Greetings HANDLES ... we're sending you this message with the expectation that you can somehow help us address some ongoing issues with CKS and to inform whomever you consider interested parties at GLU, including the developers.
The affected assignees feel they have been left no other choice than to stage a "boycott" OR slow down in game play, suspending any further monetary expenditures until GLU acknowledges these issues exist and are working towards some sort of resolution.
It has been confirmed from the top Clan Leaders through chat that the Amazon and iOS Leagues are planning to;
Spend No Gold on Global this Event And a Cease Fire!
I'd like to hear from Clan Leaders on Contract Killer: Sniper to list their grievances, and what they'd like GLU to respond to. This will include some of the following;
1. VIP prizes, Milestones, Clan Prizes all need to be updated!
2. Resync errors, and crashes need to be fixed!
3. Parts - unfinished parts should be available in the store, or available another way.
4. Loss of account during, recover and starting on square one needs to be corrected.
What do you want accomplished by this halt of game play? What are your plans?
Send me a private message if you want to remain anonymous.
Clans heard from with members agreeing to the boycott;
1. ComeGetSome
2. Elites
3. ForceOfOne
4. Hawks
5. Golden
6. Murica
At some point during the global, I'd like to get some feedback on the ranking of grievances in order of importance. I'm still somewhat surprised that players aren't as vocal on the forum about this as they are in Chat. Wish I had younger fingers to tap out quick questions on Global Chat. Facebook is coming in very handy for my clan discussing this, but Global is hit or miss.
I had one more addition that I think would benefit most; during the match selection process, it would be beneficial to see the Level # of the target.
When I was Tier 7-9, that was a major hindrance to knowing if a choice was defeatable, or as I mentioned in another thread, bullet proof with equivalent powered weapons to tier matchup.
I was just alerted that one of the players in my group had trouble killing a target with Level 156! Did someone get to download a new region?
So, two hours in, and the Amazon Groups are showing excellent participation in the Boycott.
None of the usual top groups are listed in the Clan Leaderboards for this event. We had some chatter this morning and last night trying to contact one of the members (even going so far as to send him a challenge message), but he and one other did not listen. They have been ejected from the group, and will get invites to return later.
One exception is the group SilentButDeadly. If anyone can contact this group, please do so. Obviously they don't have the respect or honor of the Amazon community. Maybe they don't communicate to others, could be a bunch of younger kids?
Everyone I spot checked in the top 30 except for this group did not have an affiliation as I would expect.
It's too early to say definitively, but Google Play scoring is down significantly. Player participation has dropped to 8,990 from a usual of 15,000+ after 4 hours ... I'll keep monitoring throughout the day (off and on) since these could be nothing more than statistical aberrations.
Complex Minds Require Challenging Games ... SCORPION
At some point during the global, I'd like to get some feedback on the ranking of grievances in order of importance. I'm still somewhat surprised that players aren't as vocal on the forum about this as they are in Chat. Wish I had younger fingers to tap out quick questions on Global Chat. Facebook is coming in very handy for my clan discussing this, but Global is hit or miss.
I had one more addition that I think would benefit most; during the match selection process, it would be beneficial to see the Level # of the target.
When I was Tier 7-9, that was a major hindrance to knowing if a choice was defeatable, or as I mentioned in another thread, bullet proof with equivalent powered weapons to tier matchup.
I was just alerted that one of the players in my group had trouble killing a target with Level 156! Did someone get to download a new region?
NO WORD from HANDLES as yet, but that's to be expected; it will take a few cycles before anyone at GLU will take notice, So we continue the boycott of the current Global; if we don't get a response then we boycott again next cycle ... if no response is forthcoming, then we boycott TWO Global Events until we get some sort of indication that GLU is addressing these issues and communicating the same, here on this forum.
Keep it together TRY_AGAIN ... this is our last and best chance to realize change.
Complex Minds Require Challenging Games ... SCORPION
RUSSIASILA is the #1 Clan on Google Play. Since I was unsuccessful in contacting these players from the outside, I decided to accept their long standing invitation to join their clan; something I've avoided for quite some time. Most of the All-Time Leaders belong to this clan with #3 AT the leader and #1 AT an officer, so the temptation was there in light of these upcoming boycotts.
So I'm in and will take this as far as I possibly can and maybe they'll surprise me ... we shall see.
So refresh my memory again ... what's the purpose of clans? There's drone rocket launcher parts up for grabs (I really need more weapons parts). Currently the MARAUDERS are RANK #1 at 65,000+ AP and RUSSIASILA is RANK #2 at 63,000+ AP @ 2 DAYS 21 HOURS REMAINING.
The next clan is around 35,000+ AP and the infamous SHARPSHOOTERS (the cheat/hack braggers) are at 14,000+ AP (being exiled is no fun I guess).
From what I can tell, these guys fight like hell, take home a drone part and move on ... what am I missing here? I suppose a drone part is better than a gun part ... at least I can use the drone part.
*** SMILES ***
Complex Minds Require Challenging Games ... SCORPION
Bit of a contradiction to be joining the highest playing clan and posting it in the Gold Boycott/Cease Fire thread you think?
