Re: War Card Purchasing Disadvantage

@SummitVista3310 

I believe I am still being misunderstood. 

Club presidents pay simcash to start a club. Club building and organizing take a great deal of time and effort (often years). As a club president I do not feel comfortable leaving my club, possibly for three days, dumping my responsibility on someone else, in order to raid other's war stores and leave five minutes later (over and over) until I inadvertently get caught in a war with club members I may or may not know (possibly even hackers). No other member of my club would participate in or tolerate this type of play either.

I do realize now that the way we play is now known as the traditional way of play (some mayors even have a derogatory name for the way we play) and all over the internet, on many platforms and in many forums (including this Official EA forum) those of us who play this way are laughed at and thought to be fools. Yes, it was insinuated in your post above, too.

Those of us who have invested many years in this game and in this forum are simply exhausted from trying to teach and get the new players to follow the traditional rules, (its just not going to happen), but we're also very tired of players (about twenty long-time and many newer players) berating us publicly for not conforming to their way of play.

Going forward there needs to be mutual respect for the way(s) each of us play(s).

Still, no single mayor or club should begin CoM or a war with an unearned  advantage over another.

If I choose to play traditionally and stay with one club, with one city, and on one device I should still be able to have access to as many war cards (and at the same cost) as another mayor who plays differently. On that same note, if I must compete against someone in CoM who has one main and four feeders, I also need to have the ability to obtain 4,000 storage slots, 60 factories, 5 hardware stores, etc.

All games, contests, and even wars must have rules that all must abide by or they are no longer true contests. 

What I am asking for: 

A clear set of rules and/or any game benefits that apply to all.

@never2old2game 

You don’t need feeder(s) or leave your club for 3 days for shopping... you can move the president title to one of the loyal VP you trust (few years team-play must create enough trust and bond, I guess?) and come back. I understand your concern about war-napping and visit random possible hacker clubs, but everyone has the risk equal. (Unless the club owns shopping clubs, indeed this in an unfair advantage)

War card shopping isnt an unfair advantage that only limited players have, this is how the war store works for every single mayors and it’s up to you what you decide to do.

Paying real$ is unfair? Playing the game 3 hours a day is unfair? Camping at lv18 is unfair? Join a club is unfair? No, they are all legit fair play that everyone are allowed to do. Again, it’s about what you chose to do... I don’t laugh at players or think they are foolish that decided to not take those advantages. Everyone can play the game how they want to play(as long as it’s legit). I just wonder, why don’t they do it if they cry about it? 

A lot of unfair game-play or mechanism are addressed and fixed in the past. Having feeder(s), regional coin bug, high task loop in CoM, matched(or agreed) open wars. Not sure if the multiple booster bug is fixed but I haven’t seen it for a while.

It’s an easy fix for EA how the war store works (it’d even give them extra profit). But it’s been like this for a long long time, maybe because it’s already fair?

The clear rule is everyone have the ability to visit deferent arenas for card shopping without breaking any rules, regardless their club title. EA allows cards shopping. 

Maybe it’s better we get 3 randomly selected cards every 3 days, but arena won’t reset the price? You can only buy fixed amount every 3 days and the price always goes up even if you switch the club. (Or you meant this in your first post?)

It just increases the price than current system (more profit for EA!) but if some players feel fair with this way, I think it’s great. 

@Mikika214 

I disagree that this is a silly complaint.

What's silly in my opinion is that mayors need to waste their time (even just 20 minutes) joining and leaving clubs.

My request is this:

Instead of switching to five different clubs after each war, why not have our war store card selection change six times during the three days? Every 12 hours.

Fair to all and eliminates the hassle.

Earning and saving keys is very good advice.

I have been playing for awhile now though, so personally I am aware of their value.

On the plus side, both types of keys are now much easier to earn, given the fact they're now included in the Season Pass prizes.

