11/12 Amazon Leagues BOYCOTT Gold
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Top Clan Leaders on Amazon and iOS Leagues are engaging in an Active Boycott to;
Spend No Gold on Global this Event And a Cease Fire!
The below List is compiled with the input of Clans and esteemed Users on Contract Killer: Sniper to list their game problems, and the demands they'd expect GLU to respond to.
Official List of Grievances:
1. Crashes and Resync errors need to be fixed!
Crash during PvP causes loss of win streak (typically an equivalence of 40 gold) and lost diamonds. Content update, server synch errors or "Internet Connection" problems when none exists on the client device all can result in loss of PvP tally and win streak losses.
2. Stuttering, choppy video and in extreme cases frame freezing resulting in game crashes.
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 and crashes.
3. 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.
4. Parts - make unfinished parts for weapons available in the store or in other ways.
Either buying and selling parts in the store or through clan trading or create universal parts in events to craft unfinished weapons.
5. VIP prizes, Milestones and Clan Prizes all need to be reviewed and updated!
Outdated amounts of diamonds, parts for outdated weapons, drone parts of little value
need to be updated for the current (now Tier 16) levels. Plan VIP events with a progressive release of higher powered weapons rather than duplication of events.
6. 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?
7. 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.
Clans heard from with members agreeing to the boycott;
1. ComeGetSome
2. Elites
3. ForceOfOne (Game Chat confirmation)
4. Hawks
5. Golden
6. Murica
7. Bravest
8. SilentDeath
Links to Responses;
Message from COMEGETSOME Clan
Elites Confirmation of Participation
PythonDjango Grievances
Concurence between Google Play and iOS groups for List of Grievences
(This post Updated during the week by decisions of the leaders)
Spend No Gold on Global this Event And a Cease Fire!
The below List is compiled with the input of Clans and esteemed Users on Contract Killer: Sniper to list their game problems, and the demands they'd expect GLU to respond to.
Official List of Grievances:
1. Crashes and Resync errors need to be fixed!
Crash during PvP causes loss of win streak (typically an equivalence of 40 gold) and lost diamonds. Content update, server synch errors or "Internet Connection" problems when none exists on the client device all can result in loss of PvP tally and win streak losses.
2. Stuttering, choppy video and in extreme cases frame freezing resulting in game crashes.
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 and crashes.
3. 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.
4. Parts - make unfinished parts for weapons available in the store or in other ways.
Either buying and selling parts in the store or through clan trading or create universal parts in events to craft unfinished weapons.
5. VIP prizes, Milestones and Clan Prizes all need to be reviewed and updated!
Outdated amounts of diamonds, parts for outdated weapons, drone parts of little value
need to be updated for the current (now Tier 16) levels. Plan VIP events with a progressive release of higher powered weapons rather than duplication of events.
6. 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?
7. 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.
Clans heard from with members agreeing to the boycott;
1. ComeGetSome
2. Elites
3. ForceOfOne (Game Chat confirmation)
4. Hawks
5. Golden
6. Murica
7. Bravest
8. SilentDeath
Links to Responses;
Message from COMEGETSOME Clan
Elites Confirmation of Participation
PythonDjango Grievances
Concurence between Google Play and iOS groups for List of Grievences
(This post Updated during the week by decisions of the leaders)
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Howdy, Stranger!
Comments
With regards to the prize structure, it's completely out of sync with the realities of game play. I brought this to HANDLES (GLU) attention way back in July. They made the Global worse than ever and it's been that way ever since; they also made some half a.s.s.e.d promises that they never delivered upon ... you know the drill. SMH This includes everything from weapons (obviously) to VIP Prizes. My personal most aggravating issue is the lack of drone fuses; they're the hardest of all to come by.
Spending on Global is down on IOS, my #15 finish cost me $70, which is well below my average Global cost of $100 to $120, so I suspect that if players are not boycotting, they are at least giving Glu less money.
The number one complaint in Elites, my clan, which is ranked #1 on the AT leaderboard, is the lame VIP offerings. So long as Glu has VIPs that offer no desirable weapons, lke the last 5 or 6 VIPs, players will buy in only what it takes for Global event PVP play. No member of my clan bought into the Super VIP the last two events which is very unusual.
In short, I don't expect to see a boycott on IOS, but I do believe that revenues on that platform will drop substantially unless the VIPs become attractive again.
One further problem, Glu now has two successor games to CKS, MIRN and Shiper X. Glu is clearly concentrating on these games now and any reduction on CKS revenue may only hasten it's demise, which might not be such a bad thing.
In closing, the mental image of someone whipping out a credit card in the midst of one of these miserable Global Events, is just too much for my sensibilities to endure; weeping uncontrollably now.
