Neighborhood programming is pathetic

[DeletedUser]

After several months of working my city up, attacking daily, working my way to stay at the top of my neighborhood, owning the towers, and spending a few hundred dollars in diamonds, FoE has effectively shut my ability to continue to progress my city.
The brilliance of putting neighborhoods together with a huge difference in the Ages of each city is about as dazzling as screen doors on submarines for ventilation or parachutes that open on impact. From a neighborhood that everyone was EMA, HMA, or LMA, suddenly I'm thrust in one that I'm LMA, but everyone else is Colonial, Industrial, or Progressive. Finding myself trying to attack guns while still using xbows and longbows is basic suicide. Where before, the top 10 in my neighborhood were all around 100k + or -, suddenly I'm looking at 500k, 400k, 300k...
For the longest time, I've touted the game from my perception that the game allows everyone to play on a level field.
I was wrong.
This is about as fair as the British Redcoats trying to attack the Death Star.

Maybe if the developers actually spent some time and put in a real effort in correcting a very flawed program, instead of worrying about a badly thought out "soccer tournament" that was based purely on luck and not a bit of skill, then maybe this wouldn't be an issue.

As is, FoE can either fix this quickly, or can deal with another dead city on my server, and will guarantee that not another penny of my money will be wasted on this game.

It's things like this that have made so many games of this genre come and go...too much attention to the unimportant and not enough to the core basics that make the game work for the long haul.

 

[DeletedUser2989]

It'd be nice to see the neighbourhoods created so that you only ever have 3 different ages in each neighbourhood. So essentially you'd have the lowest neighbourhoods consisting of SA, BA and IA, then some neighbourhoods with BA, IA and EMA, some neighbourhoods with IA, EMA and HMA and so on. That way people at the bottom of a neighbourhood will only ever see people 2 ages above them. I don't like the idea of it being based on score (as so many different things affect it) and I also don't like the current system because the way it works makes no sense.

If this has been made into an idea in the Ideas forum can you link it so that I can +1 it

It'd be great to see improvement in the neighbourhood system, hopefully it can be a main part of one of the next few updates!

 

[DeletedUser]

while I agree that the merging system needs work, it's funny that you think EMA to LMA was totally reasonable but longbows vs "guns" isn't. If you are being attacked by units 2 ages ahead, you are GUARANTEED to be unable to win (unless they use a terrible army).

Yeah, let me know if you ever fend off dragoons with berserkers

 

[DeletedUser99588]

I think part of the problem is that the players that put the most effort in and get to the top of their hood are then moved to a new hood where they could be at the bottom. It does feel like your efforts are being punished. However, you can work your way up again and those at the top of your new hood could be moved on in later changes. If you can't compete in the towers then concentrate on mot/pol and getting BP's from those higher up players until you have got into a position where you can compete in the towers.

 

[DeletedUser653]

Thanatos, thats little help to a player who is fighting other players 2 ages above him.

What I cannot understand is what the problem is in getting the list of players (33134), removing inactive ones (I guess 10k) and then just splitting the rest into groups of 80 players, taking the 1st 80 on the list and the 2nd group of 80 in the list etc etc. I cannot imagine that 80 players will then be across more that 2 ages.
This has been a complaint since the very first merge and has never been fixed, despite players even leaving over this.

In my hood we have 30 players with over 1 million points and many in PME, while at the lower end of the hood we have Industrial players - this is not right and has never been accepted as right by any player. Outstanding bug in my opioion.

 

[DeletedUser99588]

@HRC

I'm not saying it is right but just trying to offer some advice of making the best of it. I myself went from No.1 in hood to being moved to a new one where I couldn't compete very well for the towers. I concentrated my efforts on other things until I could. Last week I won all 7 of the towers I'm able to compete in. The week before 6 out of the 7. You need patience and a strategy. I'm sure I will be moved again and it will be even harder as my next move will have me up against end of tree players and I won't be able to compete again. From what I can gather things were worse before the neighbourhood merges but I totally agree the system needs refining.

 

[Praeceptor]

From what I can gather things were worse before the neighbourhood merges but I totally agree the system needs refining.

That's certainly true, and I have to agree with the other things in your recent posts.

We all started at the bottom, and had to fight in much more powerful neighbourhoods. Now I am a powerful player myself (it took 2 years) and find myself in a mixed hood with players from several ages. If I was in a hood with the whole top 80 (I'm 12th), I doubt that I'd be able to fight at all - their defenses would be way too strong. So I attack weaker players occasionally - just like I used to be attacked - and eventually they get powerful enough so I start to lose too many troops and I stop.

I've not been a fan of "rebalancing" on the att/def front, but I can see why some "tuning" is required so we can all continue to battle if we want. Even the weakest players in my hood could have a go at each other if they wanted, so I don't really see the problem.

