Feedback from high level player regarding Rivals list

[Joeycool]

So I recently emailed Funzio about the changes to the rivals list. :

Hi Funzio,

Have you made changes to the rival list? I used to see people from level 90 odd to level 130 odd.

I was level 130 with 479 mafia members.

Today I have seen levels from 115 to 200 (how is it fair that I get rivals with 500 mafia who are 70 levels above me?)

What have you done to the list? I have had to add loads of members because otherwise I cant defend against anyone.

Is this a permanent change? Or is it a bug?

When you make changes why is there never any announcements for paying customers?

Joe

And I got this response from them:

Hi Joe,

Apologies for not replying sooner. Yes, we did make changes to the rivals list. You are in the top 0.00001% of our players, and so you are one of the players most affected by this change.

The change is not a bug, but it is not set in stone either. Our aim is to make the rivals list competitive and fair for everyone in the game. This is very tricky at the highest levels because there are so few players up where you are that there aren't many similar opponents to show you. Meanwhile, if we try to give you more opponents (as we've been doing thus far), we get literally dozens of complaints that the game is unfair because of the level difference.

Frankly, I agree that we don't have a perfect solution yet. We will improve this, but it will take time. Do you have any suggestions? Thus far we've been against having any "simulated" players in the game. However, it would be great to come up with a way for the best players in the game to have fun and fair opponents to fight somehow.

As for not giving a heads-up, yes, I'm sorry about that. It wasn't intentional not to do so. It's just that we are hesitant to give dates and details because then if we change our minds we might confuse more players than we help. But going forward we'll try to find a way to be more transparent.

Again, I'd greatly welcome your suggestions you'd like to offer.

Best Regards,


The person who This email is from is not C, or J from support it is from a Developer. Has anyone got any feedback or suggestions? I am going to reply but I'm not sure what to say so thought I would ask you lot what you think.

Its a great opportunity to feedback to a developer (its not Mark) who is actually willing to listen and has taken the time to respond to an email.

[TemplarX]

Joeycool, thanks v much for sharing this. My only feedback is that whatever methodology they use, the rival
Iist should be two-way reciprocated. That is, if they can see me, I should be able to see them. This is fair because then it gives both parties a chance of fighting and revenge. It also serves as a warning to the disadvantaged that their 'rivals' are now of a different set. A one-way mirror is unfair...it's not a rivals list.

[Matthew91188]

Maybe they should give a slight xp boost over level 100, this would make it ok for me to lose more fights to stronger opponents as it balances out and does not make me prey on weak players.

[JimmyShines]

Thanks for posting Joeycool, 2 thumbs up for bots, it'll add another element for eveyone to post and find all the bots.

[Joeycool]

I want to know why I can no longer control who I fight by controlling my mafia size.

If someone is strong with level 170 and 500 mafia. Fine.

If someone is strong with level 90 and their full mafia of 490 fine.

But you can easily fight in the band you wish too by controlling your mafia size as many people do. Or more correctly used to do. It does not matter what level you are at... you can simply alter your mafia size to compete at a level you are comfortable with.

This strategy works the same for a level 40 player or a level 130 player like myself.

At present I am banded with all players from 115 - 200. I get attacked by people who are 70 levels higher than me often. That does not seem a fair banding to me. And I can no longer even the stakes by reducing my mafia.

So all I am doing now is constanlty hitting the few 115 - 130 level players in my list. (and there are not many) I am sure they are loving that! But what choice do I have??

[whocareswhatmynameis]

i'm with JimmyShines. bring on the bots!

[Joeycool]

Thanks for posting Joeycool, 2 thumbs up for bots, it'll add another element for eveyone to post and find all the bots.

Agreed! As long as they were a reasonable level!

[Max Power]

Score one more for the bots!

And give them level 10 Casinos and Nightclubs with 5000 defense points....LOL!

[brutus beefcake]

I'm on board with the bots idea. I'm currently at level 100 and see only seven levels better/weaker than myself, but get attacked and robbed by people anywhere from lvl 115 to 200. Surely it wouldnt be too hard for them to come up with a median attack/defense per level based on the average of players on that particular level. It grinds my gears that i can be seen but cant see these upper level players.