You've named the only physical benefit of Clans, the Global Clan Leaderboard competition for drone parts. I only saw some drone parts on MIRN that were useful back then, my clan doesn't hit no.1 that often with the current gold spending amounts of other clans. It's mainly a social gathering, and the bonds can be quite strong with many in a group with good communication. Find out if they have a Facebook group (think Bradr's group had some external chat mechanism that didn't have the persistence problem of current in-game Clan Chat.)
Currently my group is forming a press release about the Boycott - should help me with refining the 1st post since I've received very little help with it. Like I've said before, I like the Google Docs spreadsheet that keeps daily track of our groups VP stats, helps me see where I fit in the group at any day in the global. But I doubt many other leaders do that, or at least make it group public. But, many do relay group rankings to check who's performing best, and who needs to be pruned for poor performance.
The Amazon Boycott is still going very well. All the top all-time groups are out of the global top 30 list this event, except for the Silentbutdeadly and Browncoats who have their own agenda I guess. They have lost all respect and honor with the groups that are serious about making this game better and are sacrificing to do so. The number one clan Forceofone has done an exemplary job of self control and being committed to this effort. I'd still like to hear from their leader to polish the 1st post.
Speaking of sacrificing, it is very difficult to see 3 energy sitting in the meter and ignore it! Then to watch all these new names and clans rise to the top of the event is maddening to say the least. When someone has pushed that "Find Target" button over 20,000 times, the Pavlov's response has been ingrained, thank you GLU? I'd turn off the device if it weren't for checking clan chat.
Just following the money brother, after all that's what we're talking about right? boycotting with no $$$ backing you is senseless I would think and this is where the BIG money is.
Let me check my messages.
No messages from try_again ... may I suggest that you try_again?
Complex Minds Require Challenging Games ... SCORPION
I may be screwed ... just received my first chat in Russian. I know a little, but this may be a problem LOL I definitely can't read Russian.
If I can somehow convince these gents of our intentions, then we should have all the pressure we'll need. I figure these guys are good for $10K maybe $20K a week.
At least they're being cordial and going out of their way to speak "broken" English.
I'll keep you posted ...
Complex Minds Require Challenging Games ... SCORPION
Regardless of how they play the game, the mechanism is subject to the same limitations, restarts, crashes, etc. You want change then you need leverage. These guys spend more in one Global by themselves than all of Amazon combined.
Get with the program ... you want change or are you just playing with yourself and wasting our time?
Everyone speaks the language of GREEN.
Complex Minds Require Challenging Games ... SCORPION
Here are the 3 items that I think are most important:
1) Account backup/restore: When you are encouraged/expected to invest real-world money into playing an online game, there needs to be a reliable, documented process for backing up and restoring your account when there's a problem. Some people have been able to delete their game, resinstall from the cloud, and have their accounts restore just fine. Others have been reset to zero with the release of an update (in my clan alone, we lost at least 2 players who lost their accounts to the FB update). This leads me to the second issue.
2) Documentation: The Home > Settings > Customer Care docs needs to be expanded (to include issues like account recovery), and they need to be reviewed and updated periodically. Updating documentation isn't fun, but it's vital that documentation be correct for the current app version when customers are having problems.
I'd also like to see a user guide added, as well as a public list of known issues and their priorities. Right now, I think GLU has a customer relations problem because people are having problems, but don't know what (if anything) is being worked on, or an estimate of when the their problems might be resolved.
3) Random crashes are a big issue for some players. Personally, I'm not experiencing a lot of crashes anymore, but I know that some people in my clan are. Part of the problem may be the diverse pool of Android hardware and O/S versions, some may be that updates aren't getting fully applied (I experienced this a while back; doing a Kindle HDX force shutdown/restart cleared my crashing issue), and some of it may be memory leaks or overly high resource requirements.
That's what's most important to address for me.
My clan, ComeGetSome in the Amazon group is boycotting this week's global entirely, no play, not just no gold spending. A couple members who didn't want to adhere to that have been (temporarily) booted. If there's another boycott, there's been discussions about making any separations permanent -- we're serious about wanting changes.
While scoring is way down on IOS, 1st place has 6460, gold spending is way up on IOS MIRN.
Right now 1st place is 19310, 8th place is already flirting with Gold league at 8437. So it looks as if players have just shifted games and are still spending.
concerned, both your points are expected. There are still players competing heavily and posting large AP levels. Many have not heard of the boycott, or are uncaring to want improvement for Contract Killer: Sniper.
I still see all the respected highest ranked VP groups NOT listed in this Global PvP Clan Leaderboard top 30. They have sacrificed their usual time and money and put off their enjoyment and competition for this event. They truly want change, and want it now.
We can't be focused on the rogue uncaring or unknowing players, or other games, This Game Must Be Fixed!
This leads my major problem, I've been reminded that the top post that I've tried to polish is still woefully and poorly worded. I've had many suggestions that I've tried to include and perfect in the list of grievances, but am told by many they are still confused as to purpose and expectations.
