Distorted Ship Shard

Prev13456
So firstly, this is not a complaint about ships in general, more about a specific shard. The following https://www.reddit.com/r/SWGalaxyOfHeroes/comments/5f26t7/abnormally_competitive_ship_arena_shard/ was posted a short while after ships was launched and the basic theme of the post was:
Ship shards were determined by start date, player level and arena power (similar to the calculation that drives GW nodes)
The above worked for most player start dates given it would only have a slight bias towards creating slightly more active or less active shards
However, for players who started in July-September 2016, the calculation failed because it put a disproportionate amount of both active players and spenders into one shard given only players ranking high enough in their arena shards would lead them to qualify for this shard
While only CG or EA can give tangible data on shard activity, here are a few data points to give people an indication of the competitiveness of this shard:
Recently counted around 10 players with a GP above 3 million on this shard, in addition there are several more approaching this figure. The top 50 by GP would rank as a top 5 guild
Players who finish top 3 at their payouts typically have to battle up from ranks below 70 every day which often requires multiple refreshes. My worst experience was going to bed at rank five and waking up 144, others have woken-up even lower
I'm on a shard chat with north of 50 people, there are many who rank highly in their arena shards who have simply given up on this shard. Even with mass coordination, scheming and collusion, this shard has become a real source of frustration given the effort required on a daily basis to maintain rank
If everyone was in the same boat it would not be such an issue. However, because this shard took in so many active players, other shards from the same vintage are much quieter and players can seemingly hold rank only fighting a fraction of the battles. With the new crystal rewards implemented, it seems grossly unfair that certain players will be effectively inheriting several thousand more crystals a month for significantly less effort
I would greatly appreciate a response on this issue. The fair thing to do would be to redistribute players or simply place them on the same shard as per arena

Replies

  • Hahaha dude I'm in that shard. Ive dropped from 100 to 800 overnight before. The ship shard is rigged so hard. I share your pain. It is funny seeing a lot of my guild mates make top 5 and hold it over night with worse ship rosters than the guys in our mid 500 range. With the announcement of crystal rewards makes ya wonder if it's worth the struggle anymore.
  • Having now been part of this shard for almost a year, it can be described as game breaking for many people. It requires well over an hour of free time and often more than two refreshes to hit the top spots. You then need to organise payouts as there are typically many players climbing at once. It's not just the number of big spenders. it's the fact that every player who was very active from this vintage is in this shard. While a healthy level of competition is fine, this shard simply fosters frustration
  • is there a way to swap shards? I'd gladly start in bottom 1000 if it meant having a fair shard. Really though dropping so much just made zeta farming impossible and the crystals on top just make it more frustrating.
  • It does seem wrong that guild mates in other shards can hold top places with easy worse rosters.

    Every one of us in this shard is effectively being punished for investing time and money in the game when others are allowed a much easier time in their shards.

    It would be fantastic if the devs could look in to options to address the unfairness the algorithm has placed on us.

    I would like to suggest a Dev contacts us to talk over options.

    I'm dirkbrightblade on line chat and Dirk Brightblade in game.. I know we as paying players would really welcome a chance to give constructive feedback about this to the devs. And it may help balance the game better if a solution can be found. This has to be a good thing because we have had players quit the game because of this issue.
  • To elaborate on Dirk's point, no one is specifically complaining about other shards being easier, just that the calculation created an immense bias to active players resulting in possibly the most active shard in the game. It's an incredibly sad thing that many players on this shard either have quit or no longer play ships as a result - for the long-term health of players on this shard, please can we get a solution to this. The reward changes have made the shard even more problematic causing many to consider the daily effort. Some shards are randomly more active but this is brutal and by calculation
  • Not sure if this is my shard or not, but sounds a lot like it.

    One day I looked at current arena rank of the fleet arena top 50. The average arena rank was 7 (remember this was a snapshot, not looking at best finish but where they currently we at one moment). The mode was 1. Standard deviation was around 5.

    Basically that means the most common rank was 1st and 95% were under 20 at that moment.

