Shardchat destroys fun

Replies

  • Jarvind wrote: »
    No amount of whining is going to make shard chats go away, and the developers don't have any real reason to come up with some elaborate scheme to make them impossible to set up.

    Either get used to them or don't play arena. Those are really your only options.

    Join a gang or quit. Great options 👍🏻
  • xxragnarjsxx
    244 posts Member
    edited March 2019
    Wow, lots of mixed reviews on here. Lol

    Look, the way you feel or don’t feel about a shard chat is pretty relative to your situation.

    Once upon a time before the 2nd Jedi Revan event, the players that held strong at the top...9 Times out of 10, were those that spent money. Who had the best mods. ...The best gear....etc
    Thanks to Revans return, “Joe Anybody” can climb to wherever they desire now. Making things much more competitive and complicated.
    Simply plug in HY for GK, and you can beat absolutely anybody.
    So now shard chats are catching some serious hate because ....now everyone is the “best in the shard,”, and deserves top spot daily.
    And the shard “mafia “ chats, are the “bad guys”.

    Shard chats. (For those that always have high gear and best mods and are competing with each other pre Revan) they are GREAT for them. Rather than stare at the phone all day to snipe someone, or get in heated games of “tag” , simple communication goes a long ways and makes it MUCH less stressful (as many have said already)
    It also makes the experience more fun, as you make connections and friends.

    For the “Joe Somebody “ that recently became the all mighty powerful shard climber....yeah sure, maybe you think it’s a club to “keep others down”, and that’s simply not true for most.
    You’re getting noticed now because like everyone else, you can now climb with ease. Why not take that time to communicate and meet new people.
    So maybe when the new meta team drops and you no longer can climb at will, they help you reach a higher payout.

    Or don’t. Enjoy being back in the 50-100 range when the newest pay to play toon drops.
    You do you.
    But don’t hate on people you don’t communicate with simple because they’ve been communicating with each other at the top for the past 2 years to make things incredibly less stressful

    Please bring DR soon CG
  • I have no problem with the chats that just establish payouts to benefit more people, but I can see a problem when groups gang up on individuals simply to exclude them.

    This guy got a point.
    If shardchat is used to keep an non-member out of top reward zone, wouldn't it be considered a bullying than strategy?
    Arena targetting should be based on ingame-power instead of politics.
    There is a reason why monopoly is forbidden in economics.
  • Nikoms565
    14242 posts Member
    Easybee wrote: »
    This is an anti-competitive practice that is the natural outcome of a system that can be passed off as poorly designed, but if left in place feeds spending. It's a game. It is fun when fair and competitive. Plotting together to game the system undermines that environment. In business, it is the stuff of lawsuits in the public interest. In government it is known as corruption. In school and sports it is known as cheating.

    It is none of the above. Cooperating together to maximize crystal payout for EVERYONE only undermines wasting crystals on refreshes to fight the same players repeatedly. Cooperating in the game mode is not illegal, immoral and doesn't "break" the game - it simply allows players to save crystals they would otherwise waste.

    You state that it is a game - and fun.

    I enjoy the game more, when I battle up to #1 (or #2...or #3, depending on whose turn it is to finish where), and can relax for the 10-20 minutes right before payout knowing I won't get sniped. To me, that is much more fun, then dumping crystals into refresh to battle the same people, every single day for 3 years straight - especially when there is virtually no skill in beating a bad AI.


    In game name: Lucas Gregory FORMER PLAYER - - - -"Whale blah grump poooop." - Ouchie

    In game guild: TNR Uprising
    I beat the REAL T7 Yoda (not the nerfed one) and did so before mods were there to help
    *This space left intentionally blank*
  • Nikoms565 wrote: »
    Easybee wrote: »
    This is an anti-competitive practice that is the natural outcome of a system that can be passed off as poorly designed, but if left in place feeds spending. It's a game. It is fun when fair and competitive. Plotting together to game the system undermines that environment. In business, it is the stuff of lawsuits in the public interest. In government it is known as corruption. In school and sports it is known as cheating.

    It is none of the above. Cooperating together to maximize crystal payout for EVERYONE only undermines wasting crystals on refreshes to fight the same players repeatedly. Cooperating in the game mode is not illegal, immoral and doesn't "break" the game - it simply allows players to save crystals they would otherwise waste.

    You state that it is a game - and fun.