NOTE TO COMUNITY:
If you can help to make the 1st post in this thread more meaningful, more succinct, and have more impact to GLU's management when they come to check the forum as to why the profits have fallen, either post or PM me! If you don't have an account, I can be reached at "Refuse at Null dot Net" (punctuation spelled to thwart spam bots).
Scorpion, you, have not only listed the exact list of grievances that I have, you have listed them in the order of importance that they have for me in my play on the IOS platform.
Thanks to all of you who have expressed your good wishes for my mother's recovery. I appreciate it very much. It has been touch and go for several days, but her condition improved late yesterday and hopefully she will be released from the hospital soon. Thanks again for your expressions of concern. I will continue to spend a lot of time with her and when she is released from the hospital, I will have to see to it that she gets home and settled, but I will try to check in from time to time.
Here's my "short list" of what I consider critical and essential to an enjoyable game play experience; feel free to edit / add as you see fit.
(1) Sudden, unexpected game restarts and exits resulting in a whole host of issues ranging from delays in loading the game to lost rewards and diamonds to broken win streaks. These include content updates, re-sync errors. lost server connections, etc. What's more, at times the message(s) being displayed mislead the player into believing there's an "Internet Connection" problem when none exists.
(2) CKS game client either flooding a given device's frame buffer or incorrectly detecting a given device's limitations with regards to video frame processing capabilities. This results in dropped video frames causing stuttering or choppy video. Extreme cases result in video frame freezing and game crashes.
(3) Global Events: before the latest update to CKS, Global Events were essentially scheduled and expected for the following weapons, in the following order: HEAVY WEAPON, ASSAULT RIFLE, TESLA and SNIPER RIFLE. Recently there have been cases when repeated prizes offering the same weapons class, repeated HEAVIES or SNIPERS for example. There have also been instances when an entire class of weapon has been omitted form the rotation, TESLA for example. Since weapons rating is integral to success at a given TIER LEVEL, missing a weapon such as a TESLA results in reduced success against opponents at the prevailing tier and can negatively affect the length of time to acquire said weapons, making them obsolete before they can be effectively deployed.
(4) VIP Events: these events have become so out of sync with the realities of game play, it practically boggles the mind. The prizes offered here range from weapons rated up to 3 levels BELOW the prevailing tier to outright duplication of events only 2 weeks apart. This can only be attributed to a lack of planning and foresight.
(5) League Events: an ongoing issue from v3.1.x, I believe, at least since late July. Top weapon prize being of the nature that it was never offered in the associated (preceding) Global Event. To compete for such prizes would essentially dictate foregoing any progress made during the 4-day Global Event and require the player to finish RANK #1 in all 3 League Events. I cannot adequately categorize how asinine this structure is to League Event Awards. To make matters worse, the 2nd RANKING prizes, for those who actually want to use the "parts" awarded in the Global Event, are so structured that players are no longer "competing" for the highest possible rank, but rather cautiously "soft stepping" around each other for fear of outscoring each other. What possible sense can this make?
(6) To reiterate what PYTHON mentioned earlier, migrating to a new device of the same class (iPhone to iPhone for example) OR recovering a corrupted profile should be an integral part of the game synchronization function. Players are being forced to start from scratch through no fault of their own.
I consider these "critical" and is only a single perspective from a single platform. These do not include the numerous other glitches and bugs that should be documented separately. Your feedback is welcome.
When BRAD and I discuss these game play glitches, it most always concluded with, "Yeah, I know ... put it on the list". I have yet to see a published List of Grievances, maybe this will jump start the process ... just take it, add to it, run with it.
This (as well as any additions) should be placed on POST #1. Some minor changes to the existing language, drop the clan links to other posts in this thread, along with incorporating this list should do the trick.
**SMILES**
Complex Minds Require Challenging Games ... SCORPION
I noticed there is now a list of grievances on post #1, but no mention of Global or League Event(s) and the associated prize structure. I would think that this would be of concern to most players, especially those competing for weapons parts, no?
Complex Minds Require Challenging Games ... SCORPION
I noticed there is now a list of grievances on post #1, but no mention of Global or League Event(s) and the associated prize structure. I would think that this would be of concern to most players, especially those competing for weapons parts, no?
For the globals, it's been an annoyance on Amazon, but not a hindrance. Since you are matched up depending on your weapon power, while you may end up with a lower pay structure, it doesn't effect your win rate. And since everyone that can compete for the weapon available ends up in the same boat, it's a wash. The silver league events are not a big problem that I've heard of either, there are many that can play a full day and go for the 100 gold, so of the top players (which usually max out around the low 100-150 level) only a few try for the top prize, and can do so all 3 days in a row.
If you could put your point (5) in a more concise way to present to the management, I will be glad to add it in. It seems a bit fuzzy to my poor verbal abilities. And yes, I'm probably more unclear than you in my 1st post. It just didn't seem like something that GLU management might easily relate to. And thank you so much for your input.
I hope I'm not completely bungling/butchering this topic. It's not like we can have a meeting, talk over point by point with the appropriate wording and vote on the order to come to a common presentation.
