money, I think I'd be less frustrated.

*mild spoilers?*
Another thought that the game seems, thus far, to be copying a lot of bits from the original books - characters that are suspiciously similar to Malfoy and Neville (if less fleshed-out) and a whispered voice only you can hear that is very reminiscent of the Chamber of Secrets.

That right there is every single interactive story app on the App store. Except maybe a few that I could've missed.

But nonetheless. Episode. Choices. All the chat story apps. They all do that. It's terrible, it's sneaky, it's unjust, but it's common. That's how they make money - instead of being honest and making you pay up front, they just make it free so you'll be fooled and then mooch you of your cash to make the game playable.

What a shame - Hogwarts Mystery looked so good and so restrictive of wish fulfillment (the only possible wish fulfillment being choice of house) that I originally kind of liked it.

-Twistey

Does it at least let the timer tick down without the game being open? If so, you could treat it as a 'one quest per day' thing, where you start the countdown the evening before and then pick it up once it's unlocked.

One mark of how good a mobile game is, is how successfully it balances gameplay without paying, and the incentive to pay. One that I've had on my phone for a while, Star Trek: Timelines, is very stingy with its currency; it almost never gives out the best of the in-game currencies (which you can use to buy powerful ships and characters), and only trickles in the one needed for performing actions.

The saving graces in that game are that you don't actually need the stuff you can buy (I mean, I'd love to have access to a third shuttle, but two works just fine)... and that whenever they have connection issues, they apologise by giving out a thousand action currencies at a time. ^_^ It makes it pretty hard to run out unless you really try. It's impossible to ride that to a position high on the scoreboards in the various events (I tried once, burnt through over 2000 action points and didn't crack the top 10,000), but it's perfectly fine for just playing the game.

Unfortunately, it doesn't sound like this one has anything similar, and the result is what you say - frustration for free players, which is more likely to make them abandon the game than pay for it. Hopefully they get that balance sorted out soon.

hS

Micro-transactions are now pretty much a requirement for a mobile game. Either to boost your stats, or to advance story quicker. The "Fantastic Beasts" game had that, the Avengers Academy had that, and now Hogwarts Mystery has it, too. Can't say I'm happy with that.

And I really do recommend the game! It's cute. :D