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[Anonymous]

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Topic

[Dwhite]

I like where you are going with this. I’m sick and tired of drawing opponents with 5 spell cards. They are low rank but unbeatable.

[MVNLA2]

@partshade — There would need to be a time-limit on matches, otherwise your opponent could keep you from playing indefinitely either through carelessness or meanness. Also, you really need to be able to play the second game for watching an ad right away. Otherwise you have to keep coming back to see if your opponent is done.

[Anonymous]

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[kedik22]

@partshade

@mvnla2

Hi.
I concur with @dwhite40704, like where this is going.

What I like the most is the “free to play” concept.
And in order to have fun and to practice you could also choose your type of opponent: how many stars, spells and bird levels. And yes, with prerecorded blind scores!
Just like the practice rounds in FB Friends!
Maybe the saying “no pain no gain” could apply here.
Kind regards.

[ABeggerToo]

There is something strange in the Arena of late. Last week I finished third in my Diamond League G-15 with just 203 stars. So far this week I am leading with just 54 stars. Nine of the 15 in my group have zero stars so far this week.

Despite having no spells, my last 8 matches have been against the same four 5-spell opponents. 1 win, 1 loss by 17,000, and 6 big losses. In the past, I only seemed to face spell users when I had at least 1 spell to use as well. Trying to score 7 million+ without spells to use is just getting dull.

My opponents in the Arena seem to be loosing interest as Well. Something needs to happen to give us a reason to play the Arena more often.

[Rovio_Bankler]

@partshade I appreciate and encourage the efforts in thinking out ideas that could be improvements for the game. That’s really cool.

However, may I humbly suggest that you change the topic name? The topic may suggest that the opponents you meet in the arena are fake (i.e not real players), which is not true. This is problematic since there have been some false rumors lately about the arena being rigged with fake entries. After reading your full post, I understand that this isn’t really what you mean to bring up either.

“Synchronous arena competition ideas” or something in those lines could be a more describing topic name?

I’m sorry for nit-picking about this, playing forum cop. :) I just think it’s important that players don’t think we are tricking them. The game may have many problems, but fake entries is not one of them.

Again, thanks for your efforts in helping out with fun ideas for improvements.

[kedik22]

@partshade

Hi.

@bankler I am sorry to disagree.
If they are not fake, then they are hacks.
And I know Rovio knows that.
At least in my league there are two: Anatolli and Hâl, and I have also played against them.
If I am wrong, have Rovio prove me so.
Therefore, a question that requires a straightforward answer:
Why hasn´t Rovio´s efforts being directed at successfully eliminating hacks in the arena?

And while we are on this subject,
Why is unfairness (money being one ailment) the biggest symptom of the arena´s sickness?

@bankler, I believe these forum participants would appreciate candid answers to these questions from Rovio. So, do you think you can accomplish that?

Kind regards.

[Anonymous]

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[Rovio_Bankler]

@kedik22
“Why hasn´t Rovio´s efforts being directed at successfully eliminating hacks in the arena?”

I’ll try to give some insight. It might not make you happier, but at least provide some transparency.

The team has a limited amount of programmers that can be put on this task. Eliminating hacks is a long process with several steps being taken trying to cover all possible cheats, and it makes sense to start with the lowest hanging fruit. There have been some improvements, for instance you will not have people in your league with thousands of stars anymore, and this particular cheat, I think stood for some 80% of the hacks.

The game cannot be updated as soon as we have a solution for a problem. There is long submission process we’re going through every time we’re updating the game. This is unfortunately the nature of iOS development. The time it takes from something being fixed, to when it gets into your hand, is several weeks.

“Fixing the problems needs to be top priority rather than releasing 20 levels every few weeks.”

The release of new levels have very little impact on the pace at which we can solve these problems. Our level designers are not the ones who’d be put on the task of eliminating cheats.

For the next update, there will be some more steps taken towards eliminating cheats. It’s not going to be 100%, but it will be better. Also, the problem with weird extra cards in the end of an arena run should have been fixed (this particular problem is a bug, it’s not cheating players, nor rigged entries).