Firstly, who says we can't meet and discuss ANYTHING in more detail? *** SMILES *** Skype and cell phones come to mind LOL
Yeah I know everyone on Amazon gets gun parts without doing much, BUT ...
Keep this in mind, the Global PvP is the core from which all else in this game is derived; if it is "malfunctioning" nothing else will work to our liking. Players do not currently compete for prizes because it makes no sense to compete for prizes; that's not the way it was nor is it what was intended. You yourself, as well as others, have been complaining about Bronze League and gun parts for as long as I can remember.
The Globals are so screwed up that nobody wants to talk about it anymore and I can't blame them for that. The real irony here is that the Global prize structure is probably something that GLU can remedy in short order since it's nothing more than plugging a few table values somewhere. The other most notable complaints are software related and require an effort that GLU is (has) not been willing to commit resources to as yet and will probably never be fixed, at least not in a timely fashion.
There is no stone tablet that dictates all of the top prizes MUST be gun parts in Globals ... Hmmm
Game play related issues ARE something GLU can rectify and is something we should emphasize in our grievances, in my opinion. To demand things that are hard may be appropriate, but to move an elephant like GLU, requires we start at the core and move on from there.
... and why aren't these "Alphas" speaking for themselves? or in the very least posting their own views and comments?
It's rather difficult to respect or assist phantoms ...
Complex Minds Require Challenging Games ... SCORPION
Most everyone in my clan ends up with the latest top 30 weapon in the global or through the silver leagues. If not, then a month later, they have the next power weapon. The other top clans are similar, so the Amazon versions seems to be working in this respect.
Most everyone in my clan ends up with the latest top 30 weapon in the global or through the silver leagues. If not, then a month later, they have the next power weapon. The other top clans are similar, so the Amazon versions seems to be working in this respect.
Just because you're getting a gun part doesn't necessarily mean the Global is functioning properly. You need to start thinking "Globally", meaning outside the small minority that is Amazon. GLU is not going to address Amazon specific issues unless they are truly "Amazon LLC" specific, at least not in our "gaming" lifetime.
You've been playing long enough to realize that competing for TOP 30 / 10 prizes is a never ending run on a treadmill that serves no purpose other than to keep you coming back for more of the same. You must also realize these weapons are obsolete the moment you open the box; THIS is the change that is required and should be demanded to the Global prize structure.
Look at the game as a whole, across all platforms, identify issues that can be fixed once and for everyone across the entire game spectrum. All platforms have common servers and services, concentrate on those first, you'll be more successful and I can't think of anything more common OR essential than the Global.
Consider this is coming from someone who has no use for or has competed in a Global since June (in a sense I've been on a permanent Global boycott); that doesn't preclude the fact that I am in a minority.
It also doesn't prevent my giving pertinent advice when appropriate.
Complex Minds Require Challenging Games ... SCORPION
I've stepped off the treadmill last month for two weeks, and will do so again this month for a week or so with no great impact. Like I say, you end up with an opponent based on your weapon power. I understand with super vip buy-ins, you end up with maxed out tier/drone bots, so, also a treadmill? My Tier 12 player too could be considered as a throw back. He too is regularly saving up whatever weapon is in global to craft next month.
Like I mentioned 2 posts back, if you'd like to make it more concise, I'll be glad to put it in. If you want it as is now, I'll do that as well. Just saying, it seems a bit fuzzy to me, maybe it's not.
I've followed every post you, Bradr, concerned, and most others make about the global events and understand with the extreme volume difference iOS and Google Play have, the competition for free weapons is broken. So, I'm open to input. The same volume impact is slowly coming to Amazon, too.
By the way, any advances in communicating with your new clan? My guess is they're only concerned with your PvP output as a new member...
I've stepped off the treadmill last month for two weeks, and will do so again this month for a week or so with no great impact. Like I say, you end up with an opponent based on your weapon power. I understand with super vip buy-ins, you end up with maxed out tier/drone bots, so, also a treadmill? My Tier 12 player too could be considered as a throw back. He too is regularly saving up whatever weapon is in global to craft next month.
Like I mentioned 2 posts back, if you'd like to make it more concise, I'll be glad to put it in. If you want it as is now, I'll do that as well. Just saying, it seems a bit fuzzy to me, maybe it's not.
I've followed every post you, Bradr, concerned, and most others make about the global events and understand with the extreme volume difference iOS and Google Play have, the competition for free weapons is broken. So, I'm open to input. The same volume impact is slowly coming to Amazon, too.
By the way, any advances in communicating with your new clan? My guess is they're only concerned with your PvP output as a new member...
The competition for free weapons isn't what's broken, it's the prize structure that's broken. I could win a free weapon at any time of my choosing, with very little effort I might add ... but why would I want to? The weapons are obsolete. Not everyone can be like BRAD (he has deep pockets) I participate in a VIP event every 60 days or so, that's all. My recent was 10/22 and before that 08/23; it works out to $25-$50 per week depending on what's available.
I'll expand the League Event some more; I realize this doesn't happen on Amazon and probably seems a bit strange, but because nobody wants to RANK #1 (Global parts become useless), players are jockeying for RANKS #2 on up to get the parts they need. It really is bizarre in the closing moments where you'll see at times 9-10 players all with the same score.