    My fleet is better than most in my guild, yet I struggle to finish below 500. Zeta is essentially an unattainable material dependent 100% on the fickle RNG of the ship challenge 3x per week. The now added crystal bonus is even more of a slap in the face.

  • Im sure if (as it sounds) there are that many spenders, whales etc in this shard, that the devs will bend over backwards to ensure you are all placed into easier shards, where you can happily take 1st every day. Keep us posted on developments.
  • Yeah, they won't change it I'm sure. It just sucks to see everyone else get a certain amount of reward for lesser effort.
  • So, for once, the f2p players catch a bone and the whales have a problem with it? Realistically, it only seems fair to put the whales with whales and the f2p with f2p.
  • @Crazymatt77

    I am also on that shard, it is not whales with whales. It is the most active top performing players all put into one shard together, this will naturally include a disproportionate amount of whales, dolphins and the best performing f2p players.
  • 7* Tie Reaper ranked in the 90s...
    I have four others (that I know of at my payout) - our combined GP is touching 15m
  • I am on that shard too. I have just given up ships . I upgrade them for Tb, take my 800 rewards everyday and buy zeta mat that's all. I have reached top 100 two weeks ago and loosed 500ranks ( 100=>600 ) two days later ! Even if my rooster is maxed.
    ironically my friend who started 1 week later than me is always on top 50 on another shard and dont even have his ships maxed.
  • We need a developer to read this chat and see the issue here. Almost every active player from this vintage is in the same shard. Others are borderline dormant - this is incredibly inefficient and is ruining true player experience in ships.
  • @CG_Kozispoon @CG_RyDiggs Appreciate there has historically been a policy of not moving players on shards but I urge you to look at this particular ship shard. I'm on a line group with more than 50 people who are all exasperated by this shard. If there's a way to provide a normal experience for players it would be hugely appreciated. This issue is not new and several posts were made following the launch of ships. However, with the change to rewards it has made a singnificanr problem materially worse.
  • Aah so this is why I have always been stuck in rank 1300 or something. Did start in July 2016 so I suppose I'm in that shard too.
  • Im in this shard also (I see you in 34th right now @Dirk_Brightblade). I dont know if i should be happy or sad to hear that it wasnt just me having trouble in this shard. I started in early July, so i just barely got into it. I gave up on ships pretty quickly but just started working on them again due to tb. Im currently at rank 1443 so i have a long road ahead to start getting decent rewards.
  • so in conclusion you want to ruin the game for newer and thus lesser equiped players by getting redistributed to their shard and doing exaclty the same to those poor guys what's now happening to you ?
  • What about divide our shard in 3 or 4 different shards ?
  • AJRSuperstar
    92 posts Member
    edited October 2017
    J0HND03 wrote: »
    so in conclusion you want to ruin the game for newer and thus lesser equiped players by getting redistributed to their shard and doing exaclty the same to those poor guys what's now happening to you ?

    No I do not - the problem with this shard is that it contains too many active players rather than simply being able to win. In most shards you can advance at your payout but this is like walking into a gale force wind. My solutions were to redistribute these players amongst other shards of the same vintage or simply relaunch the shards with the same players as on our own arena shards. I'm not looking for an easy shard, just not something that effectively kills the game given it requires hours of effort on a daily basis.
  • J0HND03 wrote: »
    so in conclusion you want to ruin the game for newer and thus lesser equiped players by getting redistributed to their shard and doing exaclty the same to those poor guys what's now happening to you ?

    In conclusion, we want the same experience as the other 99% of people who play this game. How do you even compete in a shard with 22 7* chimera leads (in the top 50, can't count beyond that) in THE FIRST DAY it is available? I don't have thousands of dollars to throw at this like they do.
  • Gauderio wrote: »
    J0HND03 wrote: »
    so in conclusion you want to ruin the game for newer and thus lesser equiped players by getting redistributed to their shard and doing exaclty the same to those poor guys what's now happening to you ?

    In conclusion, we want the same experience as the other 99% of people who play this game. How do you even compete in a shard with 22 7* chimera leads (in the top 50, can't count beyond that) in THE FIRST DAY it is available? I don't have thousands of dollars to throw at this like they do.

