Last minute season quitting...

Unknown

Another option to reduce alliance hopping is to have a 'cool down' period where you can't join another alliance within 24 hrs of leaving one. This would NOT count if you were kicked. So, if you choose to leave an alliance you are a solo player for 24 hrs. Yes, you could still leave your alliance at the last minute and screw them up, but you would have no incentive to do so.

On the flip side, maybe there should be the same cool down for the alliance after kicking someone. This will help with the issue of someone being kicked at the last minute and losing out on alliance rewards. Yes, you might still get kicked, but there is no incentive for the alliance commanders to do so at the last minute since they have to wait 24 hours before recruiting someone. Again, this would not trigger for someone who leaves of their free will, you could replace a 'leaver' instantly.

Something I thought of later to add to this:

If there were a cool down type of feature, an addition to avoid it for mutually agreed on departures would be that players could apply to leave their current alliance (tender resignation). A commander could then accept this resignation (this would replace the kick button with 'accept resignation' for that player). Basically, if both parties agree there are no penalties. If there will be some 'harm' by either leaving or kicking, then there would be a dis-incentive to do so. This resign/accept feature would mostly be useful by the mega alliances that trade people around.

IamTheDanger

My vote would have to go to the point pool for alliances. If I earn 2500 points for my team, then leave, the points stay in that pool. The next team I join will get any points I earn after that. On the flip side though. If I recruit a player with only 1 or 2 days left in the season, all the points that (s)he has earned up to that point stay with their previous team. Someone could come in and do no work at all, just sit in the member line up, contribute zero points and still get the awards. Something like that could be abused a lot of different ways. This is something that might need some serious thought from people much wiser than me.

Unknown

silent flyer wrote:

Another option to reduce alliance hopping is to have a 'cool down' period where you can't join another alliance within 24 hrs of leaving one. This would NOT count if you were kicked. So, if you choose to leave an alliance you are a solo player for 24 hrs. Yes, you could still leave your alliance at the last minute and screw them up, but you would have no incentive to do so.

On the flip side, maybe there should be the same cool down for the alliance after kicking someone. This will help with the issue of someone being kicked at the last minute and losing out on alliance rewards. Yes, you might still get kicked, but there is no incentive for the alliance commanders to do so at the last minute since they have to wait 24 hours before recruiting someone. Again, this would not trigger for someone who leaves of their free will, you could replace a 'leaver' instantly.

These are interesting suggestions, which I'd like to add to. I think as is, it might unintentionally lead to some alliance stagnation, particularly in lower ranks. If you're out of an alliance for a day, odds are pretty good you'll miss at least one event's rewards. A lot of players who have been thinking about leaving their alliance for a long time (perhaps due to alliance inactivity) won't leave until they have the next one set up; usually, it has nothing to do with bad intentions. Also, if you find a player who you want to join up, and decide to kick a member who has been inactive a month to make room, the new player won't be able to join in.

Proposing alterations: If you kick an ACTIVE player (?someone who has played at least 5 of the last 7 days?) there is a 24 hour freeze period on that slot. If they're relatively inactive, there is no such penalty. If a player leaves, you can fill the spot immediately.

If a player joins an alliance, their score doesn't count towards the alliance for 24 hours. This would discourage frequent alliance swapping.

simonsez

I've got to assume that if we heard from the player who left, we'd have a far more balanced view of what actually happened.

Mikaveus

locked wrote:

Mikaveus wrote:

It sounds like the commander and alliance was wronged in this scenario with a player leaving last minute without chance at a replacement.

However, let's say a toxic environment drives a player away from an alliance. Overbearing commanders, as an example. Why shouldn't that player be allowed to take their points to an alliance where they are appreciated?

This really is a tricky issue.

In what universe is it okay to fail 18 innocent people to take it out on just one?

The scenario still stands. I said it was a toxic environment. Let's say 19 members of the alliance are ****. So if you're being wronged, then just take the punishment for the greater good? Great advice.

In the real world where you have to live paycheck to paycheck, swallowing ego and pride can become a disgusting necessity that eats you up inside. In this game, you can simply give those guys the middle finger and be on your way. And take YOUR hard-earned points with you.

Unknown

I honestly don't know how they could really prevent it. They did a fix for "locking in" rewards, which I think is a step up, but really they can't "lock in points" and grant points to another alliance as well. They would have to put a time expiration on that sort of feature, and people would figure it out, and then this sort of thing would still happen, just earlier.

I have been on the exact opposite end of this sort of situation. At the end of last season, I went hero for hire, as the alliance I was in fell apart in the last week of the season. With three hours to go in the season, I was told I would need to find another alliance, as they really wanted top 25 and needed to get someone with an even higher score (even though I had a higher season score then 5 of the permanent members). I was lucky as my season score let me get a number of offers for a top 100 placement still.

It is sad that almost all online alliance/guild games, can devolve into high school politics. I have run a guild in the past, and I don't want to relive that pain. I respect anyone that is willing to put up with all of it. You make the games more fun for the rest of us.

Unknown

Free Agency: It ruined baseball, it's ruining MPQ Alliances.

That is absolutely messed up, and I agree that you should out the person who did it, because if they're willing to do it once, they might just be willing to do it again.

MarvelMan

There has to be a better way than what we currently have. A middle ground between no consequences and making it so an individual cant completely screw over 19 others. Definitely some good suggestions above, hopefully the devs read, test and then ask for thoughts on something (cuz we are crazy good at finding loop holes).

