[Bill]

Yeah, and that’s why if I don’t plan on playing hard, I don’t play at all. The cheaters have gotten to be too much, even for me, and I cannot keep up with them. So I haven’t played in a few weeks now. I don’t want to lose my ranking, which really doesn’t even matter any more. I am way too far behind to get back into it.

[Bill]

Hmmm… I’m just checking… are you using more than one sling, or changing your sling at all to get your high score? That will cause the error. Nothing else should be causing it, short of a poor internet connection.

If you need to change your sling, do it before throwing any birds, and reload the level immediately.

[Bill]

@wingmanjuan
Okay, that is quite unfortunate. I am curious to know what kind of problems it might cause… and I am 95% certain that if a poll was taken, that would be what people want. How would we go about doing this?

[Bill]

The power ups should not have nothing to do with the slings. They are completely separate functions.

I am talking about the slings only. You can only use one sling. If you need to change your sling, then change it, but then reload the level immediately.

[Bill]

I know exactly why. Using multiple slings resulting in a new personal best score will give the error.

Solution: use only one sling per attempt. Even if you decide the sling needs to be changed before you begin flinging, you need to reload the level after changing it, before fling anything.

[Bill]

@Wingmanjuan Dixi is referring to the additional stars and eagles acquired by older players who were fortunate enough to play through the Green Day levels while they were available. But now, they are no longer available, and new players will seem to forever have a disadvantage when it comes to Story Levels overall rank. Can we get rid of the Green Day score data? Instead of 681 stars, 227 eagles, the maximum should be 615 stars, 205 eagles. Oh, and the points data acquired from them are probably also still there, and shouldn’t be. It is extremely unfair to the players who can’t play them.

I have asked Rovio about this before, but they respond with “well, we think players who earned their data should get to keep it,” but I totally disagree with this, and I bet that everyone else does as well, including myself, and I still have the GD data. You seem to be responsive here on the nest, so you are my (our) only hope.

[Bill]

about Green Day, you can see many videos on YouTube of ABF Green Day levels. But if you are a new player within the last 3 years or so, then you probably never saw them, or had the opportunity to play them. Maybe we can ask that new Rovio social media representative about it. I think this is one of the most important fixes that ABF could make for all of us, to once again be on a level playing field.

[Bill]

@Dixi-60 I am honestly not too sure. Since ABF was released, it became the only AB-related game I ever played, other than the AB Space, which may have been released later, I did play through the first few of those.

But I think with the mobile apps, points seems to be all that matters. Stars and eagles are just bragging rights for the game purist/completionist.

[Bill]

Diamond is still the final league, and the stars will keep going up indefinitely as long as you keep advancing.

[Bill]

Sounds like someone abusing a glitch discovered which gives you 50 points per throw of jingles, and unlimited wingman throws. It takes a couple hours to rack up 100k at that rate.

[Bill]

Here is my personal egg location guide video. I think all of the locations are still current. It is an update to what you see in the videos here. Every year or two, this guide video needs to be refreshed, as it seems Rovio likes to change up the egg locations from time to time… although I think they have only done it once.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jUly4IQHN4

[Bill]

@Dixi-60 sure, story levels are my favorite thing to talk about. Here’s how it goes.

The story level ranking system is based on priorities. They are as follows:

Priority 1: Number of stars. Who ever has the most stars will always be on top, regardless of feathers, and points per level. There are 205 story levels in the game, making for a possible total of 615 stars. If you have not 3-starred every level, this needs to be first on your to-do list.

Priority 2: Number of Mighty Eagle feathers earned. If 2 players on a friends list are both maxed out on total stars, or have the same number of stars, then the number of feathers earned will be the next factor in the ranking system. The players with the most eagles will be #1 on the list. There are 205 story levels, making for a possible total of 205 feathers. If you have not eagled every level, this needs to be the very next thing you do after 3-starring them all.

Priority 3: Point total for all levels. If several players have all stars and eagles, or they are tied with any number, then total score values will be the next factor in the ranking system. If you have completed the game with stars and eagles, and you are not #1, it is because another player has a higher average score per level than you do. This is where the actual competition for story level ranking can begin. Stars and eagles are merely qualifiers for climbing the rank ladder.