    Lol the answer is you can't. There are a lot of 7* capital ships in the 100-200 range already.
  • All I want is a broadly similar challenge to other players on my Arena Shard. Our shard is beyond a normal level of activity and other players on my Arena Shard seem to be at the other extreme. This needs to change for the sanity of everyone on this shard.
  • Boo hoo!
    Tons of other people just want to play the game but have to deal with harder-than-normal areas. GW, squad arena etc.
    They get shouted down with ' improve your roster/ you're on that shard forever/spend more/blah blah blah
    That's the game.
    Play it, or quit.
  • slugbahr wrote: »
    Boo hoo!
    Tons of other people just want to play the game but have to deal with harder-than-normal areas. GW, squad arena etc.
    They get shouted down with ' improve your roster/ you're on that shard forever/spend more/blah blah blah
    That's the game.
    Play it, or quit.

    You clearly are not part of this shard. I am, unfortunately. It is completely distorted and has probably 1000 very active players. It’s just plain unfair that people who played longer than us can camp at first place with a standard fleet and we have to struggle to stay in the top 500. It’s so absurd, believe me! There are tons of 7 star capital ships in the top 500 right now.

    I went full F2P because of this shard with the latest update and was close to quitting entirely.
  • Antares wrote: »
    slugbahr wrote: »
    Boo hoo!
    Tons of other people just want to play the game but have to deal with harder-than-normal areas. GW, squad arena etc.
    They get shouted down with ' improve your roster/ you're on that shard forever/spend more/blah blah blah
    That's the game.
    Play it, or quit.

    You clearly are not part of this shard. I am, unfortunately. It is completely distorted and has probably 1000 very active players. It’s just plain unfair that people who played longer than us can camp at first place with a standard fleet and we have to struggle to stay in the top 500. It’s so absurd, believe me! There are tons of 7 star capital ships in the top 500 right now.

    I went full F2P because of this shard with the latest update and was close to quitting entirely.

    This is your reason.
    Others have different reasons.
    When you don't support others, why should others support you?
    The top 1% want the devs to do things their way, or maintain the status quo, for their benefit. Well, they can maintain this status quo, too.
  • AJRSuperstar
    92 posts Member
    edited October 2017
    There's no need for anyone to get antagonistic regarding this issue. The problem here is unlike GW which ultimately gets easier for players or arena which can be randomly more challenging (or easier), this shard is structurally broken because of the number of active players included. There's a lot of marine biomass in this shard of all varieties, the problem is it comes down to investing too much time on a daily basis. There are clearly thousands of active players affected by this issue, it is effectively a bug given the calculation oversight made here. I just hope the developers take they time to analyse the data and see that this shard is so far from the median that it warrants a reshuffle
  • Antares
    686 posts Member
    edited October 2017
    Another example of how stacked this shard is:

    https://imgur.com/a/lIkoG

    Maxed team at #289...
  • Aren't the only players in a ship shard the ones who actually activated ships?
    Or did every account (even inactives) everyone get assigned to one when they were introduced into the game?
  • I think what happened was everyone was assigned to a shard based on level regardless of whether they were active. So on older shards, there would be a number on inactive players assigned. The problem on this shard is inactive players wouldn't make it as they wouldn't have hit the requisite level. This shard truly is the perfect storm of all the stars being aligned against the players. In summary:
    - Only very active players would qualify for this shard given selection criteria
    - Inactives wouldn't make it given ship start date
    - Therefore the shard suffers from a chronic imbalance which means it takes too much time to compete on a daily basis for most players
  • So, accounts were allocated basically randomly, and you guys got the short end of the stick, so to speak. Tough.
    How many active accounts are there supposed to be on a shard? 20 (just enough for crystals)? 100? 180? 420? 666?

    GW takes too much time to compete on a daily basis FOR MOST PLAYERS.

    I still don't see why this particular situation warrants any more sympathy or attention than other things.
    Well, except for the size of your wallets.
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