Unknown

Sorry if anybody is upset that I'm making light of this, but I can't help but picture Alliances as street gangs right now. "Blood in, blood out." I'm picturing players getting jumped out of alliances in order to relocate.

"You're in a Django Unbuffed, bracket son. You don't belong here."

Unknown

Fievel wrote:

Free Agency: It ruined baseball, it's ruining MPQ Alliances.

That is absolutely messed up, and I agree that you should out the person who did it, because if they're willing to do it once, they might just be willing to do it again.

It's not even like that. It'd be like if you grab a pitcher with 20 wins on free agency then your team gets those 20 wins and whatever team he was on loses those 20 wins.

Unknown

Phantron wrote:

Fievel wrote:

Free Agency: It ruined baseball, it's ruining MPQ Alliances.

That is absolutely messed up, and I agree that you should out the person who did it, because if they're willing to do it once, they might just be willing to do it again.

It's not even like that. It'd be like if you grab a pitcher with 20 wins on free agency then your team gets those 20 wins and whatever team he was on loses those 20 wins.

Man, you want to develop some sports rivalries, that would do it! I would actually love to see that. Trades would be a lot less likely and a lot more cutthroat.

Unknown

There is no attempt in this game's alliance system to make it that backstabbing each other isn't the optimal strategy for both the alliance or its individual members, so this result is hardly surprising. Due to the overwhelming emphasis on having 20 warmbodies required to be competitive the player tends to have a significant amount of leverage here. Locking points in is not a solution because all that means is you need to immediately get rid of anyone who is gone at the beginning of a season because his 0 points are locked in. The only way to have a permanent solution is to not use all 20 player's score but that'll have its own share of problems, the most significant one would be that it'd allow way too many freeloaders to win stuff without doing anything.

Mikaveus

How's about providing an incentive to stay in an alliance season-long instead of a punishment for leaving?

Barring a transition week, maybe alliance members who have stuck with their group for the whole season receive a boost in ISO and/or HP at season's end?

noobprime

Mikaveus wrote:

How's about providing an incentive to stay in an alliance season-long instead of a punishment for leaving?

You must be new here. Incentive?

Okok, I lied, you get 20 .

Unknown

Mikaveus wrote:

How's about providing an incentive to stay in an alliance season-long instead of a punishment for leaving?

Barring a transition week, maybe alliance members who have stuck with their group for the whole season receive a boost in ISO and/or HP at season's end?

None of that would matter as long as they're still offering a unique 4* cover for seasons or a 3* cover every 3 days for being in the right alliance.

Mikaveus

Phantron wrote:

Mikaveus wrote:

How's about providing an incentive to stay in an alliance season-long instead of a punishment for leaving?

Barring a transition week, maybe alliance members who have stuck with their group for the whole season receive a boost in ISO and/or HP at season's end?

None of that would matter as long as they're still offering a unique 4* cover for seasons or a 3* cover every 3 days for being in the right alliance.

You're probably right. I've bolstered my alliance by recruiting here, but it really pays to be a mercenary. Too bad this nagging sense of duty....

HailMary

Fievel wrote:

Sorry if anybody is upset that I'm making light of this, but I can't help but picture Alliances as street gangs right now. "Blood in, blood out." I'm picturing players getting jumped out of alliances in order to relocate.

"You're in a Django Unbuffed, bracket son. You don't belong here."

When you're a Django,
You're a Django all the way
From your first big cascade
To your last tankin' team.

< vvv Dino Jazz Hands vvv >

Unknown

Mikaveus wrote:

You're probably right. I've bolstered my alliance by recruiting here, but it really pays to be a mercenary. Too bad this nagging sense of duty....

This problem is a vicious cycle since it obviously pays to be a mercenary, any decent commander should know this so they should assume you're going to bail at the sign of trouble and replace you if they find a better mercenary, which of course makes you even less likely to stick around at all.

Ebolamonkey84

Mawtful wrote:

Surely the easy fix is: The alliance earns the points, not the player. More to the point, after a PvP ends, the points that each player earns is "transferred" to the alliance's seasonal "point pool". That pool cannot lose points that have been added to it.

To keep up with the sportsball analogies, this turns the break between seasons into "transfer week". Once a season starts, it's in the best interest to stick it out. If you do swap, the work that you contributed to your alliance to get to that point remains. If a player transfers teams mid-season, they don't apply any points they earned in those games to their new team retroactively .

Mega-alliances will probably still keep doing what they are doing and swap members between sub-alliances inbetween each event of a season. They'll have to do it at the start of an event, not the end - all this really means is that they'll actually have to plan in advance a bit more.

They would also have to make it so that an individual would keep their own points if they were kicked out by a commander. Otherwise you could kick out a person at the last minute, keep their points, and pull in someone else to reap the benefits of the other person's hard work. Most alliances at the top level wouldn't pull something like that, but it could happen.

D2KM_

raziel777 wrote:

The solution may be actually pretty simple - one can't leave alliance within last 24 hours of season.

I would also add that an alliance is not allowed to kick any members within 24 hours of a season ending. This would only apply to season ends. There also needs to be safeguards for players in case a fringe alliance wants to boot a low scorer to bring in a merc to secure a top 100 finish. 24 hours is more than enough time for both a player and an alliance to find replacements.

Sorry to hear that happened Bloo

May i ask if he would have stayed would you have secured top 100 for season 7? It just seems odd that someone would leave last minute if they were gonna get that 4* thor cover...

D2KM