You missed the mark on the Clan. First, most of them have slowed down (other than the top 2-3), secondly nobody is concerned with your output since all the members are Grade "A" killers, AP is never a problem ... you would definitely not fit in ***SMILES***
Complex Minds Require Challenging Games ... SCORPION
Well, I'm totally lost then. It seems every month, Glu comes out with a new tier, and a corresponding power weapon to compete with that tier as well as the next region. Currently, Tier 16, 16.5x weapons in prize rotation and the 16th region available. Again, with buying into a vip every month and being 1 or 2 powers ahead of the current tier I guess it would look like current weapons are obsolete. Just checking I see buy-in dates of 10/22, 9/25, 8/23, 7/30.
Well, I'm totally lost then. It seems every month, Glu comes out with a new tier, and a corresponding power weapon to compete with that tier as well as the next region. Currently, Tier 16, 16.5x weapons in prize rotation and the 16th region available. Again, with buying into a vip every month and being 1 or 2 powers ahead of the current tier I guess it would look like current weapons are obsolete. Just checking I see buy-in dates of 10/22, 9/25, 8/23, 7/30.
No ... you're at parity meaning the best you can hope for is an evenly matched battle; therefore every battle is a battle. Think of it this way, BEFORE CKS 3.0 in late May, everyone had a ball scoring, winning prizes, securing new weapons ... that was when the game was really fun. To achieve that, you must be 2 levels above the prevailing tier. Ironically, the game took a downward turn when GLU decided they wanted the new player $$$ and made PvP available to them.
Those odd-ball buyins are just for equipment mostly ... I only make purchases during VIP events. Weapons are every other month. Of course, you pick up lesser rated weapons along the way at times, they just sit there in my locker gathering dust.
Also FYI, VIP Events rarely feature LONG and SHORT range weapons together, so at times the buyins appear to be "staggered"; each LONG has a 60-90 day shelf life and SHORTS have roughly a 60 day shelf life, so there will be overlap at times. For example, the next VIP I will be interested in is for a TESLA. The HEAVY will most likely make it through to 2016.
Speaking of TIERS, at TIER 17 everything you thought you knew about weapons and tiers goes out the window. Without some REAL Global Prize structure reform, you and people like you who play for free, will be out in the cold, I'm afraid to say. I may quit myself ... we'll see soon enough.
Complex Minds Require Challenging Games ... SCORPION
Refreshing my memory, 6 months ago, I guess we were at Tier 10, you say we were playing for 12x weapons? I don't recall that.
Adding your point into the 1st post.
Could be ... it was awhile back but around the time I stopped competing in Global Events. I may have been referring to a VIP Event (something that was new to me at the time) so the language could have been ambiguous.
Complex Minds Require Challenging Games ... SCORPION
Comments
The affected assignees feel they have been left no other choice than to stage a "boycott" OR slow down in game play, suspending any further monetary expenditures until GLU acknowledges these issues exist and are working towards some sort of resolution.
It has been confirmed from the top Clan Leaders through chat that the Amazon and iOS Leagues are planning to;
Spend No Gold on Global this Event And a Cease Fire!
I'd like to hear from Clan Leaders on Contract Killer: Sniper to list their grievances, and what they'd like GLU to respond to. This will include some of the following;
1. VIP prizes, Milestones, Clan Prizes all need to be updated!
2. Resync errors, and crashes need to be fixed!
3. Parts - unfinished parts should be available in the store, or available another way.
4. Loss of account during, recover and starting on square one needs to be corrected.
What do you want accomplished by this halt of game play? What are your plans?
Send me a private message if you want to remain anonymous.
Clans heard from with members agreeing to the boycott;
1. ComeGetSome
2. Elites
3. ForceOfOne
4. Hawks
5. Golden
6. Murica
Links to Clan Responses;
Message from COMEGETSOME Clan http://ggnbb.glu.com/showthread.php?...l=1#post409895
Elites Confirmation of Participation http://ggnbb.glu.com/showthread.php?...l=1#post410130
(This post Updated during the week by decisions of the leaders)
THIS HAS ALSO BEEN SENT AS A PRIVATE MESSAGE TO HANDLES : 11-11-2015 11:01 AM
At some point during the global, I'd like to get some feedback on the ranking of grievances in order of importance. I'm still somewhat surprised that players aren't as vocal on the forum about this as they are in Chat. Wish I had younger fingers to tap out quick questions on Global Chat. Facebook is coming in very handy for my clan discussing this, but Global is hit or miss.
I had one more addition that I think would benefit most; during the match selection process, it would be beneficial to see the Level # of the target.
When I was Tier 7-9, that was a major hindrance to knowing if a choice was defeatable, or as I mentioned in another thread, bullet proof with equivalent powered weapons to tier matchup.
I was just alerted that one of the players in my group had trouble killing a target with Level 156! Did someone get to download a new region?
None of the usual top groups are listed in the Clan Leaderboards for this event. We had some chatter this morning and last night trying to contact one of the members (even going so far as to send him a challenge message), but he and one other did not listen. They have been ejected from the group, and will get invites to return later.
