Infamy manipulation spoils the fun for most

I'm at 2k3 now, lol, lvl 25 atm
Using speeder mk4, rare canon t3, epic blast canon t1, rare overboost t3, rare tesla shield t1, rare turbo t2 and epic bandage t2.

 

What this is..? Infamy dropper, infamy manipulation or.....???
I met him twice..

 

Well then let's put an end to that. I have absolutely seen opposing teams where I thought, "Yup, they've lost this before the match starts." And yes, I dislike that just as much as when it happens to my team. I recognize that me or them it's all the same problem... if there is a problem which I'm not entirely convinced of.

I ran some numbers and the infamy system says my skill is worth +7 levels. That'd make me an early M5. Reconsidering the matchmaking screens with me as a M5 makes them look more sane.

Too bad I get punished in rewards for doing so. I'm finding this game is much better as a casual game than a serious competitive shooter. That keeps me sane and happy. Who cares if I lose? I'm just grinding away on gold, sugar and parts. Volume is where it's at not winning. Without some changes the only way I can see bothering to be competitive is once my gear is nearly maxed out as are the people around me so these differences are not so dramatic.

 

Not me.... although I don't exactly tank. But banned or not, this game isn't working for me as a competitive shooter so I'm treating it as a casual "pot the toy boats" game which is a lot more fun. That means I am most definitely playing at "casual level" rather than "as hard as I can". That keeps my progression moving along nicely.

In case anyone cares, for reference my M4 played in a devil-may-care style drops me no lower than about 550 infamy. My "hard as you can" number is 1250. Am I "tanking"? That's a hard calls since frequently my casual play still puts me somewhere in the middle of the leader board and even rewards me 3 stars sometimes. Once I've tanked down below 700 or so that same casual play style will be rewarding me with top-tier finishes regularly. I'll also be playing among boats that are comparable to mine.

I cannot imagine how an M5 could get down to those infamy levels without throwing the match much more assertively than I do.

 

Exactly!

Not a wise idea. Take me for example. I've been managing my infamy between about 1250 and 500. I could do that forever and forever I would rock the guild quest boards with easy first place finishes every week and I'd get a ton of 3 star wins, loads of sugar and gold and all that comes with that.

The only way you're going to encourage me to push my infamy again is to make it worth my while to do so. I'm sick and tired of stressing myself out only to be punished in my rewards. Trying to punish me for dropping infamy is both bad motivational psych and ineffective. I need to be rewarded for fighting and winning in tough battles rather than punished for doing so. See Rock'N'Rolla's post I quoted above. "High level areas" are simply not worth it in this game so I go grind boars in the newbie area.

 

Absolutely. No amount of punishment will work as long as the incentives are so strongly in favor of tanking. I cannot afford to "play my best"... not if I want to still progress. My recommendation would be to clean up the incentive structure first and publicize exactly what you did so the players know the rules have changed. I've seen other game companies make changes and say something vague like, "Reward have been increased for..." That seldom changes player behavior because... well.... the players already knew that the reward structure was screwed up. Why would they believe on faith that now it is fixed? This ties into the current game systems too. I see lots of "improved rewards for...." But I have no idea what that actually means so I discount it as significant. In my mind it equates to, "Yay, more grey and green parts that I don't really need."

After the incentive problem is resolved so people like me aren't messing with the infamy system the actual griefer problem will be isolated and much easier to resolve.

 

But you will still be penalized if you drop more than 800 infamy.

 

Just to add another angle to this infamy discussion, I am shedding infamy right now. I'm doing so because I want to play with my son later today and I need to be down somewhere around 600-ish to do that (reasonably). I sure do wish that there was some sort of gear score. I could just drop in one of my lower mark boats... equip it with gear appropriate to that mark. That'd peg my "matching level" at somewhere above where that boat ought to be because skill does need some accounting for. Or, I could offset the skill with deliberately underpowered weapons if I chose.. But I could reasonably play with my son without a whole ton of tanking to facilitate it.

A second account would also accomplish the same function but on an IOS device and without wanting to give Rovio facebook access, I don't see how to do that.