    I enjoy the game more, when I battle up to #1 (or #2...or #3, depending on whose turn it is to finish where), and can relax for the 10-20 minutes right before payout knowing I won't get sniped. To me, that is much more fun, then dumping crystals into refresh to battle the same people, every single day for 3 years straight - especially when there is virtually no skill in beating a bad AI.


    💯
  • Nikoms565 wrote: »
    Easybee wrote: »
    This is an anti-competitive practice that is the natural outcome of a system that can be passed off as poorly designed, but if left in place feeds spending. It's a game. It is fun when fair and competitive. Plotting together to game the system undermines that environment. In business, it is the stuff of lawsuits in the public interest. In government it is known as corruption. In school and sports it is known as cheating.

    It is none of the above. Cooperating together to maximize crystal payout for EVERYONE only undermines wasting crystals on refreshes to fight the same players repeatedly. Cooperating in the game mode is not illegal, immoral and doesn't "break" the game - it simply allows players to save crystals they would otherwise waste.

    You state that it is a game - and fun.

    I enjoy the game more, when I battle up to #1 (or #2...or #3, depending on whose turn it is to finish where), and can relax for the 10-20 minutes right before payout knowing I won't get sniped. To me, that is much more fun, then dumping crystals into refresh to battle the same people, every single day for 3 years straight - especially when there is virtually no skill in beating a bad AI.


    You’re assuming shard chats are there to promote equality and maximise payouts.

    That is not the case in my experience.

    It’s bullying and exclusion, plain and simple.

    The game should be a level playing field.
  • xxragnarjsxx
    244 posts Member
    edited March 2019
    Please explain how the game could always be a “level playing field” when some players can drop tons of money on it and others can’t?

    Should shard chat be mean to you if you’re suddenly strongbad and can easy mirror climb? No.
    Mine has several that communicate that aren’t in the actual chat and climb undisturbed by the 2-3 year old whale /spenders chat.

    Maybe some just have a better experience than others with shard chats.
    If yours has been unpleasant with you, I’m sorry to hear that too.

    I just really hope CG brings the next paywall toon soon. Please CG.
  • . As soon as I would cross into the top 60, they were quick to knock me back out. And it was certainly a collective effort to do so.

    I highly doubt a shard chat is responsible for you being hit once you cross the top 60. Granted I can only speak for my own chats, but most chats have 20-30 people tops. The people in the chats are not concerned with defending the top 60/50/20, and make no concentrated effort to do so..

    It is only when a non-member breaches the top 10 that they are specifically targeted for removal.

  • Laz
    190 posts Member
    B0baf3tt wrote: »
    Laz wrote: »
    How do I find my shard chat?

    Direct message the guys in top 10 of your shard. Most likely one or more can point you in the right direction and give a link to discord if they will have you.

    So I have to send them friend requests first? Because the option to message them is grayed out.

  • xxragnarjsxx
    244 posts Member
    edited March 2019
    CG just needs to put this mirror “anyone can demolish anyone with Revan team” craziness to bed, and bring out the hard counter already.

    Please @CG_SBCrumb ...pull the trigger on the new hard counter toon, and end this mirror , everyone ate their wheaties and looks like Arnold now and can beat up on absolutely anyone with poor mods and poor gear, misery.
  • SirCrankz wrote: »
    Jarvind wrote: »
    No amount of whining is going to make shard chats go away, and the developers don't have any real reason to come up with some elaborate scheme to make them impossible to set up.

    Either get used to them or don't play arena. Those are really your only options.

    Those are Not the only options. You can destroy the mafia. In my particular case the winning is on the part of the Mafia (however ridiculous this may sound). In fact I beat them so hard, they start activating all their guildmasters, friends and friends of friends to stop me. They went as far to complain with CG employees to save them from the beating. But it shouldn't be that way and i get the OP completely.

    Lol. You didn't "win". CG won, and they thank you for your donation.
  • leef
    13458 posts Member
    SirCrankz wrote: »
    Jarvind wrote: »
    No amount of whining is going to make shard chats go away, and the developers don't have any real reason to come up with some elaborate scheme to make them impossible to set up.

    Either get used to them or don't play arena. Those are really your only options.

    Those are Not the only options. You can destroy the mafia. In my particular case the winning is on the part of the Mafia (however ridiculous this may sound). In fact I beat them so hard, they start activating all their guildmasters, friends and friends of friends to stop me. They went as far to complain with CG employees to save them from the beating. But it shouldn't be that way and i get the OP completely.