[wrw01]

@kedik22
“If they are not fake, then they are hacks.
And I know Rovio knows that.
At least in my league there are two: Anatolli and Hâl, and I have also played against them.
If I am wrong, have Rovio prove me so.”

I agree with you on your statement. There folks plus a few others are fixtures in the Diamond League I am in also. I am unable to place in the top 5 spots because of their high level of stars obtained each week. If they are honest players great but I have my doubts, but it is not based on facts.

Hal=2 bronze, 6 silver, 20 gold and scores close or over 1,000 stars in each tournament
Anatolii=2 bronze, 1 silver and 5 gold, I have seen him score 400-500 stars with two days remaining in a tournament (his name appears to have two “i” at the end)
Meester=21 bronze, 2 silver and 2 gold
Dan=8 bronze, 3 silver and 7 gold, I watch him in the top 3 in a tournament and when it was over his metal count did not change, interesting situation
Ahopen (letters he/she used are not on my keyboard=the third letter is like an “O” with two legs and the “n” is backward with a line above) is listed in the Amethyst League but is playing in the Diamond League. I do not understand why. I took a screen shot for reference on the spelling.

Overall I feel that the Arena has greatly improved but still think there are a number of other hacks who are masked by their low scores each week. On the other hand, I do not spent any money for gems for the Arena (because of the hacks) so others maybe spending their cash to purchase gems to play more and obtain the high star counts each week.

@bankler
please reassure us the folks in the Diamond League are honest players

[Rovio_Bankler]

@wrw01 “please reassure us the folks in the Diamond League are honest players”

I wish I could. But unfortunately, on the contrary, we know that hacking is happening. I bet most of the players you’re playing against are honest, but there are hackers as well. It’s sad, but it would just be silly of us to deny. Obviously we are constantly working on better ways to fight the cheaters. Unfortunately, the combination of new cheats coming up, limited programmer resources and the time it takes from a fix is implemented until it reaches the appstore, makes this process so much slower than any of us would like.

Regarding your other questions, some have been explained earlier, but anyway:
* Medals have been bugged. You could get extra medals when finishing the arena. Lots of honest Nest players have experienced this. Hence, you can’t tell from the number of medals if someone is a hacker.

* You might in some cases get people from other leagues in your tournament. It’s explained in more detail in this post: https://www.angrybirdsnest.com/forums/topic/about-the-angry-birds-under-pigstruction-arena/page/13/#post-137214

[wrw01]

@bankler
Thanks for the update.
Most of the time I come “late to the party” so the links will help to bring me up to speed.

[Aeshna]

@bankler – I see Partshade amended the title of this post. Maybe Rovio could change the wording on ‘improve your score with a free bird.’

This bird is not free as players have to watch a video to receive it. I’ve paid for it with my time. Pedantic, maybe.

Just watched one video, to receive a pig inflater! Great stuff, when there’s only one pig left; only a blizzard could have been a worse deal out of the 12 possibles I could have ended up with.

[ABeggerToo]

@bankler my concern is less about hacks and more about the matches in the Arena. Is there a specific rationale used in the selection of opponents?

It seems in the past I would usually be matched against players at similar levels and using only 1 or 2 spells when I had none. Maybe this wS just ‘random chance?’

Continued participation is disheartening when matched twice in a row against the same game for a player ranked two levels higher and using 5 spells.

Arena loser.pg

Despite a winning record of probably 25% this week in the Arena (I am usually in the 66%-75% range), I am still ranked #1 in my group with a measly 95 stars. Either everyone else in my group is struggling this week, or their interest in actively participating is gone. Either way, it doesn’t speak strongly for the ongoing commitment of players to the Arena – revenue generators or otherwise.

[peter-barlow]

How about this – when no one has any cards left the battle is over! Get rid of the stupid extra cards at the end. Problem solved!

[Anonymous]

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[kedik22]

@bankler

First of all, thank you for responding.
Please believe most of us have great respect for you.

So, I understand time issues, technical variabilities, programming stuff and so on.
What I do not understand is Rovio´s attitude.
Please convey to them that the devil is in the details, and in this particular case these details are huge.
For instance, I discovered a participant (I will not call him a player or gamer) in my diamond league named Carl, rated 44 with 6 medals.
He has 1, yes ONE star in the tournament!!!
How is that possible???
He is definitely taunting us and you guys.