*** SMILES ***
Don't get me wrong, from GLU's POV the purchase is what counts. All I'm saying is that if you buy battles (energy) by spending GOLD on Monday, you cannot spend the same GOLD again on Friday, that's all. It would inaccurately double the amount of GOLD spent during that week.
Now you might choose to state I spent GOLD on this particular Global, but in reality you spent it during the VIP Event. It might be splitting hairs, but it's the only way to accurately account for the expense. Energy should be treated in the same way as anything else. You might want to account, and probably do this anyway, for the expense by noting I just purchased 2,000 energy credits for the month, that's cool and I have no problem with it. Personally any energy credits I accumulate (whether purchased using GOLD or otherwise) are expended during League Events.
Another way to look at it is let's say I purchase GRENADES during a VIP Event for the entire month. I cannot then state I spend X amount of GOLD on a given GLOBAL by tossing 10 GRENADES; to do so would be inaccurate.
As to hearing from the Amazonians, and their intentions, I started this thread in anticipation of any actual positing. It's possible, they don't even have accounts on this forum, so we shall see. It may very well end with a short dip on the Amazon radar.
Another point to blur the picture are Amazon coins. I have some I use on different games, and purchased at Amazon on sale a while back. But, GLU doesn't see those until actually used in-game to purchase gold with the coins, so unless the player mistakenly thinks the purchase was already entered on Glu's ledger, no influence would result.
Understood ... so in reality they're not planning a "Boycott" at all, they're simply "stockpiling" energy credits for a future Global Event. Completely misleading and why I say GOLD is spent when GOLD is spent. If may be fashionable, even noble to state I am on a boycott this week, meanwhile you have already stockpiled energy credits last week. LMAO
The only true "boycott" that will result in any change whatsoever, is to NOT purchase any GOLD at all. To stockpile assets now in anticipation of participating in a boycott at some future date is not only self defeating, it's an overt attempt to mislead.
BTW I wouldn't take anything learned via clan chat to mean much when it comes to the reality of a given situation .... to be blunt ... people lie.
I'll see this global, but I don't expect the usual top 5 to 10 place finishers building up their free energy busting leads.
As a collective leader of two groups, we have spent thousands of dollars, and thousands of hours on Contract Killer: Sniper.
On a group as a whole basis, we are simply willing to walk away from the game as evidenced by our boycott beginning this next Global Event on, as many in theses 2 groups already have.
We expect the game to operate without crashes and resync errors caused by the GLU servers.
We expect the accounts of multiple players we've witnessed not loosing their accounts to the ether since the recent Facebook update rollout.
We would appreciate some vehicle for account revitalization of those who have lost accounts other than starting the game from the very beginning.
To a lesser degree, we expect shorter load times, and more customization. [I'd add, being able to delete unused and completed missions, unused weapons, and unneeded drone parts in order to speed up mission play and load times]
We'd particularly expect to have responsive customer service and do not wish to hear that particular game functions will not be developed or repaired further. [I paraphrased here]
I would like to extend an invitation to other clans to join and discuss the list of problems and desired solutions to this thread, in particular, FORCEOFONE, SILENTDEATH, CANISLUPIS, and BRAVEST clans. Without your input, GLU will not here us in total!
Now how do you get GLU's attention? It's hard to organize a boycott when everyone continues to play ... so EVERYONE affected must STOP PLAYING. How do you enforce that as a clan leader?
If enough clans got together and stopped playing, then they might get somewhere. Anything short of that is futile.
I would be happy to show my solidarity with the cause, lord knows I'm bored out of my mind anyway ... keep us posted.
Bradr752, I very much appreciate the approval from the number 2 AT iOS leader! And to both of you for the "solidarity" support.
We are all in this complicated game together, and I again stress the wish to hear from clan leaders! If you are serious about changing your usual way of play, then you also need to explain in your words what you feel would improve the game and your clan's performance!
PM me if you'd prefer that I post your replies, I will keep your message in confidence without any paraphrasing.
Hi Bradr,
I must tell you that my game is very far from beeing perfect. I am playing on iPad Air2 IOS 9.1 version. Since I have updated my version from 8 to 9 I am continously suffering from very bad freezings, laggings and glitches. I am usually loosing my streaks many times during globals due to these problems. I have complained to Glu's customer service, but their reply was just totally useless.
Dentaylor
All Game Play must stop for this to be effective else it's a waste of time and effort.
I know how hard it is to organize boycotts. I've tried a couple of times myself, only to find out I was the only one who wasn't playing. People are fickle ... yeah that sounds good, right on ... more times than not, it goes through one ear and out the other.
What I did hear last week was generally the effect of several leaders saying their groups will spend no gold this global, with a broad focus on the causes of the problems. Like you said before, it will be very hard to be meaningful while everyone continues to play, but that may be the only position we come up with.
