The Level vs. Allies vs. Strength argument again

[Hugh Bris]

First of all please forgive me because I tried to search about this original argument but couldn't find the right one plus I don't know who to give credit to on the following:

I am lvl 70 - 17,000A and 20,000D. I think I'm doing great for my level and yes, I've bought a lot of gold items. I try to be fair and may attack someone a bunch at once to get a goal done but then I leave them alone. I KNOW this is a game about attack and I'm not whining.

Someone here brought up strength when we were discussing the best way to make PVP fair or at least in the ballpark of fair. I think it was Chuck Norris or Agent Orange but if not I apologize. Strength of Attack and Defence is SO critical in getting this game balanced right. If someone is level 200 and has no one to fight I don't care!!!

Example - I just said I was 70 with my stats above. I am constantly getting attacked by 53000A/45000D and 138000A/150000D. Those two shouldn't have to be in the same realm either. I think there are enough players now to go around for everyone. No...I'm not talking about the General BTW. The Gen. and the 138000A guy don't make anything personal and I'm fairly okay with that.

There has got to be a balance here in strength to at least put people of the same realm together - not perfect but better than now. At 17000 I should not have to deal with any of these people. THEN there are the cliques. Ugh.

[JMC]

i like how it is arranged by level. Why would you want to get stronger, if all that did was make everyone you can fight stronger too? You want to get stronger so that you can beat the weaker people in your range. Sucks that the high levels want to spend $30000 to get 140000 stat, but that's how it always is with a free game and cash shop.

[Maverick50727]

First of all please forgive me because I tried to search about this original argument but couldn't find the right one plus I don't know who to give credit to on the following:
...
NOTE: I posted this originally in the Changes to PVP a while back, but it pertains to gold, PVP, rival strength, etc. If there is a fix it has to be something agreed upon by the devs and maybe some of the highest spenders and is fair to all. a % CAP for the # of strongest gold units people are allowed to bring to battle in conjunctions with a sell back function to all all players to rebalance their armies seems good.

Original post:
"I really don’t think there is a good way to fix the game and please everyone with the model the game is built upon. Many are free players, but someone has to pay for it (gold players). The free players add value by making the game popular generating more potential players and income to Funzio. But in the same sense the extreme gold players who don’t fight fair seem to be the biggest complaint and cause people even the low end gold spenders to leave the game. I personally don’t blame the gold players with large pockets; it was not them who designed the game to work in the advantage of the select few. The cost of gold should be less IMO so more people can afford them, but that just means more units for the rich again. The only real solution is a CAP for # of gold units that can be purchased or brought into battle (this being the key).

Gold players like I say do pay for the game. They come in many flavors from those who can purchase a small amount to those who can dump $10,000’s into the game. I agree with those that say the largest gold players can’t be beat and that is 100% true as is currently stands. If your plans for the game is to be #1and you don’t have unlimited $ to throw at the game, quit now. If you are in the game for a challenge and be one of the best, yes you can still be, but you will have to ally with gold players or have the defenses or vaults to make their attacks not worth while so they move their attacks onto weaker rivals.

Current Solution Problems:
Reduction of gold prices – people who have paid won’t like it. People hate it now when they buy and then a sale runs. Any reduction would help some and maybe generate more $ to Funzio, as there are more people willing to spend $10-100 than $1,000-10,000 in the world for a simple app. Again that doesn’t fix issue and could make it worse unless other measures are put in place like a CAP.

CAP – the high end spenders aren’t going to like that. A CAP on the # of units or a max % of gold units that can brought to battle would be the best fix, but it is unfair to the gold players who purchased them if they can’t be used.

Bank Building – to convert in game cash into gold. Would be probably be a made a gold purchase, but even if it was cash purchase it still wouldn’t be an advantage to free players as it would be available to gold players alike. Same if the bank would auto generates small amounts of gold over time (1 bar a day, 2 a day if upgraded, etc) as that would benefit all equally. I like the idea of a bank to generate gold even if I couldn’t buy it until level 50 and cost 10,000,0000 cash. Especially if you could exchange cash for gold. But overall no solution.

Possible solution:
% CAP of the # of gold units that can be brought to battle or make up the Alliance Attack/Def implemented but ONLY if Funzio implements a SELL UNIT function into the game. Cash or loot units can be sold for cash (reduced price of course) to all to rebalance their armies. Gold units could also be sold back for the original price purchased. This would allow gold players to have not wasted their real $$ on gold units they can’t use. If their % of gold units is too large, they can sell weaker gold units to purchase stronger gold units to bring in. Also if they still have too many gold units for the % allowed, then they could sell them back to use for cost of gold buildings, upgrades or expansions to switch to a more economy based solution than just pure attack.

Of course if there is gold player out there that has already bought every expansion and upgrade along with such a vast invincible army, that won’t make them happy, but you can’t please everyone. IMO if you are absolutely unbeatable and have bought every purchase there is no longer a challenge to the game and there is no point in playing. Even most gold players still want the challenge as that is half the fun of the game!!!

These are just my opinions and possible solutions. Feel free to shoot holes or suggest something better. Especially the gold players as they have the most to lose and pay for the game!!!! Thank you gold players!!! "

[Maverick50727]

FYI a bank can be used in conjucntion with the % CAP and Sell functions. Excess gold can be exchanged for cash in the bank. Another thing is that the bank can be used to earn interest if you want on your vaulted money and be a boost build that also can be upgraded. If you want to do more boost buildings, make a miliary surplus that boosts the exchange sell back cost for loot and cash items. They could go even further and for a 50$ in app-purchase to allow the bank ot used as a gold/cash exchange. Then excess in game cash can be tunred into gold to allow free flayers to compete more. People would still have the in-app purchase options for cash and gold now if they want real money converted into quick resources with out building an economy and generating the cash resources, but a% gold CAP/max unit used option would put most everyone on a more level playing field.

[Hugh Bris]

GREAT info Maverick! That's not the exact post I was referring to but it's a WEALTH of info so thank you very much.
Some very interesting points. I still think a 52 level gap and a 17,000 A vs. 138,000 is completely ridiculous no matter how much is spent on gold. If I'm level 100 with 17,000 and he or she is level 90 with 138,000 - I would not be complaining. I just want things a little closer in perspective is all. I'll read what you have in more detail because I'm sure there's some great stuff that a quick glance can't absorb (I'm at work).

PS -
I can't stop the cliques from ruining the game but all of these people making up sides to be on grows weary. I've had some great discussions with people on all sides and will continue to do so. If you (plural 3rd person) feel like I show loyalty and you need to punish me for that I can't stop you. I only have my allies and they just carry my gear. I have no allegiance to any other player nor do I wish to exhibit that sort of behavior. I get along with pretty much everyone ingame and out. I don't mind being raided or attacked but this repeated punishment for some perceived greivance is unnecessary and contrived. You're making this up at your own convenience. I'd love to converse with you as much as anyone else.