About the Angry Birds 2 Arena

[hooksfan]

@bankler @sutekh137 @dwhite40704 I had an opponent today just before I headed to the gun range. He ended up bringing four spell cards to the battle. After I threw my last card I had a 500,000 point lead over him only to see him get three consecutive Mighty Eagles and the “gimme” card I was given was “the blues” going up against a wood structure. Yeah, I lost by over 600,000. I wish they would get rid of the spell cards altogether in the Arena.

[Sutekh137]

@hooksfan

@bankler

hook, I have seen some weird stuff there at the end, too. A bunch of cards, destructo-meter filled with each bird, and a huge shift in score.

But I’ve never seen that done with spells. Looking at the math of your scenario, you are saying you went from 500K up to 600K down. That means spell cards accounted for a 1.1 million point swing. That’s hard to fathom. When I played spell cards previously, I never even got close to 200K per spell (even with Mighty Eagle — more like 100K). Yet you are saying three Eagles swung over a million points, meaning each had to do almost 400K in score (that’s a lot even for a bonus’d bird).

Are you sure there weren’t other cards in there? Like I said, I’ve seen some fishy things in that last display an opponent puts on, and I think at least one of those cards is their “extra” card. That’s why I don’t think extra cards should count when someone plays that person as a computer opponent. Leave the “extra” cards out of that — otherwise we’re just inflating scores for no reason.

I hear you, though. It would be MUCH cleaner to just do away with spell cards altogether in the Arena — treat it like a boss level (they have the programming for it). Here’s the thing, though: Rovio makes money off spells and people buying into them. So, good luck with trying to convince Bankler to tell his company to get rid of them in the Arena. The Arena is what brings people back every day (i.e. it’s a revenue stream).

Thanks,
sutekh137

[hooksfan]

@sutekh137 you are correct. I went from being 500,000 up to 600,000 down all from the three spell cards. I’ve never got that amount of damage from the Mighty Eagle. If Rovio thinks I’m going to spend money on buying spells good luck with that. I’ll delete the game before I buy into spending money on spells.

[MVNLA2]

@bankler @clovos — I did get a spell in the arena today in the middle of the rooms, when I had plenty of bird cards available. I had used a spell card, but not an ME, and I got an ME. Fortunately I was way ahead at the time, and the ME did allow me to clear that level, but of course I didn’t get many points.

[Newtdog]

I’ve finally clawed my way into diamond league and the arena is down-for me at least.

[ger_ych]

The Arena update has a new bug in the medal tally. I noticed it when trying to gain entry to the Arena after the tournament ended to check if my gems were properly credited last week. I couldn’t access the arena in the few minutes though I got as far as the #2 sign with the spinning gears before being booted out/connection error screen. But upon access, I was suprised to see 10+ additional medals. Now I tried the same thing again after the tournament ended, and got another additional 10+ medals again…

[Proteus]

Some weird things happens to me in Arena today. Before i launched my last bird, i was leading up to 200,000 points against my opponents. After i launched my final bird. I’m sure i’m gonna won the match by 300,000 points difference and my opponents don’t have any birds. But after the battle ended, i’m lost to my opponents. Is there a glitch or something ?

[Gary S McD]

@sutekh137
This most recent update of the arena seems to have introduced two ‘bugs’ for me

The first one that I noticed was an opponent who started with +8 cards on their card-meter (for a total of 11 cards starting). I double checked my card count and it was the normal +4 (for 7 cards)

The second is that on their last moves I have seen an opponent gain extra cards in a single turn (like they hit a golden pig) repeatedly until they have gone from well behind me to half a million ahead of me. It looks like this was introduced with the whole ‘get an extra card for watching a video’ thing when you are behind on points, but when they get three in a row it is kinda disheartening.

Gary

[Sutekh137]

@garysmcdermott

Gary,

People can still start with up to five spell cards, so starting with +8 is totally possible.

I have seen the same thing happen at the end of battles, though. It is as if when someone gets that extra card, the destructo-meter fills as if it is the first bird being flung. Goes up like crazy and the opponent gets another bird. Preety frustrating to watch the opponent score ratchet up and lose the battle.

Thanks,
sutekh137

[Gary S McD]

Thanks Sutekh, that makes a lot of sense on the extra cards. Another oddity that I just noticed is that after winning my second silver medal, the chart reads 22 instead of 2…

[Rovio_Bankler]

@garysmcdermott Yes, there is a bug that can sometimes give you additional medals. It’s really unfortunate. Hopefully it will be fixed in the next update (no promises at this point, but I have been pushing for it).

@mvnla2 This happened in the Arena? That is indeed very weird, and means I need to look into it again. Glad you got a Mighty Eagle instead of a Blizzard though. Have this happened to anyone else (in the Arena) after the latest update?