How I wish it was. Let's assume we are constructing a "matching score" for the sake of matchmaking:

Infamy = "skill" (it doesn't right now but let's go with it). + points for infamy.
Boat = + for extra HP, - for reduced speed. Boats are mixed bag. (fixers need to be handled separately. I'd add a fair number of points for a fixer boat)
Weapon slots don't matter
Each item loaded into a slot would add "matching points" according to it's grade and tier.


Do all the math and come up with my "matching score" and that's used for the matchmaking system. This would help resolve other issues also like... say.... off-weapons for guild quests. Fine, I can load my U-20 fire bomb and I don't need to tank to do that. Automatically loading a U-20 weapon vs. a R-25 weapon is going to make me match at lower levels. It would also resolve the ever-fun issue of a M1 boat loaded with E-40 gear.

I'm not denying that skill matters and ought to be accounted for. Nor am I suggesting that the whales shouldn't have their seals to club. But gear needs to be taken into account at least to some extent.

 

LOL. Didn't catch the necro. It would appear though that the topic remains pertinent.

 

As much as I want to believe this to be true, I'm having a hard time please help me understand.

Streaks are supposed to be random, I think everyone would agree. I don't really believe in coincidences.
I do not like to fleet anymore because I have noticed a drastic change in matchmaking when in fleet.
(it may be just me) but I'm noticing patterns..... for ex.. YESTERDAY.. playing alone all morning, in MOST (Not 50/50) of my matches the enemy team had a fixer while my team did not. it bothered me to see it constantly but what can I do, I played on. on a couple of occasions ( 2 or 3) I got paired with 2 fixers...cool... not one match with 3 fixers!
as soon as I started to fleet with a fixer guild mate, I started getting paired with 2 and 3 fixers.. happened in about 5 of 9 matches.. as soon as I stooped fleeting, it stopped and I started seeing more and more matches where the fixer was on the other team again....again coincidence?

since I have gotten increasingly frustrated, as a sanity check, I have discussed with other guild mates and friends and most feel the same. A lot of them have stopped fleeting as much and others are ready to drop the game all together, all complaining about the same....
I like the game and think it is fun, but it is extremely frustrating to see these things happening and seemingly nothing we do gets us a win.

So, for ex. if I go on a "random" 15 game win streak, if indeed the system is set up to keep at around 51% win pct., then naturally the system will manipulate things to get you back in that range 51% range..
thus invalidating the argument that there is nothing happening in the background.

Sure, we can blame it on individual skill, but how can someone be good enough to climb up in infamy and then gradually fall right back down then struggle to stay afloat before magically rising up again.. I can understand 300 infamy drop, but 600 700 800 points? It is happening to many, like clockwork.
it's almost predictable.

Do they have intermitting skills?

asking for a friend......

 

I used to have the mega-infamy-drops a lot. It happens less and less these days. My load out is pretty strong now. When I work on quests and use things I'm not confident/comfortable with my infamy certainly drops a lot. Recently as much as 600 to 700 but then I reverted back to my normal load outand slowly came all the way back. I do like playing with new weapons and learning the benefits, strengths and weaknesses of them. I try to wait until I have a strong enough build before I start using it. My gear score is 9000+ but I see lots and lots of boats well below that are play better than me. It isn't always the size of the weapon that counts....

I don't to focussed on the unbalanced games. if I die then I tap out and move on to the next game. There are plenty of times I'm on the OP (over powered) team and other times I can't do a dang thing right.

Fleeting is fun. I think I have more fun when I have a friend with me. its more exciting winning with a friend but I don't fleet very much. Sometimes I just want to play without worrying about letting down my friend. I like to play aggressive and I often 3 star a victory or I go out in a shameful blaze of fire. when I am fleeting, I am a bit more careful to avoid being the first to die.

 

Noooooo..... caught by another necro thread.

I swear necro threads nail me more than mines!

 

Excuse my stupidity, but what in the world is necro?
Also, you revived a thread that was almost a year old.

 

That's what a necro thread is and Radar revived it. I just didn't pay attention to dates carefully enough so it went past my new posts list.

 

I personally like matches that are crazy. Four Enforcers and Fixer vs 5 Shooters no matter what the odds you can still pull off a win if you know how to play the game.
Edit: Yeah i used to have those drops they suck, i rarely have a drop bigger than 200 now.