One exception is the group SilentButDeadly. If anyone can contact this group, please do so. Obviously they don't have the respect or honor of the Amazon community. Maybe they don't communicate to others, could be a bunch of younger kids?
Everyone I spot checked in the top 30 except for this group did not have an affiliation as I would expect.
NO WORD from HANDLES as yet, but that's to be expected; it will take a few cycles before anyone at GLU will take notice, So we continue the boycott of the current Global; if we don't get a response then we boycott again next cycle ... if no response is forthcoming, then we boycott TWO Global Events until we get some sort of indication that GLU is addressing these issues and communicating the same, here on this forum.
Keep it together TRY_AGAIN ... this is our last and best chance to realize change.
So I'm in and will take this as far as I possibly can and maybe they'll surprise me ... we shall see.
So refresh my memory again ... what's the purpose of clans? There's drone rocket launcher parts up for grabs (I really need more weapons parts). Currently the MARAUDERS are RANK #1 at 65,000+ AP and RUSSIASILA is RANK #2 at 63,000+ AP @ 2 DAYS 21 HOURS REMAINING.
The next clan is around 35,000+ AP and the infamous SHARPSHOOTERS (the cheat/hack braggers) are at 14,000+ AP (being exiled is no fun I guess).
From what I can tell, these guys fight like hell, take home a drone part and move on ... what am I missing here? I suppose a drone part is better than a gun part ... at least I can use the drone part.
*** SMILES ***
You've named the only physical benefit of Clans, the Global Clan Leaderboard competition for drone parts. I only saw some drone parts on MIRN that were useful back then, my clan doesn't hit no.1 that often with the current gold spending amounts of other clans. It's mainly a social gathering, and the bonds can be quite strong with many in a group with good communication. Find out if they have a Facebook group (think Bradr's group had some external chat mechanism that didn't have the persistence problem of current in-game Clan Chat.)
Currently my group is forming a press release about the Boycott - should help me with refining the 1st post since I've received very little help with it. Like I've said before, I like the Google Docs spreadsheet that keeps daily track of our groups VP stats, helps me see where I fit in the group at any day in the global. But I doubt many other leaders do that, or at least make it group public. But, many do relay group rankings to check who's performing best, and who needs to be pruned for poor performance.
The Amazon Boycott is still going very well. All the top all-time groups are out of the global top 30 list this event, except for the Silentbutdeadly and Browncoats who have their own agenda I guess. They have lost all respect and honor with the groups that are serious about making this game better and are sacrificing to do so. The number one clan Forceofone has done an exemplary job of self control and being committed to this effort. I'd still like to hear from their leader to polish the 1st post.
Speaking of sacrificing, it is very difficult to see 3 energy sitting in the meter and ignore it! Then to watch all these new names and clans rise to the top of the event is maddening to say the least. When someone has pushed that "Find Target" button over 20,000 times, the Pavlov's response has been ingrained, thank you GLU? I'd turn off the device if it weren't for checking clan chat.
(btw, sent you an email, Scorpion)
Let me check my messages.
No messages from try_again ... may I suggest that you try_again?
Nothing on gmail either ...
If I can somehow convince these gents of our intentions, then we should have all the pressure we'll need. I figure these guys are good for $10K maybe $20K a week.
At least they're being cordial and going out of their way to speak "broken" English.
I'll keep you posted ...
Regardless of how they play the game, the mechanism is subject to the same limitations, restarts, crashes, etc. You want change then you need leverage. These guys spend more in one Global by themselves than all of Amazon combined.
Get with the program ... you want change or are you just playing with yourself and wasting our time?
Everyone speaks the language of GREEN.
1) Account backup/restore: When you are encouraged/expected to invest real-world money into playing an online game, there needs to be a reliable, documented process for backing up and restoring your account when there's a problem. Some people have been able to delete their game, resinstall from the cloud, and have their accounts restore just fine. Others have been reset to zero with the release of an update (in my clan alone, we lost at least 2 players who lost their accounts to the FB update). This leads me to the second issue.
2) Documentation: The Home > Settings > Customer Care docs needs to be expanded (to include issues like account recovery), and they need to be reviewed and updated periodically. Updating documentation isn't fun, but it's vital that documentation be correct for the current app version when customers are having problems.
I'd also like to see a user guide added, as well as a public list of known issues and their priorities. Right now, I think GLU has a customer relations problem because people are having problems, but don't know what (if anything) is being worked on, or an estimate of when the their problems might be resolved.
3) Random crashes are a big issue for some players. Personally, I'm not experiencing a lot of crashes anymore, but I know that some people in my clan are. Part of the problem may be the diverse pool of Android hardware and O/S versions, some may be that updates aren't getting fully applied (I experienced this a while back; doing a Kindle HDX force shutdown/restart cleared my crashing issue), and some of it may be memory leaks or overly high resource requirements.
That's what's most important to address for me.
My clan, ComeGetSome in the Amazon group is boycotting this week's global entirely, no play, not just no gold spending. A couple members who didn't want to adhere to that have been (temporarily) booted. If there's another boycott, there's been discussions about making any separations permanent -- we're serious about wanting changes.