Also, I don't plunder (unless a PME player puts 2 spears against me), but even if I did, other players could avoid losing anything by planning to collect on time. It just takes a little work, and all the top players have been through it.

(Preparing to be shot down - lol)

 

[DeletedUser]

I don't see a problem here. The ability to hurt other players is so weak in this game. Try playing grepolis or tribal wars.

 

[DeletedUser]

while I agree that the merging system needs work, it's funny that you think EMA to LMA was totally reasonable but longbows vs "guns" isn't. If you are being attacked by units 2 ages ahead, you are GUARANTEED to be unable to win (unless they use a terrible army).

Yeah, let me know if you ever fend off dragoons with berserkers

I have to agree with you Huscarl. There's no reason whatsoever that the devs could re-write the program so all neighborhoods are first based on same Age, then points, to keep evenly matched players together. Instead, we end up with a Fan Shop that looks like a 6 yr old ate too many crayons and threw up on paper.

I don't know if it's ego, laziness, or lack of ability that keeps this issue from being addressed and fixed. It existed when FoE was in beta, and seems as if the devs refuse to listen to the front lines that actually play the game. In this player's instance, it's going to cost them. If it continues, FoE will fall into the abyss that other games of this genre have...lack of attention to detail and an ignorance to do what's right to make the game have a long life....and most of us can rattle off numerous games that have fallen by the wayside due to the same refusal to listen to the players.

Instead of the devs sticking their thumbs under their armpits and gloating about what a great game it is, maybe they should do what all successful businesses do...never be satisfied and fix what's wrong. Folks...it's time to earn the paycheck, not just collect it.

 

[Praeceptor]

Folks...it's time to earn the paycheck, not just collect it.

I'm with you on that bit, Mithril, but I'm not sure that having same age hoods would work at the upper levels. PvP is pretty lethargic at the moment, but would come to a complete halt in PME if there were no easier targets. Most players around my score are undefeatable, so I would definitely stop playing if battles were impossible.

As I said before, we were all weak once - the challenge is to get through it. And you don't need diamonds - I didn't.

 

[DeletedUser6065]

All I can remember is that after much complaining about the original merge system an update was introduced (forgot which one) in which Blacksmith stated that the new merges would be based on where you are in the tech tree. And, from the very first 'new merge system', that was quite obviously not the case. I also remember a much later post after the new merge was put into effect where another mod, stated quite frankly that nobody knows how the merge system works . . . mk

 

[DeletedUser]

" I also remember a much later post after the new merge was put into effect where another mod, stated quite frankly that nobody knows how the merge system works . . . mk

That pretty much sums it up. It has nothing to do with the tech tree, no matter what the propagandists say. Considering I'm 5 researches away from completing LMA and facing Progressive Age in my neighborhood, that blows that excuse away. As for being weak, with 170k in pts, and 4800 battle wins, weak wasn't an issue until FoE nerfed my city.

So far, I haven't seen a mod, much less a dev, respond to this posting, which tells me they've got their head buried in the sand again.

I'm still amazed that they ignore an issue that has been ongoing since the game first entered beta, yet can throw a building into the mix (can you say Fan Shop) that looks like either a pre-schooler drew it with a crayon or they traced it off a McDonald's place mat...

Weigh in, devs...think you can stand the heat??

 

[Amy Steele]

The 'new' merge system, and the reasons it was introduced, are explained in the announcement 'Changes to neighborhood merge' from July 2013, when the new system was introduced.

The system is automatic, and there are unfortunately times when it is simply not possible to fit all players into a neighborhood with players of a similar level of advancement in the tech tree, so sometimes players will end up in a neighborhood where they are more than 2 levels of advancement behind those at the top of the neighborhood.

Thanatos100 has given good advice for those who find themselves stuck in this position:

I think part of the problem is that the players that put the most effort in and get to the top of their hood are then moved to a new hood where they could be at the bottom. It does feel like your efforts are being punished. However, you can work your way up again and those at the top of your new hood could be moved on in later changes. If you can't compete in the towers then concentrate on mot/pol and getting BP's from those higher up players until you have got into a position where you can compete in the towers.

It is also wise to time your productions so they are ready when you can be there to collect them, as this will help prevent plunder. I sincerely hope you find yourself in a better neighbourhood after the next merge.

 

[DeletedUser96867]

*It is also wise to time your productions so they are ready when you can be there to collect them, as this will help prevent plunder.

*I sincerely hope you find yourself in a better neighbourhood after the next merge.