If GLU sees a significant sudden hit to their bottom line at least for CKS, we will see a reaction. Hopefully, positive.
EDITED! Scorpion, the Clans on Amazon are in agreement with you, there will be no PvP matches played according to the leaders that have signed up!
What will get GLU's attention is when the servers report NO connections; the bottom line will take a few cycles to take hold. Believe me, game play stops or significant slow downs, GLU will take seriously ... if player connections continue as usual, nobody will notice or care.
For those with weak wills OR no staying power .... TURN THE DEVICE OFF ... LOL
That's Great ... if the Elites are on board and if they can convince other clans to join in, we may have something in play (no pun intended).
Even if they release CKS v4.x.x in time for the next Global, it will take a few weeks to determine what was fixed and what has been broken. I think the key is this first Global Boycott; if it takes, then extending the boycott will be much easier in the event the next CKS release falls flat.
There are now Global Chat messages with several top clans all agreeing to the boycott and calling for a cease fire. There should be some more additions by leaders soon to add to the reasoning of these actions.
I'd like to add that a common tactic of customer service and moderator response, is that the problems are being addressed, and the dev team is working on it. But then, when news such as the latest addition of "Clan Wars 1.0", and the previous update for the addition of Facebook, it seems clear that the focus is on developing the game to bring in more revenue and advertising. I don't have a problem with those goals, it's just that many problems have been swept under the rug for so long now!
**SMILES**
Wake me when TIER 17 is released.
I am glad to be able to help by relaying the message to the IOS clans. I hope that it helps. I was actually surprised at how ready players were to take action.
Bradr,
Let me ask you exactly which iOS clans have decided to make that boycott. I saw EMT's post on global chat but it was only a question to the top12 clans if they join to Golden in boycott. I haven't seen answering any of them. Before I am going to make any decision I would like to know who is in. Thanks a lot if you answer me.
Dentaylor
I have been busy all day and so I don't have a complete count, but at least Hawks, Golden, Elites and Murica are boycotting. I hope a bunch of individuals will join in as well for the long time good of the game.
For your reference, the following threads document how I've attempted to resolve gaming issues in the past, GLU's response to such requests, as well as how easily many of YOU dismissed these attempts in the past as an exercise in futility ... BUT ... something is different this time around; maybe it's timing? I don't know, however I feel this is the best (last) chance we have for getting any of this resolved and we can't mess this up !!!
08/19//15: http://ggnbb.glu.com/showthread.php?170366-Handles-Ios-league-events-day-3-hasn-t-started-What-s-up
08/03/15: http://ggnbb.glu.com/showthread.php?168972-Handles-Current-league-event-parts-awards-mistake-Or-not
07/26/15: http://ggnbb.glu.com/showthread.php?166743-HANDLES-GOOGLE-ANDROID-SCORING-vs-AWARDS
07/17/15: http://ggnbb.glu.com/showthread.php?158210-HANDLES-Global-PvP-AP-Totals-and-Weapon(s)-Parts-Awards
BOYCOTT TIMING: It may be too soon to boycott in the absence of a List of Grievances OR someone to spearhead this effort. It appears TRY_AGAIN and BRADR752 are excellent candidates, but until it has been formally agreed upon ... WE'RE NOT READY.
LIST OF GRIEVANCES: Without a "formal" List of Grievances (for lack of a better name) or Compilation of Gameplay Issues rated as CRITICAL (in the least) ... WE'RE NOT READY.
GRIEVANCE ADDRESSEE: Has anyone reached out to HANDLES and asked if he would be willing to present the "List of Grievances" to the appropriate folk over at GLU? I'm sure he would be willing to work with us, but until the question has been asked and answered ... WE'RE NOT READY.
The above concerns may seem elementary (they are to me anyways) but as everyone is scrambling to garner support and solidarity for the cause du jour, let's not shoot ourselves in the foot by overlooking the obvious.
Does any of this make any sense? Has any of this been shared or documented? ... If so, please share it with me, kind Sirs ...
Note, that this is an action to stop playing starting tomorrow as well as not spending money on the game for the duration of the event to let GLU know of our grievances and what how we'd like them to resolve and improve the game.
Scorpion, I'm trying to make the first post both a declaration of who's involved, and the grievances we'd like resolved.
I'm still waiting on clan leaders to post, some said they would, and I haven't heard from them yet. My clan's Facebook page is blocked while I'm at work, and without wi-fi, my only communication during the day is this forum and email.
At the risk of being spammed, I'll include the latter here with the obvious editing by the sender. "Refuse at Null dot Net".
The last thing I want to be recognized as, is a "community organizer". I am trying to compile the problems of the players and wishes of improving the game for this boycott action. It is a learning process for me, and I'm open to any input.
I can be like that 5 YO kid constantly hovering around you asking "as we there yet"? I know it can be annoying and for that I apologize.