okay, here is an exact description of what happens and why I think my account is "stuck":
1. After re-installing the game (I have the load screen problem), it loads, starts the music, connects to the server, and then I see the first tutorial message:
Welcome to the world map! Let's start by heading to the mine...2. So I go to the Mine (
Continue). I get
Choose your difficulty setting here for The Mine. We'll start on easy... and
Continue. The slider is at 0. I don't have to press
Play mining game because it does that automatically.
3. I get what you see in the picture above. The blocks really are the same every time. I can play, as long as I want. I'll stop after getting 72 crystals. One time, I played until 1000.
3. Although I don't see the
Menu button on the top left corner, I can get to the
Summary screen (the Summary compass icon on the bottom is not shown as selected, by the way.) I can Resume and look at my Inventory, my Party, and I can
Stop Mining an Return to Map, which I do (
End Current Game).
4. So I am on the Map.
Smith and
Tower redirect me to the
Store, but I can't buy anything there. Although I have 2061 crystals. So, I need to level up
Tool Mastery or
Essence Mastery and the Mine. I also tried to buy
Strategist: Strength (which is the first ability you get, as far as I remember) - and couldn't buy it. No tutorial message is shown when I visit the Store.
5. So I check my character (back to
Map and to the
Your Party screen.) I get this (the ornament icon at the bottom is not selected again):
So I am Category One, Level 0, and I have nothing mastered. How could I, being Level 0. No Tools, no Blueprints, no Magic Books, no Scrolls, no Weapons, no Armor, no Accessories, no Skills. How depressing
6. So, back to the Mine (
Resume)! I can't adjust the speed (except for the "invisible slider" bug that was reported elsewhere) because I am Level 0, so I just
Play mining game. This time, it tells me that I can
Push up with two fingers to add more resources to the screen. I knew that. So I'm still in the tutorial! I play it for a while until I get sick - no timeout, no progress, except my Crystals and Essences reaching the thousands.
7. After getting back to the
Map and checking if I can do anything without success, I return to the Mine a third time. I get told,
Try rotating your device for a twist on play, which I do, but apart from changing Mine gravity, it doesn't help my character out of Level 0 hell.
8. I can now come back to the Mine as often as I want, re-install as often as I want, without being able to ever reach Level 1.
So, my guess it that, somehow, I missed the trigger that unlocks
Strategist: Strength. Being unable to buy and built that, the game rules dictate that I can't continue to Level 1, resulting in a deadlock. As I can't reset my character, I'm stuck.
I remember pressing the Home button once before I bought
Strategist: Strength, back when it still worked, but didn't sync. Maybe that broke the trigger.
I hope this helps finding the bug.