@sutekh137 Thank you for your understanding. It’s not always easy to guard over the interests of our core gamers, when the masses of more casual players’ behaviour have more impact on things that are easier to track. I’m always doing what I can though. So I’m grateful that you don’t kill the messenger. :)

[AndalayBay]

@bankler, I’m still getting spell cards in the Arena.

[MVNLA2]

@bankler — Yes, I got a spell card (the ME) in one of the middle rooms in the arena, when I had plenty of birds left, and had not used a ME spell. I think I did use another spell, maybe before I got the ME. Has only happened once so far.
Bankler — I know I’m sometimes a little hard on anyone from Rovio, but I hope you have a tough skin. I do appreciate the fact that you are really listening, and do try to do something about the problems we report. Thanks!

@andalaybay — Did you get the spell card in the arena when you had other birds left? Had you used the same spell earlier? Did you choose to use any spells, and if so, had you already used them. How many times did it happen?

[CDRGuy]

Today, I got something new…someone with -2 million points.

Of course I won (although, I was wondering if AB2 would have an unsigned vs. signed integer issue). However, since my winning ratio was negative, I earned exactly 0 stars for the attempt. And there went my free arena entry.

Watching his score, it looked like he had a way to make his score negative, as it would go very negative, then inch up as birds were flung.

[AndalayBay]

@mvnla2, I never use spells. I know for sure I got a spell card as the extra card after watching a video to improve my score. I think I got one when I had other birds, but I can’t say for sure.

[Aeshna]

Just received a spell card in the arena after watching video.

Managed to pull ahead during the game, then in final round, opponent received two cards and ‘bam’ I’m behind. Watched the video for a free (bird!) card and received ‘pig inflator’ spell card.

I had not used any spell cards during the game.

[Rovio_Bankler]

That’s correct, I forgot to mention. My bad. You can indeed still get a spell from watching a video. That’s fixed now and will be in for the next update. Please update if you’d see a spell back from the normal destructometer extra card (which is not supposed to happen unless it’s the edge case where you already have all seven birds in your deck/hand, i.e two cards back in one throw, from destructometer + golden pig).

[Djangosmum]

Twice today in arena battles, my opponents had 5 or 6 extra cards at the end ( hard to keep count of the exact number as the destructometer just kept filling time and time again with extra cards appearing each time).

They appeared to have the usual +4 ie.total 7 cards to start and no spells.

Why does this happen? No matter how strong a lead you may have at the end it is wiped out by the opponent having so many extra throws. This has been remarked on elsewhere on the forum but no explanation given. Playing the arena is no fun under the circumstances.

[Sutekh137]

@bankler

Thanks for getting the spell-card-after-video issue resolved!

I was under the impression the Golden Pig is no longer in Arena play since the last update — I have not seen a single one in the Arena since the last update. If the Golden Pig _is_ still in play, it should be removed. Rovio has removed the teleport pig and floater pig as far as I can tell, and the randomness of the Golden Pig also has no place in the Arena. Can we get it removed (if it isn’t already)?

And it would be nice if you could address what @djangosmum mentions above. Something is fishy with the extra card(s) opponents get at the end. I regularly see the opponent get an extra card (after I am done), and regardless of where their destructo-meter is, that one bird fills it again and they get another card. As I mentioned elsewhere, it is as if the extra bird is being thrown as the first bird where the destructo-meter is much easier to fill. Several rooms in, the destructo-meter should not be so easy to fill.

Thanks,
sutekh137

[Rovio_Bankler]

@sutekh137 Good point, there are no golden pigs in the arena, so the theory about getting spells in the arena that way would indeed not work.

Regarding the other issue, we are on it. There are some problems with some recorded runs behaving weird. Sorry for this.

[Sutekh137]

@bankler

Thank you for your diligence!

Thanks,
sutekh137

[MVNLA2]

@bankler — I continue to get spell cards in the early rooms of the arena, and they haven’t always been ME. Is there something that prevents you from having 2 identical birds in your hand? I will start keeping closer track, but if you start with 1 spell, and toss that first, perhaps you get a second spell, not a bird?

[Anonymous]

@mvnla2 I believe I saw an earlier comment by Bankler that there is in fact a system that prevents dupe birds. Other than that I’ve never had two of anything in my deck before. Except for when that 20 card exploit was around.

[Rovio_Bankler]

That is correct. It’s the intended behavior. There can never be two cards of the same kind. So if you have only used spells when you get your extra card, you can only get spells back.

[MVNLA2]

@bankler — I now have 79 restarts of level 9 where I played both rooms. My overall probability for getting a gift in level 9 is 5%. I did finally get a blue gift in the second room. I had a run of 47 restarts with no gift in either room. The probability of that happening is extremely small <10^(-34), even if the overall probability is as low as 5%.