Preventing alliance swapping

Linkster79

Thread too long and cant be arsed to read.

Switching alliances is not in breach of any rules or terms and conditions.

However in many games that I have played that involves direct competition between alliances or guilds there is usually a cool down period from leaving one guild and joining another. It wouldnt hurt to have the same type of thing in place here. 24 hours seems like a nice easy cooldown period.

To settle any arguments if a collective wishes to get the very best players together there is no harm in it. It would be like saying S.H.I.E.L.D can only have 5 players who regulary score high in events and the other 15 have to be make weights. Anybody is free to join any alliance that will have them, I hope this does not change.

Unknown

Nazerith. You sound like a really annoying evil guy.. And X-3 ? you are forming multiple alliances ?

Wait a minute.......that sounds familiar......

Multiple alliances...
Annoying alliance spokesman...

Nazerith is a Klingsor clone!!!


Mind blown..........

Unknown

morphy wrote:

Nazerith. You sound like a really annoying evil guy.. And X-3 ? you are forming multiple alliances ?

Wait a minute.......that sounds familiar......

Multiple alliances...
Annoying alliance spokesman...

Nazerith is a Klingsor clone!!!


Mind blown..........

How dare you refer to me as klinky clone!!!! I've been insulted many ways never such as I have been by that comment. I thought you where quitting? We have multiple alliances because we all have different play styles. They are not all great alliances, we all share a chat room and hang out and talk trash. I've never had a defector, why? Because my friends love our alliance we are not 3, we are one. These guys pay their hard earned money to start these expansion so there is no man left behind. It's a very different set up then the edited due to unsavory reference. that some people have created. Feel free to ask any of our members to leave, day one in our alliance you're welcomed home we laugh all day long and have a great time. You should try it some time. If you want I'll give you a free tour you might not wanna quit after that. I agree it's a bit childish of me to even engage in this at all. So if I sound anything like Klinky let me be the first to apologize for giving a bad impression. Honesty come check it out you'll love it.

Unknown

nazerith wrote:

I've never had a defector, why? Because my friends love our alliance we are not 3, we are one. These guys pay their hard earned money to start these expansion so there is no man left behind. It's a very different set up then the Nazi, concentration camp that some people have created.

Emeryt, grow up. Moderators are supposed to discourage inflammatory speech, especially those that make ignoramus references to the Holocaust, not upvote them. What is going through your head?!

nazerith wrote:

I don't really do this bickering thing in public not my style I keep my cool about me, that's why you don't ever hear anything about me or my alliance...With that said this will be my last public rebuttal... People have better things to do then read gossip and bickering.

Nazerith, the reason no one has really heard about the x-men is because you guys have done nothing worth mentioning, until the recent past. But now we have heard something about them, and I must say, it's mostly troll-bait and hypocrisy. From denouncing player swapping when you guys engage in it so wantonly, to claiming to be above the forum bickering to being the biggest instigator of it on this thread, the X-men's image is leaving everything to be desired.

If any association is made between the two of you, I honestly think Klingsor will be the one emerging poorer for it. He may be gruff in his speech, but he at least he cannot be accused of being a two-faced hypocrite like yourself. Just stop what you're doing Nazerith, because it's nonsensical.

And also because talking through your **** makes your breath stink.

Unknown

Ok, I totally take back what I've said in one of my previous posts that I respect even Nazerith here.
No, I don't now, cuz such insults to an alliance/ a person on forums are inpudent. And we have Jews in our alliances, so STFU.
And Nazerith, stop it before you hurt your alliance's reputation further, you being a clown here wont get you to top 2.
And kudos to Johnny1punch, at least he is maturer and more reasonable.

Unknown

Last day of the premier league let's see who wins the title.

Unknown

Not sure why Jews are being insulted, but as I am one, I hope it is stopped immediately.

As for the topic at hand, I understand why the 5 Deadly Venoms guys want the system to remain as is. I give you guys credit for managing five 20-man alliances. That has to be backbreaking work, to be honest with you, to grind that much. If you're willing to put in the effort, I say go for it. However, you should only be able to do that as a 20-man team and I believe alliance swapping is exploiting the current system. I see two potential options for alliances like this:

1. If Demiurge wants to expand the alliances and let people have 50 or 100- man alliances, I'd say we should put those alliances into a league of their own, and I'd be fine with that. My alliance of 9 guys has enough trouble expanding its size to 10 at the moment, let alone competing for top rewards against full 20-man alliances.

2. Add a 48-hour cooldown when you drop out of an alliance. This preserves the spirit of the 20-man roster.

I could live with either,as long as the playing field is as level as possible.

Unknown

beemand2g wrote:

Last day of the premier league let's see who wins the title.

It has to go to City right?

Unknown

They have wrapped it up. Title is city's

Arogntbastrd

Holy thread batman. Alright now that I'm caught up I can issue the OFFICIAL (and by official i mean just mine) ace of blades stance on alliance swapping, klingsor, the xmen, and SHIELD winning every tourney bc they're all rich. So rich they actually pay other people to play for them (sarcasm, I'm on record as a SHIELD fanboy)

...