    Lol. You didn't "win". CG won, and they thank you for your donation.

    kinda depressing, but true.
    Save water, drink champagne!
  • Nikoms565
    14242 posts Member
    Nikoms565 wrote: »
    Easybee wrote: »
    This is an anti-competitive practice that is the natural outcome of a system that can be passed off as poorly designed, but if left in place feeds spending. It's a game. It is fun when fair and competitive. Plotting together to game the system undermines that environment. In business, it is the stuff of lawsuits in the public interest. In government it is known as corruption. In school and sports it is known as cheating.

    It is none of the above. Cooperating together to maximize crystal payout for EVERYONE only undermines wasting crystals on refreshes to fight the same players repeatedly. Cooperating in the game mode is not illegal, immoral and doesn't "break" the game - it simply allows players to save crystals they would otherwise waste.

    You state that it is a game - and fun.

    I enjoy the game more, when I battle up to #1 (or #2...or #3, depending on whose turn it is to finish where), and can relax for the 10-20 minutes right before payout knowing I won't get sniped. To me, that is much more fun, then dumping crystals into refresh to battle the same people, every single day for 3 years straight - especially when there is virtually no skill in beating a bad AI.


    You’re assuming shard chats are there to promote equality and maximise payouts.

    That is not the case in my experience.

    It’s bullying and exclusion, plain and simple.

    The game should be a level playing field.

    I'm not "assuming" anything. I'm explaining how my shard chat works - and has worked for years. Sorry that's not your experience. The only time our shard chat "bullys" anyone, is if that person hits people outside of their own payout, costs them crystals, and refuses to try to be respectful of other players payouts.

    And I've already covered situations they tend to be "exclusive" - the only people that are typically excluded are those who are jerks to everyone else in the shard and attack people regardless of payout times.

    The game is a level playing field. If you want to play a mean-spirited, "competitive" arena game against everyone else in the shard, you can. If you want to play nice and cooperate to maximize your payout, you can often do that as well. But you can't have it both ways - you can't disregard everyone else's payouts then expect them not to retailiate. That's NOT a level playing field.

    In game name: Lucas Gregory FORMER PLAYER - - - -"Whale blah grump poooop." - Ouchie

    In game guild: TNR Uprising
    I beat the REAL T7 Yoda (not the nerfed one) and did so before mods were there to help
    *This space left intentionally blank*
  • Nikoms565
    14242 posts Member
    SirCrankz wrote: »
    Jarvind wrote: »
    No amount of whining is going to make shard chats go away, and the developers don't have any real reason to come up with some elaborate scheme to make them impossible to set up.

    Either get used to them or don't play arena. Those are really your only options.

    Those are Not the only options. You can destroy the mafia. In my particular case the winning is on the part of the Mafia (however ridiculous this may sound). In fact I beat them so hard, they start activating all their guildmasters, friends and friends of friends to stop me. They went as far to complain with CG employees to save them from the beating. But it shouldn't be that way and i get the OP completely.

    Lol. You didn't "win". CG won, and they thank you for your donation.

    This guys gets it.

    If people are paying to "refresh" and paying refreshes to "lock in" or "lock out", or paying refreshes to fight the same people who just knocked them back...again, the only people "winning" are CG - because you are handing them crystals for positions you could have gotten simply by communicating and being respectful of others.
    In game name: Lucas Gregory FORMER PLAYER - - - -"Whale blah grump poooop." - Ouchie

    In game guild: TNR Uprising
    I beat the REAL T7 Yoda (not the nerfed one) and did so before mods were there to help
    *This space left intentionally blank*
  • . As soon as I would cross into the top 60, they were quick to knock me back out. And it was certainly a collective effort to do so.

    I highly doubt a shard chat is responsible for you being hit once you cross the top 60. Granted I can only speak for my own chats, but most chats have 20-30 people tops. The people in the chats are not concerned with defending the top 60/50/20, and make no concentrated effort to do so..

    It is only when a non-member breaches the top 10 that they are specifically targeted for removal.

    I appreciate your assumption, but it’s wrong. Some of the people in my fleet shard chat are also in the squad arena shard chat. They confirmed that the squad chat is very protective of the top 50. I probably crossed the top 50 at the time of someone else’s payout, but they said I was being targeted.

