Wanted: Fair Game
Happy Tuesday!
Don't forget to subscribe (top right) to this blog. Below, there's an open letter to our friends at Pixonic. While it may read as unduly critical, it is offered in a collaborative spirit. I absolutely want Pixonic to make a lot of money, and I love the game.
Dear Pixonic,
As a dedicated player with over 5000 wins, an Aurora Nova clan leader representing almost 400 pilots, and a consumer with disposable income AND free time, I've been frustrated by the current state of the game.
Why? War Robots has again become inherently unfair. Because spending large amounts of money provides an insurmountable competitive advantage for a few players, the rest of us are simply entertainment. Cannon fodder. Meat.
We’ve been here before - when clans full of Magnum Gepards (yes, I’m looking at you RUIN and WAR WOLVES) relentlessly “seal clubbed” the beginning players in the game, Pixonic recognized the problem and created a better matchmaking system. This forced the seal clubbers into fair matches against other high-level pilots. And this is part of the solution again. No matter how much the player has spent, he should be matched with equal opponents. War Robots is about competition, and even the “whales” want to test their skills against the very best competitors.
POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS
In the field of education, describing the problem is not good enough - identifying potential solutions is critical for moving things forward! War Robots, probably my favorite video game ever, needs some help - and the University is prepared to offer it!
Increase match making time. This one is a no brainer. Players are being placed into battle almost immediately, against impossible odds, and they are quitting the game in frustration. Longer waits would allow the pool of available players to grow, giving a greater chance for fairly matched battles. Pixonic reports that Champion league players make up only .1% of the player base, but they certainly play more than others. It is desirable for Masters and Champions to battle each other - and slightly longer waits would allow better matchups for everyone.
Consider robot and weapon levels in matchmaking. This would eliminate the incentive to “tank” (intentionally lose and drop rating points) and keep players fighting other pilots with similar equipment.
Allow more time and space for advertising. While the amount of money people will spend on video games is great, the amount of money advertising companies will spend is MUCH greater. Shifting the business model away from “pay to win” is good for the long-term survival of the game.
Balance the weapons. For real. With tremendous firepower and mobility, the Dash robots should be among the most fragile in the game. Instead, it’s the opposite - they are among the most durable. AT MOST, the faster and deadlier Kumiho should have the health of a Stalker, Haechi the health of a Carnage, and Bulgasari the health of a Galahad. Shocktrain should do much lower damage, because it strikes most, if not all, of the opposing team from a great distance and around corners/cover. Ember should do significantly lower damage because it penetrates all defenses.
Penalize cheating. Players are spending money on premium items and then receiving refunds from the Apple Store (and presumably Android markets as well). Take away their items and suspend their accounts. It’s fraud, and it degrades the play for everyone. Similarly, “tankers” should be suspended or expelled permanently from the game. They sabotage the experience for Pixonic’s most important market, new players.
Restrict squads of champions to battles with similarly situated groups. Allow squads that have long wait times the opportunity to press a “break up squad” button that splits them and places them in battle against each other.
Require variety. Like the Gepard and the Lancelot before it, players are bringing five Haechis to battle. This is monotonous and indicative of the balance problem. No more than one of any robot type should be allowed in the player’s hangar for battle.
Provide new opportunities to advance. For level 30 pilots, the workshop eventually falls into disuse when you have all the Tarans, Magnums, Trebuchets and Tridents you can use. If workshop points and/or silver could speed upgrades, pilots who put a lot of time in the game could compete with pilots who spend a lot of money. This would be good for everyone because it would provide additional incentive to play the game, and play it well. Note: informally, I have heard from Pixonic that they are revamping the workshop for 2018.
Your humble servant,
Where y'at?
Faculty Notes
TUESDAY TANKER ALERT
Don't forget to subscribe (top right) to this blog. Below, there's an open letter to our friends at Pixonic. While it may read as unduly critical, it is offered in a collaborative spirit. I absolutely want Pixonic to make a lot of money, and I love the game.
Dear Pixonic,
As a dedicated player with over 5000 wins, an Aurora Nova clan leader representing almost 400 pilots, and a consumer with disposable income AND free time, I've been frustrated by the current state of the game.
Why? War Robots has again become inherently unfair. Because spending large amounts of money provides an insurmountable competitive advantage for a few players, the rest of us are simply entertainment. Cannon fodder. Meat.
Clan “Stoned Raiders” [CDxx], all decked out in Dash robots, looking for a more victims after an uninspiring, lopsided battle of less than four minutes.