[Tramp Stamp]

I'm not surprised at the response, as it is exactly what I expected to hear. Problem is it needs to be on the "Announcements" board and not buried in some random user's inbox. I understand the hesitance to announce something they're going to redact, but at some point they will have committed to a change. At that point, make an announcement, even if the timeline is "sometime soon", needs to be made.

A sliding exp scale is an interesting idea. Once the higher levels become more populated, the exp ramp in the "void" can be gradually ramped back down to more evenly distribute population. In fact, you could govern the entire game like this, based on where the "hot" and "cold" areas are. I can't predict full implications, though, so the bot idea might be a good interim solution.

[Spyman]

I agree this change to the rivals list is rubbish! I have 169 maffia and about 98% of my list is filled with 500 maffia. There are only about 10 people I can even get close to fighting or robbing! It takes about 10 minutes to find one if I'm lucky and for first time I'm wondering why I bother. I can understand the view that it is not fair for me to beat up on someone 30 levels below me when it is not a fair fight, but for most of the complainers, if they had it their way, would never lose a fight or get robbed ever! Even if the stats match up. Robbing and fighting are part of the game. They should be told to deal with it! When I was at level 90 I didn't mind if I got attacked by a player at level 100. Far less so than a player at level 89 with twice the maffia I have.

One of the biggest differences in strenth is number of maffia. There are players at level 90 with twice the maffia I have that are as strong as me or stronger. Despite the level difference, that is still a fair fight. I used to get players listed at level 70 when I was at 115. Very few had a chance against me. 80 to 90 probably wasn't fair either, but those in the 90's gave me a good battle, especially those with a few more maffia than me.

I say put it back to how it was until they can find a way to make it better for everyone, rather than just the booboys who can't take a loss every once in a while!

[Ram]

Bring on the bots! I liked the old rival list better...

[Max Power]

I agree this change to the rivals list is rubbish! I have 169 maffia and about 98% of my list is filled with 500 maffia. There are only about 10 people I can even get close to fighting or robbing! It takes about 10 minutes to find one if I'm lucky and for first time I'm wondering why I bother. I can understand the view that it is not fair for me to beat up on someone 30 levels below me when it is not a fair fight, but for most of the complainers, if they had it their way, would never lose a fight or get robbed ever! Even if the stats match up. Robbing and fighting are part of the game. They should be told to deal with it! When I was at level 90 I didn't mind if I got attacked by a player at level 100. Far less so than a player at level 89 with twice the maffia I have.

One of the biggest differences in strenth is number of maffia. There are players at level 90 with twice the maffia I have that are as strong as me or stronger. Despite the level difference, that is still a fair fight. I used to get players listed at level 70 when I was at 115. Very few had a chance against me. 80 to 90 probably wasn't fair either, but those in the 90's gave me a good battle, especially those with a few more maffia than me.

I say put it back to how it was until they can find a way to make it better for everyone, rather than just the booboys who can't take a loss every once in a while!

So, you are complaining about the complainers, all the while complaining about the new list?

Maybe you could just add more mafia.

[hunter]

So I recently emailed Funzio about the changes to the rivals list. :

Hi Joe,

Apologies for not replying sooner. Yes, we did make changes to the rivals list. You are in the top 0.00001% of our players, and so you are one of the players most affected by this change.

The change is not a bug, but it is not set in stone either. Our aim is to make the rivals list competitive and fair for everyone in the game. This is very tricky at the highest levels because there are so few players up where you are that there aren't many similar opponents to show you. Meanwhile, if we try to give you more opponents (as we've been doing thus far), we get literally dozens of complaints that the game is unfair because of the level difference.


A few days ago I didn't like the new rival list but now it's good to know I'm also in top player. The rival list now are easier than a few days before, currently about 1/2 of targets are easy, last time only 1/10 are attackable.

The new rival list has a good point, less robbery than before, maybe because the strong rob less than the weak, or people do pvp less than before.

I hope Funzio still keep this rival list longer, it's more challenging than before.

[TemplarX]

CC II : Dawn of The Bots

[hunter]

Now the rival list become too easy again. I attack from top to bottom and lose to 3 guys only.
- 1 with 40k defense gold items.
- 1 with 500 M4A1 & 500 stone hammer
- 1 with similar to my stats, I lost by chance.

It's all right Funzio, don't change any more, I'm tired.

