Unreasonable scores in arena

[ExWizkid]

So, the PVP arena is officially out. I played it and did well my first time. In the “solo arena” before, I generally had no issues getting into the top 3 with a small margin separating me from #1. I’m not the best at this game, but am reasonably good.

So I load up on another round of PVP. The first round I clear with a single bird and destroy all but one piece of wood. However my opponent more than DOUBLES my score?!? Second stage is up, I again clear all but 2-3 items on the board with a single bird… He nearly doubles me again. He’s well over 1,000,000 points in two turns.

Am I missing something? Do I misunderstand something in the game that is causing me to leave massive points behind… Or is he cheating?

Topic

[AMslimfordy]

@drpertree Yeah the way the scoring works is a little weird. But usually you have a couple “extra” birds vs. your opponent? Or when you fling your first bird, the game tallies your opponent’s first two? I’m not sure. But when it comes to the end of the battle, all is fair. I usually win unless I have to spend 3 birds on a single room.

[tinostar11]

It has to be that they on their 2nd shot when you start.
Why It’s even hard to believe that , I went against someone who used the Ice Spell 1st and scored over 200,000. That’s Impossible to do with just an Ice Spell.

[dlad]

i have had something like that too… I just shot my 1st bird in round 1 and then boom opponents score was 9,999,999….

how is that possible… i forgot to take screen shot…

[ExWizkid]

What I’m trying to say is this – regardless of “what bird” it was on – the guy scored over 500,000 points in a single stage. Then scored over 400,000 in the following stage. I cleared both stages with 1 bird and had a grand total of 430,000 points.. he had nearly 1,000,000. He beat me by nearly a million points when it was all said and done. I had one single extra bird that it should not have taken me to beat the levels. I can’t figure out an explanation.

[Clovos_RovioSweden]

Hey there!

I’m the programmer who made the behaviour of the opponent card drawing. Currently the opponent tries to draw cards to make the end as exciting as possible. This means if the opponent got more cards than you in the start then he will draw more than one card when you draw you first. In my opinion this is better than the enemy having more cards than you in the end. I’ve tried both and this felt like the best choice. However, the bird back function can change the behaviour quite a lot for better and worse.
Now this might get changed in later updates based on feedback from you guys. So if you got any good feedback how you would like to see it work then feel free to reply :-) I’m gonna try to be as active as possible here on the forums.
Happy new year!

Clovos

[MVNLA2]

@clovos — Just noticed that you’ve replied to several threads. Thanks for the interest.
Some more questions:
* Sounds like the opponents are computer generated, not real people?
* Why would the opponent get more cards than you in the start?
* What do you mean by the “bird back function?”
* What determines the number of spells the opponents have? Seem like a lot of them are always using 5.

[ExWizkid]

So my opponent can get more birds than me? I’m confused…

What I’m trying to figure out is – I had a good round (cleared all but one stage with a single bird) yet was beaten by over a million points. I can’t figure out how exactly that happened. I mean, I didn’t clear every single piece of wood/stone/ice but I wasn’t leaving much on each stage.

Also – at least in my opinion – i’d like to see how each bird i use is stacking up against my opponent on the same turn. So.. their score after bird #1 = my score after bird #1.. same for 2, 3, 4, etc.

I’m also not familiar with “bird back” function and am not sure what it means in actual gameplay.

“This means if the opponent got more cards than you in the start then he will draw more than one card when you draw you first. In my opinion this is better than the enemy having more cards than you in the end. I’ve tried both and this felt like the best choice. ”

When you said the quote above – several questions popped into my head. One – do we get the same number of birds? If not, how is it ever fair? Two – If we get the same number of birds, I’m not sure how it matters if the enemy has more cards first/last? Three – are we playing people or computer generated opponents? If it’s computer generated, how are their scores calculated?

[Clovos_RovioSweden]

Hey again!
I will try to clearify as much as possible for you guys :)
The opponent are not computer generated. You are fighting real recorded opponent data and its imporant to know that we have not changed anything in this data. So the reson why the opponent can have more cards than you is because they might have selected more spells than you or they manage to fill the destructo meter faster then you. That way they trigger a bird back function. This means that you get a card back to your hand.
When it comes to number of spells the opponent have its just as many as they sele ted during their run. So if you are unlucky you might fight an opponent with all spells. In the higher leagues people prefer using more spells to get that little extra boost. Thats what I do myself. However, the spells does not have a score multipier like the birds do. So they are not as effective in later levels.