Meh. Shields the best. 5dv is VERY good. X men are/will be top contenders as well. Klingsors a bit overzealous with a constant desire to wager but what're you gonna do. I do think it's awesome he has a pr group though, despite not being awesome that he needs one. Until I got here I thought johnny punch was X men's main guy. Who knew

In the grand scheme of things unless alliance cover rewards and hp only go to top 3 this isn't going to effect a lot of people. To sweat over it seems like a bit much. However it makes for delicious drama

On a more important note...

The Ladder wrote:

Lol at the random John Cena reference. Really?

REALLY? ... really?...

But your believe in shield reference is ok?

I've been secretly hoping the sig was a wrestling reference. Now I think it might be! Also, it took everything I had to not drop a "who... is this roody poo" reference earlier.

Congrats to the soccer hooligans who that recent game (match?) meant something too. Push Dolph ziggler. Arogntbastrd OUT! *mic drop*

Unknown

Lycra wrote:

Nazerith, the reason no one has really heard about the x-men is because you guys have done nothing worth mentioning, until the recent past. But now we have heard something about them, and I must say, it's mostly troll-bait and hypocrisy. From denouncing player swapping when you guys engage in it so wantonly, to claiming to be above the forum bickering to being the biggest instigator of it on this thread, the X-men's image is leaving everything to be desired.

If any association is made between the two of you, I honestly think Klingsor will be the one emerging poorer for it. He may be gruff in his speech, but he at least he cannot be accused of being a two-faced hypocrite like yourself. Just stop what you're doing Nazerith, because it's nonsensical.

And also because talking through your **** makes your breath stink.

And we got another fan? Just to set the record straight I made a reference not to offend Jews but exploit people's leadership styles we love all people here at The X-Men Lycra please for give me if I've never heard of you. You seem to like Klinky a lot as well he's a big fan of mine maybe I can introduce the 2 of you. Anyhow back to topic, I didn't start this tread I actually just said let who ever swap it doesn't matter to us. This is war and D3 makes the rules. So if your referring to what my alliance or what I do then please get your facts straight in the process of starting a new alliance people do move around. We just opened up our 20th spot in x3 today. I'd offer you a spot there, but I feel your attitude is not quite X-Men material. If you're able to seek some council for your issues at a latter date we may consider letting you in the number one alliance if your able to break 500 in pvp.

Unknown

Arogntbastrd wrote:

On a more important note...

The Ladder wrote:

Lol at the random John Cena reference. Really?

REALLY? ... really?...

But your believe in shield reference is ok?

I've been secretly hoping the sig was a wrestling reference. Now I think it might be! Also, it took everything I had to not drop a "who... is this roody poo" reference earlier.

Congrats to the soccer hooligans who that recent game (match?) meant something too. Push Dolph ziggler. Arogntbastrd OUT! *mic drop*

Ah, you got my subtle Miz ref there... nice

The believe in Shield stuff is not actually owt to do with them, but now you mention it, I like the link.

Puritas

nazerith wrote:

Just to set the record straight I made a reference not to offend Jews but exploit people's leadership styles we love all people here at The X-Men

Note for the future: Referring to fascism rather than likening a relatively trivial game event to specific genocide will probably upset a lot less people.

Also, starting every day with reports from this thread is a pretty clear indicator that there's very little useful coming out of this discussion.
It's pretty clear that this is an issue many competitive players feel strongly about, so I'm going to leave this open a little longer in the offchance that there's something pertinent that can be contributed.

However, next offtopic alliance bashing gets it locked.

Unknown

The X-men contributed nothing to this thread. I have told their members that I was offended by the hitler and nazi comparisons because I have Jewish heritage and they just doubled efforts. Nazerith probably didn't know about that, but like with everything else related to the xmen, he just copied what everyone else was doing. This is the internet, so I'm not surprised.

About alliance swapping, notice how the xmen continue to swap their way to the top. Sounds like we need that new rule before the 5deadlyvenoms can't compete with the xmen anymore! Logic would dictate that i start shuffling members around again (which I haven't) but I refuse out of principle. If the xmen value winning second at any cost, then let them win and swap the night away. This thread has caused grief and deserves to be locked.

mouser

I think the core concern being expressed in this suggestion discussion thread is how to prevent or deter alliance hopping from becoming a metagame strategy in MPQ that unbalances the intended design of alliances. I believe it is a valid question and would like to see some more constructive discussion on whether and how it should be addressed by the devs. Preferably without the personal sniping.

Unknown

Some of the points raised in this thread are relevant to only those in the very top alliances. MOST of the on-topic points raised here can affect anyone in any alliance. Since I'm in an alliance, I'd like to give my take on things.

Background : As a very new player I prioritised finding an alliance purely due to the advice in the viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3939 thread, as normally I would have zero interest in interacting during a match-three game. The reasons given for joining an alliance were enough to convince me to at least try it out this time. By the time I'd read the guides & advice threads, I was ready to post in the viewtopic.php?f=16&t=5159 thread... on my 7th day of playing the game. I had the 1*s maxed and not many covers for 2*s yet. I had been wondering from the start what the 'Alliance' tabs were all about, particularly as there were absolutely NO in-game explanations given.