✌

@never2old2game I understand your suggestion and believe it to be spot on and would certainly be fair to all parties. I certainly commend you and your club’s position on playing the game ethically and following your collective moral compass. I believe fair play is directly related to the intent of the game...the game is designed to purchase items from the Global Market or from the depot of a fellow club member...not to jump around to different mayors clubs and fleece their depots just to leave in 5 minutes, or meet with other clubs mayors in “open dead clubs” (satellite cities) to trade war items or have feeder cities and networks set up to feed their primary city and club. People know it’s not right, but they do it anyway..and call themselves legit. Not buying it for a minute.

I wouldn’t be concerned with these type of players berating you and your club...we know what they are. Eventually one day this behavior will find its way back to them...perhaps in the game, perhaps in life. The only concern is when they mislead new players that are trying to play fairly. These individuals are manipulating the game to gain an unfair advantage all the while complaining about cheaters/hackers. I believe they simply can not compete on a level playing field and are simply trying ti justify their questionable conduct.

I take exception to this mayor that shouts out “clear rules” and has multiple times referred to “deferent” cards & arenas -  I really didn’t realize that the game promoted “offensive, contemptuous, belittling, impudent, discourteous, uncivil, irreverent, insulting...disrespectful, abusive, depreciatory, demeaning” arenas & cards...seems to somewhat contradictory. Of course they have to leave their club...how else can they have their clandestine meetings with folks from different clubs with similar philosophies or join other unsuspecting clubs and raid their depots. Quite often these are start up clubs just trying to figure out how to play the game and are welcoming to stronger more experienced players just to have their war items taken and the mayor leave without participating in a war game. I proposed a good while back that a mayor should have to wait 7 days before they can return to a club once the leave...I believe that should minimize this activity.

@never2old2game I meant no offense, merely pointing out that the benefit is there for everyone and the disadvantage is self imposed. I first noticed such not on a forum or blog but by playing the game and moving arenas up. I used to rarely buy cards from war store, but now you just can’t wait for luck of chests or you will always have low attack levels. If EA changes to eliminate the arena refresh, so be it. However, I don’t think you should look down on those that take advantage of the game as it is currently in existence (just card shopping, not talking about feeder club war supplies, totally different issue). As far as raiding, I personally do not go looking through other mayors for supplies. I’m more concerned for not getting caught in a war with unknowns, so my preference is trading clubs that state they do not war in the club description. There are a lot of other more concerning practices that I know exist in this game than card shopping, but I appreciate the discussion and your suggestion to remedy what you feel is a broken aspect of the game. Best of luck to you!

@SummitVista3310 has the answer for this. No resetting the price of cards for each arena. People will still club hop for war items, but the no reset could be applied there too, it's just a bit more complex as there are different booster levels for sale at different arenas, and different amounts of items for sale. Still if each item type didn't reset it would stop people from club hopping. That being said, I personally don't have a big issue with it, as new players need to catch up somehow.

Also I'm surprised so may people get caught in wars in other clubs when they go hopping. Just don't join a club with more than 8 members. If you're joining clubs with more members so you can raid their stores, than that's your fault!

@Forgotten_Woods  This at best is only a portion of the answer but doesn’t address the bigger picture. The solution to address the club hopping, raiding of depots, meeting in “open dead clubs” (satellites) to trade war items with non club members is to place a cool down period where if a player joins a new club and leaves within 24 hours they have to wait 24 to 48 hours to join another club...to return to a former club there should be a 7 day waiting period. I know this doesn’t fit the plans of some mayors...but this will eliminate a lot of the “questionable” activity from occurring and promote fair play. I suspect this would serve to eliminate most of these higher level players from jumping back to lower arenas...you know the levels intended for less experienced players to learn how to play the game. The selfish and self centered attitude of some of these mayors is appalling.

@Forgotten_Woods 

Ahh true. We see different boosters/war items in different arenas. (Just realized I’ve been spelling “deferent” for “different” )

Though OP’s complaint is about “card shopping”. Cards can’t be shared/trade with other players so it’s more valuable than booster and war items, OP feels unfair to go different arenas for more and cheaper cards.

I don’t have any issue to not resetting the card price in each arenas. The cost would increases but players don’t have to switch clubs for card shopping. Best of all, it saves everyone’s precious 20 mins. More profit for EA too. Win for all.