And a question (related to the comment below): just how many players are in all diamond leagues?

@wrw01

Hi.
These guys Hâl, Anatolli, Dan and Meester are almost always and three of them are currently in my tournament.
I am an ok player, play very often, do not spend gems for extra entries and have never beaten them.
Hâl has 811 and Anatolli 650 more stars than me.
Like I asked above, how many diamond players do you think there are?
Hey, maybe we are in the same tournament and don´t know it!
Anyway…
Regards.

[wrw01]

@kedik22
I play under “waters runs wide” all one word. Maybe we are in the same Arena. What is your name. I would guess kedik22 because you beat a few of my scores in the regular levels. I have only posted the first 60 levels in the ABN leaderboards.

Now if we are not in the same arena, that means the players we both mentioned can play in different arenas at the same time and take the top positions.

@bankler
Is it possible for the same player to be listed and play in two different arenas?

[wrw01]

@kedik22
Just played in the arena.
Hal now has 1236
Anatolii now has 1004
Third place is at 396

You posted your scores about an hour ago…wow!

Same arena game?
If so how did they get those scores in one hour?
If not, how do they play in two different arenas?
These folks are always in my arena and they always win.
That is fine if they are doing it honestly.

@bankler
Any advice?

[Rovio_Bankler]

@wrw01 “Is it possible for the same player to be listed and play in two different arenas?”

Yes. You’re matched up against 14 other players, creating your own list. These people might or might not have you on their list. You might be in any number of other people’s lists.

[wrw01]

@bankler
Thanks for the update, I did not know that.
Does the player have the same score in different arena games?
If so, how did Hal increase for 811 to 1236 in one hour and 16 minutes?

[Rovio_Bankler]

@peter-barlow “How about this – when no one has any cards left the battle is over! ”
In the near future, we’ll stop recording your opponent’s extra cards they got from watching a video. People will still be able to use videos for extra cards, but these birds (or the extra score they’d generate) won’t be put into their recorded run, hence not visible to you.

@abeggertoo “Is there a specific rationale used in the selection of opponents?”
For your matches, we try to match you against an opponent that has bird levels similar to yours or just a little above yourself. Spells are not taken into account at all (if you or your opponent bring spells into the game, they are just added “on top”).

@kedik22 “He has 1, yes ONE star in the tournament!!! How is that possible???”
He cheated, and got caught by our cheat detection. Changing his star count to exactly one star was my idea of humor, and also to provide some visibility that we are actually doing something about these people.

[Rovio_Bankler]

@wrw01
“Does the player have the same score in different arena games?”
Yes.

“If so, how did Hal increase [from] 811 to 1236 in one hour and 16 minutes?”
That’d mean he played around 43 runs, getting 10 stars each time (which I guess is possible if he’s really good and/or use some spells), during that timeframe. That’s around 1.76 minutes for each game. I just tried myself and it took on average around 1.83 minutes for me to finish an arena round (I did not win though). I can’t tell for sure if he cheated, but yes, that sounds very fast.

[wrw01]

@bankler
Thanks for the info and data.
Sorry I was off om my time, it was one hour between our posts above where we had mentioned Hal’s two scores. So now this looks very unusual.
Thanks again for assisting all of use end users. It is greatly appreciated.

[kedik22]

@bankler

Hi again, and thanks. Am in a hurry.
One star: Great humor, love it!!!
I don´t understand playing in two different arenas.
So a player gets a chance to win maybe more than two medals every week?
Does the player know he is in different tournaments?
This is very weird, have to think about it.
Nothing slightly similar have I experienced.

And different scores in different tournaments??? Yes, that is a fact with Hâl and Anatolli, just checked @wrw01 posted scores with those in my tournament.

Have to go, will be back to check up on this issue.

@wrw01
Hi.
You are on my list, but it appears you are competing in another tournament.
I go by Jan and am currently in third place with 341 stars.
You are currently seventh with 127 stars on my list.
Hope they match us up next time, will keep an eye out for Waters.
BTW you are good, now I realise you have beaten me many times!!!