Water Level in Arena — always win

[Sutekh137]

@bankler

Not sure if this is a bug or what, but I can say that for the past three weeks or so (longer? Whenever Pig Bay first came out…) I have never lost an Arena battle when it is played on a water-based level. Not once.

At first I thought I was just lucky, as these levels were new with no walk-throughs. I played the campaign levels and learned a bit about the water dynamics, but that doesn’t really matter — you can play through and get Strikes without even using any water heroics.

I thought that after a couple weeks everyone would be used to these new Arena levels, but I still win. Every time. If I see I am getting a water level, it’s just a matter of getting all the stars I can, because I always win. Yesterday I even had a 9-star and a 10-star win on water.

So, something is fishy (pardon the water pun!) about some Arena levels. There shouldn’t be certain levels that are always winnable — I am simply not that good. On the water levels it seems like the opponents birds go by really, really fast with very low scores. The opponent is down to two birds while I still have five.

Is there something up with these new levels that are either throwing the matching algorithm off or giving certain players an unfair advantage?

Anyone else win these levels every time? If so, then it is odd that I always face such low-scoring opponents!

Thanks,
sutekh137

Topic

[kedik22]

@sutekh137

Hi.
First time I hear about campaign levels, in this case water.
What are they, and probably more important, where are they?
Thank you and regards.

[Sutekh137]

@kedik22

I believe Pig Bay starts around level 400, I think? They are the levels that came with the latest update of AB2.

They aren’t that difficult, except for the Boss levels. All of those involve knocking the Boss into the water and then needing to pop him out and of the screen. They are very same-y and annoying.

Water doesn’t play a huge part, otherwise, except that once in a while you need to do a dive in order to get enough flight time to reach far-away structures.

Thanks,
sutekh137

[Rowdypup]

@sutekh137 it’s probably that your opponents are not used to the water physics and “panic” whenever they see an Arena flooded, knowing that they will probably not do very well- I know how you feel, because I win (95% of the time) on Snotting Hill-themed Arenas because I have “mastered” the “ways” of the slime

[cognitive]

I feel the water heroics are nowhere as ‘fluid’ (ta-dah) as in other Angry Bird games where it was introduced. I did really well on the other game (regular AB? can’t remember) but here it’s a challenge to even get the bird to go anywhere underwater.

I wonder if the physics engine has anything to do with it – I tried playing regular AB and the physics was nowhere near what I remember it was, and likewise, nowhere near AB2.

It also feels that as time goes on, the birds are getting ‘weaker’ overall and are unable to cover long distances to the level they used to in the past.

[Proteus]

I don’t think the match which takes places in water-baeed will guarantee the player to win the battle. I have experienced losing the match when the arena takes place in the water. But, it only happens once for me since Pig Bay was released 3 weeks ago. So far, i loved playing arena when it takes place in the water.

[kedik22]

@sutekh137

Hi, thanks.
Got confused, thought it was some sort of practice round.
My bad…
Kind regards.

[Rovio_Bankler]

@sutekh137
It’d be possible, but not likely, that a bug causes opponents’ score to be low. I don’t think that’s the case though. There are no different score handling in these levels. I think people are just not that used to the water, hence you win.

Regarding physics, they are completely new in AB2. AB2 is made in another engine than the older AB slingshot games. The physics are based on the same tech, but they are not the same. In some areas we tried to mimic the original, but in some (including the water), we implemented things in different ways.

[Sutekh137]

@rowdypup

@bankler

Maybe, but it still seems fishy. I’ll admit, I only won a water level this morning but 100,000 points, resulting in only a five-star win.

The reason I think it is buggy is because of the way the opponent’s cards report. The opponent always seems to be down to 2-3 cards while I still have 4-5. This does not happen on other levels. Additionally, I cannot recall ever seeing my opponent do the classic three-cards-in-a-row-at-the-end-with-Destructometer-maxing-out-every-time scenario.

This why it seems buggy to me. But if not, then not. I’ll take the winds, for sure. Maybe I’m a little better than I think (I do so hate some of the green slime rooms!).

Thanks,
sutekh137

[bigbadaboom]

@sutekh137 My experience is exactly the same. Not sure whether its a bug or if Rovio intentionally cut us some slack after all the extra-cards-on-the-end fights.

[Sutekh137]

@bigbadaboom

Since starting this thread, I’ve lost twice in the water. *smile*

One loss was me just playing terribly, and the other was my opponent getting a really good score. So, losses are definitely extant.

Thanks,
sutekh137

[bigbadaboom]

So I looked at the water level more carefully and what happens is that the opponent’s destruction bar moves super slowly. If my opponent starts with 7 cards that’s what he’s got, no extras. This also means that opponents on water levels aren’t actual player replays (though they are possibly modified ones).

[Sutekh137]

@bigbadaboom

Excellent analysis! Yes, I suppose it stands to reason that since those levels were new, opponents were hard to come by (or modified from other environments). Perhaps I started losing because enough folks finally started playing the level to create a critical mass of available match-ups.

I assume a similar thing will happen with the new Gravity Grove-based Arena levels, and I do think I won a couple of those before quitting the game.

Thanks,
sutekh137

[bigbadaboom]

You’re spot on, the gravity level in arena behaves the same way the water levels do.