Got more questions just reply and I will answer as fast as I can during my holiday:-)
PS I’m writing from my phone so if my gramma is lacking I blame the swedish auto corrector.

[Daveotd]

No way I believe anybody gets triple a clean board score. There’s enough gobbledygook in your response to make it totally unbelievable. Make up a better answer please.

[MVNLA2]

Please post additional comments to Rovio here:

New Arena: problems and suggestions for fixing

[Clovos_RovioSweden]

I don’t know how to make it more simplyfied than that. This is facts. If you choice to believe it or not is up to you.
The only other factor that I could think of is if we somehow got a bug in our recording data. If so then we will fix it as soon as we recognize it :-)

Clovos

[dmsral]

The recorded data for the opponent is interesting, I hadn’t considered that. I did realize the opponent score was definitely not a real-time shot-for-shot playout, and even if the opponent got out to a quick lead, they could usually be passed after they ran out of cards.

I don’t really have a problem with the play, but I don’t a week-long tournament for a small prize (if any). Shorten them to a day or two or bump up the gem awards significantly.

[Daveotd]

A bug? Aren’t you listening to the players? Solve the problem or get rid of PVP It is simply unfair.

I have chosen to cut short the game once it is impossible to win. Playing very well and being down 6-800000 points? Not possible in a fair exchange?

[MVNLA2]

@daveotd — Please continue discussion in thread on Conversation with Rovio. I agree that the AB2 arena is unfair. Please post your suggestions for how to improve it in the other thread.

[Daveotd]

Just,finally, won an arena game, but it’s still screwy because my opponent started making horrible scores. As little as 50k polnts in places, as opposed to the usual 600k starting scores.

Would still much rather have the old single-player game, than the new one.

Also, having to play so much is making the games stale. Need more variety in the rooms.

Keep working on it and we’ll see where we get in a week or two.

[diegospc]

I think the problem is random levels, should match us with recordings that have the same levels. For example, I see that I get a level with 3 woods and 1 pig and I can only make 50k and my opponent makes 400k because his level have more wood and pigs.

[wrw01]

@clovos
In the arena today the number 1 score is 102206 for silver bird #2089 with second place at 317-Dan. Seems like there is something wrong here. We are at level 8.

[Clovos_RovioSweden]

@diegospc
No, your opponent is fighting the same room sequence as you are. However, the opponent can throw more cards in the start if he has more cards in hes deck than yours. Please read more about this on my post on the arena discussion thread.

@wrw01
We´re looking into this. If you could post a picture of your league that would be wonderful!

[wrw01]

@clovos
Thanks for the response.

The pic is in my ABN album titled AB2 Arena Score. Should be the last pic in the album.

Just click on my name with the @ sign and then go the Album.

I do not know how to load it into this forum. If you do please inform how it is accomplished and I will do it.

[Clovos_RovioSweden]

@wrw01
Thank you! We are looking into this as we speak. And I’m sorry that you have to experience this.

[wrw01]

@clovos
Please look at my album in about 5 minutes, it is getting to the point of the unreal for a top score…thought you were looking into it 13 hours ago
#1 = 1,457,849,548…really!!! Is any one Really looking into this?

[MVNLA2]

@wrw01 — Did you send a support request directly to Rovio support? Don’t know that it will help, but can’t hurt. I imagine Rovio can’t fix the problem instantly. But I hope they have a way of deleting obvious cheaters.
cc: @Clovos @bankler

[wrw01]

@mvnla2
Done

[Clovos_RovioSweden]

@wrw01
We are trying to fix a permanent long-term solution to remove all arena cheaters. It’s not an easy task, but we are trying our best to do so as fast as possible.
Like @mvnla2 said, it does not hurt to send a support request and see if our support team can fix this the short-term in your case. Once again, I’m sorry about the inconvenience.

[wrw01]

@clovos
Thank you for the update. I guess I sounded a bit frustrated and “short”. Sorry about that. Cheaters just get to me, it is only a video game to play for fun. Yes I did file a request for support on the Rovio site previously.
Thanks again, now go get this “rat” and exterminate him/her.