Cupcakes,for or against?

jimstarooney

Im aware that this discussion can get quite heated so please keep things civil,i am against cupcakes.i realise it can help out some1 that otherwise would have a hard time with the 4 star transition but should it?should people be robbed of placement by some1 that would normally struggle to hit 1.3 in normal circumstances? Are people abusing the system?

simonsez

It doesn't it rob anyone of placement. Everyone has the same opportunity to hit the same targets that everyone else is. This isn't like the old days when people would win brackets by getting gang-boosted by their alliance-mates.

mpqr7

I like eating cupcakes, but I don't need them (I can defeat most 4* teams and low level 5* teams), so if they disappear, I won't be sad. I used to bake a bit, but lately I haven't had enough time to line up enough cupcakes at a high enough score to matter.

ie When all my alliance family mates are shielding at 2500+ points, and I'm wrapping up at around 1500 points, it doesn't make sense for me to bother creating a cc, as the only people who will benefit are people outside my alliance family, ie people who haven't made ccs for me.

But yeah if there is a high scoring cc available, I'll be happy to wait a few minutes and then eat it! Who doesn't like dessert after dinner!

jimstarooney

simonsez wrote:

It doesn't it rob anyone of placement. Everyone has the same opportunity to hit the same targets that everyone else is. This isn't like the old days when people would win brackets by getting gang-boosted by their alliance-mates.

It robs ppl of placement because like i said,ppl that would struggle to hit 1.3 without them can all of a sudden hit 2k as they are facing easy teams from 850 up.this is my main gripe with cupcakes,i see the benefit (who wouldnt)but when some1 with a barely developed roster can hang in a t10 alliance something is very wrong.

TxMoose

count me a 'for'.

I see them as a playerbase discovering a method to assist in the broken progression system that the devs have implemented. as long as I'm t50 I could care less about placement usually. I'm never fighting for t5 and rarely have a shot at t10, but it happens. and the diff between t50 and t25 is negligible, so, for me, placement is not even a concern. all I care about is getting over 1300 and I shoot for something around 1500 to put me around the middle of the alliance and my routine works for that. I've made 1300 the 'old fashioned' way before against real teams. BoP for example (got lucky timing my push with probably the only group that pushed high that one). some of my weekend slice 1s are difficult to find ccs, so I hop on real teams. but the cc system is so much easier and is available to all to take advantage of. for those fighting between 50th and 51st and those fighting for/within the t10 it matters more, but I'm not in that group. baked twice in grocket in a slice my alliance isn't even in.

to me its mainly a screw you to the system they have in place, while still working completely within the rules.

firethorne

Absolutely against. It is people throwing fights. What more do you need to say? D3 should be appaled that this exists. But people are openly promoting it as a legitimate strategy on their own forums. Their integrity must be joke to them.

GrumpySmurf1002

PvP placement generally falls in line with roster strength. Yeah, there are some 3* players that are able to mash the cupcake system all the way to 2000+, but they're an exception and not the rule.

Lack of cupcakes would really only lower the scale over which points are distributed (as 5* players become untouchable and thus their points don't mean anything), which would hurt progression more than placement. And progression is well more valuable than placement in PvP.

carrion_pigeons

I don't have a problem with it from the perspective of the player or the alliance. It's just optimal play.

I don't really like that the design of the game makes Line coordination necessary for competitive play though, and I don't like that points for a match are based on relative placement instead of relative difficulty.

fmftint

If you're "losing placement" is because you choose to spend less on shields than others. 2k, HA! 2k is barely T50 in my current bracket

MarvelMan

I struggle a bit, as it is obviously not a play style the game intended. But i do like them for inflating my score, not that I couldnt get to 1300 otherwise, and it adds some extra fun on how fast i can power through three.

I feel that the bakers have had to manufacture things to do in the game due to the lack of content, and it isnt really hurting anyone. As its been said above, anyone can see/hit them once you are high enough for them to be visible so its pretty equal opportunity. Yeah, those coordinating via Line probably see more of them so they might move up a couple extra places, but the vast majority of us arent competing with them anyway and those overly competitive people would figure out something else to spice up or make their climb easier/funner.

To the thought that D3 should be appalled......they should be more appalled that it is a result of lack of content.

Bossblack

I don't see what's wrong with cupcakes.. Since we have the freedom to bring in any character is available in our roster (except for the essential character for the PVP), which you are free to play with characters you think will be best to beat your target. So if I bring in a Hood and Loki and it was for me the best to beat certain targets, would this team combo be a cupcake? (Just using them as an example, not here to argue how useful they actually are)

Cupcakes help generating points for the shard so eventually everyone gets to hit higher points so for the people struggling hitting 1K or 1.3K, being in a shard with a lot of people baking could contribute to your scores as it will be easy to find targets worth more points.

