[Feedback] - guild quest exploit and actions

Here's my take on everything:

to be clear, i'm part of the exploiters as some screenshots have clearly indicated unless you're as blind as a bat LOL.

First and foremost, i'd like to offer my apologies to all who have felt wronged by my actions - i'm referring to my participation in the "exploit". The consensus is clear and the non-farmers have won the debate as the devs have clearly made decisions in their favor. I've been playing this game everyday since june 2016, i love every moment of it and i have worked my way up the ladder of Battebay. And prior to the guild hopping exploit, i have never done anything to diminish nor compromise the integrity of this game. i've also been an enthusiastic member of this forum over that time and have been quite active in providing feedback as well as suggestions. Having said that, i would also to make it perfectly clear that my motive for joining the exploit was not for malicious reasons but becasue IT WAS, IN ALL HONESTY, THE BEST TIME I'VE HAD IN BATTLEBAY SINCE I STARTED PLAYING THE GAME... the crazy chat frenzy, the awesome camaraderie, the very lively community, everybody was helping everybody, people voluntarily giving up their slots so others could have a go. Man, i'd go through another round of punishment just to experience that again.

Please don't mistake my apology as an acceptance of the non-farmer's perspective. i still stand by what i believe but out of respect for the devs, i have accepted their decision and want to move on from this ridiculously overblown incident. A punishment is warranted, i agree with the rollback, it IS a FAIR solution. The execution however, leaves a lot be desired.

Having said all of that, i would just like to make an appeal to Rovio to consider and for the representatives of the non-exploiters players to endorse:

• Redefine the degree of punishment: separate it by the release of the official statement ("Regarding Guild Exploit"). Exploiters who exploited only before the announcement was released should get a lighter punishment compared to those who continued the activity after the announcement. Why? Many of the identified exploiters are truly innocent and we're just going with flow. What would you do if you log on and find your guild suddenly empty? Wouldn't you also try to find another guild or move around to find out what's happening? that's actually how i started doing it because i suddenly found my guild devoid of members and i suddenly got tons of guild invites. While other "exploiters" were innocently helping their friends finish quests in other guilds and unwittingly finished several board 1s or 2s and maybe even 3s simply because they got asked to help out. These "honest" exploiters didn't know any better, not everyone reads the forums nor participate in the chatrooms. of course this does not exempt them from punishment, i humbly ask that you reconsider their plight and issue a lighter punishment and make the rollback only up to the date of the announcement, instead of Oct. 2. For those who disregarded the announcement and continued to "farm", the punishment as it is now is more than enough. (all who stopeed after the announcement, should be only be punished with negative token balances instead of being rolled back)
• i for one had ceased to continue the exploit after the announcement and had also suggested to my friends to stop as well. i am not appealing for a lighter punishment for myself, if my appeal is considered, i am voluntarily declining the ligher punishment that i am asking for to prove to you that i ask this not for my own interests but for the good of the community moving forward. For there are truly innocent "exploiters" who are now feeling wronged and "cheated" out of their honestly earned rewards. to the non-farmers, if you are truly for fairness and integrity, you know what i ask is reasonable. The thing that saddens me most is seeing players quit out of anger, frustration, disgust and/or a perceived slight.
• i also asked that the devs show a higher level of accountability in doling out appropriate punishment. Deleting "exploit" progress is already a harsh punishment, time and effort and had been spent regardless of the circumstances. Deleting "legitimate" progress, on the other hand, is too harsh (that is why many quit and are asking for refunds, more losses for you rovio - something that i think could have been avoided altogether if you had executed the punishment "fairly"), majority of the exploiters did not join in on the activity until at least around Oct 5 by my observation. As you have said, this fault does not just lie with the devs but also with the players involved and i fully understand that. The offenders got punished, severely, and the honest ones got rewarded, the gripe right now is not because of the punishment itself but because of how "vindictive" it was carried out. Give back the fairly earned progress, even add a temporary ban if you feel like it so that these exploiters can do some soul searching and come back a better member of the community.

Moving forward, i am recommending that Rovio handpick representatives of the players (openly or secretly) to help provide consumer insights and feedback to new features in the pipeline so that incidents like this can be avoided in the future.

As a parting word, please keep an open mind when i say this: Games are meant to be beaten, that has been the universal rule since atari rolled out its first console. Gaming culture is all about optimizing your chances to win the game and that means taking advantage of all possible angles to give you an edge.

So please keep that in mind moving forward, the next loophole discovered will still attract exploiters regardless of what happened now. The more loopholes you unintentionally produce, the more divided the community becomes everytime you try to resolve it. Battlebay might not recover from the next blunder - and i don't want to see that happen.

Cheers!!!

 

Nice response yellow ocean but unfortunately it will fall on deaf ears, surely by now you have realised this.