We’ve been here before - when clans full of Magnum Gepards (yes, I’m looking at you RUIN and WAR WOLVES) relentlessly “seal clubbed” the beginning players in the game, Pixonic recognized the problem and created a better matchmaking system. This forced the seal clubbers into fair matches against other high-level pilots. And this is part of the solution again. No matter how much the player has spent, he should be matched with equal opponents. War Robots is about competition, and even the “whales” want to test their skills against the very best competitors.
POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS
In the field of education, describing the problem is not good enough - identifying potential solutions is critical for moving things forward! War Robots, probably my favorite video game ever, needs some help - and the University is prepared to offer it!
Increase match making time. This one is a no brainer. Players are being placed into battle almost immediately, against impossible odds, and they are quitting the game in frustration. Longer waits would allow the pool of available players to grow, giving a greater chance for fairly matched battles. Pixonic reports that Champion league players make up only .1% of the player base, but they certainly play more than others. It is desirable for Masters and Champions to battle each other - and slightly longer waits would allow better matchups for everyone.
The odds of winning an evenly matched battle 182 times in a row is 1 in, well, a 55 digit number (6.129 x1054) that essentially represents impossibility. And yet, the seal clubber “SHOTGUNxXx” exploits the inequality in War Robots so diligently as to have achieved this feat. And he’s not alone. This is unnecessary, embarrassing, and degrades the quality of the game for everyone.
Consider robot and weapon levels in matchmaking. This would eliminate the incentive to “tank” (intentionally lose and drop rating points) and keep players fighting other pilots with similar equipment.
Allow more time and space for advertising. While the amount of money people will spend on video games is great, the amount of money advertising companies will spend is MUCH greater. Shifting the business model away from “pay to win” is good for the long-term survival of the game.
Balance the weapons. For real. With tremendous firepower and mobility, the Dash robots should be among the most fragile in the game. Instead, it’s the opposite - they are among the most durable. AT MOST, the faster and deadlier Kumiho should have the health of a Stalker, Haechi the health of a Carnage, and Bulgasari the health of a Galahad. Shocktrain should do much lower damage, because it strikes most, if not all, of the opposing team from a great distance and around corners/cover. Ember should do significantly lower damage because it penetrates all defenses.
Matches are ending very quickly when one team is stocked with all the imbalanced weapons.
Penalize cheating. Players are spending money on premium items and then receiving refunds from the Apple Store (and presumably Android markets as well). Take away their items and suspend their accounts. It’s fraud, and it degrades the play for everyone. Similarly, “tankers” should be suspended or expelled permanently from the game. They sabotage the experience for Pixonic’s most important market, new players.
Restrict squads of champions to battles with similarly situated groups. Allow squads that have long wait times the opportunity to press a “break up squad” button that splits them and places them in battle against each other.
Here, clan IMP played against each other (by chance), resulting in a fair match. If all three were on the same squad, they should only be allowed to play other champion groups.
Require variety. Like the Gepard and the Lancelot before it, players are bringing five Haechis to battle. This is monotonous and indicative of the balance problem. No more than one of any robot type should be allowed in the player’s hangar for battle.
Provide new opportunities to advance. For level 30 pilots, the workshop eventually falls into disuse when you have all the Tarans, Magnums, Trebuchets and Tridents you can use. If workshop points and/or silver could speed upgrades, pilots who put a lot of time in the game could compete with pilots who spend a lot of money. This would be good for everyone because it would provide additional incentive to play the game, and play it well. Note: informally, I have heard from Pixonic that they are revamping the workshop for 2018.
Your humble servant,
Where y'at?
Faculty Notes
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The U is not just a blog ... we are also iOS clans #48669, #141459, and #139479. We are always looking for champion-league pilots, and welcome skilled communicators from around the world.
The U is not just a blog ... we are also iOS clans #48669, #141459, and #139479. We are always looking for champion-league pilots, and welcome skilled communicators from around the world.
If the win rate wasn’t a dead giveaway, this tanker is playing with a level 1 Cossack. War Robots University’s anecdotal data suggests that one “no-show” on your team reduces the win chance, theoretically 50/50 in each battle, to about 25%. Thanks to the sabotage, his team lost.
This tanker spawned in his entry-level Butch, firing away with entry-level Zenits. With his four nearly maxed out premium robots on the sideline, his team lost.
Prorok attracted my attention because he was pretending to play the game - his robots fired at the wall, wandered aimlessly, and did less than 10K damage. His team lost.
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