To the Developers of Forge of Empires
We write once again to express our disdain at the lack of consideration that is shown toward fixing the crippling issues that prevail within the Guild vs Guild aspect of this game. Many of these issues have been reported several times, through multiple mediums, over the last three to four years, but no fix has yet been proposed. These issues are ever increasing and worsening with time and it is now near impossible to take any fluid action on these maps.
Guild vs Guild is an important aspect of the game to many of us, for some it is the only reason we play. The Guild vs Guild issues have seen the end of many good, longstanding players in the past. No amount of “events” or “guild expeditions” will be able to replace this aspect of the game for the avid GvGer. No doubt, if Guild vs Guild is taken from the equation completely, many more will leave. It is no longer acceptable to us, to have to play a game under such horrendous and frustrating conditions, indefinitely. We’ve been waiting patiently for three to four years and this in and of itself is an unacceptable period of time.
Thus, we urge you to make it a priority to fix some of the most crippling issues that are preventing a fluid and fair game on Guild vs Guild. In your consideration of this issue, we refer to you a statement made by Stefan Walter in July 2017 article of Pocket Gamer .biz.
“A big part of it is listening to players, and being open to information that comes from all sides ... We try and keep our core as it is, because we still have those players who have followed us for so long. You can't implement something which totally breaks their experience.”
It should be noted: We do not feel listened to regarding this issue, we have never felt listened to, and you are totally breaking the experience of loyal and longstanding players. We urge you to take notice and fix the game we love.
All of the issues below are experienced throughout every calculation for the majority of players. The issues are consistently present and make the game unplayable for many. Particularly in the first 10 to 20 mins of the game. Of late, the issues now continue even during the supposed quieter times, which was not previously characteristic.
1. When there is more than one siege active at the same time, opening any other sector will see a copy of the other sector under siege, thus one cannot access the targeted sector. To explain further, one will see the siege army, defences and sector details for the other sector. This means one cannot lay a siege on any other sector, place a defence or kill a siege on the sector targeted. The only fix for this is to wait for the siege on the other sector to end or reload the maps. Reloading the maps doesn’t always fix the issue though.
2. Another copying issue, it often appears like there are two sieges on the sector (visual double set of siege swords that hover over the sector).
3. Clicking on the icon to place siege doesn’t function at times, thus one cannot place a siege.
4. Clicking to open sector doesn’t function at times – requires several clicks, sometimes having to wait for the siege to end, or a total reload of the maps. This prevents one doing any action at all, be it to fight, siege or place a defence.
5. Clicking on a sector to place siege or defence can crash the game completely, meaning at times there is several reloads during one period of calculation.
6. When fighting on “autobattle”, the results screen does not appear, sometimes the fight that one completed does not log. At times, several battles can be done without a results screen and then several results screens, or several “conflict issue” pop ups appear later, one after the other. Sometimes it appears as if more screens appear than actions were completed. This is hindering any further action until the screens stop appearing, sectors can be lost in this time that could have otherwise been prevented.
7. When fighting the selected army does not remain in the troop panel, rather it goes blank and one has to re-select troops to fight/defend. There are times when it takes 3 to 4 attempts to select 8 troops for battle. Further, one may enter a battle with 8 troops in the panel, but the results window will show troops missing after the battle is complete. Oftentimes troops are being unnecessarily and unfairly lost due to the system not registering the troops selected by the player. Thus, the battle goes on with 5 or 6 rogues and no deciding troop.
8. Defence Issue, even outside of the usual busy periods. When one places a defence in a sector, you take down the troops already in place, in order to put up troops for the defence. After placing the defence, the old troops reappear instead of a clean panel. A bit of a nuisance when you are trying to place several defences, since you have to continue to take them down again each time. Manual fix for this is take the troops down, close the sector and reopen, then you can work away as normal (this is not acceptable to have to do this – but it is stated in case that helps you diagnose the issues going on here).
9. The map freezes, like it’s stuck in time, it doesn’t update. Thus, one can watch a map and think there are no actions, despite the fact that a siege is ongoing. Again a reload is the only manual fix for this.
10. Lag is consistent throughout every calculation period and onwards, it creates a sharp jittery freeze that stagnates the game, makes actions sluggish and slow or causes excessively long loading issues between actions.
11. HQs disappear – even though they have not been moved.