Another benefit of the cupcake is the battles are faster than facing max teams and it will reduce the time you are exposed to protect your points.

jimstarooney

fmftint wrote:

If you're "losing placement" is because you choose to spend less on shields than others. 2k, HA! 2k is barely T50 in my current bracket

Exactly my point.how many in that t50 do u think could hit 2k without ccs?probably half of em if that

STOPTHIS

While I don't really care for the idea of people working together in something that's supposed to be (mostly) and individual competition, I don't blame them one bit. PvP has a lot of broken elements and it shouldn't be any surprise that people are going to work the system to get the most out of it. And it is probably unfair to those who have no idea what LINE is and are just playing the game at face value, but that's not on those who using the system, that's on Demi. They're the ones that make the matchmaking, they set how likely you are to get 4* and 5* from token pulls, they restrict ISO, they introduced an overpowered tier of characters, etc. Everyone else is just working within those limits.

XandorXerxes

I'm against it only because behind the scenes those in charge are probably pointing to the number of people scoring high and saying "see, the system is just fine as it is." Obviously it's not, or we wouldn't need cupcakes to begin with.

Chess ELO only works in a direct head-to-head competition. This system is designed to reward those who have the fastest team, and spend the most on shields. There is no "puzzle" in the current system. It's Cupcake Quest instead of Puzzle Quest.

And let's be frank - cupcakes are certainly not distributed evenly for everyone. Some people are notified when a CC is up, most aren't. There's no in-game mechanic that makes that resource available to people. There's a large difference between having to stumble into one and knowing that one will be available soon. I'm not holding that against LINE-ers or meaning to imply any negative connotation, I just think that distinction needs to be recognized.

JVReal

I think there are more things to be appalled over than cupcake teams. How about people who get hit and take it personal and target an entire alliance? How about people that decide people are scoring too high based on their own fabricated rulebook and come into a slice to "regulate" it bringing scores down to "normal"?

How about people who buy other accounts and merge them? How about people who bracket snipe?

How about a broken MMR where I have 4 5* covers scattered among the various available 5* characters, and not a single max 4*, but I'm up against max 4*'s after 800? How do I deal with that? If my alliance puts out easier teams and I can queue them to get to 1K so I can do what I'm supposed to do and BUILD a 4* roster, I thank them! I'm not appalled at them for helping me out in a broken system. They are risking points to help me get to where I should be getting if it wasn't for the poorly implemented 5* tier.

D3 broke the game, and we have to figure out how to play in it as 3-4* transitioning rosters. Now you have people trying to target Cupcakes like they are a bad thing, as if it's harming them personally.

I do think it is ridiculous for 5* roster people to do their entire climb on cupcakes because they can place well without them, but to attack cupcakes because you believe they are helping the wrong people is some displaced outrage, and anyone that feels that way needs to step back and reassess life in general. If the game is so boring to you that you have to have fun by sniping cupcakes and floating "enforcing" your own reality... find a better hobby.

Are "steaks" any better? Maxed 4* team to help the 5* people climb, but keep the lowly guys from getting them? Is there really a difference? I don't see one, other than being exclusively for advancing 5* rosters without them having to put forth the effort of facing other 5* teams.

GrumpySmurf1002

jimstarooney wrote:

fmftint wrote:

If you're "losing placement" is because you choose to spend less on shields than others. 2k, HA! 2k is barely T50 in my current bracket

Exactly my point.how many in that t50 do u think could hit 2k without ccs?probably half of em if that

Do you really think there are that many people that are scoring 1800 w/o ccs that are losing to the 2ks because of them? C'mon.

simonsez

jimstarooney wrote:

It robs ppl of placement because like i said,ppl that would struggle to hit 1.3 without them can all of a sudden hit 2k as they are facing easy teams from 850 up.

And I said EVERYONE can do it, so no one's getting robbed. Are trivial nodes robbing you of PvE placement?

firethorne

Are there other problems? Absolutely. But, I've said it before, and I'll it again: the existence of multiple problems isn't a good excuse for ignoring one of them. D3 should be embarrassed that people are fixing fights and promoting such behavior on their forums. If l love to hear the devs chime in on this topic. Not holding my breathe thought.

Cylaali

Cylaali

I bake cupcakes for people below me to hit progression. My team doesn't need to but if I can help in any way, why not? The 2-3 star transition sucked and so did the 3-4 star. This helps speed that up... so you can enjoy the terrible effing draw rates of 5* which is pure luck based progression just like me.

I'm for it, but if they take it away, it's not gonna hurt me at all.

scottee

I think all the cupcake stores are a fad. One around here just closed. They make some reality tv cooking competitions about them and try to make them a thing. I mean, come on, you want me to pay more money for less cake? Seriously, $4 for a mini tiny version of a cake is just ridiculous. For the price of 3 of those things, I could buy a real tinykitty cake!

I hope all their stores die and go the way of the frozen yogurt shops.