Right now 1st place is 19310, 8th place is already flirting with Gold league at 8437. So it looks as if players have just shifted games and are still spending.
I still see all the respected highest ranked VP groups NOT listed in this Global PvP Clan Leaderboard top 30. They have sacrificed their usual time and money and put off their enjoyment and competition for this event. They truly want change, and want it now.
We can't be focused on the rogue uncaring or unknowing players, or other games, This Game Must Be Fixed!
This leads my major problem, I've been reminded that the top post that I've tried to polish is still woefully and poorly worded. I've had many suggestions that I've tried to include and perfect in the list of grievances, but am told by many they are still confused as to purpose and expectations.
NOTE TO COMUNITY:
If you can help to make the 1st post in this thread more meaningful, more succinct, and have more impact to GLU's management when they come to check the forum as to why the profits have fallen, either post or PM me! If you don't have an account, I can be reached at "Refuse at Null dot Net" (punctuation spelled to thwart spam bots).
I'm in obvious need of help, thanks.
Thanks to all of you who have expressed your good wishes for my mother's recovery. I appreciate it very much. It has been touch and go for several days, but her condition improved late yesterday and hopefully she will be released from the hospital soon. Thanks again for your expressions of concern. I will continue to spend a lot of time with her and when she is released from the hospital, I will have to see to it that she gets home and settled, but I will try to check in from time to time.
(1) Sudden, unexpected game restarts and exits resulting in a whole host of issues ranging from delays in loading the game to lost rewards and diamonds to broken win streaks. These include content updates, re-sync errors. lost server connections, etc. What's more, at times the message(s) being displayed mislead the player into believing there's an "Internet Connection" problem when none exists.
(2) CKS game client either flooding a given device's frame buffer or incorrectly detecting a given device's limitations with regards to video frame processing capabilities. This results in dropped video frames causing stuttering or choppy video. Extreme cases result in video frame freezing and game crashes.
(3) Global Events: before the latest update to CKS, Global Events were essentially scheduled and expected for the following weapons, in the following order: HEAVY WEAPON, ASSAULT RIFLE, TESLA and SNIPER RIFLE. Recently there have been cases when repeated prizes offering the same weapons class, repeated HEAVIES or SNIPERS for example. There have also been instances when an entire class of weapon has been omitted form the rotation, TESLA for example. Since weapons rating is integral to success at a given TIER LEVEL, missing a weapon such as a TESLA results in reduced success against opponents at the prevailing tier and can negatively affect the length of time to acquire said weapons, making them obsolete before they can be effectively deployed.
(4) VIP Events: these events have become so out of sync with the realities of game play, it practically boggles the mind. The prizes offered here range from weapons rated up to 3 levels BELOW the prevailing tier to outright duplication of events only 2 weeks apart. This can only be attributed to a lack of planning and foresight.
(5) League Events: an ongoing issue from v3.1.x, I believe, at least since late July. Top weapon prize being of the nature that it was never offered in the associated (preceding) Global Event. To compete for such prizes would essentially dictate foregoing any progress made during the 4-day Global Event and require the player to finish RANK #1 in all 3 League Events. I cannot adequately categorize how asinine this structure is to League Event Awards. To make matters worse, the 2nd RANKING prizes, for those who actually want to use the "parts" awarded in the Global Event, are so structured that players are no longer "competing" for the highest possible rank, but rather cautiously "soft stepping" around each other for fear of outscoring each other. What possible sense can this make?
(6) To reiterate what PYTHON mentioned earlier, migrating to a new device of the same class (iPhone to iPhone for example) OR recovering a corrupted profile should be an integral part of the game synchronization function. Players are being forced to start from scratch through no fault of their own.
I consider these "critical" and is only a single perspective from a single platform. These do not include the numerous other glitches and bugs that should be documented separately. Your feedback is welcome.
When BRAD and I discuss these game play glitches, it most always concluded with, "Yeah, I know ... put it on the list". I have yet to see a published List of Grievances, maybe this will jump start the process ... just take it, add to it, run with it.
This (as well as any additions) should be placed on POST #1. Some minor changes to the existing language, drop the clan links to other posts in this thread, along with incorporating this list should do the trick.
**SMILES**
For the globals, it's been an annoyance on Amazon, but not a hindrance. Since you are matched up depending on your weapon power, while you may end up with a lower pay structure, it doesn't effect your win rate. And since everyone that can compete for the weapon available ends up in the same boat, it's a wash. The silver league events are not a big problem that I've heard of either, there are many that can play a full day and go for the 100 gold, so of the top players (which usually max out around the low 100-150 level) only a few try for the top prize, and can do so all 3 days in a row.
If you could put your point (5) in a more concise way to present to the management, I will be glad to add it in. It seems a bit fuzzy to my poor verbal abilities. And yes, I'm probably more unclear than you in my 1st post. It just didn't seem like something that GLU management might easily relate to. And thank you so much for your input.
