Forced to update and not happy

[AngryPlayer]

I was greeted this morning with a notice to upgrade or not be able to play anymore, and was not happy about that. :( Especially after reading reviews of how the game is being convoluted for the worst. Maybe I didn’t feel like moving to the exorbitantly-priced ticketing system, or the gem-sucking new levels, or how the rules change in Rovio’s favour with every update, or the so-called daily “challenge” (which is nothing new, just a replay of previous {….} screens that I recall screaming out “are you freaking kidding me” when playing them… the only REAL challenge is not to throw the iPhone against the wall).

Having to look at those fugly CGI dollies upon boot up is one thing- but now, every single thing in this ‘game’ is an device to suck away your birds/spells to force you to buy gems. Really Rovio? There is not one fun thing left about it. You are paring down your player base to only those who are addicted enough to try one more time and overpay for progress in an app that doesn’t deserve it, and you know it. Well guess what happens when those people run out of money and patience to play. They move on and you are left with no players.

I don’t even try anymore- scoring and outcome is so random and success is also like shooting skeets in the dark. Flinging birds around and hoping to succeed is about all this game is reduced to. It makes no difference if you are a good player or not, because when it comes to a pile of micropigs encased in stone blocks, even three bombs in a row doesn’t seem to clear them. Newly-added screens are becoming so impossible and the odds are greatly against the player in ALL respects. We can’t even level up our birds high enough to regenerate and complete your 6-level screens without a hope and a prayer. And I’ve noticed your little ‘tweaks’ in gameplay. I have screenshots of structures literally defying gravity after hitting them- plus those innocuous little times that birds don’t do what they’re supposed to, like when Chuck bounces off a wooden structure or Blues stop dead when hitting ice walls. You think people don’t notice that? We know this is purposeful- maybe it’s that one time when someone will get mad enough to hit the “buy gems” button just to clear the stupid board once and for all. And you will laugh all the way to the bank because you have no more business ethics.

I just wanted to say this as a longtime fan- I have completely lost respect for you, Rovio, as a game development company. Your games have entertained me for years but it looks like this new model you’ve adopted has driven me off the product line for good. You expect me to dump over $100 for gem packs when I can go and purchase a much better PC game that will keep me busy for hours with better graphics and gameplay and not demand additional purchases? Then you want a player base that’s rich AND stupid. And that’s insulting to those of us who played your games and don’t fit into that category.

You have lost yourself a loyal player- I am deleting the app as I type this. Hope you are happy rolling in the cash that you extorted, and please do me a favour by forwarding this to the “higher-ups” bankler so they can plot their next game ‘adjustment’ to directly bill credit cards for length of time playing the game, because you know that’s your next plan of action.

Hopefully that ridiculous-looking movie bombs. But if you ever stoop so low as to create an Angry Birds toilet paper, hey, I’d buy it.

Topic

[Aeshna]

I would love Rovio to comment on the above, but as they can’t even fix glitches, bugs and cheaters in AB2 without further destroying the game, it’s not going to happen!

I too was forced to upgrade. On loading the yellow bar actually started going backwards. The opening screen has changed for the worse. Chuck is now a banana and Matilda looks like Olaf from Frozen.

It would appear Rovio have even peed off their money players, as I’m currently top of a diamond arena with only 260 stars. I’m usually in fourth or fifth as I don’t spend to play. How come the price to play increased by so much Bankler?

[Dwhite]

I agree with you folks. It’s almost like they are trying to lose business. I quit the arena when the price of entry basically doubled. I’m still doing the campaign of one level per day just to give me something to do. I did the same thing on AB Seasons in December. So I go to do these daily challenges and I’m looking forward to it. The last phase was a 6 room Boss. Any boo boos and it’s back to the drawing board. So the heat was on. I was successful. The reward screen pops up and then BOOM- it crashes. I repeated this 3 more times. I’m not playing through Facebook and the gems I used are gone forever, all in vain. The randomness of this game reminds of a slot machine. Same birds hit the same spots with different results. It’s almost like a FIX is on sometimes. Oh well, I guess I’m just one of many who’ve grown quite jaded with this game as a whole. It seems to be like it just keeps getting worse and worse. Hell will freeze over before I ever buy any of the games that I’m forced to watch in the ads. The ads have the opposite effect on me. I will go to great lengths just to make sure I never play them. I was forced to watch a 60 second ad the other night about a show about God on The National Geographic Channel. Now I’m not giving up on God but I will never watch The NGC ever again.

[burbman]

Can I ask a really silly question here?
Why were any of you paying gems to play the arena, when the only prize is gems…AND…that prize is pretty small in comparison to the cost? I have managed to win several weeks in the arena by only using the free play opportunities. Spending without benefit makes no sense to me. At least if I pay 60 gems for an extra three birds on a tough level, I get the reward of moving past it and on to new content.

[RizDub]

It’s a shame that Angry Birds 2 seems to have generated the most controversy out of all the Angry Birds titles.

I don’t particularly mind the CGI movie models for the characters. Yeah, they can make you jump the first time you see them, but I’ve gotten used to them. I’m really excited for the movie (no joke, I’ve actually had a few disappointing dreams where it turned out to be a bad movie!).

@bankler has said that they have not purposefully changed any of the physics, and any differences are due to AB2 being created with a different game engine. I don’t remember where, but I believe he said that some of the changes (pigs being inexplicably stronger, birds interacting oddly with structures) happened automatically (and probably accidentally) when they updated the game engine from Unity 4 to Unity 5. I haven’t noticed any major changes in physics or character strengths/weaknesses myself; to me, everything acts about the same as it does in other games.

When I first downloaded the game, the lives were the biggest thing I didn’t like. And since I don’t ever use the “last chance” option, and very rarely use spells, I only spent gems on extra lives. I enjoyed the choose-your-own-lineup feature, and the semi-randomness of the levels was something I could ultimately live with (there are some constraints on the towers so that they will always retain certain characteristics between playthroughs). The 2.4.0 update changed everything for me, when the scoring system was changed so that higher-upgraded birds give higher scores. The way this is integrated with the levels’ 3-star thresholds makes it no challenge to 3-star anything once you get far enough. In fact, if the scoring system was implemented more properly, many (if not most or all) recent Nest walkthrough videos shouldn’t actually be 3 stars!

The absurdly high number of levels can be a detractor, but not nearly as much of one for me as the new scoring system (Angry Birds Pop also has a giant number of levels, but it remains one of my favorite AB games). Some Nesters, including me, have given the opinion that the new scoring system works better in the Arena than in single-player mode, and that it should only be implemented there. The change in the scoring system has actually led me to my first boycott in the history of Angry Birds. I finished the chapter I was on and then stopped.

If the scoring system is implemented better or reverted to the original version, then I will once again enjoy Angry Birds 2. Until then, I’m not deleting it, but I’m not playing it either.