    Luckily, my shard is so active and competitive that just making the top 100 consistently was good enough for me. With the second coming of Revan, it’s a struggle to stay in the top 500 now.
  • Nikoms565 wrote: »
    Cooperating together to maximize crystal payout for EVERYONE only undermines wasting crystals on refreshes to fight the same players repeatedly. Cooperating in the game mode is not illegal, immoral and doesn't "break" the game - it simply allows players to save crystals they would otherwise waste.
    It is only when a non-member breaches the top 10 that they are specifically targeted for removal.

    Yeah, it's not about maximizing crystal payouts for "everyone"....as the second poster said, if anyone gets into the top level of the arena who is not part of the shard chat, then the chat members collude to gang up on them so they can monopolize the top payout spots.

    There are two simple things that CG could do to basically put an end to the shard chats. #1 - equalize the payouts more about the top 50....having a difference of 500 crystals for the top spot and 200 crystals for #11 on the entire shard is ridiculous, especially considering how many people are sharing the "top" payout. If there wasn't such a disparity at the top in terms of crystal payouts, people would be less concerned with trying to collude to monopolize the top end of the arena. #2 - allow a wider range of attacks at the top level. If you're around 100, you can target around 50 spots ahead of you. If you're #28, you can't target anything higher than about #19. It makes it much easier for shard chats to monopolize the top few spots when non-members have to run through multiple attacks at the very top level just to climb a few spots. If anyone in the top 50 could target the #1 spot, that would be the end of shard chats.
  • Niemsco wrote: »
    Ah this is a fun read. Obviously it must be me, the big bad whale that set you off on this tantrum. Well let me give a little context to the story. Nox you have been doing what I would deem as the most egregious act in the game, knocking people out of their payout, costing them crystals after your payout is over! When you knocked me out of first today during my payout, I messaged you asking what your payout was. Obviously I realized we had the same payout so it was game on, I knocked you back. Then you tried reclaiming said spot and failed.

    In the meantime two of the guys who had you in sight, who’s payouts are after ours and who you knocked back during their payout earlier in the week, decided to take some revenge on you and knock you back. There’s no shard collaboration going on here to make your life miserable, you are doing that on your own. So let’s put on the big boy pants now and own up.

    That explains a lot. Thanks for providing some background
  • 7AnimalMother
    2053 posts Member
    edited March 2019
    . As soon as I would cross into the top 60, they were quick to knock me back out. And it was certainly a collective effort to do so.

    I highly doubt a shard chat is responsible for you being hit once you cross the top 60. Granted I can only speak for my own chats, but most chats have 20-30 people tops. The people in the chats are not concerned with defending the top 60/50/20, and make no concentrated effort to do so..

    It is only when a non-member breaches the top 10 that they are specifically targeted for removal.

    I appreciate your assumption, but it’s wrong. Some of the people in my fleet shard chat are also in the squad arena shard chat. They confirmed that the squad chat is very protective of the top 50. I probably crossed the top 50 at the time of someone else’s payout, but they said I was being targeted.

    Luckily, my shard is so active and competitive that just making the top 100 consistently was good enough for me. With the second coming of Revan, it’s a struggle to stay in the top 500 now.

    That's a bizarrely large shard chat. I would assume you are in an unfortunate minority.

    Out of curiosity, is your shard newer? When Revan came I was actually amazed at some of the new faces I had seen in the top 50 for the very first time on my launch shard. It's really strange because we have retired players with a few meta old teams that still show up in the 300-400s, so we didn't think there were all that many active people left on the shard.
  • Nikoms565
    14242 posts Member
    CG just needs to put this mirror “anyone can demolish anyone with Revan team” craziness to bed, and bring out the hard counter already.

    The horrible current meta has nothing to do with shard chats. Shard chats existed long before "bad metas".
    In game name: Lucas Gregory FORMER PLAYER - - - -"Whale blah grump poooop." - Ouchie

    In game guild: TNR Uprising
    I beat the REAL T7 Yoda (not the nerfed one) and did so before mods were there to help
    *This space left intentionally blank*

  • Yeah, it's not about maximizing crystal payouts for "everyone"....as the second poster said, if anyone gets into the top level of the arena who is not part of the shard chat, then the chat members collude to gang up on them so they can monopolize the top payout spots...