 

@yellowocean damn bro, how do you manage to produce accurate posts almost every single time. Someday if i decide to install game again(was thinking of doing it after a month or a two, just to say hi to guild and friends ) , i hope to meet you on BAY for sure...

 

i'm making an appeal for the innocents... simple as that... it's also a personal appeal but i can manage even if they don't agree. What i'm asking for is a fair execution of punishment not something done out of pride and/or anger. Anger just leads to more anger and a more divided community. the bay is already salty as it is, don't like see it become another "dead sea".

 

Agreed, like i have stated before i dont care about the roll back.

But there sure as hell was hard grinding progress in between.

Yet they cant differ between the two, why ? Because they cant get anything right as it seems.

Its a snowball effect.

 

they can, they just chose not to. - the blanket rollback is much easier to do, unfortunately, many innocent players were also tagged as exploiters and got unjustly punished for it - i just don't want players quitting... we already lost several nightmare players, God knows how long the fresh recruits can get up to nightmare league and replenish the ranks... i was waiting for 20-30 minutes per match while fleeted at 5k infamy, just goes to show how small the base at the top has become.

 

But yet they still can differ in punishment, some have token debts some have roll backs.

But the devs are crying wolf saying its all gotta be fair. Yet how come people had different punishments (besides the obvious severity of the farming, but if one person exploited it a few times and someone 100 times, its still the same)

They themselves have caused this current chaos and it wont get any better for a long time.

Good work devs.

 

aw man, are you really quitting? i hope you change your mind... how can we play if you stop progressing? the devs took a stand... let's respect that and move on.

 

Thank you. I was one of them

 

You said it yourself bro, the rollback is much easier to do, because they are lazy. How about put more effort in and not go down the easy route.

Maybe this wouldnt of happened if they didnt take the easy, lazy, careless approach in the update to begin with, hmmmm ??

 

Yep, i know

 

That's all i'm asking for...

 

Rovio have already said they will take a zero tolerance approach to exploiting bugs in the future, and they have published a code of conduct.

It’s regrettable that people were confused by statements made by staff, but I think it’s also clear that the staff members in question, failed to anticipate the scale of the issue.

It wasn’t just a handful people completing a second guild page for a few extra rewards, it was entire guilds systematically farming millions of tokens.

I think originally the devs were willing to let it slide, but people saw that as carte blanche to exploit it mercilessly. Obviously, that was going to exasperate the issue.

 

I respect devs bro, i know we pestered them about updates, as soon as they released one, we told them it wasn't good and asked for more. The decision they made from update were one blunder topped by other blunder,because we panicked them(LEAVING YOU ASIDE, NEVER SEEN YOU WHINING ). BUT now they have every chance to recover step by step

I did quit not as a protest to devs decision, but the update is harsh for me to digest.

ANYWAYS I M HAPPY YOU ARE STILL THERE, THE BAY NEEDS A BRAINY PLAYER LIKE YOU THAN ANY OF US.

 

i take it that you're referring to those who continued to farm after the announcement? if so, then why take the rollback all the way back to October 2? they should have just rolled it back to the date of the announcement. i'm not really worried about myself, i'm more worried about those who have absolutely no hand in this activity whatsoever but got branded as exploiters as well. The devs should be more considerate of these players and i'm asking you guys (non-farmers) to support that.

 

Again. Not going to say much. But honestly Rovio, what was stopping you guys from atleast making a PROPER announcement the moment it was a found out.

Something as simple as:
Attention battle bay; a new exploit of the recently integrated guild quests update which was just released has come to our attention. In an effort to keep guild quests open for the honest players, we would like to announce to everyone that we recommend you do not attempt to participate in this exploit known as “farming” as we will be taking action against any players using this method which may result in ban and or roleback of account. Until we can implement a new solution would like everyone to made of aware of this potential issue in order to avoid confusion and unnecessary action against a larger group of players down the road.

Like .. come on, i know majority of players would not have farmed if something like this happened. I sure would of avoided even just the couple days of it. The whole cause of this is your managements bad communication, and to apologize and say we know made some mistakes and still punish prople, is like saying yeah sorry, but screw you anyways.

 

And to anyone whos going to refer to the in game/ forum announcement made by grim dont even bother.. as its been made clear they rolled back days before that anyways.

 

Actualy some of us told them during 1 week about this exploit issue,
and they did not act and some aswered it was not against the rules,
so now we know what happened ...
They also told us there will not be 2nd guild season till bugs will be fixed, but 2nd season started ...
Rovio is able to communicate about random videos on youtube but not about real problems ...

 

This is just beautiful to read! Great suggestions combined with perfect english

 

Don't forget that part about it not being the intended way to playvthe game either. You just choose what is convenient for you in this situation cause the devs changed their minds regarding the matter. He could have said that out of ignorance and later on revising the situation with his peers realized his mistake, you believing that 'technically no rules were broken' is a go ahead pass then fine you did the crime do the time