About the Angry Birds 2 Arena

[kedik22]

I have to concur with @dwhite40704.
Cheating, unfairness, manipulation and rigged are Rovio´s favourite words at the moment, except money of course!

And @hank, can we please have a clear and specific answer as to what happened to @heybert17?

[heybert17]

While upsetting at least I was still in 1st. Had I been thrown into a League where I was all of a sudden losing by a lot I would have been very upset.

2 weeks ago I didn’t get switched but a couple days into the run a new player was tossed into my League that got at least 100 stars every time he played, luckily he only played 3 times and I was able to eventually over take him and win the League again.

I have 23 Gold and 1 Bronze. Even with all the Bull I always win my League barely, with around 450 stars. Without all the junk that goes wrong, for what ever reason, I would easily get over a 1000 stars a week. I really don’t have that great a winning record, probably lose more than I win overall, which means every one I beat must be horrible.

[Rhys4AUFC]

In the past few days I have played the arena at least 5 times where my streak has been at zero, I always use no spells at that point & sadly I’ve been one of the victims of this stupid cheating (losing more than winning) despite playing at (or close to) my best. Hopefully plenty of AB fans boycott this joke-of-a-game!!!

[hamvestor]

Let me add my voice to the ranks of the disgruntled. My streaks keep ending at 2 or 3, I am regularly matched up against players ranked lower than me but with birds that are rated at higher levels than mine (how does that happen, anyway?), and in my last match I executed with precision and lost by a million points. Seriously? I think after the current arena competition, I’ll take my leave and spend more of my time doing things that are enjoyable….

[DJLarryt]

More of the same. Suddenly at Game #3 of the streak I am always pitted against some superstar with the highest level birds and ALL the spells. Complete bullcrap.

On my first go-around in my newest streak I was put against a player with all 7 birds equal to mine. I took in 2 spells just for insurance and lo and behold… I was beaten by 2.5 million points. I didn’t waste my birds and I didn’t play poorly either, but I WAS struck with the ‘suddenly useless bird’ syndrome a few times. At one point I even blew up a bomb bird right inside a structure and the only thing that was destroyed was the block he hit, while the rest of the tower (containing a TNT box) just fell straight down and resided.

Sure, tickets to enter the arena are easy to get. Rovio wants you in there playing so they make it easy for you to enter. They want to suck your spells and gems dry so they open the door to the shop so they can rob you.

This game has become such a colossal sh!tshow. Rovio you’ve had this game out for almost a year and you STILL can’t make it work?

[heybert17]

I just had my worse round since probably the 1st time I ever played an Angry Birds game, not a single thing did what it should. It was one of the simpler Arenas and even guaranteed 1 bird structures were taking 2-3 birds to get through, and my aim was true.

And it was against an actual person with a real picture that I outmatched, should have been one of my easiest battles in a long time, but they found a way to make sure that didn’t happen.

[kedik22]

@hank

You guys really really outdid yourselves this time!!!

After an abysmal day yesterday, was having an ok day today.
Passed level six in the streak by playing well, a little bit of luck and of course some gems.

So I head into battle number seven for the grand 500 feather prize.
Remember I am level 66.
And my opponent is this guy Tomas level 113 with five spells!!!

I do not mean to be disrespectful, but are you kidding me?

Care to explain this randomly generated rigged bad luck situation?

@hank, do you think I had a peachy experience in the Arena today?

[Anonymous]

@kedik22 This is the 9th question you asked @hank since his last post on this thread. Strangely @hank was active a little over 9 hours ago and never replied to a single one of them.

Hmmmmmmmmm……. Strange isn’t it?

[David Martin]

@kedik22 – Dude, you’re lucky it took you until match #7 to get that ridiculously overpowered of an opponent. Today I managed some David-vs-Goliath type victories in matches 3, 4 and 5 against 5-spell opponents with birds all at level 8 or 9. They just weren’t as efficient as I was bird-for-bird, but those victories were still hard won, and usually in those scenarios I lose. Match #6 was where even the best fight I could put up wasn’t good enough. Haven’t seen match #7 in ages.

[kedik22]

@partshade

Hi.
Have not seen @hank around.
I wish he would answer not only my questions, but everybody else´s.
But do not worry, I´ll keep at.
Figure we deserve a bit of Rovui´s attention, at the very least.

@david-martin
Kind of the same happened to me.
Your sentiment exactly.
But at match six, I was lured into spending some gems, and I did, my bad.
See you around…

[heybert17]

Okay, I just managed to bounce Terrence off of a magician pig’s head, without killing the pig, I think it is time to take a break.