Obviously I would not be aiming to join a "top 100" alliance, then or anytime in the near future. But as I expected to continue to play daily, enter all events, grow my roster strength and in general be very active in the game for a very long time (I love the Puzzle Quest games!), trying to find an alliance that would suit me was important - as important as just finding + joining any active one ASAP, from all accounts. Too bad I personally hate the idea of just joining anything for the sake of it...

Anyway, I found a great alliance, paid to open the next slot (17 I think) because I thought paying my way was fair. My roster was probably the lowest by far when I joined, but it sure didn't stay that way. We're rising in the rankings - average around 120-150 atm - and have 20 members. So, yay, that all worked out so far!

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Currently : Our alliance lost a newer member who thought we weren't all pushing hard enough. Fair enough, if isn't working for you then it's time to move on. Unfortunately it near the ending of a PvP and we dropped out of the 3* cover reward range - with that ex-member's score, we'd have made it. As other people have said in other threads, that's a risk we run when we make an alliance with random people.

But as we get closer to the end of Season 1 it's clear that the lack of consequence for kicking a member/leaving an alliance will only lead to more issues. While the very top alliances might very well be stable or change only amongst 'sister' alliances, everyone else across the board has to basically just hope for the best. Even very capable, stable alliances WILL be pushed out of the top 100 range by last-minute changes to other alliances.

"Alliance hopping" is certainly not against the rules currently, in fact it seems to be encouraged by the distinct lack of consequence. Which is okay if that's what D3P really want, I guess. I've never before played any team game or sport that has literally NO conditions or limits applied to "member migration" ... until now, that is. It didn't make any sense to me before Season 1 started, and it makes even less sense now that the stakes have been raised so high.

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Conclusion : If D3P could give a clear explanation to all players about what the in-game purpose of alliances is, how it works, and The Rules, that would be amazingly helpful.

Their stance on tactics like alliance hopping, and kicking inactive/low achieving members just before a tourney ends (to be replaced by someone with a higher score) also needs to be made clear in order to at least answer the questions being asked on multiple threads. I've read the recent article series and I'm frankly more confused about what D3P want (aside from money, obviously) from alliances than I was before. In my book, being increasingly "social" and feeling like part of a team does not equal kicking people in favour of other randoms with higher scores. The former is positive, the latter is negative and a heck of a lot more ruthless than I feel like being in a game...

Edit : grammar

Unknown

I think it all boils down to principles the actual alliance has. We don't swap members at shield but that's because we don't have any junior alliances or any subs. Our principle is to work as a team and if we fall short that's alright if we have tried our best. It helps currently that we have crazies who go point mad (won't mention any names) but I think if alliances choose to expand and have several alliances they can do with their resources as they please. They invested in that and thats an ongoing investment of time, money and development.

Ultimately people still need to work hard swaps or no swaps and I think if you are in the top 50 that's because you worked harder then the rest.

Unknown

beemand2g wrote:

I think it all boils down to principles the actual alliance has. We don't swap members at shield but that's because we don't have any junior alliances or any subs. Our principle is to work as a team and if we fall short that's alright if we have tried our best. It helps currently that we have crazies who go point mad (won't mention any names) but I think if alliances choose to expand and have several alliances they can do with their resources as they please. They invested in that and thats an ongoing investment of time, money and development.

Ultimately people still need to work hard swaps or no swaps and I think if you are in the top 50 that's because you worked harder then the rest.

We have principles too!

1) Finish top 2

That is all! We didn't swap last night either, but since we lost a member we just reinforced from our own ranks. Honestly swapping just to get 100 points more is more trouble than it's worth. Swapping has increased competition though, which increases Shield expenditure, so if D3 likes shield spending to continue to go at this crazy rate they probably won't stop swapping.

Bee, how about you tell your point crazy members to not grind so hard, then we won't have to grind so hard, etc...

Unknown

If you guys don't chase so hard we won't grind so hard lol. You guys are always going on your crazy last minute runs. Respect for that however you guys don't complain about competing you push which is what this game is about. Get your rewards after that hardwork and I wasn't saying you guys don't have principles because you clearly have I just said everyone is free to do with their resources as they please. I can only comment on what we do at shield I'll let others comment for their alliance but I will give credit where it is due.

Unknown

beemand2g wrote:

If you guys don't chase so hard we won't grind so hard lol. You guys are always going on your crazy last minute runs. Respect for that however you guys don't complain about competing you push which is what this game is about. Get your rewards after that hardwork and I wasn't saying you guys don't have principles because you clearly have I just said everyone is free to do with their resources as they please. I can only comment on what we do at shield I'll let others comment for their alliance but I will give credit where it is due.

Thanks to a good bribe, slobofix, aka prince of wales or sultan of brunei, has been recruited by the x-men, rendering the competition for the season score almost a pointless exercise. I wonder if the anti-swappers in here would support legislation that would reset season scores once you change alliances? This would prevent people changing alliances just to boost alliance totals near the end. Imagine the frustration people are going to feel when there is a massive swaparoo on the last day of the season?