But resetting cards every 12 hours and not resetting price gives advantage for some play-style, not fair to all.

If OP’s complain is about “club hopping” itself, that’s totally another problem.

Maybe limit the activity when players join for a club. Like no war item trading/waring for 12hours after they joined a club. This solves the “12 hours war interval” complaint OP shared in another thread. And I have no issue with this change but it may hurt fresh players who are looking for clubs.

Once again an obvious attempt to “spin” the discussion...in the original post by @never2old2game raised the term “club hopping” and once again you you shared “Ahh I misunderstood what you said” after completely missing the point with your initial response. I understand why this attempt to “spin” is being done as implementation of this would cause a change in game play and simply level the playing field and take away the unfair advantages being exploited. No more raiding other clubs depots or trading war items in “open dead clubs” or satellite cities. 
Guess what EA...if you limit the jumping from club to club you will create a market need from these players and generate additional revenue.

@PinnacleValley 

@SummitVista3310 

@Forgotten_Woods 

@Mikika214 

I really appreciate all the thoughts, ideas, and different points of view expressed here.

Thank you.

I'd like to be able to accept one post (in its entirety) as a solution, or at least a possible one. No side comments or remarks, just "Problem is/are...solution(s) is/are/might be".

Something that would or might be closer to being fair to all mayors.

(If my post's title needs to be edited, so be it).

My closing remark is this:

Most of the issues discussed in this thread (and in many others), have no clear or defined rules. The actions are allowed, yes, but only because there are no rules in place. We are playing in various shades of grey, all the way to black, imo. (Black being hacker-play).

As I've mentioned before, games need a shared set of rules, TRUE RULES, (not my interpretation, not your's), in order to be considered games, especially when competition is involved.

Thank you all for your time and comments.

I am working on not coming across as being so judgemental and I really hope I can expect the same from others.

All I really want truly, is peace.

✌

@SummitVista3310 

@PinnacleValley 

@Forgotten_Woods 

@Mikika214 

To be specific I have accepted this portion of the reply as a solution, as it does address my original topic.

SummitVista3310:

"your complain is you can buy more cards cheaper if you visit other clubs. You want to remove the advantage of 6 arena card shopping. 

To solve your complain, the price needs to goes up instead of resetting in each arena. And fixed amount of cards every 3 days. (Common for 120, rare for 60, legend for 30) No benefit for card shopping in deferent arenas with this way. 

So everyone have the same ability to buy the same amount of cards with the same price"

The rule what I shared is not my own rule. What EA allows are the “true rules”.

I directly asked EA about the card shopping and here’s their reply.

First of all, I would like to inform that it's fine to visit different arena in order to purchase disaster cards. So, you can go ahead and help yourself.

I also emailed them the idea to not resetting the price in other arenas. The war store update could give only some players give advantages. So if EA is going to change it, hope they’ll make a wise decision. 

Good luck and happy shopping. (either at your own arena or other arenas)

“What EA allows are the “true rules”.” Really? So with this logic the blatant cheating/hacking issues that have gone unaddressed (thus allowed) are acceptable and fall within your “true rules” hypothesis...please. 
We all know it’s ok to visit different arenas as @never2old2game clearly shared in her original post “I understand that there really is no rule against "club hopping" “ so your feedback from the contractor was redundant and unnecessary. The actions that occur from this “club hopping” activity is not just to get war disaster cards but also results in raiding unsuspecting clubs depots and not even contributing anything to that club. It is also used by members of different clubs to meet in open “dead” clubs to trade war items which by definition is a satellite club which you know in writing is not allowed. But since EA doesn’t address it...it falls under “true rules”.

I often hear not everything is black or white - sometimes it’s gray. In life it’s true but in a silly game - not so much. I have much more respect for those that own up to taking “shortcuts” than those that are constantly taking them but justify it by “true rules” and claiming to be “legit”. Most everyone  knows what’s right and wrong and what you choose is up to you...but do not promote that these “shortcuts” are acceptable in the forum to folks trying to do the right thing. But I guess if your montra is “What EA allows are the “true rules”.” it doesn’t matter anyway.