[G Wiz]

Bring the bots on with a reasonable hood economy to fill level gaps. They better not stalk my hood though!

[Anubis]

Whatsa Stone Hammer >.> :)?

[G Wiz]

Whatsa Stone Hammer >.> :)?10 attk and 9 defense...can be looted at the gym on empire university. Tis' also a melee weapon

[lkm]

I am around level 160. It was my practice to tap on persons 2-3 in a row. However, I dont think I will do that anymore after the maintenance two days ago. I only felt free to tap on 40 objects in rival list (including refresh).

Further, there was a maintenance 5 hrs ago which made the game come to dead-end. I can no longer see those mafia with less than 400 now. Now I can only feel free to tap on at most 20 objects in rival list (including refresh). For those 20, I am sorry to tap you 10 in a row now.

That is so sad Funzio limit my target from 100 to 20 from these 2 maintenance.

[Anubis]

I am around level 160. It was my practice to tap on persons 2-3 in a row. However, I dont think I will do that anymore after the maintenance two days ago. I only felt free to tap on 40 objects in rival list (including refresh).

Further, there was a maintenance 5 hrs ago which made the game come to dead-end. I can no longer see those mafia with less than 400 now. Now I can only feel free to tap on at most 20 objects in rival list (including refresh). For those 20, I am sorry to tap you 10 in a row now.

That is so sad Funzio limit my target from 100 to 20 from these 2 maintenance.

Second this. Getting to the HL stage is hard for everyone (as we have all posted about) but once your past it the game is really never ending. Sort this out Funzio. You ripping us off of buliding defence is bad enough, this is just the icing on your already not very good and tastless cake.

[Joeycool]

Any more thoughts from people before I reply to the email from funzio?

So far the consensus appears to be the addition of bots if we cant return to the previous rivals list format.

[Tramp Stamp]

I leave some bait money on hand to see who attacks me. In the past 2 days the attackers are primarily those with 2-4 times the mafia equipped with mass Respect gear. However, these people do not appear on my Rivals list, just others similar to me in level and mafia. It would appear that Funzio has duplicated the situation in lower levels formerly seen at the higher levels. If so, I would have to ask what they expect to gain in terms of fairness by introducing low level whales that are ostensibly invisible to their weaker rivals. If I don't leave bait funds to be robbed I won't be able to track the competition as I advance in level, but hardly any players at this level have economies that can support this.

[Max Power]

I am having a hard time summarizing what has happened to my list, but I am seeing people at levels 98-102 all day long and I am at 107 with 500+ mafia. Everyone on the list is really easy to beat. I am not seeing the numbers of HL players like I did before the change. And before I started seeing the HL players on my list in earnest at level 102, I was seeing the same 20 people for days.

At least now I see a variety of people, but I don't know what to make of it. I know some HL players can see me because I get tagged every once in a while, but not nearly as often.

I guess the only thing I know for sure is "don't get used to it".....it will change again soon.

[doomnosee]

I am lev 106 but can see only see levs 99-103 plus one or two higher levels. There must be plenty of people my level. Why can't I see them?

[DCjG]

I am having a hard time summarizing what has happened to my list, but I am seeing people at levels 98-102 all day long and I am at 107 with 500+ mafia. Everyone on the list is really easy to beat. I am not seeing the numbers of HL players like I did before the change. And before I started seeing the HL players on my list in earnest at level 102, I was seeing the same 20 people for days.

At least now I see a variety of people, but I don't know what to make of it. I know some HL players can see me because I get tagged every once in a while, but not nearly as often.

I guess the only thing I know for sure is "don't get used to it".....it will change again soon.

I'm the exact level you are and have noticed the exact set of scenarios you listed.

+1

[Hero of Time]

I have had this happen as well not sure if it is often though

Don't necro threads.

[Hero of Time]

This is vital info

But necroing threads is against the posting guidelines.

[Hero of Time]

Maybe I will get banned?

lol how many banned accounts have you already had? No mods on right now so you'll probably last a while.

[Abe Froman]

But necroing threads is against the posting guidelines.


Awww, give him a break Santa, he appears to be new here. Besides, your existence is in violation of humanity's guidelines, but you don't see me complaining.

[Hero of Time]

NO DISCUSSING BANS !!!

You walked right into it

Oh damn you got me!