Green Day levels data: Here is where there is a wrench thrown into the whole system. Green Day was a set of levels just like Pig Tales and Mighty Hoax, but the availability of the levels were time-contractual. When that contract ran out, Rovio had to cut the entire set, and now the levels are unavailable. Only problem is, Rovio only erased the levels. They did not erase the stars and eagles earned by those who played through them. There were 22 Green Day levels total, they were available for roughly a year, and now they have been unavailable for more than 3 years. These represent the 66 stars and 22 eagles that you might be missing, if someone else on your list have them. I have everything. 681 stars total, and 227 eagles. So a new player who has full completion of the game, but lacking the Green Day data will never be able to pass those who have completed them, no matter how good they are.

As I said, I have tried many many times to convince Rovio to get rid of them. The best I get was “players deserve to keep the data they have earned.” I totally disagree with this statement, IF nobody can even play the levels any more. Rovio does not care about your rank enough to accomodate the data removal.

I hope this was informative for you.

[Bill]

If you can figure out how the grouping works, you let me know. I’ll do the same. I am much more concerned with that.

[Bill]

@stosh, the thing is, I never really cared. It’s not my decision for you to respect me, it’s yours. I am completely okay with it.

[Bill]

Interesting trivia: Mighty Hoax 21 is the only level in the entire game to contain all 6 pig types. However, no single level contains all of the block types.

[Bill]

@Terribletom – courtesy mention

[Bill]

@stosh Actually no, it appears to be that way because you see the points pop up, and you’re like “I see points!” But it is actually better to strike an object only once. For instance, try this experiment, find a large stone boulder. Hit it with wingman in stone sling to destroy it completely, and you will see 6500 points. Now, hit it with blue birds a bunch of times, and you will notice some points pop up, but once you destroy it, you will see that you have lost about a hundred points or so from the total value of the boulder.

Conclusion: each strike to an object, whether it be from a direct bird strike, or hits from other objects take 10 points from the total value of that object. Hit a large stone boulder 5 times, and you will receive 6450 points. Seeing any points less than 500 is actually bad for your score. Does this matter to a legit player? Not really. Is it interesting anyway? Well I thought it might be.

[Bill]

@Dixi-60 been there, done that. I’ve tried to get Rovio to erase the old Green Day data, as it is no longer available. It is unfair to new players who never got a chance to play them, and they cannot compete with the players who have. You know what response I got back? Actually I got none. As far as the forums and groups go, like I said, already done it.

[Bill]

@hooksfan, not after I have provided videos here on ABN in the 3-star walkthroughs, and indeed still accessible for you to see the legitimacy of the scores. The scores I entered are undeniable. Besides, Tom and others have long since blown away those once high scores with the onset of Wingman, and stronger birds in general, and I have not entered scores since that happened.

[Bill]

Sorry you guys feel that way. I guess from now on, I’ll just stick with posts of knowledge and wisdom when it comes to the game in general. I like to go beyond simply playing the game, and try to figure out what makes the game tick, and look for precise scoring mechanisms.

[Bill]

You don’t get demoted if you don’t touch it. If you get any score at all, you have to commit for the week, or they will demote you. But if you don’t play at all, you won’t be penalized.

[Bill]

Getting higher scores will also do it. Try this experiment. Play with no power ups on the first day, then use them and Wingman in the following days, and I bet you will be in a completely different room with higher scoring players.

[Bill]

Wow! You sound so hateful.

I am a very old old man when it comes to ABF. I have been playing it since the first day it came out. I used to play legit, I was very good at it, and I now consider myself retired, and I think I can play any way I feel like it. Furthermore, I am a member of a very competitive group of cheaters, which is a lot more active than any other ABF groups that I have ever seen. I know this is very difficult for you to understand, because you think total destruction is total destruction, but really it’s not. There is still an art to the way we play, and to achieving the highest scores possible. Like I say, I play with others who play like me, and I definitely do not win by default. I have to work extremely hard to win.

I have said it before, and I’ll say it again. It is not my intention to play against legit players who do not want to compete against cheaters like myself. That is Rovio’s arrangement. If I could, I’d have completely separate worlds where legit players and cheaters cannot cross paths, because I do think it’s unfair to you, and I still appreciate the legit style of play.

I’ve earned my dues, and really I am very tired of being attacked for cheating. I already no longer post my scores here, and I am doing everything I can to protect both legit players and cheaters. What more do you want from me?

[Bill]

Accept my friend request, and I will show you how it is done in a PM.

[Bill]

by the way, I have 7 friends alone over 133k in level 2 this week