Behind the scenes of a "Winning Alliance" - The X-Men

Unknown

beemand2g wrote:

We just needed an alliance so beezer took us bunch of misfits and nobodies and Nemek and wyp got some more misfits and nobodies and thus shield was formed. We are probably the most disorganised bunch of players, we don't even know who will be entering events lol. It's simple just climb and see where we end up.

That's interesting I like that.

Unknown

To the original poster: Shield has never had an application process, unlike almost every other alliance out there. I should know, I was selected as a founder member by Nick Fury (the player, not the character), along with walkyourpath, Nemek and Jachdo.

When alliances expanded, we reached out to others we felt were as likeminded as us. They didn't have to evidence so many levels amongst their roster, or send us screenshots of their place in the standings. They just had to be 'our type' of people. That the people we connected with have turned into some absolute behemoths of the game - reckless springs to mind, beee was already one of the original big guns - says much for the way our chosen few have learnt and adapted since joining our ranks.

I fear your desire to join Shield is misguided. Posting sensitive inside information in a public forum, whilst of intrigue, is not a good thing to do at all, in this humblest of opinions. Your performance in recent events, as commendable as it is, is not going to change the way we look at our existing roster. We gel well as a group and enjoy discussion amongst ourselves. We don't look to replace players, real life is a thing we embrace and do not resent it if it happens to cost us placings. We accept that we can't win them all, and enjoy the challenge provided to us by others.

Unknown

....

Bacon Pants

Reading through this it is quite clear that this is much more than just a free to play game to some folks. I could understand demands like this if there were something of value to actually gain from the game...but last time I checked, there isn't.

Terran Dominion may not finish 1st or 2nd or top 10 for that matter. And honestly, I don't care as finishing top 50 or 100 is good enough. (Depending on alliance rewards of course) I think we communicate enough, we don't coordinate attacks or other nonsense like that. We have a good core group that enjoys playing and simultaneously bashing the game.

Unknown

First of all, as it's my first time connecting here, hi to y'all.
I'm STALKER7 from 5DV. I met many of you playing that game.

Don't want to add no drama here. Too easy. Even if some X-MEN guys have been taunting us recently. It's all good. We do respond in the field.

My concern is just to clear some thangs I've read here.
We don't practice the "one fail you're out" method. We are against it. We do warn you if you're CONSTANTLY slacking. big difference.
I maybe should not talk about the way we work as it's internal, but I see silence feeds phantasms.

So what's up if a guy can't perform ? First, he got to let us know he won't be able to play. Question of respect for the ones grinding hard. If a guy is in vacation, as it already happened, we temporarily promote internally. It's mainly what happened and made people cry about unfair swapping.

We spent months of hard work, recruiting (props to Brady for his former work), teaching best methods to progress, creating communication tools, managing personal complaints, and we should not be using the fruit of it ? Sorry, but it doesn't make sense.

About Arktos situation, it's not like he has ignored the tourney. He just couldn't step his game up enough for this PVP. Period. Score was not 0 or even 500. 950. Honest. Our weakest score ? 1015. And guess what ? Our player is still here.

Maybe Arktos's roster was not good enough for X-MEN. Well, it's not like commanders did not know. Maybe he didn't receive good advices to perform better. But he gave his best. Means you deserve a lil more consideration.

The persons 5D's kicked were slacking over and over, so we had no choice. Or didn't share our vision of things. That's their right and I can't blame them for that. DJTHEO was honest enough to let us know he prefered leaving. Brady felt he was not considered enough. We all share faults. Good luck to them both. They were great venoms. And still perform.

Now let me tell you for such hard decisions, we have a council. And a lot of persons argue, defend positions, try not to hurt. It's not a one click thang.

Sorry if I was too long. And sorry for you Arktos. Good game to y'all guys !

Unknown

When I ask myself "what should I be ruthlessly competitive about today?" my usual answer is "150 HP" too, so I see where this guy is coming from.

Unknown

The Ladder wrote:

To the original poster: Shield has never had an application process, unlike almost every other alliance out there. I should know, I was selected as a founder member by Nick Fury (the player, not the character), along with walkyourpath, Nemek and Jachdo.

When alliances expanded, we reached out to others we felt were as likeminded as us. They didn't have to evidence so many levels amongst their roster, or send us screenshots of their place in the standings. They just had to be 'our type' of people. That the people we connected with have turned into some absolute behemoths of the game - reckless springs to mind, beee was already one of the original big guns - says much for the way our chosen few have learnt and adapted since joining our ranks.