[wrw01]

@hank
A few months back I quit playing AB2 because of the hacks in the Arena and a suspected hack in the regular levels. It just was not fun when the honest players just have no chance to win or even get into the top 3-4 positions in the Arena.

With the upgrade of the birds to level 9 the fun was back in the Arena. It was great for a few weeks.

With the upgrade to level ten, the Arena is not fun anymore. A regular player has no chance on Winning even the first item in the winning streak when they go up against players with all the spells. I do not have a lot of spells and only used them for the 7th win in the streak. Now I have to use them for the very first win and even if I score all strikes I still loose by 1-4 million points. Now I ask you, where is the fun in the Arena when the regular small time player is programmed to loose by all these fictional players.

And the reason I suspect they are fictional players is that on two occasions I was in 7-9th place with ten minutes to go and I finished in first and second place. Now something “smells rotten” for the end users with the last upgrades to level 9 & 10. All these fictional players beating one in the Arena and making us waste our spells and gems for no productive outcome that we honestly earned by our best efforts.

We end users want to win by our honest and best efforts. We do not want to be compromised by hacks, cheats or programmers who stack the game against our efforts.

Basically the Arena is just not fun to play anymore. If I recall, this is a game and it should be fun and provide the end users a fair chance to win, place or show in the standings at the end of the game.

Hope the programmers bring the fun back into the games with the next upgrade.

[cognitive]

I took screen shots of every Arena match I played since last Saturday’s Arena reset.

For the most part, streak=1 (S1) opponents are just SLIGHTLY below you, S2 at a bit higher, S3 quite a bit higher, and by the time you’re S5 and above you might as well be shooting balloons at the bricks.

Amazing discovery #1: My theory holds – play 10 in a row to ‘simulate’ frustration, and you will have a losing streak that makes my Chicago Cubs look good.

Amazing discovery #2: My theory holds – play too often and at S1 you’ll get a clown like AKSHAY (level 28, birds at 5 and 6, wielding 5 spells. At S1. I saw this several times over the weekend.

Amazing discovery #3: There’s some seriously mysterious ways the same room yields 400-500k points to you (at level 6) and 600-700k points to your opponent with same level birds.

Amazing discovery #4: In previous versions of the Arena, you occasionally saw bad plays by the opponent. A bird scoring zero or a few thousand points at best. Not any more. I have yet to see an opponent outright make a mistake.

Amazing discovery #5: The computer generated opponents are gone

Amazing discovery #6: There could be streaks of matches in the most dreaded of Arena lands, the bouncy ball land (not sure the name). I played 5-6 in a row.

Amazing discovery #7: forget scoring more than a 5 or 6 if you win. Even at S1. (largely because of Amazing discovery #4).

[kedik22]

@hank

Have you read what @wrw01 and @cognitive have to say?
Do you have an opinion?

After @captsternn ´s departure, and comments above can you grasp the Arena playing sentiment?
Can Rovio?

@hank, have not seen you answering any of my questions, or anybody else’s for that matter.

Hope you have some fair and unrigged news for us soon.

Kind regards.

[wrw01]

@hank
It is really disrespectful and insult to be ignored. Most adult and child players can accept a difference of opinion but being ignored is basically a slap in the face and saying your opinion really does not count so why respond to the kind and well intention request…after all it is only from an Ed-user who plays the game for the fun of it.
Oh ya I forgot to mention that the honest end users do spent their hard earned money on the game…hacks do not…dahhhhhhhhhhhhh

[Rovio_Hank]

Hello flingers!

I am not a community manager and it’s not in my job description to visit these forums, I do it so I can make the game better. This means that I won’t answer all your questions because I sadly don’t have the time or the resources to do so. Some issues I can’t answer, like frustration over physics, and some issues I can just tell you that we’re looking into, because we are.

I’ve had talks this week with our analyst, our product manager and producer among others to set time for us to look deeper into the Arena. Sadly, finding a problem and fixing it isn’t something you do in a minute, especially not for a live game with millions of players. We are very well aware of your feedback and we want to make your experience as good as possible.

I am a player just like you guys and I really like seeing fans discuss the game. One thing that needs to be kept in mind is that people on this forum is a huge minority of our player base. Any changes we make affects all the millions of players, new and old. This is one of the reasons that we can’t just flip a switch whenever you find something (even though we agree with your sentiment) in the game. We need to confirm it happens, check how many players it affects, consider how long it will take to change etc.

With that said, you guys have a huge impact on the game; don’t think anything else. You are our most loyal players and we truly value your opinions. I bring up all your experiences, good and bad, with the team. We discuss your opinions in our weekly team meetings and it helps us with the decision making. That’s why it’s important that you describe your experiences in a detailed and constructive way. We greatly thank you for doing so.