    Why is it that everyone who is against shard chats feels the need to generalize to this extent? Several people in this thread alone have explained that their shard is not like that. My shard is not like that. We saw a new face entering the top ranks - we reached out to him and invited him in. One more person getting better payouts without interfering with others or having to worry about their own. Others have declined to join, but shared their payout time with us (and we shared with them)...we generally try to respect their payouts too.
    Ally Code 766-465-766 swgoh.gg/u/trystansr/collection/
  • Jarvind
    3920 posts Member
    edited March 2019
    Jarvind wrote: »
    No amount of whining is going to make shard chats go away, and the developers don't have any real reason to come up with some elaborate scheme to make them impossible to set up.

    Either get used to them or don't play arena. Those are really your only options.

    Join a gang or quit. Great options 👍🏻

    I didn't say they were good options. Just that they were the ones available.
    You’re assuming shard chats are there to promote equality and maximise payouts.

    That is not the case in my experience.

    It’s bullying and exclusion, plain and simple.

    The game should be a level playing field.

    It depends on the chat. Some (most?) are full of angry neckbeards that will victimize outsiders because they have no control over anything else in their lives. My fleet chat, on the other hand, is extremely chill and invites any new people that show up in the top 10 so we can organize payouts and ensure everyone has a chance to get top spots if possible.

    There's one guy that explicitly declined to join, so I prefer to hit him over the others just because I have no relationship with him. It's not that I want to "bully" him, it's just easier than risking messing up a payout for somebody with whom I've formed an agreement that I intend to honor.

    I'm not in a squad arena chat, but I don't seem to be "targeted" as far as I can tell. I usually finish top 50 without much difficulty.
    u58t4vkrvnrz.png



  • . As soon as I would cross into the top 60, they were quick to knock me back out. And it was certainly a collective effort to do so.

    I highly doubt a shard chat is responsible for you being hit once you cross the top 60. Granted I can only speak for my own chats, but most chats have 20-30 people tops. The people in the chats are not concerned with defending the top 60/50/20, and make no concentrated effort to do so..

    It is only when a non-member breaches the top 10 that they are specifically targeted for removal.

    I appreciate your assumption, but it’s wrong. Some of the people in my fleet shard chat are also in the squad arena shard chat. They confirmed that the squad chat is very protective of the top 50. I probably crossed the top 50 at the time of someone else’s payout, but they said I was being targeted.

    Luckily, my shard is so active and competitive that just making the top 100 consistently was good enough for me. With the second coming of Revan, it’s a struggle to stay in the top 500 now.

    That's a bizarrely large shard chat. I would assume you are in an unfortunate minority.

    It’s unfortunate for me. This is my one and only account, and I started with no background or help on this game. I’m pretty sure a large portion of my shard is alt accounts and whales. We had over 50 Revans the first time around and this shard has always seemed to move and grow together (wiggs to CLS to JTR to Sith).

    I’ve looked at arena rankings from guildies and often been jealous. Guys in the top 50 with teams that wouldn’t make the top 500 in my shard...
  • Nikoms565
    14242 posts Member
    Nikoms565 wrote: »
    Cooperating together to maximize crystal payout for EVERYONE only undermines wasting crystals on refreshes to fight the same players repeatedly. Cooperating in the game mode is not illegal, immoral and doesn't "break" the game - it simply allows players to save crystals they would otherwise waste.
    It is only when a non-member breaches the top 10 that they are specifically targeted for removal.

    Yeah, it's not about maximizing crystal payouts for "everyone"....as the second poster said, if anyone gets into the top level of the arena who is not part of the shard chat, then the chat members collude to gang up on them so they can monopolize the top payout spots.

    First off, again....for those who are actually listening, I am sharing my shard chat and how it works. If someone else's works differently, you can't use that as fuel against my argument.

    Secondly, if a player wants to consistently be in the top 10 in your "counter-example" - just join the shard chat. It's really not that difficult.

    As I said, if you want to play against the entire shard, then have it. If you want to cooperate and maximize your rewards, join the shard chat and do it that way. But you can't have it both ways. You can't play how you want, then demand everyone play how you want.
    In game name: Lucas Gregory FORMER PLAYER - - - -"Whale blah grump poooop." - Ouchie

    In game guild: TNR Uprising
    I beat the REAL T7 Yoda (not the nerfed one) and did so before mods were there to help
    *This space left intentionally blank*
  • xxragnarjsxx
    244 posts Member
    edited March 2019
    Nikoms565 wrote: »
    CG just needs to put this mirror “anyone can demolish anyone with Revan team” craziness to bed, and bring out the hard counter already.

