New feature: Shields

Unknown

I wouldn't even be surprised if the lowering of the sweet spot for the scoring was intentional to compensate for the point inflation due to shields.

Unknown

Seems like no matter how hard i try to attack someone at 800+ i would then get bumped down -100 points with so many people attacking after my current match. After 3 hours I gave up and just threw shield up. And still people still continue to attack even when shielded.

Unknown

The rating system is still broken... People who reach 800+will be the top finishers cause they just grind rating way before the end of the tourney... U have to see that most of people don't come here at the foruns... So a lot of people are still saving their energy for the end.

Unknown

Ryanator wrote:

After 3 hours I gave up and just threw shield up. And still people still continue to attack even when shielded.

Of course they do, but the good thing is that you don't lose points when getting attacked while the shield is up.
I fought myself up to rank #1 yesterday with around 510 points or so and threw up a shield before I went to bed. When I looked at my status today I got the attack-message-popup and if not shielded up I would've lost over 200 points. But thanks to the shield I lost nothing (even gained 8 points) and have only fallen down to rank 3 (2 people seem to have played a lot while I was sleeping).
With no shield I would have been dragged down to rank 100 and 300 points or lower. Now I can start playing again and get some of the progression awards without having to gain first the 200+ points again that I would've lost without shielding.

Would've been better to change that bad tournament/point system though. But the shielding makes it less frustrating (and gives them more chances to make money through hero point purchases )

Unknown

Is it just me or is the number of possible retaliations reduced to three? I got hit perhaps 20 times, but after I fought one retaliation-match, the icon turned yellow again. Since there are no patch notes, I don't know if it's intended.

Unknown

Here's my bracket lol...
Just wondering how many brackets look like this.

NighteyesGrisu

mine looks similar, except the top have around 150 points more: 6 of the top 10 are shielded

Unknown

My bracket top 10 ranges from 605 to 1038

#2-6 are at around the 800 point range

Top 8 shielded

Unknown

I get to 1.3 k, then there is no way to go any further. Any match reward only 1 point and all opponent is around 500-900 .
I can no longer find any 1.1 k players, somehow they are less likely to showup after 1.3 k
I am going to be a point sink in an hour time,so ppl can get up to 1100 at least. That is if I still have a high point left.

Play name is aflboss, got beaten by skyward, so back to 1.1k range now.

I thank common for providing a point sink at 1.1k. This shield thing is really cool.

djpt05

With that many people shielded (assuming it applies to most other brackets as well) then you have a better chance of attacking shielded players who won't retaliate which can pull you into the top 10. Now granted they may eventually un-shield themselves and retaliate which leaves you the option of putting up your own shield ahead of time once you are in the top 10 yourself...

Unknown

I truly don't understand this. I thought it was P2W before because you'll have one group of players who pay regular money to not lose points in tournaments and a group of players who don't, creating two tiers.

But I'm fully confused. Players can still attack you and earn points, you just don't lose them. So you'll still lose your place because everyone is earning many points from you and will overtake you. So what is the difference between being 200 points behind because you lost points due to attacks, or being 200 points behind because everyone attacked you and gained more points? Except this way costs you some currency?

Are we talking about progression rewards being the only useful thing here? Or does it not matter, because when your shield breaks you'll have so many retaliations to do you'll shoot all the way back up.

Imagine a world where devs explained their features after a patch. Possibly in note form.

Unknown

abuelo wrote:

I truly don't understand this. I thought it was P2W before because you'll have one group of players who pay regular money to not lose points in tournaments and a group of players who don't, creating two tiers.

But I'm fully confused. Players can still attack you and earn points, you just don't lose them. So you'll still lose your place because everyone is earning many points from you and will overtake you. So what is the difference between being 200 points behind because you lost points due to attacks, or being 200 points behind because everyone attacked you and gained more points? Except this way costs you some currency?

Are we talking about progression rewards being the only useful thing here? Or does it not matter, because when your shield breaks you'll have so many retaliations to do you'll shoot all the way back up.

I'm pretty sure this is an elaborate Skinner Box experiment that is also a satire on capitalism. It might be frustrating now, but its going to make for a terrific scientific book one day.

But seriously, you don't rack up retaliations when you are under the shield. So, you won't get to do that. Also, with the way the scoring system is, you can very easily lose 100-200 points in about 20 minutes of playing. So, I still think the 'winning' score is still going to be in the 900-1000 range. Unless someone really goes crazy on using shields. But I don't see that as probable when the grand prize is Invisible Woman.

Imagine a world where devs explained their features after a patch. Possibly in note form.

I know, right? I have honestly played many F2P games that originated in S. Korea that had better communication and documentation than this game.

I have to think it's just an off-shoot of having a severely understaffed and overworked group that made this game.

darkmagearcanis

Toxicadam wrote:

I have to think it's just an off-shoot of having a severely understaffed and overworked group that made this game.

I agree and I feel like everyone relies on IceIX too much. How many other admins are there? Only two admins have posted in the News Announcement area. IceIX and ElectroBlast. Other admins should step up to IceIX's level and start communicating more. Otherwise, I see no reason to have anyone else as an Admin for this game's forum.

Nemek

The winning scores are going to be huge. I just got up to 1400 and was only attacked once. I expect people could get up to 1600 or more if they really wanted to.

One thing is for sure, though, it is now easier to get the progression rewards than it ever has been in the history of this game.

Unknown

Nemek wrote:

The winning scores are going to be huge. I just got up to 1400 and was only attacked once. I expect people could get up to 1600 or more if they really wanted to.

One thing is for sure, though, it is now easier to get the progression rewards than it ever has been in the history of this game.

I'm glad there are no progression rewards that make me want to renege on my statement to not play any more this round.

I may try next round though, just to see.

Unknown

Nemek wrote:

The winning scores are going to be huge. I just got up to 1400 and was only attacked once. I expect people could get up to 1600 or more if they really wanted to.

One thing is for sure, though, it is now easier to get the progression rewards than it ever has been in the history of this game.

Will depend on bracket. I don't see my particular bracket going that high, even even much higher than 800 (No one currently higher than 602, half the top 10 shielded). I went to 450, threw in the tank team. Wiped to about 200 overnight, played like 6 matches to get back to 400. I'll be making my big push tonight after work, then toss up a shield, come back in the morning to see if I need any extra work.

Unknown

I bet my bracket will get up to 1400 to 1600 points by this evening. It sounds like the pool of worthwhile targets will increase substantially. Its goint to be tricky to avoid losing points to latecomers. Hpoefully people will remain shielded long enough.

Unknown

I'd think the top should be 1.4 k unless people are willing to shield at 1.3k to push the point higher.
But there is no reward for 1.5k, so 1.5k not likely to happen.

Unknown

Top 10 in my bracket are 900-750ish and none of them are shielded.

o.0

Unknown

I think the issue that's being overlooked here is that you're taking what is an improperly tuned game feature (the way the points system work) and offering merely a bandaid solution to it (shields) that can be accessed with IRL money. Then again, more people seem to think this is "the solution" than not, so I guess D3 understand their userbase well enough to know where they can get people to dish out HP and when they can't. Don't say people didn't warn you when they say this is only the beginning of a trend though. That being said, I still enjoy this game, but I don't exactly have high hopes that they'll be able to distinguish themselves from other F2P model games like DotA 2 and Path of Exile have.