I am sorry I can’t answer all your questions. Right now I can tell you that we are currently looking at the Arena (win/fail rates, match making, cheaters, leagues changing) and I’ll keep you updated on our findings.

[Rhys4AUFC]

I’ve been ripped off yet again. Tried going for 3 wins in a row & got someone with 6 birds on Level 7 & one on Level 8, I used the blizzard & chill spell but sadly wasn’t enough. Why must ‘Lolvio’ do this to us?!?

[kedik22]

@hank

Thank you so much for getting back to us.
You clearly cleared up your role between this forum and Rovio.
For that you have my deepest gratitude and respect.

That being said…
But what you claim just does not fit.
If we in this forum are a huge minority, how come ALL of us keep facing the same million cheaters, hackers and money grabbers?

If us a huge minority, as you claim, have a huge impact on the game and are you most loyal players, how is it that we have a different sentiment than all the other million players?
Could our sentiment be so special or so different than all your other million of players?
I don´t think so.

I firmly believe this forum (a focus group if you will) is a very good representation of overall reality, and not the money grabbing reality Rovio lives in.

My rant, facts and examples could go on forever, but it is not polite to do so.

Kind regards.

[Dwhite]

Huge minority? Wow!! This forum is where the best of the best congregate. From a business perspective there is no better place for feedback on this game than this forum. Don’t be confused or misled folks. Rovio knows exactly what they are doing and don’t feel indebted to any Rovio rep for the smokescreens that they occasionally bless us with. I own a very successful golf instruction business and yes, I have to make money to keep the doors open. But, if I totally ignored my clients wishes and repeatedly screwed them over, I would be in bankruptcy court. Integrity has a very important place in business. I see this attitude of greed far too often in the business world. Let’s just say that it never works out too well.

Does anyone actually enjoy being manipulated and lied to? Is that something people get excited about and look forward to? Once the trust is broken, the relationship is never the same. I hate it when somebody pees on my back and then tells me it’s raining.(not literally ??)

[MG516]

@Hank – I appreciate the fact that you take time to visit ABN’s forum to listen to our concerns. It is not an easy task and I know you and your company have a difficult time trying to keep the end-users interested and satisfied. I am again a big fan of AB2 and look forward to continued refinements in future updates. Thank you.

[David Martin]

I think we’re gonna catch more flies with honey than with vinegar where the Rovio reps who post on this forum are concerned. (The flies being the bugs in the game. Not the Rovio reps.) Conspiracy theories abound concerning Rovio’s intent (and honestly, most game developers these days), and I’m not immune to believing a few of them myself, but it seems to be the constructive criticism that gets the best response, in terms of their ability to find and fix bugs. I’m right there up with most of you guys in terms of my time spent whining about how the game isn’t fair, but I understand that “fairness” is a bit of a subjective concept. Things that don’t work the way the developers apparently intended them to are a bit more concrete. Sometimes I worry that some of those observations will get missed amidst the deluge of frustration-venting posts just due to the signal-to-noise ratio being so high. It’s something to think about.

[cognitive]

Given enough data points we can figure out quite a few things – But the whole point is to have fun, not to do math homework. Heaven knows I’ve done enough math in four engineering degrees…

The interesting part about the latest developments is that it is nearly impossible to blow an opponent away and get 10 stars any more. I haven’t seen a 10 since Bo Derek (ok I am old spare me :) ). Even with streak = 1 I barely win most of the time, unless the Norse Gods match me up with a 5 spell miracle kid.

As a result it is difficult to pass someone once he’s built a good lead. I have the lead now but in the past I used to play a lot the first 2-3 days, build a 100 point lead, and people usually gave up. Now even closing a 20 point lead is difficult. I’m 20 points ahead and unless the #2 guy is wealthy he’s toast…

[kedik22]

@cognitive
Hi.
In my league I figure I´ll have to do around 350 points NOT to be demoted.
Currently tenth, 542 off the lead.
And following is one of the reasons…

@hank
Hi.
Was at the end of the sixth battle streak, some 200,000 points behind.
Guess what, did not get the video option for another bird (could have won easily even with the Blues), and was forced to spend gems to win the battle.
I find this a very conveniently random placed bug, don´t you think?
Kind regards.

[angrynerds2]

Here is the hall of fame with my glorious opponents I met after I’ve won two games in a row. True heroes who are almost invincible in combat.
I found myself not worthy to face them and closed the app.

[Rhys4AUFC]

@angrynerds2 that’s a real jip. I’ve actually deleted & reinstalled the app a few times in anger as a result of this unfair system in place. Plus I unsubscribed from the Rovio newsletter.