I hope I'm not completely bungling/butchering this topic. It's not like we can have a meeting, talk over point by point with the appropriate wording and vote on the order to come to a common presentation.
Yeah I know everyone on Amazon gets gun parts without doing much, BUT ...
Keep this in mind, the Global PvP is the core from which all else in this game is derived; if it is "malfunctioning" nothing else will work to our liking. Players do not currently compete for prizes because it makes no sense to compete for prizes; that's not the way it was nor is it what was intended. You yourself, as well as others, have been complaining about Bronze League and gun parts for as long as I can remember.
The Globals are so screwed up that nobody wants to talk about it anymore and I can't blame them for that. The real irony here is that the Global prize structure is probably something that GLU can remedy in short order since it's nothing more than plugging a few table values somewhere. The other most notable complaints are software related and require an effort that GLU is (has) not been willing to commit resources to as yet and will probably never be fixed, at least not in a timely fashion.
There is no stone tablet that dictates all of the top prizes MUST be gun parts in Globals ... Hmmm
Game play related issues ARE something GLU can rectify and is something we should emphasize in our grievances, in my opinion. To demand things that are hard may be appropriate, but to move an elephant like GLU, requires we start at the core and move on from there.
... and why aren't these "Alphas" speaking for themselves? or in the very least posting their own views and comments?
It's rather difficult to respect or assist phantoms ...
Just because you're getting a gun part doesn't necessarily mean the Global is functioning properly. You need to start thinking "Globally", meaning outside the small minority that is Amazon. GLU is not going to address Amazon specific issues unless they are truly "Amazon LLC" specific, at least not in our "gaming" lifetime.
You've been playing long enough to realize that competing for TOP 30 / 10 prizes is a never ending run on a treadmill that serves no purpose other than to keep you coming back for more of the same. You must also realize these weapons are obsolete the moment you open the box; THIS is the change that is required and should be demanded to the Global prize structure.
Look at the game as a whole, across all platforms, identify issues that can be fixed once and for everyone across the entire game spectrum. All platforms have common servers and services, concentrate on those first, you'll be more successful and I can't think of anything more common OR essential than the Global.
Consider this is coming from someone who has no use for or has competed in a Global since June (in a sense I've been on a permanent Global boycott); that doesn't preclude the fact that I am in a minority.
It also doesn't prevent my giving pertinent advice when appropriate.
Like I mentioned 2 posts back, if you'd like to make it more concise, I'll be glad to put it in. If you want it as is now, I'll do that as well. Just saying, it seems a bit fuzzy to me, maybe it's not.
I've followed every post you, Bradr, concerned, and most others make about the global events and understand with the extreme volume difference iOS and Google Play have, the competition for free weapons is broken. So, I'm open to input. The same volume impact is slowly coming to Amazon, too.
By the way, any advances in communicating with your new clan? My guess is they're only concerned with your PvP output as a new member...
The competition for free weapons isn't what's broken, it's the prize structure that's broken. I could win a free weapon at any time of my choosing, with very little effort I might add ... but why would I want to? The weapons are obsolete. Not everyone can be like BRAD (he has deep pockets) I participate in a VIP event every 60 days or so, that's all. My recent was 10/22 and before that 08/23; it works out to $25-$50 per week depending on what's available.
I'll expand the League Event some more; I realize this doesn't happen on Amazon and probably seems a bit strange, but because nobody wants to RANK #1 (Global parts become useless), players are jockeying for RANKS #2 on up to get the parts they need. It really is bizarre in the closing moments where you'll see at times 9-10 players all with the same score.
You missed the mark on the Clan. First, most of them have slowed down (other than the top 2-3), secondly nobody is concerned with your output since all the members are Grade "A" killers, AP is never a problem ... you would definitely not fit in ***SMILES***
No ... you're at parity meaning the best you can hope for is an evenly matched battle; therefore every battle is a battle. Think of it this way, BEFORE CKS 3.0 in late May, everyone had a ball scoring, winning prizes, securing new weapons ... that was when the game was really fun. To achieve that, you must be 2 levels above the prevailing tier. Ironically, the game took a downward turn when GLU decided they wanted the new player $$$ and made PvP available to them.
Those odd-ball buyins are just for equipment mostly ... I only make purchases during VIP events. Weapons are every other month. Of course, you pick up lesser rated weapons along the way at times, they just sit there in my locker gathering dust.
Also FYI, VIP Events rarely feature LONG and SHORT range weapons together, so at times the buyins appear to be "staggered"; each LONG has a 60-90 day shelf life and SHORTS have roughly a 60 day shelf life, so there will be overlap at times. For example, the next VIP I will be interested in is for a TESLA. The HEAVY will most likely make it through to 2016.
Speaking of TIERS, at TIER 17 everything you thought you knew about weapons and tiers goes out the window. Without some REAL Global Prize structure reform, you and people like you who play for free, will be out in the cold, I'm afraid to say. I may quit myself ... we'll see soon enough.
Adding your point into the 1st post.
Could be ... it was awhile back but around the time I stopped competing in Global Events. I may have been referring to a VIP Event (something that was new to me at the time) so the language could have been ambiguous.