    The horrible current meta has nothing to do with shard chats. Shard chats existed long before "bad metas".

    Obviously

    But with this bad meta, where anyone can climb and beat anyone else....a greater light is being shined on them. (Shard chats)
    BECAUSE just anyone is capable of climbing much higher now than they could before = directly affecting shard chats that deal with the top 20-25 daily ranking players / whales etc.
    Shard chats in good metas have been an effective way for the spenders, and players with better mods and better gear to effectively eliminate stress and to be able to communicate.
    During those times, not just anyone could climb as high as they easily can now, so my implication was.....let’s get it to a good meta again.

    Where mods, and gear actually count

    My shard chat, is nearly 3 years old.
    And a good one, that also helps those just recently able to climb because of the bad meta
  • Nikoms565 wrote: »
    Cooperating together to maximize crystal payout for EVERYONE only undermines wasting crystals on refreshes to fight the same players repeatedly. Cooperating in the game mode is not illegal, immoral and doesn't "break" the game - it simply allows players to save crystals they would otherwise waste.
    It is only when a non-member breaches the top 10 that they are specifically targeted for removal.

    Yeah, it's not about maximizing crystal payouts for "everyone"....as the second poster said, if anyone gets into the top level of the arena who is not part of the shard chat, then the chat members collude to gang up on them so they can monopolize the top payout spots.

    There are two simple things that CG could do to basically put an end to the shard chats. #1 - equalize the payouts more about the top 50....having a difference of 500 crystals for the top spot and 200 crystals for #11 on the entire shard is ridiculous, especially considering how many people are sharing the "top" payout. If there wasn't such a disparity at the top in terms of crystal payouts, people would be less concerned with trying to collude to monopolize the top end of the arena. #2 - allow a wider range of attacks at the top level. If you're around 100, you can target around 50 spots ahead of you. If you're #28, you can't target anything higher than about #19. It makes it much easier for shard chats to monopolize the top few spots when non-members have to run through multiple attacks at the very top level just to climb a few spots. If anyone in the top 50 could target the #1 spot, that would be the end of shard chats.

    On my shard, it started out about maximizing for everyone. From launch to about 2 years in we more or less accepted in any person who reached out and coordinated with them. We even specifically reached out to people who were stepping on others toes and invited them in. About a year or so ago, we hardened our approach largely because we had several payouts with more than 5 people. Our central payout had 10. Our eastern 8. At two years in, as a chat, we kind of decided that if someone either hadn't reached out to us by now, tough cookies. It was time to discourage anyone new. There are only so many crystals to go around.

    I will say, if someone continues to persist through multiple metas, we would likely reach out, but we have found that isn't the case. Most are one meta wonders and disappear as soon as the meta switches, and re-emerge when the meta is about to switch.

    As far as doing anything about chats. It's too late at this point. CG should have designed it better at the get go. If they mess with anything now, they are just shooting themselves in the foot. The game would be guaranteed to see a large exit of payers if the social construct of the shard chat was rendered obsolete.
  • Nikoms565
    14242 posts Member
    Nikoms565 wrote: »
    Cooperating together to maximize crystal payout for EVERYONE only undermines wasting crystals on refreshes to fight the same players repeatedly. Cooperating in the game mode is not illegal, immoral and doesn't "break" the game - it simply allows players to save crystals they would otherwise waste.
    It is only when a non-member breaches the top 10 that they are specifically targeted for removal.

    Yeah, it's not about maximizing crystal payouts for "everyone"....as the second poster said, if anyone gets into the top level of the arena who is not part of the shard chat, then the chat members collude to gang up on them so they can monopolize the top payout spots.

    There are two simple things that CG could do to basically put an end to the shard chats. #1 - equalize the payouts more about the top 50....having a difference of 500 crystals for the top spot and 200 crystals for #11 on the entire shard is ridiculous, especially considering how many people are sharing the "top" payout. If there wasn't such a disparity at the top in terms of crystal payouts, people would be less concerned with trying to collude to monopolize the top end of the arena. #2 - allow a wider range of attacks at the top level. If you're around 100, you can target around 50 spots ahead of you. If you're #28, you can't target anything higher than about #19. It makes it much easier for shard chats to monopolize the top few spots when non-members have to run through multiple attacks at the very top level just to climb a few spots. If anyone in the top 50 could target the #1 spot, that would be the end of shard chats.