I fear your desire to join Shield is misguided. Posting sensitive inside information in a public forum, whilst of intrigue, is not a good thing to do at all, in this humblest of opinions. Your performance in recent events, as commendable as it is, is not going to change the way we look at our existing roster. We gel well as a group and enjoy discussion amongst ourselves. We don't look to replace players, real life is a thing we embrace and do not resent it if it happens to cost us placings. We accept that we can't win them all, and enjoy the challenge provided to us by others.

That I only can know once you explain that to me. When you see the threads for recruitment and Alliance applications, you imagine otherwise at first. Each team has its own goal. For the time being, I want to grow my roster stronger and use the abilities of the chars at best, because it's always been hard for me to manage scaling, rubberbanding, MMR and so forth. So, as a marketing man, I thought : they made it so that I pay and buy covers and ISO, let's do it, and see what happens (I'm a very binary and basic guy). I enjoy playing with chars which do a lot of damage (I was playing aggro in Magic the Gathering).

I appreciate all of you at SHIELD explaining the genesis of your team. As a newcomer to the game, I admire Top Teams a lot, because of the achievement. And their experience.

So my willingness to join SHIELD was just a sign of admiration Not the worst intentions, isn't it ?

Unknown

Bacon Pants wrote:

I could understand demands like this if there were something of value to actually gain from the game...but last time I checked, there isn't.

Exactly. There are MLB players that aren't as competitive as this guy - and they get PAID to be competitive! Have you seen the pile of jelly doughnuts that is Prince Fielder?!?!

Unknown

mcheath wrote:

When I ask myself "what should I be ruthlessly competitive about today?" my usual answer is "150 HP" too, so I see where this guy is coming from.

You make a good point, but utlimately the 'end game' is currently competitions in this game. Which is why so many people are beating their brains out trying to win a bunch of heroic tokens they don't really need.

Most of the top players are 90-95% fully covered at this point, so their drive/focus has to change to keep them interested.

I don't have an issue with hardcore alliances. There are 13000 alliances and everyone can find one that fits their needs.

Unknown

(on the 1st post, not quoted to save space).

Sounds quite as expected really, no surprise. The 5D group is probably close, just with better style and they target S...D

It well reflects on the P2W aspects of the game, of course boosting like hell creates a ton of advantage. Fortunately since the prize hike the majority really just use them sparsingly and like you refuse to pay actual money. Same goes to health packs and shields.

IMO most people have actual reason just as you demonstrated and refuse this approach. What leads to my disagreement for your request D3 to put limits: a few hundred crazies hardly disrupt the scene so much, so it is not really needed. (And better keep away from some heavy-handed action). For alliance-swapping we had the discussion in the dedicated thread, many voices agreed that a hotfix with 6-12-24 hour cooldown period on re-joining would prevent most of the abuse, it may even get implemented as those times were changed at least once already.

Most players and alliances are not like that and can find the balance in fun in competition, also exploiting the loopholes is natural and expected -- the turmoil around X was really about the hypocrisy part. And the swapping thing is mostly frowned on as it looks not in the spirit of the game.

Manipulated into war -- it takes one's judgement always, the commander really have no tools to force anyone's hand. Just as they failed on you could fail on anyone else. So we better assume the members actually want that war, and why not let them have it too. They'll bore themselves out soon enough after getting there or after not getting there... And forms are moderated so rudeness can be handled easily.

And I'm sure you'll have no problem to find a sane alliance.

Unknown

arktos1971 wrote:

In the few hours I was in the Alliance, 4 new members joined, and 3 were out of the Alliance (including me). Nazarith spends his time answering application requests, that's a full-time job. Is it still a game we are talking about ?

Probably not the answer you might want to hear, but if they want to play the game this way, well, why not? It's their alliance, they make the rules, even if those might seem just a little crazy to the casual observer. They were looking for other players with a similar level of dedication, you didn't fit in, you got shown the door. Sure, it hurts, there would probably have been better ways to get the message across. Still, there's nothing to be gained from feeling bad about it, move on to another alliance that fits your play style and expectations better.

One word of advice though, whatever happens inside an alliance is considered private. As much as I enjoy reading every juicy bit of gossip that finds its way to this forum, you don't want to be the person posting. It's seen as a different kind of being rude, one that is well outside the realm of gameplay.

JamieMadrox

mcheath wrote:

When I ask myself "what should I be ruthlessly competitive about today?" my usual answer is "150 HP" too, so I see where this guy is coming from.

I almost spit my coffee on my keyboard over this. Subtly funny and dry witted. Are you Canadian or British?

Unknown

Sure, and I've learnt many things about Alliances in the last days.

I stopped playing at the PvP because while I was making points in one match (let's say 20 to 30), I was being attacked several times and was losing more points than gaining any.

