Loop Control System (7/17/19)

Brigby

Hi!

We here at Oktagon and D3 Go! would like to address the current state of the Loop Prevention System, and what adjustments we’re making in the 3.6 update, based on some of your ideas. The main thing we’d like to reinforce is that we are always listening to the community and its feedback. Being a small team though, it can take us a little time to gather that feedback and organize things, so we can give an answer. Thank you all for your patience while we go through this process.

What we ended up settling on is replacing the Loop Prevention System with a new Loop Control System.

What is the Loop Control System?
It is a system that, unlike the Loop Prevention System, gives you, the player, control over the loops that you create.

When the timer reaches 0, the game will display a pop-up screen asking the player if they want to continue. If they choose to do so, the timer resets and, after the same amount of time, the game will ask again. If the player says no, then the game will proceed to the next phase. With this, players can continue enjoying the way they play without having trouble with infinite loops.

For the A.I., it will also have a choice to continue its loops when the timer ends. We are just making it so it rarely chooses to do so many times in a row.

To make this level of control functional, the timer will be a little shorter than it is at the moment, so players can more easily and actively choose when to continue a combo or cancel a loop, and prevent the AI from going on forever with a combo before you can act.

We’d like to apologize for the delay in giving the community any answers, but we want you all to know that we are always listening to your feedback and looking for ways to incorporate them in the game.

We hope that with this new Loop Control System everyone can try and build the craziest combos possible, using all the new and exciting cards available in War of the Spark or any other sets that follow!

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Narcoticsagent

I haven't tried this out in game yet but this is probably a good change. 

How does greg decide whether or not to continue his loops?

Tremayne

Based upon the words written on the forum about LPS (when it came out) I believe the players care about it. The players may not want the feature prioritised so highly, but perhaps this can finally move development resources to other tasks.

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wickedwitch74

The game freezes about 50% of the time that the LPS goes off. That's really a drag in competitive events. Have you corrected this problem?

dj55

starfall said:

I'm so glad you spend all your time working on this rather than anything people care about.

We do care about this. I personally hated the 90 second wait to get through a Naru/Quasi loop. I think 60 is still a bit much. 30 seconds is plenty of time for a loop to run. 

I'm not sure what I think about the idea of giving players a choice to continue a loop. Seems like it would just encourage loop decks to be built. Personally, I don't build any decks with intentional loops. It's just a cheesy way to build decks for inexperienced players that makes the game less fun for people who run into them.

I really don't understand giving the AI the ability to choose at all. Even if it's suppose to be rarely. What's the point? Loops are frustrating to sit through, then having the AI choose to continue one...I can just see that blowing people's heads off! 

Weird choices. I vote for a simple 30 second loop prevention.

IM_CARLOS

Sounds great on paper. At least is more anti-loop than pre-patch solution. Or think about the first pre-implementation fixed solution... 

On last coa-event LPS was triggered on second multitude with POD on board. Yes, very long turn but far away from looping.

We will see how many bugs were implemented as well... 

thesmallesthuman

wickedwitch74 said:

The game freezes about 50% of the time that the LPS goes off. That's really a drag in competitive events. Have you corrected this problem?

Seconded. I fear long turns these days because at least half the time the notification pops up, it freezes my game and it’s an automatic loss. 

I’m excited about tinkering with the LPS - I love the idea of having more control over it and I even like the idea of shortening the timer - but only if y’all have fixed the freeze issues that come with it. Otherwise, this just gives us wayyyy more and earlier opportunities for automatic losses.

ertaii

I used the system in a few games. It really feels great ! Well done Oktagon, thanks for listening to us. It's a good move in the good direction.

EvilDead

So far, I approve. The new system seems okay to this point but I've only tasted it in FiRF event.

Bil

ertaii said:

It really feels great ! Well done Oktagon, thanks for listening to us. 

Who  did they listen to when they decided to set 6 hour charges on events? 

Who did they listen to when they decided to set last charges 4 hours before the end of an event instead of 6?

 I feel like my quality way of life has been far from being improved recently ...

That's 1 step forward and 2 steps behind  ... that new LPS  or a golden edge on masterpieces just shows they forget to take off their earphones before listening to us ...

IM_CARLOS

Bil said:

ertaii said:

It really feels great ! Well done Oktagon, thanks for listening to us. 

Who  did they listen to when they decided to set 6 hour charges on events? 

Who did they listen to when they decided to set last charges 4 hours before the end of an event instead of 6?

 I feel like my quality way of life has been far from being improved recently ...

That's 1 step forward and 2 steps behind  ... that new LPS  or a golden edge on masterpieces just shows they forget to take off their earphones before listening to us ...

Customer is king. If everybody skip events or finally quit the game they will learn it the hard way.

I don't understand the stupid choice using recharge and recharge time for evens instead of giving all charges right from the start.
They breading smartphone zombies wich are planing there day and night's (!) around a game. Or second option: the just loosing player. 

I am pretty sure, the game would be cash cow if it were more comfortable and doesn't feal like work. Who wants to pay for his own work? 

thesmallesthuman

I’d like to get back on topic for a second here and just point out that we’ve had multiple reports in my coalition this weekend of LPS freezes and that the new idea is great and all, but definitely puts us in more danger of freezes. 

This freeze has been an issue since the timer was first implemented, and there is ZERO need for the offending notification, especially now that there are other dialogue/confirmation boxes. 

@Brigby can you please pass along to the devs that the initial timer notification is a massive freeze issue and that it pops up every time the game reboots (which is pretty much every time you put it down for a second) and that there is no need for it. Can they please work on either taking it away completely or fixing it so it doesn’t continue to kill our games and our morale?

Tremayne

@thesmallesthuman - I have created this thread to collect errors encountered in TE. <a href="https://forums.d3go.com/discussion/79084/the-elderspark-crash-thread">https://forums.d3go.com/discussion/79084/the-elderspark-crash-thread</a><br>You could collect your findings there, if you like.

Ampersand

I second what @thesmallesthuman shared. I have lost about 5 matches, all on nodes 3 and 4, due to the game locking when it notifies me the Loop Prevention System is about to kick in. I have shared this with in game customer support, along with screenshots. 

Note that in the game, it still calls itselfe "Loop Prevention System", not "Loop Control System."

If it wasn't for these soft locks and the inconsistent registering of Partner cards, I'm pretty sure I'd have a perfect score. New event is buggy as hell.

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Mburn7

starfall said:

I miss that little subgame we used to play where after the LPS ran out you'd use up the dozens of extra swaps you'd gained to get a match 5 because that would permanently deactivate the LPS and let you continue your turn indefinitely.

I doubt anyone posted that bug. Why would you?

I think it's been fixed.  I've had the LPS come back after hitting a 5-match in a turn.

Also, now that BSZ has been nerfed you're much less likely to get a million extra swaps at once.

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Mburn7

starfall said:

Mburn7 said:

Also, now that BSZ has been nerfed you're much less likely to get a million extra swaps at once.

This is not true. You should experiment with Thousand Year Storm some more.

I do not have that.  And I keep forgetting they un-nerfed it.  Fair enough

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