Why 'last chance' is not good for SW2 leader boards

[waimea]

I will be the first to admit fierce competitiveness when flinging Angry Birds. And my favorite game of all time has been Star Wars 2. Although PC gets their updates often months after other devices, we DO have the advantage of gaining coins each time we star a level. So I have been pleased we have had plenty of coins to buy just about all the characters we need (IF you fling like a maniac daily to get those coins). And I jumped right on the ‘last chance’ bandwagon. I now sit at #3 overall.

But the joy has gone from SW2 because I know I am only competing against a handful of players who have the coins or money to buy coins to have unlimited characters. So my placement means little. I remember a few updates back when I was #3 over all and it meant something. Now it doesn’t, and I miss trying new strategies and using different birds to get different results and new top scores.

An interesting maneuver was discovered that can max out almost any level at 250,000 points, as levels B-1 thru B-10 were all maxed out (which has now been sorted, thankfully). Very clever, but is this what we want for the leader boards? I have found that if I want SW2 to be enjoyable for me again, and for me to feel competitive, I need to delete all my ’last chance’ scores and refling those levels from scratch again. This is a personal decision, and I have nothing against my fellow last chancers, it IS a skill, and it’s up to them to continue or not. But I would rather be competing against 500 players than just a handful. Now at least my scores will have more meaning for me, and the game will once again become fun.

Topic

[AMslimfordy]

I want you to know that we are heavily monitoring these strategies. But our hand is forced to a pretty strong degree. We are always open to suggestions from the community, but SW2 doesn’t leave us with a whole lot of room.

[waimea]

@amslimfordy…I understand that, and I know the horse escaped the barn long ago. I admit, it was fun (if intense) trying to blow every little thing up! But my favorite game became my least favorite game as scores using only the amount of birds provided (you notice I didn’t say anything about NOT swapping birds :D) were not competitive anymore. Sorry, maybe I used this for my own personal forum, and I really have no problem with those who want to use this strategy, but if I am not enjoying the game by using it, then I must change MY game, and start having fun again.

[Uncle B]

KUDOS @waimea !!!

Like you I enjoy the ability to use character swaps in Star Wars 2 as I believe that adds depth to the game in being able to experiment with the differing capabilities of the various characters. And I agree with you that adding the “Second Chance” feature was an unnecessary “enhancement” to the game that I wish Rovio had never done as it has now diminished the integrity and value of scores obtained without using it.

I for one have never used the “Second Chance” feature nor do I plan to do so in the future ~ a personal form of protest I suppose. So I commend you @waimea for starting this thread and hope there will be more comments posted by other ABN members to continue the discussion. Perhaps your initiative will start a movement of ABN members willing to pledge to not use the SW2 “Second Chance” feature and if they had, as you did to go back and delete any scores obtained using it and re-enter unadulterated scores for those levels.

!!! KUDOS @waimea KUDOS !!!

[waimea]

Thank you so very much for your support @uncle-b. After the first blast of adrenalin faded from ‘total destruction’, I realized Rovio had created (albeit unintentionally) a monsters that would skew the averages and top scores for the purist players, which is by far the large majority of flingers. I look forward to reflinging those levels now. It’s almost like having a new update! :D

[wicket182]

https://www.angrybirdsnest.com/members/wicket182/album/picture/9931/

[waimea]

Lol @wicket182. Thanks for the cheese. I was feeling a bit peckish!

[Uncle B]

I’m afraid the cheese reference with respect to the discussion when right over Old Uncle B’s head ~ but it sure is a very nice picture!

It reminded me that I have a new tub of Kaukauna spreadable cheese in the refrigerator that would be mighty tasty on some crackers right about now and for that I must thank you very much @wicket182 !!!

[wicket182]

I tried to have that as just a reply to @jtwade, did not realize that it would be posted as just a general comment. I have expressed my views before that I do not like LCS, I much preferred being on top without it. But what I like even less is the inaccurate inference that those who use it are not playing “fair” like the so called purists.

[MVNLA2]

@all — If some of you weren’t around for the “NO PU” protest, let me summarize: There are more PUs now than at the time of the protest. Some games, such as AB SW II and Epic, are structured so that PUs have to be allowed. You might notice that some of the players who’ve been around a while still sport a “No PU” icon in a corner of their avatar. When PU’s were first introduced there was a huge protest; you’ll have to visit the old forum to see it all. A lot of people turned their avatars black and white to protest and added the “no PU” symbol. I think we went back to color when @E-Star was made an admin, but lots of us still have the “no PU” symbol.

[Uncle B]

Thank You @jtwade for enlightening me ~ I get the connection now. But how can I take offense when I think any excuse for eating cheese is a good thing ~ my Kaukauna on crackers with a bit of salami on the side was absolutely scrumptious in the snack break I took since my last post!

And I’m not sure @wicket182 that “fairness” can even be considered a pertinent issue as the “Last Chance” feature is now part of the game. I suppose what would be ideal would be if there was a differentiation of scores using the feature from those who choose not to use “Last Chance”.

Has it been established that the highest scores for each level can only be achieved using “Last Chance” ~ or are there levels remaining where a good destructive 1-birder will still yield the highest score? Perhaps a guide listing which methodology yields the highest scores for each level would be informative? But I have to go eat some more cheese now…..

[waimea]

@uncle-b I only had to delete 80 scores out of 232 levels that were ‘last chance only for best score’ levels. There might be a few I missed, but not many, I think. The rest, which luckily is the large percentage, are not conducive to last chance as there is not enough debris to destroy to make up for using all your birds.

[waimea]

So, I tried to take the high road here, and am now only falling on my butt. This strategy is becoming more and more prevalent, and I can’t NOT be competitive. So, while this might not be what Rovio intended for high scores, this is how they are being achieved, and I can’t ignore the trend. I will return to last chance strategy in my attempt to fling competitive scores. Sorry about the waffling.

[scott20]

@waimea…

I too had to convert to the dark side and start flinging using last chance strategy… : (

[waimea]

Thanks for that @scott20. (:

[Kelani]

I wonder if Rovio got the idea of Last Chance from Pinball? Some machines had a similar feature: After losing your last ball, you could drop in 25 cents for one more shot. On a 50-cent/play machine, that simple feature boosted profits by 50%. All the micropayment gaming companies already use so many tricks developed by arcade game makers, using this one wouldn’t surprise me.

[waimea]

I honestly DO think it was Rovio’s intent to ‘nudge’ players to buy more characters. But (besides putting out outrageously fun games) they are first and foremost a company. And a company runs on profits. So I can see no blame there. It’s just a bit unfair for those who cannot or will not spend the extra money. Only by playing on PC where coins are awarded for starring levels do I have as many coins as I do. But by playing on PC, we don’t get timely updates (6 months after iOS and Android when RotC and’Last Chance’ became available to us). I suppose there may be other, more technical reasons PC is usually last when getting updates, so I can’t throw stones. Just hope they don’t wait another 6 months to get us Master Your Destiny – one of the most intriguing episodes of SW2 I’ve seen.