    On my shard, it started out about maximizing for everyone. From launch to about 2 years in we more or less accepted in any person who reached out and coordinated with them. We even specifically reached out to people who were stepping on others toes and invited them in. About a year or so ago, we hardened our approach largely because we had several payouts with more than 5 people. Our central payout had 10. Our eastern 8. At two years in, as a chat, we kind of decided that if someone either hadn't reached out to us by now, tough cookies. It was time to discourage anyone new. There are only so many crystals to go around.

    I will say, if someone continues to persist through multiple metas, we would likely reach out, but we have found that isn't the case. Most are one meta wonders and disappear as soon as the meta switches, and re-emerge when the meta is about to switch.

    As far as doing anything about chats. It's too late at this point. CG should have designed it better at the get go. If they mess with anything now, they are just shooting themselves in the foot. The game would be guaranteed to see a large exit of payers if the social construct of the shard chat was rendered obsolete.

    This. Absolutely this. 100%
    In game name: Lucas Gregory FORMER PLAYER - - - -"Whale blah grump poooop." - Ouchie

    In game guild: TNR Uprising
    I beat the REAL T7 Yoda (not the nerfed one) and did so before mods were there to help
    *This space left intentionally blank*
  • CHFC22
    732 posts Member
    I've read your post, and not a single reply but I'm going to use my immense psychic powers to guess that you've been told it's:

    1. Not the shard chat fault. It's because crystals
    2. Not the shard chat fault, and an implication or perhaps even explicit statement that actually it's a form of cooperation and you're somehow to blame for not playing along.

    I get bonus points for every time someone says they could finish #1 whenever they choose if they ever left their shard chat.
  • Nikoms565 wrote: »
    Nikoms565 wrote: »
    Cooperating together to maximize crystal payout for EVERYONE only undermines wasting crystals on refreshes to fight the same players repeatedly. Cooperating in the game mode is not illegal, immoral and doesn't "break" the game - it simply allows players to save crystals they would otherwise waste.
    It is only when a non-member breaches the top 10 that they are specifically targeted for removal.

    Yeah, it's not about maximizing crystal payouts for "everyone"....as the second poster said, if anyone gets into the top level of the arena who is not part of the shard chat, then the chat members collude to gang up on them so they can monopolize the top payout spots.

    There are two simple things that CG could do to basically put an end to the shard chats. #1 - equalize the payouts more about the top 50....having a difference of 500 crystals for the top spot and 200 crystals for #11 on the entire shard is ridiculous, especially considering how many people are sharing the "top" payout. If there wasn't such a disparity at the top in terms of crystal payouts, people would be less concerned with trying to collude to monopolize the top end of the arena. #2 - allow a wider range of attacks at the top level. If you're around 100, you can target around 50 spots ahead of you. If you're #28, you can't target anything higher than about #19. It makes it much easier for shard chats to monopolize the top few spots when non-members have to run through multiple attacks at the very top level just to climb a few spots. If anyone in the top 50 could target the #1 spot, that would be the end of shard chats.

    On my shard, it started out about maximizing for everyone. From launch to about 2 years in we more or less accepted in any person who reached out and coordinated with them. We even specifically reached out to people who were stepping on others toes and invited them in. About a year or so ago, we hardened our approach largely because we had several payouts with more than 5 people. Our central payout had 10. Our eastern 8. At two years in, as a chat, we kind of decided that if someone either hadn't reached out to us by now, tough cookies. It was time to discourage anyone new. There are only so many crystals to go around.

    I will say, if someone continues to persist through multiple metas, we would likely reach out, but we have found that isn't the case. Most are one meta wonders and disappear as soon as the meta switches, and re-emerge when the meta is about to switch.

    As far as doing anything about chats. It's too late at this point. CG should have designed it better at the get go. If they mess with anything now, they are just shooting themselves in the foot. The game would be guaranteed to see a large exit of payers if the social construct of the shard chat was rendered obsolete.

    This. Absolutely this. 100%

    Agreed 💯
    My shard the past 2-3 years has operated like this as wel.
  • For a game that charges $300 USD for a marquee character, having shard chats can be considered 'throwing us a bone'
This discussion has been closed.