Shield not always protecting?

BeetleGeorge

I got above 1200 points at RRRRAAAWWWRRR! event less than 5 hours before the end. Then I bought an 8 hour shield and stopped playing.
Now, 1 hour later I saw I had been attacked 6 times. The first 5 times did not subtract points but at the 6th attack points got subtracted and I fell below 1200 points.
Is it normal that sometimes shields do not work?
Or is it a known issue?
Or a new bug.

I normally do not use shields so I really don't know.

BeetleGeorge

Forgot to mention:
When the point loss happened it the status said: "shielded 7h 14m"

LakeStone

BeetleGeorge said:

Forgot to mention:
When the point loss happened it the status said: "shielded 7h 14m"

Thank you for sharing this with us.  Can you share this with customer support at mpqsupport@d3go.com. They can look and see what may have happened here with the shield.  Thanks!

abmoraz

BeetleGeorge said:

I got above 1200 points at RRRRAAAWWWRRR! event less than 5 hours before the end. Then I bought an 8 hour shield and stopped playing.
Now, 1 hour later I saw I had been attacked 6 times. The first 5 times did not subtract points but at the 6th attack points got subtracted and I fell below 1200 points.
Is it normal that sometimes shields do not work?
Or is it a known issue?
Or a new bug.

I normally do not use shields so I really don't know.

I can tell you what happened and why, but it won't make you feel any better.

Some background:

1. MPQ works on a "client-server" model.  The server(s) at MPQ are the "Truth" and your phone/tablet/computer is a client that plays the game, then sends the results back to server for updating.
   
2. Not everything is updated at the same time.  Battle results are sent separately from Alliance Messages.  Roster changes and training are sent separate from.
3. The biggest thing is that the Server NEVER pushes information.  Your Client has to request it. (**This is the reason for your issue**)
4. Your Client does NOT request updates while you are in the middle of a match, on certain "sub screens" (like the roster page) or the App is in the back-ground/closed.  (**another key point**)
   

So what happens with shields and getting hit after putting them up?  Well...

1. You got to 1200 points
2. Your device pushes that information to the server and caches the response so it can display your ranking.
   
3. Other players have attacked you and pushed their results to the Server, knocking your score down to ~1100 points
   
4. Your Client hasn't requested an update yet, so it hasn't received this fact, and still shows you as at 1200 on your device.
5. You shield and send that info to the server.  The server says "cool.  any new defeats won't cost you points" (but remember, the server already knows you are down to 1100 points, even though your device does not).
6. You exit MPQ (or go play in a sub-event screen) or literally do anything but sit at the main page or the PvP page.
7. Eventually you go back to a page where your Client device says "Hey Server!  Got any updates for me?"
8. The server finally sends back the results from #3 that knocked you down to 1100, plus any that happened since then that were shielded.  This can be minutes, hours, or even days later if you haven't opened the app or been online in that long.

As for the reason that "the first 5 times did not subtract points but at the 6th attack points got subtracted"... the battles are shown to you in the order of "most recent to oldest".  So the first 5 happened after the server got your shield request and the 6th was before.

So there you go.  That's WHY it happens.  Why it has always happened.  Why the hardcore PvP players say to "check your points on the leader board before shielding to force your device to update" (and even then, there will be a few seconds between doing that, backing out to the PvP screen, clicking the shield, and your device sending the request to the server in which you could still get hit). 

BeetleGeorge

Since I do never get any top placement anyway, it didn't make me very unhappy. I just wanted to understand. And your explanation was perfect for that. Many thanks!