Shard Chats = cheating

"gufu21;c-1513121" wrote:
Even if just for the sake of keeping your opponents and fights fresh, I wouldn't mind a shard mixup (based on start date, of course)—I'm kind of tired of fighting the same people over and over. Breaking up the circles at the top would just be a side benefit.

Put in Ugnaught lead and drop into the 500s, then you can fight a bunch of new people on your way back up

"Robotolove;c-1512572" wrote:
It turns a PVP match into PVP+P+P+P match. In a free for all competition teaming up defeats the purpose.

As I understand it, shard chats can be used for 2 purposes. The first is allowing more people to rank higher. If most or all of the people at the top have a different payout time, they can all get better rewards. That’s cooperation to improve things for everyone, and I’d call it a good thing.

The other purpose is exclusion of anyone not in the shard chat. It seems like that’s the kind of thing you don’t like and I’d agree that it’s not helpful. However, it’s still going to happen in certain arena shards. So if yours is one of them, you can break it up by beating the other teams so you do well at your payout time. And if you keep doing well, you’ll probably be invited to join the shard chat yourself!

I bet most of the big spenders are probably in the top of the ladder and also in coordinating Arena shard chats, and I doubt the game makers will ever do something - such as changing the way Arena shards work - to upset the crowd that pays the most $$.

Not saying you can't be F2P and be at the top of the ladder... but I feel confident in saying the people who pay the most $$, are probably also the ones consistently at the top of the food chain in terms of Arena, guilds, TB, TW, etc.

That said, I don't think the current system is fair for people who aren't in a shard chat, and it is counter to the spirit of PvP. Nor do I think "just join a shard chat" should be a proposed solution. Eventually, someone WILL be excluded and never be able to break that wall.

Like... how many people do you typically let into a chat, anyway? 10? 20? 50? Good luck if you're number 11, 21, or 51. Enjoy always getting bumped out of the next highest tier.

Perhaps CG should deny people battles outside a window around one's payout, perhaps 2 hr before and 0.5 hr after one's timezone's payout time?
Wouldn't stop players organizing but would reduce the amount of people in that group that could block new players from rising up into top 5 or so, for a given payout time.

Right. Just had a few guildies in Discord talking about this today. One of them is trying to get into a Discord Arena shard chat, and they are basically "taking him under review" to see if they're going to allow him to actually join the group and break the top 20 or whatever.

Another guildie is in a top 5 shard chat... so basically, on his shard, the highest you'll ever go is 6, unless you're one of the five people in that group. They openly aggressively target anyone who bumps any of them.

In other words, PvP in the game is more about appeasing or bargaining or joining with the gatekeepers.

Gamemakers really need to come up with something better.

So if you can never get #1 or reach a top rank cause the rest only target you, that's as intended? Stop with the nonsense, put some more randomization into it.

I don't frequent the forums much and I was wondering if this subject has been brought to the attention of the devs?

Lol, take a look at this forum section and count the threads of people looking for shard mates. The devs are indirectly endorsing the practice by giving players another spot to hook up. They unquestionably know about it.

"Robotolove;c-1514965" wrote:
I don't frequent the forums much and I was wondering if this subject has been brought to the attention of the devs?

Many times. And like Graives said, it’s indirectly endorsed by forum staff.

Listen...Life isn’t fair. Cheaters win. A lot. The whole “cheaters never prosper” adage is fairy tale horse doodoo. I’m not advocating cheating, just pointing out reality. Also, whether shard chat is cheating or not is very subjective. Personally, I don’t think it is cheating.

There are a ton of different shard chats that are only looking to help all of the shard members. My shard is a perfect example. We coordinate and help each other get as high as possible for each payout. When there are multiple people on a certain payout, we rotate so all of us get as much crystal as possible. We’ve also searched for the few who haven’t joined and we don’t target them unless they are intentionally sniping during every payout. There is no reason for people to sit #1 all day when it only matters at your payout time.
The point is, there are shards that completely focus on helping everyone instead of constantly competing with everyone all the time. If I don’t have to worry about being sniped by 9/10 players, that makes my life a lot easier in that portion of the game, and if they know I won’t be sniping them, it’s a win for them too. If you think there is “collusion” in your shard, find them and join them. Most of them are just trying to help the whole group do well in the game. When we work as a team, we also are able to keep those selfish players from staying #1 all day long and denying others rewards.
Strategy is a huge part of the game, so why not try to use a different strategy to your advantage. Regardless of whether you think it is cheating, it’s a part of the game and frankly, it isn’t cheating.

As @Bigbearxba mentioned, life isn’t fair. If you want it to be fair, you’d need to put the exact same amount of whales dolphins and f2p in every shard, and make sure that every shardmate has the same GP...which obviously is a bogus idea. Whining about how life isn’t fair doesn’t help anyone. Instead of focusing on why you are at a disadvantage, find a way to get an advantage over your opponent. I’m completely f2p and even before i joined the shard chat, i was able to stay top50 for months. It’s possible to get good rewards regardless of your situation, you just need to play smart :)