The system of points win/loss was used in Magic the Gathering. Many players left the game because they felt they were not rewarded for playing. Now you gain 3 points when you win, 1 point for a 1-1, and 0 when you lose. So you can only progress. Since then, the number of new players skyrocketed.

That's the same problem with MPQ. D3P will have to reward people who play. At the moment, it looks like they make it very hard for us when we play a lot to perform.

It's time D3P learnt from other successful games.

Unknown

Moghwyn wrote:

arktos1971 wrote:

In the few hours I was in the Alliance, 4 new members joined, and 3 were out of the Alliance (including me). Nazarith spends his time answering application requests, that's a full-time job. Is it still a game we are talking about ?

Probably not the answer you might want to hear, but if they want to play the game this way, well, why not? It's their alliance, they make the rules, even if those might seem just a little crazy to the casual observer.

I have ABSOLUTELY no problem with that and I TOTALLY agree. But then say it upfront. And don't tell "we are family, I take care of my family, I help my team, I never kick someone out..." when you do exactly the opposite. Don't seduce people so as to better dump them if they don't fit your ambitions.

I explained thoroughly my ambitions while sending my application, my goals and strategy, I could not be clearer enough (and honest). He told me "If I had your roster and money, I'd do much better than this". Most probably he would. Telling me to use tons of boosts to kill the opponent in less than one minute so as to gather as many points as possible is not a strategy for me, and is not teaching me gameplay to improve using my resources.

Most of the guys I met here improved their roster over time. There is more than enough to improve not to get bored in the long run. Reading what I have read so far, it looks like The X-Men are a sheer copycat of 5D, and members want to take some revenge over something. Why would they focus on them while SHIELD is most of the time best ?

My 2 cts.

Unknown

arktos1971 wrote:

Sure, and I've learnt many things about Alliances in the last days.

I stopped playing at the PvP because while I was making points in one match (let's say 20 to 30), I was being attacked several times and was losing more points than gaining any.

The system of points win/loss was used in Magic the Gathering. Many players left the game because they felt they were not rewarded for playing. Now you gain 3 points when you win, 1 point for a 1-1, and 0 when you lose. So you can only progress. Since then, the number of new players skyrocketed.

That's the same problem with MPQ. D3P will have to reward people who play. At the moment, it looks like they make it very hard for us when we play a lot to perform.

It's time D3P learnt from other successful games.

Nope. It will turn this into a grindfest that is worse than what it already is. So no.

Unknown

It would relieve a lot of frustration though (which MPQ players have tons of already).

Bowgentle

arktos1971 wrote:

It would relieve a lot of frustration though (which MPQ players have tons of already).

Not really. I think having to score 1500+ to make top 50 would frustrate people even more.
Especially if you can't play the final hours of a PVP.

Unknown

The points system is fine how it is. Having a positive points system would only reward a select few. I got no issue with getting hit for 40-50. It's part of the game to get your timing right. It's a thrill seeing someone bounce off your shield after you just took apart meat shields in the craziest way possible.

Unknown

arktos1971 wrote:

Telling me to use tons of boosts to kill the opponent in less than one minute so as to gather as many points as possible is not a strategy for me, and is not teaching me gameplay to improve using my resources.

It is a strategy for them, and one that sounds very well suited to achieve their goal of scoring as high as possible. The way PvP is structured, time is really the ultimate resource, getting the most out of it comes at the cost of money. You also don't want to waste multiple turns on Spidey's yellow where a couple of health packs can get you back into action at the press of a button. Provided you've got enough cash to burn, of course.

Unknown

arktos1971 wrote:

Maestro145 wrote:

laoahpeh wrote:

I bet you will have more fun.

You cannot really imagine how fun is it to fight for top 2!

Maestro : Can you honestly tell us that 5D behaves the same as X-Men ?

We do not. We have 5 alliances to accomodate every scenario. One is designated as casual or vacation friendly. We swap mainly to accomodate people's schedules. I, as the leader, will get pushy, telling people when they shield at 1025 to break shield to reach 1100, but that's about it. The people I have kicked directly have been from non-communication. Total kicked: 1. Everyone else that has left has been at their own volition. I feel the 5D group has had a lot of negative rep, and I haven't helped, with my attitude sometimes. However, it would impossible to manage 100 people in 5 alliances by being a mega ****. The truth is we are very organized and communicate very well. We have 2 facebook groups and 6 different chats. We even have a council composed of 2 admins from every alliance so the decisions we make represent the majority. The results, all 5 of our alliances finished top 25 and we finished 2nd without a single swap. Also, if I shield hop I spend less than 500 HP total which is provided by event results so we aren't really P2W either.