*The system is automatic, and there are unfortunately times when it is simply not possible to fit all players into a neighborhood with players of a similar level

Please explain to me the options a working person who can't get online during the day have in terms of timing their productions. Presuming the average person between work, lunch break and commute will be away for over 8 hrs, their choice is to either to run 8hr productions and leave stuff sitting around the same time every day, or just do 1day cycles at least 5 days of the week. Doing 1day cycles for 5 days of the week they will fall further and further behind no matter how much effort they put in on the weekends, and leave them little to nothing to do in the evenings during the week when they can got online. A 12hr cycle which has been asked for many a time and dismissed as making the game too easy of course would solve this problem.

As to hoping to find yourself in a better hood in the next merge, i've been was in a hood basically unchanged for over 5 months. Luckily for me i was near the top, not so lucky for most of those players stuck near the bottom.

Understandably not every player can be put in the perfect hood with each merge but this does not explain BA, and IA players been dumped in PE and PME hoods merge after merge after merge.

Instead of giving us excuses how about INNO address they long term problems instead of ignoring us for another year, while thinking we are stupid enough to believe the talking points that the merge system is working correctly when it's clear to everyone it is not.

 

[DeletedUser103867]

I agree with fischh about the problems faced by a lot of people who work for a living. It would be better to have an option for production of 12hrs with a slightly reduced efficiency or even an option with a sliding scale of hours/cost effectiveness rather than 24hrs which I suspect is hardly being used.

 

[DeletedUser100832]

2 levels of advancement? That's BS, how about six?

we've had a few bronze age players put in our n'hood, and the top guys are industrial. This is beyond silly.

 

[DeletedUser9168]

i think you would be surprised how many people, for all sorts of reasons, do use the 24 hour option. I know a lot of my guild do. not only does it cut down the amount of time they spend purely setting up their supplies, but if they get all their supplies motivated, it makes a lucrative collection. Add to that the fair number of quests which request 24 hour productions...
Since the removal of spoilage of supplies after a certain time, i have also observed a lot of players who do not log in everyday, setting up 24 hour productions - if they get plundered they haven't lost anything compared with leaving their production factories idle which is what they would previously have done. And if they happen to get their factories motivated, or otherwise avoid being plundered, then they are in a win-win situation.

 

[DeletedUser100832]

i think you would be surprised how many people, for all sorts of reasons, do use the 24 hour option. I know a lot of my guild do. not only does it cut down the amount of time they spend purely setting up their supplies, but if they get all their supplies motivated, it makes a lucrative collection. Add to that the fair number of quests which request 24 hour productions...
Since the removal of spoilage of supplies after a certain time, i have also observed a lot of players who do not log in everyday, setting up 24 hour productions - if they get plundered they haven't lost anything compared with leaving their production factories idle which is what they would previously have done. And if they happen to get their factories motivated, or otherwise avoid being plundered, then they are in a win-win situation.

that's fine, problem is you can't motivate goods buildings

no idea why not, doesn't need to give more goods, just prevent plunder

 

[DeletedUser]

Once more we are given a propaganda scam instead of any attempt to fix a pathetic problem. The comment from Amy about "the system is automatic and unfortunately" is the glaring example of a group of developers that, instead of correcting the worst aspect of the game, continue to blather away excuses for how we, the paying players, should work around their refusal to get off their duffs and fix it.
The neighborhood I was thrown in has a point differential of over 430k! A low Age of HMA staring at the troops of Progressive Age...and we get the same tired comment about "working the harvest times". Basically, what they're saying is "we don't want to fix our program, we just want you to act like it doesn't exist."

Maybe if everyone in the forum reading this started a message campaign throughout the game encouraging everyone to quit spending diamonds until the problem is resolved, maybe they might realize who's paying them. We're encouraged to spend money, but evidently they don't feel the need to earn it.
Once more, and those that have played for a very long time know this...the neighborhood issues has been ignored since early beta, although it's been addressed many, many, MANY times. We're tired of lame excuses, or trying to deflect the problem to something else (nice try jampot trying to avoid this issue by talking up the "benefits" of a 24 hour production...which is a much lower production than anything else).

The question that mods and devs continue to sidestep, avoid, and ignore is..."when will this programming disaster be fixed with a fair and working solution????"

 

[DeletedUser6065]

Agree wholeheartedly. Amy's post of '. . . it is not possible . . ' is laughable (to be very kind). Too many people are affected, spanning multiple different ages and multiple servers, that a few simple lines of code will not help alleviate the problem. There are more than enough to adequately fill new neighborhoods everywhere. 'Not possible' infers only a few are affected, and these people need to be fit in somewhere. That is just flat not true. You actually want us to believe that these people have to go into these ridiculous neighborhoods? That other neighborhoods can't be found or created. Is that really your position?

Sorry Amy, but the dev's have sold you a line of goods, and you accepted a diaper full (gotta wonder - did it cost you diamonds, or did they give them to you to accept it?) . . . . mk